MY PEEPS

My stay in Hong Kong has been sprinkled with many little gems. I'm staying in Stanley Village which has a local beach scene that is uncharacteristically Chinese. I've jumped right in. Knowing that I'm about to launch into this high-powered industrial blender known as China, I'm taking full advantage of this R&R opportunity. Getting my 4 a.m. wakeup call due to jet-lag with nothing to do, I've been going to da beach at the crack of dawn. The refreshing & salty South China Sea is the perfect antidote to the sweltering heat. Upon arriving on the first morning, I was greeted by the dawn patrol; a comraderie of elderly Chinese women. They're all business. But not for swimming. Mostly, they wade around like ducks, hanging out with their buddies. It's a hydro-sociological phenomenon, a unique brand of water aerobics. Laughter fills the air, punctuated by a cacophony of cackles. They get the latest update on the local gossip & fortify their plans for dim-sum and mah-jong later in the day. The simplicity is sweet & innocent. These are playful children in the waning days of their lives. They have no clue what to make of me with my pidgin Cantonese. But they don"t care. They embrace me with open arms because like them, I too am an ordinary person. And that's good enough.