In addition to beautiful and exotic fruits, I am typically fascinated by the meats and seafood at foreign markets. In Italy, huge portions of beef, cured hams, and salami were displayed in cases or hanging from ceilings. It was really the most beautiful sight. It's true that tripe was popular as well, but my longing for the prosciutto and aged cheeses was far greater than any disgust I may have felt for the innards offered at the market.

In Hong Kong, meats were displayed in market booths, with butchers at the ready to prepare your desired cut. And though every piece of every animal was available, it was the lack of refrigeration that surprised me most.



A closer look at the Ox tail. At first, I thought this tail belonged to a horse!

By now, you know that I love visiting markets while I am traveling.  Past blog posts have featured the extraordinary Mercato Centrale in Florence, Italy and the many different markets of Singapore.  So, it's no surprise that I spent a lot of time exploring the street markets in Hong Kong.  They were fascinating and, at the same time, disgusting.  

While I was in HK, it seemed to be peak season for durian; the popular fruit that is so odiferous it is banned from public places including subways, malls, hotels, and even some businesses. Fruit stand workers commonly open them up, divide the fruit, and wrap the sections in plastic wrap to sell "ready-to-eat."  The market streets were heavy with the stench of this fruit. Travel and food writer Richard Sterling writes in his book The Traveling Curmudgeon:

... its odor is best described as pig-shit, turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock. It can be smelled from yards away. Despite its great local popularity, the raw fruit is forbidden from some establishments such as hotels, subways and airports, including public transportation in Southeast Asia.

By my last day on the island, I could barely stomach a stroll through these streets. 

Durian: Spiny and center stage.

Aside from the stink, Asian fruit stands are beautiful. Click photos to enlarge.

After almost an entire month of dead air, I'm sure many of you have tuned out, but please check back soon.  I have so many updates to post about.  Coming up:

My Trip to Hong Kong

Our Move to the Suburbs

Fourth of July in Kentucky

It's already June!  How does this happen?

I leave for Hong Kong on Friday.  I've been nervous about this trip for some time, and now that the AIR FRANCE plane has gone down over the ocean, I am out of my mind.

Check back before I leave, I have a post in the making.

Also, I hope to be posting from HK.

I was walking downtown last week and I saw a hospital gown discarded on the side of the road. That really made me curious.

On June 5th I leave for Hong Kong. Though the flight is still a long one:  2 hours to Chicago, and then 15 hours and 30 minutes to Hong Kong, this is actually a full 8 hours shorter than the flight to Singapore.

I am excited. But this time, I am also nervous.  I will be traveling alone and I will not be meeting anyone there.  

However, no matter how nervous I am for this trip, I just can't imagine how big the butterflies are in the stomachs of those headed to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

I think I have established the fact that we have many unique individuals in our fair capital. For the record, a man about 35 years old was walking through the metro station this morning wearing sweatpants freshly soaked with his own urine. (And you are worried about me catching swine flu on the metro?!  A simple case of  H1N1 would be the best case scenario!) But these characters that dodge the social norms aren't all unique-awkward or unique-scary.

Rule Breaker #3 was an inspiration.

Standing in the center of a crowded train one night, I was squeezed aside by a girl making her way to the center of the train. She took the only available seat, asking the man who was sprawled across two seats to make room for her. He didn't look well. His head hung very long, his shoulders were slouched. I am sure this was partly why no one had asked him to move, despite the crowded car.

He moved to the window, crouching down, as he had been earlier, as if he was trying to get into an upright fetal position. A typical reaction to this atypical behavior is too remain still and look straight ahead. Most people wouldn't want to know what was up with this guy. Heck, most people wouldn't even share a seat with him.  But his new seat mate was not typical. She turned to him, tapped him on the shoulder and asked him if everything was all right. He looked up at about the same time my head swung around to make sure I'd heard her right. She repeated herself "Are you OK?" He smiled, yes yes, he's ok.

I was so taken with her.  I wanted to tell her at that very moment that she was incredible. It was the most simple act of kindness and it really moved me.