The Crowd Affect

LukFook. It's everywhere. It means luck. And Asians are all about luck. Red is the color of luck. Jade is luck. There are so many things that mean luck it's kind of overwhelming. So today we decided we would go on a adventure in Wan Chai--the area of Hong Kong island where we are staying. Above ground foot bridges connect buildings, thereby keeping pedestrian road traffic to a minimum. It's really convenient for getting around. Especially on a day like today when it's raining. While in Beijing Econ Man took note that there are like a bizillion gold-selling jewelry stores in China. They, like luck, are everywhere. Which may be why they all have the word fook in their name. And they are where everyone seems to go to shop. These aren't like the Kay Jeweler variety of low end American jewelry. These are 24 karat golf pieces, high end diamonds, the finest quality jades (that sell for than gold on a per ounce basis). And all these stores are packed. Packed with people buying jewelry. It was almost overwhelming how many stores there are and how many people were in there buying.
So we decided to check out the wares. Econ Man is always keen to know how much over the spot price gold jewelry is selling for.








While we parused they brought our kids Coke to drink. Wow was that a big mistake. After we left it took us a good hour to get them to calm down.



Dashel kept saying he wanted a date with mommy, so when we got back from our Wan Chai exploration adventure I put Tess down for her nap, Econ Man took Declan out to lunch, and Dash and I ordered room service and had a date in our room. It was really fun. We ate, we played Legos, and we napped.


This is the view from our room.


This is the view from our rooms looking out and to the left.


Later on we joined the film crew for an early evening shoot in the Mongkok district of Kowloon Island. I took Tess and Dash on a street market adventure while Econ Man recruited Declan to help Sid with shooting.


Mongkok is super busy. Nathan Street (where they filmed) is alot like the feel of Oxford Street in London. There are so many people it induces closterphobia. It was hot, busy, noisy, and way over stimulating for Tess. We did some cheap street market shopping and I honed my bartering skills. It's amazing what you can do with a calculator. It's its own language. You don't even have to share a mutual spoken language. Numbers are a language of their own. The seller types out the asking price on the calculator. I counter on the same calculator. This goes on till we both feel we are getting a good deal. Lots of fun. They see tourists and they immediately mark up prices by half. So it's the tourist's job to bring that number down to reality.



A pathway in the street market near Nathan Road in Mongkok.


Quick, fast food stall near the market.


Men playing a game and gambling right on the street corner.





Even though HK was once part of the British Empire and people learned English, today in the HK of the People's Republic of China many cabbies don't know English. And so because of this language barrier they won't stop for non-Asians because it becomes too much of a hassle. Foreigners are encouraged to acquire hotel cards from the hotel front desk which have the hotel address written in Chinese. You hand this to your cabbie when you get in and, voila, you end up at the correct hotel instead of the other side of town. So this was our experience tonight. But Tess didn't mind. She was so happy to be out of the chaos.


We had dinner at the hotel because it was late and the kids were wiped. I generally advise eating away from hotels, as hotel food can be quite pricey. But in this case our sanity warranted ease I'd access. So we chose the path of least resistance, ate quick and headed off to sleep before any nuclear meltdown could befall us. But not before Econ Man could teach Declan about optimism and pessimism, aided by Declan's half-full/half-empty drink. When Econ Man asked Declan if he thought the glass was half-full or half-empty, he said it was both at the same time. And with that answer Ecin Man gave his lesson.


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