Fish in the Bathtub

My daughter, Aakashi, is fascinated by this story that she often ask me to repeat it when I talk with guests to our home about my life in Hong Kong.

I had to move out of the apartment I was sharing with Mike Donelson at the Reviera Garden in Tsuen Wan. Mike was very generous to offer me a room at his place free for a few months when I was desperately looking for a place to live. But when mike met a new girlfriend I realized that it was time to move out. I explored possibilities and the Carmen talked to Catherine who spoke to her mother and told me that there is a place in Mong Kok I should consider. It was 1000HK$ a month. When I went to see the room, I learned a few things: 1) it was in one of the older parts of Mong Kok I have never frequented before; 3) the old couple did not speak a word of English; the room was so tiny that after you put a mattress on the floor, there was about 10 square foot area available to put everything else (I was studying, so I put a desk and chair!); 4) it only had a window opening to the centrally located hollowed area of the apartment block where all the pipes, include sewage pipes and kitchen exhaust fans are connected to; 5) bathroom and the kitchen has to be shared; 6) the older couple had hearing issues so, basically the woman always yelled at the man! With all those issues, I took the room and lived there for over 1 year, especially my last year at the university: 1994 to 1995.

This story was one the unforgettable ones at that flat. The bathroom had a pink bathtub. There was a shower curtain falling into the bath tub and you would get in there, close the curtain and take your shower standing the bath tub. One day I came home and went to the bath room to take a shower. The shower curtain was closed. I opened the curtain to while lifting my right foot to get into the bath tub and got the shock of my life. There were about 15 large (say about 18inches to 2-feet long) fishes swimming in the bath tub. I was shocked and puzzled. The fish were swimming. They were, I think loach fish or carps, but long and and meaty. What to do. I had to forget about the shower and get out of the bath room first. I cannot communicate to the woman. I called Carmen and explained. She then called the landlord woman, which sprang her into action–I saw her running to the batch room. Within a few minutes, she called me: Wah chai, chun leung! (she called me Wah Chai and chuen leung means to take a shower). I went in again to find a large blue colour plastic barrel and now the fish have been relocated to to. Bathtub was all mine. I took the shower and left. Late when I went to the bathroom before going to sleep, the fish were back in the bathtub.

So this sight of fish in the bathroom continued for about two weeks, until all the fish disappeared into kitchen wok one by one. It became such a routine that the moment the woman saw me returning home, she would enter the bathroom to transfer the fish to the blue barrel. And then she would shout, “Wah chia, chun leung!” She wanted me to take my shower fast so that the fish could enjoy the bathtub.

Later I learned that the women, who has migrated from China some years back, was visiting China and smuggled all these fish across the border. I do not know how she managed to bring them all live, possibly in the blue barrel. But she managed to bring that through Hong Kong customs and feast on them over two weeks during which the fish and I shared the bathtub.