Pillar of Contention

Looking down at the Pillar of Shame in HKU

Early this morning Tropical Storm Lionrock finally left after 22 hours, the longest a typhoon has lingered since 1978. The Hong Kong Observatory lowered the signal to T3 and then by afternoon all signals were cancelled.

At lunchtime I went to the University of Hong Kong to see for the first and possibly the last time, the sculpture Pillar of Shame by Danish artist Jens Galschiot, commemorating the victims of the Tiananmen Square massacre.

Closeup of Galschiot's sculpture

The university's management has sent a letter via its lawyers to the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China to remove the statue by Wednesday October 13 at 5pm or it will be deemed abandoned.

However Galschiot has weighed in on the situation, saying if the university's management damages the statue, he will seek compensation for it.

He said the statue is not for them to throw away as there was no purchase contract nor any payment made, so in principle the statue belongs to him.

"I am baffled since I have not received any official request to move my sculpture," he said. "I wonder why I am being informed about this through the press."

According to Galschiot, it has been agreed that the alliance and HKU should administer the permanent exhibition together and bear the attending expenses.

"It will take a long time to move the sculpture," he warned. "It is an extremely valuable piece of art, which after 24 years probably is a bit frail. Therefore there is a great possibility that the work of art will suffer irreparable damage if handled by an others than experts in handling art.

"If, contrary to expectations, damage to the sculpture should occur, the university risks incurring a claim of compensation for that damage."

HKU threatening to remove it Oct 13

I saw the sculpture as students and workers were queuing up for lunch in the canteen next to the Pillar of Shame, while a few visitors like myself examined the 8-metre-high sculpture that weighs 2 tonnes. There are steel cables at the top to prevent it from toppling over perhaps in typhoon conditions, but as it has been there since 1997, wear and tear has certainly made it more fragile.

This is now a stand off between Galschiot and HKU -- the alliance is trying to quietly disband and disappear without further repercussions. But it seems Galischiot is not giving up the fight and it will be interesting to see what happens this Wednesday...

Scaffolding Collapse from Typhoon Kills One

Thirty floors of bamboo scaffolding collapsed in Happy Valley

Around dinner time last night the rain started to fall and it continued to rain all day today as Tropical Storm Lionrock approached the city. The Hong Kong Observatory put up the T3 signal and in the morning the heavy rains resulted in a black rainstorm warning around 11.45am, which means people should shelter indoors as quickly as possible.

But that came too late for one 55-year-old woman who was working on the renovations of a high rise building in Happy Valley, as 30 floors worth of bamboo scaffolding collapsed from the heavy rain and strong winds. She and another female construction worker were taken to hospital, but the former died on arrival. 

Rescuers found two women, but one died later

Another male worker was rescued safely from the scaffolding wreckage while two drivers managed to get out before firefighters arrived.

Assistant divisional officer Wong Ka-ho of the Fire Services Department said 18 fire engines and eight ambulances were sent to the scene after receiving a report at 10.16am.

He said firefighters spent an hour and 20 minutes trying to rescue the woman, who was unconscious when they finally reached her.

Wong said the sheer number of bamboo poles and the amount of debris "hampered our efforts to find and rescue her and the passage to reach her was narrow", adding the operation was compounded by the bad weather, with firefighters under threat from further collapse of scaffolding.

One homeowner said the black rainstorm warning should have been issued earlier to suspend building work before people were on-site.

There will be more heavy rain this weekend

"The company concerned should have really cancelled the work day for its staff under these conditions," he said.

Some residents said the scaffolding had been in place for a year to renovate the facades, lobbies and recreational facilities.  

On Twitter there were lots of video clips of flooded streets, a bus driver plowing through flooded roads resulting in dirty water coming into the bus, and water dripping from the ceiling of an MTR carriage.

It's midnight now but Lionrock is expected to be closest to Hong Kong in the morning which means more heavy rains this weekend.

There's another typhoon coming on Wednesday...

Camping in a Typhoon

Typhoon Higos (the giant white swirl) was over Hong Kong last night

Typhoon Higos paid Hong Kong a visit last night, coming closest to the city around 2am when the local observatory raised the typhoon signal from T8 to T9. It went back down to T8 at 7.40am and then T3 just after 11am.

