I took off by myself.  It didn’t seem any less crowded in the metro on Sunday than during the week, in fact it almost seemed more so.  I got a little lost once I got to “Central” (kind of the hub of the city near where the bus terminals etc are located) but as usual people were willing to help – the old man handing out flyers, and eventually the police who are casually standing around were able to get me to the right place.  Riding the air conditioned bus it took me half an hour to get to Stanley, which is on the south end of Hong Kong Island and is is where a lot of ex-pats live.

The bus dropped me off at the small mall, right on the waterfront, and I roamed for awhile before heading off to the market stalls, where I had been told I would find more than the usual junk, and perhaps some art and jewelry worth looking at.

Along the rock wall I saw these drying in the sun on the rocks.  I don’t know if they were anchovies or what.  And then the people putting them in bags and weighing them and selling them.  I passed on them.

More photos of the area around the harbor, including a wave sculpture made out of soda cans:

After roaming around the open markets for awhile, I went looking for a bathroom and entered what appeared to be an open municipal building.  As I walked in, I heard a taiko drummer and walked into a hall with a stage and an audience of people, mostly seniors, sitting in folding chairs.  I took a seat on a bench off to the side, and from there I could see backstage.  The taiko drummer was reading from music – this was not a polished performance by any means.  Then out came a woman singing a Chinese song.   As I continued to watch, I was noticed by some of the waiting performers and I guess my smile and interest invited them to investigate me.  It turns out it was variety entertainment put on by local people.  My people!!!!!   One of the performers explained it to me in English and I understood as best I could.  They were laughing that I couldn’t understand a word of the singing but was delighted by it anyway – I know what it’s like to have the mike in front of me and sing for the joy of it.  “Music is music!” I told them and they welcomed me to Hong Kong after finding out where I was from.  I stayed for an hour and a half – it looked like it would go on for a long time, with the same performers coming out doing different songs and skits.  The cha cha dancers came back and did a country western dance, for example.  I finally had to leave but not before taking a video of my new friend, Elith, with whom I exchanged information. She has given me permission to share my video of her…

https://www.youtube.com/edit?o=U&video_id=598BavATcgY

I left and did a little shopping and had a slice of pizza.  Here I should perhaps answer the question that many people have asked since I got home: “How was the food?”  – well, that first night was indeed a fabulous dinner but after that things went downhill.  By night three I was not digesting the rather greasy, saucy food that was served at every restaurant that served local food.  I was eating a lot of rice.  I’m not sure what it was about it that did not agree with me, but it did not bear any resemblance to the Chinese food we get here in the US – less grease, less sauce, less – I don’t know, was it five spice powder? – something very overpowering that just made me a bit nauseous after several days of it.

I met up with the rest of the rugby goers that evening and had – ugh – another meal at a Hong Kong restaurant.  It appeared to be a very nice restaurant, and I hardly ate. What tickled me was not one but two big screen TVs in the crystal chandeliered room with some wacky movie on that was impossible to follow, and not because of the language, but because it was hard to figure between normal daily life scenes and suddenly people impossibly flying through the air.  Think Bruce Lee on steroids.  I was also not pleased by the sight of shark fin soup on the menu, but you can research why that is on the internet…