Sexist

I'm considering starting to wear a skirt in the morning when I need to get a taxi. This morning a taxi moves towards me, and then suddenly changes its course and heads for the pretty girl in the red skirt on the other side of the road. At eight-something in the morning and before my first coffee that is bound to get me very, very annoyed. Sexist taxi driving pig. Grumble.

New gadget

Discovering iGoogle (yeah, I'm slow on the update when it comes to these things) and found a Blogger gadget that is now on my homepage. Hopefully that will prompt me to post something a bit more often...

My new favourite bit of Engrish

I may not have the leeks but I have the brian.

Spotted on a t-shirt in HK. Classic!!

Been a while...

Been a while since I've posted something... Life is passing by, I'm enjoying it, what more is there to tell?

I could tell you that I am still in Hong Kong. That I am still in a wonderful relationship with the same guy I met in July last year and whom I love like I haven't loved anyone before. Could tell you about the trips to Tokyo and Bangkok. About the fact that i moved from my 5th floor walk-up appartment in Tai Hang to the 21st floor of a building in Sheung Wan. About the people I've met and the different corners of Hong Kong that I've discovered.

Maybe I will. Time to get blogging again.

Bad breath

One of the sales guys from the Island Shangri-La just called at the office to talk about the hotel facilities and the promotions they have. The guy was very friendly, but unfortunately he had really bad breath. But he tells his story, hands over a few brochures, and then as a gift he gives me... two little boxes of mints. Brilliant.

Dim Sum Coma

Well not quite a Dim Sum Coma since I had rice and curry, but still. Feeling really sleepy after lunch :)

Coffee!

Now you know

Wonder where I lost that one.

Used to have one of these in London, wonder where I lost that one. Probably my ex who ran off with it. It was funny to see the reactions wenever I wore this :)

Singapore. FUCK!!!!!

:-(

Be creative or keep your presents.

This Christmas I got impressed by the amount of paper that was put to waste after the presents were opened, and not in a good way. Whereas some people make an effort to re-use wrapping materials (yep, that's you sis), most go the lazy way and have it all wrapped in fresh new paper at the shop where they buy the presents. Well here's a bold statement for next year: if my present isn't wrapped in previously used paper or a different wrappiong material that has already been used or can be used for different purposes afterwards, you can keep it.

Bold statement indeed, but think about it: you all know that I barely care for what is conventional or traditional just for the sake of it. I like creativity and if you make a bit of an effort I will enjoy your present a lot more. Use previously used wrapping paper. Wrap the present in a piece of fabric (hey, if you put it in a t-shirt I get two gifts!). Even last week's newspaper will do (trust me, it has been done before). Just don't use fresh paper - even if you choose recycled wrapping paper energy has been put to waste to produce it.

Have a look at http://www.bobowrap.com/ for a stylish, ecological alternative for wrapping paper. Looks a lot nicer too in my opinion.

Oh and while you're at it: get rid of the plastic tape too. There are lots of ways to avoid it, and if you can't think of any feel free to get inspiration from this link: http://www.represent.uk.com/futurepresent/

London...

I'm flying out to London tomorrow morning. Company is shipping us all over to attend the annual Christmas ball on the 18th, and after that I'll be hanging around for a few days to see friends before moving on to Belgium on the 22nd. I'm really looking forward to seeing you all!!

Not looking forward to the cold that much though. It's a mild 21 degrees here in HK, still wore short and flipflops on my way to work yesterday.

Cambodia Postal eeeerh... ''Service''

Alex finally received the postcard I sent when i was in Cambodia, almost two months later. Not only were these the most expensive postcards I've ever sent while on holiday ( 1 USD for a stamp, even though the value was only 0.5 USD - bloody ripoff), they're also the slowest ones to arrive.

My guess is that they've sent a postman on a bike from Phnom Penh to Hong Kong to deliver it :)

*** UPDATE 15/12/08: my mum let me know that my card to them has arrived too. It was stamped 27/11/08 - means they kept it lying around in Cambodia for a month and a half :)

Chill...

At the beginning of the week the temperatures in Hong Kong suddenly dropped to 16-23 degrees. Flip flops disappeared, and all of a sudden everyone was wearing jackets, scarves, long trousers... And then there was me at the same bus stop with these people, wearing shorts, t-shirt and flipflops. Thought it was quite nice, to be honest, really mild weather.

Not looking forward to the weather in Europe in December though. Sending my big winter jacket to the dry cleaner this weekend, I will be prepared...

Pictures!

Finally found some time to post some of my pictures online. These are all made with my mobile phone, i'm actually quite pleased with the result :)

See the whole batch at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kitanlondon/

Madge - close 'em sweetie.

Does anyone else out here think that Madonna has come to an age where she should be closing her legs in pictures? Who really wants to see a 50yo with her legs wide open?

By all means keep making music, sweetheart, but close 'em legs, yeah? I know you're anxious to be 'shocking' people but it's starting to look a tad cheap. Have some class.

Cambodia

back in Hong Kong after a great holiday in Cambodia. A few impressions...

Cambodian people are really, really friendly. Haven't been to many places where people seem so genuinely nice.

