Wanchai Tung Lung Street 2
Yesterday I talked about Lo Ban festival. In fact I should call it the Master Lo ban festival rather. In Chinese it’s called 師傅誕; and it is on the 13th of the 6th month of the Chinese Calender.
A few stores 士多 were scattered around. They sold bits of everything, like soft drinks, can food, cigarette, wine, rice, soy source… you name it. The most significant display of a typical store was the big electric cooler for drinks. It should be placed right in front of the store. Bottles of drink were standing upright and covered by icy chilly water. There were 2 sliding doors on the top of it. Customer just slide opened the door and pulled up his favourite drink; then open the bottle cap with the opener which was fitted on the front of the cooler, then payed and pissed off. After enjoying the cold drink, he could return the bottle and then he’d got 5 cents back. Putting hand into the water was considered as bad behaviour, simply because it would dirty the water. So if we wanted to know whether the drink was chill enough, we just touched the cap of the bottle to feel the temperature. Most of the stores also provided delivery service, too. They also put a telephone at a handy spot so that people can make a phone call.
2,3 barber shops, some was on the ground floor, and some was on the 1st floor. In some of the passageways between buildings (巷仔), there were barber stalls. When I wanted my hair cut, they will put a piece of wooden board on top of the armrests. I then sat on it, so that I was tall enough to have my hair cut.
At the front of the staircases, there were always some very tiny shops. Some was selling cigarette, some was doing key cutting and lock smithing jobs, some was selling and repairing mah-jong, some was repairing watches….etc.
At the 2 ends of Tung Lung street , there were about 6 food stalls, 孰食大牌檔. They sold different types of cooked food. The first one which facing Cannel road east, in the morning it sold congee breakfast 白粥, 油條, 腸粉. The owner was a Muslim, so no pork was sold there, yet the 油條 they made was very special. It was a bit shorter than the ordinary one, but very very crispy. From the afternoon onward this shop turned to a wun tun noodle shop. The 2nd one was mainly for dinner. They opened from about 4, 5 pm until mid-night. They sold Cantonese style cooking. The last one in this row was a café stall, selling Hong Kong style tea and coffee, toast, pan fry eggs….you could buy take away tea or coffee, and the container was a used milk can! Most train drivers bought take away tea or coffee or mix of the two, 鴛鴦, after lunch, and then took to trains. They enjoy them while they were driving.
At the other end of the street, which was facing Hennesy road, a food stall was selling fish ball rice noodles, 魚蛋河. They made their own fish balls. That was a Chiuchow style noodle shop. The other one was also a Chiuchow style food stall, we called this 打冷. They opened from lunch time till midnight. They sold Chiuchow cousin such as peanut chicken legs, deep fried pork intestine, cold crabs, big eye fish….you name it.
Apart from the permanent shops, there were mobile hawkers. They were selling things like sweet soups, aeroplane olives…..etc.
……..to be continued.
Yesterday I talked about Lo Ban festival. In fact I should call it the Master Lo ban festival rather. In Chinese it’s called 師傅誕; and it is on the 13th of the 6th month of the Chinese Calender.
A few stores 士多 were scattered around. They sold bits of everything, like soft drinks, can food, cigarette, wine, rice, soy source… you name it. The most significant display of a typical store was the big electric cooler for drinks. It should be placed right in front of the store. Bottles of drink were standing upright and covered by icy chilly water. There were 2 sliding doors on the top of it. Customer just slide opened the door and pulled up his favourite drink; then open the bottle cap with the opener which was fitted on the front of the cooler, then payed and pissed off. After enjoying the cold drink, he could return the bottle and then he’d got 5 cents back. Putting hand into the water was considered as bad behaviour, simply because it would dirty the water. So if we wanted to know whether the drink was chill enough, we just touched the cap of the bottle to feel the temperature. Most of the stores also provided delivery service, too. They also put a telephone at a handy spot so that people can make a phone call.
2,3 barber shops, some was on the ground floor, and some was on the 1st floor. In some of the passageways between buildings (巷仔), there were barber stalls. When I wanted my hair cut, they will put a piece of wooden board on top of the armrests. I then sat on it, so that I was tall enough to have my hair cut.
At the front of the staircases, there were always some very tiny shops. Some was selling cigarette, some was doing key cutting and lock smithing jobs, some was selling and repairing mah-jong, some was repairing watches….etc.
At the 2 ends of Tung Lung street , there were about 6 food stalls, 孰食大牌檔. They sold different types of cooked food. The first one which facing Cannel road east, in the morning it sold congee breakfast 白粥, 油條, 腸粉. The owner was a Muslim, so no pork was sold there, yet the 油條 they made was very special. It was a bit shorter than the ordinary one, but very very crispy. From the afternoon onward this shop turned to a wun tun noodle shop. The 2nd one was mainly for dinner. They opened from about 4, 5 pm until mid-night. They sold Cantonese style cooking. The last one in this row was a café stall, selling Hong Kong style tea and coffee, toast, pan fry eggs….you could buy take away tea or coffee, and the container was a used milk can! Most train drivers bought take away tea or coffee or mix of the two, 鴛鴦, after lunch, and then took to trains. They enjoy them while they were driving.
At the other end of the street, which was facing Hennesy road, a food stall was selling fish ball rice noodles, 魚蛋河. They made their own fish balls. That was a Chiuchow style noodle shop. The other one was also a Chiuchow style food stall, we called this 打冷. They opened from lunch time till midnight. They sold Chiuchow cousin such as peanut chicken legs, deep fried pork intestine, cold crabs, big eye fish….you name it.
Apart from the permanent shops, there were mobile hawkers. They were selling things like sweet soups, aeroplane olives…..etc.
……..to be continued.
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