Mui Wo awakes

Blogger hasn't been allowing me to post photos for a bit but it's letting me do so now so phew, I can blog again.

Buffalo Wilbur likes a lie in on Sunday mornings but my body clock is adjusted to early long-commute time so I went for a walk instead.

Mui Wo is lovely early in the morning, with the sun just hitting the mountain peaks and villagers out marketing or for their morning exercise.

And not forgetting the bevy of cleaners who make the town ready for another lazy Sunday.

Going marketing

We may have two supermarkets in Mui Wo but for really fresh/unusual produce, I often do a little hunting and gathering round town.

The BBQ meat shop opposite Wellcome has some good cuts of imported meat. For Sunday lunch roasts, they sell legs of lamb and huge chunks of beef.

They also have a small section of fresh veg.

For fresh seafood, nothing beats the Mui Wo market.

But I am a bit squeamish and can't bear to see a live fish being bashed in the head for me to cook so I usually stick to the ones already on the slabs.

The market also has a small stall selling buns, which are great for a mid-morning snack after a tiring hour or so of marketing.

What scum!

The delivery boats have come and gone. And this is what they appear to have delivered along with the usual groceries. Yuck!

Hello, buffalo

After those buffalo killings, I thought I'd never see buffaloes in Mui Wo again.

But here he is, one big bugger casually strolling down the road as I got off the ferry after work.

He walked up the hill (guess he wasn't in town for the groceries) and disappeared.

But not before he'd amassed a small crowd of delighted buffalo spotters.

Best onion bhajis in HK

In case you think I'm a total dining curmudgeon after my last post, here are the best onion bhajis in Hong Kong.

Freshly made, totally yummy and only HK$20 for three (I think Gordon used to give four but inflation, ah well...) from Bombay Cafe.

And yes, those legs are pretty good too.

Non restaurant review

Buffalo Wilbur and I love to support the local restaurants.

But I'm afraid you're not going to be getting a review of Casa Brasil anytime soon – not if these are the prices they're charging.

Wine is about HK$65 a glass. That's almost as much as some Soho restaurants are charging.

I'm sure the food is good and will probably justify those prices but we don't have that type of money to spend on a non-special occasion.

Pity really because I do like the idea of a hearty Brazilian meal. (And in case you're thinking this is some pathetic attempt to eat for free or something, no, I don't do that. That's why I prefer to stay anonymous and write about stuff I genuinely like.)

If you want to know what the food tastes like, Lantau Link has been there and posted their comments.

Walk slower

I always knew the Mui Wo-Pui O walk was not for serious hikers, just people looking to stroll.

Chinoiserie

We have been resisting getting Chinese reproduction furniture because, how cliche can you get going for rosewood copies in Hong Kong?

But I'm afraid we have succumbed.

The red TV cabinet with some strange bird not known to man sold at Red Hall Furniture (Tel: 2988-1368) was just too pretty to resist.

And having started, we have caught the bug and are now eyeing our next buy. Bedside tables to match our cabinet, perhaps?

Or how about an imposing wardrobe?

Given that our flat is so tiny, maybe it's time to get a village house to store all our lovely furniture?

Then again, all the big pieces are more than we can afford. We can but dream or our red chamber.

Longan season

Mother Nature is good at helping you cope with the extremes. When the weather spikes, she gives us longans to cool us down. Chilled, the fruits are like refreshing sorbets on a hot day.

The local varieties sold in Mui Wo have quite thin flesh that sticks to the seeds (the China ones are fleshier) but they are just as sweet.

The Banana Uncle is selling them at HK$8 a catty. I got two catties and now am having a luxurious longanfest.

A word to the prudish: Banana Uncle has taken to wearing super skimpy shorts in this weather so avert your eyes when choosing your longans... or you may see more spherical objects than you'd bargained for.

What's cooking, Lulu?

I'm glad to see that the New World ferry operators have decided to show us more RTHK clips and film trailers instead of the usual No Smoking ads and tourism videos of the islands on the in-ferry screens.

But I'm getting worried because Buffalo Wilbur now has a total crush on Cooking Lulu. Every time she pops up on screen, he goes all googly eyed and says: "Luluuuuuuuuu..." like someone just slipped him a love potion or something.

Arrrrgh! Someone help!

Making a splash

I got up with a enormous urge to plunge and submerge myself in cool, cool water so I roused Buffalo Wilbur and persuaded him to brave the Mui Wo public swimming pool.

We keep passing the pool and saying we'd go there one day but have been put off by reports about how packed it is all the time and how dirty the water is as a result.

The days of hot weather, however, made the prospect of a swim so inviting.

We were in luck (or out of it, depending on how you see it). It's free entry day today so we saved ourselves HK$20 each.

But that also meant a really crowded pool with kids zig zagging all over the place and adults hogging the lap lane to just soak and catch up with village gossip.

The pool was nice enough – nowhere near Olympic size though – and it had the one requirement I always ask of a pool: it was 1.25m at the deepest end so the water was never over my head.

If the temperature continues to climb, I'd probably go there again. But never on a free-entry day.

Speed demons begone

Why do the New Lantao Bus drivers drive as if they have a tight schedule to keep? It's not as if they have such strict intervals between trips – buses to Tai O come every hour or so during offpeak hours.

What was so important that the No 11 bus driver couldn't wait a few more minutes for a tiny calf to cross the road? He preferred to run over the poor baby in his impatience.

You can read the letter in Lantau Link here. Be warned, though: The photos may make you cry. It did for me.

The bus drivers speed down Ngan Wan Road too, barely stopping to take a corner into the petrol station.

I always worry for Mark's dogs because the bus drivers really don't care to brake for anything. Today buffaloes and dogs but tomorrow, if the school reopens, children?

Train woes

Living in Mui Wo makes for crazy commutes. Mine takes three hours a day... if everything goes according to plan.

When there's a glitch in the matrix - like a power outage today - it becomes pull-your-hair-out crazy. Trains on the Island Line were 11 minutes apart so you can imagine the crowd build-up.

Luckily I took this photo before the train pulled in. Because we were jammed like sardines in the carriage, I could hardly reach for my camera without accidentally punching someone in the guts.