San Diego: Old Town

Verdant greeting at the Old Town in San Diego

On our second last day in San Diego we drove south to the Old Town to check it out. It is the first European settlement in California, and the oldest neighbourhood in San Diego (though it's literally just a tourist spot now, no one lives here).

Conveniently there's a parking lot nearby where you can park for four hours for free, but it's not necessary! The area is divided into several sections -- a Mexican-themed place with restaurants and gift shops, and then a more open area with individual shops, sadly many of them have closed. Keep walking up and you'll hit the main street of the area where there are cafes and restaurants serving mostly Tex-Mex food.

Gum Saan sells non-Chinese trinkets

The Mexican area is very colourful with lots of succulents and flowers mixed with skeletons. It's like a perpetual Cinco de Mayo there. Souvenir shops sell colourfully embroidered clothing -- made in China, or jewellery and items made by local artists. There were also tile shops, one selling very spicy chilli sauces, and ceramics.

We then headed to the more Western area that sort of looked like a hastily assembled Wild West Main Street. The City Hall had two women dressed up in clothing from two centuries ago, and there was a candle-making shop that was quite popular that also sold soap.

Another one with many customers was the candy shop where people could not resist buying fudge to stuff their faces with. Interestingly ther was a shop called "Gum Saan" or "Gold Mountain", as many Chinese migrants came to California to try their luck and pan for gold. But the shop actually sold Tibetan and Nepalese items, including bracelets, singing bowls, statues, and incense. Nothing to do with Chinese!

In the end we had a bite to eat in a Tex-Mex restaurant, and I ordered two tacos, one was seared Mahi Mahi, the other pulled pork with a side of black beans. I was full after eating those two tacos and only managed to make a dent in the black beans!

Mahi mahi taco (left) and pulled pork, black beans

We then tried to get on the Hop On, Hop Off bus, but found out it would be a two-hour ride and about US$50 a person, so we made our way back to the parking lot and came home!

First Canadian Charged with NSL

Former Sing Tao editor Ho is charged with violating NSL

Depressing news coming out of Hong Kong -- the 47 activists, lawmakers and academics who are charged with "conspiracy to subversion" for organising an unofficial primary election among pan-democrats two years ago, will not have a trial by jury. Instead three judges picked by the government will hear their case.

This is the first time in 177 years in Hong Kong's common law legal system for this to happen, but since the national security law was implemented in July 2020, the judiciary is perceived as less than egalitarian.

Lai will be tried in a non-jury trial

A few hours later it was announced that Apple Daily founder and tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying's case will also be a non-jury trial, as directed in both cases by the justice minister.

The verdicts are a foregone conclusion.

Across the Pacific there's a person who has been charged with subversion too.

Victor Ho Leung-mau is a former editor of Sing Tao in Vancouver. On July 27, he and two others held a press conference in Toronto to announce the formation of Hong Kong Parliament Electoral Organizing Committee. 

It has a really long name, but its goal is to establish a "Hong Kong parliament" in exile. One of the founding members is ex-lawmaker-elect Baggio Leung Chung-hang. The 35-year-old sought asylum in the United States following the implementation of the national security law.

The group wants to follow the examples of Uyghurs who have their own World Uyghur Congress, and Tibetans have the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile, and set up a political body for the Hong Kong diaspora. 

Leung is also charged with subverting state power

"It is the Committee's belief that only a genuine democratic election could literally [speak up] for the people of Hong Kong," a statement read.

Days after the two-hour press conference, the Hong Kong government issued a statement that stated Ho was wanted for allegedly subverting state power.

"How did we suddenly get to a place where I have become like a fugitive... just because I was talking about a political concept that can or can't really materialise?" he said to the Vancouver Sun.

Well, the Security Bureau takes any threat seriously. And surely Ho should have known forming such a committee was bound to attract attention from the Hong Kong authorities? If not, he is naive at how far Beijing will go to crush dissent.

His friends and family are worried, not just for him, but for themselves being associated with who the Hong Kong government now considers a serious threat.

"We are Chinese-Canadians in Canada and now we have to hold back from joining in such a conceptual exercise related to Hong Kong. When we came here, we thought we could live in an open society without fear. Now, you have fear, because they are saying [the national security law] applies worldwide. I myself am not scared, but I have family members who are," he said.

Ho and another co-founder of the committee

Two Members of Parliament have written letters, as well as the Chinese-Canadian Concern Group on the Chinese Communist Party's Human Rights Violations, telling Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Foreign Affairs Minister Melanie Joly to publicly oppose Hong Kong's actions.

No response yet, but the response has to be strong to demonstrate Canada's commitment to universal rights and freedoms...