And what's in it for me?

Good news on the financial front: Apparently Hong Kong is raking in money hand over fist, with a huge budget surplus. So what does that mean? Kickbacks to all, both locals and gweilos! It's really a mixed bag in the end, though.
1) The taxes on beer and wine imports has been eliminated. Gone. Squelched. Yaaay! The only thing that is taxed in this city is wine, liquor and spirits, and they've gotten rid of 2/3 of that, and the part that affects me. In a way, this pretty much makes up for the feeble/nonexistent raises I've gotten since I arrived in Hong Kong, if the savings are passed along to the drinkers. That said, the last time they cut taxes on beer, all of it was not passed along to the consumer. The distributors just looked at the tax cut as a way to build in a higher margin to their profits; if the tax on a bottle of beer was lowered $4HK, they would cut their price $3HK.
Plus, considering the main imported beer is from Belgium, it's a wash at best because the euro keeps on getting stronger and stronger. (The HK $ is tied to the US $, so as the greenback tanks, so does my honky.)
Plus, as a coworker pointed out, the government needs to set aside some of this surplus to pay for liver treatments at the public hospital because of said tax cut.

2) Tax cuts! Well, on my salary at least. The maximum tax rate will now be 15 percent, which means my tax burden will fall slightly below that when all is said and done. Plus, I will get a one-time tax reduction of $25,000 HK, or about $3300 US give or take a little bit. Puts the US stimulus package of $600 US per person to shame. No real downside to this one.

3) Free electricity. This one is strange, but does make sense in it helps all. Everyone who has residential electrical service - I assume that means me, as the bill comes in my name - will get $1800 HK for their electrical bills. Yes, free power. In the wintertime, that pays my power bill for 4 months; in the summertime, that pays about a month and a half of my bill when the air conditioner is running full time.
That said, a big part of the budget announcement was the government acknowledging the environment is a top concern here. So what better way to help clear the skies than grants for everyone so they can blast their air conditioning more than ever?

The burning thoughts on minds in Japan

I kept on hearing the same questions concerns in Tokyo over the weekend, and kept on coming up with the same answer. (Well, besides "Who is going to become US president?"
1) Japan is losing its way economically, and China is becoming too big. Japan has probably the highest standard of living in the world, once you aggregate all the factors. And you can't continue to grow as Japan did in the 60s and 70s; it is now a mature economy and has leveled. Or to put it another way: Would you rather be making $100,000 US a year with 2 percent raises, or making $10,000 a year with 12 percent raises for the next few years? Sure, you're getting crappy growth, but you overlook the fact you make six figures of income.
2) Kids today are lazy. Or stupid. Or they don't work hard enough. Yes, as is the same problem with every generation. Just like rock music today sucks, as people who grew up in the 50s said about rock from 1967, and people who were teens in the 60s said in 1979. Just ask my friend, Crom: Bands today suck compared to vintage Ratt from the 1980s.
3) Is Japanese a good language? Now this question came out of left field. People were concerned about all things Chinese, and how it is intrinsically a better language, especially better sounding. Mandarin does not even come close to sounding melodic, I had to assure them. Yes, Japanese is a fluid, sweet-sounding language. Trust me on this one: Japanese (I say because so many words end in vowels) flows together poetically, much like Italian. Mandarin, however, is much more of a jackhammer language, with plenty of quick, short bursts.
Have faith, Japan. You're doing fine.

on high

File under making the most of your space: Things you don't see from street level, but from 40 stories up. Like an old cemetery, hidden behind some walls and nestled behind buildings. That's all.

17.5 kilos holds a lot of happiness

1) There was no music festival or baseball this time, but I still had a blast in Tokyo. It wasn't your usual cultural trip; in fact, the only real cultural thing I did was go to Ueno Park one day to wander around and try to see some art (failed at that, as the museum was closed) and go to Rippongi the following afternoon to see more art (succeeded at that one, with one of the best curated museums I've ever been in.)
Nope, this trip was about recharging and renewal.
And lots of drinking.
I've been working a ton since the end of November, and this trip was meant as a reward. It wasn't cheap - Tokyo vies with London as the most expensive city you could do a weekend trip to, I think - but it was worth it. Heck, when your hotel is just a half black from Ooze Charm cafe, you know you'll have a good time.
I probably did more drinking than is good for a normal human. I spent the first two nights with some higher-ups at our partner business in Japan. They took more than good care of me. On the first night, Thursday, Kouichi met me at Ushi Tora - my favorite Tokyo bar - before we headed to his neighborhood of Ueno for many Suntory whiskies (yes, the one in Lost in Translation) and Schochu, which is made with the second pressings of sake ingredients. It can either be yummy or harsher than jet fuel. Mine was yummy, but oy, does it leave a hangover. We ended up at a tiny bar off an alley down a side street near his house, being served Schochu and water by a woman in a kimono, who thanked me for visiting her bar by giving me a set of handmade chopsticks.


