Month: October 2011

Travel Journal – Hong Kong

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This is my second visit to Hong Kong. The last time I was there was in 2008. Hong Kong, ever changing and a jumble of awe inspiring skyscrappers and hills, never ceased to fascinate me. (The peaks in Hong Kong – including the one at Lantau island, ranged from 400 ~ 900 over meters compared with the pathetic 176 meters of Bukit Timah.)

Mongkok, is probably more populated than any part of Singapore. I am surprised to find hotels – one which I stayed for the first 3 nights, smacked right in the corner of a street of hardware shops. It is also just a stone’s throw away from a ‘wet market’ street where one can find living seafood being sold. The hotel is even more dodgy looking than those Hotel 81s we find in Geylang because the concierge is no bigger than an information counter at any of our shopping centers. However, I don’t really complain since it was relatively comfortable and even at low levels I don’t get people coming in for hourly bookings and a quick bang. Other than the irritating door that doesn’t close on its own (which we have to make an effort to close), there is really nothing more for me to complain about.

There were small open spaces – which probably pass off as small parks for old folks to do their morning exercise in the most unexpected places. As it is past the September equinox, the sun sets early in Hong Kong and darkness would set by 6:30pm. By then the shops will be closed and human activities along the streets would almost cease. Other than the occasional taxi or pedestrian, the streets would appear deserted. In fact, at some streets the pink lights indicating the vices would come on and one can see hastily set up, handwritten posters on stairways advertising the girls to those who are interested. In some cases, pimps would ‘waylay’ unsuspecting pedestrians and tout the unseen girls in the levels above. My friend and I took a look at one of the posters and it was touting ‘fair skinned’ Malay girls. We hurried along when a pimp approached us though I suspect these ‘fair skinned’ Malay girls may actually just be darker skinned Malaysian Chinese women or perhaps fairer aborigines from Sabah or Sarawak who can speak Malay.

Yet just a few more streets away would be one of the busiest shopping districts of Mongkok and Mongkok MTR station itself, where Portland street and the Langham Place Shopping Mall is, bustling with life and night activity. And that isn’t very far away when you see just how narrow the streets are and how closely the buildings are packed together.

Food is aplenty and one would be spoiled for choices because an eatery is found every few streets. The food by Singapore dollar standards is not cheap (probably costs 2 times as much at times), but they taste far better than most in Singapore. In general it is not difficult to get a sumptuous meal between HK$30 ~ HK$45 per person (approx S$5 ~ S$8 at present exchange rate) depending on where and what you eat. Anyway, the portion on one plate is good enough for a long time – and the food definitely taste waaaaaaay better. Slices of Char Siew – way thicker than what hawkers would serve here in Singapore – seems to melt in the mouth, and fish balls are spongy and somewhat crispy. That’s not mentioning the soup that comes with the noodles don’t make me feel thirsty nor leave that feeling of MSG in the throat. I would have to blame the increasingly unpalatable food on the replacement of the Singaporean / Malaysian helpers and cooks at our local eateries with cheaper ones from mainland China. It’s not so much about their cooking skills but rather the food they made are not to our taste. If one would consider the food in Hong Kong to be expensive in terms of Singapore dollar terms, then at least it is value for money unlike the pathetic portions our hawkers are giving us while they whine about rental and difficult times. That said, unless the owners of these Hong Kong eateries already owned whatever place they have set up, it makes me wonder how they managed since property prices in Hong Kong and thus rental is way higher.

Transportation is far more superior. One almost never need to take the cab unless absolutely necessary. While the train frequency of the MTR (Mass Transit Railway) is higher, the trains are packed most of the time. Even so, getting a seat is far easier as passenger turnover is way better than Singapore. I noticed that the commuters don’t use their phones as much on the trains and moving displays were displaying news and vital information. On top of that, the station distances are closer and large number of commuters would alight every 3 to 5 stations which unlike Singapore, you get that only when the MRT trains arrive at major stations like Jurong East, Bishan, Ang Mo Kio or Tampines (which is easily 8 ~ 10 stations), not to mention that our stations seems to be place further apart. The Octopus card is way superior than our EZLink since I can use it to purchase at the convenient stores, and even some vending machines beside taking public transportation. In fact, I only need to tap once on buses (on boarding) unlike in Singapore where I have to tap on exit as well or charged with the maximum fare.

