HONG KONG VISIT

In the last blog I mentioned my trip to Hong Kong with Brenda. Ashley, Mike, and children had been there about a year when we made the decision to fly over and spend a week with them. I had my doctor give me some medications to calm me down enough to make the trip, (remember my terror of flying) so armed with valium and another tranquillizer, away we went.

We arrived in Hong Kong after a 25 hour journey (that I barely remember) and were driven to Ashley and Mike’s apartment on the twelfth floor of a modern high rise. They had three bedrooms and two baths with another bedroom suite in back of the kitchen for their live-in nanny, Merly. But best of all, some friends of theirs on the sixth floor were gone for the month and Brenda and I were able to stay in their apartment.

There were several experiences I remember about that fascinating city. The first was that even though I was hung over and jetlagged, I enjoyed the different ethnic restaurants we ate at each night. Next was the shopping. There was a section of town where shop keepers had one booth after another of clothes, purses, furniture, etc. for fabulously low prices. I bought so much I had to buy another suitcase to get it all home.

Another incident that stands out in my mind was the tennis match. For the first time ever Ashley beat me 7-5 in the one set we played (after I had been ahead 5-2). She said will never play me again, and it’s just as well since she now plays all the time in a very high league and I haven’t played in 10 years.

I also remember our train trip into China to visit the city of Quanjo. The bathroom in the train consisted of a hole opening onto the tracks with handles to hold onto. As we rode along, we watched farmers plowing with oxen and very primitive equipment. And everywhere we looked we saw houses and buildings that needed paint.

While in Quanjo, we went to lunch in a beautiful hotel that looked to be at least 4 stars. There was an enormous jade carving in the lobby that must have cost a fortune and the bathrooms were something to behold also. The seven of us settled ourselves at a table and ordered our food. Everything was delicious, but expensive. One thing they forgot to bring us was napkins so we asked for them. They brought one very nice white cloth napkin for the seven of us to share!

Also what I remember about that city besides the fact that it looked very drab and dirty were the hundreds of bicycles everywhere, many of them loaded with broken down cardboard boxes. I never did figure out what that was about. At the zoo, many Chinese people stared at us and one woman even came up to Jordan (who was 2½) and rubbed her hand across the freckles on her shoulder. Jordan had lots of freckles when she was that age and I guess that was unusual in China.

We had a wonderful time while we were there, but soon it was time for us to leave. Our plane took off with me drugged to the hilt and then when we were almost to Taipai, the pilot informed us that there was a typhoon (translated hurricane) there and we would have to turn back. Our new flight plan included landing for an hour in Alaska, and Brenda and I walked around outside so we could feel better about saying we had visited that state. Finally, after a stay overnight in LA at the expense of the airlines, we arrived home, feeling very tired, but happy.

When we got back to the house, Brenda gave me a T shirt that Mike had asked her to give me that read: HONG KONG: I CAME, I SAW, I TOOK A VALIUM. The only thing untrue about that was I took MANY valium.