Is Chivalry Dead?

What's wrong with these twenty, early thirty year-old these days?  They pretend they don't see with their eyes wide opened.  

I am talking about being chivalrous in giving up seats on mass public transports.  I have taken a lot of trains and buses in Asian cities to conclude that Hong Kong is the worst I have seen.   It is saddening to see my home city's civilization retreating backwards.  

The old, incapacitated, pregnant or distressed deserve your seat more than you.  Give yours up!   Don't they teach that at school any more? 

Next time, if you notice a seated person so absorbed in their game of Candy Crush or Fruit Ninja that they haven’t seen the 93-year-old.  Intercede, or they will never learn.    

Oh, and since we are on the subject of etiquette on public transports - I will add one more commandment: Invest on decent headphones, I mean, any masterpiece that leaks out just becomes noise disturbance when emanated from that lousy headphones of yours.  

When Love Met Hate in Causeway Bay

When Love met Hate in Causeway Bay,
It was on a normal Sunday.
As each had always gone their own way,
Never crossed at each other till this day.

Love says she wants the day to be a shopping day .
Hate says he is tired and would rather lay.
Love suggests starting off with a nice stroll on the bay.
Hate hesitates but drags his lazy bum out anyway.

Taxi can't enter the area as there are protesters in the way .
Love can't wait, gets off straight away.
Hate chases out, forgets to pay.
Taxi driver goes so mad shouts "Hey".

Queues are everywhere on this very hot day .
You queue for lifts, queue to pay.
Baby little steps from IKEA to SOGO in Causeway Bay,
You wonder how you can wind up in dismay.

How about something to munch Hate says?
Love wants to go crazy shopping foremost she says.
Where's the leisurely stroll, by the way?
Oh yes but you know Victoria Park is hell on a Sunday.

Hate hates it when Love betrays .
Nevermind he takes it easy on this rest day.
At least I get to buy myself a drink if I may?
Sure, grab one for me on the way.

Gucc says no drinks allowed as hate enters the wrong way .
Hate thinks he just saw a main-lander smoking hay?!
Chane staff scans you like an X-ray,
While Louis just have no space for us to land and stay.

It was madness Hate says.
Let's get out of The Lee Gardens if we may.
How about Times Square or Hysan Place, just a short stay?
Hate replies, he's calling it a day.

Hong Kong's Book Scene

Hong Kong - in terms of bookstores, has so far lagged behind many other Asian cities such as Tokyo, Taipei and even Bangkok.  I am thinking, there just aren't that many bookworms around to warrant them, but may be I was terribly ignorant in making that statement. 

With the arrival of Eslite, a Taiwanese bookstore chain, I decided to go for a stroll in what becomes the largest bookstore in Hong Kong, housing some 100,000 titles and promises to open 24 hours on Thur-Sat for a month's trial. 

As a starter, I was greeted with hordes of people wanting to be the first to scope out Hong Kong's latest bookstore. That was all good and expected but for the main dish, I didn't expect to see readers carrying baskets full of shopping, eagerly trying to sweep through the stationery on offer. It becomes very apparent that Hong Kong REALLY is a paradise for shoppers (not readers).  Will Eslite help cultivate some night owl bookworms in future?  We will soon find out, wouldn't we?

Eslite - famous not only for an extensive collection of books but also in-house art galleries, cultural events, designer products and cafés.  While I was awfully disappointed by the fact that the cafe was still closed and I couldn't try their coffee, I stumbled upon a very interesting exhibition - featuring the prominent Chinese artist XU Bing. 

His latest book "Book from the Ground" is created after spending much time travelling around the world, and with all that time wasted in airports, he began to notice the many symbols surrounding him. He thought it would be interesting to use this minimal way of communicating to create a story book. 

For the next ten minutes, I stood there with admiration and desperation, trying to figure out what this sign means. 

It is with the intention from artist HU Bing, that this can be read and enjoyed by everyone, whether literate or not.

I can't decode this and I am feeling so stupid.

