Picture of the Day: New Old Coins

Lots of old coins, never used, in a tin box

My relatives have been busy doing some serious spring cleaning in their flat.

They are cleaning out really old magazines, books, clothes and anything else that they don't need; at the moment these items are all stacked up in the living room waiting to be taken away, as they live in a walk-up so they are saving this for the garbage man to manually collect day by day, or to take down themselves to a nearby recycling area or the local garbage dump.

They also found lots of money! Over HK$2,000 in coins! 

Before the Octopus card came out in 1997, people had to have exact change when boarding public transport, from buses to trams and ferries.

So their mother, who passed away several years ago, had gotten coins from the bank to ensure she always had enough change and after the Octopus card came out, the coins were forgotten and so much was amassed that my relatives hauled them to the bank to be counted. They even returned coins with the Queen's head on them (issued before 1997). 

Apparently no one is interested in buying these coins online.

She had also collected stamps and my relatives managed to sell a stamp book or two on an online buying and selling platform called Carousell for about HK$10 each. Who collects stamps these days?

Not only that, she also collected a lot of fresh bills, dating back to the 1970s, all of them from HSBC in a special booklet, and also coins too.

Some date back to 1960 which is quite amazing. They are all rolled up neatly in paper and labelled very clearly. I should also add she used to be a teacher, hence the clean hand writing.

In any event my relatives hope to find a buyer for these coins and bills and I hope they do. One man's junk is another man's treasure!

Get Free Rides on Election Day

Trams, buses and the MTR will be free December 19

In order to boost the voter turnout at the polls next Sunday, the government has made all trams, trains, and buses free that day.

The scheme will cost an estimated HK$35 million (US$4.5 million), and the government did not say whether it will reimburse the companies involved.

Passengers on the MTR will not need to tap in to use the train, as well as KMB, New World First Bus, Citybus and Hong Kong Tramways.

Some operators say they are forced to waive fares

However, the free rides won't be available on airport and border routes, overnight services, KMB's luxury buses, or most routes covering south Lantau. Minibuses, or Kaito ferry services.

"MTR will closely monitor train service on that day and implement appropriate operational measures to meet passenger demand. There will also be additional staff assisting passengers at stations," the company said.

A spokesman for one transport concern group warned that "many people will just make use of the free rides for touring around the city."

Some transport operators agree, saying they were effectively being forced to bear the cost of forgone revenue.

Minibuses, ferries are not involved in the scheme

"It is very frustrating because the operators are forced to waive the fares," said one operator. "And riders could take advantage of the free rides for leisure and entertainment purposes."

It is strange for the government to make this offer in order to entice people to vote, since their polling station is walking distance from their homes...

Hong Kong's New Covid-19 Normal

Another beautiful sunset today that constantly changed colours

Hong Kong's new social-distancing measures kicked in today and I can't tell how it went during the day as I was working from home, but I did receive a slew of emails from restaurant groups saying their restaurants are open from noon until 6pm and have takeaway menus for dinner.

If restaurants are open all afternoon, then customers could ostensibly have a long lunch or very early dinner -- is this what Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor and her cabinet had in mind when they tried to limit the amount of time people spent mask-less in restaurants?

Lam unveiled stricter measures on Monday night

Many restaurant groups immediately pivoted today, announcing their new opening hours -- and even a speakeasy bar converted into a "cafe" serving hamburgers, gourmet chicken nuggets, and truffle mac and cheese with cocktails. Are people actually working too?

It's as if the catering industry is thumbing its nose at the government for creating such weird restrictions (dine in for breakfast and lunch, but not dinner), but at the same time trying to stay alive.

I went out for a walk at 6pm, and a number of restaurants nearby closed for the day, or had hand written signs saying they had takeaway available, or displayed a chalkboard listing dine out dishes.

When I walked by the Central ferry piers, there were lots of people, mostly expats, sitting outside on the stairs drinking bottles of beer and having a bite to eat. Again, is this what Lam & Co had in mind? They assumed people would be good boys and girls and go home for dinner -- not.

