Chapter 96

The next morning, I met up with my UW Optom friends. Some were angry with me for skipping the phone call with our UW supervisors but at the same time, they had also told me that the conversation was useless. Waterloo told us to come back to Canada first. Then we’d discuss it. No insight, no recommendation. Just be safe then we’ll worry about it all. 

I was frustrated. Mainly because, as I mentioned previously, if Waterloo thought about this ahead of time when we warned them, it may have allowed us to salvage more clinical time and at the very least, fly direct from HK to our new rotation. 

Looking ahead, my companions had decided to head to Singapore since they had family there. They wanted to take advantage of the fact that we were in Asia and that Waterloo would take a long time to respond to our need to change placements. 

If you’re wondering “how long can it possibly take to call a clinic to ask if they can take up some free labor when they’re already doing so?”, you’d be very surprised. Waterloo was a professional at dodging easy and logical solutions. This process was going to take a long and would likely yield an answer of, well…No solutions. So therefore, it seemed like too much of a waste to not travel around Asia a bit since flights between Asian countries were cheap and flights from North America to Asia were not. 

After my classmates went on their way, I messaged some of the international student friend groups I got acquainted with last night. Some of them had plans to go to Disneyland before they left and others had planned on other attractions. They wanted to get a bit more out of the rare emptiness of Hong Kong before leaving. None of the attractions they were going to really appealed to me. Furthermore, I realized that I really didn’t know them all that well. They were going with various other friend groups that were established since the beginning of the term and since I only joined these groups of people for one rooftop experience last night, I felt it would be awkward if I just tagged along. In truth, now that my fellow Canadians were gone, I was now all alone. Stuck as a bystanding in an internationally known political conflict with very little assurance of how the future will play out. It’s at a time like this and in a situation like mine stupid decisions usually happen. With no one to talk me out of anything, where would my mind take me? 

I brought my laptop with me and went to a cafe near our student residence to reevaluate my options again. I had to go back to Canada, but I could take a detour somewhere before that since I had a little bit of time. As to where, I looked around a lot only to find that Vietnam was still the cheapest option available. Also, it matched up dates with the cheapest adjusted return flight back to Canada. Though I wasn’t entirely interested in Vietnam, I figured a mini-4 day-vacation was probably the best option here. As I kept thinking about this vacation and booked all the flights and airbnb’s, my mind kept tugging at me about something. A shadow loomed over me telling me to add one more thing on the agenda before I leave HK. 

“Go get your equipment back from PolyU.” 

This was a really stupid idea. 

I remember what I was thinking at the time and even with hindsight and knowing the outcome, it was still a really stupid idea. This was mostly stupid because getting my equipment back would require me to visit the PolyU campus, which at the time, was completely barricaded by the protestors. Furthermore, remember how I said there was a siege in our school that happened a few days ago? Well, that never came to be…yet…Which meant that at any given time, the police were going to storm the school. Essentially, if I made the trek, I would be risking getting in the middle of the conflict with the police and the protesters. 

Although this was dangerous, I had no one with me to talk me out of it. All my Canadian support networks were 12 hours or so too distant for me to converse with and I had barely got to know anyone in HK since I had spent more time in HK in lockdown-mode than in regular functioning term-mode. 

To my own credit, I did try and dissuade myself to not go through with this. So far, while I had not come into contact directly with any of the protesters nor the police, their presence was felt overwhelmingly. However, as I sat in my now completely empty dorm on my almost completely empty floor, I felt more and more unsatisfied with how my dream term of being an international student was going. Eventually, my mind went to a resolute decision to rescue my equipment. My mind had this train of thought.

“I had spent about $2,000 CAD in plane tickets to come to Hong Kong for the clerkship. I then spent a $400 CAD in registration fees, student lodging administration fees and dormitory furnishings. All of this was now wasted value since they were to support me for a term that was no longer going to continue. Even then, all of this paled in comparison to the around $3,000 worth of optometry equipment that was in the PolyU optometry clinic. I had already lost out on this experience, which was the highlight of the last year in my 8 years in University, like hell was I going to lose anymore. I am not going to risk losing $3,000 worth of equipment now.” 

