OVERHEAD. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

Kite vs. Kite

DIVORCE. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

離 婚  (lei fan): divorce

Lady lawyer Hui Lai Yan on the side of a minibus for all your divorce law needs.

MISFORTUNE. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

PATTERN. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

2. Natural pebbles? Tung Ping Chau

LANGUAGE. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

INTERRUPT. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

Not a good time.

SPY. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

Just checking that my neighbour isn’t up to any counter-revolutionary shenanigans.

FALLACY. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

INNOVATION. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

BRASS. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

MY HOBBY

My name is Thomas Siu. I am 11 years old. I am a Primary 6 student at St. Joseph’s Primary School. My father is a banker and my mother is a lawyer. We live in the Mid-levels. Tonight I have piano lesson. My helper is taking me. I do not like piano. I want to play the trumpet.

My mother says piano is important. I am working toward grade 8. I practice for an hour and a half every evening, before my mother comes home. I am very good. My helper sits with me. She turns the pages. At the moment I am learning “Nocturne in B” by Chopin. My helper says it sounds like a piano concert. My helper has never been to a piano concert. She is from Indonesia. She likes to listen to me play, but I don’t like to play. I want to play the trumpet.

My father has not heard “Nocturne in B” by Chopin yet. He didn’t hear me play my grade 7 pieces either. He was pleased that I got a “distinction” though, because he said “make sure you get a distinction for grade 8.” He gave me 200 dollars. He said I will get 500 dollars for my grade 8. I don’t want 500 dollars. I want a trumpet.

My helper is saying that it is time to go to piano lesson. We will take a taxi there. My piano teacher is Mr. Lai. Mr. Lai also teaches trumpet. I always hear the student before me finishing her trumpet lesson. She is not very good. Her mother or her father waits for her outside Mr. Lai’s music room. When she comes out, her mother hugs her, or her father says “well done.” Sometimes, the girl looks at me and smiles, carrying her trumpet.

RECALL. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

Memories of King Kowloon

Exhibition at ArtisTree, Taikoo Place

SUBSTITUTION. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

DISHES AS PRINTED ON THE FIRST PAGE OF THE MENU OF GOLDEN VEGETARIAN FOOD LTD (Chinese Buddhist restaurant, Shau Kei Wan, Hong Kong)

“Vegetarian food is the Priceless Treasure to your health.”

1. Vege. Pork Hock

2. Vege. Smoked Goose

3. Vege. Roasted Duck

4. Vege. Duck Kidney

5. Vege. Chicken

6. Vege. Roasted Duck (again, but appears to be a different colour)

7. Curry Gluten

8. Sweet & Sour Gluten

9. Soya Gluten

Below: No. 3

DANGER. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

ODD. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

The bubble-eye goldfish variety, native to China and Japan, is characterised by upward-facing eyes surrounded by large, fluid-filled sacs. These sacs jiggle as the bubble-eye swims. They can easily be punctured by sharp aquarium ornaments (terracotta pagodas, decorative amphoras), so care must be taken in selecting the decor for the tank. The bubble-eye can’t compete for food with more agile and fast-moving goldfish due to its poor eyesight. Poor bubble-eye!

JUSTICE. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

Life is unfair.

OVERLOOK. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

HK PROPERTIES OVERLOOKING THE SEA (A SELECTION)

Address: Block 7 Residence Oasis, Hang Hau, Tseung Kwan O, New Territories. Description: 3 bedrooms, southwest facing so you’ll be spending a lot on air conditioning, clubhouse with pool, above an MTR mall built on a patch of reclaimed land with no sense of place. Conveniently located a few stops from Hong Kong’s largest landfill site. But, sea view. Buy: HK$8.5 million

Address: The Grand Waterfront, To Kwa Wan, Kowloon.  Description: 4 bedrooms, on Victoria Harbour, Velazquez imitations in the lobby, chandeliers in the lifts and a clubhouse with massage chairs to make up for the fact that you and your kids live in a box on the 53^rd floor. Next door to China Gasworks. But, sea view (if you crane your neck a bit). Buy: HK$16.8 million

Address: The Grand Promenade, Sai Wan Ho, Hong Kong. Description: Renovated apartment on extremely high floor, spacious living and dining areas, balconies, fully-fitted kitchen and bathrooms. Full club facilites. Building is above a bus terminus. Faint odour of sewage wafting up from Aldrich Bay typhoon shelter. But, jacuzzi with 180-degree sea view. Buy: HK$24.5 million

Address: The Lily, Repluse Bay, Hong Kong. Description: Brand new apartments (various units available) with ultra-stylish interiors courtesy of Nina Wang. The building may look like a gigantic urinal from the outside, but with those ultra-stylish interiors filled with happy rich western families in the brochure, who cares. And of course, stunning panoramic sea view. Rental only: from HK$195,000/month

ENOUGH. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

The opening bars of Es ist genug by Sven-David Sandström, 1986.

Text from a Buxtehude cantata.

SCREEN. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

In Chinese temples, wooden doors act as a screen between the front entrance and the altar. This is a public safety measure to prevent all the qi from gushing out onto the pavement at once.

AMUSEMENT. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]

2/3

MULTIPLICATION. [GMT-8 HONG KONG]

The following are multiplying at an uncanny rate in Hong Kong’s older districts (hungrily gobbling up all scraps of local character):

1. Gong Cha taiwanese-style bubble tea takeways.

2. ‘3’ shops.

3. Loan sharks e.g. Promise, Public Finance, Credit Gain.*

4. The red banners of 田生地產 (Richmond Realty, an acquisition company) in windows (like a plague).

*A TV ad for the latter featured members of the public and staff shaking their asses and singing show me the money…