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Every Friday night a group of expats gather at a particular dai pai dong. What is a dai pai dong? People tell me it is "street food," thought Wikipedia says the actual phrase means "big license." They are part of Hong Kong's history. They are characterized by makeshift structure of canvas without air conditioning and with folding chairs and tables.
The one where this group meets is in Fo Tan in the old village now surrounded by high rise apartment buildings. It is a maze--you enter at any number of points, walking through something that resembles a kitchen, or by refrigerators, etc. To find this expat group you look like a westerner--they know where to point you to get through the maze to get to that particular tent area. Or you say gweilo (white ghost), the derogatory word for westerner--that works.
Life starts after 7 p.m. when everyone starts coming to eat dinner. The dai pai dong in Fo Tan is huge! You can walk on and on through the various "temporary" structures and kitchen-like walkways, that are all pieced together. By 8 p.m. it is full of people with only this one group of gweilo-type people on Friday night.
Hi Janet,
ReplyDeleteI wanted to know more about this expat group...do they still go there and also about this Dai pa DOng..can you give me the name and address etc...