Usually we can see typhoons coming days away leaving much speculation about what time it will come closest to Hong Kong and more importantly, will we have a day off.

Tap Mun, or Grass Island in perfect conditions for camping

But this time Typhoon Higos developed quite quickly and in the afternoon the observatory raised the signal to T3 at around 2.30pm, then warned it would go up to T8 by 10.40pm.

As a result most people were safely indoors -- except for a 38-year-old man and his 70-year-old mother -- who were out camping!

They were on a remote islet called Tap Mun (Grass Island) when they called at 7am on Friday morning while T9 was in force, asking to be rescued after all their belongings had blown away.

Both were uninjured, but the mother was diagnosed with hypothermia.

At first the police sought help from the Government Flying Service to airlift the woman to hospital, but the helicopter could not be deployed because of bad weather. Therefore a rescue team had to hike in typhoon conditions to find them.

The 70-year-old woman who was rescued had hypothermia

They were then taken down to a marine launch, which ferried the pair to Sai Kung.

The man apparently went camping on Friday and had no mobile signal so he was completely unaware of the typhoon coming, while his mother joined him on Tuesday, though it is not clear at what time.

The wind gusts overnight in Tap Mun ranged from 71km/h to as high as 101km/h.

What was that man doing camping when the weather was turning bad? And for his mother to join him? Unbelievable.

We can only hope she recovers and her son learns a lesson not to drag her out camping during a typhoon! Hope he paid for the rescue because people literally risked their lives to get them to safety when they should not have been out at all.

A Dark and Rainy Day

This mid-afternoon became very dark and very wet

This spring in Hong Kong weather-wise has been very strange. We've had a prolonged spring which started off great, but now as summer is approaching, the weather has become more humid and unstable.

The aftermath of flooding in Tai Hang

Today was particularly dramatic. As I headed to Central for a haircut it was very humid and afterwards I made it to the gym just as raindrops were starting to fall.

It got so bad that around 2.40pm the sky turned black, turning day into night with lots of thunder and lightning. The Hong Kong Observatory raised the Amber rainstorm warning, that quickly turned to Red.

Many people were holed up at the gym and the food counter there made a killing today with people snapping up sandwiches and drinks to wait for the rain to subside.

Restaurants and hotels around town must have had good sales too, as the storm hit just as the lunch hour was ending with people lingering and ordering more, though staff must have missed having a decent break.

By the time I left Central at around 3pm the rain wasn't too bad but there were lots of big puddles. A friend in Tai Hang showed me a picture of massive flooding there and that earlier it was a severe windstorm where he was, claiming it was like being in a typhoon.

The skies cleared up for the rest of the afternoon and evening

Later in the afternoon the weather actually cleared up and people starting emerging and rushing out to do shopping or other errands, though the supermarket and wet market near my home weren't too busy.

Wonder what tomorrow brings...!

Survived Typhoon Mangkhut

Dramatic scenes in Heng Fa Chuen, with a man by the waterfront

Typhoon Mangkhut has come and gone -- and it was a whole day affair.

Late last night around 1.10am the Hong Kong Observatory raised the T8 signal. Early in the morning I could hear howling from my air conditioner and rain pounding against the windows which was unsettling. Would my windows blow out? Why did I not tape them?!

Outside my flat the elevator shaft was howling loudly along with any fan connected to the walls of my flat -- they were whirling away madly and blowing in any debris that was lodged in them into my flat -- including a broken tiny spring probably from a pen!

Many windows were blown out in a building in Hung Hom

Cooking breakfast was a bit nerve-wracking because the stove fan was making strange noises from the wind. And my building was swaying periodically too...

Meanwhile on social media people started posting pictures of destruction -- first it was the flooding on the waterfront in Heng Fa Chuen, the fast east side of Hong Kong Island, and then an office building in Hung Hom had its windows blown out and with them flew lots of papers too...

There was also footage of a construction crane falling off a tall building, same with a tree that was growing on a rooftop of another building. And one of the front doors of the InterContinental Hong Kong shattered from the powerful winds, while the Mercedes-Benz showroom in Wan Chai was completely flooded.

