protests + a boodle fight
It’s a heck of an interesting time to be living in Hong Kong, heck it’s interesting all the time but it just stepped up a notch lately. In case you have been under a rock there is a proposed law which would allow Hong Kong residents to be extradited to China and Hong Kongers are (understandably) unhappy about it.
To demonstrate their feelings a huge protest was organised, with around a million people walking from a park in the east of HK island to near the government buildings in the middle. This was obviously disruptive to traffic and the general areas they walked through but was overall pretty calm, it didn’t work as hoped though and the law continued to be discussed. They ramped it up a notch and staged a protest outside the buildings where meetings related to the law were scheduled to be held. This protest escalated somewhat and in the end it was a bit of a stand off between police and protestors which at times turned violent, with things like tear gas and rubber bullets being fired. This then let to an extended period of on and off protesting, smaller violent scuffles, a tragic death and culminated in another huge march, this one estimated at 2 million people. It was really interesting to be around while it was happening, hear some locals talking about it and generally observing via driving past certain places, or seeing it in the media. I didn’t go near any of the areas while things were happening, despite it generally being very close to my work, it was quite avoidable and the only direct impact I noticed was that on a couple of days the subway was crazy busy and other days the roads eerily quiet (blocked by protestors or police).
In the midst of all of this I was invited to a “Boodle Fight” with work colleagues. Not one to pass up a random experience like that I excitedly jumped in a minibus after work and headed for a teeny Filipino restaurant in Kowloon. Our feast (it was too big to call it a meal) was laid out on a very long table covered in banana leaves and with no cutlery in sight we sat down and dug in with our hands. There were small bowls provided in case you wanted soup but apart from that it was just a wonderfully messy mix. I found myself grabbing noodles, pulling fish off the bone, dunking things in sauce, tearing into a mango, pinching handfuls of rice and relishing a kebab for the simple pleasure of it being on a stick. It was a totally unique and fun way to share a meal, best done on a totally empty stomach (as in do not have lunch that day or a beer beforehand) as they serve soooo much food!
I also had a night out at the Hong Kong coliseum, an awesome stadium which was hosting FIVB World League Women’s games over 3 nights between China, Italy, Japan and Netherlands. The level of volleyball was absolutely ridiculous and it was sweet to be there for the China game when the usually more reserved Hong Kong crowd suddenly got very loud!
During the larger of the protests I was wandering around at the opposite end of town, checking out alleyways and exploring new corners. I stumbled across a lovely wee park, and some new bits of street art, always a pleasure spending a Sunday afternoon here.
