Henderson Land Clinches Prime Harbourfront Plot

Henderson's blueprint presents lots of green spaces in Central

Developer Henderson Land Development is bullish on Hong Kong -- specifically Central district.

It had the winning bid of HK$50.8 billion (US$6.5 billion) for the New Central Harbourfront Commercial Site 3, beating out five other developers.

This plot of land was sold for HK$50.8 billion

Henderson will spend another HK$63 billion to develop the site which is the plot of land in front of the Hong Kong General Office and City Hall. The winning bid will feature three main buildings, the one closest to the waterfront will be multifunctional, while the other two will be office towers. Most of the land will have greenery in mind as well as public spaces. 

The old Star Ferry clock will be reconstructed in around the same spot as a visual landmark and showcase the city's maritime heritage.

According to Knight Frank, the Central Site 3 ranks as the second most expensive land transaction worldwide of all time, after a 861,120 sq ft site in Seoul's Gangnam district was bought by a Hyundai Motor-led consortium in 2014 for 10.5 trillion won (US$10 billion).

Market observers said the record price for the prime plot will boost the city's commercial property market and reinforce Hong Kong's position as a world class global financial hub.

Plowing that much money into Central means a big vote of confidence for the district even though the Lam administration has plans to develop the area near the border with the mainland.

Three buildings will be on the site, two are offices

"Although there are other large-scale developments such as Northern Metropolis and Lantau Tomorrow Vision in the pipeline, it would take 15 to 20 years for these projects to be fully completed and at least another decade for other areas to mature," said Martin Wong, head of research and consultancy of Greater China at Knight Frank.

"Central will remain the financial centre for Hong Kong in the foreseeable future," he added.

As we said earlier, Lam's vision of people sleeping better will have to wait at least 15 years... 

Lam Promises Better Sleep in New Metropolis

Lam says Northern Metropolis residents can sleep better

Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor is selling her Northern Metropolis project as a way for families living there to have a better quality of life because they will have more time to sleep.

Towns near the border become metropolis

In a speech to the Global Conference of the Alliance for Healthy Cities, Lam said the government will try to ensure that the new metropolis is self-contained, adding this will be a first for a new town development in Hong Kong.

She explained that with some 650,000 jobs that are envisaged in the metropolis, by the border near Shenzhen, residents would not have to travel into Hong Kong's existing urban areas for work. In other words Central district will now be in Fanling or Sheung Shui...

"When I am driven from the urban area where I live into the new development to attend a meeting, to officiate at a function, I always see buses coming the other way, that is from the new development areas into the urban areas, and the majority of passengers on the buses are falling asleep.

"So you just imagine, if we have more jobs in the areas where these people live, they will have an extra hour of quality sleep, in home, and not on the bus."

A bus tour in Tuen Mun to catch some sleep

Maybe she didn't hear about those tour buses specifically for people to sleep on because they like the gentle rocking on public transport that lulls them to sleep. 

Anyway this Northern Metropolis won't be completed in at least the next 15 years so people won't be sleeping better until then... what does Lam suggest in the meantime for people to catch their zzz's?

Half of Secondary Students Depressed

Half of secondary students are depressed and stressed out

 

It's not surprising to find that secondary students in Hong Kong are stressed out. This was confirmed by the Hong Kong Federation of Youth Groups that half the students surveyed are feeling stressed, and about the same amount are having symptoms of depression.

Federation says pupils can't concentrate, sleep

The federation conducted an online survey, with questionnaires given to 3,600 students in October. 

The results revealed 49 percent reported suffering from high levels of stress. While this is four percentage points lower than the result of a similar survey last year, it is still higher than before the coronavirus pandemic started.

In addition, 52 percent of pupils reported depression symptoms, such as trouble concentrating and sleeping, the federation said.

Deputy executive director Hsu Siu-man said although these students may not actually have depression, the situation is still concerning.

