Those who have been following my ramblings on Howzit-HongKong.com will know that there are two things (other than my family) that I am absolutely passionate about: Rugby and Cape Town!
This morning (South African time, about noon here in Hong Kong) I shared a tense few minutes with many other passionate Capetonians when we tuned into Twitter and the internet (live stream) to await the announcement of the winner of the Design Capital of the World for 2014.
Back home, supporters were watching a live stream from the IDA Congress in Taipei while I and many others were following the #WDC2014 hash-tag on Twitter.
I could never have imagined that following a Twitter hash-tag (#) could be THAT nerve-wracking!
Eventually, at about 12:20pm (Hong Kong time) the message came through:
Cape Town had won the bid and was announced as the 2014 World Design Capital.
Here in Hong Kong I could almost hear and feel the outburst of excitement and relief after months of hard work from the Congress Hall in my former home-away-from-home of Taipei (where the Bid Team was in attendance).
Back in the Mother City friends and supporters were assembled at the Field Office to watch a live stream from Taipei.
In fact, once again Twitter made the gap so much narrower as many people were Tweeting pics live from the Field Office.
Supporters gather at the Field Office in Cape Town this morning (Pic: Itswhatiminto.com)
For those of you who do not know what the title means and how Cape Town WILL benefit from the honor, I suggest you read Rashiq Fataar’s excellent blog Future Cape Town.
In the meantime, in honor of the Mother of all Cities, here’s a tune from Xavier Naidoo called “Zeilen aus Gold” (Lines of Gold).
While he is a German citizen by birth, Xavier’s parents both hail from the Mother City and if you watch the video, you’ll notice that the Boytjie still has a strong link and love for Cape Town.
For those who do not understand German, the translation can be found here. Failing that… just ask Western Cape Premier Helen Zille to translate.
(Thanks to my cuz Grant Jansen who introduced me to this infectious tune on The Taxi)
The inaugural Taiwan Straits Race set off from outside my window in Hung Hom yesterday (Saturday, 21 May 2011)
Organised by Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC), this is the first time that the 350nm from Hong Kong to Kaohsiung has been contested as a Category 1 Offshore race, however two of the competitors, Polar Star III and Tipsy Frenz, have completed the route as a Rally in previous years and are big supporters of the decision to upgrade the event to a race.
“Great oaks from little acorns grow” said a press release from the RHKYC who added that they hope that from the five pioneering boats on the start line for the inaugural Taiwan Strait Race, a much larger fleet grows over time.
Race Officer Jimmy Farquhar elected to start the fleet from Hung Hom, with a 8 to 10 knot easterly available all the way through the harbour and beyond Lei Yue Mun gap.
As the committee boat watched the transoms disappear up the Harbour attention turned to the Yellowbrick tracking carried by the boats, which will update their positions at 30 minute intervals and allow shore based family, friends and sailors to follow the fleet’s progress. At 1300hrs on Saturday, Ambush was already close to clearing the Eastern approaches and setting course for Pedro Blanco.
The first radio position report was taken at 1800hrs, Those interested in the Race can watch the fleet’s progress via Yellowbrick tracking at http://live.adventuretracking.com/hkt2011
The Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC) this week announced details of the inaugural Taiwan Strait Race, a 350nm Category One Offshore Race across the South China Sea from Hong Kong to Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
The race will start this Saturday 21 May 2011, and needless to say, Howzit-HongKong.com (a long-time Northern Taiwan resident a few years ago) will be there to send the sailors off on this ground-breaking race.
In 2008, the RHKYC began to explore new, nearby venues for offshore racing. Taiwan Strait Race Chairman, Andy Lam, recalls “…to the north, the Club already had a race to Xiamen, west to Macau and St. John and south to the Philippines, Hainan and Vietnam. We therefore thought that we should do something to the east and so it was agreed that we would race to Taiwan.”
Following a meeting in Kaohsiung with representatives from the Chinese Taipei Sailing Association and Kaohsiung city officials, a Hong Kong to Kaohsiung rally was held in 2009 and again in 2010.
“Following the successful rallies, RHKYC decided to run an official offshore race to Kaohsiung. We are all delighted and I hope that the Taiwan Strait race grows from this inaugural event into an annual or biennial fixture on the Club sailing calendar” adds Andy Lam.
Kaohsiung is a major sailing destination on the Taiwan sailing scene (Pic: Udn.com)
The offshore race is followed by the Dapeng Bay International Regatta which is organised by the Chinese Taipei Sailing Association – a standalone three-day event consisting of a coastal race from Kaohsiung to Dapeng Bay, a day of racing in Dapeng Bay then a return coastal race to Kaohsiung to complete the Regatta.
The Taiwan Strait Race 2011 is organised and conducted by the Royal Hong Kong Yacht Club (RHKYC) with assistance and support from Kaohsiung City Government (KCG) and the Chinese Taipei Sailing Association (CTSA).
