Spike is back in Hong Kong, having been forced to retire from his job in the Philippines because of the local laws.  Which was quite a surprise to him (and to most people, I guess)

He had to go to the hospital: One of the Dumbest Things I’ve Ever Done

I was surprised that a visit to the emergency ward now costs HK$180 (roughly US$23.50). Of course that’s just a fraction of what it probably costs in the U.S. but even so, five years ago I’m sure it was just HK$100. That’s a big jump in 5 years. Have people stopped betting on the horses? Are HK hospitals charging retaliatory tariffs to U.S. patients?

Obviously the last part isn't true.  That's the rate for holders of a Hong Kong ID card (others have to pay HK$1,230).  But he's right that it was increased from HK$100 about two years ago.

I confess to not fully understanding the charges for healthcare in Hong Kong.  Visiting a GP seems quite expensive, especially considering the "three-minute-visit/five-bags-of-pills policy".   But last time I visited a specialist (in a private hospital) it cost less than Spike paid for his visit to an emergency room.  I suppose that a visit to the hospital pharmacy would increase the total cost, but I was paying for this myself, and I know a better solution for that.

And I can add to my list of places in Hong Kong where the commonly used Cantonese name is totally different from the English name - St Teresa's Hospital (聖德肋撒醫院) is known as "faat gwok yi yun" (法國醫院).  Look it up.

Spike is living in Manila and all is not well: A Scam A Day Keeps The Philippines A Third World Country.

I’ve been coming here since 1997. On my first trip, I remember seeing people in the street selling single cigarettes and single sticks of gum. I said to myself, “This is a poor country.” 20 years later, I still pass people selling those single cigarettes.

[…] at the core this is still a desperately poor country and the biggest export here still seems to be people.

Almost everywhere you go in the world you will find Filipinos who have left the country to earn a living. Two of the smartest people I have worked with in Hong Kong are Filipinos, but many of their compatriots are way over-qualified for the jobs they are doing, often in the service industries (it is a rule that musicians in hotels throughout Asia have to be Filipinos).

As Spike says, when the brightest and best leave the country, where does that leave the ones who are left behind?

I see that Fumier is back. If you want something to read, I suggest you try there. Not here.

Some recent comments:

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I have been taken to task by Mr Spike for linking to his old site, and I can't deny that a review of my list of Hong Kong blogs was long overdue.  It also turns out that Mr Hemlock has finally closed down his old site and moved to Wordpress, and a few old favourites have stopped alogether.

Oh, and Happy Christmas.

Well, well.  I see that Hemlock has fixed his RSS feed, a mere 3 or 4 years after it stopped working.  I'm afraid that I can't be bothered going to a website to read a blog, so I have been missing his words of wisdom for quite some time.

Fumier's RSS feed disappeared some time ago, and I suppose this must be a policy decision (because he also deletes old postings after a month or so).  Still, the old fool usually sends me an email if he makes a reference to this blog, so I guess I'm not missing anything.    

I finally got round to reviewing my list of Hong Kong blogs, and I've pruned a few that have either disappeared or not been updated for several months.  I also re-instated one old favourite that went missing but which seems to be back, back, back.

I have been asked to mention HK Photo Competition, a new blog to publicize, well, a photo competition.  Go take a look.

Imagine my reaction upon reading Post Magazine in yesterday's Sunday Morning Post when I discovered that OrdinaryGweilo.com is one of the top 20 websites in Hong Kong.

My delight was somewhat diminished by a couple of things.

Firstly, that this list appears to have thrown together without very much research.  One might almost say it was slapdash...

For example, #11 is a site (Glutter) which hasn't been updated for about 4 months.  Also, I think I must point out that the author of Glutter (Yan Sham-Shackleton) is, of course, a woman, as a cursory glance through the website (or a Google search) would probably reveal.  And (as ulaca rightly points out), she is also no longer a resident of Hong Kong.

Secondly, I don't think anyone has taken any notice.  I dutifully checked my site statistics yesterday, and the impact of this mention appears to be somewhere between minimal and inconsequential.

However, I have to say that it cheered me up to be described as 'fearless'. 

Tau Tiul Yat Bow has a very simple concept - take the top story from HK Headline News (a free Chinese language newspaper) and translate the headline into English.

"Staff have no right to ask for alcohol test"
職員 ( jig yuen ) = staff
無權 ( mo queng ) = no right
要求 ( yau qui ) = request
吹波波 ( chui ball ball ) = alcohol test
黃宏發 ( wong hong fat ) = 1997 legislative council member
醉 ( zui ) = drunk
鬧 ( now ) = disturb
港鐵 ( kong tit ) = MTR
站 ( zhang ) = station
http://www.hkheadline.com/news/html_wnn/html/2008/1/25/wnn43270.html?section_name=wnn

Apologies, but I've forgotten where I saw this mentioned.