Who remembers "Sai Kung District Link"?

Even before I bought a house in Sai Kung, I would visit to have a meal friends, and pick up the latest issue of Sai Kung District Link around town. It was a small magazine, about 6 x 20 cms, and stated prominently on the cover  that it was "Sponsored by the Sai Kung District Council for the English Speaking Community". A District Council actually spending money on the Gweilo community? What a surprise. Sai Kung must be a friendly place where Hong Kong Chinese people actually cared to speak English.


The District Link that I feature here, Issue No. 51, was put out by a group of volunteers led by Sonja Walker. The contents page lists an Editorial, Christmas Quiz, Moneys in our Midst, Year of the Monkey,  (it was the Year of the Monkey), Art Classes, Local Profile (a much slimmer Wayne Parfitt, the owner of Pepperonis, Jaspas, etc), Restaurant Review (of The Steal Expert, now long gone), District Link Directory (listing everything from Alternative Therapy to Wine, running to 16 pages), a street map of Sai Kung, District Notebook (announcements by the District Council), Beads Galore, Sai Kung Pre-School Group, Explore Sai Kung, Walk ("to burn off some of those festive excesses", Gardening Society, and Useful Numbers (of the Police, Fire Services, etc). Scattered across the pages were small black & white photographs. I used the list almost every week, and photocopied the map for friends who were meeting me in Sai Kung for a meal.


The District Link ceased to exist when Explore Sai Kung, a worthy replacement came along. Explore Sai Kung is also gone now, unable to meet the relentless commercialism of Sai Kung magazine, edited by people who don't live in Sai Kung. This is one magazine I no longer read.

Who remembers the store on Chan Man Street that sold artifacts from New Zealand? Or the dispensary on the same street? Or the replica furniture store and the spa that eventually replaced the dispensary? Or the store at the corner of Man Nin & Yi Chun, which sold clothes? Or the gambling grannies (opposite Jaspas)? Already, I feel like a relic from the past.