Wa San Mai has been operating for well over 20 years before the original owner decided to retire and sold the restaurant to Joseph Lau Luen Hung, a property tycoon in Hong Kong who also happens (not coincidentally) to own the building the restaurant is situated. Apparently, the tycoon has been such a big fan of the restaurant, that upon hearing the original owner wanted to sell the business, he bought it without much thought and completely revamped the entire restaurant.

That was two years ago. Today, the decor is as good as new and the renovation / decor is as relevant now as it was two years ago. Its very clean and unlike most other smoke-filled teppanyaki restaurants, this joint is surprisingly smoke-free!

I went today for the second time, which only confirms that I was right the first time: they food is delicious. I go during lunch because its cheaper, much cheaper. Then again, portion during lunch time is also smaller.

My favorite is the foie gras and beef set, which comes with the standard salad, pickles, miso soup as starters, followed by ice-cream and tea/coffee as dessert.

As for their beef, you can choose between US Beef, Australian Kobe Beef and Saga Beef (in increasingly order of quality, and of course, price). If foie gras and / or beef is not your thing, then perhaps you might want to consider the seafood set of the abolone set.

As always, once the food is on my plate, I would dig in right away, which explains why I don't have a whole lot of photos to show for; I promise, next time, I'll remember!

Wa San Mai Teppanyaki (和三味日本料理)
22/F., East Point Centre, 555 Hennessy Road
Causeway Bay, Hong Kong
Tel: +852 2831 8989
Fax: +852 2831 8983

First, everyone is excited about Palin.  Some are excited, as in, really excited, and proud, to have Palin on the Republican ticket.  It is a decision they are praising and fully supporting.  While everyone else is excited to have something else to knock on.  She gives so much feed for the fodder, its hard to leave it alone.  Even in my little section of the world, she's big news.  If McCain was trying to stay in the headlines, he achieved his goal.  For better or worse, everyone is certainly excited about his choice of Palin.

Another note on keeping up with politics from overseas.  I gather most of my information from reading, namely online articles.  I search through online papers, headlines and blogs.  And the free paper in Hong Kong (The Standard) reprints day old articles from mainline Western papers.  So when Obama and McCain announced their running mates, one of the first things I asked was, "And how do you pronounce that?"  Being removed from the world of TV, I miss out on the correct pronunciation of names, as I'm now reading with the Asian inflection and sounds of vowels.  Which I just find funny.

Okay, to the meat of the Palin issue.  Here are the things that I just cannot get past.  I am not critisizing her as woman, and I cannot imagine how difficult it must be to choose between being home with family and being as involved in politics as she is.  But seriously, this woman has SO much going on at home, just in her immediate family alone.  A son about to go off to war.  A daughter expecting.  A new born baby with special needs.  And she wants to uproot and move to D.C.?  I really wonder how much consideration has gone into how this will effect her children?  Does she really think that they can handle the pressure of being in the lime-light all the time?  Is it really fair to Bristol to be named in press releases in this sensitive time in her life?  How someone who claims to be a devoted mother can willing put her family into that kind of environment is beyond me. Granted, I make that statement as a single woman with no children, but it just seems really harsh to be dragging your young children into all of this.  And as much as I don't want to sound like I'm a stay-at-home advocate (because really, you do what you need to do as a mother), but her family needs a mother, and if she takes office, can she really expect to be as involved in her family as they need her to be??

I cannot handle her stance on the environment.  The "Drill Baby Drill" movement makes me want to throw up.  How can anyone, Palin, McCain, or any other professing Christian, honestly think they are honoring God by DRILLING and destroying God's creation?  Why aren't protecting animals (one of God's first commands to Adam) a higher priority?  So for Palin to just disregard the plight of the polar bears because she doesn't believe its really happening, despite physical evidence, is so angering. 

Anyone who says that God has called us into this war has not only lost my vote (not they had it in the first place) but also completely lost my respect.  We have enough trouble in this world without adding more war to the mix.  I cannot support a presidency that supports war as the answer.  I just cannot.  I have seen first hand the horror of war torn lands, the devastating effects of wars that force people off their lands and into the ungracious arms of another land as migrants.  For Palin to even suggest that God supports war is to say that God has stripped his own people of their rights to land, safety, peace, sustainable government, the ability to grow or access their own food, and the ability to keep families together.  The effects of war moves far beyond the casualty count.  It is seen in the mining companies that come in, the bulldozers that destroy homes, the presidents that force people out of their own country, denied education rights and blockages of fresh water and access to food.  Please tell me how this can be God's good plan??