She said the students' stress was mainly related to academics, but some were also struggling to adjust to full-day in-person classes again, after the pandemic earlier forced students to attend classes online. 

Difficulties adjusting to in-person class

"Some tell us that they do not have enough rest time, because when they go home, it is already evening. Although this kind of situation is quite similar to that before the pandemic, they have spent already nearly two years [having] online classes or in hybrid mode... When they resume back to 'old normal' they have to spend their whole day at school, they need to adjust," she said.

Hsu also said pupils were having to adjust to a wave of emigration from Hong Kong, with some losing their friends.

"When they went back to school, many students found that quite a lot of classmates had disappeared...  they had moved with the whole family to other countries," she said.

Unfortunately this is the new reality in Hong Kong -- young people and their families moving away from the city which has a big psychological impact on them, and on top of it the pandemic social distancing measures and borders being closed have not been helpful for anyone, let alone students.

Classmates leaving also affects students

It is also difficult for them to deal with what has happened to Hong Kong in the past two years politically, socially and economically, and seeing the direction the city is going doesn't give them high hopes for the future.

 

Sleeping Bus Tour in HK

Now the sleep-deprived can catch up on sleep on a tour bus

I'm surprised this business opportunity was not spotted before the pandemic, but interesting it is now here -- long bus rides specifically for people to catch up on their sleep.

There is a 83km or over six-hour ride on a regular double-decker bus that goes around Hong Kong for people who want to snooze.

"When we were brainstorming new tours, I saw a social media post from my friend saying he was stressed out by his work, he couldn't sleep at night," said Kenneth Kong, the marketing and business development manager of ulu travel, the tour bus organizer.

A local tour company organizes the 6hr bus trips

"But when he was traveling on the bus, he was able to sleep well. His post inspired us to create this tour that lets passengers just sleep on the bus."

Tickets cost around HK$129 for a single seat, to HK$899 for those who want to take up extra seats, and depending on if they choose the upper deck or lower deck, and the each passenger gets a lunch to consume outside the bus, and a goodie bag that includes an eye mask and ear plugs.

The first "Sleeping Bus Tour" was last Saturday and it was sold out. Some passengers even brought their own blankets, or changed into slippers, or settled in with travel pillows.

The tour starts in Tsuen Wan and goes all the way to Tuen Mun, even makes stops for people to take pictures, including the aircraft maintenance area near Hong Kong International Airport.

One passenger, Marco Yung, joined the tour, as he usually manages to fall asleep on the bus during long journeys. 

Dr Shirley Li, the principal investigator of the Sleep Research Clinic and Laboratory at the University of Hong Kong says people's tendency to fall asleep on public transport is a type of conditioning.

Don't disturb people trying to sleep on this tour!

"People in Hong Kong don't have enough time to sleep," Li said. "That's why we have to kind of use other times to sleep, which is our daily commute, especially when we are traveling on public transport.

"For some people, they may tend to associate public transport with their sleep. And that's why they found it easier to fall asleep on the bus," she said. 

To pass the time, some people like to board random buses to see where they go, while this one is geared towards the sleep deprived. 

Have people become so desperate to try something new that they are signing up for these bus tours? Or are insomniacs really keen on riding this bus to catch some sleep? 

Either way it's a smart way for a tour company to think of a new way to market its services. It's not about seeing the sights, but enjoying a snooze on the bus.

Quarantine Experience Revealed

One of the nicer rooms in a public housing flat in Fo Tan

Today was our first day back in the office for many of us, and it was strange to be suddenly back in the place we escaped from almost two months ago when there was a positive coronavirus case.

Everything was just as we had left it, as if we had been away for a long holiday and were now back.

Just before our office was shut down in mid-March, we had been wearing masks all day in the office, and now that rule was definitely in force, though many could not stand to wear literally all day (can you guess who?).

