China-style Lockdown in Hong Kong

Chan announced the lockdown measures this evening

China's severe lockdown practices have come to Hong Kong in a bid to keep its zero-Covid strategy. Will we see people in hazmat suits bolting down people's homes a la Wuhan next?

Tonight, some 2,700 residents in Yat Kwai House, a housing block in Kwai Chung Estate will be stuck in home quarantine for the next five days to prevent the possible spread of Omicron. There were 20 positive cases found in this residential area.

The housing block will be locked down for 5 days

Secretary for Food and Health Sophia Chan Siu-chee made the announcement this evening at at 6pm press conference -- when there's a late press conference on a Friday evening it's not going to be good news.

"We understand with this operation, people might feel there is some inconvenience such as not being able to go to work," Chan said. 

"We really appeal to employers if they have employees caught in this operation that, I hope, they will treat this in a more open and understanding manner so they won't deduct people's salary and things like that.

"The most important aim is really to identify or detect cases within the building, and secondly we want to stop the transmission chain from going further, therefore this is for the common good."

While Chan explained it was not necessary to evacuate residents because the outbreak was due to environmental contamination, not building structural issues, the main reason is because Penny's Bay quarantine camp is full.

The last time the government ordered a lockdown lasting more than 24 hours was last January, when residents in 70 blocks in Jordan could not go out for 48 hours.

People must be tested each of the five days

Residents of Yat Kwai House will have to be tested everyday for five days, and breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be provided for them. Anyone who fails to comply will be subjected to a HK$5,000 fine, and further violations could lead to a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a HK$25,000 fine.

Earlier it was reported a Pakistani woman who stayed in a quarantine hotel for 21 day became positive a few days after she came out, and already infected others. One of them was her unvaccinated husband, who went to Yat Kwai House to pick up recycling items from waste bins and infected a cleaner there. The cleaner had spread the virus across 13 floors affecting 12 households, as well as building staff.

The cleaner had had two doses of Sinovac.

Meanwhile, animal activists are trying to save as many hamsters as they can, intercepting people surrendering their rodent pets, explaining to them they legally do not have to do that. Some video footage has shown people giving their pets to these activists, who promise to look after their pets without exchanging any contact information.

Some activists protect hamsters as resistance

Some of these activists were interviewed by the media today. And while they asked to be anonymous and turned their backs to the camera while being interviewed, they also requested their voices to be altered too.

This is the state of Hong Kong now, as resisting giving up hamsters is seen as an act of dissent against the government. Even hamsters are seen as symbols of resistance...

Tonight two more pet shops have hamsters testing positive for Covid-19, I Love Rabbit in Causeway Bay and Tai Po. People who visited these shops must get tested, while staff members will have to undergo quarantine. Will another culling take place?

Omicron Infections Worrying

Sorry little fella, you need to go... some 2,000 hamsters culled

Hamster-geddon has been the talk of the town today, as we watched news coverage of people giving up their rodent pets to the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department to test them for Covid-19, and regardless if they are negative or positive, they are "humanely handled", but we all know what that means...

One father interviewed outside the AFCD said it was not fair, having to get rid of the animal when it was a living thing, and having to explain to his children that the hamster had to be destroyed because of the pandemic. But at the same time he said for the safety of the family the hamster had to go.

A mother said her children had been talking about getting a small pet for a while and then they finally got the hamster on the weekend, but now she was taking it to be culled.

AFCD asked people to surrender their hamsters

But others reported in other news articles have refused to hand over the animals, saying they would rather die than surrender their hamsters. Some saw this as an act of resistance against the government, and others even organised a system to take in hamsters as fosters; it reminded some of when strangers would taken in protesters for their safety back in 2019.

It has even gotten to the point where death threats have been sent to infectious disease experts like Dr David Hui Shu-cheong, and Dr Yuen Kwok-yung, but he brushed off the ominous messages, as he'd received them before...

In any event, seeing headlines like "Killing Hamsters Drives Hong Kong to New Low in Meeting China's Zero-Covid Dream", and "Hong Kong hamster massacre: Residents resist 'zero-Covid' city's pet project" give a horrific impression of the city, especially when no other animal-to-human transmission has been found around the world for the past two years.