Palin needs to watch what she says.  While I haven't been watching the conventions, and I can't speak to the background graphics (though I've heard the blue screen is nothing short of torture), I've read a few quotes from Palin that make me gasp.  One was the comment on "reversing the waters and healing the planet."  As if healing the planet was a one man job, or something to take lightly.  It makes me a little scared that she's not more concerned about healing the planet (environmentally or economically) herself.  And the comment about reversing the waters, in light of the high season of hurricanes and devastation they leave behind, just seems heartless.  As well as the pitbull comment.  With the controversy in California surrounding the rights to even own a pitbull, and the apparent recent tragic case of a young girl in Alaska who was killed by a pitbull, makes this comment as well seem insensitive. 

So, those are my thoughts, for what they are worth.  I'm fascinated by this woman, and all the news that is coming out about her.  I can't figure out yet if McCain really knew what he was getting himself into.

Also, I'm addicted to this blog as of late.

The few differences I observed from my brief observations are:

1) HK people may be more rude or less polite than (Taipei) Taiwan, especially in things like line-jumping and rushing for subway seats, and certainly talking loudly in public. Of course, the fact that cantonese tends to sound pretty course while mandarin sounds so lyrical and pleasant, at least to my inexperienced ears,  might play a role in this.

2) While Taipei is quite dense with its small streets and packed neighborhoods and storefronts, it is still quite open and much less crowded when compared to Hong Kong, especially Kowloon. The amount of tall residential towers, many of which have well over 20 stories and often closely clustered together, in many HK urban areas and the knowledge that the population is around 7 million really impress upon me the high density and make me more sympathetic to why some of my HK family don't miss HK that much.

3) While both are predominantly chinese societies which practice a lot of chinese culture such as language, writing, religion and holiday celebrations, Taiwan seems to be more lively and more cultural. I know that HK is obviously more international and Western-oriented due to its heritage as a British colony, but Taiwan/ Taipei seems to have more spirit, such as in its night markets, its countless foodstalls and stores and its politics. Sure HK has its tall towers, its vast shopping districts and its own unique Cantonese/Western vibe, but the fact is that HK has never been its own place or own master.

My final observation in this post is that I think that many HKers, and I'm basing this heavily on certain relatives, are somewhat envious and jealous of Taiwan, especially its political vibrancy. On the other hand, I've found some Taiwanese to be dismissive or apathetic of HK, seeing it only as a shopping haven and gateway to mainland China but nothing else. The one thing that I wish Taiwan had from HK was the common usage of English not only in airport and subway signs but also official documents and English books. But of course, this would detract from Taiwan's character.

Trois stations sont concernées : la Causeway Bay Station compte, depuis août, 3 escalators équipés, alors que la Tsim Sha Tsui Station et la Central Station en compteront chacun un dans les prochains jours.

Le premier annonceur à tirer profit de ces installations fut Sony et sa nouvelle gamme Sony Vaio, cf vidéo ci-dessous (mise en ligne par DigitalSignageHK SAR)

Cette initiative rappelle bien sur les Digital Escalator Panels de CBS Outdoor dans le métro londonien (ci-dessous une vidéo d´une création de Grand Visual pour Vodafone).

I have searched for resources in Google Blogs, and found interesting material in this young Dominican monk's blog. He tells the story of a more senior monk returning from a trip to this region, and briefly discusses from a religious or theological point of view the political issues related to the status of the Catholic church in China.

Further resources from the HKU library in paper refer to a study in Catholic education during 1997 hand over period.

Christians in general had and have an impact on the cultural legacy of Hong Kong, from churches to schools and associations. The Catholic case has another political twist to it, with the militant cardinal Joseph Zen, check his wikipedia bio for further data. The Catholic influence in Hong Kong has placed the SAR at the center of a number of issues, many also include Taiwan.

A little rant about buses here because it took me 1.5 hours to get home: there are just so many of them. Its so well connected, and I could look up exactly what to do and which one to take online, but the problem is when I'm somewhere different and have to get back and can't find the direction back. Or when the stop has a particular bus number on it but the bus just takes off. I need an atlas, but the only one I've seen is in Chinese. I end up wandering for kilometres till I finally bump into the right stop. Today I was determined to get back on the bus, to learn from my mistakes, and hopefully I'll slowly get the hang of it. Apparently, there's a Hong Kong Guidebook in English but I haven't been able to find it yet.

On a happier note: I learned today that the lady who takes out the trash also vacuums the room and cleans up. Score! Actually, I don't mind cleaning, and I've always done it myself through college. But if someone takes care of the hassle, I'm not complaining :) Anyway, I still have to deal with the dreaded task of laundry, which I've always had a personal hatred towards *mutters*

And before I rush off to unpack a bit before rushing off for bowling: HK is truly a consumerist heaven. It can't be described in words. You can't even take in the amount of shops they have. It just leaves you open mouthed sometimes. You can just gape and stare stupidly, whether you love it or you hate it.

