And again

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Dear all,

Yes, Christmas in Hong Kong for the fourth time in five years. By now, it is a familiar routine I have fallen into; part festive celebration, part family gatherings and part Hong Kong things I like to do. Not that it all went predictably.

Arriving at Hong Kong airport early morning on Christmas Eve, it was onto the A43 bus to Fanling, my old hometown deep in the New Territories. Then it was straight out to lunch with Mum at a new dim sum place at Green Code Plaza with so-so food and poor service. Sterling may have laughably lost value thanks to Brexit – this time last year it was about HK$12 in the pound, now it's less than ten – but Hong Kong bargains still abound if you know where to look. Right after lunch it was down to the opticians to get new specs and contact lenses for a combined price of about £200 when in the UK the glasses alone would cost that.

Near the opticians by the train station was a cinema that had newly opened when I was here in August. Could they, I wondered, possibly be showing the new Star Wars movie? So I went to see, and lo and behold, they were. That’s Christmas night sorted, then. I snapped up a ticket in advance, and even did it in Cantonese. No mean feat given my woeful Chinese language skills. I lived here in Fanling as a child and though I have returned here infinite times since, it still staggers me how unrecognisable it has become from the market village surrounded by paddy fields that I once knew. One thing I didn’t know then but am now all too aware of was the local licensing laws; I must have done at least two laps of the town centre in vain search of a drink before being told that bars here cannot serve alcohol until after 5pm. Imagine if that was applied in Ireland…

Thankfully I had the foresight to check what time mass would be on Christmas morning at St. Joseph’s church near the old apartment where I used to live. If I hadn’t, I would not have known the church was closed for repairs and Christmas mass would be held at a distant alternative venue. And so, as one of the few family members still with some semblance of catholic faith, I woke up on the morning of the 25th and journeyed by taxi to (in theory) south west Fanling. But so alien and unfamiliar were the surroundings that I might as well have been in a different world. Christmas mass was held in the assembly hall of the St. Francis of Assisi College and was straight forward enough, save for its ability to further underline how dire my Cantonese is. The only part in English was when the choir sang Little Drummer Boy. No, I didn’t know it was a catholic hymn either. Had to resist the urge to sing "Peace on earth…" a la David Bowie.

Afterwards, I could not find a taxi and eventually got a bus back home (though not before boarding one in the opposite direction) to wheel Mum out to lunch and shopping before staying in for the rest of the day to look after her. This was, after all, half the point of me coming to Hong Kong for Christmas. In the evening, Teresa and Paul came to take us out to dinner and afterwards brought Mum with them back to Happy Valley for the Boxing Day family gathering the next day. Whereas I headed for the Golden Harvest cinema, Fanling’s first flick house in ten years. Each theatre in the two screen cinema couldn’t have sat more than 100, but it was surprisingly plush, decent quality sound and projection too. No 3-D sadly, but you can’t have everything in a provincial picture palace. The place was packed out for the 10:35pm showing of Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and thoroughly enjoyable it was too. However it was rather contrived the way characters from previous Star Wars movies were crowbarred into this one (though the final scene involving Carrie Fisher would become especially poignant in subsequent days). And it’s just plain wrong not to have that John Williams fanfare right at the start.

Because of various family commitments, the Chu Christmas gathering was on Boxing Day. So in the morning I took the overcrowded train down to Teresa and Paul’s place in Happy Valley as everyone arrived for a Christmas lunch (a rather nice Thai curry from the Hong Kong Jockey Club) and the opening of the presents. Mine went down really well, particularly Ernest’s personalised Jaffa Cakes and the Tayto crisps for Damian (hey, it’s what they asked for). But Christmas is all about the kids, innit? And our Christmas was all about niece Jennifer’s two boys. Two year-old James LOVED the London black cab from his Great Uncle Cathal. It all passed by three-month old George, though, But then again it is his first ever Christmas. Disappointingly for me, I didn’t capture half of this on account of the battery in my Nikon DSLR camera dying midway through the day and I didn’t pack a spare. Massively unprofessional of me, this would never have happened ten years ago…

