Walking through the Western District

I walked through Sheung Wan and the Western District today and was charmed by its sights and sounds. It reminded me of an old Hong Kong, steeped in Chinese tradition and brimming with local culture. 

I wonder why I've never quite walked through this area before - probably because I've never really needed to buy dried seafood. The Western district is famed for dried seafood, a staple in Chinese soups and tonics. The reason I went there today was to pick up tickets to Paul van Dyk, who's playing tomorrow night near Lan Kwai Fong. My husband had bought tickets (a friend said to him, 'What, are you like 15?!') which strangely needed to be picked up right smack in dried seafood valley.

The sun was out in full merry force today, and shop owners lost no time putting out their goods to dry. I saw them everywhere - at the traffic light, ingeniously melded in with some road-work barricades, on the sidewalk, by the fire hydrant, and just about anywhere where there was a good spot of sun.

I came across a traditional bakery, which you hardly see any more of these days. 

And a traditional Chinese shop selling bed and bath items that many Chinese families from generations past use for their babies and kids. Those cartoon bolsters and mattresses are a blast from the past.

I also chanced upon a little opening ceremony for a Chinese restaurant. None of the ribbon-cutting and posed handshakes. The typical local opening ceremony, complete with whole roasted pig: