Plus ça change (plus c'est la même chose)

Hetraclitus put it another way, as it were

Everything flows (Panta Rhei)

Nothing is static

China & Hong Kong

Not much coverage of Gilets Jaunes protests reaching 42 weeks. 

What is in it for The Guardian to publish Hong Kong demos?

Kung Fu Hustle - 2004

Kung Fu Hustle has to be the best example of a film that has local themes, but is flat-out globally funny. 

Well, OK it might not make sense to a North Korean or Arctic Circle dweller but it is a hoot, and I'm surprised it took me 13 years to get round to seeing as I recall buying the DVD in Bangkok when it was released.

Public Dancer

Hong Kong Photographer - Fan Ho

Evening with Fan Ho from Themes + Projects by modernbook on Vimeo.

I'm incapable of looking at good Asia photography and not feeling nostalgic. I don't know why this is because I never lived here before the 90s and I don't get quite the same feeling when looking at similar occidental photography. Maybe I was here in a past life but anything Asia and even as near back as the 80's is fascinating for me to look at.

MICHAEL WOLF: Hong Kong's Architecture of Density

Causeway Bay by Drone

DJI Hong Kong Causeway Bay from iP Production Limited on Vimeo.

In Quick Succession

There was a time when I lost about 10 cell phones in quick succession. Mainly in the back of Thai taxis. I had many negotiations with drivers to return my property at a price that was reasonable to both of us.

This was expensive back in the noughties, even for a Planning Director of DDB Bangkok (Later Far East DDB) where I worked in the advertising business, but later on, as a self employed strategic planning consultant the price of having to pay for it myself was painfully frustrating.

Everybody knows I'm forgetful. There are people who loathe me with a vengeance that I've long forgotten, and conversely from time to time somebody tells me something nice or funny I did and I am happy to be reminded.

Anyway, those days seem so long ago as I've not lost a phone for as long as I can remember. What happened? Did my Thomas Covenant override switch finally kick-in, or did I just grow up? I don't know.

In any case, last week I mislaid my phone in Brecht's Bar. It's the kind of place I've known the staff for 13 years and have no problem leaving my wallet or phone on the bar while I smoke a cigarette outside. Apparently I did this last week, and it was spotted, so my Samsung S4, secured from the more obscure prefectures of Japan was dropped into a plastic bag by my partner for the night, while we continued our way to Amazonia, the best live cover band in the South China Sea.

I completely forgot about my phone and had such a good time, absolved myself of any responsibility. By the time my evidently unwell bezzie mate had decided to catch a taxi I was in too a stubborn mood to repeat my earlier question, I had declared "you're not well and need to go home?".

In any case with the Taxi on it's way, I returned to the floor and finished off some air guitar solo moves before deciding the fun was over and left myself.

On the way home I realised I'd lost my phone.

Naturally, when I awoke the next day I rushed like brass and leather over to my companion's hotel only to be informed "No I fucking don't have it", whereby the room door closed locking her out and which I've outlined on in all its naked glory on Tripadvisor for all the world to see (unlike Germar Rudolph's Chemistry Master Degree from the Prestigious Max Planck Institute proving the gas chamber malarkey is psyop bullshit).

I've learned over time to trust other people's gut instincts so even though I went back to the Amazonia Jungle Byzantine Cover Up Bar to ask if anyone handed it in, I trusted my counsel when they repeatedly reminded me, it's still ringing, someone hasn't stolen it.

Well, "blow me" I exclaimed when on Sunday night in a Taxi we dropped into Amazonia and were greeted with swiftly-recollecting staff faces that a phone had been retrieved and all I had to do was describe it and sign my name with my alternative Mickey Mouse signature that I use for collateral debt splicing sales that I used at Goldman Sachs.

Amazing right?

Well my jubilant demeanour was quickly trashed on a 7-Eleven mission for some sodas and sandwiches. On the way back to the hotel I noticed my wallet, laden with coins was dragging my shorts down in the side pocket it was perched in. As I crossed the road I pulled my shorts up and noticed that the driver of the Benz vehicle was a typically-young but upwardly mobile, and casually dressed driver of the car.

This got me thinking about the wealth distribution in Hong Kong and how that compares to Singapore and if the proximity to China was the the key driver?

Then I noticed my wallet was missing. I patted my pockets, patted again, and then patted intermittently for the next five minutes as I legged it to the 7-Eleven just in case I'd left it at the counter where I had greedily eaten a Chicken and Celery Sandwich.