Japan may be expensive, but its residents do hospitality like no one else. Tell me what other country gives you crafts as a gift for visiting their bar?
But this first night set a dangerous precedent of long nights out, followed by long mornings in sleeping it off. I was hoping to see more of the cultural sights, but sleep seemed like the wiser choice.
And I don't feel bad about that at all. I still got to see some great art - my #1 cultural goal on my trip there - and I got to meet new and old friends there and share many drinks with them. As I travel more, I enjoy that more and more. When I head home to Chicago, do I go to the Sears Tower? Nope, I go for dinner and drinks with friends, just as I hope to do in Paris later this spring. Sure, seeing a new temple is fun, but after a while, it's just another temple. However, the memories of fun nights out with friends in strange cities will last me much, much longer.
Plus, nobody can make miso pizzas, avocado sashimi and pork belly and field greens like Ushi Tora. Nobody. And they're the perfect portion size for sharing with a pint of Baird Beer IPA.

2) So what did I do on the other days?
On Friday, I wandered around Ueno Park before meeting two others from our partner business for a night of Shabushabu, where you get beef and vegetables and cook them in a broth in front of you. At the end, the broth makes a soup that may have been the tastiest I have ever had.
On Saturday, I met up with translator friend to go beer shopping in the suburbs before a night at Ushi Tora. And then on Sunday, we met up to go to a beer tasting before another night at Ushi Tora.
The beer tasting Sunday was held at a small bar that specialized in American beers and bourbons. They had empty bottles of Gumballhead in the window, and Three Floyds beer in their cooler (albeit for about $20 US a 750ml bottle). Their bartender was wearing a shirt from Delilah's in Chicago, my favorite punk rock beer bar in the world, and the owner has drank there a few times, and we swapped stories of drinking there and at the Map Room.
Japan is getting dangerous. Every time I go there, I find more reasons to go back more and more. This may become a dangerous addiction, this country.



3) This is why Japan rocks. They do everything to perfection. When I stopped at the liquor store on Saturday, they let you try the beers in their store, then serve you cheese, sausage, lotus crisps and other goodies to pair them with. And when you buy the beer, it only costs you $10 US to have them pack it up in bubble wrap and deliver it to Narita airport, where you just pick it up from a courier counter maybe 20 meters from your check-in counter.
My baggage allowance was 20kgs total, which I thought was incredibly low. But it's amazing how much beer you can get with that total. I only used 17.5 kg total, but lemme tell you, that is about 38 pounds of Japanese microbrew bliss for me. Yes it's geeky to use all of your baggage allowance for beer. But I would bet a paycheck I'm the only person in Southeast China with the beers below. (Plus, they even include a little hand-written thank-you card in the boxes full of beers. I love this country!)

Hidatakayama bock, I think.
Baird Beer West Coast White Wine
Baird Carpenter's Mikan Ale
Hitachino Commemorative New Year's Ale
Baird Hatsu-Jozo Double IPA
Hitachino Espresso Stout
Kadoya Triple Hop Pale Ale
Griotte "The morelo cherry of the French product"
Baird Snow Storm Strong Dark Ale
Minoh Seasonal Beer, double IPA I think
Baern Chocolate Stout
Hitachino Red Rice Ale
Baern Schwarz Black Beer
Baird Teikoku IPA
Baern Ursus Winter Beer

I've only had a few of these beers so far, but I'm sure you can guess I'll like most of them.


Who's playing in Tokyo soon, near the Tokyodome? Well, Toto and Boz Scaggs, of course.


A final picture on why the Japanese do things so well. It's the little things, like courier services, thank-you notes and gifts, and rooftops.
Yes, rooftops. This is a shot from about 40 stories on an observation deck, looking down on a 20 story building. Every other culture would just leve the rooftop bare, with maybe a few air-conditiner or heating vents for decoration. But in Tokyo, they make it a little park that you can enjoy.

