Member-only story
(A true Christmas story)
We were in Hong Kong on Christmas Eve, 1978. At the time, Hong Kong was still a British crown colony, and there was still significant British influence.
I was an Aviation Electronics Technician in the U.S. Navy, stationed on the USS Okinawa (LPH-3). Like all aircraft carriers, the “Oki-boat” is a flat-top. But since it was a helicopter carrier, it didn’t have a slingshot (catapult), like you need for launching jets. We were in port for Christmas liberty in Hong Kong’s beautiful Victoria Harbour.
Hong Kong has a great Christmas tradition. They celebrate with a big Christmas dinner on Christmas Eve. A group of my buddies and I (four of us) had gone ashore the day before and saw the nice restaurants advertising Christmas dinner. They all had special, fixed price menus. Wow! This was going to be better than anything prepared in the ship’s mess hall!
We worked hard to find someplace in a nice area, away from where most of the sailors were going. My best friend Mark and I had a tradition of trying to find places in every port where we could have a more “local” experience, without so much Navy influence. Finally, we found what we were looking for. So we made our reservations and continued with our sightseeing and shopping.