For the first 10 years of his life, Ben Ho knew nothing except Hong Kong and no one who wasn't Chinese. That changed in 1974, when he moved with his parents to the 1,000-strong community of Chase in British Columbia, Canada.
'We were the only Chinese family there, so it was 180 degrees different from Hong Kong,' says Ho, who was born and raised in Kowloon. 'But we quickly adapted.'
Ho, now 48, remembers how Canada seemed very cold. The family arrived in early autumn and by Halloween it was snowing.
'Everyone was playing pond hockey and that's where I learned to play,' he says. 'I still play recreational hockey.'
Ho's father had been a piano tuner at Tom Lee Music in Hong Kong and was offered a job at the chain's store in Vancouver. Once in Canada, however, his father had a change of heart and the family joined Ho's uncle in Chase, 400 kilometres away, where they worked at his restaurant.
The family experienced culture shock at first but they quickly acclimatised, by doing the same things their new neighbours did - and the hockey came easily.