I dined on the faces of animals in Hong Kong.

The title is the hook. We’ll get to the whole “I feasted on animal faces or parts of animal faces” later. That’s just good marketing right there. For now, just know that they were delicious.

My time in Hong Kong started with a shuttle to the hotel. And I was awestruck. Hong Kong is not only massive but incredibly urban. The biggest city I have ever been to is Toronto and it never affected me like Hong Kong did on that first night. My vision was filled by mountainous, hilly islands connected by a multitude of bridges with towering buildings illuminating the light sky. It was a magnificent sight after hours in a dark, metal tube.

At the hotel, I got just a hint of what was to come. The view was stunning and if I hadn’t been exhausted then I might have spent the whole night just gazing at the harbor and skyscrapers. I met my roommate, a teacher from Cleveland. Collin had actually been grounded in Newark with one of our professors so he had also arrived just that day and was equally exhausted. The next morning, I started meeting my new colleagues the next morning at breakfast and I knew right away that I was very lucky because they’re all great, intelligent people and teachers.

After some time strolling the streets outside the hotel by myself, I met up with the group and our tour guide to go to Victoria Peak. Along the way, I was still impressed as Isaw the city from different altitudes and angles. We also drove by Jackie Chan’s house and I got a picture of his driveway.

Victoria Peak was awesome right away because there was a New York Fries and they had poutine. For those of you not blessed with knowledge of poutine, it is an authentic Canadian dish of fries covered in mozzarella cheese and brown gravy. Poutine is probably the best thing that will ever happen to your mouth. And it tastes just as good in China as it does in Canada. I’m not sure that the Chinese know that because I was the only one in the store and the employees seemed shocked that someone came in.

The view from Victoria Peak was amazing as it is 552 meters up and the highest mountain on the actual island of Hong Kong. I knew it was a special sight so I made sure to rock the green shirt for all to see. Why? Because I care. I’m not sure that the view could top the poutine but hot gravy and cheese on such a humid day was probably a bad idea.

We went to Repulse Bay next. It was a crazy beach that has sand imported from islands in the South China Sea. The tour guide said it was named for the British attempt to repulse the Japanese during World War II but our professors, Steve and Lijun, thought it was for the Chinese attempts to repulse the British during the Opium Wars. I also heard that the British had named it after their exploits of repulsing pirates who used the bay as a base of operations.

The great thing about it was that I touched the Pacific Ocean for the first time that I can remember. Swimming in the Pacific as a toddler in California (wearing a yellow speedo, natch) just doesn’t count.

The other interesting site at Repulse Bay was a Buddhist and Daoist temple. I was surprised at how decorated the temple was as I had expected something simpler. But I did my rounds. I paid my respets to a fertility Buddha, rubbed the belly of luck Buddha, and crossed a bridge that supposedly adds three days to your life.

Next, our group visited Aberdeen which is a harbor area that was once the home of Hong Kong’s “water people” who live on house-boats and make a living off the sea. Many of them have been relocated to the land by the government but most are still on the water. We took a boat tour of the area and saw the stark contrast between the house-boats and the nearby yacht club. Big difference between junks covered in tires and sleek yachts.

Another interesting fact about Aberdeen is that it was the filming location for the opening scenes of “Enter the Dragon” with Bruce Lee.

We had lunch at a restaurant called the Jumbo Floating Restaurant. Our meal was dim sum, which almost means appetizer like tapas does in Spanish. It was delicious and I resolved at that point to only use chopsticks during this trip. If it can be eaten with chopsticks then it won’t be eaten unless I’m using chopsticks. Jenn, a teacher from New York, called me out for eating soup with a spoon but I’m thinking there’s a soup clause in this chopsticks self-contract.

After lunch, we went back to the hotel and then had the afternoon for ourselves. I chose to go on a walk with most of the group to check out the protests in the streets. July 1 is the anniversary of Hong Kong being returned to the Chinese by the British after 99 years of colonial rule. In the morning, there are celebrations of this event. In the afternoon, there are protests directed primarily at expressing anger with Beijing, denouncing discrimination against immigrants and foreign workers, as well as calling for more democratic government in Hong Kong.

I expect to see a great contrast between the the mainland and Hong Kong. This type of protest is technically legal in China but aside from autonomous regions, like Hong Kong, you’ll never see anyone calling out the Communist Party. It is okay to slam local leaders so long as you attribute their failure to them personally rather than the system itself.

The protests were very well organized and there was a large police presence. But they were only there to make sure things were safe. Actually, many officers were not even carrying firearms. The police oversaw the main protest at Victoria Park, which is right outside of my hotel, and the parades through the streets.

We had a brief meeting later but I took a power nap first. The jet lag was starting to hit me and we walked well over five miles during our tour and after lunch. Then it was time to go to dinner. Darwin, a teacher in Maryland and an immigrant from Hong Kong, had asked his uncle to recommend a place and we made our way to the East Lake Seafood Restaurant. Our meal was over ten courses but I’ll just focus on a few. I promised I would eat anything and everything while I was abroad. I lived up to that promise on the very first day.

One of our first courses was fried pork. It was delicious with some Chinese barbeque sauce on it. The head was still attached and they asked if anyone wanted to eat it. I did.

A later course was steamed fish. Collin, my roommate, had told me about eating a fish eye the last time he was in China. Luckily, our fish still had eyes so he plucked one out with his chopsticks and I ate it.

Another course was fried rooster. The head was just sitting there and at this point it was begging to be eaten. Lijun, one of our professors from Towson University, told me that you could eat the brain. Her daughter, Michelle, was very eager to see me devour that chicken brain and her mom, even after a pig face and fish eye, didn’t think I would do it. Well…



After a long day exploring Hong Kong, we walked back to the hotel to rest for our 14 hour train ride to the Guangxi region. Jerome, a teacher from Pennsylvania and world traveller, tried to help me pick up some random girls by boasting about my ability to eat fish eyes. It wasn’t successful but I’m glad to have found a wingman already.

Before bed, I had to make a trip to the roof so I could get one more amazing glimpse at Hong Kong. The pool wasn’t a bad reason to go up there either. Let this final picture end my last post before my ghost writer has to take over when I enter censored mainland China.

Hong Kong is awesome. And I’m glad I got to check it out for at least one day. Batman was only here for a few hours and he had to kidnap a Chinese criminal accontant. I only had to eat some pig face.