Hail to the Hong Kong trams -- and a pox on those who advocated their removal from Central!

Imagining Hong Kong without trams would be like

imagining it without dragon (and lion) dances to me...

...and, in particular, a tram-less Central would mean

the area having significantly less (local) color than now

It's not often that I feel a need to comment on this blog about Hong Kong news subjects but recent reports that a consulting firm headed by a former senior government town planner has proposed the removal of trams from Central really has me feeling upset and angry -- not just because that consulting firm is actually being paid to issue such stupid suggestions but, also, because the government of 689 may well go ahead and implement them!  

In a world where climate change and global warming is being increasingly recognized as real and affected by such as the number of oil-guzzling vehicles on the road, we should be planning for -- if not already living in -- a world where more people use public transportation that carries a lot of people and fewer folks go about in private cars (and, also, taxis) which often have just one or two individuals in each of them.  

Before I moved to Hong Kong, I already was a fan of its public transportation system.  What I've noticed with some consternation in recent years though is an increase in the number of private cars on the road; this even though few people in Hong Kong actually have the money to not only own a car but also do such as pay for the parking spaces it occupies, its fuel and insurance, and maybe even fewer Hong Kongers actually have a driving license and know how to drive!  In addition, because of such as the high numbers of tourists coming over to Hong Kong (who make use of the public transportation -- particularly the MTR and tram -- while here), the MTR carriages and the likes have been getting noticeably more and more uncomfortably crowded.

So rather than argue (like the Intellects Consultancy folks have done) that the extension of the MTR Island Line to Kennedy Town in recent months means that there's less need for the trams (which, for a long time, were the favored mode of transportation to the western part of Hong Kong Island), I'd counter-suggest that the authorities should be looking to make sure that there remain ample public transportation options -- and seats on them -- for people.

With special regards to that which are popularly known as ding ding (for the sound that their bells make): yes, they can be on the slow side; and yes, these non-airconditioned modes of transportation can be hot as ovens in summer.  Also, some of the windows of the older trams that remain in service don't seem to be able to completely close to keep out the rain when it pours.

But they are the most economical way to go from an area where they have a stop to another (with the adult fare having been HK$2 eight years ago and still being only HK$2.30!).  And each tram stop is closer to the next one than their bus, mini-bus and MTR equivalents.  Also, unlike the MTR but like other above ground transportation, passengers don't have to walk down and up flights of stairs and/or escalators to get on the tram (a major plus for the elderly and less mobile among us), and can see where it is going.  Indeed, the likes of my mother will point out that it's easiest to see where the tram is headed because their tracks make their routes visible in a way that bus and mini-bus routes aren't!

On one of our first visits to the "Fragrant Harbour", both my mother and I fell in love with these now-more-than-a-century-old Hong Kong mode of transportation -- and going on a tram ride is one of the things that we recommend to tourists looking to see and experience 'some local color', and learn more about Hong Kong.  And I remember, after I had moved to "Asia's World City" to work and live, taking a company intern on a tram ride all the way to Shau Kei Wan to show her that Hong Kong Island wasn't all money and expats the way she had thought after spending too much time exclusively in Central, Soho and Wan Chai. 

At a time when Hong Kong is struggling to market itself as more than just a shopping hub, and it's been pointed out that the best tourist attractions are those that neither were created nor exist specifically for tourists, the Hong Kong Tourism Board could do far worse than encourage more tourists to try riding trams.  If it does so though, I'd further suggest that tram quantity -- and quality (with air-conditioning as an option in the summer, say!) -- be increased.  In any case, the banishment of trams from Central -- or any other part of Hong Kong -- ought to be the opposite of what the authorities should be doing with regards to this much loved mode of Hong Kong public transportation! 

Ann Hui's Boat People -- still packing an emotional wallop after all these years (film review)

On more than one occasion on my 2013 visit to Vietnam, 

I was given reminders of the country's tortured past

Boat People (Hong Kong, 1982)

- Ann Hui, director

- Starring: George Lam, Season Ma, Kei Mung Sek, Cora Miao, Andy Lau

In the 1980s through to at least the early 1990s, a number of Hong Kong films took 1970s-era Vietnam -- and those Vietnamese refugees so desperate to leave their country after the war that they'd risk their lives by fleeing on often flimsy boats that sometimes were preyed on by pirates as well as had to battle harsh elements -- as their subject matter.  In some instances, connections were made between the plight of the Vietnamese fleeing a Communist regime and Hong Kongers' Handover fears (implicitly in Vietnam-born Tsui Hark's A Better Tomorrow III (1989) and explictly in Evans Chan's To Liv(e) (1992)).  

