When a traveler return from abroad and share with tales of his or her travel, sooner or later, his or her description seems to invariablely contain a summary of how crazily the taxi drivers drove and how clean the city was (or wasn't).I’ve only ridden in a taxi twice since we've been here so I’m not really qualified to comment on the state of driving in Hong Kong. But I can say that Hong Kong is a very clean city. Its cleanliness is due in large part to an army of female sweepers.
It is almost impossible to walk in Hong Kong for any distance and not encounter one of the thousands of women who are employed to keep the sidewalks, alleys, bridges, and parks free of debris. These female sweepers all seem to be middle-aged or older and no matter what the temperature, they seem to wear pants and long sleeves.
Furthermore, they all wear wide-brim, straw hats usually with an extra strip of cloth attached all the way around the brim forming an additional wall of protection against the sun. The net effect is that Hong Kong appears to be kept clean by an army of faceless women.
They use brooms made with either straw or long, dried, palm fronds tied together. They make these bamboo-handled brooms themselves. The brooms get used so much that they wear out fairly quickly. It’s not uncommon to see worn-down brooms discarded on a pile of rubbish or in a trash bin.
While they may not set any speed records, the women do a good job. The streets and parks are fairly clean.
Now if only we could say the same about Hong Kong politics.
-Jack
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