How to Exit Hong Kong

Some pointers to make it easier to leave Hong Kong these days

Here's a quick rundown on how to exit Hong Kong...

Pay your tax before you leave

Come here to do all your tax paperwork

When you resign from your workplace, be sure to get a letter from the HR department about your termination of employment due to departing Hong Kong, along with the requisite IR56G, the notification form from your employer to inform the Inland Revenue Department that you will depart from Hong Kong.

Do not leave this to the last minute before you leave. Take these two pieces of paper and your HKID to the 1/F of  Inland Revenue and it's best to go before it opens at 9am. You will get a ticket and when your number is called, tell the person at the counter you are leaving and show them these letters from your company.

They will tell you to go to the 26/F, where again you queue up and get the requisite green tax form to fill out (hence the IR56G form is handy). Be sure to bring any receipts that you may have made for charitable donations to declare in this form as well.

Hand in the green form and the person may tell you come back in the afternoon.

You will need to fill out this green tax form

At that time they will give your tax bill, which you pay by going back down to Hong Kong Post on the 1/F. There will be several people in front of you with the same white piece of paper with red ink. You cannot pay by credit, only cash or debit.

When this is processed, go back up to the 7/F to get your release letter. This is important to have in order to apply to withdraw your mandatory provident fund (MPF) if you are a foreign passport holder.

All the above can be completed in one day.

Withdraw MPF

You need to say an oath that is witnessed by the Home Affairs office before you can apply to withdraw your MPF, along with the release letter.

Because of the fifth wave, this oath could only be done by appointment only. Best to go to your closest Home Affairs office and get the phone number to make the appointment -- no walk-ins allowed. It's a very antiquated way of doing this, as you cannot book online. Just press redial on your phone 30, 40 times until you get through. 

In my case the oath service was only available Monday, Wednesday and Friday at select times. You might be lucky and get the next day booking or next week. They will ask for your name and contact phone number.

On the appointed day arrive a few minutes early (there will be a queue). A person will check each person against their appointment list (hence no walk-ins allowed). Your request is processed and then an appointed person will witness you reading out a statement in English or Chinese. It is a basically a run-on sentence in legalese saying that you abide by the Oath and Declarations Ordinance, that everything you have declared in your forms are true. While I was waiting for my turn, I was given the Oath and Declarations Ordinance to read...

Oath office is around the corner on O'Brien Road

Once you have read out the oath, the witness will sign and stamp a chop on a letter saying you have completed the oath. Send this original copy to the MPF provider along with the application to withdraw your MPF from either your provider or the MPF website. 

It will ask for information about where you are moving to, your contact details and which bank account the money should be sent to.

Your MPF provider may contact you for further information; in my case it was my tax number in the country I will reside in, and I filled that in online. 

From there it should take about a month for it to be processed.

Others have told me they received two tax refund cheques from Inland Revenue.

Packing up

Purging can be a tough exercise, but when it comes down to it, try to be as ruthless as possible. Give away as much as you can to friends and family, or to charities that could use clothing, stationary, tableware, kitchenware, and so on. 

Mail as much as you can ahead of time

If you don't have any furniture, best to send back things via Hong Kong Post via ship as the cheapest option. Either find a sturdy cardboard box or use the ones sold at the post office and make sure they are secured well with packing tape. 

When you fill out the form, you will need to itemise everything in the box and put a total value on them, so best to make a list as you pack the box -- once it's sealed it's hard to remember what exactly what was in there! Around 10kg is over HK$600 which will arrive in about three months' time. So best to ship off what you don't need first.

Before I left, SpeedPost was available -- packages under 2kg could be sent in two weeks. To make sure I was under 2kg, I brought the unsealed box to weigh it before using the packing tape. The staff don't mind you weighing the box as long as they aren't busy, hence going in the morning is a good time.

You cannot mail any electronics, liquid like perfume, but something like hand cream is OK. Obviously no batteries, lighters or hand sanitiser (anything with alcohol in it). Here's the list.

Miscellaneous

If you are renting, be sure to inform providers for electricity, gas, water, etc that you are leaving and to pay up the bills. They will return the deposits to you via cheque. Same goes for settling mobile phone and internet, gym memberships and so on.