Here’s A-Mei Chang 張惠妹 saying Naruwan. Welcome to Taiwan.
When we lived in Taiwan, it took a while to “accept” all the red splats all over the place.
There they chew something called “bien-lang” or betel-nut (槟榔 / Bīnláng) that requires Taiwanese chewers to spit constantly. As a consequence one sees red splats all over the streets, alleys and sidewalks.
When you’re on the Island, you also see the outlets from whence betel-nut is sold… all over the place. But that is a post all on it’s own.
However, my friend Tobie Openshaw, a South African photographer and videographer has published and commented extensively on this phenomenon. He has also been featured on a National Geographic TV-program on Betel-nut beauties (檳榔西施) You can read more here or watch Tobie on Nat Geo in Canada here
That was Taiwan. Here in Hong Kong, we have the ritual throat-clearing.
That grating “Ggggggggggg” (not the English gerrrrr… think South African guttural Ggggggggg…) when Hongkongers try to loosen phlegm and all kinda other shit from their throats.
” Many Chinese who spit say they do so for health reasons. Many Chinese have phlegm in their throats as a result of chronic bronchitis, colds that never get better and respiratory problems caused by heavy smoking, air pollution, and cold weather.”
“The hacking and spitting is merely a way of clearing the lungs and throats and respiratory system of phlegm and other nasty things that have accumulated in them. According to Chinese beliefs, phlegm is considered a manifestation of natural imbalances in the body and getting rid of it is regarded as a healthy act. Some people claim that chronic spitting spreads disease and helps create the problem it is trying to solve.”
I never really got used to “bien-lang” spitting in Taiwan and I’m sure I will continue to be highly irritated here in Hong Kong with the constant throat-clearing.
Garbage bins all over the SAR ask/warn people to “wrap their spittle” and not do their business all over the place. My apartment building gets quite a number of visitors from Mainland China and, I dare say from experience, those people have no manners when it comes to spitting.
Therefore it was not strange when I saw the following sign on a Hong Kong Island Tram today:
My family (the Missus, a daughter, son and I) have been living in Asia for just about 10 years.
In this time, we’ve been very fortunately to be able to go home once a year.
Home for us will always be Rustdal… a home dug from the earth by others, the resulting trenches kept dry by the Missus and I over extremely wet winter weekends so that the builders could carry on their work during the week.
A home toiled over by a retired father-in-law who thankfully happened to be a proud bricklayer by trade.
A home situated just outside of Kuilsrivier and on the edge of the world-famous Stellenbosch wine-route.
Taiwan for 6 years and Hong Kong will always be just that: home-away-from home.
We will go home one day when our stint in Asia is over.
Home to our place in Rustdal.
Home to rus/Home to rest.
In the meantime, happiness is receiving a care-package from home, on your birthday nogal!
The Springboks are playing the British & Irish Lions in the first Test today (Saturday June 20, 2009) and no other TV ad encapsulates the feeling of thousands of rugby-loving Saffa expats all over the world as this Castle Beer TV advert. Images of my own time in Taiwan, watching the Springboks play from a braai on a rooftop way over in Taoyuan City, Taiwan with a smattering of Yanks, Canadians and even a Pommie or two come vividly to mind!
The South African community in Taiwan, under the leadership of the SA Representative Mr Petrus Meyer (or Oom Piet as I like to call him) from the South African Liaison Office in Taipei recently celebrated South Africa Day in true South African style!
The venue as always was the very homely Wendel’s German Bakery & Bistroin the Taiwan capital. South Africans from all over the island as well as locals converged on Taipei and were treated to authentic South Africa cuisine like boerewors, flame-grilled chicken, mielie-pap, tomato & onion sauce (sorry that doesn’t sound like the real deal… tamatie smoor is more like it!) potato salad and coleslaw. Favourite drinks like Savannah and Hunter’s Gold were also flown in for the occasion.
Kappityt! Saffas in Taipei enjoying SA Day. (Picture: Tobie Openshaw)
Homegrown bands provided the musical entertainment while various sponsors like SAA and local SA-owned businesses chipped in to offer some great prizes.
As South African events in Taiwan go, this was a real family affair with the kids not left out. There was a huge jumping castle, face-painting and great prizes on offer to keep the little ones busy while the daddies kuier-ed in the bar and talked rugby!
My blood is also green! (Picture: Tobie Openshaw)
Next year’s Soccer World Cup was not left out and some fun activities were on offer to highlight the country’s biggest sporting venture to date.
So why South Africa Day? As their website states:
The day is to get South Africans in Taiwan together in one place for a social friendly networking day to celebrate all things South African. And introduce Taiwanese friends and families to South African culture, food, music.
That’s the way to do it.
Good job, Oom Piet!
“Friends! South Africans! Countrymen! Put down your beers!” SA Representative Petrus Meyer speaks to the guests at Wendel’s.(Picture: Tobie Openshaw)
