Official Documents

Anyone want to guess where this is located? Or, what it is? Stop reading, write it down on, then continue on with this post to find out if you were correct.

If you guess that this is an electronic immigration official of Hong Kong S.A.R. then you are correct. At this machine, qualified applicants can file requests for different types of visas and other documents related to immigration status.

The machine is located in the Hong Kong Immagration Services building in Wan Chai. I saw it while riding an escalator to the eighth floor where I was soon after denied the right to a Hong Kong ID card. I can't get one because my stay is less than 180 days, but I had wanted one for two reasons: (1) access to book-lending at the Hong Kong Central Library and (2) access to "members-only" clubs in Hong Kong, which actually often let in non-members upon proof of Hong Kong residency. I'm not sure why it works that way with those clubs, but it seems like a scheme that only serves to keep out tourists.

*Wan Chai seen from the China Resources Building; view from Lockhart Road is much more interesting.

Bank of China Tower - amazing from any angle

Two Forms of Weather

One of feature of Hong Kong that is quite unique is that you experience natural weather as well as man-made weather. In Hong Kong, perhaps also in other Asian cities, it seems like you are always getting dripped on. The streets are narrower, the sidewalks even narrower.

The photo to the right shows an air conditioner that malfunctioned resulting in a massive downpour on the sidewalk. This was especially problematic given the fact that the air conditioner shown is located about 30 feet overhead of one side of an MTR entrance. Such downpours are infrequent but walking down the block, especially after a rain storm can lead to three or four droplets collecting on your shirt and head.

It used to gross me out but then I realized that it's either condensation from the air conditioners or rainwater. If it is in fact something else, feel free to keep that information to yourself. I'm fine with the way things are.

Light Show

This video was taken from the southern tip of the Kowloon peninsula on Sunday September 23, 2009. I read that there are four themes of the light show, but I'm not sure which was running that night. The light show lasts for about thirty minutes.

It is a pretty spectacular sight and shouldn't be missed by visitors. Locals and expats were surprised that I had not been to see the light show after almost three weeks. That being said, I found myself getting bored near the end.

Hong Kong University vs. Chinese University of Hong Kong

What would life be without rankings? Probably our lives would be pretty much the same except for people would make choices about which schools to go to based on their own qualitative criteria instead of US News and World Report. But, they are a fact of life and living in a student in Hong Kong, university status is a pressure point that people love to touch.

The University of Hong Kong, colloquially referred to as HKU or Hong Kong University (by its own URL even), has the hands-down best rep of any school for thousands of miles. In nine out of ten introductions, people ask after learning that I'm a student here, "are you at HKU?" Here's what I found from my research into why people had such uniform questions:

http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/worlds-best-colleges/2009/06/18/worlds-best-colleges-top-400.html

http://www.usnews.com/articles/education/worlds-best-colleges/2009/06/18/worlds-best-colleges-asian-and-middle-eastern-universities.html

http://www.topuniversities.com/worlduniversityrankings/asianuniversityrankings/asian_university_rankings_top_200_universities/

http://i.cs.hku.hk/~tse/topten.html

As I suspected, CUHK is playing second fiddle in the public opinion. To CUHK, HKU is Boston U.'s Harvard, NYU's Columbia, and Capella U.'s University of Phoenix. It still scores remarkably high on the global rankings. And though its neighbor is still a few points north, there are plenty of reasons to be proud to be a CUHK student. Two of my professors' names come up very frequently in Westlaw searches for articles about Chinese Corporate Law and Finance in Asia. My International Financial and Banking Law prof's name rings bells in anyone familiar with Hong Kong commercial litigation and another professor is notorious to the Chinese government for defending against expropriation. CUHK also is not very shy about boasting its 3 Nobel Prize winners and Fields Medalist.

By the way, I checked out HKU when I was looking at programs to study abroad but their law faculty only accepts students from universities with which they have a partnership agreement. For better or worse, CUHK doesn't maintain such a policy. For law students who read this blog and still have time to study abroad, this barrier will come up at a lot of institutions that you check out...especially if you are a law student at UM which, to my knowledge, has no direct relationships with foreign universities. To circumvent it, you can find an American law school besides your own that has such a relationship and apply through their program.

Bar George, Saturday Night in Lan Kwai Fong

That's Ryushi from Japan on the right. He wouldn't let go of the Olmeca until the westerners agreed that Tequila was produced in Japan. Only Fernando, who is actually Mexican, hesitated to agree to such nonsense...national pride, I guess.

