[Leica] Hong Kong Hospitality - (Long!) - Part 2

[TTAbrahams@aol.com]

On the day of the Hong Kong LUG dinner, fellow LUGgers Lee and Dennis from 
Singapore, Jun from Tokyo, and I descended on Nathan Road (the Mecca of 
commerce in watches, cameras, handbags, tailor-made suits and other 
consumables) and proceeded to see the sights. Lee has done this before and 
led us through dark alleyways worthy of any Indiana Jones movie and we saw 
cameras, accessories, and more cameras. Jun had picked up an 85/1,2 Contax 
60th anniversary lens the day before and we now looked for an appropriate 
Contax RTS to go with it. Dennis needed a flash, Lee looked for anything with 
8's in the serial number, and I was looking for the double shoe for my 12mm 
Voigtlander finder. Now and then we were accosted by salespeople who wanted 
to sell us suits. Have you ever seen 4 LUGgers on a shopping spree! Suits are 
the last thing we would buy. All in all it was a most enjoyable day. We all 
found something we needed and I know that Joseph had a "tall" double shoe for 
me anyway. 
  On Saturday evening it was time for the LUG dinner. The first dinner in 
1998 attracted 13 tentative LUGgers, this time we were 27 or 28 (have you 
ever tried to keep track of LUGgers in a dining room!). There were almost all 
of the "original" group, except Adrian Bradshaw who could not make it, having 
just gotten back to Beijing from Bangkok and Chris Chung who was trying to 
rally some more voters for his election campaign. The organizer, Michele Bina 
is now a father and married so no more late night rides on his BMW motorcycle 
and he admitted to having bought something that has four wheels and holds 
baby-things! Marriage and fatherhood has not diminished his skill as a LUG 
dinner organizer. Food was excellent and Sarah had picked out some really 
good wines. Joseph took the opportunity to deliver some optical toys to 
fellow LUGgers. I think he needs one of those surgeons travel cases with a 
red dot on it! Hong Kong is a bit of a "Hub" for Leica and LUGgers in Asia 
and even for some of us from North America. There were LUGgers from 
Singapore, Hong Kong, Tokyo, California, Canada, and Mainland China. There 
was a surfeit of M-Leicas around and even some R8's. Jim Nelon had an 
impressive rig with R8 and flash on extender. Looked like something you could 
receive satellite images with. He is also an extremely good photographer and 
I am trying to convince him to do a story for LHSA "Viewfinder" on his color 
stuff. Howard Cummer sported a Bessa-R, but admitted that he was lusting for 
Lee's black paint M2. We ate well, drank well and discussed things Leica and 
other subjects of lesser importance. We continued well into the night and as 
LUG dinners go, it was great one.
 The next morning it was up early (well it felt early after the LUG evening) 
and out to the airport, 4 hours to Tokyo and another 9 hours to Vancouver. I 
am trying to get some of the overseas LHSA members to do some articles for 
LHSA's "Viewfinder". Jim Nelon as mentioned and I suggested that someone do a 
story on the camera-arcades in Hong Kong. Howard Cummer volunteered instantly 
and this could be the essential guide for any LHSA/LUGger heading HK. If you 
are invited to go to a Hong Kong LUG dinner, take my advice and go!
 Thanks to all the LUGgers I met during the trip. The hospitality and effort 
that LUG-hosts put into  these "exchanges" 
(I hesitate to call them cultural as some of the spouses might be reading 
this!) is unmatched. You always come home wondering what it is with that 
little black box with its red dot that gets us all together. It really does 
not matter were it is made, it spells Leica and that seems to be enough for 
us all.
 To keep on topic, the M6 0,58 is all I hoped it would be. A 35 on that and a 
50 or a 75 on the 0,85 and you are set. Semi-topically: I had the opportunity 
to try a new black/white film from Fuji, it is a 100 ASA and the name in 
Japan is ACROS (no, I have no idea what it means either) and judging from the 
two rolls I shot, it could give Delta 100 a run for its money!
Can't wait to go to Tokyo and Hong Kong again!
Tom A

P.S. Coming home I found out that Hermes has bought 30% of Leica. After 
having seen the plethora of Hermes stuff in both Tokyo and Hong Kong, I can 
only wonder what this deal will bring out. Hermes ties as neckstraps for 
Leicas? Leica neckstraps as ties in Hermes duty free lists? Maybe a whole 
series of Hermes Silk camera wraps. My guess is another Special Edition M6 
with some really weird vulcanite. Hey, what about a Hermes Lens Cleaning 
Cloth!