When your 14-year old daughter asks to borrow

YOUR Cannon EOS 450D,

Given to you as a gift by your Missus,

To take a picture of her lunch,

Because she “likes how the light is falling on it.”

Do you feel “jealousy” or pride,

Because YOU are still trying to get the light right?

You decide…

From a proud Dad.

And a proud Hubbie with a Missus who can put together a Saturday lunch like that.

My iMac’s desktop from today:

Click on both pictures to get a better look.

Two years ago I attended the first-ever Bledisloe Cup match (New Zealand vs. Australia) to be played outside of these two countries.

The match, in terms of interest and exposure for the two brands, was a resounding success and last year the powers-that-be decided to try that experiment on Japanese soil.  I don’t know whether the New Zealand and Australian rugby boards were not impressed with their Japan outreach experiment, but thanks be to the rugby-gods that they decided to return the final match of the Bledisloe Cup series here in Hong Kong.

With the addition of the Hong Kong match, the Bledisloe Cup will be decided over four Tests in 2010.

Australia and New Zealand are scheduled to meet three times as part of the Tri-Nations Series and then contest the fourth and final match in Hong Kong.

The 2010 Bledisloe Cup Series

Match 1: Etihad Stadium, Melbourne (July 31)

Match 2: AMI Stadium, Christchurch (Aug 7)

Match 3: ANZ Stadium, Sydney (September 11)

Match 4: Hong Kong Stadium, Hong Kong (October 30)

Tickets

SA Association

Last I heard, the Southern African Association in Hong Kong (SAAHK) received another ticket allocation this year.  Please contact the SAAHK’s Bruce Fowler for more information.

Hong Kong Public Sales

From 2nd August onwards (10:00am) residents in Hong Kong (Hong Kong ID Card holders) will be able to purchase tickets through HK Ticketing online: www.hkticketing.com , by phone : +852 31 288 288 or at HK Ticketing Outlets including Box Offices and Tom Lee Music Stores.

For further details, please go to www.hkticketing.com

Pricing

The entire stadium will be reserved seating. Customers will be able to choose from and reserve the available seats in the stadium and a range of price options will apply depending on the location of the seats. Tickets are priced at HK$1,250, HK$1,000 and HK$880.

Bledisloe Cup

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Kick off at 4.30pm HKT (7.30pm AEDT; 9.30pm NZT).

Here are some pictures from the 2008 Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong:

Click here to visit the Bledisloe Cup in Hong Kong website

As I mentioned in a previous post, on Sunday Howzit-HongKong.com attended the South African Tourism Workshop at the Park Lane Hotel in Causeway Bay.

As always, not only was it yet another occasion where I got to meet an old university acquaintance totally by chance (I last saw him 20 years ago), but it was an opportunity to catch up with what is happening back home in terms of our country’s tourism industry.

My family and I make our annual Hong Kong summer trip home to the Western Cape and we always make a point of visiting as many places as we can fit in-between all the family commitments. Talk about being a tourist in one’s own country!

It was therefore a bonus that officials from the Cape Winelands District Municipality were part of the South African delegation at the Workshop.  My family home is located just outside the world-famous Stellenbosch Wine Route which, of course, is located within the Cape Winelands District.  As annual visitors to towns and amenities located in this District, I learned of many new offerings that has been developed in the region… some have been there for decades.

More about that later.

While researching (read: Google) the District, I came upon this informative series of video-clips on the Cape Winelands.  As the wine retail industry is growing exponentially here in Hong Kong, we thought that it would be a great idea to share these videos here on Howzit-Hong Kong.com:

Cape Wine Route, Episode 1

Cape Wine Route, Episode 2:

Cape Wine Route, Episode 3:

Howzit-HongKong.com regularly field e-mails from people who have attended South African promotional events in Hong Kong with requests for various contact details of participants and exhibitors.