Even though LKF is pretty much the most crowded spot on any given night in Hong Kong (and absolute chaos on the weekends), bottles are surprisingly cheap in comparison to drink prices. Whereas a paltry well drink will run upwards of $10, a bottle in the same establishment will only cost about $120-130. The math worked out perfectly for a group of seven plus some random interlopers. Bonus when the wait staff immediately escorted us from our booth to a big corner sofa next to the dance floor upon ordering.

Cell Phones

I'm actually quite happy with the cell service here in Hong Kong, in spite of this picture. Calls are very cheap and a $10 USD prepaid card goes quite a long way. I'm using CSL which also offers pretty cheap rates to most of the world's developed countries, but not all. Anyways, usually outgoing calls to the US cost me a dollar or two for 20-30 minutes on the phone.

I was surprised when I arrived in Hong Kong that the market for cell phones was so limited. Most of the reputable stores had only Samsung, Nokia, Ericsson, Blackberry, and a really cheap Chinese brand that I had never heard of. Anyways, I thought that I would see similar phones as are available in Japan, but no such luck. Apple is a pretty small player in Hong Kong and the iPhone doesn't seem to have gotten much traction.

I ended up purchasing a Nokia N79, which has been perfect for me. My favorite feature is the 5 megapixel digital camera. Although I take my point and shoot out sometimes and my digital slr even less frequently, this camera phone has taken some excellent shots and it's always with me.

One aspect of cell service that isn't hot is the fact that 3G data networks are only available on "post-paid" plans, i.e. contracts for 12+ months where you buy a quantity of minutes, data, etc. Like I said, I'm on the prepaid so I can't work w/ any data unless I'm in a wifi hotspot. Well...there is one other exception. I have maps everywhere because of the assisted-GPS linked to the maps program. Unfortunately, all of the preloaded maps are in Chinese. Haha...good luck finding Pennington Street with that!

*Second photo is the HSBC Building photographed from my phone.

Subzero Fun / Introducing My Roommate

This picture was taken two days ago when I went out with my roommate, Iana. Of Slovakian parents, her background is half-Aussie, half-Slovak, resulting in a good sense of humor but an accent which is at times incomprehensible to me.

We were at the Russian subzero bar, which was actually a decent pub but an utter disappointment for an icebar experience. I have only read about belowzero in London, but my expectations were right up there when I heard that tehre was an icebar in Hong Kong. After all, it seems like Hong Kong refuses to be outdone by Europeans in every other way. Alas, the room that I was standing in might not have even been sub-50's, which made the fastidious tending of the anteroom and cold chamber doors suspicious.

Shots in the cold chamber were $6 USD and up. Bottles were starting at about $100...not bad except you have to stand in a room that is not freezing, not even refrigerator cold, but just kind of damp and heavily air conditioned.

Stanley Beach

Yesterday was my first experience at a Hong Kong beach. It wasn't bad although I was suffering from a cold last week that has still got my lungs congested so swimming was kind of difficult.

Stanley Beach is just a short walk from the small district of Stanley. Not much is going on in Stanley...mostly just relaxing and sports. Windsurfing is really popular in Hong Kong and rentals only cost about $30 for three hours.

The beach is netted off. I don't know why, but the netting and buoys separate boaters and windsurfers from swimmers. The water is dark and there are warning signs that people shouldn't swim in the wake of rain storms because of contamination from polluted runoff. However, it was actually very pleasant to swim in and the nearby changing rooms and shower facilities were very clean and useful.

The tradition of gouging beach goers is alive and well at the cafe which charges about $8 for food and drink that would otherwise be no more than $3 in Central, but it's hard to complain with the beautiful view of the beach from the cafe's roof deck.

Rice Pizza

Warning!!! Of all the attempts at fusion cooking in Hong Kong, this is probably the only one that I will advise people against. The concept is strangely alluring and I bought into it even though warning signals went off in my head. The problem: it just doesn't work as a functional pizza. It disintegrates into a soup of rice, cheese, and sauce which is much less appetizing than crispy white bread as the foundation of a pizza.

Smoking Rules

Good idea, right?

CUHK's main campus in Sha Tin is a smoke-free campus. There is no smoking allowed in the dorms, outside the dorms, outside the classrooms, etc. Smoking is not permitted in designated areas because there are no designated areas. Downtown in Admiralty, there is no outdoor area which belongs to the campus so, of course, there is no smoking permitted in the law school.

