It's a beautiful day in Hong Kong, but...

...air quality sucks. Support the Clean Air Network.

Hong Kong: An Innovative Society?

Last month, when M called to update me on the funding situation for the upcoming Hong Kong Shenzhen Bi-city Biennale of Urbanism \ Architecture, I was stupefied. M and her team of curators had laboured tirelessly for months to put together a world-class event, bringing together international icons such as Shigeru Ban and Diller+Scofidio Renfro with the leading lights of Hong Kong's creative scene to engage the public on issues of architecture and urban development at the West Kowloon Waterfront Promenade. With a rich program of interactive, immersive exhibitions, M found that the original government grant was insufficient to fund everything. So she knocked on many a charitable doors for sponsorship, among them was one of Hong Kong's most well-endowed charities. Excitement was high when weeks ago, the charity was about to sign a cheque. And all of us volunteering to help out on various bits of the biennale were elated. But then came M's call -- the government was not going to give her the approval to accept the additional funding. The biennale had to be scaled down. "WTF??!!" was my reaction. I was at a loss to believe that this absurd situation was happening here in Hong Kong, a city that aims to be a breeding ground for innovation and creativity.

I had been reading John W. Gardner's Self Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative Society. Jacqueline Novogratz's article in the Stanford Social Innovation Review had inspired me to order the book from amazon. And at only 127 pages, I was motivated to read it as soon as it arrived. Like Novogratz, I found Gardner's words of wisdom resonating with me. At every opportunity, I have touted Gardner's book as though it were gospel. When in fact, it is simple common sense. His words resonate because they accurately describe the reality of our human condition, and not just at a moment in time but over the course of our development.

amazon

I had told M and E, both curators for the Biennale, about the book and they invited me to write a brief essay on my reflections for the Biennale catalogue. I still had the bitter aftertaste of M's funding news on my mind when I started to write the essay. I wanted to explain why so many Hong Kong people lament its rigid, almost anti-innovation atmosphere, and how it is no fault of those who settle on conformity and convention. Afterall, I would have understood if none of the four curators wanted to organize another government-funded Biennale. Thankfully, I was saved from my pessimism by my students.

I was reminded that renewal is not the result of one heroic creative act or innovative invention, it is the sum of many seemingly inconsequential decisions and actions (and on a societal level, by many people over lifetimes) that have probably, on balance, lead to more failures than successes. But I do believe that, on balance, the trend line points towards evolution and progress, rather than the demise of our species (that is, until the next gigantic meteor hits and we go the way of the dinosaurs). As a teacher, I have come to realize that the most important thing teachers can give students is not our knowledge but our faith in them. In fact, we all need someone to believe in us in our moments of doubt as we navigate our place in an increasingly complex world.

This is the essay I submitted:

What Teaching Has Taught Me About Creativity and Innovation

Creativity and innovation cannot be imported, transplanted nor taught; there is no masterplan or formula, right or wrong way, to being creative and innovative. These fruits are borne only when nurtured by certain values in a warm and open environment. As John W. Gardner explains in his incredibly insightful book, Self Renewal: The Individual and the Innovative Society, the difference between a vibrant, thriving society and a rigid and decaying one is simply whether it “provides for its own continuous renewal.”

And how does a society continually innovate and renew itself? The answer lies in its individuals, whether they themselves are self-renewing. Self-renewing people share certain characteristics – a sustained curiosity about themselves and the world around them (they understand that their knowledge of both is limited and continually strive to expand and break limiting patterns of their understanding), courage to fail and be wrong, capacity for compassion and an internally-derived motivation to persevere at an endeavour out of a belief that it is worthwhile or meaningful.

These past few months, I have had the pleasure of teaching a class at Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s School of Hospitality and Tourism Management. It has been an enlightening and inspiring experience, where the teacher has been the student. My class of 36, final year Higher Diploma Tourism Management students have taught me to consider what we need to provide younger generations if we are to expect them to inherit the task of renewing our society.
The first day of class, by way of introductions, I asked the students to share their dreams. For most, it was to one day become rich. To understand why they wanted to be rich, I asked them to draw a picture of their image of “rich”. Most drew a free-standing house. In this class about creating and marketing innovative travel products, I also learned that most preferred to travel to new destinations with tour groups rather than explore on their own, because they feared the unknown.

Hong Kong has come a long way in its economic development since Gardner’s book was first published nearly half a century ago. In class, I introduced Abraham Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs – at the bottom of the pyramid are survival and safety, at the top, self-actualization. For people to feel free and daring enough to experiment, they must first feel safe and secure. Can an individual feel safe and secure when the notion of a home of one’s own seems but a fantasy for most young graduates today?

When asked to share what their aspirations were, three students replied: “none”. Why have they lost the hope to aspire? Why are they fearful? And how can I, as a teacher, and we, as a society, create a safe and nurturing environment for the younger generation to freely explore, take risks, fail, discover, gain confidence and learn? While the students have raised these questions in my mind, the most important lesson I have learned from them is faith. Renewal is a process, not an event. This Biennale bears testament to that. BYOB -- Bring Your Own Biennale.

CNNGo.com is Live!

