Ordinary Gweilo
It's not big and it's not clever, it's just a Brit in Hong Kong writiing (mainly) about Hong Kong
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Category: Life in Hong Kong
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This advert was in The Standard last week. I just wonder how difficult it would have been to have got the first sentence proof read by some who was familiar with the English language. I’m sure HSBC could afford it…
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As reported in Sunday’s SCMP (on the front page just above the big news about Vegemite), the government of China has decided to stop issuing multiple entry visas until October. Now it seems that you cannot even get a single or double-entry visa at the border and instead have to wait 1-2 days. This is…
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When I lived in the UK, I used to enjoy eating in Chinese restaurants. Well, how was I to know that it wasn’t real Chinese food? By the same token, eating so-called "Western" food in Hong Kong is generally a fairly painful experience, as Chopped Onions reminds us: Order “French” onion soup, in a "western…
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Today the Hong Kong Observatory lowered the “cold weather warning” that has been in force for more than 3 weeks. Apparently that isn’t quite a record, as this warning was in place for 27 days in 1968, but normally it’s only in force for 2-3 days. In the past I have been rather scornful about…
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The funniest story of the moment has to be the one about appearance on the Interweb of some, er, candid photographs featuring several Hong Kong pop stars. It’s even made it to The Guardian (Film star sex scandal causes internet storm in China), but here’s the SCMP: The photos that appeared on the internet last…
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What is it with big stupid Hong Kong companies? They have a good idea and then they back down when just a few people complain. First it was ParknShop. They stopped giving each customer 3 or 4 plastic bags whether they needed them or not, and said that bags would only be available on request…
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Astonishing advice in Friday’s SCMP (Get ready to opt out of junk phone calls, faxes): Hongkongers will be able to block annoying advertising text messages, prerecorded phone calls and promotional faxes from next year but there is still no quick-fix solution for junk e-mail. The enacting of the second phase of the Unsolicited Electronic Messages…
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There’s a bizarre story on the front-page of the SCMP today (HK’s star stock-picker revises market target – subscription required): Lee Shau-kee picks stocks pretty well for a 79-year-old grandpa who spends his mornings in massage and meditation. And Mr Lee says the market isn’t going to climb quite as fast as he once thought. As…
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If you ask for a "doggy bag" at the end of your delicious Cantonese meal, the chances are that the waiter (or maybe one of the diners) will pick up a pair of chopsticks, turn them around, and use them to put the food into the take-away container. OK, so you’ve probably avoided getting someone…
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Today is Rail Merger Day. The government has engineered a deal whereby the MTR (which used to be government-owned but is now a public company, albeit still controlled by the government), will operate the railway services and manage the property of the KCR (which is still government-owned). That means that all the rail services in…
Ordinary Gweilo 