A tree broke in Tsim Sha Tsui next to The Peninsula

The list goes on and on, but the good thing is that as far as I know, there were no casualties, and the vast majority of people stayed at home. However, my friend YTSL told me this morning her friend went to Wan Chai for dim sum with her family at Hopewell Centre during T10! Apparently the restaurant was half full and mostly elderly people. Guess some cannot do without yum cha...

The only transportation running was the MTR and some taxis so overall the city was dead, which is strange as we all know it as a metropolis that is non-stop. But today it was eerily quiet.

In all my 15 years of living on and off in Hong Kong, this is the worst I have ever experienced! And no I didn't need tape. Nevertheless, today will be an "I remember" moment for a long time to come...

Waiting for Mangkhut

This restaurant enticed diners to come for the evening

Late yesterday afternoon, Hong Kong's security minister John Lee Ka-chiu told the public to "prepare for the worst", because of Super Typhoon Mangkhut coming close to Hong Kong, so today people came out in droves to stock up.

It wasn't as severe as bare shelves in North Carolina when Hurricane Florence was approaching yesterday, but the wet market in Kennedy Town as well as the Park n Shop were much busier than usual around 10am. The atmosphere was like Chinese New Year eve, people buying up ingredients they would need for the next few days.

Many shops around Hong Kong taped their windows like this

In the afternoon, the shopping malls were packed with people. At Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong, people were even checking out the cars on display, not necessarily getting supplies for the impending Super Typhoon Mangkhut.

By evening things had calmed down -- my colleague and I had a delicious dinner at a Lebanese restaurant called Francis in Wan Chai. It was full, but there weren't a lot of people waiting outside for a table in the second round.

After our early dinner around 8pm I walked to nearby Pacific Place in Admiralty, and the shopping mall was practically dead -- hardly anyone was in the shops and even Great, the supermarket downstairs was relatively quiet.

Most people rushed home on the MTR because we'd been warned it was going to be a big one. The bakery in the Kennedy Town MTR station it looked like it had been raided as most of the baked goods were gone.

This bakery was practically cleaned out of baked goods

I am curious to know what kinds of snacks and food people stock up on for a typhoon! I saw one guy carrying a shopping bag full of candies including a giant box of Malteasers...

The Hong Kong Observatory is expecting to raise the T8 signal between 11pm and 2am, with Mangkhut coming skirting just south of Hong Kong in the late morning or early afternoon, depending on its speed.

Many shops have taped their windows so it looks like the Chinese character for rice (米)... before they would only tape an "X"... guess this time Mangkhut is special that it warrants more tape?

In any event we're prepared... everyone is also watching to see what happens to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge!

Picture of the Day: First Day of the Year of the Dog

The clouds disappeared to reveal blue skies while riding the Star Ferry today

Today was the first blue sky Hongkongers have seen in... yonks.

It's been cold, miserable and overcast for weeks and then suddenly for the first day of the Lunar New Year there were blue skies and the hottest temperatures we've seen for the holiday in 11 years at 24 degrees Celsius.

Some districts like Happy Valley, Kowloon City and Sha Tin recorded up to 27 degrees.

The Hong Kong Observatory says a maritime airstream affected the coastal areas of Guangdong province, though cloudy skies are expected in the next few days again. Groan.

We'll take what we can get!

Typhoon Pakhar Storms in on Sunday

When the typhoon signal was lowered to T1, storm clouds began to gather...

Typhoon Pakhar approached Hong Kong in the early hours of Sunday morning which meant a lie-in for most people. The Hong Kong Observatory raised the T8 signal for the whole morning with an amber rainstorm warning as well.

While the rain wasn't particularly heavy in Kennedy Town, it kept coming down in a northwesterly direction. Down below in an apartment complex across the street, I could see two white plastic chairs had blown into the swimming pool (they have since been fished out).

There's going to be questions about why two hikers didn't get down by Saturday evening from Kowloon Peak. A woman had an injured leg and had trouble making the descent, and rescuers tried to get to them yesterday evening. But it took 160 rescuers, including one fireman who was injured, to help them get down.

Most of Sunday was rainy thanks to Typhoon Pakhar

The typhoon conditions made it treacherous for everyone to descend the mountain, so the rescuers had to build a rain shelter and call for more reinforcements.

