We wish you a Merry Christmas

Tuesday 24 December

I woke up to the sound of the people in the adjoining room having a good old ‘domestic’. I don’t know what he’d done but she was most certainly giving him hell for it. And whatever he said seemed to make matters worse as she became increasingly shrill. This lasted about an hour and I tried to drown it out by catching up with The Archers, which also featured a rowing couple!

Once I got going, I headed off on the bus number 6 to Stanley. It was a recommended bus journey and lived up to the descriptions. Up past Happy Valley, a large tennis complex and the Hong Kong Cricket club to gain spectacular views of Repulse Bay before arriving at Stanley. I had a good wander around and found the Tin Hau temple as well as the much smaller Pak Tai temple in Ma Hang Park particularly worthwhile. 

I also was engaged by the Hong Kong Correctional services museum. They nowadays preach a policy of rehabilitation but the exhibits from earlier times feature pictures of beheaded pirates, various instruments of corporal punishment and a gallows. There is also an interesting section on the Vietnam Boat people in Hong Kong, with examples of gas masks and weapons that they fashioned for use in riots. The whole history of the boat people is distinctly sobering for me a lucky westerner. Also sobering is the Military Cemetery with a large contingent of victims of the Japanese invasion and occupation from Christmas Day 1941.

Stanley has a very pleasant vibe with a parade of cafes and restaurants that are a bit like the French Med. It would certainly be a good place to go for a relaxing meal, rather than the eat-at-a-gallop establishments in the centre.

When it came to return, I was slightly held up by a crash that had occurred between a bus and taxi right outside the bus station. The taxi driver was sitting in situ with a neck support waiting for the ambulances. Unfortunately from the positioning of the vehicles, it looked like it was his fault. It took about an hour of photographing and so on before the bus was moved and things started to return to normal and I got a bus (6X) that went through the Aberdeen tunnel which seems quite a feat of tunnelling.     

In the evening, I went out to see what Christmas Eve was like in Hong Kong. I was in for a shock. I took the tram towards Central and we passed one or two choirs singing carols in a quite up-tempo fashion. I thought I’d take the Star ferry to Kowloon as it is probably the best show to be had for a 20p ticket – by which I mean one gets spectacular views of the Hong Kong skyline. Arriving in Kowloon, I was amazed at the crowds, all getting into the Christmas spirit with gusto. There must have been a dozen different groups singing carols, none particularly tunefully – rather like a carol Karaoke session. There were also groups offering Free Hugs, and all in all it was great. Taking the ferry back, there was a group who started singing – the best so far and gaining deserved applause.

I then thought I’d take a look at Lan Kwai Fong and maybe have a pint to help me stay up and get on something nearer UK time. Goodness. I found myself in a major police crowd control initiative. The crowd seemed far greater that at a normal London New Year’s eve and there were hundreds of police controlling it. They had turned the approach roads to LKF into a huge zigzag switchback, making Theresa May’s queues to get into UK look like chicken feed. After walking about a mile (I kid you not) I eventually got into the LKF zone and managed to get a suitably over-priced bottle of Corona.  

At this point it was getting on for 1.00 and I decide to call it a day and head back to the hotel, filled with admiration for the Chinese no holding back approach to fun. I say Chinese because Westerners were conspicuous by the absence in an area that normally has a clientele demographic resembling Broadgate in the City.