A Friendly Enough Protest

Sundays are the maids' day off in Hong Kong. Many of them come from the Phillippines. As we emerged from the Central MTR station, we came across this throng of them in Chater Road, which had been closed off. Hong Kong is like that. Roads get closed for meetings and market, just like that seemingly.

It was more of a friendly get together than a protest although a banner called for Cordilleran migrants to band together to demand self determination and a right to keep their land, but in the Cordillera region of the Phillippines, not in Hong Kong. There was music and dancing and general bonhomie.

As we walked towards the piers on the waterfront, we came across various groups of girls, presumably all migrant maids rather than Hong Kong Chinese, who had come together to practise dance routines to  music from powerful portable speakers.

One particular group made me smile. The girl in charge obviously had ambitions and was purporting to train the others in 'how to be a model.' If I said she had little idea, you might understand why I was smiling. As my companion said, the girl who walked up behind her had much better deportment. The leader kept stopping and starting the practice, I'm surprised the others stayed with her. But then I suppose there's not much else for maids to do in HK that is affordable.

Some of the girls were wearing heels so high, I wondered they didn't fall over.

We crossed Victoria Harbour on the Star Ferry as it began to rain and took the regulatory photos of the Hong Kong waterfront from Kowloon. Back on the ferry to catch a taxi up to Victoria Peak to see the lights come on at twilight. 

Michael had inveigled his nephew Alec to guide us on this stretch. Instead of paying for tickets to ascend to the viewing platform, we walked along the Lugard Road trail for almost a mile to where there was a gap in the luscious tropical vegetation, overlooking the lights of Hong Kong. I was cross that my new tripod wasn't tall enough to stand above the railings, but did get some shots. I rather liked the sci fi feel of the lights from the accommodation towers.

Walking back, there were so many sounds of birds and crickets in the undergrowth. The earthy smell of the forest after rain was magical.

We finished up at a Japanese Restaurant in a mall near Central Station where they still didn't understand about gluten free. I managed to get a bloody steak, which was substantial and filling, a bowl of boiled rice and a stab at the universal pak choi. The best bit was the glass of red wine.

Extra is of a night view over Victoria Harbour from Victoria Peak.

More photos of the day on Flickr: Victoria Harbour