2.00am-Silvermine Bay beach
I am not sure how long I had been there to be honest, but there I was. On a covered bench at 2am smoking a fag, I hadn't seen another human being for at least half an hour, I had my beat box next to me blasting out the loudest music possible. In front of me was the sea and the relentless wind. The 2 police men stopped directly in front of me and the second one said' please turn down the music' 'no' I said, and after a short conversation he said ' I don't want to argue with you anymore, I'm going' and off he went.
I have spent a long time since, thinking about this short exchange, and let me make it clear-I really do have the upmost respect for the Hong Kong police, and I am convinced this would never have happened elsewhere.
I was awakened from my reverie by the policeman's request to switch down the music, and it is really impossible to write down with any accuracy the speed and volume of thoughts that went through my head before I decided upon 'no' as an answer.
I am not a fucking fool and immediately I thought 'this is a man with a gun,a truncheon and possibly other things that could seriously hurt me and if he fails there is always his mate as well'.
On the other hand though, I was sat on a beach at least a quarter of a mile from the nearest house which I did tell said policeman after I said no and he told me I was noisy and I told him I was sat on a beach, and he said someone might complain and I told him there was no one within a quarter of a mile. It was at that point that he told me he didn't want to argue and rode away. Could I have gotten away with that anywhere else? No fucking way! Across most of the world the police have some really big mental shit going on, especially in England and the US. I was there tonight, a lone man on a beach, defying 2 coppers, I knew full well that if I was elsewhere they would have dragged me off to jail before I could utter ' bent copper'. The officer i met tonight though, considered my non compliance and thought' well ,he is actually well within his rights, let him be' and went on his way. He doesn't know it, but I am so thankful that there are still policeman as upstanding and honest as him.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Attempted murder and suicide
Hong Kong (HKSAR) - Police are investigating an attempted murder and suicide case in Lantau this morning (May 31) in which a 32-year-old woman died and a four-year-old girl seriously injured. About 10.16am, Police received a report that a 32-year-old woman and her 4-year-old daughter fell from height from a unit of Kui Yat House, Yat Tung Estate, Tung Chung and were found lying on the top of a covered walkway. They were rushed to the Princess Margaret Hospital where the woman was certified dead at 11.19am.¡@¡@ A post-mortem examination will be conducted later to ascertain the cause of the woman's death.
Investigations by the District Crime Squad of Lantau District are underway. Add Police Report No. 1 Issued by PPRB
Investigations by the District Crime Squad of Lantau District are underway. Add Police Report No. 1 Issued by PPRB
The Yuppies are taking over the asylum.
I have lived on Lantau-on and off for 17 years, and during that time I have seen many changes. When I first arrived in Lantau it was almost a backpackers/hippy paradise, there were very few foreigners, and those people lived quite happily with the locals, the dark days of the airport soon followed and the huge influx of airport workers clashed terribly with the locals-often violently. The culture clash was deep indeed, taking the bus to Pui-O was a real drag, and the locals began to resent all foreign men under 50. Thankfully those times passed with the completion of the airport and things once again settled down.
For the last 5 years more and more families settled in Lantau, and a lot of us started families of our own. Locals and foreigners now live side by side, and our kids are friends and those cultural differences seem to be much less marked-until now!
Living in an idyllic place such as this word is bound to get out, and more and more affuent foreigners have begun to settle here. This is in itself not a problem, although it has pushed up prices for us riffraff-but that's life.
What is now becoming apparent is another cultural clash, this time not only with the locals, here is an example;
Wang Tong in Mui-Wo, is situated in the swamp behind the beach, and rents there have remained low for many years-and there is a reason for that which I will come to. Recently a few large houses have grown there, which were built by foreigners but the majority of the village has remained the same-cheap housing and holiday flats. A group of people who apparently represent foreigners have recently begun a campaign to change some things in the village.
• Reduce noise in the village by closing holiday flats
• Control the number of dogs loose in the village
• Rehouse a particular person who lives in a house with no roof at the entrance to the village-he is apparently an eyesore.
• Close the toilet bar
Mui-Wo is a seaside town-if you don't want to live next to holiday flats , you should have done your research before moving to Wang Tong! This is important income for Mui-Wo residents and any chance of changing that will seriously piss them off, and that is really not a good idea. I can give you a list of people who can attest to that.
Go to any New Territories village and you will see lots of loose dogs, they are a part of life, and unless they are dangerous are nobody's business.
How someone lives is none of your damn business-if that person wants to change his life he will, who are we to dictate?
Good luck with closing the toilet bar-it never has any noise complaints against it, it is a perfectly legal shop, the same as hundreds dotted around Hong Kong, and once again I certainly wouldn't want to mess with a locally owned shop and then have to walk to Wang Tong every night.
In the end, things are how they are, and that is part of Lantau's charm, and the local people accept us and our differences quite happily, we should do the same-or piss off back to where we came from.
