Burglary Warning To Lantau People (and Everybody)

So on Saturday I hosted a Sichuan dinner for twelve people, three of whom called and said they were lost. I had to rush out in mid-stuffing of dumplings to fetch them. (It was the taxi driver’s fault! Although they showed him my address in Chinese characters he took them to the other side of Pui O) I closed but didn’t lock the doors. The dog was there and the roof was reverberating with happy voices.

When we got back to the house we found a man inside the house, a Chinese guy with hair dyed light pink. He smiled beatifically pointing to his ear holding up a piece of paper with (as far as I could see) English print on it. I didn’t stop to read it, I was too busy frogmarching him out of my house. My instinct was saying “burglar, burglar” not “poor deaf beggar who hasn’t been told that you don’t just walk into people’s house”. I won’t deny it, I was so angry I gave him a good kick in the arse. What I should have done is of course search his bag, but I was too angry to think.

Since then I’ve heard about three different burglaries on Lantau this week, two of which with the owner inside the house and one in broad daylight. So watch out! Lock the door even if you’re at home. Lock all the doors and windows even if you only nip out for a minute. These guys are professionals, they’re in-out in a few seconds. Have locks installed on your clothes cabinet and make it a habit to put laptops, phones and cameras there every time you go out. Like the policeman said who gave a safety seminar a few years ago: Anything that can slow the burglar down is of great help.

爆竊 (bau sit – burglary)
賊佬 (chaak lou – thief, burglar)
偷嘢 (tau yeh – steal things)