Can you get what he's trying to say here?  I am struggling still.

So there I left the bookstore - pondering whether my inability to read this makes me a literate nor a nonliterate.

Come As A Guest, Leave As A Friend

Historically, coffeehouses were important places for groups to gather and discuss issues of the day.

Today we have arguably seen this experience diminished, forgotten.

Many of us get our daily caffeine boost at the local Starbucks or other commercial coffeemakers.  For the sake of waking ourselves up, we duck in, pay quickly, and on we go, head on with our lives.   Alright, in certain days, we might decide to plug in our laptops, appeared to be toggling with some office documents but really, it was for perusing Facebook profiles, and for that, we might linger on for a bit longer. 


With the overwhelming establishments of cafes in town, two friends of mine recently decided to join in the bandwagon and opened a small cafe.  Tough competition is obviously one thing, how to run the business is another.  While we applause their bravery, you don't read fear in them at all because - they have it all figured out. 

They have figured out the very one thing that is going to differentiate themselves from the rest.  And that is - the philosophy of why we drink coffee beyond our need for one. 

They believe what they have, is truly a place that separates from home and work; A neighborhood hub for meetings, socials and gigs.  Or, as they'd like to call it - a platform for guests to create new communities and connections. 

They would like to have you "come as a guest, leave as a friend".  

A motto as simple as that.  And they mean it.  

Think about it.  When was the last time you had great coffee, good buddies and great conversation?

Mardi Gras: The Famous Rugby Sevens

Every one of my friends currently binge drinking at the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens claimed it has been a great weekend for them so far – even though the specifics are a bit hard to recall.

None of them I knew play rugby, nor do they know the game rules, yet for years, they have been enthusiasts for the annual mardi gras in Hong Kong.  

As they say though, if you can remember what happened at the Hong Kong Sevens, you probably weren't there!

I certainly wasn't there. 

I was...stuck in heavy traffic. 

Cafe Loisl - A Unique Find

Living in this concrete jungle in Hong Kong can be intense, but there are definitely ways to escape without leaving.

Greeted by European in decor with dark wooden furnishing, fitted with round marble tables, black and white tiled floors, and with one of the oldest newspapers in the world - Wiener Zeitung hanging on the wall, for a split moment, I could really imagine myself in a little cafe in Austria.  

Veering between needing my caffeine fix and bewilderment on a crisp morning, I went ahead and ordered an Einspanner, which consists of 2 shots of espresso with rich and thick whipped cream relaxingly lounged on the top.  They definitely know their craft and I promised the lady owner, Sirkka (during my last visit), that I will blog about this surprisingly authentic rendition here when I returned to the real world!  Well, it took me a little longer than that and in between, I have already visited them thrice!

Sirkka, a foreign yet pretty name to me, is apparently quite a common Finish name. Her husband and herself are seriously passionate about coffee drinking and they knew it is not easy to find such a quaint locale in the bustling city of Hong Kong and the lack of it prompted them to open this Viennese coffee house.   

Sirrka was able to expound at great length on the various coffees available in the city (abbreviated summary: there is no other good coffee available in the city).  Not only was I fed with excellent coffee, I learned that European coffee culture originated from nowhere but Vienna.

Legend has it that in the summer of 1683, bound by a treaty with Holy Roman Emperor Leopold I against the Turks, the King of Poland led about 75,000 men to victory against the Turkish army that had for two months lain seige to Vienna.  The defeated Turks left behind bags of coffee beans which, upon advice of a spy, the Viennese then roasted. 

Thus, from the spoils of battle arose one of the greatest glories of - the Viennese coffee house, where even today citizen and tourists take their ease and restore themselves with gossip or solitude, newspapers, excellent coffee, and superlative pastries.

Cafe Loisl is a wonderful, unique find, pack full of character - a highly recommended coffee place.

The moment you step onto the small front terrace, I assure you can easily stay there all day and watch the time goes away.

A Home Doesn’t Need To Be Huge

I am sure we have all bought something from IKEA for its dirt cheap, practical and...ready to go appeal. 

