Self Portrait Out Of Boredom
Bright yellow (not blonde) mohawk with suit will always get Mom’s attention…
We feel like dancing as someone plays in front of the Christmas tree at Fisherman’s Wharf for tips…
Money can’t buy happiness, but USD 4.95 can get you pretty darn close…
(As your Mummy finds you and gasps at the Giant Lunch Spoiler, a passing auntie chuckles… She must be a grandmum…)
Not that it keeps us from enjoying a great seafood lunch… Rockstar exchanges niceties with a little Latin American girl clutching a Barbie at the next table…
In another store, the middle-aged Asian shopkeeper asks, “Are you Chinese?”
We’re Malaysians who’ve also lived in Singapore and then spent almost 7 years in Hong Kong.
“I’m from Hong Kong!” She immediately switches to Cantonese. Her Caucasian colleague doesn’t understand a word. I respond half in English (most of the time that’s what my Cantonese is like anyway)
“Does everyone learn Putonghua nowadays? What with China’s influence…”
Umm, did you say you were from Hong Kong or China, do you speak Putonghua? (We ask because her Cantonese is heavily accented, though she doesn’t speak it like most Mainlanders or Taiwanese we’ve met)
She blinks with a mild flicker of annoyance, “Hong Kong.”
Rockstar is taking one-on-one Putonghua classes twice a week, but while many Hongkies can also speak Putonghua (with varying degrees of fluency and accuracy in terms of the accent), it’s still a pretty Canton plac, I answer cautiously
She looks sufficiently mollified. But then she chatters on in Cantonese – so much so it’s a little hard to actually shop in her store and we’re a little uncomfy about her companion who doesn’t understand the conversation, so we beat a quick retreat
It wasn’t that uncommon for people to yell at the pigeons…
(In Hong Kong, they don’t say anything to them – but then they impose a HKD 1,500 fine for feeding them like so…)
Then into Aquarium Of The Bay… It’s not bad, with two underground tunnels, beautiful jellies, informative guides who walk us quickly through the different areas… Though Rockstar balks at touching one of the rayfish in the petting tank “too cold!”
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6wjKBaQNh1k]
Rockstar meets rude sea star…
(At feeding time, we learn not to call them “Starfish”… And did you know they push their guts out to digest food before sucking everything back into themselves?)
Some of the best things in life (like chasing seagulls off the pier) are still free… After Daddy bought the air ticket, that is…
