HK tourist series - Cantonese Opera

HK tourist series - The Peak (day view)

The historical Governor residence Some kind of grasses in motion Here one can find the best Pacific Coffee couches in HK

The air pollution index is extremely high...

HK tourist series - Discovery Bay

There is absolutely nothing else there besides a few bungalows. ♪♪...The swinging queen... :p

The Daydream before Halloween

Today my u-mates API & B visited the HK Disneyland to celebrate P's birthday. We entered with free employee tickets. Given there are 4000 employees in Disneyland, and the park is continuously having a financial deficit, I think they should keep a head count of Hongkers entering the park for free. It is my first time to visit this park, although it has been opened for 3 years. To me, the park is not too small, my experience was positive, especially with the Halloween theme. It is quite a long while since our last gathering. IB told us the updates from our department. Dr. C & I have left to work in the Science Park. B & G are now squeezed into the same office room, even though there is an empty room left. The department is about to close the S/W engineering stream. Big changes since our graduation. One of the dishes, and my dear Buzz Lightyear!! Last but not least, a giant pumpkin

The "Fruit Money" Incident

2008.10.15, Mr. Wong 黃毓民, 掟蕉 Look how well-prepared was Wong, he had his bananas ready on his bench! Darting a "banana" (a Cantonese pun) at the Chief Executive is certainly an ingenious gimmick to arouse public awareness of the old age allowance (known colloquially as "fruit money") issue. The party calls for raising the fruit money to HKD$1000 and abolishing the relevant means test. The present allowance for a single senior, whose monthly income does not exceed HK$5910, is HK$625. These figures alone reveal nothing much, without knowing also the distribution of exact monthly incomes and the living cost. Hey, remember we have almost 3 billions of people in the world living on US$2 a day, HKD$480 a month. Last Friday evening, while pushing my way through the hectic crowd on a bridge in downtown Central, I passed by 4 senior beggars in 10 meters. In a modern prosperous metro scene, the traditional sound of er-hu composed a dirge in the background. If I was in a political party, definitely I would fight first for these abandoned souls, rather than requesting a uniform increment of fruit money.

HK Politics - A Collection of Entertaining Quotes

2008.09.07, Mr. Chan 陳克勤, Try our breast 2008.07.16, Mr. Tsang 曾蔭權, 民望如浮雲 2006.11.09, Mr. Tong 唐英年, Ngong Ping 360 2003.05.15, Mr. Tung 董建, "Naïve" != "膚淺"

HK tourist series - 橫州角洞

Today I had a tiny wish fullfilled and a dream broken - I visited a cave. 橫州角洞 lying in the East Sea is one of the 200 outlying islands in Hong Kong. We rode a small boat, overloaded with 8 nuts, bouncing on the waves towards the cave. In the blink of an eye, my excitement completely vanished. There was nothing inside the cave besides a tiny rocky shore. Feeling disappointed enough, we changed our focus to a sumptuous lunch at Leung Shuen Wan Sea Urchin Farm (糧船灣海膽養殖場) In front of a Tin Hau temple, while fishermen were busy drying fish under the sun, a legendary sea urchin appeared on our table. The display-only cute little creature was indescribably delicious! Plump sea-urchins Sashimi is only served in December, 30HKD per piece. After losing our second hope, we were led to a deserted village, if not astray. At Tim Tin Tsai (鹽田梓), anything abandoned can be a scenic spot: houses, a church, a well, and even graves. The only amusement of today's trip was the 2-hour-thrill-ride home. Many fell seasick.

Returning to downtown, it is an exciting world in a different sense.

Equestrian Jumping Finals in HK

21st Aug was the Equestrian Individual Jumping Finals of the the Beijing Olympics 2008. The games were held in HK, because the quarantine system here is still OK :p Spectators were asked not to clap their hands nor use a camera with flash light during the competition, because these would disturb the athletes. However, people just couldn't hold their loud reflex of "OOOOOH" or "WAAAAA" whenever an obstacle was knocked down. The current world champion is MICHAELS-BEERBAUM Meredith representing Germany, but she has never won an Olympics gold medal. Although these Olympics Mascots were not allowed to participate in the Opening Ceremony due to the "prophesy" rumor, they are still alive :p Of course we also can't miss Chinese KongFu The typhoon signal 3 was is hoisted in the evening, and thus this funny scene of everybody at the spectator stand wearing a rain coat. A tank was broken and water spilled all over the sand. Accidents are inevitable in our life.

The Gold medal went to Canada. With so many HKnese in Canada, and vice versa. This is a happy ending? P.S. Dutch Dad commented dressage is more difficult than jumping. Many HKnese left early during the dressage games. We know only horse-racing, not Equestrian :p

The "top 10" news in HK :p

That happened on the day of the typhoon. I didn't know this until yesterday everybody was talking about it during the dinner: 「活塞男」深宵公園做運動 下體離奇卡入仰臥板 This is the biggest story after Edison Chan appeared on the front page for more than a month, and "friends" in HK were busy circulating "flash cards". Such a world I am living in... I mean, with the socially agreed moral standard giving in to cultural liberalism. This was another article which I read last week: Recovering the Art of Christian Prudence by Michael Morton (to be continued)

HK tourist series - Ngong Ping 360 & Tian Tan Buddha

2 days before Buddha's birthday on 12th May

Tian Tan Buddha was built in 1992. It is the largest outdoor sitting Buddha made of bronze in the world.

HK tourist series - Hub Mun Bay, Sai Kung