Exchanging Notes

Almost everyone I talked to in Hong Kong asked me how the Beijing Olympics went.

They asked me which events I watched and what it was like in the Olympic Green.

However they were really surprised when I told them there wasn't much of a lively atmosphere where venues like the National Stadium, or Bird's Nest was.

Instead, it was quite sterile, despite having a well-organized and well-executed Games.

On the other hand, some of my friends told me there was a party atmosphere in Hong Kong, even though most people had no clue about the equestrian events held in Sha Tin.

Nevertheless, they were most impressed by the opening ceremonies. The choreography of all those performers working together in perfect time was amazing to them.

And it made these Hong Kongers proud to be Chinese.

That was the effect the Chinese government wanted to create, and definitely succeeded.

But with the ongoing milk scandal, people's opinions of China are wavering again.

It seems 11 years on after the handover of Hong Kong to China, Hong Kongers are still trying to figure out their identity, which is understandable.

While they are proud of Chinese culture and history, they are horrified by the scale and magnitude of challenges its motherland is facing, that in turn affect them.

Everyday there is a new report about the milk crisis, from another product found to have melamine in it and how products that should have been taken off the shelves were found a few days later for sale in supermarkets in China.

And this is only one of many issues that include pollution, work safety, freedom of the press and corruption to name a few.

Hong Kong people are not prepared to embrace China completely, which means Beijing has got a lot of work ahead to prove itself before winning more hearts than just a political takeover.

Turning Off the Tap

In the last few years Macau has emerged as the Las Vegas of the East.

Last year hotels like The Venetian opened, along with Wynn and many others from the United States.

Even Canadian company Cirque du Soleil has set up shop in the Venetian with its show, Zaia.

Since the number of hotels and casinos has significantly increased in the former Portuguese colony, its profit takings from gambling has been higher than all of Las Vegas combined.

And that may be one of the reasons why the Chinese government has come up with its latest measures to restrict the number of visits mainlanders can make to the former sleepy town an hour's fast ferry ride from Hong Kong.

For the first time in nearly three years, Macau's monthly revenue fell to 6.9 billion patacas ($86 million), down 3.4 percent from a year ago, and 28 percent from the previous month, according to Portuguese news agency Lusa.

Casino revenue makes up 60 percent of Macau's gross domestic product in the first half of this year, and the secretary for the economy and finance Francis Tam Pak-yuen estimates a 36 percent decline in gaming revenue from September to December, compared to the same period last year.

Recently, the central government has been trying to reduce the ease and frequency mainland passport holders, including non-permanent Hong Kong residents, can travel to Macau.

Starting on June 1, it was reduced to once a month from once a fortnight, and then a month later it was once every two months. Starting on September 1, mainlanders traveling or working in Hong Kong have to apply for a separate permit to visit Macau, when previously they could visit on their Hong Kong permit.

And now from this month, Guangdong residents can only visit Macau once every three months.

This effect will reverberate through Macau like a deep freeze. Even before the post-handover casino boom, the city depended on the gambling industry to keep the economy alive. This latest measure will definitely halt or significantly slow down Macau's economy, something it doesn't need right now.

It feels like an ominous sign someone up there is displeased with how mainlanders are only too eager to gamble, as these punters don't seem to mind they are losing so much...

Pinching Yourself

You know you're not on the Chinese mainland but in Hong Kong when:

- You can get from A to B in 20 minutes instead of an hour;

- Having three appointments in one evening is doable;

- The MTR trains come every two minutes and not at least five like in Beijing;

- Everyone from taxi drivers to store staff and fellow commuters are polite to you;

- The police doing roadside checks ask you to put on your seatbelt;

- There's no spitting in the streets -- not even the sound of horking is heard;

- Several pairs of chopsicks are on the lazy Susan for people to use so they don't infect the food with their own chopsticks;

- You ask for less oil in dishes and there really is less oil in them;

- Where food street stalls are, there's hardly any garbage on the ground, not even those wooden skewers;

- You can call the telephone directory assistance for a number wherever you are, whenever you want;

- You can speak Chinglish and everyone understands what you're saying;

- People don't jump the queue, but patiently wait in line;

- Hong Kongers take you to cleaner bathrooms than the ones you thought were already clean;

- Public washrooms are always stocked with toilet paper and soap;

- There are no squat toilets.

Financial Jitters

All my friends and relatives are talking about the $700 billion bailout package by the US government and wondering which banks will go under next.

Hong Kong being a financial powerhouse is starting to see the effects of high-powered bankers losing their jobs.

Many bars, restaurants and luxury brand shops are quieter, with fewer people dining out or shopping than before.

One of my friends doesn't think the shaky economic situation in the United States will impact Hong Kong too much, while others worry big banks here like HSBC aren't revealing what's really going on with their investments.

Tonight two of them told me about the panic they saw when they passed by the Bank of East Asia here. About a week ago there were rumours the bank was bankrupt and tens and thousands of people lined up at Hong Kong branches to get their money.

One saw a massive line along Caine Road in Mid-Levels, people with fear on their faces, while the bank stayed open as long as it could to service customers. Many of them complained bank staff didn't move fast enough, but it's not everyday tens of thousands of people want to withdraw all their money from their accounts.

There was a large sign on the bank branch's window saying the rumours were not true, even stating how much the bank had in assets, but that didn't calm anyone's worries.

Another told me how people lined up late into the night just to get a queuing number for the next day. Many withdrew millions of Hong Kong dollars from their accounts, which meant they dragged suitcases around with them to carry all that cash.

