As Time Goes BY

Ivan Choi

SS Lau.

What a nice sentimental article you wrote! I am proud to be one of the characters in the story. Well, let me go back to the same time frame and add a few tibits.

Let me describe the room of the Grant Hotel. It had almost no furniture except the single bed that you and I shared. The bed was small and the mattress was worn; but that didn't bother us who can sleep on anything in those days. The music did not bother me very much though. As soon as we walked out to the street, it was another world, full of things to watch as I was a Dai Hueng Lai (Big brother from the village).

Another source for good and inexpensive food was in the apartment of your labor camp buddy. For 50 cents we can have a dish of rice covered with pork, chicken or beef with daily change of vegetables. Once in a while, we are invited to the Rev. Ng K for dinner. Ng K was the minister of the Tsim Sha Tsui Baptist church before he immigrated to SF. He was a good friend of my father. My name Keung came from a verse in Luke that he gave to my father to choose a name. Rev Ng has three daughters and one son. The oldest daughter was born in HK and was a childhood friend of mine. Now she was a matured beautiful lady speak fluent English. I was supposed to be very skillful in talking to girls at least when I was in HK, but somehow I lost my poise when I have to use English on her. Besides, I felt that she was much more matured than I was. Anyways, the food was good and the family was very warm. I heard that Rev. Ng K moved to Memphis when I was studying in LA.
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