...and the rumble continues...

Today's newspapers were flooded with letters of restaurant and bar bosses who voiced their anger over the decision to scrap the visit of 8.000 American sailors. Beijing granted "humanitarian" grounds but it came too late for the sailors and about 290 family members who had flown into the City for Thanksgiving. It is still not clear why the fleet was denied entry, but an unanounced PLA flight training exercise was held this week over costal areas over the East and South China seas and on wednesday a PLA guided missile destroyer sailed from Guangdong on a historic port visit to Japan.

By the way - poor Michael had to spend 4 solid hours waiting in an airplane on the departure runway in Wuxi on tuesday, also without any further explanation - probabely these events are related.

One restaurant owner is convinced from experience that he missed out on about HKD 2 million from the visit - it's a massive impact on the City, that's for sure and cab drivers and bar owners were equally ticked off. What's especially sad is, that it would have been the last visit to HK for the carrier, which will be decommissioned next year after 46 years of service.

HK-based military expert A.C. said Beijing's action reflected its anger over the planned US sale of missiles to Taiwan and President Bush's recent meeting with the Dalai Lama - Kindergarden!

(source: SCMP)

Thanksgiving in China - impossible!!

.....and of course the reversed decision made by Beijing came way too late. It must be very frustrating for the families of all the sailors who flew into Hong Kong to surprise and expect their loved ones for a Thanksgiving Holiday....and guess who was one of the volunteers scheduled to work at the information desk of the Fleet Arcade at Fenwick Pier tomorrow - me, sigh......you cannot believe how many emails jammed my inbox during the past weeks to organize all the shifts to welcome 8000 sailors by the American Women Association/AWA - as it turned out, all for nothing in the end, arrggggggghhhhhhhh......


HONG KONG: China reversed a decision on Thursday to block a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group from visiting Hong Kong, but the change of heart by Beijing officials came too late to stop the U.S. naval flotilla from returning to its forward base in Japan. The USS Kitty Hawk and its five support ships were en route back to its base at Yokosuka and were not planning to double back to Hong Kong, a spokesman for the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Hawaii, Lt. Commander John Filostrat said.


22.11.2007 10:05 Uhr

China und USA
Schlechte Laune vor Thanksgiving
China wollte dem US-Flugzeugträger USS Kitty Hawk das Einlaufen nach Hongkong verwehren - und hätte damit ein dort geplantes Thanksgiving-Fest der Soldaten mit ihren Familien fast vereitelt.

Der amerikanische Flugzeugträger: Ein Besuch der USS Kitty Hawk in Hongkong war seit Wochen geplantFoto: Reuters

Gezerre um Thanksgiving: China hat einem US-Flugzeugträgerverband am Donnerstag erst nach längerem Zögern erlaubt, für das amerikanische Thanksgiving-Fest vor Hongkong zu ankern. Der Besuch der USS Kitty Hawk war seit Wochen geplant, ursprünglich sollte sie bereits am Mittwoch einlaufen. Doch China hatte Medienberichten zufolge zunächst die Erlaubnis verweigert. Daraufhin hatte das US-Außenministeriums mitgeteilt, die etwa 8000 Soldaten an Bord des Flugzeugträgers und der Begleitschiffe würden den Feiertag am Donnerstag nun im südchinesischen Meer verbringen. Es forderte China aber auf, die Entscheidung zu erläutern und zu überdenken.

Am Donnerstag erklärte nun ein Sprecher des Außenministeriums in Peking, die Regierung habe aus "humanitären Gründen" eine Erlaubnis erteilt. Damit solle der Besatzung des Flugzeugträgers und seiner Begleitschiffe ermöglicht werden, Thanksgiving in Hongkong zu feiern. Das amerikanische Erntedankfest ist einer der wichtigsten Feiertage in den USA. In Hongkong warteten auf die Besatzung Hunderte Angehörige, die wegen des traditionellen Familienfestes extra um die halbe Welt geflogen waren. "Ich vermisse meinen Papa", sagte ein 14-jähriger Junge, dessen Vater an Bord der Flotte ist. "Wir dachten, er würde da sein, aber wir wissen nicht, was los ist. Ich bin wirklich traurig."

Spannungen zwischen China und den USA
Chinas Weigerung war eine Überraschung - vor wenigen Wochen hatte US-Verteidigungsminister Robert Gates das Land besucht und sich zuversichtlich über einen langfristigen Dialog mit der Regierung in Peking gezeigt. Allerdings gab es in jüngster Zeit auch Spannungen: So könnte die Entscheidung eine Reaktion auf das jüngste Treffen des Dalai Lamas mit US-Präsident George W. Bush sein. Zudem wollen die USA der abtrünnigen Inselrepublik Taiwan für 940 Millionen Dollar dabei helfen, ihr Raketensystem zu erneuern. US-Kriegsschiffe ankern häufig vor Hongkong. Allerdings kommt es in Krisenzeiten zwischen China und den USA manchmal vor, dass Peking die Erlaubnis verweigert. Nach einem Besuch von US-Verteidigungsminister Robert Gates Anfang des Monats waren die augenblicklichen Beziehungen aber als gut beschrieben worden. (dpa/Reuters/sma/bica

