EAT WELL AND SMELL GOOD

Please note: the following is not only a suggestion for an early morning jaunt along the lower level on Hong Kong Island, it is also an illustration (between parentheses) of the Chinese language's difficulty making any sense at all of English-language toponyms.

As well as our problems when we try to translate Chinese.


西遊記 JOURNEY TO THE WEST
['sai yau gei']

It's a two hour stroll at least from the Admiralty in Central to Belcher Street in Kennedy Town (堅彌地城 'gin nei dei seng'; "resolute fulfilled earth town"). But you can also take the double decker tram. Far less time. Never the less walk at least part of the way, as otherwise you will miss some rather interesting stuff.

Kennedy Town (堅彌地城) is part of the western district (西環 'sai waan':"west ring"), which also includes Sai Ying Pun (西營盤 "western military basin"), Shek Tong Tsui (石塘嘴 "stone pond beak"), and Belcher Bay (卑路乍灣 'pei lou jaa waan'; "vulgar road previously bay").


A long time ago Shek Tong Tsui was filled with restaurants, music halls, and bordellos (花樓 'faa lou'), of which alas (or perhaps 'fortunately') very little remains. The 1987 film Rouge (胭脂扣 'yin ji kou') with Anita Mui (梅艷芳 'mui yim fong') and Leslie Cheung (張國榮 'cheung gwok wing') was set there.
Like that era, these two stellar movie actors are now also part of the fabled past; both of them left this world in 2003.
That wasn't a good year.

Belcher's Street (卑路乍街 'bei lou ja kaai') is one of the main streets in Kennedy Town. The Kwong Sang Tea Company (established in 1936) used to be at number 24.

[廣生茶行有限公司；香港，堅尼地城，卑路乍街24號。
Current address: 香港西環卑路乍街38號天成工業大厦5/F。
Tea packers and exporters, 成立于1936.]


參茸藥區 HERBAL PRODUCTS DISTRICT
['sam yung yuek keui']

From the Admiralty (金鐘 'kam jung'; "gold bell") take Chater road (遮打道 'je daa dou'; "protect hit r.") to Central (中環 'jung waan'), where it becomes Des Voeux Road (德輔道 'dak fu dou'; "virtue assist r."). Follow Des Voeux to Wing Lok Street (永樂街 'wing lok kaai'; "forever glad s."), which splits off at Wing Wo Street (永和街 'wing wo kaai', "perpetual harmony s." where there are a large number of places selling swallows nest (燕窩 'yin wo'). At the intersection of Morrison Street (摩利臣街 'mo lei san kaai': "rub profitable minister s.") turn left, less than twenty yards to Bonham Strand (文咸街 'man haam kaai'; "literature alltogether s."), take Bonham Strand around the corner left to where Wing Lok continues. At the end of Wing Lok, around the curve of Des Voeux West (德輔道西) at Queen Street, there are hoi mei stores (海味 "sea flavour"; dried ocean products), sharkfin (魚翅 'yü chi') shops, and raw rice (米 'mai') dealers.
Continue along Des Voeux.

There's an incense company of antique provenance on the right hand side, surrounded by herbalists and dried seafood shops. They're a century-old brand (百年老字號 'baak nin lou ji hou'; "hundred year old word mark").

梁永馨香廠 (香港) 有限公司
"Leung's Eternal Fragrance (HK) Co.,Ltd."
['leung wing hing heung chong (heung kong) yau haan gung si']

梁永馨名香
Leung Wing Hing Joss Sticks
101 Des Voeux Road West, ground floor.
香港，德輔道西，101號，地下。

Informational interstice: The complex character 馨 is seldom used in modern speech. Originally it represented a dialect variation on 香 meaning what the nose took note of, later its connotations expanded to include the faintest trace of perfume, a lingering smell that prompts memories, aroma-echoes that make one recollect, and similar shades of meaning. It's a twenty stroke character found in the dictionary under 香 with a score of other characters under that radical. But twenty strokes means that it is harder to write correctly in the same size as your other words, and like many such logoglyphs, merely the great chance of leaving an illegible blob in the column made it fade from use. A pity, because it's very elegant .
Two other words with fragrant meanings are 芬 ('fan'; "fragrance, aromatic substance") and 芳 ('fong'; "fragrant, virtuous, lovely"). Both terms might have applied to the lovely plumes or fresh green boughs offered in the altar vessel which forms the bottom of 豐 ('fung'; "abundant, lush, fertile"), which at nineteen strokes remarkably shows up far more often than 馨。
Perhaps it's just more useful.

熏香品類 INCENSE TYPES:
['fan heung pan leui']
西澳洲檀香 ('sai ou jau taan heung'): West Australia sandal wood
百福塔香正宗柏香2H座 ('baak fuk taap heung jeng-jung baak heung leung-go jungtau jo'): Hundred Lucky Pagoda authentic cypress/cedar two hour coils.
天然老山檀香 ('tin yin lou saan taan heung'): Heavenly ('natural') Old Mountain sandalwood incense.
天然特級老山檀香 ('tin yin tak kap lou saan taan heung'): Heavenly Superior Quality sandalwood incense.
沉香 ('cham heung'): Agar wood incense.
Et autres.

