My time in Hong Kong was very condensed this year. My apologies to the friends I could not meet this time. Thanks also to the great students from the MBA programme of Hong Kong University and the GBA stream coming in from Shenzhen to participate in a 5-day intensive course on Turn Around Management and Corporate Restructuring …
As I continued coming to Hong Kong, even during the pandemic lockdowns, I could now feel the optimism of an awakening city after hard years. Troubles started in 2019 with violent riots on the streets and then two years of being literally cut off. Still, crossing over to the Mainland, has some quarantine regulations in place, …
The University of Hong Kong has a small and pretty museum and art gallery at the Bonham Road entrance to the campus. I never fail to pay a visit here and enjoy the various exhibitions, especially those in a Chinese context. The works that are shown in the exhibition on “Chinese reverse glass paintings”, were in the 18th-century export articles to Western countries. Later, in the 19th century, they became popular in China too and often make reference to folk stories and popular literature. It would be wrong to call them “cartoonish”, but they illustrate often mythological stories in a quite pointed and dramatic way. It is about stories like Taking a boat trip on the West Lake, or The Legend of the White Snake. Other paintings are still lives of objects finally in the republican period, there are a lot of ladies portraited, a bit in the fashion of posters or even calendar illustrations. The exhibition has been assembled in collaboration with the Lei Ming Collection and is still running until January, 30th 2022.
Some years ago, I joked about Hong Kong, that it would not be a city but a vertical storage and logistic system for live human bodies. The whole purpose of Hong Kong is to move human bodies efficiently between boxes to produce GDP. I just spent two weeks of quarantine in Wanchai and was impressively demonstrated by my view on the cemetery that the final box of this process is the tiniest one and does not have windows. I am joking again. Of course, there are other things you can do professionally in Hong Kong. For example, build the boxes. Or think in boxes.
Don't get me wrong, I have fond memories of this city, as I lived on Lamma Island for five years. Some of the best of my life, I may say. I love the South China Sea, the outer islands, the hiking trails, the black kites, the Bauhinia trees, and some places where there is still a character of hard work against all the odds and succeeding. It was not long ago that people swam into Hong Kong for freedom and prosperity. And these people worked incredibly hard, and you can still find this culture of resilience in some quarters. If you want to learn something about entrepreneurship, then close the textbook and get a plane ticket.
In the end, Hong Kong is a historical anomaly. It would not exist hadn't the British violently forced open the Chinese market and occupying this "rock" for a hundred years before returning it to its homeland. Later as a colony and ruled by appointed governours to serve British interests, it became a loosely regulated financial centre - with all the consequences this entails.
Also, some local tycoons made their fortune, often by getting government concessions and licenses or by smuggling and drug trade and diversifying into Casinos in Macao. There is a fixed term for some British bankers who came here during the wild days: "FILTH" (Failed In London, Try Hong Kong). Recently, the pendulum is coming back, though. Let's call it FIHKRL; even it's hard to pronounce. So now London builds an amalgamation of FILTH and FIHKRL. It's probably a good choice that a comedian now governs the UK as a Prime Minister. At least in a democracy, people get what they deserve.
At 00:01 a.m., my quarantine ends, and I will go out into "the wild" again. I am looking forward to it, getting a first hand impressing and catching up with friends. On Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. I will start with teaching an 8 hour MBA block class. This is always a pleasure, and I hope I won't act too funny in front of the first real humans I see after two weeks. Forgive me if I do.
I am spending 2 weeks in quarantine in Wanchai. Public health policies in Hong Kong SAR here are an unfortunate mix of virology, superstition and politics. That’s why I am locked up here. But luckily, I have a lot to prepare, and also took the task of writing syllabi and filling in course alignment tables. Today, I got across Bloom’s taxonomy for cognitive levels. Reminds me a little of crossword competitions, when elderly ladies meet in the local community centre. I guess it’s like ISO 9000 for academics. So I just get it done. But there must be easier ways to play this game than with an Excel sheet, especially when thinking about aggregating all these on a School or University level to tick the box for some accreditation or government body.
