Day 2 When you leave the apartment Im staying at, the bustle of students greets you all around, clustered up like mussels on a rocky shore line. There are voices billowing left and right, laughter, jeering, loud shouts and then some quiet groups. Cant really tell which they would be. Most of them start looking the same. The same tight fitting outfits and hairstyles, the same shorts and the same black rimmed glasses. They speak with slurred speech. For some reason, I fit right in, where I wouldve easily looked like an Asian immigrant in Canada. Just dont ask me to speak with them. At some point, you feel small. It usually happens pretty quickly. Asian cities are tremendously saturated with the same kinds of people and all the faces look almost the same. And you also realize that a lot of them are brilliant too. And a lot of them oppressed and conditioned to conform and obey and follow routine. Where do I fit in? Very strangely. The third culture kid as someone would put it. Did I mention how perfect the weather is? The sun was out and it started getting warmer - rather hot - midday. Didnt need a jacket and I forgot my sunglasses. But at night, theres a strong chill that eats its way in stealthily and silently. The portable heater goes on. I create a sphere of my own meaning. We took a red taxi, driven by a young man who was new to the trade and didnt seem to know his way around and hit up the old dimsum joint in the morning, where we were greeted as VIPs - not of my own merit. My aunt and uncle had status there as regulars - big time customers. The staff turned and greeted them by name and walking in felt like walking on water and the world was in the palm of our hands. Sometimes I think about the meaning of such status - how easy is it to come by and how it reflects society. Show a little money. The customer is the boss, the boss is god, but yet is it not an illusion? The boss is also the one who spends the most money and feeds the system. But the only place to have status is in the illusion where we can spend money. Beyond, someone else is the boss. Dont get me wrong, the food and the service was great. We all need to eat. Might as well eat well in a familiar place. Its important to have the mountains and the sea. It creates dynamism and energy and a momentum forward, adventure and myth, a personal journey - though I dont imagine it being the same for the locals. Toronto is a flat piece of - appropriate for the nothing-that-interesting mundane. I must say having unlimited wifi everywhere is fantastic and I feel light weight and free. I could even use my iPad anywhere, any time. Its function only more clearly showcases my dependency on Internet and technology to expand my consciousness. In a way we all seek expansion and connection but most have no way to do it successfully or comfortably and so turn to this dependency and in the end limit our consciousness to a fabricated construct. I feel like an old-timer, at home but also not at home. But I do know my shopping haunts. Everytime I come to Asia, I come with a severe lack in my wardrobe, as if my clothes had simply evaporated at some undistinguished point in time. I had about three button ups I would rotate through and probably two pairs of jeans. Otherwise, I didnt have much I could go on. I had a lot more clothes but I just didnt seem to like them. My preferences or tastes might have changed or my body shape changed (probably thinner, seeing that I dont gain weight). Its funny when I go shopping. Put me in Eatons center or any similarly large, upscale brand name place with sleek white walls, silver shine and class, I will pass by without lifting a finger. Im keenly aware and am proud of being a cheapskate. I do not buy brand name clothes - unless its donated to me. I see absolutely no point in brands. They are made by the same factories in the same third world countries, except the prices are inflated tenfold. A thin t-shirt for 50 dollars? A little sweater for 200? Are you kidding me? I would rather hand-weave that (or design my own and get a promotion and free shipping deal from the website I host my custom graphic products on). So the newer shopping plaza with its gloss surfaces is not for me. They have signs boasting on discounts on clothing that had barely any unique fashion sense. We cross the bridge into a plaza thats crammed with thousands of haphazard little shops and makeshift towers and racks and walls of multicoloured products all selling similar categories of things but still are distinct enough in their own way and I know this is where I belong. The overcrowding of possibilities, fluorescent lighting and the tacky mirror walls create some psychadelic dizzy trance. Imagine that with jet lag. All around, kpop songs blast from mini stereos, one track fusing into the next seamlessly. I happen to shop here every time. Some of the most reasonable prices (reasonable, nothing is cheap these days) with some of the best looking designs - and if you poke around, some of the best quality too. Its a down-to-earth and tremendously Asian plaza though so there are pretty much only these things possible: clothes, shoes and bags, cell phone cases and customization options or accessories, plushies and food. Hunting down good prices with good design at least from my subjective view is no easy task still, even with the saturated market, endless competition and mass availability. Eventually, I realize weve ended up back where I had been years ago. Its the shop that gets me each time. Their prices arent outrageously cheap, sort of H&M range at its most expensive, but they have the perfect designs, cutting and trims for me personally. They are an indie exclusive limited-run designer shop of male fashion that gets their own products made by a factory contact in China. Theyve got leather necklaces and chains, belts, uncannily Aldo-esque shoes (my favourite shoe store back home), jeans, cardigans, jackets, shirts, button-ups and lots of good solid fashion sense. No need for Harajuku fashion sense, but it is a clear, level-headed, crisp efficient approach. The shop is furnished in a lot of wood and woodsy ambience and the staff is eager and professional sounding. It is here I finally expand my wardrobe, in time for the rest of my trip. I didnt buy anything special though, just what I needed. The loot of the day: not surprisingly a pair of Aldo-esque shoes reminiscent of an old one thats worn out, two button up shirts, a button up removable hoodie, a pair of elasticky ridiculously comfortable skinny jeans, and nice and slim black dress pants - black pants had been lacking for a long time. I haggled some. People think foreigners arent good at haggling but I use it to my advantage. I take out my phone and start converting the prices in front of them. Lets see what it is in Canadian. Wow, the numbers are higher than I thought. I came to Hong Kong because I know there are reasonable shopping prices and quality clothing that fit me better here. I come to this shop every time and the staff would make special accommodations for me. I dont see a point in getting something here now if its around the same price as I can get it back home. They even threw in a belt for free. The total didnt look so cheap in the end but it was the only place that really worked out for me. After the clothing, I needed my salad greens and fruits to maintain my diet as a health-nut. In a sense, Im like Murakamis jogging when it comes to food. If I am going to be a writer, I need to be healthy. In the grocery stores here, it is a pleasure to find a wide variety of imported Japanese products - food, sauces, drinks. Nothing like seeing the selection of dozens of soba noodle soup base or the amount of packaged mochi. I toughed out todays jet lag some, for most of the day. I still feel up in the clouds and drifting by like a lost spirit. I have been hit with severe allergies due to dust at my place and perhaps the Hong Kong air. I went through five packs of kleenex. Sometimes, I wonder what the people Ive met before are doing. You meet so many people, especially as a social networker like I am, but they flare up for such brief periods of time. And then life moves on and people move on. I wish everyone well. Pictures in the Hong Kong album
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 15:08:32 +0000
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