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: Jun 2007

  • Life carries on

    Sunday (July 1st) is the 10th anniversary of the "handover".  Much is being made of this even though 10 years is a totally arbitrary period of time.  Well, it fills up newspapers, I suppose. Back in 1997 it seemed that everyone I met in the UK wanted to know what had changed in Hong Kong…

  • Miscellany

    Little bits of rubbish I have accumulated… As I am sure I have remarked before, I could fill this blog with the mad letters they publish in the SCMP.  Yesterday, Spike couldn’t resist the temptation to highlight a particular stupid example about domestic helpers’ salaries from a retired civil servant living in Mid Levels.  It…

  • Wet Wet Wet

    This is the rainy season in Hong Kong. Umbrellas – I hate ’em. Obviously they are very useful when there is heavy rain, but then you have to carry them around and try to avoid losing them. If you are caught without one, there’s always that awful decision whether to buy the world’s most over-priced…

  • 26:45

    It’s easy to get confused about events that happen after midnight (insert your own punchline about eight pints of lager here). Cable TV try to solve this by extending the 24 hour clock past midnight, so that a football match that kicks off at 2.45 a.m. is announced as taking place at 26:45 the previous…

  • Walking and talking

    There was a letter in the SCMP a while back from someone complaining about the way people use mobile phones in Hong Kong.  I was expecting it to generate some response, but I haven’t seen anything (and the letter is no longer anywhere to be found on the new improved website): I cannot help but…

  • Medium-rare with a side order of fries

    Interesting idea of the week (from the In Brief section of today’s Sunday Morning Post): Dog-friendly eateries wanted Hong Kong cannot claim to be an international city until dogs are allowed to join their owners at the restaurant table, Pets Central Asia said. The organisation began a campaign after being refused a licence for a dog-friendly restaurant. Chairman…

  • Not so stupid

    The third season of the UK version of The Apprentice has come to an end, accompanied by a fair degree of controversy.  Naughty old Sir Alan picked the wrong candidate – allegedly.  It’s clear that Donald Trump regarded the original US version of the show as a way of promoting himself and his companies, whereas…

  • Tuen Ng

    One of the more pleasant surprises for a newcomer to Hong Kong is the generous selection of public holidays scattered through the year, on what appear to a Westerner to be somewhat random dates. Today is Tuen Ng, on which it is traditional to eat glutinous rice and take part in (or more likely watch) Dragon Boat racing. …

  • Hot and bothered

    According to the SCMP on Sunday (subscription required), KMB have delayed the withdrawal of non-aircon buses, originally scheduled for this year.  On a hot morning at the Tsim Sha Tsui bus terminus this week, the driver and passengers on the No5 bus were sweating profusely as the temperature reached 32 degrees Celsius – three degrees…

  • Room for one more on top

    There is a curious story in the SCMP (subscription required) saying that the government will not allow Green Minibuses to add more seats: The government refused yesterday to consider allowing green-top minibuses to install more seats in an effort to cut peak-hour congestion, despite claims that the idea had wide support in the community.  The…