Review: Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones

A memoir about Kashmir and beyond

On Instagram there's an account called Brief But Spectacular, where a short video gives an opportunity for someone to talk about their life or life experience, and some are so profound, others informative or heartfelt.

One post featured Priyanka Mattoo, who talked about how she was born in Srinagar, Kashmir, and has vivid memories of growing up in the mountainous Himalayan area before a violent rebellion against India erupted in 1989.

Her family left for Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, which they thought would be temporary, but led to exile in London, then Michigan, and eventually Los Angeles.

Mattoo now lives in Los Angeles

Mattoo wrote a book called Bird Milk & Mosquito Bones and I was intrigued enough by her short video to borrow the memoir from the library.

The "chapters" are actually a series of essays that were published in the New York Times and The New Yorker mostly, and it would have been better to note this in the forward, and that while each essay was a part of her memoir, it was not in chronological order.

As a result, I was surprised to see the stories, times and places jumping around and it was hard to keep track. 

Nevertheless, she has fond memories of her grandparents, particularly her maternal grandfather, who instructed his daughters, nieces and Mattoo, his granddaughter to be strong-headed and independent. She also talks lovingly of her parents who adore each other, and how Mattoo hoped she too would find a nice Kashmiri boy and settle down like them.

Throughout the book Mattoo pines for Kashmir, while her parents have decided to make the best of each place they settle in. Is it because she felt her idyllic childhood was violently snatched from her? Or she is nostalgic at a young age?

Then as she grows up she is a bright student, but when it comes to university, she wants to please her parents and study law, and while she manages to complete her degree, it's not exactly what she wants to do. 

She ends up with another degree in Italian with a stint living in Rome. Eventually she wants to write and ends up in Hollywood, but the hustle is not fun. That said, she meets a nice Jewish boy at a networking event and ends up marrying him, both her career and love life turn out exactly not what she had envisioned when she was younger. But isn't that the case with most people?

It's her last chapter, Someone Else's Spiders that is the best essay summing up her reflections on her identity. Mattoo also talks about how ethnic groups are treated in Hollywood, reminding me of Christopher Cheung's Under the White Gaze, where in her case, she is frustrated that non-Indians come up with movie storylines, while her ideas of more compelling stories are rejected.

Mattoo's writing style is chatty and at times funny, particularly when it comes to her dating experiences, but it's her cultural explanations that are interesting to read.

However, we never do learn what bird milk and mosquito bones are about...

Labubu's Panda-monium Promotes Hong Kong

Yeoh posing with her special edition Labubu with twin pandas

Academy Award-winning actress Michelle Yeoh has become the latest Labubu fan after she was gifted a custom one holding two panda cubs that are celebrating their first birthday in Hong Kong.

Yeoh posted pictures of herself on Instagram holding the doll with a mischievous grin with a giant bucket of popcorn, another with British actress and singer Cynthia Erivo, and a shot with fellow Wicked actor Jeff Goldblum.

Jia Jia and De De were born in Hong Kong

"Celebrating Hong Kong born Panda Twins first birthday (and my birthday too) with Labubu in the Hollywood Bowl!!! Thank you @discoverhongkong for sending the greatest companions!" she wrote.

Yeoh is one of several celebrities who received the specially-designed Labubu doll as part of a collaboration between the Culture, Sports and Tourism Bureau and the toy's creator, Hong Kong-born Kasing Lung, to mark the twin pandas' first birthday and promote the city... of course.

The cubs, Jia Jia and De De, who were born on August 15, are the first pandas to be born in Hong Kong and this promotion is a way to prolong panda-monium a bit longer.

Seems like just about everyone has caught onto the Labubu craze, and the government is riding the wave with this special doll. 

Will it catch on with Labubu fans? The sales numbers will tell.

Jimmy O. Yang the Greatest Influencer for HK

Yang is enjoying the view and raking in the dough in HK

The Hong Kong Tourism Board pretty much hit the jackpot when it invited Chinese-American comedian and actor Jimmy O. Yang to come to the city to perform and see the sights.

People were madly scrambling for tickets to his five shows -- at the Hong Kong Coliseum in Hung Hom -- but the website kept crashing but somehow all the seats were snapped up.

Only Cantopop stars get to perform at the Coliseum, but Yang was the exception -- as he was invited by HKTB and by extension, the Hong Kong government.

