Flower Market Street

Number Three, Number Four, my father, and two of their business-friends bought an apartment building with six units on Flower Market Street, in Kowloon. Number three and his family occupied two of the flats and the other families had one flat each. The apartment building was three stories high, with no elevators, of course. There were two flats on each level, and there was a rooftop terrace. 
The apartment building faced a British football field - we would call it soccer field now.
My family occupied one flat on what we called second floor (third floor in American). I had plenty of exercises going up and down the stairs.
There was a good sized veranda each for the upper story flats. Since we faced the football field, we had a free "box seat" for viewing the games. My father became quite a football fan - may be I should say soccer fan.

Kowloon means nine dragons, so-called because the mountains resemble nine dragons. It was said that the mountains were nine dragons at one time, long ago.
From our veranda, we could see the mountain range very clearly. I loved the view of the green football field against the soaring mountains and the clear blue skies. Even on raining days, the view was beautiful.
Kowloon is a peninsula with deep ports, highly suitable for large ships to dock. Whereas Hong Kong island has beaches on the south side, with the north side having docking areas for boats and ferries, sometimes, large ships. Even in those days, there were lots of activities, with the boats, ferries, and ships, coming and going.
There were several ferry lines linking the island and the peninsula, and ferries going to the outer islands. Thousand of people and cars were transported from Hong Kong to Kowloon and from Kowloon to Hong Kong everyday.  Years later, the tunnel and underground transportation (the tube) came. They helped to ease the traffic somewhat, making going from one side to the other much easier. Today, with seven-plus million people, there is constant congestion. 

The Star Ferry ride was the cheapest and most enjoyable ride for tourists. To ride the ferry and watch the sunset was one of my enjoyments in Hong Kong.

For us - each of the five families had children, ranging from babies to twentysomeythings. I remember, we had at least more than half a dozen of us of my age. We explored the island and the peninsular in groups. Mindless of the sufferings that our elders were feeling, we, the young ones were having the time of our lives. We visited the many sights, we went to the beaches and the surrounding islands, we experienced the new sounds and sights of this sub-tropical paradise.
In the meantime, our parents worked frantically to re-establish themselves and toiled to set up new businesses. And they did. In less than a year, they were in import and export, textiles, etc. Life improved, though all of them constantly shielded us the children from the World. None of us had the faintest idea how our parents struggled, we only knew that they succeeded. 

Number Three was so distraught for a while, we did worry about him. However, he bounced back. In a matter of few years, he was on top of the World once again. 

Eventually, one by one, the families moved out. Eventually, all of us young-ones went our own ways.
Shanghai suffered a major brain-drain, Hong Kong benefited from it. 

P.S. Hong Kong at that time, was the official location for "R and R" for the men in services, American and other ones. Have you seen the movie, The Story of Suzie Wong or heard the song Love Was a Many Splendid Thing, starring Joseph Conrad?
For those who are too young to know, R and R means Rest and Recreation. Got me? Hong Kong had a Red District on the northeastern shore of the island where the warships anchored.