Yesterday, this poor chap’s newish Alfa Romeo got crushed by a falling pipe while waiting at traffic lights. He escaped within an inch of his life: the pipe smashed into his car just behind the driver’s seat. According to reports from the South China Morning Post, he was so frightened by the incident that he didn’t move until firefighters arrived, needing their help to get out of the car although he wasn’t trapped in the disaster.

(Picture borrowed from the Standard )

The incident occurred a few blocks from our apartment. Some negligence was definitely involved when three huge pipes which were being hoisted up by crane broke free and fell 35 floors onto the street and the waiting traffic below. Apparently two of the pipes landed on the street first, then bounced onto the vehicles. Thankfully nobody died! Eyewitnesses were reported to have seen drivers climb out of their vehicles and scramble for ’safety’ beneath the wings of the construction area. Wonder if that’s any safer?!

The damage: an Italian car, several taxis, two trucks, a goods van and public confidence in the enforcement of construction safety guidelines.

I’m certainly going to be very careful from now on around construction/improvement sites. And you think these things happen only in Malaysia. Sigh.

It seems to be the season for refurbishment too. Our apartment building will soon be fitted with bamboo scaffolding for water pipe replacements.

It’s been quite a while since the last post. Sometimes this happens because of laziness. But this time it’s because we’ve been having the busiest few weeks ever in the fragrant harbour!

We had the most fabulous trip to Paris – wonderfully brisk weather with amazing architecture and history to boot. I am still struggling to finish my writeup (including photos) on it, so much has been happening of late! Had a bit of jetlag when we got back, but the time difference was only 6 hours so it wasn’t that bad.

But soon after the trip, the in-laws came to visit! They arrived at the beginning of Golden Week – a term attributed to a stretch of holidays on the mainland in celebration of China’s national day. We didn’t get a week of holidays in Hong Kong, but Monday was a public holiday. While the in-laws were here, we managed a trip to Lamma Island (I sat and watched while everyone ate shellfish… until the vegetable dish and fish arrived), watched the fireworks display over Victoria Harbour from an open-air restaurant at Two IFC, and guiltily indulged in culinary heaven for 4 entire days (It was good not having to cook). After they left, we were exhausted but then it was already the end of the long weekend.

On Friday night, while many were at home or out with families for mid-autumn festival dinner, we had a lovely evening at the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HKPO) courtesy of one of our home group members who plays the trumpet in the HKPO. It featured Vadim Repin, whose mastery of the violin left us gaping in amazement. The orchestra exceeded expectation. Such talent! It was our first time at the HK Cultural Centre, and the acoustics of the concert hall were excellent. No more stall seats for orchestral performances. The sound is apparently better in the balcony.

Over the weekend, we had the pleasure of meeting up with Mr & Mrs Fatboybakes at Chung’s cuisine in Times Square (they were in town for a wedding) – it was great catching up over dim sum and exchanging eye-rolls over the HK obsession with branded chattels. Being a Saturday, we didn’t realise that it was a public holiday (Mid-autumn festival), and therefore, all the usual great offers for a dim sum feast were off. Be that as it may, we had a lovely, face-stuffing brunch followed by yeung jee kam lo at a separate venue after. Then they had to go back to the hotel to check out while we had to meet a property agent for several apartment viewings.

All this while, we’d also stepped up our apartment-hunting efforts, viewing an average of six apartments a weekend (and sometimes during weekdays). It was getting to a point when it got a bit frustrating as there was always a ‘fatal’ problem with each apartment, that is, something which worked against our renting the apartment. E.g.

• apartment totally over our budget
• no furniture at all (not even curtains)
• apartment in a dodgy area
• weird-looking (and -behaving) security guards
• apartment smells of unbathed dog… and so on.

But after walking the inkworth of a hundred Kilometrico pens (remember ‘on.. and on.. and on..’?), our November visitors will be glad to know that we have FINALLY found a nice place to call home for the next couple of years or so. It’s just down the road from our present abode, with a bathroom that is large by average HK apartment standards and a kitchen in which I can stretch out my arms and whirl without knocking over a glass (I broke 3 glasses in our current kitchen). It’s got full built-ins, but we have to shop for a few items like a fridge, bed and sofa (these are our top priorities). We took a gamble when we signed for it because it was only available several days after our current lease expires, and two days before our visitors arrive! But yesterday we managed to get a short extension from the landlord, and we’re quite pleased to still be able to accommodate our guests – the second room is fully furnished with a built-in bed.

