Yum cha

[khiemtran]

Lunch today was at Zilver in Haymarket, one of the larger dim sum places in Sydney. Eating there was a bit like running out onto the MCG after playing in the lower leagues - everything was bigger and louder. I was once in a restaurant in Beijing with a Chinese friend and another Australian. The Chinese girl complained that when the two Australians spoke to each other, she could hear the people on all the surrounding tables more loudly us. My natural English-speaking voice is well-designed for whispering at tables in a quiet restaurant, but somewhat out of its league in a giant yum cha arena. On the other hand, one of our friends today pointed out that there is a much higher incidence of throat cancer in Hong Kong, which he put down to the need to constantly talk over a much larger volume of background noise.