Picture of the Day: Mid-Autumn Moon

The full moon peeking through the trees

Happy Mid Autumn! 中秋節快樂!

It really is a sign of fall when the Mid-Autumn Festival comes around. In Vancouver the leaves on some of the trees have begun changing colour to yellow, orange or red, and chestnut trees have released their prickly green round cases that break open and reveal the dark brown hard seed on the ground.

Tonight the moon is particularly full and after dinner around 8.30pm we snapped a picture of it as it began to rise in the sky.

After that we ate some slices of mooncakes. We got boxes of mooncakes this year from The Boss Bakery & Restaurant in Chinatown, where they make traditional ones with two salted egg yolks that are pretty darn good.

We also scored the famous Peninsula Hotel's egg custard mooncakes. They are not as heavy, and have a slight coconut taste.

My favourite is still the ones from the Kowloon Shangri-La, with red bean paste mixed with 25-year-old mandarin peel. The combination is so well balanced!

HK's Umbrella Movement 9 Years Ago

Police fired 87 teargas canisters on September 28, 2014

Has it been nine years since the start of the Umbrella Movement?

It seems like a lifetime ago, but it was a seminal moment in Hong Kong's recent history.

Before September 28, 2014, several young people occupied Civic Square at Tamar Government headquarters and they in turn were surrounded by the police.

The occupation of Admiralty lasted 79 days

On that day, hundreds of people descended on Admiralty armed with umbrellas, some wore goggles and shouted at the police to release them. They demanded that they 开门. or "open the gates" but to no avail.

My friend YTSL had just returned from a trip to Japan when she joined in, but was feeling hungry. Seeing as nothing was happening, we went to the nearby shopping mall Pacific Place to have a bite at Dan Ryan's.

While we were eating I happened to check Twitter and the police had shot teargas at the people, around 6pm!

We rushed back to Admiralty Centre and the Umbrella Movement had begun -- people were walking around on what is usually a busy freeway, and traffic had come to a stand still. It was absolutely surreal.

At the time I had to go to Kowloon side for dinner with relatives and watching the TV we were shocked to see the police had fired more teargas -- 87 canisters in total.

This only enraged more people to come out to Admiralty that evening and so on for 79 days and spread to Causeway Bay, Wan Chai and Mongkok.

People of all ages hanging out particularly in Admiralty fostered a sense of community on a large scale; people handed out water bottles, picked up garbage, helped students study, created crafts and art work. 

It inspired artwork and a sense of community

They wrote their hopes for Hong Kong on coloured sticky notes and wore yellow ribbons. 

Then Chief Executive Leung Chun-ying had contempt for student leaders Joshua Wong Chi-fung, Alex Chow Yong-kang, Lester Shum Ngo-fai and Nathan Law Kwun-chung. Most memorable was the televised debate between the young people and the government officials, with the former easily winning in the court of public opinion. 

Leung would deal with academic Benny Tai Yiu-ting, Chan Kin-man, and Chu Yiu-ming later. Tai's grand plan didn't exactly work -- he had to move up his "Occupy Central" idea up a few days and quickly got lost in the shuffle. The media focused on Joshua Wong and he and his colleagues took the reins of the movement.

Nine years later things have completely changed, almost all these people are behind bars or have been convicted for their part, the pro-democratic camp decimated and the Legislative Council only having seats for patriots.

Tens of thousands of people have left Hong Kong and the city is struggling economically and socially.

Meanwhile the Hong Kong diaspora is trying to recreate that community feeling again in their new homes in different ways. It will take time to see if they have succeeded or not. 

Night Market Stalls Due to Power Supply

Struggling "night vibes" in Wan Chai from power issues

"Night Vibes Hong Kong" has kicked off in a bid to get more people out in the evenings and spending their hard-earned money, but so far it's been a struggle for vendors thanks to not enough power supply.

There are some 90 vendors, 44 of which are selling food and drinks along the Wan Chai Promenade, but on the first day there were issues with the unstable electricity supply. As a result vendors had trouble heating up food or taking electronic payments.

The night market meant to evoke dai pai dongs

One was Singaporean skewer shop Satay Pop. "They told us it would be fixed at 3pm, then it was 6pm, and now, it's still nothing," said owner Anson Lau.

