Old family home 舊家
Mei Foo Sun Chuen 美孚新村 is one of the largest private housing estate, consisting of eight stages and 99 blocks of buildings up to 20 floors (rather short for high rises nowadays). Built from 1968 to 1978, it was the first large scale private housing estate in Hong Kong and the largest private housing development in the world at the time of completion, with 40 acres and 13,500 apartments.
Mei Foo Sun Cheun is located on reclamation that had been a large petroleum storage facility of Mobil (now ExxonMobil) from the 1920’s. Mei Foo 美孚 is Mobil’s chinese trading name in Hong Kong. The redevelopment was carried out by Mei Foo Investments Limited, a subsidiary of Mobil Oil (Hong Kong) Limited.
The residential complex was considered very affluent at the time it was built, with each apartment having its own balcony, one to two bathrooms, 600 to 1800 square feet. Every apartment complex has its own 24-hour uniformed security gaurd. Entry requires a 4-digit passcode which is changed periodically. At the time, a flat in Mei Foo costs $40,000. Nowadays, a middle to high floor flat can go up to $12-$20M.
Took a walk in our old family home and it’s surrounding areas. It brought back lots of memories of grandpa doing Tai chi at the podium, or grandma taking us to play near the sea and in the parks, or grocery shopping. The apartment itself, used to look so gigantic and grand, is now worn and tatty. The wallpaper wasn’t just yellow and peeling, but brown and crackling. The living room and three rooms and one bathroom and kitchen still looks spacious though, especially in Hong Kong apartment standards.
And stories that happened here kept floating around in my mind.
Grandpa built a rack himself on the balcony to hold his potted plants.
There’s a self built tiny room in the corridor. Apparently that was for my 太婆, it was so my grandma to take care of her mother easier.
Turning the corner to the bathroom. I caught a cold before a family gathering, and while everyone was in the living room partying, I was in a room and told to rest. I really wanted to join the festivities, and especially wanted Coca Cola, that I knelt in the tiny corridor, and prayed to God through the washroom window (because somehow He could hear me better). Not long after, my cousin came running back to find me and gave me a sip of her cola. Aww~
The place was rented out. My grandparents were really nice to their tenants, often renting at lower than market price, and almost never increasing rent. In return, they had pretty good tenants. One was a hard working, respectful, government employee, whom although loved the place, had to wait till her mom took a look before deciding. They had to move later on because only one small bathroom was not enough for their family. The most recent tenant, had rented for 20 years. Both of these tenants had not only paid strata fees on time, but also rarely requested any upgrades and restorations, despite how run down the place had been. Grandpa was especially sweet to the tenants. This one time when I went to Mei Foo with my grandparents (to collect rent?), I remember grandma mumbling about grandpa wandering off again. He went to buy some anti-slip appliqué for the tenants so they wouldn’t slip in the bathroom.
There’s a bakery at Mei Foo, Door Door Bakery 多多麵包. They started from a small bakery and expanded into the shop behind, as a restaurant. Although I never ate at their restaurant before, their bakery section was always a favorite of ours. So much that, grandma would go down at 3PM strict to buy their freshly baked French bread 硬豬仔包. In fact, even grandpa or dad would pass by there after picking me up from the school bus just to get some baked goods. Nowadays, the French bread 硬豬仔 is freshly baked at 13:15. Their other delicacy buns are good too, along with their cookies.
On a side note: there’s a shop selling 石磨腸粉 stone grinded steamed vermicelli roll right opposite Door Door bakery, and had an almost continuously long lineup, the two times I walked by. Maybe I’ll try it next time.
Mei Foo has a huge podium. It interconnects the different stages and buildings of Mei Foo estate, and provided a lovely recreational space for its tenants. Grandpa would go downstairs and practice Tai chi with his exercise buddies, sometimes even bringing his wooden sword set. Other times he’d “walk” his birds. As children, we loved running and biking there as there’s no roads or cars, and multitude of benches for parents to relax.
One of my favorite was this man made pond, with lots of fishes and (I believe) a turtle that my cousin had “set free” there. It’s a very beautifully decorated pond with a red bridge crossing it. At certain spots, you could climb onto the big rocks in the pond, shhh!
Another was Fei Ma Square (飛馬廣場, Unicorn square). It had a gigantic horse with wings, tearing its head as if ready to take flight.
Another was 九魚台 Nine Fish Square. It was another water fountains with nine statues of fishes, each with its own pose and expression.
The small wheelchair ramps near Delia School, was where I first learnt to bike up and downhill. Once I got a hold of the how and overcame the rush and the fear, I was cycling up and down them in big figure eights. I wonder how long after when I learnt to bike down those 2-3 steps?
Dr Wong Yat Ching clinic. The clinic that my parents used to take me for small ailments. I don’t know if its coronavirus related, but they’re closed now.
Mei Foo Arcade. With circular structure and central water fountain, we would often pass through there although rarely actually shop there. The stores all seem fairly similar since back then.
Lai Chi Kok park. Located right next to Mei Foo estate, is a beautiful children’s park, swimming pool, running facility, and a traditional Chinese garden. It’s built almost entirely on reclaimed land. Originally, the land beyond the iconic holey concrete barrier, was the waterfront.
hihi! DaDa 