I am also happy both hotels provided free WIFI which allows me to stay in contact with my friends in Singapore in the evening. I have to say the Internet connectivity is outstanding, since I was able to upload a whole lot of photos to Facebook (several hundred megabytes of them at times) without break and pretty quickly. I would think if you are a Hong Konger, then there is probably no issue with Internet connectivity anywhere since WIFI hotspots are everywhere. Unfortunately for a visitor I don’t have the accounts to login at most places (other than the rare ones with SSID ‘freegovwifi-e’) so they are as good as not available. In comparison, WirelessSG is a total disgrace because I often end up connecting to a ‘full strength’ node that is either slower than a snail or dead while I never had that problem in Hong Kong. As for roaming charges, they are at $22 per megabyte on SingTel. My suggestion is to sign up for a daily or 3 day Bridge DataRoam plan so you don’t have to be overly concerned with using your 3G / GRPS usage in Hong Kong. I had mine off but a short use of 3G on my phone to get a fix of my location and find my way to Lan Kwai Fong busted 6MB in data usage and costs me a good S$130+ in roaming charges. (I came home to Singapore just in time to see it in the bill! Ouch!)


The planned expansion of the MTR

I didn’t spend a lot of time in Mongkok other than those time I spent looking for food. For the duration I was staying in one of Mongkok’s hotel, I was off to Lantau Island and Macau. I would talk about Macau in another post but even on Lantau Island, the immediate area after the showcase Ngong Ping village at the foot of the bronze Buddha statute has gone through some changes. Not to mention I certainly noticed more people than the last time I was there – due to the influx of the ever present and ever more irritating tourists from China.

After which, I relocated to another hotel at Aberdeen (on Hong Kong island itself) and it was an entirely different world. The hotel room was way bigger and more luxurious though the only drawback was the lack of the MTR. The hotel made it up by providing a shuttle service to Hong Kong MTR Station almost hourly. There seem to be a lack of customers at the hotel (which I don’t mind) but I suspect most of them to be business travelers who are already off to work whenever we are leaving the hotel. Even if ‘business is really bad’ for this particular hotel, I’ll expect it to change with the completion of the South Island Line East & West Section in the near future.

We didn’t really do much in the next few days, other than going to the Peak to get some photos, a walk around Sheung Wan, to the escalators leading up the Mid Levels, the Dr Sun Yat-Sen Museum and Ocean Park. On the way up the escalator to the Mid Levels, we noticed how packed the houses were and also the large expatriate population congregated at the many pubs to watch the Rugby world cup live telecast. It was something I thought I would only see at Lan Kwai Fong. I gave up trying to find the end of the escalators but I can’t help but consider the great difference between the high end residential area further up and the old buildings along the way between them and the dazzling business district further down at Central Hong Kong along the way. It’s sort of like heaven and perdition though I am also reminded that I am in no position to think that way without knowing the thoughts of the people themselves.

There is also an impending district councils elections since I noticed posters of candidates around different parts of Kowloon and even on Hong Kong island itself. The campaigning period is way longer than those we have in Singapore and I wondered why Singapore is always in such a hurry. There is also some level of mudslinging on the television between candidates, though I suspect that is nothing compared to those in Taiwan. This made me compare the governance between Hong Kong and Singapore.

As we all know, Hong Kong has not done well in providing public housing for the average Hong Konger. It’s a little puzzling why that is so since I believe Hong Kong would have a bigger budget to work with to provide more public housing (even when we consider the impact on the Hong Kong dollar as a result of the America’s Quantitative Easing). The reason is that with China as the hinterland (and without the political and historical burdens that Singapore bear with regard to Malaysia), Hong Kong is economically less vulnerable than Singapore. On top of which, Hong Kong also does not have a large defense overhead to be concerned with since the burden of National Defense falls on the central government in Beijing and the People’s Liberation Army contingent stationed in Hong Kong. Social mobility is also another issue, and in fact, the news on TV showed one of the candidates for next year’s Chief Executive elections being questioned on the difficulty of upward social mobility in Hong Kong by an undergrad. That said, social mobility is also an issue here in Singapore because our vaunted ‘meritocracy’ is nothing more than a sham when it is usually the children of the elite getting the bursaries while the children of those who are not so well off continued to end up at the bottom of the social ladder.

I am not singing the Singapore government’s praises here, but I must say Singapore has done way better in the department of public housing compared to Hong Kong. But that brings me to ask what exactly is causing the high rental that our hawkers are complaining about which leaves us with the pathetic portions? Singapore’s success in public housing is eroded with the small portions of bad tasting food and with filling one’s stomach (survival) being at the lowest rung of the Maslow Hierarchy of needs, I must say that translates into a lower quality of life (though not necessarily any impact of the standard of living) than Hong Kong. The privatisation of markets and hawker centers combined with the as yet still out of control property prices will not bode well for us.

