Elevators Through Time - Book 1

Part 27: Respect the Tourists

Part 27: Respect the Tourists

Year: 1990

Time: 12:47pm

Location: Centrepoint Tower, Sydney CBD, NSW, Australia.

Level: Lobby

After leaving Centrepoint Tower, Kate wanted to visit Chinatown.

Jed led the way this time.

He told us that Chinatown may look friendly and benign to tourists, but there are a lot of things going on that people would not like to see.

It was a safe place for bad people who didn't want to be caught by the law, but that didn't mean that it was safe for everyone else.

"Stay close but don't act scared. These may be commoners but the ones you don't see are the ones you should be wary of," there was a serious tone in Jed's voice, "My sister and I had a bad experience here and I saved her from a terrible fate." explained Jed. We didn't ask. The look on Jed's face told us that it wasn't a good memory to relive.

We walked through the shops as Kate enjoyed gazing at the bowls and statues they made.

"So they make china in Chinatown," she said. Jed and I laughed at the irony of that.

We all stopped at a noodle shop and ordered a simple set of meals and headed upstairs for a quiet place to sit and chat.

While waiting patiently for our food, Kate asked me, "This place is so cramped but there are so many people. How can they live like this, Alex?"

"They are used to living close to family members and don't like to move far away, so they are used to high density housing." I answered.

"Oh really? I only had my parents with me in our house but the neighbours weren't related to us."

"There is a community within the city here. Since they are all of the same race they are closely tied together in caring and protecting eachother. Some just live and work here and some protect the whole community here." Jed added.

"You should see Melbourne's Chinatown, hehe. Melbourne was the original city design which Sydney copied once the place was settled."

"Really? That makes sense. Why try something new while still settling in." Kate seemed to accept new facts easily but wasn't gullible so we had to be careful about joking about things. She might take them as facts.

Jed offered to pay the meals, despite our insistence that we contribute somehow. Kate told me that she was feeling tired so we decided to find a place to sit down for a while.

"Kate, if you sit still here trouble will come to you," Jed warned, with a stern shake of his head. Kate nodded and we continued to turn away from Chinatown and got back out onto the Circular Quay area. This time we were to the right of the Sydney Opera Bridge and were walking towards the train station.

We were out in the open, on the boardwalk of the bay, heading towards a scattered bunch of tourists.

Kate struggled to understand what she could hear from them. She heard a bunch of harsh yells and over-emphasised vowels.

She turned to me and asked, "These people... what language are they speaking, Alex?" she pointed a finger to a certain man in group.

I quickly reached for her hand and put it down. I whispered to her "Kate, what did I tell you about not pointing. These are Russians, and from the sounds of it, these may be old bitter war couples. Be careful of what you say. The Russians have worked hard for their freedom."