A TRAVEL THING

Dinner was simple, at a place to which I often go, whose staff I will not see for the next four weeks because they are taking a vacation. To many locals vacation means heading over to Hong Kong, then jaunting into the mainland to visit some village to which they are connected. If they were born here it's a short visit. If their parents are American born, two or three days. By the fourth generation it fades, as they do not really know anyone there, at least not well enough to enjoy prolonged exposure. Send some money back for the upkeep of ancestral halls and graves, visit one or two people, relax for a day or two. That's basically it.
Kong people, however, need to recharge their batteries.

I suspect that the owner and his family will spend time both in HK and the mainland. Another business nearby always goes back for Chingming, and I've gotten used to them being closed for two or three weeks, and not having warned their customers beforehand.

My apartment mate always does Chingming for the graves in the United States. She has never been to China. She often finds Chinese people to be irritating or baffling, and often asks me for words or translations into Cantonese or Mandarin.

有排隊 there is a line! 輪到你 you're up next.
每個客人一個 just one per person!
真係好激死！

I myself never do Chingming. I don't have to.
I'm so white I glow in the dark.
Dutch American.

In any case, I hope they have a good time and come back refreshed. Hong Kong at this of year heads into decent temperatures, might be some rain, maybe another typhoon, but probably not. Peak storm season is already over.

The Kempen Area in the Netherlands (North Brabant province) is currently quite a bit colder, and significantly more precipitationary at this time of year. No typhoons. Dim sum can be found, but it might take some (considerable) effort.
The coffee is much better.

There is WiFi in both places, as well as modern medicine.

No senile egomaniacs running everything.
So not quite American standards.

Malaria is not endemic.
Either area.



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