Hong Kong Mishmash

No visit to Hong Kong is complete without having a dim sum (small plates of relish, or tapas) meal. With dim sum restaurants flanking the streets of Hong Kong like convenient stores, many housewives, retirees and early risers gather around, catch up with the latest gossips, and drown in the paper over the tea ritual. Rows of back-to-back tables line the main hall which usually hosts wedding banquet in the evening. Articulate and overexcited conversations therefore inevitably spill to the neighbors. What amazes me is the indiscretion of these conversants, who don’t seem to be aware of perpetrating other’s propriety. This morning I sat at the table waiting for my family and found myself absorbing in one of these conversations against my will. So-and-so is having an affair in Shenzhen, just across the river from Hong Kong. Does his wife know about it? No, she doesn’t even have a clue. So-and-so is taking a new job but she’s been very secretive about it. What does she do? Sales of some sort. More like network marketing. No wonder she keeps calling me about these water purifiers. She wants to get together for tea but I sense  something being shady so I say maybe some other time. The ladies’ thorat didn’t seem to get parched but only grew more chatty. Conversation nudged to the direction of cosmetics, debating one whitening mask is better than another, uplifting Este Lauder and carping on Olay. Not only I wasn’t bothered by their gritty gossips, I enjoyed their easy spirits! I did manage to finish On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan (another Novella Challenge pick). I’ve got two second-round interviews lined up for the next two weeks and so it’s time to hit the bookstore and stock up on reading materials. Chow for now.