Most people will keep their bank accounts active to either receive the MPF withdrawal or to keep paying mobile phone fees while abroad to retain their Hong Kong numbers. I have heard it is harder to open bank accounts in Hong Kong now, so if you can keep a basic one open, that could be handy.

Try to complete your "bucket list" if you have one. In my case because of the social-distancing measures during the pandemic, and time was ticking fast, I was just happy to see whoever wanted to meet up. 

Departure

Check once, twice, three times to make sure you are clear of the Covid-19 requirements for your destination, as they can change suddenly. In my case from the time I booked my flight to departure rules had changed so that there was no need for a PCR test in both the transit city or the final destination.

Some countries may require you to download a specific app to input all your flight and passport information.

Even though it's all digital, be old school and print out everything. Wifi doesn't work all the time.

Hong Kong International Airport is a ghost town when it comes to services and shops. Practically all of them were closed in the check-in area, and nothing was open past security and immigration except for washrooms and free water. Bring snacks if you want to nibble on something before your flight, or eat a big meal beforehand.

If you are flying economy, be sure to get there at least three hours beforehand as there will be a big queue to check-in, otherwise those in business and first class won't have much of a wait. Be sure to pack all your electronics in your hand carry luggage, not check-in suitcases for inspection.

OK One more post tomorrow on a few of the final things I did in Hong Kong!

Beijing Wants Macau Turned into IT Hub

Can Macau transform from gambling hub to one of innovation?

Before the coronavirus pandemic, Macau was the world's power horse when it came to generating billions of dollars in profits from gambling -- for years the former Portuguese colony's casino revenues were greater than all of those in Las Vegas combined. It generated over 80 percent of the Macau's tax income.

China had wanted Macau to diversify its income sources for years, and the gaming resorts tried to create entertainment, fine dining restaurants and shopping, but these initiatives were completely overshadowed by casinos. 

Macau depends heavily on casinos for its tax base

Mainland gamblers didn't care for shows that tried to be like those in Vegas, or Michelin-starred restaurants, and the shopping -- they just wanted to eat bowls of noodles so they could play at the VIP tables, dropping thousands of dollars per round.

However now with Covid-19 pandemic approaching its second year, it has laid bare how vulnerable Macau is to depending on gaming, and in the past week there was sensational news of Macau police arresting Alvin Chau Cheok-wa, who allegedly ran illegal cross border gambling activities. 

The free-wheeling days of fast money, VIP rooms, and escorts are over.

Instead Beijing wants to take the opportunity to turn the gambling capital into an IT hub.

The place will be Hengqin, a small island in between Macau and Zhuhai that will jointly be governed by both the Macau and Guangdong authorities. 

Hengqin is an island near Macau and Zhuhai

It will be one step forward in rebranding Macau as "the new centre of international technologies" to connect the Asia Pacific tech ecosystems with the rest of the world.

Huh?

What tech ecosystems? And wasn't Hong Kong supposed to be an IT hub too?

In Beijing's plan, Macau is being encouraged to develop integrated circuits, new energy projects and artificial intelligence, among other tech sectors, and to establish a supply chain for chips, from design to testing.

That will also include enhancing the research abilities of Macau universities to drive innovation and technology. There are other industries Beijing wants to develop too, like Chinese medicine, gems, tourism and financial services. 

Meanwhile tech firms like Tencent as helping the Macau Water Supply Company digitise its operations to offer smoother and faster services, and install meters to detect unusual water consumption. 

Huawei is also working with Macau's telecoms operator CTM on Macau's smart city initiative, using big data technology.

Are Macau's sleepy streets ready for change?

While this all sounds great, the reality is that Macau's population is just under 650,000, the city is small, rundown and not very efficient to get around.

Young people are either in the gaming or hospitality industries, or they have left Macau to develop their careers elsewhere, like Hong Kong. Students don't go to Macau universities to study high tech and innovation, and trying to change that perception will be a hard sell.

The Macanese don't have the aggressive go-getter mentality to work hard -- they are so used to getting free money from the government and having their pay from casinos artificially high that it will be hard to wean them off the gaming industry.

In addition, Macau doesn't have the man power or the education level to set up a supply chain for chips let alone artificial intelligence. 

And what will happen to all those casinos that are there and the ones that are being built? Will those be turned into high-tech hubs instead? 

