Those of you who are regular readers of Howzit-HongKong.com (and BlitzBokke.com) will know of my profound love affair with jazz and especially the genre called Cape Jazz.
This interest of mine is what moved me to start the Victoria Harbour Sundowner Sessions here on Howzit-HongKong.com (we should re-start that feature soon!).
The weekly feature showcased some of the Cape Town/South African/International music and musicians that I love and associate with home and that I like to play in my apartment here in Hong Kong, especially at sunset.
I have featured the likes of (my kids’ tick tock lady) Tina Schouw, Sankomota, Lesley Kleinsmith, Dave Grusin, Sadao Watanabe, to name but a few.
This past weekend, I had to visit my regular IT mall in Sham Shui Po because I had to upgrade my WiFi network in the apartment. I also went around to one of the stalls selling DVDs and as always I picked up 2 real DVD GEMS! (For HK$30/R30 each nogal!) You guessed it: both jazz and both groups have a connection with Cape Town.
The Fourplay DVD was recorded Live at the Cape Town International Convention Centre while Incognito (a British acid jazz band that was started 32 years ago) is a favourite among Capetonians of my generation.
The FourPlay concert, as I mentioned, was recorded live in Cape Town and it was a real treat to hear and see how my compatriots responded when the band played classics like 101 Eastbound (below) by Bob James (keyboards) Nathan East (bass) Larry Carlton (guitar) and Harvey Mason (drums):
I should visit Sham Shui Po more often.
FourPlay Live in Cape Town
Incognito - 30th Anniversary
————————————————————————————————————————————————Howzit-HongKong.com listens to the best Jazz with Eric Alan on The Detour only on The Taxi
This evening I met up with an old colleague from the South African Embassy in Beijing who has since moved back to the DTI in South Africa.
Ricado and a Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) colleague were in transit to Sanya on the Chinese island/Province of Hainan where South Africa was to attend their first meeting of the BRIC (now BRICS) countries. BRICS is now made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and now also South Africa.
The government officials were obviously tired after the long flight from the Kolonie and departed for their hotel rooms after watching the rugby with me at the Canny Man in WanChai.
Leaving WanChai at 1am is NOT in my nature so I made for Carnegie’s next door.
This is some of what went down on the night/early morning:
Since 1994, Carnegies has been one of the most popular hangouts in Wanchai. This American style pub is exactly the kind of place you would hang out in if you were in a fraternity or sorority at Uni. Carnegies has cozy unpretentious atmosphere with framed photos, music posters and rock and roll memorabilia covering the walls.
Late in 2009 I did a post on the cultural melting pot that is Chungking Mansion.
Located on Nathan Road (opposite the new iSquare Mall) Chungking Mansions is easily the cheapest place to stay in Hong Kong.
However, until recently, it was probably also the ugliest, dirtiest building in Kowloon. I say ‘Kowloon’ because I’ve seen some UGLY structures in the older part of Kowloon Bay.
A couple of days ago I noticed that the outside of the building is covered in the green netting used when construction takes place. In fact, while traveling to the Hong Kong Stadium for the Sevens, I saw some Chinese workers starting to off-load truckloads of bamboo in Nathan Road.
After the conclusion of this year’s Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens, I was trawling the internet, when I came across some interesting tidbits about the Hong Kong Stadium.
When you read it you may, like me, wonder what the relationship is between the history of the Stadium site and that of the fortunes of our Springbok Sevens side at the Hong Kong Sevens.
Run by the richest sports organisation in the world, the Course was built in 1845 to provide horse racing for the British people in Hong Kong. (Hong Kong was a British colony at the time.) It was established on swampland but as it was the only flat ground suitable for horse racing on Hong Kong Island the site was developed into a suitable, world-class racing track.
The Happy Valley Fire
However, on 26 February 1918 a huge fire broke out and at least 590 punters and workers perished.
Many of the bodies were buried in So Kon Poin Causeway Bay.
The remains were relocated in 1953 to Aberdeen on the other side of the mountain to make way for the Hong Kong Government Stadium with a capacity of 28,000. Football in Hong Kong had some of it’s best times at this venue in the 60′s and 70′s.
In 1994 the Stadium was rebuilt into the current Hong Kong Stadium, capacity 40,000.
Venue of the world-renowned Hong Kong Sevens, many a team has had some memorable times at the Hong Kong Stadium.
However, for some, it has remained a burial ground.
You would expect that a brand like Abercrombie & Fitch would already have a flagship presence in a city like Hong Kong.
What with most (if not all) of the global super-brand already here:
Louis Vuiton is here.
D&G is here.
Ermenegildo Zegna is here.
Prada is here.
(I can go on and on.)
Howzit-HongKong has it that “The Moose” will be opening in a prime location in Central, complete with a multi-million dollar a month rent, possibly in the Pedder Building.
There’s no doubt that the world’s weather patterns are changing… almost radically and Hong Kong is not left out of this phenomenon.
Take last week’s Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens.
