The day when Hong Kong Police betrayed its own people

September 29, 2014 Leave a comment



Hong Kong is a different city today. 

After so many years of peaceful demonstrations, protests and rallies, 28-Sept marked the day when Hong Kong Police betrayed its own people. Instead of keeping order and protecting its people from harm, unarmed students and peaceful demonstrators were attacked by the police’s tear gas and pepper sprays continuously. Time after time, the demonstrators came back in force. These senseless attacks only fuelled the anger of Hong Kongers. It showed the weakness of Hong Kong government and its police force. No matter what happens in next few hours, the Hong Kong government and police may even win tonight’s battle but they have already lost the world’s respect.

I was shopping at IFC Mall this afternoon and there was a big crowd surrounding an electronic shop. On the big TV screens, I saw the tensions between the demonstrators and the police. Outside the mall, there were students holding cards asking the public to go to Admiralty to support their fight for true universal suffrage. Tracy and I decided to walk over to take a look.

Admiralty Hong Kong was in total chaos today. The demonstrators sat on key highways, locking down the financial district. Long queue of cars, buses and trams were forced to a complete standstill. Amazing, no one in the vehicles horn. At around 4pm, the first tear-gas was fired into the crowd. Tracy and I were standing about 800m away when thousands of people retreated towards our direction. I was wondering what caused the panic retreat. Just before I was about to go nearer to the conflict zone, the tear gas stung my eyes and throat. It was unbearable! We weren’t prepared for this.

The gas forced the crowd to retreat to Lippo Center. There, I witnessed a small tussle between the policemen and a large group of demonstrators. The policemen were violent and used their batons against the unarmed demonstrators. In the end, the demonstrators won and drove the policemen away. They managed to seal off another main road and a volunteer was seen maintaining the traffic.

Throughout the entire demonstration, the people maintained their cool and refrained from any violence against the policemen. A couple of volunteers were seen picking up trash on the streets and some were distributing drinks and food to fellow demonstrators. The demonstrators cheered one another and encouraged one another to stay united and strong. Together, they stood bravely against the senseless attacks. I was touched by their unity and passion. This is the never-say-die Spirit of Hong Kong!

I believe this is just the beginning of a long road to achieve true universal suffrage. And thanks for the calls and messages from my friends and loved ones from Singapore, we are perfectly safe and well sheltered. I am blessed to witness this historic moment and may God bless Hong Kong. My prayers are with all the young and brave students (and reporters) who sacrifice their time and safety to safeguard the future of Hong Kong people. Hang on, you are not alone, the world is here with you. You have made history today.

“People shouldn’t be afraid of their government. Governments should be afraid of their people, said Alan Moore from V for Vendetta”. Hong Kong Police, did you hear your people sing? Time to remove your masks and gears and embrace your people. History has taught us that only peace, wisdom and love can win this war. Never violence and bloodshed. Stop attacking your own people and let peace opens a way for meaningful settlement.

Watch the live feed below:

Filed under Jo's Thoughts, Life in Hong Kong

Guilin – Where Chinese Painting comes Alive (桂林山水甲天下)

September 20, 2014 Leave a comment

Since young, I have heard so much about Guilin and seen tons of images of its famous sceneries. I was very excited when my company selected Guilin as this year’s conference venue! It is certainly one place I always wanted to visit!

Guilin is such an important place that it earns itself a spot on the back of the RMB20 bill. Not to mention we named a small lake in Singapore as Little Guilin! It does strike a very similar resemblance to the real Guilin!

The flight to Guilin from Hong only takes only 1 hour. Being a trainspotter and a railfan, I opted to take a slow 13-hour overnight train from Shenzhen to this beautiful city.Joining me were 3 lovely female colleagues – Celia, Chowpo and Tracy. We booked 2 private cabins to ourselves. Come Dec 2014, there will be a new 3-hour speed train connecting Shenzhen and Guilin. I might be one of the very last few to experience this old route.

The four of us boarded the train at Shenzhen Lowu Station at 4:44pm. This was Chowpo’s first overnight train ride. She has never taken a soft-sleeper train before. What an experience for her! Just 5 minutes into our long 13-hour ride, we found out a nasty surprise! There wasn’t any eatery on board! Imagine there is an eatery on board the Hong Kong Guangzhou train (which is only a 2-hour ride), I was awfully shocked when I heard the news! We were so desperate that we hijacked the food cart and wiped out all the instant cup noodles.

The train ride was very smooth and comfortable. The mobile tablets and wifi kept us entertained till midnight and we slept through the night. 13 hours passed so fast and we arrived at Guilin at 6am the next morning. We arranged a private pick up to fetch us from the train station to the hotel. Along the way, we stopped by to eat the famous Guilin Rice Noodle (桂林米粉)! What a yummy breakfast!