Another was Christopher Prezemyski, owner of Bistro Concepts, which has several eateries in Sai Ying Pun, and at Wan Chai he was selling lobster rolls, sushi, tacos and pulled pork sliders with alcoholic drinks.

"The only issue is, I still don't have power, which is actually a little disappointing. We only have basic power for the fridge, but for our hot foods, it's still not working."

He was unable to reheat or steam some of his food offerings as he had prepared to cook with electricity, though the government had allowed vendors to cook with an open fire, in a bid to evoke a dai pai dong atmosphere...

It seems like the Hong Kong government hadn't thought out the logistics of having 90 vendors and the amount of power needed in an area that only has a few spotlights along the harbourfront. 

Government officials hope this helps revive HK

To add insult to injury, vendors were shocked when they were told not to run their businesses on the evening of October 1 when a National Day fireworks display will finally be put on after a five-year absence.

On that day the open-air market will be open from 10am to 4pm and then the vendors will have to close for crowd control measures.

They said the move was "ridiculous". One vendor said it was ironic that the night market was to entice people to come out, and that the market and the fireworks complemented each other.

With the night market closed that night, vendors would be forced to watch the fireworks as people walked past their "closed" stalls.

It's quite amazing that Hongkongers are willing to take a chance on setting up stalls like this and encountering so many issues. Is it because they are desperate to make a buck or they see the potential in a government-run initiative?

1,000 Days in Solitary Confinement

Lai's son Sebastien has been traveling around to rally support

One thousand days in jail. Most of us have no idea what that is like, but that is how long Apple Daily founder Jimmy Lai Chee-ying has been behind bars. 

He was supposed to go on trial earlier this week for his alleged offences against national security and sedition, but it has been now further postponed to December 18. This original trial was supposed to start December 1, 2022, then to December 13 of the same year, then to September this year and now December.

By that point he will have been in solitary confinement for three years before the trial has even begun.

Lai has been in jail since December 2022

Meanwhile his son Sebastien has been touring around trying to drum up support. He has pleaded in Britain for government officials to take up Lai's case as he is a British citizen, but to no avail; they have rebuffed his requests for meetings.

Sebastien Lai has attended various journalism conferences in Europe talking about his father and the need to defend freedom of the press. For this he has received sympathetic ears from editors and journalists, but not many understand the complex situation in Hong Kong and the changes that have happened there.

At 28-years-old, Sebastien Lai is doing his best to publicise his father's case, but has now raised fears of his father's health.

"I don't want to see my father die in jail. He's 75, he's in prison, he does risk just dying. It is very worrying," he said.

Lai's son has seen pictures of his father taken by an Associated Press photographer, when the Hong Kong businessman was led out by guards to have his daily exercise in the maximum-security prison.

Sebastien worried about his father's health

"Some part of me was happy because he's still the same... [but] it also reminded me of his age," Sebastien Lai said. "You never know what's going to happen tomorrow at that age."

However, his father is known to have a strong sense of conviction and belief in God. 

One only wonders how he manages to pass the time and retain his sanity...

Review: Archer in Vancouver

Archer's interior is sleek, minimalist and inviting

A friend visiting from Hong Kong wanted to try Archer, a restaurant that opened a year ago in downtown Vancouver, so we tried it out last week.

I didn't know much about this place except that its menu features ingredients from the Pacific Northwest.

We arrived on time and entered the long narrow space with high ceilings that immediately felt open, welcoming and airy. There are long wooden planks that curve around the ceiling, while mossy green banquette seating finished with polished wood are inviting. 

Lovely plump scallops that were flavourful

While the white walls were a bit bare, we still enjoyed soaking in the interior, and could just see the heating lamps in the kitchen upstairs that probably had a chef's table next to it.

So far, so good.

We each ordered a non alcoholic drink -- lychee iced tea for her, and strawberry lemonade tea spritzer for me (CAD$10 each). Mine was very refreshing, hers had a strong hint of jasmine tea.

For starters we tried the roasted scallops ($29), a creative concoction where they were just fully cooked and complemented with verjus bacon vinaigrette and puffed wild rice for some crunchy texture.

The uni and lardo ($38) is expensive, and looks impressive. Giant pieces of the sea urchin are placed on top of a brioche mini square loaf with thinly sliced ribbons of lardo. Unfortunately the lardo hadn't had time to get to room temperature so it was an ordeal to bite into, let alone slice in half to share. Also disappointing was the uni -- it had none of the sweetness, only bland, barely enhancing the flavour of the brioche. 

