Price Check in Aisle Four dept.

My summary on the prices of things here: 

• Electronics: same price, but much more variety.  Some models: higher/greater features.
  
• Cinema: Same price ~$11.50CDN ($60 HKD)
  
• Food:
  Restaurants: Eating N.Am'n food: expensive
      Chinese food: you pay for decor: fancy place: same price as in Canada.
          Not fancy: damn cheap.  
  
• Food you bring home:
  cheap - but not the same brands as you have in N.Am.   They also have dumb names like "Good noodles" and "Fancy rice" and "Pig pork".  What other kinds of pork is there? 
  
• clothes: General clothes: a bit less expensive than Canada.   The good deals though are AMAZING.  I bought stainless pants (there's no space here to explain how they are stainless - but I needn't worry about dropping Soya Sauce on them) for $20CDN ($100HKD) and some fancy button shirts for $9.  The prices can get real cheap in the open market places, but I haven't ventured to buying anything there that I would wear.   Also, there are factory outlets you can visit to buy surplus items for practically nothing.  I would advise you to inspect them, as I would suspect that they do not do quality control on surplus items.  There are factory outlets for all the big sports companies: Nike, Adidas, but you need to know someone here to give you the addresses and explain where it is.
  
• knock-offs of anything: damn cheap.  So cheap they actually pay you to take it from them.  Yes, that cheap.  But watch out for the Bolexes and
  
• Postage: damn cheap!
  like $0.50CDN to send internationally!
  I get postcards, $1CDN, includes shipping! 
  
• Internet: $20-$30 for high-speed (incl. modem). 
   
• transit: cheap, but you pay/distance.
  How do they measure this?  I'm glad you asked.  You buy an access card.  You swipe in-okay. You swipe out - deducts credit.  Like a photocopy card - except instead of shutting down/giving back your card when you run out of money they won't let you out of the station (there is a mantrap with the turnstiles, and people doing rounds).
  
• One (metro) stop: $0.50
  The transit system is great.  The metro cars are interconnected - like one long accordion bus (have you seen those?) - the connecting joints twist.  And they come damn often. They practically touch each other. No need to rush to make the metro like people have to in Montreal (where the one after you miss comes just in time to make you 3 minutes late to work). 
   
  At the stops, there is announcement about which train is arriving seconds before it comes.  In the trains is a map with a blinking LED of the stop the train is on, the direction it is going, and the side that the doors are opening.
   
  At every stop there is an announcement on the speaker system that asks you to "Please mind the gap in between the train and the platform".  It is announced in Cantonese, Mandarin, and English.   And then there is an announcement that ask s you to step away from the doors.  Again, in Cantonese, Mandarin and English (I imagine it says the same thing in Cantonese and Mandarin, because that's what it says in English.  Of course something can get lost in the translation, and it may really be "Why you stand there?" (Cantonese), "Stay back, now!" (Mandarin), "Please step away from the doors, Pip" (English). )
  
  And then there's another announcement of the next stop, again in Cantonese, Mandarin and English.  And the LED flashes of the next stop.  And then when you're ready to get off at the stop, someone actually comes by to pick you up, and crosses the threshold (minding the gap of course), and lets you down.   You are expected to get to the escalator on your own though.  TIP: Keep your elbows up - easier to push people.

My aunt-cousin listening to the speaker system's notice not to eat, drink, or possess critical thought while riding the public transportation system.  Thank you for riding.

Big day today

It was my first social outing today.
Other outings have been family or family-friend-oriented. This one was voluntary.  :)

On a semi-whim, I was out with Apple today. We went to eat, we went to see a movie ("House of Flying Daggers"), we went around the shopping district (Hong Kong's other sport), wer acquired some illegal DVDs, ate dinner, we played badminton and we went for a drink.
One of our goals was to cover every mode of transportation.  We rode a Bus, a Taxi Bus, the MTR (Metro/Subway), a double-decker bus, and we walked.  Unfortunately we did not use a Taxi, but it was awfully tempting.

