4 July - Reporting from Hong Kong.

Today I was reminded of my ancestry when I was out walking in Hong Kong - "Only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon day sun".  Yes, I was walking up Nathan Road at noon in a temperature of 34C plus - it seemed to me a hell'uv lot more.  Eventually I got back to my room that overlooked a large swimming complex in Kowloon Park.  The locals don't  even go into the water at noon!

From my hotel room window the swimming pool in Kowloon Park

 Had a quick lunch and laid down for a rest.  The next I knew it was 4.00 pm.  Had a quick wash and back out to those hot streets, walked around for a bit looking for some place to buy some presents for my two granddaughters, and my kids and their spouses.  Eventually I found myself in a market being shunted about by cars, bicycles, and people pushing trolleys,  all trying negotiate the narrow piece of road that was left between the stalls.  Here I got a couple of T-shirts that showed a Hong Kong origin for my two grand children.  Remembering that my daughter had told me, via Skype, that the temperature back home had got down to -1C and she had turned on the under floor heating in my Villa I bought some woolen scarves for the grownups.  Can you imagine standing in the sun, with a street temperature in the mid 30s buying  woolen scarves for those at home?

Back to the hotel all hot and exhausted.  Passed the bronze statue of three Boy scouts and up a grand marble – maybe imitation – staircase and sat myself down in comfortable tub chair in the bar.  This is a good time to use my free drink voucher – it didn’t matter what it was as long as it was long and cool.   

After a long cool beer, I ordered a gin and guava juice, also very nice.  Here is where I start to get into a bit of trouble because I thought I could cope with a gin tonic before heading off to my room.  So I ordered one and the waitress said something about happy hour, but not having my hearing aids in I ignored it.  The G&T dully arrived, I grabbed a paper and caught up on some overseas news and finished my drink.  Just as I was to ask for my bill, another G&T arrived – happy hour two for one drinks.  So that’s what the waitress was so kindly trying to tell me.  I should have known because back in 1990 when staying at the Sheridan, four of us ordered exotic drinks while seated in a booth.  To our surprise, the waiter turned up with eight drinks— two for one happy hour— completely  covering the table with glasses, drinks of all colours, straws, and some of those little umbrellas.

Anyway, on the way to my room I booked in for dinner, headed up in the lift, had little rest, change my clothes and went down to dinner.

 

Now back in my room I am looking at the large public swimming pool, it is 7.30 and getting dark, the lights are coming on, and the swimming pool has swimmers.  It seems that  in the morning and at night when the temperature has dropped a couple of degrees people her go swimming.

Had my dinner and then headed up to the Temple Street night market.  Much superior, for us blokes, to the Ladies Market I visited last night.  Just a short walk from the hotel, but the heat made it seem further.  The market has  wallets, belts, torches, umbrellas, clothes, battery operated toys, bags, tools especially those transformer type that give a whole work shop in one belt pouch, and many, many more interesting items.  Shopping is easy once you can calculate prices back into your home country prices.  For me it was $NZ1 to $HK6.4 so at first everything appeared expensive.

Walking through the Temple Street Market.

 While, in the market I took some photos and learnt taking your camera from an air condition room and then taking it out of its camera bag in the hot humid everything fogs up.

Finally after a couple of hours I get back to my room knowing that all the drinks I had dad early are now well and truly sweated out.  Shoes off and a bottle of cold water beside me the end has come to my first day in Hong Kong.

The Archive at Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Woke next morning and after all those early morning rituals like showering, dressing and eating I eventual arrived at Hotel desk.  Asked if they could phone for a taxi—30 seconds one was at the door.  A coincidence I think.

During the trip to the University Library, we had quite a conversation about Australia and New Zealand.  The driver at first was not sure where to go but then realized that he often took a gentleman called Brett Riggs the library.  Another coincidence as this was just the person I was to meet.  The driver said “Say hullo to Brett from Mac.”  He took off his hat and said “Bald Mac”.  

During this trip, I learnt that it had been raining for the last six weeks.  So later I was to be grateful when during the noon to 2 pm closure of the archive that it was dry enough to walk around outside for a while.

I went up to the front desk in the library and asked to see Brett Riggs.  “Up on the next floor” the nice man behind the counter told me.  Funny I thought, last year I had to go down to the basement.  Seeing that I was a bit puzzled he came around the counter and led me up the stairs and across the room full of bookcases to Brett’s desk.

Yes, I was right, late last year the Archives moved up two floors from the basement and what a difference it has made.  A light and airy area with windows and views and as the lady sitting at the desk in the reading said, “Now we know what the weather is outside before they leave our desks.”

During this my second time in the Victor Campbell  Archive I managed to fill in more details which will help make my writing more accurate—the facts not necessarily the grammar!  For example, in the first hour I located a hand drawn map of the Browning Pass, Boomerang Glacier area where Campbell had marked the positions of their campsites during the period 11-20 January 1912.  The pencil drawn map was on the last page of one of his small sledging notebooks.  Why I missed it last year I don’t know.

The Library, from the roadside is a stepped structure of six or so stories.  The stepped area is devoted to light and airy study places for the students.  While the more conventional side houses the library’s information desks, computers (lots and lots of computers) for searches, general administration, and stack rooms.

Another interesting feature is the housing for the Student Facilities.  These are in a building on the side of the 4-lane road that splits the campus in half.  A large bridging structure spanning the highway houses the student dining room and food outlets. First you decide on what you would like to eat, go to the appropriate food outlet, and then either sit at conventional seating or like me go to bar like table set against the windows and spanning the full  width of the road.  Climb onto a ‘bar stool’ and eat you lunch while watch the traffic speed along the traffic lanes and passing directly under your seat.  Very much like the restaurants spanning the motorways in Northern Italy, except here they speak and understand English!