Most enjoyed the pea risotto with sunflower seeds

Wet towels should be served with this dish for diners to clean their hands after. Or were we supposed to eat it with a fork and knife?

After an intermission came the mains. We really enjoyed the pea risotto ($36), which had a wonderful crunchy texture from the sunflower seed gremolata, asparagus and the parmesan tuile. 

But what was with the "cheeky Berkshire" ($48)? As my friend put it -- the dish's plating looked like it has been done by a culinary student, not an experienced chef. Grapes ringed the dish, along with unevenly cut turnips, and a fillet of pork jowl sliced up as if for a child. It tasted like a really expensive and pounded piece of char siu. 

Presentation of pork jowl looked very amateur

Nevertheless we hoped for a good sweet finish with dessert and ordered both options on the menu ($15 each). We knew the mille feuille was not promising as soon as we sliced it, and it didn't succumb to the knife by spurting flakes everywhere. Sadly it tasted like stale crackers and we couldn't finish it. Even the scoop of black sesame ice cream looked like it had been sitting there for a while.

The lychee rose was no better. Inside the big white blob shaped like a rose was one lychee. One. The rest was cream that had a faint taste of lychee juice from the can. It was not mousse as promised, but cream decorated with not Okanagan cherries, but one and a half raspberries.

When one of the waiters took this plate away, he did it so mindlessly that the sprinkles of crumbs from the mousse dessert fell not only on the table, but also the chair -- his colleague immediately saw the disaster and quickly wiped it off the table and chair, apologising for the mess.

The lychee mousse had one lychee in it

In the end we paid over $250 (the mille feuille taken off our bill), including tips. While the scallops and pea risotto were the shining stars, they weren't enough to save the rest of the meal. Even after a year a restaurant can't get it right... It's tough to be successful in the restaurant business, but at least the interior is a winner?

Archer

1152 Alberni Street

Vancouver, BC

778 737 6218

Word of the Day: Special Forces Travel

People like to buy a coffee and sit outside by the waterfront

The new buzzword among young Chinese mainlanders is 特种兵式旅游 or "special forces travel" -- visiting as many destinations as possible in a short period of time while spending the least amount of money.

They look to the app Xiaohongshu to help them plan their itinerary, and Hong Kong is one of their destinations.

Taking photos on the "special forces travel" list

Instead of lining up at luxury brand stores to buy the latest handbag or shoes, they are on a budget and visiting Hong Kong's various districts, though one in particular is really popular -- Kennedy Town, where I used to live.

They are descending on the waterfront, where a certain coffee shop known by its "%" sign -- Arabica -- is a super hot spot for "special forces travel".

The place was already very popular with locals who would come here on the weekends and pose with their lattes and iced coffees, and now it seems their mainland counterparts are doing the same, except in exponential numbers.

In Xiaohongshu, Kennedy Town is described as "the most romantic neighbourhood" in the city, perhaps with the waterfront scenery paired with eclectic stores and cafes, made popular by Arabica and Slowood, an eco-friendly shop that invites customers to buy food in bulk.

It's easy to get to too via tram, MTR and bus.

Slowood is an eco-friendly shop drawing visitors

Some believe young mainlanders traveling on budget is a sign that China's economic recovery hasn't come to fruition as hoped, and the property sector seems to be teetering to the brink with Evergrande Group and Country Garden having deep financial problems.

Other say post-pandemic they want to go out and experience life outside as much as possible to make up for lost time.

While it's good that money will be going to local businesses instead of multinational conglomerates, visitors should be careful while taking pictures at Kennedy Town's waterfront! There's a lot of traffic there that doesn't stop!

Tragedies Highlight Underprivileged Need More Help

The bodies of two brothers were found at Sau Mau Ping Estate

Underprivileged people in Hong Kong are falling through the cracks, a problem that has persisted for decades, but now has become more acute.

The latest is the death of two middle-aged brothers who apparently starved to death because they depended on their mother's care, but she had gone to hospital.

The siblings, 53 and 55 years old were intellectually challenged and were more dependent on their elderly mother in recent years but she had gone to hospital in May this year.

