A Walk In The Park
It’s been a long week, and the weekend came just in time. I was fading fast. Weather has improved, but the smog is brutal. This morning was grey, but the sun came out by 9:00 and the day is beautiful. Unfortunately, the sun could not burn off the haze covering the city.

I say unfortunately, because I went for another nature walk today, into the Tai Tam Country Park, around the Tai Tam reservoir system in the centre of the island. Not my idea of a walk in the park. I took the Tai Tam Country Trail up to Violet Hill and returned via the Wilson Trail. Not my idea of trails. I climbed 10,000 steps up through the woods to the top of Violet Hill (elev. 460 m.) and another 10,000 down. The birds were singing and it was quiet on the way up. Either I was early or I must have taken the reverse route, because I saw dozens of people climbing as I was descending. I think they agreed with my assessment of “not a walk in the park”. Not one smiling face among the lot. During the walk there were a number of open spaces where one could get a view of the surrounding area. Unfortunately, the haze tended to cover much of the view. I took a few pictures with my phone. If you are looking at them now it’s because Dale enhanced them or decided they were clear enough to be seen.

Christmas
It’s getting to look a lot like Christmas in Hong Kong. All the stores have their decorations up and the malls have north poles and Santas. I even walked by a storefront where they had just trimmed a few fir trees for a display. The smell was wonderful. Everywhere you go, you hear Christmas songs. I still haven’t heard Feliz Navidad, so it’s not official. I have been told that things are so bad in the US that they were advertising for Christmas before Thanksgiving. Is nothing sacred?

Given the crowds in the stores at normal times, I’m afraid to venture a guess as to what Christmas shopping crowds look like here.

A Classy Joint
Attention all potential visitors/guests. A notice in my lobby advised that some occupants had taken to leaving shoes by their apartment front door, and some had even set up shoe racks. This is against apartment by-laws and generally in poor taste. All have been given a week to remove them. That means that certain of you will not be welcome during the summer if you have to bring your shoes or sandals into the apartment. You know who you are, and you have been forewarned.

The Best Place To Live
A recent poll by CNN found that Hong Kong was the best city in the world to live. See for yourself: http://www.cnngo.com/hong-kong/none/worlds-greatest-city-hong-kong-576599 . I have also attached a link to some panoramic pictures of Hong Kong. The view from our apartment is very much like the third on the web page.http://www.diserio.com/hongkongskyline.html

Observations and Musings:
• They now sell baked potato flavour potato chips here – potato chips artificially enhanced to taste like potatoes. Am I missing something? What did they taste like before the addition of potato flavouring? Somebody please explain it to me.

• They have a tradition here that attracts all the tourists. At noon every day they shoot off a cannon at the harbour, near the Excelsior Hotel. I can hear it from my office. It sets off my lunch hunger pangs.

• Interesting follow-on from my comments about work hours. In Toronto I used to go to lunch at noon. Here I go between 12:30 and 1:00, and I’m early. Mind you, I eat breakfast at 7:00 before most of white collar HK is up.

• One more thing that will make Dale happy here – diagonal intersection crossings. She loved them in Pasadena.

• This week’s sign: Political Correctness in not always practiced in Hong Kong. I came across a high-end furniture/home furnishings store called The Homephiles. Don’t think you’d get away with that in the World Class City.

Winter Comes Early

The two stories of the week are the cold snap and the 10th annual Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival.
Last Sunday came in like a lion. The highs have been between 15° and 20° C all week, with lows in the 10° to 15° C range. My colleagues tell me this is February weather. (Eat your hearts out.) Doesn’t sound cold to you maybe, but when there is no heating in the apartment, the temperature falls rapidly. For a guy with no blanket, it’s no fun. (Question #2 – so what did you do, genius?) I finally went out Saturday and bought a space heater. It works like a charm and will help when winter really hits in February. (Answer to Question #1 – because Dale’s bringing blankets in January and I’m too damn cheap to buy one that will be redundant in a month.) Things appear to be getting better; forecast is for highs in the mid-20’s by Wednesday.
The film festival has been fun. I’ve seen about 10 movies so far, with one to go, as I write. They have included everything from an Israeli gangster movie to one from Kazakhstan, a comedy about a group of fat Israelis who start a sumo wrestling group, a number of documentaries/re-enactments, and a Canadian documentary called “Hannah’s Suitcase” that reminded me a lot of “Paperclips”. The quality ranged from excellent to laughable (only one), and the stories from feel-good comedies to last night’s scary feature that starred Jeff Goldblum as a Holocaust survivor in an Israeli rehab facility and Willem Dafoe as the concentration camp commandant who features prominently in his flashbacks – ‘nuff said?
The classic was the gangster film, “Maftir” – the cheesiest movie I have seen in a long time. I stayed to the end because it was so bad I couldn’t tear myself away, waiting for the next bad scene. Took place in South Tel Aviv – the South Bronx with yarmulkes. No good guys, only shades of bad – Israelis vs. Russians vs. corrupt cops. Film kept switching between b&w, colour and sepia, to remind you this is a film noir. The dialogue made CSI look like Paddy Chayefsky, including a scene where one character refers to a gun as a Smith & Weston. I followed the spoken dialogue closely to make sure it wasn’t a typo in the sub-title. The director used a lot of close-ups of the “hero” looking pensive, hurt, etc. Basically trying to act without dialogue – didn’t work.
My Chinese is not going anywhere, but my Hebrew is improving. Every Israeli in town has been to the festival, and I hear as much Hebrew around me as English. The venue is great – an AMC multiplex with high-back leather captain’s chairs and leg room for a basketball team. Attendance has been in the 60-70 range at most of the showings I’ve attended. Bottom line, I’ll go again next year.

