Hong Kong - 1969
Hong Kong, sitting astride the back of the dragon, filters the foreign exchange lifeblood of China. The lure of wealth, more than the attraction of freedom, brought thousands of refugees daily from behind the bamboo curtain and filled the hillside settlements for the homeless.
West's first impressions of "the pearl of the east" were from the back seat of a Consulate limousine sent to pick him up at Kai Tak airport. The contact officer drove West through the back streets of Kowloon before taking the cross harbor auto ferry. The young intelligence officer was assailed with a cornucopia of new sights, sounds and smells. Dazzling neon signs advertising thousands of tiny shops shouted their messages. West’s nostrils were assaulted with the rancid smell of dried fish hanging out in the open air beside noodle shops where patrons slurped steaming hot noodles from small porcelain bowls. From every direction came an array of discordant sounds. Blaring horns from impatient taxi drivers, rickshaw runners shouting to make way, ancient Hakka street-sweepers hawking up a good wad of spittle...all a vivid reminder that there were five million souls packed into this tiny space called Hong Kong.
Six months after his arrival in Hong Kong, West was no longer a neophyte. With Marty Borden as his mentor and teacher, West honed his skills as a professional. There was good reason for West gravitating to Borden. Borden ran the toughest ops, with all the sophisticated communication signals and devices. He was unbelievably thorough, always ran his counter-surveillance, and always checked his source. Hong Kong was not regarded as a hostile environment in which to operate; yet West, following his friend’s lead, ran his agents as if they were operating behind enemy lines.
West and Borden were in their favorite night time haunt, the Bottom's Up bar on Hankow Road, a higher class dance hall on the Kowloon side of the harbor. They both disdained the bars of Wan Chai which were filled mostly with American sailors and tourists. The Bottom's Up was a short walk from the Star Ferry, just off Nathan Road, Kowloon's so-called "golden mile." Its entertainment lived up to its name, which made it an exciting watering hole for most merchant seamen. The cover charge and relatively high prices discouraged American sailors whose only thought was a cheap lay.