Hello Kitty

On my way to the icafe, I glanced over while stopped at a light. I spotted a waving motion and saw a woman sitting behind the counter at one of the ubiquitous tea/coffee/juice stands, and for a moment thought she was waving hello. Then I realized that it was the golden cat she was sitting behind that was waving.

I recently discovered that the golden kitties, decorated with auspicious red, whose right paw sometimes waves, isn't waving at all. Tacky as all get out to the western eye, they bring luck to a business, and most businesses have them prominently displayed somewhere in the shop (usually near the cash register or money box). The waving motion is actually the cat scooping invisible money towards the store. And here I thought they were just extra friendly little kitties, but really they are waving to my wallet, not me. :)