Non-sport things to do or see.
Thanks to M at the Fringe, an extremely fine and inventive restaurant, for the inspiration to attempt to pick ten things that are not usually found in guidebooks and are aimed primarily at residents and then offer the list to tourists also. I must acknowledge that I have used the M at the Fringe list as a springboard for my list.
I doubt that I will limit myself to ten items in the long run but it is a start. I also freely admit that I have not done all of these things myself but, if I have not done something, I certainly wish I had or I plan to do it someday.
The list is ordered randomly so pick any item to begin to build your own list.
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Six days until the Hong Kong Rugby Sevens!
As I reported in a recent entry, Disney Bashing Is All the Rage Hong Kong Disneyland keeps getting bashed by the newspapers and in TV news and in the Letters to the Editor columns.
Recently Disney offered a choice of free items for people who book through travel agents. They also offered Hong Kong residents a free pass to be used within 90 days for every ticket purchased. The Hong Kong Inbound Tourist Association Head, Leung Yiu-lam, complained that the new offers were not attractive to travel agents or visitors. Without going into detail, his further remarks made it clear that, in his opinion, Disney is not paying the Travel Agents enough to sell tickets to Disneyland.
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No, not the Carly Simon song but, believe it or not, Disneyland.
I’ve done my share of Disney bashing but after visiting Hong Kong Disneyland yesterday, I must admit the Disney organization does some things better than anyone else.
I Love a Parade
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A Ms. Joanna Boey from Singapore is suing the Disney Company in the U.S. for negligence in the death of her mother last September during a visit to Hong Kong Disneyland. I’ll skip the details except that Disney said their people acted appropriately and Ms. Boey says they didn’t. Oh, by the way, Ms. Boey’s mother had a congestive heart condition.
The politicians immediately jumped on the bandwagon to suggest that an inquest should be held and Disney’s emergency procedures evaluated. A reporter from the South China Morning Post interviewed a local heart specialist who announced that speed is important in treating heart attack victims…Duh!
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This morning’s South China Morning Post carried stories about two major events: the smuggling of a Bird Flu diseased chicken into Hong Kong from China and Disneyland closing its gates on ticket holders.
Which do you think got the most coverage?
Disney, 4 plus a cartoon - Bird Flu, 2 plus an editorial. Mickey wins!
I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. Bird flu is only life threatening whereas problems at Disneyland threaten the economy.
I’ll be saying more about the bird flu problem in my next entry. Meanwhile, be secure in knowing that no humans have been infected.
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In case you were planning to swim to Hong Kong instead of arriving by other means, you will be happy to know that the beaches of Hong Kong have improved to where you can actually swim in the water. I recommend, though, that you avoid Victoria Harbour as it continues to be polluted in spite of the efforts of the Pearl River and the tides to keep it clean.
When most people think of Hong Kong, they generally do not conjure up images of beautiful, pristine beaches. The truth is Hong Kong has some great, accessible, family friendly beaches. This has not always been the case. A recently released government study reports that the water quality at Hong Kong’s beaches has improved significantly in the last 20 years.
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I picked up my South China Morning Post this morning and was shocked to discover that the Disneyland management was interested in taking responsibility for handling queue jumping and similar disturbances instead of calling in the police. So what’s the problem? Actually there are two issues.
One is that most anywhere else in the world the police would not expect to be called in to handle queue jumping in an amusement park. The other is what appears to be a power struggle between government employees and Disneyland management over how situations should be handled. The government people want a free hand. Disney wants to keep disruption of other guests in the park to a minimum. I must say, I agree with Disney. If I was having a party, would I want the police to come charging in if one of my guests was rowdy and I was handling the situation myself? Of course I wouldn’t.
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While the stereotype of Hong Kong as a place where people are totally focused on making money continues to thrive, the Man Hong Kong International Literary Festival proves the stereotype is not entirely true.
Running from March 6 to March 15, 2006, this festival brings together dozens of authors from around the world including Irish Nobel Prize winning poet, Seamus Heaney, 2005 Booker Prize winner, John Banville, Edgar Allan Poe award winner, Robert Elegant and Fullbright Talking Leaves Literary Award winner, Margaret Read MacDonald.
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This is my week to realize how easy it is to make certain assumptions that, if not wrong, need at least to be balanced by other viewpoints. I received the following comments from Hamlet Lin which put a different perspective on some of my previous comments about the cost of living in Hong Kong.
Our brief exchange follows.
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The front page of the City section in today’s South China Morning Post is completely taken up with another Disney screw-up. I did an entry on a previous one in September: “Disney Moves West or Is It East?” Because the park was filled to capacity by 11:30 AM, hundreds of people, some from as far away as London and many mainland Chinese, were turned away or told to come back at 3:30 PM yesterday.
It seems that, since January 3, Disneyland is selling tickets good for six months but not guaranteed for any particular day. They closed the gates at 11:30 AM. In typical Hong Kong fashion some people tried to storm the gates and the police had to be called. Refunds were only given to people with dated tickets or those who had special situations, like a Thursday flight out.
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