My Hong Kong

Winter 2000

Hong Kong is a very special place for me. A long lost home of sorts. I like the way it looks, the way it smells, the people, the movement, the feel of it. It is also home to a number of clothing designers that I share a common aesthetic with. Traveling to Hong Kong has a magical quality that reminds me of my favorite childhood journey; going to my maternal grandmother's house.

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs and my grandmother lived in New Mexico. It was the 1950’s and early 1960's that we made these trips. we traveled in a Pullman car of the Santa Fe train line. Our private cabin had two bench seats that faced each other and one big window. The adjoining little bathroom I found fascinating year after year. I loved seeing how beautifully everything fit together and how, while we were in the dining car eating it magically transformed from a sitting room to a bedroom! There was also the sink that folded into the wall of the bathroom. I can recall as though it was yesterday the thrill of waking up, lifting the window shade, and seeing the thrilling transformation the landscape had gone through while I was asleep. The gentle colors of the Midwest had changed into the red, red dirt and the clear, intense blue sky of Oklahoma. Then we got into the monochrome desert of New Mexico and I used to marvel at how all this used to be the bottom of the ocean.

When we go to Hong Kong we take a ferry from the mainland. The trip takes about an hour and a quarter. The ferries are filled with all kinds of people from businessmen to families with excited children. It seems almost everyone brings snacks and visits and then nap. The Chinese are expert catnapers. They take a half hour siesta after lunch and any time they have a few minutes you can see them catching a bit of rest. I have decided that these micro naps and their moderate intake of food their main keys to looking so good. They seem to have somehow retained that ability that we all had as children to fall asleep anywhere and wake raring to go.

The approach to the Hong Kong harbor is filled with interesting things to see. There many ships, barges piled high with containers of products waiting to be delivered to the western world, and a wide variety of interesting architecture. Adults and children alike are glued to the windows. Just as the waters begin to get choppy, people start to get in line to exit the ferry. This makes for some interesting bumping around. Actually, lines do not so much exist here as clumps or crowds. When the doors are finally opened the squeeze to get out the door is intense. When I was first here, I would stand aside to let elderly people off first only to have them almost knock me off my feet. Since then I have come to the conclusion that any elderly person who lived through the Cultural Revolution has got to be made of pretty darn tough stock. I now help older people with heavy loads but hold my place in the crowd. But even this took some training. At first I felt I was pushing and would hold back only to end up being the last off the boat. Tim and I would start out standing together and end up with him waiting for me outside. I finally asked him how he did it and he informed me that unless I wasn’t in contact with at least two other bodies I wasn’t doing my job. I made fast progress after that.

My favorite journey within Hong Kong is the journey to Scottish country dance. It is one of those times, just like going to Grandmother's house, where the journey is as sweet as the destination and one I am sure I will never forget. We stay at either the Pearl Garden or the Pearl Seaview Hotel. They were both recently sold and renamed the Dorsett Garden and Dorsett Seaview but they will always be the Pearl Garden and Pearl Seaview to me. I think of them as little pearls; sweet little Chinese hotels, small but clean rooms with some interesting architecture, a nice mix of eastern and western people, in interesting neighborhoods with schools and local markets and night markets that are going strong until midnight or so. Once we get settled we leave our hotel and have a quick walk to the underground, which is fast, clean, and packed to the brim with people. It is around 6:30pm and everyone in Hong Kong seems to be on their way somewhere. I like the names of the different stops. Some are Chinese, like Tin Hau and Tsim Sha Tsui and some are British, like Jordan and Admiralty. The stops are announced in Putonghua and then in English. Both Tim and I have longed for a hidden camera so as to take candid photos of people. We get off and transfer to a bus. I like the bus stop location as it has a fabulous view of I. M. Pei's Bank of China building. It is in wonderful light at this time of day. As we wait for the bus the city lights start to come on, many buses come and go, and I enjoy seeing the many different people from all over the globe, many wearing national dress, and think about all the different lifestyles they lead. When bus #6 arrives, a double-decker vehicle, we go to the top front left seats so we get a good view of the shops as the bus moves along. By now it is 7:00 to 7:15 and the bus ride is about 15 minutes long. The route first goes through a furniture district where we see traditional and contemporary Chinese, western, antique, and every style of furniture you can imagine in-between. Then we pass through a local neighborhood with many different kinds of little shops all bustling with business. Many of these shops are little hole in the wall places maybe 8 or so feet wide with produce spilling out onto the street, with their vendors visiting our in front or sweeping. Windows are jam-packed with products; cooked foods, fruits, fabrics, a pet cat, everything you can imagine plus more. By this time it is starting to get a bit dark and the lit shops look like little glowing gems. I have thought many times I would like to capture this experience visually. I will try with our camera, but I'm not sure that I could do it justice. We pass by alleys with long strings of lights that illuminate many little booths of cooked foods, produce, kitchen wares, clothing, jewelry. Soon the bus takes a turn past a beautiful white mosque that looks like a place that should serve really good Morocco food, lit with lots of strings of colored lights, and we start the climb up the mountain.