You know how when you were a kid and you just wanted to get your hands on the tasks that adults do?  My mom let me had a go at cracking the instructions of building a bookshelf from IKEA at the age of 12 and till this day, I can still feel the satisfaction I got out of assembling it successfully.  And as I grew older, I just heart IKEA for all of their inspirations on tiny space living with their solutions of organizational items. 

If you love them too, you probably have to thank the founder of IKEA - who came up with the idea of flat-packed furniture when he was trying to fit a table into the boot of his car when a friend suggested he should just take the legs off.   There you go - the rest is history.


IKEA and I have no affiliation though - that I must declare. 

I have been drooling over the items in their 2012 catalogue, which reminded me - a home doesn’t need to be huge. Just smart.

Why Can't You Show Your Teeth?

I know we are not allowed to frown or grin when taking passport photos, but didn't know we can't even show teeth!

This requirement only applies to UK passport applicants at the moment and they are told that it is to do with biometric assessment works blah blah blah...or facial recognition - whatever you like to call it.


Perhaps the real reason is that the immigration officials worldwide could be terribly frightened and nauseated by the British dental work?  But we do learn something new each day don't we?

The UK Passport Office's guide for professional photographers is very interesting, because it explains not only what the requirements are, but why.

Have a look in here.

Thank You For Queuing

Standard Chartered bank has launched their service pledge Asia-wide, committed to providing counter service within 8 minutes from the moment you walked into their branch.  If they can't deliver, a dollar will be donated to a charity organisation.

A refreshing marketing campaign nonetheless, but it is a rather tacky way of saying that ‘we have improved our customer service level and efficiency’.

I can imagine their customers who are lining up to be staring down at their watches from time to time.  That was exactly what I did and just when I was about to take note of a broken pledge, I was served at the 7th minute!

The Wait at A&E

The stupidity of some people in terms of abusing the hard-pressed resources of our Accident and Emergency (AnE) services really never ceases to amaze.

People seeking to use AnE because they believe they will get treatment or tests carried out more quickly than through an outpatient appointment are so commonly seen, it's beyond joke!


I had to rush my uncle to AnE the other day from his home because he suffered severe acute abdominal pain.  The fact that he wasn't found bleeding nonstop, caught out of breath or appeared anywhere near the life-threatening sort of state, got allocated a ticket that stated "Cat. 4 Semi-Urgent". 

Holding that ticket, I could only hope Cat. 4 had a higher urgency than Cat. 3.  But then how do you define semi-urgent anyway?  I mean, can they even find a non-urgent case in there at all, as if a patient arrives by an ambulance in an AnE unit because he needs the toilet and doesn’t know where the nearest one is? 

As I looked across the room, my answer revealed on the board - with augmented information too - the estimated waiting time for Cat. 4 was at the time...

180 minutes! 

That was fast compared to a whopper 225 for those poor Cat. 5 semi-urgent souls!


Moral of the story - take care yourself and if one is still conscious and totally mobile - please just forget about getting treated at the nearest AnE, you will be wasting your time.

I must add though, their estimating ability was fairly accurate - 180 minutes of waiting time - spot on!

Photo Missing From My Visit To Ozone

Standing next to windows measured from floor to ceiling perched on the 118th floor, you do feel like humming along with the Carpenters,  

"I'm on the top of world looking down on creation"...and...

"You're the nearest thing to heaven that I've seen"!

The name Ozone says it all.  

Ozone is indeed the highest watering hole ever existed on earth, also located at the world's highest hotel in Hong Kong, definitely a chic and trendy place to see and be seen, quite enough to get the acrophobic me to visit the city's most-talk about bar. 

So up I went with my breath caught in my chest till I saw a sweeping view of the Victoria Harbour.  Its obscenely high altitude gives quite an interesting perspective of Hong Kong - with all building structures looking very miniaturized.  

Did I say I was acrophobic?  Yes I did and I was able to suck in all that jaw-dropping view quite fearlessly to my surprise.  

