I remember only
one serious typhoon – most would merely pass close by, although
still causing the odd landslide. To deal with a typhoon you must equalize
the pressure in your house, according to Boyle’s Law. So when one
window was blown in, we had to rush around and punch out another one the
far side of the house. Anyway, Boyle’s Law, or whatever it was,
worked, because our house didn’t blow down. Some people were not
so lucky, though. Often blocks of flats, with whole families, would be
swept away in the landslides that always accompany a typhoon.
By contrast, in the dry season, the reservoirs would sink right down and
disappear and water rationing would be in force. The most severe cut I
remember was when the water was only switched on for one hour every second
day. All the richer people could fill their baths, but the wretched refugees
down-town would have to queue before the public tap. They would clutch
an assortment of cans, as large as they could find – but never too
large, because they’d have to carry the water back to their shanty
huts.
Illegal refugees from mainland China were always a problem for the authorities,
there was never enough room to house them all in spite of the large resettlement
blocks.
Despite the government-built resettlement blocks the shanty huts remained
full of people. When I was there there were 3 million refugees.
Situated
in the tropics, Hong Kong never got very cold. However, one year when it
did get cold enough for ice to form in the water butt of our garden. A
young friend stood on it, watched by the fawong (gardener), who tried
it himself afterwards. But he was a great deal heavier, and???..!
From the other side of the Peak there was the world-famous view of the
harbour, Central Hong Kong and Kowloon mainland. The view from the other
side of the Peak.
We could also just see the finger of the 'new' runway at Kai Tak airport,
which was built when I was there, using reclaimed land from the sea. I
don't know whether it is more scary to fly low over the hills looking
into the windows of the apartments and just missing the lines of washing,
or to aim for that finger of land with sea all around it.
When I lived there the buildings on the Hong Kong side were dominated by
the two banks. The first was the HSBC, the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking
Corporation, which is where my father worked, which has evolved into the
huge Hong Kong bank. On its right was the Bank of China. They did not want
to lose face to the British, so they built their bank 10 feet taller.
A third building, the Chartered Bank, was also built on the other side.
In front of the HSBC were two magnificent bronze lions, one with its mouth
open, the other with its mouth shut.
I think the former was inviting people in to deposit their money, while
the other showed that the Bank would keep it safely. The car park attendant
was a very old Chinese man, who not only knew all the staff by name, but
also their wives and children. He practised the art of shadow boxing,
(Tai Chi) and I sometimes used to watch his
slow, balanced exercises.
