This is a continuation of my diary from my RTW trip from November 2003.I got chatting to a waitress in Hong Kong after I tried to ask in Cantonese for the bill for our meal. Once she stopped laughing that is.
She gave me a demonstration of the tones in Cantonese using the word ‘doh’. Working from the top of a musical scale she went:
(start at a High C) “doh”
(down a note to B) “doh”
(down a note to A) “doh”
(down a note to G) “doh”
(down a note to F) “doh”
(down a note to E) “doh”
(down a note to C) “do-h” uplift half way through the tone to finish on D)
(up a note to D) “do-h” downlift half way through the tone to finish on C)
“doh” (finish on a middle B)!
It was like having Julie Andrews at the table except that doh stood for 9 different things and none of them were female deer!
Even the most charitable of friends will know that I am not the most musically able of people. Not that I don’t try given the right song and enough beer.
Of course it helps that everyone in Hongkers speaks English... Cantonese is thankfully not a necessity.
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