This week’s general observations:

• Taking the subway is interesting if you are tall. There is only one very long, articulated car, which bends up and down, and right to left as the car moves through the tunnel. The view from above others' heads is like being inside a worm or snake as it moves.
• The shopping malls here are like those at home – they all feature the same chain stores, except here they are slightly more upscale – Chloe, Louis Vuitton, Zegna.

• The crowds of helpers out on Sundays is stunning. My bus goes by a large Catholic church, and I went by just after the mass had ended the past two weeks. There was a line of 200 or more Filipinas walking in single file down the steep slope of the narrow sidewalk, looking like the extras in a science-fiction movie
  
• My neighbourhood is very middle-class. I know because on Saturdays the Kumon and other tutoring centres, art classes and activity centres are packed with kids being primed to overachieve.
  
• It’s interesting to read foreign words that sound like English. Today, I found the deep south in the northeast of the island - Po Man Street
  
• The movie today was shown at the new Jewish High School. To get there, we went by chartered bus along HK's version of the Gardner Expressway. It’s an expressway that runs along the waterfront. It’s everything the Gardner (or the Met) should be – wide, well marked, fast, un-pot-holed, clean, and with a beautiful view of the harbor and Kowloon.

Observations Of A First-Time Visitor To Japan

I spent much of the week of November 9 in Tokyo. It was my first visit and I tried to observe what was going on around me. Like most everybody else, my first impression of Japan starts with the politeness and formality surrounding all encounters. The small, or even more formal, bow occurs between all subordinates and managers. While waiting for my bus at Narita airport I noticed how the supervisor at the bus stop bowed formally (hands straight down, back stiff, bend from the waist) to each bus driver as he pulled in to the stop. At the hotel, staff always made a slight bow to the guests when they served them. It continued from there.
Speaking of airports, I’ll never complain again about getting from an airport to the city. Narita is more than 60 km. from Tokyo. A cab costs about USD300, so most everybody takes the bus. In normal traffic it takes anywhere from 1½ to 2 hours. I was on a 9:40 p.m. bus, so it only took an hour.
Another common sight is the absence of foreigners. Far fewer visible minorities than in Hong Kong, for example. Also, strange that they have signs with product or store/office names in Roman letters, but nothing else. Why bother? Why get the foreigners’ hopes up and then dash them in a sea of Japanese text? They also suck you into the subway and trains with English come-ons, and then strand you at the ticket kiosk with no more Roman lettering.
The commuter trains are incredible. There are at least five different levels of service from local to super express. If you don’t know which one to take, you may find yourself bypassing your stop over and over. For the baseball fans, it reminded me of the time Pascual Perez was pitching for the Braves (he is also a former Expo) and could see the stadium but couldn’t find the exit off the highway, so he pulled over to the shoulder, left his car, hopped the fence and walked to the stadium. I was very lucky - the few times I took the subway and train I had a guide who showed me around.

Which brings us to polite. None of the Hong Kong pushing and shoving through the disembarking passengers as in Hong Kong. Again though, I wasn't travelling in high rush hour. Same view in the trains - girls on cell phones texting, boys on video games, adults plugged into who knows what.
Of course, the famous Tokyo work day makes me wonder, just when is rush hour? As my bus pulled into the city core at 11:00 p.m., I saw people walking out of offices and along the streets with their briefcases. In order to accommodate them, there are hundreds of small restaurants open late. If you have a problem with smoking in restaurants, stay away from Japan – no regulations against it. The workers, mainly men, go out in groups and stay for hours eating, drinking, speaking loudly (goes with the drinking?) and smoking.

