Hong Kong: Day One.


It has just gone quarter past 8 in a region of Hong Kong known as Gau Liu Ha and at the present time the temperature is maintained at a sweltering 27 degrees centigrade. The only noise that punctuates through the second floor of the flats is the chirrup of mosquitoes.

After a cigarette amidst a garden approximately 20 by 15 feet and just bumbling through a path that led to the family graveyard, I was struck not just by the heat, of which was very humid (I was sweating), but also by 2 mountains that lined the edge of the edges of the greenery. The clouds were and still are overcast in a kind of mottled dark complexion, but in this country the appearance of such 'grey' weather does not necessarily betray colder times ahead, like it does in the windy environs of the South of England.

Gau Liu Ha is a hamlet that is based an hour from the main district of Kowloon; there is a more laid back feeling in contrast to the cities that I will visit soon. It has been 7 years since I last visited Hong Kong and I guess that in my youth I may not have appreciated this country due to a daily regimen of shopping, eating, sweating and then slumping in a rock solid hotel bed in Park hotel in Tsim Tsa Thui.

You see my ancestry in respect to my father's side of the family is predominantly a farming one where members have been Christian for centuries to my dad's reckoning. The land I see outside is not tended anymore and there seems to be further division of land to produce discrete gardens. There are more than 50 full blown houses along this area and there seems to be a familiarity between all the residents, from feelings from my last visit here.

Well today is going to be particularly exciting as I am going to eat some proper Chinese food. No I don't mean some drab oily mess from the local take away, i'm picturing in my head numerous plates of Dim Sum cooked fresh. Other errands include going to the immigration directorate and obtaining a Chinese Identity card through which I can claim through descent. This card entitles me to live in Hong Kong (now a province China) for an indefinite duration, without the need for a visa. If I were to live in Hong Kong, the only right that I do not possess over my native brethren is the right to vote in governmental elections. Also I plan to visit some rural areas and then venture through the busy shopping area of Mong Gock to get a digital camera.

Well until tonight, I will see you folks later and update you peeps on my daily excursions around this place.

Want to comment on this Blogs? Sign up to Edit Red and you will be able to comment on Blogs and get access to: Upload your own stories and poems, get readers and their feedback, promote your work...