Nightmare on Po Shan Road

Arggggggggghhhhhhh - before I go on a rampage through my own apartment, I decided it would be better to blow off steam in a Blog - at least I won't be strangling anybody then...I am having the painters in the house since monday, messing up my "peace and order" everywhere they set foot in - having Chinese workers around doesn't just cut off any communication possibilities, it really gives you an impression of what it must look like in rural areas...for example - when I went checking on them while painting in the back of the apartment, one guy had stripped down to his underwear, wearing nothing but his boxer shorts, a headscarf and his socks, unfortunately he didn't look as nearly as attractive as the plumber in Desperate Housewives, sigh...and what sense does it make taking off your shoes when you trudge through pieces of paint on your socks all day long in the first place? - by the way doing this, the painters were joined by the aircon service guys and the Internet technician at the same time and I had the prints all over the place... next thing that sent me off screaming in the inside was the fact that they were using OUR master bathroom which was closed - how much sense does this make when you're having 3 other toilets around?? Then I asked them to cover up the floor with a plastic foil which they hurriedly did just to dump all the debris back on the floor when they folded it upon finishing the job....but the greatest amusement came when I noticed they were taking a shower in the maids bathroom which has no shower curtain and not even a bathroom door because we're using it as storage room for our cleaning utensils, they didn't even bother to close the connecting door to the kitchen and - get this - they didn't even remove my cleaning things including the buckets before showering, meaning before I was able to start wiping the floors later on I first had to rinse the white paint off the buckets...I mean on the one hand I really feel lousy & guilty to picture that they are probabely this poor that they don't have a proper shower opportunity back at their homes, but living in our over-zivilized bubble as we do, it's still hard getting used to this kind of behavior again...and let's not start talking about their teeth....and once again - thank you God for letting us live such a privileged life!!! Tomorrow I'll escape into the great outdoors, I'll go cycling in the New Territories while Michael has to "babysit" them - I am sure he'll be having a blast!

Not the South China Morning Post

As some of you might know, The South China Morning Post is HK's daily newspaper. Founded in 1997 in reaction to the sale of the SCMP by Rupert Murdoch to Peking-friendly billionaire Robert Kuok, in exchange for satellite broadcasting rights in Mainland China, the NTSCMP (Not The South China Morning Post) is Hong Kong's first online English publication and is committed to press freedom - proud to be electronic but never a mere blog - you might find some interesting satirical articles/pictures in there, maybe some of you are curious enough to check it out.

Timeless

I wish days would be timeless, leaving you full of non-stop energy to do what you want forever...in my mind there are stories for one Blog a day but come nightfall, I didn't manage to find the time to write them down....

First of all an ecstatic HURRAY for today - the skies are finally clearing up and we actually get to see the sun again. The pollution, trapped by light winds and hot sun was killing us for five consecutive days and we were living under a cloud of disgusting fingerthick fog - to me, that's the one real downside of Hong Kong. Finally, gone are the 30s and somebody once said that one of the nice things approaching fall is your hair won't be glued to the back of your neck with sweat after five minutes on the street anymore - how true!





Last week, China celebrated its National Holiday and most Mainlanders were on vacation during their "Golden Week", many of them crowding HK as usual. The tourism-related sectors are booming with consumers traveling to HK's "Shopping-Paradise" which always seems to give a huge boost to the economy. People can buy world brand products for much lower prices as compared to the ones in the mainland cities because HK is a tax free heaven and the Yuan (Renmimbi), the currency of the Mainland, is currently stronger than the HKD. The newspapers reported that people even shopped in the real estate and the stock markets. "The rapid growth of economic development of the Chinese mainland and the strengthening individual purchasing power have already made HK residents look at them with new eyes. Eying the huge potential of the holiday economy after opening of "individual visits" to more mainland residents, HK had coordinated their efforts in preparing for mainland visitors well in advance, to ensure that the visitors spend a good time in HK - to summarize it: The Golden Week is a "ready-made-cake" for HK tourism development." To maintain this status is more important than ever, with exploding Macau around the corner.

(Source for some statements in the text: "People's Daily")

On october 1st we got to admire another magnificent firework over Victoria Harbour with tons of heart shaped rockets, red displays of the #8 (lucky number) and lots of Smiley Faces amongst the choreography. This time we even managed to get closer to the action (remember my july disaster?) having secured a balcony space in a restaurant at the eastern part of the harbour on HK Island - hey, one day we'll have worked ourselves through to the complete prime harbour overview but so far there is still room for improvement.
Over 'n out.

Mid-Autumn Festival...

This lantern shows the mascot of the equestrian events of the 2008 Beijing Olympics being held in Hong Kong.

...and Hong Kong lights up its beautifully crafted lanterns again during the next 14 nights! For those who care, the Mid-Autumn-Festival is a 3.000-year-old festival based on the myth about a mischievous wife who was sentenced to life on the moon for eternity. The 15th day of the 8th lunar month (sep 25th this year) is a time to either head to the Beaches with your lanterns in tow or to the park with family & friends to gaze at the full moon, check out the shows, dances and of course the lanterns. You also gather to eat fresh fruits and mooncakes which are sent in hampers throughout the City to wish good luck to your relatives/friends and business partners.

Coinciding with the Mid-Autumn Festival is the unique Fire Dragon Dance in Tin Hau. "The 67-metre-long dragon is studded with thousands of burning joss sticks that at night produce an incredible spectacle of fire, smoke and dynamic fury as the dragon wends and dances through the backstreets. It's said that in 1880 a plague broke out in Tin Hau and, appearing in the dream of a village elder, Buddha instructed the villagers to light firecrackers and perform a fire dragon dance for three days and nights. Sulphur from the firecrackers dispelled the plague and the ritual has been repeated annually ever since;"

Wong Tai Sin Temple Decoration during Lantern Festival




...and these are impressions from Victoria Park






PS: To enlargen the pictures just click on them.