Sometimes in a pub, older Chinese people still light up. I was told that Hong Kong only went smoke free in bars and restauarants a few months ago and some people have not fully internalized the rule and the adjoining behavior modification. Without making too much of a fuss, they are always reminded of the rule and things return to a state of compliance pretty quickly.

I am thankful for this rule. Hong Kong is very crowded in every way and I can hardly imagine going to some of the bars, pubs, & clubs that I've been to if smoking were permitted. For example, I was at a popular lounge on Friday night that was literally bursting at the seems - people were standing in the doorway of the main entrance and the hallway to the bathroom. A thick crowd in a tiny boite suited the 1920's Paris theme pretty well and a cloud of smoke might have completed the picture, but I think it would have made an otherwise enjoyable experience pretty miserable.

Consumer Reaction: Hong Kong Public Transportation

Hong Kong's public transportation is very good...maybe the best that I've ever experienced. Amazingly, it is also probably the cheapest.

MTR

MTR is the underground rail. If you look at a map of the MTR, look at the blue colored, Island line. At the west end is Sheung Wan, my home station. Sheung Wan is one block from my doorstep and getting into the MTR is very fast. Most days, I'm going to school at CUHK's Graduate Law Centre in Admiralty. If you come out of the correct exit from Admiralty, it's just two more minutes from this exit to the classroom. Since I don't have a lot of obligations here in Hong Kong, I haven't been in a rush to get to class. However, I think a rushed commute might be possible in 10 minutes, door to door, thanks to the MTR.

Using the MTR for getting around for sightseeing or whatever else you want to do in Hong Kong is very easy and similarly fast. Trains come every other minute at peak times and the longest I've ever waited was for about six minutes and it was the last train of the night. I've never experienced a delay or loss of power on the tracks. Another convenient feature of the MTR is that all stations and routes are fully serviced by the cellular networks. There are no dead zones even two hundred feet below ground.

Downsides of the MTR...hmm, I can't really think of any. Sometimes the crowds can be overwhelming. For example, when you want to leave the train at a busy station, the entering riders hardly ever clear a space for those who are exiting. Your only option is to plow through maybe twelve Chinese people who are simultaneously converging on your starting point. Also, the escalators are absolutely packed at peak times and you might feel like you're battling for space in the queue, especially if you're carrying a backpack or shopping bags.

An important tip for MTR riding: wear a surgical mask if you're coughing or appear sick. With H1N1 and generally heightened prevention measures on Hong Kong people's minds, you are breaking a serious rule of etiquette by coughing or sneezing on the MTR without covering it with a surgical mask. There are also rules against eating and drinking in the MTR which people generally respect. I've never seen anyone get in trouble for this and I have even unwittingly taken a gulp from a bottle of water in front of MTR employees, but nothing resulted from it. Nevertheless, people do not break the rule often and the cleanliness of the MTR shows it.

Cost: supercheap. I haven't learned the pricing structure because it's really a negligible amount to travel in the city. I think that my morning commute is 3.5 HKD (approximately 45 cents). Travelling north to the main campus of CUHK in Sha Tin requires about 20-30 minutes of travel in the MTR and then 20 minutes on the light rail from Kowloon Tong, but even this trip is 14 HKD, I think.

Ding Ding

Named for the sound its bell makes as it comes down the street, Ding Dings are streetcars that run on Hong Kong Island. I do not make extensive use of the Ding Ding network because several lines come together and run on the same track on Des Voeux Rd. from Sheung Wan to Wan Chai. So, basically most places that I use Ding Ding to travel to are serviced by any of the passing streetcars.

Cost: 2 HKD. That's right. It costs about 30 cents to cross Hong Kong Island east-west or west-east, plus sitting on the upper deck of these double-deckers of another era gives a pretty good view of what's going on in town that day.

Buses

Like the Ding Ding, Hong Kong's buses are double deckers. I have only ridden them once but it was a thrilling experience. Obviously, buses are only useful to fill in the gaps not covered by the MTR. I went to the beach on the southern side of the island yesterday and had to take a bus through the tunnel to get there.

I ended up riding three different buses because I went around the western edge of the island on my way back, which required an interchange. All three were clean and, like in the MTR, prohibited food and drink.

Riding on the southern side of the island reminded me of stories that I have heard of bus travel in South America - impossibly narrow roads, steep drops, and sharp cutbacks. Because the buses are double deckers, sitting in the front row of the top is a thrill and not for the timid or weak-stomached rider.

