Kennedy Town

When the concierge called the trams ding dings I thought he was simply referring to the bell they ring. However, on closer inspection I noticed that they are actually called Ding! Ding! How wonderful.

We are Ding! Dinging! here and Ding! Dinging! there. And John is even Ding! Dinging! upstairs on the top level. I have chosen not to wrestle with the especially narrow spiral staircases one has to negotiate to reach the upper level.

Being my "special day" I was allowed to chose our destination so naturally, because I had been hustled out of the fabric store the previous day, I chose to return to the Western Market to explore even deeper into that particular Aladin's Cave. Also, there was a tantalising French Bakery outside which was calling me.

Found the most exquisite Italian and French lace fabrics. Surprisingly, these prices were very reasonable compared to similar fabrics in Brisbane. Just as well lace fabrics are not especially useful in quilt making (I thought to myself).

After a tasty bite from the French Bakery outside Western Market, we boarded another one of our happy little trams and headed further west to Kennedy Town. This appears to be a much more residential part of town and the sights were once again interesting to say the least. All manner of unrecognisable foods, probably unmentionable pigs parts, were spread out on woven trays and placed along the edge of the street to dry in the sun.

Returned to our now more familiar part of town to collect our new reading glasses. The amazing Mr Wong has performed a miracle. We are thrilled with our new vision of the printed page and of course mine will enable me to see my stitching without the eye strain. Highly recommend the helpful folk at Wing Kwong Optical Company, Johnston Road - Mr Wong, Mr Hardy Kwok and his extremely polite and helpful daughter, Chris.

John treated me to a session at the Foot Spa Garden near our hotel. Bliss!! Also a little pain but the wonderful masseuse who treated me worked all the painful knots out of my legs and feet from knee to toe. Happy Feet said a big Thank You.

Sleeping well despite the beds being as hard as pallets. If there are any springs in there at all I am sure they must be industrial strength more suitable to use as quake breakers, say in Wellington. Wouldn't be especially helpful on the sediment in Christchurch, would probably just be sucked into the mud and silt.

On a slightly unsavoury note, I noticed a woman walking her very small dog over in the Kennedy Town area yesterday. The dog wanted to do it's business and after the deed, it's human took a roll of what appeared to be kitchen towel out of her bag, pulled off a piece about 5 meters long, folded it up and wiped the dogs rear end with it. She then picked up the offending matter left on the pavement and deposited that in a nearby bin. Next she took a water bottle out of her bag and squirted the pavement with a couple of glasses worth of the water. Watching that little performance has given me the confidence to lift my eyes from the pavements to higher sights and I am beginning to see a lot more of this amazing city.

Tomorrow is our last day in Hong Kong so we are hoping to make it up to The Peak. I'll report back later.