The neatest thing I saw was at one restaurant we ate at – a huge, locking umbrella stand – room for at least 100 umbrellas. (See picture above.) You lock it in, take the key, and retrieve it at the end of the evening. If you’re drunk, you come back the next day and retrieve it. If you’re really drunk, the next day you ask one of your colleagues where it was you ate last night, go back and retrieve it. We could have used it on Wednesday when one of my colleagues lost her umbrella to someone who mistook hers for theirs. Sakano-san had to go home with the smaller version. Hint: when travelling to Tokyo, always bring an umbrella.
I feel for my colleagues in Tokyo. Their office is in a nondescript residential part of the city that no one wants to work in, making recruiting hard. It is on the Local line, so getting there requires a change of stations. There is nowhere to shop or eat – Macdonald’s is the second choice for dining out, behind the Italian restaurant.
Friday afternoon, we were in the middle of a meeting when someone came in and suggested we leave early, because President Obama was arriving and all roads into the city were being blocked off. Friday night, we ate at a top restaurant, Nobu. I couldn’t understand why there were police cars with flashing lights outside the restaurant all night, until we left. Then I found out we were around the corner from the US Embassy.
I never did see the flashing lights of the Ginza or the high tech stores on this trip. Maybe next time.

"A Thing Of Beauty Is A Joy To Behold" – Antiques And Tea On Hollywood Road

Spent the morning on Hollywood Road, the antique and art neighbourhood. Almost all the stores on both sides of the street west of the escalators feature Chinese antiques and furniture, with a number of schlockier stores thrown in for the tourists looking for cheap items. To the east it is mainly contemporary art galleries, with a number of restaurants and bars/pubs catering to the local expat crowd, yours truly included, who live in the Mid-levels close by the escalators. There are some magnificent pieces in the windows. I’d love to cruise the stores with someone knowledgeable.

Part of the time was spent with the manager of our real estate agency, at her cousin’s tea house. Her cousin sells tea and tea service porcelain, and conducts classes in tea appreciation, as well as tea tastings and full Chinese tea ceremonies. Just up my alley. If any of you who come to visit are tea lovers, I’ll arrange a visit.

I spent a wonderful hour there tasting two teas – a white and a “rock” tea. We had four pourings of each in order to taste the subtleties of each subsequent pour. It was conducted as a tea ceremony, but, of course, I turned it into a class and took notes. (Anyone surprised?) A very pleasant experience. The owner and the tea master (of ceremonies) both lived in Toronto and speak perfect English.

I had to leave the apartment early in order to catch the escalator while it was going down. It switches direction around 10:30 each morning.

For the Canadians reading, I felt at home when someone came up to me on the street and offered me a poppy. He was from the HK branch of the British Legion. So now I’m walking around with my poppy. The difference is that I don’t have a coat to put it on, so its in the buttonhole of my golf shirt. (Eat your hearts out.)

Well, the bed is made, literally, and I’m sleeping in it.

Once Dale and our bed get here the motel will be open for customers. I stocked the kitchen and bought all the paper goods and cleaners and sprays that Dale needs to keep the apartment to her cleanliness standards. I’ll just clean it when it gets too much for me and do a real job before she gets here.  (Dale's addendum: or maybe he'll actually hire a helper to do it!)

Last night I went to a talk at the Hong Kong Jewish Historical Society by a senior judge who has lived here for 30 years. He’s from Rhodesia originally and had some interesting comments about growing up white in Africa during the 50’s and 60’s. Unfortunately, as a sitting judge he couldn’t say much about his recent career.

Work had been long but satisfying. I’m off to Tokyo on Tuesday for the rest of the week. I’ll have notes about the trip and what I see of the city next week. Everyone here has warned me that the movie, Lost In Translation, is a true reflection of the foreignness and otherworldliness of Tokyo. We have to take the commuter train from the hotel to the office. I may get lost in commuting.

Bought my pass to the Jewish Film Festival. Looks like it will provide some good entertainment, including a film about a group of fat Israelis who decide to train on their own to become sumo wrestlers. May offer a networking opportunity too. Just don’t expect reviews like Dale’s of the movies at the TIFF.
                           Hong Kong Jewish Film Festival 2009

This week’s observations:

• Shades of everywhere else: they have banned smoking inside restaurants, but now the debate rages as to what constitutes “inside” with respect to patios and semi-enclosed extensions.