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Waste
This is a true story, it is heartbreaking, disturbing and definitely a tragedy. Although I will tell it in the first person, I was not there, and the first person is fictional, as are the thoughts and sentiments of that first person. The reasons I have written in the first person is to try and approximate the sheer horror of that person. If you don't like my language, then fuck you, because as with most people in this world you have blinded yourself to the cold hard fucking facts of life in the real world. And so I will begin;
Hong Kong is a pretty fucking good place to live, and to live in Lantau is the business. I live in Mui-Wo, which is the by far the best place to live on Lantau.All this means shit if you've never been here, but you must at least know that Hong Kong is the most populated place on the planet. Well, us Gweilos (white motherfuckers) who've lived here awhile realised very quickly that we couldn't handle the city and found our way to the beautiful,tropical and quiet outlying islands-Lantau being one . Life is pretty idyllic over here, a little like Cheers but much much bigger. This is not a fuckin tourist blurb though and if you want to know more look on the net. To pay for this life we have to work, and that takes me to the day in question, where I was on the late shift and ready to go home. The office is always high stress, there are over 20 of us there, most of us British. One of the fellas hadn't turned in today, which in itself is not unusual, but nobody had heard fuck all from him for a couple of days now. Only 2 days ago it had been Bill's(made up name) birthday and a few of the lads had had a night over in Wanchai. Nothing unusual had happened, and so far as we knew nothing was amiss. It wasn't the first time that someone's dad/mum/wife had called, shit after a good night we lost people for days, that's Hong kong. Bill's Dad told me hadn't heard from Bill for 3 days, I had worked with Bill for 7 years, so I knew straight away to expect the worst. 7 years Bill was on the desk next to me, we were close. Most of us here have lived the life, but survived and calmed down with wives and kids. Bill had been married, but it didn't last-who knows why? Bill lived in Mui-Wo above the supermarket, close to the ferry, most of my Lantau friends didn't know him though as he kept himself to himself.He was still young , on the right side of 30 and as I've said had worked for our company for years. As I also said earlier, most of us had walked the fuckin walk and done the talk before we settled down, and as afar as we knew so had Bill. Someone always went off the rails at times, but generally nothing a good sleep or a good divorce wouldn't cure-you know what I mean. So back to Bill's dad on the phone; He hadn't heard from him for three days and had been round to his flat a couple of times but had no answer. He could hear the same music being played again and again though. You fuckin know where this is going and so did I at this point, but of course prayed and prayed that he'd left his telly on and was shacked up with some bird somewhere. We had no clue where Bill was, and Bill's dad didn't live on the island so I offered to stop by on my home and call him later. The sense of impending dread built as I took my normal 90 minute journey home, it was 1am by the time I got back.i had never been to Bill's flat but I knew the building and floor, and so I found myself at his door. The music was still playing, and after a while I realised it was on a very short loop, it must be a DVD. Of course there was no answer to my ringing and knocking. Hong kong is a small place and if Bill was still out on the town we would have heard, he wasn't I knew he must be in his flat-nobody leaves their music playing like that. On the way I had called a couple of friends in the police to ask their advice about what I should do and they had been very clear-Don't put in the door, just call the police. I already knew from Bill's father that the music had been playing for a couple of days, and so called the cops.
They arrived very quickly-the island is a small place. They broke down the door. I followed them into the flat.
He was sat there rigid, frozen. On a chair facing the TV. Blood and vomit had congealed on his face. The DVD was some crap Jennifer Lopez film. There were syringes. He was dead.
They moved him and the rigor mortis was obvious, his whole body remained in the same position as they tipped his body.
I don't have the words to describe my feelings, my horror, my shock at that moment. This was my friend, my colleague. How much of our lives had we shared together? I knew he'd had history, but thought that had long gone. He was so straight at work, competent.
This was a young 33 year old, intelligent, good, hardworking man. He still had everything to live for, with so much to come. This man was not a drug addict-he was a fully functioning, highly functioning young healthy man. The anti drug adverts don't do the reality justice. Bill's petrified rigid body would scare the fuck out of anybody.
What a fucking waste!
