Stories

{7 March 2011} The 1st time I came to Hong Kong was in August 1985.  I stayed for one month with my boyfriend at his family's home in the Wanchai district. A bit less than a year later his family became my family-in-law.
I came back to Hong Kong in June 1986 and have been living here since then.  

I lived for 6 months at No.288 of Hennessy Road (the building is not longer there and has been replaced by a commercial centre in 1993) together with my husband, my mother-in-law, and my sisters-in-law before living on our own and moving out to Chi Fu Fa Yuen (close to Pokfulam area in the Southern district).  After dinner we used to go for a walk to Causeway Bay. It is during this time that I discovered the meaning of " hàhng-gâai - maáih-yéh" which is one of the favourite pastimes of Hongkongers.  It means window-shopping/shopping.  This activity would usually take place on Saturday afternoons after having "yám chàh" (literally means drink-tea).  Having our full of delicious dím-sàm (point-heart) which are Cantonese dishes cooked in steamer baskets, my sisters-in-law and I would visit the Causeway Bay department stores: Daimaru – Matzuzakaya - Mitsukoshi – Sogo (today only the last one is still there). 

After moving we liked to cook at home simple dishes. My husband and I would buy the ingredients together. Most of the  time he was in charge of cooking (and teaching me) and I was responsible of the washing and tidying up. Being a foreigner or gwái-pòh (ghost-woman), [at that time I was younger so people might have called me a "gwái-mui" or ghost-young sister] my husband was afraid I would be cheated by the stallholders. Even when we went together he would ask me not to stand close to him in case he would be charged a higher price. I remember being quite upset. Does having a "gwái-pòh" wife show that you have studied abroad and therefore can afford higher prices? Furthermore, is it acceptable to raise prices based on the customer's social appearance?  Later, having learnt how to count and to say the names of the most common food in Cantonese I would "take the risk" of ordering myself.   I have never been able to confirm whether I had been overcharged or not! and it does not matter at all! 

{7 March 2011}