When I first came to Hong Kong I lived in Chungking mansions. I spent well over six months there and absolutely loved it. It was and still is one of the most vibrant single buildings I have ever visited, let alone lived in. The energy and dynamism that coursed through the building as people from across the globe arrived and made it their home – some for a few days, some for month’s, even years – was, and is, amazing. It’s a building of dreams, a starting point. Over time memories of the awful elevators, dirty stairwells fade… Chungking isn’t pretty and sharing a cramped, non-air-conditioned room with 12 others in the height of a sticky Hong Kong summer isn’t fun, but it does make you appreciate anything better.
Many of the people and friends I knew back then have gone on to make astounding successes of their lives in Hong Kong. Starting businesses, becoming successful traders, restaurant owners… but we all started on diets of instant noodles, wonderful cheap curries, late nights in the Ricks Café basement, free beers at the Kangaroo courtesy of little tear-off vouchers in the tourist magazines and $3 super-size cans of San Miguel on the roof at the end of the day with our girlfriends. It was, and is, a great community, a cultural melting pot. Yet the Chungking known the world over by travellers is often seen differently by other expats and locals alike. Over a beer after sailing one Wednesday night, a good friend, John, asked where I was living. He was shocked when I said Chungking… James, a friend from the UK was living with his family and 12-year-old half-brother Dougal. Dougal was allowed to visit, with much trepidation from his mother, my shared digs in Chungking before we had dinner with their parents, John and Jane, and some of their friends and business partners at their Parkview flat. At dinner, in one of those strange moments of large dinner table conversations when one comment is heard by everyone, Dougal chirped up, “Mommy, what is shagging? We went to Chungking Mansions and Simon says his room-mate is always off shagging?” ….

sd