It’s funny, I have never seen even a course syllabus in the old times. We just had a University-wide “Vorlesungsverzeichnis” (course directory) which you could buy for 5 Deutschmark at the university bookshop. This contained basic information, like the title and the lecturer and a brief description of the content. As a student, how I used this at the beginning of the term, was to mark all courses that interested me. If I did not know the lecturer, I went to their bulletin board to see what they were working on, and to the library to look up their publications. With a completely overloaded starting schedule, I then went to every first lecture for “speed dating” the courses and the lecturers. Only then, I had a look at the programme requirements and considered what I need to do, But these requirements (pre-Bolognia convention), were relatively loose. Should I have noticed that most of the things, I am interested in are not on my schedule, I would have changed to another programme, because obviously I was enrolled in the wrong game.
Now, this may sound inefficient. But I finished my studies at the appropriate time, with an outstanding grade and even received a research prize for my “Diplomarbeit” (master thesis). I also worked as a research assistant, and as a junior scientist in the UK, while still enrolled in Cologne (Germany). This allowed me, to pay back my Bafög (a sort of government student loan supporting my living expenses) in one instalment, which got me a huge discount. Together with being fast and having outstanding grades, I qualified for other reductions, and I really nearly paid back nothing. Tuition was free anyway, as it still is. I also received a little scholarship of 150 Deutschmark per month for books, which I mainly spent on oats, spaghetti and baked beans in tomato sauce. Books I got from the library. So, I also learned among these a few life skills. For my PhD I received a full scholarship from the DFG (German Research Foundation). This was of course far more specialized and I really had to drill deep in my subject. Even though, I was lucky to work in an interdisciplinary team (Graduiertenkolleg) of scientists and engineers.
Now, after a long corporate and entrepreneurial career, I am on the other side of the game. A lot changed. For about a decade already I am splitting my time between commercial work and academia. I am taking the practitioner's view on lecturing. This is why I do enjoy Executive Education and EMBAs quite a bit. But also the young and inexperienced students are great fun to teach. And for research, I have the privilege to get exposure in commercial projects, which give me a quite focused reason to find things out and apply them.
Perhaps also this attitude is rooted in my own University time, which I was very fond of. Besides my supervisor, Prof. Dr Helga Besler (yes my boss was a woman in a “man’s” domain), turned up another character: Prof. Dr Gerhard Bischoff, a geologist. He was trained as a German Luftwaffe-Pilot in 1943 - 1945, as a last agonizing attempt of Nazi-Germany, to get even younger men slaughtered, in the stage of “totalen Krieg” (total war). Luckily for him, he was not shot out of the sky, but the planes were destroyed unmanned on the airfield. So, what can a young pilot do after the war? For example, go to Australia, develop geomagnetic surveying equipment and explore by plane ore deposits for example. With further geological understanding, he realized also that there are oil source rock deposits on the Western Amazon, and as Chief Exploration Officer of Petroperu, he discovered oil there. This brought him to further think about his own plate tectonic models. When I had a geology exam in his office, he started with throwing me a stone ashtray and asked: “What is this?” Then he sat down on an elephant foot stump and lighted a cigarette, offering me one (which I rejected, being a non-smoker).
It was also no secret that the relationship between him and my boss, Helga Besler, was about more than just exchanging rock samples. One day a book volume of airborne photography of Namib dunes (her research field) turned up in her inbox as a gift. It was my job to manage the post for her, so I took this out separately and put it on her desk. Like with any gift from a gentleman, the price was concealed by black ink. So, she told me to go to the lab and try first ethanol, then acetone to find out how much he paid. I was afraid though, that the solvent may damage the book, and so I just went 2 floors down to his office, pretending that I want to buy the book also for myself and asked for the price. I was told the price, asked in for a chat, we looked through the book with the opening sentence: “And these are Helga’s dunes. I have been on the top. Quite a satisfying view”. Then came laughter and smoke blowing my direction. They don’t make these people anymore. They both passed away in 2001 and 2012, after a long and rewarding life, which also included some dunes.