I left my student residence in Hung Hom for the Polytechnic University main campus around 10am. This route was familiar since I had walked it for about a week before all of the lockdown happened. But, even though the route was familiar, it didn’t feel calming. It was around a 30 minute walk without the need of any public transit but already, conflict can be seen. The walkway was barricaded everywhere with all sorts of bricks, tablets and chairs. Makeshift nuisances for travel were seen far and wide. All along the walls of the public spaces, graffiti and spray paintings of propaganda on both sides of the conflict. Despite all these signs that everything was clearly on edge, I persisted. 

Just last week, everything was still at least functioning. Now it looks like a 3rd world country. Abandoned too, save for a few reporters who were traveling around taking photos and videos. When I reached the entrance of the PolyU campus, I found my first roadblock. The North entrance to PolyU was very securely locked in place with chairs and tables. Oh well…Time to go around. The other option at this time was to go around to the South entrance. 

While it was a much longer path, it was unavoidable. The PolyU Campus acted sort of like an island in that there were roads that encircled it. Though normally, you would just go down the sidewalks, I quickly found that I could just have easily gone down the actual roads. They were all abandoned after all. More so than that, the roads were full of bricks and rocks, impossible to cross with consumer grade sedans. The path around the school was even more grim than the path so far. The worst of it all was when I witnessed first hand for char around all the toll stations. There were lots of areas that were set ablaze the night before. I guess the only saving grace was that there were no dead bodies lying around anywhere. 

I eventually made it to the South West side of campus, which was attached to Cheong Wan Rd. This would also be right where the optometry clinic was. The route you would normally take to the clinic was just to walk up a few steps and turn left. It was a building separated from the rest of the campus. I was, at first, very hopeful that maybe I wouldn’t need to step foot on the actual campus. The Optometry building was a separate part of the health department and accessible from its own doors afterall. The only problem was, the main entrance to the clinic was shut down and after I swiped my student card, I quickly found out that it didn’t work. 

While this was upsetting, it still wasn’t all that alarming. During orientation, we were told that our student card allowed us access to the inside of the clinic and technically speaking, the outside of the clinic belonged to the health studies department. It was a long shot to expect the front door to be opened and with that chance now proven wrong, I moved on to the next step of the plan. I have to make it to the inside of the building without using the front entrance. Then my card would work. If I can’t access the main outside doors, I would have to access the inside doors. Which meant I needed to get into the Engineering building, located in the heart of campus. 

On the right of the locked door to the health building entrance was a large flight of stairs leading into the main campus. This entire area was usually a pretty instagramable area for graduates and the last time I was here, we even saw some graduands taking their graduate photos. Now, it was very different. It was filled to the brim with bricks, chairs, tables and other impromptu obstacles. Along the tables, tons of graffiti in support of anti-extradition. There was one path in the middle that allowed for access into the main area. This was initially just a very short line exclusively here for press. 

I followed the path and walked up towards the main gate, which was just two lecture tables stacked side by side to give the impression of a makeshift entrance. Here, I got my first direct conversation with an individual involved with the protests. I felt kind of nervous, if the entrance guard wasn’t going to let me through, this entire ordeal would be over. 

As the line got shorter and people got let into the main area, I met with the entrance guard. This protester was an Asian student around my age. Unlike me however, he was geared up to the teeth with pads of all sorts. All of which were painted black. I couldn’t even see his face. He had a motorcycle helmet on. In fact, the only reason I knew he was Asian was from his accent when speaking English. When we got to conversing, our conversation was very short. He asked to see my bag first and rummaged through my stuff. There was nothing there, I had the intention of bringing things back, not bringing things in. After that, he asked me why I was here. 

