Properties Investment

My friends probably all know my passion about properties - I am always looking around for farmlands, flats to buy.  I partner with my mum with a few properties investment projects in Taipei, so far we have been pretty successful.  In addition, I am almost famous as the "slump queen" in Tokyo 23 wards.   I am also looking to buy in Hong Kong if the yield is reasonable despite of the crazy prices. 

Recently I have a second thought about property investment.  Properties investment has become the only place investment can go and the honest money cannot find its way to solid infrastructure improvement to increase productivity.  Large percentage of the GDP comes from rich men's selling to/buying from.  This is absolutely absurd.  Germany keeps the housing market stable and people can focus on more meaningful growth.  Why are we so greedy that the hot money has to rush into the property market without control.  There is nothing I can do but at least I can decide not to join the game.

Although property is still the only investment that can fight inflation successfully - holding cash is nowadays looking more and more silly - I should spend them all in expensive holidays or designer handbags while I can, but sorry I don't like either of those. 

What are the investment choices?  Jon has come up with some interesting ideas - buying into the co-op farmlands in New Zealand.  It is normally very costly to buy and manage a farm by individual.  What if we pool small investors' funds into a capital that allows a professional team to run a dairy farm?  By doing so, the land right is owned by individual investors, the land is much more unlikely to be acquired by some rich people and turn it into a private apartment block complex or factories.  In addition, we are holding the asset rather than currencies. 

I wonder if I can go visit my cow "Daisy" one day in south island. 

Veggie Challenge

I am on my Vegetarian Regime again, but this time no breaks over the weekend.  It is not too bad so far - I still cannot resist fish.  Jon just complained once (he still doesn't like Tofu). 

Occupy Central

Some Chinese State Own business operation in Hong Kong promised their employees 500 HKD if they don't go to the "Occupied Central" gathering.  The operation will expense this payment as benefit??

Death of Charlie

Charlie is called Giant Taro, Elephant Ear or Alocasia - grow everywhere in south east Asia very strong can thrive in any tough environment.  We killed it by putting Charlie in the death corner of our living room.  First Dragon (leaves dropped nonstop for about 6 month followed by root rot), second Non-name (attacked by mealy bugs then Joey's aggressive bug elimination measure - he is now looking like a plastic plant after we spray him with insecticide which we vow never to use again), now third Charlie. 

I smell the funny rotting smell for a long time thinking that must be just the worm farm but last Saturday morning we found the huge trunk of Charlie near the soil is totally soft.  Where ants have built a colony and mealy bug infested the leaves at the same time.  We moved Charlie away from the death corner to the balcony and Jon convinced me we have to deal with Charlie now. 

Charlie is almost 6 feet tall with a 30 cm diameter trunk - how to get him into the garbage bag with the contaminated soil is really a problem.  We need a saw and hammer - I ran into the kitchen and found Mum's meat cleaver (when we first moved in, that's Mum's gift to us) and handed the cleaver to Jon, he then used it to chop up Charlie into pieces that can be bagged and chunked into the garbage bins.  Including the soil - we are not sure what has caused Charlie's death. 

I insisted to tip the garbage lady, she came around every day 10 pm, we ambushed her trying to give her some money for her extra work - she refused to take the money which makes me really uncomfortable.  Jon thinks it would be ok if we tip her at end of the year - maybe it is enough to let her know we appreciate her work :-(

It is rather sad to see Charlie go, we probably will get some police attention if this blog titled as "We lost a family member and we chopped it up into pieces with the meat cleaver Mum gave us as the house warming gift and the garbage lady is the accomplice".

Totally Unacceptably Bad Movie N+N Film (2)

I posted my comment (described in my previous posting) to the N+N film's FaceBook page. I understand I have attacked the artist - she might take it personally and I did get hit by some comments. The comment said that I am arrogant and I have insulted the artist and the professional judges by saying this film is like high-school-student's project.

Um, I admit that my comment is hostile and obnoxious. Nevertheless, I do think I have stated the truth. The film has made all possible mistakes a film maker can possibly hope to avoid. In one scene the little girl should be the center of attention but her pet turtle slowly creep out of the screen in the bottom left corner. The grand father hastily grabbed the creature to pull it back to view. No one cared about the girl but curious what has happened to the turtle. I am sure you have seen that in any home video, you set up the camera on a tripod stand and tell your 4-year-old sister to start acting. At some part of the film, you can see the little girl's speech was dubbed - the words are flowing out faster than the movement at her mouth! However, I have to admire the light technicians, it has been very consistent. Good job there.

Anyhow, the commentator was totally angry at my attack but ignore my other points, such as the film has not had a story line let along of passing any meaningful message. This film can make people emotional especially those who have lost or will be forced to move due to development. But nothing is black and white, why isn't the artist trying to show a more balanced view of this political issue so that we all can think why Hong Kong is where she is now. What makes me angry is those young kids (or old folks) going to the movie and holding a bamboo stick thinking "oh yeah, I have done my bit of helping social justice" and no one feels the film has not presented the adequate argument, explained historical background and delivered the un-biased discussions.

Perhaps this film was made to please the crowd - it is better to see it as the outlet of the angry villagers than anything else.

Totally Unacceptably Bad Movie N+N Film

After watching this film N+N, my first reaction is angry. This story can be potentially made into a very good documentary that actually makes people think deep but you have made it into a boring film trying to stir up emotion. Besides, the acting is really bad (is this because the artist didn't have enough funding to get proper professionals?). Why propaganda - sentences like "government is useless" or "corporations are taking advantage of ordinary people" are said more than once in the film, why state the obvious is it because audience are all needing your education? The young artist should have done better given her experience in stage directing. That makes me furious. The film basically destroy my hope that film industry in Hong Kong in the 21st century could have something original and interesting after the blooming activities last century. If the internationally recognized artist from Hong Kong produced a film in this high-school-students'-project quality forgive me for being blunt, what can I hope for? I do not think I am confident enough to watch another Hong Kong film.

Indeed Hong Kong is pretty dry in terms of culture and creativity, I suppose there hasn't been a sense of community, historical legacy because most of the population migrated to Hong Kong only recently. But the story, if we can ever say the film has a story, passes no message. Throughout the film I see a granda and a grand daughter hanging out mostly in the most crowded parts of the city and go back to their spacious country house so that grand daughter can have the space to ride a tricycle. I guess most people would like to have this life style - enjoying the convenience in the city and comfortable country house. The old man's home is going to be torn down - he can no longer take the best part of both worlds and that's why the movie was made?

At the end of the film, it says this film is dedicate to those who lost their homes because of development - so I finally grasped the message that the story is about against development. But please bare with me for a moment, may I know where the artist and the crew are living now? 50 years ago, it is most likely to be someone else's homeland, which was torn down and re-built. Against the development is layman's ideology. The high speed railway might have reduced the carbon emission given that train is most effective form of transportation. It could bring benefit to other part of the world, of course, anywhere outside of Hong Kong is not the artist's interest - at least I do not see it in her work.

My suggestion to her is that she should go back to school and perhaps take some philosophy lesson and learn how to write a convincing argument in a logical manner. Do not give me the excuse that I am an artist so I do not need solid training in academia environment. I think that's exactly what Hong Kong needs - we are trying to find the solution to problems, rather than arousing emotion to gain popularity.

The Hundred Year Old Man

Jon and I are thinking what are our hobbies - worm farming, gardening, hiking (when the weather is not so hot), swimming, yogaing (that's me only, Jon thinks Yoga is purely waste of time), kite surfing (that's Jon only, he quit his London job migrated to Auckland in order to surf), roller-skating (um, I force Jon to do it) etc., etc. I think one thing we both enjoy is moving going. Our favorite cinema is the Movie Center in Yau Ma Tei - featuring all sorts of independent or foreign movies. That is very convenient because both of us do not have much appetite to Hollywood films. The Hundred Year Old Man is a Swedish film - Allan's attitude to life and demeanor can be echoed from quite a few Swedish friends I have. I think they are very cool and serious about themselves, very difficult to relax to make fun of themselves in public. Practical, focusing on getting the solution to every question never waste time. Very driven for perfection and cannot tolerate deviation. Allan's life is composed of a series of co-incidents. He is not ambitious to become anything else - in the film, you almost do not sense he has any human desire (apart from wanting to have a drink all the time). He was "fixed" by a racial biologist in very early age, hence he didn't have desire for sex and thought it wasn't such a bad thing after all - (he obediently let the doctor chop his balls off, perhaps it is a Swedish joke or something). In some aspect, apart from being a nice person Allan is quite boring. His only passion is to blow things up, which started a series of events that made him to meet with all sorts of conductors and dictators in Europe around the WW2. Perhaps the film is not able to penetrate into Allan's personalities, we are all viewing him through a piece of colored glass. Not a bad film, entertaining yet has a thread of sadness in it - perhaps it would be better if Allan still has his balls and can have his family later.

