Despite the cold weather we have been experiencing over the Christmas weekend, today (Tuesday 28 December 2010) turned out to be quite a bright, sunny day here in Hong Kong.
Somebody on FaceBook asked me “Does Hong Kong ever get cold?“ Well, it dipped all the way to 9 degrees Celsius recently.
For this reason, my family and I took a trip into the city (Hong Kong Island) on the Star Ferry to experience the weather from the waters of Victoria Harbour (that separates our apartment in Hung Hom from HK Island).
I took the following pictures from the Star Ferry around 3pm this afternoon:
The HK Conference & Exhibition Centre (HKCEC) is bathed in brilliant sunlight (Pic: Mike Jansen)
Here are some more pics taken from the Star Ferry:
I know that back home in Cape Town the tradition is to have a HUGE Christmas lunch followed by an afternoon nap, only to be followed by more food.
Here in Hong Kong we like to take a walk after a HUGE lunch and out on the Gold Coast, one place to walk off the huge lunch is to the Gold Coast Piazza.
My son Ethan took the following pictures:
No guessing what the Christmas theme at the Gold Coast Piazza is! (Pics: Ethan Jansen)
If there’s one thing Hong Kongers fear… it’s fever.
As local residents, my kids have to keep a daily log of their body temperature in their school log-books. Assistants at schools across the territory also check thousands of students’ temperature as they arrive at school every morning.
However, if there’s one fever the Hong Kong Rugby Football Union encourages this week, it’s definitely the rugby kind.
The Australian Wallabies and rivals New Zealand’s All Blacks are in town ahead of their second-ever Bledisloe Cup clash in the city and as it goes with the professional game, they have been kept very busy meeting-and-greeting fans and supporters throughout the week. In-between they’ve also been keeping fit and going through their paces on the practice-pitch at So Kon Po in Causeway Bay.
The Wallabies, eager to break a looong losing-streak against their neighbours arrived in Hong Kong first (on Saturday). The Kiwis followed on Sunday moning and was immediately involved in the DHL Hong Kong Bledisloe Cup Fan Day early the same morning.
My kids and I attended and took some pictures:
Micaela (14) and Ethan (10) with All Black Ma’a Nonu (Pic: Mike Jansen)
The Jansen kids with Mills Muliaina and some other bloke (lol!) (Pic: Mike Jansen)
While the state of the world’s economy as well as the recent earthquake in New Zealand are blamed for the absence of thousands of Tasman tourists from this year’s Hong Kong Bledisloe Cup match, several Aussie and Kiwi rugby greats are also in town. I attended a RWC 2011 cocktail party hosted by World Cup Ambassador and former All Black skipper (and chirper of note) Sean Fitzpatrick.
The gathering was held at The Canny Man, a basement watering hole in the heart of the Wan Chai party district. Also in attendance and trying to chirp the chirper’s speech was Australian great David Campese. This time around, however, the two former internationals combined to make the evening a very enjoyable outing.
Sean Fitzpatrick with Campo lurking over his shoulder (Pic: Mike Jansen)
Have a look at our DHL HK Bledisloe Cup Fans Day album:
Our friends at Rugby Asia Channel (RAC) also attended the Fans Day and put together this video:
Hong Kongers celebrated the National Day holiday yesterday as only Hong Kongers can… spending $3,5million on a 23 minutes fireworks extravaganza.
The National Day fireworks display lit up the city’s Victoria Harbour on Oct. 1 to celebrate the 61st anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.
The local police force started closing off key streets on the Tsim Sha Tsui side of the Harbour from early evening as well as re-directing bus-routes. All this happened as thousands of locals made their way to vantage points all along the Harbour. Die-hard amateur photographers started staking out their spots along TST’s Avenue of the Stars from as early as mid-day.
Dozens of pleasure-craft of all shapes and sizes started positioning themselves in the waters just outside my window from about 30 minutes before the start. This time around they were so close that I could clearly hear the off-shore merriment taking place.
The annual fireworks show started at 9 p.m. with over 23,800 fire shells being discharged from 3 barges anchored in the Harbour for the 23-minute display. The entire show consisted of nine scenes of different themes.
The first scene entitled “A Unified Heart” features colorful and spectacular fireworks of “Red Sun”, “Red Stars” and “Bauhinia” to celebrate the National Day.
In Scene Five, the harmonious display of silver, green, red, golden and orange fireworks represents the theme of “A United World“.
The fireworks display reaches its climax at the last scene “Our Prosperous Motherland” with fast and rhythmic firing of shells in the last 60 seconds, wishing all the best to the home country.
Happy Birthday China.
生日快樂!
This is how I experienced the show from my apartment in Hung Hom:
September 24 is celebrated as National Heritage Day in South Africa. The day is one of our newly created public holidays and its significance rests in recognising aspects of South African culture which are both tangible and difficult to pin down: creative expression, our historical inheritance, language, the food we eat as well as the land in which we live.