Phone numbers: (852) 2548 2340 / (852) 2547 9277
Fax. :(852) 2559 5634
Internet: www.yp.com.hk/leungwinghing and www.leungwinghing.com.hk
Email: info@leungwinghing.com.hk

You can also get there by double-decker tram. If you don't want to walk a lot on a warm day.


The road bends at Wing Wah Mansion apartment building (永華大廈 'wing waa taai haa'; "eternal China big edifice"). When it goes around the corner further on, follow it to Queens Road West (皇后大道西 'wong hau daai dou sai'), up about thirty yards, turn right onto Belcher Street.
This is a heavily populated neighborhood, and you shouldn't expect too many English signs, despite the overwhelming surfeit of international brandnames and Seven Elevens.


冇乜特別，香脆，味都幾好。
NOTHING SPECIAL, FRAGRANT AND CRISPY, TASTES PRETTY GOOD
['mou ye dak bit, heung cheui, mei dou gei ho']

Convenience stores, small shops, and places where you can eat congee (粥 'juk') or roast duck rice (燒鴨飯 'siu ngaap faan'). Fishballs and dumplings too. The Fresh Fragrance Tea Restaurant (鮮香茶餐廳 'sin heung chaa chanteng') and Fish Ball King & Genuine Teochow Rice-sticks (港仔君豪魚蛋王 -- 正宗潮州粉面 'gong jai gwan hou yü daan wong jeng jung chiu jau fan min'), Kuen Gei Wonton Noodle (權記雲吞麵 "authority notation cloud gulp noodle")

You could also have the stirfried augmented kangkong (炒通菜 'chaau tung choi') and the mixed balls clay pot (什丸煲 'sap yuen pou'), with a nice glass of hot lemon tea (熱檸茶 'yit ning chaa').
Breakfast of champions.
Not expensive.


牛脷酥, 炸兩 ('ngau lei sou'. 'jaa leung') space alien cheap snack: "Cow tongue flaky", an oval semi-sweet fried puff bread (good with congee) and "fry two" (a fried dough stick steamed in a rice noodle sheet, drizzled with soy sauce, hoisin jeung, chive or scallion garnished, cut into chunks you can eat with a toothpick. Sometimes jaa leung is also served with a squirt of ketchup and yellow mustard, which is also good.


茶餐廳 ('chaa chan teng') tea-restaurants: Old-fashioned HK western style breakfast lunch and late afternoon foods. Fried eggs, noodle dishes, chicken soup macaroni with ham. Convenient easy food. Sate beef noodles (沙爹牛肉麵 'saa de ngau yiuk min'). Famous milk-tea (奶茶 'naai chaa') and kai mei bao (雞尾包"chicken arse bun").
Places filled with old geezers.


潮州菜 ('chiu jau choi') Chaozhou food: There are only two real reasons to seek out a Chaozhou style eatery: roast goose, and shellfish. The roast goose is brined before cooking, the shellfish (clams and oysters) are generously apportioned, nicely cooked.
Especially try oyster omelette.

潮州名食 CHAOZHOU'S FAMOUS FOODS:
['chiu jau ming sik']
脆皮糯米釀大腸 ('cheui pei no mai yeung daai cheung'): Crispy skinned glutinous rice ferments pork sausage. Fried a golden brown, then sliced across for chopstickable ease.
蟹粥 ('haai juk'): Crab congee (whole grains, unlike Cantonese style).
墨魚卷 ('mak yü kuen'): Cuttle fish nuggets.
墨魚片 ('mak yu pin'): Cuttle fish slices.
滷水鵝片 ('lou seui ngo pin'): Brine-cured (savoury sauced) goose slices.
豉椒炒蜆 ('si jiu chaau hin'): Bellpepper and black bean clams.
避風塘炒蜆 ('bei fung tong chaau hin'): Typhoon shelter stirfry clams with crispy-fried garlic and chilies.
鵝肝 ('ngo gon'): Goose liver.
香酥芋鴨 ('heung sou wu ngaap'): Taro batter crispy duck.
韭菜炒鹹肉 ('gau choi chaau haam yiuk'): Chives stirfried with Chinese bacon.
胡椒豬肚湯 ('wu jiu chyu tou tong'): Pepper pork stomach soup. Everyone raves about this; I don't.
闊面蠔餅, 炸蠔仔餅 ('fut min hou bing', 'jaa hou-chai bing'): The oyster omelette. Chiu chow style is thicker and denser than Hokkien, more like an egg-batter fritata.
糖醋麵 ('tong chou min'): Sweet and sour ("sugar - vinegar") noodles, panfried to a crispy cake.
魚湯浸豆苗 ('yü tong jam dau miu'): Fish-broth poached pea shoots.



Now that Hong Kong is so densely populated, sandalwood is no longer shipped out from the jetty over in Tsimshatsui, and the raw material for incense is imported from places like Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Australia. But 'fragrance' (incense) gave the place its name, and it still seems a very apt appellation.
Food. Tea. Commerce.
Warm.



==========================================================================
NOTE: Readers may contact me directly:
LETTER BOX.
All correspondence will be kept in confidence.
==========================================================================