While experts are still trying to find out if it was animal-to-human transmission or the other way around, Yuen believes the hamsters that came from the Netherlands, were most probably infected while in the warehouse in Tai Po, which is why he still thinks the cull was necessary.

Can you get infected with a mask on? Possibly

Today there is a report that one could possibly be infected with the Omicron virus just by passing by an infected person -- and everyone is wearing masks.

This is the plausible explanation of how a 26-year-old kindergarten teacher tested positive after passing by two infected people while walking in an MTR tunnel at a Mei Foo exit.

CCTV footage and her Octopus card transaction history showed she went through a tunnel exit at almost the same time -- just nine seconds apart -- as the two infected people last Friday. All three wore masks, and the teacher did not have contact with the pair.

Hui says this shows that the Omicron variant is four to eight times more transmissible than the Delta variant.

"If the index [patient] was near the kindergarten teacher, the wind direction could carry droplets [containing virus] to the teacher," he said. "Although a surgical mask could protect you from large droplets, it could still reach your eyes or leak in when you rub your eyes and nose."

He added that short-range airborne transmission could also occur if they stayed at a close distance, through gaps at the sides of the masks. He suggested residents wear glasses, plain spectacles, or face shields on top of face masks for extra protection.

Hui says Omicron droplets can get into the eyes

Oh no. Here we go again with people going over the top with a face shield on top of masks and those goggles usually worn in laboratories.

We are so exhausted by the whole pandemic and now we are told to be even more paranoid. 

"When is this going to end?" people keep asking openly, and there's no definitive answer.

Now that Omicron can possibly be caught so easily, restaurants are definitely going to see a drop in dine-in business, and who wants to even eat with a friend anymore?

It's all too much to bear. The impending Year of the Tiger is not looking good...

HK Govt Bungles Coming Clean on Masks

Some 2 million people have signed up to get these reusable masks

 

Over 2 million people have ordered the government issued reusable masks online, but now there is a fiasco over why the government was not more forthcoming about which companies took part in the production process, and why there was no public tender for it.

Months ago when there was a mask shortage, the Hong Kong government kept missing out on crucial shipments of surgical masks because it insisted on going through a tender process. And now it seems tendering to make 7 million masks is not necessary.

Annie Choi (left) speaking on RTHK today about the masks

What gives?

Finally today the permanent secretary for Innovation and Technology, Annie Choi Suk-han, said on an RTHK radio program that the masks were being produced by Hong Kong-based textiles company Crystal International Group Limited, which has a factory in Vietnam, as well as TAL Apparel, which has a small production line in Hong Kong.

The completed masks are then sent to a company in the Tai Po Industrial Estate where they are sterilized and packaged, and then sent to The Mills in Tsuen Wan, owned by Nan Fung Group, for storage, as well as Novetex Textiles.

Choi said officials initially didn't want to disclose the names of the companies because they didn't want to "inconvenience anyone" but did not elaborate further which raised eyebrows.

Novetex is one of the companies involved in mask production

She said Crystal International Group, which usually handles orders from Uniqlo and H&M, set aside work to handle this "special project".

"I am actually worried, as I don't know if [the manufacturer] can recover the cost," Choi said.

Is this her way of trying to get sympathy for a company that is getting a massive order? What about all those businesses that were struggling for the past six weeks because of the pandemic?  Does she feel sorry for them?

And more telling is that the masks had to be produced in Vietnam, as there is no factory in Hong Kong certified to produce these kinds of masks and could be easily exported here.

The mask was developed and patented by the Hong Kong Research Institute of Textiles and Apparel, a government-funded non-profit, and costs around HK$800 million. Interestingly the heads of Crystal Group and TAL Apparel are HKRITA directors.

Remember when people queued for hours for masks?

 When asked why there was no public tender, Choi explained the project was done according to the government and World Trade Organization procurement guidelines.

"According to the government regulations, in case of public health emergency, we can conduct direct procurement," she said.

Again we ask -- why wasn't that measure taken a few months ago back in late January when Hongkongers were desperately looking for masks? Or the coronavirus wasn't considered a public health emergency then?

White Terror in Hong Kong

Agnes Chow and Joshua Wong emerge having been released on bail today

Today reached new heights of shock with a slew of arrests last night, today and more are still happening as the clock approaches midnight Hong Kong time.