The only way to explain this is that where I was standing was way too high, higher than what my senses could comprehend. 

On hindsight, my friend commented that I was perhaps too busy overcoming that fear of height, which was the reason why I totally forgot to take any pictures that evening when we were there!

Can't rule out the fact that I am still acrophobic then, can I?

Let my return visit to Ozone in Ritz Carlton be my second trial.  And I promise I shall bring back some of that breathtaking view in photos too. 

The Very Confusing Supermarket Sub-Brands

Time flies and I see that City'super is 15 years old already.  I remember back when they started with the very first branch in Times Square, there were just two dominant supermarket chains in Hong Kong - Park'n Shop and Wellcome.  

15 years down the road, Park'n Shop and Wellcome are both going strong still and they have also introduced a whole range of sub-brands. 

For Park'n Shop, we have Great in Pacific Place which is a one off, the first and original Taste was in Kowloon Tong, but over the years, several more have emerged and are now scattered around town, offering a much bigger selection than the average Park'n Shop.

Then we come to International.  This seems to be basically a normal Park'n Shop with more imported products with annoying shelf labels proudly reminding you that those Italian tinned tomatoes come from Waitrose in the UK.  Er, right, thank you very much.

Ah wait, there’s also Gourmet.  Anyone know the the difference for that one then?  

Meanwhile, their rival Wellcome has flashed their muscles with Marketplace by Jasons in some of its more upmarket locations, and a couple of branches of ThreeSixty with an emphasis on expensive organic stuff.  And last but not least, they decided to live with just one Olivers in Princes' Building (hanging in there and thirty years old apparently).

Which are all very well, I am not saying choice is not good.  I am just saying it can be a bit confusing that's all.

  

Diamond Cabs

You might have come across one of these taxis cruising in the city of Hong Kong, wanting to hail them to a stop but they regrettably just won't take you in.  

They are called Diamond Cabs and the fleet is the first branded, high-quality taxi service in Hong Kong specially tailored for disabled users.

The entrepreneur started the idea when her own mother was ill and needed to be on a wheelchair day in and day out.  That was when she discovered there's a pressing need to look into the issue for transporting the handicapped community in the city, which at the moment, is nowhere near barrier-free for the physically impaired.

This initiative is indeed a great ambition is to show the public that, by perfectly blending social and business elements together, we have a social venture set up incorporating mainstream businesses like taxi operators, elderly homes being the main shareholders and the disabled community as the immediate beneficiaries. 

We definitely need a few more of these constructive embryos to forge convergence in juggling to address social needs and balancing business incentives.   

You Just Have to Love Hong Kong

I am living in a city of enormous energy and activity - Hong Kong - my home town - or otherwise better known as "Shoppers' Paradise" or "Heaven for Foodies".

The claim to be Foodies' Heaven is debatable as you can easily relate that to Paris, Tokyo when they share a higher concentration of Michelin starred restaurants.  Fair enough argument but I always think there's more to Michellin star ratings when it comes to food. 

With that, I so have to give credit to this little city of Hong Kong, simply for its alarming array of food items - ranging from the stubbornly traditional to the most bizarre fusion.  It is possible to find food from almost every corner of the world, in any form factor on a wide spectrum of price range, each more drool-worthy than the next.

The same applies to the shopping.  Shopping from glitzy vibrant malls to bustling street markets in Hong Kong is an absolute delightful thing to do.  It can be exhausting but nowhere else in the world can cater to every whim and fancy for the minds of the most ardent shopaholics.

I hesitate to call Hong Kong a cultural melting-pot, but I will grant that it is the one place I need never be far from fabulous food nor shopping.  I kid you not, I realised I have been fed exceedingly well that my palate has been so spoiled, it almost kills the joy of travelling abroad! 

888GB iPads

iPads in our world offer a maximum of 64GB, but in funeral stores these days, we can easily find iPads offering the auspiciously huge 888GB, which I bet Steve Job doesn't even know it existed!