I am deeply saddened that my dear friend Paul Forster passed away after a short sickness. My thoughts are with Claire, John and Vivien who lost their dad and life companion. Paul was deeply involved in questions of business ethics and the preservation of the environment. We had endless tea breaks to debate “the good, the bad and the evil” and philosophised about life, which now sadly ended prematurely for him. After I left Asia, we always stayed in touch, met annually in Hong Kong and constantly exchanged messages on where and how we were. Like this, Paul joined me on some of my strolls through the history of Malta or German forests by video stream. We always wanted to go out to these places together one day, once Paul has time to visit me in Europe. This would have been philosophical walks of nearly ancient Greek character. Clearly, it would have been me, who is the students in these dialogues. I was always impressed by Paul’s clarity of argument and sharpness of his questions, against the backdrop of his kindness and wisdom. We lost a true friend and his students a great Professor, a real educator, who cared passionately about preparing them for an uncertain future. Paul was often torn by injustice and truly wanted to make the world a better place. I know that, according to his Buddhist fate, he believes that he will be reborn and continue his journey. He is probably already around us again continuing his work. What a comforting thought this is. But, Paul, don’t forget to take a break - a short one at least. Rest in Peace - for a while.
Prof. Paul Forster on his staff profile at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) where he served the last 20 years (photo with kind permission)
After two weeks of quarantine, Hong Kong greeted me with a marvellous sunny and mild day. I spent all of it walking, and had to learn that being looked up in a room for that time, makes me shaky on uneven ground. This was really a long journey to Hong Kong. I could have taken the train from Tilburg through Chengdu down here (in normal times).
Another 6 days of 14 to stay in quarantine. It is not dull, but I do start missing to move around. Gymnastics is not the same as being outside or at least running up a staircase. But all this is not allowed. All I can do is open the window for a bit. Joints and muscles seem to ache more when you don’t use them. Nothing serious, just uncomfortable. Otherwise, I go with my days quite disciplined. I slept in the first day, as a result of jetlag and the hilarious journey. But the rest of the time, I am preparing material in the morning and then read in the afternoon. In the evenings, I listen to audiobooks. Now, it is Mikhail Bulgakov’s Master and Margarita. Before it was Max Frisch’s Homo Faber and Montauk. Audiobooks I find a good way to recapture on the common literature body. But I would feel strange to listen to a book, I never read before. I also tried some American nonfiction. Even though the books may be good, narrators with American accents talk very straight into your face. Then I tried a female American narrator, and it was like listening to Amy Coney Barrett’s pressing voice.
I am now down to one meal a day and rarely get hungry. Even I exercise, I need no energy at all above the base metabolism. For that, I made a choice of restaurants registered on Foodpanda. It works great. The driver delivers to the reception and the concierge will make sure it arrives quickly. I don’t have a microwave to heat things up. So, speed is essential. Then the bell rings; I put on my mask and Lisa, a middle-aged lady from South East Asia, has put my package on a little chair outside my door. Sometimes, I chat a few sentences with Lisa, who is very friendly. She takes care of at least a whole floor of quarantines, like me. This is my only human-human interaction. Then I get a call once a day, where I report my body temperature. Even with my laptop, I am very “connected”, I avoid private “Zoom calls”. I had a few calls work related to Tilburg University. But that’s it. I am quite lucky in this situation, that I am more of an introverted character. I can imagine for somebody extroverted, it must be hell.
I have a huge can of Nestle instant coffee. That was not a good choice. A friend made me aware of Aeropress. That looks like a handy piece of equipment, and I will get one for sure once I am out.
Tomorrow morning, I have to submit another specimen and submit it to a lab in Wanchai. For that, I booked a delivery service online. Let’s see how it goes. Only after confirmation of my negative COVID-19 test will I be released on Sunday, October 18th. Even though this is not pleasant for me, SARs 2 - COVID-19 is even less pleasant for others. I heard from friends, what it means to get it. And, seems not everybody has the immune response of the current US president. Whatever that story was. So, I instead keep a low viral footprint.
