Stephen Chow - 007

Recently I reminisced in Stephen Chow's skillfully hilarious acting by way of "007" (Officially, "Gwok chaan Ling Ling Chat" or Product of the Country, 007"). IMDB has it here. This scene is when he returns from 10 years of being a pork butcher to take on a special mission from the Chinese government - his ex-employer, as a 007 agent.

Expensive Fruits & Veggies

Location: CitySuper, Hong Kong

• Box of US strawberries for HKD82 (~USD10.6). These Driscoll's brand strawberries
• 2 Malaysian tomatoes for HKD43 (~USD5.60)

Hong Kong Construction

Construction in Hong Kong is pretty unique, and pretty amazing. I also assume there is no OSHA here. On the top you see two pictures of a man working on "scaffolding" which has been set up about 15+ stories up on a residential building. At least he's got a safety harness (tied to the scaffolding).
On the left is just a typical example of a building which is about to undergo renovations, as it's just been covered in scaffolding and the signature green netting. In seeing the assembly of this particular site in Wanchai/Causeway Bay, the workers simply climb up the side and pass the bamboo upwards to assemble it.

the most expensive "local" restaurant in Hong Kong, 福臨門(福临门) Fook Lam Moon.

Probably the most expensive "local" restaurant in Hong Kong, 福臨門(福临门) Fook Lam Moon. I just learned of it, while sitting on the balcony for lunch at Pawn (overpriced, mediocre service, decent food. Elevator was broken, 2 hostesses sit at an ad-hoc coffee table with laptops hooked up to visible lan lines). Anyways, check out the cars in front of the restaurant. I spot 5 Benz's, 1 Maybach, 1 Rolls Royce, 2 luxury-looking vans, 1 unknown. Note the group of drivers and bodyguars in white shirts and suits standing outside the main door.

HK Real Estate - LOHAS

The Game
In early March, I experienced my first taste of Hong Kong's real estate fervor, no matter if it's just the tail end of the boom. I went to visit the "Show Flat" (the sample apartment) for Cheung Kong's yet-to-be-completed new "integrated living development" - The Capitol. A major backer for the 10-year project is MTR, Hong Kong's railway developer (also diversified into additional residential/commercial projects). The location is in Eastern Kowloon, at a MTR stop under development called Lohas Park. The Show Flat's location was in TST, not the actual site location - this is probably due to convenience factor, but also due to the fact that the site is in smelling distance of a garbage dump (so I hear).

Note: LOHAS stands for "Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability", and is a global "movement" for healthier, environmentally-friendly living.

The Sell
That said, the Show Flat was only available to view in person for three days, Fri-Sun. After waiting in line for 1.5 hours, you enter a dark room to watch a marketing film to get you further brainwashed. Following this, you proceed through numerous elaborately put together rooms with miniature models of the actual apartment complex and all its amenities (bowling alley, party rooms, swimming pool, MTR station, parks, etc.). At the end of the procession you finally get to see two of the four different apartment show flats (one was 950 sf, one was over 1,100).

Note that the Show Flat's layout and appliances are not representative of the actual apartment you may be buying - they use better brand appliances and have taken the liberty to remove certain walls. These rooms were packed with potential buyers *cough, speculators*

This first-phase apartment (5 towers) will be available for move-in in early 2009, coinciding with the MTR station's completion. Note that you will be listening for construction noise through 2015, as they build out the 21,500 apartments in 50 towers in the next 8-12 phases!

See here for marketing materials

The Close
The best part (said facetiously) of the visit is the large room you visit after you exit the rooms. The room is completely filled with little tables and little chairs which are occupied by agents and potential buyers. I sat down with the agent I came with, and was promptly approached by two of her seniors, one who had obviously been given the role of the "Closer". Little did I know this was the intent of the entire day.

The Closer pitched me the "no risk" investment move of putting down HKD50,000 for the "right" to bid on apartments, once the list was to come out the following week. If you didn't put this money in, apparently you couldn't have first dibs on those apartments. The way it was explained to me, once you saw the apartment prices and decided you didn't want to act, the $50K would be refunded asap. Further, the $50K wasn't even a real charge on your credit card, it was supposed to be just a "hold". (I later found out that I did get charged, and didn't get refunded until 3.5 weeks later).

Prices:
Although I didn't buy in, I did learn about the purchase process - once you decide you want to buy, you only have to put down 5% to "own" the apartment. Following this, you make 3 additional 5% payments before you actually have to get a mortgage. During this few months' time period, you are free to sell/flip the apartment and pocket the proceeds.

