Two Housing Extremes

Cullinan West at Nam Cheong station saw big sales of units today

More housing stories are in the news.

When you arrive at Kowloon Station and ascend the escalator to Elements mall, there's an army of property agents shoving brochures in your face, asking if you want to buy a flat.

No, I just want to have some dinner.

The show flat gives the aura of a sophisticated place to live in

The brochures are for a residential project called Cullinan West in nearby Nam Cheong station, and they average over HK$20,000 per square foot.

But that rate didn't deter a family today, where three members bought three four-bedroom flats each, with the total bill totaling a whopping HK$200 million.

Excuse me?

There is no further information on who these buyers were or how big the flats were, but who happens to have HK$200 million to spend like that?

And were they all first-time buyers so they avoided paying the extra stamp duty too?

Then there is the other extreme -- subdivided flats, not in seedy Sham Shui Po, but in the tony neighbourhood of Mid-Levels.

One flat here on Old Peak Road is subdivided into five units

Reporters posed as potential renters ad visited a 2,400 square foot flat on Old Peak Road that was subdivided into five units, ranging from 250 sq ft to 656 sq ft, and rents from HK$25,000 to HK$36,000 respectively.

Who pays HK$25,000 for 250 sq ft to rent?

Apparently the hefty price includes utility bills, and a maid coming in to clean up twice a week, bed sheets changed once a week and free wifi. There's also basic open kitchens with an induction stove top, kettle and coffee maker.

So now we have people hoarding flats with hundreds of millions of dollars on hand, and at the other end of the scale, expensive flats subdivided into smaller ones and charging exorbitant rents.

And the Hong Kong government says it's watching the situation closely and can intervene at any time?

Anytime now would be good...

Flavourful Vietnamese Lunch

Refreshing light flavours in the green mango salad starter

Moi Moi by Luke Nguyen is a relatively new Vietnamese restaurant opened by the Vietnamese-Australian celebrity chef.

On the menu is a wagyu beef pho where the broth has been simmering with beef bones for 18 hours along with spices and herbs.

However it's only available at lunchtime, and so today I had planned to take the day off but in the end had to work in the afternoon because we are so short-staffed in the office at the moment.

Nevertheless, I made sure I was free for lunch and went there with my friend at noon. It wasn't full when I arrived just before noon, but it soon filled up and by 12.30pm there was a line up at the door.

Slices of wagyu beef are hidden under the beansprouts

Customers can't just order the pho though, they need to order the set lunch, which includes a starter for HK$168 and an extra HK$28 for dessert.

We each ordered different things on the menu to try. We had the paper rice rolls with prawns, kurobuta pork, rice vermicelli and perilla that was pretty straight forward.

However, things were interesting with the green mango salad, that had julienne carrots, green mango and red onion, mint and shallot chips with small chunks of Australian spanner crab and rambutan too.

It was so refreshing and the flavours were piquant, particularly the tart green mango and mint, while the crab meat was generous and rambutan added a bit of sweetness.

For our mains, the wagyu beef pho arrived in a giant bowl with the simmering full-flavoured broth. A heap of beansprouts was on top of the thin slice of semi-cooked beef along with other cooked chunks that had a bit of fat on them, along with some basil leaves.

A crunchy and warm banh mi that is choc full of ingredients

This was the ultimate comfort food -- hearty, warm, but not too heavy, full of flavour and lots of broth you don't mind drinking because you know it doesn't have MSG in it.

We also shared a banh mi, featuring a warm crunchy baguette filled with chargrilled pork patties, pork floss, and Vietnamese pickles. There's some shredded carrot in here too along with coriander and spring onions.

The baguette holds up to the filling very well, keeping pretty much crunchy, while one needs a pretty big mouth to squeeze the sandwich in, or it somehow needs to be squished to get a mouthful.

It's a very hearty sandwich, and very filling too. We were quite full by the time we finished our half of the banh mi and couldn't manage sampling dessert.

While the price is pretty expensive for lunch in Central, the lunch set minus dessert is definitely filling. Even if I worked in Central I could not afford to eat this everyday, but the flavours linger in your mind and so you can't go without it for too long...