He had five sold out shows in the Coliseum

While he was in his hometown, Yang visited the sights, like Man Mo Temple, and hung out in cha chaan tengs, ate stinky tofu on the street, showed viewers how to eat chicken feet, got a chop made in the lane in Sheung Wan, and even went to Chow Sang Sang's original Castle Peak Road store where he checked out their gold necklaces and apparently bought some bling bling.

"I spent my childhood in Hong Kong and have always felt the city's unique vibrancy. It's a place where tradition and innovation merge, allowing you to traverse between a century of culture and natural beauty in a single day. Every journey is full of surprises, revealing Hong Kong's diverse urban landscape," he said.

Sounds more like that's what the HKTB wrote his script.

Which makes us more curious about how much he was paid to perform and visit some requisite places to promote Hong Kong as a cool travel destination. From his video it looks like he stayed at The Peninsula...

Yang visited Man Mo Temple

With over 2.46 million fans following Yang on Instagram, the HKTB certainly got a lot of eyeballs on Hong Kong and it's a natural fit really. 

But since they figured it out, does he know he lost a lot of Hong Kong fans' respect after selling out?

The tourism board invited 650 KOLs or "key opinion leaders" in the first quarter of 2025, more than the total for all of last year. But that's not all. There will be another campaign called "Seeing is Believing", where Hong Kong will invite more than 100 international influencers in July and August.

Bringing in KOLs seems to be working. In the first four months of this year, Hong Kong welcomed 16 million international visitors, a 10 percent increase from the same period last year.

Helping Out a Friend in Need

The wildfires in Los Angeles are still not under control

The Los Angeles wildfires are still raging, with at least 27 people dead and damaged or destroyed over 12,000 structures and displacing over 100,000 residents.

My sister-in-law's family is safe, and another relative was offering their place as a respite for their friend who escaped the fires.

But this evening I found out someone I know has lost her home and only has her son and all her possessions in two carrier bags.

Gu tracked down Ngoy to make a documentary

I interviewed filmmaker Alice Gu in 2020 about her documentary, The Donut King, about the rise and fall of Cambodian refugee Ted Bun Tek Ngoy, who once owned 65 donut shops making him worth US$20 million.

However, once he visited Las Vegas for the first time, he soon became addicted to gambling...

Her film was outstanding, and was awarded Special Jury Recognition for Achievement in Documentary Storytelling at the SXSW Film Festival in Austin, Texas.

Over the years Gu, a Taiwanese-American, and I kept in touch briefly on social media.

This evening on Instagram I saw her friend posted a video, pleading for viewers to donate to a GoFundMe page for Gu. He explained she was a friend for over 26 years, but that she had lost everything in the LA wildfires.

I felt bad making only a small donation, but every bit helps. 

She thanked me for the contribution, and admitted she reluctantly agreed to the GoFundMe page, but that expenses had been adding up.

While it's understandable that it's hard to accept help, I have found over the years that it really does take a village to help; just relying on a friend or relative is not enough financially, emotionally, practically. And as humans we all want to help our community.

I hope people like Gu will eventually get back on their feet bit by bit. And we can all help them do that.

TikTok Influencers Migrate to Xiaohongshu

Xiaohongshu seeing a surge in "TikTok refugees"

TikTok influencers who use the video platform to make short videos in the hopes of going viral are terrified the US government will force the social media app to shut down due to fears that it gives the Chinese government access to users' data.

That's because these influencers make money from their videos, and for some, that's their full-time gig.

However as a result of the impending January 19 deadline, TikTokers or content creators on TikTok are calling themselves #tiktokrefugees and "fleeing" to... another Chinese platform called Xiaohongshu.

There are fears TikTok will shut down Jan 19

Little do these influencers know that Xiaohongshu -- originally translated as "Little Red Book" -- in a satirical nod to Chairman Mao Zedong's book of quotations, is a Chinese company promoted as "RedNote" or "Red" in North America these days.

Xiaohongshu is like Instagram, where users can post pictures and videos. Initially it was called "Hong Kong Shopping Guide" to give tips to Chinese visitors to the city of where to eat, stay, and take pictures. For example they would give detailed instructions on where to have their "Instagram-worthy" shot with say a cup of Arabica coffee along the waterfront in Kennedy Town.

