farewell depression

Thursday February 25th

I suppose all writers, even of simple letters, get writer's block occasionally and that seems to have happened to me. I hate good byes and in Asia we seem to be saying good bye every few days! Yokohama, Kobe, Shanghai, Hong Kong and tomorrow we arrive in Saigon, Vietnam. I haven't even told you about Hong Kong which we left the night before last. So my diagnosis is a newly discovered condition by the Chinese, it is "too-many-farewells-to-beautiful-places- depression" ....I'm sure it's all one word in their musical language. Musical that is when they're not shouting. the Chinese are shouters. We heard a mother screaming at her daughter outside a restaurant in Shanghai; I thought there had been a terrible accident or perhaps a terrorist attack when I saw this little girl, about six years old, standing petrified on the restaurant steps, pale faced and rigid. When she noticed us Mum gave a huge grin and waved and I wondered if it was all in the day's routine.

The only place we saw children running wild was in the Shanghai cultural museum. There are numerous very official looking uniformed guards standing around but they just smiled benevolently. We were somewhat astounded having some idea of the enormous cultural and monetry value of the artifacts all around us beautfully displayed in glass cases. I feared the shattering of glass at any moment.

I cheated yesterday by putting photos on the blog which is a mindless and frustrating job but at least you can see a little of where we've been. No matter how meticulously I arrange the photos, when I publish them, they, and their titles, do very much their own thing. So I apologise for the chaos. My dear and very much missed friend Theresa Mueller, who taught me how to put them on in the first place on our last voyage, is researching the problem and will get back to me. Thank you Theresa! Apologies to the IT department at the University of Calgary for the distraction!

Back to our last day in Hong Kong: slightly muggy but no rain and the sun successfully struggling to shine through. We joined an SAS trip to Lantau island. We travelled by bus from the ship in Kyloon by road and suspension bridge to this new and far less populated island on which the new Hong Kong airport has been built and a virtually new town serviced by magnificent roads.

This was once a peaceful and undeveloped place, with lushly covered hills and the coast line dotted with fishing villages and undeveloped sandy beaches where Hong Kong-ites had holiday homes where they could go for respite from the teeming streets and claustrophobic skyscrapers of HK. The then British government was in negotiations with China and wanted to build a new Airport. China didn't want to spend the millions it would take to do it. However, when the Tienamen Square Massacre happened and China was distracted, the Brits went ahead and built it. People who have flown into the old airport speak about the frightening approach over the sea on to what felt like an alarmingly short runway.

Beyond the airport and the new town there is still a part of the island which is green and peaceful and has thus far escaped the relentless persuit of land on which to build for the ever expanding population of Hong Kong. We drove to an almost deserted beach which looked very inviting in spite of a notice which read "The shark nets have been dismantled. We apologise for any inconvenience"! Yes it would be a little 'inconvenient' to lose a leg, an arm or even one's life I suppose?!

It goes without saying that one of the students tore off everything but his underpants, ran into the sea and swam to the nearest smooth topped rock where he sat for some time in the sun looking for all the world like the Little Mermaid in Copenhagen...a sort of Peter Pan version.

(I have just rushed out on to the balcony to snap the dramatic red sun rise over this South China sea. Red sky in the morning, shepherds' warning? It is certainly rising into dark, dense early morning cloud cover. (it is 6.10 am) The sea is a rippled dark grey, pink tinged, and very calm.George is trying to decide why we are going so slowly now, having sped through the night so that we are practically in Siagon which we don't arrive at officially until tomorrow morning at 8 am. No doubt someone will know the answer to this before the day is out....rumours and gossip abound! And some true facts of course...)

We drove from the beach to the little fishing village and market place of Tai O. It is not a tourist destination yet and it was wonderful to see the people and fisherman going about their daily chores with hardly a glance at us interlopers. The market was fascinating with all sorts, shapes, sizes and conditions of fish. The shrimps, crabs and cray fish were alive and struggling in enamel basins and bowls filled with water and their scrambling bodies....disturbing. Is that how whatever God, if any, views the human condition I wonder?

There were a number of healthy looking dogs running around, one whose head at least closely resembled our beloved Rumpole... a Chinese incarnation? George was wandering past a little open space, me the regulation three paces behind, when a very English voice emanated from a very old Chinese gentleman sitting there. Hello he said where do you come from? There ensued a most surprising conversation. He knew all about Canada, although had never visited himself, asked particularly about the daily newspapers, which he receives from various world capitals. We have agreed to send him a copy of the Globe and Mail! I think he must have been a teacher and possibly served on one of the British armed services or simply grew up and lived in Hong Kong. He told us he was called 'Wilfred' but when he wrote out his address (in a beautiful hand) he also wrote his Chinese name as you will see under the photo I took of him. Never judge a book by its cover; he looked like a poor fisherman from his dress and the bad condition of his teeth....one could have passed him by thinking there would hardly be a point of contact in a common language let alone in common interests.

More later. Time for a shower and breakfast...and because I have been remiss, a new blog.