Ordinary Gweilo

It's not big and it's not clever, it's just a Brit in Hong Kong writing (mainly) about Hong Kong

recent posts

Archives

Categories

Month: Feb 2005

  • Fresh’n’cheap

    The food part in this week’s Post Magazine was mainly about chicken livers, and the writer (Susan Jung) mentioned that they are only available frozen (from Olivers and some supermarkets). That does seem to be true, but about two years ago several branches of Park’n’Shop did sell fresh chicken livers (and other similar bits and…

  • Not my fault, guv

    Yesterday’s Sunday Morning Post has a largely sympathetic profile of Nick Leeson, the man who bankrupted Barings Bank 10 years ago.  Apparently he has re-married and is now living on the west coast of Ireland, and is trying to make a living writing books and doing public speaking.  Presumably he also has a PR person…

  • Upgrade, Downgrade

    Oh, I hate computers! I’ve been having problems with email. It seems to have started when my ISP "upgraded" their service (upgrade = weasel speak for replacing old familiar problems with new ones). Outlook appeared to connect successfully to my "mailbox", but wouldn’t retrieve the email (no error messages, but no mail either). So I…

  • Last Chance

    Today is your last chance this year to collect red ‘Lai See’ or ‘Lucky Money” packets.  It’s the 15th day of the Lunar New Year, and marks the end of the holiday celebrations.  Traditionally it is also the time for Lantern Parades, and it is sometimes known as ‘Chinese Valentine’s Day’ (a second chance if you…

  • Driving a hard bargain

    Still on the subject of Hong Kong’s domestic helpers and their employers, Simon has noted a news story about a developing trend and Mr Tall has reminded us of an earlier piece he wrote on the same subject (that also referred to the article from the The Economist Christmas 2001 issue). First the news story. …

  • Don’t do it!

    From today’s Technology Post Q: I  really want to blog but I have no idea how to get started. I put blog into Google and there were just too many hits for me to follow. I am very much a beginner and I am not all that technical. Is this going to be really difficult…

  • No help at all

    Simon has done a fairly effective job of demolishing Hong Kong Phooey’s latest rant, on the subject of foreign domestic helpers (FDHs).  As Simon says, Mr Phooey makes some good points, but the problem is the way that he presents them in his posts.  If he had written a short ‘rant’ of 2–3 paragraphs about…

  • Hong Kong blogs

    [This list is now very out-of-date and most of the links don't work] Anson Mak Batgung.com Maybe not strictly a blog, but some interesting musings on life in Hong Kong by two expats married to local ladies. Big White Guy Is it a blog?  Not sure. A Canadian photographer and writer living in the New…

  • This charming man

    One of the more puzzling aspects of doing this blog is that I can write a long article and get zero response, whilst sometimes a short piece dashed off in a few minutes can provoke a lively debate. The short piece I wrote about Hong Kong Phooey’s Hong Kong Blog (see below) falls into the…

  • Not nasty enough (apparently)

    A few months ago, Fumier and myself were berated by NTSCMP for some fairly harmless comments about the way people walk in Hong Kong.  The headline was something like "Is it time for Fumier and Ordinary Gweilo to leave Hong Kong?". Now someone has produced a whole blog whining about the horrible behaviour of Chinese…