I've Gotta Go

When we moved to Hong Kong, we were bracing for a bit of culture shock. We were anticipating all of those wacky moments that were going to come about because we didn't understand the local customs. But that hasn't really materialized. Hong Kong is just way too westernized.

About the weirdest cultural thing in Hong Kong is that the waitstaff in the restaurants make no effort to bring everyone's food at the same time. They just bring it as it's ready, which means that some people will get their meal a full ten minutes before the last person. The expectation is that you begin eating when your food arrives.

The biggest culture clashes come when we are in touristy areas that attract a lot of people from Mainland China. Early on some colleagues tipped me off to the fact that in China, parents will prompt their little boys to pee just about anywhere, anytime. I thought that was a broad generalization and just a little culturally insensitive.

Turns out to not be off the mark by much.

Recently, I was standing at a souvenir kiosk in Disney and the clerk was looking at me looking at the souvenirs when all of a sudden out of the corner of his eye he saw a mom and little boy walking behind his kiosk. It must happen often enough because he successful guessed what they were up to. He intercepted them before they got to the impeccably manicured bushes. I speak zero Cantonese, but I am pretty sure the conversation went something like this:

"Hey, hey, lady you can't have your kid pee there."

"What? He pee'd in a potted palm tree over in TomorrowLand earlier this morning and nobody said anything."

"I'm sorry, but you're gonna have to take him to the bathroom."

"He's such a little boy. It will be such a small amount of tinkle."

"Bathroom."

The clerk prevailed and off the mother and son went.

Yesterday, Annika, Elise, and I were Ocean Park which is a big amusement park on the southside of Hong Kong island. We were standing in line for the cable cars behind two mothers and their four or five little kids. And sure enough, little Liang must have told his mom that he had to go wee-willy-winkle, because while little Liang dropped trou right there in the shadow of the tilt-a-whirl, mom whipped out a zip-lock baggie from her purse.

Bada-bing. Bada-boom. Sixty seconds later, mom is throwing the full bag into the garbage.

Not exactly how we do things in Chicago -or in Hong Kong for that matter, but hey, who am I to judge? To each their own.

Enjoy the rest of your stay in Hong Kong and have a safe trip back to the Mainland. And if you should need them, the public restrooms are behind the Racing Rapids ride, next to the cheese fry stand.

Feel free to use them anytime.