The previous tenants offered to sell us their furniture lock stock n barrel (except for fridge) for a really decent price, but after some consideration, we decided against it. Although their furniture was of decent quality (Ikea stuff and all that), they probably forgot to bring their measuring tape with them on their furniture shopping trip. The sofa occupied too much space in the living room and their bed frame was so huge that you couldn’t open the bedroom door fully. They had a washer and a separate dryer, but they bought the top-loading style of washer which meant that it couldn’t be placed in the space under the kitchen counter specially built for a washer (because then you wouldn’t have space to lift open the lid). So their washer went into the space meant for the fridge! And the fridge was then positioned in an awkward way in the middle of the kitchen wall. As space is premium in a country like HK, one must use it wisely.

Tomorrow I must go buy a retractable measuring tape. I only have the Ikea one at the moment.

By not being aware of it?

Hong Kong experienced a tremor last night close to 8pm. Worried families ran out from their homes. Skyscrapers trembled. Books wobbled on their swaying shelves. Office workers were talking about it. Even the regulars frequenting the tiny cafe downstairs temporarily deserted their usual conversations about the new casino in Macau.

For all of three seconds, Hong Kong was shaken and stirred by an earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter Scale (RS). The epicentre of the quake was determined to be in the sea about 36km southeast of Hong Kong, around Danga Island. However, no property damage or injuries were reported.

According to the Hong Kong Observatory, the tectonic setting of Hong Kong greatly reduces the chances of the country experiencing a major local quake.

Most earthquakes of the world occur along the boundaries of crustal plates. Hong Kong lies within the Eurasian Plate and is located far away, about 600 km, from the nearest boundary with the Pacific Plate on the Circum-Pacific Seismic Belt that runs through Japan, Taiwan and the Philippines. Therefore, the chance of a major local tremor is very small.

Apparently, the strongest quake felt by Hong Kong was in 1918 but it was actually centred in Guangdong in China. That measured 7.3 on the RS and caused minor building damage.

I didn’t ignore the earthquake. I just didn’t feel it. Perhaps being on your feet and preoccupied with tasks tends to distract you from earth-shaking events. I didn’t actually experience any of the other tremors occurring in KL last year, either.

If you’re familiar with the char chan teng style restaurant, you would probably have had your share of peanut butter toasts, cheese-baked rice and HK-style milk teas. This style of char chan teng, which has since multiplied like rabbits in the Klang Valley, is actually not a very common sight on Hong Kong Island. Instead, roast meat (goose, duck, chicken) and wonton noodle shops abound.

It is said that the very first of these char chan teng restaurants to open its doors in Hong Kong is Tsui Wah Restaurant, on Jaffe Road in Causeway Bay.

The menu was extremely varied, with the usual rice, chinese noodles, ramen and ‘western’ offerings. They even have Hainanese chicken rice! It took me a while to finally decide on the Portuguese-style baked rice. While waiting for it to arrive, I ordered a coffee, which was served in a funny cup. The coffee was quite nice, but I wonder why milk always seems to be in ’short supply’. Meanwhile, we also ordered a dinner set which comprises lai tong (daily soup), honey lamb chops and a lemon drink. The soup was so-so, but the lamb chops were unexpectedly tasty and tender (yes, one may have expected them to be tough or reckon that plenty of tenderiser was used), served with a baked potato and a mixed salad.

A fairly decent effort

Finally, my meal arrived, not fast enough for it to be captured under the fast food category, but the sight of it made me forget what a long time it took coming!

Wow, this wasn’t what I’d expected?!

As usual I finished every morsel (with a little help) and it is definitely way too much for one person, unless that is one super, double-hungry person.

And the cost of the meal came up to about HKD120.

What do you get when you add an incidental tropical depression to a week-long cold front?

A strong wind signal 3 associated with tropical cyclones, a red rainstorm warning signal, a thunderstorm warning and a landslip warning.

Our apartment took a real beating last night as the winds and rain lashed against the windows, and this morning the harbour was completely shut out by an immense fog. Afternoon schools have been closed. Bet office workers wish it were the same for them – except that they would be stuck in the office :p