DEC 19, 14 .. 23 MERCER STREET .. SHEUNG WAN .. HONG KONG .. PART I ..

In my last Post (DEC 17, 14 .. CITY LOFT SERVICED STUDIO .. HONG KONG ..) .. I explained that I now have a studio apartment at 23 Mercer Street in the Sheung Wan District of the city of Hong Kong on Hong Kong Island.

Sheung Wan is pronounced as ONE word .. SHEN WAN ..

Isn’t this ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY AMAZING that I am sitting in Hong Kong sending you photographs!

I believe that I can say WE .. as in Patti and myself .. the two-of-us .. have a studio apartment because it currently appears to be about 60 (Patti will) – 40 (Patti will be unable) that Patti will rejoin me here in Hong Kong.

In the photos below I want to show Patti and all of you who are interested .. what the area we will be living in looks like. I have NO PHOTOS of the studio apartment because it is still currently occupied and obviously I could not do a photo shoot of the apartment. I was able to go into the studio apartment and confirmed that it has a functioning window with a typical Hong Kong view of older buildings around it.

Below are photos of the entrance to 23 Mercer Street in the Sheung Wan District of Hong Kong. NOTICE the small black wooden ramp that leads directly into 23 Mercer Street.

The below photo looks directly into the entrance. Do you see the black ramp I mentioned above.

It is difficult to see in the above photo but 23 Mercer Street has an ELEVATOR! Many of the older buildings in Hong Kong have NO elevator .. or get this .. they do have an elevator but to get to the elevator you must walk up three flights of stairs! Go figure! I actually experienced this when the CITYLOFT employee took me to a building to proudly show me the elevator in that building and an apartment he thought I might be interested in. We walked up three flights of stairs .. about ten steps per flight TO GET TO THE ELEVATOR!

OH MISTER ELEVATOR! YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL! Well Dad .. I also think that I am quite attractive!

The building is the CHUK ON BUILDING.

You can see the building in the map below. I actually placed the balloon beside the building so you could clearly see the CHUK ON BUILDING on the map. Let’s give my webmaster ANDREJ a BIG ROUND OF APPLAUSE for these maps.

More views of the entrance to 23 Mercer Street. See the black wooden ramp our ‘landmark’.

“DAD! You didn’t get me in the below photo DAD!” /signed by the/ .. Black Wooden Ramp !

Now I will show you the views of adjacent buildings. The KEBAB HOUSE is right next door to 23 Mercer Street. Notice the street is clear in front of the KEBAB HOUSE. Go down four photos and a large truck moved into my neighborhood in front of my very eyes. Actually he was standing waiting as I snapped the below photo and I just ‘waived him off’ until I got the below photo.

As we look at the KEBAB HOUSE above please notice the green shed just up the street and to the left of the KEBAB HOUSE.

Now we will take a closer look at the small green shed up the street from the KEBAB HOUSE that I mentioned above.

I should have suggested that you have a ‘hankie’ handy.  I am touched to the very depths of my soul by these tiny little businesses that abound in the world. A living breathing human being with feelings and dreams and wishes has this business.

Above you see the big truck I mentioned four photos above and below he is long gone.

These photos show you a large perspective of Mercer Street using the small green flower shop above as a point of reference.

The above and the below views are now OUR VIEWS OF OUR MERCER STREET!

In the above photo do you all see our small green flower shop on the left side of Mercer Street. Below I show you all how I got the above photo looking down on Mercer Street. I climbed up the steps you see on the left center of the photo below. The man in the dark maroon colored ski jacket is heading for them.

Looking right straight up Mercer Street in the below two photos you can see the steps I show above as they appear from a distance.

I shot the below photo of Mercer Street this evening.

Now back to square one .. another photo of the entrance to 23 Mercer Street. We have had a good look at the KEBAB HOUSE and the green flower shop further up Mercer Street to the left. Now we will look to the right and explore that building. Patti just possibly may want to go to the right and not be confined ONLY to going to the left.

At the extreme top right of the above photo that is showing primarily the entrance to 23 Mercer Street .. please notice the GREEN CANTEEN sign and the ORANGE symbols. VIOLA we have THE CANTEEN at Number 19 Mercer Street.

In the below photo you can clearly see THE CANTEEN. Do you all see THE KEBAB HOUSE up the street and (IF you look really closely) the roof of our small green flower shop?

Above notice the two round STELLA ARTOIS beer signs on the corner of THE CANTEEN. Below is a close-up shot of them.