It's always exciting watching new projects come to life. I first met the CNNGo.com team seven months ago during ArtsFest when we when to see a dance performance with Juliet Binoche with a set designed by Anish Kapoor. They had just rolled into town and were building up their regional editorial presence. Initial launch date had been set for May. But as is the norm with start-ups, launch dates get postponed once, twice, even three times as technical kinks get ironed out, editorial vision comes into focus and the website finds its voice.

As a freelance contributor, it's been nothing but fun for me; I get to write about fun stuff that I'm interested in, I can hardly call it work. But for the producers and editors -- Kim, Andrew, Chris and Zoe -- it's been months of 7-day weeks, epoch caffeine-fueled nights and days (i've contributed the odd sugar fix from Saffron Bakery too) as well as many a long conference calls. It's no easy task unifying the tone of a website that presents the local life of six vastly divergent Asian cities -- Bangkok, Hong Kong, Mumbai, Shanghai, Singapore and Tokyo.

CNNGo.com's ambition is to speak local, to track the pulse and vibe of each city. The editorial team's job is to manage the platform and facilitate the flow of conversation. But ultimately, it's the people who live in the cities and their contributions that will breathe life into the site, taking it from live to alive. Hope you'll enjoy browsing the site, but more importantly, please join the fun! Comment, critique and contribute.

Check-out this brilliantly produced video:

August Wrap-Up: Vancouver, Hamptons, New York City, Phoenix, Oxford, Geneva, Hong Kong

Summer holidays are great. For the past few years, I've had the luxury of being able to take off from typhoon-riddled Hong Kong in search of blue skies, cooler climes or even snow as I did last year.

This year, my travels took me around the world to see family and friends, as well as giving me the luxury of time to read three books cover-to-cover in three weeks -- Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead, Paolo Giordano's The Solitude of Prime Numbers and Kazuo Ishiguro's Nocturnes. Plane rides are great for reading books, and I can often remember when I read them by flipping through and finding the flight ticket stubs that I used as a bookmark (I managed to read Nocturnes on the round-trip London-Geneva flights). In fact, the books themselves are often a reminder of the places I've been. I picked up Rand's tome of a novel at a bookstore in Vancouver's Yaletown. The other two I picked up in Oxford's Blackwell's bookstore. When I wandered into the bookstore, I had no intention of buying any books. I had only wandered in to browse their rare books collection and buy a milk shake from the in-store Caffe Nero. Along the way, after two weeks of travel, I had already picked up seven books. And books are heavy! I also managed to start, but not finish, two other books: Geoff Dyer's Yoga for People Who Can't Be Bothered To Do It and Karen Armstrong's A Short History of Myth. But back in Hong Kong now, I have yet to finish either.

In between pages, I had time to enjoy wonderful weather, fun conversation and delightful places. Here are some highlights:

Vancouver -- I walked past a hot dog stand on Marinaside Crescent (across the street from Provence) and couldn't resist trying their TexMex hot dog (complete with tortilla chips stuck in the bun along with the jalapeno cheddar cheese hot dog). While waiting for my hot dog to get cooked, I learned from the owner that one cannot just set-up a hot dog stand anywhere one pleases. There's a actually a lottery and he managed to win three locations. Operating a hot dog stand is not an easy job. He's up at 6am in the morning prepping enough food for three stands and doesn't get home till midnight. He enjoys it much better than drilling for oil in Calgary though. I could see why. It was a beautiful, summer day in Vancouver and strollers, roller-bladers, pram-pushing parents would stop by either for a hot dog or an ice cream cone or sandwich and have it served up with a view of the marina in Falls Creek.

From Little Cream Life: Almost a Photo a Day

Hamptons:
1. Wifi-enabled Hamptons Jitney (even if it did mean standing on a street corner at 7:50am by myself in front of a building with signs for "Body by Berle" and "Hooters") followed by lunch at Lobster Roll in Amagansett, building a sand castle at Wainscott beach, shopping in East Hampton and practicing yoga behind Rodney Yee in Colleen Saidman Yee's 8am class at Yoga Shanti in Sag Harbour the following morning. During class, she read out a quote that sticks in my head: "Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today and creates a vision for tomorrow." As I write this, Edward Kennedy's funeral has just taken place and his life exemplifies this so well.

From Little Cream Life: Almost a Photo a Day

From Little Cream Life: Almost a Photo a Day

New York City:
Candle 79 -- Surprisingly tasty vegetarian restaurant. I was told that outside of August, when most New Yorkers (or at least Upper Eastsiders) are holidaying in the Hamptons, it is very difficult to get a reservation. I understand why now, because it's not easy to serve a vegetarian menu that doesn't sound or taste like you are depriving yourself of some essential joys in life.
The Standard Hotel -- Andre Balazs' new hotel in Meatpacking. Grab a drink underneath the High Line or enjoy the views of the hotel from the High Line.
The High Line -- I'm impressed that a project like this got funded. An old railway line along the Meatpacking waterfront all the way up to Penn Station got a makeover by landscape architects Field Operations and structural support from architects Diller+Scofidio. I was walking the High Line with PC, who has been asked to consult the Norman Foster team that's working on the West Kowloon Cultural District. I, of course, complained that property developers in Hong Kong don't have the combination of civic-mindedness and foresight to contribute to a city-owned project such as this. Barry Diller and his wife Diane von Furstenberg are co-chairs of the High Line Trust. The building up from The Standard Hotel is being developed by von Furstenberg and Diller's Frank Gehry-designed IAC building is just off the High Line. Contributing to the beautification and preservation of heritage in the neighborhood simply makes good business sense. Be sure to enjoy the view in the mini amphi above 10th Avenue at 16th Street.

