Hong Kong Rats

With all this talk of mice and rats, this would be as good a time as any to talk about my encounters with mice and rats while living in Hong Kong.

One time, as I was walking up the stairwell to get to the church, there was this huge rat chugging along on the steps. It was so big and fat that it could barely run. Come to think of it, it resembled one of those R-O-U-S's.

This one was no different as It started coming towards me. As it got closer, I jumped up as high as I could, and landed on it with both feet close together. The rat was so big that all four legs were sticking out on either side of my shoes, two on one side, and two on the other. It was still squirming trying to get away. I kept on jumping on it until it stopped moving. I can't remember what I did with the rat. My companion and I contemplated putting the rat in the sisters apartment (I had their spare keys, not sure why. I think because I was the Zone Leader).

This other time, I was on the way to the church, and I could see a group of boys poking sticks at something in a cage. I didn't get too close, but I could tell that it was a rat or a cat. Hard to tell, since they are about the same size. I went into the church to wait for an investigator. I sat near the door and every now and then I would look up and see the boys still poking at the caged rat. All of the sudden, I hear the boys yelp, and I look up, and I see a black trail of smoke moving very quicky away from the boys. The boys were chasing the rat down the stairs. I think they had poured gasoline on the rat, and lit it on fire, and the rat burst through the cage and ran as fast as it could.


Later, as my companion and I left the church, we went down the stairs, and at the bottom of the stairs, we saw this dead and charred black rat!

Other times, if I paid attention, as I walked through the streets of Hong Kong, I would see the heads and whiskers of rats as their attempted to hide underneath a newspaper or a cardboard box.

(This is a picture of Victoria Bay in Hong Kong.)