By the time I set foot on Hong Kong for the first time the sun had just set but the city was very alive and bright with blinding neon light. A large number of people were still roaming the streets as if night was not in their vocabulary. The tall buildings, the busy traffic, the crowd, the neon lights, the noise, the strange language, the vibrancy were mesmerizing.
At the same time a strange feeling ran down my spine, I was a little apprehensive of this place which from now on was going to be my world. Hong Kong was sophisticated, a huge city of some three millions people, unlike the quiet serene village-feel City of Port Louis. What lied ahead was a big unknown and scary. For the first time I was on my own and I missed the comfort and security which were always there for me when I was growing up and living at home with my parents. Now I alone would have to make all the decisions that needed to be made day in day out.
It is mind blogging to see these neon signs hanging above the streets of Hong Kong
Chinese Medicine Shops were very popular in the 1960’s. Here the Chinese herbalist is picking and weighting different kinds of herbs, ready to be wrapped in paper. The potion will be boiled in water for an hour or so, then consumed by the patient. The taste is bitter.
We headed home in a comfortable and new car which my brother-in-law was driving. I remember we drove along a stretch of Nathan Road which was the longest straightest and busiest road on the Kowloon peninsula. On both sides of the road lined large buildings stuck tightly together shoulder to shoulder some over 20 storey high. The ground floors were mainly commercial, retail shops, restaurants, department stores, doctor’s office and they were all very brightly lit. The upper floors were mostly residential but there were commercial towers nestled within the residential buildings. Between the rows of buildings neon signs of all shape size and colour were hanging prominently extended from the façade of the buildings out into the street. Each neon sign was trying to outdo the other to gain the attention of the crowd below. I noticed a double deck bus in its bright red color speeding precariously from the opposite direction, its roof seemed to almost ram some of the hanging neon signs. These neon signs were fascinating, never seen so many so dense, so colourful and so bright. Till today Hong Kong has never lost its pre-eminence as the “Neon Sign” Capital of the World, beating easily Tokyo and Shanghai,
As the car turned right into Waterloo Road the picture changed drastically into a quiet but still brightly lit non commercial area. This road was six-lane wide, a major thoroughfare in Kowloon and was named to commemorate the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 when British Allied Forces defeated Napoleon Bonaparte. Waterloo rang a special bell and had a special significance to me because France following its defeat at Waterloo had to cede the Island of Mauritius to England. This change of administration made Mauritius a unique destination where French and English cultures flourished side by side to this day and significantly reshaped the lives of its residents.
I remember noticing as we drove on Waterloo Road a large structure, The Truth Lutheran Church on my right sitting on a small promontory pleasantly landscaped. To my left was also a huge building which my brother-in-law told me was the Kwong Wah Hospital. Both structures are still here today.
Truth Lutheran Church on Waterloo Road as it was, and still is, 50 years ago.
The Kwong Wah Hospital founded in 1911 is now a 1,100 beds hospital providing a full range of medical services
My brother-in-law’s apartment was just a little ahead at 71 Waterloo Road which would be my home for the next four years. We had to drive around the block to look for a parking spot on the street as the building housing his apartment did not have its own parking, just like all of the buildings in the neighbourhood.
We took the elevator to the apartment situated on the 9th floor and when the maid opened the door, I saw my sister and her six children standing obediently along the hallway waiting silently and curiously to meet this far away uncle for the first time.
My brother-in-law’s apartment is overshadowed by this new Tabernacle. 50 years ago the apartment was overlooking the original tabernacle