We parked ourselves at the new Club Med Guilin Resort. It was surreal, it was walking in a living Chinese painting! Opened 2013, the Club Med Resort Guilin is built within the scenic spots of Yuzi Paradise and Yan Han Botanical Garden. The resort was very well landscaped and spacious. The young vibrant Club Med GOs (Gentil Organisateur – the resort staffs) were extremely friendly and warm! Here, we experience the Club Med’s signature hospitality where the GOs and GMs (Gentils Membres – the resort guests) mingle, play, dine, drink, and party together every day and night! There was no need to carry a wallet. All food, drinks and activities were free! We had such great fun at the resort! I love the environment, it was so peaceful and heavenly!

It was a 3-day-2-night company trip. It was a pity that we had to spend two full days inside the resort for training and team-building activities. I wished we had conducted the training outside the resort, high up in the mountains! Nevertheless, we had lots of fun and rewarding moments here! I love my team! We may be young and hyper, but we are one big passionate and united team! I just love the energy and company of these wonderful lovely people!

Thankfully, there were some leisure times when the organisers took us outside Club Med to visit some of Guilin’s most beautiful and iconic spots at Yangshuo (阳朔). On our first night, we watched one of the world’s most renowned and largest outdoor light-shows – “The Impressional Sanjie Liu (印象刘三姐)” at Li River. Directed by famed director, Zhang Yimou and performed by a huge cast of over 600 people, all of whom are local residents of the Li River (漓江), the 1.5-hour lived up to its name of “Human’s Masterpiece Cooperated with the God”!

And on our last day, the organisers took us on a 1-hour boat tour along Li River (漓江) and later in the evening, we had our farewell dinner near Yangshuo’s shopping district at Xi Street.

The next morning, most of colleagues flew back to Hong Kong. My group (the trainspotters) were the last to depart Guilin. Our departure time was at 9pm, we had more than 8 hours of dwell time to spare. We hired a local tour to bring us around Guilin City. We visited The Pierced Cave (穿山岩), 7-Star Park (七星公园) and Guilin’s most famous landmark, the “Elephant Trunk Hill (象鼻山)“.

Despite being an ancient and important tourist venue, Guilin is still under heavy development for further tourism growth. Overall, I feel Guilin’s natural landscapes have been overly reshaped by man-made objects and structures. I was very disturbed when I cruised along Li River and toured the limestone cave. It seemed that these beautiful natural geo formations were poorly preserved and terribly exploited over the decades. The Chinese government should leave nature untouched and preserve them as much as possible. With the new speed-train route opening in Dec 2014, I am sure more tourists will pour into the city. If you haven’t been to Guilin, please visit it soon before more man-made structures destroy its original beauty.

Filed under Jo's Thoughts, Life in Hong Kong, Travel Tagged with

A Little Sweet Mid Autumn Reunion Treat

September 10, 2014 2 Comments

September school holidays are here and my darlings are with me for 10 good days! I was hoping to get the attractive deal on Cathay Fanfare but I couldn’t get the tickets to Maldives or Perth. The other destinations were either too expensive or the timing was just not ideal. With limited options left, I decided to plan “a little sweet treat” for them in Macau.

Elkan was a little disappointment when he found out that we were heading to Macau for the weekend. He never liked the City of Sins as there’re little things for him to do. He begged me a couple of times to stay in Hong Kong so we can play soccer and hike the mountains together. In order not to spoil the surprise of the “special place”, I acted cold and indifferent to his pleas. I lied to him that we will be shopping and nothing else. Elkan was grumbly throughout the journey. (See some of his photos, he didn’t even want to smile!) To divert his disappointment, I added a short outdoor hike (at Monte Fort) in the itinerary at the last minute. Felicia sensed something amiss with my “unusual poor planning” . She asked me quietly in a mischievous tone, “mmm, what are you planning?” I replied with a straight cold answer “Nothing to do leh, maybe catch a movie later.”

You see, I was buying time to keep them occupied till 3pm as that was the check-in time for my “little sweet surprise” at the legendary Banyan Tree Macau. Famed for its luxurious suite featuring a spacious living area and an indoor private relaxation pool, Banyan Tree Macau is infamous for its unavailability and exorbitant price!  The room I wanted was often fully-booked many months ahead. Thanks to Mid Autumn Festival, the occupancy during this festive holiday was surprisingly low. I was extremely lucky to secure the room one week ago at a very special price!

The moment Felicia and Elkan walked into the suite, both of them were delightfully dazed! I love watching their priceless expressions! None of them expected this! Felicia gave me that stern “I-knew-you-had-something-up-in-your-sleeve” stare and Elkan’s eyes were watery. My boy felt guilty for all the bad feelings towards me during the trip. Knowing he was overly touched, I went to give my silly boy a big hug!

This is Elkan’s dream playroom – a 100sqm space with luxurious bedroom, expansive living area complete with spacious 3m wide relaxation pool and custom 2-person wooden bathtub complementing an opulently furbished bathroom!  The pool was constantly kept at a perfect water temperature between 27°C-30°C overseeing unparalleled views of the Cotai City. All thanks to the simple and great space design, the room was so indulging that we stayed indoor most of the time. We spent our Mid Autumn Festival watching TV, selfies in the pool, face-timing my parents, niece and nephew back home.

