Foon Ying

Today was my first day of Foon Ying (means welcome) with the American Women's Association.  This is a three meeting program in which you learn a little bit about Hong Kong and do a little exploring.  Today we met at the Admiralty MTR Station (subway) and took the tram to Sheung Wan and walked around a bit.  Sheung Wan is a very interesting district with lots of little shops and restaurants.  It is also home to the Western Market.  I did not make it into the Western Market today, but I will make my way back there.  I am trying to take notes as I tour all of these places, but I'm not sure how I'll find a specific shop again.  Although I did learn today that if there is a shop you like, ask for the business card (even if it's a little street shop).  Then you have an address when you want to go back.    While my sense of direction has gotten much better over the years, put me on a crowded street with a bunch of tall buildings and forget it!  I'll just walk in circles till I find what I'm looking for:)  Google maps has become my new best friend.  However, the streets here go at lots of different angles, so sometimes it takes google maps a little while to catch up with where you are.

Sheung Wan is a bit of an art and antique district.  My favorite kind of stores to visit!  However, I'm told you get the "tourist" prices there and you need to go to Shenzhen (mainland China) for the better prices.  I didn't get a chance to look at any prices, so I have no idea how expensive things are.

There were a lot of lamps(not the kind you are thinking) for sale for the Mid-Autumn Festival which is next week.  These are small or large decorations that can be made of paper mache or plastic and they have little lights in them.  Now the lights are battery operated, originally candles were used.  I can tell you these were very cute and very inexpensive, $5us for the smaller ones which are still good sized.  Much better than one of the lighted things you can get at Disney World and probably pay $15-$20. I plan to take the kids down to see the celebration next week, so I will tell you all about it after that.

You meet many interesting people at these activities with very different perspectives.  In my group today there were 3 women with grown children who recently moved here with their husbands.  One doesn't really want to be here, one is making the most of it and exploring as much as possible, and one dove in head first and is already volunteering and exploring.  There was one single woman from the UK who is here for work.  I commented on how much she already knew and she said, "When you're here alone you have a lot of time to google."  There was one local woman in our group who had lived in the States for awhile, but has been back in Hong Kong for a number of years.  She just quit working, so was taking the opportunity to do this.  The other two women I had met previously through the school and they are here in a similar situation to us.  They both have younger kids, so a little different view.

After our tour and talk we went and enjoyed lunch at a local Vietnamese restaurant.

Mid-Autumn Festival Decoration
in a park in Sheung Wan

Mid-Autumn Festival Decoration
in a park in Sheung Wan

 

Mid-Autumn Festival Decoration
in a park in Sheung Wan

My lunch--Vietnamese snack platter