Times Square has recently opened up its new escalators to give us floor hoppers more ways to get to the places to spend our money. Elevators are always a hassle to get in to so it should be a welcome relief to some. They give the impression when on them as very unsafe though just because of the “out there” feel to them.

Yes, that’s what it felt like earlier this week when I caught the last episode of the current season of Curb Your Enthusiasm; Larry David’s hilarious comedy on HBO.

For all of you whom I don’t wish to know who do not know who Larry David is; he only just created Seinfeld along with Jerry Seinfeld all those years ago.

Anyway he plays himself in CYE and in the current season he gets back the old cast for a Seinfeld reunion culminating in last night’s episode.  So my reality twisted and my perception of what was real warped as I watched Larry play himself, Larry play George for a minute whose character is based on Larry, Jerry playing himself playing himself etc etc.

It was sublime. I loved it. It had quotables, it had Seinfeldisms and it had Larry Davidisms

…on the other hand…..

….Mocha Joe!………….

…….do you respect wood?…………..

…….acting without acting……………….

……Madoff!…………………

from http://bonkersinhonkers.wordpress.com

Read all about it!!

There is a free newspaper handed out in the morning by thousands of cheery, friendly locals all around Honkers; it’s called The Standard. Some local blogs call it The Sub-Standard. I agree with them. especially after today.

The article screamed out at us from its lofty black box on the top right of the front page: “Schools on Facebook Mass Suicide Alert“
It’s the sort of shlocky, shocky, amateur journalism that gets parents and talking heads all in to tizzy. Mostly because it involves…..THE INTERNET!
Throwing in words like cyber cops and phrases like “the fear is that the sinister cyber tentacles from the site have already clamped on Hong Kong youngsters.” are sure to get us all up on our feet to crush this cyber threat immediately!

“The group has been blamed for the attempted suicide earlier this month of a secondary schoolgirl in Hong Kong”
So basically the article is saying that normal, happy Hong Kong youngsters are seeing this Facebook group and immediately are switched on to the option of killing themselves. Right, I see. Nothing going on at home behind closed doors, hmm? Nothing going on in the school playground, corridors or classrooms, hmm? Nothing going on with peer pressure, drug or alcohol abuse, hmm? It’s Facebook that will make them jump off a roof is it, hmm?

“internet evils”  -  Nice, I’m going to use this to describe every website from now on.

I’ll leave the last words to Mr. Teddy Tang Chun- keung who stated that
“..a study carried out in September and October found that students in Yuen Long are generally not suicidal”
Ok Teddy, ok. And I’m generally not sleepy very early in the morning when I read this crap.

In fact, I’m sure if I did a “study” on how suicidal mini bus drivers are in Hong Kong I am sure I would find they are all a life-loving, tobacco -smoking joy parade. Having been in a mini bus this evening careening through the streets of Honkers I may also beg to differ.

from http://bonkersinhonkers.wordpress.com

One aspect I miss of living in Europe and Germany in particular is going to gigs (concerts to the non-hip). I saw so many gigs in Germany and Europe in general over the last four years. It was fantastic and usually in smaller venues than usual. From the top of my head I’m going to try and remember all of them; Dave Matthews (twice), Stereophonics, Aimee Mann, Green Day, Snow Patrol, The Corrs (sssh, they are from my home town), Iron and Wine, Calexico, Peeping Tom, Mike Patton and Rahzel, Therapy?,  Pearl Jam, Sufjan Stevens, Oasis and most recently in Frankfurt my favourite band of all time; Faith No More. I had tickets to see Death Cab For Cutie but I couldn’t make it. Darn it.

Unfortunately here in Hong Kong not a lot of bands drop by. I miss going to see big names and not so big named bands. I’ve always loved live music more than recorded sessions. In fact after listening to some versions of songs live I can’t go back to the album version.

So joy of joys there are two gigs I will pay overpriced tickets for this coming January; Green Day and The Killers both playing at the AsiaWorld Expo – Arena on Lantau Island.

I have seen Green Day two times already and I’m always impressed so I’m looking forward to that one. Their latest album has some belters but overall it’s an o.k. album from them by their standards. The Killers I have just started listening to, I never really “got” them before but listening now to their discography I am digging it. Ya hear?!

from http://bonkersinhonkers.wordpress.com

Last week Honkers got cold.

I usually scoff at the locals wearing gloves, scarves and heavy coats as the weather gets a few degrees colder. But no, this time it was warranted. It was almost cold enough to go and buy a heater but then sense prevailed and we managed to survive. We dusted off our hoodies every morning and headed off to work; it certainly was a change to hunch the shoulders against the chilly air.

This week it has got milder and is almost perfect. Walking along in a work shirt is just a joy. I think it may stay like this for the week going by the useful Honkers Observatory website.

So we hope the mildness will last and the humidity and heat will stay away until the new year. And world peace.

I still can’t organise our Christmas holidays and I don’t know if it’s laziness, lack of determination or willpower. Or all of them. I was looking in to Tokyo but the package deals either stop at Christmas or the flights are full. Choosing flights and hotels separately works o.k.  but then I need to weigh up the dozens of different websites I can use to formulate this plan. Blurbity blurbity blurbity. I can’t even write about it without crossing my eyes.

from http://bonkersinhonkers.wordpress.com

I love learning about the history of Hong Kong and how things have changed throughout the years.

One blog that sates my quest for this knowledge is Gwulo: Old Hong Kong which hunts down and investigates the Hong Kong of olde.

So imagine my surprise when a recent post highlighted the corner of three streets that our very apartment looks down on. The building on the corner has always reminded me of the Flatiron Building in New York (obviously to a lesser extent). As Gwulo and his readers mention all the buildings surrounding are around 50 years old with the particular flatiron-esque building just been refurbished very recently hence it’s current facade. I can tell from peering through the windows with powerful binoculars that most of the units within are apartments.

As I posted a comment on their blog saying I would post a few pictures from a different viewpoint I thought I would do so here to kill two birds.

One at night with ubiquitous gweilo teenagers fooling around on the terrace of Lee Gardens Two.

And two in the cold light of day. Even the roof looks refurbished!
I should really polish of my cobwebbed Nikon D70 and take some more composed photos. Excuses, excuses I know.

from http://bonkersinhonkers.wordpress.com

Since when do we have to start wishing everybody Happy Halloween?! Happy Christmas and Happy New Year I can just about manage but I really don’t see the point of wishing somebody well for a day of dressing up in crappy costumes and performing pagan rituals.

Every year on October 31st one of us in Chez Bonkers celebrates their birthday, you may think it’s me due to sentiments spewed out in the first paragraph but alas it’s not. You will know when it’s my turn.

So we decided to wine and dine and treat ourselves at Habitu Ristorante in Lee Gardens Two just beside us here in Causeway Bay. Being the careful dude I rang up and booked a table for 6:30 just in case. At 4pm we nipped off to see Saw VI. Same old premise, entertaining enough for 90 minutes.

Habitu is located on the tippity top of Lee Gardens Two. It was fairly empty when we got there and stayed that way for the duration. Because said birthday person is a wine connoisseur I forked out for a 2006 Scansano red from Tuscany. It was nice. $448HKD worth of niceness? My brain says “probably”, my wallet says “Idiot”

Onwards to the main courses after some tasty bread. For me a char-grilled Wagyu Striploin

Now, don’t get me wrong it was a perfectly good Wagyu piece of goodness but bloody hell I need some potatoes with my cow! At least offer me some when I am ordering so I realise that all I’m getting is cow and some char-grilled peppers and asparagus. Disappointing.

The birthday girl had a handful of vegetarian options to choose from and went for the saffron risotto.

Do you think the risotto looks watery? Well it was! We’ve seen Gordon Ramsay fling enough risottos in to aspiring chefs’ faces in Hell’s Kitchen to know the consistency of a risotto! Other than the H20 abundance it was just plain bland. “Meh” is the word.

After feeling not too full from the cow I ordered a Warm Flan dessert. It would take 20 minutes I was warned. Fine.

The flan was bursting with oozing rich chocolate. If it wasn’t for the lemon gelatto it would have been too strong of a dessert for me.

So it was with a little disappointment that we asked for the bill. The food was of a lesser standard than we had expected but the wine was a fortifying comfort to us as we paid the wallet crushing bill.

Thank you Habitu! Don’t think we will see you again though. I’m sorry. Really. Please move on with your life. And keep an eye on your risottos.

Some nice buildings are to be observed when you’re out on the podium outside.

It’s my bet that some classy, cool and sophisticated people live here.

from http://bonkersinhonkers.wordpress.com

We have a regular shoppers card at Park N Shop and all it’s good to use in all its relatives. We shop at PNS because it’s near our apartment. But they give us coupons for the TASTE supermarket in Wan Chai which is annoying to say the least.

Anyway last Saturday we tried to get to Taste from CBay. The number 56 mini bus goes from Leighton Road every 6 or so minutes. So after 20 or so minutes one had gone by and it was full. Plan W and we walk to Happy Valley and grab a trolley to Johnston road in Wan Chai to walk the rest of the way to Taste.

I forgot how much I like riding the old trams. Tranquil when not squashed and sloth like in its movement. Totally the opposite of all other transport in Honkers!

So after the wonders of the tram ride TASTE was so not worth it and definitely no return visit on the cards.

This entry was mainly for the tram pictures, but getting a dig at TASTE was so worth it. I feel better now.

from http://bonkersinhonkers.wordpress.com

Bloody hell, I look at my blog and two weeks have passed by since the last post. I hate myself sometimes.

Anyway I sometimes feel sorry for stores and businesses hidden up in nondescript looking buildings so I’m happy to give a shout out to a relatively new wine emporium which won’t render you penniless in the process. Pity their website as advertised on their card doesn’t work though..

Premier Fine Wines, as you can see from the map, is a mere few steps away from the main artery of soul-destroying pedestrian-ism between Times Square and Sogo on Jardine’s Bazaar. It stocks mainly Australian and French plonk and prices range from a reasonable (150HkD) to “what-the-hell-is-in-that-bottle?” prices. The lady that was there was very pleasant and gave us a taster of a nice Australian Shiraz which was one of the reasonably prices ones (maybe she has a financial-status sensor in the store). We will go back. If it doesn’t shut down in the meantime like all the other stores around us. It seems like there is boarded up store fronts wherever you look but as soon as they go up a new store is in its place to repeat the cycle of consumerist Russian roulette.

Causeway Bay Sewerage Works Update:
The trenches around C-Bay that have been there since we arrived have signs up saying they will be done by December 2009. They once said they would be done by February 2009. So if said trenches are gone and the work completed by December I will pour a bottle of Australian Shiraz down in the toilet in celebration.

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The celebratory fireworks extravaganza were but a not too distant rumble from our lofty perch in Causeway Bay.
Dim flashes of light in the night sky were the only evidence for us of the 20 minute spectacle….apart from the shroud of smoke which enveloped us for a good 40 minutes afterwards. Supposedly the show cost 400,000 USD…