It seems Beijing has major pipe dreams for Macau that may never become a reality...

Visiting the Botanical Gardens at Berkeley

The poppy known as the fried egg flower at the botanical garden

Yesterday the temperatures in San Francisco were unusually hot and today was even hotter at 37 degrees Celsius! But we braved the heat and headed to the University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley.

A poppy whose petals look like they are fiery red flames

Even though we were armed with large brim hats, we still had to try to find as many shady areas as possible to keep cool. As a result, we did a relatively quick tour of the place; if it wasn't so hot we'd probably be there for two hours. We ended up hanging around there for an hour and 40 minutes.

The garden features plants from around the world, and are grouped according to their origin: Asia, Australasia, California, Eastern North America, Mediterranean, Mexico/Central America, Deserts of the Americas, Southern Africa and South America.

We just wandered down the paths to explore the area though admittedly our direction was determined by where we found shady routes. Along the way we saw so many different kinds of flowers, succulents and cacti.

According to TCM, this plant is good for many ailments!

One of the first flowers we saw was a white poppy called fried egg flower because it has five large white petals and a yellow centre. Its actual name is the matilija poppy. Love the name. We also came across an unusual looking red poppy with petals that looked like flames, particularly in the heat!

At one point we came across the Chinese medicinal herb garden, where some plants that are used in traditional Chinese medicine or TCM are grown, or at least attempted to -- some herbs were wilting under the heat.

A plant we saw was called Chinese leek seeds or jiu(3) cai(4) zi(3), or allium tuberosum. It is apparently good for back and knee pain, incontinence and frequent urination... hmmm maybe I picked a bad example. We also observed that many of the herbs were good for treating impotence!

An aloe plant from South Africa that grows in a spiral

This being California, we saw lots of aloe plants, one of which grew in a spiral pattern that I had never seen before, and some cacti that were very tall! The taller the cacti the greater its ability to store water -- it is able to store as much as 90 percent of the plant's weight.

For example, a cactus about 7 metres tall and weighing 6 tons can capture and store as much as a metric ton of rainwater in one day. This can cause the ribbed stems to expand 30cm!

Meanwhile, on a hot day, the same 7-metre tall cactus can lose 0.24 litres or one cup of water. Interesting factoids!

A cactus called African milk barrel from South Africa

Across the street from the botanical garden is the California Mather Redwood Grove and Amphitheater. We got the special door code to go in and actually the area isn't that big but still nice to walk in a mini forest filled with redwood trees, also known as sequoia sempervirens.

These trees are the world's tallest ones, with some reaching 106 metres with a diameter of 7 metres, and can live over 2,000 years.

They grow best in the California and Oregon coasts where winter rains and condensation from summer fog provide the moisture they need.

Another interesting fact is that it takes two weeks for water to travel from the roots of a redwood tree two weeks to the tree top. The needles in the tree can also absorb water, and when there are fires, the redwood tree's bark can be as thick as 30cm to protect itself. Really fascinating!

Looking up at the super tall redwood trees

University of California Botanical Garden at Berkeley
200 Centennial Drive
Berkeley, CA
94720-5045
(510) 643 2755
botanicalgarden.berkeley.edu

Don't Take the Peanuts

Cathay Pacific has found cabin crew have pilfered a lot of stuff over the years

Cathay Pacific is trying to continue to slash costs to save HK$4 billion (despite posting a HK$2.3 billion profit in 2018), but it looks like it may have found a reason why it's spending a lot of money too.

There seems to be a lot of pilfering going on, with flight attendants freely taking items on the plane, from cutlery and wine glasses, and even bread.

One of the more popular items are Haagen-Dazs ice creams

Apparently the theft of the items amount to "untold hundreds of millions" over the years, according to sources.

One of the more popular items is the pot of Haagen-Dazs ice cream served on flights. Some cabin crew are known to have freezers stocked with these ice creams.

"In view of an increasing number of reported losses of company property, we have informed our cabin crew that random inspections will be carried out," a company spokeswoman said.

Cathay had already warned staff in January in a memo about the "unfortunately increasing trend of company property discrepancies". Does everyone know what "company property discrepancies" mean?

