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Leader Magazine
WINTER 1962.
POSSIBLE POSTINGS NO. 7.
by C.P.
Hong Kong
Most soldiers are very thrilled when they first hear that they are to be posted to Hong Kong. They imagine that the "Pearl of the Orient" is a small island of perpetual sun, swarming with smiling Chinese, the girls all beautiful, and the shops stocked with priceless objects at ridiculously low prices. Well, one can always hope that that is what each individual will find.
LOCAL COLOUR
On arrival, the first noticeable thing is the size of the Colony. Far from being just a small island, Hong Kong itself is approximately 50 square miles in size and contains the large city of Victoria with its modern waterfront with large expensive shops and old, narrow backstreets with their stalls and cafes and little shops selling almost everything. This stretches for four miles along a narrow strip between the sea and the steep climb to the top of the Peak. On the other side of the harbour, which is filled with ships of all sizes and junks with their colourful sails, there is the city of Kowloon, so impressive and compelling. Behind the city stretch the New Territories, 391 square miles of paddy fields, market gardens, villages, duck farms and mountains, not forgetting, of course, the indefinable smells as well. Swarms of Chinese with little road sense, and hundreds of dogs with no road sense at all lie in wait for the unwary traveller at all times of the day or night.
HOT AND COLD
Now to the climate. For approximately six months of the year the weather is hot, humid and often wet, with the occasional typhoon thrown in for good measure, although fortunately these usually manage to miss the Colony. During this season, the hot, weary soldier finds his way to the nearest beach to swim, water ski or just sleep. The Winter months are similar to our Spring although they are, on the whole, dry and sunny with sometimes very cold winds sweeping down from the North, when fires and jerseys are the order of the day. Football and other more energetic sports are very popular at this time, and military exercises as well, but the climate is such that throughout the Summer one longs for the Winter, and during the cold spells of the Winter, one longs for the Summer.
Finally the shops. It is very difficult to refrain from buying cameras, watches and jewellery as the prices are so much lower than at home, but the soldier soon finds that he cannot live on these, and that the essentials of life, food, beer and other drinks, cinemas and such like are very expensive. Money seems to go even quicker than in England and the Chinese shopkeepers are so persuasive. But even with little funds and a raging thirst, Hong Kong is a good posting and you are lucky if you get it.
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