On Thursday night, Andy Chan Ho-tin of the now outlawed Hong Kong National Party was detained when he was trying to board a plane to Tokyo. He was arrested on suspicion of rioting and assaulting a police officer during an anti-parallel protest in Sheung Shui last month.

Former HKU student leader Althea Suen was also arrested

Then this morning there was word that Demosisto's secretary general Joshua Wong Chi-fung was arrested at 7.30am when he was in Ap Lei Chau; apparently he was nabbed into an unmarked car and then sent to the Wan Chai police station.

This goes against police regulations -- transporting all those arrested should be in clearly marked cars.

His arrest was quickly followed by another Demosisto member, Agnes Chow Ting, who also picked up in the same manner in Tai Po.

What had they done wrong?

But that wasn't all. The police were looking for Ivan Lam also of Demosisto, but he is in Taiwan now. There was also Althea Suen Hiu-lam, a former student leader at the University of Hong Kong.

Andy Chan was stopped from boarding a flight to Tokyo

And then there were three pro-democracy lawmakers who were taken by police: Cheng Chung-tai for conspiracy of criminal damage in the Legislative Council on July 1, Au Nok-yin for suspicion of obstructing police in the execution of their duties and assaulting police, and then former Cathay Pacific pilot Jeremy Tam for obstructing police officers on July 8, possibly related to clashes that followed a march in Tsim Sha Tsui the day before.

Sha Tin District Council member Rick Hui Yui-yu was also arrested on suspicion of obstructing police officers performing their duty during clashes at New Town Plaza shopping centre on July 14.

Speaking at a press conference, fellow Sha Tin District Council member George Wong Hok-lai said: "The police claimed that he [Hui] was obstructing police operations but as we saw on the news, he was performing his duty as a district councillor to assist the residents and protect them in Sha Tin."

Former Cathay Pacific pilot Jeremy Tam was arrested

A pro-Beijing newspaper had claimed Hui pretended to be a journalist, but Wong said Hui was wearing a reflective vest with a label on the back stating he is a district council member.

Late in the afternoon Joshua Wong and Agnes Chow were released on a HK$10,000 bail each, and outside the court, both were defiant and continued to demand the government withdraw the extradition bill, have an independent inquiry into police brutality, to stop calling the protesters "rioters", and have universal suffrage.

"Beijing just conveniently manipulates Hong Kong people's freedom," Wong said. "I urge the international community to send a message to President Xi, sending troops or using the emergency ordinance is not the way out."

Meanwhile Chief Superintendent John Tse Chun-chung of the police public relations branch, denied the arrests were meant to deter supporters from attending a banned protest march tomorrow, from Chater Garden in Central to the liaison office in Western district.

But so many people in one day?

Au Nok-hin was also taken by police in a series of arrests

Either Hong Kong police are doing this show of force to satisfy Beijing that it has rounded up those who it believes are causing trouble, or it really does believe "black hands" are manipulating these people?

The police also claim to have enough evidence to prosecute all these people...

In the meantime, the planned protest tomorrow has been cancelled, which means anyone near the area could be arrested for illegal assembly. Even bystanders could be nabbed. Some think of lots of people show up then how can the police arrest so many people? But then again they already have arrested 900 people... what's a few thousand more?

As Agnes Chow says, stop the white terror. Hongkongers will find another way to protest.

Local Celebrity Sighting!

My friend with actor Chow Yun-fat at the Tai Po Cooked Market Centre

This morning I woke up at 6.30am to get to Tsim Sha Tsui East for an assignment. A small group of people and I were accompanying a chef to Tai Po Market in the New Territories as he bought some vegetables and seafood; afterwards he would go back to the restaurant to prepare lunch for us to eat.

For me going to Tai Po has memories -- I spent seven years commuting to the Industrial Estate for work, but hardly ever went to the Tai Po market. I only went once to the area to have the best roast goose I have ever had -- unfortunately that place closed so I never went back there again!

Anyway, we arrived around 9.20am and the Tai Po Market is a giant modern and clean complex near the MTR station. On the top floor is the cooked food centre and that's where we had some breakfast. We ate some pork chop buns, deep-fried fish fillet buns, and dim sum.

Chow having a chat with the chef

While we were eating, a woman we were with had a phone call and walked away to take it. She didn't come back for a long time but when she returned, she excitedly said actor Chow Yun-fat walked right by her and waved!

