Dubai Signage

Here we have two non-PC signs in Dubai:


All I have to say is that this was taken in Dubai...

YouTube (STILL) has no business model

Two years and $1.65 Bn later (not including operating expenses for the last 2 years), YouTube and daddy Google still have not figured it out yet.

Popppppping

Clip of girl doing her popping...

Spain's Basketball team of Bigots

I guess it's not all that surprising to read that the Spain's entire olympic basketball team posed for a photo while posing as Chinese, stretching their eyes to look "Chinky". What can you expect from a bunch of jocks? I'm glad it wasn't the US team, although this reminds me of how Shaq made "ching-chong" sounds when talking to Yao Ming years ago. But still, they are at the largest sporting event in the world, so they should have some sensibility. By the way, the Spanish women's bball team posed for a similar photo.

HK - the land of construction

Originally drafted in July 08, but not tended to until now. Here is a photo of how nonstop Hong Kong construction is. They dig up the concrete of the Tram (electric train which costs 25 cents to ride), WHILE the tram is live. When the Tram approaches, they gather their equipment and move the earth-mover to the side. Upon moving forward, (which is where I took the pic from), they resume digging!

Japan in Taiwan

Taiwanese have an affection for all things Japan, probably due to their close "history" (Japan occupying Taiwan). Here you see a Baskin Robbins inside a Matsusei supermarket (large enough to have its own parking lot) - note the Japanese writing below "Baskin Robbins".

The Proof is in the Pudding: Google's YouTube ad revenue short of expectations

Google's $1.65 Billion-Dollar-Baby, named "YouTube", just disappointed investors with an unexpected revenue shortfall. They did bring in $200 Million in sales, but this was less than expected. Have they even earned a single cent for Google since the acquisition in October 2006? Who knows... doubtful, when you have a business model that's predicated on illegally-obtained web traffic. They themselves recently decided not to place ads within the videos of copyright-violating videos (that means that they are aware of and know exactly where copyright-violating videos are). This however does not mean that they will not sell site ads which run while illegal videos run on the site.

Nugget: Google's stock closed at 429 on 10/9/06, the day of the announcement, and now trades at about 540. 14% annualized return, which isn't bad given Nasdaq fell about 2% during the same period. But who knows what it would've been without having ingested that fat, illegal, baby.

Burn.

Wii Game: Fishing Master

This is a Japanese Wii game, called Fishing Master. After you catch a fish, this is the type of screen the pops up, with the fish animated, swimming about. Stunning, just stunning.

Expensive Jelly

Food: Loquat Jelly
Origin: Japan
Store: Citysuper Times Square, Hong Kong
Cost: HK$ 25 (about 3 USD)
Rating: 2/5 stars - there was a decent amount of fruit in here, whole pieces. However, the fruit had a grainy texture, not sure if that's just an inherent feature of the fruit. The jelly was.... well, jelly.

Another small win against copyright infringer YouTube

Another small victory in the fight against behemoth online video host YouTube, as the Law has ruled in favor of plaintiff Viacom (the lawsuit was combined with a similar case filed by a British soccer league and other parties) that parent company Google provide the data which will show whether YouTube viewers are viewing IP-protected videos disproportionately more than other videos. Viacom is seeking over $1 Billion in damages. This ruling will give Viacom full access to YouTube's non-personally identifiable viewer histories.

Fight the Power!

China extends its long reach

Recently, Taiwan and China agreed to begin direct flights on a regular basis, thus allowing passengers to save time (and potentially $) by not having to travel through Hong Kong each time (that's the current flight path).

Just wanted to point out that China is trying to keep their control on their citizens, even when they're in Taiwan. "Chinese visitors to Taiwan will not be allowed to gamble or engage in "pornographic activities," China's state news agency reported Sunday.".

1. There are no casinos in Taiwan today - they might be just saying this ahead of speculation that casinos may be developed in the future, but come on. Just announce it then.
2. As if China doesn't turn a blind eye to its own "pornographic activities".

