Hong Kong is a little less fun nowadays

Just returned from a short jaunt to one of my favourite Asian cities - Hong Kong - and I left feeling a little disenchanted with the pace of change that's sweeping the city.

Old hole-in-the-wall eats have made way for mid-to-large sized commercial chains (not necessarily F&B) as rentals get jacked up by property owners. The irresistible 'ka-ching' of better returns mean shovelling out mom & pop local food joints, and throwing out a red-carpeted welcome to branded stores willing to fork over inflated rental fees in the heart of the shopping districts, like Causeway Bay and its surrounds.

The trail of such joints shrivelling up at familiar spots on both the Hong Kong island and Tsim Sha Tsui sides have dampened my enthusiasm in visiting Hong Kong for eats nowadays. Add to that the joy of serendipitous discoveries of makeshift noodle stalls with mouth-watering menus in side alleyways.

I hear the old eating shops have either closed for good or moved further north towards outer Kowloon or the New Territories. One day they'll be forced out for good. Sign of progress, or regression at the mercy of commercialisation?

Having said that - the Hollywood/SoHo area still retains much of their easy, laid-back Cantonese neighbourhood charms, and while the expat community is existing cheek-by-jowl with the locals circa the Mid-Levels, the import of a deeply rooted eclectic F&B culture is not lost on the proprietors of those joints. While new cultural melting pots (by way of e.g. Thai, Vietnamese etc) have invaded the neighbourhood, it retains enough of an Asian-ness and Hong Kong-ness not to be mistaken for some western enclave with token Asian food joints. Let's hope it stays that way.

My wish for Hong Kong is to embrace the old with the new, and not to destroy the charm that these local mom & pop eats provide alongside the gleaming skyscrapers that dot the city skyline. If nothing is done to arrest the slide, soon we'll only be holding onto distant memories of a rich local experience that visitors have enjoyed from the island itself - and that can't be good.

A little misery ... plus some joy

It's miserable to not be able to exercise, but that's been my situation for the past couple of weeks as my left foot hurts like mad. Old injuries plus a new one all combined to create a hobbled, slow movement - I'm almost limping from point to point.

The doctor has advised me to stay away from 'running' during this period, and I guess that's what I need to do.

Music-wise, it's been quite positive - the band plays a gig tonight, with another lined up a month hence. The new singers are working out, but they could be groomed for bigger tunes. We'll take what we've got for now.

Work-wise, it's been a quarter of freelance jobs, but it's been good as I don't have to deal in corporate BS any longer. It's been a great recharge for the spirit and I'm beginning to love what I do again - writing.

Anyway, hopefully I'll get past this bleak spell with my foot, and return to running again - I've got 2 races to train for (Oct and Dec), and I need to get the mileage in. Wish me luck.

Creaky bones

Man, I feel creaky. Just completed the Sundown half-marathon last night before the skies opened up and let loose. But it wasn't the luck of missing being drenched - it was more a case of ITB and knees protesting the distance they were asked to run on.

Creaked past the finish line after 2:30 hrs, and I was glad to be done. I was almost tempted to just give up after the ITB started to pull me up. Had to maintain a very slow and measured pace in case I overdid it. The knees also hurting at some point - thankfully nothing serious erupted.

Anyway, it's been 4 weeks since I've left my job, and returned to journalistic writing, and it feels good, and right! I guess it's a case of 'you don't' know what you've missed until it's gone'. Not sure what the next few weeks will bring, but I might continue down this vein if nothing much else comes along.

Strangely, I'm still quite busy with a few things - chief of them being an Animal Awareness Project that I'm spearheading with a bunch of volunteers - hopeful that will culminate into something concrete in October this year. WIll update the progress once we get our inaugural meetings underway next week.

Till, here's creaky bones signing off.

Freedom

So I handed in my resignation letter a month ago, and I'm serving out my final week's notice. I am happier than I had been in months, and this was noticeably evident to my soon-to-be ex-colleagues.

What happened? I believe that the adage "people leave their managers, not their companies" is true - I threw in the towel because I needed a break from my manager. If you're wondering what I'm talking about, here's some enlightenment from this article - "Why Your Employees Are Leaving".

With that move, I've regained my smile, my stress has evaporated, and I'm looking forward to being free from the corporate jungle.

I'm not sure what lies ahead, but I'm sure that a couple of months off to recharge, rejuvenate, and recalibrate will do wonders.

Lots of 'me' time to really think about next steps, plan them out, and then execute. Meanwhile, I'll get back to running, playing football (or soccer), lots of stuff to read, play music, and spend loads more time with the family.

Wish me luck!

I Remember ... 9/11

 (A stream of consciousness writing - forgive the rambling)

I remembered it was dinner time in our little island, and we were watching the news, and there was a ticker tape news alert that scrolled across the screen - screaming "a tower of the World Trade Center has been hit, by a plane!"
I thought - yeah, right ... was this a joke?
No, it wasn't - 'cos a few minutes later - we saw actual footage of a second plane plunging into the other tower, erupting into a fireball, slicing the pristine glass wall of the tower into two ...
My mouth gaped, I couldn't tear my eyes off the screen
Somebody wake me up - this isn't for real!!!!!!