No such luck, and so by this time I'd started to doubt my sanity. Resigned to yet another loss on top of that Hong Kong CID story of yesteryear I dejectedly returned to the hotel with all avenues explored and bearing a preposterous story that I doubted would be believed by anyone including me if I hadn't been the protagonist in the story...

Back at the hotel my 'shot dog' eyes and slumped shoulders told the story before I had the chance to repeat it in full. 

Just as I was on the second circuit, 'you do believe me don't you?', the hotel room-bell rang, and as I was standing next to it I opened the door.

There in front of me was a middle young aged man with what looked like his Indonesian partner (or the maid from a shopping venture, who knows?) thrusting my wallet back into my hand.

"Welcome to Hong Kong" he said.

I had dropped it in the road.

Can you believe me?

Did I just make this up.

Welcome to Hong Kong.

Double Indemnity and no mistake.

Thank you Hong Kong. It's not the money or the phone but the knowledge that not everyone pockets that which they stumble over.

Life is good.

McDonald's Hong Kong

 

I first mentioned this in 2009, but I still think about it whenever I do pop into McDonald's which is fairly rarely.

Why is it that McDonalds Hong Kong works as a place for semi homeless people to grab some sleep and also employ semi-disabled or mentally impaired staff? It just seems a pragmatic solution that doesn't bother other customers, and if anything, for me feels like McDonald's has a belief in the social contact which is not seen elsewhere in the world. Well done McDonald's Hong Kong

International Vagrant In Burma, Japan, Thailand & Hong Kong

Hurrah!! I just received my portable hard drive back from over a year in storage and I've been looking through all the stuff again. I'm really pleased because I've got a bunch of files including my first digital photography back from when I travelled around Burma with an Olympus C-2000 that I wrote about over here. I'm really chuffed to rescue those amazing fishermen shots just down the road from Ngapali beach that you can see above and which I wrote about here and here. Then there's also the Nokia 8250 launch party in Bangkok on Feb 23, 2001. I can only remember the phone model because of the sign to the rear of this chap Johnny Doran from Saville Productions below, with 'Walk on the blue side'. Remember when a blue Screen was the latest thang? Before mobile cameras and colour displays.

There are the trips to Bagan, the ancient capital of Burma. You might need to click on it to see this stitched together panorama shot. The journey took me over 24 hours on a nightmare bus journey that I wrote about here. Bagan took a hit during an earthquake in '74 I think but its still breathtaking to imagine the monks, merchants, families, kids and officials running around this place, breathing life into it around the time that the Normans gave us a good hiding at the battle of Hastings isn't it?


I've now also got the shots from many trips to Cambodia (but not the one where I went missing in the heart of darkness for a few days) including Angkor Wat, which is just plain spesh because of all that South Indian influenced Jayavarman architecture. Khmer culture is so important to S.E. Asia.

Then there is me during my camp yachting period around the Andaman Sea. Never was a hangover washed away so quickly than by jumping off the Piraya (our boat) in the morning.



Not to mention my gay cowboy look long before Brokeback mountain was a hit. That was quite a smash hit with the ladies, if I recall correctly. Cowboy boots 'n all.

The Tokyo period which was all too short because Tokyo ROCKS as far as I'm concerned.

But the wack stuff I've saved is from Hong Kong.


And no photo story can be complete without those Bangkok nights. As a friend of mine once said. More can happen in a Bangkok night than most might expect to happen in a year. This was taken on Soi Cowboy.


And of course those Hua Hin days, weeks and months. It never occurred to me before but I guess this blog is as good a place as any to explain why this bug very memorably fell in LOVE with me and then scared the very life out of me.

Any requests? ;)

Bruce Lee - Enter The Dragon

It gave me a little kick that the essence of the movie is this opening scene snapped above and the deleted scene embedded below that is now available on the DVD but wasn't included in the original 1973 (important year that one) movie. The enemy is all illusion and that's so true and relevant it's nice that the video fell on the right moment as I flipped through it, and that the relevant clip came to light straight after.

Bruce Lee was so much more than an martial artist and for my money acts better than anyone else in the movie though there are some Thespian shockers in this film. The download was excellent quality and I really loved the Hong Kong scenes. I miss Hong Kong a lot but it's never taken good care of me for one reason and another.