But while there are those who think this too about Ann Hui's Boat People, the filmmaker has denied that this is the case -- and one must assume that the mainland authorities who allowed this movie to be filmed on Hainan Island and in the city of Zhaijan believed this too!  Something else worth noting is that while its title might get you thinking that, like her earlier The Story of Woo Viet (1981), it focuses on individuals who left Vietnam, this film -- whose Chinese title translates as "Run Towards the Angry Sea" -- actually revolves around a Japanese photo-journalist named Shiomi Akutagawa (played by George Lam) who returns to visit the country three years after covering the Fall of Danang in 1975.

Hailed as a friend of Vietnam by the authorities, Akutagawa is escorted around as well as wined and dined by Cultural Bureau officials, and treated as a honored guest when visiting such as a New Economic Zone where children appear to be growing up to become model Communists.  But especially after Akutagawa is granted permission by a friendly senior government official (essayed by Kei Mung Sek) to go about on his own, the Japanese man soon has his eyes opened very wide as to how terrible life can be for the less privileged, particularly those who were on the losing side of the un-civil war.

Among the people Akutagawa meets whose lives are incredibly wretched are three children (portrayed by Season Ma, Guo Jun Yi and Wu Shu Jun) whose soldier father was unfortunately killed a few days before the war's end, and a young man (played by a close to unrecognizable Andy Lau) considered to be a "bad element" on account of his having been an interpreter for the US army and consequently sent to a New Economic Zone far more hellish than the model one that Akutagawa had been taken to see.  Someone else who gets Akutagawa realizing that things and people often are not what they initially appear to be is an ethnic Chinese woman (essayed by Cora Miao) involved in the black market trade who relies on her connections to survive in some style.

Nominated for 12 Hong Kong Film Awards, Boat People went on to win in five -- including in the Best Picture, Best Director, Best Screenplay (for Chiu Kang Chien) and Best Newcomer (Season Ma -- beating out, among others, Andy Lau) -- categories.  After seeing this powerful drama (and finding myself thinking of certain shocking scenes -- and the way in which they were filmed -- some 48 hours on), I think all these honors are indeed well-deserved. 

About the one thing that I'd have changed in this hard-hitting work is the fate meted out to Akutagawa.  But knowing what I do about the way Ann Hui films tend to go, it seemed like the director just couldn't help herself in deciding to apply that final touch.   

With regards to Boat People's actors and actresses: I was amazed how unmannered George Lam and Andy Lau were in this film.  And if his character's entry into the movie (and that of Cora Miao's too) had not been met by gasps from the audience (at the Hong Kong Film Archive screening that I attended), I actually would not have realized who the actor playing him was!  At the same time though, Season Ma it was who turned in the most mesmerizing performance of the lot -- and I find it sad that her last movie appearance (in 1989's The First Time is the Last Time) took place just nine films and seven years after this one in which she made her cinematic debut.

My rating for this film: 9.0 

How beautiful -- and green -- is Hong Kong on a high visibility summer's day! (Photo-essay)

Sometimes, when you gotta go, you just gotta go...!  More specifically: one summer's day, despite the temperature being on the high side and my having a cold, I was tempted by the super high visibility to go out hiking on Hong Kong Island.  Having told a friend that I'd be opting for an easy hike, she was persuaded to go with me on the circular Peak walk, but also up High West and then down to the Mid-Levels because, well, the beautiful weather was calling me to go do so!

Although my friend struggled a bit with the many steps leading up to High West, I do think that she understood why I think the uphill climb is so very much worth it once she saw the 360 degree views that one gets from up there.  And although she was amused by my constantly being on the look out for interesting critters, I think she too got pretty excited by the critter spottings we were able to make along the way... ;b

Shortly after getting off the bus that got us up to  

Victoria Gap, we were privy to this view that took in 

High West along with the Pok Fu Lam Reservoir

I've seen this view (looking across Victoria Harbour to Kowloon

and also to the eastern section of Hong Kong Island) many times --

but still, it's one that mesmerizes, especially on high visibility days ;b

This is the real Victoria Peak -- as opposed to Victoria Gap,

which many tourists mistake for The Peak!

Yes, at 494 meters high, High West is more than 50 meters shorter

than Victoria Peak -- but one still can get splendid views from there

and unlike the latter, one can get up to its very top!

Yes, there's more than one way up High West -- but

some are more challenging to go up than others! :O

One of the smaller -- and more beautiful -- of a number 

of butterflies that I spotted on this hike :)

 The shiny bits of the tiger beetle are particularly noticeable

when they are moving at speed! :b

One of six (or is it seven?) historic boundary stones for 

the City of Victoria  -- this one located on the road 

leading down to the Mid-Levels from the Peak 

Hiking on a super humid and cloudy -- but thunderstorm-less! -- day

Don't the dark clouds look ominous?