Phoenix -- I had dinner at the Wrigley Mansion for the first time, even though I've spent many years living there. Built by Wrigley of chewing gum fame, the mansion is now owned by Hormel of Spam fame. The place is quite a museum: I was intrigued by a telephone switchboard and amused by a very kitschy bathroom with red velvet and gold print wallpaper.

From Little Cream Life: Almost a Photo a Day

Oxford -- I always imagined the hallowed halls of academia to be tranquil, almost monastic, places. But Oxford in summer is a tourist/summer student zoo. Having said that, I managed to escape the hubub by staying at Old Parsonage Hotel and going for a run along Thames Path, where I found the quiet little village of Iffley.

From Little Cream Life: Random photos

From Little Cream Life: Random photos

Geneva -- I was in-and-out of this town within 24 hours. But I left with the sense that I had spent those hours in a sort-of lalaland, a little enclave where everyone seems to live the most charming of lives.

Back in Hong Kong, I've been playing around with my little flip HD video camera. I'd bought it back in April, but only now decided to put it to use. I'm hopeless at shooting, and have no patience for editing. For practice, I took it along to some of the past Luxury Week's fashion shows, but didn't manage to shoot any good footage. I fared a little better last night at Courtney Act's performance at Sevva. Act (or Shane Jenek when not in drag) was a semi-finalist in Australian Idol in 2003.

Hopefully, I'll get the hang of telling stories with moving images and really start to have some fun with it.

First Starbucks x G.O.D. 冰室 (bing sutt)!

I am a pineapple bun nut. It is one of my few credible claims to "being local". And I love Starbucks (not really for their coffee, but for the brand). And my BFFs are the founders of G.O.D. Roll all that into one and this is what I get on 13 Duddell Street (T: +852 2523 5685) -- a crisp, coffee-flavoured pineapple bun served in an ironic take on Hong Kong's old-fashioned coffee shop as interpreted by G.O.D. within an American coffee chain pretending to be local (hmmm...seems to describe me):

The coffee-flavoured pineapple buns and cocktail buns are only sold in this shop.

It's quite an amazing thing that Starbucks in Hong Kong (kudos to Maxim's) has managed to break-free (if only for just one shop for now...) of the cookie-cutter corporate Starbucks image.

I hope this is a sign of things to come for Starbucks (could this be the coffee chain version of HSBC's global-local claim); it's just what they need to bring some buzz back to their brand.

Cut & Paste Digital Design Tournment Tickets Giveaway!

Little Cream Life is giving away a PAIR of tickets to next Friday's Cut & Paste in Hong Kong! For a chance to win, simply email your dream list of the world's 26 coolest travel destinations from A-Z (one destination per alphabet) to editor@littlecreambook.com by NOON on Wednesday, 13 May 2009. We will notify the winner of the lucky draw by e-mail, so make sure you give us the correct e-mail address.

Cut & Paste, the international digital design tournament organized, is happening next Friday, 15 May 2009. The event is like a battle of the DJs, except instead of DJs, spectators get to watch a host of 2D, 3D and Motion designers duke it out live in a party atmosphere. This is the third year that Cut & Paste has been held in Hong Kong. Winners from each of the 16 competition cities around the world will fly to New York City for the Global Championship on 20 June 2009.

Cut&Paste Digital Design Tournament 2007 from Cut&Paste on Vimeo.

When: Friday, 15 May 2009, 7-11pm with afterparty following competition
Where: Hong Kong Exhibition Centre, China Resources Building, 26 Harbour Road, Wan Chai
If you don't win, you can still go: $80 for students, $100 in advance from HK Ticketing (T: 31 288 288) or $120 at the door.

Pigeon Feast at Shatin's Lung Wah Hotel

In the four years I lived in Tai Po, I had never visited Lung Wah Hotel; I hadn't even heard of it. I was disappointed when Yucca de Lac was torn down. But the food and service at Yucca de Lac was never worth the visit. Rather, it was the poorly-maintained grounds, it's refusal to change, that gave Yucca de Lac its al fresco dining charm. That and imagining what it must have been like in its glory days when my parents and grandparents frequented the place.


So when I arrived at the Lung Wah Hotel and saw its dated premises and old-school, chaotic service, I was delighted by the kitchiness of the whole place. According to the website, it really used to be a hotel. It would be a dream project to restore the place to its former glory. I think it would make a great boutique retreat, both for locals as well as visitors looking to experience a different side of Hong Kong. The place has so much character that you take the shouting, screaming waiters who don't care that your food still hasn't arrived an hour after you've placed your order as part of the Lung Wah's charm. It was as though the waiters were arguing with each other and guests just to put on a show, like the noodle-making performances at Peking Garden. And then there's the peacock (would be nicer if it were free to wander the grounds as opposed to being locked up in a cage). Where else in Hong Kong can one find a peacock?


The pigeon really is the house specialty; it's the only dish that arrives within 15 minutes of placing the order. Everything else arrives at the kitchen and wait staff's leisure, and the portions are more on the small side (though we were a group of 10). It's places like Lung Wah that distinguish Hong Kong's dining scene, not the safe choices of our Michelin-starred restaurants. There should be more places like this, and not just in the New Territories.

