On one of my last walks around Hong Kong, I reached Wedding Card Street in Wanchai, which was near empty as almost every shop had moved to make way for redevelopment of the area. The residents fought a losing battle against this move, and there were still unheeded protest banners left behind. I stopped at one of two lone remaining shops, and asked if I could buy Chinese New Year red packets printed in my family name. The old shopkeeper showed me a box filled with different exquisite designs, and kindly advised me not to buy the most expensive one. They were all so lovely, but I finally picked out a gold design with colourful peonies and asked to buy a pack. The old shopkeeper then took out a shopping bag for me and I declined, saying that my slingbag could hold it. He patiently replied yes, but my slingbag wouldn't be able to hold the calendars.

To my surprise, he gave me 3 different calendars for buying a pack of red packets from him.

I guess we were both sad about leaving.