Update: I just watched this new Bruce Lee documentary upload on Youtube. It's not bad at all. 

Enter The 2012 Year of The Dragon With Bruce Lee

Bruce Lee was only 31 when he made this interview. His most famous film, Enter The Dragon is pertinent as we enter the 2012 year of the dragon and the shift from West To East gathers pace in a way that only the historically literate can fully grasp. I urge the Synchromystics among you to scrutinise this movie as we enter the 2012 year of the dragon.

If you've never listened to Bruce Lee speak this is worth even a minute of your time. He was young, good looking, super fit, articulate, polite and wise beyond his years. As a movie star on the edge of global influence and circulating among the Archons of Hollywood, the discerning thinker will place his premature end two years later under questionable circumstances as joining the list of suspicious deaths including John Lennon, Bob Marley, Bill Hicks and others of great talent and shining example.

His inquest in Hong Kong took nine days for the coroner to decide an aspirin killed him. A preposterous idea that scraped the barrel of credulity but at least showed some resistance  inside the system from somebody who stood their ground. Compare Bruce Lee's elevated conciousness to the knuckle dragging oratory of Chuck Norris over here and I refer you back to my original point of my post that the shift is on.

Here's a lovely story I uncovered about Bruce:

Lee was already challenging traditional notions by 1965.  He was a practitioner of Wing Chung kung fu under Master Yip Man in Hong Kong and had been teaching the art since 1959 after expatriating to the United States.  Lee was calling his style Jun Fan Gung Fu, but it was essentially his approach to Wing Chun.  After opening his school in Oakland, his teaching of non-Chinese began to cause controversy among other Chinese martial artists in the San Francisco Bay area.  Lee defended his spreading of Wing Chun and a duel was arranged between Lee and a fighter fielded to defend the art’s tradition of Chinese exclusivity.

The fight was to be no holds barred.  If Lee won, he could continue to teach Jun Fan Gung Fu to anyone he desired.  If he lost, he’d close his school and quit teaching to non-Chinese.

The duel wasn’t televised on pay per view and no documentation exists but a few first-hand accounts, including Lee’s own, his wife Linda’s, and his opponent Wong Jack Man’s (which, notably, differs dramatically from Bruce and Linda’s).

Shannon Lee told Fighters.com the version told by her parents.  The fight lasted three minutes and, after absorbing strikes from Lee during the first minute, Man began to literally run from Lee.  But, Lee desired a conclusive victory and chased Man, beating him into verbal submission.

But, Lee felt the fight should’ve ended quicker. He was disappointed with his physical conditioning and the limitations of his traditional Wing Chun martial art.  This was a key turning point in the history of mixed martial arts, a philosophical evolution from traditional to modern, the way fighters think and train today.

After the fight, Lee had an image created of a burial mound with a tombstone to symbolize his death as a traditional martial artist and his rebirth as the first modern mixed martial artist, though of course the term “mixed martial artist” would’ve been unknown to Lee.

Show Me The Money

This isn't quite the version I saw earlier on the bus and which had me howling with laughter but it's not far off. I like the lobster mounting the other lobster or is that just my imagination going to far? 

On a more sober note, there's lots to be talked about in this commercial. The rap posturing is vintage grandma gang sign hand flicks and says a lot about both who commissioned it and who it's aimed at (low income not asocial) It also reveals something I've asserted about Hong Kong for quite some time. It likes to keep its shop assistant and blue collar classes less educated than other tier one Asian economies. I've a theory about this but will probably run it by some more people before building a hypothesis about population density, per capita GDP and land resources and so on and so forth (My new McKennaism)

Right, time to chase an invoice.

Adidas/Y-3

The Y-3 collaboration between adidas and Yohji Yamamoto is one of my favourites. I thought their store refit in the IFC building of Hong Kong was a one off, but it appears they are well coordinated with a coherent campaign using Google Earth as a store locater visual. Pretty hip move. Well mapped out. More please.

Synchronicity

The same day I was in the newspaper this guy took up half the page above me. One of my best friends refused to believe that I did the right thing by insisting the cab driver who was unfair to me take us to the police station. He might be right but this guy above will have a long time to reflect on his actions. I've got some rough posts coming up but either way I wanted to share this with you as it's a dark coincidence and it bothers me a lot.