Besides the double deckers, Hong Kong Island is also serviced by mini-buses that accommodate sixteen riders each. These buses charge up and down the hills all day long and into the night. I don't know if service stops actually, because I have seen them leaving Lan Kwai Fong on Queens Road even as late as 2 in the morning on some nights.

Cost: approaching American costs for bus fare but still very cheap. Central to Stanley was 7.5 HKD ($1), Stanley to the Cyberport was 8 HKD, and then Cyberport to Central was 7 HKD.

Payment

Cash is accepted, but hardly ever used for any of these types of transportation. There is a card called Octopus that you can obtain underground in the MTR. It might be available in other places as well, but I haven't noticed. Basically, you give them a 50 HKD deposit and whatever amount you want to use for your card's account. Swipe it to get through the turnstile or enter the bus, but remember on the Ding Ding that you only pay when you leave.

Octopus is very convenient for the fact that it is your universal payment method for transportation on Hong Kong Island, plus a lot of stores like 7-11 and some fast food places accept the card as well.

Update 9/21: contrast

Renting in Hong Kong - 2

After the first apartment, I decided that I might need to change my strategy, i.e. find another agent and go a little bit more upmarket.

I dropped into an agency near my hotel and told them what I was looking for. They required a copy of my passport and for me to sign an agreement that I would pay them commission if I ultimately rented one of the flats that I saw through them, whether or not they were included in the deal. I saw a couple of 1-bedroom apartments that were nice, although a little bit small.

Everything that I saw was between 11-12k HKD, roughly $1,500. With my short term leasing requirements, the agent said that the owner would require all four months payment up front, plus a security deposit. I would also have to pay the agency commission (1/2 month's rent). The flats were about 10 minutes from the nearest MTR station and I thought that altogether I would be paying a lot to live alone in a somewhat disconnected neighborhood, but at least my opinion of apartments in Hong Kong was rehabilitated after my first viewing.

I linked up again later that day with Bosco and I saw an apartment right down the block from the Sheung Wan MTR. I settled on that apartment because it was quite cheap, clean, newly renovated and furnished, Western roommates, and month-to-month lease. It turns out that only one of the two other bedrooms was occupied and as of this writing the third is still vacant.

I think that Bosco's agency is making a killing on their apartments because this apartment is emblematic of their scheme: agency-owned property rented to Westerners under contracts for the rooms, rather than the entire apartment. The sum of the three rooms is much greater than what this apartment would rent for under one long-term contract.

As for me, I am not that crazy about my place. It's really not that bad because the essentials are covered: it's clean, furniture is new and safe, if a bit small, and there's a functioning washer and dryer. Lately there have been some problems with the services included in the contract (weekly maid service, cable tv, wifi), but overall it serves its purpose pretty well.

First day of school

Today is September 15 and the first day was actually September 7. However, I realized that I had not discussed this most important aspect and purpose of my time in Hong Kong.

In case you forgot, I am attending the Chinese University of Hong Kong. CUHK is a relatively new university, but one that enjoys a very good reputation in Hong Kong (more about CUHK's reputation later). Its main campus is located in Sha Tin, a district north of the city in the New Territories. The main campus is one of the most beautiful that I have seen. It is located on a mountain and, although inconvenient to traverse, this feature provides absolutely stunning views of other nearby mountains and water; the view lasts for miles.

From First Days

From First Days

From First Days

I actually don't spend much time there considering it's about an hour away by metro and light rail...maybe 30 minutes and $15-20 by cab. My classes are downtown between the Admiralty and Central metro stops on the Island line which runs across the north side of Hong Kong Island. This part of town is home to maybe one of the greatest concentration of office workers in the world. There is really nothing outside at street level except for entrances into the shops and cafes that populate the ground floors of the office buildings. It's possible to walk uninterrupted between several buildings without ever touching the street.

Sometimes this feels overwhelming but overall it's pretty convenient because the covered walking bridges provide relief from the sun and rain. Also, there are at least ten restaurants where I could be seated at table not even five minutes after class. To name a few, there are chain coffeeshops (Starbucks, Pacific Coffee Co., and Caffe Habitu), western fastfoods (Subway & Burger King), Chinese fastfood (MX and Fairwood**) all the way up to Chiuchow Garden, an upmarket traditional Chinese.

As for the school itself, I still don't have a lot to say about the courses substantively. That is because I am still uncertain about the classes that I will be able to take. The beginning of the week was the end of the first add/drop period but that was interrupted by Typhoon Koppu. Hopefully I will know within one or two days which classes I can actually enroll in.