In the interest of those who may be interested in contacting any of the exhibitors at this weekend’s South African Tourism Workshop at the Park Lane Hotel, here are the contact details of the role-players:

South African Tourism

(1) Evelyn Mahlaba: Regional Director: Americas, Asia & Australasia

27 11 8953000 27 11 8953001

evelyn@southafrica.net

(2) Bradley Brouwer: Regional Manager: Asia Pacific

86 10 85236881 86 10 85236897

bradley@southafricantourism.cn

(3) Tracy Qi :General Manager: Marketing & PR

86 10 85236883 or 86 10 85236897

tracyqi@southafrica.sina.net

(4) Simon Wang: Finance & Administration Officer

86 10 85236881 or 86 10 85236897 13681220731

simonwang@southafrica.sina.net

SA Tourism Regional Manager: Bradley Brouwer (pic: Mike Jansen)

South African Embassy

Busisiwe Mkhwebane-Tshehla: Councillor: Home Affairs

86 10 85230000

KER & DOWNEY SA PTY LTD

Stephen Chak Yum Li: Director of Business Development

27 21 4698800 27 21 4698895 27 83 3023737

stephen@ker-downey.co.za

Thebe Tourism Inbound, UTC Asia

Heather Rose Gutierrez: Head of Thebe Inbound

27 21 5510288 or 27 21 5510207 27 71 8591202

heather@thebetourism.co.za

Rock Sun

Lucky Liang: Managing Director

886 2 25631166 886 2 25641122 886 910092921

rocksun.sa@msa.hinet.net

Kuo Yu Chen:

rocksun.tpe@msa.hinet.net

Kuo Yu Chen (Taiwan)

886 2 25631166 or 886 2 25641122

rocksun.tpe@msa.hinet.net

Comfort Travel

Jason Pan: GM

27 11 8071188 or 27 11 5076688 or 27 82 7127965

jp@comforttravel.co.za

Feizhong International Travel

Cheng Chong: Tour Operator

27 11 6163378 or 27 11 6162835 or 27 83 2735607

mickeyw@harveyworld.co.za

Walk Through Africa Tours

Yuan Wei: GM

86 10 64958831 or 86 10 64975505 or 86 13501010811

wtatbj@gmail.com

Asian Sun Tours

Su Young Lee: Director 27 21 4215993 or 27 21 4215996 27 82 0626365

rachel@asiansun.co.za

Franschhoek Wine Valley Tourism Association

Jennifer Ann Prinsloo: CEO

27 21 8762861 or 27 21 8762768 or 27 82 9007410

ceo@franschhoek.org.za

Kelcy le Keur from the Cape Winelands District Municipality (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Cape Winelands District Municipality

(1) Kelcy Sharon Cheryl Le Keur: Executive Director

27 21 8885156 or 27 21 8874797 or 27 82 4144751

kelcy@capewinelands.gov.za

(2) Badih Jamil Chaaban: Executive Mayor

(3) Christelene Claurene Brink: Councillor, Regional Development and Planning Services

(4) Claude Vernon Schroeder: Executive Director, Rural & Social Development

Plettenberg Bay Tourism

Dianna Martin

27 44 5334065 or 27 83 4555061

dianna@mweb.co.za

Cape Town Routes Unlimited

Itumeleng Pooe: Executive Manager

27 21 4874860 or 27 21 4874801 or 27 82 4874860

itumelengp@tourismcapetown.co.za

Sun International

Mark Wang: Assistant Market Manager

27 11 7807903 or 27 11 7807188 or 27 83 3272485

mark.wang@za.suninternational.com

City Lodge Hotels Limited

Rosemary Bischoff: Assistant Sales Tours and Incentives

27 11 5572600 or 27 11 5572670 or 27 82 9030303

rose@citylodge.co.za

Recreation Africa Leisure Industries

Timothy George: Director

27 11 9506000 or 27 11 9573212 44 7824832476

recafrica@rali.co.za

African Romance

(1) Daviele Carta: Sales & Business Development Manager

27 11 3845606 or 27 11 3845661 or 27 83 3096409

devi@africanromance.com

(2) Chin Mei Tang: Sales Executive

27 11 3845600 or 27 11 3845661

Jerry Khalo from Sabi Sabi (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Sabi Sabi Private Game Reserve

