Back online, back to origins

Hello,

Some people got into complaining my decision of not posting here anymore. Well, with those complaints taken into account, I thought I'll do a compromise. I'll copy/paste here my posts from "You don't know China", and perhaps I'll post here my more personal stuff that don't really fit the framework of a united blog of friends.

Anyways. I moved on. I've moved to a new apartment. I quit my old job and have a new one now. And with old job gone, so was the old apartment (which was arranged by the old company).

The new apartment is in a village area of Hong Kong called Kam Tin (it’s under Yuen Long district). It’s a very, very traditional style area in Hong Kong and if you’re thinking skyscrapers or high-rise apartments, you can stop right there. There’s nothing here that is taller than 10 meters. And I live in ground floor – not 48th like before.

Outside we got dirt, bugs, smells and all the fancy things that make a place authentic and real. Inside, so far, I’ve killed a few ants, one small cockroach, a spider and things I’m not even sure what they were. My building is inside a wall of other buildings with distances from 1 to 4 feet of each others. Building next doors is over 100 years old. My main view in all windows is a brick wall.

I fully-heartedly enjoy this place, however. It’s something completely different, again, from anything I’ve experienced so far. The lifestyle is very different, the people are very different and the whole structure of life here is very different. When you think of Hong Kong you think of skyscrapers, shopping malls and modern big city life. When you think of Kam Tin, you think different.

So, why I moved to Kam Tin?.. The price. My apartment is HKD 2,600 a month which is C-H-E-A-P in Hong Kong standards. Later, once I have more savings I may move out, perhaps. Let's see how it goes. Anyway, I haven’t had the chance to take many pictures yet but I will. I was going to today, but we got a nasty rain until now and I didn’t feel like getting wet – again.

In the last two days I’ve gone out four times. Three times I got surprised by rain without me having an umbrella. Fourth time I went out and had an umbrella. It stopped raining after a minute. It’s not an easy life. Also, there was a T8 typhoon warning yesterday, I went shopping for some additional cabinets for my new apartment (the second time I was out). While I was walking outside the wind threw a speck into my eye and it hurt. Typhoons are a serious matter!!

To drag this post once more off-topic, let it be noted that the younger generation of my girlfriend’s extended family now refer to me as 哈囉哥哥 (haalougogo) which basically means Hello Brother (older brother) which I assume is because the only thing I say at family gatherings is “hello” to everyone, as I come in. And then I sit mute until the rest of the evening. Nice.

Anyway, off now. With my current and changed life-situation I’m sure I’ll be posting more, and I’ll be having more to post about too.

Tchau.

Up to a new location

Me and some Asia-living Gweilo friends united forces into a united blog of Asia-living Gweilo friends. I will stop posting here and post there instead.

So, forget about this place and head to "You Don't Know China".

Fengshen

From our friends at the Hong Kong Observatory:

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Tropical Cyclone Bulletin

Here is the latest Tropical Cyclone Bulletin issued by the Hong Kong Observatory.

The Strong Wind Signal, No. 3 was issued at 4:40 p.m.

This means that winds with mean speeds of 41 to 62 kilometres per hour are expected.

At 5 p.m., Severe Tropical Storm Fengshen was estimated to be about 200 kilometres south-southeast of Hong Kong (near 20.8 degrees north 115.2 degrees east) and is forecast to move north or north-northwest at about 16 kilometres per hour in the general direction of the Pearl River Estuary.

Fengshen continues to edge closer to Hong Kong. Local winds are expected to strengthen gradually and seas will be rough.

According to the present forecast track, Fengshen will be rather close to Hong Kong in the early morning tomorrow. The possibility of issuing Gale or Storm Wind Signal No.8 cannot be ruled out.

(Precautionary Announcements with No. 3 Signal)

1. You are advised not to delay in taking all precautions to protect your home or property. Make sure now that all loose objects are secure. Porch furniture, flower pots and other objects likely to be blown away should be taken indoors. Check again and make sure all windows and doors can be securely locked.

2. Storm water drains should be cleared of leaves and rubbish, this applies particularly to dwellers in low-lying areas.

3. Engineers, architects and contractors are again reminded that all scaffoldings, hoardings and temporary buildings should be secured.

4. Fishing vessels not yet in typhoon shelters should seek shelter without delay. Check again that all deck fittings are firmly fastened. If available, heavy anchors should be prepared and used in addition to regular anchors.

