An Overweight Tale

Yes, you are not mistaken, this post contains Chinese and I used my beloved iPhone to write every single word as well. I am proud of myself and I think I do deserve a star sticker right? :) It was inspired by an incident inside the MTR and by someone who made me smile a lot recently. What I did here is to translate the Chinese I wrote into English so this will be my first ever bi-lingual post. (Rita, are you going to call me a copycat? HAHA) Not directly on the topic of food but somewhat related in my opinion.

Relax My Friend!

Hong Kong  MTR experienced an unanticipated accident (accident is always unexpected / unanticipated for those who actually wonder on that!) whereby one of the power cables was loosen between two major stations during morning rush hour. It caused great inconvenience to many passengers and arranged shuttle to transport strained passengers to the nearest functional station (which is actually 10 mins by foot). Many passengers were furious about the accident (or more accurately on MTR) for many reasons such as (1) late for work, (2) strained in the station for 15 mins??,  (3) unable to get on shuttle to the next station which is mere 10 mins by foot or  (4) MTR should have notified them earlier.

Wake up and relax my friends! They called it an accident for a reason! Accident happens, stop blaming or complaining and get on with it! Your yelling will not help the matter by a single bit! Although MTR is a semi-public company, I seriously doubt they want such accident to happen right? I noticed that more people nowadays like to blame or complain for the sake of doing so to make themselves feel better to feel "just?"

Is it true that ... "Our culture peculiarly honors the act of blaming, which it takes as the sign of virtue and intellect." --- Lionel Trilling ... ?

Nation

Conversation with Taxi Driver

I missed my shuttle to home so I took the taxi instead. During this 5 mins ride, my taxi driver in his early 50s I assumed, tried to strike a conversation with me and somehow led to the following ...

Driver: " ... the younger generation of taxi drivers ... fxxk man, they think they are race car drivers, neglecting passenger's safety! It is a shame to the industry, really! ... fxxk! ... it is a service industry afterall! "

Me: "I have to agree with you, the same seems to apply to bus drivers nowadays."

Driver: "Don't you get me started with bus drivers and mini bus drivers! [raising his voice by 3 levels] ... not only do they think they are race car drivers, they just don't give damn about the passengers ... they break like he is driving his own card and I was rocking on the bus, not to mention those elders who can't even stand still properly! ... this is sad you know!"

Me: "yes I know ... I agree ... "

And I do agree with him, how about you? I was speechless because he was so right! Drivers, all kinds of drivers nowadays, are driving as if they are F1 drivers! Complaints are useless ... sigh

I enjoy chatting with taxi drivers for many reasons and the above meaningful exchanges encourage me to do that more often!



---

Rail

Slippery

Turtles fighting for food!

Stop! It's Red Light!

Need a Pair?

Wan Chai 灣仔 (Hong Kong) - Snapshots

Things I will never get used to ...

I am usually not the type that would listen to music on the go but recently I notice my new habit of putting on earphones and crank up the music whenever traveling on all types of public transportation in Hong Kong.

After so many years living in Hong Kong, I am still very annoyed and not used to the loudness or outright noise pollution around me. Perhaps it is part of growing that made me very impatient nowadays. Instead of forcing myself to blend into the background noise I now opt to crank up my music and let the noise pollution takes it own course around me.

My recent tug-o-war experience with a stranger on holding the lift door open for a running lady was another common incident and situation I often put myself in. It is a simple gesture that a kid should know but why the heck do people in Hong Kong keep on ignoring??? Is it really that painful to wait for someone? Is it really that important to save the precious few seconds?

Some random thoughts of the day

Some random thoughts of the day:

• When queuing up for cash at ATM, it is ALWAYS the line next to you that moves faster!!!
• Dumping your own tray / trash at fast food joints like MacD or Burger King, would it ever work in Hong Kong?
• Holding the door for strangers, is that a kind act or stupid one to most people in Hong Kong? humm ... I guess I will continue to be the stupid one if that is the case ... I really don't mind ...
  

Life as I know it ... or perhaps ... Life as I KNEW it

I have been reading Alain de Botton's The Art of Travel and I somehow find the following excerpt quite fitting and "spot on" regarding how I have been feeling for quite some time since my return back to Hong Kong.

Charles Baudelaire [has a] lifelong ambivalence towards travel ... No sooner had he returned to Paris from his Mauritian trip than he began to dream once again of going somewhere else. Nothing, 'Life is a hospital in which every patient is obsessed with changing beds: this one wants to suffer in front of the radiator, and that one thinks he'd get better if he was by the window, ... [I]t always seems to me that I'll be well where I am not and this question of moving is one that I am forever entertaining with my soul.' ... The destination was not really the point. The true desire was to get away -- to go, as he concluded, 'anywhere! anywhere! so long as it is out of the world!' --- The Art of Travel by Alain de Botton, p31.

I no longer think this way, I am over that phase and turned over a new leaf; but I am certain that many out there can still relate to. I now understand that this is not the right away to life or anything for that matter. One should make the most out of your current state and move forward with hope, strength and determination.

The Art of Observation ...

I am not weird at all, I just find it interesting to watch people, study their behavior at different locations, settings and times. The way how each individual behave tells a unique story and I often let my imagination fills in the blanks to complete the story.

When I watch people dance in a Jazz club / lounge, I often see people with a genuine smiles on their faces, expressing their emotions through their steps and moves. Loving couples would dance passionately and look at each other in such a way that some passionate kissing are bound to occur. Not to mention the occasionally ass grabbing.

When I travel on the MTR, there are all sort of things that interest me. I realized a while ago that there seems to be a pattern of things one sees during different time of day.

