Ordinary Gweilo

One of the more pleasant surprises for a newcomer to Hong Kong is the generous selection of public holidays scattered through the year, on what appear to a Westerner to be somewhat random dates.

Today is Tuen Ng, on which it is traditional to eat glutinous rice and take part in (or more likely watch) Dragon Boat racing.  Like the other traditional Chinese festivals, the date is fixed according to the Chinese calendar (normally it falls some time in June, but last year it was at the end of May).

In the UK, there are just three (count ’em) standalone public holidays – two in May, and one at the end of August.  They are all on Mondays, which creates the phenomenon of the Bank Holiday Weekend (expect heavy rain and/or long traffic jams).  Not something we have in Hong Kong, where public holidays can fall on any day except Sunday (Saturday is still officially a working day, though the government has recently moved to a 5-day working week).  

I say that, but rather splendidly Hong Kong did used to have one ‘Bank Holiday Weekend’ – with a Saturday and Monday both designated as public holidays.  It was to celebrate the Queen’s birthday and it was in the middle of August, as I recall.

Not any more, of course.