Endless Shopping

The title basically describes my past two days in HK. Though most people get 1 week off for New Year, only New Year Day is an official holiday (which means that for once government workers get a shorter break). So most stores are open. Our apartment is about a 10 minute walk from a huge shopping centre (and MTR station) - a very nice location indeed. Not that I've bought much, mind you, just endless walking and looking. The only problem is that most stores don't open until after noon, meaning I must kill my mornings watching TV or something. For the smaller street-side stores or those catering to younger shoppers, opening time could be after 2 or 3 pm, i.e. when high schoolers get out.

Anyway, as part of New Year tradition, shopping centres hire ppl to do the lion dance. Each (well, most do) store hangs a bundle of lettuce (the "choy" in "gung hay fat choy") and the lion goes to each store and "eats" the lettuce. There's also a troupe of people following it with drums and gongs - you know, the standard loudness at these performances. Considering the size of most shopping centres, it would take forever for one lion to get around to all stores, so there are usually 3 or so going around, which makes for a very noisy shopping experience indeed.

Also, because in China the New Year holiday is 10 days instead of just 1 week, a majority of early-afternoon shoppers speak Mandarin. Yup, what mainlanders love to do on holidays is come down to HK to shop.

Not must else to say. Only 2 more days and then I have to fly to Canada. I guess it's time to think about how to arrange my luggage! I have almost forgotten that I actually have to go back to work...I have a feeling the first week back will be tough...