Wyclef Jean @ MO bar

I had been chatting one day with DA and she was telling me about the TOHK launch party preparations. She was telling me that she had spoken to Wyclef Jean's promoter and they had offered to have Wyclef appear at the launch party and play a few songs as a surprise. But Wyclef would only be able to perform on 21 April, so she would have to pass since TOHK's launch was slated for 23 April. "What?" I shouted down the phone. "Move your launch date! Do you have any idea how cool it would be for Wyclef to show up and surprise the crowd with a few songs???" Anyway, to cut a long story short, DA tried to re-jig the gig, but in the end it was not meant to be.

Fortunately for me though, as a result, the TOHK got invites to the invite-only performance at Landmark Mandarin's MO bar last night (MO did a promotion earlier: for every HK$1,000 spent on Veuve Clicquot, they gave away a lucky draw ticket for a chance to win tickets for the night's show). I had only expected Wyclef to play an hour max. That was what he was supposed to do. In the end, he gave an awesome 2-hour performance! I was dancing in the wrong shoes and my feet were killing me, but it was worth it.

Wyclef is a great performer; he had the crowd all worked up and was constantly bringing people to the stage. At one point, he shouted, "I've found my Hong Kong Wyclef!" and dragged a guy up to the stage who then held his own in the rap-along. For all I know, it may have been a Canto-pop star, but I am hopeless at recognising them. The concert started pretty chill, with Wyclef on stage strumming his guitar. But then as he got into Sweetest Girl, he really amped it up and the crowd went crazy. He went from the stage to the top of the bar and, at one point, he was moving through the crowd sitting high on top of the shoulders of one of his crew members. The crowd loved it. He went through a bunch of songs from his latest album, Carnival Volume II: Memoirs of an Immigrant, some Bob Marley, old Fugees tunes, a very crowd-pleasing medley of 80s hits running from A-Ha (Take On Me) to Cyndi Lauper (Girls Just Wanna Have Fun), as well as songs he's done with other artists such as Shakira's Hips Don't Lie and Santana's Maria Maria.

Unfortunately, I only had my iPhone camera, which has no zoom and takes horrible photos in low lighting:

Chat with Desiree Au, TOHK Publisher

Hong Kong finally gets its own Time Out next Wednesday (23 April). Desiree and I go way back. All the way back to her days as a tai-tai journalist covering the arts beat of Hongkong Standard to her evolution into a hard-nosed, whip-cracking editor (typed with a ;-) of course), though never one to compromise on her sense of humour, style or fashions.

I have to blog about TOHK not because I know Desiree, but because, as fate would have it, Little Cream Life has a bit role in the story behind TOHK. Towards the end of 2006, I got an email from AF who had come across Little Cream Life while doing a search for Ingredients (the restaurant). I ended up planning her family's holiday and in the process she mentioned that her husband wanted to bring Time Out to Hong Kong. He was willing to invest, but did I know anyone suitable to get it off the ground, up and running. Basically, he needed a publisher and a team. I sat on it for a little while. At the time, I couldn't think of anyone and I wasn't sure how serious DE really was about the whole thing.

A few months later, AF mentioned it again. By that time, I knew Desiree had left her post as editor of SCMP's Sunday magazine and was finding life as a lady of leisure a bit dull. So I floated the idea to Desiree. While sceptical at first (those who have been in the biz have a healthy scepticism about the profitablity of starting an English-language magazine in a predominantly Chinese-reading city), Desiree agreed to meet DE at a group dinner I had actually organized for an out-of-town guest from Tokyo at China Club last May. DE & DA hit it off and the rest is history. Along the way, I've heard a lot of the birthing stories and am constantly amazed at what ingenuity, tenacity and just plain hard work she and her team have put into this whole endeavour. From the investors to the writers to the ad sales team, there has been no lack of passion driving them to deliver a Time Out magazine for Hong Kong that readers of TO London or New York City would expect. Just a week before TOHK launches with a party at The Pawn, I checked in with Desiree to see whether the office was a circus or war zone:

3:05 PM desiree: actually it's been amazingly calm. we've been pulling 14 hour days but everyone is still joking around'

3:06 PM think of it as gallows' humour, except i don't think anyone is getting executed

3:07 PM me: i think we're all pretty excited about TO finally landing in HK...how long did it take to get here?

desiree: the whole idea started back around May last year, at a small dinner

one thing led to another and we worked with the TO team in London for quite a while.

but the whole basic framework was started around december.

Then the team flew to London to work with the Time Out staff

3:09 PM me: actually, that's pretty lightening speed

desiree: We rented a huge flat and I felt like we were participating in some MTV reality show

well, you know what they say in HK, get this done by "yesterday"

so I guess we've already got the luxury of time

3:10 PM me: what was the funniest reality tv show moment

i.e. trailer moment

desiree: probably me in rollers in the morning

me: no way!!

desiree: i just refused to let any amount of shame get in the way of my hair

me: did the whole team see you in rollers??!!

desiree: hahahahahaahha

3:11 PM probably. but i had no choice

i get up pretty late in the morning and my routine usually encompass putting on my rollers and eating breakfast

let's just say my secret to bouncy hair is out

3:12 PM i have no idea how a conversation with a publisher about to launch a magazine led to hair. this is not good PR

me: who's "the team"?

desiree: well. the "team", and we are also an official football team as of today.......

the guys signed up to play league

me: of course it's good PR...you'll get ads for shampoo, hair salons, etc.