• For the Montrealers in the audience, there is a Peel Street here, with the same slope. I’m glad the escalator is a block away.

• Further to last week’s note on the paper collectors, this past Tuesday’s paper noted in an article that 102 scrap paper traders had been fined in the first nine months of the year for underweighting paper by 10% to 38%. Quote from a community organizer, “They are poor enough so they have to make a living by collecting scrap paper. It is good that Customs now helps monitor the situation.” Sometimes governments get it right.

• Also on last week’s comments, the past week the news has been filled with reports, articles, etc. about the high price of property, with consumers’ advocates calling for the government to step in and do something, the government saying that it is looking at the situation, and, most telling, the developers stating that they will reduce some asking prices in order to cool down the market.

I got the keys to the apartment and found Dale a job

Week of October 26

No touring to report this week. I took possession of our apartment on Saturday morning, so I spent the weekend shopping and trekking back and forth to the apartment. More on that later.

My cousin, Clifford, was in town over the weekend, so I met him for lunch on Saturday. Cathay Pacific managed to lose his luggage between Paris and HK, so he was attending his business meetings in jeans. I hope the bags catch up with him before he leaves for home this afternoon. We had a nice chat and he gave me hell for being too cheap to call my mother – Dale keeps in touch regularly. So I called her yesterday and we assured each other that everything is great in our lives.

The apartment is looking great. They renovated on Saturday and cleaned yesterday. I hope to start setting up tonight and will move in on Wednesday, when the bed is delivered.  Here are some photos taken with my BlackBerry.  Enjoy the view from the living room and bedrooms!  I'm sure you will be impressed with our modern kitchen, too!  The luxury item in our kitchen is an oven - most HK apartment do not have them.


Once I’m moved in, I’ll start to check out the shops and restaurants in the area. I tested the bus on Saturday afternoon. It was the equivalent of a rush hour, so I thought it would be a good time check – 30 minutes on the bus. Not bad.

I found Dale the perfect job. It combines books and organizing! And they are even advertizing it that way. To make it an even better combination, it’s only three blocks from the apartment and one away from the health club she plans to join. My friend Sarah told me about a used English book store near us called Flow Organic Bookshop. I checked it out yesterday. Floor-to-ceiling books in a tiny, cramped space. Outside the door, running up the stairs, are plastic bags filled with enough additional books to replace all those in the store. There is some semblance of partial order, but not much. When I got to the cash, I saw two signs. The first advertized, “Accidental shopkeeper wanted”. The second said, “Wanna have fun, playing around with books and help Flow being more organized?” Oh yeah, they’re only open from noon to 7:30, so it leaves plenty of time to go to the gym every morning. ‘Nuff said?

This week’s observations:

• Lucky numbers – the Chinese are very superstitious about numbers, especially bad are certain combinations of fours. Many buildings don’t have a 14th floor – unlike North America, 13 is ok. Also bad are 42 and 44 – my office tower has a “lower 43” and “upper 43” instead. One new residential project has been controversial for selling units on the 68th and 88th (especially lucky numbers) floors of a 50-something floor apartment. They just renumbered some bad luck floors. One legislator is trying to force them to number properly, claiming that it is dangerous for emergency crews who won’t know which actual floor to go to.

• Property prices are sky-high here. The aforementioned property sold at least one flat for HKD70,000 per square foot (CAD9,200!!). As a comparison, Toronto just passed the CAD1,000/sq. ft. mark last year in Yorkville. There is a real estate agency near our apartment called “Firstborn Property”. I think that’s the cost of their listings.

• Elevator buttons. The SARS crisis really hit HK hard. Now, every building has a clear plastic covering over the elevator floor buttons and a sign advising users that the covering is sanitized hourly. The most used button on all elevators is the “close door” button. In North America it’s there, but is usually useless because it’s on a timer. No amount of pushing will make a difference. Here, they work! The Hong Konger’s immediate step after punching his/her floor is to push the “close” button. Every second counts, I guess.

• British football fans take note – there is a Man Yiu Street and an Arsenal Avenue in Hong Kong. No Chelsea or Liverpool streets.

• Is it exploitation or market forces? There is no minimum wage in Hong Kong and I don’t think there is a formal social welfare program as we would recognize it. As a result, things are very difficult for the poor and uneducated. As a result, there appears to be little need for formal recycling programs here. In every commercial district you see people collecting paper cartons, metal cans, glass bottles, and other recyclables. I know they are probably dirt-poor, but it offers them some kind of income and significantly reduces the amount of trash that would otherwise be burned or sent to landfills.

That’s all for now.