The Kindness of Strangers

I always enjoy my outings with my fellow AWA Shutterbugs. They are all wonderful women and we have a fun time together taking photos and exploring different parts of Hong Kong. Each trip out is its own unique experience and after each I take something with me, whether it is new ideas or photo techniques, a bit of cultural knowledge or just the lingering pleasure of time well spent. Today though we had an extra treat.

It started normally enough. I planned an outing to Peng Chau. It is a small island with lots of character and I thought it would be a fun place to practice shooting the alphabet. There are new buildings, old buildings, ruined buildings, temples (several hundred years old!) and if you go far enough there is a trail that takes you up to the highest point on the island which has wonderful views of Lantau, Kowloon and HK island. It also passes an old limekiln, which is one of the first industries on the island. Evidence shows that lime production was likely started around 618AD! However the kiln is much newer and was abandoned in the 1950’s. In short Peng Chau is a fun place to take photos, but today, we had a little extra character to the outing.

This week there is a Chinese Opera being performed on the island. Chinese operas are quite fascinating. In 2009 the Cantonese opera was listed as one of UNESCO’s ‘Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’. I have been to a Chinese opera before, and to be quite honest, and even though they are interesting, it is something that I can only take in very small amounts, so I was pleased that while we were there the opera was not being performed. Since the venue was (we thought) empty, we decided to go take a look around and see if we could find letters to photograph. Soon we were joined by a couple of men, who were working on the stage. They started to talk to us and ask us questions about what we were doing. I should point out that I have taken Cantonese lessons but so far about the only thing I can do is count and say a couple of very basic phrases so we had no idea what they were trying to tell us. At first we thought they didn’t want us to take photos, but when we were on our way out, we were told (via hand signals) to come back. Next thing we knew we were ushered back stage and they started showing us around!

It became even more fun when they started bringing out the props and letting us try on some (hat & sword). Soon they figured out what kinds of photos we were taking and started helping us find letters! He then saw that one of the actresses came into the stage and brought her out to talk to us. She was very pleasant and spoke English quite well. Apparently she is the lead actress for the afternoon performance and the third lead for the evening performance. She then invited us to stay for the afternoon show. It was still a few hours away and we still had plenty of island to explore, but it was certainly one of the days highlights.  

During the rest of our wanders we ran into several other locals who treated us with warm smiles. As we wandered we would run into a couple of them several times always to have a smile, wave and pantomime picture taking. All the while giving us the impression that they were happy to have us there and glad we were enjoying their home. 

People are often complaining about how rude people are these days and that nobody seems to care about others anymore. Certainly big cities have a “numbing” effect on people as we rush about our daily lives. But today on a tiny island on the doorstep of one of the world’s biggest cities, people still have time for a smile and to show kindness to strangers.