We just had our annual summer trip to Clear Water Bay. By we, I mean Lily and me. Kevin did not go this year. It is his boss who owns the big house. Theoretically, he is the one who is house sitting while the boss is on vacation. But the boss knows about Lily and me, and does not seem to mind that we go to his house just as much as Kevin, if not more.
Going to Clear Water Bay is harder than ever. When we lived in Yau Ma Tei, it was an easy MTR ride on a few different lines and a quick taxi or hike to the big house. From Kaohsiung, it is a quick MRT ride from our apartment to the gaotie, a two hour train from Kaohsiung to Taoyuan, a two hour flight from Taipei to Hong Kong, a thirty minute Airport Express ride, two MTR lines, and a quick taxi to the house. There are also 90 minute flights from Kaohsiung to Hong Kong, but Taipei has far more flights and last minute availabilities. Maybe next time we should fly from Kaohsiung and save a couple of hours.
Since Lily is not a citizen, she is subject to all the arbitrary changes to entry rules and regulations. As a Canadian, she never needs a visa to go to Hong Kong, but now that China is changing their plague policy every week, we had to plan this trip more carefully than usual. We had to book the flight online, which we would have done anyway. They currently have a quota system for foreigners, so there was an extra application step for her. Apparently, I can just waltz into Taoyuan and buy a plane ticket to Hong Kong. She cannot.
She had to get a PCR test two days before the flight. That is very easy around here. Her school is an authorized testing site, so she simply made an appointment, showed up, got a stick rammed up her nose, and waited for the result. A positive test would have killed the entire trip, long after the tickets could be refunded. Fortunately, we live in a place where almost everyone always tests negative.
We both had to scan health declarations on our phones, but that was both easy and completely pointless. Anyone could lie about that. It was like walking through the 'nothing to declare' line at airport customs no matter what you have in your luggage.
From Hong Kong Airport, it was business as usual. Except we took a taxi to the big house. The Airport Express to Hong Kong Station is usually a little faster than a car, depending on traffic, but a taxi from the airport to the house was much faster than the Airport Express/MTR combo would have been. The funny thing is that I almost never took taxis the first few years I lived in Hong Kong. Now, I seem to take them from the airport all the time. It probably makes a difference that I used to live close to the Airport Express Kowloon Station. Going to Clear Water Bay or the Ma On Shan apartment is much slower by train.
Another funny thing is that we have an apartment in Hong Kong, yet we stayed at some guy's house. But one of the main points of this trip was to stay at that house. The Ma On Shan apartment has swimming pools, but they are open to everyone who lives in the complex. The Clear Water Bay swimming pool is completely private. Swimming is one of the best reasons to go to Hong Kong, as far as I am concerned. Rain or shine, I had every intention to hit that pool every day.
We used to throw parties at the big house. I think we must be getting older. Not a single person besides Lily and me set foot on the property the entire time we were there. We saw plenty of friends, but always somewhere else. I have no real explanation for this. I definitely wanted to hog that swimming pool all to myself, but I have no idea why Lily never invited anyone over. I think we are both starting to recognize how strange it is that we even stay at that house at all. Now that we are homeowners ourselves, letting in people who are complete strangers to the big house owner feels different.
For Lily, this was a summer trip during her school vacation. For me, it was a summer trip and a quiet place to work on some paperwork I had to do for a new job. She certainly spent some time in that swimming pool, but not nearly as much as I did. To her, swimming every day is excessive. Just as shopping is to me. For whatever reason, she prefers the shopping options in Hong Kong. I think they are pretty much the same as what we have in Kaohsiung, and if not, Taipei is close enough. Since this was the only thing we disagreed on during this trip, the solution was simple. Whenever she went shopping, I jumped into the pool.
We also had some business to attend to. Our Kai Tak apartment is still being built, but one of the inspection deadlines was coming up. At least one of us was going to have to go to Hong Kong whether Kevin's boss took a vacation or not. We simply timed it so we could do both. Lily and I agreed that the apartment is looking good, but what do we know. Neither of us has any construction experience. We will not really know that all is well until everything is done. That will have to wait for a future trip. Hopefully, no one gets a stick up the nose.
One night in the hot tub on the pool deck under the stars, Lily casually wondered if the house owner had any hidden cameras anywhere. In eleven years of staying at the big house, that never occurred to me. As soon as she said it, I thought about what he might have seen in those eleven years. During this conversation, Lily and I were completely nude, of course, but no camera on the pool deck would ever be able to see under the hot tub bubbles. However, it would see everything that happened on that deck, some of which I would never want to see posted online.
Most of the nudity at the big house was probably out on the pool deck, but it seems more likely that if the owner had any hidden cameras, they would be indoors. There are no valuables outdoors, unless someone knows hot to pocket a swimming pool. There was plenty of nudity indoors as well. I am pretty sure Lily and Kevin have had sex in just about every room of that house. I may have had an inappropriate relation or two in that house, mostly in my room, and maybe in the kitchen once or twice. This is why we think the owner most likely does not have any cameras. If he saw videos of Kevin getting it on in his house, we have to assume he would have said something, or at least looked at Kevin differently.
But if there are cameras, they saw multiple parties, including more than a few on Moon Cake Day. The boss goes on vacation during that holiday more than any other. I think I would be more embarrassed by the parties than swimming naked. In my mind, it is perfectly natural to swim naked. I will wear a bathing suit if I absolutely have to, but would rather not. Hosting a party at someone's house while they are away sounds more irresponsible to me. For dramatic action, the only video I would want to see was when I tore a deltoid ligament out on the pool deck ten years ago. That was not fun at the time, but I would not mind watching it now. But I sure as hell don't want it posted online.