Hong Kong is a pretty fucking good place to live, and to live in Lantau is the business. I live in Mui-Wo, which is the by far the best place to live on Lantau.All this means shit if you've never been here, but you must at least know that Hong Kong is the most populated place on the planet. Well, us Gweilos (white motherfuckers) who've lived here awhile realised very quickly that we couldn't handle the city and found our way to the beautiful,tropical and quiet outlying islands-Lantau being one . Life is pretty idyllic over here, a little like Cheers but much much bigger. This is not a fuckin tourist blurb though and if you want to know more look on the net. To pay for this life we have to work, and that takes me to the day in question, where I was on the late shift and ready to go home. The office is always high stress, there are over 20 of us there, most of us British. One of the fellas hadn't turned in today, which in itself is not unusual, but nobody had heard fuck all from him for a couple of days now. Only 2 days ago it had been Bill's(made up name) birthday and a few of the lads had had a night over in Wanchai. Nothing unusual had happened, and so far as we knew nothing was amiss. It wasn't the first time that someone's dad/mum/wife had called, shit after a good night we lost people for days, that's Hong kong. Bill's Dad told me hadn't heard from Bill for 3 days, I had worked with Bill for 7 years, so I knew straight away to expect the worst. 7 years Bill was on the desk next to me, we were close. Most of us here have lived the life, but survived and calmed down with wives and kids. Bill had been married, but it didn't last-who knows why? Bill lived in Mui-Wo above the supermarket, close to the ferry, most of my Lantau friends didn't know him though as he kept himself to himself.He was still young , on the right side of 30 and as I've said had worked for our company for years. As I also said earlier, most of us had walked the fuckin walk and done the talk before we settled down, and as afar as we knew so had Bill. Someone always went off the rails at times, but generally nothing a good sleep or a good divorce wouldn't cure-you know what I mean. So back to Bill's dad on the phone; He hadn't heard from him for three days and had been round to his flat a couple of times but had no answer. He could hear the same music being played again and again though. You fuckin know where this is going and so did I at this point, but of course prayed and prayed that he'd left his telly on and was shacked up with some bird somewhere. We had no clue where Bill was, and Bill's dad didn't live on the island so I offered to stop by on my home and call him later. The sense of impending dread built as I took my normal 90 minute journey home, it was 1am by the time I got back.i had never been to Bill's flat but I knew the building and floor, and so I found myself at his door. The music was still playing, and after a while I realised it was on a very short loop, it must be a DVD. Of course there was no answer to my ringing and knocking. Hong kong is a small place and if Bill was still out on the town we would have heard, he wasn't I knew he must be in his flat-nobody leaves their music playing like that. On the way I had called a couple of friends in the police to ask their advice about what I should do and they had been very clear-Don't put in the door, just call the police. I already knew from Bill's father that the music had been playing for a couple of days, and so called the cops.
They arrived very quickly-the island is a small place. They broke down the door. I followed them into the flat.
He was sat there rigid, frozen. On a chair facing the TV. Blood and vomit had congealed on his face. The DVD was some crap Jennifer Lopez film. There were syringes. He was dead.
They moved him and the rigor mortis was obvious, his whole body remained in the same position as they tipped his body.
I don't have the words to describe my feelings, my horror, my shock at that moment. This was my friend, my colleague. How much of our lives had we shared together? I knew he'd had history, but thought that had long gone. He was so straight at work, competent.
This was a young 33 year old, intelligent, good, hardworking man. He still had everything to live for, with so much to come. This man was not a drug addict-he was a fully functioning, highly functioning young healthy man. The anti drug adverts don't do the reality justice. Bill's petrified rigid body would scare the fuck out of anybody.
What a fucking waste!
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
Junk
This is Graham's junk moored in Silvermine Bay, just arrived from a 5 day sail from the Philippines.
Ferry funny
Ferry runs aground in fog
14-04-2010
A New World First Ferry, with more than 40 passengers and crew onboard, has run aground in fog off Peng Chau Island. No one was injured but water seeped into the vessel. This morning's incident happened as the ferry was sailing from Central to Mui Wo.
The passengers were later transferred to another vessel to continue their journey. A ferry company spokeswoman, Anthea Chow, said poor visibility was suspected to have been behind the accident.
14-04-2010
A New World First Ferry, with more than 40 passengers and crew onboard, has run aground in fog off Peng Chau Island. No one was injured but water seeped into the vessel. This morning's incident happened as the ferry was sailing from Central to Mui Wo.
The passengers were later transferred to another vessel to continue their journey. A ferry company spokeswoman, Anthea Chow, said poor visibility was suspected to have been behind the accident.
Sunday, April 11, 2010
School
Rehab school 'in clear' after probe
12-04-2010
The operators of a drug rehabilitation college on Lantau island say the ICAC has completed its investigations into the body and has found nothing wrong.
The Christian Zheng Sheng Association is now calling on the government to allow the school to move to new premises in Mui Wo - saying that otherwise it may have to close down, because it cannot meet fire and building safety requirements as its current remote location in Chi Ma Wan.
The ICAC has said it won't comment on individual cases. The school's proposed move was held up after its financial accounts were called into question last year. There were also protests from Mui Wo residents, who say they want a vacant school building to house classes for local children.
12-04-2010
The operators of a drug rehabilitation college on Lantau island say the ICAC has completed its investigations into the body and has found nothing wrong.
The Christian Zheng Sheng Association is now calling on the government to allow the school to move to new premises in Mui Wo - saying that otherwise it may have to close down, because it cannot meet fire and building safety requirements as its current remote location in Chi Ma Wan.
The ICAC has said it won't comment on individual cases. The school's proposed move was held up after its financial accounts were called into question last year. There were also protests from Mui Wo residents, who say they want a vacant school building to house classes for local children.
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