ELVIS Presley could have been alive in Hong Kong yesterday, judging from the crowd which lined for hours for just a glimpse of his face. True believers in the myth would have been disappointed to find the face had been immortalised on a postage stamp and the King's memory remained just that. But that did not stop more than 2,000 people from crowding the Central General Post Office for their investment in history. Some lined from 3 am to ensure they would not miss out on the stamps launched by the US Postal Service on January 8, the anniversary of Presley's 58th birthday. The almost entirely Cantonese crowd averaged about 40 years in age, but few could speak confidently of the man whose gyrating pelvis rocked the world. Rather, they viewed the chance to buy a Mint Stamp Sheet ($90.50); First Day Ceremony Programme ($46.50); and Commemorative Album ($156); as an investment opportunity. Former England resident Terence Iles, 60, said he saw Elvis in concert in Hawaii in the late '60s but admitted he was really an avid stamp collector. ''I admired him very much and thought he was a great singer, especially when I was in the National Service in 1957 his songs used to keep us happy. ''But more than Elvis I like stamps.'' Amy Kan Chung-wan, 18, said she preferred local rock stars to Elvis and was buying the stamps to add to her collection of 1,000 pieces. The South China Morning Post asked two German tourists, who had queued at the end of the long line which stretched as far as Exchange Square, whether they were Elvis fans or stamp collectors. ''We are neither. We thought this was the line to go to Kowloon,'' they replied. By 4 pm both the First Day Programme and Commemorative Album had been sold out. The post office will continue to sell the Mint Stamp Sheet today.
