Hong Kong Day 2

So we're off to see where the real people live today with Mandy. She's going to take us to where she grew up in what's called the New Territories.

The New Territories are all the land north of Kowloon up to the border with mainland China. Over half of the population of Hong Kong live in the New Territories.

Mandy's parents emigrated to Hong Kong as a result of worsening economic conditions on the mainland largely due to Mao's "cultural revolution". They were poor and had to live in a very small apartment. More on that later.

On the way to the New Territories we stop at a beautiful garden park right in the middle of Hong Kong. The Nan Lian Garden. Apparently this was some kind of slum until recently.

It's incredible to see the ancient temples mixed in with the modern skyscrapers.

After the garden we take a bus to the community where Mandy grew up.

I don't recall if the building below is Mandy's, where she spent all her years until she was 18 but, if not, it is very similar. She and her family; mom, dad and two other sisters lived in a 40 square meter apartment - approx 400 square feet.

This is the design. Apartments around a central courtyard. Everyone has a small clothes washing machine but no one has a dryer - they just hang the wash off the railing.

She took us to her apartment and we had a wee taste of plum wine that her mom had made. Her dad works night shift and he was sleeping in her mom and dad's bedroom. Her two grown sisters still live their with their mom and dad. The sister's bedrooms were so small - just room for a bed and that's about it. Mandy and her sister, Apple, shared a bedroom and they slept in a bunk bed. The single bathroom was tiny and there was no tub. Just a sink and a toilet. The shower used to be right in the bathroom until one of the sisters said it was too gross showering in the toilet and forced the dad to make a very tiny shower just outside of the bathroom. The kitchen was minuscule.

This is a picture of the TV in the tiny living room. Every bit of space is used up.

I wanted to take more pictures but thought it would be disrespectful. You just have to take my word how small it was.

After the apartment went to where the "real" people shopped. Looks very similar to the market we saw yesterday on Hong Kong Island.

More gruesome stuff. God! who knows what those things are? Look like the result of a failed sex change operation. Christ!

The Chinese are huge fish eaters.

Check out the fish heads in this short video - think they're still connected to their body.

And who hasn't said "Man would I like to have a nice meal of pig face"

With or without the hair still on!

Not sure just what these are. Eyeball? other balls?

Is this the esophagus and stomach...or maybe the windpipe and lungs..yummy stuff to be sure! Lung steak and fries please..

I'm 100% sure I'd become a vegetarian if I lived here. Good looking stuff!

Seeing all the wonderful food at the market gave us an appetite and we ate at a food court with all the locals.

Next Mandy took us out to visit a lady she knows that runs a fish farm and fishing raft.

On the way we see this huge statue. It watches over the Tsz Shen Monastery that was built recently by one of the world's richest men: Li Ka Shing

Here's a picture I snagged from the internet.

The fish farm.

All the people you see here paid the lady to fish from her raft.

We ride the subway back and this shot attempts to show how long these trains are.

That's it for day 2.