I keep being reminded of my one day in Hong Kong as it appears in the news daily. I can’t claim to know it well...but I walked it’s streets for hours one day. David and I had been on a world cruise...we were travelling home from Melbourne. The flight took us to Hong Kong where where we had to walk from the airport to catch a train. The walking was essential because we had no relevant cash with us and it was before the days when all you had to was flash a card. So we asked for directions and walked. The occasional rickshaw came our way and twice we offered it what ever cash we had with us. The rickshaw drivers just laughed at Aussie money and American dollars and left us walking. I don’t know how far it was but it felt like a very long way!
But we did see Hong Kong and we liked what we saw...we would have liked it more if we were not so exhausted.
We both said that we would return at some stage but unfortunately one of us died the following year. And it’s not something I would do on my own. The memories flood back vividly at the moment, seeing the news from Hong Kong appearing daily.
David was already old at that stage...about as old as I am now so it’s a timely reminder that I must make the most of what ever time I have left...
And I Will!
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1 comment:
We visited Hong Kong just before the change in 1997, we had a great time and went everywhere. We stayed at the Gold Coast Hotel and one of their guides provided tours of the whole Island and City.
Some aspects were difficult. Seeing animals in cages in markets, knowing that were for the table was distressing. But their culture differs from ours.
The old town was amazing as were the jewel markets. We crossed the Harbour from Kowloon daily on a hovercraft, which is the main commuter methods across the island.
This was the old airport and we had a typhoon the day before we left. All the tree's around the hotel were blown over, but within hours, they were all back. And a plane landing at the airport overran the runway and ended up in the sea. But the day of our flight, it had been recovered and we saw no sign of it. Just pictures in the press.
The people we met at that time were apprehensive about the changes to come, but optimistic that the Chinese government would keep to the agreement, which now seems decidely dodgy.
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