Thinking inside the grid

1) Today I made the mistake of trying to cab it Wan Chai to buy a computer bag before work. Normally, it would be a 10 minute ride there but not today; the Hong Kong marathon was earlier this morning. Part of the route was on the main highway running along the harbor, so every car was taking the local routes underneath it. After about 45 minutes in the cab, the driver knew I was not happy and wisely suggested to drop me off at the closest subway stop.
It wasn't his fault that traffic was backed up, but for all the joys of Hong Kong cabbies - they're cheap, clean, knowledgeable, plentiful and dutifully honest 99 percent of the time - the one thing they sometimes fail on is improvising. Maybe it's the whole zen mentality of driving here, where there is minimal road aggravation, let along rage, and where if someone signals to change lanes, you let them in instead of cursing at them. Maybe it's the whole Hong Kong notion that money is money, and cabbies will try to find the cheapest route somewhere, even if it only saves you 50 cents US but costs you an extra 15 minutes.
No matter the reason, cabbies aren't good at improvising on the fly in crowded situations and immediately coming up with a shortcut that gets you there faster.
Why? I think it's all about the grid system, or lack of one here. Here, there is no grid, just a lot of one-way streets on hills and lots of curves and cutbacks. There may be three ways to get to a place, but they are three totally separate ways, and none intersect with each other. To drive in this city, you have to know every street to know how to get somewhere. You can't just drive in the direction and cut back quickly, because if you miss the turn you may have drive an extra 10 minutes before you hit the right combination of streets to cut back.
Compare that with Chicago. It's the ultimate grid system; major streets every 4 blocks, arterials every 8, with diagonals every 8 blocks on average too. It's a bicyclist's dream; there are a million ways to get somewhere. Very quickly, you can learn what are the fast streets, and which are backed up. You learn what streets cut to where and what ones to avoid on Saturday afternoons. It forces quick thinking, and the ability to make a decision instantly. Do I cut down to Chicago to Wood, then down to Grand to Michigan Ave? Or do I cut up to Division with the bike lane, then cut down Milwaukee to Chicago?
Either way, grids force you to learn to recognize shortcuts immediately and think on your feet, which cabbies are not used to here. Where does that leave me? Stewing in the cab today, as the cabbie stayed in his lane, which wasn't even moving, instead of pulling a quick lane switch, cutting down by the ferry pier and then swinging around the IFC before driving through to Queen's Road, which didn't have traffic. I could see that route instantly; he just sat politely in his lane.
I'm sure there's a term paper here on why cities with grid systems have the best entrepreneurs.
2) I wrote previously about the band DP, which I saw in Cyberport the other week. They played Saturday on the Lamma ferry pier. One of the bands playing before them was El Destroyo, a local rockabilly band that would have fit right in at my old watering hole, Delilah's, on Wednesday night, rockabilly night; they do a mean cover of "Sam Hall." Things may be looking up musically in this town, after all.
That said, I was looking at the ads by the escalator coming out of the MTR. Three big international acts in the next month: Bjork (much like salmon, I can appreciate that she is quite good, but just not good for me), Santana (I'm not desperate enough to see this dinosaur act) and Backstreet Boys (this just makes me cry, that bands like this can sell a concert here but Wilco can't.)

On a cold night, after a tough day at work, there's nothing you'd rather pop in your mouth than ...

pork faggots! Mr. Brain's pork faggots, as a matter of fact.
Which really is freaky, once you learn that faggots are just British meatballs made with offal for the most part. But Mr. Brain's? Really not a good name to associate with something that already has dubious ingredients. Mmmmmmm....Bbbbrrraaaaiiiinnnnsss! It's what zombies crave!
And makes a faggot a faggot? Well, nothing but the finest water, rusks, pork rink, pork liver, onion, pork, pork fat (notice a trend here?), wheat flour, salt, sage and spice extracts.
One of the fun things in Hong Kong is the upscale gweilo grocery stores carry all sort of comfort foods from countries all around the world, due to the city's international nature, and the fact that most expats here make ungodly gobs of money and can afford to pay for the foods they crave, like Japanese chocolates, Korean kim chi and all sorts of British sausage products. I only first heard about these pork faggots last week, when a friend (who now is linked to the right of this post) posted something on her blog about the faggots. She came across them in a store in Oxford, England, where she's studying right now. In one of those weird coincidences in life, just a few minutes after I first saw Joyce's post about faggots, another friend send me a photo on my cell phone with the exact same product; it is now being sold at City Super, one of the upscale stores in town. That kind of coincidence meant I had to go buy these things.
I'll do a food review once I make these bad boys.