I told him I was an international student who needed to fly back home soon. Then I pulled out my passport as proof just in case my accent-less English didn’t give it away. I said I had about $20,000 HKD of equipment in the optometry building, which can’t be accessed from the outside. I needed to go to the Engineering building to retrieve all my things as I can’t return to my country without it. He paused. Then he took out a walkie talkie. In Cantonese, he discussed it over the channel and looked at me as he talked. Eventually, he waved to me and told me to make it quick. Just as I was done closing all my bags zippers, the protester tucked on my shirt and told me one last thing. There was a ceasefire right now for the press but this won’t last very long. I could tell he was making sure that I got the message. 

“Get in and then get out. Quickly.”

I hasted my step as I left his station. 

The people on the inside all had masks and did rounds walking around. It felt kind of weird to be one of the few without a mask. While I initially set off alone, I was quickly grouped together when I pulled out my phone to look for directions. A group of protesters came over to supervise me as I looked at the campus map PDF. They were ensuring that I didn’t take any videos nor any pictures of the inside. They cited that any pictures of the inside can be used as logistical information for the police outside if leaked. After I found my bearings, they kept following me around, supervising me as I walked North West from the entrance to the PolyU campus. 

When I reached the building, I realized that it, too, was barricaded completely. I turned to my tag-along groupies and told them I need access to this building. They questioned me about why and after telling them the same thing Itold the entrance guard, they huddled up and talked amongst themselves for a bit. It was at this time I took more notice of the group. There were 4 people in this group. 3 girls and 1 boy. They were all significantly shorter than me and by my guess, probably in their early 20s or late teens. Their conversation was in canto and between the language barrier and the masks they wore, I couldn’t make out a single thing. Their body language was a whole other thing though. They seemed frightened and nervous. 

When they spoke to me, they appeared resolute, yet there was a bit of hesitation. I got the hint that they had just a bit of shame with every word they spoke. Maybe it was in regards to an apology since their actions indirectly were linked to countless international students losing out of their studying term, or maybe they just weren’t used to having any authority. But regardless, my entire interactions with the group felt strange. 

While it was hard to get a read on all the body language, especially with all the masks, their English was much easier to understand. They told me they would help uncluster a portion of the building to let me in. But then, they told me that once I enter, I wouldn’t be allowed to come back. They’re exact words were that after entering, I would have to find another way out of the area. While I was initially confused about this, they quickly cleared it up by stating that the main area of the university was their center command and that there are outposts beyond this area that were much less risky to approach. It would be safer for me to go there as a neutral party and it would be safer for them to have less people around there as well. I nodded in agreement and we got to work on clearing a small opening. 

The entire entrance of the ground floor was stacked with tables and chairs. Some of the protesters escorting me moved the impromptu barrier just a smidge so that I could enter. When the opening was big enough, they waved for me to pass through. Then, right after I made it through the initial wall. They blocked off the area once again and reinforced the outside with a few more chairs just for good measure. I wasn’t going to come back around this way again. They then gestured for me to move along and as a final remark, they yelled across the barrier to go slowly and to also not record anything. 

To be honest, they were more trusting than I thought. I mean, if I had any malicious intent, I could have very easily taken my phone out again after they let me into the building and started disclosing all the information of the entrance I had just passed through. To be honest, I kind of expected that they would have taken my phone for safekeeping at the entrance but they didn’t. This felt kind of risky because they really didn’t know who I was outside of the student ID I had presented and I had essentially trekked through their defenses and were now left to my own devices in a locked down area close to their command center. Since any information about the inside of the campus was actionable intelligence, I got a gist that maybe they hadn’t thought this out too much. Although, with that said, despite the fact that I had really wanted to take pictures of what I saw inside, I decided to respect their request. I mean, I truly was a neutral party in this and not wanting to ruin either side, I went about my own business. 

After carefully making my way through an obstacle course of chairs and tables, I got to the staircase of the engineering building. At this point, I understood the remark about going slow. The stairs were blue. It was drenched in detergent. It doesn’t take a genius to know that this was an intentional slip hazard. I held on to the railings though they, too, were covered in detergent. Walking up as slowly as I could, I eventually was able to climb up a few flights of stairs. While I initially intended to just go up one floor, then just cross the entire building, I quickly found myself going up higher and higher. This was because every floor entrance I tried to access was blocked with another barricade. I kept going higher and higher until I made it to a passable area nearing the top floor. This led to an exit to the open terrace on top of the building. Finally, a step towards the right direction.