Then there was a ship that was sinking and 11 crew members had to be saved at the height of the storm. By the time the rescuers arrived, the ship's bow was already submerged.

Within 30 minutes of locating them, the sailors were rescued by helicopter.

After the typhoon signal was lowered to T3, the city slowly sprang back to life. Apparently gyms were very busy once they opened around 3.40pm. People must have been having cabin fever in their flats.

As for myself, I headed to the Kennedy Town Swimming Pool at 9pm though it started raining heavily.

When I got there, I was thrilled to find only a handful of people in the entire complex. I had the 25-metre pool practically to myself, though the water wasn't very fast today so it was a bit of a slog.

Nevertheless, it was refreshing and quiet. Another weekend gone, just like that.

Enough Rain Already!

July's rainfall beats records from 30 years ago -- blame it on global warming?

July isn't over yet but Hong Kong has seen record rainfall. The Hong Kong Observatory recorded more than 500mm of rain in the first three weeks of this month, more than the average 376mm for the past 30 years.

The rainfall for July also exceeds the averages for June at 476mm and 432mm for August.

Johnny Chan Chung-leung, chair professor of atmospheric science at City University says global warming will result in more water vapour in the atmosphere, and so the frequency of heavy rain will only get higher.

Last Monday evening when I was caught in the red rainstorm warning, the observatory recorded 184.6mm of rain, the third-highest amount recorded in one day in July over the past 20 years.

We might have a respite from the rain this week -- overall sunny with a few showers for the next few days.

All I can say is -- thank goodness I finally invested in rubber boots!

First Typhoon of the Year

Typhoon Merbok passes through Hong Kong

Over the weekend the weather was so hot that I barely went outdoors. Then late last evening the Hong Kong Observatory said the weather was unsettled and could lead to the possibility of a typhoon.

MTR commuters rushing home early from work

This morning it was bright and sunny, but when I left my home to head to the bus stop, it started raining! After we got into the office, Typhoon signal No. 1 was already hoisted, and then less than an hour later it was up to Typhoon No. 3.

By lunchtime people were speculating when it would be Typhoon No. 8 -- so that they could go home early.

After 4pm the observatory issued an announcement that Typhoon 8 would be hoisted on or before 5.30pm -- Typhoon Merbok was approaching much faster than expected.

And indeed T8 was issued at 5.20pm. By that time I was already on my way home, and there are pictures of the MTR packed with commuters.

We're expecting heavy thunderstorms the next few days

Merbok is expected to make landfall shortly in Mirs Bay in Tai Pang Wan, northeast of Sai Kung Peninsula.

So while we got to go home relatively early, it's back to work tomorrow as the typhoon will have passed over us overnight...

28 Years On

Some 110,000 people turned out tonight in Victoria Park

A few days ago the weather forecast for Sunday didn't look good for the 28th candlelight vigil for June 4 -- the Hong Kong Observatory said there would be heavy rain.

While it was very humid over the weekend, it didn't pour -- in fact today the clouds cleared and we saw bits of blue skies.

Thank goodness the weather cooperated, but that didn't persuade thousands of other people to show up to Victoria Park this evening.

The crowd looked promising before the event started

Organizers say 110,000 people attended, making it the lowest turnout since 2008, and it is the second year in a row that the Hong Kong Federation of Students did not participate.

Nevertheless we are glad we came to show Beijing and the world we still remember, 28 years on.

At 7pm a few of us gathered to head to Victoria Park and there were already a number of people heading in the same direction, which looked promising.

The usual political groups were out in force along the road towards Victoria Park, loudly soliciting donations. Leung Kwok-hung or "Long Hair" was the loudest, demanding people donate to the collection boxes on the right. He said "donate" and "on the right" so fast and loud he sounded like a slot machine that hit the jackpot.

Everyone was out in force, including Lee Cheuk-yan, who isn't a lawmaker anymore, as well as Emily Lau Wai-hing. Guess you need to trot out the old guard for the mostly older demographic at the candlelight vigil.

The Goddess of Democracy is a big draw

However, organizers tried very hard to make it look like they were still relevant to young people, or that students still cared about what happened before they were born.