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So, the severe tropical storm (a lesser type Typhoon) Fengshen is coming our way, and will pass us very, very close. It is highly likely that we'll get the Typhoon Signal 8 which is the highest in its scale - meaning that everyone should stay indoors and pray for the best.

Well, I called my girlfriend to let her know of the development (not long ago it seemed that Fengshen would pass us by safe distance) and that we might get Signal 8 this time - and her comment was "Oh, nice."

However, her main concern was that Fengshen would probably pass us by so quickly that it doesn't get to affect our work-life. It will be closest-by around 2-3am, so by 9am it might be far away enough to drop the warning signal back to 3, which means we have to go to work.

So, whereas everyone else in Asia is afraid of Typhoons for the devastation they bring, people in Hong Kong are afraid typhoons pass too fast - and they can't stay home for a few extra hours, or a day.

Such is life.

Mob and mobility

In my last post I mentioned getting a new phone. Even after one week I still play with it like a child with a new toy. It's not a toy, however, but sadly I must admit that I have very little use for its many, many, many functions. If I worked in a proper company where being reachable 24/7, carrying a portable office with me, and having all sorts of meeting schedules was important, this would be the best thing ever. As it is not so, most functions are just "cool", "interesting" or "fun".

Well, in any case, it's nice to have all those funky functions and adjustable settings at hand. It'll take some time for me to actually utilize all it can offer, but I'm getting there.

There are a few things about the phone that bother me a bit, though. First thing is the battery life, which isn't really anything to brag about. I'm happy if I can go one day without charging. Of course, I'm probably using functions that take much processing power too much, leading to fast depletion of battery. In stand-by mode, the phone is like any other, and takes practically no power to run.

Other thing that bothers me is the alarm clock. My phone runs with Windows Mobile 6.1 OS, and while being really good and fast (surprisingly so!) otherwise, for some reason it doesn't allow for custom alarm sounds. So, I got crappy pre-set alarms to choose from, none which I'd like to wake up to. There are ways to go around it, but it's too troublesome and without any good result. I also checked for 3rd party alarm software to my phone, but most I have to pay for and the free ones are even suckier than the original.

With those two aspects that annoy me aside, the phone is perfect. I like it. I've never had a phone more complicated than the absolute basic functions, and it's a funny feeling carrying a phone like this around - something with more processing power and functions than my early PC's.

That's about that. No more will I say about my phone.

Below is a random picture taken in Wan Chai. American Restaurant with Peking Food... So which are you getting? Chinese or American? It's kind of like the "Real American Bacon from Finland" that you see in some Finnish grocery stores. I don't know.. just random.


I was going to write more stuff today.

But it won't.

Black Rain

Black Rainstorm Warning Signal Special Announcement issued by the Hong Kong Observatory at 6:40 a.m.

The Rainstorm Warning Signal is now Black. This means that heavy rain has fallen or is expected to fall generally over Hong Kong, exceeding 70 millimetres in an hour, and is likely to continue.

Because of seriously flooded roads and inclement weather conditions, you are advised to take shelter in a safe place and stay there. Parents, students, school authorities and school-bus drivers should listen to radio or television announcements on schools. Do not attempt to travel until the Black Rainstorm Warning Signal is no longer in force and traffic conditions have improved.

Please listen to radio or watch television for traffic conditions and further announcements on the rainstorm.

Yep, I noticed. It kept me awake for good part of the night. Thunder and Lightning! So, finally around 10am when I could be arsed up my bed, I decided to take a few pictures.

The warning says "take shelter and don't go anywhere". Well, I never really understood the big fuss over some little rain. But then, we rarely get rain like this in Finland.

Chi got a call earlier this morning not to go to work untill weather calms down. Good for her, can sleep later.

For me, the awake-keeping thunderstorm, really wasn't all that great. I had only 4 hours of sleep from previous night as I had to wake up at 5am to go for a business trip in China, and I got off from work around 22:30 (got back to Hong Kong around 19:00 and still had to go to office to finish up some stuff). So, having a long day behind me, I kind of wanted to sleep plenty and late today. No such luck.

Stupid weather.

Oh, and Chi bought me a € 500 mobile phone. Nice. Just out of the blue she bought that thing. I had been looking at the phone for several months already, but never really thought I could buy it. I really wanted it, but a bit too expensive. Or so I thought. Well, now I go it! I need to pay back a bit to Chi, however, since I can't just accept her spending that much on a surpise present.