A bar that is now a cafe offering chicken nuggets

Meanwhile as I walked along the waterfront, lots of runners without masks were breathing heavily as they passed by, thanks to all the gyms closed in the city for at least a week. While my mask was on, it wasn't that much comfort having these sweaty people in very close proximity.

The one good thing about being out walking? Enjoying more sunsets that are so different everyday. I have many pictures of them on my phone!

From Mykonos to Santorini

On a large ferry on the way from Mykonos to Santorini in over four hours

We took a ferry from Mykonos to Santorini and the journey was over four hours long. Considering tourism is such a big part of the Greek economy, it was pretty surprising to see how underdeveloped the ferry piers are at both Mykonos and Santorini.

The view of the sea from the stern of the ferry

At Mykonos there is a temporary kiosk that sells food and drinks from giant refrigerators. The sandwiches are more bread than filling, but the prawn cocktail-flavoured potato chips from Lays ("summer edition") were not bad, more tomato taste than prawn.

Then there is no proper passenger seating area -- there is a covered area with cement benches for people to sit on, or out in the sun on wooden benches. There is no electronic board to show which ferry is coming and will be docking at which pier.

Not all the ferries display English signs, though we managed to find out which pier our ferry would dock at, which arrived at the appointed time. Security officials were on hand to direct traffic: first the passengers disembarked, followed by several vehicles from cars to trucks.

Then trucks and cars waiting in line were allowed to drive into the ferry first -- trucks had to back in one by one, and then finally passengers. There were hordes of us tourists descending onto the ferry, though there was a traffic jam at the entrance as we could only enter one by one by showing our tickets.

Everyone trying to take pictures of the sunset at Oia

The ferry ride took over four hours going south east, passing several other islands along the way. Finally we arrived at Santorini and the port here was even more primitive than at Mykonos, which is strange considering hotels in Santorini are much more expensive. It was like arriving in a developing country, with people holding up signs for tours or transport, while others advertised for taxis or buses for certain destinations.

We found our driver who then drove us over half an hour zig-zagging up the hill and then driving along the countryside where we saw donkeys, cows and horses grazing in the fields, hardly any development in sight.

Finally we drove onto a quiet street in the middle of nowhere to find our hotel opposite a huge resort development called Santa Maris, consisting of a number of villas that could be accessed by golf carts. Ours is a small complex of three units.

I managed to finally get a sunset picture without tourists

We were told by the manager to go up the hill to the right to see the famous sunset view in Oia, the town we are in. The hill is a steep walk but it took less than 10 minutes. From there we tried to go as far right as we could and encountered tons of people holding up their smartphones to document every second of the sun's descent into the ocean.

It took us a while to finally inch a bit closer to the front, but even then people were busy taking selfies or recording the sunset on video. And when the sun finally set, people actually clapped their hands as if it was a performance!

Then the tourists started leaving like a stream, as the stairway we were at is quite narrow. We could see more and more people coming up the stairway and wondered when the last ones would finally leave.

And actually this was when the skyline was even more dramatic with yellow, pink, mauve and deep purple colours. We're glad we didn't miss that!

An even better view of the sky after the hordes left the area

For dinner we found a small and relatively decent-priced restaurant but we had to wait about 20 minutes. During that time we met a couple from South Dakota, and the husband had been to Hong Kong on a business trip last year.

He asked about the protests and I told him they were actually happening as we spoke. I added the protests would not end soon as the government was not listening to the protesters at all. He also said that he visited Macau via the bridge a month after it opened (November 2018) and was impressed by the small former Portuguese colony.

We finally tucked into tzatziki sauce that we dipped bread into, baked eggplant stuffed with onions, tomatoes and balsamic vinegar, and spaghetti marinara with prawns and mussels in a rich creamy tomato sauce.