Bottles of unopened wine and caviar have been taken too

The cabin crew will be inspected upon disembarking the plane, and they may only take with them cabin crew-designated meals, as well as fruit, water, and plastic-wrapped sandwiches.

That means they aren't even allowed to take the wet wipes or even peanuts.

"Zero tolerance means you are not permitted to take off the aircraft any item other than what the company has authorized as per the policy," said Ed Higgs, general manager of in-flight services.

"If anyone removes company property, irrespective of the value or if you believe it will be thrown away, you will be subject to discipline which may include termination."

Don't say you haven't been warned.

But what is wrong with taking leftover food that will be binned or opened bottles of wine? Or do they donate the uneaten food to a charity, and have proper ways to re-cork the wine for later use? 

Staff shouldn't even think about taking peanuts or wet wipes

It has taken this long for Cathay to realize some cabin crew are pilfering items? There is some mismanagement here.

And what about the airline's huge mistake in 2016 when it lost a whopping HK$8.46 billion on bad fuel hedging bets? Heads rolled, but taking pots of Haagen-Dazs hardly compares to losing billions of dollars.

Nevertheless, this is the new reality for Cathay Pacific flight crew. So put down those company-branded pens, peanuts and ice cream. It's just not worth it.

Review: Walking on Water

Installation artist Christo "walking on water" on Lake Iseo in Italy in 2016

The 43rd Hong Kong International Film Festival is already underway and I bought tickets to watch seven documentaries.

Hundreds of thousands of people visited the project

The first one was this evening, Walking on Water, a 2018 documentary about the installation artist Christo and his project in 2016 to create 3km of floating pontoons covered in yellow fabric. It was a project he and his wife and collaborator Jeanne-Claude had created back in 1970 and tried to get permission to do this several times and were denied each time.

In the 50 years they were together, they were able to create 24 works, many dozens more denied permission. But Jeanne-Claude died in 2009 after complications of a brain aneurysm and Christo didn't do much afterwards, which is where the documentary starts, watching him finish off his sketches of Walking on Water.



It turns out he has permission to make his project a reality at Lake Iseo, in northern Italy near Switzerland. He's 85 now, and the viewers can see how passionate he is about his work, how he is determined that things must be done his way, and it is his will that keeps him active and alive. There aren't many people in their 80s who are as mentally and physically active as he is, constantly talking to people from school children to officials about his work and traveling everywhere on a tight schedule in all weather conditions.

The walkway is made of plastic cubes screwed together

He tells New York students that an artist never stops doing art; it is not like a job you switch off, but something you do everyday, all the time. It's probably too deep for them to understand, but do they even know who Christo is?

He is grateful to the local Italian authorities for allowing him to do Walking on Water, where he promises the people will literally be able to walk on water for three kilometres, and then we watch a team of people get to work.

They build pontoons made of 220,000 dense polyethylene white cubes that are screwed together tightly, and when they are put out into the water, they do as Christo had hoped, undulate with the waves like fabric and he is so excited.

Out on the dock is an army of women with sewing machines, madly sewing the 100,000 square metres of yellow fabric together and they are placed in giant white bags and helicoptered to various spots.

Overview of the 3km walkway with another in the far right

But then lightning strikes in the evening and there are fierce arguments about how they are going to get this all done in time. Christo also gets into verbal fights with his assistant Vladimir Yavachev, but in the end he supports the artist in getting the work done by being the liaison with all the other people they have to deal with. It's a huge logistical operation. It's amazing Christo did this before without computers and smartphones.

In the end Walking on Water is realized on time but now there's another challenge -- hordes of people are descending on the place and the pontoons can't handle 50,000 people in one day when they were expecting 45,000 people for two weeks.

The local government wants to cash in on the event as much as possible without regard to safety, which is Christo's main concern and things come to a head.

There is also the uncomfortable scene of Yavachev trying to sell Christo's sketches of Walking on Water because they fund the installation projects, but the prices go up each day by tens of thousands of US dollars, frustrating one Italian buyer.

Throughout the film I wondered what he was thinking... was he thinking about Jeanne-Claude and what she would say about the project? There was no asking Christo about this. Instead the camera follows him constantly, the footage dizzying at times and captures whatever unfolds.

Nevertheless the project looks stunning and something the public enjoys and interacts with the work just as Christo had hoped.

