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Show i long Kong Life and death and things to eat by Connie Bloom Knight-Ridde- r Newspapers Writer YOU DONT simply walk through Hong Kongs Chinatown. You straddle beheaded chickens still lunging desperately in their bamboo death baskets while the purchaser impatiently awaits the fresh kill. You weave your way around snakeshop hawkers who proudly thrust a fistful of their wriggling captives in your face for inspection. You wade, sandalfoot, through inches of fish slime. With huge American feet, you try to tiptoe around what seems like a misplaced d statue, then realize that the figure, bent at a angle in apparent permanence, is really a Chinese beggar whose muscles have memorized this humble indignity. You try to scoot out of the path of cart on which a terribly fat e and pig is squealing, and in the attempt, knock over four tiny Chinese women, apologize like crazy and finally black-shroude- soon-to-di- give up. LIFE AND death are everywhere, baked by a sun that for some reason wont tan your skin but will keep you parched and hungry for more of Hong Kong. Chinatown here is a real curiosity, especially because all of the British Crown Colony is one big Chinatown, a collection of d and open air markets and sidewak cafes featuring fish guts and pigs intestines with vegetables and Hong Kong beer, which is as much a product of Hong Kong as the Queen of England is of Canada. Chinatown distinguishes itself from the rest of the island in only one way: Its the only place where you can actually watch the natives eat spaghetti with a knife and ... blood-splattere- fork. Hong Kong is one great pulsating stomach where everything seems to be related to or destined for the belly and everything eaten is believed to be a cure for disease. In a corner of a Chinatown market, a fisherman deftly guts an eel to remove the gall bladder and plops it in a bottle of used tea. Velly good for digestion, he says, gold teeth sparkling under the blistering sun. HONG KONGS Chinese are superlative with superlatives. In a family-stylrestaurant where the velly most famous Cantonese food was served a steaming, beautiful and delicious Hong Kong tour guide demonstrated the importance of "used tea. Chinese food is oily, she said, and tea is very good for digestion. I'll show you how. Then she cleaned her chopsticks in her tea cup. They came out sparkling without w iping but the tea was topped with an oil slick. Since both tea and Cantonese food were destined for the same stomach (at least in this case), she proceeded to drink her tea and show us how to eat the most delicate part of the fish the head by scooping both sides of its cheekbones with the lips. WHILE WE were polishing off some of Hong Kongs most famous delicacies steamed garoupa, abalone with belly and vegetables and a thick seaweed soup some American friends who had arrived on the jsame flight were seeking more adventurous fare around the comer at McDonalds on Paterson St. What have you let them feed you now? said one genuinely concerned but very suspicious elderly woman. Watch out for their Peking Duck. Theyll sell you the whole duck, then give you the skin and take away the meat if you dont watch them. It was a pleasure to learn later that the e, flea-bitte- n Tourists admire the wares in Cat Street, arts and antiques center. The Chinese, in turn, admire blondes, says author. ducks are really bred in Peking lest they and are fed and be counterfeit ducks treated for their tasty skin, not the meat, which is rarely eaten as a main course; it is intended to be eaten as a separate, rather bland course mixed with vegetables to add flavor. There are two easy ways for Americans to win and lose Chinese friends in Hong Kong. The first is out of most peoples control, but if you arrive as a blonde, youll get very special attention, especially in native restaurants where tourists are rarely seen. The curious Chinese will intently study you as you pick up your chopsticks and plop a pickled pepper into your tea cup. If you laugh, theyll laugh with you to help cover your embarrass ment or save face. Youve just made friends. THE SECOND method may work either for or against you depending on the mood of your host or guide. Inquire as to where you might enjoy a Chinese breakfast. After your guide recovers from shock, hell look you over to make sure youre not joking. If youre lucky, youll feast on a very thick soup or porridge called "congee made of rice gruel mixed with meat or seafood, five to seven varieties of Dim Sum, delicate steamed and fried and boiled rolls filled with sweet meats and vegetables, salty prawns and Chinese cabbage, lotus seeds and bean curd. The Salt Lake UTAH SYMPHONY PATRONS TOUR SEPT. 16 DEPARTURE Three Itineraries PALMYRA PAGEANT TOUR 1 32 West South Tfmple 363-792- 2 Sunday, Ask Us For Complete Brochure Departure Dates: July 16th, 18th, 21st 8 23rd. W.F. JOHNSON Choose From rr.mn95900 L.D.S. HISTORIC EAST & 1 7 Days. Includes All Round Trip Transportation. 1 if Class rooming Accommodations. Sightseeing at Church Historic Points of Interest. Commercial Sightseeing at New York City and Washington D.C. Total Cost Per Person, Based Two to a Room. $435.00 SPECIAL 30 DAY TRIP INCLUDING Han. Ver., Boston, Williamsburg & Richmond. Total Cost Per Person $525.00 To MURDOCK TRAVEL Mt 14 So. Main St. Salt Lako City, Utah 84101 521-785- 0 Salt Lake City, Utah 363-656- 5 10, 1977 II TRAVEL AGENCY ' July 29 WANT ADS Dial 521-353- 5 |
