The major flea market runs through Apliu Street in Sham Shui Po, selling mainly electronics, electrical appliances and stuff, handphone accessories and second-hand goods. Cheung Sha Wan Road was better known for its many fashion and tailoring stores, while nearby Dragon Centre is a small but overcrowded shopping mall full of stores selling PC and related stuff (a la Sim Lim Square (In fact, I think Dragon Centre actually has more stuff than Sim Lim Square)).
Came to Apliu Street upon exiting Sham Shui Po MTR station
Flea market along Apliu Street
Oh god, how to sift through this trash!
I was so utterly bored while Slug had to stop at every stall and look through the goods. He was actually hunting down a vintage telephone - those kinds where you turn the wheel to dial up numbers. Feeling hungry at the same time, I badgered him to go for lunch first. We came upon this roast meats shop, and had rice with roast meats. They served this unique condiment - spring onion oil, and while I was commenting on how fragrant the oil was, Slug had already drizzled the whole plate of oil into his rice. Yucks!
Rice with roast meats
We continued the hunt for the vintage telephone, and Slug managed to located three stalls that had that. However, the telephones were not in superb condition (dirty coils, greasy microphones and ugly stains!), and prices were not as cheap as he expected. Slug spent (or rather, wasted) the next hour pondering over which one he should get.
A stallholder having a simple lunch
The squalid apartments along Apliu Street
Oooo ... sleeeeazy ...
Shop selling roast meats
Bought some kueh to munch on
Finally at 3+pm, Slug made up his mind and bought the telephone from one of the stalls, but whether it worked or not was another issue. Time to go to Sai Kung for dinner! I seriously missed that place.
As usual, the attractions there were the small-scale floating seafood market (mysteriously, not as many vendors as previously) and the cute dogs strolling along the waterfront promenade (sadly, fewer dogs this time). Maybe because of the weather. It was getting cloudy and windy again!
Floating seafood market
The quiet waterfront promenade
The pier filled with anglers and curious onlookers
Lonely boats out at sea
Dragon boating practice
It came as no surprise when it started to rain, and we decided to go for an early dinner, and at the same time seek shelter at the restaurant. This time, we visited Chuen Kee, seemingly the leader among the other restaurants along Seafood Street, because it had two branches, larger tanks overflowing with sea creatures, and the fact that many celebrities had dined there before.
Seafood Street
One of the two Chuen Kee seafood restaurants (not the one we dined at)
Tanks filled to the brim with a variety of sea creatures
Enormous!
Some extremely weird-looking crabs
Starfishes and huge, fat cuttlefishes
Sigh, why do they have to eat moray eels?
The set meal we ordered consisted of baked lobster on ee-fu noodles with cheese sauce, steamed prawns, steamed fish in Hong Kong style, deep-fried calamari in spices, stir-fried kai lan in oyster sauce, dessert (a delightfully sweet white fungus and barley soup) and free flow of tea. We were highly satisfied with this divine seafood meal, but we could not decide whose seafood cuisine was better - here or Tung Kee's.
Happy with this lovely meal!
As we were going down the stairs to leave the restaurant, we were preoccupied with star-gazing - there were many framed pictures of the celebrities who had dined there hanging on the wall. Lo and behold! I was captivated when I spotted this picture of Ekin in his pre-Y&D days (and bearing an uncanny resemblance to Ah Do)!
My darling used to dine here before!
Another hottie!
It was still drizzling but we still braved the rain to get to the minibus terminus near the waterfront promenade. We had a direct comfortable ride back to Causeway Bay ... for more late-night shopping!
Minibus terminus
On the minibus
Sogo at Causeway Bay
We walked around Jardine's Crescent, Times Square (most of its shops were closed by the time we got there) and the other shopping malls at Causeway Bay. Discovered that there were many elderly beggars kneeling on the roads in these busy areas. They would pull at your heartstrings by kneeling, praying and kowtow-ing, and I was actually tempted to drop some money for a elderly female beggar until I witnessed her secretly transferring the notes and big coins from her bowl into her bag, leaving behind those cents in her bowl so that it seemed as though she had not gathered much. Just then, a policeman came along and shooed her away. She got up and after checking that the policeman was out of sight, she plonked herself at another spot on the road and started begging again.
Jardine's Crescent
At Times Square
Was on the way back to our apartment when we saw an owner training her pet dogs on the street, which immediately drew a small crowd to watch.
Sit!
Happy pug jumping to grab the snack from its owner
Later at night, TV was broadcasting a show hosted by the mainland Chinese about the Sichuan earthquake - honouring the dead, honouring the helpers, narrating triumphant battles with death etc. As much as we hated ______, we actually stayed up to watch that show till 3+am. At one point when the Hong Kong celebrities (6 only, actually) appeared on stage to sing the modified 海阔天空, Slug and I broke into a severe case of goosebumps and we started comparing whose arms were more pimply (but luckily, we did not have to watch those constipated expressions again).
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