Our rich spaghetti marinara in a creamy tomato sauce

And then as we were finishing dinner, there were fireworks going off in the distance and we watched this small but constant stream of fireworks being set up for at least 20 minutes. The size of the fireworks paled in comparison to the ones in Hong Kong, but the non-stop firing of them was impressive!

Macau's Gigantic White Elephant

The enormous (and empty) new Taipa Ferry Terminal

If you go to Macau from Hong Kong, don't take the ferry that goes to the new terminal in Taipa.

Although it's a relatively new building (construction was postponed for several years) that finally opened in June last year, it's a giant white elephant that is hardly passenger friendly.

Wear comfortable shoes to walk the very long terminal

First of all it's so massive -- the size of 25 football fields -- that people need to walk forever just to get to the immigration counter; the people movers along the way are turned off and barricaded. For elderly travelers, it's their worst nightmare to have to walk for ages. And if you're carrying luggage or heavy bags, it's a marathon to test how strong your biceps are. Believe me I just tried it.

Once you get through immigration, then it's another long walk to get out of the terminal and to the free hotel shuttle buses that seems like another kilometre away. And these buses aren't in an area that is sheltered from the elements, so if there is heavy rain, good luck trying to stay dry waiting for the next shuttle.

The immigration area is absolutely cavernous

And then when you are leaving Macau, the ferry terminal puts the food court right at the entrance -- but they aren't even busy -- not even McDonald's. You have to decide then if you're going to get sustenance or not, because after that, the options are dire.

Again there is the epic walk to the gate -- if your ferry is at gate 16, good luck. It's far, far away.

The gates themselves have a small food stall, but it's pathetic to say the least. There's tea eggs and soy braised chicken feet, and sandwiches with one slice each of orange-looking cheese and pink ham. How delicious.

The hotel shuttles aren't sheltered from the elements

It cost 3.8 billion MOP to build this Taipa Ferry Terminal that is capable of handling 30 million passengers a year, but a year and a half later it's practically empty...

 

A Scenic Way to Get Around Hong Kong

 

Could a hop on, hop off ferry service work on the water in Hong Kong?

The Hong Kong Transport Department has a novel way for people to get around the city -- by the water.

It's proposing a circular ferry route that would have at least five stops: Kai Tak, Hung Hom, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Central and West Kowloon, and it would start service next September.

"The... service aims to respond to suggestions from the community to introduce the 'water taxi' service between different calling points along the waterfront of Victoria Harbour to bring vibrancy to the harbour," the department said in its tendering document, inviting interested bidders.

The Transport Department proposes five piers to stop at

It seems to be pitched as a hop on, hop off service akin to a touring bus rather than a "water taxi" per se,

The 25km circular route would operate between 7am and 11pm on Monday to Saturday, and 8am to 10pm on Sundays and public holidays. The entire journey should not take more than 110 minutes.

Passengers would be able to buy round-trip tickets or half-day tickets and embark and disembark at any stop.

Meanwhile the bidders need to be able to ferry up to 150 passengers at a time, with views on both sides of the vessel. They can also propose other stops other than the five proposed.

Lawmaker Yiu Si-wing who represents the tourism sector, says the proposal looks more like a tour bus than a taxi.

"People expect fast and point-to-point transport from a taxi," Yiu said. "Here the 'water taxi' concept is a little bit confusing. It's more like a tourism project than public transport."

The ferry service would be another way to get around HK

We have to agree, but if you are taking a boat, you aren't going to be in that much of a hurry, are you? Many of the piers are already in out-of-the-way places, so people taking these services are not necessarily rushing. They look at it as another way to get around.

Maybe going from stop to stop will be tedious, but what better way to get around in a leisurely way without having to deal with traffic jams on the road?

Yiu also says having so many piers to maintain will be costly and that may be the case, but tourists would definitely enjoy this service, as the Central to Tsim Sha Tsui route is so short -- a 25km route would be a nice way to spend some time looking at Hong Kong from the water.