I think I have written an overly lengthly post on my little travel so here’s some photos, and a video of the musical fountain at Ocean Park. Enjoy!

Goodbye, Charmaine.

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It has perhaps been two years since I had the banner (and a link to Feisty Princess Charmaine’s blog) here, and dutifully move the long banner to five of my latest posts. As I look through the archive on her blog, I remembered that this is the post that inspired me to do this. In it, the little girl has said:

“I want to fight the monster in my tummy!”

Thus, it is with some sadness to read of her passing here in a hotel room in Hong Kong. I have removed the banner with a heavy heart even though that was all I did to help. Worst of it all was that I know that this help was negligible. I had only hoped those who come to my blog would see it and contribute to help her fight the disease. I wished I could have done more than just this.

Goodbye, Charmaine. Though I wished I could see you grow up well and healthy, I take comfort that you are now in a better world in the hands of God.

Random Discourse – Credit Card Fraud

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This is the only indication that something was awry on a Saturday afternoon more than a month ago (see picture). I was a little puzzled why I am getting these SMS when I am not making any online purchases. After all, I only receive similar SMS when making online purchases with my HSBC card.

Anyway, I logged in to my account and found no transactions so I ignored them. However, I start getting calls from ‘Unknown Number’ for the next 2 hours. As such calls (or those showing up as ‘Private’ on my phone) are normally from agents trying to introduce fund transfers, new insurance policies or a new credit card / credit line, I generally just ignore them. I was thinking to myself that these companies are getting so desperate they even work on Saturday afternoon. In fact, I even received one such call on Sunday.

When I was at work on Monday, these calls continued and I finally decided to answer one of them during lunch with the most hostile tone I can imagine. I had enough of these incessant calls and was ready to ‘reward’ the hapless soul on the other end for his persistence with a chewing out.

When the guy identified himself to be from HSBC (and not ‘on behalf of HSBC’), I was a little alarmed since the banks typically do not do sales calls on their own. All the more so when he further identified himself to be from the security department in charge of credit card fraud. It is not just because of the SMS I have received over the weekend but also because con men are also known to impersonate bank staff. I made a mental note not to give to this person my card security code or any codes if more SMS were received. I am certain that if they were con men, they would want some of these information to complete the transaction.

The guy (I can no longer remember his name) then asked me whether I had made 2 Internet purchases made a few days ago with my card. The purchases are over US$250 and over US$450 respectively and in fact were made to purchase very different items (including female handbags). That’s almost US$1000! When I confirmed that I haven’t made any of these purchases, he then asked whether my last transaction was to a certain gaming company in Germany (which I did make). By then I decided that the guy is probably genuine because he has not asked me any personal information yet and in fact, he was actively providing me information that is confidential. If he wasn’t genuine, then he must be a very sophisticated hacker / con men trying to lure me into a false sense of security.

In the end he told me that my card will be canceled and no funds will be released for these two transaction. He informed me that a new card will be sent to me in a few days and only then did he do the usual identity verification (IC number & date of birth).

This must be the season of Internet credit card fraud because a few of my friends also recently report fraudulent transactions and they only detected them after checking their statement. They had a pretty hard time convincing the bank that they didn’t make those transactions and to get those charges waived. Fortunately for me, this is the second time HSBC has caught fraudulent transactions on my card and I thanked the bank for its proactive action. Perhaps I should really do fewer purchases online…

Random Discourse – Steve Jobs

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Steve Jobs passed away a few days ago at the age of 56. I abhor and am immune to idol worship so originally, I don’t really care. In most cases, I ignore the comments and the outpour of grief. I didn’t care when Michael Jackson or Elizabeth Taylor died so what’s the big deal, really? And I certainly agreed with the part that says – “One die, Thousand cry. Thousands die, no one cry.” on Robert’s blog post.

On Twitter, I put “Steve Jobs” into the exclusions on Twitterfall so I can be spared of the “echo chamber” – i.e. the ‘1 tweet repeated a gazillion times’ phenomenon. On Facebook, I began to appreciate the new Facebook improvements because it automatically lumps posts with similar content together and so Steve Jobs related posts won’t flood my entire page and pushed my friends’ updates off the screen.

Even though I try to isolate myself from this, some comments did get through and they reminded me why I really detest Apple fanbois. I had originally refrained from writing anything, but after a long struggle I gave in to my urge because I have to respond to comments I completely disagree with. For e.g.:

Steve Jobs will always be a bigger man than Bill Gates can ever be.