2) I may be eating these sooner rather than later, as the town is still shut down on the fifth day of lunar new year. For those of you who have visited HK, imagine it with about 1/50th of its normal population wandering the streets. That's no lie; lunar new year week is like christmas day in the states, but for the entire week. Everything local establishment shuts down and people go home to visit their families. Singles are supposed to receive money from their married relatives as part of this tradition. Hint, hint.


3) I doubt many readers in the states would have heard about this, as most newspapers - heck, most forms of media, period - have cut way back on, or eliminated entirely their coverage of foreign news. It's not like the Chinese economy has any impact on workers in the states whatsoever, or unrest in Pakistan can come back to bite the US in its ass one day or that India and China buying every resource in sight has any impact on gas prices.
Southern and central China were slammed, starting about two weeks ago, with winter storms, the worst in 50 years. This also coincided with the start of lunar new year, which for a lot of the factory and other migrant workers in the industrial hearland of south China is their only chance to get home for the entire year. Trains were shut down for days, along with most road transportation. Reports estimated that 200 million train travellers were delayed in their quest to get home. And this isn't just a few hours' delay, but days and days of delays. And when you only get to go home once a year, that's a huge deal. But they put up with it, waiting at the train station for days at a time, trying to get home.
Above is a picture of the station at Guangzhou, about an hour west of HK, where hundreds of thousands of people - yes, six figures' worth of travelers - waited at the rail station to go home. This is the crowd outside the station just as trains started to get rolling again.
So next time someone in the states bitches about lines during Thanksgiving, just remind them it could always be worse. Much, much worse.

4) Which is why I'm glad I don't get local holidays off, but instead get 6 weeks of vacation a year, which allows me to travel when most other people aren't. I can avoid most of the rush periods, which is key in an area like this when periods like May Day and lunar new year are hell to travel.
There's still a lot of places I want to see in Asia, but China is near the bottom of the list, for numerous reasons I won't get into now. Traveling in China is not my idea of a good time, but I still can appreciate that the country has 4,000 years of history to offer.
You wouldn't know that if you read the book "1,000 Places to See Before You Die" by Patricia Schultz. A friend got it for me before I left the states, and I'm grateful for the gift. It's perfect bathroom reading, but the more I read it, the more irked I get.
A better title might be "Lots of Places in the U.S. That You Could See, but Your Life Would Still Be Complete If You Didn't."
I'm excluding HK from its list of China entries, because HK is its own country, even if it isn't. But the book lists 14 places to visit in China, and this includes Tibet. 14 places! China is one of the four largest countries on earth by size, and has a continuous history longer than any other. Somehow, this author thinks that China has only one more place You Need To See Before You Die than the state of Florida does. Florida merits 13 entries to China's 14. Somehow, West Virginia merits as many entries as Cambodia (two each.)
Somehow, I think many people would agree with me that woman is very, very, very wrong. Or stupid. Or paid off by various tourism bureaus in various US states. Or all three.

It could be

1) Szechuan hot pot is pretty good, once you get over the fact that a) a restaurant full of people boiling meat and vegetables at their own table makes said place smell like a wet dog (make your own joke here) and b) it's not real hot pot until you cry from the heat. Big, manly tears from those little, little peppers.
2) Once again, I am getting too old for this drinking thing. Though the other night, at a friend's going-away, I met the world's best dancing German, an Indonesian woman who belly-dances on the side and another woman who is heading to Sudan to help run a refugee camp. You do meet the weirdest, best group of people in this city.
3) It's lunar new year here. You know what that means? Every morning, I am woken up, thinking my apartment is on fire, but then realize, no, it's just my neighbors burning offerings in their little burnt-offerings kiosk outside their door.
4) Yes, I know the midwest is cold. Real cold. But the average high here for the past two weeks has been in the low to mid-50s. That may sound joyous to you in Minnesota or Illinois, but realize the apartments here have no insulation, and all I have is a little space heater, so the temp inside the apartment is about 60 or so.
5) The gentrification of my neighborhood continues. An upscale grocer - named The Grocer - has opened two blocks from me. A few organic veggies, a small meat counter, fresh-baked bread, and a few shelves of dried pasta, plus lots of wine. It's not a grocery store per se - too small for that - but at least it means I can finally get good bread in my hood. Yaaay for bread!