The temples in Angkor completely live up to their reputation, they are amazing. Kicked off the flipflops and climbed them barefoot - they're pretty steep too!

Traffic in Cambodia is funny. Lots and lots of scooters, with up to 5 people on one scooter (daddy holdingt he handlebars, mommy in the back, in between two kids and an extra one standing between dad's legs). Add a load of tuk-tuks, some cars and a handful of bikes and the road is full. Traffic lights merely indicate the presence of a crossroad, but even when the light is red people just keep going everywhere. Driving happens on the right hand side of the road, but no one really blinks an eye when you drive against traffic or make strange u-turns. Since everyone moves at 30 km/h it's not really a problem when someone makes an unexpected move.

Food is great, but we were not adventurous enough to try the local snacks: deep fried tarantulas.

Street sellers are everywhere. From postcards to pirate copies of Lonely Planet guides, it's all there. Cutest offer came from a little kid. His siter was trying to sell us fridge magnets with pictures of the temples, and he clearly followed her example. So he pulls out two round, black magnets - plain magnets, no pictures or anything - and tries to sell these to me.

More to come...

How I feel today...

Taiwan

Long weekend in Hong Kong (public holiday on monday), quite a few days I still had to take as holidays, someone willing to travel with me, and a very reasonably priced package deal... what do you do? That's right - book a trip to Taiwan.

It was one fo these trips where everything seesm to go wrong, but the more it does go wrong the funnier it becomes. A typhoon was passing over Taiwan on sunday, so flights got cancelled and delayed. Our was delayed by about 6 hours, but Alex managed to get us on an earlier flight so in the end we only got there about an hour later than planned. The streets were empty, no traffic at all, people were staying in while the rain washed the streets clean.

At the hotel we got an upgrade to the top floor suite because there were so many cancellations. It was amazing: pink walls, white Louis XV-XVI furniture, and a large bathtub with jets and colour changing lights. The public areas of the hotel were decorated in the brightest colours and patterns, never seen anything like it.

We decided to go tot he famous 24h Eslite bookstore, and that's where it started. It had been open for 15 years non stop, and closed for renovation 2 days before we arrived. Then there was the Confucius temple: closed for restauration until the 25th. The open air observatory deck of Taipei 101: closed for maintenance. The big concert hall on the square by the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall: in scaffolding. Etc etc. All we could do was laugh, the weekend ended up being so different from what we had imagined it, and there was just nothing we could do.

We had a good time though. Saw some nice things, had great food and had a very relaxed time at the hot springs. I guess I also should mention our visit to Hello Kitty Sweets, the one and only Hello Kitty cafe. As you can imagine we were the only guys in the there, the rest were girls :)

Taipei is a nice place, very friendly and damn cheap compared to Hong Kong. I'll be back there at some point, I'm sure. It's only an hour and a half away :)

Mid Autumn Festival

The Chinese festivals keep coming. After the Ghost Festical in August where people remember those who died, we now have the Mid Autumn Festival coming up. There's a dragon dance involved, some godess flying to the moon and a rabbit living in the moon (isn't it fun to be a cultural philistine?) but more importantly: there are mooncakes. Traditional mooncakes are pastries of about 10cm diameter, with a crusty pastry outside layer and a filling of lotus seed paste. In the middle is a lotus seed and a salty duck egg yolk. These traditional mooncakes are still available, but at the same time many modern versions are on the market, with fillings ranging from chocolate trufffle to caviar or foie gras.

I tried the traditional one - got to go for the real thing, I say - and it tastes disgusting. Really, really heavy, to start with. The lotus seed paste is sweet, but tastes strange, and the contrast with the salty yolk is just horrible. Tried it, didn't like it, won't have it again thankyouverymuch!

push push push

Let's clear up one misunderstanding about the Chinese. You have that image in mind of serene, patient, meeky people. Forget you ever had that thought. Here are a few situations that I encounter every day here in Hong Kong.

In the morning when i take the MTR (Mass Transport Railway) and get off at Admiralty station, there is a rush to the escalators. Being used to London, where people patiently follow the mass of people to get on to the escalator, I was quite surprised to see that over here people have a lot less patience. While people are queuing to get on, there always are people who go right to the front of the queue and push in from the side. When I say 'push in', I mean that quite literally: they push. In London people observe a certain patience and politeness towards each other. Not here. The worst offenders are invariably women, they are just plain rude at times.

A second example. After I get up the escalator, I get to the lift lobby at the Lippo Centre, where I work. Four elevators next to each other, and a bunh of people waiting along the width of the four doors. When a lift arrives, people who happen to stand in front of that door get in, select the floor where they asre heading, and then right after that start pushing the 'close doors' button - not once, but over and over again. Do they care about the people who are a bit of a distance away and have to walk to the right doors first? Not at all. I've seen it happen several times that people are still walking towards the elevator and inside someone is already playing a drum solo on the button so it closes before the person actually reaches the doors. Again - very rude and inconsiderate when seen through western eyes.

The funny thing is though that you take over these bad habits. An eye for an eye, I guess. See that woman running on her stilettos to get to the lift in time? Oh, the sheer satisfaction of pushing that button so the doors close right before she gets there...