It was great for the cafe having lots of customers, but terrible for traffic in the area, as people blocked roads to get the perfect shot.

Started by Miranda Qu and Charlwin Mao in 2013, Xiaohongshu caught the attention of several Chinese tech giants, like Alibaba and Tencent, and last July the app was worth a staggering US$17 billion. The users are predominantly women, and as a result many beauty and cosmetic brands advertise on the app. Xiaohongshu does not have an e-commerce aspect so users need to turn to Taobao or TMall to purchase things.

Chew is invited to the inauguration

But now with so many TikTok influencers, especially those from the US trying to set up accounts on Xiaohongshu, Chinese cyber regulators may not be so keen on the flood of people, particularly those not from or in China.

Already Chinese officials have told the company it "needs to ensure China-based users cannot see posts from US users", which signals the government may see the influx of Americans to RedNote as a political security threat.

What's interesting is that already there are unfiltered interactions between Chinese and US users, sharing homework questions for example, or asking what life is like in China and getting real depictions instead of rosy pictures from government sources.

So how will Xiaohongshu get around this? Create a special area only US users can access? That might be too hard to manage, and not really beneficial to US influencers who might be providing content to a limited audience.

Or this is all moot after Donald Trump gets into office on January 20. He has already shown support for TikTok, even inviting CEO Shou Zi Chew to the inauguration on Monday. Maybe those TikTok "refugees" won't have to flee the video platform after all...

Instagram Eats First

Instagrammers focused on getting cool shots at the bar preview

The other night I attended a media preview of a bar opening in the basement of the Rosewood Hotel Georgia in downtown Vancouver.

The bar is cryptically called Prophecy, opened by some guys at At Home Hospitality. When they got this space, they immediately decided they wanted it to be sophisticated like New York and Chicago, so they went there to do their research... as if it was a prophecy... get it?

Inside it's a bit on the dark side, but the space is classy, not pretentious, and comfortable. It's nice to know there's live music in the evenings too -- and in our case we were treated to some jazz.

Three of the people seated with me were Instagrammers. They brought a lot of equipment with them, in particular hand-held lights to ensure they took good pictures and videos of the cocktails and food. They spent a lot of time doing this, so a guy seated at our table and I had to patiently wait until they were done before we could sip our libations and tuck into the dishes (some good, some were disappointing like the wagyu sando where they scrimped on the wagyu).

But I am grateful we had to wait because that guy and I struck a fun conversation and he was pleased to meet another writer and talk about what stories we've written, what we like to read; I even encouraged him speak to his editor if he didn't like how she edited his pieces.

As I don't go to these press events often, it made me realise how tedious they can be with Instagrammers, as they aren't critical about anything and are more focused on getting cool shots just for likes from their followers...

Picture of the Day: Xiaohongshu Photo Shoots

Everyone taking pictures of the street sign in Kennedy Town

Walking around Hong Kong I saw a lot of young Chinese tourists, mostly women in their 20s, dressed up and carrying cameras or their phones mounted on selfie sticks, posing in front of specific streets and landmarks.

They were taking pictures where others on Xiaohongshu or "Little Red Book", a social media and e-commerce platform somewhat similar to Instagram, had posted. 

This was their idea of a Hong Kong holiday, or any trip for that matter -- posing in front of places like Bakehouse, a popular bakery with the coveted blue paper bag, or in front of Arabica coffee shop with the coffee cup that has a percentage sign at its Kennedy Town location.

There are other better places to take photos...

While some of these shops may have a bump in business thanks to these visitors snapping up coffees and pastries, I've heard some of these tourists find empty bags or drained coffee cups to use as props.

Can we say these places have been Xiaohongshu-ed?

Why replicate the same angle as everyone else? Or why not create your own memories of the place with other kinds of pictures?

But no, they seemed obsessed with recreating the same picture (different outfits), and patiently waited for others to finish shooting before they set up their own shot. 

Meanwhile they crowd the sidewalks making it hard for local residents trying to get from A to B.

How long will this trend last? Asking for a friend...

Remembering Coco Lee

Lee's sisters want fans to remember her "bright smile"

Fans are mourning the loss of singer Coco Lee, who died on Wednesday after she attempted suicide on Sunday and had been in a coma since then. She was 48 years old.

