Tuesday, December 23, 2014
Monday, December 22, 2014
Skating in 南生圍
The last natural reserved in Hong Kong, we skated through the path around the wet land, lots of water birds.
Sunday, December 14, 2014
History means nothing?
I once saw a successful Hong Kong guy (by the definition in Hong Kong, being successful means he has a business and made some money), proudly said to the TV camera crew that "I have never spoken a single Cantonese word to my daughter until today". He looks content and proud that he has abandoned the culture/language, successfully groomed his daughter to be a westerner who can only speak/read English. This interview is, of course, conducted in English - the irony is that he speaks English with thick Hong Kong accent.
Every time I think about his face and attitude I feel sick to my stomach. What type of environment praises people who despise his own culture. Wish him best of luck with his parenting choice.
Every time I think about his face and attitude I feel sick to my stomach. What type of environment praises people who despise his own culture. Wish him best of luck with his parenting choice.
Saturday, December 13, 2014
Staunton
Staunton is the pub at mid level, just by the escalator. It is close to the office, close to everywhere, we tend to meet friends there a lot. One evening we were gathering in the pub again and I saw the table under the stairway is empty, I quickly came over to took a seat when a man from another group of 4 or 5 also reached the table almost at the same time. I squinched my eyes and said "I saw this table first and got here before you" in a growling voice, he said "but your friends are not here yet, mine are. Why don't we share the table". I agreed and we started to chat.
Long term Hong Kong dweller (definition of long term is like more than 20 years), he is the supplier to the duty free shops in the airport. Although 90% of what we pay on the price tag is going to the rent, he said the business is still profitable. Yet he and his associate still cannot work out why women spend 500 USD for a jar of La Mer whereas the blind test shows that the over the counter Olay cream is just as good. Nevertheless, he is happy that people spent money on that sort of stuff. He told me that he couldn't understand jewelries either. He once bought a set of jewelries on the duty free catalog shopping on the airplane, gift to his wife because he hasn't been home for a few weeks. Gift well received, kiss on the cheek, thank you exchanged. A few months later, he bought another set of jewelries on the airplane again and this time, his wife went blistered. "This is exactly the same as the last one, and I didn't even like the first set!".
Great guy to chat to, we were talking about what is the most valuable things in life if expensive jewelries and sports cars are simply a joke, he said, the number one is integrity and the second is friendship.
Long term Hong Kong dweller (definition of long term is like more than 20 years), he is the supplier to the duty free shops in the airport. Although 90% of what we pay on the price tag is going to the rent, he said the business is still profitable. Yet he and his associate still cannot work out why women spend 500 USD for a jar of La Mer whereas the blind test shows that the over the counter Olay cream is just as good. Nevertheless, he is happy that people spent money on that sort of stuff. He told me that he couldn't understand jewelries either. He once bought a set of jewelries on the duty free catalog shopping on the airplane, gift to his wife because he hasn't been home for a few weeks. Gift well received, kiss on the cheek, thank you exchanged. A few months later, he bought another set of jewelries on the airplane again and this time, his wife went blistered. "This is exactly the same as the last one, and I didn't even like the first set!".
Great guy to chat to, we were talking about what is the most valuable things in life if expensive jewelries and sports cars are simply a joke, he said, the number one is integrity and the second is friendship.
Friday, December 12, 2014
Gordon Visiting Hong Kong
Hair Length
Not updating my blog for more than a month, quite a few changes in my life recently, and have been pretty busy to cope with my new routine. We moved away from the affluent, expat area in Mid-Level in Hong Kong island and moved to the grass-root, traditionally considered working class, gangsters fighting, prostitutes standing at the corner area in Kowloon. It is in the heart of the business, tourist frequenting district - cheap food, shops, and every day life stores.
It is very different from Mid-level where only English speaking Expat lives (of course, Some Chinese love to live there as the symbol of status), I think the Maids are speaking better Cantonese than the Madam in most households. The expats are not interested in local culture, language or food, hence they have re-created (or the market has created the shops to cater for them) another English speaking neighborhood.
Yau Ma Tei, where we moved to, is completely opposite - all shops are doing things selling stuff making foods for locals. Not the best quality of air nor the view (our apartment has pretty good view though, we can see far out to the west end of the Kowloon peninsula and get some sea view when the air is clear) but it is full of life, full of actions - I have not yet tired of walking around this area day or night. It is right next to an independent movie theater, and temple street where the famous clay pot rice is. I can walk to Kowloon park swimming pool where the boy club sometimes showing off their oiled bodies under the sun (Jon and I sometimes giggled behind their backs).
The commute to work is much more pleasant because the train is very reliable (I used to commute by bus back to mid level, believe me, you wouldn't want to walk the hill after a days of work in the hot summer evening).
Oh my hair has never been this long in my life, the good thing about it is that I don't need to wash it every day because it takes too long to dry. I think I save a lot of water and shampoo.
It is very different from Mid-level where only English speaking Expat lives (of course, Some Chinese love to live there as the symbol of status), I think the Maids are speaking better Cantonese than the Madam in most households. The expats are not interested in local culture, language or food, hence they have re-created (or the market has created the shops to cater for them) another English speaking neighborhood.
Yau Ma Tei, where we moved to, is completely opposite - all shops are doing things selling stuff making foods for locals. Not the best quality of air nor the view (our apartment has pretty good view though, we can see far out to the west end of the Kowloon peninsula and get some sea view when the air is clear) but it is full of life, full of actions - I have not yet tired of walking around this area day or night. It is right next to an independent movie theater, and temple street where the famous clay pot rice is. I can walk to Kowloon park swimming pool where the boy club sometimes showing off their oiled bodies under the sun (Jon and I sometimes giggled behind their backs).
The commute to work is much more pleasant because the train is very reliable (I used to commute by bus back to mid level, believe me, you wouldn't want to walk the hill after a days of work in the hot summer evening).
Oh my hair has never been this long in my life, the good thing about it is that I don't need to wash it every day because it takes too long to dry. I think I save a lot of water and shampoo.
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