During our time in Hong Kong, we experienced a bit of how my cousin 过日子. She works for an airline and her husband is a social worker. Breakfast is usually some kind of fruit smoothie for herself, and tea and white toast with butter and 鱼松 or 芝麻酱 for Tisha (and us). She doesn’t eat much, and like many of my female-identifying family members, admires a slim body and “healthy” diet of fruits and veggies. I try to tune out the fatphobic aspects of the conversation. I did take a stab at trying some different raw fruits though! Since I’m allergic to most raw fruits, I’m pretty cautious about trying new ones. I won’t die, but there is discomfort in the mouth and throat. I tried both durian and jackfruit (which look a bit similar on the outside, but are quite different in smell and texture-wise). Turns out I can eat durian, but not jackfruit! Both were tasty though!
七月十三号， 星期四 – 饮茶和理发
Surprisingly, I slept the whole night. As a consequence of barely sleeping the night before, it seems I dodged the worst of jetlag. I got up around 5am or so, as did my mom, and we checked in with 四姨 and 二姨 via Signal chat. Luckily, most internet services and websites still worked in Hong Kong. I hung out with Garlic (one of two house cats – the other is Ginger) until everyone else woke up and we made plans to meet up for dimsum. Garlic is very affectionate – like a cuddly dog – I appreciate this.
When it was time to head out, Tisha helped get an Octopus card for me. 二姨 had helped my mom and 四姨 get the senior version of the Octopus card at the airport, which made bus fare practically free for them! Both Āwěi and Xiǎopéi had work today, so they unfortunately couldn’t join us. Tisha was on summer break before heading off to college in England, so she was free to show us around. We met them around 9:30ish and chatted for a quite a while before heading out to the dimsum (diǎn xīn) place called 海天花園酒家.
This would be the first of many indoor dining experiences I would have during my time overseas. It definitely made me very nervous since Covid-19 is still circulating and no one is taking the pandemic seriously anymore. I make do with having my mask on while not actively eating or drinking, and thankfully, the place wasn’t too crowded, but it just feels so hard to choose between family and Covid-safety. Am I expected to spurn all family gatherings even while I made a trip across the world? I explain the situation thoroughly, but even though we seem to come to an understanding, their actions don’t show it. Tisha, Āwěi, and Xiǎopéi have all gotten Covid and are still experiencing persistent coughs months after. Even if I mask, I will still be exposed to my mom and others who haven’t masked in our domestic space.
I tried goose for the first time. It’s very similar to duck but fattier, and it came with legitimate duck sauce – the real stuff – very tart and floral, lightly sweet and spiced. We also got chasiu (chāshāo) pork, which was much meatier and fattier (and tastier!) than the stuff you’ll find in New York. We also had 煲仔饭 (báozǐfàn, claypot rice), and the family favorite 凤爪 (chicken feet), along with some other items that I don’t remember the names of: a tofu skin dish, some kind of light congee, a panfried savory pancake, and a very traditional kind of meatball (probably 山竹牛肉 also known as Ngao Yuk). We were pretty stuffed, but also finished pretty much everything we ordered.
For the rest of the morning, we wandered around the coast filled with fishing boats and markets with all kinds of seafood. It was probably the first time I saw abalone. The only thing left on our agenda today was to get haircuts with someone 二姨 knows. She hasn’t gotten a haircut from this shifu for a long while, so for this special occasion, she brought the whole family along to get haircuts! We returned to 二姨’s place to rest and take turns washing our hair. It was a dreadfully hot, humid, and drowsy afternoon, so Tisha took a nap. I felt quite tired too, but I’ve been cutting my own hair for the past 3 years, so I thought it was time to get a real barber to take a look. He is semi-retired and cuts hair by appointment only out of his own apartment, and was able to work around our masks. My aunts and my mom were surprisingly pleased with my haircut, short as it was, and I certainly felt a lot lighter.
We were pretty exhausted after our multi-hour haircut session, and decided to have dinner at a nearby mall back in Xiǎopéi’s neighborhood. I got this noodle and eggplant alongside a cold drink with milk and red bean, which were pretty tasty.
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