However, Walking on Water the documentary would have benefited more with some reflection from Christo or maybe the filmmakers didn't want to interfere. He doesn't seem to care the camera is there, he is wrapped up in his work.

Christo does not stop either -- the last scene has him in Egypt watching camels walking in the desert and he is plotting his next project...

Walking on Water (2018)
105 minutes
Directed by Andrey Paounov

Silk Road: Tianshan Lake

Tianshan Lake with its water source, the Tianshan Mountains in the back

Most places in Xinjiang get their water source from Tianshan Mountains, and Tianshan Lake is one of them. The lake is 1,907 metres above sea level and is 4.9 square kilometres, and 105 metres deep at its deepest point.

For lunch we had traditional Hui ethnic minority food

We drove several hours to get here, and after going through the ticket turnstiles. we had to board another tour bus to drive several kilometres up a winding road where we saw water rushing down natural gullies.

The bus dropped us off at the base, where we could then either take a golf cart up to the lake or walk up about a kilometre and I did the latter, a steady incline up through a wooded area which was refreshing and cool.

When we reached the lake, we first went to have lunch in a nearby restaurant that served Hui ethnic minority food. The specialty features nine dishes on a large square platter including a tureen of soup and of course some rice.

A panoramic view of Tianshan Lake (minus the helicopter)

The food were delicious, some of them a bit spicy, others not, like stewed fish, roasted chicken, minced meat wrapped in tofu like rolls and sliced thinly, thin slices of beef and glutinous rice.

On a full stomach it was the perfect time to walk around part of the lake. It is quite crystal clear, a deep aquamarine blue colour, and the snow-capped mountains -- the Tianshan Mountains -- in the distance.

The runoff from the Tianshan Mountains rushing down

While we were there, a helicopter seemed to be doing some filming as it hovered over the lake creating lots of ripples, which isn't normally the case. It seemed to be filming a ferry that was completely empty, perhaps for a promotional video.

But I have to admit the view was pretty impressive and reminded us of Lake Louise in in Banff National Park in Alberta, Canada.

The water that flows from Tianshan Mountains is very precious and the Uyghurs were very clever in figuring out how to use it effectively by creating an underwater canal system called karez in Uyghur that dates back to 103 BC. Without this water system, civilization in the area would not exist.

Karez were built to be able to send water at longer distances

Back thousands of years ago, the Uyghurs dug vertical wells for water. But they also built canals so that the wells were linked together horizontally and spread out as far as 5,000km.

They were able to figure out where to dig and how to ensure both ends would meet horizontally to carry water further from the water source. This in turn helped irrigate otherwise parched land to grow crops and also sustain people. As a result, this water system took several generations to build.

In total there were over 1,100 karez, but now only about 400 are functioning -- this will impact Turpan in terms of having enough water for everyone and climate change is also a big factor. What will happen when there is no more melting snow on the Tianshan Mountains? What will people do then?

Water rushing by from a karez as shown through the glass

It's a sad reality, which probably also explains why the water pressure in our hotel rooms were quite low and taking a shower took much longer than usual. But it is a good wake up call not to waste water, and that an impending drought could become a reality in Turpan and the surrounding areas.

Silk Road: Jiuquan Park

General Huo Qubing who celebrated his victory using spring water here

An interesting stop we went to is Jiuquan Park in Gansu province, which has a beautiful lotus pond, shady covered walkways and another pond with white swans.

This spring water doesn't freeze during the wintertime

The highlight is a square well that has spring water in it. The story goes a young general named Huo Qubing who led his troops to a victory against the nomadic Xiongnu.

To celebrate, Huo only had some Chinese wine, but not enough for hundreds of soldiers. So he poured a vat of the liquor into this spring water, which was enough to quench the thirst of his army.

Beautiful lotus flowers still in bloom in the lily pond

What's interesting about this spring water is that it's still bubbling to the surface and even in the wintertime it never freezes. The water is very clear, but no we didn't drink it -- there were many coins that had been thrown in there.

Macau's Weaknesses Laid Bare by Hato

A van partly submerged into the water in Macau after Typhoon Hato

The story these few days has been the impact of Typhoon Hato in Macau. At least nine people have died and the destruction in the casino hub is shocking.