He seems to be everywhere these days -- people have reported sightings of him at 7am in a cha chaan teng in Kowloon City, in Mui Wo, and on the MTR.

One of the organizers of our field trip excitedly went off on a search for him and we told her to come back with him, but a while later she came back alone! She said he was swarmed by fans and she asked him to come by our table. Would he? Did he know how to find us?

Sure enough a few minutes later, a tall man in all black with a baseball cap, sunglasses, black top, shorts and leggings showed up. We were in the midst of getting up when he motioned to us to sit down, not wanting to cause a commotion.

But onlookers were thrilled to see him and huddled around our table. Chow was introduced to the chef -- the actor didn't seem to believe he was one until a name card was produced. Suitably impressed Chow told us to gather round for a wefie.

He didn't like where I was standing and instructed me to stand to his left and I quickly obeyed. Soon he took three pictures, gave back our smartphone and he left as quickly as he came.

We hadn't even gone grocery shopping yet and already had a massive celebrity sighting!

After I posted the picture on social media, it went wild with lots of comments saying "lucky you!" and "so jealous!"

We really were lucky! And we had a really fun excursion and delicious lunch too!

I'm glad to have a fun memory of Tai Po instead of just that one-and-a-half hour commute there and back everyday for seven years!

Picture of the Day: Friday Rush Hour

An MTR worker held a plastic tape preventing commuters from going down

My office is in Taipo in the New Territories, and our company provides us shuttle buses to get to and from work, otherwise no one would want to work so far from town.

This morning we were on Hennessy Road in Wan Chai, trying to turn left to get over to the Harbour Tunnel when there was a massive traffic jam and the traffic cop directed our bus go eastwards to the Eastern Tunnel.

Interestingly we arrived at the office only about five to 10 minutes later than usual.

Then in the evening, I decided it would be better to take the shuttle bus to Kowloon Tong and then take the MTR back home.

But when I got down to the station, past the turnstiles, no one was allowed to take the escalators down to the platforms. There were too many people already down there.

There were so many people waiting to get onto the train

After a few minutes we were allowed down and the platform to take the train towards Whampoa was several people deep. I had to wait for three trains to go by before getting on, and even then it was a tight squeeze.

What happened? Why an unusually large number of people today?

It was partly because of the new MTR stations at Ho Ma Tin and Whampoa on the green line, because a number of people were still on the train, while the rest of us got off to get the train to Central.

So by the time I arrived at Kennedy Town station, it was exactly an hour and 10 minutes later, which usually would have taken an hour if there weren't so many people at Kowloon Tong.

Very strange, but hopefully this is not the new normal. We can only take being squished like sardines for so long.

Speaking of which, have Hong Kong's senior officials ridden on the MTR during rush hour lately to see for themselves what we plebs go through everyday?

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...

HK Govt Needs to Walk This Way

Hong Kong is walkable to a degree and then it gets frustrating and dangerous

It's odd that transport minister Anthony Cheung Bing-leung says if Hong Kong people want a more walkable city then they should walk more.

Shouldn't the government take the lead? How can we walk more if there are impediments in the way or paths that are not developed yet?

He said this during the Walk21 Conference hosted by think tank Civic Exchange. While he acknowledged some people are keen on more walking and cycling for a health lifestyle, he noted there were others "less ready to change their commuting habits and patterns".

During Occupy pedestrians enjoyed walking along freeways

Cheung said there were many cases where communities were opposed to the re-routing or frequency of a bus network that would result in commuters having to walk an extra 10 or 15 minutes.

There is also the ongoing issue of car owners wanting to have more car parks in all 18 districts in the city.

"For many people, the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. We need actionable change and even a paradigm shift on how our city life is to be organized," he said.

"Are we willing to endure more congested trains and buses and to walk more so that we do not have to go for continuous expansion of the infrastructure? Tough questions and a tough trade-off indeed."

Part of the problem is that some offices are too far away to walk. In my case walking or taking the bus from Kennedy Town to Taipo is completely unfeasible.

I think I am like most commuters, always taking public transport and walking wherever I can.

The red path is a nice walk from Central to Wan Chai

But the government should be making more public land more accessible, particularly the harbourfront for people to exercise and have leisurely walks. There also needs to be more safe areas for people to cycle other than the bike paths in the New Territories.