The brothers apparently died of starvation

The brothers' decomposing bodies were found in the flat at Sau Mau Ping Estate in Kowloon after officers came to investigate a strong odour.

Apparently the younger brother of the pair tried to visit the flat on June 8, but they did not let him in, and he tried to contact them by phone but they did not answer.

What more could have been done? Why didn't the mother say something to someone about her sons needing help? Or the younger son call the Social Welfare Department for help in helping his brothers? 

It is believed that the family did not reach out to any organisations or the government for assistance.

The department has now commissioned a 24-hour hotline to provide help on the phone and direct callers to organisations according to their needs. 

The hotline won't be ready until the end of the year, and professor Hector Tsang Wing-hong of Polytechnic University who suggested this along with other recommendations says these initiatives should be speeded up.

Tsang of Polytechnic University

"The department should learn a lesson... the Social Welfare Department needs to speed up the pace," he said. "It is a very unfortunately event that happened in the transitional period."

Tsang said the tragedy underscored that underprivileged elderly carers had little knowledge about accessing existing social services.

This is one of several tragic incidents that have happened in the last few months:

In June, firefighters found a severely dehydrated and weak 75-year-old woman bedridden with lymphoma in a flat in Happy Valley. That's because her younger brother and carer, who was 71, was found dead in the bathroom.

On May 15, a skeleton of a 69-year-old man was found in a public rental flat in Sha Tin after Housing Authority employees visited. The man apparently lived alone and there was no sign of a break-in.

A day earlier, a 59-year-old woman and her 86-year-old father were found dead in their home at Mei Foo Sun Chuen in Lai Chi Kok after a family member called for help after no one answered the door on a Mother's Day visit.

Civil society is fast disappearing in Hong Kong as many social organisations have been forced to close following the implementation of the national security law; sadly there will be more of these tragic incidents to come.

Fact of the Day: HK's Pathetic Tree Recycling Rate

A man inspects a tree felled by the typhoon

Hong Kong is still cleaning up after Super Typhoon Saola, with 1,800 tonnes of tree waste. Most of it comprises of leaves and branches. But get this -- the city has only one wood recycler and it only takes logs. 

As a result only 15 percent of the tree waste is recycled into wood products, like boards, beams, chips and sawdust.

People make their way through tree debris

The rest goes into the landfill.

Green groups are criticising the recycler, Y Park for not taking more of the wood waste and saying it should be broken down for composting to be used in future parks or maintaining current ones.

Also shocking is that Y Park was only set up in 2021 to "rachet up the scale of yard waste recycling and diversify the types of recyclable products," according to its website.

But it was because of what happened after Super Typhoon Mangkhut in 2018 that green groups complained the government dumped 20,480 tonnes of tree waste into landfills without first seeing if it could be recycled.

Using government figures from the past 10 years, green group Friends of the Earth says less than 3 percent of the city's yard waste had been recycled -- around 2,000 tonnes out of 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes per year.

Friends of the Earth board governor Caroline Law says Y Park only accepts logs, while other garden waste, such as grass, leaves and branches must be sent to landfills. 

Vast majority of tree waste ended up in landfills

As a result, "there's no incentive for them to change that," she says.

In addition, Y Park's website claims it handled 30 tonnes in its first year of operation, and would gradually increase to 60 tonnes, but there is no update on how much it processes currently...

Sounds like there is more box ticking than earnestly trying to cut down the amount of waste going into landfills. Tree and garden waste can easily be composted and given to farmers to use as fertiliser to help grow crops. Or maybe that hadn't been considered before?

Fine Dining Struggles in Hong Kong

Ecriture's minimalist style with maximalist views of the city

The big news the other day was hearing that two Michelin-star restaurant Ecriture in Hong Kong's Central district suddenly shuttered. Executive chef Maxime Gilbert posted the news on Instagram.

"Yes. It is a bit of a shock. I am still shocked," he told a Hong Kong newspaper, but did not elaborate further.

Executive chef Gilbert is shocked at the closure

The restaurant group Le Comptoir that is behind Ecriture didn't reply to reporters' inquiries.

However, there were rumours in the industry that the restaurant hadn't paid its staff for months, and that Le Comptoir hadn't paid rent for a year -- sounds extreme, as any landlord would have locked them out months earlier if that happened.

One would imagine suppliers haven't been paid in full either.