I hope the proposal does materialize -- surely not only tourists but residents would use the service too. And there's nothing wrong with tweaking it once it starts. The service at least deserves a chance.

Storm of the Year: Typhoon Hato

Trying to keep dry while Typhoon Hato lashes Lei Yue Mun waterfront

Hong Kong woke up to the strength of Typhoon Hato that was T8 around 5.30am and quickly went to T10 just after 9am.

My flat in Kennedy Town was very noisy thanks to the wind passing through the elevator shafts, howling louder than the wind outside. And at some points I could feel the building swaying -- not a lot, but enough to feel like things weren't quite steady.

Some storm watchers braved the severe weather conditions

I stayed home like most people, as buses, trams, ferries and outdoor MTR trains were stopped, including the Airport Express and hundreds of flights cancelled at the airport. Even the stock exchange was closed all day.

This was pretty much unprecedented, as us underlings have always had a theory that tycoons might have a hand in deciding the severity of the weather because they were in the business of making money.

Many typhoons have blown through overnight, or the T8 signal isn't raised until 5pm or 6pm when people were leaving work anyway.

But this time the typhoon really was severe, as there are videos on social media showing giant waves crashing into walls, flooded underground car parks, trucks tipping over, a revolving door spinning madly, and even hordes of cockroaches fleeing on a ledge.

There were many areas reporting extensive flooding

By around 5pm the signal was lowered to T3 and by 6.20 it was T1, and finally all signals lowered.

Some market analysts are calculating that the loss in business today was estimated between HK$4 billion to HK$8 billion. Those numbers include tourism, transportation, marine, financial services, agriculture, event organizing, entertainment, administration and import-export firms.

And even though some businesses managed to open, there were hardly any customers to serve because the weather conditions were so bad not many wanted to venture out.

I feel for shop owners and restaurants who lost a lot of business today, but this time the typhoon really was quite serious. The last time we had such a severe typhoon was in July 2012 when Typhoon Vincente hit.

Tonight Wan Chai MTR station was very quiet!

In any event all is calm again in Hong Kong and it's back to work and school for everyone tomorrow. But we'll all have stories about Typhoon Hato that we'll be telling for years to come.

Waiting for One Man

Zhang Dejiang (top right) waves goodbye before embarking the plane

I'm so glad Zhang Dejiang has left Hong Kong.

Let me tell you my commute to work today.

My company shuttle has to make several stops on Hong Kong Island before going to the New Territories, and this includes Sheung Wan, Central and Wan Chai.

Everything was fine in Sheung Wan, but when we got to the start of the ferry pier where the ferries go to the outlying islands, the one road was a parking lot.

The Central ferry pier was a parking lot for over an hour

We were at a complete standstill, or inched along. We were stuck on this short stretch of road, a few hundred metres -- for over an hour.

Why?

Because Zhang, the third-highest ranking official in China, chairman of the National People's Congress, was on his way from his hotel, the Grand Hyatt Hong Kong to Tseung Kwan O, and so Connaught Road Central, Gloucester Road and Kwung Tong bypass were closed.

And he had a motorcade 45 vehicles long. And detailed security who even carried stun grenades, smoke grenades, firearms and even briefcases with machine guns in them.

All for one man.

We first hit the jam at 9.17am and didn't leave the Star Ferry pier area until 10.30am. Needless to say we were super late for work and fuming.

Traffic was jammed in Wan Chai where Zhang was staying

In China, this is normal -- blocking traffic for officials, closing airspace for them to fly.

But for Hong Kong, this was too much.

While Zhang claims there is no campaign to mainlandize Hong Kong, what he did during this trip certainly was proof that actions speak louder than words.

Hawker Stalls to Make Way for Food Trucks

Will we soon see food trucks inspired by the movie Chef in Hong Kong?

A few months ago our ever thoughtful Financial Secretary John Tsang Chun-wah came up with the brilliant idea of Hong Kong having food trucks after watching the comedy Chef starring Jon Favreau and Sofia Vergara.