Currently one can walk from Wan Chai all the way to Sai Ying Pun where the Western wholesale market is, but then one has to do a major detour before getting back to the harbourfront again towards Kennedy Town. If that was one wide, safe, continuous path, more people would use it for sure, including myself.

And by the way has he seen what it's like in the MTR during rush hour? He really should experience it himself to understand people's frustrations of having to wait for several trains before they can squeeze on?

Don't get us wrong -- we appreciate the MTR, but is it ready for a greater onslaught of people once the south line opens?

What are the alternatives?

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...

Leung's Ideas for the "Working Class"

CY Leung needs to re-think his recreational ideas for the "working class"

At the "two session" in Beijing, a Hong Kong delegate hinted that Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying needs to be more tactful in governing the city if he wants to be re-elected next year.

Chan Yuen-han, a delegate to the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference representing the Federation of Trade Unions, said compared to previous administrations, the current one wasn't "soft enough".

Leung probably put this into consideration when he wrote on his blog that there should be facilities to allow the "working class" to "relax" during their lunch hour.

Anglers need at least half a day to catch any fish

He suggested three angling zones -- places for people to fish -- be set up at the Central promenade, Tsing Yi and Pak Shek Kok in Tai Po.

"After having a simple lunch, staff in Cenral could then make use of the remaining 45 minutes to fish along the shore," he wrote.

People could even enjoy a 20-minute swim -- " a great alternative to gym" after lunch if a swimming shed was built near the International Finance Centre.

Wow Leung actually cares about the "working class" to make these suggestions, but probably hasn't thought about the logistics.

Angling enthusiasts thought the idea was a joke.

Who has time to take a 20-minute dip after lunch?

"There are few fish during lunchtime because of the water temperature, sunlight and extra noise," said the owner of a fishing tackle shop in Sai Wan. "Every angler would know that."

He also added that angling is an activity that takes up at least half a day. "If all you have is 45 minutes, you are almost ready to pack up before you start," he said.

While Alex Kwok Siu-kit of the Hong Kong and Kowloon Lifeguards' Union welcomed Leung's suggestion of a swimming shed, he thought it was ridiculous to target office workers.

"Everybody knows you should not swim after lunch, as you might suffer from a cramp," he said.

General secretary of the Hong Kong Confederation of Trade Unions Lee Cheuk-yan said Leung's ideas reflected how out of touch he was with the people.

"Does he know how crowded Central is and how long workers have to queue for a meal?" he asked. "Is Leung living on Mars?"

Judging from his well-intentioned ideas that don't quite add up, one would have to agree.

Perhaps it's back to the drawing board to think of better ideas for the "working class"...

Rain, Rain Go Away!

Yesterday Hong Kong had so much rainfall -- and of course it would hit the hardest during the evening rush hour.

It took me an hour and 15 minutes to get from Taipo to Causeway Bay on our company shuttle, that usually takes 45 minutes on a good day.

There was so much rain yesterday, that it was measured to be a month's worth of precipitation in less than 24 hours. 

The Hong Kong Observatory measured 44.6mm of rain on December 9, almost double the 26.8mm average of monthly rainfall measurements since 1981.

"The rainfall was caused by an upper air disturbance, which spread across our territory yesterday... but it's not uncommon in December to have such rainfall," he said.

Hmmmm I don't quite remember it being this bad...

Apparently the observatory is forecasting more roller coaster weather in the next few days, with temperatures going up in the next few days before plunging again on Wednesday.

No wonder it's hard to figure out what to wear in the morning these days!

Short-Term Thinking

Many families in Hong Kong live in cramped conditions like this

Yesterday a colleague asked me if I knew of any places available for rent.

It turns out her landlord is increasing the monthly rent of her 270-square-foot flat in a 30-year-old building in Sham Shui Po to HK$13,200.

That amount is just mind-boggling as it's just enough room for a bed, one's worldly possessions and a tiny kitchen and bathroom.

I've lived in 300 square feet, but for over HK$13,000?

She has been looking for alternatives, but only has a few more days until she has to let the landlord know if she's staying or not.

My colleague is no spring chicken, but she doesn't make much money, though enough to cover living expenses, including looking after three cats. However, the rent increase would be too much to bear financially.

"Everyone is snapping up cheaper flats, not the luxury ones, and not everyone can get the lower priced flats, so rents are going up," she says matter-of-fact. "I can't even begin to think of buying a flat -- HK$4 million doesn't get you much these days."

