Hong Kong

Le dévoilement du budget 2010-11 à Hong Kong

2010-02-25

Si vous vivez à Hong Kong, voici une pub télé qu’on pouvait difficilement éviter ces derniers mois: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQl5Chg3DuE[/youtube] Qui est le monsieur avec la moustache et la manne de cheveux grisonnants? C’est John Tsang, secrétaire aux finances dans le gouvernement de Donald Tsang (aucun lien de parenté). Je ne verrais pas John Flaherty ou Claude … Continue reading “Le dévoilement du budget 2010-11 à Hong Kong”

Si vous vivez à Hong Kong, voici une pub télé qu’on pouvait difficilement éviter ces derniers mois:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQl5Chg3DuE[/youtube]

Qui est le monsieur avec la moustache et la manne de cheveux grisonnants? C’est John Tsang, secrétaire aux finances dans le gouvernement de Donald Tsang (aucun lien de parenté). Je ne verrais pas John Flaherty ou Claude Bachand faire des pubs pareilles au Canada/Québec, alors avant de me renseigner, je croyais que c’était une sorte d’acteur, star du Cantopop vieillissante.

Voici ce que Harry, caricaturiste du SCMP, en pense:

Les deux personnages en avant-plan sont les deux monsieurs récurrents des caricatures de Harry. Souvent, on les voit assis autour d’une table, avec un moineau dans la cage qui fait des simagrés.

Pour en savoir plus sur ce budget, en général très généreux (on a tendence à sur-budgéter en faisant des prévisions relativement pessimistes), y’a Twitter et aussi la copie du discours sur le site du gouvernement.

Tai Hang 大坑: the hippy valley

2010-01-31

After spending part of my Sunday afternoon two weeks ago exploring Tin Hau and Fortress Hill, I set out to another area that was kind of a black hole to me on Hong Kong Island: the enclave of Tai Hang (大坑) near Victoria Park. Previously, I only knew Tai Hang, as the name for Tai … Continue reading “Tai Hang 大坑: the hippy valley”

Previously, I only knew Tai Hang, as the name for Tai Hang Road, leading up to the mountain which forks into the “Tai Hang” drive (now with an opulent new development called The Legend). However, this does not represent Tai Hang proper, as the “real” Tai Hang is in fact a valley accessible by road only through Tung Lo Wan Road from the north side.

If you know the Hong Kong Central Library, then you can locate Tai Hang as being towards the mountain, a tad to the east. It’s out of everyone’s way, a 10-minute walk from Tin Hau MTR.

Tai Hang is perhaps also a remarkable spot because it is very slightly built-up, with relatively narrow streets and little traffic. From what I gather, listening to relatives who lived there, or people of my age living in nearby areas, many of the new businesses opened shop only in the past few years, with the neighborhood’s increasing gentrification. To the north of Tai Hang, closer to Tung Lo Wan Road, trendy bars go elbow-to-elbow with fashionable clothing stores and cute dessert houses.

As you walk further to the south, inside the valley, not only does it get darker (because of the taller nearby buildings on Tai Hang Road), but also the “interesting” businesses aforementioned tend to diminish, replaced with motor shops that service taxis and expensive vintage vehicles alike.

Continue reading “Tai Hang 大坑: the hippy valley”

A stroll on Electric Road, from Tin Hau to Fortress Hill

2010-01-30

Two weeks ago, I set out to Tin Hau MTR for a walk in a new random neighborhood that I did not know. When I came to Hong Kong in 2008, I stayed in North Point, with Causeway Bay as one my frequent hangouts, as it is for a lot of returning overseas Chinese. You … Continue reading “A stroll on Electric Road, from Tin Hau to Fortress Hill”

Two weeks ago, I set out to Tin Hau MTR for a walk in a new random neighborhood that I did not know. When I came to Hong Kong in 2008, I stayed in North Point, with Causeway Bay as one my frequent hangouts, as it is for a lot of returning overseas Chinese. You can either take the tram or the MTR from North Point towards the more popular/international neighborhood to the west. In between North Point and Victoria Park are two MTR stations which eventually lent their names to the neighborhoods they serve: Tin Hau and Fortress Hill.

