ten years ago this month i arrived in hong kong.
each time i sat squirming in my seat, throwing my book and papers into my bag, thrilled at the thought of being with and near magnificent charles, i never failed to appreciate the stunning landing at kai tak airport. it was like being dropped out of a sky, turning a very quick corner and landing on a very thin strip of concrete. it was amazing.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQqAxp6qtxs a short blurb but a good one, taken from the street.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oIbZqXqiQoI the bbc look at the kai tak phenomenon…it does sound like they’re playing a video game though!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McNU5b2-7bc longer, but shows a bit more of the city
even if you don’t click on attachments, please click on the first link…this is why hong kong kai tak airport was so internationally known!
kai tak closed in 1998. and although everyone agrees that hong kong international airport is a great efficient airport (except for the taxi drivers, who miss the fares to the airport and hate the airport express trains), it lacks kai tak’s statement. the plane dropped you in kai tak, and somehow had room for you. sort of like hong kong. even today, 10 years later, people still talk fondly about kai tak, and the views into people’s living rooms, and the angles it provided.
the views into people’s living rooms…for me it provided me the opportunity to view my own living room, and to make my own living..the one i had always wanted with the person i had always wanted…i just hadn’t known it (and really, over the years it would take me several times to realise this).
so as i sit back and celebrate a decade of life in hong kong and becoming the tess i always wanted to be, i look back on kai tak, where tess entered, and stayed.
Reader interactions
6 Replies to “3650 days”
Happy anniversary Tessie.Sorry about Kai Tak.
Love, Dad
that’s some heart-stopping video. while i’m sure you miss it, the pilots don’t. except for the chance to earn bragging rights. but i am glad you made that stomach-lurching landing ten years ago. happy anniversary!
Hi, I saw your site listed on the TripletConnection forum. It’s great to read a blog by an expat.
I grew up an expat. Lived in Florence, Rome, Vienna, Frankfurt, New Delhi, Taipei and Singapore. I’ve visited Hong Kong several times and loved it.
Then I went back to Chicago, met my wife, who’s Japanese, and we settled down in New Jersey. She gave birth to triplets 2 1/2 yrs. ago.
Just wanted to say hi.
Sorry, forgot to comment on the closing of Kai Tak airport. I landed there every time I visited Hong Kong. Once it was very touch and go, in the middle of a storm. Scary!
Sorry to hear it closed. One thing I remember is that it was easy to get to downtown HK from Kai Tak. How is it from the new airport?
Happy Happy 10 years in Hong Kong, darling. It makes me so happy and thankful to see you very content in Hong Kong and with all that has transpired in your life. Celebration time!
Much love, M xox
ya know, now i’ve got that rent song stuck in my head…