Super Hot Weather

The weather is terribly hot in Hong Kong it is practically not possible to do any hiking/walking under the sun after 8am. We mostly go to the beach or swimming pool to train for the 4Km swim scheduled at the end of August - the Sun Moon Lake crossing. As the result, I am getting very tan. My back and bums are totally ridiculous, milky white skin and chocolate brown skin are separated by a clean cut line - this reminds me that the very same bathing suit have been with me for almost 20 years. Wow.

Meet up party

We went to a meetup party last night just for a change (instead of staying home watching telly drinking beer) we decide to go out and drink some beer in the heat. The meetup group was organized by a young Belgium guy, specializing in helping people to start up companies in Hong Kong. I thought we will meet some brilliant entrepreneurs and great ideas. The meeting place is in the dodgy area in Wan Chai, right across the street from the girlie bar. That's not important yet we saw kids only. Very very young, students, young professionals, or someone who is already running a company for a few years. Some very brilliant people but most of the kids are pretty clueless - what I should do and where to find a great business idea. No vision and experience, perhaps it is the desired quality, otherwise no one is brave enough to leave the comfort zone and do a start up. I was quite frustrated and a young dude came about to chat - he is still a teenager! With braces so I said to him "Nice braces and how old are you?"

One more picture from the skating SunnyBay Disneyland Hong Kong

Jon's first time out with the skating group - he wore helmet, elbow pads, knee pads, wrist guards whereas I normally only wear wrist guards. He thinks it is nice to see other people wearing full projection in the group.

Rollerskating in 33C

We must be out of our minds to go skating under the heat - the skate started at 2:30 and we came out of the air-conditioned train thinking this is definitely not a good idea. It turned out alright, once we started moving we enjoyed the breeze near the sea and tried every opportunity to move under the shade. This weather is really challenging.

Koala

Ok, we need to put some normal picture to my blog. Jon once commented it is really hard work to get Joey look normal in any picture. I didn't do it on purpose, it is just hard for me to relax in front of Camera.

Python

I think I can be a good actress one day. Another picture in my favorite place in Brisbane.

Feeding Joey

The zoo is the highlight of my trip to Brisbane.

Mustache and Nail

Jon left his shaver in Brisbane and needed to have a clean face for ID photo taking. I gave him my disposable shaver as the emergency measure "It might not be as sharp as real one but it should work, hey it is brand new I haven't used it for my legs or armpits yet". "Joey it is not working at all" "Um, the blade doesn't move along your face but it should work" "No it doesn't" - after some time we found that the transparent plastic cover is not removed. My nails are extra hard and strong, my nail clippers are all super sharp and robust. "Do you need the clippers they are in my makeup bag" "Not really, I chew my nails off" "Wow, I hope you can show me how you do that to your toe nails" "No, I use the kitchen scissors when you are not home".

Smart Phone

I refuse to be a smart phone owner for years, I am still using Mum's old Nokia (state-of-the-art phone in 2000) - it is solid, I have used it in Amsterdam, Singapore, Hong Kong, Beijing and Taiwan. If it still holds together, I think I will use it for another decade. Those who are walking and swiping their smartphone on the street do get on my nerve. There is really no need to save that 10 seconds by checking your phone while walking. And your friend probably won't ditch you because you didn't respond their text messages right away. Jon simply pushed them away - he was running around the loop at the peak and some kids were walking and checking their phone not paying attention to him approaching. I sometimes wonder if Jon is going to be attacked or ambushed if he keeps going that way - um, I don't run with him anymore. Dad didn't understand why kids are all using smartphone until Carol explained to him that they are using it for social networking such as Facebook or Line their friends. He then turned to me saying "why you don't have smartphone? Does that mean you don't have any friends?" He wanted to buy me one immediately.

Undies Paradise

I have been using Jon's old undies for cleaning, drying, as the entrance mat from the balcony to the living room, use it as the placemat, use it as the insulation materials in the kitchen, hand towel, tea towel, shock resistant materials when kids came around (I wrapped the French window door handle with it to prevent kid from colliding the handle when they jumping on the couch).

I had to force Jon to send the rest of his summer undies to the Undies Paradise because they can barely cling on to his waist.

