利工民織造廠 Lee Kung Man Knitting Factory

Jesus, what a name. 利工民織造廠 or the Lee Kung Man Knitting Factory (HK) Ltd shop was a recommendation by my friend, NY, after I said that I didn't really know what to write for men's clothing.

Lee Kung Man is a venerable establishment that has been around for decades, providing undershirts and other accessories to clients including Chow Yun Fat and Bruce Lee. Incidentally, don't ever ask me about Bruce Lee because I honestly don't see the point of that dude. Big fucking deal he did martial arts. So did a lot of other people, and I don't see their statues being built. What, I'm supposed to be happy that white otakus and insecure Asian Americans love him and that he married some white broad and was fucking a Chinese piece on the side? Er, I don't think so.

Once, this French person said to me, "I love le Dragon, Bruce Lee!"
Me: Who the fuck is Bruce Lee? Is he a ninja?

In case you haven't noticed yet, I'm kind of an asshole.

Alright, let's get to Lee Kung Man! I passed by their Sheung Wan branch on the way to work.

I really don't know what else to say. I'm not really an undershirt-wearer, but I touched the fabric and it felt quite nice. Very soft and lightweight. Jesus, look at all those boxes! The obsessive-compulsive in me is pleased.

Shirts are really cheap, starting at under HKD40 and not costing more than HKD200. If I were a dude, I would probably rock my shirts with those lucky gold chains, old jeans and slippers. Yeah, that's right, SLIPPERS. Plastic Hello Kitty ones, too. It's too bad I'm a biological female, I would make such an awesome guy.

Lee Kung Man has branches all over Hong Kong:
224 Johnston Road (in Wan Chai): 2572 8834
111 Wing Lok Street (in Sheung Wan): 2543 8579
188 Nam Cheong Street ( in Shek Kip Mei): 2777 2439
505 Shanghai Street (in Yau Ma Tei): 2384 0270

Mido Cafe, Part 2

My friend was visiting Hong Kong for the first time, so I took him to Mido Cafe since it was so close to his hotel. You may want to read the first part here.

Rather than ordering the usual chan teng food that you can get anywhere, I decided that it would be a great time to get Mido's specialty, which is baked rice with topping.

We got baked pork chop rice.

And baked spare ribs rice. My favourite! These are all tomato sauce-based, but you can get a cheese-based sauce with baked seafood rice. It's quite good, as well.

We stayed a bit past closing time since the staff are so nice.

Pretty, huh? I wish I could live there.

You are My Cocoon

Broadway Cinematheque and Kubrick

I'd originally wanted to do separate entries for Broadway Cinematheque and Kubrick, but as usual, I was crap at taking photographs. Broadway Cinematheque is where a lot of independent and art house films get shown in Hong Kong. My friends and I popped over there to watch the film version of Haruki Murakami's Norwegian Wood  even though we're not huge fans of the book. I really much prefer A Wild Sheep Chase-- a marvellous, funny book that feels completely effortless, even though I'm sure it was painstakingly written. As I read A Wild Sheep Chase, I kept gasping out, "The audacity!" because of just how fantastic it is. I really recommend it.

Anyway, we were there for Matsuyama Kenichi. Oh, this gorgeous boy!

Photos below courtesy of Oh No, They Didn't.

I found the movie incredibly beautiful. The cinematography was just stunning. Everything looked gorgeous and dreamy, even the rubbish. However, the narrative was just terrible. If you hadn't read the book previous to watching the movie, I don't know how you could piece it together. Also, what a waste of a great composer! Jonny Greenwood did the music, but you wouldn't be able to tell because it was so badly edited into the film. The music would just cut off at random points or start  up at the strangest moments. Very distracting!

It was really such a fucking shame because the actors were so excellent, especially Matsuyama Kenichi. He is just terrific! He has an innate vulnerability to him, which helps, but he is fearless as an actor, his emotions seem so raw. There was a scene where he's crying, and I felt like Pauline Kael watching the then-unknown Marlon Brando onstage for the first time. (Brando had been so authentic, so real, that Kael had thought he was actually having a breakdown and had to avert her eyes in embarrassment before realizing that he was just acting. I felt the same, dudes!)

Anyway, watch the movie for the visuals, but otherwise, sad to say, it's kind of a shitty film. I should have expected it because the director is Tran Anh Hung, who did the beautiful but plotless The Scent of Green Papayas. After watching it, my first ex-husband commented, "That director needs to watch some Korean dramas."

Anyway, I wanted to take pictures of the Cinematheque because the interior is really uniquely designed, but then, you wouldn't know from the photographs I took because we didn't have time to linger as the movie started as soon as we arrived. The fancy stuff is on the second floor, but we had to rush to our seats, so I didn't have a chance to take any pictures.

I did manage to photograph a bit of Kubrick, which is a bookstore and DVD shop. This is the DVD portion of the shop. The bookstore portion has a little cafe attached to it. They stock mostly arthouse DVDs -- I still have my eye on Ninagawa Mika's Sakuran, except it's so damn expensive. I've also given up on the Johnny To film soundtrack set. I just can't afford it. I think Volume 1 alone is around HKD1,500! The bookstore focusses mostly on film-related publications.

Broadway Cinematheque is in Yau Ma Tei, just around the corner from Mido Cafe.

Just Wrap Me Around Your Finger

Mido Cafe

Mido Cafe is one of the oldest chaa chan tengs in Hong Kong. It is seriously an institution, and it's housed in such a beautiful, very distinctly-Hong Kong building. I wish I could live there. No visit to Hong Kong is complete without paying your respects to this wonderful place.

Here it is with Christmas decorations. It doesn't normally look like this. Check out those windows on the second floor! If they look familiar, it's because they've made several appearances in Hong Kong movies, including one with Chow Yun Fat, I think, where he shoots all the windows out or something.

The ground floor. I've never sat here. Ah! I'm so bad, I should have taken a closer picture of the tiles. They're all original from the 1950s. The thing is, I was supposed to meet my friends here for dinner at 6, but I had a workshop to run in a neighbourhood that I wasn't too familiar with, so I ended up taking the wrong bus. I made it to Mido at around 630 in the evening, which made me super paranoid and nervous because I hate being late. Plus, we had to catch a movie at 720, so I was extra anxious.

I was charging up the stairs, which is why the photograph is so blurry.

Ah, the lovely second floor with its famous bank of windows. I also saw a kitty staring in from outside.

The photographs don't do much justice to the spaciousness of the second floor, unfortunately.

Anyway, the food. It's typical chaa chan teng fare, but they are especially famous for their baked pork chop rice. Unfortunately, it takes a while for them to make it, and we didn't have enough time before the movie.

We just got standard chan teng food. This is beef steak in tomato sauce.

I got ox tongue in tomato sauce. I love ox tongue.

This is fried barbecue pork and veggies. I'll be honest, this is quite typical Hong Kong food: lots of rice and sauce, hearty portions and probably laden with MSG. I do strongly suggest ordering one of their baked rice dishes if it's your first time to eat at Mido Cafe.

On the way down, some feng shui stuff.

Mido Cafe is in Yau Ma Tei. Take the MTR to Yau Ma Tei Station and leave through Exit C. Go to Temple Street and just walk down to the end. Mido Cafe's kitchen closes at 930 in the evening, by the way.