When the week ended, Sarah and I packed up our things and headed back to the border. It took us quite a bit longer to get out of China than it did to get in. The lines were long, even at 11:30pm, and we were scrutinized a bit more.
The next night, after a terribly long and frustrating journey, Ryan arrived in Hong Kong.
As I waited in the airport, a young family stood next to me waiting for their arriving friends. The two adults were in their late twenties and their son was not older than two. Like most two-year-olds, he was squirming around, looking for ways to entertain himself. He was remarkably pleasant considering it was 12:30am. I noticed that they switched between Cantonese and English when speaking to on another.
All of a sudden I hear the mother gasp and call to her husband. I look down at the little boy standing next to me. He has taken down his cotton pajama pants and is standing with his hips thrust forward looking at his penis. It only takes me seconds to realize that he is about to pee. I can't look away. What are they going to do?
The mother tears open her purse, reaches in and her hand emerges with a plastic baggie.
Huh?
She opens the baggie and holds it to the boy's body as he fills the bag.
What the?
When he was through, the father ties up the bag and walks it to the nearest trash can.
I was sort of shocked by the whole scene. Not that a child had to pee instantly, no, that's common enough. It was that:
1. He wasn't wearing a diaper
2. The mother was at the ready with her plastic bag
3. The father threw away a bag of urine in the airport trash can
Later that week Ryan witnessed a similar thing, only it took place on the streets of Hong Kong. A father and his child were walking down the street when suddenly the child had to urinate. The father placed an empty water bottle in front of him and he took care of his business.
If it's true that many children in Asia do not wear disposable diapers, this is quite a good thing for our environment :)
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