At night these two signs are my HOMING BEACONS leading me directly to 23 Mercer Street. In the below photo you can see them way up the street in the distance and they show up abnormally bright. Look just above the heads of the construction workers.

Again they show up abnormally bright for some photographic reason. Look straight down from the left end of the red sign.

Now going back above four photos .. IF we turn to our right and look down the street to our right we see the below view of Burd Street.

THE CANTEEN is to our left below.

Now back to THE CANTEEN. Notice again my landmark STELLA ARTOIS round signs.

THE CANTEEN is really kind of NIFTY. But in terms of another NIFTY LOCAL RESTAURANT on Mercer Street one is coming up below very soon.

The below photo looks down Mercer Street.. THE CANTEEN that I have shown you all is on our left and a bit behind us. It is pretty hard (IF not impossible) to clearly see the TAN COLORED sign that is below the MASALA sign that you see above the street below. So I will walk up the street and photograph the sign I want you all to see.

There it is in all of its majesty .. KATONG LAKSA . PRAWN MEE .. Patti IF you do return here to Hong Kong we WILL EAT HERE.

By day KATONG LAKSA located at 8 MERCER STREET appears as you see below.

And by night we have the below scene.

LAKSA I have just now learned is a Malaysian soup dish.

Inside we all go!

AND DOWN I SIT .. 

Below is my Malaysian LAKSA! I was absolutely starving hungry by the time I got here to KATONG LAKSA and because it is MALAYSIAN I just ordered Singapore Rice Noodles. Singapore is at the tip of the Malay Peninsula after all!

Admittedly the waitress and I did have a bit of a little chit-chat about Singapore Rice Noodles but I thought she understood. She just kept pointing at the LAKSA (all sorts of them) on the menu. I have come to find out LAKSA is a generic term that means SOUP! So naturally there were a lot of soups on the menu.

Oh Wikipedia and Oh GOOGLE .. Laksa is a popular spicy noodle soup in the Peranakan cuisine, which is a combination of Chinese and Malay cuisine. It can be found in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. CNN Travel ranked Penang Assam Laksa 7th out of the 50 most delicious food in the world.

The above Malay Laksa is NOT the below Singapore Rice Noodles. It looks very SPICY HOT doesn’t it?

She DID EMPHASIZE two things.  Curry and Spicy Hot. “Heck!” .. I thought ..”How can I miss with Curry and Spicy Hot!”

“Lord God Of Abraham! This stuff tastes VERY FISHY! I think that I am happy I did NOT ask her about what is in the Laska I ordered .. Number 2 on the menu.”

I survived the Laksa and then got the ingredients.  Shrimp (I can DO Shrimp) .. Cockles (I ate one then a second and then carefully screened all the rest out and away from me.) .. Fish Cake (Don’t know which it was. Must have been fishy.) .. Tofu (A no brainer .. very little taste usually) .. and Egg (what’s not to like about some egg in the Laksa) ..

And it certainly was very SPICY HOT!!

THEN after I was all finished with my late lunch I very carefully studied the menu. And I concluded that:

“I am coming back here for dinner and I will order Curry Chicken with rice!”

I know what to do with this .. you just mix it up together.

BURP!

“Are you the owner here?” ..  “You are?” ..  “Can I just rent a place over there near the kitchen and move in and camp out here.” 

Patti IF you do come back to Hong Kong I am sure that the two of us can just sort of LIMP ALONG food wise at just this one restaurant. It could be a bit of a Cross To Bear but I think we two could hoist it up and trudge that road of Happy Destiny!

In the below photo KATONG LAKSA is just past the one red sign on the right side above Mercer Street ..

It is at Number 8 Mercer Street and we are at Number 23 Mercer Street.  It is very close to us!

“Did you say that yes you are the owner here?” .. “IF I can’t rent a place over there near the kitchen and move in and camp out here then maybe I will hire out as a cook here.”

Captain .. IF you just begin to write a Post will follow!

Amazing .. Absolutely and Positively AMAZING!

Smiles and I mean SMILES .. CAP ..

Post Script .. What On Earth Is This .. I found it at another restaurant here in the Mercer Street area!

It is a TRIPLE CHOCOLATE BROWNIE!

HIT ME AGAIN DEALER !!

One someday I will run out of steam and just stop moving around! When I can no longer move I will JUST SETTLE WHERE I AM WHEN I RUN OUT OF STEAM ..

HONG KONG?

• ← DEC 17, 14 .. CITY LOFT SERVICED STUDIO .. HONG KONG ..
• DEC 21, 14 .. DRAMA ! WHO WANTS / WHO NEEDS DRAMA ! →