I don't know if it's too melodramatic to say, but it feels like Hong Kong is burning. There has been an increased ramp up in the violence of the protests culminating in October 1 (this year the 70th anniversary of the Communist Party) and during this long weekend the city has felt like a subdued, shuttered ghost town during the day, and then an alarm-ringing, fire-branding, torch wielding battle ground at night. The protests have continued unabated for some 17+ weeks since June. Everyone thought it would slow down or quietly fade into the background once schools commenced in September. But it shows no sign of abatement and, in fact, the Hong Kong government's recent declaration of emergency law despite the fact that "Hong Kong is not in a state of emergency" and ban on face masks just seems deliberately tone deaf and counter-intuitive.
Many friends left town for this time period, wanting to be away from the chaos and mayhem and violence. We didn't go away because it just seemed too difficult and expensive to plan, but when we received news for the second time in four days that Lola's kid's club was shut due to the protest disturbances, it felt pretty serious.
I went into a yoga class at 5 pm on Friday evening and emerged to last minute announcements that they had decided the studio was closing in 30 minutes. It was impossible to get a taxi home, no buses appeared to be running, and I paid about 3x in surge pricing for what I would normally would have paid to get an Uber to take me just a little over a mile home.
On Friday during lunchtime I already saw a huge crowd streaming by chanting and gathering steam in Chater Garden. In fact, I made the mistake of crossing from one street to another by cutting through the park (my usual shortcut) and I was suddenly caught in a huge mob of people with no way out. It was peaceful and calm but still a bit unsettling.
It's crazy how these protests work in such a dense city - the boundary is literally one street apart. We wake up every morning to pictures of fresh graffiti and signs of public property damage but life carries on as usual during the day, because the people of Hong Kong literally have nowhere else to go - everyone still has to line up for the bus and pile into the train stations and walk the same streets.
I am not sure what this means and how long this lasts or for how long we will be in Hong Kong. People talk about leaving but it's not so easy to pick up and move just like *that* and I would say most people here, including ourselves, are currently in a wait-and-see mode. Suffice it to say we are feeling a bit stressed as we just signed a 2 year rental contract, bought a membership to a club, and bought a new car...
Many friends left town for this time period, wanting to be away from the chaos and mayhem and violence. We didn't go away because it just seemed too difficult and expensive to plan, but when we received news for the second time in four days that Lola's kid's club was shut due to the protest disturbances, it felt pretty serious.
I went into a yoga class at 5 pm on Friday evening and emerged to last minute announcements that they had decided the studio was closing in 30 minutes. It was impossible to get a taxi home, no buses appeared to be running, and I paid about 3x in surge pricing for what I would normally would have paid to get an Uber to take me just a little over a mile home.
On Friday during lunchtime I already saw a huge crowd streaming by chanting and gathering steam in Chater Garden. In fact, I made the mistake of crossing from one street to another by cutting through the park (my usual shortcut) and I was suddenly caught in a huge mob of people with no way out. It was peaceful and calm but still a bit unsettling.
It's crazy how these protests work in such a dense city - the boundary is literally one street apart. We wake up every morning to pictures of fresh graffiti and signs of public property damage but life carries on as usual during the day, because the people of Hong Kong literally have nowhere else to go - everyone still has to line up for the bus and pile into the train stations and walk the same streets.
I am not sure what this means and how long this lasts or for how long we will be in Hong Kong. People talk about leaving but it's not so easy to pick up and move just like *that* and I would say most people here, including ourselves, are currently in a wait-and-see mode. Suffice it to say we are feeling a bit stressed as we just signed a 2 year rental contract, bought a membership to a club, and bought a new car...
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