Ordinary Gweilo

It's not big and it's not clever, it's just a Brit in Hong Kong writing (mainly) about Hong Kong

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  • Up in the Sky

    I’m still trying to figure out Oasis Hong Kong Airlines.  It’s clearly not a budget airline in the mould of Southwest, Ryanair & Easyjet, so what is it?

    They have now announced fares and schedules on their website.  No big surprises – they have bought two planes from Singapore Airlines, and have maintained the 32″ legroom in Economy (the same as Cathay, slightly more than Virgin/BA).  They will also have seat-back TVs and provide complimentary hot meals, so this is clearly not a “no-frills” service.

    Fares in economy range from around HK$3,600 to HK$5,600, so again we are not talking about anything radically different to what the established airlines can offer.

    Where I think they may have an edge is in the Business cabin.  Here prices start at around HK$15,000 for an advance purchase non-flexible ticket or HK$22,000 if you want to be able to change the date (subject to a penalty).  Both of these fares are substantially lower than on Cathay/BA/Virgin – and here we are talking about Oasis offering something close to a “no frills” option – albeit with a a 60″ seat pitch (nearly double what you get in Economy, and significantly better than Premium Economy at 38″). 

    Today’s long-haul Business Class is probably superior to First Class of ten years or so ago, and fares have increased substantially as a consequence (Virgin Upper Class cost HK$25,000 10 years ago, but now you’ll pay over HK$40,000).  Of course, Oasis won’t provide a limousine or an airport lounge or a flat bed or a massage or most of the other luxuries that Virgin offer, but at less than half the price I think I am prepared to make a few sacrifices.  However, I can’t see anyone paying the full price of HK$42,000 to fly with Oasis!

    Outbound flights leave Hong Kong at 1.30 am and arrive at Gatwick at 6.20 a.m. An earlier departure time would be better, but I suppose that restrictions on night flights at Gatwick make this impossible. Various airlines (including Easyjet) fly to European destinations from Gatwick, and there is a railway station right next to the airport if you want to go to Central London or the south coast. 

    Will Oasis be successful?  In Economy the differences are marginal, and they will have to slug it out with Cathay, BA, Virgin, Qantas, Air New Zealand and the rest, but in Business I think they do have something a bit different and could do well.

  • Wrong again

    One of the facts I know about Hong Kong is that St John’s Cathedral is the only freehold property in Hong Kong.  It must be true – if you search in Google for St. John’s Cathedral freehold Hong Kong you will find several references to this, starting with Wikipedia (as usual according to The Guardian), and if get any further down you may also note that I have used it a few times here.

    Except that it’s not true. It seems that St Johns Cathedral actually has a perpetual lease, having converted from freehold about a year after the Handover:

    In other words, the Basic Law drafting committee negotiators actually forgot about HKU and St. John’s in 1988. They buggered it up, because HKU and St. John’s were so politically outre so far as the committee was concerned that no one thought about them. The buggeration factor actually occurred in 1986 in that pretty-pretty villa beside the old Kennedy School site along from the Union Church on Kennedy Road when smoothies from both sides negotiated land rights protection. The Chinese side thought that the Brits would just trouser government reserves and sell land rights and keep the proceeds, because that is exactly what the Chinese would have done had they been in charge. That was why they invented the Commission: to hang onto the moolah. St. John’s was mentioned but only in that context: ripping off the reserves and since it would never be sold and wasn’t owned by the government the negotiators went on to more interesting topics: tons of money in the reserves and land right sales proceeds.

    Post-1997 Synod saw their chance on the freehold: vot a pisness, vot a pisness, you sell it, you still got it, vot a pisness. Or at least Synod was most fortunate to have one of HK best legal minds available to it, pro bono. So millions and millions of $ later, the Lands Department having avoided LegCo, granted a perpetual lease and The Trustees of the Church of England in the Diocese of Victoria in Hong Kong, acting in pursuance of the Church of England Trust Ordinance of 18th January 1930, Chapter 1014, Laws of Hong Kong, surrendered the freehold. The whole job was done in about two weeks mid-1998.

    Many thanks to gunlaw for explaining this!

  • A billion dollars?

    In the SCMP on Sunday, Tim Noonan wrote about the upcoming bidding process for the Hong Kong TV rights for the English Premier League (Subscription required):

    The bidding for the right to broadcast the EPL in Hong Kong from 2007 to 2010 will begin next month. Much has been made about these rights that were purchased by Hong Kong Cable in 2004 for the staggering sum of HK$800 million.

    He is sure that the rights will cost more this time around:

    Whoever comes away with the rights, will probably have to pony up a minimum of US$1 billion and how that makes sense on the ledger sheets is beyond me.

    “We will bid for the rights, however unprofitable it may be for us,” Hong Kong Cable chairman Stephen Ng Tin-hoi said a few months ago.

    Does he mean US$1bn or HK$1bn?  The former would be ten times as much as Cable TV paid last time, the latter a more reasonable 25% increase. 