3:13 PM desiree: that wouldn't be half bad!

anyways, going back to the team - Paul Kay is the editor

me: you should post your football team's results in TOHK and open up for betting

hk's fave past time!

desiree: Angie Wong is at the helm of food/lifestyle

Clare Morin is the arts writer (we go way back at the scmp)

3:14 PM Dennis Lai , whom you also know, is art directing

me: yeah, me and Dennis go way back

desiree: and some new faces I've had the pleasure of working with!

me: way back to an obsolete mag

desiree: yeah. remember YA!

me: anyway, have to mention this whole fate/destiny thing

desiree: Actually i wrote two of my best stories for YA

one on Lee Lai Shan

3:15 PM and one on the founder of APC, Jean Touitou

remember?

me: wow, can't believe you remember...i hardly do...but this chat's not about YA

back to fate and destiny

since it's played such an interesting part in the birth of TOHK

desiree: totally amazing

me: what do you think is TOHK's destiny?

3:16 PM desiree: that's a loaded question

can u clarify?

do magazines have a destiny?

most of the time i get asked about "position" or "niche"

so this is a rather interesting question

me: of course! but they may not be immediately apparent...or perhaps your destiny in all this

i bring this up

because there are rumours that Asia City is selling

3:17 PM desiree: well. i don't know what TOHK's destiny is, but I do hope I make some $$ so I can eventually open an animal shelter

whatever I do in publishing, and i usually work pretty hard at stuff, is a means to an end

3:18 PM in the meantime, i hope the magazine will do some interesting features and champion some causes that may not be the most fashionable thing

although i stress that i still aim to do that while remaining fashionable.

i hope that doesn't make me sound too shallow

3:19 PM the fashion reference, i mean!

me: no, not at all...and since we are on fashion

desiree: hahahahaahhah

me: what will you be wearing on launch day?

desiree: oh, funny you ask. i've been thinking

i will attempt to dress in TO colours

red/black/white

i hope i won't look like an extra in High School Musical

3:20 PM me: i don't think you could even if you tried...haha

desiree: thanks for your compliment! it made my day!

me: oops...sorry...just realized that can be taken another way...but i meant it as a compliment on your style

rather than...

3:21 PM desiree: a girl can accomplish anything really, when sh'es got the right wardrobe.

oops typo

me: and hair!

desiree: YEAH, HAIR!

boy, i hope no one reads this.

me: just don't show up in rollers...otherwise, it'll be a bit like hairspray

desiree: i was hoping to engage in some deep conversation about arts and culture

me: this is culture, my dear

desiree: since it's so close to my heart, when i started as an arts reporter in 1994

3:22 PM thanks to YOU!

me: ok, enough...time's ip

up

desiree: ok

see you at the party!

me: it's gonna be a blast!!

desiree: look for the mascot in Red/white/Black

that would be me........

3:23 PM it will be a blast with all our friends and everyone who's been so supportive of TOHK

me: too bad wyclef's not gonna make his special appearance :-(

desiree: i can't thank them enough

yeah, he leaves the day before

but New Pants is cool!

u should watch them on You Tube

punk disco electronic

absolutely a blast to watch

For a special friends & family pre-launch annual subscription rate of HK$128, fill out the subscription form below:

Central's Alluring UFO

The UFO appeared in the distance, a vision of alluring beauty. Its pristine, white skin glistened amidst the pulsating coloured lights that are the life of this city. I walked towards the structure, perplexed and intrigued. What could this sleek, sensuous structure parked atop the old Star Ferry car park be? What lied within?

As I approached, I saw the name on the signboard that inspires in me the kind of delight akin to a teenage groupie finding out that her favourite band is about to roll into town: Zaha Hadid. The UFO in question is the Chanel Contemporary Art Container, containing works by the likes of Daniel Buren, David Levinthal, Michael Lin, Sophie Calle among others. The artists are all interesting, but what I really wanted to see and experience was the space.

The approach to the container, on this particular overcast day, made me think of Chris Marker's La Jetée, the image of the woman standing at the end of the jetty. The memory of the woman that comforts the protagonist through a post-apocalyptic present, we later find out, is actually the moment of himself, as a child, witnessing his own adult death.


Once inside Hadid's container, though, it was a warm and welcoming cocoon, with echoes of Eero Saarinen's TWA terminal. The deep, sultry, accented voice of a woman on the audio guide begins: "I was waiting for you...so impatiently...torn between pleasure and pain...I have such an overwhelming need to open up...to display my fantasies...open up my pack as the French would say...".

And so the show begins, 20 artists and their vision of what desires, insecurities and longings lie within a Chanel quilted bag.

Hong Kong is the first landing site for Mobile Art. From Hong Kong, it heads to Tokyo, New York, London, Moscow and finally Paris. The show runs here until 5 April 2008 and tickets (HK$10) can be booked via HK Ticketing.