This comes as other restaurants like Haku, that had finally moved from Harbour City to IFC with a stunning view has also closed, along with Rosita, a joint venture by chefs Ricardo Chaneton and Agustin Balbi.

Fine dining restaurants are having sluggish business these days, with expat bankers leaving Hong Kong, and mainlanders preferring to eat fishball noodles than foie gras.

Ecriture was best known for its indulgent caviar tart -- a large tart covered with uni and topped with caviar and gold leaf. It was dripping with decadence and every other table had an order of it when this tart was unveiled.

Ecriture's infamous and decadent caviar tart

Gilbert's other stunning dish was line-caught turbot that was wrapped in chunks in seaweed and then poached in dashi. 

He just finished a promotion at Amber in the Landmark Mandarin, where chef Richard Ekkebus invited back several alumnae chefs to come back and cook.

It's yet another bid to entice diners back to Amber -- for a short period of time.

And then what?

It's a tough call -- chefs want to do fine dining and chase Michelin stars, but at the moment people are watching their wallets and just want to eat cheaply.

During the pandemic, there was literally a captive audience. But now that restrictions are lifted, people are dying to travel and going back to their old ways again. However, no one's coming to Hong Kong...

Picture of the Day: No More Blackberries

The excavator is busy clearing the land along Imperial trail

At Pacific Spirit Park in Vancouver, there are several wild blackberry bushes along the trails that have a lot of sun in the summer.

The blackberries come out in late July, August and September. The ripe ones are easy to spot with their dark colour, but if they aren't easy to pick, then they aren't ready -- they are very sour!

Along Imperial trail, there's are many wild blackberry bushes, but not many now. An area has been fenced off with an excavator there pulling up the thorny bushes and clearing the area.

A sign from the city says: "In this area, invasive Himalayan blackberry is being removed and native species are being planted to improve forest conditions and increase biodiversity. Healthy ecosystems are more resilient to the negative effects of climate change, such as insect infestation and drought."

So no more blackberries... it was fun to forage while it lasted...

Hong Kong No Longer World's Freest Economy

The mighty has fallen -- HK loses its freest economy title

Hong Kong is no longer the city with the freest economy of 165 in the world -- it is now Singapore. 

That's according to the Fraser Institute, a public policy research organisation based in Vancouver. It had ranked Hong Kong as the freest economy "since the first time comprehensive data became available in 1970", but now it has been demoted.

Singapore gains top spot in institute's ranking

The Fraser Institute cites China and its interference in the city's affairs as the reason for Hong Kong's second spot, though the government denies this.

It went on the defensive, rejecting several of the institute's conclusions, and insisted it had been "fully, faithfully and resolutely implementing the principles of the 'one country, two systems'," with "Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong" and a high level of autonomy based on the Basic Law.

But the institute warned the city's ranking could deteriorate even more.

"This is the first year Hong Kong has not ranked number one on the index since its inception, and the expectation is that its score will only fall further as the Chinese Communist Party continues to suppress freedom of all sorts," said Fred McMahon, the holder of a research chair in economic freedom and a resident fellow with the Fraser Institute.

The report examined regulation, openness to international trade, the size of government, the legal system, and property rights of the 165 places.

Implementation of NSL caused HK ranking drop

Other criteria the institute looked at were new regulatory barriers to entry, limits on the employment of foreign labour and rising business costs as reasons to lower the scores for Hong Kong in its regulatory freedom component.

The survey also claimed the city allowed "increased military interference" in its rule of law and diminished confidence in its courts and judicial system, which had caused a decline in its legal system and erosion of property rights.

However, a government spokesman says the think tank's judgment of the regulatory environment are "factually wrong", and that Hong Kong continued to strive as an international financial hub.

He also said the city's judicial system was robust, as it is enshrined in the Basic Law. 

"Equality before the law is a fundamental principle observed in Hong Kong. The allegation against the independence and impartiality of our judiciary is totally groundless and unsupported by objective evidence," he insisted.

Survey says HK's legal system has declined

The spokesman also said the institute was biased in its opinion about the implementation of the national security law...

In case you were wondering, Switzerland ranked third, followed by New Zealand, and the United States in fifth place. Venezuela was in last place.

Beijing Demands More Info of Locals Working in Consulates

Beijing asks for more information from consulates in Hong Kong

Beijing is stepping up its reach in Hong Kong, this time asking for detailed information of all local staff who work in consulates in the city.

