Arriving in Hong Kong
Am I lost in this concrete jungle? Of course there are more tall buildings than trees here. I still remember my entry into this bustling city. I had no idea where I was going. I just wanted leave Sri Lanka at a time I was sensing no prospect of furthering my studies or finding a job. It was the height of second JVP insurrection. Many youth were targeted. Any suspect can be a victim of torture, extra-judicial killings and or enforced disappearances. Or let me say differently, putting aside UN-jargon designed to make those words acceptable terms in international meetings or conferences: to be young was enough to be taken away by people with guns wearing fearful military attire, then to be tortured in methods one cannot think of (human beings are very creative that they come up with most terrible things it is even difficult to write here to cause pain to another human being!) and then killed due to enormous suffering caused by those torture and then your body cut into pieces and displayed in public places to terrify the people who see them, women, men and little children, or body parts burnt on a pile of tires by the roadsides of junctions where people frequent or bodies thrown into rivers and canals to be divulged by monitor lizards and the kind. In those days, more people, or their body parts ended up in rivers or roadsides than in mass-graves. I was escaping that country. And my family wanted me to be away too.
After I landed at Kai Tak, I queued up to pass through the Immigration. The officer at the counter asked me “why are you coming here.” I told him what I was told to tell “to visit friends.” “Who are your friends?” “They are Lek, Zita and Fr. Chalerm” “where do they live?” “what do they do?” “How do you know them” and many other questions followed. I had a letter from the Asian Team saying that I am coming to attend the Asian Session of IYCS. But I was instructed to first tell that I come to visit friends. The officer was speaking English in thick Hong Kong accent. I was replying in thick and nervous Sri Lankan accent. And we were not understanding half of the things we were saying to each other. After a few exchange of questions and answers, the officer took me out of the line and asked me to follow him to a room. I was sat at the tiny interview room made of glass. I waited not knowing what to do. The time was running out. It has been an hour since landing. It was about 7:30pm. I was feeling pretty nervous. I was carrying a dark green, ugly looking square-shaped plastic shoulder bag. All my valuables were in there. They included my school certificates. The officer asked me to empty my bag on to the table and started going through my things. I had a brand new passport, issued less than a month ago. And there were no immigration or visa stamps on it. Will I get my first stamp or chop as they call it in Hong Kong on a crisp page of my new passport? The officer asked me “ why aaah yoo carrying oooor these certificates? You come here to find a job?” I said no. But in fact, there was a possibility of a job if I get elected at the Asian Session. But, honestly, I did not know what was going to happen. So, my answer was correct. But I have not answered his first question. Why did I carry them with me? I told him that I wanted to show them to my friends in Hong Kong as I have got some pretty good academic records in my high school that other kids could not have. My first lie! The officer seemed not believing me or understanding what I was saying. He told me, “I think you are coming here to look for a job. And you cannot come as a tourist/visitor to look for a job. If I am not satisfied with your answers, I am going to send you back (or in plain terms, deport me!) My god! What is happening here now? It’s becoming a nightmare! My head was spinning and although it was cold with air conditioning, I a thin layer of sweat was beginning to appear on my forehead. This means I am not going to get my first stamp on my passport? Or the first stamp I am going to get is to say that I have been deported from Hong Kong? How are they going to send me back? What should I do? Another hour or so passed. The officer left and returned and asked me, “is there anyone waiting for you at the arrival hall?” I said, “Yes, my friends supposed to receive me after arrival 2 hours ago and hope they are still there.” The officer told me to wait again and left. He returned after 15min and told me, “I am going to take you to the arrival hall and your friend better be there. If no one is there to receive you, I send you back to Siri Lanka.” Then he asked me to follow him and I technically passed the immigration point and physically entered Hong Kong. We passed the baggage carousels, customs and then the sliding door of the arrival hall opened. If you remember Kai Tak in 1980s, there was a kind of a ramp through which arriving passengers descend. I was on the top of the ramp and was looking around hundreds of unknown faces to see whether anyone I know is going to be there. The officer asked me, “where is your friend? Is he here?” Right then I saw a young woman raising the hand it was Lek. She came forward and the officer asked her whether she knows me and she said yes. The officer then asked her follow him and asked her not to talk to me. We passed the customs, baggage carousels, immigration point and returned to the same interview room. He put me in one room and Lek in another. And went back and forth probably asking the same set of questions. At this point I knew I had to tell the truth that I have come here to attend the Asian Session and who Lek is etc. And quite naturally, Lek told the same thing. Our versions corroborated and it was after 3 hours finally I got my first visitor visa stamp valid for three months, until 13th October 1988.
They let Lek go first and asked her to wait again until I pick up my baggage etc. When I finally, legitimately arrived at the arrival hall, 3 hours after my landing at the airport, Lek joined me. She was very calm although she has been waiting for 3 hours for me. I felt awful. I thanked her and we went to the taxi queue go on to a Kowloon red taxi and started our way to the apartment where IYCS had its office and home. I was looking at the meter of the taxi, which showed 5HKD as the starting amount. I immediately converted it in my head to SL rupees and tried to see how expensive that can be compared to back home. In fact in that year, US$ was 25 SL Rs. We were riding pass Kowloon City, Regal Airport Hotel towards Ngau Tau Kok. As soon as we were entering Ngau Tau Kok area and slowed down due to traffic, I saw hundreds of people in the sidewalks, all Chinese or Hong Kong Chinese, food stalls, traditional medicine shops, jewelry shops with a log of gold jewelry on display, banks and ATM machines and more over huge and colorful Chinese neon signs and those signs reflected on the windscreen and the bonnet of the red taxi. We arrived at the Amoy Gardens where the apartment was, Block Q, Flat 1204, meaning on the 12th floor. I am going to be staying on the 12th floor for a while and when I got on to the elevator, I realized that the building had about 26 floors. Each floor has 8 apartments, typical for private housing in Hong Kong those days. Amoy Garden, or To Tai Fa Yuen, was quite new. Zita and Chalerm was there to welcome me and Lek told them what happened. The apartment was tiny. It had brown parquet floor and book shelved in the living room. There was only one bedroom which was divided by two flimsy plastic wardrobes (those ones you can assemble with aluminum pipes inside and have a zipper to in the middle to open it vertically. Two ladies were occupying either side. Chalerm the priest was sleeping on the floor in the living room. And he let me know that I am going to follow him and find some place on the living room floor. There was a collapsible mattress. I had a hot shower after figuring out how to use the water heater with TownGas logo on it. After that, I was ready to sleep. Although it was a dramatic night, I had to sleep on the floor of a tiny apartment, the excitement of being in a new place, sleeping on a 12th floor flat which was airconditioned and the prospect of starting a new life, quickly overtook other negative aspects. In fact I did not see or feel any negative aspects. I was very happy and excited to sleep on the floor.