I remember feeling aghast, numb, helpless, shocked beyond belief
Afraid for those who were in the area, in the buildings, dead, or dying. My memories of NYC, so vivid and one of the best cities I've had the fortune to visit, and now the twin towers, on whose viewing platform I had stood and watched the minuteness of Manhattan's boroughs, had gone ... crumpled in a heap of dust and destruction, burying the humanity - that had worked there, had visited as tourists - snuffed out as an American symbol of innovation, progress, and ideally, democracy.

I remember, trying to come to terms with my grief, trying to make sense of the chaos in my mind, my heart, and consoling friends who experienced the same turmoil.

Why was this allowed to happen? Who allowed this to happen? America, for all its faults, held an ideal - if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere (or was it New York?) - and the shattered dreams of millions around the world went to bed with the dust heap of the twin towers.

America reacted bravely, foolishly, blindly, unilaterally, and in their helplessness, isolated friends, broke off friendships, gambled with lions, slept with cheetahs, ran with hyenas, chased its own tail, and flailed - fleeing like a being gone berserk, hitting out at anything and everything, abandoning the voice of reason, of conscience - America!!!!! Where have you been? Where are you going????

I longed for the America of pre-9/11, no one knows where it's gone, or if it'll ever come back.
I longed for the Bohemia I experienced when I was traipsing around the Village, for instance, feeling like I belonged, at once an alien and a native, in the heart of NYC, a city with so much promise, potential, optimism, beauty, hope, spontaneity, camaraderie, a jazzed-up free-form quality I've grown to love, and imbibe, and partake, and proselyte.

I remember, going about in the days hence - stumbling about in a stupor, questioning, getting no real answers, clawing at the wrong doors, asking the wrong questions of the right people, getting the right answers from the wrong sources. Disbelief grown strong, disillusionment stronger.

But the human spirit is indomitable, unbreakable, resilient - we are cut down, and we come back up. Stand up - steadfast, unshakable, unmovable, unmoving, resolute. Stare down the oppressors of hope, and plant your flags deep - mark that spot for all to see. Let's renew our faith in humanity's ability to right the wrongs.

I remember I wanted to express my grief, of hopes dashed, stolen, appropriated - how dare you!!!!!! I wanted to write a song, but cynically, it was a cliche, and you know as well as I that the worst thing one could do to the memory of something beautiful was to render it a cliche - never!!! I swore! never write a cliche!

Ten years on, the song hasn't found it's way out, although it has taken root, and will feed and mature with time, and I shall resist temptation until it's time. I can only express my frustration with words, and even so, not even come close to articulating anguish, my anguish, as fresh as it was today as ten years ago. Maybe numbed with age.

I remember watching footage of the crater, a pockmark on the face Manhattan, and wondering how people would cope. But cope they did, and they moved on. Lives could never be the same, it's the new normal, as someone wryly said.

I will remember you - and I shall smile, in hope - hope that we must rebuild, and strengthen, our belief in humanity again.

Nike+ GPS watch

I was so excited to finally buy one of these - did a pit stop in San Francisco's Niketown to pick this up for $199 ($217-something after taxes).

Went back to the hotel and downloaded the latest firmware onto the laptop, plugged in the watch's USB stick, and synchronised the watch to the Nike plus website.

The next day, I took it out for a run. Hit the 'yellow' button, and waited for the GPS (powered by Tom Tom) to work, but it was still linking after 5 minutes. I gave up and just started running - it took me another couple of hundreds of metres before the watch linked up with the satellites overhead, and started functioning.

After that, it was a breeze to track where I was heading, my pace, the calories I spent, and the time I took to run the distance. I loaded the information onto Nike plus when I got back to the hotel, and voila! everything was recorded and measured.

I must say this is a fun watch to have, and the GPS function is basically what I needed. The watch itself is black, with flourescent green trimmings, and the digital readout on the screen is large enough for anyone with average eyesight. A neat feature is the backlight - which is activated by a firm tap on the watch face itself. I thought it was cool to have that instead of fumbling around for the right button to press.

Verdict? A 9/10 for the watch - if the GPS had linked straightaway after I set it, it would have scored full marks. Still, it's highly recommended for runners who just require a GPS to track their distance and speed while outdoors.

What's going on?

Riots happening across the world today - the Arab states, in London, and where else? Unrelated, but somehow wound together across a global tapestry of news and social disenfranchisement.

As Marvin Gaye once sang: "What's going on?" ...

While this could be the surfacing of political undertones in repressed regimes, the catalysts for the Arab Spring and London's burning are seemingly different, and differing.

Over in this country, we thankfully enjoy a greater deal of tranquility - nothing matches the bewildering acts of senseless violence in London.

However, because of this, some people are wont to wear their political leanings on their sleeves, or even worse, pronounce their blinkered world views to the public. There isn't a hint of irony when they pluck statements about law and order in other countries out of context, and apply their prejudices to their condemnation of e.g. London's troubles.

Is it because they have been brainwashed by the local political incumbent - as a prerequisite for joining their quasi-commercial entities? Or do like attract like? I don't know, but I am slightly alarmed at the navel gazing such people exercise, while proudly proclaiming it to all and sundry.

It's my hope that people will come to their senses, that peace will prevail, and that communities will cast aside their differences to better the lot of humanity. Is that too much to ask?