The Slimiest Creatures on Earth

This evening I found that I'd been walking around with a large, curved knife in my back for the last 12 hours. Who stabbed me? Oh, it was HR of course. Human Resources prides itself on pretending to be everyone's friend, but actually conspiring to shortchange you of what you deserve - your raise, your bonus, your health benefits. I was put in a difficult position recently, where I had to trust HR with critical information - against my instincts. Well, today I found out that this person did exactly what they promised not to. She explicitly said, "I will definitely not do xyz". Within one week mind you!

F*CK YOU HR - choke on pay stubs and burn in C&B hell.

(But please give me a raise and a big bonus, thanks.)

Money & Happiness

What is meaningful in life?

Family, a Partner, Kids, Career advancement...

What are key drivers of those? If you've managed to get married and have kids, I wonder if the happiness you get makes you lower the priority on career. Or, does it rachet up the pressure to perform at work and make more and more money since you have to fund a family in perpetuity. You could just get "a job" and spend quality time with the family, instead of killing yourself to get them the finer things in life, give them better lives than you had. But I would feel like a bit of a failure, as I expect each generation to do better than the next.

Money allows us to "do things" in life, with our family, for our family and ourselves. Buying things both for utilitarian purposes and for materialistic purposes is obviously enabled by financial well-being. Being in Hong Kong has affected my buying habits - I'm pretty frugal, but I now find myself buying things I previously would never have considered, and without much consideration. I do this because it gives me gratification, a bit of happiness in a boring life. Ooo, a new camera, what about a new cell phone? How about some brand name leather shoes? Custom suit? Video game system? Got to have that PC. How about that hunk o' cheese that costs 4X the US price at CitySuper? Well, at least I haven't graduated to anything more damaging, not that I could afford to.

Anyways, my hypothesis is that if I had unlimited funds I would be able to focus on the things that really matter in life, and achieve a greater happiness...and that's not the purchasing of electronics.

Home Cookin'

Mac & Cheese

Today I schlepped to Sogo and bought a casserole just so I could make Mac & Cheese. It pretty much worked out, though I toned down the butter content, and skipped the sour cream. It might've been more creamy had I left the sour cream in. Also, I wouldn't recommend the full cup of bread crumbs which the recipe called for - it's too much and it kind of absorbs too much of the cheese sauce.

Play with Rabbits... and then get Carpal Tunnel Syndrome

Pictures of Rayman Rabid Rabbids 2, a Wii Game by Ubisoft I recently bought. These are just shots from the initial intro, a mini movie which is pretty funny - it shows an invasion of the planet by these rabbits. It's a good multiplayer game. In order to play you need to risk carpal tunnel syndrome and shake two hands vigorously at almost all times. But hey, it kills time.

Views of Hong Kong - Happy Valley & Causeway Bay

Recent views of Hong Kong on a misty/polluted day.
Photo 1: View of Happy Valley, from inside the Happy Valley Racetrack
Photo 2: View of Causeway Bay, from outside the Cosmopolitan Hotel

YouTube continues its folly in non-management of content

Apparently, YouTube serves as a great distribution channel for not just pirated content but also terrorist propaganda. Joe Lieberman on Monday asked YouTube to remove "video content produced by terrorist organizations that showed assasinations, deaths of U.S. soldiers and civilians, weapons training, "incendiary" speeches and other material intended to 'encourage violence against the West.'"

However, YouTube (in Google-like fashion) simply refused the request (see this PCWorld article). Instead, it seems to use an ad-hoc type of content monitoring, which leaves much IP and terrorist material online for all the world to see. And how do you prevent a minor from viewing terrorist material on YouTube's site? Oh, you can't. Even if they label it mature material, the minor can go through the motions and agree that they are over 18.

Excerpt from the PCWorld article:
Mark Hopkins, a blogger for Mashable, noted that YouTube has been "capricious and arbitrary" in deciding what content promotes hate speech or violence and should be removed. For example, he pointed out that YouTube took down a video showing victims of a Muslim terrorist attack, but allowed videos of homeless people who were paid to beat each other. A video of clothed females in Hong Kong with derogatory music towards women being played in the background was removed, while a video of a strip tease with nudity was allowed to remain on the site, he noted.

Good job YouTube, you continue to provide the masses with bootleg movies, tv shows, and terrorist-sponsored material, with no proper business model or profits. Kudos.

