Only in Hong Kong...

Lots of little strange things happen here and while some things may not be strange in other places, I say that context can be everything.

Fong Sui master
Mar 2013, Blessing the building.

Unsustainable efficiency

Feb 2013, courtesy of friend
So Hong Kong.

True efficiency
Jan 2013

Ok, this picture doesn't show it all – but this is an outdoor market stall, leaning against the side of a building. I love that this stall owner has a computer linked up, ready to do her book keeping.

Shopping in HK and my iPhone are one big cliché

There's really nothing more to say.

Hot teenagers and their summer wet dreams 

July 2012
One lovely Saturday morning, I set off for a boat trip with some friends. While waiting for them to pull round from the AMC, two wooden junks rocked up. Since I had a wait, I couldn't help but notice the name of one junk, Wet Dreams.

Ok so is that a Chinglish thing, or a joke? Hard to say.

But it made my day that when the passengers arrived, they were none other than a string of skinny international school-looking teenagers. Complete with a sound system. As it turned out, they'd hired a DJ from Drop, to surprise a friend for his birthday. The other junk in their picture was their dance floor.

WTF can't people in Hong Kong sort and recycle?
July 2012

See my rant in the wonderful Hong Kong zine, Cloak and Dagger.

Seriously expensive yoghurt

June 2012

Ok so yoghurt is never cheap here but this tiny pot of Australian yoghurt, which is the closest western producer of such fine dairy goods, is the most expensive single-serve I've ever seen. It's at least £3.50. It's good, but nothing is that good!

Cardboard café

March 2012

This cha chan teng in Central is entirely clad in cardboard. As the lift doors open, it seems like a shop selling presumably recycled goods. But in fact, there's a cha chan teng serving area neatly hidden behind some cardboad bookshelves.

Visit at 9F, 11 Stanley St, Central

The fight against dropping

Feb 2012

Don't have fun at the beach

Jan 2012

In response to a range of noise complaints on the south side, regarding noise pollution from beach bars, the wise and wonderful Hong Kong government have decided to close a number of cafés and bars on beaches. It seems ironic now, that my complaint before was the lack of a decent deli at any of the beaches.

But it's been the entire winter and more, since the Thai place at Deep Water Bay closed, and there's been building going on. But nothing new has popped in it's place. What a huge, huge waste of space. And I might add, there are no residents adjacent to Deep Water Bay. Duh.

Trash can crime scene

Jan 2012

Life ring – on the 20-somethingth floor
Dec 2011

Weight machine - classifieds
Oct 2011 

Dairy – HK style
Sept 2011
I thought that most Chinese people didn't really 'do' dairy, hence such products being over-priced or local versions being a bit rubbish.

But how this is appetising, especially on a hot day, I just don't know.

Thankfully, this will never be lost.

Bruce who? Roll over Uma, I'm taking care of this one.
June 2011
Could we add more irony?

Tone Down Your Voice
April 2011
It's true – it's loud here.

Beach Digger
April 2011

Health & Safety-free Zone
March 2011
As if climbing that ladder with no-one to stabilise the bottom – and then climb onto the edge with no barrier isn't scary enough, two Banner Ad Implementation Workers (is that PC enough?) then climbed behind the banner to enable the removal. Albeit, behind the ad is probably the safest place for them and provides some kind of Jackie Chan-style stunt-action should they fall, it reaches to the third storey.

That said, this is a fishing country and most fishermen here can't swim.



Naked Lady (what else can I say?)
March 2011
This one came courtesy of a friend. She witnessed the woman depicted stop her car during a busy Monday morning in Central, take her clothes off and stand naked on top of her car.

Ok, so this might happen in other places, but the fact that it happened here is what's so amazing!
Strangely, we couldn't find any news reports about this...

Golden Dragon
September 2010
Checking out some taps on Lockhart Road, Wan Chai.
To be sure, this tap costs HKD $25,800. No kidding.

