Photo credit: amazon
In 1941, Hong Kong was the Casablanca of the East, a city full of war refugees, profiteers and spies. With the sudden attack by Japanese troops, a Canadian soldier's Christmas promise is broken during the Battle of Hong Kong.
Vivi is a new addition to our Hello! Hong Kong Team. She is originally from Indonesia and has been living in Hong Kong for the past 3 years. Her work experience in the information, communication, and media-related field made her a great addition to our Hello! Hong Kong Tours admin team.
Vivi is very active and loves hiking and eating out with her family and friends. It’s already the middle of 2020 and the world is still fighting its invisible enemy. Perhaps you are wondering, how does a very active lady cope during this time. Below is her corona diary.
All smiles from Vivi at the Tiger head hiking trail in Lantau
Pre-pandemic time, the Admin team was busy answering inquiries, managing bookings, and coordinating with our customers and tour guides. Now, that this pandemic has put a stop to travel and we have more time on our hands, what keeps you busy?
We are very blessed to be working still during this pandemic. Laura, our director is using this downtime to ramp up our efforts in making the company better, improving our website’s contents, finding ideas for future work and collaborations, so we can better prepare for when the world opens up and people are traveling again. When I’m not working, I love going hiking and exploring parts of Hong Kong we’ve never been before with my husband and friends. Even after being in HK for more than 3 years, there are so many places we haven’t been! We have also been cooking and bbq-ing more and on nice days, we would sometimes go to the beach.
Now that Hong Kong is observing social distancing measures to prevent the spread of the virus, what is the place that you miss visiting to the most and why?
We are lucky that most places in Hong Kong remained open, most restaurants were still open then, just with social distancing measures in place but if I have to say one place that I missed that was closed, it was probably the cinemas, it’s always a fun outing activity with friends but now, no problem because everything is open again!
We know that you also suffer from wanderlust. When this Pandemic is finally over, and you can go anywhere where will your wanderlust take you?
The first place for me to go back to when this is all over will be Bali. We go there a lot as it is also my husband’s favourite’s place, it is very convenient for us and we love everything about it. We would also like to go back to Greece.
What is the one thing that you this very unfortunate event has taught you and why?
Our need for human connections, when we put a pause on things that we got going in life, we reconnect more with our family and friends. Maybe we should do that even when the world resumes with all its activities, we should always touch base on what’s important in life. Like the saying “stop and smell the roses”. It’s also amazing to see that when we’re not doing anything, staying home, we’re actually giving a chance for the world to heal itself. Maybe this pandemic is a way of nature telling us that we should sometimes pause, rethink our ways of life and take more care of the world where we live in.
#instagood #repost #hongkong #china #hk #adventure #welltraveled #travelstoke #hellohongkongtours #ilovehk #hellohk #hongkongtour #hktravel#thetravellingnomads #intravelist #backpackersintheworld #travel #beautifulseason #tripscout #digitalnomad #sustainabletravel #photographeveryday #amazing #photographyislife #keepexploring #livetoexplore #wandering #travelanddestinations #seetheworld #tlpick #travellingthroughtheworld #postcardsplace
Photo credit: amazon
Nearly 25 years after seeing his father killed by Hong Kong crime boss Raymond Zhang (Philip Chan Yan Kin), Chad Wagner (Jean-Claude Van Damme) is living in Los Angeles as a flourishing yet peaceful martial arts trainer. But Chad has a twin brother, Alex (also Van Damme), who suddenly reunites with his less-aggressive sibling and wants to avenge their father's death. As the pair plan their payback against Zhang, they also struggle to overcome their personal differences.
Photo credit: wikipedia
After a Hong Kong nuclear plant and the Mercantile Trade Exchange in Chicago are hacked by unknown perpetrators, a federal agent (Viola Davis) proposes that the FBI work with China to find the cyber-criminals. The leader of the Chinese team, Chen Dawai, insists that convicted hacker Nick Hathaway (Chris Hemsworth) be released from prison to help with the investigation. As Nick and his comrades chase their quarry, it becomes evident that the hackers have a sinister motive for their actions.
Photo credit: wikipedia
In the near future, Major is the first of her kind: a human who is cyber-enhanced to be a perfect soldier devoted to stopping the world's most dangerous criminals. When terrorism reaches a new level that includes the ability to hack into people's minds and control them, Major is uniquely qualified to stop it. As she prepares to face a new enemy, Major discovers that her life was stolen instead of saved. Now, she will stop at nothing to recover her past while punishing those who did this to her.
Photo credit: wikipedia
A budding attraction develops between a U.S. expatriate (Bryan Greenberg) and a Chinese-American woman (Jamie Chung) who's visiting Hong Kong for a business trip.
Photo credit: wikipedia
After an epic battle, a great city lies in ruins, but the Earth itself is saved. As humanity begins to pick up the pieces, a shadowy group emerges to try to take control of history. Meanwhile, an ancient and powerful new menace sets its sights on Earth. A new group of humans, led by Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg), helps Optimus Prime (Peter Cullen) and the Autobots rise up to meet their most fearsome challenge yet: a worldwide war of good versus evil.
