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Posted by tleemay on August 16, 2005 at 18:35:57:
In Reply to: Re: Frank's Dive Site Question - A Question posted by Walt on August 15, 2005 at 21:53:57:
It's a slightly medium length recount; On this trip to HK, from June 6 through June 30 '97, I was
providing the compressed and encripted satellite broadcast
pipeline from Hong Kong Telecom's Telecom House and Stanley
Earth Station (on Victoria Island) for the four major us
networks covering the Hong Kong Handover Event (ABC, CBS, NBC,
FOX News). HK Telecom House was on the business side of the
island facing Kowloon (N), The Stanley Earth Station was on the
other side of the island facing the China Sea (S). We made
daily trips to the ES from the Telecom house to check on our
transmission equipment and the interconnect with our customer's
remote studios in the major Hotels in the Wan Chai district. From 12am July 1st until July 2nd, we were hiding from the
People's Liberation Army (PLA) who crossed over from Kowloon
claiming their new right of ownership of HK from the freshly
vacated UK ex-pats and the expiration of the treaty naming HK as an extension of the British realm. Even though my partner and I were carrying papers identifying us as broadcast
professionals contracted by the Chinese Ministry of
Communications, we were paranoid of being picked up on the
streets well after hours by the new Red military presence. We
later realized that all the stories the locals, govt.
representatives, and international media told about
the PLA taking a firm hand of HK and it's visiting pouplation
were for naught. By the second day of the new occupation, word was around our
circles that we were legitimate and free to pass where we wish -
within reason... we had to be escorted between HK Telecom House
and the Stanley ES because after July 1 because the road
leading between the two went right through the now PLA
controlled Camp Stanley. the military base the British used as
a barrack and supply base for that part of the world. On the evening of July 2nd, we watched perhaps the most intense and incredible fireworks display ever presented to a human
audience. That is the event I received the credential for. We
sat in an outdoor press box and had a perfect view of the show.
And it went on for more than 90 minutes duringwhich time the
sky was constantly illuminated by multiple series of
explosions, both in the sky and on 250' ft high frames on barges in the harbor outlining chinese symbols for "the future", "thank you world", and "better prosperity" among many other messages. This event was carried live by many US networks
though our circuits. By July 5th, I was diving off Poo-Poi and Llamas Islands. 2
days later, I hopped on that friendly Korean Airlines 747 back
to LAX.
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