We agreed it was absurd, but also said if we had accounts with that bank, we'd do the same thing too.

The possible recession in the US and the instability of the banks have also made people here think twice about changing jobs -- and their bosses know it.

Which means employees are at their mercy to hold onto their jobs as they weather this upcoming financial storm.

Sounds like we're all going to have to hunker down and hope we don't get overworked and underpaid in the process too.

Modern Japanese

It's hard to take the Japanese dining experience to a new level.

The decor is already minimalist and modern, the food uses fresh ingredients that are served in beautiful presentations.

What more can you do?

Roka at Pacific Place takes it a step further with pretty good success.

Already at the entrance diners have a warm feel to the place with lots of wood in the decor and literally smoke coming from the open kitchen.

And apparently Roka cames from two words, Ro which means hearth, or gathering place, and Ka means burning fire, or an energetic place.

My friend and I didn't make reservations, but after a short wait we were seated by the bar watching the action in the kitchen.

Staff closest to us were either carefully slicing up slabs of salmon, or carefully tending to seafood and meats grilling on the robata grill, while a black guy, the executive chef barked out orders the cooks enthusiastically responded to.

To start I had a shochu cocktail. Shochu is an ancient Japanese spirit distilled from several raw materials, like barley, buckwheat, sugar or sweet potato.

And my cocktail was infused with honeycomb which was delicious. It was presented in a small glass, with a giant cylindrical piece of ice in it and the golden liquid.

The strong spirit was sweetened by the honey, which helped it go down nicely.

We then sampled a few dishes like a roll with tuna, prawns, and lettuce that was really refreshing, along with terriyaki chicken skewers and honey-roasted chicken wings.

There was also a salad of leaves in a light peanut dressing and tiny cubes of pickled carrot around the dish.

The food was great, but the only complaint was the club music pulsating quite strongly in the background. If the volume was down a touch, it would make it feel more like a hip restaurant than a dance destination serving cool food.

Nevertheless, service was hospitable and enjoyable.

Around HK$475 for two including three drinks. Kanpai!

Roka
Pacific Place
Level LG1, Shop 002
88 Queensway
Hong Kong

Mainlanders in Hong Kong

With mainland Chinese people celebrating the week-long National Day holiday, many who can afford it have flocked to Hong Kong to shop.

They come armed with wads of cash and plastic and make a bee-line for all the brand-name stores around the city.

There they clean up places like Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Salvatore Ferragamo and cosmetic counters as well, anxious to buy the real products in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

They definitely keep shop assistants busy, not only getting them tongue-tied speaking Mandarin, but also horrified at their demanding behaviour.

I was browsing the Gucci store when an obviously wealthy mainland Chinese woman was on the phone to her friend back home and loudly asking her, "So which bag did you want to buy? Tell me because I'm in the store now!"

Shop assistants stood around waiting for her next command.

And today in the Sogo department store in Causeway Bay, mainland tourists were fighting over sweaters and again two rich women harangued a staff member, accusing her of not giving them a good deal, when in department stores, the prices are set.

Meanwhile other staff observing this incident whispered among themselves that they were glad they didn't have to deal with these customers.

For Hong Kong, these Golden Weeks have become a double-edged sword -- on the one hand these mainlanders inject a lot of cash into the city, almost forcing staff to fall over themselves serving them.

But on the other hand, this almost kow-towing to these customers almost gives them the license to act as obnoxiously as possible, perpetuating their demanding behaviour.

However, as economies around the world are beginning to slow down, Hong Kong can't complain too much about its VIP customers who are only too eager to drop cash on a whim.

Capital Transformation

Yesterday I flew to Hong Kong for the Golden Week holiday celebrating China's National Day on October 1.

And my commute to Beijing Capital Airport was the quickest I've ever experienced.

There's an Airport Bus station near my place and for 16RMB it's a smooth and very quick ride. We left the terminus at 4:45pm and after a few stops picking up a few more passengers we arrived at Terminal 3 at 5:20pm.

It was my first experience entering the airport from the departures level since I first saw it completed over a year ago.

What a transformation.

Overall signage is pretty good, but could be in bigger lettering or more convenient to find instead of having to hunt for it.

It can be a bit of a trek for people to find the right check-in counter and the one for Dragon Air was down at the far right end.

Check in was quite slow, with none of the computers working for self-check in. Kind of defeats the purpose of having an e-ticket.

There are tons of shops before entering the secured area -- even a fancy clothing boutique. Who is going to buy an oil painting or a fancy sweater before going on their flight?

Then I had to take a transit shuttle to take us to the other end of Terminal 3 and it's quite far away, but relatively efficient.

Here the numbering for the gates was strange. There was E22 and then E26 together. It didn't make any sense at all. It's enough to give harried passengers a shock if they can't find their gate where they logically think it should be.

Unfortunately the duty-free shops here are abysmal.

The Olympic souvenir shop looked like it was running out of stock and didn't have anything interesting to sell except for T-shirts, caps and notebooks. There were hardly any mugs or bags.

The other duty-free shops sold kitsch Chinese-made goods like qipaos, silk scarves and pjamas or Chinese-made chocolate, which is probably not something they should be stocking now considering the melamine scare.

I remember an airport official promising the new terminal would have more selection of foreign magazines and books but that hasn't materialized. It was all in Chinese instead.

The saddest part of the terminal, so modern and cool in design and yet there's a bizarre fake Chinese garden with a tacky colourful pagoda complete with occasional mists coming out of the pond. The shrubbery is all fake making it all the more like a farce.

Why have a fake garden when everyone's already seen the real thing in Beijing?