Moi Moi by Luke Nguyen

G/F, Nexxus Building

41 Connaught Road Central

Central

2808 1086

moimoi.hk

When will HK Micro Flats Stop?

Can you imagine owning and living in a small space like this?

The Hong Kong government has hinted it can force developers to build bigger flats at any time, but doesn't seem to think now is the time to intervene.

Secretary for Development Eric Ma Siu-cheung said measures could be inserted into land sale conditions "at any time" if it was deemed necessary.

But he stopped short of any immediate action, saying the number of "nano flats" still represented a fraction of the city's housing and he was confident the market would correct itself.

Eric Ma seems to think micro flats are still OK in the market

"We are concerned about this [situation]," said Ma during a television interview. "We hope flats will not become too small. They are OK for one person to live in, but [not] for a family."

You don't say!

There are flats as small as 152 square feet going for about HK$20,000 per square foot, and the smallest homes measure at 61 square feet.

Surely these are already too small to live in? Or does Ma not know what it's really like to live in 152 square feet with all of one's possessions? If 61 square feet isn't small, then what is?

"Of course we will monitor the situation and, if necessary, we can list out in the land sale conditions, for example, requirements for a unit's minimal floor area and quantities," he said. "We've done this in the past too... if necessary, we can do it any time. It's not difficult."

How can people live in these small spaces long term?

So when will that be? When are they going to pull the emergency alarm and tell developers they have to create more humane spaces for people to live in?

For the government to say it's closely watching the situation isn't good enough. It's basically negligence in looking out for the well-being of its citizens.

A Novel about China, Canada, Past and Present

Author Madeleine Thien addressing a small crowd tonight

On the weekend I happened to pass by a local bookstore that was advertising Vancouver author Madeleine Thien would be there on Wednesday to promote her latest book, Do Not Say We Have Nothing, that was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize last year.

So I went back to the bookstore this evening and was surprised to meet a soft-spoken woman about my age, and very humble and gracious but also but full of interesting observations and perspective about issues.

The soft cover version of the novel

Do Not Say We Have Nothing is set in Vancouver in 1990, when a 10-year-old girl and her mother invite a teenager from China to come stay with them, having fled Beijing following the Tiananmen Square crackdown a year earlier.

We learn more about the relationship between the fathers of the young girl and teenager, the Cultural Revolution and the June 4 massacre, as well as the cyclical nature of Chinese history, and familial relationships.

At the event, sponsored by the Canadian government, Thien explained the title of the book comes from the Chinese anthem, which was originally from a song by Eugene Pottier called L'Internationale that was later translated into Russian, and then Chinese. The lyrics have the phrase, "Do not say we have nothing, we shall be masters of the world!"

She also explained this is a novel she has wanted to write since she was 14, when she saw the protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989; at first she was sympathetic to the students, and then realized later it was the ordinary people living in the area who tried to stop the tanks and guns. Thien also said the characters were from her imagination and not composites of people she knew.

Someone asked if China had reacted to her book, and she said because it wasn't translated, there would not be a response, though she had gotten interest in publishing the book from publishers on the mainland. However, they did admit now was not the time to translate it and publish it. She understands, but hopes that eventually it will be made available to them.

Thien won the Giller Prize for Do Not Say We Have Nothing

One of the interview requests she had was from a Chinese state newspaper (she did not name it) and one of the questions was how she felt about shaming China... she refused to answer the question and felt that when it was translated into Chinese she would have no control over it -- a situation many foreigners fall into when asked for a comment from state media.

Thien was also asked how she felt about the divisions in Hong Kong at the moment -- she did spend a bit of time here teaching creative writing at the City University. Referring to the Occupy protests, she felt the students were passionate about their beliefs, and that it was important to know where we stand as a city, as a nation and what kind of place we want to be.

So now I have a signed copy of Do Not Say We Have Nothing in my hands and have started reading it. It seems like it will be a sad, intense story, but one every other person of Chinese descent can relate to in one way or another.