They must provide names, job titles, residential addresses, ID or passport numbers, as well as a copy of all identification documents. The consulates, including the office of the European Union have until October 18 to provide all this information, and if a new employee is hired, they have 15 days to prepare the paperwork for Beijing.

The US consulate in Central

According to the Basic Law, Beijing is responsible for Hong Kong's foreign affairs, which explains the ability to request this information.

Twice last year, the Commissioner's Office had another curious request -- asking consulates about the properties they used in the city -- including the floor plans, according to the Financial Times.

In addition in July, Beijing warned that consular staff could not visit detainees who had dual citizenship, while in 2018, China asked consulates general in Hong Kong and Macau that were based in Hong Kong not to use "Macau" in their names and vice-versa. And if they were setting up election ballot boxes for their expatriate citizens, the consulates had to make a "formal note of application" beforehand.

Ironically, last July Liu Guangyuan, Beijing's deputy director of the liaison office in Hong Kong, urged consulates to "present the vibrant and promising Hong Kong to the world in a more objective way."

Liu asked consulates to present a vibrant HK

Hard to do when you're asked to jump through numerous bureaucratic hoops that seem more for surveillance than for building good will...

Misunderstanding Muslim Domestic Helpers

Many Muslim domestic helpers are misunderstood in HK

It was Christmas Eve, in the mid 1990s when I lived with my uncle and aunt in Hong Kong. They had a Filipina domestic helper who cooked, cleaned and looked after their two young children.

The helper had made some mistakes that day and my aunt was not pleased and wanted her to work longer as punishment, but my uncle intervened.

He said Christmas Eve was a very important time for Catholics like her and so they should let her go early to go to church for mass.

Employers assume helpers must obey demands

I don't know why I remember this, but it made me realise how important it was to be compassionate and understanding of others.

And now decades later after Hong Kong has brought in Muslim domestic helpers from Indonesia and yet some employers still do not understand or appreciate their employee's religious background.

Last week a Muslim domestic helper filed a HK$255,000 discrimination lawsuit against her former employers for requiring her to stop praying and wearing the jilbab, a full-length garment, if she wanted to keep her job.

According to the Quran, devout Muslims must pray five times a day, at dawn, noon, afternoon, sunset, and evening.

Apparently these kinds of disputes are common, and unions and employer representatives are calling for more dialogue between the two parties to reach a mutual understanding before signing the contract.

Nevertheless, despite discussions beforehand, domestic helpers feel like they are in a weaker position and feel obligated to obey their employers' demands.

"[They will think:] 'I hired you because I need to you work,' and that praying five times a day, especially for Muslims, is a lot," said Sringatin, chairwoman of the Indonesian Migrant Workers' Union.

She said many domestic helpers stopped praying or wearing religious garments to keep their employment records clean for future jobs.

Domestic helpers only have Sundays off

Some tried to work around their employer, such as praying when they are not at home, and only wear the hijab or headscarf when they went outside on their days off or for daily tasks.

Thomas Chan Tung-fung, chairman of the Hong Kong Union of Employment Agencies says the recent lawsuit suggests a lack of communication before the helper was hired.

"Many employers mistakenly think their homes are their private premises and have complete control over the area, but they forget their homes are also their helpers' workplaces," he said.

This just reveals how ignorant Hongkongers are when it comes to other people's religions and their lack of tolerance or respect of others. Their belief in being superior to Southeast Asians perpetuates to this day which shows Hongkongers' insecurity and inability to accept others.

It will be interesting to see how the lawsuit is processed through the courts.

Stay tuned.

Jelly Legs from Pilates

Pilates reformer machines help isolate muscles to work on

This morning I went to my first pilates class using a reformer machine. 

These machines were created by Joseph Pilates in an internment camp in World War I. He created it by attaching springs to the bed to help bed-bound patients to do resistance exercises without having to stand up.

The instructor for my class was a young Asian guy, who it later turns out is a dancer. He turned on the music to easy-going jazz, which made me realise the class was not going to be like aerobics classes where we had to move to the beat.

Instead the music put us in a relaxed mood and we were not expected to do a certain number of reps or sets; he just let us repeat the movements, and the key was to do it properly.