They practically hosted the event, leading everyone in singing (the same) songs, shouting slogans and even talking to high school students on stage about why it was important to know about June 4.

But perhaps most compelling was Lam Yiu-keung, who witnessed the massacre on June 4. He was there to support the students when things got very ugly. He remembers trying to carry someone, but when they tried to prop him up, blood was gushing out of him like a river. It took six or seven people to carry this person.

Then four or five of the Chinese students surrounded him as if to protect him and said that as a Hong Kong person, he had to go back and tell everyone what had happened.

Meanwhile one of the Tiananemen Mothers Ge Guirong, 83, said she spent the last 28 years living in guilt for not stopping her son, Du Guanxue from leaving home that night, and questioned why the government would not admit wrong and bear the responsibility of its actions. She also thanked Hong Kong people for remembering what happened.

This year was marked with the curious trip of a bottle of liquor that has a label that commemorates June 4 and was taken out of China and traveled to several countries before arriving in Hong Kong.

Remembering the Tiananmen Mothers and their cause

Apparently a sympathetic official was able to take the bottle out of the country without detection and then passed it to democracy activists in Europe and the liquor was then carried to a few places before its final destination here.

While we didn't see the actual bottle on stage, the people who made the liquor were arrested last May, and their family members gave verbal testimonies that we heard.

It's sad that this was the lowest turnout in nine years, and silly of the students not to realize there is strength in numbers, particularly for this vigil. It is the same thing every year, that's true, but it's just one day to remember the possibly thousands of people -- not just students, but ordinary people of all ages -- who died senselessly. Why can't we all stop for a few hours to pay tribute to them?

Typhoon Haima Shuts Down HK

No traffic on the roads in Kennedy Town this morning

This morning at 6.10am, the Hong Kong Observatory raised the Typhoon No. 8 signal, which would last for most of the day, as Typhoon Haima came close to the east side of the territory.

In Kennedy Town just before 9am, winds started picking up with only a few drops of rain. Hardly any traffic was on the roads, save for some taxis trying to gauge passengers, but the MTR was running.

In Belcher Bay Park, a handful of people could not forego their exercise regime and continued doing laps around the park, while leaves and small branches were scattered on the ground.

Many had the day off work today with the T8 signal

The commute to Taipo was painless with hardly any cars on the road. But around 11am the winds got stronger as Typhoon Haima made its approach around noon.

One of the trees in front of one of our fourth floor windows started bending almost horizontally. We saw it and ran to the window. But when we got there, it didn't bend back as far again. It was also raining very heavily at times.

However, after lunch I looked out the window and the tree was gone! It had snapped and fallen along with a few others.

Not until 5.20pm did the observatory lower the signal to Typhoon No. 3 and by the time I came home from work at 7.20pm, it was like this morning -- windy and light showers.

For most people it was a day off work and many businesses were shut. Francis Lun Sheung-nim, chief executive of financial group GEO Securities estimated Hong Kong may have lost over HK$5 billion in business.

This tree in the foreground had fallen after lunch!

That's a massive sum, but probably true, seeing as most of the city was shut down, including the airport, the stock exchange, banks, schools and then all the way down to independent businesses.

Now at midnight the typhoon signals have been cancelled. What a week! We had black rain on Wednesday where lots of roads particularly on the east side of Hong Kong were flooded, and then yesterday was sunny and calm. And then today's chaotic mess.

Tomorrow we could see the sun again...

Picture of the Day: Rain Again

Overcast and rainy, at times heavy too -- the forecast every day this past week

In the last week or so, temperatures in Hong Kong have dropped to high 20s because of the rain we've been getting day and night.

One minute the sky is covered in a grey gauze-like curtain of showers, and a few minutes later it clears up and maybe the sun pokes through, albeit briefly before showers appear again. It's as if the weather hasn't decided if it's rained enough yet.

Today the Hong Kong Observatory raised the Typhoon signal No. 1 and this evening it was upped to No. 3. There is currently a tropical depression that is intensifying south of Hong Kong, but by tomorrow will blow westward towards Hanoi.

Apart from having to carry umbrellas all the time and put on our plastic shoes and rubber boots, we're definitely not complaining about the temperatures that are much cooler than usual.

