In Transit
(soz spacing stopped working)I LOVE HONG KONG…………………………………………………………………………………………………It is a stunningly beautiful place, particularly from where I am……………………………………………………… ..My sojourn in Lancaster this time was wonderful, apart from a little trouble with the truck (ie leaky roof, diminished solar power, door dropping to bits) and feeling really unwell most of the time due to the remnants of the falling-off-the-balcony-accident in Melbourne, I actually sorted that out eventually myself after lots of help from therapist friends by going on an 8 day fast, just water, all the swelling went from my legs and feet and I stopped feeling so weird …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… But, yes, this trip I had a very good time and saw lots of my friends, gave some good treatments, practiced yoga every day and travelled a fair bit, Amsterdam, Brussels, Geneva,Cardiff and Wiltshire, ending my time at home with a great going-away-party hosted by my friend Lydia on the Quay……………………….This journey has had an iffy start! It began with, somehow, my luggage being 6 kilos over weight! I have actually been even more over the permitted weight before, but this time I was charged 30 quid extra, which was fair enough really. Then take off was 90 minutes late from Heathrow, so we arrived with only just enough time to catch the HK flight, even though it had looked at one time as if there was 3 hours to spare there…. ………………………….On the plane I was sitting next to a very nice Australian who had been a diver in the Navy for years, he had actually checked out the Queen’s yatch and saved it from a terrorist attack. He was very funny and made me feel very funny also, so we laughed a lot, starting from when he expressed his hunger by saying “I could eat the crotch out of a low flying seagull”. ……………………………..Anyway arriving at Hong Kong at the luggage carousel, waited and waited for my bags and nothing arrived, when I think of the time and care I took with the packing!…………………………..Wonderful pal Anna had arranged for me to stay with her pals Mark and Vida in HK, turns out they live in the most luxurious part of the capital, from my bedroom I can see the whole city from one window and the very beautiful harbour full of ships from the other, it must be one of the best views possible here, I have spent ages taking photos from the windows, I have sparkling evening shots of all the towering lights, moody foggy morning shots and then the sun coming up over The Peak at midday making the sky scrapers look enormous…………….My hosts are very kind, Mark works in shipping in the City and reminds me of the witty cockney lads I knew when I lived down in the smoke and elegant Vida and I have been having a great time seeing the city and lunching and shopping together……………………My first night here was an interesting one. I met KP and Mei Sien, two of my favourite yoga students from Lancaster who moved to HK a year ago. We had dinner in a grand vegetarian restaurant at the top of the World Trade Center, gorgeous food, then further down in the building we had desert, KP had Durian (converted to english means swallows dribble) , which he swore was vegetarian and smelt awful. After that I was invited to a hen night with one of Vida’s chums, so KP dropped me off in a taxi at The Spicey Fingers and I went in and joined the girls, to be honest it was very like any other late-night club anywhere else in any other major city on the planet, lots of inappropriate dancing and large spaces left for giant egos, had a fairly good dance to some excellent music, and spent 4 times over the odds on a small cider, but took some great pictures and was very glad for the experience…………………………………….. ………………………………..Went to the Ladies Market yesterday, but because I am a Gwala (a ghost so called by the Chinese because we are pale) I was pursued relentlessly by the stall holders, just taking a peak at something would set them off and they’d name a price and then reduce it by a third in seconds and then run after me constantly reducing the price - horrendous, it made everything seem worthless……………………………………………………………… Then last night out on the tiles again, actually had a fabulous evening, saw the best band in Hong Kong and was the oldest woman out in the whole city. We went to several night clubs and in each one there were lots of middle to old aged quite unattractive men surrounded by young girls (several of them really young) some guys had two or three each and it seemed to me that these amazing sexual gods they thought they had become were not in fact very endearing to us ordinary mortals. I was screamed at and threatened in the street by some plonker who was being totally obnoxious and pushed a philapino girl really hard off the dance floor, so I tapped him on the shoulder and reminded him of his manners, went to see the bouncer who had a word with him and went over to his mates and told them to keep him in check. As V and I waited for the taxi I got a real going over of abuse, he mentioned my relationship to my father, my lower body’s struggle with gravity, and the fact that I wasn’t in the first flush of youth, the feeling from him being that I wouldn’t survive the evening if he had anything to do with it, all interspersed with fairly continual use of the same expletives, not very imaginative or interesting at all really………………………………………………………………………………………….. Today mark and Vida have gone to the races, they do have a good life and I will pack and make my way to the airport………………………………………………………………………………………………………. Then on Monday back to Paradise and Great Barrier Island, much as I like being here, there is nothing like the heat, the turquoise swimming, the good clean air and the very clear starry night skies of that small island, also looking forward very much to meeting up with all the lovely people I know there……………….Lets hope the rest of the trip goes smoothly. Bags arrived eventually all in one bit, pretty lucky eh? Lots of love, and don’t forget to write! it can get a bit disheartening when I’m writing to you all with my news and I hear not a word back from anyone