One is named after a temple to the Chinese deity Tin Hau, and the other took its name from, well, a hill with a fortress on it (although I’ve never seen it). On the mountain side of TH and FH is a relatively well-off high-rise residential area.

Closer to the sea, around the MTR station and the main arteries of King’s Rd and Electric Rd, lie some more popular apartments. The neighborhood is clearly gentrifying because of the proximity to Causeway Bay and relatively new office skyscrapers around Fortress Hill MTR like the AIA Tower (1999) and the Manulife Tower. While walking on Electric Rd, close to Tin Hau, you would recognize a strip of mid-scale, clean-looking Southeast Asian restaurants.

Maybe one-third on my way from Tin Hau to Fortress Hill, along Electric Rd, I stumbled upon a bakery, which was by no means fancy, but had a lineup in front of it, while the staff scurried to provide with freshly baked egg tarts, pineapple cakes — I had one of those and it was very good, especially warm, fresh out of the oven. I also bought a loaf of bread, eight slices for cheaper than Garden bread, and also straight out of the oven.

As I progressed north, half-way there to Fortress Hill MTR, I passed by a street of motor shops, at the ground floor of old manufactures, probably transformed into office space today.

Promenade dans Central un vendredi soir tranquille

2010-01-15

Congestion sur Old Bailey Street 奧卑利街 IFC mall 2 International Finance Centre 國際金融中心二期 et Hong Kong Station Entrée du quai des traversiers pour l’île de Lamma

Congestion sur Old Bailey Street 奧卑利街

IFC mall

2 International Finance Centre 國際金融中心二期 et Hong Kong Station

Entrée du quai des traversiers pour l’île de Lamma

Le jour et la nuit

2009-12-07

Photos prises du sky garden de Queen’s Garden, Mid-Levels, durant le party de Québec Contact, le club social québécois de Hong Kong.

Photos prises du sky garden de Queen’s Garden, Mid-Levels, durant le party de Québec Contact, le club social québécois de Hong Kong.

Not quite there yet

2009-12-06

This is an unfamiliar sight on a Sunday morning in Exchange Square, in Central, Hong Kong. Normally, these are prime spots for Filipina maids to take on the only day off of the week for many of them. In Hong Kong, Central (and Victoria Park too) is known as the hang-out places for domestic helpers, … Continue reading “Not quite there yet”

This is an unfamiliar sight on a Sunday morning in Exchange Square, in Central, Hong Kong. Normally, these are prime spots for Filipina maids to take on the only day off of the week for many of them.

In Hong Kong, Central (and Victoria Park too) is known as the hang-out places for domestic helpers, who otherwise live with their employers. You can picture it as Hong Kong’s financial heart being transformed into a sort of outdoor bazaar.

The note to make is that it was barely 8AM when I took this picture this morning, which explains everything. However, you could already see a few people preparing their spots, or at least reserving theirs.

Free stuff! (But you have to line up)

2009-11-22

Lining up for free stuff is definitely one of those “strange things” taken from a North American perspective. Free stuff here is never taken for granted, and a line usually naturally forms without much external force. People are very eager to get their free stuff, and this line (for shake-in flavoured chips from Japan?) stretched … Continue reading “Free stuff! (But you have to line up)”

People are very eager to get their free stuff, and this line (for shake-in flavoured chips from Japan?) stretched for a good 30-40 metre, under the rain…

What will $200 in fact still get you on Shanghai Street?

2009-11-03

Golden Lake brothel at night… …and during the day. One of my most popular posts ever on Comme les Chinois, was when in March 2008, I re-posted on a friend’s article on a friend’s impression (as a passerby) of Shanghai Street in Kowloon. Why was it so popular? Because Shanghai Street, along with Portland and … Continue reading “What will $200 in fact still get you on Shanghai Street?”

Golden Lake brothel at night…

…and during the day.

One of my most popular posts ever on Comme les Chinois, was when in March 2008, I re-posted on a friend’s article on a friend’s impression (as a passerby) of Shanghai Street in Kowloon.