When lying in the reformer, your shoulders and neck are kind of boxed in (comfortably), while your arms and legs do the work (separately or together). That way it forces you to isolate your muscles and work on them in a controlled way.

The reformer is also attached to springs to move forward and backward, and these can be adjusted to be harder or easier to move. At first we worked on our leg muscles and at times my legs were shaking from using different muscles or in such a repetitive way. It's all good!

Eventually we graduated to arms moving in circles and it felt good and tiring! When we finally moved to stretching, one of the women shouted hurray! Again I was stretching in different ways which was really interesting.

When we did new exercises, I had to look over to my classmates who had taken these classes before, or the instructor would come by and give me directions on what to do. He seemed impressed I was quite flexible!

Needless to say I had worked up a sweat and my legs were like jelly afterwards! 

Hong Kong's Late Night Bang for Your Buck

Lots of smiley-face fireworks on October 1 this year

Post-Covid there's revenge traveling, revenge shopping and in Hong Kong, revenge fireworks.

It has been yonks since the city has had fireworks. They were cancelled in October 2019 because of the protests and then the Covid-19 pandemic happened soon after.

So the upcoming National Day holiday fireworks are going to be nothing short of a blast. 

Tai Hang Fire Dragon returns in late September

The 23-minute display will be fired off from an unprecedented nine Victoria Harbour launch points (three barges and six pontoons), and will cost HK$18 million (US$2.3 million). 

The fireworks show is part of the Hong Kong government's bid to revitalise the city's nightlife, with various activities and events to encourage people to go out in the evenings.

They include having museums like the Hong Kong Museum of Art, Hong Kong Science Museum and Hong Kong Space Museum open until 10pm; the Tai Hang Fire Dragon Dance for three days around the Mid-Autumn Festival; Lunar New Year fairs open until the early hours; shopping vouchers that can only be used in the evenings; and night bazaars held in the promenades at Wan Chai, Kennedy Town and Kwun Tong.

Even attractions like Ocean Park and Disneyland need to stay open later, free admission to the Happy Valley Racecourse on Wednesday nights, and late night movie tickets. Oh and to help you get around, you can have a free ride for every five rides taken after 10.30pm, and free parking in some shopping malls.

Hong Kong Museum of Art to open late

While we appreciate the effort to create things to do, looking at the offerings they are piecemeal and pretty pathetic. Who wants to go to the Museum of Art at 9pm? Wouldn't you rather go to M+? And the night bazaars don't sound appealing... what are they going to be selling? 

The effort to promote nightlife in Hong Kong may backfire, as overcrowding may discourage people from gathering... or I maybe totally proven wrong! 

Short-Term Rental License Fees to Jump almost Tenfold

Many homes and condos in Vancouver are used for Airbnbs

Vancouver City Hall is trying to avoid raising property taxes by finding other areas to get revenue. Starting next year, taking an Uber or renewing a dog license will go up, but the biggest increase will be short-term rental license fees, in other words homeowners who run Airbnbs.

The current price of the business license for short-term rentals is CAD$109 and it will surge to CAD$1,000 in 2024.

City staff had recommended increasing the fee to CAD$450, but ABC city councillor Lenny Zhou proposed the massive jump in short-term rental license fees -- that was passed in a vote -- in a bid to turn these living units into long-term rentals to ease the housing crisis.

Zhou proposed fees jump to CAD$1,000

Many suites and homes have been used for Airbnb, which in many cases is more lucrative than renting them out, and in Vancouver it is actually illegal.

One home on the westside I've seen has around five rooms that are used for Airbnb, most of them sharing bathrooms, with strict rules for guests to be quiet in the evenings and to use a passcode to get in.

In other cases neighbours of homes or condos that have Airbnbs have complained about parties or strangers coming in and out of the place.

As a result Zhou is hoping the CAD$1,000 license fee will deter people from making extra money from Airbnbs.

Patrick Baldwin has been an Airbnb host for five years and says the new fee will affect his family's ability to live in Vancouver, as the income he makes from Airbnb makes his mortgage affordable.

"In a city where home ownership is nearly impossible for young families, we have been able to make that work, but these new changes are going to make it even harder for people like us to achieve or maintain home ownership," he wrote in an email to a local news outlet.

"It really does feel like a slap in the face."

These spaces should be rented out, not for Airbub

However, supporters of the fee point out that it wouldn't take long for hosts like Baldwin to make the CAD$1,000 back, and besides, it's the cost of doing business.