I am running my computer models to understand the spread of the epidemic. Some decades ago, I had the idea to use these models in marketing and treat it like a “disease”. These were interesting consulting projects in the 1990s. But rather than showing you my raw Pascal code, I recommend looking at the models merged below by Grant Sanderson, who also has a website I follow regularly: https://www.3blue1brown.com/
A ray of sunshine in quarantine: German organic apple juice.
I heard from a dear old friend, that some of the ancient faculty contracts with The University of Hong Kong contained a 3 months “home leave”. It assumed the “foreign” professors would retreat to London during the time of dreadful humid heat in South China, by means of a Lockheed Super Constellation via India or a ship through the Suez Canal. Compared with that, I was quick. But it was still my longest journey to Hong Kong. Actually, I still have not really arrived.
It started with the modern Airbus 340-300, operated by Lufthansa. Due to technical problems we had to abort boarding. They could neither mend it that night nor swap planes because of the night flight restrictions in Frankfurt airport. This meant a 16-hour delay and a night in a rather rundown nearby facility called Steigenberger Airport Hotel. Next day, the crew’s Covid tests had expired and had to be retaken. And as it sometimes happens a few of them turned out to be invalid and had to be redone again. This delayed the take-off for another 2 hours.
Arriving in Hong Kong, I found the airport was converted into something like a very professional field laboratory. Arriving passengers first had to scan a QRC with their smartphones and submit online a health declaration to the Department of Health. In return, you download a personal QRC which is your key through the process gates ahead. Next, you will get an electronic wristband, which you link to an App on your smartphone, again via QRC. Then you receive a lab sampling kit, watch a video explaining how to take a deep throat saliva sample and submit it. Thereafter you will be assigned a numbered chair and table in the former departure hall, grouped by planes. It looks like the setting of a huge exam and reminded me of taking “Abitur” (A-levels). There you sit 6 - 8 hours with a bottle of water and a few biscuits, waiting for the result. If negative, you go into quarantine for 14 days. When you arrived at your quarantine venue, you have to activate your wristband using your smartphone. Over the quarantine period, the smartphone app will alert you at random intervals (during daytime) to scan your wrist band and confirm your location. 12 days after commencing this, you have to submit another saliva sample by courier to a lab and wait until you are re-confirmed negative. Then you are free to go. If you don’t have a permanent residence in Hong Kong, you are supposed to check into a government-approved quarantine hotel. In my case, I choose a place in Wanchai, where it is easy to live of “Foodpanda” (a food delivery service) from the local restaurants and grocery stores which also use that service. You are not supposed to leave your room at any time.
It is a nice hotel on Hennessy Road. The staff is doing everything to make the stay as comfortable as possible. You will be greeted by somebody in full protective gear, with mask, gloves, face shield and disinfectant. It’s a government requirement and we joked about that I never before felt so much like being a biohazard. All deliveries will be contact-free and put in front of your door immediately. Once a day, you have to submit your body temperature, which was 36.4 °C today for me. You are of course not allowed to receive any guests.
Being locked in a room for 2 weeks is not something you are looking forward to. And I can’t say yet, how I will cope with it, as I am just now on day 1 of 14. But I am having for work and entertainment my laptop, a paperback of Evelyn Waugh’s The loved One (which I received as a gift before leaving Germany), and my Kindle book reader. I am, just now, listening to Marie Lafôret “Manchester et Liverpool”, as I write this, and having an instant coffee with milk powder. Life is good.
For exercise, I have been looking at inmate’s forums in the “Darknet”, exchanging ideas on how to exercise and keep fit in prison cells under solitary confinement. You see, the dark internet is not as dark as some might imagine. Neither is quarantine. I guess most of you have been in a prison at some time in your life, at least at a young age. Otherwise, I would consider you as boring and uninspired.
I also have a few comments to those fellow passengers who complained during the exhausting trip. Firstly, it is better to change an aircraft than to fly intercontinental with a technical defect which is classified critical.
