Wednesday: independence and good fortune

This morning I went out into the town by myself for the first time. I rode the metro 3 stops east to the Causeway Bay area of Hong Kong, where I met a new friend at Ikea. Like I, she is an expat. She attended nursing school at UVA and has lived in Hong Kong as an American Expat for 3 years, ever since her husband was transfered here. She is wonderful and asked if I would go shopping with her today. We explored Causeway Bay, which is a cool area because it was once a popular neighborhood for Japanese who came to live in Hong Kong. Among the Ikea, hotels and bric-a-brac, a cache of Japanese shops still exists there. Andi showed me where to purchase various necessary items like hairdryers, samples of any cosmetic brand you could imagine, and affordable zen-like items for the home. She agrees with me that "minimalist chic" is a good way to make the most of small apartments here. Japanese stores in Causeway Bay do this well. She was a great shopping partner.

Later in the afternoon Rob and I had lunch at an authentic Chinese restaurant. I liked it because it was more palatable to my western tastebuds than some of the other culinary venues we have selected. Dumpling Yuan is a place I will remember not only for the food's simple excellence but also for it's name. The term "Dumpling" combined with "Yuan" caught our attention as we dined on the boiled and fried fare. For the Chinese, dumplings are symbols of wealth and fortune, and both are very important in Chinese culture. In a country whose history has battled severe poverty and a taking away of wealth, fortune is now valued highly. This value is displayed many places in Hong Kong, including dumpling shops. The dumpling as a symbol is similar to bread being a symbol for money in the West. An example being the term "bread-winner." The second word in Dumpling Yuan's name is an obvious reference to money, as the yuan is the Chinese currency. Rob and I sat at Dumpling Yuan thinking about the significance of this restaurant's name and how it showed a lot about the culture in which we are living.

As we left the restaurant I thought that perhaps I should start rating restaurants here on a dumpling scale, as one Commerce School student once did. For instance, a 10 star dumpling restaurant is top dog. I give Dumpling Yuan 10 dumplings.

Have a great Wednesday.

Liz

PS--Please check out new pictures posted at the left. Also, please leave comments and send e-mails/suggestions/dumplings. I'd love to hear from you.