In the evening, there was of course Premier League football on and watching in Fanling turned out to be a curious case of déjà vu. Exactly a year ago, I went to Bar Pacific to watch the games and the place was raided by the police. The exact same thing happened again as I saw Man. United against Sunderland, the Fanling fuzz once again descended on the joint and checked everyone’s identity cards. I think they were looking for under aged drinkers, and the fact that it happened again in my presence would lead me to conclude that I was a suspect they were tipped off as too young looking, possibly…

Things I always do when in Hong Kong #1: Visit Dad’s tomb. When he passed away, I did make a deathbed promise to visit Dad’s grave every time I’m in Hong Kong. And so the next day, I lucked into a taxi that knew the way to Kong Ha Au Camp Site deep in the countryside border areas of north east New Territories. A lot of campers were about as I clambered up the steep hill to Dad’s final resting place. Filial piety is of the utmost importance in Chinese cultures, and I was there for about an hour to pay my respects and to give his tomb a good sweep. Tiring but strangely uplifting work.

A 2km hike back to the old village and a minibus to Fanling later I get on the train down to the overcrowded metropolis that is Mongkok. My old travel phone was no longer detecting Wi-Fi signals and the ROM storage was pitifully low. There was only one place to go for a replacement. Sincere House is the mobile phone mecca across from the Ladies Market in Mongkok. Three floors of phone vendors, phone accessories retailers and phone repair shops. Much browsing and comparison later, I settle on a dual sim Sony Xperia XA and spend pretty much the rest of the evening transferring everything over from the old phone to it.

Things I always do when in Hong Kong #2: A lap of Victoria Peak. Got the tram up to Victoria Peak on Wednesday. A bad idea as the queue to board it took nearly an hour. It always was a popular tourist attraction, but it never was this bad before. Nor was the queues previously packed with rude, loud, pushy tour groups. And if you guessed they were mainland Chinese, you are correct. It’s always satisfying to do the Hong Kong Trail, a 4km lap of Victoria Peak encompassing panoramic views of the whole of Hong Kong – for the exercise if nothing else – and then follow it up with lunch at The Lookout. Great food and, if you can get a table on the terrace, a good place to impress a date (I’ve been told, ha ha).

As I was in Hong Kong, it was obvious I should meet up with friends who have moved here. Cilla apparently had an equally uneventful Christmas too and is pondering investing in UK property in wake of the fall in the pound against the Hong Kong dollar. Journeyed out to Discovery Bay to meet up with Stephen, who is loving the ex-pat life to the point where he is trying to learn some Cantonese. Discussion ranged from recollections of Euro 2016, to the relative merits of life in London compared to Hong Kong, and to how world politics is now merely Northern Ireland politics writ large. Stayed longer than I should have and only got the ferry back at 22:30. From Central took another ferry across the harbour to Tsim Sha Tsui and legged it to Tsim Sha Tsui East station, where I stupidly got on the wrong train and had to go back to Hung Hom to get the correct one back to Fanling. Finally arrive home just before 1am.

New Year’s Eve also happened to be baby George’s 100th day. For those of you who don’t know, in Chinese tradition a celebration 100 days after the baby’s birth represents the wish that the child will live for 100 years. And so we all gather at noon on Saturday at the Sha Tin Hong Kong Jockey Club to banquet in George’s honour. It was an informal affair, though catered with proper Chinese banquet cuisine. Little George practically slept through the whole thing, though. Still, at least this time I was prepared camera-wise and able to act as official photographer of sorts for the occasion.

