Dear Hong Kong. I hope you find Tayla and keep your independent identity

Tayla. Tayla. That was the cry of the desperate immigrants as I emerged onto Nathan Road. It seemed that Tayla must have been lost for quite some time. For those looking for any lead were getting delirious in their search. Tayla, Tayla they repeated. Yet they didn't really go into much details on what Tayla looked like. Was he or she tall, short, fat, skinny? Blue jeans, black shirt, face mask? I wasn't sure, and they didn't tell me. What I found unusual was they only wanted me to look at their business card with the details. Who has cards for when their friend goes missing. I couldn't help. Their search was doomed to failure.

It was easier than normal to move on in Hong Kong. Seems the locals had taken it into their own hands to remove many of the street side barriers. There were visibly less road blocks to my movement. Where you could see missing barriers meant that there had been a protest at some time. So basically the whole of Hong Kong was now barrier free.

Sadly what I did learn was that the guys on Nathan Road would not be entirely silly if they were looking for their friend. Locals wouldn't rely on the local police to help find anyone. Seems police there aren't trusted to do the job of protecting their citizens. Noone is less popular in Hong Kong than the police. It was quite the common theme. Everyone you can see over the shoulder of at the trains is watching a Youtube clip of police brutality. Sure there is argument protesters are not blameless in aggression. However storming a train to beat up cowering passengers and fire tear gas into a confined area are actions of "Black Police" who think they'll never be accountable.

The issues of Hong Kong are quite a hot and contentious issue at the moment. I do hope it is sorted out. The right of government to extradite a fleeing suspect for a crime is normally reasonable. The law was introduced because some bad guy had taken his girlfriend to Taiwan, killed her, and fled back solo. However extradition only works if you can trust it would be handled under local law courts correctly. Hong Kong people are upset as China has previously kidnapped booksellers back to China to face their legal system. This law would have made it easier to make up charges in China and then expatriate suspects legally in Hong Kong. And well, as much as China thinks Hong Kong is a part of China subject to their laws, the Hong Kong populous believe otherwise under the two systems agreement that was agreed to on the handover. I do hope eventually there is a non-violent way to solve it. When protesters do things like join hands to combine a 40km long chain you realise this is a big movement from a population of only around 7.3 million.

My only visual interaction of the protests was seeing the protest accumulate as I arrived into Hong Kong airport. 12 or so riot police marched through the baggage area as I waited for my bags. Not the ominous sign you want to see having heard the night before a protest had been scheduled at the airport for the day of my arrival. Upon collecting my bags i did see a group of protesters peacefully in the terminal on the escalators as a chant rose from either inside or outside of the departures level. Anyway I was out of there quickly onto the MTR bound for my hotel. I only but got a glimpse of the accumulating protesters outside the airport walking on foot along the road and any other path from where i did not know. All I saw were cars and buses going nowhere for a long time. Later I learnt that the airport did shutdown only hours later and the train only 2 hours after i left. Phew! The cartoon from my friend was just too funny and true to my situation.