Photo credit: visitkearney.org
With the help of allies Lt. Jim Gordon (Gary Oldman) and DA Harvey Dent (Aaron Eckhart), Batman (Christian Bale) has been able to keep a tight lid on crime in Gotham City. But when a vile young criminal calling himself the Joker (Heath Ledger) suddenly throws the town into chaos, the caped Crusader begins to tread a fine line between heroism and vigilantism.
The pandemic is a testament that we are all in this together. Hello! Hong Kong tours would like to make you feel that you are not alone in this pandemic and that just like you, we are all doing our best to keep our heads together and keep going.
Allen is originally from the Philippines and has been living here in Hong Kong since 2011. She is one of of the Admin team that oversees the Hello! Hong Kong bookings. Now that it has been pretty quiet and there are no tours in Hong Kong, what keeps her busy? Here she shares with us below her Corona Diary.
Hong Kong tours admin team manager Allen enjoying her last trip in Cebu before the lockdown was imposed.
Pre-pandemic time, the Admin team was busy answering inquiries, managing bookings, and coordinating with our customers and tour guides. Now, that this pandemic has put a stop to travel and we have more time on our hands, what keeps you busy?
To be honest, I miss the feeling of answering inquiries from our customers. I love the feeling of helping them out on their travel plans and giving them suggestions on the best tour that we can offer them. Now, that we have more time in our hands, Laura and the rest of the Admin team are working on individual projects to improve our tour contents.
When I am not working, I am spending my time with my family and our dogs in the Philippines. I am also helping out my mother on baking! It is called Puto Leche Flan or steamed cake with eggcustard.
Now that Hong Kong is observing social distancing measures to prevent the spread of the virus, what is the place that you miss visiting to the most and why?
I am currently enjoying my Family time in the Philippines. In the midst of the lockdowns, there is no other place I would rather be but here with my Family. So I am missing Hong Kong a lot!
We know that you also suffer from wanderlust. When this Pandemic is finally over, and you can go anywhere where will your wanderlust take you?
Hello! Tours is operating in Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan. So I would want to visit the last 2 cities! It would be a great experience to meet in person our team over there! Another on my list is to go back to Thailand and do more sightseeing there.
What is the one thing that you this very unfortunate event has taught you and why?
Having a 2 months lockdown in the Philippines, I realized that our time is so precious that we have to spend more time with our family. I realized that it is okay to slow down in life for a moment. The Pandemic is a wake-up call that we need to take good care of each other and to show more kindness to other people. It is true when they say that “No Man is an Island”. It also taught us to be a more responsible citizen that in order to help the fight for the virus we need to change our mindset and behavior.
My message to all Hello! Hong Kong friends and guests, we cannot wait to welcome you all back in Hong Kong. Hello! Tours will always be here and will come back stronger!
#instagood #repost #hongkong #china #hk #adventure #welltraveled #travelstoke #hellohongkongtours #ilovehk #hellohk #hongkongtour #hktravel #covid19story #coronadisry #coronnastory #thetravellingnomads #intravelist #backpackersintheworld #travel #beautifulseason #tripscout #digitalnomad #sustainabletravel #photographeveryday #amazing #photographyislife #keepexploring #livetoexplore #wandering #travelanddestinations #seetheworld #tlpick #travellingthroughtheworld #postcardsplace
Photo credit: Amazon
Author: Ian Lambot, Greg Girard
Year: Originally published in 1993
Buy it here: Amazon, Book Depository
Summary:
For nearly 50 years, the extraordinary community of Kowloon Walled City cut a dark presence in the heart of Hong Kong. Yet without legislation and with little regard for basic services, planning regulations or building standards, the City not only survived, it positively thrived. But how could such a place exist in a modern metropolis without administrative oversight - 'triply neglected', to use a Hong Kong term - by the British, Chinese and Hong Kong Governments? Who would choose to live there? And why? Some of these questions were answered in our book City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City, but for various reasons a number of key elements were left out. City of Darkness Revisited fills in these gaps and brings the story up to date, mixing photographs and interviews found in the original book with a wide range of new material that has come to light over the past 20 years, in the form of new photographs, drawings, maps, documents and essays, many previously unpublished.
City of Darkness Revisited explores in greater detail than ever before the Walled City's dramatic growth between 1945 and 1990, while at the same time looking into the darker sides of its past and exposing the truth behind many of the myths that gave the City its abiding sense of mystery. We explain how the City's clearance came about and shine a light on why previous attempts to rid Hong Kong of this notorious enclave always failed, stymied over the matter of its dual jurisdiction. Bringing the story up to date, the book also discusses how perceptions of the City have changed so dramatically in the 20 years since its demolition - shunned by most Hong Kong residents during its lifetime, but now seen as part of the city's rich cultural and architectural heritage. And finally, we explore how the City and the myths that swirl around it have infiltrated architectural debate and popular culture through film, literature, Japanese manga, video games, art and design.
City of Darkness Revisited offers a unique insight into the remarkable community that was Kowloon Walled City, home to some 35,000 people at its peak and by far the most densely populated neighbourhood the world has ever known.
Book description credit: Book Depository