Good News

I've got a New passport *wipes brow* (And biometrics and computer chips and all the other lovely stuff that means I'm real and exist)

Actually the British Embassy were in the end very cooperative and seemed to know who I was, so maybe that journalist interview with the South China Morning Post did the trick but I pity the person who doesn't know how to be a squeaky wheel.

The bad news is I've not heard from Sam since last Thursday, as he's climbing a mountain in Tanzania, and I've had to assume the Punk Kiva funds will take too long to get here  now that I'm now officially a registered human. 

It means I can once again get on with my life.

I guess that Sam will take care of refunding all the wonderful and generous contributions you collectively made. I want to take this opportunity to thank both all of you and Sam for rallying around at a bleak point. You all proved that this isn't just about me, it's about us. It's about what we stand for and how we follow through with our deeds and actions. 

I'm enormously grateful and forever indebted towards your spontaneous kindness, humanity and generosity. To paraphrase Ali G: 'Is it because I is a social object?' 

;)

It's now important for me to get on with my plans for the rest of this year including a much needed trip to Beijing as soon as possible.

Once again Thank you. Hope is fortified by deeds and you just did it.

It's the Amygdala Stupid

This Evian ad is doing the rounds on the blogs and I thought it was a good time to revisit the neurological influences that drive some advertising through the our response or compulsion oriented reptilian brain or the R Complex or basal ganglia if you wish.

While I think it's a sweet execution, isn't it just crypto neuro marketing? Or is it coincidental that this was one of the biggest spreadable media (viral) content successes of the internet? Here's an updated version.

I was having a brilliant lunch with Rob last week and I realised that just shooting the breeze with him is solid gold planning lessons that ordinairly he invoices interesting brands for. So if ever there is a good reason to get blogging and get involved in the conversation instead of just reading or lurking on blogs, here it is because I've gotten to know Rob and   pester him for lunch through blogging. Though  of course it's OK if you just like to observe.

Anyway I got talking about my experience on the success of a Coca-cola drink brand called Qoo across Asia some years back because I met the Japanese creatives at Hakuhodo in Tokyo who came up with the creative concept and discovered a secret. Qoo is an expression that the Japanese make when taking a cold drink on a hot day. The beverage was named Qoo and a brand cartoon character was developed to appeal to children.

I learned that, much like the dancing babies above, the Qoo character is largely  a neurological hook; particularly for children. The cartoon character was designed sketched and refined 'on-the-fly' in focus groups with bits of paper going back and forth between the illustrator and the kids and it was seen that using traits such as a big head, baby eyes and a small body appealed to children most and there was no doubt at all which character made the kids most excited. The winning design formula had an unmistakably positive response to say the least.

This is why the product used to fly off the shelves in Asian markets. Strategically it's an RTD (ready to drink) low juice, sugared soda with a few vitamins added for marketing to mothers at a rational level, and the Qoo character for children at an emotionally responsive level. It was quite a learning experience discovering the design gestation process and seeing how well it performed with commercials as short as 15 seconds in the China market. I wrote about one execution I worked on in Hong Kong and Shanghai over here.

The Disney Line

 

 

Just in case. Here's my email

My Little Pony - Double-Cat-Claws Puffy-Cheeked Pose

I've got some serious posts coming up on the subject of social media, paper versus digital media, attention spans and bloody Malcolm Gladwell (over bloody rated frankly, but lovely timbre of voice) so I thought I'd get this amuse gul out of the way as Mary kindly sent me this pic which I'm happy to confirm is empirical evidence that the Muji Green Scarves work big time. Note his and hers matching O.D.M. watches which are pretty much all I have left after a disastrous friday night that is about to get some exposure if the British Consulate and Hong Kong CID don't pull their fingers out.


Update: As if from nowhere that Muji Embed I was playing around with has appeared below. Feel free to do as you please because there was no suggestion it was working in the preview.

Luxury

I've been totally four nelsoned on the shopping here in Hong Kong. Most of 'yall know that really I'm a wannabe flaky hippy. I fly as little as I can, switch off lights and appliances religiously, use a fan instead of air conditioning even if it's a little bit uncomfortable, want to grow my own vegetables and have my own chicken coup I'm struck that I could probably fish for my tea while I'm on Fantasy Island.

Anyway that doesn't mean I'm anti wealth creation at all. We need to create value or utility in our lives (preferably both) and that is extended through the media of money and it's systems operations of banking with cash or the more sophisticated credit constructs should you want to borrow it. This isn't the time or place to go into money as media which is a really interesting construct when the penny drops which it will do if China get their mojo in place, and the United States blinks over the whole optimism or die philosophy which in itself is a lot more powerful than I ever thought and up there with a sort of Nietzsche Will to Power sublimation of virtue.