This particularly when we ventured up to where

we encountered some low-lying clouds as fog!

Soon, however, we were below the clouds again

-- and able to see clearly once more ;)

Since I've done my share of calling out the Hong Kong Observatory when its weather forecasts have not been accurate, I figure I should give it credit on a day where its forecast turned out to be right on the money!  And this after I -- unfairly, as it turned out! -- wondered whether I should trust it at some points earlier in the day.

In fairness (to myself!): after having checked today's weather forecast this morning and decided that it'd be okay to go out for a hike this afternoon, I heard thundery rumblings as I walked over to the green minibus stop where a hiking friend and I were meeting up!  Then, early on in the hike, we noticed large dark clouds covering the tops of Mount Parker and Mount Butler -- the latter of which we had aimed to go up (along with nearby -- and not that much shorter despite the "Siu" (small) in its name, actually -- Siu Ma Shan) a bit later!

But although it was indeed super humid out there today, not a single raindrop ended up falling on us during the hike, never mind our getting caught in the thunderstorm we worried would come along despite the Hong Kong Observatory having said that it would not be the case.  Also, while some people might have thought otherwise after seeing how drenched we were this afternoon, truly it was due to our being bathed in sweat rather than having been made wet by any precipitation!

For the record: the humidity levels today were so high that not only did I end up perspiring a lot but a combination of it and the many steps we climbed up over the cause of today's hike also caused me to pant like I can't remember having done for quite some time!  Despite all this -- and visibility levels not being the greatest (since it was a pretty cloudy day) -- though, my friend and I agreed that we had spent a good afternoon out in the Hong Kong countryside, one which we are happy that we weren't moved to spend indoors after thinking that -- despite the Hong Kong Observatory's forecast -- it'd be as terribly rainy today as it has been in recent days! :b 

A potentially heart-breaking Japanese Prophecy (film review)

Prophecy is a film that gets one reflecting on 

the contemporary state of Japanese society

Prophecy (Japan, 2015)

- Yoshihiro Nakamura, dir.

- Starring: Toma Ikuta, Erika Toda, Ryohei Suzuki, Gaku Hamada, Yoshiyoshi Arakawa, Fukuyama Kohei

This 119 minute-length crime drama is based on a manga series which ran for two years in a monthly magazine.  And although there's one character who is the main focus of the film, a number of other supporting characters also get quite a bit of screen time and opportunities to make the viewer(s) feel for them.  Add in its critiques of contemporary Japanese society (in particular its treatment of the unfortunate souls who encountered difficulties earlier in their life that then appear to irrevocably damn them in the eyes of more fortunate others) and you've got quite the complex and ambitious film in director Yoshihiro Nakamura's follow-up to last year's impressive The Snow White Murder Case.

Soon after an arson attack on a food processing plant, the police cybercrimes team headed by tough female detective Erika Yoshino (Erika Toda) come across a video clip released online by a masked man who appears in it -- and a number of similar videos -- issuing "prophecies" which he then turns into reality.  A vigilante out to make errant companies and people who've behaved badly pay for their maltreatment of innocent others, he becomes an internet sensation; particularly after he offers to mete out rough justice on his audience's behalf to people who have wronged them.

Although the authorities take some time to uncover the identity of the mysterious "Newspaper Man" (so named because his mask's fashioned from a newspaper sheet), Prophecy's audience quickly learn that he's actually four people acting in concert rather than just one individual operating alone. And while it's pretty clear that this Kanto-based quartet's brains is a sensitive-looking techie nicknamed Gates (Toma Ikuta), the rugged ex-musician dubbed Kansai because that's where he originally hailed from (Ryohei Suzuki), a bespectacled former NEET nicknamed Nobita (Gaku Hamada) and the food-loving Metabolic (the consistently scene-stealing Yoshiyoshi Arakawa) also definitely do play their parts in the whole affair.

In flashback scenes, Gates is shown getting badly bullied by his boss -- and given scant support by his colleagues -- at an IT company where he had been a temporary worker for close to three years (after which he would have become a permanent employee).  After collapsing at work one day, he not only loses his job but also goes into debt because of the medical fees he incurred and ends up with a space in his employment history (due to his hospitalization and such) that makes other companies refuse to consider hiring him.

In desperation, he accepts a dangerous job dumping toxic waste illegally.  Although treated badly once again by the boss, this time around, Gates finds friends among his hard-laboring co-workers (who include Kansai, Nobita and Metabolic).  Encouraged by one another, their spirits soar.  Sadly, however, their dreams of getting their lives back on an even keel fall apart one fateful night when one of their number, a young man (Kohei Fukuyama) who had come from the Philippines to look for the Japanese father who had abandoned him and his mother, pays the ultimate price for having sold a kidney to pay for the journey over to Japan.     