Interesting. I read that Steve Jobs refused to participate in ‘The Giving Pledge’ to give the majority of their wealth to philanthropy. He also shut down all of Apple’s corporate charity donation programs. Now consider the work of the Gates Foundation, many which will bring a change to the lives of people who didn’t have the Internet or never even seen or heard about any of the i-Devices. In short, the Gates Foundation possibly brings life changes to some people for an entire lifetime (like Polio vaccination) while all the i-Devices are forgotten and replaced at the most in 3 years. I won’t say Steve Jobs didn’t give to charity since I don’t know. But I doubt it wouldn’t be anywhere comparable.

I am also quite amused that the fanbois would be giving thanks to Steve Jobs for giving them all those ‘life changing’ i-Devices even though technically they had paid for the products and so in reality he had really gave them nothing. To put it in an analogy, I appreciate life giving water but I will not think very much of the bottle that contained it. In fact, a friend showed me a comment where someone said if he hears anyone criticising Steve Jobs, he will ‘punch that person in the face’. Well, I hope whoever got punched will punch back harder, and with more blows to wake him up since I wondered whether he would have done the same for his own father.

It is also amusing that some had taken the news of Steve Jobs death as if God Himself has died. Well, the God I believe in rose from the dead and the appeared to many people and rose to heaven before their eyes. Make that comparison when Jobs come back from the dead and do something more original than iResurrect, alright?

Now, there’s another group of people who are equally irritating. Even when I detest Apple fanbois I think there is no need to rub it in. If one felt Steve Job’s death was of no relevance at all – comments like “it is amusing to watch the reactions of the iDiots over the iCon who did an iDie” is as distasteful as those like the hypocrites of Westboro (see below).

Personally, I would have felt elated if people like Mah Boh Tan kicked the bucket since he has screwed my life directly in more ways than one. Yet, I don’t feel the about Steve Jobs even though I disliked Apple – primarily due to Apple’s fascist, mindless, unthinking and dogmatic fanbois, and also what I considered to be unscrupulous, anti-competition business practices. As this New York Times article put it: Today there is no tech company that looks more like the Big Brother from Apple’s iconic 1984 commercial than Apple itself, a testament to how quickly power can corrupt.

This is where iTunes comes to mind. While I have told some people that I had to admit that iPod and iTunes changed the way that people consumed music, because consumers are no longer ripped off by record companies producing CDs. Indeed, paying US$0.99 for a song is way better than paying US$10 or more for a CD. However, I disliked how the Digital Rights Management [DRM] in iTunes limit where and how I can listen to music which were already paid for. Whatever the reasons for DRM, I really don’t give a flying damn about the argument how piracy would kill creativity etc when I looked at how some artists waste their lives away while living in extravagance.

Regardless of the above, I am reminded that the Apple ][ was the door of my entry into the computer world. I remembered the days when I played Taipan, Autoduel and even Ultima IV on an Apple ][ compatible that kept me company for years. I even learn my first programming with Basic on it, and actually wrote a small program that stored all my contacts – complete with sorting and editing feature! Sadly, the only Apple product that has made the greatest impact in my life was a creation of Steve Wozniak, not Jobs.

In spite of my dislike of Apple, I also have to admit that the iPhone brought new life to touch screen phones / PDAs because before that, touchscreen phones are far less responsive and very much lemons. Today, we don’t even need a stylus to use a touchscreen phone and Internet on the move has become more or less a reality as long as there’s cellular or a WIFI connection.

None of these would make me respect Steve Jobs though. In fact, his apparently lack of participation in charity and philanthropic efforts does not endear him to me at all. Surprisingly, I found a reason to respect him and let me quote from this article:

In the name of protecting children from the evils of erotica – “freedom from porn” — and adults from one another, Jobs has banned from being installed on his devices gay art, gay travel guides, political cartoons, sexy pictures, Congressional candidate pamphlets, political caricature, Vogue fashion spreads, systems invented by the opposition, and other things considered morally suspect.

From the perspective of IT support and administration, I can understand why he wants to keep opposing systems off his systems. It’s the same as why I want to stop users from installing anything they used at home onto the PCs in the office. And as someone who is against promoting and celebrating homosexuality, I can most certainly appreciate his stand on sexual morality. After all, it has always been my stand that while I can accept as a friend anyone who has decided to be homosexual, it doesn’t mean I have to endorse that choice or decision.