Continue fighting with Mealybugs

No name after spraying, he looks un-harmed and leaves are all shinny. But all other living beings in the pot are gone. Be ware, do not touch any plants in the park or public area. Who knows how much insecticide they have to use to keep them clean like that.

Bourgi is our favorite plant, she has almost doubled in size after we re-pot her. No name's mealybug problem is not getting any better, I spent almost 20 minutes every morning drinking coffee and cleaning the bugs from No Name. Charlie is also infected - now my work has doubled. This morning I found that the ant is transporting a female mealy bug. Searching the internet, only to find that the ants can herd mealy bugs. They will move them around and collecting nectar produced by them. This is only a matter of time the mealy bugs get to bourgi (the new plant we got 2 months ago and re-potted). Something has to be done. We have no choice but to go with insecticide. No systemic is available, the garden center girl recommended the cheap and effective synthesis pyrethroid. She re-assured us this is safe and easy to use, just like using Raid to kill cockroaches and mosquito at home. Jon was not too happy about it, he really wanted to go systemic (which is the chemical that is water soluble which is then absorbed by the plants - insects that sucking the saps would then be poisoned. However, systemic seems only available to large scale commercial farming like rice growing. I insisted to use the spray at least to keep the mealy bug under control, even it is temporarily. We put No name in the shower and heavily sprayed the insecticide over him, including the soil. It didn't smell too good and we found a paralyzed cockroach facing skyward wiggling its legs cannot flip over. Insects are super sensitivity to Pyrethroid even if by walking through the sprayed area. It is neuron toxins which excite/confuse the bugs. Low toxic level to human but we decided not to use it every again. It was a bad decision.

Queuing in Singapore

I spent 2 months working in SGP for a client earlier this year. Singapore is a highly organized society, even the tree on the side of road looks smooth and sophisticated. Perhaps they all went through the military training and travel around the world. My company applied the short-term work VISA for me and I went though the immigration trouble free. The next step is to collect the ID card and I agreed to go to the VISA office at 8:20am for a meeting - thinking I can easily go back to work afterwards and maybe go buy a cup a overly sweet and hot milk tea (I got really addicted to the south east Asia style milk tea, I need one cup every day) before the daily meeting at 9:30. I arrived at the office about 10 minutes late, I was received by a receptionist and given a ticket displaying my appointed meeting time and the time I arrived. I then sat down and wait, thinking it won't take long at all. I was so wrong - I waited for about 45 minutes and nothing happened. I went to the reception and asked why the delay - he checked my ticket and explained because I was 10 minutes late, the VISA office won't delay anyone who's arrived on time to serve me. My case will only be processed if there are anyone missing their appointment hence the wait.

Mealybugs

I have never dreamt that I will be battling with indoor plants' bugs daily. I refuse to use any insecticides hence I was patiently brushing away those little disgusting bugs wrapped in silk on my croton. We first discovered spider mites on Harry (Acreca Lutenscens - I give all house plants names). BTW, the croton is called "no name". I washed Harry's leaves weekly to control the spider mites - they are so tiny invisible to naked eyes but you can see the white dots at the back of the leaves, which are the little silk purse they created to protect their colonies and eggs. That weekly cleaning persisted a few month but spider mites are not getting any less - I eventually gave up. After all, Harry looks reasonably happy. We have to live with the bugs as long as they are not killing the plants. No name is in the corner of the living room initially then I discovered there are loads moldy spots and white silks around its branches and the back of the leaves. Some yellowish skin tone bugs are moving under the mold - um that's our first encounter of mealybugs. Weekly cleaning didn't do any good. I was getting very impatient - spraying soapy water, brushing vinegar, non of those worked. I found a almost empty bottle of mosquito off spray and thought if I diluted it with lots of water, that might drive away the annoying bugs. I did and the leaves and stems of No Name turned black. Really upset, I was really upset and going on and on about it, Jon got really annoyed with me "For God's sake it is only a plant!" so he ran to the kitchen got a pair of scissors chop the blackened stems off No Name. Saying if I said another word about the dying plant he is going to chop off another stem. Auntie Yee advised we should not over water the plants and it is better to keep the plants. We move No Name to kitchen where there are plenty of sunlight and breeze, stopped water it for weeks - a couple months later - no name is growing new leaves! Charlie (another big plant) in the living room where No Name used to be is getting mealybugs - I just discovered. Searching the internet for remedy, this time I was using the robbing alcohol to kill the mealybugs one leave at a time. Hope this is not going to infect Borgi (she is our favorite plant in the balcony).