Dutifully, I have been attending class even still unregistered. Some initial impressions are that the professors are pretty relaxed about attendance, lateness, and coming/going during class but learning expectations seem very high. This is a sharp contrast my experience in the U.S. where many professors invest a lot of effort into regulating those somewhat pedantic aspects of a class.

Reading for class is pretty much the same as in the U.S. except that some Chinese students seem even less willing to talk than the average 1L. Socratic method is not often employed but teachers are very receptive to student opinions. This is especially the case for controversial subjects, which are not scarce in a class about Chinese land expropriation for example in a classroom of people half from Hong Kong, a handful of exchange students, and a lot of LLM students from Mainland China.

Honestly, the bulk of my efforts has gone towards achieving that state of administrative zen one has when one's classes are set, tuition bills paid, and schedule is certain. Meditation has not furthered this but an annoyingly high number of phone calls placed to the academic coordinator for foreign students can sometimes push the process forward.

Typhoon Koppu

At about 7 pm yesterday, a storm signal was issued that classified Typhoon Koppu as an 8 [out of a possible 10]. Eight means that there will be winds at and above approximately 40 mph. Practically, it is significant because it is the number that mostly shuts down the city.

www.hko.gov.hk/contente.htm

Electricity has been on continuously and the weather has not been that bad. However, I went to visit some people in Soho around 8 and the winds were somewhat strong in some parts. To me it felt like the gusts that you feel on a windy day in a dense city. The air is calm in some places and newspapers are blowing around and making walking slightly harder in others.

I have never experienced anything stronger than a tropical storm in Miami. Typhoon Koppu did not even measure up to one of those. But, that might be because (1) it did not directly strike Hong Kong and (2) my apartment could be benefiting from being in one of those pockets where things remain relatively calm because of neighboring structures blocking the wind.

The Chinese University of Hong Kong's orientation included a typhoon preparedness video. The footage showed Chinese people being knocked down by wind and getting drenched by horizontal rain. This did not occur. But, the real danger is the same as what I have heard is most dangerous about hurricanes as well: strong winds blow around random junk. I saw a few pieces of debris flying around on the way back and decided that it might be a good thing to follow the instructions and stay inside for the rest of the night.

Renting a [Flat] in Hong Kong - 1

I left Miami without settled accommodations. A few weeks before I left, I spoke to a Hong Kong "apartment negotiator" who told me that it might be slightly inconvenient at first, it would be the best way to get into something suitable, or minimally acceptable, to take a look around in the first few days, then make moves.

I landed on a Saturday night and did not get to my hotel (Central Park Hotel at the intersection of Hollywood Road and Possession Street) until about 11pm. I planned to hit the ground running but then realized that night that the next day would be Sunday and found out that real estate, like pretty much everything else besides food service, retail, entertainment, and transportation, is closed Sundays. Taking it in stride, I trekked around Hong Kong Island on foot and even had the energy to go to the Peak on the cable car that goes up the incline (reminded me of Pittsburgh's).

I got a sense for a few of the neighborhoods and felt confident that I preferred to live on Hong Kong Island. Bosco, the "apartment negotiator," sent me an email around 8pm that night that I could go see an apartment by myself if I got in touch with the tenant occupying the other room. The apartment was in Wan Chai behind the Times Square shopping mall. Although that mall is pretty modern and western, the street separating it from my apartment was the border to another world where Chinese men are out on the street until after sunset, with buckets and crates of live crabs, boxes of fish, some of them still flopping around, and a million other things. The 'fruits de mer,' and their smell intimidated me almost as much as the generally chaotic atmosphere of this neighborhood. I have not been to Wan Chai since.

The apartment itself was a dump and it scared me because I thought I was destined to be in such a dump. For 5000 HKD (approx. 660 USD), I would have a room that barely fit a kids bed and nothing else. The bathroom was disgusting and the kitchen area looked like it had been used by the merchants to get their crab-stock ready for market. I left, bought a phone, and decided that my search needed to branch out the next day.

First Post

"Duo means dangerous."

This blog is getting started a few days later than my arrival in Hong Kong, so the first few posts will backtrack. Afterwards, I'm going to make a new habit of blogging so that I can share some of my experiences here in Hong Kong with friends and family. Writing it once will hopefully save me from repeating the same stories and people can find out more about what they're interested in about Hong Kong when they see me instead of hearing my 'cocktail party' version in reply to 'what did you do,' 'what was the food like,' etc.

Enjoy and send comments and questions.