Last year at the same time, I had to take two extra t-shirts along because of the hot and muggy weather. Add into the equation my must-do foray into the madness that is the South Stand and I need a third shirt.
This year around we experienced temperatures of around 16degrees Celsius and some really chilly winds blowing through the Hong Kong Stadium.
However, today it seems that Spring has finally sprung this side of the noodle-curtain.
I was at my regular computer-hardware wholesaler in Sham Shui Po the other day when my attention was drawn to a commotion at one of the stalls. Turned out that the wholesaler was unpacking it’s quota of iPad2′s.
I didn’t have a camera with me at the time, but caught a story in last week’s edition of the Junior Standard.
While the iPad2 went on sale in the US about 2 weeks ago, no OFFICIAL release date for Hong Kong has been announced yet. However, some iPad2′s have found it’s way here by way of parallel importing, some hitting the city’s shelves 3 days after going on sale in the States.
A parallel import is a non-counterfeit product imported from another country without the permission of the intellectual property owner. Parallel imports are often referred to as grey product…
Impatient iPad2 fans jostle for the parallel imported gadget in Hong Kong (Pic: Sing Tao Daily)
A well-known computer center in Mongkok called Sincere Podium has more than 20 shops selling the iPad2. However, while the gadget retails in the US for between US$499 (HK$3,892) and US$829 (HK$6,466) depending on the model, due to it’s uniqueness (at this stage) expect to pay top dollar to get you hands on a unit ahead of the official release.
While prices at Sincere Podium vary, a basic 16GB model with wi-fi sells between HK7,000 and HK$9,000. A 64GB model with 3G features sells for around HK$14,000.
Sellers also expect pre-release prices to increase even more as local stocks decrease.
I know some disappointed folks at the Marco Polo Hotel in Canton Road who had their sights set on picking up an iPad2 this week.
Yes, it’s here but at that price?!
I’ll wait thank you very much.
Note: Sincere Podium, also known as the Sing Tat Shopping Centre, is in Mongkok. Almost anything related to mobile phones and devices are available here. There are also shops selling second-hand devices.
The Golden Computer Centre is located across Exit …… of the Sham Shui Po MTR on the Red line. The centre is especially popular with gamers especially those into Nintendo, X-Box, etc. However, it also has many stalls selling computer hardware, computer comsumables as well as camera equipment.
I get quite irritated when I hear, on radio talk-shows back home, people talking about so-called “Fong Kong” products.
“Fong Kong” is a term adopted in South Africa to describe cheap, often sub-standard product made in China.
I don’t deny that, being the factory to the world, there are a lot of crap produced IN SOUTHERN CHINA and not Hong Kong, so I’m not sure why Hong Kong has to cop it.
That is why, while scrunching up today’s South China Morning Post for the refuse bin, a story, partly titled “Made in China” caught my eye.
I un-scrunched it and here it is:
Seems that a Guangdong-based company is trying to cash in on the Royal Wedding between Prince William and Kate Middleton by producing their own souvenir to mark the occasion.
A lot can be said about the lack of green space in Hong Kong. Where an area may exist for the establishment of a park, whatever the size, one often finds the obiqutous, concrete and metal, uniquely Hong Kong ”sitting out area.”
Then of course there’s the rampant (I would be forgiven for saying “condoned“) development of multi-storey residential and commercial buildings.
But that aside, when the Hong Kong government actually gets down to building a “green lung” in this densely populated city, they actually do it rather well. Needless to say, it begs the question: Why don’t they do it more often?
One such park is the Kowloon Park situated in Kowloon’s Tsim Sha Tsui district.
Located right next to the busy Nathan and Haiphong roads, the Kowloon Park is indeed an oasis in this busy shopping and cullinary district.
Formerly a site for the British army’s barracks, some of the buildings were preserved and now serve as museums. Some of these include the Hong Kong Heritage Discovery Centre and the Health Education Exhibition and Resources Centre.
The Park also boasts a state-of-the-art Sports Centre with an Olympic-size indoor swimming pool as well as a huge outdoor water-park. The sports centre was a key venue when Hong Kong hosted the East Asian Games in 2009.
I recently enjoyed breakfast in the park, while on my way to the HKFRU’s event with the Hong Kong Special Olympics. I had my trusty FlipCam with me and took some footage:
CWB is the abbreviation for Causeway Bay. The busy shopping and eating district is, of course, also home to the Hong Kong Stadium; home the Cathay Pacific/Credit Suisse Hong Kong Sevens.
Those of you who choose to stay as close as possible to the Hong Kong Stadium, here are several options within walking distance. In fact, most hotels are virtually equidistant between the Hong Kong Stadium in So Kon Po and the party district of Wan Chai. On the Hong Kong Island MTR-line, Causeway Bay is right next to Wan Chai.
(Click on the MTR map for a larger view)
Here are some hotel options in the Causeway Bay district:
The Park Lane is situated right in the busy Causeway Bay shopping district with some great restaurants meters away. Depending on the room, you can have a great view of Victoria Harbour and the next-door Victoria park.
