Well, off we go.......on a ship to Hong Kong.
The trip took about a month.
Whilst we were on route, 2 weeks in to the trip, I caught 'German Measles'.
(This was much to my mother's amusement. As mentioned, she is German, and had never heard of it! It's just known as measles in Germany!)
Anyway, I had a pretty bad dose of it by all accounts.
It was in my nose, ears, eyes, mouth and any other part of my body that could accommodate a spot!The thing to do at the time, was to keep all light form the room, remain in quarantine, and just general nursing.
To be honest, I am not sure if the treatment is the same now or not...no matter, that is what it was then.
Mum said that as she closed the curtains, a Steward came and opened them...so there was the battle of the 'light' going on whilst I was in quarantine!
(I don't actually remember any of the trip! The information is based on my mother's account).
So...there you have it...my trip! Lol!
When we arrived in Hong Kong, Mum and Dad had to stay in a Hotel until their permanent accommodation was sorted.
I had to go into Hospital. I was there for about 1 week.
We lived at Peacock Road in Hong Kong for about 1 year, and then we moved to Shatin.
We moved into a house owned by Mr. Hung, who also owned a shipping line to Japan. The House was in the grounds of his holiday home.
Now, from here, I can remember loads of stuff!
There were a lot of small homes, in a line, also in the grounds of Mr. Hung's holiday home.
This was the housing for all of Mr. Hung's staff.
Mr. Hung had 2 children, Charles and Felicity. I don't really remember much about Charles.
This is Felicity.
Mr Hung had 7 dogs, and he gave them to me.
In retrospect, I think that he let me have them during the day, but at night, they were still Mr. Hung's, because I don't remember ever having to feed or groom them, and they always looked immaculate!
I loved animals, even then.
Despite this, I spent most of my time playing with the children of Mr. Hung's staff, particularly Su Jai, the gardeners son.
This is Su Jai, me, and two unknown children.
Mr Hung put an old rowing boat right at the back of the grounds, filled it with water, and I got to play in it!
Su Jai was never in it with me though. I know that there were some places that he wasn't allowed. I have no idea why, or whose rule that was.
I was happiest playing with him
.
This is the boat that Mr. Hung set up for me.
Aunty Paula, Mum, Elizabeth, Christine and me...(clearly feeling a little restricted!)
Mum would invite her friends and their children around, they were all right, they didn't want to do the stuff that I enjoyed.
.
Just exploring and pretending, getting dirty, playing with the dogs, watching the sun 'move' with you, picking flowers, watching shadows, finding insects, mixing some water and mud to make 'pots', hide and seek, go and see my rats.............
I didn't understand why they wouldn't do this stuff.
Me, dressed comfortably...having fun.
OK, the sea was just beyond the boundary fence, but you couldn't fall, you had to climb...I know, lol!
There were 2 very large fish ponds, and if I got in, I could stand on the bottom, and my head was above water...again, you couldn't fall in, you had to make a real effort!
There was the boat at the bottom of the grounds, you couldn't fall in to that either, you had to climb!
I tried all of the above at least once lol!
This is me after I had just cut my own hair with Mum's new pinking shears....lol!
I think that I was saying something like,
"I'm not wearing this...where's my shorts?"
This is Mum. I am behind her, but I bet that you are fed up with seeing me, so, I cropped my head off! lol!
This is me and Dad..I wanted to show the vastness of the grounds, so, sorry, I couldn't crop me out!
This is one of the fish ponds I spoke of.
The only thing to be concerned about was the snakes...but they were mainly in the trees, and I avoided those, as advised by Su Jai, his Dad and my parents........ Hmmmm...advised is probably a bit tame, either way...I knew!
There weren't that many to be worried about, I think that we only found 4 in 2 years.
To be honest, I was glad when the 'visitors' had gone, so I could play with Su Jai, he like to do the same things that I did.
We would pretend to fight with sticks, he was teaching me...(there was a name for it, but I can't remember what it was)...........could just as easily have been something that he made up! Who cares, it was fun.
He used to teach me how to move slowly and in time with him.......no idea what I was doing then...it was fun.
Now, I think that it was some sort of Tai Chi.(Again, could just as easily been something that he put together himself, lol!)
Dad would be out at work before I got up in the morning most days, and I would be in bed before he came home...
I remember,,,,I had to be in bed for about 5 or 6 in the evening.....I didn't like that, it was still light and sunny outside, and so much fun still to be had!
I did see him all week end though.
Well....this resulted in me speaking English with a German accent....but I spoke Cantonese like a native.
Mum would have to take me out shopping with her to translate. Some sellers came to the house, and I would translate then too.
(I think that there is a photo somewhere...when and if I find it, I will put it in).
Of course, I can't remember a word now.....you know what they say, use it or loose it!
I especially liked it if they brought their children with them. me, Su Jai and the other children would be off! Lol!
I always had scabs on my knees and elbows and hands where I had fallen, slipped, tripped or something or other!
Mum wasn't amused! Dad would tell me off, it was always with a twinkle in his eye...lol!
The grounds of the house were vast, well, to me they were, at 3 and 4 years old, so I was off all day most days with Su Jai, and I always had the dogs in tow too. They would follow me, which was great!
I would skip up the path to call for Su Jai in the morning, and I was always fascinated that the sun would bob up and down with me.
I would have boiled rice and eat with chop sticks with Mr. Hung and Felicity, or with Su Jai and his Mum.
Mum had a maid, One of them was horrid! ( I would pretend that a coat hanger was a machine gun, and shoot her)........I know, I know........but she did kill my budgies! She used to moan about the noise that they made...and one morning, I found them, dead! I am so sure that it was her!
Anyway, she left and Mum had another...... Su Lee, she was lovely. We would play and talk together. She liked my animals. I had white rats..they had babies, 7 dogs and my birds!
Mum used to read whilst sitting under this huge tree. (Remember what I said about trees earlier!)
Well, one day, there was an almighty panic. The gardener came to find me and Su Jai, and demanded that we went indoors.
Well.............There was a bloody great snake in the tree!
According to the gardener, it wasn't very dangerous, because after being bitten, you had 10 minutes before you died!..................Oh, well,............. that's all right then!
Any way, The gardener and other people caught the snake and killed it. They took all the bits that they needed for medical stuff, and left the skin on an old wash board on the roof of the house...a sort of patio type thing.
I remember being quite upset that I wasn't allowed to help.
When we had a typhoon, water would come in through the closed windows, the noise of the thunder was really loud and the colour of the sky was mesmerising!
On one occasion, a whole flock of birds came down the chimney!
It took ages to get them out of the house without hurting them.....Mum, Dad and me were shooing them them out of the house for what seemed like an age!
Oh, it was so exciting!!!!!
The Country is so beautiful, the people so friendly and helpful, the weather, thrilling! Glorious mostly, with the occasional typhoon and rain storms.
It was living in Hong Kong that solidified my belief in magic.........the weather, the animals, the sun following me....yes...it was all magical!
There is so much more that I could speak of about my time in Hong Kong........but I want to keep this autobiography 'mini'!....lol!
What an honour to have known Mr. Hung, Felicity, Su Jai and his family.
What a privilege to have lived in such beautiful surroundings with such freedom.
Well...off to Germany next, see you there tomorrow!
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