Fight Club
August 2010

As I said – Chinese people love to fight!


Frozen Coke
August 2010
Getting shaved ice at 12.15am from the local desert shop... eating it on a step nearby... getting in the car to drive to the only frozen coke vending machine in HK.





We followed the instructions, taking a quaff before closing the bottle and tipping it upside down to watch the ice form... it worked pretty well, but I've heard it's hit and miss. Best of all, imagine all the extra chemicals we must be consuming in this latest artificial offering!

Bagpipes
July 2010
Walking through Sai Wan (西環) on a Sunday, to see a Chinese man practicing bagpipes – playing Amazing Grace and in full kilt, no less – in the garage of a kindergarten.

The social side to social media - Meetups

Social media meetup groups are actually a great way to meet new people and it beats online dating – if you're a bit more shy than that. Plus, you can try all sorts of new things. That, and that the HK Twitter crowd are the friendliest people I've met in a while.

Tokyo: Urban Thrall

A trip to Japan became a great opportunity to wander around the edge of Tokyo Fashion Week and interview some of the city's well-known fashion designers. Here's a view of Tokyo, from their eyes.

SMWHK - Social media and emerging fashion – is it worth my time?

[at]smwhk #smwhkdesign Hosted by [at]shopdcreateurs

For some key points about fashion blogging, whether you're an emerging designer looking to promote your brand, or a blogger building a following, look no further.

Social Media Week's Social Media and Emerging Fashion Designers: Is it worth my time? event, hosted by Cedric Delzenne of Shop Des Createurs can help you out. With a panel of bloggers - like Maura Thompson, Founder of Sassy Hong Kong, and Jasmine Webster, Fashion Blogger DressMeblog - and designers like Anthony Hill, co-founder & Creative Director at HILL, the discussion on how best to use digital media to get what you want will soon unravel.

For a preview of this event, please see my article in SCMP.

A couple of sites to check out 

Before we start the real discussion, Webster leads us through a few sites that she really likes to use.

Pinterest
The online pinboard scrapbook website, Pinterest, has sparked a lot of attention lately. Not just because they recently claimed to be the fastest website in history to break the 10-million-visitors-a-month bar, but in the tech world, more so for its use of Skim Links. It seems sneaky (and it creates revenue for the company): As users 'pin' an image, an affiliate link is automatically attached. So as you're loading images, you're inadvertently driving traffic to a specific website – up-selling it, if you will, without knowing so.

Polyvore
Now this one really is for fashionistas. Using the Virtual Styling Tool, you can gather different clothes and accessories that you like and create your own fashion collection, or "set". Of course, you can publish your set (which looks like a glossy fashion mag spread) and share it with your social media friends.

Key tips relate to any blogger - whether you're the fashionista type or not:

Thanks to the range of experts on the discussion panel, the range of tips come in fast, and accurate.

• Make sure you're really ready to launch – if your website isn't done, you would be better to wait 
• Build some Facebook posts and fill with images before launching the page (don't hit 'Publish' until you've built some content) 
• Make sure you're ready to constantly engage your audience, before you start 
• Content is vital – good images are key 
• Be genuine – blog about things you actually care about or like 
• Assume that viewers will only stay online for about four seconds. They're likely to look for links before deciding to read what you've said 
• Anything that goes online stays online 
• Relate all your posts back to what the audience wants to hear – not just what you want to say 
• Keep it relevant (brand/ topic) and constantly monitor and adapt – give your audience reasons to like the brand other than the products you're selling 
• Engage – ask open questions too 
• If you make a mistake, it's ok – but be genuine 
• No matter how busy you are, you need to stay in touch with your customers. If necessary, have email notifications for Twitter, Facebook (etc) notifications

Sexy analytics

Blogs, Twitter, Facebook - all of the above (and more) can be used for analytics too. Now, analytics can be limiting so it's important that you understand how the information is measured, and that you don't take these numbers to mean more than they do.