The days of burning standard items such as fake money and clothing to honour our ancestors have just been overtaken by Steve Job's empire. iPads made of paper were burned on graves as people truly believe that our ancestors can enjoy the use of these items we deem so indispensable. 

2 questions I have though:

1. If an ancestor receives the iPad after it is burned, will they know how to use it?
2. Even if they do find them user-friendly, what sort of data plan do they get?

Intriguing.

Gone Is Another Ferry Route Or Two

I love ferry rides.  Tell me who doesn't.

It's such a nostalgic thing to do, immersing the sea breeze while absorbing the harbour scene of Hong Kong.  I honestly think it ought to be one of the best-loved gems in the city. 

Sadly the government seems to think otherwise.  Threatened by operating losses and lack of interest in the business, two more Star Ferry routes will cease to exist by the end of this month.  The services between Hunghom and Central, Hunghom and Wan Chai will have their last day on 31 March, 2011.  

They are by far the most affordable means of cross-harbour transport in the city and, all I can see is that ferry routes are being phased out one after another.

Bad news for penny-pinchers like me who, pretty soon, might need to swim to get across to the other side of the harbour!

Mango-Mania

In my observation, mango is by far, the best-loved fruit ingredient in desserts amongst the Hong Kongers.  Most of the puddings, ice cream, frozen yogurt, drinks and even concoctions you find in this town contain mango in some form.

A mango lover will not have difficulty in finding his or her mango pudding, mango pomelo sago dessert, sago in mango juice or mango juice with real mango and extra mango in Hong Kong.  Certainly the best place to be consuming them raw and fresh would be within the border of the Philippines or Thailand - that is - only if you eat them in its entirety.  If it is style and creativeness you are after, there is no place a sweet tooth (who loves mangoes) would rather be.

I just know for certain that if the government somehow decides to stop importing mangoes into this country, it will pose serious trouble to the majority of the dessert houses in Hong Kong.  They will either run out of dessert ideas or they will simply go out of business!

Pass The Salt Will Ya?

Shame.  Shame.  Shame. 

I can't believe my ears when I heard from the news that people stripped stores for table salt - a blind move to shell oneself from radioactive chemicals!

 

Such shameful behaviour wasn't the first time in town if you recall.   It happaned during SARS outbreak in 2003 when locals swept large quantities of vinegar to ward off the disease.

What can I say about the salt frenzy?  I can't.  I am simply speechless even I am a fan of salt and vinegar crisps for that matter.    


 

$6000 for free (Really?!)

 

Looks like we are going to be getting six grand for free, dumped directly into our impenetrable Mandatory Provident Fund (MPF) accounts.

Essentially, that means bankrolling the hidden tax, with surcharges being paid to private fund managers.  Most probably by the time I retire, the amount would have been devalued to near nothing if we take into account the present value theory, the price index and all that. 

This is really crap seriously.  I thought the government's windfall should be aimed at helping the one in needs (i.e. the poor).  But then, the poor do not have MPF.

So what are we talking about?   Can someone explain this to me in plain English or illustrate with simple Mathematics please? 

My Dream House

Every time I walked past this house, I would ask myself if money is no object and I can have whatever I want, how would my dream house look like. 

This setting comes close, but mine would be a two-storey house largely made of natural materials such as timber and stones, facing the sea with a stairway that leads to a sandy beach. 

It would have at least 4 bedrooms to cater family and guests, each with its own bath and perhaps a half bath off the hall.  A stylish and bright dining room letting in natural sunlight, and a country kitchen with breakfast room is a must.  I would also have a cozy cottage style living room with a fireplace and a family room to have great talks about life.

Then ideally I would have a picture window overlooking my huge but manageable backyard with a nice lawn - good for holding BBQ parties and picnics in the weekends.

Last but not least, it ought to be filled with laughter from family and friends, doubled down with plentiful of gourmet food and pleasing wine.


Keep dreaming alampy, you will reach there one day!

You can come back to reality now.