May 2010
7 posts
in which I am more dumb than usual . . .
I’ve been up for 24 hours and been through immigration and customs twice and have had to go through security three different times. The good news is that in the 5 months since I last came through SeaTac they’ve added free wi-fi, which means I’m sitting here playing video mahjong, monitoring my fantasy baseball team, and streaming the A’s vs. the Giants, which is quite a...
9 tags
In which I don't wax poetic about Hong Kong . . .
… and instead long for the sweet tones of home. I’ve spent so much time writing about what’s to like about this city—and there’s an ungodly amount of things to like—that one may get the impression all is rosy. And it is, I suppose, but in preparation for my imminent return I thought I’d construct a list of things I won’t miss about Hong Kong at...
in which the reverse countdown begins...
The bucolic halcyon summer awaiting me in Bedford Falls beckons. In five days hence I’ll wake up back in my own bed in Washington state, jet-lagged as all get out, but hopefully none the worse for wear and definitely in some ways a different person than I was upon my departure for Hong Kong 5 months ago. In some ways 5 months doesn’t seem like a very long time, but in others it seems...
4 tags
A night at the races! (in which I win for losing)...
In Hong Kong it’s often said that one should never get a haircut on a Wednesday night during horse racing season, the joke being that the barber will be paying much more attention to the action at the track than the hair on your head. This is undoubtedly true. The race track is in Happy Valley, which is just south of Causeway Bay on Hong Kong Island. The course has been in the same place...
15 tags
In which I ponder ethnicity & advertising in Hong...
Nowhere in the world are people more brand obsessed than they are here in Hong Kong, and not the cheap brands either; they covet the high-end Western stuff. Oddly, Western advertisers make no attempt to tailor their adverts to the Asian market. The overwhelming majority of ads are the same ones that you see in Europe or the States or in any of the glossy mags. Which is to say that the models...
“My name is Peggy Olsen and I’d like to smoke some marijuana.”
– Peggy Olsen, Mad Men, Season 3, Episode 3, “My Old Kentucky Home.” 