At least you can still get a $4 fruit smoothie in Asia

I did my first potentially dangerous thing yesterday. I know what you're thinking. "Dangerous?!? Scott, I have know you for years/days/hours/have never met you and Safety is your middle name!" Yes, I would definitely take a bullet for safety, but sometimes a man/woman/person just has to live on the edge. After turning a 1 hour, 2 km walking tour into a 12 hour hiking ordeal, I decided that the two samosas I had for breakfast was not going to keep me satisfied for the night. Seeing as it was already 6:00 pm, I decided to get some dinner. I whipped out my Lonely Planet's guide to Hong Kong and Macau (I have LPs for each place I'm going, which makes my luggage quite heavy) and found a cheap place that was near where I ended up and started looking for the address. By the way, if you're in Hong Kong and you're at, say, 3 Queen's Rd. Central and you're looking for 128 Queen's Rd. Central, that doesn't mean it's just a block or two away, like it would in the U.S. So I get to where 128 Queen's Rd. Central should be and I can't even find the building, much less the restaurant that was in the book. Being a hungry and adventurous guy, I decided I'd find a local hole-in-the-wall restaurant that had a lot of people in it, sit down and point to a couple of things on the menu. At the time, it seemed like a good idea. I looked at the menu, and much of it (almost half?) involved parts of the cow that I don't really consider food (e.g., tripe, tendons) So, I order two dumplings (I like dumplings) and bowl of some sort of assorted ball and seaweed soup. I got the dumplings and was expecting something close to potstickers, with that soy/vinegar/ginger sauce that I like so much. That wasn't what I got at all. The dumplings looked sort of like the dumplings I know on the outside, but what lies beneath was a complete mystery. A couple of the things looked like beans, but beyond that I'm just not sure what was in there. That didn't stop me from eating them all, with a little soy sauce, of course. Next came the soup. It had eight balls in it, two of each type. The balls ranged from edible to I-would-never-order-this-again. The pork balls were the most easily identifiable (they were wrapped) and probably the best tasting of the bunch. The rest were all of some kind of fish, and all but one kind were passable as food. The fourth one though, after having one bite of the first one, I decided to eat them both right away (I was determined to eat whatever they lay in front of me) so that I could let the taste of the broth and seaweed drown them out. I thought I was doing pretty good with the chopsticks (the only utensils on the table) and the spoon that came with the soup when the waitress offered me a fork. Apparently I could use some work in that department. I finished everything, put the chopsticks across the bowl (which I think is what you're supposed to do, not leave them sticking out of the bowl), paid my bill (<$3.50 for both) and left full. To reward myself after a full day, I went into the restaurant I chose not to eat at and ordered a 16 oz. smoothie, which cost more than my dinner and went home. I thought between the dinner of questionable origin and that I had drunk water from drinking fountains in Hong Kong Park (the park is the best one I've ever seen, btw) that I'd be spending today on the toilet. Not so. I can't imagine that this sort of luck will continue, though.

Also, I decided to eat at a McDonald's today, to note if there are any differences. I went in at 10:40 and they were still serving breakfast, so I crossed the bay and went to another McD's and waited until 11. There are more similarities than differences. They have a value menu, double cheeseburgers and sausage mcmuffins are ~$1. You can get mcmuffins during the lunch/dinner time. Small shakes, small fries, and 2 piece chicken wings are ~$0.63 Ice cream cones are ~$0.25. No Quarterpounders of Royals w/ cheese. Everything is cheaper at these McD's (except the double cheeseburgers). I got a Big Mac value meal (which is a #6 here not a #1) and a six piece. The fries and the Big Mac tasted the same, and yes, they had ketchup. The six piece weren't chicken mcnuggets, though (they have them, but that's not what I got). For $1 you can get a six piece of fish dippers, little filet o'fish-like things with tartar sauce for dipping. You see, fish, not the burger, is king at these McDonalds. The Filet O'Fish value meal is the #1, not the Big Mac. In fact, the Filet O'Fish is the only sandwich that you can get during breakfast hours. They even have a breakfast combo that's scrammbled eggs, hashbrowns, and english muffin and three fish dippers. Some of the McD's have a McCafe where you can get overpriced coffee and upscale sandwiches. "Crab & egg mayo sandwich" for $3.

I have to go as people are waiting for the computer (I'm at the library). I'll try and stop back on Monday when I'll upload some pictures. Thanks for the comments so far, and feel free to email me directly as I check that regularly, too.