Evolution: The Handstand Challenge

"But now I am Six, I'm as clever as clever
So I think I'll be Six now for ever and ever."
- Now We Are Six, A.A. Milne

I was green with envy when DT said he had managed an unassisted headstand the other day: "First time since I was 6 or so...Felt like a kid". I've been wanting to do an unassisted inversion (headstand, tripod headstand, handstand, whatever...) since I started yoga, but just not there yet. After one class with Patrick where we were practising the different stages of a headstand, I actually had a dream where I kept trying, and repeatedly failing, to do a handstand. I woke up feeling like Sisyphus, except Sisyphus would actually get to roll his rock all the way up the hill before having it roll back down; I never managed a handstand, even in my dream (I don't even want to think about what Freud would have to say about all this!). It was such an annoying feeling, especially knowing that, even in my dream, the one thing that kept me from doing the handstand was fear -- visions of myself landing on my head and breaking my neck would race through my mind just as I'm about to kick my legs up. I'd love to have that fearlessness of a 6-year-old again.

So yesterday, to help me overcome my fear, I dragged LP, MP & PW to the Evolution: Asia Yoga Conference (none of us actually ever imagined ourselves attending a yoga conference!) to take the "Inversions Demystified" class taught by Jason Nemer and Jenny Sauer-Klein, founders of Acroyoga. When we arrived, we were all just a tad bit intimidated. Most of the people in the class seemed like such serious yogis, many having attended classes since the start of the conference on Friday. Even MP & PW, who could do handstands, were looking a bit weary.

In the end, I didn't quite manage to do a completely unassisted handstand. I used the wall to get my legs up, but there was a split-second when I managed to hold the handstand on my own and that already got me on a thrilling high. I never imagined myself attending a yoga conference full of serious yogis, but there we all were, having such fun. There was one particularly entertaining moment watching MP & PW execute an exercise with one of them in downward dog and the other attempting a handstand off the back of the one in downward dog (I leave it to the reader's imagination to work out the technicalities). LP, who was least enthusiastic to begin with, actually walked out of the 2-hour class saying we should attend next year's conference and sign up for more classes! I walked out of the class with the inspiring realisation that I wasn't going to break my neck doing a handstand. So I'll just keep trying. And one of these days, it will just happen and I might just be able to be 6 for ever and ever.

Hong Kong: Support a Better Central Waterfront!

A message from Designing Hong Kong:

If you care about a quality harbourfront for Hong Kong, please read on...

There have been many public forums and organisations to get community feedback on the new Central waterfront. The response from all these has been very clear. People want:

Less density
More greenery
More diversity
A boulevard instead of a six-lane highway running through the middle

These wishes will require changes to the current Outline Zoning Plan, but the Government refuses to countenance any changes. It is sticking to the current "big block" footprints and a "thundering thoroughfare" (the so-called "P2" passing right through the middle. This does not reflect public's wishes and will result in a sub-optimal harbourfront. Since this is the last reclamation on the Central harbourfront, it is the last chance for us to get it right and create something we can all love and be proud of.

Designing Hong Kong has now taken the initiative to make its own
application to the Town Planning Board to revise the existing Outline Zoning Plan to reflect what people want. THIS APPLICATION NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT.

To support this initiative, go to the link below, click "Express Support" and send the signed Support Form to the Town Planning Board.

Please take the time to do something for our future harbourfront. Please forward this message.

GO HERE: http://www.designinghongkong.com

Designing Hong Kong is an alliance of four individuals:
* Christine Loh, former Legislative Councilor and CEO of the non-profit think-tank Civic Exchange
* Peter H. Y Wong, Chartered Accountant, Past Chairman of the Business and Professionals Federation of Hong Kong, and member of the Greater Pearl River Delta Business Council and the Executive Committee of the Commission on Strategic Development
* Markus Shaw, Chairman of WWF Hong Kong and member of the Advisory Council on the Environment
* Paul Zimmerman, Executive Director of Jebsen Travel, Convenor of Designing Hong Kong Harbour District and Vice-Chairman of the Coalition on Sustainable Tourism.

Click here for the English press release.
Click here for the Chinese press release.

Green T House: E-fu noodle surprise

Cyberport is not one of the most exciting malls in Hong Kong. So when I first heard about Green T House (T: +852 29896036) I was not in a hurry to go check it out. But then, Saturday's plans for a outdoor BBQ dinner on Jumbo's Top Deck got nixed due to stormy weather and so our group of 8 ended up at Green T House for dinner.

Cyberport is a very quiet mall. Even on a Saturday night, the mall was practically empty. I was looking for the restaurant and actually walked into the wrong restaurant. Fortunately, one of the waiters pointed me in the right direction: "It's opposite, see the white wall." I saw the white wall, but i didn't really see the restaurant. It was only when I got closer that I saw the very subtle entrance to the restaurant. Inside, the decor was dramatic, like a theatre set. It's a bit Robert Wilson meets The Hempel, very white. There is one very long dining table. For most of the evening, aside from us, there were only 2 other diners.

Green T House is actually quite well-known in Beijing (it's actually even harder to find there), conceived and founded by Zhang Jin Jie, who in addition to being a chef of "modern Chinese" cuisine is also an accomplished classical Chinese musician. It's a combination of tea house/restaurant/art gallery/events space.