It's about a down-and-out chef who realizes his dream of making Cuban sandwiches that are a hit in Los Angeles. And during this journey he teaches his son his passion for food and rekindles his love for his ex-wife.

The food truck idea came from official John Tsang

What a perfect ending.

But food trucks in Hong Kong?

We already have local hawker food. Well, we used to have a vibrant hawker food scene until the government decided to clamp down on the stalls for fear of hygiene issues. The authorities stopped issuing dai pai dong licenses and so they are dying out because the next generation isn't interested in such hard work, nor can these licenses be sold either.

And also last month the Michelin guide introduced a list of street food places and now some are reportedly under threat of greedy landlords who want to raise the rent to squeeze more profits out of them.

So why doesn't the government scrap its food truck idea and instead revitalize areas for hawker stalls and be the landlord so that the rent is controlled and everyone -- locals and tourists -- not only get authentic cuisine but at value for money prices!

What a novel concept!

Can you imagine food trucks parked right here in Wan Chai?

Oh wait -- maybe that's too complicated for the government to understand.

So instead we'll be stuck with food trucks in bizarre locations like by the ferry piers in Central, Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai, Ocean Park and Disneyland, serving "gourmet" food at expensive prices. That's because the operators need to shell out at least HK$600,000 for a food truck and they need to make a profit too.

Just boggles the mind how our senior officials come up with such ideas. And they are supposed to be working for us, the taxpayers...

Cheung Chau Fighting Spirit

Cheung Chau resident Kwok Cheuk-in regularly takes the government to court

Meet Kwok Cheuk-kin. He's a 74-year-old former civil servant who likes to spend his retirement challenging the government on its policies in court.

"Many people criticize me for wasting public money. I find that the government wastes more money than me," he says. "They spend large amounts on useless consultations, and waste money on questionable infrastructure. I just use the government's money to fix its problems."

He filed his first application in 2006, when he asked the court to review the system of ferry-fare increases on the route between Central and Cheung Chau; he lost.

Kwok claims to have filed more than 20 applications, with legal-aid representation for eight of them.

"None of my applications are for my personal gain, and no one ever uses me. I understand the legal points in every application," he says.

I saw a short documentary about him a year ago, and the Cheung Chau resident regularly helps elderly people on the island by writing letters for them. He goes to Hong Kong Island everyday to read in the public libraries for researching his court challenges.

While he admits losing most of his cases, Kwok believes it's important to challenge the government to raise concerns about social issues.

"If you don't try, you will just sit there and wait to die. If you try, at least there is a chance," he says.

We love that fighting attitude. The Hong Kong spirit is still alive and well.

Already at Capacity

Macau was already full during Lunar New Year, and Hong Kong close behind

Over the Chinese New Year holiday Hong Kong had a deluge of mainland tourists, but Macau was completely flooded -- so much so that some areas were at a complete standstill.

There were about 2.7 million people, mostly mainlanders, who crossed check points at Gongbei Port and Zhuhai over the week-long holiday -- more than five times the city's population of over 550,000.

On Sunday alone there were 200,000 mainlanders who came to Macau. If you didn't get a ticket a day or two in advance, you had to get in the queue early just to get a decent ferry time. For example you were in the queue at 11am, the earliest you could leave Hong Kong was after 2pm, and from Macau you had to wait at 11am to get the 11pm ticket.

At the Ruins of St Paul's, tourists were shoulder to shoulder and police had to set up one-way pedestrian systems to ensure the ongoing flow of people.

"What is normally a five-minute walk has become 15 minutes if not longer, " said June Chan Yun-wai, who wanted to go to the pharmacy when she was stuck in the crowd at Largo de Senado, the square in the centre of Macau.

Newspaper vendor Ben lai Hou-kei who has had a stall near the square for four decades said it was more crowded than last year. "There was little planning by the government," he said. "And the ruthless pace of mainlanders conflicts with the local way of life."

In both Hong Kong and Macau both governments have not done any proper long-term infrastructure planning to handle greater capacities in terms of tourists.