Chief clarion callers for "Make HK even greener" are the lovely wonks at Civic Exchange, who arranged their second event this week, this time focusing on energy, and mainly how to reduce oil use, although a bit on cleaning up the toxic air. Richard Gilbert, a Canadian transport consultant and author of Transport Revolutions provided the fuel for the sparse Friday-morning crowd.

Some key facts from the mustachioed maestro who is on his way to China to say how great Hong Kong is. He said:

• Hong Kong is the densest city in the world by far. I think that was a complement.
• Highest rate of public transport use by far
• HK has the fewest number of car parking spaces in the world (this is why porsches park on pavements)

So things are good, but much more can be done, says mustache. While car use is tailing off, the amount of oil used per capita has actually risen, which is a sign of the complacency that exists here. He said the key step is to electrify Honk's bus network through overhead cables, which is very expensive, but would reduce the overall energy bill and greenhouse gas emissions. It would also be dangerous for kite-flyers, presumably.

Also interesting was former transport commissioner Robert Footman and Alex Tancock, who is trying to build wind farms with CLP. Tancock also runs a website Peak Oil Hong Kong, which looks to have a good newsletter... efreak will be looking at in more detail in future. Footman also pointed out how terribly green issues are reported in Hong Kong, and called for a better understanding of the issue. What a good point, maybe I will start a blog...

Anyway, efreak will also revisit some of the other subjects raised such as aviation, shipping and China's efforts but wanted to leave you with a couple of quotes to ponder:

"Oil depletion is a much more urgent issue than climate change" -- Richard Glibert

"Using solar power, offshore wind, geothermal, tidal and on-land wind farms, China can provide many times its current electricity generation needs." -- Alex Tancock

是日我地既活動!! 船上Picnic!

  
先要打氣!! 個Pump真的要一贊...好好好好用!

 
是日美點有Macaroni Salad + Fruit Punch

 
Pauline 好嘆!!

其實我地都幾中意三星灣，D水好清，又唔太難去.

點樣去??

三星灣可以由西貢白沙灣碼頭乘15分鐘街渡前往
也可以由西貢獅子會路口由山路行40分鐘前往!

W Hotel and I.T. event eclipses Luxury Fashion Week! The ultra chic international hotel chain W and I.T. the exclusive Hong Kong fashion house teamed up for the event of the season. Hong Kong's young, gorgeous, super rich and hip crowd lined up for as much as 2 hours to get a glimpse inside. World famous beat boxer Killa Kela and M.C. Gold Mountain kept the champagne soak crowd jumping . SO-U.TV provided the exclusive video coverage of the event with Dplex group of Hong Kong. Happy 20th birthday I.T.

Well, General ideas first. What actually is heritage? Though I've got a general picture, stil I would like to find more. Below is some infomation from UNESCO about world heritage.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/about/

It might look a little far-fetched from what we are focusing on here, since Hong Kong do not have any site in UNESCO's heritage list yet. But the concept is basically the same. By looking at UNESCO's list, we might find some sites(especial European sites) that have familiar features like the ones we may locate in Hong Kong.

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list

Now it would be time to google!

But, there are also many sites writing about infomation of Hong Kong's heritage, in various angles,though they may not directly contain the word "heritage", and might be a little difficult to find by search engines. Which means we have to think of these various angles and dig them out.

An example would be "architecture", which is always an important part of a city's heritage.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Architecture_of_Hong_Kong

More than telling the story of Hong Kong's architecture in a general way, this wiki page also contains a lot of links to specific buildings and relevant keywords, so it would be worth quite some time.

By Ricoh Caplio GX100

In fact, most of those temples are quite similar to those exsiting in China mainland: similar tradition, similar culture, even similar decorations. What amazed me is that even in Hong Kong, there are so many temples, which is far more than what I could imagine before, since Hong Kong was very limited in lands, and since it has been influenced tremendously by UK during the colonization. Frankly speaking, most of those temples I even never heard about the names before, but even today, all of these are still well-maintained and well-operated. What is notable is that Lantau Island, where located the famous Tian Tan Buddha, is also where many of the traditional Buddhist temples exist. These temples are also one of the tourist attractions there, every year welcomes hundreds of thousand visitors. Since many of the local Hong Kong residence are faithful buddhist, the thriving of temples in Hong Kong is a reflection of the well-preserved Buddhist culture in Hong Kong as well.

Things got off to a lonely start when I decided to trust my infallible memory and head out to the meeting place at 8:00, only to discover that we weren't set to gather there until 8:15. Compounding my woes were the limp snap peas I had packed for lunch: apparently, freezing causes the cell walls to explode, and so by the time the peas were cooked even my soba noodles had more firmness. However, I was cheered after arriving at the harbor by the purchase of four New Zealand Zespri gold kiwis, otherwise known as the best kind. This is what their website has to say:

People have told researchers that ZESPRI™ Kiwifruit is, "ugly as sin, tasty as hell"; that it "enlivens the senses"; is like "beauty and the beast" and appeals on both a physical and spiritual level. "It's like having a shower," said one Japanese consumer, "physically good and emotionally uplifting."