Secondly, it is better to have night flight restrictions at Frankfurt airport and not to swap planes at night - putting a bunch of people into a (bad) bed, instead of waking up thousands. One was yelling at ground staff: “Lufthansa, has thousands of planes on the ground now! And you can’t get us a working one! How incompetent! Corona! … blablabla!”. I really admire how they take this bullshit with a smile. I could never do their job but probably would have taken him to the men’s room for a “chat”.
Thirdly, invalid Covid-Tests have to be retaken and the lab process takes a certain time. Otherwise, why do we take them at all? I know: “Nothing is impossible!!!”. Well, sorry to tell you: it is. This comment came from a typical “corporate style” business class passenger, who probably does not even know how a virus works and thinks a DNA is an abbreviation like ASAP (As Soon As Possible), meaning “Do Not Answer” (DNA), or something, perhaps USA - who cares?
And sure, yes, it was long waiting for Covid test results on a plastic chair in Hong Kong International Airport. I agree the biscuits were bad. But again: it is what it is. Quick tests have no approval yet. And the reason is, that we don’t know how well they work. Not everything which is annoying is based on “incompetence”. No, it is here even based on competence. Seriously. Doing it “quick and dirty”, we leave to the 80 / 20 people. These are the ones doing 20 % of the task to get praise, then throw 80 % of the shit at the others to get the blame. That’s “American style”. We don’t do that in Hong Kong. Look at the infection numbers to see the difference.
Finally, one fellow complained about “personal data protection” and resisted to submit to “Big brother”. Well, first of all, Hong Kong is a “Small brother”. And then, Covid-19 is a contagious disease, spreading easily. It’s not only your private matter. You can have your heart attack just for yourself. But this one is different.
Room with a view on Hennessy Road.
People in Hong Kong tend to do the same thing at the same time. This results, for example, in enormous swings in consumption when something becomes fashionable. May it be the new iPhone, a restaurant, a handbag or a celebrity. That's silly but harmless. But in times, where disease may strike the Special Administrative Region of China, it also is a self-amplifying environment for anxiety, superstition, homophobia and selfishness. No surprise the 2019-nCoV outbreak in China triggered again Hong Kong to make a fool of itself. For me, at a certain point, there was nothing to do anymore, and also nothing to help. So, I aborted my stay and flew out on a long trip through Dubai. Sorry, I did not post about culture, arts and experiences. All of that did not happen, and many other things did not happen as well.
After six weeks, I am leaving Hong Kong as planned. Since five months the city is in the grip of mass ignorance, incompetence and is terrorised by a small number of violent rioters. Daily life is ruled by avoiding disruptions, adjusting to event cancellations and rescheduling. On the campus of The University of Hong Kong, students go on their nightly spray of "F-words" with no content, but just brainless anger. Since a student of HKUST suffered a fatal brain injury by falling down a parking deck, there is beside the mourning, another round of black-dressed mob rampaging streets, vandalising shops and more and more also performing racist violence against mainland Chinese citizens. Even the tragical death of the student is misused for blaming the police. But if anyone is to blame for this accident, then it is those who fuel these rampages by agitation and misinformation; domestically and from abroad. Overall, many people have probably forgotten why they went to the streets in the first place. It's a circus.
Being struck by significant economic losses, soon people will lose their jobs in large numbers. Frustrations will mount, living conditions will deteriorate, and the brain drain is already setting in. People who speak out reasonably are silenced. Democratic candidates for the local council elections are threatened or even attacked, just by those people who claim they want more democracy. There are all kinds of fractions now, of which the ridiculous one also asks Donald Trump to send troops. People who can do so leave. Companies rethink their Hong Kong exposure and start pulling out, partly because of uncertainty coming from the recent amendment of the US 1992 Hong Kong act. Should the decline continue, some economists believe the pegging of the Hong Kong Dollar against the US Dollar may not sustain. Others think a potential capital outflow could be curbed by rising interest rates. This would have devastating effects on the economy again and let the housing crisis spiral down further. Last but not least, Hong Kong is turning for China from being an asset to a liability. Obviously, there will be soon alternatives to the functions Hong Kong has for China. And as soon as these become available, Hong Kong may sink like a stone in a pool of ignorance, arrogance and self-pity.