There are images of blown out windows, flooding in the streets, debris everywhere, cars dangling from bridges... it's like a bombed out city.

Windows blown out in an apartment complex

I contacted a friend of mine to see if she was OK and she sent me a video of her using her dog's leash to hook onto the window clasp to keep the window from flinging open. She wasn't able to keep her window shut when Typhoon Hato hit.

It demonstrated that perhaps her building was not built properly, or the windows themselves are not good quality.

The scenes of destruction and the slow response show the Macanese government has not prepared for typhoons with proper drainage, emergency plans, and supplies even though it is such a wealthy city.

Even the casinos were shut down with blackouts despite having backup generators. There's video on social media of one luxury hotel casino where some 20 staff struggle to keep the main doors closed while the wind is blowing so hard.

Residents line up for water from fire hydrants in the city

Two days later, today, the People's Liberation Army was called from the Macau barracks to come out and help clean up -- something that should have been arranged yesterday. While the help was greatly appreciated, there were again questions why the government didn't ask for assistance right away.

Basic supplies are scarce -- there isn't enough drinking water and some homes still don't have electricity. People are lining up at fire hydrants to take water, even though the government has asked them not to do so. Supermarkets are raided for water as soon as they have supplies and of course it costs much more.

Macau Chief Executive Fernando Chui Sai-on last night apologized to residents and families of the victims, and said that the head of the observatory Fong Soi-kun had resigned for not giving people enough time to prepare or take the typhoon seriously.

The PLA came out to help clean up the city today

My friend told me the government just thought the typhoon would only hit Hong Kong, but in fact it just passed by the city and moved on to Macau before making landfall in southern China.

And now with Typhoon Pakhar on the way this Sunday, will Macau be ready to deal with that too?

A few weeks ago a friend had told me that there were reports saying five typhoons would be passing by Hong Kong soon and I thought it was crazy. But now we have the second one coming, it might not be so crazy after all!

Hong Kong's Lackadaisical Approach to Water

In the 1960s, people had to make their water supply last four days at a time

The Hong Kong government doesn't seem to care about its residents wasting water because it gets 80 percent of it cheaply from across the border via the Dongjiang River.

However, environmental groups and think tanks have been repeating their chorus that people should be paying the true cost of water so that they will think twice when they turn on the tap.

Civic Exchange released its latest report called The Illusion of Plenty, saying that water tariffs need to be raised to cope with a HK$1.35 billion revenue loss, as one-third of the city's water is being wasted.

One-third! And HK$1.35 BILLION.

Today 80 percent of our freshwater comes from China

Dr Frederick Lee Yok-shiu, associate professor in the geography department at the University of Hong Kong, said a typical family of three in the city should be paying more than double their current water bill. He estimated their monthly fee of HK$94 should be raised to HK$194.

While the price of water has increased, Lee says for political reasons the tariffs have been frozen, and so Hong Kong people have this illusion that water is plentiful -- and cheap.

As a result, Hong Kong has one of the world's highest rates of per-capita water usage, and the rates have been steadily increasing since 1998. The city's annual consumption in 2015 reached 1.25 billion cubic metres -- the equivalent to 5.5 billion full bathtubs -- about 21 percent higher than the global average.

While Civic Exchange chairman Evan Auyang says the water tariff system should reflect the true cost of fresh water, he also cautions that reforms should not impact low-income families' access to fresh water.

I'm not saying we should raise the cost of water for everyone," he said. "But for certain private companies that are using it in very large quantities, you should charge them more."

That would include places like restaurants, cafes, and laundry shops. The government needs to do more to really get people to be more aware of their water usage. In the office washroom and the gym I observe how people use water and it's shocking how they leave taps running, or take very long showers, when five minutes will do.

Raising water prices would at least help kick start people's perceptions about water and treat it more as a precious commodity. The government also needs to be on top of its water system, as the Water Supplies Department took up to two years to address leaking pipes in 2015.

And although the government started a campaign in 2014 to get people to save 10 litres of water a day, Civic Exchange estimated that even if the campaign reached its target, it would only save 2.6 percent of freshwater consumption.

My parents' generation remember having to take baths in a large bucket, and using the leftover water to wash rice to wash the dishes, as the starch removed oil from bowls and plates.