We all ordered the 8-course tasting menu at HK$880 per head. The food, while beautifully presented, and competantly prepared was slightly lacking in the Wow factor on the taste buds. There's not much risk-taking nor playfulness with the flavours. Someone in the group mentioned that, for a Chinese meal, we were lacking carbs, so asked the waiters if they could serve us some rice or noodles. The waiter then suggested they prepare some E-fu noodles for us. To which we agreed without any thought to cost. Afterall, how much can E-fu noodles cost? Well, it turns out, that a side serving (it was served with the lobster course) cost HK$140 per head!! To be fair, the truffle-flavoured E-fu noodles were the most memorable of all the dishes served, but HK$140 for a small portion of noodles is just silly. The total bill including wine came out on par with a meal at Pierre or Robuchon. Rents at Cyberport are way lower than Landmark; Green T operating on very healthy margins (but then again, they're not exactly pulling in the crowds. at least not on this particular saturday night).

Green T House is a stunning setting for a party, but be forewarned about the price of a side of E-fu noodles.

Hong Kongers: Please Join the Clean Air Foundation!

I returned to a very grey, gloomy, hazy, rainy Hong Kong after 4 days of blissful blue skies and fresh, clean ocean breeze. We, in Hong Kong, all complain ad nauseum about the poor air quality and visibility, so here's our chance to do just a tad bit more constructive than complain!

Please join the Clean Air Foundation (please see below for brief summary of what they are doing) by taking just 1 minute of your time to click this link and fill in your basic contact details.

The Clean Air Foundation is a recently created not-for-profit Hong Kong company aimed primarily to promote and protect the right of the people of Hong Kong to breathe clean air. The Clean Air Foundation will pay particular attention to local sources of air pollution and to the role of Hong Kong in both causing and solving local environmental problems.

The air in Hong Kong is killing us slowly but surely.

The government of HKSAR is not fulfilling its most basic responsibility to provide clean air for its citizens. The aim of the Clean Air Foundation is to galvanise the support of citizens and concern groups to find appropriate recourse to exhort the HKSAR government to leave behind its empty promises and hollow rhetoric. We must immediately begin to address the many local sources of air pollution for which something can and must be done.

Please join the Clean Air Foundation and be part of promoting and protecting the rights of Hong Kong citizens to breathe clear air. To make your voice heard, please press "reply" and fill in the information below and send to: info@cleanairfoundation.hk or visit our website and fill in the form online at www.cleanairfoundation.hk

Membership Applicant Information

*Last Name:

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Dinner with Filmmakers

It's not every day that I get to have dinner with an Academy Award-winning film director, so I was really excited when TN & FY invited me to a dinner they were hosting for their filmmaker friends in town for last week's Entertainment Expo. Filmmakers at the dinner included: Stanley Kwan, Anne Misawa, Corey Tong and Ruby Yang (still recovering from all the Oscar parties).

I arrived at Ning Po Resident's Association's restaurant pretty much at the same time as LC and SK. The thing with filmmakers is that you often know their work, but you don't really know their face. To my slight embarrassment, I actually didn't know that the guy I was sitting next to was the SK, one of Hong Kong's more respectable directors. He was talking about a project that he had been working on, but has since been passed on to Chen Kaige. He had been pushing for Tony Leung to take on the lead character, a Peking opera star, but to no avail. CT and AM are in town finalizing financing for their upcoming feature film, a triptych of love stories spanning three cities around the Pacific Rim. RY is on her celebratory PR rounds for The Blood of Yingzhou District, which won an Oscar for Best Documentary Short:



We were all extremely entertained by her photos from the Vanity Fair Oscar party. There were snaps of her with Penelope Cruz, Leonardo di Caprio (who she says only took a picture with her because she had an Oscar in hand!), Forrest Whitaker and a whole host of other Hollywood celebs. She never thought the film would get nominated, let alone win. On the night the nominations were to be announced, she even told her team to go home and not wait for the call (fortunately, they didn't listen). I tried to get her to convey how she felt at that moment at the ceremony where they announced her film as the winning film, but I suppose it's not something that can be reduced to a one-liner; all the blood, sweat and tears of so many people involved in that one ephemeral moment. When you watch the trailer for her film, indeed, the Oscar and all the glamour surrounding it all gets reduced to a mere triviality. The Blood of Yingzhou District is actually part of a larger project to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS in China through PSAs produced by their organization, The China Aids Media Project.

For those in Hong Kong interested in screening the film and meeting Ruby Yang, FCC has organized a dinner this Friday, 30 March 2007 at 7:30pm. If you miss this one, there'll be a fundraising screening in May.

Eat Right; Nobu Revisited

People often start businesses out of necessity, because the market isn't addressing their own needs. Years ago, when my friend DH was still living in Hong Kong, we had talked about a nutritional food delivery service. Back then, Atkins and South Beach diets were still all the rage. But we lamented that it was hard to stick with any kind of a healthy diet when we were constatly eating out. The best solution would be for someone to work our the meal plan, cook up delicious food and deliver it straight to your home or office. We never did start the business, of course. And these types of businesses started popping up in NYC and Singapore. Hong Kong, the norm these days, is arriving late to this trend. But better late than never! Eat Right, just across the street from Pure's Kinwick gym offers exactly this service. My fitness bet friends and I were meeting up with Martin Lorentsson, who is also a trainer at Pure, at Eat Right to see what kind of menus he could concoct to help us meet our 3-month fitness targets and win our bet. There's a questionnaire about current health state, daily eating habits and a list of foods to choose from to give them an idea of the kinds of foods you like or dislike. Then you let them know how many meals you want delivered each day and they work out the rest. So far, the fitness gang has tried out the food. We're waiting for the taste factor to improve a little bit before we sign on. But it's a good service in the making!