However, I love beauty. I frequently duck into designer shops and invariably check out the female ranges because I always walk out with an elevated sense of the human spirit when I see how beautiful some stuff is ( In the last week it's been Miu Miu Greek Mosaics, The Prada White Cotton smock tops, The Dior Boots, The Prada low key distressed leather bags (impeccable inconspicuous consumption timing), The latest Kenzo range (quite a departure) and blah blah blah you get the drift.

It also applies to the baubles of male accessories such as glasses, bags and watches as I'm not really into men's designers per se. It contravenes my code for self indulgence which is entirely paradoxical with my propensity to buy the accessories I've just mentioned but hey; each to his own and anyway that American Starred D&G jacket is whistling each time I pass there IFC outlet.

I thought I'd hauled in all that conspicuous consumption because apart from some Chanel Shades I bought in Beijing last year and two dirt cheap kettles I burnt through neglect, I've hardly bought anything that I thought was wasteful. Anyway I've  been having a complete fucking nightmare with PCCW who are just the ultimate time wasting idiots in the telecommunication business this side of Kowloon.

They fail to recognise the lose-lose logic output of their business because they waste both their time and mine. I ducked into Sunglasses Hut to convey that to them after twenty minutes of being put on hold five or more times that they were trying my patience and I was immediately aware while entering the quieter public space of the shop that I was using their space to conduct my business, but being a cheeky sod, I still asked for a pen to make a note.

When I was finished they cunningly asked me if I'd like to look at some sunglasses. Well the answer was no, because I have the glasses I love very much, I lose stuff all the time and it's expensive buying expensive shades or rather doubly so for me. However acutely aware that I was both using their premises ostensibly to sort out a 20 HK dollar problem (a few pounds) and that they had the Ferragamo shades I'd long been in love with since Beijing (that were on sale for half price at over a thousand HK dollars), I began to repeat over and over to myself that I didn't need them, couldn't afford them, would lose them or spill superglue on them in the cinema like the Chanel shades (don't ask). 

But the sheer patience of the staff in dealing with me, their manners, their small kindnesses and gentle chiding that the Ferragamo looked great of me (sweet mouths you) and before I knew it I was pulling out my card and getting the shades which are super super thin and lightweight, and so hardly no carbon footprint at all, but in any case I made it clear to the staff that they had proatively sold me the product and that I had enjoyed the experience. 

That's how I am. I try to save 20 bucks with my useless PCCW phone operator and end up spending well over 50 times that amount because I love good manners, good design and kindness.

The point came home to me again the next day because I met up with Noah, and while browsing a few shops ambled past the new IWC flagship store that had just opened. They make those Schaffenhausen watches which are v. popular in Asia, and being as Noah is a watch watcher's son (ha ha) we both went in. 

Well the first thing I noticed was a fragrance that I liked, and the lady greeting us said it wasn't for sale as it was the boutique fragrance and piped around what looked like a mid 19th century modestly wood panelled study with some very expensive watches; the most expensive more than a million.

Anyway the service was impeccable and really friendly. I liked the way they didn't look down on us, dressed in our hard to determine, how wedged-up we were, kind of way. And that's the critical point about luxury sales. I've spent enough time in luxury shops to know when the sales staff are being arseholes making sniffy comments, adjusting everything I touch or even just looking at their own watches which is a universal language for your wasting my time. Which isn't true if they know me but waaay to many luxury brands just don't get it that not all lovers of beauty dress like ostentatious pricks all the time. 

We like nice things and frankly I like second hand or used things too. Style is a matter of taste, not money but to be dripping in branded goods just shows a lack of imagination and there should always be something that isn't OBVIOUS.

 So moving on I have to admit that I don't really like the IWC Schaffenhausen watches. They are too big and just not my cup of tea. I wasn't adding potential candidates to my consideration set which is more of a fantasy league than anything. But anyway, Noah spotted that among the cool merchandise and social objects in the newly opened, and worldwide flagship store that they had a flight simulator cockpit for a spitfire, complete with video screen to play on. I'm way to British to ask to use these things but one thing I like about Americans is the relaxed way of inquiring about using stuff that seems to more often in the affirmative than if I had tried. So he got into the cockpit and proceeded to crash the plane repeatedly; thus losing us the second world war and obviously the liberation of Europe :P

While Noah repeatedly nose dived the flight simulator I was offered a glass of champagne which frankly I'm always up for but felt it would be misleading to drink. Once again the highly professional and admirably persistent sales assistant (Kam Fok) ignored my reservations, and delivered two glasses of Poo while I was given the only watch in the place that I would even vaguely consider. Still, it felt dam good on my slender wrists.

