How's it in HKG?

How's it in HK?.... ok.... not great.

HK is not exactly a nice place to retire to... it is expensive for quality like US or Can. The pollution is endemic, the politics is abysmal.. it is really an enclave of China and Deng just prolonged the agony, because he did not want to kill the goose that laid the golden egg...

And retirement type jobs are impossible to get. One reason is 55 is the year of forced retirement. The ones with networks simply get contracts. u can only play so much golf at US$100 a pop.

So.... medicare is expensive, food is expensive, housing is expensive, the air sucks, water is not great... buyers paradise, but how much can one old man consume... lol....

But spouse's career is here, so i will ride it for a bit...... but think North America is still the place to be in the latter years of life...

So when are u coming into town?

Season of Mists

To Autumn, per Keats, is the season of mists...

But October is Springtime in Australia! Oh, cruel month!

Ablutions: economics vs governance

Does economics drive the world, or does the world drive economics?

Or is it just HK?

Or is it a chicken or egg argument?

Ablutions: HK investments

Hong Kong people don't make investments, they make gambles.

Caprice at the 4 seasons HKG

Caprice at the Four Seasons, Hong Kong, is a three star michelin restaurant! You have to be kidding! It is not even close to Senderens Paris, or La Grand'Vigne at Les Sources de Caudalie, bordeaux. And these are only two stars, granted the story behind senderens is that he renounced his 3 stars, but still was given two..... and Les Sources restaurant have their own bakery, winery and charcuterie.....

And everyone knows where i stand on Macau's only 3 star Robuchon a Galera. It's a joke! .... really. They don't know the difference between raw and processed cheeses........lol....

Spoon by Alain Ducasse HKG

If Spoon by Alain Ducasse in Hong Kong's Intercontinental is one michelin star, then this is clearly an indication of my premise that the eastern and western stars are different! I would definitely not give this restaurant a one star.....; a mention maybe, by at C$250 pp for dinner, it is definitely not even good value either... the food is at best mediocre and the opened wines ok. The breads were quite interesting and i am not a dessert fan, so.....

the problem with this world.......

India/Pakistan is the failure of the british raj.... and colonialism...; as is the precedent, the Israel/Palestinian geo politic .....; it is the same as the crusades... and the muslim christian conflict....

china is the future.....lol.....

Ablutions: St. Julian

Traditional, very tired, and just not worth it...... excited about the lobster thermador, but disappointed... and the rest... was history.....

The head chef is from the Peninsula, Hong Kong, sometime in its inglorious past, so that may explain the comments in the previous para.

Like things past its time or prime, big shame ..... esp after Andres Chiang's place.....

Ablutions: Chinese Food

Chinese food in Singapore is stuck at a point in time...... maybe it's the control in the economy? I have not been to Taiwan, but suspect that real chinese food, evolved as it should, can only be found there.

I avoid chinese food in s'pore, having had my share.

Needless to say what i think of chinese food in china....... shit.....; compared to chinese food in HK which has had its own evolution.......

boy, am i looking forward to Taiwan....lol..... if i ever get there.......

btw, i have had peranakan chinese and hainan, indonesian and singaporean versions of chinese food in the malay pen...... as well as all the other variants in the Australasian group of islands....

Japs n S'pore

Why are there so many jap sommeliers in S'pore.... I have a count of at least 5, the oldest, only here for 5 years... Les amis, salt, andres, ... etc.....

Ablutions: Andres Singapore

Fine place nice motives, black sheep, young version of susur lee, taiwan, japan, southern france, noveaux cuisine (called modular in s'pore, fusion in HKG).... but definitely worth a try. Pricey and difficult to get in, but well worth the effort. Not extravagant as are all things s'pore. Fine french fare not fully adulterated yet by chinese and s'pore influences, like Les Amis (not that Les Amis is bad.... just established.....).

Probably the most fun i have had in s'pore in terms of food.......

I may put pictures.......lol......

after the fact comment: an after wash if u wish..... is that this is bar none the best restaurant i have been to in Singapore and i would give it two asian michelin stars... and one french michelin star... as we all know the standards are different in the east....lol.....

it had certainly made my day, after much reflection, and is a definitely destination, of the sort to make a trip for, if in s'pore, however, .... you have to flex the Singaporean mentality of strict adherence to structure..... (even senderens...)

