A Whirlwind Tour

Yesterday, before we went to Annie and Ian's, K and I went to Chinatown. He said he'd take me to a cheap, standard place that's sort of an institution in the city. It's called Won Kei, and it's about three stories high and super busy. The waiters are known for being a bit surly, and when one waiter sat us together on the same side of the table and K asked if he could move to the other side, the waiter just smirked and said, "Oh no, no, no, no." We couldn't figure out why, but we went along with it. He ordered crispy pork and chicken which was okay, nothing special, and some braised greens in oyster sauce. I ordered king prawns with ginger and spring onions and the prawns were nothing short of medium sized shrimp. The dish itself had absolutely no flavor. Had it not been for my bowl of roast duck soup with noodles, I might have totally written the place off. My, how delicious it was. A rich, flavorful broth perfect for the chilly days and even the noodles were full of flavor. I'd go back in a heartbeat just for that. Still, our bill was $40 usd and K thought that was cheap. Again, it is, by London's standards. Walking through Chinatown, I saw reflexology shops which looked like nail salons. You just go in and sit down in a chair and wait to have your feet worked on. There are windows where you can watch butchers dismantling ducks, livers and kidneys in one bowl, intestinal remnants in another. It wasn't as big as I thought, which is refreshing, considering everything else in the neighboring vicinity is. We walked through Oxford Circus, Picadilly Circus, Covent Garden, down Oxford Street, down posh alleyways, through Trafalgar Square...it was dizzying. Too many people, everywhere. This was where all the department stores like John Lewis are, plenty of other shops I can't seem to recall since it went by at such a fast pace for me. A giant Apple store and everything else you can imagine fashionwise on a grand scale. Sort of like Michigan Avenue or Times Square hopped up on crack. Disneyland, I guess. I'm staying away from all that. There was a Michael Jackson impersonator in Trafalgar Square and he was excellent. He was doing the moon walk and all of Michael's signature moves. It was uncanny. Stuff like that is always fun, but I still long to see some real parts of the city, and in a way, I think that's what I've been doing. I've seen the Middle Eastern part of Edgware Road and the Guajarti section of Wembley. That's not a bad start. Next week K will introduce me to fish and chips.