Her older sisters made the announcement on Instagram, saying in part:

"With great sadness, we are here [to] break the most devastating news: Coco had been suffering from depression for a few. years but her condition deteriorated drastically over the last few months," the sisters said.

She married Rockowitz in 2011 at the Ritz-Carlton

"Although Coco sought professional help and did her best to fight depression, sadly that demon inside of her took the better of her."

They added that this year marked the 30th anniversary of Lee's career, and that they would now focus on looking after their elderly mother.

The Instagram post did not mention Lee's husband, Bruce Rockowitz, with whom she tied the knot in 2011 in a mega star-studded wedding celebration at the Ritz-Carlton Hong Kong. There were rumours in 2019 that the marriage was on the rocks, and that she had tried to get pregnant through in vitro fertilisation but was unsuccessful.

Last October she had moved out of their home and into a serviced apartment in the Four Seasons Hong Kong. But on June 30 she was hospitalised briefly, then moved into her sister's home on the Peak, where she attempted suicide.

Lee was best known for singing A Love Before Time, from Ang Lee's 2000 movie, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. She was the first Chinese singer to perform the song at the Academy Awards the following year.

Throughout her three-decade career, Lee released 15 albums, and her single Do You Want My Love climbed to number four on the US Billboard charts in December 1999.

She also voiced the character Mulan in Disney's animated film in 1998 and sang the theme song, Reflection.

The last single she released in February was called Tragic. In her social media post at the end of 2022, Lee acknowledged she had an "incredibly difficult year", but encouraged her fans to spread positivity and "be an influential figure to inspire people."

It's devastating to discover how much pain she was in, and how she felt she had to keep it from people. But as her sisters say, she is now free from pain and depression, though she leaves behind a heartbroken family and legions of fans who admired her for years.

Lee's Popularity Starts on Low Point

Lee is tied for having the worst popularity rating as CE

Lucky for John Lee Ka-chiu that he was not voted in by the people. 

That's because the latest opinion polls have him ranked as one of the least popular Hong Kong leaders of all time.

Leung (above) and Lee both have 53.8 marks

In a Hong Kong Public Opinion Research Institute survey of 1,003 people between July 4-7, Lee had a popularity rating of 53.8 marks, while 12 percent of respondents gave him a rating of zero.

Guess that's what pulled his rating down?

He actually tied with Leung Chun-ying, who was chief executive from 2012 to 2017.

Carrie Lam Cheng Yuet-ngor was rated at 63.6 marks, but at the end of her term her popularity plunged to 36 marks.

Ouch.

Interestingly the polling had 45 percent of respondents who were confident in Lee, compared to 39 percent who had "no confidence".

Lam's popularity fell to 36 marks by end of June

The research institute pointed out in an Instagram post that with previous chief executives, "Pori had already conducted relevant popularity surveys. However, there was only one candidate in this year's election, and there was no extensive interaction between citizens and the candidate before he took office, Pori hence did not conduct any popularity surveys on the Chief-Executive-Elect. It was a loss in the field of public opinion research."

Indeed, not that Lee would have backed out of the one-man race if he knew his popularity ratings would be so low... 

Picture of the Day: Oatmeal Cookies

These oatmeal cookies are vegan and only use four ingredients

One thing I couldn't do in Hong Kong was baking so now it's nice to have access to a large oven and make something from scratch.

Scrolling through Instagram I'm seeing more short cooking videos and they post the recipe too. 

The one I saw the other day was for oatmeal cookies -- using just four ingredients: oatmeal, chocolate chips, peanut butter and bananas.

After buying a bag of chocolate chips, I tried out this recipe.

Just before putting the cookie dough into oven

It's simple enough -- mashing up two bananas (the more ripe the better), and adding a quarter-cup of peanut butter, a quarter-cup of dark chocolate chips, and one and a half cups of oatmeal.

After I mixed them thoroughly together, I scooped the dough onto the baking sheet, making 12 cookies. I flattened them a bit and then baked them for 15 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius.

When my timer went off, the cookies seemed very soft and baked them for another five minutes, but they hadn't changed much in terms of firmness and turned off the heat and left them there.

They were still soft, but they were already golden brown so they should be done.

Nevertheless they taste delicious. You can taste all the ingredients, and not one overpowers the other.