In the evening, the obvious destination to ring in the New Year was of course Victoria Harbour to see the fireworks. I stationed myself down Tsim Sha Tsui Promenade, some way from a prime viewing spot, but still within reasonable sight of everything, and already quite crowded even at 10pm. A bit of a breeze blew by but I was fine in just a hoodie, whereas everyone else was togged up as if they were setting off on an Arctic expedition. Twelve o’clock struck and the Hong Kong sky lit up with a pyrotechnic display that lived up to expectations, even if the fireworks didn’t seem to shoot very high from our vantage point.

10 minutes later, it was all over and everybody left. The reason I didn’t try to get nearer to the fireworks was because I needed to make a quick getaway. I speed walked back to Hung Hom station, texting best New Year wishes to friends along the way (who said men can’t multitask?) and was on the train before half past midnight. Got to Fanling with enough time to drop my camera back home before heading out again to go bar hopping in search of somewhere showing the Liverpool vs. Manchester City clash at 01:30. Not as straightforward a task as you might imagine. Bars where I had previously watched matches were foregoing the football in favour of loud New Year drinks celebrations. Dashing around the streets – occasionally avoiding the odd scuttling rat – I eventually land upon the generically-named Fanling Bar screening the match, albeit with the sound off. I was the only one watching the game, oblivious to the raucous celebrations going on around me. But I cared not, I saw a hard fought 1-0 win for Liverpool that made for a great start to the year for me and I went to bed happy at around 4am.

It was a rather unexciting New Year’s Day. Took Mum to lunch at the nearby Café 100%, with its uniquely Chinese take on Italian dishes. Massive portions too. Having not fully recovered from last night’s/this morning’s festivities, I slept for much of the afternoon. Watched the Sunday morning (UK time) repeat of Match of the Day on Mobdro before dinner with Teresa and Paul at Beas River Hong Kong Jockey Club.

Things I always do when in Hong Kong #3: Lunch at Tim Ho Wan. My last full day in Hong Kong is traditionally the big shopping day. I always go to Sham Shui Po in north Kowloon, originally for computing and mobile stuff at the Golden Arcade and Aplui Street, but latterly to eat at the Tim Ho Wan too. They now have branches around Hong Kong and abroad, but this is the original with the Michelin Star. Predictably enough the queues to get in are huge, but it’s possible to skip them if you go on your own because you will get seated right away at tables with spare seats. This seems to me as a bit odd. If this was in Ireland, striking up a convivial chat with the next person would be no problem. A must, even. But here, it is simply not done. Avoiding eye-contact with the other people at your table, never mind talking to them, is the order of the day. Still, when you are served baked buns with barbecue pork this good, you will put up with all manner of ignominies. I did eventually get talking to the person seated opposite me. Though probably because he was Korean…

Things I always do when in Hong Kong #4: Take the number 6 bus. This I fitted in on the morning of my departure. Journeying down to the Central Bus Terminus to get the number 6 bus to Stanley. As I’ve said many times before, it is my favourite thing to do in Hong Kong. The route is via the mountains and is possibly the most scenic bus route in the world. Highly recommended if you’re a first time visitor to Hong Kong, doubly so if you are not there for long. Lunched in Stanley, as I often do, at King Ludwig’s, which does great German beer and food. So much so that I always forget what dreadful service there is there. Then it was off to a branch of Okashi Land to stock up on Japanese chocolate to bring back to work, onwards to Fanling to pack and a last dinner with Mum before a return on the A43 bus to the airport and back to London.

So there you have it. A quiet Christmas in my old home town to end an eventful year of travel. Though sadly right now, 2017 is looking rather barren trip-wise. There will be several visits to Dublin, but that doesn’t count. The only away match Ireland have at the moment is in Georgia in September. And for work reasons, a return to Hong Kong next Christmas is far from certain. A long awaited visit to the Zambian orphanage is a distinct possibility. In fact I am actively considering an overambitious plan to combine that with the Georgia jaunt. But all that is a long way in the offing, we shall see. In the meantime, may I wish you all a Happy New Year and a peaceful prosperous 2017.

Saan leen fahn lok





Cathal

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