These supporters also suggest more should be done to crackdown on these illegal short-term rentals, as some 4,500 are listed online. 

But Sarah Hicks, Vancouver's chief license inspector, says the city's short-term rental enforcement team is comprised of just six enforcement clerks, one enforcement co-ordinator, and one dedicated property use inspector.

Hicks says they mostly do digital-based enforcement by reviewing online listings and respond to complaints filed online.

Sounds like they are severely short-staffed and if the municipal government wants to be serious about shutting down these Airbnbs, surely more people need to be employed in this department? Or do they want to make more money from handing out these licenses?

Nevertheless it's a positive step forward for the city to move in this direction and hopefully it will lead to more living spaces being rented out to locals or foreign students who desperately need a roof over their heads in the months and years to come.

10-Year-Old Involved in HK Robbery

Police investigate a robbery in a luxury watch shop in TST

Post-Covid, Hong Kong's economy has not bounced back as hoped, and some people are financially desperate. This has led to a rise in robberies, where teams of people run into a jewellery store and smash-and-grab whatever they can and then leave in seconds.

But yesterday's news was even more shocking -- a 10-year-old school boy was allegedly involved in one of the latest heists.

One suspect is a 10-year-old schoolboy (hooded)

He was arrested for allegedly taking part in a HK$3.7 million robbery (US$472,560), where he may have used a sledgehammer to smash display counters at a luxury watch store. He was allegedly paid HK$5,000 to take part in the smash-and-grab gang raid on a shop in Tsim Sha Tsui, where they took off with 20 luxury watches.

"The investigation revealed that he skipped school on that day and joined the gang to commit the robbery," a source familiar with the case said.

The boy even wore his school uniform, though he had a jacket or pullover on top.

Originally from Pakistan, he is quite tall and big for his age, at 1.7 metres tall and weighing 132 pounds (60kg). The boy came here in 2018 to join his parents. 

The police believe a 14-year-old was also involved in the robbery who allegedly carried a knife during the incident and grabbed some of the expensive watches.

The trio allegedly stole 20 luxury watches

It is believed the third person is a 19-year-old man who was found near Kowloon Peak in Sai Kung, and officers found a backpack with the stolen watches in the bushes nearby. The authorities said all the items had been recovered.

How shocking and sad that kids are involved in robberies. Not much is known about their backgrounds, but it could be various reasons from financial desperation to feelings of neglect or helplessness, or being led astray.

It will all be revealed later in court, and many will be following this case as the investigation progresses.

White Hot Anger Over Chinatown Stabbings

Eby "white hot angry" over the stabbings in Chinatown

The outrage over the triple stabbings on Sunday evening at the Light Up Chinatown event continue, with Premier David Eby expressing his anger that a mentally ill man who allegedly committed the attacks was given a day pass from a psychiatric hospital.

"I cannot fathom how someone who murdered his daughter was released in 2009, went out and stabbed somebody else, would then be released again, unaccompanied, somehow, be able to go out and buy a knife, go to Chinatown, and stab three people. How is that possible," he said Tuesday.

The Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam

Eby added he was "white hot angry" and called for an independent review on how Blair Evan Donnelly was able to get the day pass.

"We will ensure that an independent person looks into the specifics of this case, the decision-making process, how we arrived at this awful place, for Chinatown, for the community, for the people who were attacked. And we'll make sure there's nobody else that's on a day pass that's in a similar situation to ensure the community is safe," he said.

Donnelly allegedly attacked three people with a knife near the stage of the Light Up Chinatown event just before 6pm on Sunday. The couple in their 60s and a young woman in her 20s were sent to hospital and released later.

Not only did Donnelly kill his daughter in 2006, but was found not criminally responsible in 2008 due to mental disorder, he also stabbed a friend in 2009 while he was in a psychotic state. For this Donnelly was held criminally responsible.

There are now questions on why the Forensic Psychiatric Hospital in Coquitlam allowed Donnelly to have a day pass despite the previous violent acts he had committed.

Chinatown has held events to get people to come

Ironically this tragic incident has brought much more attention to Chinatown again, with the premier vowing to make it doesn't happen again.

However, reporters listening to Eby today were skeptical that he would make any substantial change for the better. Will he prove them wrong?

Stay tuned.