May 26 2008
Open water swimming isn’t my cup of tea ever since I switched to free style from breast stroke. There’s little rock or tiny island off the Repulse Bay in Hong Kong that we used to swim to. The water in HK is crystal clear, so regardless of company or not, I’d go. But when the water turns to muddy, [...]
Mar 26 2008
First time walked into Kam San, I was pleased: it had meicai 梅菜, dried salted veg that I like to cook with pork. It was 22 years ago. I just arrived from Hong Kong where food was stringently segregated. Cantonese, the Hong Kong Cantonese are very particular about their food. Any place [on the map] above Shanghai are considered [...]
Mar 25 2008
Bankers, especially IBs, conjure up fat pay checks, astronomical bonus and 80+ hours workweeks. It’s interesting to know how much salary do the CBs, central bankers that set interest rates are being paid around the globe. Ben isn’t on the top! Ben Bernake, the US federal reserve Chairman since 2005 only receives US$191,300, 4.1 times of American GNP per [...]
Mar 07 2008
The servant pecking order in Hong Kong was geographical: Shunde, local HK Chinese, China mainlander and Filipino.
Shunde is a small town in Guangdong province. I don’t know the history of it, but women from there were single with excellent domestic skills. They were a dying breed hence were very much in demand among the affluent. They were easy to identify: worn [...]
Mar 06 2008
As I was writing about siheyuan and hutong, thought about Marketman I once visited for ube, because his pictures are great, I envy his ability when it comes to taking pictures, like the Hutong restaurant in Hong Kong. Every time I wipe out my little Casio, my supportive family would moan, object and turning their backs to me - thanks a lot. [...]
Mar 02 2008
I often regard Cantonese as a cute spoken dialect, not something of elegance. But I love Hong Kong pop songs, for its handsome lyrics. Leslie Cheung’s my fave, especially his 风继续吹. This is an earlier version
Mar 02 2008
Ops, the Pretty Woman forgot her razor .. ..
Have you seen the lady’s man with his seven starlet dwarfs? No I haven’t till last night - hi Lou, how come we didn’t get the DVD? I read about it by a columnist almost month after the fact - wasn’t news worthy by a major financial newspaper? But thanks to it, I [...]
Feb 27 2008
Liu Yingfang’s my godmother. She and her hubby were Malaysia born Chinese. She’s fm a wealthy rubber baron family and he a working class. They met in London while she was finishing up her piano at the Royal School of Music and he was working for a newspaper. The romance was highly unsymmetrical, so they [...]
Feb 27 2008
I’d claim plausibly and at length that I was born in the year of Fish when I was asked about my属, zodiac sign. The problem is, the twelve animals showed up at the gathering were all terrestrials,
Water sport has to be my most beloved activity, a life long pursue. And I much [...]
Jan 11 2008
I always view insects and worms are scary and dirty. Far more scary than dirty. When I first got to Hong Kong, I screamed in the classroom upon seeing a huge flying cockroach, my first time ever. The teacher turned around toward us, asking what’s the commotion was about. The whole class gone silent - were they [...]
Nov 16 2007
Filipino maids in Hong Kong are sending ever larger $$ home, many are the major bread winners, supporting their hubbies and children. But the weakening dollar is making it tougher to stay in the black. The 120,000 strong maids that take over Victoria Park on Sundays are making about US$450 a month, plus the entertainers in the bars, etc. [...]
May 10 2007
Joe Lee at Pace was one of the professors on Chu’s list. He stood out among others because he’s first reply to me was that he’s willing to supervise me. Wow.. I was excitied. After few weeks when we finally aligned our schedules, we met in his neat office that he shared with someone. He’s dapper, [...]
Apr 21 2007
After coming back to Hong Kong from Europe, I continued German at the Goethe’s Institute. At Opening Night, a routine school functions, I met Lufthansa’s Eastern Director who happened was looking for a tri-lingua assistant who’d be creating and manning the office in Beijing. Genial yet sophisticated, he offered me the job at end of the [...]
Apr 20 2007
水禾田 Pan (?) is a popular artist based in Hong Kong. He takes photography, he draws and he designs. He blogs now too (perhaps?) lol. One night in HK, I was having a dinner with my friend Jane and her gang (she’s little famed amateur photographer with a small followings) and then walked in diminutive and [...]