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.

Mother's Day Conversation with James Mark: Hamlet's Mom Gertrude

I had a Barbara Walters moment today. Not sure if it was because it was Mother's Day, but 73-year-old theatre director James Mark (he's sort of the godfather of the Hong Kong theatre scene) got a bit teary-eyed as he talked about a mother's love as seen in Hamlet. I was interviewing Mark because he has just presented Sword of Vengeance, a Putonghua adaptation of Hamlet set in the Five Kingdoms era of Chinese history in Stratford-upon-Avon to celebrate Shakespeare's 445th birthday last month.

Mark mentioned that he had been a social worker with Caritas for 17 years. So for my last question, I asked him: "What does Hamlet, a play about revenge, have to say about love and compassion?"

Mark started beaming, as if I "got" him. "I don't emphasize revenge in Hamlet. I don't need to stress revenge, because love and passion create enough conflict as it is." Essentially, Mark's take on Hamlet is that the tragedy stems from Gertrude's conflicting love for her husband Claudius and her son Hamlet.

"It's Gertrude's love and passion, concern and consideration that is most moving. Imagine Gertrude is in a loveless marriage to Hamlet's father. And then there's Claudius, the brother-in-law, who has been nothing but kind, gentle, sympathetic and considerate towards her. So when Claudius kills Hamlet's father and becomes King, Gertrude has a choice. Does she give up her life as Queen and her son's future as King to begrudge a man who's been nothing but caring towards her or does he marry him and secure her son's future? But of course, Hamlet does not understand this and only sees his mother as betraying his father and therefore him. Gertrude loves both her husband Claudius and her son. In my production, I make sure Gertrude sees Claudius pouring the poison in the wine, because I want the audience to see that she drinks it to save her son. Hamlet is not about good or evil, right or wrong. It's about all the conflict that is created by love. Without love, there would be no feelings of regret, loss or pain. That's what makes it so tragic." And that's when Mark reached for a napkin to dab his eyes dry.

I didn't have time (I was already 45 minutes late to brunch!), but I would have argued that the conflict, rather than being created by love, was created by Hamlet's inability to have compassion for his mother. And I would have loved to ask Mark about his mother.

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.

Chat with Claire Williams, social entrepreneur and marathoner

I've never met Claire Williams, but a few weeks ago, as I was clearing one of my email inboxes, I discovered an unread email from Claire dating back to early February. She was responding to a mass email I had sent out to mediakitty (a site for travel PR and journalists) contacts to introduce Little Cream Book last August. Her email was a simple one-liner to say that she would be interested in writing about Little Cream Book and included her mailing address where a sample to be sent. Normally, I would simply write down the address and post the book. But then, something in her signature caught my eye: "Partnering with Children to Outpace Poverty", which led me to read the rest of her signture:
- 34, 488 Miles Run
- 3, 969 Donated Pairs of Running Shoes
- 31 Marathoners
- First Blog on the Internet Written by Orphans and Vulnerable Children
I was intrigued -- running and poverty alleviation...interesting. I looked back up the signature to click on the link for the organization -- Hope Runs. The first thing I read was: "7 marathons, 7 continents, 7 weeks". Wow, was the sole awe-inspired word that went through my head. Of course, I clicked through to learn more about this crazy endeavour and got side-tracked from the larger picture -- that the team was running in support of AIDS orphans. Hope Runs works with orphanages to provide extra-curricular programs, including running programs as well as computer, art, health, fitness and business-training courses. All with the aim of helping "orphaned and vulnerable children...escape cycles of poverty and conflict to become productive and empowered adults". In addition to Hope Runs, Claire also founded I Become last year that builds on the work that Hope Runs has done.

I was curious to find out more about Hope Runs, so I replied to Claire to apologize for my delayed response, telling her that a sample of Little Cream Book would be in the post and that I would love to chat with her online about Hope Runs. The address she provided was a States-side address. When she replied, I found out that she was in Oxford doing the Said MBA. "Are you doing the social entrepreneurship program," I asked. It turns out, Claire is a Skoll Scholar. But then, as we were negotiating time zones to schedule our chat, she revealed that she was actually in Buenos Aires for the Easter break.

