First Impressions

'For many months in Hong Kong I had no idea of what the job actually entailed, but I did learn quickly that moving files around and avoiding decision-making was the norm'

The following is written by Jonny Barker, a former colleague of my father, Tony Ostheimer, about his first impressions of meeting the long-haired Hong Kong government surveyor in 1982, some two years after we arrived in the territory. As it’s my dad’s birthday today (4 June), it seemed like an apt time to share his stories.

A Kowloon Motor Bus (KMB) drives down Nathan Road in 1982

---

By Jonny Barker

I am a FRICS (Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors), now retired and 71 years old, and went out to Hong Kong in July 1982 on a 3 year Lands Department contract with my wife Anne, who subsequently worked for Special Branch.

I was interviewed for the job in Grafton Street (the Hong Kong Government London Office at the time) and along with a few others managed to be appointed as an Estate Surveyor (ES). Interestingly I think that was at the same time as the first female ES in Hong Kong was appointed, Denise Bleach.

I received all the papers telling me that I would be working from the District Lands Office in San Po Kong as the ES for Sai Kung South, taking over from a gentleman named Tony Ostheimer.

We flew out on Cathay Pacific to Kai Tak Airport, only a few minutes walk from my office to be. The very comprehensive joining instructions said we would be staying initially (it actually turned out to be six months!) in the Empress Hotel on Chatham Road and would be greeted upon arrival at Kai Tak by the current ES (Tony) and taken to the hotel.

We arrived on time on a Saturday, our first ever time in the Orient, and waited and waited to meet Tony, who failed to appear. After about an hour we gave up and made our own way by taxi to the Empress.

Obviously offices were closed until Monday, so we were at a bit of a quandary as what to do and how I would find or get to my new office on Monday. Needless to say, the initial ‘shock’ of Hong Kong didn’t help to improve our feeling of being ‘dumped’.

On Monday I was trying to find out at the hotel reception how to get to the office when a ‘hippy like’ character waltzed in and asked whether a Mr Barker had arrived. I made myself known and he explained I was to be taken to San Po Kong in his car.

The car, of course, was Tony’s beetle, and was parked around the corner on Mody Road. First impressions of both Hong Kong and Tony were somewhat confused. Little was I to know that within just a few weeks I would become a seasoned expat, much aided by Tony’s tales of adventurous trips to deep and dark jungles.

Tony and your mum took Anne and myself for our first ‘proper’ Chinese meal, I think with a pal of his called Billy Boag. It was very much a family gathering and not far from his quarters at Leighton Hill (great location but very dated). I recall at the table were several children - you were probably one, it was a real bun fight.

My dad and I on a cross border train to Guangzhou (Canton) in 1989

Needless to say my ‘handover’ by Tony in the new post was all very laid back and for many months I had no idea of what the job actually entailed, but I did learn quickly that moving files around and avoiding decision-making was the norm. The real objective seemed to be to get to the Football Club, and the pubs Red Lips, Bull & Bear, Sergeant’s Mess and the Godown at every available opportunity.

I think Tony’s next post was in Murray Building, and our paths crossed at various government meetings. He was friendly with a great chap called Iain McNaughton, also a keen footballer, who arrived a few weeks after to join me, Y P Yuen and John Dilly, the DLO (Districts Land Officer) in San Po Kong.

His job was to manage the Junk Bay reclamation project. Iain lived in Mid Levels (later at Mount Butler), his wife is Wendy and they had a son called Gregor and I think a daughter. The last I heard Iain lived in Dunoon.

We all worked with a great character called S J Chan who was the District Officer and apparently a world leading authority of the Jews in China.

There are many stories to be told. Being an ES in Sai Kung must have been the best posting in Hong Kong, with helicopter trips, MV Clemente boat jaunts to islands, access to non-public beaches, regularly entertained by Sir Run Run Shaw at his studios, Gurkha picnics, and great parties at Cathay Pacific pilots generously sized ‘village houses’, as well as superb banquets at far-flung villages in the New Territories.

I'm sure Tony will have had much more to tell you.