Tour leader keeps customers satisfied

Tour leader keeps customers satisfied

Our trip was a lot more appealing because of our lively tour
leader.

Willy Fung Sun Cheung, 53, is helpful and informative, keeping
the trip rolling along with stories from his colorful life.

Cheung was born and grew up in Malang, East Java, before his
parents moved to China around 1962.

"It's never clear what the reason was," he said in perfect
Indonesian despite having lived in the former British colony for
the past 41 years.

The move probably had something to do with the events of 1958
when the People's Republic of China claimed that every ethnic
Chinese in the world was a Chinese citizen, which led the
Indonesian government to give those of Chinese descent an option
over their citizenship.

Cheung tried his luck in Hong Kong, doing various jobs, from
working in tunnels to performing with a Hank William-esque yodel,
before landing in the tourism-field 15 years ago.

From the moment we met him upon our arrival at Hong Kong
International Airport, he filled us in on his cache of
interesting stories, such as the under-ocean tunnels, how Hong
Kong will have its own Disneyland in 2005 ("much bigger than
Tokyo"), to the vagaries of local transportation.

Our favorites were about Indonesian tourists, especially
government and military officers, relatives of former president
Soeharto and celebrities.

"Indonesian tourists are the most difficult to handle. They
make local tour leaders here muntah darah (vomit blood)," Cheung
said, chuckling.

Lack of discipline, a relentless zeal for shopping and little
interest in local culture are only a few of the less desirable
characteristics of the Indonesian tourist, he said.

"An important person insisted on driving in a limousine
instead of joining our bus tour. I was also blasted by a military
general, who refused to walk some 10 meters in drizzle."

Through his rich knowledge and excellent numerical ability, we
got to know about more than just the best places to shop and dine
and how cigarettes are deadly expensive (at least HK$23, with a
government warning that is chillingly simple, "Smoking Kills").

We also got deeper into the life of Hong Kongers, and how they
suffered from the double whammy of the economic crisis and, most
recently, SARS.

"I myself have been barely working the past three months, only
accompanying business visitors once in a while. Hopefully the
situation will get better," Cheung said.

Limited space and high living costs force Hong Kongers to live
in tiny apartments but pay a king's ransom.

"Many employees can't afford an apartment, so they sleep in
the lobby of the Star Ferry Harbor. They're not laborers, you
know, they work at offices," he said.

The likes of security officers even prefer to commute between
Hong Kong and nearby Shenzhen in mainland China, which has much
cheaper accommodation available.

Cheung said Hong Kongers were hard workers, because they had
to be. Its rocky landscape means it has to import 70 percent of
its water needs, with the rest supplied by water catchment.

Cheung is a hard worker himself, earning enough to send his
son, Alex Fung, of whom he is very proud, to Boston's Berklee
College of Music.

Cheung plans to retire within the next one to two years.

"After that, I will go back to China, and back to the stage
again," he laughed, before doing his famous yodeling routine for
us one more time. -- Hera Diani