Negi Jeremiah Khalo: Arean Manager, Marketing & Sales

27 11 4477172 or 27 11 4420728 or 27 84 8828466

jkhalo@sabisabi.com

Southern Sun

Jin Xiaoxu: China Representative

86 10 64731556 or 86 18910657157

steven_jin@sohu.com

Southern Sun

Jin Xiaoxu: China Representative

86 10 64731556 or 86 18910657157

steven_jin@sohu.com

Legend Lodges Hotels & Resorts

Nicolette Gauche Fourie: International Sales Manager

27 21 9819366 or 27 21 9822352 or 27 82 5200997

nicci@legendlodges.co.za

Protea Hotels

Tessa Jane Bott: Sales Manager

27 21 4305000 or 27 21 4305116 44 7776191177

tessab@africanpridehotels.com

SA Tourism

Click here to visit SA Tourism online

One Sunday afternoon, Howzit-HongKong.com attended an informative tourism workshop hosted by South African Tourism at the Park Lane Hotel in the busy shopping district of Causeway Bay.

The Hong Kong-leg is part of an aggressive travel promotion campaign across the Greater China region following a highly successful World Cup that drew an international audience of billions.

The campaign took in Shanghai and Hong Kong and at the time of writing, workshops are being conducted in Korea.  It concludes in Japan at the end of this week.

The series of workshops is targeted at the travel trade highlighting the rich and varied travel resources that the country has to offer and will be followed by other promotional activities aimed at the broader market. Forward bookings are already showing a marked pickup driven by intense media coverage of the sporting event over the past month.

More than 20 South African trade partners, including representatives from airlines, hotels, ground agents, wine associations and game reserves have taken part and provided comprehensive and in-depth information to more than 500 trade guests attending.

Jerry Khalo from the Sabi Sabi Game Reserve interacts with local service providers (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Just under one million foreign visitors have traveled to South Africa over the month of the World Cup according to new government figures and more than three million fans have attended matches, a new record.

The latest tourist arrival figures for 2010 show that more than 1.9 million (1,916,544) tourists arrived in South Africa from January to March 2010, representing a growth of 20.9% during the same period last year. Tourist arrivals were up from all major source markets, among which 21.9% are from the Asia market.

SA Tourism’s Bradley Brouwer (middle) and Minister Marthinus Van Schalkwyk meet a local service provider (Pic: Mike Jansen)

“South Africa’s tourism arrivals for the first quarter of the year exceeded our expectations, and we are confident the publicity from the World Cup will help us achieve our ambitious growth targets for 2010,” said Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk, the Minister of Tourism, Republic of South Africa at the Hong Kong stop trade workshop.

“The successful staging of the World Cup has changed global perceptions about the country. These China trade workshops come at the right time to provide a platform to create and explore more cooperation opportunities between the trade in South Africa and China. I am convinced the championship has opened up the door to our destination to scores of new visitors, and I look forward to bringing more exciting, meaty and in-depth itineraries to Chinese travelers.”

SA Tourism Regional Manager Bradley Brouwer (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Mr. Bradley Brouwer, Regional Manager: Asia Pacific, South African Tourism, thanked all honorable guests, trade partners and media friends for their long-term support given so for to South African Tourism.

“South African Tourism Beijing Office will strengthen cooperation and communications with the trade and acquire more cooperative measures to showcase the true beauty of South Africa to Chinese travellers,” said Mr. Brouwer. “Besides the trade workshop we hold annually, we are also going to tailor more substantial and value-for-money itineraries for the Chinese market and generate word-of-mouth influence to reach out to consumers through the trade and various media channels.”

Here are some more pictures from Sunday’s SA Tourism workshop:

There is a beautiful scene in the movie An American Tail where Fievel Mousekewitz crawls out of his digs and sees the rising moon in the distance.  You may remember the song in this clip called “Somewhere out there”

This being Hong Kong and me being me, I found myself up around 4am this morning and couldn’t help but notice the beautiful full moon setting over West Kowloon.  In the aftermath of tropical cyclone Chanthu we have been experiencing some stunning bright days with beautiful blue skies and brilliant white clouds.  For this reason, this morning’s full moon was particularly beautiful as the skies over Hong Kong were clear of the usual reddish smog.

