Checking out Kwun Tong

Rachel on the bus.  Jocelyn and Rachel and I went on little trip to an area called Kwun Tung.  It's not that far from To Kwa Wan where we live but although some things are same the city over, there are always new twists.

In front of the Meyer pots and pans store.  This company is owned by one of the board members from our school.  They are a world wide company, and have a real range of merchandise, from the lower end price to very very expensive.

You see all kinds of buildings here.   Some are so rundown and ugly and then there  is the other extreme.  You wonder how people even live in some of the bad ones.  I read in the paper today that the minimum wage was now $28 an hour, so that is about $4 Canadian.  I don't know how people live on that here, although if you eat locally and buy from the market, food is fairly cheap,except for meat, and utilities are quite a bit less than Canada.  I guess that is why many generations live together in one small flat, and everyone goes out in the  evening just to get out of their small environment.  People seem to work long hours.  The flower and market owners begin around 8 am and are still there at 8 or 9 each night. Everything is open 7 days a week.  Blaine's massage guy is open every day, and he doesn't leave till 9 at night.  We are definitely spoiled in the west.

This is a street vendor selling roasted chestnuts, yams, eggs, and sweet potatoes. There is a big wok in the middle there  full of hot charcoal and the chestnuts are mixed in the coals and roasted.  The yams are really good.

Jocelyn thought this was an elevator for lifting cars down to another level, or maybe it turns when cars are brought up the elevators and backed out those doors.  I don't really know, but here it could be anything.

Monster coke machines!!

The MTR stations all have interesting little shops in them.   This one sells all kinds of cream puffs!!  We had to try some and they were yummy.

At this section the MTR train runs above ground so the station goes over the 6 lanes of traffic below.

Looking over to a typical street.

We stopped at a baby store and l thought these were cute.  They are training chopsticks for little  kids.  I  need to get a set of these!

There is always such a mix of poor and rich here.  On a street where you think there is nothing is a dealership and repair shop for Lamborghini's!

I had never seen one before and didn't know that's how the trunk lifted, so had to take a picture!

A massage parlor, of which there are many!!  The time it's open seems a little strange but then you never know what goes on at some of these!

In these two pictures men are putting up the bamboo scaffolding on a building.  I'm surprised they are wearing hard hats, because sometimes there doesn't seem to be any regulations on dress code for jobs.  One of the guys down our street does welding without a helmet or shield or even gloves, and with his shirt off in summer!

 As you can see its always enlightening to wander around here and you never know just what you might see!