So Long Hong Kong and Farewell to Asia

"Asia is not going to be civilized after the methods of the West. There is too much Asia and she is too old." - Rudyard Kipling

Civilisation came at last as we arrived in Hong Kong, our last stop in Asia. It could not have come soon enough for me and the children. We longed, for different reasons, the ease of a developed country. We had just 6 days in Hong Kong, time enough to catch up with many friends, see a few of the sights, and expose the children to a little taste of China. For Leone, it was her first visit to Hong Kong, and for me it was a chance to revisit the city I had worked in in 2000 and catch up with old friends, some of whom I haven’t seen for years. We were fortunate enough to be able to stay with my friend, Merlin who showed us incredible hospitality yet again after both Sri Lanka and Koh Samui.

On our first night Merlin and his wife Laura threw a great dinner party at their house for the delightful AJ and Harry who were also staying at the house. Tory and Jake, our new friends from Koh Samui came along plus a whole group of Hong Kong’s finest. It all got a bit messy and even saintly Leone (yes, she has become almost abstinent) had too much to drink. Meanwhile, the kids relished living in a home again with toys and proper sitting rooms. It was lovely to watch Olivia form a new friendship with Merlin’s eldest. We forget that she has yet had the opportunity to have many friends, as she left nursery just as she was beginning to form new friendships. Given how few 4 year olds we have met on our travels, that void is keenly filled whenever she meets someone her own age.

The weekend was spent eating dumplings and wandering around Hong Kong, before going out on a junk on Sunday afternoon, with loads of other families. We had an excellent lunch in a little shack of a restaurant on the beach. The kids, buoyed by the appetite of the more acclimatized kids around them and the copious amounts of sugar in the sauces, at last digging into local cuisine with gay abandon. For me, it was wonderful to catch up with James Bidlake, a friend I made almost 20 years ago when just a trainee solicitor, who has remained in Hong Kong all that time. Although we had seen each other only once in those 2 decades, the years rolled back up as we caught up with each other’s news and that of the other Hong Kongers we had spent time with. We even had a night out - the first time in 3 months that we had left the children.

After 3 fantastic days chez Merlin on The Peak, reality hit as the arrival of his sister and her family usurped us from our new found home. Left to our own devices I had managed to secure a prime spot in the heart of Wan Chai on Lockart Road. I think Eliza summed it up best as we entered the squalid 3 bedroom flat above a Lebanese restaurant that shared a floor with a noisy Thai massage parlour that seemed to offer a 24 hour service to its ‘clients’. “I hate this place, let’s go back to Merlin’s.” “We can’t.” “Well let’s go back to England then, this is horrible” Even Leone struggled to find its authentic charm.

But the grottiness of the flat meant that we spent most of our last days in Asia out and about seeing as much of Hong Kong as we could – the bird market, the flower market, the still great trip on the Star Ferry, watching the light show from Kowloon and visiting Stanley Market. We had a lovely evening with our neighbours Karen and Lauren (one of Olivia's best friends) from Marco Road who had come back to Hong Kong to have her baby in China. In Stanley, we were able to meet up with the Mordaunts who treated us to dinner at The American Club and ensured we did not have to return to our flat until it was way past bedtime.

On our final morning we headed up the Peak, took an empty funicular down into Central where we brunched and visited the Old prison where Ho Chi Minh was interned. For Leone, this rounded the Vietnam circle and gave her opportunity to test the endurance of the kids one last time in Asia, as we trekked round the jailhouse.

So it was a somewhat fitting last day in Asia and representative of our trip. Leone has provided the backbone and stamina to get through and around Asia. Encouraging all of us to take the further step, look around the next corner, search the next sight and as such we have been well rewarded. For me, I have found myself dispirited by Asia. The travelling was hard, the organization complicated and the rewards and charm of this great continent have proved often illusive. We have had a wonderful time; don’t get me wrong. As we said in one of our early blogs, with 3 young kids and a grumpy 44 year old, the journey has been difficult at times. And yes, we have had some incredible moments. But we have also found countries plagued by litter and pollution. Countries neither developed nor unspoilt. Lacking in infrastructure and where there is no development, there is no local government who takes responsibility for keeping the place clean. The only beaches kept clean are those where international hotels have moved in - but then you could be anywhere in the world. I was definitely ready to leave Asia. It was tiring. It was hot. It was dirty. But most of all, for me, there were no longer the untouched wonders it once boasted. I can think of perhaps a handful of places that remain truly beautiful and untouched – the highlands of Sri Lanka standing out as the most breathtaking highlight. Perhaps we should have slummed it more and travelled to more remote parts of each country, but with 3 young children it is difficult and I personally wasn’t prepared to put up with the compromise on basic amenities that would entail. There appears to be a Catch 22 for now in Asia – with any level of comfort in accommodation, one must accept that the area in which it is situated is in a state of flux; neither developed nor undeveloped. With that comes a dirty and spoilt landscape devoid of the infrastructure to yet cope with the change that has occurred. It feels that we were visiting 10 years too early and 10 years too late.

In the countryside, litter doesn't have a friend. It doesn't have anybody who's saying, 'Wait a minute, this is really starting to get out of control.' - Bill Bryson