Christmas Update

I promised I would write more about our magical Christmas. One of the best parts about Christmas – in addition to being around Tess and the kids – is that I didn’t have to think about work. (Although the Blackberry is always at arms length… recently read in the Wall Street Journal: "Blackberries are great because they set us free from the office, but trap us forever.”) Point is, my mind needs time away from work right now to get perspective. As I think I mentioned before, usually at Christmas and heading into New Years I have a gleeful euphoria as new beginnings approach. But oddly enough, not this time.

But the holidays were great… I like the feeling of knowing I don’t have to do anything the next day other than being around the family. I planned my shopping well enough in advance that I was home from work at a decent time on the 23rd and didn’t need to do any shopping on the 24th. Instead, on the Saturday Sebastian and I went for a ride across Hong Kong’s Victoria Harbour, had a McDonald’s picnic next to the harbour and then returned home.

That evening the six of us headed out to Union Church (above at night) for a Christmas Eve dinner. Sela and Carys looked incredibly cute in their dresses and white capes. Everyone was remarkably well behaved, too. As we drove home, Hong Kong was ablaze in a sea of lights.

Sebastian was hilarious, resisting going to bed until, "oh, time to go to bed" he would say and just like that marched off to his bed. I settled in to listen to Christmas Carols as I wrapped a few presents and sipped rum & egg nog. Later that night I posted on the blog. Those last few hours were magical, in a strange fatigued way, as I got a chance to reflect on the season and years gone by.

Christmas morning we were awake at a decent hour. The trips are too young to understand Christmas but still appreciated opening a few surprises. Excited Sebastian was territorial about the gifts. All presents were his presents. The magical moment for Seb, is not watching him open the gifts, it’s his growing appreciation for the magic of Christmas.

For example, the other day while playing with the accompanying picture Sebastian said, "I love Christmas." This was long before the presents or stockings, and it was very sweet to hear.

Christmas Day we had friends (Dale & Steph) over from Church: mom and dad plus four boys between 1.5 and nine years old. They arrived about 4 PM and left about 10:30 PM. Pretty much the entire time everyone was racing at Mach 5. At dinner for the first time ever Sebastian prayed openly in public. With eleven people in front of him – ranging from 1.5 to 43 years old – he thanked God for dinner, his friends, Jesus and gifts. Maybe he didn’t say it quite as succinctly as that, but he still prayed. That was magical.

Dale and I had a cigar on the balcony. Finally, once everyone left, Sebastian headed off to bed… and THAT was magical, too. After saying his evening prayers, which were very short after the earlier investment in words, he started to softly sing Christmas Carols. Usually his songs are blasted out at the top of his lungs. But lying in bed with the triplets fast asleep in the same room, he very softly sang. For some reason I had the digital video camera in my hands. I placed it on the ladder of Seb’s bunk bed and turned it on, recording the sound of Seb’s soft, singing voice in the darkness.

I stood there for a few minutes in time, struck by Sebastian’s love for Christmas, his sweet, quiet voice, his innocence. That was when I wondered, "will this moment ever return?" Eventually the singing ceased, the camera faded from black to black, and we all said "good night."

A Very Happy Christmas…

A very Happy Christmas to everyone. Right now we are sixty minutes into Christmas in The Far East. The stockings are hung with care and everyone in the flat is asleep… even the cat. I am listening to John Lennon’s “So This Is Christmas” while sipping cognac and egg nog. I was hoping to write something poignant and poetic tonight, but I am just too tired to get that done. Instead, I leave you with this poignant picture and the promise of more words tomorrow, or the next day, or the one after that.

Hong Kong & the WTO Riots

We had a very interesting Saturday evening on the coattails of the WTO riots in Hong Kong. I arrived back into Hong Kong on Saturday morning from the US, and last night Tess & I went out to dinner with David & Ann. David is a lifelong friend – I’ve known him since I was nine years old in Toronto – and by coincidence we now both live in Hong Kong. Saturday was David’s 50th birthday. The four of us dined at Petrus on the 60th floor of Shangri-La Hotel on Hong Kong Island.

