Clarence K Bronson (DD 668) - Naval Cruise Book

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called the Tiger Balm Gardens. Rising on a hill behind the mansion are rock and plaster gods, animals and figmes in religious scenes and native tableaux, all in brilliant color. They represent the dreams and apparitions that have come to Aw Boon Haw. Dominating the whole is a tall, slender whit e pagoda, towering majes- tically aloof over all. Going around the island we stopped at the Repulse Bay Hotel and had a gin and lime on the veranda, overlooking its colorful gardens and the cool bav and crescent beach. Then to 59

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Dawn was just breaking as we approached Hong Kong from the east, and the sun cast the bright yellow of morning on the city. We had long tliought of Hong Kong as the most mys- terious of cities, where Occident and Orient meet and join almost unnoticed, and the city itself had been recently touted to us by all of the Seventh Fleet. We were completely won by Hong Kong and i ts fascinating old-modern ways. We toured thieves market where stolen goods are openly sold. We saw the ivory shops and the carvers at work on tiny, delicate fig- ures. We went by the jade center of the world where you may buy a clear, apple-green piece as big as your little fingernail for only a year ' s salary. We visited the home of Aw Boon Haw, one of the richest men in the Orient, and saw his priceless jade collection. He has turned iiis home and grounds into a fabulous showplace 58

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Aberdeen, a small fishing village, where we were taken by native junks to the floating res- taurants. Shrimps, lobsters, snails or any fish you could name were available— you could even pick out yom- own dinner from the nets. On returning to the city, we stopped on the mountain above it and looked down at it, shim- mering in the dusk with a background of our ship in the bay and the lights of Kowloon shining dimly. we all remember best. Although our patronage was most willingly volunteered because of the excellent clothing and inexpensive tailoring, we must admit that the custom of drinking beer supplied by the firm while discussing business terms led us all to consult with our outfitters at greater length and with more fre- c[uency than we would have done at home. We left Hong Kong happy in the knowledge that when we returned to Newport we would be the best-dressed paupers in town. Hong Kong had even more to offer us commercially than it did artistically, and we cut quite a financial swath through the city. We bought furniture, laces, cottons, linens, watches, luggage, cameras and jade to such an extent that we had to open up one of the ship ' s magazines for storage space. The city ' s prices were amazingly low, and to give us service deluxe, all the merchants sent their represen- tatives to the ship— the fantail looked like a bazaar. The tailors, however, are the ones that 60