OVERHEAD. [GMT+8 HONG KONG]
Posted: May 31st, 2011 | Author: Emilie Pavey| No Comments »Kite vs. Kite
Kite vs. Kite
離 婚 (lei fan): divorce
Lady lawyer Hui Lai Yan on the side of a minibus for all your divorce law needs.
2. Natural pebbles? Tung Ping Chau
The official languages of Hong Kong are Chinese and English. All signs, official forms, and so on are bilingual. This sign, however, remembers a time when English, not Chinese, came first …
Not a good time.
Just checking that my neighbour isn’t up to any counter-revolutionary shenanigans.
Fig. A. To dry duck.
Fig. B. To dry fish.
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.
Memories of King Kowloon
Exhibition at ArtisTree, Taikoo Place
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
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!
Life is unfair.
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 53rd 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
The opening bars of Es ist genug by Sven-David Sandström, 1986.
Text from a Buxtehude cantata.
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.
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…