Yeah, that is ironic, Ben.
I had to click on the archive link to find the ad.
I visited Hong Kong years ago when I was in the Navy. We had to "park" in the harbor and take the motor whale boat to get into the city. No sooner had we parked when a small army of clothes salesman climbed aboard the back of the ship, uninvited. One of them approached me and, making himself right at home. placed a book of suits or whatever on the deck and asked if I wanted to see what colors he had, as he slowly paged through the book. After while, Mr. Wilson, the third in command, marched into the area and shouted to the intruders [sic] "Get out of here; what do you think this is? Chan's Department Store? This is a US Navy Ship!" One of the lifers told me that in the old days when this happened they would just turn the firehoses on intruders and literally wash them off the ship.
Shortly after some other guys and I were dropped off in Hong Kong for liberty, some college-age kids approached us and offered us a cigarette. None of the guys I was with smoked. I think maybe they had watched too many American movies, older ones. They were friendly and evidently curious about us.
What amazed me is the use of space and planning in Hong Kong. At every street crossing, it seemed, there was an overhead sidewalk to cross the road. Walk only a short distance and you're in a park, or a small store, street vendor area, or the British Fleet Exchange. The area we were in was a nice cluster, where you could walk to a variety of places.