Mont Vert microflats in Tai Po, far from the MTR station...

It's true -- and as developers find more ways to screw buyers, the only affordable housing are microflats, where there's basically only enough room for a bed and bathroom. You'll be lucky if you have room for a hot plate and a bar fridge. Did we mention these places are located in areas that aren't near public transport?

Young people in Hong Kong who don't have parents with fat bank accounts have the short end of the stick. How is society supposed to develop when salaries are frozen from 10 years ago, so the next generation has no choice but to live with their parents well into adulthood, the opportunity to move out getting increasingly remote as property prices skyrocket.

Depressed salaries do not help the economy -- it prevents young people from buying flats, getting married and having children. Meanwhile the rich get richer, and the social inequality worsens.

I hope my coworker does find a decent place that isn't exorbitant soon... it also illustrates how greedy landlords can be. Maybe it's time Hong Kong introduces some kind of rent controls? But the rich will probably kick up a fuss and the government will back down...

The other shocking news was that The Excelsior hotel in Causeway Bay may be torn down to make way for an office building. The hotel has been there for 42 years and has a fantastic location by the MTR and shopping areas, and the basement holds Dickens bar where many go there to grab a drink or watch football games on the big screens.

While it is a fact office buildings are much less labour-intensive than hotels, the possibility of tearing down The Excelsior is so short-sighted.

Central used to have the Hilton (now Cheung Kong Centre), Furama (now AIA Central) and the former Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong (now another office building). The only hotels in the main Central district are the Mandarin Oriental and its sister property in the Landmark.

Despite many objections, 27 Lugard Road will be developed

It seems ironic that while Macau is building more hotels, Hong Kong is keen to knock them down and instead have places for guests to stay in the oddest locations like the Murray Building, and the Peak.

The Town Planning Board has approved the development of a boutique hotel on 27 Lugard Road on Victoria Peak, which is where many tourists, and locals like to walk around the Peak. Despite 3,215 objections to the proposal and only 278 expressions of support, the plan was given the green light unanimously by the board.

Does everyone in Hong Kong have short-term thinking?

Moaning About Housing (Again)

Cheung Kong's Mont Vert development in Tai Po is not selling like hot cakes

Occupy is over for now, but grumbling about property prices is not.

Tonight a friend told us about looking at flats for investment in Happy Valley. She saw a studio that was 210 square feet. For how much? I guessed right -- HK$3 million.

She said it was so tiny, with only a small counter space for a "kitchen", if you can call it that. There would only be room for a hot plate and maybe a fridge.

If the place was rented out, the landlord could get HK$10,000 a month.

Flats here are less than 200 sq ft, and not near public transport

She said that it was good for people who wanted to move out of their parents' place to have their own space -- but only 210 sq ft?! Why waste the money for that! Might as well grin and bear it with the parental units and save the HK$10K and perhaps go on short trips more often instead.

Anyway -- this ties into the latest news with Mont Vert, Cheung Kong's development in Tai Po that is selling its microflats that are 180 sq ft.

A female reporter checked out the space and when she stretched out her arms, they almost reached the width of the room. Of course there was only enough room for a bed and perhaps a wardrobe.

The cost of flats these size? HK$1.59 million to HK$1.65 million.

Would a first-time homeowner really put down their hard-earned money on such a tiny space to live in?

Its location near Chinese tombs hardly makes it desirable!

The other factor holding back buyers is that the flats are located near large traditional Chinese tombs, which is not good for fung shui reasons.

Oh but wait -- how about buying three microflats together and making them into one big flat of 540 sq ft for HK$7 million?

Prices like these are outrageous to say the least, not to mention the psychological effects of living in such tiny spaces.

This is one of the reasons why we went out and occupied the streets!

Obviously no one is listening or cares to listen...

Lunch Treat

Four of us polished off half a roast goose for lunch!

Around noon, a colleague came over to me and said he had a craving for bo jai fan or claypot rice.

It's a great dish to have in the winter time, but unfortunately these claypot rice dishes aren't available until after dark. Why it's a dinner meal I have no idea, but that's just the way it is.

So we thought of another suggestion to eat roast goose instead. In Taipo there's only one place to hit, and that's Yat Lok (一樂燒臘). Last week it was awarded a Michelin star.

