Hong Kong Taxis Finally Take E-Payments

Seems like every payment option is covered in this cab

Hong Kong taxi drivers have finally been pulled kicking and screaming into the hi-tech age, now that they must offer at least two electronic payment options to customers.

While the Transport Department rule was supposed to be in effect April 1, in reality not all 47,000 cabbies were on board... yet.

There were reports some drivers had yet to even install e-payments in their taxis, while others were able to take Octopus, credit cards, or Alipay or WeChat pay via QR codes.

The maximum fine for not installing at least two e-payment systems is HK$5,000 (US$637). 

It is anticipated that most taxi drivers will not have the credit card option, as the machine costs HK$1,000 and credit card companies will take a percentage of the fare.

While it's high time taxi drivers give alternative ways for customers to pay other than cash, there is the issue of adding gas to the tank and renting the taxi. 

"I just received a payment by credit card. It worked fine, you just tap it, like tapping a card, and it's done," said taxi driver Chiu Sing-ki, in his sixties. 

"But when we refuel, we have to pay cash. When I hand in the rented car at the end of my shift to the owner, I also have to pay cash. So where does my cash come from if we are receiving these e-payments all the time?"

He has a point. Did the Transport Department think about that???

Review: Tambuah Mas Indonesian Cuisine

This restaurant has been around since 1981

In Singapore a family friend took me to eat Indonesian food, something I haven't eaten in a very long time. She took me to a restaurant called Tambuah Mas in the basement of Paragon shopping mall on Orchard Road.

Whole deep-fried fish with its skeleton

It has been operating since 1981 in various locations, serving Indonesian cuisine particularly from Padang, Sulawesi and Java. 

We arrived a bit early as it opens at 11am but they let us sit at a table and peruse through the menu first, though we had to order by scanning a QR code.

The food arrived soon after which was quite impressive, though the results were mixed. One of the restaurant's signature dishes is ikan nila, a whole fish where the meat is filleted with the bone attached and deep-fried for a kind of Halloween skeletal presentation. 

Crispy baby squid with spicy sauce

A fresh water fish was used and this one had a distinctive smell and taste that wasn't off, but wasn't very appealing. Perhaps the fish was frozen? The fish meat was quite tough too, unfortunately, and we were not able to finish it.

Cumi-cumi goreng is a dish of delightfully tiny, crispy baby squid topped with a spicy-sweet sauce. These were crunchy and slightly spicy hot and very addictive, though for two of us the portion was quite large.

I really enjoyed sop buntut makassar, a bowl of spicy ox-tail soup, where the meat has been simmering for a long time and once we used our spoon to touch the ox tail, the meat fell off very easily. The soup was so flavourful that eating it evoked the soothing feeling of comfort food. This hearty soup with some rice -- which we had -- made it an ideal combination.

Comforting and flavourful ox-tail soup

Finally to balance the dishes, we had some vegetables in the form of stir-fried okra or lady's fingers with onion, practically the only non spicy plate on the table! 

To cool off from our spicy meal we ordered cendol, or shaved ice with coconut milk, green bean jelly, jackfruit and young coconut milk. So refreshing and delicious!

We walked off a fraction of our calories by wandering around the shopping centre's bakery stalls where they sold tempting items like nutella rye brownies, cranberry cream cheese fold (with numerous thin pastry layers), circular croissants with various toppings, and traditional desserts like lapis sagu, kueh telur, and pandan chiffon cake.

Cendol with jackfruit and green bean jelly

If only our metabolism was kickstarted into high gear...!

Tambuah Mas

Paragon 

#B1-44

+65 6733 2220

Hong Kong, China Still Hanging Onto Zero-Covid

Use of the Leave Home Safe app may not last much longer

Hong Kong may soon take another step forward to becoming "normal" when it ends the use of the Leave Home Safe app, which contained the user's vaccination record as well as every place they went to provided they scanned QR codes at each location.

The announcement was made by Undersecretary for Health Libby Lee Ha-yun on Friday, a day after the government announced infected residents and close contacts would be quarantined for five days instead of seven.

"Hong Kong is on the path to normality. We don't want to roll back measures. Residents will not need to use the 'Leave Home Safe' app and vaccine pass eventually. It is just a matter of time."

Lee admits the app isn't used to track infections

She even admitted the government rarely used the app to track contacts of Covid-19 patients as infections surged. But Lee also stressed social-distancing measures could not be relaxed yet with the increased number of infected cases.

However, her superior, Secretary for Health Lo Chung-mau said the app would not be cancelled anytime soon even though Beijing began easing restrictions, including not needing a negative test to use public transport.

"The health code system on the mainland is nothing like our 'Leave Home Safe' app and vaccine pass scheme," he said. "We won't simply cancel these measures because the mainland did so.

"These measures have played an important role in controlling the pandemic, especially the vaccine pass scheme. It's the reason why we have a high vaccination rate."

Perhaps it's because people need to eat and shop so they have no choice but to use the app?

Lo says app won't be given up just yet

While Beijing has probably eased restrictions in Hong Kong to use it as a guinea pig to see what would happen, China has started to loosen up -- just a tiny bit -- but it has a long way to go.

The country still can't afford to open up right away, which is why there are projections China may open up as early as late 2023 or even early 2024. More people need to be vaccinated -- but with mRNA vaccines that Beijing still hasn't admitted to be used to inoculate its citizens.

In the meantime articles in state media are starting to talk about how being infected with the Covid-19 virus is nothing to be scared about, that one could be cured in hospital quite easily or even just several days rest at home.

But it's been drilled into Chinese people's heads that the virus and its variants are deadly and it will take some time before everyone is less paranoid about the coronavirus.

The Hong Kong and Chinese governments have used the Covid social-distancing measures and forced use of the Leave Home Safe app as a form of control, which they have effectively used for almost three years, but they aren't quite ready to completely relinquish it.

Zero-Covid is still the goal, and both authorities will drag things out as long as possible to justify the means to an end...