Here was the bathroom situation in the room

Colleagues who were "close contacts" of the infected person told us about their experiences of being in government quarantine. While the conditions didn't even make the three-star hotel grade, two of them said repeatedly the people who were looking after them, young volunteers, were so nice and helpful.

If my colleagues needed water, or more food, or something was wrong with their room, these volunteers working in shifts would respond relatively quickly on Whatsapp and give them what they needed.

One had a bed with literally a wooden mattress; she showed us a video of her knocking her hand on the mattress and it was rock hard. Thankfully our office administrator sent my colleague a soft mattress to put on top so she could actually have a relatively decent sleep.

They both said the cleanliness of the rooms was questionable, so the first thing they did upon entering the room was to wipe it down completely before even putting their bag down...

Friends and family could deliver things to the entrance of the quarantine centre, but they could not give them any cooked food, as the rooms had no refrigerator, and also they there was no way to treat you if you got sick.

Three meals a day kind of looked like this

One colleague's parents brought her lots of snacks to keep her occupied, and she even had time to prepare and had a bottle of chilli sauce to make her meals more palatable.

Another had a nice-looking room and even got to go outdoors periodically, but the wifi was very spotty so she couldn't watch Netflix and ended up sleeping a lot to pass the time.

When their quarantine time was done, they were so grateful for everything when they came back into civilization. A mundane trip to the supermarket was so exciting and being able to cook their own food was a revelation.

The experience has made them wary of the possibility of encountering someone positive again. One of them has even prepared a bag of necessities just in case she needs to go into quarantine again!

Guess you can never be prepared enough for a pandemic...

Raising Depressed and Stressed HK Youth

About one-third of young people suffer from stress, anxiety and depression

It was shocking to hear American designer Kate Spade committed suicide yesterday, drawing attention to those with mental health issues. It's too early to say what led her to take her life, but people in the fashion industry knew she had been suffering for a while.

Young Hong Kong people also have mental health issues, and the latest survey shows one in three suffer from stress, anxiety or depression. A study by Hong Kong Playground Association last month asked 3,177 young people aged six to 24 about their mental health, sleep, exercise habits, and how much time they spent online.

Lack of sleep and not enough exercise are two factors

"Young people's lives in Hong Kong are not easy. They do not have comfortable lives in this affluent society, and they each bear their own pressure," says Wan Lap-man, a social worker who conducted the survey. He added the heavy workloads faced by students and pupils impacted how much sleep and exercise they got.

The survey used the Depression Anxiety and Stress Scales, a psychological assessment tool developed by the University of New South Wales in Australia to measure stress, anxiety and depression levels.

It showed 31.6 percent had mild to extremely severe stress, while 38.7 percent had moderate to extreme anxiety.

Some 30 per cent had moderate to extreme depression.

Not enough children exercise an hour a day -- or once a week

All these numbers are alarming and we wonder if the Hong Kong government is worried too.

The proportion of people suffering from severe to extreme stress, anxiety and depression was higher in the 19-24 age group.

Although the World Health Organization recommends at least an hour of moderate to vigorous exercise per day for those aged five to 17 years, the association only found 4.7 percent were getting that much physical activity.

The numbers were similar to a 2017 Chinese University survey where less than half of children aged two to 17 exercise at least an hour per day; only 30 percent exercised with their families once a week.

Children were also not getting enough sleep. From the ages of 6 to 12 it was 7.9 hours of sleep per day, and those 13-18 years it was 7 hours of sleep. The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention recommends nine to 12 hours and 8 to 10 hours respectively.

Young adults aged 19-24 only sleep 6.8 hours per day.

Wan the social worker says children and young people need to spend more time offline, sleeping and exercising.

More sleep in general would help children focus more in class and hopefully have the interest and confidence in what they are learning. Being tired all the time makes staying awake in class even more challenging let alone understanding the concepts being taught.

When I'm out late, past 10pm, it's shocking to see parents still out with their young children, particularly on a weekday. Don't they know their kids need more sleep? I need more sleep myself!