Even Anthony Bourdain has been there and in the restaurant there's a TV screen with a loop that shows the clip of him eating there. Other than that there's lots of aquariums probably for fung shui purposes.

We arrived before 1pm and there were still several tables available. We ordered half a roast goose, along with kale stir-fried with cured meats and sauages, as well as a plate of goose intestines stir-fried with salted vegetables and peppers.

I had a bowl of lai fun, or thick rice noodles with the roast goose, that arrived at the table with a slightly darker skin, but the meat was still very moist and tender. While I like eating the meatier pieces, I still like eating the leg part too and chewing the bone clean.

For me the kale was on the oilier side because of the cured meats, but was definitely flavourful to counter the bitterness of the vegetable.

Meanwhile the intestines were long bits and slightly crunchy which was new for me. I liked the pairing with the salty vegetables to add more savouriness to the dish.

The meal came to $450 for four of us, and while it was definitely more expensive than our canteen food, it was far superior than what we usually eat for lunch in the office!

A nice treat... once in a while...

Yat Lok 一樂燒臘

5 Tai Ming Lane
Taipo Market
2656 4732

Who Has the Last Laugh?

Prospective buyers checking out the model of Mont Vert flats in Taipo

Can you hear the wicked laugh in the distance?

That's probably Hong Kong's richest man, Li Ka-shing, amused that 400 of the 492 flats on sale at Cheung Kong's Mont Vert project in Taipo were sold on the first day of sales yesterday.

This despite buyers not being able to view the flats at all -- even though it is stipulated by law. Under Section 44 of the residential properties ordinance, which took effect in April last year, developers of a newly completed project are required to make every flat -- or a comparable flat -- available for viewing by potential buyers.

If a developer is unable to do this, it needs to seek written consent from prospective buyers.

Cheung Kong claims "the personal safety of those prospective buyers will be endangered" if flats ready in the first phase were opened for viewing while there was ongoing construction on the second phase.

The flats here are affordable -- but some are very tiny...

However, many of these prospective buyers were willing to sign the agreement promising to buy without personally inspecting the flats -- which seriously harms the interests of the buyers.

The buyers of some of these Mont Vert flats, some of which are as small as 172 square feet, aren't probably going to be occupying them -- they are most likely going to rent them out to people who commute across the border to work, or to mainland students studying at Chinese University.

The tycoon looks like he is trying to alleviate the affordable housing situation by bringing out flats that are just under HK$2 million, but in reality how does a person live comfortably in less than 200 square feet with all their worldly possessions?

That is why Li is probably laughing at us again -- coming up with this "excuse" not to allow buyers to really see the actual space they are buying with about HK$2 million dollars, and they actually fall for it and purchase these micro flats anyway.

It just demonstrates there is a healthy demand for tiny flats -- and no doubt developers will think of even tinier places for people to live in, but also the hope that riding on the Li ticket will be the first step to becoming wealthier.

Are the boom times of flat speculation back again? Time will tell.

But in the meantime we can hear laughing in the distance...

Micro Living

Interested in living in a flat this small in Taipo?

Hong Kong flats are getting smaller and smaller.

And that's not just the ones in town -- developer Cheung Kong (a la Li Ka-shing) has a new project called Mont Vert ("mount green") in Taipo where 196 of the flats are less than 200 square feet.

The smallest one has 177 sq ft -- leaving 97 sq ft for the living room, 13 sq ft for the kitchen, and 31 sq ft for the washroom.

These flats are similar in size to public housing studio flats that are rented out for HK$1,200 a month.

But they are selling for HK$10,000 per sq ft, making them about HK$1.7 million.

However these aren't the smallest flats around -- High Place built by Henderson Land in Kowloon City that will be released in September are 166 sq ft.

Apparently Mont Vert has a lot of interest from investors who want to rent out to tenants like mainland students who find the location not too far from Chinese University.

But no one is going to buy these micro flats for their own use. These are strictly for investment. But will it be worth it in the end?

It's incredible how small these flats can get -- does this mean people only have 10 articles of clothing and have no possessions whatsoever or they will stack everything up in boxes and weave around them in the room?

Whatever the case is, it's pretty claustrophobic to live in such tiny units. One wonders what that does to people psychologically, never mind the under HK$2 million price tag.