[Leica] Hong Kong Hospitality - (Long!) - Part 1

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

Subj:   Hong Kong Hospitality - Part 2  (Long!)
Date:   11/29/00 8:21:20 PM Pacific Standard Time
From:   TTAbrahams
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us
To: leica@topica.com

The first time I went to Hong Kong was a scant two years ago and Joseph Yao 
organized the first LUG dinner there. It was a great evening and since that 
time they have organized several more and it has always bugged me that I have 
not been able to attend. This time Joseph did his magic again and promised 
another one. That was enough incentive for me to go so from Tokyo I caught a 
JAL-Flight to Hong Kong (by the way JAL is a really nice airline, good food - 
as airline food goes and very pleasant staff, both on the ground and in the 
air). Over the years I have gotten to know Joseph well and in spite of his 
obsession with mint cameras, he is a really nice guy. He is also one of the 
more dedicated Leica-nuts you can find (as well as a car-nut) and his wife 
Sarah is a wine-importer and sommelier. Not a bad recipe for a visit! 
 Hong Kong is a fascinating city, almost 10 million people crammed on to what 
Queen Victoria once described as a "barren rock". It is also an incredible 
fast paced city and you always run the risk of having footprints up your back 
and down your front if you don't watch out and the guy would probably not 
even stop talking in either of his two cell-phones as he climbed over you! It 
is a city built in both a horizontal and vertical fashion. Buildings shoot up 
to 60-70 stories, ultra modern architecture, high speed commuter rail and 
state-of the art escalators running up the mountainside! But at the same time 
you can take a 30's style double-decker tram across Hong Kong, from Happy 
Valley to Kennedy Town for a quarter or take the Star Ferry across to Kowloon 
for the same price. Fellow LUGger Howard Cummer claims that the Star Ferry 
probably reduces the rate of heart attacks considerably "For 10 minutes even 
the most hyped-up local has to sit down and do nothing but relax".
 Joseph invited me to stay with them and I eagerly accepted. He and Sarah 
live with other family members on the top of Victoria Peak in an incredible 
mansion. The restoration was finished just months ago and it looks like a 
19th century mansion but with all the modern conveniences. As it is one of 
the very few houses on the famous Peak trail, the family cars are chosen for 
their width rather than for size. Riding with Joseph in his Toyota MR2 
roadster and watching joggers and pedestrians taking up a quick interest in 
rock-climbing is fun. There are a couple of spots that leave less than 1-inch 
clearance on each side of the car! The family driver once reversed the entire 
800-meter stretch when he met another car! I thought that I was a good driver 
but that is a stupendous feat! There are four "viscous" guard-dogs on the 
property too - they soon had me figured out. Every morning I had to rub 
bellies and scratch ears for 15 minutes although I suspect that if I had made 
a threatening move, all that ever would have been left would be some teeth 
marked Leica's and chewed up neck-straps. To get back on subject, evenings 
were usually spent in Joseph's den playing with Leica's and in spite of 
Joseph's statement that he would be deprived, I did pick up his last 0,58 
M6's. It was the last one available for several weeks and I was only staying 
for 5 days so I used that leverage on him. It worked and I have now been 
shooting with it for the last 2 weeks and it is the closest thing to a M2 
that I have found. Perfect frame for the 35, no other frame visible and if I 
wanted to mount a 28 on it, I could see the framelines with glasses on! These 
musings and discussions about Leica was accompanied by extremely good wines 
supplied by Sarah. This beats hanging out in cramped camera stores by a wide 
margin.
 On one of our forays into the streets, Joseph and I heard, what was 
obviously a politician trying to rally voters to his cause. Once we got 
closer we realised that it was fellow LUGger Chris Chung who is running for 
Council member in the December 10 election, standing on the sidewalk with a 
bullhorn. He decided that he could stop canvassing for a moment or two and 
discuss Leica's with us instead. He did turn the bullhorn off, but maybe, 
considering the Hong Kong population's fascination with high end products, he 
should have left it on! 
 There is a marked difference in style when it comes to selling cameras in 
Tokyo and Hong Kong. Tokyo's camera stores, at least the ones with high end 
products are usually situated on the major streets and easily spotted. In 
Hong Kong, you start descending into dimly lit arcades and strange little 
alleyways and suddenly you are at an Aladdin's cave of cameras. Shop-windows 
jam-packed with Leica, Nikon, Contax and just about anything else you can 
imagine. There is another difference, in Tokyo the price marked is the price 
you pay and in Hong Kong, it is usually dependant whose bladder gives up 
first. You drink tea (green tea is a known diuretic) and negotiate, drink 
more tea and negotiate and in the end you either walk cross legged to the 
nearest washroom or pre-empt this by buying the piece and then, slightly less 
cross-legged head for the washroom. It really does not matter if it is a 
black paint M6 "Year of the Dragon" or a spare lenscap you are buying, the 
process is the same. I saw some truly nice pieces in our rounds, a Contarex 
with Motor, a IIIa with the two-speed Mooly, a 90/1 Elcan lens as well as a 
set of black paint Nikon S, S2 and S3's as well as 100's of M2, M3 and M4's. 
Prices are lower than in Tokyo, but condition is also less pristine in most 
cases. The extremely high humidity in Hong Kong causes fungus to grow and 
also rots out the curtains. Most cameras are kept in "humidity controlled" 
cabinets and those are OK, but always check before buying.

to be continued in Part 2 of "Hong Kong Hospitality"
Tom A