The road twists and turns as it climbs. There are the most amazing intersections with little roundabout sort of connections that from the air must look like a bunch of random strings of spaghetti plopped down. I still have not figured out how anyone knows which route to take. To make it even more confusing many of the roads are often one way! Being a tropical area everything is that is not paved road is lush green foliage and where they have cut away for roads they do extensive slope retaining walls and plantings. Landslides, or landslips as they call them, are a big issue in an area like Hong Kong and there are frequent TV warnings about not driving in hilly areas during hard rain. Soon the trees open up and start to reveal picture postcard views of Hong Kong at night. It is breathtaking and must make any local who takes this bus proud to call Hong Kong home. As we climb the mountain the views get more and more dramatic. You can see many different levels down into the harbor. Up in the mountains there are many clubs with lit game fields and they are always active during our climb at night. There are swimming pools, beautiful gardens, many towers of different shapes and colors that are homes for all the many residents of this city. Hong Kong does not light itself up as much as American cities. The overall effect is that it has a more intimate and fairy-like feeling. Plus, although Hong Kong is very densely populated, there is also a large amount of park area and being in the tropics, there are colorful, striking plantings with trees and flowers down the middle of roads, at road sides, everywhere you turn. When we arrive at our stop it is only a few yards to our destination, the Hong Kong Cricket Club.

I have yet to see anyone play cricket at the Hong Kong Cricket Club, which is fine with me since it seems the perfect cure for insomnia. But I have seen folks with tennis rackets, seen the jogging club gasping along, a ballet class, there is a bowling alley, have caught the scent of a swimming pool, and seen a bulletin board with tons of activities for children. The facility is a haven of high gloss glowing mahogany wood, brass railings and deep padded furniture. It is all very inviting and friendly. Most of the clientele are 'big' British and Scottish people and everyone, no matter what their background speaks English which gives it a feeling of home. There is a bar, which is a comfortable pleasant area with great ventilation that usually has most of the dancers in it when we arrive, either having a drink or some come straight from work and are having dinner. They serve British fish and chips, a variety of sandwiches and Tim's favorite, the Irish beers. The smells and faces are familiar and happy and we chat a bit before dance. Soon, whoever is leading dance herds everyone down the hall and onto the beautiful hardwood dance floor with mirrors on two walls and windows on the other two and the dancing begins. In the middle of the dance there is a 15 or so minute break and everyone goes back out to the bar area and chats a bit. Not only is it wonderful to converse easily with others, but it is such an interesting group of people. I love to hear about how they came to live in Hong Kong, where else they have lived and what their future plans and dreams are.

Coming home from dancing is fun also. Often we get a ride to a subway stop with one of the dancers and get to know them a bit better. There are so many adventuresome people leading such interesting lives. We get on the subway and although there are not as many people at 10:30 to 11:00pm as there were at 6:30pm, there are still quite a few. I like how cities stay awake most of the time, and when we get off at our stop there are still many people bustling around. If we have the steam, we window shop a bit. Many shops are still open and we get a bottle of water and cruise around looking at electronics if Tim is navigating and anything else but electronics, if I am navigating. If we are staying at the Pearl Seaview we go to the night market. It looks like the alleys do on the way to dance; lots of strings of lights and everything imaginable for sale from total dime store junk you could find at WalMart, to Chairman Mao alarm clocks, to jade pendants, to western and eastern CD's, to little celadon pots, anything and everything. When we feel like we are about to drop we go back to the hotel and crash. A perfect night.

In the morning we usually take the 8:00am ferry back to the mainland. This is my second favorite time to see Hong Kong, around 7:00am. Cutting through the enormous park on the way to the ferry I enjoy seeing all the retired Chinese people visiting and doing tai chi. There are classes and special areas they call tai chi parks that are round beautiful areas just for tai chi. I have never done this martial art, but find it very beautiful to watch. In this park there are also many fountains, a large pond with flamingos and other water birds and interesting plantings with exotic flowers and blossoming trees everywhere. It is very well laid out. Actually, all of Hong Kong seems very well laid out. Being built on slopes, the buildings are all more easily seen, giving an interesting perspective. There are many bridge walks that tie in with other bridge walks. It is like a living Escher drawing. After we get settled on the ferry, the boat pulls away, the view of the bay begins to open up, and THEN a voice makes an announcement in Mandarin. Then it is made in English, with a Chicago accent no less, no joke. "Ladies and gentlemen! This ferry is going to Panyu and Nansha. If Nansha is NOT your destination, please leave this ferry as soon as is possible! Thank you for your cooperation.