Thursday, March 19, 2009

French Fries

i feel sick...
and as my lovely friend E would say; "i feel like a bloated whale".

why?
because i had ate french fries.

why?
because i sweat out all the sweat i could possibly sweat in my body last night.
no, i wasn't doing anything naughty fun, i took another hot yoga class.
i obviously had no salt left in me, hence the craving for salty french fries...
don't know how i got that chocolate craving though?!

just near my office is a burger king and three mcdonalds. yes 3!
i don't go often, but today my legs did the walking, right through the golden arches.
i so regret consuming those five-hundred-and-so calories.
what a waste of a hot yoga class...

but at least i could sit down in relatively peace and quiet and enjoy my salty lunch.
you see, in hong kong, if you wanna eat somewhere, anywhere for that matter, you need to join the queue.
my lunch hour is a fixed 1 hour starting at 12:30. i usually don't get to sit down at a table until 1:00.
people here love to
queue.
we
queue for the atm machines, for the supermarket check-out, for the subway, for the toilet, for the elevators, for the free usless hand-outs on the street, you name it, you gotta line up for it.

so after
queueing and then getting herded into the restaurant, you're usually asked, well told, that you have to share your table with other people. yup, people that you don't even know.
having lived in hong kong for 5 years already (g*d), i'm still not comfortable with this practise of sharing my limited space.

why?
well for starters:

don't stare at me when i pick up my chopsticks!
i know i'm a gweilo (鬼佬 : foreigner; or literally "ghost man") but i can use chopsticks!

don't spit out your
noisily sucked bones on the table next to my plate!
i know this is accepted here, but really!

stop staring full-stop!

the only time i'm happy to be stared at in awe? is when i say "
凍咖啡一杯唔該"(dong-gafei yat bui m goi) or "one iced coffee please"!
if i can't order a coffee in cantonese after living here for 5 years there must be something wrong with me.


where was i.... ?

ah, yes, mcdonalds.

mcdonalds, burger king, kfc etc are the only places where you generally don't have to share a table (apart from those up-market places)
i little piece of private space. a rarity in hong kong.

where am i going with this post?!?!!?
ummm...


oooh, this is interesting!
did you know that macdonalds in hong kong is the cheapest in the world! (on par with malaysia)
a big mac here works out at US$1.70.
compare that to the most expensive country norway at US$7.88!
Luuworld, i'm feeling for you! come and spend your hard earned cash in hong kong!

so yes, although i probably ate the cheapest french fries in the world, i won't be doing it again anytime soon.
especially that i'm on a healthy roll at the moment.
yes, yes, i know the fries weren't a good move, or the beer with dinner last night, but i am going to yoga more than i thought i would.
and! and i just bought this japanese magazine:

30歳からのカラダ作り(body making after 30)


just flicking through the pages i can feel my abs getting firmer!
oh if it was that easy...

11 comments:

GL said...

I'ma go pick up one of those A-SAP

Luuworld said...

nice post! i love these little glimpses of life in hong kong. i didn't realize you had to queue so much there. reading about that put things into perspective for me.

i hardly ever have to queue in norway. (with a population of under 5 million people, there's simply not enough people to create huge queues! ). if i ever have to queue, though, i get really stressed out and angry!

and also: i didn't know hong kong has the cheapest mc donalds in the world. i also didn't know norway has the most expensive one! i really should come to hong kong and pig out! :-p

about lunch: don't you ever bring lunch from home over there? (then you would be able to skip the queueing) it's quite common in norway to bring your own lunch.

and ps- reading your blog makes me miss asia so much. i miss japanese magazines!!!!

world of sekimachihato said...

* GL
check-out this website, i just bought some magazines i couldn't find in hk on it:
http://www.chugokukobaioh.scorejp.com

world of sekimachihato said...

* Luuworld
haha, i couldn't imagine norway as being a queuing country! we have some pretty spectacular (as in loooong) queues here. drives me nuts sometimes...

about lunch: some people bring their lunch to the office but it's really cheap to eat out here for breakfast, lunch or dinner. i guess if you wanted to skip those queues though...

hey, what's your favorite japanese magazine?
is it hard to find them in norway?

pascale said...

Queuing...I don't think I typed that word in a long long time. If HK is the no.1 country in queuing, then Japan must come next. You know why.

I love McDonald's I have this craving for their fries at least once in a couple of months. :p

About getting fit..if it makes you feel any better, my husband used to be like a stick and after going to the gym for couple of years, now he is a big guy! (he does weight lifting and running mostly) I am so jealous! not that I want to be a big woman...my point is, men can get fit so much faster than women :)
Good luck!

Luuworld said...

"popeye" daisuki desu! but i can't get it in norway. unfortunately. whenever i'm in london, i'll pick up a copy, but it's really expensive there.

i miss going to japanese bookstores and just hang out and flicking through all the great magazines...

Luuworld said...

ps, is that you in the picture? nice outfit! :-D

world of sekimachihato said...

* pascale
it's a funny work "queuing"... it doesn't look right when typed either. i had to double check the dictionary when i typed it!

mmm, i love running and really enjoying yoga but i'm not much of a weight-lifter, so i still don't seem to be getting any bigger! but maybe that's a good thing, i would need a huge pay increase if i had to go out and buy a new wardrobe of clothes for a new body shape!

world of sekimachihato said...

* Luuword
aww, i just bought popeye!
that's one thing about living in hong kong, it's super easy to get your hands on anything "japanese". but unlike in japan, all the magazines are wrapped here so you can't do 立ち読み!

※ yup, it's me in the pic. i just changed it again though.

GL said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
GL said...

THANKS Will take a look.

Regarding fat fries. You've got to be the type that doesn't bloat no matter what you eat!

Urayamashiina~

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