Weather Woes

An umbrella is a must these days, and wearing rubber boots is even better...

This morning the weather looked... fine. It looked muggy and hazy, and when I left for work, the Hong Kong Observatory's weather report said there could be isolated thunderstorms so I packed the umbrella.

By 11am in Taipo, the trees were swaying in the strong winds and then the sky got noticeably darker. Then the downpours came, so much so in the olden days, people would have started building an ark.

There was thunder and lightning too. The Hong Kong Observatory says there were almost 5,000 lightning strikes within three hours of thunderstorms.

Li Yuet-sim, acting senior scientific officer at the observatory says the exact number was 4,884 times between 11am and 1.59pm. Of that, 3,916 of the lightning strikes were in New Territories East, where our office is.

This is not considered the highest concentration -- that was on September 9, 2010 when there were 13,000 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes.

I'm trying to remember where I was that day, and I think I was probably in the office.

We're supposed to get similar weather tomorrow...

Aftermath of Typhoon Nida

Lots of wind, rain and choppy seas when Typhoon Nida skirted nearby

Typhoon Nida came and went overnight, though in the morning it was still Typhoon signal No. 8.

Outside the winds were blowing north east, though within an hour, from 8am to 9am, the winds subsided somewhat and the water in Victoria Harbour looked much calmer.

Some trees were damaged during the typhoon

I needed to get to the office, and walking outside just before 10am it was not too windy with light showers. However, along Forbes Street in Kennedy Town where the Banyan trees cling to the walls, there were branches and leaves strewn everywhere.

The prediction the Hong Kong Observatory possibly raising the typhoon signal to No. 9 or even 10 was overrated, though there was some destruction on the roads, with trees falling down in Kowloon Tong, scaffolding falling over in Wan Chai, and very strong winds in certain pockets of the city, though overall it wasn't too dramatic.

But the No. 8 signal didn't come down to No. 3 until just before 1pm, which meant most people had the day off, or only came into work for three or four hours.

Lots of angry Cathay and Dragon Air passengers at the airport

However the typhoon created chaos at the airport, particularly for Cathay Pacific, scrambling to get hundreds of flights back into the air, and there were a lot of angry passengers whose patience was wearing very thin.

This evening it was nice and cool -- why can't it be like this all the time!

The weather in the next few days is expected to be unsettled, but tonight, there was not a drop of rain, and cool breezes.

Awaiting Typhoon Nida

At around 6.30pm, the view looking to Wan Chai was like this

There was talk all day in the office about when Typhoon Nida would strike Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Observatory was being coy all day, with vague descriptions of when it would make landfall. It wasn't until the afternoon that the weather service suggested it would raise the No. 8 signal between 6pm and 10pm.

For office workers it feels like a conspiracy -- that the typhoon signal is raised just after they get off work. For restaurants, it is a tricky situation -- do open and risk having no customers show up? Or do you close and risk having one less day to make money to pay rent?

About an hour later the view was still very calm outside

My friend and I had planned to go for an early dinner at a restaurant in Central, but the staff there advised us it would close because of the impending typhoon. Instead we headed to a place that was located on the top floor of a building in Causeway Bay.

It didn't feel like there was a typhoon coming -- in fact the view of Victoria Harbour showed calm waters for the most part and rush hour traffic was normal.

We enjoyed our dinner and kept checking the Hong Kong Observatory for updates. It wasn't until 8.40pm when the Typhoon 8 signal was hoisted, and by that time we just ordered dessert.

Leaving the restaurant, Causeway Bay was eerily quiet -- the streets were pretty much deserted and I got on a bus with few passengers on it, and as a result, got home quite fast.

By that time it was quite windy in Kennedy Town -- it blew so hard my umbrella flipped inside out and the rain started coming down.

Victoria Harbour looked placid for an impending typhoon

The Hong Kong Observatory believes Typhoon Nida will arrive early tomorrow morning, on the northeast side of Hong Kong, before moving towards Shenzhen.

Many are expecting to sleep in tomorrow... we'll have to see how it goes.