So...

Badminton
We tried to book the badminton court early in the day.  Damn the Chinese like their badminton. It wasn't available until 9pm.  Figure that.  So our day had begun with other pursuits until we played badminton.

Movies in Hong Kong
The movie theatres of Hong Kong are different from those experienced in the archaic times of my parents - or so my father would have you believe.  Perhaps he can post his impression of movie theatres from what he can recollect.  I would have him know that the Hong Kong theatres, like the cars, ants and "cinemas"  in North America and the rest of the world, have evolved and adapted as well to a changing society, albeit (while also) keeping with some aspects of the old(en times).

So...You buy your tickets for about the same price as in Montreal - $60HKD (~$11.50 CDN), BUT you also get to choose your seat!  You see on a computer screen which seats are booked and which seats are available.  You give the corresponding code and bingo - no need to exchange elbow jabs in the line-up (as you wait to get into the theatre).

However, before the movie starts, just like in the high-class theaters in Montreal, an usher gives a little 'mention' to movie-goers, you know, to turn off your cellphone and enjoy the movie - however it's all in Chinese (of course).  I couldn't keep my laughter as my conversation with Apple was interrupted by angry Chinese being announced through a megaphone - was this a protest?  Was this a lock-down?  An usher had a megaphone to deliver his message - about cellphones and other notices to this small close-knit group of concertgoers.  It was hilarious. 

So...everybody in the theatre was all grouped together.  Considering these people chose the seats, why would they choose seats so closely grouped together?.  It's not enough that people are crowded outside in the streets, they are relatively crowded together in the theater.  I thought it was hilarious.  Apple opted to change seats when the movie began and I followed with opening the beer I got at the store next door to sneak into the theater.

The movie...
The movie was "House of Flying Daggers", in Mandarin with Chinese and English (phewf!) subtitles.  Directed by big-time Chinese director "Zhang Yimou".  The movie was entertaining, however it drags on a bit too long with the hokey betrayal/double-betrayal/double-side-order-of-betrayal + love fest.  It did have an excellent fusion a love story with action/martial arts, but a sucky side-order of coherent storyline.

The other movies showing at the Hong Kong movie theater, in case you were curious, were typical Hollywood movies; Spidey 2, Harry Potter, Chronicles of Riddick, bla bla.

Illegal DVDs...
Buying them aren't illegal - selling them is. 
I told Apple I wanted some illegal DVDs.  Not regular DVDs, I wanted to play a life of danger.  I wanted to let loose, go crazy, wild.  I was going to get some Illegal DVDs.
So what you do is you go to a shop where movies are on display.  You write the associated number on a paper.  You hand it off - pay for it.  Half an hour later - they are ready.  You pick up, you leave.  Damn easy.

Mind you it wasn't ready in half-an-hour.  Took an hour.  So we went to the arcade.  Came back. 
Eating...
If you thought you had experienced all you could from the Chinese food out there - you haven't.  I haven't tasted Shanghainese-style Chinese food before until I came here to HK - and it's great.  It is quite similar to the common Guangdong-style (Cantonese) and Mandarin-style Chinese food, but possesses (has) some very interesting accoutrements (accents/stylings/aspects) to the food.  There are different chopsticks, bigger cups for tea, different tea, and a tiny tiny tiny bowl of nuts before you start to look at the menu (whaaa?).

Back to badminton...
Badminton is fun.  But like the Chinese, everything is smaller - the net, the court, the rackets and you can't make sense of what's going on around you.  Just joking.

Conclude this already
I am off to sleep.  I have a friend from Montreal coming in on Thursday - planning to go to the drinking district on Friday night, maybe Macau on Saturday, and going to see my buddy (the huge Buddha - the biggest in the world) on Sunday.  Until then I am busy arranging some stuff  that has been keeping me very busy.  More to tell later.  Hopefully sooner than later, of course.  Have to wake up early - I leave now!