The JV

On Thursday night my boss Pete hosted his leaving drinks and a final (for now) performance as lead singer of 'The JV'.   Also 'Dent in the Universe' featuring my colleague Ken did a brief warm-up set (and were invited back to play again by John the Wanch's manager).

Pete and his family are relocating back to the UK after 6 years in Hong Kong so in many ways it marked the end of an era.   Many current and former colleagues came to see him off including 'JK', my old head of department from Japan who I'd not seen for 5 years.

Unusually, the band were really happy with the performance which they thought was one of their best ever.   They even amazed themselves by played 3 songs that they hadn't rehearsed including a great rendition of the Pink Floyd classic 'Wish you were here' which brought prickles to my neck when I heard it.

Video:  Come together by The Beatles (excerpt, 8mb)

Extended videos (may take some time to load)

Video:  7 Nation Army by The White Stripes (47mb)

Video:  Creep by Radiohead (52mb)

Family Reunited

On Tuesday we completed the final mile-stone in our relocation from Japan.  Minimi was delivered by a pet-moving company from Baba's house to our new apartment

This makes it about about 9 months from the decision to relocate to Hong Kong to the completion of the move.


Daddy looked anxiously for the plane

while Hannah and Rika rolled out the red carpet...

And around 11pm he was delivered to his new home

I was relieved that he seemed to remember me

He has quickly made himself at home.

Hannah is delighted to be able to play with Minimi again.  Im not sure this feeling is always reciprocated....

Many thanks to Baba and Musashi for looking after Minimi for the last 5 months.

First Day of School

Hannah's school started this week.   On Tuesday we had a school parents day where we met her new teacher  and could find about activities.  Like rock climbing

Then on Thursday Hannah had her first day of school.   We rushed to get her ready on time..

and onto the school bus with the other children from our tower.

On Friday her second day of school was cancelled due to a typhoon.

Li Bai Tai Chi

One of my ambitions in Hong Kong is to learn Tai Chi.

Although I frequently see people practicing Tai Chi in parks, I found it surprisingly hard to find a class.   My first evening class through the performing arts school was cancelled due to lack of interest.   So I was very happy when my physio-therapist at the Adventist hospital suggested the Li Fai center.   I would never have found it by myself since its all all chinese as you can see from the website.

Li Fai was a member of the Hong Kong Wushu Team  in the 90′s and also performed in movies (e.g. 'Iron Monkey').

Li Fai as the 'Eagle-claw Lady' in 'Iron Monkey'

She subsequently opened up a wushu school which offers tai chi, 'kung-fu' and other martial arts like swords.  It seems pretty serious, but the staff, teachers and students are very friendly.   

I also like to think of it as the 'Li Bai' center.   This is not as odd as it sounds since Li Bai was an expert swordsman and used sword imagery in his poems.   Apparently he said "when I was fifteen, I was fond of sword play, and with that art I challenged quite a few great men."   (Which also reminds me of Miamoto Musashi, the great Japanese swordsman and namesake of Baba's cat, who was also famous for painting and sculpture).   And I wonder whether its a coincidence that the great swordsman played by Chow Yun-Fat in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is called Master Li Mu Bai...

But I digress.   I joined the Saturday morning introductory tai chi class. It a 'moveable feast', held at different locations and times each week, sometimes at the school's center in Java Rd, North Point and sometimes in municipal gyms.  It has a great atmosphere with many older people and women and lots of laughing.  Instruction is entirely in chinese and I am the only gwaileo.  But I seem to be doing OK by watching carefully, and receiving occasional kind explanations from english-speaking students.  

Kung Fu Dim Sim on Java Rd, near the Li Fai Center

What special equipment do you need for Tai Chi?  'Wu-shoes', of course!

The W Hotel Pool

One of the unexpected perks of my job is the view of the 'W' hotel pool.    The 'W' is a posh hotel in the building next door with a nice roof-top pool on the 50th floor, where guests go to relax and sunbathe.   This is the view of it from my boss' desk

Naturally from time to time staff have been known to glance out the window and admire young ladies frolicking in the pool or sun-bathing in their bikinis.   But we do try to be discreet.  We don't  want to undermine the professional and inclusive working environment that we all strive to maintain out of respect for our female colleagues.