During my stay, I had two escapes to Malaysia from Hong Kong. One to Kotakina Balu (for a rest), the other one to Kuala Lumpur. Both I enjoyed, and especially Kuala Lumpur seems a viable alternative to Hong Kong for businesses which operate in South East Asia. The other, even more, an obvious one, is Singapore. I still hear often that Hong Kong would be a "gateway to China". Perhaps it makes sense to adjust this claim to the realities of the 21st century. I lived and worked for many years since 2003 in Shanghai and Beijing. If you want to go to China, go to China. And if Hong Kong does not see itself as a part of that, then that's Hong Kong's problem.
I regret, I could not meet even some of my best friends in Hong Kong this time. And many planned glasses of something cheerful stayed untouchched. But I hope we will have the chance to catch up again soon, may it be in the fallen city or anywhere else on the planet. Keep well. I will be back.
This year I stayed again in the Robert Black College Guest House on the campus of The University of Hong Kong. It is a rustique but quiet place, secluded from the Buzz of Hong Kong.
Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur and the KLCC. The city appears to be a viable alternative to Hong Kong when it comes to having a South East Asia headquarter. And it is much less cramped also.
Oyster farming in the mangroves close to Kotakina Balu.
The tensions have been building up, at least since I had moved to Hong Kong in 2006: dangerously unequal income distribution, monopolistic real estate development, and fading prospects for the young. I left Hong Kong and moved to Bejing in 2011.
After a century of British occupation, China left Hong Kong untouched and in the spirit of an experiment, whether an ultra-capitalist system can deliver superior living conditions and what can be learned from this. It has been evident for years that this experiment has failed. The British had set up a system of mistrust to the Hong Kong Chinese, and a tight mechanism of checks. But they did not build up a Hong Kong Chinese elite, which would be able to step into their role and at least lead somewhere. Like all their colonies, Britain has ruled these places for the benefit of Britain, not the local people. The tale that Britain brought infrastructure and education to colonies is often distorting the fact that this was only to exploit the colonies more efficiently and to have qualified servants. This is how Hong Kong, for example, became a city of accountants and completely failed to build up technical knowledge or the capability to innovate. Until today, large parts of the education system are mere training entities for useful skills. Very rarely, you find an educated person, and if so, they often come from the Chinese Mainland. One of the last British stunts before the handover was to make the British electric power socket compulsory, to fill their own order books, and make things incompatible to China. Divide and conquer down to a micro-level. I am sure the last British Governor, Chris Patten, has more romantic things to say. That's something they do well: talking.
Four months ago, the bubble burst (a second time). Millions demonstrated peacefully against the implementation of an extradition agreement between the Hong Kong SAR and its mother country. Hong Kong has extradition agreements with many countries. And given that one of the key "services" Hong Kong has to offer, is money laundry and facilitating asset transfers, you can imagine that China does not appreciate having a save heaven for economic criminals within its own borders. But sure, you can't ignore the fears of millions, so the extradition bill was withdrawn. But the frustration, of course, stayed because the extradition bill had nothing to do at all with the shortcomings of Hong Kong's governance. I guess it could have been anything sparking unrest.
Since then, the peaceful protests have bred a violent group going on rampages destroying public and private property and using iron rods, slings, brick, Molotov cocktails (petrol bombs), and sharp objects against citizens and the police. For what I have seen, the police are handling the situation very defensive. Just the fact that there have been until today no casualties is terrific. I cannot believe in any other country, at this level of violence, you would have nobody killed yet.
I have talked to University students ganging up for rampages. They don't know a lot of facts and have a very naive belief in what they think "democracy" can do. Riots give them a sense of belonging and "purpose" in their, at other times, boring and quite meaningless lives. Luckily most of them learned their infantry skills from catching Pokemon and other video games. I do believe they live in some augmented reality. But that they have no clue what they are doing, does not mean they can't be physically dangerous. If you have ever seen what happens in a chicken stable when they start hacking down on a chicken that struggles: this is how these kids fight. They smash from the back people who are struggling, and then they run. Not exactly Bruce Lee. At the same time, they talk of "police violence" and even demand an independent investigation. My guess is that this investigation would find that the rioters have been treated very mildly. Too mild for my taste. But that's perhaps a different cultural viewpoint.
