Umbrella Man

Hong Kong's historic charms are dwindling as the city ages and its development ambition trades heritage for modernity. But one guy who has slipped thru the cracks is Ho Hei Kee and his little umbrella repair shop. I walk by this guy all the time with curiosity so it was neat to seem him profiled in this week's HK Magazine in a story called "HK's Last Traditional Craftsmen." Ho opened the store when he was 22 and is now his 80's and still mans his shop solo seven days a week until its daily 4pm closing! "I just happend to stop by a grocery shop that was here and the owner needed somebody to write out receipts for him," he says. "He liked my handwriting and offered me a bed, free water supply and electricity, and let me open an umbrella stall outside his shop." The grocery store is long gone but he remains. He's also in the Guinness Book of World Records for having produced the most expensive umbrella in the world and proudly displays his certificate to prove it. Very cool. I have a mind to rip a hole in my umbrella just to become a customer!