They also remember when water shortages were common place in the 1960s where they had to save enough water to last four days. Imagine the outrage if that happened now?

Politically and socially more needs to be done. We cannot afford to waste water anymore.

Taking Water for Granted

A scenic view of the Dongjiang dam in Guangdong province

Why is Hong Kong so dependent on China for our water supply?

The Hong Kong government seems to think it has a good deal, getting 80 percent of our water from Dongjiang in Guangdong since 1965 for a lump sum each year.

But now the cost is going up 20 percent to HK$13.4 billion for three years, as the current agreement expires later this year.

Hong Kong lawmakers visited Dongjiang last week

On a recent trip to the river, pan-democratic lawmakers determined this is too expensive and too much water. We annually get 820 million cubic metres, but Democratic Party lawmaker Helena Wong Pik-wan says Hong Kong only used 75 percent of the water last year, 80 percent most years.

"No matter how much you use, you are paying for this fixed amount. But in reality, do we really need that much water? In the past 10 years, there was only one year when we used up some 90 percent of the guaranteed water supply."

She added it was unfair that Shenzhen was paying less than HK$1 per cubic metre of Dongjiang water, while Hong Kong was paying about five times the amount.

Wong felt the current agreement needs to be changed. But will the Guangdong authorities adjust the rate and volume?

In reality we are paying too little for the water. The only way we can get people to conserve water is to make the commodity more expensive. For example, restaurants pay the same water rate as residents which is ridiculously cheap for them.

Massive pipes transporting water to Hong Kong

We also need to find our own sources of water -- why are we so dependent on China for our water? The country itself doesn't have enough clean water, meanwhile we are frittering the resource away and paying too much for it.

It makes no sense.

Singapore used to be dependent on Malaysia for water, with an 80-20 ratio much like Hong Kong and Guangdong. But it's since been reversed, with the Lion City capturing more rain water in reservoirs and having water treatment plants to recycle waste water.

Why aren't we doing the same?

Or is this a political kowtow to the motherland?

CY Leung's Arrogant Administration

These people refuse to take further responsibility for the lead-in-water scandal

The Hong Kong government -- doesn't matter if it was under the leadership of Tung Chee-hwa, Donald Tsang Yam-kuen or incumbent Leung Chun-ying -- has become oblivious to the needs of ordinary people.

An independent investigation this past week revealed the government kept "passing the buck" when it came to the lead-in water scandal that left hundreds of people in public housing estates, including children, babies and pregnant woman ingesting water with more than 10 micrograms of lead per litre, the maximum recommended by the World Health Organization.

For months residents had to get water for basic needs

The Water Supplies Department claims it didn't understand WHO guidelines adopted in 1994. How can people in this department not understand the guidelines? We are not expecting senior officials to know them, but surely there are specialists in the department who do? Or has the government hired completely incompetent people with no knowledge or experience in dealing with water quality?

It also turns out no one was inspecting the contractors to inspect the licensed plumbers to check that they were using non-lead solder for fresh water pipes. Is it me, or is it not obvious that if one is working on water pipes that non-lead solder should be used? Sounds pretty obvious to me.

Never mind. But the fact that no one checked -- not even the government -- is shocking. Again -- are there not qualified people in the department following up on these things?

Then to cap it all off, while four senior officials apologized for not preventing the scandal -- Secretary for Development Paul Chan Mo-po, Housing and Transport Secretary Anthony Cheung Bing-leung, director of housing Stanley Ying Yiu-hong, and director of Water Supplies Enoch Lam Tin-sing.

Carrie Lam responds to results of the investigation

But Chief Secretary Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor did not.

She insisted that no single government official committed a serious mistake that led to the incident.

How can she say that? How can she say that no one in the Leung administration needs to take responsibility for people ingesting high levels of lead in the water? We will see children with developmental problems in the next few years because they drank that water. Who will assist these families who did nothing wrong except drink the water coming from their tap because they thought the government was monitoring the water quality?

For Lam to not even apologize is appalling. That shows the government doesn't care about the average Hong Kong person at all. We are nothing to them. There's lead in your water? Not my problem.

What does the government do for us then?

Probably the worst part is that there is no way of kicking these incompetent people out of office -- there is no opposition party. We have no chance of recall at all.

