Still on the subject of expat pay, Simon points out that David Webb has a letter on this subject in today’s SCMP.  He points out is that although it is widely-believed that Hong Kong has a simple flat-tax system there are actually plenty of ways to pay less tax, one of which is to provide…

The most puzzling story of the week is the one about the government outlawing expat pay packages. The SCMP ran this story (subscription required) on Wednesday: Hong Kong companies will have to justify their offers of generous "expat packages" to foreign employees under an anti-racism bill now in an "advanced stage of drafting". They will…

In Hong Kong it is common for offices to be open on Saturday morning, something that you would not find in the UK (or most other countries as far as I know), and hence we have public holidays on a Saturday (the cause of moaning from those who don’t have to work on Saturday). In…

I had a look around the new CitySuper in Sha Tin.  The space they are occupying is the upper floor of what was once a department store (Yaohan?).  When that went bust, SHKP turned the lower level over to restaurants and the upper level to a weird assortment of outlets (a Wellcome supermarket, a couple…

The Winter Solstice is celebrated on the shortest day of the year (i.e. today) and it is traditional to visit your family for a special dinner (no, sorry, that doesn’t mean a Big Mac and large fries).  I think we are celebrating the fact that from here on out the days get longer – though…

I don’t want to sound like one of those crazy people who write letters to the SCMP, but… When they introduced Idiot TV on buses, I thought most of the complaints were overdone – yes it’s annoying, but I found it quite easy to ignore. Now they have apparently decided to turn up the volume…

Just an ordinary day on Hong Kong’s roads. Watching drivers frantically and pointlessly changing lanes before entering a tunnel where (gasp) they have to stay in one lane for a few minutes. Sitting in a bus that was trying to pull out from behind a broken-down vehicle, watching drivers doing all they could to stop…

Comedy shopping moment. Went to buy an MP3 player.  The assistant showed me one, it looked suitable and the price was reasonable, so I said ‘OK’ and started to reach for my wallet.  However, before I could put my credit card on the counter, the assistant sprang into action: "I offer you the best price"…

No surprise there, then.  The ESF has announced that they have made some fairly minor adjustments to the new salary packages for teachers to take effect next September.  ESF chief executive Heather Du Quesnay said staff and parents had played a significant role in helping the foundation make changes to the proposal. "These changes have…