I am so glad that I didn’t disappoint them. What an unique and memorable experience for the family! When it was time to leave, Elkan asked me to bring him back to Macau in Nov and he promised he won’t be grumpy anymore. Hahah, my silly happy boy.

Filed under Family, Life in Hong Kong, Travel

Remote Control Paperplane by PowerUp 3.0

September 7, 2014 Leave a comment

Thanks to the advancement of smartphones and remote-control devices, there are more and more flying objects in the air. I am not talking about drones. Recently, I got an unique gadget from a Kickstarter initiative. Introducing the PowerUp 3.0 Smartphone Controlled Paper Airplane – now we can remote control via bluetooth and extend flight time of our very own home-folded paper plane.

It is a very small and durable device. It is a stick with an aero-head and a propeller attached on the other end. Simply attach the paper plane to the aero-head and use the smartphone to navigate its flight. Like most remote control drones, the only dissatisfaction is the short flight time, each full charge lasted only 15 minutes.

This afternoon, Elkan and I took turns to test the flights at Victoria Park. It wasn’t difficult to master and we managed to keep the plane slightly more than 10 secs in the air. Some of the passersby stopped as they thought it was an unusual flying paper plane. As the device was so small, it was difficult to notice that it was a battery-operated plane.

For USD49, it promises many hours of fun and explorations. Time to be creative and test different foldings for the most optimal flight. Enjoy our little video.

Filed under Cool Stuffs

4 Divas, 1 Great Cause – WAO Charity Concert Hong Kong

September 7, 2014 Leave a comment

For one rare chance, I got to meet four Great Divas (A-mei, Tanya Chua, Sandy Lam and Na Ying) of Mandarin Pop at the WAO (Women As One) Charity Concert at Hong Kong’s AsiaWorld-Arena. The proceeds of the night will benefit the “End Child Sexual Abuse Foundation”.

This was the 2nd leg of the WAO Charity Concert (the first leg kick-started in Taipei on 20th April 2014). I was here specially to meet my idol A-mei. Judging from the audience’s screams and applauds, A-mei was definitely the most popular diva of the night. Another great treat was seeing legendary Na Ning upfront. I have been watching Na Ning on The Voice of China reality program over the past 2 years so it was great to hear her sing live! Sandy Lam was gorgeous and charming! I couldn’t recognise her at the first glance! And yes, it was good to have Tanya standing amongst the 4 Divas ~ she made Singapore proud!

What an extraordinary night to see all 4 legends came together to perform for such a meaningful movement. No fancy costumes and special effects, it was simply pure and elegant. The divas touched our hearts with their powerful performance.

I hope WAO Charity Concert makes its way to Singapore and other Chinese cities. And I hope to see more local talents taking part in this movement to bring people together to contribute for a greater cause through the power of music.

Filed under Life in Hong Kong, Music

Enjoy 360° DIY VR for less than 10 bucks!

September 7, 2014 Leave a comment

Move aside Oculus Drift, Samsung VR Gear and Sony HMZ VR, Google just made VR an affordable gear for everyone. 2014 marks the year of limitless virtual reality!

A few months ago, Google launched a DIY VR headgear made of corrugated paperboard. Introducing the Google Cardboard, it is an open platform that allows anyone to create their own virtual reality headgear. For a production cost less than USD5, this will be one amazing marketing tool for new brand engagement and experience.

I managed to get my hands on one last week via eBay. Just like those given out during the Google I/O conference, the Google Cardboard was delivered to me flatten. Looking at the low-grade paper materials and plastic lenses, I was skeptical about the virtual experience. It took me about 2 minutes to form the box. Once I turned on the Google Cupboard app, inserted the smartphone into the slot and looked through the lenses, the VR experience was indescribable amazing! Using the phone’s gyroscopic sensors, I was teleported into a different world. The perfect combination of smartphone’s gyroscope and 360 imagery technology opens up a brand new world of possibilities in virtual entertainment. It is a big leap for virtual reality. This simple DIY device put all the expensive VR gears and brands to shame.

The possibilities are simply endless! Forget about watching 3D/4D movie on a flat screen. Just imagine watching a movie right inside the scene itself. Pan your head around and you can choose where to see or walk alongside with the characters. Try imagine diving with the National Geographic documentary crew in the dark abyss or watch a magic performance live right beside a close-up magician. For hardcore gamers, imagine playing soccer on the pitch or taking cover in a cross-fire battle in the street.

The only setback is the imperfect phone-screen pixels and the limited iOS VR apps. With newer and more high-definition screen resolution, this can only get better! It is difficult to express the level of excitement. Seeing is believing. Go try it to experience!

Filed under Cool Stuffs