5th April, 6pm HKT.

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After a visit to Barbara’s office to update my blog and check my emails, I took the Star Ferry to Kowloon The streets around the HK terminal are filled with groups of women sitting on the pavements eating, chatting and playing cards, a social time for them. The ferry terminal reminds me of a cross between a low-rate children’s amusement park and a French motorway toll plaza with concrete, pebbledash and painted lanes for different payment methods. The area is filled with Canadian, Australian and English tourists and seems somehow ‘fake’ for the benefit. The boat, with its slight differential fares for upper- and lower-deck passengers itself, sways gently in the harbour and makes an unremarkable journey of around ten minutes across the harbour; the views drive most of the passengers to silence though. It’s not unfair to say that photos do not do justice to the spectacle. I presume the clouds that hang above the city and occasionally obscure the peaks of the tower blocks are partially created by moisture rising from the plethora of air conditioning units in every room and vehicle in the city, but faced with the sheer number of towerblocks, lights and activity most just stare in awe.

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Photos

Street party
for women: eating, chatting, playing cards.

HK island waterfront
as viewed from the ferry

Comments

[E Ho]

Public holiday for Filipino maids
There are about 300k maids from South East Asia working for domestic worker in HK. They enjoyed the publice holiday on 5th April as usual as every Sunday, they sitted on open area, espcially around two sides of harbour, playing cards, chatting, singing and eatting.