Coronavirus and fashion

Has it only been months?

It feels much longer.  Maybe because we in Hong Kong had also been dealing with the protests for so long.  Life has felt completely out of kilter for well over a year now as a result.  Things will go back to normal (or some new form of normal) some day, but it's hard to tell or even contemplate when that will be.  I used to read histories, and think about the wars that would go for years.  It didn't seem "as long" when isolated on the pages of history, but now, experiencing this passage of time and the impact it has on lives, I'm starting to get a better understanding of the mental impact of having your life put into this bizarre stasis for so long.

Things are changing in a more unexpected way as well now.

We don't have any vaccines yet, but we certainly have the new ways of dealing with the virus which are more practical and fashionable.

It's an odd thing to see, this rise in "Coronavirus Fashion".  Is it a form of exploitation?  A profiting off of the misery and suffering of others?

Or is it rather, as I suspect, just an example of how life has now changed for good.  Is this the new normal that we will face going forward in our lives?

Skyhigh goodbye

The tragedy of Hong Kong really must be in the all the goodbyes.  I've felt incredibly fortunate for all of the great friends I have made, but I will never get used to having to say goodbye.  I think I have gotten better at how I go about the goodbyes.  I try not to be too reserved anymore and instead I embrace the event, I try to be as open as possible in expressing just how much I will miss them and what they've meant to me. It still stings nonetheless though.

The current departure was a particularly difficult one.  My good friends Charlie and Sian were reluctantly leaving Hong Kong.  Charlie had arrived in Hong Kong around the same time as I had and we had met whilst we were both gone through the pain of the OLQE classes.  That shared bond of suffering had held us in good stead and he has ended up becoming one of my closest friends in Hong Kong.

Very sadly, all good things come to an end.  Charlie and Sian weren't leaving quietly though and arranged a big farewell lunch for everyone.  They had arranged lunch at the lovely Aqua, but with a slight twist.  Rather than being served the usual fare of Japanese or Italian, the folks at Aqua had agreed to put on the English roast dinner from Statement, just for Charlie.  It seemed like a fitting meal for us to enjoy together, a gentle reminder of what was to come for them back in the UK.

Looking out over the harbour from our seats, we could see well into the distance.  It was a beautiful and clear day and you could see all the way to Lantau Island.  This type of activity seemed to be the perfect example of the extravagant expat lifestyle we had all experienced in Hong Kong.  Too much food, too much alcohol, all in stunning settings.

As lunch wound down and finished, we were not finished.  Not even close to finished.  Instead, we decided to go for a short walk to TST and we ended up at a bar on the waterfront.  As the sun set and the lights of Hong Kong started to shine, the night got rowdier and louder.

We were now hungry as it was late into the evening, so we caught a ferry across to the harbour back to Hong Kong for a late night dinner in Soho.  I gave Charlie and Sian one final hug as I said goodbye.  It was tough to see them go, but the send off was a long and memorable one.

Chasing waterfalls

So many people seem to be leaving Hong Kong lately.  Times have changed a lot and it seems that those changes are starting to pull more and more people out of this place.  Hong Kong has always been a bit of an itinerant place, with people coming and going, but this year seems extreme even compared to the other years.

We had a farewell organised on a small boat.  The usual junk trips we took often had more than 30 people on board, but this was a smaller and more intimate affair with only 6 of us heading out.  We all gathered in an Uber one morning and we set off for the pier at Sai Kung.  We arrived early and quickly boarded the boat once it reached the pier.  A bottle of champagne was immediately opened and after a very short cruise were clear of the harbour and sailing through the clear waters around Sai Kung.

The smaller and faster boat was a different experience to the large and slower junks we normally went on.  The wind felt fresh and the salt water whipped up harder and faster than usual.  There was a feeling of refreshment as we sped out, as though the wind was clearing out our lungs and minds.

The captain took us to a small island that is more well known for golfing than anything else.  Hong Kong is a strange place sometimes and I find it odd that with all the difficulties people face with housing that the government thought it was appropriate to give up half of an entire island to be used as a golf course.  At the southern end of the island, there remains more of the untouched forests and here we were brought to an isolated little waterfall to explore.

We jumped into the water and swam over to look at the waterfall more closely.  Up close it was more beautiful than we could have imagined.  The water was clear enough to see the bottom of the little pools that had formed and we waded through as we climbed up and down each of the different sections of the waterfall.

After the stop at the waterfalls, we sailed towards Millionaire's Beach.  It is an aptly named beach, with incredible views which give you a feeling of luxury befitting of a millionaire (probably where the name came from).  We carefully dragged one of the coolers out with us to the beach so we could enjoy ourselves with some drinks.

As the day started to end, we all dragged ourselves back onto the boat.  The sun started to set and the weather started to cool as we sailed back towards Sai Kung.

Farewells are always sad, but this was one was definitely one of the best I had been to.