How has the government degenerated into a bunch of bureaucrats who have no regard for us?

Clean water is a basic right. That was violated by the government, the contractors and plumbers. But really it was the government who should have been checking all along.

We pay our taxes. Is it too much to ask for people to run our city properly and efficiently with a good dose common sense?

How do You Dry Your Hands?

How many sheets of paper towels do you use each day? Month? Year?

Some interesting trivial information today -- Hong Kong people's knowledge of environmental issues is still pathetic, as a study has found seven out of 10 residents would choose using a paper towel over an electric hand dryer.

While only 465 people were polled by business chamber JCI Lion Rock and environmental group World Green Organization, almost half of those questioned thought paper towels were better because they could be recycled which is not true.

"Paper towels cannot be recycled because they get wet, their fibres are too short, they're bleached and are contaminated once used," explained Dr William Yu Yuen-ping, WGO chief executive.

Do you mind using an electric hand dryer? Or takes too long?

This I did not know, but now I do.

The survey found 70 to 80 percent of those polled used fewer than 10 sheets of paper towel a day, one fifth used more, and at least 3 percent used more than 26 sheets daily. DAILY.

The researchers calculated that would mean those people surveyed used about 3,610 sheets of paper towel a day, or 1.3 million a year. For the entire Hong Kong, that would mean 55 million sheets of paper towel thrown into landfills daily and more than 20 billion per year, which equates to 583,321 trees a year.

Do people understand what's involved in making paper towels and how we kill so many trees just so we can wipe our hands? When I go to the washroom particularly at the office, I'm mortified when I see people using more than one paper towel to wipe their hands and then throwing it thoughtlessly into the garbage bin.

Imagine huge swathes of this forest gone to make paper towels

The government wants to decrease the amount of solid waste by 40 percent by 2022, but if people keep throwing out paper towels, how can the amount be cut down if at all?

Yu says the government needs to do more to promote public awareness of the problem and we agree. How about mandating that all offices, shopping malls and restaurants must install electric hand dryers? Or as Yu says, get people into the habit of carrying their own handkerchief?

And while we're at it, how about reminding people we don't have unlimited supplies of water that, by the way, come from China?

Hong Kong seems to have no care about running itself into the ground...

Fact of the Day: 80 Percent of China's Groundwater Polluted

Discoloured water isn't a good sign, especially near factories in China...

It's depressing though not surprising to find about 80 percent of the groundwater in China's major river basins is unsafe for human consumption, according to a survey by the Ministry of Water Resources.

Last year the ministry tested 2,103 wells in the basins of the Yangtze, Yellow River, Huai River and Hai River, and found exploitation and pollution from industrial and agricultural emissions threatened water standards.

The results covered 18 provinces and was the first time -- the first time -- the ministry published water quality information in its monthly update on its website.

Too much algae in this water due to phosphates

Nitrate pollution was common, and in some cases water was contaminated due to heavy metals and organic pollutants, which are more difficult to remove.

Nearly half, or 47.3 percent of the wells tested were found to have fifth grade or "extremely bad" water quality, about one-third had fourth grade, or "bad" water quality. None of the wells had "excellent" water quality.

Fourth or fifth grade groundwater is so polluted that it is unfit for human consumption.

The water ministry's finding that 80 percent of China's groundwater is polluted is higher than the 60 percent figure issued by the Ministry of Environmental Protection.

The environment ministry looked at data from nearly 4,900 monitoring sites in 202 cities, though it wasn't clear if the two ministries overlapped in their data collection.

Critics say groundwater monitoring standards are outdated and that monitoring is insufficient, suggesting surveys may not reflect the full scale of pollution.

Groundwater keep dropping in this photo taken in Kunming

Does that not sound like the government is in denial about wanting to know the  actual quality of the groundwater? After over 30 years of fast-paced economic development at any price, the reality of devastation comes back to bite.

How are people supposed to live productive lives if they are sickened by the water they drink?

Access to clean drinking water is essential to realizing human rights, according to the United Nations.

China could blame the west for imposing all of its polluting businesses on it -- but really it could have said no, or forced foreign companies to conform to strict environmental guidelines.

Regardless of the blame game, something needs to be done now to rectify the issue. Does anyone have any bright ideas besides moving people to the cities?