Nearly all of the signs are in Chinese (Cantonese; not Mandarin) and English. A substantial number of the residents speak both languages. With the exception of one cab driver who was not happy with Ashley's directions, everyone has been friendly and helpful. While it is a very cosmopolitan city, you never lose sight of the fact that you are in Asia.
We are staying in the Sheung Wa district, which has lots of tiny streets, and is close to both the Central (downtown) district as well as the harbor. In Sheung Wa many shops selling the same type of items are clumped together. We ran across a series of Chinese medicine stores selling herbs, which are prescribed to be made into tea.
Among these shops - nearly all of which are open fronted - we came across a store selling a particularly unusual medicine - snakes! It was dark, lined with wooden boxes holding the still living "medicine", and had a cool, musty, reptilian smell. While our photo didn't turn out well due to the darkness in the store, we did get a photo of the small sign hanging on the front of the store:
Luckily we are feeling well and are in no need of medicine.
No comments:
Post a Comment