Yeah, Debbie has pretty much keyed(and captured) in the mood of the day, 1st of July 2003, which will definitely go as a bigtime hightlight into the history of Hong Kong (if not school history books).
I reached Admiralty MTR station to join a bunch of friends who had come al the way from Tai Po. We could not enter the MTR from there as the stations are not designed for such HUGE protests. 4 trains passed by but we were so far that even smelling the train was difficult.
An enlightened being amongst us suggested going to Sheung Wan (where Island line starts) and taking the train from there.
It worked. Once at Fortress Hill, it took us a while to snake our way out of the station. Thats when we started our "walk",as one of my friend writes back in a mail today morning........
"............. it was hot
and steamy and skin rubbing skin, our hearts were one.
it was god damn hot 33 degrees outside with the sun
shone directly above our heads, and for every 10
seconds of slow motion, we had to halt for another 20
minutes, but no one let out a single sound of
complaint or whine, and that includes the 5 year olds,
the toddlers, 70 year olds with a walking stick, and
the yellow head mongkok gangs, not to mention the many
groups of high school kids who came on their own with
the support of their teachers and parents. more than
half a million people protesting in absolute grace and
abstinence.
the streets were a lingering giant black dragon and it
danced for eight hours straight. there's truly no
beginning and ending to this cosmic vibe. hong kong is
such a lovely and humane place.
those who said we were indifferent and heartless
probably wished so that they can do whatever they want
to exploit us, but we showed them color! power to the
people, and what faith in humanity!......................"
We stopped short of climbing up the hill at HSBC in central and went for dinner.
A totally unforgetable event and experience
.