My stupid first thought was that it could be used in a backward clenched fist wrist to face defense manoeuvrings on some fictional assailant, which might sound aggressive and that I watch to many Chuck Norris movies, but I was informed that it was the official watch for the US Air Force a year or two ago, and is built to withstand the usual thermonuclear warfare as well as convert into a Swiss knife and portable Smeg Kitchen at the press of a button. 

But the line in the sand for me was it was called Top Gun and without even expressing my disdain for Hollywood approved merchandise it was conveyed to me by Mis Fok, that Top Gun was all about the military terminology, and is approved by the USA, but also nothing to do with the movie which is obvious when we think about because the movie is about real life and not the other way round. Sheesh anyone would think I've only been here three months instead of close to 15 years of pretty deep Asian immersion I've touched upon over here , here and here.

So the magic of this process is that even though I'm not a Schaffenhausen IWC fan. If I ever go down the route of a chunky luxury watch I'm half inclined to go down to the boutique and try that sucker on one more time because it felt so good. That's how sales are made and the old mistaken trope that snobby service is how discerning people like to separate there affluent wheat from the fiscally diminished chaff is just retarded. The luxury stores that know how to swing a sale from the likes of me and quite a few others I know is to be human, treat us like humans and you know. Try and enjoy your job which means making it a challenge to find a way to make a good impression. Social media might give us a second chance to make a first impression but real life is still about old fashioned intelligence, courtesy, humour, effort and swinging the impossible sale. It can be done.

Anway, this post has reiterated the indulgence I have been shamefully shopping in, and I've been promising it to Musa for a few days so rather than go into the social media opportunities for luxury brands I'll wrap up on my last Hong Kong luxury retail experience that prompted me to start writing.

After yet another wonderful fly up near The Old Bailey our gang of four descended the hill towards H&M to get a hat for Sherri. Chris paused at the lights and noticed that a new luxury baggage shop had opened. Let me dig out the card.

Bothos Flagship Store. OK, so I tailed Chris in and noticed one bag that really was a lovely beast of tan and white leather breezy travelling beauty and functionality. I know what I like and it was working. I immediately assesed its price around 5-10 K Hong Kong Dollars and parked the notion of buying it. However I was stunned yet again that Fillipo Perricone and his partner made more than an effort to explain the craftsmanship of the bag which I learned was made from Camel leather and makes for an interesting provenance story I thought. 

But you know it wasn't the willingness to explain the bag in a newly opened store. I'd expect that but I felt there was genuine interest from the owners towards someone who was genuinely interested in that bag. Polite conversation and a sort of matched agenda of people who know about making great luxury leather products and someone who actually has a bit of a bag fetish though usually for products out of his budget.

Then for the second time in my life and also in two days Phillipe offered me a glass of wine which I'd have definitely gone for but noticed that the original reason for popping into the shop was now standing around waiting politely for me to finish chatting (thanks guys. I appreciated it because I was off on luxury marketing for the third millennium at that point and most touched by some simple words by Phillipe that he didn't want to sell me anything but wanted to make friends. The wine was a gesture in that direction and though I was short on time, I felt the authenticity of the notion of making a sale from relationships that are allowed to evolve in their own sweet time.

I'll be popping back to that shop to get to know them a little better because like the staff at Sunglasses Hut and Schaffenhausen, Phillipe knows how to turn a glimmer of a prospect into an actively involved consideration set luxury brand future customer.

Maybe its just Hong Kong but these guys know how to keep a smile on my face while relieving me of money that can never match the enjoyment that comes from beautiful things...well not while I can afford to clear the essentials anyway.

So anyway, I'm coming out of retirement folks. I'm back and I'm hungry to work. Or I have to find a way of staying on fantasy Island and well away from an endless supply of beautiful goods with pockets of service culture that may cultivate more than just the transactional value of a sale because I always like to make friends with whoever I come into contact with. 

If they can put up the idiosyncrasies.