Andre Chiang is Taiwanese trained in France at the best and also lived in japan a few years, so.....that reflects on the creativity of the food....; ingredients, it's s'pore; matching wines and sommeliers.... it's s'pore...lol....and service.... excellent, flexible and accommodating; atmosphere, extremely creative.... ! you

could say that he is the black sheep of the creative s'pore culinary family.....lol.....

he wishes......lol...!

Ablutions: Le amis

very good traditional french restaurant catering to Singaporean tastes..... ie, good french food in s'pore and well worth the effort to go..... been around a long time.....

not cheap, but not outrageous for value......

Ablutions: Absinthe

ok frenchy food in a chinatown neighbourhood.... difficult to find, but not bad for s'pore....

Ablutions: oso ristaronte

so so (read good) chef who is willing to make an effort with good value food...... in chinatown singapore.

Ablutions.... Singapore

Why is singapore so full of Japs and racists.......

Daily Ablutions: Golf

Why do Koreans, men and women, but women especially, play better golf than the average person.........lol.....

Daily Ablutions

We are all gifted, with only so much time in life.... How we use it, determines our wisdom.... lol.... (I made this up..., really!)

Observations about HKG

These are of course generalizations, however, they are certainly topical!

1) The working class here (and there are very few... about 200k out of 8m people) add very little value, if any, to a process or piece of work. They are great at taking something from A to B and do it very efficiently. But they do not add value in the process resulting in not quite very effective end results..... Have always thought that people are very efficient here but not very effective in HK. This is the element that is very obvious and stands out.....

2) The 10% service charge in restaurants goes to the restaurant, not the service staff. This is almost a travesty and is very common when wait staff are asked..... Generally i add another 10% on the bill for 'tips', (to ensure prompt service...lol), but with so many restaurants in HK and abundance of labour, it is most unlikely that one will go to the same restaurant twice...

And with prices as high as they are in HKG to eat out, unless one has a discount card of some sort, HK is not the foodie's heaven as it would like to be characterized as such ..... A good steak by canadian standards is $700 plus the 10% and this is before anything on it... like Mortons, etc.... so that's C$100... (I can get the same thing in Toronto for c$40!).

I will add more of these brief observations... and expand if I have more time....

Work and Play in Hong Kong

HK is ok. It is expensive. Up to 3 - 6 times more than Ottawa/Toronto. Rents are the high end, but food is the low end (ie, 3x). U can get anything u want in HK, but it costs. Sure there are the lower classes and they live cheaply, but very poorly. And, then health care, insurance.... generally it is impossible to get by without a job (read middle class right away....). And that is difficult, if not impossible here because of the chinese language barrier (like french); and the type of work available. No bus driver, waiter, bartender type jobs as they have no real minimal wage and lots of cheap labour, including 'illegal', but tolerated by govt., immigrants.

Middle class really, other than 'professional' jobs, are mainly sales, bankers and expat imports...; govt requires fluent chinese.... universities n colleges teaching, (there are 6 now vs 2.5 in the 60's) requires PhDs; and HK has money, so only the best survive.....; then there are the wealthy, who support the economy, (with the middle class minimally), of the guest workers and lower classes.... (eg, a cab or bus driver is lower class here.... as are clerks, secretaries and restaurant workers.... and just about everyone else who cannot 'flaunt' their wealth and existence.... )

so if one has no 'income tax paying job', then one is not middle class and if one has no money, then one is not upper class. And the lower classes live in bunks beds, in dormitories, without toilets.. etc... Doctors are consider middle class, as are other professionals.... Lots of money is old wealth, there is very little noveau riche or the north american success stories.....

(the only hope was to 'become a mandarin' .... as they used to say in the olden days... about how to get out of the hole of the lower class.... brilliance.... and luck.)

