Durian Tastes Like a Sweet Mushroom (and Smells Like a Sock)

Taipei, Taiwan, China (?), July 27

Before leaving Macau for Hong Kong on July 24, I had some durian.

Durian is a tropical fruit which I had heard of only because it's banned from the Singapore metro. It smells bad (rotting meat is the normal comparison, although some say it more like a very old gym sock), and unlike some cities I could mention Singapore evidently cares about stinkiness in the subway.

A durian looks kind of like a larger, spikier pineapple. The outside of the fruit has very little odor, but the part you actually eat does smell pretty bad. But it tastes nice, sort of like a sweet mushroom. Definitely an odd dining experience.

Macau has some very nice colonial architecture, including several cathedrals. The Portuguese consul gets a house and office with awesome harbor views. That job must come as a nice reward at the end of a diplomatic career in Portugal.

There is a separate currency for Macau, but I tried (not entirely
successfully) to avoid getting any of it and only get Hong Kong dollars. Everyone in Macau accepts Hong Kong dollars but the reverse is not true.

With the ferry ride to Hong Kong on July 24 I accomplished my original objective of an overland trip from Ireland to Hong Kong. As we entered Hong Kong's harbor I realized I had only gone from one formerly British-controlled island to another. Still, it did feel good.

Hong Kong has a very impressive skyline on the harbor, with much more architecturally appealing buildings than any other Chinese city I have seen. I couldn't see the skyline that well because my visit happened to be on a series of days with really bad smog. After Beijing and Shanghai I didn't especially notice it, but there were a lot of smog warnings on TV.

The other thing I noticed while channel-surfing was the public health warnings about bird flu. Most of the suggested precautions were unsurprising (cover your mouth if you cough, wash your hands frequently), but according to the Hong Kong health authorities the guy habit of leaving the toilet seat up can spread bird flu as well, due to what they delicately referred to as "flying droplets." You learn something new every day.

The people of Hong Kong are definitely better dressed than mainlanders, and with not nearly as many inadvertently entertaining messages on their clothing. Also, they do not let their kids run around with no pants on. They do, like mainlanders, roll up their shirts under their armpits in hot weather. This always struck me as strange, although I guess it probably does help you feel cooler.

My first priority in Hong Kong was picking up my airplane tickets. I ended up leaving my passport at the travel agency, which I fortunately noticed as soon as I tried to check into my hotel. I took this lapse as a sign that I should probably get home soon.

Of the millions of other things to do in Hong Kong, the first one I did was riding the so-called "world's longest escalator." It was fun, but didn't quite live up to my naive expectations--there are many separate sections and a fair amount of walking involved. The tram to the top of Victoria Peak was also a good time, even though the view was mostly nonexistent due to the smog. Parts of the ride are very steep, and much of the ride is through tropical jungle vegetation--although Hong Kong's tourist literature describes the area's climate as "subtropical", the city is south of the tropic of cancer, a fact I somehow never noticed until I arrived in China. So in addition to my other accomplishments on the trip, I have visited the tropics for the first time.

In honor of my Ireland -> Hong Kong itinerary, I stopped by an Irish bar in Kowloon. The guy I sat down proved a very talkative drunk Irish expat, who told me at least three times that I resembled Martin McGuinness (Sinn Fein MP and former (?) IRA leader). I was pretty sure he meant it as a compliment.