Fruit and food in hand, I got on the sampan with the other ETAs and was transported to our boat in the Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter. We were met by a crew of impossibly tan and athletic-looking men and women, who led us respectively to the male and female bunk rooms in the lower level of the ship.

After coming back up, we were met by the captain (tan but not particularly athletic), a cheerful fellow who would later stride around the ship in a Speedo and one of those safari hats with the long cloth neck covering attached them. A striking and unusual look that--surprisingly enough--no one else emulated. After dividing us enthusiastically into smaller groups, el capitan gave us a rundown of the day's events and had me demonstrate how to put on a lifevest, a task I executed with my usual brilliance.

And then it was action time.

We began by learning knots: the half-hitch, the figure-eight, and a lot of other ones I neither remember the looks or names of. After this, we got a tour of a ship and broke for lunch, by which time I was already getting a little tired. Being alive, after all, is hard work.

Life after lunch held the greatest challenges of the day. For starters, we had to get everyone in our group over a wooden beam around 10 feet off the ground. It actually wasn't so bad, except that the crew also made us discuss our strategy for five minutes and then lay it out before them in the form of a master plan of attack; afterward, we had to sit cross-legged in a circle and discuss how succeeding in the task had made us feel.

I've always figured that the small mishaps I have throughout the day, every day, end up fulfilling my injury quota; thus, I've never broken any bones or had anything else major happen to me.

-locked in the bathroom the day before

-jumping off the ship --aiya and "you were great!"--sore rear end

-bruise on knee from ladder

-scratches on face, arms and legs

-walking the plank

-bruise on top of head from standing up into cabinet

-weird right-angle scratch

2. 因為北京奧運,中共國忽略了全國的環境保護,結果依據大紀元消息,舉辦奧運城市爆發傳染病的消息被掩蓋。可幸的是好像不是太多外國遊客(?)去看奧運,但瘟疫可能因此散播到全世界,中共國的環境保護問題,變成全球問題。環境保護問題為副,政治問題才是元凶,世界明知中共的內外問題,但為了錢照來不誤,是自作孽。

3. 因為北京奧運,曾蔭權無暇理香港大事,結果副部長+梁展文+(?)連中三元。他為了獻媚可能斷送自己的政治前途。

4. 因為北京奧運,中共勞民傷財,傷及元氣,回天乏術,又因不理天時地利,結果賠了大本(中共內部文件指全國總成本為12000億:100萬義工留在北京損失的生產值、人民戰爭式保安的花費、工廠停工、北京不少商業活動被停止、武警公安駐防的工錢、各項環保措施造成的經濟損失及六個奧運城市人口外流的經濟損失,不包括東海油田及美國 房按)。中共國今年天災連連,大型民變數起(楊佳案),經濟又是有史以來最差的一年,天氣署熱,而所謂北京奧運的經濟成果只會加劇社會的積怨,為了北京奧運又要開放網外境站,遲一點又有被煽動的黑客作反,中共要捱過今年是要超級好運的事來沖喜,歡笑今宵散場以後怎麼辦?很奇怪,我曾算出來的中共滅亡日期居然有2個,錯的一個簡直好像是亂來的,唔通錯有錯着?

5. 北京奧運聖火傳送全世界的象徵意義,雖名叫祥雲火炬.但是一來所到之處無一是晴天,二來火炬背後的中共國今年天災人禍連連,可謂相當不祥,三來火炬本身無故熄滅之次數破了世界紀錄,並非吉兆,四來上屆火炬交接儀式前,半個希臘都陷於火海,亦非祥端,五來中共最喜用紅色,火炬本身是火氣旺盛,而所到之處均是愛國憤青以紅色旗海迎接,甚至連香港亦不例外,鮮紅色難免令人聯想到血流成河,而火代表戰爭、暴動和不安。合起來的意思就是因為西方世界失去道德,結果世界被北京奧運引發的火焰包圍,四處都是戰爭、暴動和不安。從心理學的角度去看,北京奧運聖火在整個國際政治、經濟、社會情況下,在人類集體潛意識中引發出不安、燥動和攻擊性,加上世界本身陷於的能源危機、溫室效應、通脹、恐佈主義威脅的處境,加快了人類文明的毀滅過程。

fun4u.com.hk

And I am MOST excited to finally be going to Hong Kong and Tokyo, where will we spend a few days in each on the way home. (And I really think I'm giving up vegetarian-style while there so I can enjoy all the food, and I don't know how much longer it will even last in America.) And then Big Game!!

Sa muling pagkikita!