Tess and I took a taxi from home, not knowing we were in for a long journey to the Shangri-La. I only slept a little on the flight back from the US. Therefore, after feeling drowsy in the taxi decided to doze off to re-charge the batteries. Next thing I knew, I felt the taxi slowing and opened my eyes.

“Are we on the road to the Airport Express,” I asked Tess and after she confirmed this to be true I asked, “Why is he going this way?”

“No choice,” replied Tess, “the highway was closed.” Highly irregular for a main artery through Central to be closed. Something must be going on we thought.

We were stuck in a nasty traffic jam so I tried to call David & Ann to warn them we’d be delayed. No answer, but no sooner had I disconnected the call when I received an incoming call from David’s work’s switchboard line.

“CHARLES!” David exclaimed, “We can’t get out of here. Taxis are dropping off guests at our place but not pickling anyone up. We are going to walk but it will take us about half an hour.” We agreed everyone should just relax and that the evening would be a long, luxurious one nonetheless.

All traffic going into Central was being re-routed back through the Airport Express and out of the city.  Basically, imagine all cars driving into the city doing a U-turn and leaving. Everywhere we looked, streets in Central were closed with police everywhere. Finally Tess & I decided to walk from the Airport Express to Pacific Place. This was no easy feat for Tess who was in high heels. Fortunately since we’d spoken to David & Ann we knew we didn’t have to rush too much.

“Needo, needo!” we said to the taxi driver who popped open the door to let us out. The atmosphere was just like it was the night of the handover in 1997… spookily quiet for Hong Kong. The first thing I noticed was the sound of a helicopter – not a little one, a mighty one, like a Blackhawk. Both Tess & I heard it, but could not see it. We started walking towards Wan Chai, chatting about the best route to the hotel. We decided to walk straight along the Queensway to Pacific Place, then up the four escalators.

The Queensway was closed both ways, with police everywhere. By this point we had not heard about the riots, instead concluding that senior dignitaries must be moving about thereby causing the road closures. Then, as we approached Pacific Place we saw the hovering helicopter positioned overtop Wan Chai. Even thought it appeared to be positioned above and between the Conrad and Shangri-La Hotels, in reality it was probably a little further east. A helicopter hovered there the entire night. Later we concluded this must have been a command post in the sky.

The Shangri-La Hotel is a pretty lah-tee-dah place, often hosting big-ticket names from politicians to Hollywood stars. Therefore, we were not entirely surprised at the security when we entered. Our bags were passed through an airport screening machine, and we had to walk through an airport metal detector, too. Tess noted that despite the tight security, the hotel staff was incredibly gracious, as they are about everything.

Fortunately we arrived before David & Ann, and were able to insure we had one of the best window seats in the restaurant. (Pre-arranged in honour of David.) We had a bird’s eye view of Admiralty and Wan Chai. The place looked like a ghost town with all streets – major through fares and small side streets – closed. There were police everywhere. Flashing blue lights – police boats – littered the harbour.

We had a fantastic evening with David & Ann, with the occasional background sound of powerful rotors manoeuvring a helicoptor into position.

Shortly after midnight the head maitre d’ asked us if we were staying in the hotel or elsewhere. Reason being he explained, “you will not be able to get a taxi and the MTR closes at 1 AM. I am not trying to rush you, I just want to make sure you don’t find yourselves without a way home.” We agreed it was time to retire. Upon leaving we walked to the MTR – about a fifteen minute walk – and headed West, away from Wan Chai. While on the MTR we heard announcements that the Wan Chai station was closed. Very bizarre.

Waking up this morning, however, it all made sense once we read the news. WTO protestors clashed with police. After ten years in Hong Kong I have a tremendous amount of respect for the police, and not a lot of sympathy for the protestors’ methods. If you come to Hong Kong looking for trouble, then stir it up, the police will deal with you accordingly.

Tess had a remarkable comment about the seventy Korean farmers who jumped into Hong Kong harbour in an attempt to approach the Hong Kong Convention Centre from the water… “You mean they didn’t dissolve?”