WISH YOU WERE HERE!

One of my customers has relocated to Hong Kong, to an area that I know relatively well, but many of my Philippino-Chinese friends and acquaintances know much better.

This is the address in Chinese:
香港 九龍 尖沙咀 廣東道 5號 海洋中心

[Heung-gong, Kau-lung, Tsim sa tsui, Kwong-tung tou, ng-ho, hoi yeung chong sam – "Fragrant harbour, Nine dragons, Sharp sand mouth, Broad-East road, fifth number, Ocean centre."]

That is quite the liveliest place.

Right next to the Star Ferry Pier (尖沙咀碼頭 tsimsatsui ma-tou; also the ferry to central: 中環天星碼頭 chong-wan tien-sing ma-tou). Ma-tou, as you can guess, means 'pier' or 'dock'.
Near Ocean Terminal (海運大廈 hoi waan taai ha), and just up from Salisbury Road (梳士巴利道 sosibalei tou).
It's a major shopping area - for instance: Harbour City (海港城 hoi gong seng) – several hundred expensive shops.
All the well-known brand names have boutiques in that stretch of Canton Road.

Not that I'm interested in shopping - that's what Phillipino-Chinese are for. But while they are going ape with Gucci and Prada, I'll just retire to a food court or head off on my own.

No, Pingping, you can NOT have my credit card. Crazy, I'm so not.

Hmmmm, food. Lots of good eats in that area. Food.
Food. Food. Foooooooood.


IPAKISHOPSHOP!
Please do not from the above assume that Savage Kitten or anybody else I am at present or have been in the past, or even may in future have an attachment to or affection for, is Philippino-Chinese. While Philippino-Chinese young ladies can be quite charming, they almost all come from an Industrial-Fujianese background...... and consequently know all the expensive brand names as if they were beloved relatives, worship status objects like shoes and handbags from famous manufacturers like gods, and have price-charts imprinted permanently in the back of their minds.
Lovely creatures, but in gonzen not my type.


Note: This is a forward-looking statement. Things may change, I might even lose my mind or any shred of common sense.
Insanity and brain-rot do sometimes happen - I've seen the effects.

If, entirely (99.99%) hypothetically, I ran across a nice Philippino-Chinese girl, from an educated family with old-style literati values, who herself was far more interested in books than shopping (hoohah!), I could very well befuddle myself quite befeveredly.
Not at all likely, but it is possible.
A sign of the end times and the rain of blood, but, nevertheless, possible.

Great calligraphers and scholars have indeed come from Fujian, not a few either. But the Fujianese who over the centuries bailed out to the Philippines have by-and-large had more pressing interests.




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