Hong Kong Week Four
So, we’re a family of ten traveling through Asia for the summer of 2016. We’ll be traveling for eight total weeks and are now almost done with week four! I can’t believe it’s all passed so quickly! Here are some impressions from the past week!
Re-unification Day Celebrations
Holidays in Hong Kong are celebrated a little differently. My kids are in Mandarin School for this week. I got an e-mail saying that school days would be longer this week so they could take Friday off. I guess that is normal here. There are something like 17 celebrated holidays for which, school and work are taken off. To compensate for these holidays however, people work extra for the rest of the week. So, my nephew Seth had to go to school on Saturday when there was a day off that week. It happens with Monsoons as well. When they have a “monsoon day” and can’t go to work or school, they then have to make that day up on the next Saturday.
The Mandarin House chose to add an hour to each day of the week to make up for missing Friday.
On the way to play at the free carnival down by central, we saw protestors…in Time Square, Tin Hau and just around town. They were contained and respectful. There were police everywhere but they were just standing around. Most of the signs and shouting were in Cantonese, so we couldn’t understand. We got the kids down to the celebration though. Thought it might be better to be around happy people! They had bouncy houses, popcorn, cotton candy (which Jon Jon happily said tastes just like in the U.S.) and free toys. There wasn’t much of a crowd. A magician performed to a crowd of only about 1/3 chairs filled. Musicians sang on a large stage with great sound equipment. The kids got a five minute turn in each inflatable and then had to just wait another five minutes before getting another turn.
We ate at a little cafe there. I ordered spaghetti, hotdogs, fried noodles and a couple club sandwiches. The hotdogs came with cucumbers, tomatoes, lettuce, mayonnaise, ketchup and mustard! When Will saw the lovely presentation he said “congratulations Hong Kong, you’ve ruined hotdogs”! The club sandwich had scrambled eggs in it and we all decided that was how we would make them in the future!
On our way home, we watched the parade. thousands of people marched and an equal number of people stood by watching. The police stood between the crowd and the marchers but didn’t do anything to stop the procession. There were some uncomfortable moments when the kids asked what organ harvesting was as a 15 foot picture of a man being tortured passed by.
So, I guess there are some larger than usual situations at play here. There is a law stating that “The socialist system and policies shall not be practiced in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the previous capitalist system and way of life shall remain unchanged for 50 years.[6][7]”
The problem came about when a few Hong Kong booksellers may have gotten kidnapped this past year and detained in China against their will. Nobody could get a hold on what exactly was happening until a man by the name of Lam Wing-kee held a press conference and told his story. The news was so big, it became international news. Some people here feel that China operating on Hong Kong soil was a breech of their “one country, two systems” agreement. Once 2047 rolls around, Hong Kong will become socialist like the rest of China. It will be interesting to watch the next 30 years!
From our flat, you can see a brand new outdoor roller skating rink (in the window here). The kids have watched it longingly for three weeks. The local skating store had gear for each kid costing $500. I found an on-line store that was 1/3 that and got it delivered! That’s a lot of gear!