Ways to make the most of reading analytics include scheduling the themes of your posts. For instance, Tuesdays could always be about a particular product type; Fridays could always be a poll. With most analytics, you can look at the particular day (like Tuesdays) to see what the response numbers are like.

Converting followers into sales
For many businesses, it's more than just spreading the word and being in touch. Sales are vital to keep any company running. Thompson talks about using the advertising links (on the right side of a Facebook page – until they change the design again) or a featured sponsored story to promote a page or company and that in her experience, it works well.

Social media is a great way to build a story around you and your brand, it will build a background catalogue of features so that it's easier to then start attracting attention from the 'big' press. One way to start that journey is to make strong links with good, well-followed bloggers within your industry. Bloggers have power, so if you can find one that loves your brand and will advocate for you, then you're in a good position.

Why you need to get personal with bloggersAs Webster keenly points out, "bloggers are about being personal". That's surely part of the parcel. So, don't assume that they will relate to – or read – a press release. If the personal touch is missing, it doesn't feel authentic, so it doesn't mean a lot. If you really want to get their attention, you'll need to invest some time into sending a personalised message - but first, make sure you understand what makes that blogger tick.

The final equation

In closing, the panel agreed that the main points to remember are be consistent, be regular, create a "voice" and focus on your target audience.

Later, Webster tweets in some help for those who want to know how to find a good blogger, with 15 questions to ask before working with a blogger.

For Those About to Blog

Everybody wants to blog these days, it seems. Here are some pointers.

This is how we brand it

Branding, and what that is, is a mystery to a lot of people (sometimes, even those in the industry).

Branding in Asia
While I have my ideas and opinions on this matter, I'm much more interested in sharing some of the branding I've come across in Asia, home of the master copier, creating billions of fake or knock-off goods year-round. And don't get me wrong, I'm not actually knocking this activity because sometimes I don't personally believe in the monetary value of a brand when I know the actual production costs (another advantage of being based in Asia).

Fakes in Asia
One thing's for sure – sometimes you really can't tell when you're picking up a fake. I had a Nokia cellphone for a full year – with constant glitches, which I put down to cheap, modern technology ("nothing is made to last nowadays, not like in the good old days"). It was only when I was trying to sell it on in Sham Shui Po (深水埗) that I learned it was actually a fake. I guess I should've noticed the slightly wonky Nokia logo on the back and the fact that the megapixel label by the camera lens was a little different to my old phone. Or, you know, that the shiny black peeled off in about a week to reveal a dull black underneath and that the phone never really worked properly.

Shopping for fakes
One thing to look out for if you think you're buying a fake, is whether or not it's worth the money. Ok, this might sound obvious, but if you're buying a pair of New Balance for your eight-year-old and you think they might be fake, you might also be in luck – because they might have been made at the same factory, making them more of a "knock-off" or "back-of-a-van" purchase. But if you're buying a tech device and you're paying full price, you can pretty much guarantee that they've saved somewhere, and that the device won't work as well as you'd expect.

An even bigger problem with shopping in Asia, is that sometimes even a shop can be a fake. For example, Mongkok (旺角) is scattered with Nike, Reebok, Adidas and Converse shops. But for the most part, these are just shops with logos pasted on the front – not official stores – which doesn't make it any easier when you're trying to figure out if what you're buying is real or not.

So, if you're thinking of buying something (and especially if you don't want anyone to know it's a fake), make sure you intimately know every detail of the original, the finish, the combination of colours available, which logo goes where, what trimmings there are. Be prepared to sometimes pay quite a lot, but do yourself a favour and avoid paying the asking price of the real item – oh, and if you're feeling paranoid, check the branding of the store.

One of my favourite's is this New Balance store, complete with a cockerel sign.






And it's not just stores you should check the branding on – I love this Snoopy/ Mickey Mouse bag too:





At least you can get all your favourite characters on one item.

But this is probably one of my true favourites – a fake pretending to be nothing other than a fake, no questions asked.