    Certainly there should be more competition, with Now Broadband TV and TVB Pay Vision likely to join ESPN/Star Sports in challenging Cable TV for the rights.  What’s unclear (to me, at least) is whether Now plan to bid separately or whether they are working with ESPN.  Or could ESPN return to the Cable TV lineup (yet again) if they won the rights?

  • GST

    Hong Kong is known for having low taxes.  So why does the government want to introduce Goods & Services Tax (GST)?  It certainly doesn’t seem to be popular (take two stories just from today’s SCMP, for example, or older stories in The Standard that are freely available).

    First of all, are taxes really low in Hong Kong?  Well, yes, up to a point.  What is easily overlooked is that because the government owns all the land in Hong Kong (apart from St Johns Cathedral) and can charge land premiums when developers want to built apartments, offices, shopping malls (or basically anything at all), we are all paying a hidden tax.  Well – you are if you buy a property or if you rent in the private sector, but if you live in public housing you not only avoid paying this tax but also have your rent subsidised by the government.

    So at the bottom end you are OK – rents are low and you probably aren’t paying income tax either. At the top end, the very rich benefit from the low rates of profits tax and salaries tax – and the fact that capital gains and dividends are not taxed, and nor is anything you earn abroad. The problems come largely for the "middle classes", who struggle to buy property and have difficulty finding somewhere affordable to rent in the private sector.  To a large extent this is because of this hidden tax and the way that development is controlled (in order to maximise government revenues).

    (more…)

  • Kowloon Tong by Paul Theroux

    I came across my copy of this book recently, and it made me wonder whether it is the worst “Hong Kong” novel ever written by a well-known author. 

    The characters are two-dimensional, the plot is flimsy, and the author knows nothing about Hong Kong – as demonstrated by the fact that the factory owned by the main character is located in that well-known industrial area of Kowloon Tong.

    Truly a dreadful load of old nonsense. 

  • Not really news

    RTHK have an RSS feed called “Instant News”. Currently these are the 5 stories at the top of the feed:

    Serbia and Montengro reach knock-out stages of WBC

    Milan make offer for Ronaldo

    Keane set for Sunderland

    Boro stun Chelsea in Premiership

    Ajax out as Arsenal progress

    What’s the point of that?  I expect RTHK to give me news about Hong Kong, not international news or sport, both of which I can get from other sources.  If there’s a typhoon coming or someone has been beaten up in McDonalds then that’s what I expect RTHK to be telling me about.

  • Monster House

    I blame Pixar.  Nowadays every movie studio wants to have its own computer animation, but whilst they invest millions in the latest technology they seem to neglect basic stuff like storylines and characters.  The result is terrible old tosh like Polar Express, Madagascar and Chicken Little. 

    Monster House was therefore a pleasant surprise.  They seem to have decided that it might be better to start with a good story and decent characters and then worry about the CGI – rather than having all the technology and hoping that this would be enough.

    Two caveats – this is a bit scary for young children (hence the IIA certificate in Hong Kong and PG elsewhere), and computer animation still produces very strange-looking people (which would be why Pixar and the rest mainly have non-human characters in their films). 

    The house, on the other hand, is terrific, and there is really no reason why computer animation always has to be aimed at very young children.  One of the many things to like about this film is that the writers have managed to resist the temptation to pepper it with jokes that will go over the heads of children.  So, whilst it is probably unsuitable for younger children, it certainly should appeal to those who are a little older.

    The two boys featured in Monster House are about 10 years old, and one of the themes of the film is their awareness that they are growing up – brought sharply into focus by the arrival of a girl of a similar age.  Together they explore the house and – well, I’m sure you can guess the rest. 

    It doesn’t outstay its welcome, it’s funny, it’s mildly scary, and it has a story with a beginning, a middle, and an end.  Other film makers please note.

  • It’s just common sense, innit…

    From the usual source of intelligent comment on all things Hong Kong – yes, it’s the SCMP letter column:

    I appreciate the efforts by Friends of the Earth and other green groups to create a greener world. But I wish they would offer more constructive criticism. I refer specifically to their findings on inside temperatures.

    On buses, for example, the temperature might have been set at 25 degrees Celsius. But when the buses start filling up, carbon dioxide and body heat raises the temperature inside the buses. This is common sense.

    Moreover, every time the door is opened, heat from outside enters the bus, raising the temperature inside. And when there are just a few passengers left, the bus is likely to be too cold as a result of the reduced body heat.

    May I suggest to bus companies that drivers and/or attendants at bus terminals should adjust the temperature inside the vehicles at various times of the day, according to the anticipated number of passengers.

    DOREEN HO, North Point

    What are those things called again?  You know, the ones that regulate the temperature?

    Ah yes, thermostats.

  • Congratulations…

    to Sun Gai Gweilo on the birth of Baby Patkin. 

  • Windows Live Writer

    Microsoft’s tool for posting to blogs is now available in beta, and you can download it from here.

    More information here.

    Via The Guardian, as usual.