from Hong Kong

Spent last week in Hong Kong - a surprisingly green (and expensive) city. Lots of incredible food and fun times. Got to meet with Fair Partners - but more on this in the next post. A number of shops and restaurants sold organic, Fair Trade coffee - it seems like there is a "green consumer" base on the island. The cost of living is so high that it seems like any premium is worth paying. There are beautiful, old Chinese working bikes with double top tubes and huge front racks, but they were only ridden by old Chinese men.

Here are some of Dan's photos from our trip:

On one of our first mornings, Nolan took us out to Red Pepper for some amazing Szechuan food - everything burned like back in Thailand, but had an unbelievable range of flavors. The Chinese eat a lot less rice than Thais, so we didn't have a big plate of rice to balance out our pallets. We walked out of the place completely overwhelmed (only to expect a classic American BBQ at the American Club for dinner). The foot traffic around Causeway Bay almost took me out. Below are some really nice looking planters we passed on the way to lunch. They were organized by some neighborhood group. No one was growing food, but I could see these fitting in well on sidewalks all over Southeast Asia:



We took the ferry out to Lamma island on one of our first days. Most homes had small gardens with papaya and lime trees in abundance. If I lived in Hong Kong, this would be the place to stay. According to my friend Diane, it's the "hippy island" and compared to the pace of life in Central, I see what she means. There was a natural foods store on Lamma Island - walking inside was like going to Morning Glory Natural Foods in Brunswick, ME - hemp scent and all.
We ate at this incredible seafood restaurant when we got off the ferry. Clams in a spicy black bean sauce, sweet and sour fried grouper, crab in a garlic sauce, garlic shrimp, honey and black pepper shrimp, and on and on. There were a number of small shellfishermen in the harbor, I guess many of the fishermen live in the shacks on their raft of nets. After reading this article in the New York Times a few years back, I had much worse images in my mind, but the island was clean and the food was delicious. We hiked to the other side of the island to find a large power plant and a singular wind turbine - quite the dichotomy. But perhaps it's symbolic for China's growth? We later went to Macau (bad decision) and saw a large hillside covered in turbines. It's kind of like China is using all the coal it can get it's hands on first, and then building up a green infrastructure as back-up.

Later in the week, we headed out to what we thought was Kowloon, but turned out to be the New Territories. Our friend Sandy told us about the Tai Po Market, so we took the train to check it out. I guess it was technically mainland China, because gone were all the white people and high-end restaurants and bars. We made our way to the market and were amazed by all the seafood and meats on the first floor:
The whole thing was great, and it was nice to get a sense for how urban folks in the New Territories shop for fresh foods. Below, granny smith apples and lemons from the U.S. Mangoes, probably from Thailand.
The market was pretty huge and clean, but mostly conventional produce was being sold. We couldn't really talk to anyone there beyond smiles and stares, but as Dan was asking me if I thought some of the produce was chemical-free, I saw some pretty organic-looking carrots and was surprised to see this:
We had walked into the organic section of the market. There were probably 10 different vendors, all selling very attractive, certified organic produce. It was a nice thing to experience, and I think speaks loudly about where urban consumers in this part of China are heading. For organic producers to have their own section of a large, busy market like Tai Po is really impressive and it must mean they have a decent market share. Below, Dan contemplates the roasted duck he wants to eat while staring at organic veggies, really nice looking (native?) corn, and a few advertisements for local CSAs.


I got to nerd out on local food info and Dan got his duck. We ate it in the upstairs cafeteria with some watery coffee and a very confused Chinese waitress. The soup they were serving looked like a really bland ก๋วยเตี๋ยวน้ำ noodle soup, so I think we made the right choice. Hong Kong was full of surprises, but I am really impressed. Next time I need a breakfast sandwich and I've got $200 to blow, I'm heading back.

If anyone can read the Chinese on the second to last photo, I would love to know what it means.