La Deesse de Vietnam & Park Excitement

I was fiending for some Hainan chicken, so my friend NY and I went to this place in Sheung Wan. Hainan chicken is basically boiled (or is it steamed?) chicken -- except I don't know what they do to make it so delicious. The best part about Hainan chicken is the rice: it's enriched with chicken fat so it's just so tasty.

However, good Hainan chicken is very hard to find in Hong Kong. The best I've had so far was at Hard Rock Cafe -- the former manager is Singaporean and he made sure that their Hainan chicken was on point.

Still, I've had Hainan chicken at this Sheung Wan eatery on Mercer Street before, and it was passable. I was a bit discombobulated when we arrived, though, because the place has changed its name, but it still looks exactly the same.

The staff are a couple of high school kids, and they kind of don't give a shit.

Well, as I said before, it's kind of mediocre but sort of acceptable if you are really desperate for Hainan chicken rice. It was about HKD39. When I started this blog, I swore that I wouldn't do bad reviews because why clutter up this blog with so much negativity? So, at first I wasn't going to write about this place, but then I didn't hate it and I need to add an entry because I went out with B to places I've written about before.

There was a semi-exciting moment when this expat lady came in demanding vegetables and whining about the restaurant not having any that she wanted to eat. Lady, the outside of the fucking eatery is plastered with pictures of pork chops and chicken. If you want to eat some vegetables, go to the Goddamn supermarket and pick up a salad! Filthy herbivore. (Note that I'm not against vegetarians -- my own mother is a vegetarian because she's a devout Buddhist -- but I loathe people using their food preferences as an excuse to be rude and stupid.)

It really was average Hainan chicken, nothing too horrible or great. Singaporeans will be scoffing as they read this, I know.

After we ate, we decided to visit a nearby park that we saw. It turned out to be more exciting that we could have anticipated! There was some National Geographic shenanigans happening in the carp and terrapin pond. First, we saw a lady terrapin being pursued by an ardent suitor, who she kept slapping in the face with her flippers but he just took it like a hardcore masochist. Who knew that terrapins were also ruled by their penises?

Some of the carp were also wilding out. They were doing backflips out of the water and splashing us. It was more exciting that Sea World!

Then this night bird arrived.

Pretty, huh?

It looks almost ghostly, don't it?

There was also this terrapin that got us excited because he thought he was Sylvester Stallone in that mountain-climbing movie.

Ah! He fell!

But he tried to climb back up again!

Ah, he fell again!

Then, he tried another side. It was pretty nerve-wracking watching him, and I was exhausted and had to go home.

ArtAlive@Park!

See, it annoys me when people say that Hong Kong doesn't have any culture or art. Those people are obviously too uncool and lame to know what's going on. Don't listen to them, they are morons.

Another series of events happening in the next few weeks (actually, they've already started, oops) are organized by ArtAlive@Park! which is an effort to get people doing all kinds of stuff in Hong Kong's parks.

The great thing about this is that free shuttle buses are available so you don't have to miss out on anything!

I'm really interested in the following activities:

Last year, Uncle Hung’s story-telling became children’s favourite so “Story” has decided to stay and play with the kids, without realising that Uncle Hung forgot to take them home! This year, Uncle Hung is back again to the parks. He wonders, what have the stories he left behind become and is he able to recognize them still?

It is not only kids who love stories. Adults too are fascinated by the drama of stories that looks familiar. Story telling is an attempt to inherit community life, though unfortunately it is being forgotten amidst people’s busy lives. A park is a good place to rekindle it.

A story will invite another story, or else there will be no more stories in this world. This year, visitors are most welcome to bring their own stories along. A community means the interaction of telling and listening!

Yuen Chi Hung

Yuen is widely known as Uncle Hung the Storyteller. During his early ages in Canada, he aspired to model upon the professional storytellers who travel around Europe. He really became one in 1994 when he came back to Hong Kong. Since then, he traveled everywhere, from schools, streets, city centres to villages, telling stories to all ages alike, and making a lot of friends within the many stories.

The upcoming dates are:
15/1/2011 2:30-3:30pm Scented Garden, Tuen Mun Park
22/1/2011 2:30-3:30pm Back Lawn, Museum of Tea Ware, Hong Kong Park
29/1/2011 2:30-3:30pm Children Playground, Kowloon Park

I might try to go on the 22nd since I like that park the best. Not that I've been to Tuen Mun Park, but I don't like Kowloon Park because the last time I was there, I got bitten by a mysterious insect that left a giant swelling on my butt that looked like a tumour. I swear to you, my ex-husband wanted to take a photograph and send it to a scientific journal because it was so large.

