Cooker

We have nick names for various members of the Wong clan in our village. "The civil servant", "pipe smoker", "smiley" and the "village woman" are among the better known. Some of them have lived in the UK and have now returned home. Cooker is one such person.

We got used to seeing him around long before we had a nickname for him. He is the village scavenger, collecting anything--cardboard, metal, plastic, aluminium ware-- of any value, loading them on to his little trolley and trundling it down to Sai Kung town, a good 2 kms away. I once asked him how much he earned from each load, and he said $10. He speaks English but doesn't chat much with me. I did see him having a long chat with a Gweilo down the hill.

Smiley is the only villager who chats with us, sometimes in his halting but always interesting English. When I asked him about the old man, I was told that he had lived abroad. When I asked what he did, Smiley said "cooker". (He meant cook.) The nickname stuck.

Loading up his little trolley one morning. I once gave him a broken lap top computer and he was happy, saying he could get $100 for that.

Cooker lives in the dilapidated house which can be seen below. Other members of the clan have built newer houses, but he probably can't afford to do so.

Recently, Cooker had a bonanza. The village chief died and was buried in a plot up the hill. A few days later, the daughters-in-law began to throw out many of old Mr. Wong's possession, many of which ended up on Cooker's trolley to be sold down hill in Sai Kung.