Why was it so popular? Because Shanghai Street, along with Portland and Reclamation Streets in their Mong Kok and Yau Ma Tei portions (between Shantung and Dundas) are often synonymous with the sex trade and is home to one of Hong Kong’s most well-known red-light districts. Day or night, as seen in the previous pictures, brothels operate as if prostitution was legal in Hong Kong. You walk around these streets at any time, and you will notice lit-up signs in flashy pink, or the red/pink neons hanging outside on the street or inside the staircase leading up to the establishment.

Perhaps most shockingly comes the “price list“, where the Chinese girl goes for HKD250 (CAD35) and the Malay or Filipina girl will make your wallet lighter by HKD200 (CAD28).

Langham Place

The Mong Kok red-light district is in fact just one or two blocks away from flashy Langham Place, a commercial complex that opened in 2004 and whose unavowed goal was to “sanitize” the neighborhood west of Nathan in Mong Kok. In terms of urban renewal, Hong Kong has used this stratagem before, in the early 90s with Times Square (時代廣場) in Causeway Bay and more recently with the apm shopping mall in Kwun Tong, which opened in 2005. While Times Square was a huge success, developing a largely residential area into the location to be for brand-name shopping in Hong Kong, it is still to early to tell if this would have the same effect on Langham Place’s surroundings.

A walk in the neighborhood (during the day) is quite uneventful. The area mostly has home renovation, and construction material, and metal shops, with a brothel at about every 50-100 meters. Ah-suks (uncles) working in the businesses look at you funny, but what seemed to be pimps, left you alone as you took a quick picture of their premises (without them in there, of course).

As it provides an “essential service” in a city of about 7 million souls, the Hong Kong government should leave this part of the city alone, as long as the triads don’t start shooting each other in broad daylight.

Home renovation and green light

Chinese BBQ

And now, on a cultural note… In Chinese, “ordering chicken” (叫雞), like in getting chicken from a Chinese BBQ shop, is slang for patronage of female prostitutes. So, “ordering goose/duck” (叫鵝) is the patronage of male prostitutes…

SOGO crossing, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong

2009-10-07

L’intersection du SOGO – du nom du grand magasin dominant ce coin de rue – est probablement l’un ou le lieu le plus cher à Hong Kong en termes d’affichage publicitaire. La confluence d’au moins cinq rues différentes, celui-ci rivalise en achalandage avec l’intersection de Shibuya à Tokyo ou Times Square à Manhattan. The SOGO … Continue reading “SOGO crossing, Causeway Bay, Hong Kong”

The SOGO intersection, named after the department store dominating it, is probably Hong Kong’s most expensive spot for billboards. At the confluence of at least five different streets, it rivals in traffic with Tokyo’s Shibuya crossing or Manhattan’s Times Square.

Comme les Chinois goes to Hong Kong

2009-09-24

I am going to Hong Kong next Wednesday, September 30th and will be staying there for at least two months. Primarily, I will be looking for something to do, but I will also be keeping this blog as I did last year and will be also calling in to our Radio Centre-Ville Cantonese show, almost … Continue reading “Comme les Chinois goes to Hong Kong”

I am going to Hong Kong next Wednesday, September 30th and will be staying there for at least two months. Primarily, I will be looking for something to do, but I will also be keeping this blog as I did last year and will be also calling in to our Radio Centre-Ville Cantonese show, almost every Wednesday at 11:20PM (Montreal time). If you want to contact me, e-mail is still the way to go: cedric@commeleschinois.ca.

Comme les chinois s’en va à Hong Kong ! Je pars mercredi prochain, 30 septembre, et y restera pour au moins les deux prochains mois. J’irai principalement pour me chercher quelque chose à faire, mais garderai une présence sur les Internets grâce à ce blogue (comme l’année dernière) et sur les ondes de Radio Centre-Ville, alors que j’appelerai mes collègues de l’émission en cantonais, tous les mercredis vers 23h20 (heure de Montréal). Si vous voulez me contacter, par courriel reste la meilleure façon: cedric@commeleschinois.ca.