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)

Beer Girl in Japan

I attended this year's Japanese pro basketball league finals (termed the "BJ Finals"). Below are some shots of a girl selling draft beer to fans. You can see that she's actually carrying the keg on her back!

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.

Tokyo Night Scene

Attended a Belvedere Vodka sponsored event at Desert Rose, a club in Ginza. One of our Tokyo-based friends tried to disassociate himself from the idea of bringing us there as the pole scene isn't really his thing.

Cover charge for males was JPY4,000; for females, JPY3,000. It includes 2 drinks, each worth JPY1,000 max and some "entertainment".

Japanese Sign

National "Treesure" - Kamakura-Kita, Tokyo Japan

Long Lost Twins? Sean Bean vs. Thomas Montag

Long lost twin brothers? Click pictures for links.

Sean Bean (Actor) Thomas Montag (Merrill Lynch, newly hired Head of Global Sales & Trading)

A "Feel Good" Video by Sick Puppies

Found this pretty cool video by "Sick Puppies".

"Obama's Tax Evasion"

Admittedly, I haven't been following the US elections closely. However, this Wall Street Journal editorial (4/21/08) sums up Obama's tax stance nicely, and presents factual backup (see graph below) that raising taxes leads to lower tax revenues, while reducing taxes leads to increased tax revenues. Below are a few of Obama's key tax policy points:

• He is "open" to raising capital gains taxes from the current 15% to 28%, which would affect the 100 million Americans owning stock and contradicts his campaign rhetoric, "I not only have pledged not to raise taxes, I've been the first candidate in this race to specifically say I would cut their [the middle class, who earns below 200-250K apparently] taxes."
• Lift the cap on wages subject to the payroll tax. That cap was $97,500 in 2007 and is $102,000 this year. "Those are a heck of a lot of people between $97,000 and $200[,000] and $250,000," said Mr. Gibson. "If you raise the payroll taxes, that's going to raise taxes on them."
  

Barry, thanks for making my voting decision easier!
Link to WSJ forum specific to this article

See here for historical evidence that reducing Capital Gains taxes results in higher tax income for the government as % of GDP

"Honeymoon will be short for Taiwan stocks"

In contrast to the vast majority of bulls on the Taiwan market since the presidential election, here is an article which tries to counter the bandwagon mentality.

This is in the context of:

• Taiwan Dollar has appreciated 7% vs USD this year, 2nd best in Asia
• Taiwan real estate has surged since the elections on Mar 22, in some places up 18%, due to speculation that foreign (HK & Mainland) investors would come in. Next Monday, a contingency of high profile mainland property developers are taking a tour of the island and potentially place some bets. Li Ka-Shing, the HK real estate mogul, has also recently announced similar interests in investing in Taiwan. His son, Richard Li, visited Taiwan in March to view property investment opportunities. Investing legend Jim Rogers has also begun investing in the island on expectations of improved cross-strait relations.
• Taiwan stock market has risen almost 10% since January vs. about a -3% loss for the Dow Jones, and a -8% loss for the Nasdaq (Click on below to enlarge image).
  

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.

Tips for capitalizing on RMB (CNY, Chinese Yuan, Renminbi, Chinese Dollar) appreciation in Hong Kong

The Hong Kong dollar is declining in value due to its unfortunate pegging to the US dollar, and the US dollar's extreme weakness against most other currencies. The RMB is at all time highs, thanks to its gradual, semi-moderated appreciation against a basket of foreign currencies. The RMB is still kept artificially cheap, which gives China's exports a price advantage. However, it's continued steam-letting by the central bank means a more or less guaranteed return should you buy the currency today. The RMB appreciated about 7% against the US dollar in 2007, and has gone up 4% since Jan 08. Forecasts predict it should do a total of 8-10% for FY08.
Therefore, how do YOU capitalize on this?
Buy RMB, of course. But there are a few options as to how to best do this.

Which Hong Kong bank has the best conversion rate?
Usually the HK banks are pretty much even, but I've learned that some banks (Shanghai Commercial Bank) offer better rates when you have a branch manager convert for you.

Which Hong Kong bank offers the best interest rate*?
Usually, local banks will offer better rates vs the global players, to attract deposits. A pretty blatant example of the variance in RMB interest rates is seen when comparing Wing Hang Bank to HSBC.