Picture of the Day: Weather Woes

Lovely sunset; too bad about the rain, though it keeps temperatures cooler

This past week has had crazy weather. The morning will be blue skies, blazing hot sun, and then sometime in the afternoon dark clouds suddenly gather and there's heavy rain for a few minutes before stopping and then starting again about an hour later.

While the weather is pretty humid, it's not suffocating hot, though the rain gives a short welcome respite from the heat.

This photo is of the sunset this evening from Tsim Sha Tsui -- a gorgeous pink one, though raindrops were still hanging around from the rain a few hours earlier.

Sadly the Hong Kong Observatory forecasts thunderstorms this weekend...

Picture of the Day: Dramatic Weather

At Wan Chai looking back on Central along the waterfront

This morning the weather didn't look too promising. I was surprised to see the Hong Kong Observatory had raised the amber rainstorm warning and thunderstorm warning.

Then the sky went completely gray, with lots of mist in Kennedy Town, blowing eastwards in huge gusts of wind. At one point I saw a piece of paper blown up to the height of my flat (very high up), which was quite scary.

And then came the rain, but for my area, it wasn't heavy rain, though I heard other parts of the city there was a heavy downpours.

I luckily managed to evade the rain and in the afternoon the skies finally decided to cooperate and by late afternoon patches of blue skies could be seen through the clouds.

I had an appointment at IFC and afterwards dinner at the Hong Kong Convention Centre.

Instead of taking the MTR, I decided to walk along the waterfront which was a good decision as the temperature was slightly cool. Along the way I took a few pictures, and this one was the best, though if I waited a bit longer, the sky would have turned more pink and mauve.

Nevertheless it kind of encapsulates the moody weather we had today -- it was as if it couldn't make up its mind on what to throw at us. Hopefully the weekend will be better.

HK Gov't Not Quite Tech Savvy

So many government apps, but not very useful

Some Hong Kong government bureaucrats are desperate to demonstrate they're cool by developing mobile apps for their respective departments.

MyObservatory most popular

However, not all of them seem useful, at least according to the government's auditor.

The Audit Commission found last year there were 127 apps launched by 36 government departments at a cost of HK$38 million.

The commission concludes some lacked any useful features, were virtual copies of their department websites, and cost tens of millions of dollars to develop.

As expected, the most popular app is MyObservatory launched by the Hong Kong Observatory in 2010 to give users the most up to date weather information. It was the first government app and had more than 5 million downloads last year.

On the other end of the scale the poorest download rate was the Education Bureau's Eye Care for Hong Kong Students, with only 89 downloads last year. The next worst were a series of apps developed by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department.

Hardly any people downloaded this app

The commission sad the departments with a lacklustre showing needed to "enhance the app content to attract more people" to use them.

In addition, the auditor examined 31 apps by government departments for one-off events, of the 31, 23 had already been decommissioned, mainly because of low download rates.

So it looks like the government doesn't quite know how to make effective mobile apps which is ironic considering it is pushing for Hong Kong to be an innovative technology hub...

Snow? No...

A screen grab of the Fanling video. Look like snowflakes to you?

Today the hot topic was the weather! It dipped into the single digits today, around 8 degrees Celsius.

My flat faces north and is by the water so when I walked outside this morning it was very windy which made it feel very cold.

Everyone seemed to be out early today to stock up in case it gets too cold to go out tomorrow when it's expected to drop to 6 degrees! The wet market was bustling with people, and the nearby Park n Shop had massive lines waiting at the cashier.

It was only made worse by people buying so much stuff, partly because they were celebrating their Chinese New Year eve dinners early too.

Taking pictures of frost at Tai Mo Shan

Nevertheless, on Facebook a video apparently taken in Fanling on the rooftop and showing what looked at first glance like snowflakes, but the Hong Kong Observatory quashed the possibility, as it was too warm to snow, despite issuing a frost warning around 1pm today.

However, many people were very surprised to see the video and believed it to be true...

I've been bundled up too and sitting next to the heater to keep warm! If only Hong Kong's flats were better built with some kind of insulation then we'd be a tad warmer...

And everyone thinks because I am from Canada that I am used to this weather. I am not. I don't like the cold!

The Hong Kong Observatory says it'll warm up later this week, though it'll be rainy...