The terrace was a student communal area on normal days. While no one was there presently, there was a bench and some plants that were well cared for just basking in the sun. This area had remained untouched by any political conflict and it honestly felt like a breath of fresh air from the stairs. Since it was out in the open, this vantage point allowed me to see a lot of the campus and surrounding area. The roadside adjacent to the entrance I used to get into campus was still scarcely filled with reporters. On the inside of campus, protesters were still walking around in rotations keeping everything in pace. It was kind of a strange sight to see but I didn’t really have time to process the weirdness of it all since I had to go. Just before I left though, a shiny glimmer caught my eye. It came from the rooftop of a commercial building a few blocks away. As I started at this glimmer more and more, I eventually was able to make out the shape of a person. It was hard to get distinct features but the easily notable traits about him was that he was in an army green uniform and carrying binoculars. He was watching me. 

I ducked as I came to understand the situation more. Then, I slowly crawled in the shadow of the railings towards the other side of the terrace. Hoping I didn’t just get marked by the police, I proceeded to finally enter the health building and got back on my feet. As I got up, I smelled a familiar scent. Once again I was met with detergent-coated stairs. 

The downclimb from the stairs was even more dangerous than the climb upwards and required me to go even slower on them. What was worse was that the railings in this building didn’t have as many gaps as the engineering building and therefore, was even less forgiving. I descended with as much caution as possible, thinking the entire time how this “Home Alone” situation had at least no dangerous men chasing after me. Eventually, I made it to the bottom of the flights and came to a familiar sight. The doors to the optometry clinic. I held my breath as I took out my student card and pressed it against the door. 

*Beep*

Green light. 

I was in. 

I was relieved that it had worked. If this door did not open from my card, I would’ve been trapped between a slippery hell and a hard place. Trying not to think too much about that, I headed inside the clinic to find it completely untouched. The inside of the clinic was just as we left it the last Friday we were in. If I had not known better, I would have thought I had simply walked into the clinic on a particularly early morning. 

Taking advantage of the unobscured area, I slowly made my way to the student lockers in the back. Then, I approached my locker, took out all my things and crammed it all into my bag. I had achieved my goal. The equipment was secure. I had got the goods. My bag was completely filled to the brim and while I had thought about rescuing my fellow Canadians tools as well, there was simply no room for it in my bag. I brushed that aside and thought about the next time. How do I leave this place? 

I initially had the idea of exploring the clinic while it was down to see if there would be any hidden exits that I wouldn’t know about. However, just as I started to explore the main area, I caught a glimpse of movement outside the clinic. I immediately ducked behind the front counter and then sneaked my head out to see what was going on. This was not good. It was the police. Not just one policeman either. It was a group of 5-6 of them. They were yelling Cantonese with a megaphone at the entrance guard I saw just about an hour ago. While I couldn’t make out the content of what he was yelling, the situation was clearly tense. 

This was the first time I saw policemen in riot gear in real life. I mean, sure, I knew their outfit from social media but it was completely different when it’s in front of you. Up close, it quickly became obvious how different it was from the entrance guard I had interacted with. The policemen had riot face masks, a shield and a baton. Everything was painted black and looked like it fit. The uniform sported proper padding and wasn’t held together at any point with duct tape. Beyond that, there was still the threat of what was inside the various compartments and pockets on the jacket.

In my current situation, all that was separating me and that group of police was a desk counter and a glass door. The actual distance between me and the police was probably just about 5 meters or so. The best thing I had going for me? I don’t think they noticed me. At this point I thought about why I didn’t have the idea to just use a brick on the ground and break the glass door of the optometry clinic. It would have saved me so much time and danger. 

Whatever, it was too late for that. I am where I am now. I got to think about the next step from here. 

I needed to get out of here.