FIRST VIEW OF THE FAR EAST - HONG KONG DAY #4

Thursday 20th December 1984 – Hong Kong

We had intended setting off early, but last night’s lateness held us up a bit. Had breakfast again in the Windmill – what a difference – a pleasure to eat there. The meal was only marred by a loud and vulgar couple who had arrived the day before and gone on a spree to Macau. Awful people. Luckily we had almost finished when they arrived.

Breakfast - on the street

We caught a tram again up to Central. It was even more crowded than the one we got the other night and I had learned my lesson about trying to stand inside. The roof is about 5’ 11 (180 cm and I am 6’ 3”/190 cm) and there are 3” beams at 12” intervals – very uncomfortable. Standing at the back on the outside platform I had enough head room and a good view. Rab was between two ancients Chinese one of whom was farting like a drum. They are quite free with their wind at both ends, belching and farting quite casually, not to mention hawking, snorting and spitting. Bit much at times, I must say.

Found the pearl people without any trouble and after a good deal of toing and froing Rab chose a nice string and a pretty clasp. Since they required four hours to string the pearls, we headed downtown for Wing On Street which, surprise, surprise, is the cheap street for fabrics. Not that we went right there of course; we went up and down The Lanes again. It is fascinating going into these because there is so much merchandise on display you see something new every time. We finally made it to Wing On and then crossed over Queen Road into Peet Street which was also very interesting.

Busy streets with exotic goods for sale

The small tailor shop

Working our way up to Hollywood Road, we saw some fascinating sights: a tailor’s shop which must have been 6’ x 6’ (1.8m square) – if it was that big – with the old owner working away over a hand machine while his assistant pressed the garments; a seal carver, who looked like a little monkey, delicately chipping away at a complicated name; three or four cats, looking in somewhat better condition than many we had seen, but whether this was because they were pets or potential meals, we didn’t like to think; vendors selling cuts of meat impossible to recognise; others selling fruit imported from all over the world, some of which we recognised, and reasonably priced too – an American Star King apple cost us 40c (Z) and was twice the size of one we would get at home; delivery men and women with baskets suspended at each end of bamboo poles – many of them had hot lunches in them, a local variation of Meals On Wheels.

It wasn't only food carried on bamboo yokes

Rab and Chris made it to the fabric store

Which reminded us that we were getting a bit peckish and in need of a comfort station (as we learned to call toilets in the USA), which were certainly not available at that end of town. So back we went through Wing On St where Rab finally succumbed and bought a couple of lengths of material (18 so far on the trip!!) (Material of this quantity has an amazing mass and was over the years one of the chief causes of my ‘overweight luggage anxiety syndrome’.). The nearest department store (In the absence of a McDonald’s, department stores are the next best bet for clean toilets/rest rooms, although Rab did run into a couple of squatting ‘holes in the floor’ which she found a little disconcerting) was, coincidentally, Wing On. So we made our way there and emptied our bladders before having a very nice lunch – and very reasonable too – of roast beef for me and curry for Rab.

We had walked so far downtown that we decided to tram it back to Ameritex (the pearl people). Bad mistale because the trams were FULL of the little devils. I had to spend some time standing inside, just to make sure that we would get out at our destination. (You enter at the rear and exit at the front, paying your fare as you get off.) the pearls were ready and looked great – US$416. it will be interesting to see what they are valued at in South Africa. Having had enough of trams for the day, we decided to give them a miss and catch a cab back to the hotel – bit of a battle to get one as it was pretty busy but we managed in the end.

I did the packing while Rab prepared herself for our dinner at the Hong Kong Club. The occasion was the company Christmas Dinner and Jim had invited us along. (The formality and etiquette of the protocols of the British Colonial Dress Code required me to wear a black tie and dinner jacket, while Rab was required to wear a long dress. We had carted these two items in a garment bag all around Asia – now we were to use them – just for the one night!) quite a place, the Club and a most enjoyable evening. The food wasn’t great, but it was tasty f served a little cool. It was interesting meeting the senior Chinese managers who seemed nice chaps. I sat between Jane Burrell who was OK once you got past all the woman’s lib bulltish that she spouted. But on my right was a real pain in the ass – Di Standish-Prick (or some such posh double-barrelled name) who is training officer with a degree in sociology and VERY boring. It was quite interesting to see, as we had pre-prandial drinks, the ‘apartheid’ of the Colonies, with the Chinese drinking at one end of the room and the Whites at the other.