They ended up selling almost all of the 2,096 units in phase 1, with the outstanding 20 going to auction. My agent recently told me that her clients' of this building have been offered a 10% premium but have turned it down, suggesting more potential upside.

Just a few typical car accidents in HK

From scanning local news stories you can get a glimpse of the vast wealth in Hong Kong:

"April 2, 2008
Two women hurt in head-on collision between car and taxi

A Porsche and a taxi collided head-on in Shau Kei Wan yesterday, injuring two people. The Porsche was making an illegal right turn from the eastbound lane of Shau Kei Wan Road into Ngoi Man Street when the collision happened at 11.34am, police said. Two women passengers in the taxi, aged 55 and 80, suffered minor injuries and were treated at Eastern Hospital. Both drivers were unhurt. In a separate accident, a red Ferrari was damaged when it hit the anti-crash barrier of the Nga Cheung Road flyover in Yau Ma Tei at 11.58pm on Monday. The 39-year-old driver, who was not hurt, passed a breathalyser test."

Original article here, but you need subscription to view.

The most expensive license plate in the world

Referring to the "This is how they roll in Hong Kong" post, under the "Hong Kong" label, here is a photo of a Hong Kong car which has both the local HK license plate (yellow) and the one that lets you cross into China (black). The latter is the one that costs about USD 50K.

Bentley gets Ticketed

Illegally-parked Bentley gets what he/she deserves by way of police writing them a ticket.
Location: Soho/Lan Kwai Fong, Hong Kong

Two thumbs up for the HK Constables

Last night I had a noise complaint at 2AM and did as I always do in other countries - I called the police. They responded quickly, caringly, and with in force. They called me on their cell phone when near the apartment building in question (the apartment generating the noise was a neighboring one) to find out more specific directions. When they couldn't locate it, they actually called me to come up to my apartment - to see where the building was, and what noise was coming from it. I was a bit startled when they showed up with 3 policemen, but it showed that they cared (or that it was a slow night in Happy Valley). After the visit, they proceeded to visit the apartment in question and crack down on the party. After they made the visit they even called me back to find out if the noise had died down. It had, which was great. Unfortunately, it picked up again 10 minutes later. Those damn expats with nothing else to do but party on weekday nights (2nd night in a row).

(Yes, in Hong Kong, they call the police "constables")
For your information:HK is so advanced that it has online complaint forms for Noise and other issues: HERE

Here are some useful police phone numbers: HERE

Where's the Coke?

Location: Wellcome Supermarket, Happy Valley, Hong Kong
Issue: Abnormally low levels of Coke in sealed bottles. It's about 2-3 inches from the top, vs. the normal 1.... Not to worry, it's probably just due to lack of QC at the Chinese factory it was bottled in.

Sleep problems? Get a foot massage

Now that the weather has warmed up in HK, and I don't need to turn on my heater while sleeping, I've lost sleep due to the street noise coming through loud and clear. I've luckily discovered a way to recoup some sleep by getting a foot massage. After the initial foot soak and back rub, I pretty much pass out for the remainder (usually 50 minutes/session).


If you do decide that you'll be a repeate massagee in HK, I suggest taking advantage of the pre-pay packages, which usually save you 20-40%. I did the save 40% by purchasing HKD5,000 at Zhong Yi Guan in Happy Valley. However, the promotions only come up once in awhile.


I've only been to that massage place, and I've been happy so far. They are clean and skilled at body and foot massage. The only downside is that there is not much space (probably a HK thing), so you can hear other people speaking at times. Taiwan has more space.

COME ON!

My latest trip to City Super in Times Square revealed some more extraordinarily overpriced foods. Note the head of broccoli which costs HK$42.70 (~US$5.55)! The Dragon Fruit costs about HK$39 or US$5 (To put this into perspective, in Taiwan, a dragon fruit costs about $1, and in HK a meal at a local restaurant costs about HK$30). Paying a premium for quality fruit and veggies isn't that crazy, especially for organic or imported goods. However, paying about 500% for these goods is crazy. (That said, I bought some $7 romaine lettuce the other day for my salad, and about $4 for my red bell pepper). COME ON!

This is how they roll in Hong Kong

You've got to have THE car, not just any car. It must be a luxury vehicle. You get bonus points for loud engines. Multiple vehicles, rare vehicles.

Anything else would be uncivilized.