• HSBC offers a 0.5% interest rate (click here for all HSBC deposit rates) on RMB deposits of over 5,000. If you are under 5,000, you actually pay HSBC RMB50/month and get zero interest! Shanghai Commercial offers 0.70%, Wing Hang offers a 0.75% interest rate on RMB deposits over 1,000.
• For fixed RMB deposits 1-3 months, HSBC offers just 0.575%, Shanghai Commercial offers 0.80%, while Wing Hang offers 0.83%.

Which Hong Kong bank is the easiest to deal with?
Local banks are more paper-based, vs. web-based HSBC. Expect worse English but fast service, vs. HSBC's millions of customers waiting at the tellers and calling up the hotlines.

Other considerations
If you ever want to transfer RMB from one account to another, across different banks, you will have to withdraw cash to do so. There is currently no electronic transfer of RMB to RMB accounts in HK. Therefore, it's best to make the right decision upfront about which bank to stick with, or else get used to carrying wads of RMB 100 dollar bills from bank to bank, and dealing with the tellers counting and checking them one by one. Depending on the bank, they will check the condition and authenticity of the RMB with varying degrees of anality. The central bank, Bank of China apparently will not accept any bills that are torn or have any dirt/marks on Mao's face.
Shanghai Commerical Bank: Checks each bill on both sides, one with a fluorescent lamp to check for a special square-shaped stamp invisible to the naked eye. Anality rating of 5/5
Wing Hang Bank: Checks each bill on both sides, but does it expeditiously. No luminescent devices are used. Anality rating of 4/5. I had some bills rejected at Shanghai Commercial which were accepted at Wing Hang. Several dirty bills which were rejected, but then accepted after I used a wet paper towel to clean.
HSBC: Pretty loose. The bills they hand out are often soiled and torn, which causes the bills to be rejected by the other banks. Anality rating of 2/5.
Note: If you do get your bills rejected at other banks, you can still deposit them at HSBC or exchange with them for new bills.

How do you do it?
You can convert up to HKD 20,000 per day to RMB. Not sure if this is per account or per person - I tend to think there is no monitoring mechanism to prevent converting 20K per account per day.

*If you really want to get both the appreciation and the interest accumulation, then visit a branch in China to open an account. Then you get a 3+% interest rate instead of this sub-1% BS. You can set up wiring from HK to China accounts. However, getting the money from China to HK is somewhat more problematic - there are caps on getting that money out, unless you withdraw bricks of cash.
"Withdrawals from (local) Chinese banks are often limited, ranging from around RMB2,500 (US$350) to RMB6,000 (US$840) per withdrawal. However, some banks allow customers to make several withdraws in one day." - Chinese Economic Review, April 2008

For HSBC, a foreign bank, "Account holders can only withdraw US$50,000 in cash every year, with a current monthly limit of US$30,000 and an effective daily limit of US$7,900." - Chinese Economic Review, April 2008

Don't Touch the Birds!

Location: Taipei, Taiwan @ Guandu Nature Park

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

Reduce your US Taxable Income

I've always known in general about the USD 3K deduction, but always end up having to look up the rule for the details.

Here is a good, simple article on how you can use the 3K: HERE
Key points:

• You can use an infinite amount of capital losses to offset your capital gains in any given tax year
• A maximum of USD 3K of net losses can be used to deduct your taxable income for any given tax year.
• Therefore, if you have losses you can benefit from taking them before Dec 31st and thus reducing your taxable income.

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.

Curry Ching Chong

In a recent visit to Las Vegas, I encountered a situation so uniquely racist yet amusing that I had to note it here. In the Caesar's mall, I inadvertently walked into a large group's photo, and immediately said, "Sorry".

I was quickly met with a snide, "Ching Chong". Ahhh, the classic "Ching Chong". I thought only caucasion or african american's said that. However, I was quite surprised that this came from the lips of an Indian!

I turned around and said, "WHAT?" One apologized, but another jokingly said, "Well, we're all Terrorists anyways".

They all laughed.

I let out an awkward laugh as well, as I had been responded to in such a surprisingly perverse manner, I had no other out. After the fact, I wondered if I had let them off too easily. It's a sad day when fellow asian minorities degrade each other with terms created by non-asians.