GX GARNERINGS

(Samsung WB600) If you are wondering what to do on this free day, and are yet to make up your mind, you may have get yourself some entertainment watching the probably most amusing camera reviews on earth. Recommended to you is Kai of Digirevtv. You may seek him out on Youtube or go directly to Digirevtv.com. He is the author's favourite camera reviewer ever. Kai stations in Hong Kong.

(Ricoh GX200) We are ending the weekdays soon!

(Ricoh GX200) Some time ago, the author had a dinner with some young local folks and expats. Over the dinner, a question about pastimes was raised to the locals who responded with giggles to follow by embarrassing silence in the air.  Hongkoongers are not known for having a life. What are the most popular pastimes? Shopping and video-gaming (now even smartphone-gaming). Fact is, shopping and video-gaming as pastimes are rather anti-social in that they basically don't need to involve real interaction with one's closest circles.   Reading used to be a more "proper" pastimes.  But back then there were few people holding a book to read on public transport.  With the advert of the all-in-one smartphones and gadgets of similar nature, the small number of them has dwindled to barely tangible. Well, maybe shopping as a pastime is in the DNA of Chinese for the vast majority of Mainland Chinese visitors coming to Hong Kong for the mere purpose of, guess what, shopping. He...

 (Ricoh GX200) In the Yaumatei-Mongkok district of Hong Kong, prostitutes waiting for patronage is the common sight along the Shanghai Street and Portland Street. To the locals, rightly or worngly, the very mention of prostitution conjures up the image of Mainland Chinese women.  According to the Prosecution Review 2009 published by the Department of Justice, "In recent years, the problem (keeping and operating vice establishments) was aggravated by an influx of Mainland women, either as illegal immigrants or as two-way permit holders, who came to Hong Kong to work as prostitutes." This statment gives some credence to such a common conception. Talking about prostitution in Hong Kong, there is a classic film " The World of Suzie Wong " produced in the 1960s in Hong Kong, featuring Hong Kong-born actress, Nancy Kwan, as a prostitute in this debut movie of hers.  Recently, the film icon puts her life on film in the documentary entitled " To Whom it May Concern:...

(Camera: Ricoh GX200) About 1.26 million people in Hong Kong, amounting to 18% of the population, are struggling to make ends meet. Poverty is definitely a problem in Hong Kong. The main cause, it is generally agreed, is the ever widening gap between the rich and the poor.  Radio Television Hong Kong, once a semi-government mouthpiece set up by the British but now a government department, has produced a documentary on the topic.  If you are interested, watch it here .  

(Camera: Ricoh GX200) There are two things of note in this image.  First, it is the Chinglish name of the refreshment shop in the background. After the British administrators left the helm to the local Chinese, there seems to be a downward spiral in using idiomatic English.  As in many other countries where English is spoken as a secondary language,   English has been adulterated with increasingly more elements from the mother tongue. There are many reasons for this, one being the more extensive presence of businesses from Mainland China and Taiwan -- Come Buy is a tea house originated from Taiwan.  "Come buy" is the Chinese expression for "come and buy".  Chinese is a language of which the coordinating devices like "and" are used sparingly in word formation. Another thing is the eating culture of Hong Kong people or, in an extended sense, of the southern Chinese.  Southern China is a place known for its culinary peculiarity which w...

(Camera: Ricoh GX200) This is Sunday.  Put something special on.