2004 Hong Kong Shopping Festival from 26 June to 31 August. That is cool! I am there for that! Considering I am there as a tourist (heh!). Well, I have friends there for the first time as well, that is my excuse.
... well there is no fool me twice because if you are a tourist in notorious HK district of cons... Tsim Sha Tsui, the sales (con) folk will not see you again. So it's rip-off time for time. Take BWG's entry about a tourist who ended up paying twice the market price. Just goes to show, do your homework, and don't trust all the small shops. Even locals get done, nevermind the tourists. But since HK is trying to show a more tourist-friendly place, it is good to see they are clamping down hard.
...if you are wondering, yesterday was Japanese exams for Leaving cert students. Wonder when the Chinese (Mandarin or Cantonese) will make it here, since there are Chinese courses in UK, AS GCE in Chinese and Advanced GCE in Chinese. Would there be enough interest in this subject? Would anyone who are Irish born Chinese be interested in this?
That elusive croc in Yuen Long! It's captured earlier this month, and is now in Kadoorie farm. Check ot some drawings by kids of the croc.
Kadoorie farm page - http://www.kfbg.org.hk/
Am I not looking forward to HK? Of course I am, but I am wary of the JAPANESE ENCEPHALITIS. It's rare to get it, as only certain species of mosquitoes get it. But 2 people have contracted it, and there are no know cures. Summers nights are going to be a nightmare if I venture to my relatives place! But no need for vaccination yet.
China Ireland Cultural Festival
Details tbc. www.arts-sport-tourism.gov.ie/pdfs/china ireland brochure.pdf
Asian Movies at the Mermaid Arts Centre, Bray
Internal Affairs, starring Andy Lau: July 5, 8pm. www.mermaidartscentre.ie
Irish Chinese Cultural Society
All events start 8pm at United Arts Club, 3 Upr Fitzwilliam St, Dublin 2. (www.ucd.ie/~iccs)
June 23: Dr Jin Di, translator of Ulysses into Chinese
June 26: Birr Castle & Demesne (starts 2pm at demesne entrance)
So is it true that alot of Asian women like Beckham? The highlights of the euro 2004 have reminded me of the last time I went HK and someone asked me if I had met Beckham before (gosh they think that Ireland and Britain are 2 minutes away from each other)
So there were these women going crazy because Beckham was on screen at the hairdressers. If they had gone anymore mad they would have cut something other than hair. Also sounds like the Japanese went CRAZY when he visited it. I'm not surprised. Good looks, loads of money and an amazing talent, wouldn't he be a catch (oh lucky Victoria).
So what's the big fuss all about? After watching the Croatia and England match just now, well Beckham is treated like royalty, his foot is too good for the ball? Foul for a minor touch? What's your view on this?
post your replies and ideas here!
Irish President Praises Chinese and Condemns Racism
Hmm, on the side, about the elections about the yes and no vote. My father told me something interesting... why was my mom's name on the registered list, and yet she did not receive the register voting card. (By the way, it's her Chinese name). And why did my dad not get a yes/no vote slip? Even though he had 2 register card, one with his English name and one with his Chinese name. And the one with the Chinese name did not have the yes/no vote slip, and the other with the English name did. And on top, why did my brother and I have the yes/no slip (registered in our English names). The folks at the voting poll centres did not even care... Why? One has to wonder. Common sense dictate what is going on here. Land of welcomes? Really now. Very sly way of showing it.
Ok, forgot to publish this older piece of news, but it is quite alarming! [NEWS] UK tourists raped at knifepoint in Hong Kong
I saw this from Ars Technica, "China blocks Wikipedia", and I feel disappointed. It's a great resource where people put lots of good information. What about people who like to write about their hometown there, like Tai Po that I found and plenty of opportunity to do more write-ups about it. Heck, even Lam Tsuen is not mentioned that much. I am just disappointed, and hope it is only temporary.
For all you lucky people in HK on these dates [30th July - 3rd Aug], you can go to the HK comicfest 2004 at Hong Kong Convention & Exhibition Centre. Comics, games.. you name it. I, unfortunately will be back to work by then. :(
More summarised info on this at the Travel Channel page, cos there was no dates that I could see on the official page.
But there are other things on... check it out at discover HK's What's on page. Not sure if I want to go the the Ocean Park Summer Splash!
...before I head to Hong Kong for my holidays. It's not too hot there.. ok it's 27° celcius and it's pissing rain here in Dublin (with a bit of sun). But I know it will hit over 30° celcius by the time I get there in July. Well, it's a computer modal of forecasting 12hours to 72hours of weather. I think it is pretty nifty.
Really cool to read about China's first complex machine to create jewellary.
From BBC article. at least the official site, I don't really agree on reporting of others though. Here is another article from china.org.cn on "China Takes Aim at Internet Abuse". And here is the page itself - Internet society of China.
Well, here are 2 sites:
* HSBC ATM locator
* AEON list of ATMs and adress
[UPDATE]I have been informed (by my BF...laughing in the background) that I have already had an entry on ATM locations...http://kaykays.com/archives/000021.html... *sigh*
This would be great for folks heading to HK in June. Walk for a greener Hong Kong! But you need to get your applications in early!
Boingboing's link to "Learning Mandarin is hard for native English speakers" rings true for Cantonese as well. A little inflexion and wrong intonation can cause a smile or a stern look... or just amusing laughter. I am probably very lucky to be able to tell the difference, but for folks learning to speak the language, it's all down to practice. :)
Even saying some expression depending on the tone can give the wrong impressions. All from experience for all you newbies I suppose.
Forgot to mention this, wikipedia is a free online knowledgebase for anything, yes, and online encyclopedia essentially. It's great for alot of info at your fingertips. Anyone can contribute. But I found that entries on Tai Po a bit scarce. I will need to dig up more information and see if I can add more. Wikipedia is great, even has an entry on Hakka.