The infrastructure is undergoing repairs, while the rioters now focus their violence on Mainland Chinese shops and tycoon's property. I had to tell a bunch of them off today who wanted to make trouble to the staff in a Park & Shop convenience store (owned by Li Ka Shing, who definetly is a contributor to the struggles of Hong Kong people). They would really harass some of the poorest of the poor Hong Kong shop workers, laboring in this store "to teach Li Ka Shing a lesson". What a bad joke! I can't help thinking of the Nazi mob in Germany in 1933 looting and burning Jewish stores. This was the beginning of a very dark chapter in world history. I hope here things clear up and start to tackle the real issues. In the end, most of Hong Kong's problems are homemade. And if China would not protect and support Hong Kong SAR, most of the accountants here would be already back to fishing.
Star ferry to Kowloon. The good news is that it’s not crowded.
I understand, it’s hard to “think outside the box”, if you live like that (opposite Belcher’s Towers, Pokfulam)
Stanley Tin Hau Temple
I discontinued my travel blog a while ago. Not that I ever thought I would be writing significantly on travel, but I still enjoy reading the classical genre. So, I became interested in joining the travel writing forum “From here to there” at the Hong Kong International Literary Festival, to find out where modern travel writing is going. It was a very shallow experience. Stephen Vines, a columnist at the South China Morning Post (SCMP), moderated a panel of three. Starting off by mistaking being unprepared for “humor”, I was looking forward to Geoff Dyer who at least knew what he was talking about. Geoff distanced himself immediately from being a “travel writer” to being a writer who travels. I did not understand why from the beginning. But then the two other “travel writer” panelists came into play and it became clear to me: Vicki Williams and Vivian Tang. Vicki and Vivian were of a different kind. Obviously you need no opinion or ability to articulate one to be an “opinion leader”. They were clearly not burdened by any kind of knowledge or education on the subject. When comparing the adventures of Victorian travelers with today, there came: “… sometimes I don’t even know what I will have for dinner on my plate”. This was the moment I busted laughing and decided to take the event as a bad stand-up comedy. Vivian embraces local knowledge by traveling with local guides and enjoys luxury yachts. She also found a beach in Hong Kong which had no geotag for Instagram. Isn’t that funny? Luckily, I have also been in a very interesting session before with the author Dung Kai-Cheung. Otherwise, I would have suggested to rename the festival into “Hong Kong Literacy Festival”, to celebrate what‘s left of it. If this was really the future of travel writing on display, then I guess Tripadvisor is up for a Nobel Prize.
My Nokia phone broke down about a month ago, after great lifetime. So, I went to one of the many electronics shops in Hong Kong and opted to replace it with a HUAWEI P20 Pro. It has rather high specs and is marketed by having a co-designed camera with Leica. Quickly I figured that this phone is not a phone. It is more of a pocket computer with a quite good camera, which can also to phone calls. I always thought that taking photos with a phone is more of Lomographie than photography. But have a look yourself below: these photos are all unedited, like they came out.
Hong Kong Park on the morning run
Lock Cha Tea House, where I tend to hold my “office hours”
Hong Kong Park view
Chinese lanterns in Macau
Grand Lisboa Hotel in Macau
Pawn shops are the real center of power. If in a prime location, you just sit on this land with a building like this, then you don’t need the money of the developers.
Street in Macau, where I stayed.
Macau is full of sharks. Here one of them.
Macau Ferry Terminal upon arrival in Hong Kong
Lamma Island towards the South, seen from Mount Stenhouse.
The Bauhinia flower is the Hong Kong, city flower. It is also symbolic on Hong Kong’s map.
Fallen Bauhinia on the granite staircase up the Hong Kong Zoological Garden.