For all that’s worth and though I didn’t think so originally, I’ll give credit to Steve Jobs for the Apple he created and the marks it has continually made in consumer electronics and personal computing, and for being uncompromising in his stand on how the devices are used.

Rest in Peace, sir. The world may probably not see someone like you again for a long time.

Recommended Reads:
Chillycraps : An apple that changed the world

Random Discourse – A Case of Idiocy

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A case for repealing 377A

I refer to last Tuesday’s article (‘Study looks at sexual behaviour of gay men’).

The effort to glean information for the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted infections is admirable. But I am not surprised that the study has fallen far short of its target of 1,000 participants and has managed only a meagre 40.

With Section 377A of the Penal Code still in place, sex between men remains illegal in Singapore.

No matter how much confidentiality is promised, there will be understandable reluctance from potential participants. For, in effect, the study asks that gay men make the admission of having committed a criminal act.

Section 377A not only hinders important studies from being conducted, but also ties the hands of educators who should be teaching young ones the proper way to regard safe sex, irrespective of one’s sexual orientation.

In short, 377A is detrimental to the fields of medical research and education.

It should be repealed (just as Section 377 of the Penal Code outlawing oral and anal sex between men and women has been repealed), so that studies such as the above can be conducted without impediment.

Pamela Oei (Ms)

This was an forum letter published only on the online version of the Straits Times forum. The research in question was to determine the prevalence of syphilis and HIV infection among homosexuals. Tan Tock Seng Hospital consultant Mark Chen, explained that this was done because it has not been proven conclusive here even though overseas data has shown that homosexual men are more at risk of syphilis and HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

To justify something in the name of research reminds me of Japan, which says it is killing whales for ‘scientific research’. While I do not always agree with environmentalists or animal- rights activists, I would like Japan to actually explain what research are they doing by killing those animals, and why do they have to kill so many every year to do such research. Would they not be able to do the same without killing those magnificent creatures? In fact, I had often considered Japan to be shameless to use research to justify the killing. Thus, I can’t help but also consider it shameless when after failing to repeal Section 377A by arguing that it discriminates against a specific group of people, the argument now is that it is detrimental to the field of medical research and sex education.

To refresh everyone, Section 377A states that: “Any male person who, in public or private, commits, or abets the commission of, or procures or attempts to procure the commission by any male person of, any act of gross indecency with another male person, shall be punished with imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years.“

I take that to mean that any form of sexual intercourse between two male persons is a criminal act. Pamela Oei’s premise is that anyone who submit to this study would be admitting to having committed a criminal act and she believe that is the sole reason why there is a low number of participants. Have she considered that one of the reasons could be a lack of interest in such studies? Anyone who argues that homosexuality is related to a higher risk to STDs / VDs is often called a ‘homophobe’. So why would homosexual men participate in a study to determine something which they have always believed to be false? Sadly, Pamela Oei could only think of Section 377A as the only reason why there are few takers to this study.

Next, Pamela Oei’s argued Section 377A ‘ties the hands of educators who should be teaching young ones the proper way to regard safe sex. I would like to ask her, how would that be true? My limited knowledge on safe sex revolves around two very basic principles, they are: (in the words of the Sammyboy forummers) ‘raw is war’ – meaning you should never have unprotected sex; and it is best to be loyal / have only one sex partner. I believe these simple principles would apply to both heterosexuals and homosexuals. The other important knowledge about safe sex would include rudimentary knowledge about the kind of nasties that can be transmitted either orally or via the genitals, how fatal they are and the damage they do to one’s life. In summary, safe sex would be about the risk of unprotected sex, the seriousness and consequences of catching any of these diseases and the prevention. How would Section 377A be an obstacle for educators to impart such knowledge?

Pamela Oei should really understand how utterly lame and ludicrous she is. At times I wondered why some of the people who aren’t homosexual themselves seems more interested in homosexual activism than the homosexuals themselves. Perhaps they simply have nothing better to do and participation in such activities makes them look hip, cool or inclusive and even make them appear enlightened.

Addendum:
I believe some people will want to ask does that mean only a slave can speak up against slavery and I suggest you save the effort.

Two reasons. First, slavery is often forced upon another person and the same cannot be said about homosexuality – where the homosexual lobby often claims that it either a choice or a matter of genes. Second, I will not fall into the trap and elevate something which I consider as wrong to the same level as freedom.

I’ll tolerate any person who decides to be a homosexual, but just don’t expect me to celebrate or endorse that decision. Nor expect me to roll over and shut up in the face of any attempt to celebrate or endorse it.

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