Hong Kong - Nov 6th 06

Sunday is the day off for the Filipino maids of the rich of Hong Kong.

Where ever you go down by the Star Ferry terminal you’ll see hundreds of women picnicking together.

I passed by that way yesterday on my way to Lama Island with Amanda & Giles.

Lama Island is a fab wee place to the south west of HK. There are no cars, only strange boxy trolley like affairs that the locals putter about the place on.

We spent the day walking around the island, catching one ferry at the north, and then another back at the south.

Lunch was in a great wee place, a vegetarian restaurant called The Bookworm Café. I had eggs Benedict on bagels. Oh boy was it rich, but very fine. Oh and lovely home made chips.

Great stuff.

It was a relief to wander around in the calm and quiet of Lama, after the constant traffic noise of HK.

On our journey south we stopped in at a little place called the herb garden in search of tea to wash down the greasiness of the chips…

The name says it all… It was a large herb garden sized place that sold teas made of the different herbs on offer.

I had cinnamon basil tea. It was great. Just a few basil leafs in boiling water. Lovely. A very calm place. It even had a pink parrot and a ginger pussy cat that loved having a fuss made of it. And boy did that cat talk. A constant meowing issued from its mouth. Very cute.

The southern ferry terminal was surrounded by fish restaurants, where various beasts of the sea struggled in glass tanks and polystyrene boxes for your eating pleasure.

We did find a temple before we got to the terminal though that had a lovely fish pool outside with carp and terrapins swimming about merrily together in it. No one was eating them. At least I hope not.

Inside the temple was a huge preserved fish called something like an oak fish, it was massive, one of the biggest fish I’ve ever seen.

Heading back to the flat in HK, along the quayside, the Filipino ladies were still in abundance. Only now they weren’t picnicking , they were playing at cards.

It’s very interesting to see how a community, when it transplants itself from one to another will assert itself in new ways in the new home land.

Sean was saying how the maids of rich families very often have a tough time of it from the kids that they work with. It seems that parents can have a certain wilful degree of absence with their offspring, while the maid fills the gaps, taking them to school and so on, but are not given any respect by the kids for it. Basically all the down sides of parenting.

No wonder that Sundays are such important days for them.

And now as I finish tapping this a constant banging has started in the flat. Someone, somewhere down below, is doing some work on their place… Time to nip out for a coffee methinks…

I’m loving the Flashman book I’m reading. What a well adjusted individual he is…