People still fuming at Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Gregory So Kam-leung's projection that there could be up to 70 million visitors in the next three years, up to 100 million within a decade in Hong Kong.

He even said, "There will be an impact on citizens... they may not be able to get on the MTR and need to wait for the next train."

So obviously has not seen for himself how packed it is in the MTR these days during rush hour in particular.

Some NeoDemocrats, Gary Fan Kwok-wai and Roy Tam Hoi-bong were in Mongkok holding up banners saying "Reduce the solo travellers scheme" because they felt the city has reached its capacity.

But if you go to major cities like Beijing and Shanghai, their rush hours are nightmares compared to Hong Kong's and Macau's so they hardly think it's at capacity. Besides it's none of their business -- they just want to fulfill their shopping lists for luxury handbags and milk powder because buying real things is a more pressing issue to them than crowded spaces...

Visit to Cheung Chau

We took the Xin Fei or "New Flight" over to Cheung Chau

After shaming me for not having ever visited Cheung Chau in the combined 10 years I've lived in Hong Kong, YTSL finally took me there with two other friends.

Lots of trinkets for sale including Cheung Chau "buns"

We took the 12.15 ferry over and tried to sit out in the back but there were no more seats and when we tried to take the plastic chairs from inside, we discovered they were bolted down -- probably to prevent them from falling overboard.

Many people like visiting this outlying island because it's not too developed though in recent years more and more people come to hang out particularly on the weekends and special events like the Cheung Chau Bun Festival.

Thankfully the humidity has dropped in the last few weeks so it was very pleasant to walk around despite it hovering around 30 degrees. From the ferry pier we walked to the left and along the praya saw many small shops selling Cheung Chau bun coin bags, cushions and key chains, fish pockets made of fabric and dried seafood.

Our steamed fish that cost HK$100!

Further down were a series of restaurants, mostly offering seafood on the menu. We headed to YTSL's favourite eatery here and promptly ordered lots of food: Steamed fish, squid stir-fried with garlic, steamed prawns with chillis and soy sauce, seafood soup, a plate of tong choi and some deep-fried vegetable wrap with mayonnaise that she raved about.

Everything was pretty good, particularly the seafood soup that included fish, that made the broth sweet, as well as tofu, mushrooms and some small vegetables. The steamed fish was only slightly overcooked, while the prawns and squid were fine. Deep-fried vegetables dipped in mayonnaise weren't my thing so YTSL had my share...

Cooked chickens hanging out on the way to the beach

We were pretty full with rice and a bottle of beer and amazed that the bill came to HK$410.

To walk off our lunch, we headed towards the beach and saw a few temples, large and small along the way, as well as some chickens hanging about...

The beach wasn't crowded but had many people taking in the sunshine and kids making sand castles. There were also some people para-surfing, which looked like a total body workout. Further down the beach is an area where Olympic gold medallist Lee Lai-shan's uncle has a windsurfing school and there are windsurfing memorial parks, with the word "memorial" a bit strange...

A para surfer catching some strong winds

Around the corner was a snack street and here people were snapping up all kinds of traditional Chinese puddings, or next door was an intriguing potato chip on a stick -- a potato peeled in such a way that the swirls wrapped around a stick and were deep-fried and customers could add their own toppings. There was also frozen fruit on a stick, or popsicles made with watermelon juice and a few bits of fruit inside it too.

We walked back towards the ferry pier and in the square there was a massive line up for fish balls, apparently the most famous shop on the island. I've heard mixed reviews, some saying they're fantastic, others that the fish balls are nothing special. But there were so many people in line so you have to wonder...

A cute little fire services truck going past the ferry pier

It was already 3.45pm when we boarded the fast ferry back to Central. I'm sure there's many other parts of the island I still need to explore, but it was enough to give me an idea of why people love the place (laid back and quiet). Though I have to say my favourite was seeing the small ambulance and fire truck! Almost like toy cars!