It's Been a Year...

Miss this amazing view and walk along the harbourfront

In a few days it will be exactly a year since I had my last gourmet meal at Salisterra in the Upper House, a special treat from a good friend, who then escorted me to Hong Kong International Airport. I hugged him and an ex-colleague, thanking them for all their help, and entered the security line, then used my HKID to leave one last time.

The first leg of my trip was to Singapore and then a 10-hour layover (overnight) before flying to Vancouver.

A practically empty airport last April

My almost two years of planning for this exit came to fruition, and then what?

It's been quite the transition, from cleaning out my room to make room for my Hong Kong stuff, trying to get my driver's license sorted (it was a tedious ordeal), still having yet to find a family doctor like every other person in Canada, and reaching out to friends who were still traumatised by Covid.

All the while I have been watching what's been happening to Hong Kong on social media, feeling FOMO missing out on fabulous dinners and events I used to attend, but also feeling sad at watching the city I love being emptied out by migration or prosecution, while the authorities are claiming everything is fine.

I miss the 10K walks I did almost every evening from Kennedy Town to Wan Chai and back, the good friends I made over the years, the contacts I had built up over the years who trusted me to tell their stories, and the amazing food I ate, from hole-in-the-wall noodle shops to decadent Michelin-starred dining.

When I watch people's videos of Hong Kong streets on social media, I can imagine myself when I was there. 

Pureed potatoes with a giant dollop of caviar

Perhaps watching these videos and looking at people's pictures makes it harder to adjust to Vancouver? When I watched the documentary film, Revolution of Our Times, it immediately took me back to the 2019 protests, the massive turnout of people in the initial marches in June, and then after the July 1 march seeing videos of protesters with make-shift tools to barge their way into the Legislative Council.

It reminded me of spending my evenings scrolling through Twitter to see what was happening in the front lines and the next morning furrowing my brow at the government's response. I furrowed my brow everyday which has left a permanent wrinkle on my face.

"One country, two systems" came to a head, and Beijing decided something had to give, and it was two systems into one, as signalled by the implementation of the national security law at midnight, July 1, 2020.

Since then Hong Kong has irrevocably changed, from media organisations shuttering and civil society groups disbanding, to activists, lawyers and lawmakers fleeing abroad or risking arrest. Those left behind are currently behind bars, the vast majority remanded in custody. 

Protest scene from Revolution of Our Times

The likes of Jimmy Lai Chee-ying and Joshua Wong Chi-fung have been silenced, the media only able to report what has happened to them in the legal system and not what they have said.

Rationally I know I did the right thing, but emotionally it's hard to reconcile.

Because of Covid it took me a while to reach out to people I know here. Some are still terrified to meet or aren't as interested in meeting up. Luckily I have wonderful relatives who are more than happy to meet, including one cute little puppy.

However I can't lie -- I miss the warm weather, the convenience of public transport and the ability to go out late at night by myself and not be worried about my safety. The increased random attacks in Vancouver on buses and trains and even on sidewalks is very scary, which makes me wonder why things have gone so downhill in the city.

But then I am reminded of the rights and freedoms I have here, and am definitely not going to take them for granted.