Thanks for the pics FS (taken with her SonyEriccson phone)!

I am sort of ambivalent about Nobu's restaurants. I've had some great meals at Matsuhisa Aspen, but I also had a truly awful meal at Nobu London in Berkeley Square (we ordered the tasting menu and the cod was over-cooked and tasteless). So when FS suggested we give Nobu in Hong Kong (2/F InterContinental Hotel; T: +852 23132323) a try, I wasn't super enthusiastic. We had an 8:30pm reservation. By 9pm, there was still no table. I kicked up a bit of a fuss and by 9:15pm, they finally offered us the private room with the HK$15,000 minimum charge waived (we were 9 people and our final bill ended up not being far off from that). Fortunately, the meal was much better than the one I had in London. We had the yellow tail with jalapeno, toro tartare with caviar, seared toro salad, seared toro with yuzu miso sauce, monkfish pate, all of which were delicious. We hardly ordered any cooked dishes though, probably for the better since the London meal that I so disliked had mainly been cooked dishes. While the food was good, to be honest, the evening was really more memorable for the entertainment we created for ourselves (good thing they gave us the private room!).

Shop for Little Cream Book at these Christmas Fairs!

Tis' the season to shop, shop, shop! Come visit Little Cream Book at these Christmas Fairs (Bring a copy of this post for a 10% DISCOUNT):

Tomorrow-Thursday, 28-30 November 2006, 10am - 7pm @ the lawns of IFC Mall , Central
3 December 2006 (Sunday), 11am - 5pm @ main lawn of Hong Kong Country Club, Deep Water Bay
5 December 2006 (Tuesday), 10am - 8pm @ ballroom of Conrad Hotel, Admiralty

Read about Little Cream Book in the 25 November issue of mpw (Ming Pao Weekly's lifestyle book), the November issue of Zip and the January 2007 UK edition of Harper's Bazaar!

L'Atelier du Robuchon (they're opening everywhere!) is opening on 3/F Landmark (T: +852 2166 9000) tomorrow night (Tuesday, 28 November). Wonder if it'll be as good as the one in NYC. BL's booked it for his b-day dinner on Wednesday. Since it's only 2nd day of operations, I don't expect it to be in top form yet. But, I'm still hoping to be pleasantly surprised!

ThreeSixty: Starting a health revolution in HK?

Over the weekend, I got some sad news about one of our ski instructors in Cortina. Apparently, M would not be able to join us for CNY skiing since she has just been diagnosed with breast cancer. Perhaps BI, who has just completed a course of chemotherapy and is now undergoing radiation therapy and will be joining us in Cortina, can offer her some support. In any case, I wish M a very speedy recovery and return to the slopes!

So over the weekend, health was on my mind. As I was working out in the gym with PT, she mentioned having just checked out ThreeSixty, the new food store on the top two floors of Landmark. At first, I wasn't all that interested, thinking it was just another City'Super, Oliver's, Great or Gourment. But then, she mentioned it was like Whole Foods. Those who have read my post when I was in D.C. will know that I love Whole Foods. So of course, I jumped at the bait and immediately went to check it out after my workout.

ThreeSixty just opened last Tuesday and when I got there, it was bustling with people. In many ways, it does try to be Whole Foods, except ThreeSixty is still a whole lot smaller. And the fact that it's in Landmark makes it a lot less accessible to the masses (so I guess their health revolution is starting from the affluent. For the launch, though, they are partnering with three NGOs: Oxfam, WWF and Changing Young Lives Foundation, but I couldn't quite figure out what the partnership entails, i.e. whether part of proceeds are donated or whether it's free publicity for the organizations etc.)

Like Whole Foods, ThreeSixty has done a lot of work on their labelling. On fresh produce, country of origin and farming style (conventional or organic) as well as brief description of health benefits were marked on the label along with the price. Same with meats. There were lots of educational and informational pamphlets explaining the difference between conventional, organic or naturally-raised livestock. At the moment, though, I would say that the majority of the offerings are marked "conventional" (i.e. no different from what you might find at your local Park'N'Shop). But credit has to be given to ThreeSixty for clearly marking everything and for making consumers more aware of the differences of conventional vs. organic farming methods. It also uses labels to indicate which foods are suitable for certain diets (i.e. low-sodium, low-carb etc.) or when certain allergens are present (XTC's gelatos had milk marked on the allergen labels).

In the non-food area, I was happy to see products such as Seventh Generation toilet paper (free from chlorine bleaching) and non-toxic cleaning products. They also have the Wellness Centre that has a naturopath on hand to guide customers in their choices of health supplements and natural beauty products.

ThreeSixty probably has one of the nicest supermarket shopping environments in Hong Kong. Though, I imagine, they'll be wanting more space very soon. I took a couple of photos with my new HP iPAQ hw6965 (I am still waiting, with baited breath, for Apple's iPhone, but I just got fed up with Nokia's word completion on the cheap, basic Nokia I got in India that I just had to spring for a phone with a full keyboard and wifi) so please excuse the grainy quality of these pics: