A Good Day

Something unexpected, a little surprise amidst calm of a veiled July morning.  Hearing the lion dance at the temple like it is just outside, sound travels. Watching it chin cupped on my window sill, and The Centre when I look up. Turning around and seeing the apartment, wow, I live here. Turning back with breeze against my cheek and it's lovely. Feeling like part of the fabric of this Hong Kong, today.

Lament Of The Hong Kong House-Hunter*

When your apartment is 400-odd square feet, you let the outside in once you open the windows, since there’s not much of “in” to be held up against.

Which leaves Hong Kong dwellers with 2 options:

• Live someplace where you love the outside of
• Never open the windows (the more common option)

I chose No.1, which when combined with other requirements such as a 5-ft bed (a Malaysian not Hong Kong standard I’m told), the need to live on the Island due to lack of written Chinese literacy, white walls and kitchen/toilet which live up to “expat-ations”, and the aversion to paying Damansara Height rental prices, left me with few options.

4 options to be exact. Out of the 1.4 mil private residential units** in Hong Kong. Okay I exaggerate. I only looked at 45, not 1.4 mil apartments and that was when I first arrived in 2011, none the wiser about neighbourhoods and the true definition of racecourse views (a crack as broad as your index finger) and what 300 sq ft really means (standing up from your toilet sitting position to wash hands at the basin).

Armed with the superiority of this knowledge, I set forth courageously two years later in search of a possible alternative, after being somewhat unceremoniously 20% upped on rental by my landlady (on whatsapp, in 8 words). This time I said, it will be better. I will be better.

This time, I found 3. I only looked at 15, so arguably it was an improvement percentage-hit wise. But it was still sufficiently depressing to trigger a bout of ihatehongkongitis for the past 6 weeks, from under which cloud I am only emerging now, with the help of excellent bars and eclectic neighbours.

The problem with the Hong Kong housing market in my opinion, can be summarised as such:

1. There are not enough apartments.***
2. The mainlanders are rich, and the government is greedy.
3. The landlords are greedy, and the range of tenants is too wide and varied (from expats to dirt poor locals, and locals to dirt poor expats), resulting in a situation of a pot for every cover, and so many pots you never thought could/would exist beyond a Malaysian understanding of what an “acceptable” apartment is.

Anyway, the happy ending of this story is that I extended my lease with an 8% increment, due to reasons I cannot explain other than my landlady changed her mind about the ever-elusive reasons behind the Hong Kong rental “market” rate, which to me is a moot point anyway (see point 1 above).

Or it could be she found my long sulking (5 weeks) then sob story of poor developing country person sufficiently entertaining, or simply tired of the bargaining game she was playing (my local colleagues tell me this).

Either way I am glad, because I love my apartment and neighbourhood. It’s one of those places that makes you happy to stay in or step out the door, from the antique shops you feel you need to approach with respect, to cloud-watching from the couch, and the fruit sellers (from really kind to real rip-offs) who initially do not look different at all. I love its alleys and corners, old businesses and new ventures, juxtaposed in a way that highlights Hong Kong’s heartbreaking transience just so.

It’s one of the oldest spots in this country, where you see locals and foreigners alike adapt, settle and try to thrive in a new landscape. And die too, as it is near a row of coffin shops. Its distinction I make from funeral homes, because that would be scary. In short, somewhere I could call a home away from home.

Am I a Hong Konger now? No. I will always be Malaysian, hopefully with a little more game and a little more worldliness with a little help from my friends. Will I renegotiate the rental down the next time the market dips?

You bet-lah.

* also posted on www.curasian.com
** http://www.gov.hk/en/about/abouthk/factsheets/docs/housing.pdf
*** http://www.cbre.eu/portal/pls/portal/res_rep.show_report?report_id=2305

Questions to Ponder When You’re Halfway Between an Empty Glass and a Full One*

Some confusing things about Life.

• If comfort zones are not good for us, why do we feel so good in them?
• If people are meant to be the same, why were we made different?
• If the path of least resistance leads downhill, why does going with the flow sometimes bring the best results?
• Why is it that even when you are happy where you are, you have to be in motion just to remain still?
• If babies knew everything innately, why are we born helpless, having to learn everything from others, only to have to unlearn them for ourselves later?

All these things confuse me, and to be frank they still do. But one day I thought; What if, the human lesson is not so much that the glass is half full, but that it can only be half full when the other half is empty?

Perhaps then, when bad or upsetting things happen, being indignant is fruitless, since indignation implies that these things should not have happened when of course, they did and will continue to do so.

If it all evens out in the end, why then, do we bother fighting for anything? It’s a valid question, and helps me understand and feel more kindly towards those who seem to never fight for anything.

But I guess the question we need to ask ourselves is not whether we should fight, but at what cost. After all, while time is infinite, it’s finite for us, and generally things that won’t matter in 5 minutes, don’t matter at all. Which also means that, for things which will matter for more than 5 minutes, we fight for. No matter how far it is out of our comfort zones, how different it looks from what we know, how uphill the battle, how happy we think we are, and despite what we have been told.

1. Electoral reform
2. Defending the urban vote
3. Rural involvement
4. Education and security

2013-2018. Here we go.

* also posted on www.curasian.com

Sobre a mesa sob a janela da escola, há queijo, manteiga e um garfo

I am in Portugal and messing around translating words with my colleague, which I do sometimes and find immensely fun. Came across this link and found that if I spoke in Malay, I could be understood (albeit horrible grammar) in at least 10 different languages! See, I could:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Malay_loanwords

Be matter-of-fact in Tamil: "The lion ate the mango in the curry"

Be dramatic and suggestive in Sanskrit: "This pomegranate is a blessing from my angel, and I will eat it despite danger of punishment!"

Read the news in Portugese: "According to the firefighters, there was a pail and lace on the bench, and a flag and violin in the cupboard" (my colleague confirms this is right)

Feign modesty in Mandarin: "A teacup-full is enough, but I recommend you use the scales to weigh it"

Be modest in Hokkien: "Share my rice vermicelli and chives cake, we can sit by the drain and drink black tea"

Begin a geographically inclusive statement in Iban: "Our Continent..."

Suggest an ingredient in Hindi: "Lady-finger?"

Be boring in English: "Let's have a biscuit in the garage during computer class"

Be serious like the Dutch: "Ah, the book of Risk" (lights a cigarette)

Be in Arabic, either other-worldly and instructive "On Sunday and Thursday, there is a sermon on world philosophy, so come to the mosque and not the laboratory" or just right "O we are thankful for snow, giraffes and soap"


So ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, this is why we learn Bahasa Malaysia. Not because it's a language that no one really uses out of Malaysia and Indonesia (you think anyone uses Dutch, even the Dutch?) but because it's fun, shows us where we are from and who passed through our lands and lives before us, and reminds us of the wonderful, quirky people we are.


Tamil: "Singa itu makan mangga dalam gulai"
Sanskrit: "Buah delima ini bagaikan anugerah dari bidadari saya, dan akan saya mencubanya sungguhpun ada bahaya dan denda!"
Portugese: "Menurut pasukan bomba, di atas bangku ada baldi dan renda, di dalam almari ada bendera dan biola"
Mandarin: "Satu cawan sudah cukup, tetapi saya syorkan anda menggunakan dacing untuk menimbangnya"
Hokkien: "Kongsi saya punya bihun dan kuih kucai, kita boleh duduk di tepi longkang minum Teh O"
Iban: “Benua kita...”
Hindi: “Bendi?”
English: “Mari makan biskut di garaj semasa kelas komputer”
Dutch: “Ah, buku Risiko” (sambil menyalakan rokok)
Arabic: "Pada hari Ahad dan Khamis, datang ke masjid dan bukan makmal untuk dakwah falsafah” dan “O, kita perlu bersyukur kerana adanya salji, zirafah dan sabun”

Asian

The sum of the many parts of Asia, while it means certain common things, comprises so much diversity. Newcomers to the region ask me - how are these different, what are the people like?

I can only tell of the places I have been, and of these, what I love the most, so I say:

• Vietnamese: their sense of self, and general absence of bullshit in getting things done
  


• Japanese: their quiet resolve to be themselves, and keep their ways
  


• Indonesians: these guys are just cool
  


• Filipinos: their patience, and ability to laugh almost always
  


• Koreans: their soft little centers, beneath that tough, but really just rather honest exterior
  


• Cambodians: a gentleness, despite the obvious toil needed for survival
  


• Singaporeans: Malaysian roots are a redeeming factor. Only joking - discipline I guess, essential for progress
  


• Hong Kongers: a keen quick-wittedness and ability to land on their feet
  


• Thais: politeness, and the innate eye for things beautiful
  


• Malaysians: You tell me, but I guess I love most about us our simplicity and tolerance of people as people
  

I don't say these traits are perfect, or without challenge, but to me they carry the strength of the people. Go Asia! The world is ours for the taking.

Friday Prayer

Guide my hands
Guide my heart
Guide my mind
And guide my guard.

Keep me clear
To always see
The things I hold
Dear to me.

Trial and temptation*
Are the human condition
And the result of that
Is so much crap

Monkeys, sharks, wolves and monsters
Cloaks and daggers, all real terrors
Please guide my way
In dealing with that.

I don’t know how You do it all
Everyone’s wants
Clash and overlap, afterall.
But I’ve been told I overthink

So I’m going to stop that right now.

Fill my life,
With things that matter
Help me catch on,
To these things faster.

Help me find
My very own bliss
And contribute to that of
Those I love and cherish

Help me be wise
Faithful and strong
To be the person I knew
I was all along.

* Good Omens - Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman

Cheers (I’ll Drink to That)*

When there is noise, and it is time to watch your back, it is not easy to judge those around you. Support can be a fleeting and changeable thing. But I am grateful for the simple and un-obligatory gestures– a suitcase dragged across apartment blocks, a head’s up over a bowl of noodles. The time spent to lend an ear, share experience, and give sincere advice. I am typically detached, and did not think of these things as important, but I have learnt that they are. Thank goodness, there are things to be thankful for in rubbish situations. *almost Rihanna