Sunny Days in Hong Kong

 I must admit that March and spring have almost sprung, but not quite yet. It's Thursday, and it's time to write this week's Blog. The Blog this week comes from the Quiet Carriage of the 0855 train to Waterloo. We're travelling to see the Massed Bands of His Majesties Royal Marines at the Royal Albert Hall on Friday night. As always, we are up for a bit of a wander around London. You can expect a few photos on Social Media over the next few days.

This week, I decided to dig out another photo from my days on HMY Britannia. In this photo, we appear to be playing out of Hong Kong in 1986. It must have been when we were sailing up to Shanghai to commence Royal Duties for HM Queen Elizabeth's unique visit to China. We returned to Hong Kong with HRH, The Duke of Edinburgh, two weeks later. If these photos had been taken at that time, we wouldn't have been dressed in shorts. 

We had been in Hong Kong for several days before sailing for Shanghai. The band wasn't required to perform or participate in any parades, and we just had our usual morning rehearsals in the Unwinding Room before getting ready for shore leave, which would start at the allotted hour, probably 1200. 

For some, Pinkies Tattoo Parlour was a magnate. Pinkies was extremely busy during our visit. Not only were their sailors and a few Marines from HMY, but almost the entire crew was from our accompanying guard ship, HMS York. The following day, there was much hilarity in the Unwinding Room when drunk tattoo purchases were revealed. I must declare at this point that I have no tattoos.

I and several others found ourselves in the China Fleet Club that first day. There, we imbibed several beers. Very cleverly, the bar had an offer on Pusser's Rum. If I remember correctly, you received an enamelled mug with signal flags if you ordered two large Rums. As the evening went on, these mugs became more attractive, and hence, more Rum was drunk. We left early to find something to eat, but on leaving the Fleet Club, I witnessed a Sailor from HMS York staggering out with a carrier bag of said mugs.

Myself and a couple of the younger end of the band needed help finding where to eat; yeah right, this is Hong Kong, there are food outlets all over the place. That evening, we opted for street food and sat at a stand selling huge bowls of noodles and broth topped with meat and the hottest chilli condiment on earth. It was interesting to witness how this stall operated. It was a very well-lit stall, and there were electric heaters around; it was a tad chilly in the early evening at that time of the year. Seeing as we sat on a street corner, I wondered where all the power was coming from. A quick peruse of the cabling saw it end up at the top of the lamppost we were all sitting around; they were bootlegging the electricity. That wasn't all; we were sitting right outside the main entrance of the Hong Kong Police Headquarters.

The next day, we took the Star Ferry to Kowloon. We had lunch at a fish restaurant where we selected lobsters alive from various fish tanks. The lobsters were enormous.

I remember that on our last night there, this time around, there was the biggest fireworks display I had ever seen, costing millions of Hong Kong Dollars.

We left the next day for Shanghai and Royal Duties. We returned to Honky Fidd later, and that's where we parted company with HMS York. They went on to visit Tokyo, and I was very jealous. It would be another fifteen years before I would fulfil that dream. Perhaps that trip can be another Blog piece?