I'm also curious about this:

Drum for Joy

Drumming is a simple yet powerful activity that is accessible to all, transcending gender, age and culture.

Led by Kumi Masunaga and other experienced facilitators, the event will motivate, energise and connects people, and relieve stress. Both participants and spectators can enjoy an uplifting and harmonious musical journey.

Up to 80 drums and percussion instruments will be provided for participants. Come and join us!

Kumi Masunaga is the founder and director of Drum Jam. She is also a leading facilitator, delivering a wealth of experience and boundless enthusiasm to each programme. She is a professional percussionist, HealthRhythms® trained facilitator and Remo endorser.

16/1/2011 3-4pm North Garden Lawn, Sha Tin Park
23/1/2011 3-4pm Self-Entertainment Zone, Tuen Mun Park

Anyway, there are a lot more activities, including dance, music and art events. Check out their Web site here for more information.

Kowloon Walled City Park

Before I moved to Hong Kong, I visited quite frequently with my family. My parents' close friends live in Kowloon City -- which is why, thanks to their generosity, I found a place there to live -- and so I had a first-hand experience as a visitor to the old Kowloon Walled City.

Some of you might be familiar with the place from games (sorry, I wouldn't know which ones since I don't play games because I get motion sickness. I'm such a delicate flower.), some of you might not realize that Stephen Chow grew up there and based Pig Sty Alley in Kung Fu Hustle on Kowloon Walled City.

Here's a brief excerpt from the Wikipedia entry:

Kowloon Walled City was a densely populated, largely ungoverned settlement in Kowloon, Hong Kong. Originally a Chinese military fort, the Walled City became an enclave after the New Territories were leased to Britain in 1898. Its population increased dramatically following the Japanese occupation of Hong Kong during World War II. From the 1950s to the 1970s, it was controlled by Triads and had high rates of prostitution, gambling, and drug use. In 1987, the Walled City contained 33,000 residents within its 6.5-acre (0.03 km2; 0.01 sq mi) borders.

By the time I moved to Hong Kong, the Walled City had been razed to the ground and a park built in its stead with the original bits of the old fort. Honestly, I love the park. I think it's beautiful and a lovely place to visit. I've consoled heartbroken friends there, I've watched old people doing tai chi, I've petted stray cats, and I've even fallen asleep undisturbed in the park. It's the ideal park for me because there's nature but it's in a restrained form. I can still wear high heels and walk around without worrying about stepping on monkey poo (sooo smelly and nasty) like in Kam Shan Country Park. 

However, I can understand why some former residents of the Walled City feel nostalgic about the old projects. It was often dangerous (although very exciting to me as a child, bless my parents for letting me have the independence to explore) but it was a very organic and very Chinese way of community growth. I'm obsessed with the process of community-building, by the way.

So, the park. At the entrance, which I forgot to photograph, you'll see a small model of the old projects. 

The guards were really nice to us. We arrived about ten minutes before closing (11 at  night), and they still let us wander around.

Remnants of the old 衙門 -- sorry, no English for this, it's simply called a yamen -- at the entrance. I love sitting there and pretending that I'm some old magistrate taking his tea and scowling at delinquents. When I get my men's cheongsam made, I'm going to have a lot of pictures taken there.

There are a lot of pavilions in the park, this is one of them. Again, sorry for the shitty quality of the photograph.

Erm...this is a stream that leads to a waterfall (which I didn't photograph).

One of the courtyards where oldies take their exercise.

A rock formation thing.

You know what, just take my word for it and visit the park. My photographs simply don't do it justice. I'm not sure what I was thinking, I think I was addled by overeating.

Kau U Fong Park

Around the corner from Gough Street is Kau U Fong Street, where you will see a couple of art galleries and restaurants. I might get around to writing about them, but first, I want to talk about the park on this road.

I have a lot of warm feelings for this park. During the day, you'll see oldies playing chess or cards with so much tension, it's like a Bergman film. Actually, those films have no tension for me, so maybe that's a bad comparison.

Sometimes, you'll see a bunch of uncles playing hacky sack with a badminton birdie along Kau U Fong or Gough, as well. Very exciting, and some of those ancient mariners are damn nimble on their feet! I fear to witness them chasing down naughty grandchildren.

Anyway, I like to sit on the swings with a nice alcoholic beverage on a pleasant afternoon or evening. I've also drunkenly broken into the park late at night to swing, which caused a lot of fear in the residents because I was wearing a white dress and I have long hair, and in the dark, I looked like I was floating back and forth.