On September 5, 2007, Archbishop Desmond Tutu celebrated his appointment as patron of South Africa’s Barbecue (Braai) Day, affirming it to be a unifying force in a divided country (by donning an apron and tucking into a boerewors sausage). At the end of 2007 National Braai Day changed its name to Braai4Heritage and the initiative received the endorsement of South Africa’s National Heritage Council (NHC).
While South Africans all over the world are taking to their gardens, balconies, backyards and parks to braai, “Lady GaGa’s brother” was spotted somewhere around Cape Town doing his bit to promote the day:
Cape Town comedian and radio personality Paul Snodgrass donning 10kg of boeries to mark Braai Day
Jan Scannell, also known as Jan Braai has brought home a Guinness World Record that ultimately belongs in South Africa: that of the longest uninterupted braai (or barbecue for the non-South Africans).
The previous record-holder was a German (nogal) who braai-ed for 28 hours and 26 minutes. With the support of the Cape Town media and dedicated listeners, Scannell easily bettered that mark to 28 hours and 30 minutes.
The “tong-master” was quite philosophical about his feat saying: ”(this) victory is not about breaking the record but is rather “a call to action for all South Africans to celebrate our common heritage by having a braai next week“.
“Heritage Day has the spirit of the World Cup without costing the tax payers a cent, and plus you can’t lose at braaing,” Jan said as he turned another braai grill over on the fire.
“Once a year we can celebrate as a nation; whether you are rich or poor, black or white, Xhosa or Zulu or from Durban, the Transkei, the Kalahari or Karoo everybody likes to make a fire and braai,” he said.
You can read more about Jan’s feat on the Braai4Heritage website.
The V&A Waterfront in Cape Town during Jan Braai’s record attempt (Pic: David Brooke/Sport24)
Mission accomplished. Jan Scannell is now the official record holder
With Heritage Day/National Braai Day coming up next month (24 September 2010) some of us on this side of the noodle-curtain may long for a boerie (boerewors) or a lekker tjoppie (chop) on the day thousands of our countrymen back home head to their backyards for a good old South African braai.
If you’re not privvy to your own sausage-maker… fear not, you can still get your boerie-fix. Even if it’s just the taste of it, set on a bun and cooked on your Hong Kong balcony.
I found this video of (Englishman nogal) Heston Blumenthal cooking a Boerewors Burger (or “brrr-wos” as the famous chef calls it).
It’s quick and easy and better yet, the spices required are to be found anywhere in Hong Kong. All you need are coriander seeds (toasted), nutmeg, ground gloves, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs and of course, a mixture of pork and beef. As a shameless promotional aside, Heston uses Waitrose products which can be found in Hong Kong as well.
My own twist includes some fresh coriander (or danya as it is called in the Cape Town Malay community).
Africa Day is the annual commemoration on May 25 of the 1963 founding of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU). On this day, leaders of 30 of the 32 independent African states signed a founding charter in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 1991, the OAU established the African Economic Community (AEC), and in 2002 the OAU established its own successor, the African Union (AU or UA). However, the name and date of Africa Day has been retained as a celebration of African unity.
With the excitement back home building around the 2010 World Cup, this is indeed Africa’s YEAR!
Today is Heritage Day in South Africa. Wikipedia defines it as follows:
Heritage Day, September 24, is a Public Holiday on which South Africans across the spectrum are encouraged to celebrate their cultural heritage and the diversity of their beliefs and traditions, in the wider context of a nation that belongs to all its people.
Here in my apartment in Hong Kong, as things go in Asia, my kids are swamped daily with studies and other school-related issues. However, as it is Heritage Day, I had them finish their homework early and right now, they are enjoying the David Kramer DVD called SongBook.
You may remember that David was part of the most dynamic and internationally recognised duo of David Kramer & Taliep Petersen. Together they produced the much-acclaimed musicals District Six and Ghoema, to name only two.
On a recent trip home, this DVD became one of my most cherished purchases. As a committed follower of Cape Town music (especially the unique genres known as Cape Jazz and Ghoema) it is one of a set of treasured items also because it helps me to explain to my kids, who basically grew up in Asia, where their forefathers came from what our culture is all about.
If you know anything about the Kramer/Petersen musicals, you will remember that it talks, through the music, about the people who arrived at the Dutch halfway station (as Cape Town was known back in the days) from as far afield as Malaysia/Java, Madagascar, Batavia, India and yes… even China. They know about these places because of the songs in the musical. In this unique way, SongBook is aiding the Missus and I to explain to our 2 little ones our equally unique cultural issues in a clearer and more fun way. What makes this task all the more easy is the fact that our kids naturally took to this kind of music like ducks to water. It is, after all… in their genes! Right now my 9-year old son is spraying furniture polish on the lounge tiles so that he “can jive better!” (his words, not mine)
On this Heritage Day, I can just say thank you to David Kramer and (even after your sad passing) Shukran to Taliep Petersen. Not only for making my job as an expatriate father so much easier, but also for what you have done to keep the Cape Town and by extension, the South African culture alive.
