24th Feb 67

Hongkong Bank
Kowloon
24th Feb 67

Dear Mum, Dad and Alan,

My week's holiday is nearly over but I have enjoyed it a lot.  It is not the best time of the year to choose but the weather has been kind to us.  We are just back from two days in Macau, the Portuguese settlement "round the corner".  We have a hydrofoil service which does the trip in one hour.  These boats are rather like aircraft from the inside.  Similar type of seating and airconditioning.  Very similar to taking off in a plane, when once out of the harbour area, they move up onto their "stilts" and and proceed at 40 - 50 miles per hour.  I enclose a pamphlet which shows one of these boats in action and also our hotel.  We had the honeymoon suite!  Compared to HongKong Macau is a very poor relation, run down and shabby but very quiet with everything moving at a slow pace.  We saw everything we wanted to in a couple of hours and then moved into the main Casino.  This is very modern and fortunes are lost at a very quick pace by the HongKong Tai Paus who although dressed like peasants shed 1000 of dollars in seconds.  We found the roulette the most fascinating as we could bet the smallest of stakes and go on for a long time enjoying it all.  As I won again at the races last week the whole holiday was free.  I had $5 accumalating on 3 winners and a combined lot & 2nd.  Hope this does not give the impression we are becoming big gamblers.  In fact the small amount I bet is a cause of some amusement plus the fact I dont know one horse from another.

Macau is at the mouth of the Pearl River and junks stream backwards and forwards carrying goods to and from HongKong and Macau and Canton.  Try and get the book TAI PAN from the library.  It is a novel & fiction but with a strong basis of fact.  The dates places and background are very authentic and for anyone who has seen HongKong as it is today can only wonder at the numerous achievements wrought by the foreign traders in little over 100 years.  Now that we live in airconditioning and refrigerators, cars and operate some of the most modern factories in the world with the aircraft and shipping that moves non stop in and out it is not easy to understand how they managed to live from one day to the next when people came out in the early 1800s.

Caroline has gone off today to the City Hall to perform in the annual school concert.  Her entry is Poetry and she has to stand up in front of a lot of people - judges from the UK etc.  We are more nervous than she is and Im glad I do not have to be there.  She was selected for the entry so I imagine she has a chance, although she will be up against children who have had particular training.  We have only recently sent them to dramatic classes and so do not expect too much.

The have all done well since returning to HK and although I regretted leaving Japan for myself it is obvious now it was a good move for the family.  Elisabeth is now much stronger and can writed in a straight line without dropping down the page.  Could I spell "February" at 6?  They all spell better than I ever did.  Adrienne now gets stars for her handwriting and a short while ago she was the messiest child imaginable.  Susan is home with chicken pox and is as lively as usual writing and reading and doing her sums to amuse herself.

I enclose one or two snaps.  The  black & white are not special ones as I took the children for passport photos.  However, I am pleased with the two colour shots which have come out well and you might like to frame them as I have.

Cheerio for now and all our love
Peter