Morning Rush Hour @ MTR

• People reading newspaper (from hard copies, on mobile phones or people reading off other's)
• People sleeping / napping either standing or sitting down
• People listening to their music
• The general atmosphere was rather quiet and depressing with very few hints of smiles or energy which morning stands for.
  

Evening Rush Hour @ MTR

• People Reading Tabloid Magazines
• People chatting energetically over the phones (where did the energy comes from?)
• People listening to music
• Not smiles once again but plenty of raised eyes brows as a result of crowds pushing onto the train at every major station.
• People getting out of the train by squeezing through the crowds without saying excuse me
• People standing still in the middle of the train door without a slight intent to move aside to let passengers alight the train

Evening at coffee shops

• People discussing about their financial futures and other related insurance options.
• Students reading through their notes with their head nodding along the musics from their iPods.

Outside Jockey Club Betting Branches

• Groups of middle aged men standing or leaning against the street rail outside the branches with newspaper in one hand and a radio or some sort on the other
• People sitting inside the betting branch, all facing a row of monitors hanging off the ceiling displaying a bunch of numbers flickering in different colors. (which reminds me of groups of ladies and lads inside bank branches all looking up into a single monitor with their fast moving hand over a number pad

I don't know why but I find all these little details very intriguing. I like to piece all these details together in understanding how such behavior come to be so. Eating behavior is another interesting area to explore in my opinion.

So you think you love to read?

I thought I love to read but perhaps not as much as this little boy at Dymock @ IFC. Or was the little doing some kind of exercises?

Time for some music & XMAS music of course!

It is almost time for XMAS and I did some XMAS shopping today: CDs shopping to be exact! I came across Andrea Bocelli's latest album My Christmas and I grabbed it without much thinking in preparation for the upcoming festive season!

(Pic from: http://www.sugarmusic.com/)

I got more than just a Christmas CD of course, I got something ... interesting and unique!! I was attracted by both the unfamiliar face on this album and the title of it which reads:《介乎法國與旺角的詩意》 "poetics – something between montparnasse and mongkok." This CD is a local production by a local band named My Little Airport which formed back in 2004. Their latest release is their 4th album already. I was both surprised and humored by the song lyrics which combine social and political satire of the Hong Kong society. Well done! My Little Airport has my full support!

Pic from: http://www.mylittleairport.com/index.htm
Facebook Fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/mylittleairport
Check out the songs lyrics here: http://www.mylittleairport.com/lyrics_04.htm

General Studies (通識教學) ... yet another failed attempt!

After reading the features from CUP Magazine November 2009 Issue 94, I have the following the add to the discussion. I am in agreement with Mr. Chip Tao regarding the failed attempt in driving the Hong Kong's education system in including teaching subject of Liberal Studies or the so-called General Studies (通識教學)

I think placing a label or having a category of its own is already an incorrect approach to the concept of Liberty Studies / General Studies. It is a life long learning process or "life experiences" for a lack of a better word. It is an attitudes towards learning, there are no specific subject areas to teach; the quest to learn has to be self-motivated, knowledge-driven and self-experienced. I know it is lame to say it but it is not about what you have learned, it is about how you are to process / apply what you have learned. General studies to me is "living" or perhaps "the desire to live your life to the fullest."

One of the main sources of knowledge is from the news / newspapers; however many students and youngsters in Hong Kong could not care less about current affairs. Go grab one of Hong Kong's Chinese-based newspapers and there is a high chance you may find the Entertainment related sections to be the thickest and that they are the only sections many youngsters care to read. Again, it is the attitude towards knowledge that has to be changed, forcing the subject of General Studies as part of the school curriculum would change nothing!

How did we come to this? In my opinion, there are many factors in my opinion, the Chinese culture developed over the past few centuries is one major factor and the relatively short-sightedness of the Hong Kong's society (due to its unique history) can be another. I am not going to go into details of the reasons behind it because I am not an expert in social sciences or cultural studies; but what I do know is that we should act fast before our next generation starts to have difficulties in developing logical & independent thinking or even worst, no interest in learning!

Cover Page from CUP Magazine

Breakfast at ...

I don't mind getting up early very morning, it is what I am getting up for that truly bothers me. What is your motivation in getting up every morning? If it is for a nice relaxing breakfast then I am all up for it! To quote form Anthony Bourdain's Kitchen Confidential, "food, to me, has always been an adventure." What can be better than to start your day off with an adventure in Gastronomy every morning!

Somehow it reminded me of the movie Breakfast at Tiffany's! I don't why but it was a great movie indeed! I am thinking about breakfast already ... perhaps Almond Croissant and a cup of coffee at LE SALON DE THÉ de Joël Robuchon?

A Billboard for Halloween ?!?!?!

I took the following three pictures recently at the Discovery Bay (on Halloween actually). If I am correct, It is a billboard commissioned by the Islands District Council in celebration of the 60th birthday of the PRC. I took these pictures of the billboard at a different time of the day: (1) under the sun, (2) evening & (3) night. Take a look before I tell you what I think about it ... it is not going to be pretty I tell ya !

(1) Under the Sun


(2) Evening


(3) Night

The bill board is just PLAIN UGLY !!! Its presence near the pier and bus station destroys the whole peaceful and relaxing atmosphere of Discovery Bay. This is LIGHT POLLUTION! If you tell me the 4 figures standing left and right of the billboard are for Halloween purposes, I might just believe you! Please remove it ASAP !! If a visitor like me is complaining about it, I am sure local residences would start to protest or write a petition for its removal soon right!?????

Stay Positive, Stay Creative !

Piano Staircase



The World Deepest Bin



The fun theory
http://www.rolighetsteorin.se/en/