The population is officially 7 mil, unofficially 15 mil; salaried professionals and bankers are only 100 to 200k (taxpayers), so... u go figure the numbers....; of the official 7m, approx half are lower class!... so u know how many rich guys in the upper class there are....

that's why things are expensive and food and living expenses are very high.....

and oh yes, transport costs are also high... nobody walks here because of the pollution... so cabs and minivans are popular... and then there is the subway, 'which, is efficient.. but not effective' ...

which just about describes HKG......

besides this... people use cell phones differently, live in high rises, which is so extreme, from a lake cottage with outdoor toilets...; their idea of vacation, is... around every holiday, to extend it by a day or two.. and fly away to some resort..... it's like a drive out to cottage, only the cottage is called 'Banyan Tree Resorts' and costs US$300 a night, where you sit by your own personal pool, have a personal chef and maid and do nothing but sulk about lost luggage... about half way to the Saudis during heir prime oil money days....lol....

Dubai has a 7 out of 5 star hotel... so u figure....lol...

hedonistic? to the extreme!!! and the psychological makeup of its inhabitants..... the same....

life is too short to knowingly eat at mediocre restaurants... esp in HKG.....

..... HK is truly a market economy, where something desirable is pounced upon..... as a result, it is really quite expensive to eat out, for example.... say compared to s'pore..... but the flip side is that minions eat at places that are bad for their health, food that is tasty but grease laden, poor content, etc ... result, they die younger.....

and anything really healthy and tasty is sky high price wise.... (and here we are not even taking about the ambiance of the restaurant...., which generally end up being at a hotel, because they have the space, or real estate.....)

for a place, like HK, that has a restaurant for every 100 persons ...., or officially 80,000 restaurants..... it is a sad commentary on the 'entrepreneurial spirit'.

In canada, we would say 'if u can make it at home, then eat at home' ... here it's like if ur servants can make it at home, then u r damn lucky.....lol....

the search for decent restaurants is almost like the search for the 'holy grail'.

btw, i have been looking for shatin style paper wrapped chicken (1950's).... with the wax paper,..... for eons.....; and definitely,,,,lol, since i have been back......lol...

i don't believe the europeans......lol......

European paradise:

You are invited to an official lunch. You are welcomed by an Englishman. Food is prepared by a Frenchman and an Italian puts you in the mood and everything is organised by a German.

European hell:

You are invited to an official lunch. You are welcomed by a Frenchman. Food is prepared by an Englishman, German puts you in the mood but, don't worry, everything is organised by an Italian.

That joke was proposed by a Belgian as the Official European Joke, the joke that every single European pupil should learn at school. The Joke will improve the relationship between the nations as well as promote our self humour and our culture.

The European Council met in order to make a decision. Should the joke be the Official European Joke or not?

The British representative announced, with a very serious face and without moving his jaw, that the joke was absolutely hilarious.

The French one protested because France was depicted in a bad way in the joke. He explained that a joke cannot be funny if it is against France.

Poland also protested because they were not depicted in the joke.

Luxembourg asked who would hold the copyright on the joke. The Swedish representative didn't say a word, but looked at everyone with a twisted smile.

Denmark asked where the explicit sexual reference was. If it is a joke, there should be one, shouldn't there?

Holland didn't get the joke, while Portugal didn't understand what a "joke" was. Was it a new concept?

Spain explained that the joke is funny only if you know that the lunch was at 13h, which is normally breakfast time.

Greece complained that they were not aware of that lunch, that they missed an occasion to have some free food, that they were always forgotten.

Romania then asked what a "lunch" was.

Lithuania et Latvia complained that their translations were inverted, which is unacceptable even if it happens all the time.

Slovenia told them that its own translation was completely forgotten and that they do not make a fuss.

Slovakia announced that, unless the joke was about a little duck and a plumber, there was a mistake in their translation.

The British representative said that the duck and plumber story seemed very funny too.

Hungary had not finished reading the 120 pages of its own translation yet.

Then, the Belgian representative asked if the Belgian who proposed the joke was a Dutch speaking or a French speaking Belgian. Because, in one case, he would of course support a compatriot but, in the other case, he would have to refuse it, regardless of the quality of the joke.

To close the meeting, the German representative announced that it was nice to have the debate here in Brussels but that, now, they all had to make the train to Strasbourg in order to take a decision. He asked that someone to wake up the Italian, so as not to miss the train, so they can come back to Brussels and announce the decision to the press before the end of the day.

"What decision?" asked the Irish representative.

And they all agreed it was time for some coffee.

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