Yum Candy Fun

Sticky candies with intricate designs and yummy flavours

Yesterday after work I wandered through a mall in Tsim Sha Tsui called K11 which houses the Hyatt Regency hotel. Anyway in the basement floor which connects to the passageway between Tsim Sha Tsui station and Tsim Sha Tsui East, there's a candy shop called Sticky.

It's an Australian company that prides itself on being "highly skilled and dedicated confectioners" who create what look like cute little candies that taste good too.

Rolling some slabs of candy out

At the store you can watch two guys at work wearing gloves, pulling and rolling giant slabs of coloured candy on a heated table.

They weren't doing much when I was there except cutting giant thick strips of candy and putting them on top of each other.

If you watch the video on the website, they make a gigantic roll with several layers and then roll and pull it at the same time to make it a very thin roll that they then cut into long sticks and then chop into bite-sized pieces. Pretty amazing.

What's neat is that there are all different kinds of flavours and designs within the candies, making them great for birthdays, corporate events but also weddings where the newlyweds can give away either candies with hearts in them or even the double happiness Chinese character xi(3) 囍.

Preparing to manipulate some candy on a heated counter

Customers can buy a bag of one flavour, or mixed bag, but they aren't that cheap. A bag of 70 grams is HK$48 ($6.17), while 150 grams is HK$98 ($12.61).

Nevertheless, the taste is not too sweet, though it is 100 percent glucose.

The best part about Sticky? It's tagline is "Love your lollies".

Will do.

Sticky
Shop B201, B2/F, K11 Mall
18 Hanoi Road
Tsim Sha Tsui
Kowloon
3170 0228
www.sticky.com.hk

Where's the Copywriter? No. 2

HKUST may have one of the world's best MBA programs, but not in copywriting...

The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) is one of the youngest of nine tertiary institutions in the city as it was started in 1991. However in that short time its MBA program has been ranked sixth in the world by the Financial Times this year.

The campus all the way out in Clearwater Bay, but that only makes the environment more conducive to studying rather than having other distractions close by.

So this year HKUST celebrates its 20th anniversary and is making this fact known by shelling out for a bunch of street pole banners like these along Queensway in Admiralty.

The tagline? "HKUST 20th anniversary celebrations: Our Miracle Continues".

Is it supposed to be a miracle the university is still in existence?

Or is it a miracle the underdog university is one of the best in the world?

Either way it makes HKUST sound more like a fluke than a post-secondary institution destined for greatness.

Projecting Disgust

Who's afraid of Ai Weiwei? Apparently the PLA is...

The amusement over the Ai Weiwei images around Hong Kong continues as an artist who goes by the name Cpak Ming projected images of Ai Weiwei on government buildings including the police headquarters in Admiralty, City Hall, the Hong Kong Heritage Museum in Sha Tin and even the People's Liberation Army barracks in Admiralty.

And now the PLA in Hong Kong is not happy about being taunted. It usually keeps a low key in the city, but after the release of the Ai Weiwei images, the PLA said it "reserves its legal right" to act over what it claims was a breach of Hong Kong law when the images were projected on the PLA barracks wall.

While Hong Kong police say projecting images is not illegal, a spokesman for the PLA said: "Military facilities of the garrison and walls are not usual public areas but military restricted zones or protected areas according to the Hong Kong law. No one can paint or project images onto the outer wall of the barracks without the garrison's permission. Such an offence is a breach of Hong Kong law. The PLA reserves its legal rights," he said.

Meanwhile the Garrison Law states that no person, vehicle, ship or aircraft other than ones belonging to the garrison shall enter the military restricted zones. Garrison guards have the right to stop any act "which damages or endangers military facilities." There is nothing in there about projecting images.

Also Hong Kong politicians, some of whom are lawyers also say what Cpak Ming has done is not illegal however, one did think it was possible the Chinese government may amend the Garrison Law if projecting images was a huge issue.

Political commentator Ma Ngok of Chinese University said the PLA's response revealed how it was "politically embarrassed".

"It is technically very easy to make such projection and no one can prevent it. The army cannot say which ordinance was breached. More people will challenge them if they continue to make such a big reaction."

And in keeping with his cheekiness Cpak Ming has also uploaded onto Facebook a tutorial on how to make the flash projector using cardboard and a camera magnifier that can be bought on the popular mainland auction website for HK$200 ($25.75).

The PLA are riled up that they can't punish anyone for expressing their support for Ai Weiwei. Welcome to Hong Kong where we practice freedom of speech, expression, press and protest.

It's very simple folks -- let Ai go and those artists will stop the graffiti and projecting images.

While the government's detention of him is illegal, projecting images of him is completely above board.

The score: Chinese government 0, Hong Kong artists 2.

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back

I just got back from a short stay in Macau and it changes a lot every time I go. The next hotel complex to open will be Galaxy, a massive white and gold castle-like building across from The Venetian and will include the Banyan Tree Macau. Sounds like an oxymoron having one of the best known chill-out resorts to plonk itself right in the midst of the casino frenzy, but it promises to be a total escape from the chaos. We'll have to see.

During my visit there I heard the casinos and hotels have been busy since Chinese New Year; March is usually a slow month, but apparently it's been pretty much non stop... thanks mostly to mainlanders who are flush with cash that comes from who knows where.

The casinos while not packed were busy, particularly on the tables and on the slots. Some casinos like The Venetian had non-smoking sections but that didn't deter gamblers from lighting up. Thankfully there will be a new regulation in place in the next few months banning smoking in restaurants. The eventual ban of indoor smoking in Macau is going to be incremental but will happen eventually thankfully. I've seen cigarette butts stamped out everywhere instead of in an ashtray where they belong. But it's hard to tell off a customer when he's always right...

Meanwhile as Macau keeps developing casinos and hotels, there isn't enough infrastructure or staff to service everything. For starters the issue of not enough taxis has not been dealt with. A friend of mine tried to get a taxi back to the ferry terminal from Grand Lisboa earlier this week. While it's a short taxi ride, it's a very long walk. She got into the car, told the driver where she wanted to go and he angrily told her to get out. Hardly welcoming, isn't it?

Then there is the staff at all these hotels. The Macau government has made it very difficult for these top casinos and resorts to hire foreign staff in order to protect local employment. There are more than enough jobs for everyone in Macau, but service is hardly world class. At one of the top hotels in the city I attended a function held by Mercedes-Benz. Hotel catering staff wandered among the guests, presenting them hors d'oeuvres, both savoury and sweet. They also handed out refreshments from orange juice to wine. I asked one for a napkin and she looked at me strangely. I had to explain, you know, to wipe your mouth with? Not very bright.

My friend who now commutes to Macau from Hong Kong daily tells me she is the first person in the office at 10am when the rest of the staff stumble in at around 10:30am. Then they go for lunch at noon and don't come back until 2:30, 2:45pm, and then leave for the day at 6pm. "When do they get any work done?" I asked. "They don't," she replied.

It seems everyone in Macau has inflated salaries because of the labour shortages and as a result they have become complacent knowing they will have no problem getting a job. And because of that attitude quality has completely fallen by the wayside, making it near impossible for the top hotels to effectively compete with each other giving customers the best service possible.

It's a strange situation given that it's only an hour away from Hong Kong; but it's also only an hour away from China too. I remarked to my friend that at least Macau is somewhat manageable -- multiply the Macau situation over several hundred times and you have China.

Now that is a tall order.