Info here.

It's a nice phone. I know it comes with Windows, but it seems to be working fine so far.

Below pictures from today, from my balcony.

Whiplash

If you plan to go see Indiana Jones 4 and don't want to completely ruin the experience, don't read this post. This will ruin the experience.

Like so many, I was waiting for Indiana 4 like it was the second coming (well, the fourth). I educated myself about the coming movie from making-off clips published online, and later from review in magazines.

The movie works surprisingly well, and Harrison Ford does an awesome role as Indiana - so good infact, that sometimes I kind of forgot how old he is, and felt definite connection between this and the earlier movies. Also, the young kid does a really good role, and really fits his role wery well.

There's a lot of good old style Indiana Jones humor, and though special effects have taken their place in the movie, a lot of the original feeling is still there.

That was the good things.

Special effects... It is amazing how much you can do these days with computers; to really fool the audience into believing in all the spectacular things. Basically since Terminator 2 and Jurassic Park, we've seen completely realistic CGI's in movies. With Lord of the Rings, the technology peaked for a while, and what they did in the moview was simply awesome (aside from a few Legolas shots).

Well, then came the new Star Wars movies. They proved that even with big money your CGI can suck.

The came several other movies.

I am Legend.

With a budget like that you'd expect to get much more than what they had in I am Legend. If there is anything that ruins that movie (a good one too) it's the fake-looking CGI. They don't fit. They don't look real. They don't work the magic they're supposed to.

Well, guess what? Indiana Jones has plenty of that going on. CGI that doesn't seem real.

The storytelling of the movie was quite clumsy. You don't really feel the movie as such: you don't get into it. It feels distant. There is way too much action compared to actual storytelling. You know, kind of like the over-long sword scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3. There are life-or-death situations and it seems no one is even worried by it. It's acrobatics. Clever shots without any depth into them.

The plot of the movie is not anything to shout about. It sucks. I mean, the story around the plot is ok, but the plot itself... I mean, who cares about a stupid crystal skull? Especially once you start learning the plot has more to it than supernatural.

From the reviews I learned that there would be some lame references of how the South American Indians were in contact with aliens, and how they helped the Indians to build their cities and temples, and brought them technology.

Well, you can rest assured and curse the gods for Indiana Jones 4 has references to aliens. In fact, it HAS aliens. Aliens and paranormal. Way to go Lucas, thank you!

And to make it worse, the aliens are made in that crappy CGI!! If there is one way to ruin a perfectly good movie series, it is changing everything about it and letting people hope you didn't ruin it too badly. Well, I hoped. No reward. The movie has crappy CGI and aliens. Way to go Lucas, thank you!

I can only imagine how much better the movie would've been if they had just tossed all post-1990 technologies away from movie-making, and concentrated on the plot instead.

In the Making-of documentary of the original movies, Lucas and Spielberg say Temple of Doom was the least good of the three. So my question is, why would you try to repeat Temple of Doom - instead of Raiders of the Lost Ark, or Last Crusade?... And even failing in repeating Temple of Doom.

Well, it's a nice movie still. Just don't fool yourself into thinking it's another Indiana Jones.

National Treasure was better. And it hurts me to say that. It really does.

Thank you Lucas. First you ruined Star Wars, now you ruined Indiana Jones. Luckily that leaves very little for you to ruin anymore.

Pancake Colours

The happy pills worked, so it seems. I still don't feel 100% ok, but it's close enough for me not to bother the doctor anymore. The pain is gone, and there's nothing more but a slight discomfort left. If anything should go bad again, I'll be quick to go to doctor. As it is, however, the situation has been resolved and no need to discus it further.

In other news, me and my colleague headed for lunch in Causeway Bay. Being a relatively unknown area for both of us in terms of restaurants, we decided to pick something random. So we went to a building where they have plenty of restaurants (in Hong Kong it is common to have a tall building almost full of restaurats and you take a lift where each floor has its designated place(s) to eat). Going through the list of names of restaurants, we decided upon a Korean place.

We never got there.

We took the lift but accidentally got off the wrong floor. The floor held two establishments. One was a cafe, the other was a place called "Pancake Colours". As a joke, we went to the latter. To our surprise the place was actually really nice and the food was good.

I ordered a chicken steak and got something I thought was fish. Anyways, it was good and well worth recommending.

And they have pancakes.

No point to this post. Thanks for reading though.