Finally, on Monday night, Claire and I chatted:

10:18 PM
me: hi there!
you still in argentina?
Claire: yeah im still down here
me: in BA?
Claire: yeah in BA - my boyfriend is argentine so we've been living down here
(except for my MBA this year)
me: i'm really interested in the 777!
i'm not much of a runner tho
but i did the nike+ human race last year in cordoba!
Claire: in cordoba!
me: went round and round polo fields
in strong headwinds
Claire: ugh... (but beautiful)
so are you interested in 777 from the perspective of a runner?
me: no, not really as runner
b/c i would never do it…hahaha
Claire: ha
me: but i'm curious about everything about it…how it got started, etc.
i think it's great!
Claire: well basically it's a team of regular and celeb runners. the race begins jan 31 and goes for 7 weeks (6 weeks, 7 weekends)
i started these two non-profit organizations and also work as an author.
me: what do you write?
Claire: 1 book out next year and the second is in talks with publishers this week (i pray it sells!)
one book is about the excess choices of generation y
one book is a travel memoir that includes the first year of starting hope runs in kenya
me: that's awesome!
when is the memoir out?
what's it called?
Claire: its a trip around the world that ends with starting a non-profit...
currently titled 'here there is hope'
me: great title
so what were you doing before hoperuns?
before the year around the world?
Claire: travel writing...i started the blogging thing then... (trippingonwords.com)
before the year around the world was living in mexico and then argentina...brief work in india...basically just more travel...
and writing
ha;)
we're really trying to put the HK marathon in our schedule for 777 - but the directors say they haven't finalized the date yet...
I'm hoping they do soon as we need to get our flights and hotels all planned very very soon
there were some hiccups with the schedule...hopefully the HK marathon will be feb 22
me: what's the schedule look like right now?
Claire: starting jan 31 it's marakech, netherlands, new zealand, hopefully Hong Kong, usa, antarctica, falklands islands
me: wow, so cool!
do you think the hope runs model could work in other places?
Claire: yes i think so
it's a very exportable model
we're in two orphanages in kenya right now
we were in two others in tanzania but aren't anymore
me: how come?
how do you choose the orphanages?
would you do it in s. america?
Claire: it's important to find the right partners. since we don't build our own orphanages but instead enter into existing orphanages there are lots of issues with due diligence, etc.
the biggest problem is that most of the orphanages in much of the world don't have extraordinarily open financial practices - they just aren't run as much of a business as we need them to be for international donors
and since we are entering already existent orphanages there is a careful power and cultural dynamic in the finance stuff
to run our programs efficiently we essentially need to enter orphanages that are already functional - ie ones that are not entirely day to day in terms of needs for basic necessities
we don't have the resources to fully support ALL the needs, and so if we're in a position of supporting basic structural things it doesn't work well
(ie - the orphanage needs to be able to be functionally providing food and shelter for the children if we realistically want to run computer classes)
it's an interesting problem
me: how did you yourself get into running
b/c obviously you must have a passion for runnning
in order to have come up with hoperuns
it's a brilliant idea, btw
Claire: i didn't have the greatest health and was trying to add more exercise into my life
it started very slowly
and then i found such confidence from realizing that i could run
i run very slowly - and always have - but it's empowering to be able to run farther than others...you know?
me: does india have a marathon?
Claire: they do
in february they have the delhi marathon.
and another one as well.
the hardest part is that we need marathons with really involved directors
one of the runners comes with all these security concerns
and everything ive read about delhi marathon is that its really disorganized and they haven't been able to provide a final date (and since we need to have everything very planned, it's hard)
me: well, i do hope you come to hk
would be great to meet u
and perhaps u'll motivate me to train for a half
Claire: definitely!
i think long runs are really more boring than painful ;)
me: yeah...but good music helps
Claire: yes!

18 April: Charity Winewalk

Despite black rainstorm warnings, last year's Time Out-organized Wine Walk was a packed affair. This year, the starting point will be held in the airy, yet covered, atrium of The Landmark. For HK$280 (if you gather up 10 friends to join you, you can get a 40% group discount on the tickets), you get to spend an afternoon sampling fine wines and scrumptious munchies from restaurants all around Central such as Zuma, FINDS, Dakota Prime, Kyoto Joe, just to name a few.

All proceeds to benefit Room to Read and Camp Quality.

For details and to order tickets: www.timeout.com.hk/winewalk

Earth Hour

Show your concern for climate change by switching off your lights tonight @ 8:30pm (local time) for 1 hour. Vote Earth.

THE FACTORY: Cool lofts

I've always wondered why Hong Kong didn't have any cool loft conversions. I finally got to see one last Friday at the launch of The Factory in Hong Kong's Wong Chuk Hang district. This area is chock full of old factory buildings. It's on the south side of the Aberdeen tunnel, close to Ocean Park and Jumbo restaurant, and just a 15-20 minute taxi ride away from Central, as opposed to factory areas in Kowloon or New Territories.

K Wah, the developers, also did the J Senses redevelopment project in Wan Chai, which is home to The Pawn, a cool Brit pub in an old pawn shop. For The Factory, they invited Italian comic book artist Mauro Marchesi to paint a comic on the building's facade as well as the interior public spaces such as lift lobbies and the rooftop space. The building is for lease only and is targeted at creative businesses -- advertising, film, media, design studios, art galleries. The 4,000+ square feet duplex studios have super high ceilings, making for a cool, spacious, affordable workspace. Rents start from around HK$14/square feet.

Will be interesting to see if this turns into a trend and whether Wong Chuk Hang might become a small business/creative hub.