Tasting Hong Kong

Imagine sampling an exotic yet unstrange fruit for the first time. Perhaps something that resembles an orange but is not an orange. You may have even heard of this rare fruit or even seen pictures of it. Maybe you've read about it. Friends who have tasted that fruit tell you it's delicious, perhaps even rave about it. But even those less demonstrative say they look forward to tasting it again. No one calls it a bad fruit.

And now you hold that fruit in your hand. Would you plunge right into it? Bite off a big chunk like a familiar, delicious red apple, only half paying attention to aroma and taste?

Or would you study it for awhile? Hold it in your hand, feel its texture, perhaps admire its color? Put your face into it like a sommelier examining the nose of a fine wine? And then only when you felt duly introduced and familiar would you actually take that first cautious taste. And yet another. And another, as each successive bite released the full delicious flavor into not just your taste buds, but all your senses. Would you perhaps reflect that this may be the one and only time you get to taste this famously delectable fruit, so you would savor it ever so slowly?

Many things in life evoke that experience. A fruitful, healthy relationship with another human being may be the best example. But I'll save that thought for another time.

Visiting a renowned international destination like Hong Kong can be very much like relishing that exotic yet vaguely familiar fruit. Two days into this port, I find myself still in the early fascination phase. The little bit I've tasted so far makes a very pleasant blend. I suppose that any cosmopolitan city might have that effect on the fortunate world traveler, as experiences from other parts of the world replicate themselves somewhere you might not expect. Irish pubs may be the best example. What major city anywhere on earth doesn't have at least one?

Last night we hailed and farewelled some shipmates at the Dublin Jack in Lan Kwai Fong. That juxtaposition of a traditional Irish moniker with a Chinese phrase gives some texture to the rich mixture of cultures that makes Hong Kong so much like that exotic yet familiar fruit. To openly receptive ears a mix of languages plays a thrilling melody as peoples from all over the world mingle among each other. A stroll down a narrow street reveals a panoply of ethnic food choices to meet any taste. The visual panoramas evoke cosmic light shows. Hong Kong tantalizes all the senses at once.

And yet, like the skin or the nose of the exotic fruit, what I've experienced so far promises deeper enrichment yet to come. This city clearly offers far more than Irish bars and ethnic restaurants. I plan to savor that next layer today.

Con mucho gusto.