Once you get it/them, you have to annoint it with all that shows that you are in the SAR game. Club plates, China plates (USD 50,000 gets you this right), a driver. Once you're there you can't just rest on your laurels, as the guy who's got the adjacent parking space in your building has told you about the deposit he's just placed for the 2008 lambo. You've got to get a package - Brabus rims, Chanel upholstery, German glass.... (yea, couldn't think of anything better).

Custom suits don't mean all that much, as they come quite cheap here. However, well-tailored name brand suits / custom-tailored high-end cloth will definitely get you on the list. Even if you only make 20K/year, you've got to get the thousand-dollar her outfit if you work in Central. You can't show up to work without the latest in heels either.

Everyone's an investor, and these days - everyone makes bank in the market (except me). A friend told me that he was recently at the well-known rich man's Chinese restaurant, and chatted it up with a waiter. The waiter ended up revealing that he'd invested his savings into one of the many Chinese bank IPOs in HK, and he'd netted HKD4mn (USD500K+)... yes, he's still a waiter.

You've got to have a maid... or two or three. Heaven forbid that you actually have to raise your own children! Feed them? Bathe them? Dress them? Not for any self-respecting HK-er. They'll just get a few Bun-Moy's or a few Nepalese. They're like US$600-$1000 / month for full-time live-in service. You can ask them to make you any food you want, anytime. Clean this, clean that!
.................

Bored of Happy Valley Food

I'm so sick of the food in Happy Valley. I've gone through my local HK cha can tang phase, where you can get dinner for US$4. That ended when I found a piece of twine in my bitter melon beef (they said it was from the veggies). The rice there is also pretty bad, kind of day old and wettish. Incidentally, I like to get Wat Dan (slimy egg) anything, or Chicken with Corn. Next I went through the higher quality Chinese food phase, (Pang's kitchen), where dinner will set you back about 10 to 15 USD (rice costs extra!). I've also (briefly) gone through the McDonalds phase, given that it's open 24 hours and costs even less than the US. I've most recently gone through the Western food phase, satisfying it with Il Bel Paese, the local italian grocer which thankfully offers ready made pastas and sides. The cheese there is actually priced competitively vs. City Super or the Great.



If I want to go upscale a little bit on the weekend with 1 or 2 of the friends I have in HK, I can go to Yakitori Tei and Barbarian, which are equally good yakitori places (Tei has better atmosphere, but I've never been upstairs at Barbarian which seems to be more happening than the small downstairs).

King's Palace Congee is another midend (my hyphen key broke) Chinese place, that features a BBQ pork dish called SIK SUN (or god of food/cooking, like the Stephen Chow movie). It's good but has a oddly likeable sauce on the rice. It also comes with a fried egg on it.

There's a famous roast meat place on Sing Woo Rd, but it's not that great. It's practically free, but the BBQ pork is not all that. It's actually not as fatty as you'd like it to be.

Note: Tonight I went to Times Square to find some decent food. Unfortunately, all I found was some discounted City Super spider roll. I trammed it back to the Valley and had a chicken sandwich and a big n tasty. God help me...

Expensive Fruit

Carrots from Japan (HKD 38 for 2, or USD 4+, on the bottom right back):
Cantelope from japan (HKD 400 for 1, or USD 50+):

Link to a Happy Valley blogster

While looking for the Happy Valley Police Station phone number, I turned up this other blog: Powmarday. Looks like this person's been living in Happy Valley much longer than I have, and has posted up a bunch of interesting HK and Happy Valley info.

Enjoy...

This is HONG KONG ..... poker

(The title of this post was a reference to 300)

This is how Poker is done in Hong Kong. Rent a room in a Mahjong parlor (which is legal in HK), which offers poker chips ("chou ma"), cards, and dinner for additional fees. Note the fat size of the HK Do-sun chips. Unfortunately, they do not offer the plastic bricks worth $100 mn each, which you see in Do-sun. Also disappointing was not seeing any fights where mahjong tables are flipped, or gangsters with watermelon knives "chop" people.

It was also interesting that many people fold-out when they don't have to (on a check), just to prevent opponents from seeing their cards.

Some key poker words in Canto:
Fold=Tseep

All In=Sai Lang

Put you all in=Sai le lang

Put you and your #@$! family all in=Sai le tong le gou pok gai hum ga cham

Do you have the balls to X? Do you have enough courage=Lai gou mm gou geurng?Scared=Luuuut

Pics of the poker room:

Happy Valley Racetrack's unsung side

Walking home from work today....

(above: views from East end of track)

(left: view of field hockey practice)

(about: views of joggers and soccer/football players, with nice high rises in background)

(above: view of race-stands on North side)

(above: view of east side)