Fotan Dai Pai Dong

Now for what we ate in Fotan!

But first, I did remember to take a picture of the dai pai dong. This dai pai dong is really famous for its roast pigeons. Actually, I'm not sure if "roast" is the right word. As far as I know, the pigeons are boiled until they're half-cooked and then tied up together and then splashed with hot oil until they get crispy. I don't know if this is just an urban legend, though. My mother used to make me bring back sixty pigeons at a time for her to give to her friends. Can you imagine going through customs with sixty half-cooked pigeons?

Anyway, one of the reasons this dai pai dong is famous is that it's at a bus depot and right next to a public toilet. Convenient!

We're sitting underneath a makeshift tent. It was either this or at the bus stop, and we didn't want to eat among vehicle fumes. The place was packed, as you can see.

See? Bus stop.

The typical dai pai dong table: tea that you use to wash your bowls and utensils in. See the green bowl on the lower left? That's where you rinse them out. The ever-present toilet paper roll, and because this is a classy joint, free peanuts!

The famous roast pigeon! It was really delicious and savoury. It almost didn't need the dipping salt. Do you like pigeon heads? I love them, I love the brains.

We got a free order of spicy fried tofu! We were supposed to get free rice, too, but it didn't appear. We were too full to eat them, anyway.

Another specialty of the place: clams. They were really good, I must say. The Fotan dai pai dong is also famous for its chicken congee, but we really didn't have room for it. I was filled up on cheese and wine, and DL ate buns before dinner.

If you have the chance, I really suggest visiting this place. It's really famous, back when I first discovered it in 2000, there would almost always been a camera crew from Japan or Taiwan doing food reviews. To get to the Fotan dai pai dong, simply take the MTR to Fotan Station, exit A and you'll see it. It's about five minutes away from the MTR station.

Oh, by the way, they only serve beer and pop there.

Hallways of Enchanted Ebony

These are two of my favourite pictures from Fotan, so I thought I'd put them in a separate entry.

Anyway, since this is such a short post, I thought I'd do more outfit pictures. I know I'm doing a lot of teasing about the ghetto mall in Kwai Fong, but I do have a fair number of outfits that I got there.

For example, this cream chiffon dress and the cream skirt I'm wearing underneath as a petticoat. I bought this dress (and two others) from a shop that specializes in this kind of uber-feminine girly clothes. The dresses range from HKD50 to HKD70. This one was about HKD70.

It's one size fits all in the shop, and you can't try the clothes on. I have to say that I was a bit nervous, and I asked the sales girl if I was too fat for the clothes. She reassured me that they would stretch around my fats, but that they would be short on me. Short skirts are no problem!

I'm wearing the dress with a belt from H&M, my opera gloves, thigh high boots, and a vintage velvet jacket I got in Toronto. I think it's from a theatre company that went bankrupt and had to sell their costumes. Yes, I know my iPod is stuck on my camera.

As you can tell, I still like to dress a bit goth.

Here is what the dress looks like on its own. I tried to remove the rosette on the blouse, but it wouldn't come off, dammit. As for the belt, I try not to buy stuff from H&M, but I confess that many of my belts and tights are from there, as well as a jacket and a couple of blouses. I just really don't want to support fast fashion, though, you know? Tsk on me.

I bought this skirt from another shop in the ghetto mall in Kwai Fong. I believe it was HKD50. I really love it, it's so versatile. I really don't know when I'll be able to go back to Kwai Fong, but I'll keep putting up some entries about the stuff I got there when I was regularly going for work. Because I was traveling there twice a week for about six months, I did end up picking up quite a few things (including this completely delicious Thai caramelized dried fish snack that was so spicy, it made my lips swell up, but I couldn't stop eating it).

Fotanian 2011, Part 4

DL and I were talking about how we're comfortable at industrial areas because we grew up around factories. Our families ran manufacturing businesses, so we're used to factories.

The industrial buildings in Fotan are a bit creepy (I certainly would feel nervous at night), but it's really because of the smell, for me, at least. There's a scent of rot and decay on some of the floors, which makes me think of zombies.

We had to walk down the stairs because it was a pain to keep waiting for the lifts, and I took a few pictures of the fire exits.

Door handle.

Random bits of wood from one of the artists' studios.

This one actually made me feel quite cheerful. Something about the colours and the clothes hung up on the beams.

Fotanian 2011, Part 3

The final round of artwork! Don't forget, you can still attend Fotanian this coming Saturday and Sunday!

DL and I were super impressed by this ink painting. I mean, they're horses rendered in simple strokes! This is truly modern Chinese painting.

Oh, I used to build houses and stuff out of popsicle sticks...I miss that.

I thought this series was rather cute. An homage to the master Hayao Miyazaki.

Performance art.

Mm, I love men in suits.

Alright, I took this picture because of that little kid in the peacoat just staring at something. Look at how fascinated he is, he's not even looking at the artists. What could he be looking at??

Yes, the little dude was staring at a pork chop! I don't know why, but this was just so funny to me.

This dude is famous for mocking and parodying Chow Chun Fai's work (he's the dude with the nice studio who does paintings of Hong Kong movie scenes). I like his work because he's so funny. Here he is playing around with Chow Chun Fai's taxi fetish.

And here he is doing a pirate version of Chow Chun Fai's style. DL told me that he deliberately watches pirated copies so that it truly looks pirated, with the blurry and pixelated quality, etc.

Lace and...? Mattress foam?

For a second, I thought the water was real, but it's resin. That poor little turtle! You know, I'm obsessed with turtle welfare because of guilt. When we were kids, we released our turtles into the wild (ie. our backyard) where they were promptly eaten by rats.

These dudes performed at the studio.

A fashion design studio opened, too! Good luck, kids!!

Christmas tree.

Randomly, a museum devoted to antique tea ware. It was so crowded!

And possibly the best artist of the day, Wilson Shieh's work. Love his stuff, very thoughtful and witty but not pretentious.