Although Gates and his fellow "Newspaper Men" operate on the wrong side of the law, it's easy to sympathize -- even empathize -- with them and support many of their actions.  But rather have their main pursuer come across as a bitchy, unthinking puppet of the Establishment, Erika Yoshino too is admirably made to come across as a sympathetic character -- one who has had her own obstacles imposed by society to overcome in life. 

As Prophecy moves towards its conclusion though, a number of plot twists over-stretch the story's overall credibility and dilute some of the messages about society that the film's makers had looked to try to advance.  The last 10 minutes or so of this movie are by far its weakest.  If not for the offering having been as emotionally enthralling and involving earlier on, serious damage would have been wreaked.  But as it stands, even as my brain was thinking that those final bits were on the hokey as well as far-fetched side, I still couldn't help but shed a few tears for the key characters and what could have been for them (as opposed to just the work itself).

My rating for this film: 8.5

Takashi Murakami artworks in a most unlikely place!

 Takashi Murakami's immediately recognizable 

smiley flowers spotted at Art HK 11

More of Murakami's smiley flowers -- this time spotted

near the entrance to toilets at a Hong Kong mall! :O

Takashi Murakami has been labelled the Japanese Andy Warhol for doing such as having no qualms about mixing high- and low-brow styles, pop culture and high Culture, commercial and fine art.  So it seems pretty appropriate that the first time I encountered his work was at the Louis Vuitton: A Passion for Creation special exhibition at the Hong Kong Museum of Art in 2009.

Since then, I've regularly seen the popular artist's works on show at the annual mega art fair initially known as Art HK but now known as Art Basel - Hong Kong (after being taken over by the Art Basel franchise).  In addition, a few years ago, I went to have a look at an exhibition of some more of his works (this one featuring skulls as well as flowers) at the Hong Kong branch of the Gagosian Gallery.     

This evening, I caught sight of some more of the super prolific Murakami's works -- in what I consider to be such an unlikely place that I was moved to go and check to make sure that they were indeed original and actual works by the Japanese artist rather than ones by an imitator.  More specifically, on my way to the toilet at Elements (a mall that, granted, has been known to host art exhibitions), I caught sight of two of the Japanese artist's distinctive works hanging near the area set aside for people to sit for a bit while doing such as waiting for their friend(s) to finish using the nearby toilets!

While I know that there's a contemporary school of artistic thought that believes that art can be installed anywhere, I personally feel that there are better and more appropriate places to encounter and more greatly appreciate his works.  As it stands, I wonder how many people recognize that the Murakami works placed meters away from the toilets are works of art and/or works by him -- and also how many of those who do so take time to stop and take a good look at them when venturing into this section of the shopping mall?!

I'd additionally like to know for how long these works have been hanging in that space.  As it so happens, I've been to the mall quite a few times over the years -- but this was the first time I actually went to make use of the particular toilet which the Murakami works have been placed close to, and it thus was the first time this fan of his art knew about their presence in the mall! :O

Grassy Hill scenic hike sights and critter spottings (Photo-essay)

Less than a week after we hiked up Needle Hill but then went down to Fo Tan rather than continue northwards along the Maclehose Trail to Grassy Hill, my two hiking buddies and I returned to the area to "conquer" Hong Kong's 14th highest hill (at 647 meters above sea level).  What with it also being two days after torrential rains had fallen over the territory, the afternoon in question was noticeably cooler than just five days before -- and visibility was as far as 40 kilometers in parts of the Big Lychee.

At this time of the year, creatures are out in force -- Grassy Hill sure does live up to its billing.  With much of the countryside a verdant green, there were splendid sights as well as cool critter spottings to be had on the hike.  Without a doubt, my favorite section of the route was that between Grassy Hill and Lead Mine Pass.  If this part of Hong Kong that actually had me thinking of the Alps -- and scenes from The Sound of Music! -- weren't so out of the way (and accessible only by foot!), I'd love to go there more often... ;S

Unlike when we hiked up Needle Hill, we did run across some of 

Shing Mun Country Park's monkey residents this time around

 

 Frankly, I prefer this kind of hairy critter to the macaques!

This image is less sharp than I'd like because this fat reptile

actually moved much faster than you'd think it could! :O

 

Looking northeastwards to Ma On Shan (town and mountain)

and Tolo Harbour from Grassy Hill

 

Looking back from a bit further up to Needle Hill, 

Shing Mun Reservoir and parts further south

 

Would you believe that Hong Kong can look like this? ;b

 

And yes, believe it -- a spotted snake spotting 

on the way down from Lead Mine Pass! :O

 

It looks far away but the town in the distance,

Tai Po, was where we had that day's post-hike dinner :)