This morning on FaceBook I couldn’t help but smile upon seeing the following picture of (as a friend back home used to say) the self-same moon setting over Cape Town:

Shows you, where-ever we are in the world… at least we get to enjoy the “self-same” moon.

Happy Monday, South Africa.

PS. The picture was taken from Klapmuts in the Western Cape by Kim, a listener to 94.5 KFM and posted by Ryan O’Connor on the Breakfast Show’s FaceBook page

Howzit-HongKong.com often gets invited to attend functions all over Hong Kong.

Sometimes the events take place at venues that afford one such spectacular vistas of this vibrant and beautiful city, that it would be amiss not to snap away and post the pics on our Flickr album here.

I attended one such event on the 26th floor of the Park Lane Hotel in Causeway Bay.  South African Tourism hosted a successful workshop to introduce some of the product offerings available to local visitors to our beautiful country.

In his opening address to the workshop today, South Africa’s Minister of Tourism, Marthinus Van Schalkwyk mentioned of his slight concern at arriving in Hong Kong in the midst of Tropical Cyclone Chanthu.  However, upon arriving in the territory, he was greeted with beautiful blue skies and hot weather.

Well Mr Van Schalkwyk, while we were fortunate to have missed the chaos of the storm, as you can see from the pictures below, the beautiful blue skies are (as they say back home) part and parcel of typhoon season, both before and after the storm.

More about the tourism workshop later.

The Park Lane Hotel is located in the busy shopping district of Causeway Bay, adjacent to the lush Victoria Park.

The view from the 26th floor affords one some glorious vistas across Victoria Park towards Tin Hau MTR station in the direction of North Point.  Kellet Island, home of the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club can be seen in the foreground with Kowloon Bay and the Eastern Harbour Entrance in the distance.

Hong Kong’s Victoria Park (Pic: Mike Jansen)

Turning the camera slightly to the left, more of Victoria Harbour and the yacht basin come into view.  On the other side of the Harbour you can see (from left to right) Tsim Sha Tsui East, Hung Hom and Whampoa Garden.  The “Howzit” indicates my apartment where Howzit-HongKong.com is produced.

Victoria Harbour & the yacht basin (Pic: Mike Jansen)

If you are not feeling particularly dandy today, I know just where you should be going.

Wikipedia defines “dandy” as:

A dandy (also known as a beau and gallant) is a man who places particular importance upon physical appearance, refined language, and leisurely hobbies, pursued with the appearance of nonchalance in a cult of Self. Historically, especially in late 18th- and early 19th-century Britain, a dandy, who was self-made, often strove to imitate an aristocratic style of life despite coming from a middle-class background.

As we said earlier, if you would like to bring out the “beau” in you and just happen to find yourself in Hong Kong, Dandy House is the place to be to re-ignite the “importance of your physical appearance.”

I wonder what Dandy House does with regard to “refined language” and “leisurely hobbies” ?!

I snapped this billboard at the Tai Wo Hau MTR station, Red line (Pic: Mike Jansen)

The organisers of the 2010 SaSa 2010 Hong Kong International Dragon Boat Races yesterday announced that the races were to be down-scaled from a 3-day to a 2-day event due to the effects of the tropical storm Chanthu.

However, as we have always forecasted here at Howzit-HongKong.com, once again this tropical storm warning proved to be just another storm-in-a-teacup.

We we got home at about 1pm this afternoon, conditions in Victoria Harbour proved to be ideal (a flat,calm harbour) for Dragon Boat racing.

When we passed Tsim Sha Tsui East in the vicinity of the Kowloon Shangrila Hotel, there was some activity on the water.

It may have been the various teams getting in a practice run or two before the big event tomorrow, we don’t know.

So, if you’re in the mood for some great international Dragon Boat racing, head out to the Tsim Sha Tsui East waterfront tomorrow.

Read all about the Race on Howzit-HongKong.com here