In November 2016 I left a student feedback pack and a letter on the South of Lamma Island, behind Mount Stenhouse (click here for previous blogpost). Two months later, in January 2017, an expedition of students from the Master in International Management of Tilburg University made an attempt to reach the location. They came very close, but needed to abort (rightly so) due to the risk of getting caught in the jungle in the dark. Now, in December 2017, I am happy to receive news from to me unknown fellow hikers in Hong Kong: the letter was found. Both, the fact that they climbed up there and secondly that they had sharp eyes (finding a hidden letter under a rock), makes me think they are nice people. Thanks for mailing back, and I hope we can join for a hike one day when I am back in Hong Kong. Inspired by this, when the currents around the Maltese Island are heading towards the Libyan coast, and the winds are Northerlies, I will also launch a message in a bottle. How anachronistic in the world of instant social media. But it's just nicer.
The cover of the letter I left on Mount Stenhouse, found and photographed by Alex Leung
I am again leaving Hong Kong at the end of my latest stay. Now it is the 11th year, since the territory was my home and later my destination. The tree I planted five years ago in the jungle of Lamma Island has been succeeding in its struggle for light, and is now ranking above the bushes. The Bauhinia tree in front of my guesthouse window, at the steep edge of the campus of the University of Hong Kong, blossomed late this year. It was an exceptionally warm autumn. I will continue returning to Asia in the years to come. Even though Hong Kong is in a self induced decay, it is still a base in the centre of an exciting world region. And when it further merges in the Pearl River Delta region, it will also have a broader role to play again. Never the less, the size of such, is not why I am here anyway.
Bauhinia tree outside my window.
Following the advise not to do physical exercise after receiving my influenza vaccination (colloquially also known as flu shot or even "jab" for those who prefer to speak reduced vocabulary), I decided to instead visit the University Museum and Art Gallery of The University of Hong Kong. This is one of the few cultural stepping stones, you may set foot on when walking the territory, and not wanting to dip into shopping malls and crowds. I was attracted this time by the photo exhibition featuring the pictures of the Hungarian the surgeon Dr. Dezső Bozóky, taken during his travels in East Asia 1907-1909, and illustrating his impressions by quotes from his diary. As we all know, it was a very different Hong Kong back then.
Man Mo Temple,124–126 Hollywood Road (1908)
I liked the exhibition a lot (which will be on until January 8th), and also I spent quite some time with studying the catalogue which is a documentation of views and thoughts by the visiting photographer from a different time. It is available for 150 HK$ (about 18 Euros) in the museum's tea house, which is also recommended, and one of the places I like to hang out when I am here. The rest of the museum is either redecorating or lost a few of its exhibits from the accessible areas. But it is still a nice place with a long gone Hong Kong spirit.
Queen's Building, Central waterfront, and Kowloon Ferry Pier (1908)
60 Queen's Road, looking towards the Pedder Street Clock Tower (1908)
Dezső Bozóky's photos show street scenes, portraits and landscapes of and in Hong Kong 1907-1909. They are presented as glass slides of about 30 cm x 30 cm and are partially hand coloured.
Cover pages of the catalogue and exhibition leaflet
Today, I ran up to the Victoria Peak, not just for normal exercise, but to observe the landing of the tropical cyclone "Haima". First comes absolute silence, then rain, then torrential floods, and then the furious wind kicks in. It seems most people observed the warning not to go outside, and the loneliness added to the spectacular atmosphere. As I was brought up in a forest, I followed my instinct which path to take and which other to avoid. You get a feeling, which tree will hold and which one might not. But it's of course not more than a feeling. The best is to stay away from them - if you can. Just a falling branch can cause serious damage.
Hong Kong in suspense, waiting for Taifun "Haima". Just before noon time on the 21st of October, 2016.
Hong Kong neither feels home anymore, nor in any way exotic. Don't know what it really is for me at this point in time. To be fair, this time I have not seen much, because I was extremely occupied last week and spent my time in Cyberport. Now I am back to campus. Let's see what I will discover in the month to come.
Back to campus in Pokfulam
Bel Air residential development adjacent to Cyberport. Not really thinking outside the box.
View from the new part of the main University campus
Life at the Westwood exit of the MTR (subway) station Hong Kong University.
