Post Quarantine Blues

Letter from Hong Kong (20-16) by doctorjohn: Revenge? Relent? To be? Not to be?

It's been one month since I was out of quarantine. I am held over in Hong Kong by some unexpected matters that require attention before I head to China. Things have changed a lot these past weeks. One month ago, most cases were imported and there were only scattered untraceable cases. Now, partly due to a ballroom dancing cluster, Hong Kong is suffering its Fourth Wave (whereas most of the US is not even out of the first one), with around a hundred local cases these last few days, some tens untraceable. For my own complex feelings, let me start by describing my first days out.

On the day that I left the hotel, I first went out for breakfast. Behind the hotel was a wet market and on the third floor is a food center, packed with people (I was not used to that - in the US, there is distance between tables, but in HK there is a limit of how many people at a table, which can still be close to the next table). I had a bowl of "cart" noodles, so named because in our youth they were sold by street vendors with small manually pushed carts that had a kerosene burner beneath. I had beef brisket,fish balls and pig's intestine (the extra spoon held fiery chili sauce). It was not cheap, tatsed OK, but not as good as my go-to place, which I shall show later.

I remember there was a second-hand CD and LP store close by and wondered if it was still there. It was, so I took a photo for our readers. Then I went back to my room, packed up and left. I pushed my luggage through the market and went home on a double-decker bus, which our UK friends shall definitely approve (they used to be UK Dennis; now there are also Benz etc)

I returned to my old house, which housed a lot of equipment. In 2018, before we returned to NYC, I moved some of the furniture and stuff from the new place there, so it was packed to the rafters. Due to the humidity in HK, the house was moldy too. So it took a lot of getting used to. Over the weeks I spent a huge amount of time cleaning up, unpacking, sorting and throwing things out.

Of course there had to be music. The NAD 3020 is still tethered to the B and W Matrix 801 Mk II (reported here) and they still make beautiful music. I stream through a Meridian Explorer (my downstairs neighbor generously let me use his wifi). Later I also fired up the Ruark Crusader II (same link above) and it makes fantastic music with my ICL 300B. You shall hear more about these.

Revenge? Not really. In contrast to a lot of people, I did not do much revenge spending nor eating, still uncomfortable with indoor dining. In the first two weeks I had no refrigerator and that meant I had to eat out. I'd go for dim sum early morning and buy a takeout. Naturally, I did of course re-sample my few favorite foods, and in a later article you shall see more pics. With the arrival of the frig and fourth wave, I almost do not do indoor dining. When I eat out, I do it quickly and put on my mask right after.

The old house is in a less dense (and less planned) part of town so I have to take the bus to get to city center for anything (in NYC I only took the subway once in 7 months as my community has everything I need). A calculated risk. Fortunately, everyone in HK is civically minded and don a mask. These days, I regard it as basic courtesy.

When I say Relent, I mean hesitations and decisions. During these times, we debate in our own minds whether to meet up with someone or not. In the first couple of weeks, I met up with some friends a few times, and it was always a moment of reckoning when one has to remove the mask for drinking and eating. I met up with my yumcha group, and we had to sit at two tables (6 maximum per table then). It was kind of weird to face so many people without mask.I had a couple of home visits, with the familiar WSS (who now has my Tannoy Canterbury) and a former student's Shindo setup. Another big WE setup too. So you shall have some fun articles at some point.

It is not that I have no time. Recently, with things shaping up in the house and meetings much less often, I actually have quite a bit of time, but I did not feel like writing - until today. Actually writing makes me feel better. Schubert late sonatas are playing in the background. It is not writer's block, just that life these days is not normal for anyone.

I am rambling, but it is better than nothing. I attach below a youtube of Amira Medujanin. Her CD Damar actually sold quite well in HK as it was embraced by audiophiles. Her singing is not surprisingly to me as its Eastern roots are quite evident. I like her singing but I am not so sure of her usual bands and arrangement and recordings, which I find way too intrusive (which is why I pick this quieter one). I'd rather have her sing a capella. Incidentally, I was in Zagreb and Dubrovnik in the early 80's. I still remember the somewhat wild Zagreb and presence of Turkish borek. Also had some delicious boar's ham! But as tourists we had to pay through the nose, like slaughtered lamb. Nonetheless, memorable.