Well, we needn't have bothered.   In the first week of August a legendary troop of male models took up residence in the 'W' and spent most of the week playing, posing and preening by the pool.   These were the famous Abercoombie models who promote the brand by attending store openings and driving around in open-topped busses wearing as little of their sponsors clothing as possible.  They had been flown in to Hong Kong to open the new flagship store.

My female collegaues leered and ogled shamelessly at these boys all week.  (I took a great photo of this but they made me delete it!).    There was running commentary of the pool activity and much discussion of 6-packs, reconnaissance visits to the W hotel bars, and the best vantage points at the store-opening.   

A passerby has her picture taken with Abercrombie & Fitch (A&F) models at a store in Knightsbridge, a Singapore shopping mall. Photographer: Simin Wang/AFP/Getty Images

This photo below shows the boys lining up for a photo-shoot.

And this is the result which was published the next day.

In the top right corner is the ICC, and if you could zoom in enough you could (theoretically) see my colleagues with their tongues hanging out.

According to Bloomberg the Hong Kong flagship store generated more than $1 million in sales in its first five days.   But in America the brand's performance has become somewhat, er, flacid.

Li Go

Not many people know that inter-locking toy building bricks were invented in China.   In the Ming dynasty by the great artist and philosopher Li Go.   And not by the Danishman Ole Kirk Christiansen as cultural imperialists in the west believe.

You can still sometimes find his works in Hong Kong street markets...

Golden Pig

"This year it is even more challenging to find primary school places than normal.    There has been an inflow of expatriates moving to Hong Kong, and also a growing trend for rich mainlanders to study at Hong Kong schools.  And apparently 2007 saw a mini-baby-boom across asia because it was thought to be a particularly auspicious 'Golden Pig' year.

2007 was the 'year of the pig' in the chinese 12-year astrological cycle.  Pig years (like dragon years) are considered auspicious years to be born in.

"children born under the pig's patronage will benefit from the animal's image as fat, happy and prosperous...   The pig in general is considered by Chinese as a representative of fortune and luck, with a mild temper and an honest character, so many Chinese parents believe babies born in this year are lucky..."

In 2007 Beijing hospital officials surveying busy birthing and prenatal care wards were predicting a 20 percent increase.   (Im still trying to pin down the stats)

Many couples were acting on a belief that 2007 is not only a Year of the Pig, which comes along once every 12 years, but a Golden Year of the Pig, which comes along once every 60 years and showers extra-powerful blessings on those born during its passage.

" Pig years, which occur every 12 years, are considered auspicious. But [this] one, or so many believe, [is] especially fortunate since it is not just a pig but a golden pig, the first in 60 or even 600 years, depending on which astrologer one consults."   (the economist)

Some even believed that 2007 was a golden fire pig year.  "The Year of the Golden Fire Pig comes only once every 600 years and rumor has it, 2007 is this special year.  It is Golden because the combination of elemental Fire, the sign Pig, and Yin/Yang components bring this year once every six centuries!  It is said that children born under this sign will live in comfort as wealth and luck are always near. The Fire Pig is known to have traits of wealth, prosperity, luck and fertility "  (link)

But it does seem to depend rather on which expert you consult:

Philosophy Professor Song In-chang of Dajeon University, “People born in the Year of the Pig tend to easily make a fortune, but at the same time, they also tend to have an unfortunate destiny of wandering and being unable to stay in one place throughout their lives. Since the theory of relating people’s destiny with time of birth places so much importance on incompatibility or win-win relationships among different elements and factors, there cannot be a year that guarantees nothing but luck to the people.”  (link)

 Ye Chunsheng, a culture researcher at Guangzhou's Sun Yat-Sen University and deputy secretary general of the China Folklore Society, said that belief was mistaken.    "This year is not golden," he said. "It is earthen. The last Golden Year of the Pig was 1971, and the next one should be 2031, with 60 years as the full cycle."    (washington post)

"fire pigs can have trouble controlling their passions, can be egocentric, chaotic and even quite destructive at times in their drive for freedom and beauty".  (Time Magazine)