Saturday, February 28, 2009
Jobs, jobs, jobs
Take a look at the pictures below. Nope, those were not art work photos. They were people lined up waiting to get inside an exhibition hall in Hangzhou looking for job. The job fair had 1,300 businesses offering 26,000 positions. 10,000 of those positions were slated for new graduates.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
M
The restaurant / Bar: M on the Bund was cool; and so was the pricing.
We had couple drinks at the Glamour Bar between the 3 of us, the cost was RMB 480.00. 4 Martini and a fruit drink. The Martini was good! Dry Gin, a little dirty. Nice. There were snacks, free of charge, available. All high-end expensive food. Chicken livers, Salmon Pate, Presuittos.
Then we headed up one more flight of stairs to the restaurant. Good food. I believe the total was over RMB 1,300.00. Two more Martini, rabbit stew, ox tail and risotto and then tea afterward. Good thing we didn't have to pick up the tab. Friend of Audrey's sister came into town. He's the VP Sale for a high global software company. We took him around and he entertained us. ;-)
Now, where is that Martini? I am craving for that again.
We had couple drinks at the Glamour Bar between the 3 of us, the cost was RMB 480.00. 4 Martini and a fruit drink. The Martini was good! Dry Gin, a little dirty. Nice. There were snacks, free of charge, available. All high-end expensive food. Chicken livers, Salmon Pate, Presuittos.
Then we headed up one more flight of stairs to the restaurant. Good food. I believe the total was over RMB 1,300.00. Two more Martini, rabbit stew, ox tail and risotto and then tea afterward. Good thing we didn't have to pick up the tab. Friend of Audrey's sister came into town. He's the VP Sale for a high global software company. We took him around and he entertained us. ;-)
Now, where is that Martini? I am craving for that again.
A change in policy
Normally, the Ch!ne$e would block the news about gov't official corruptions to be published in newspapers, online or not. But lately, there have been lots and lots of corrupted officials being caught and then published for public to read.
One case was this Nanjing official. She had been fast tracked thru the ranks. At the age of 22, she joined the party; at 38, she was sent to New Zealand for overseas study. Been a city, province People's representative... Now she was caught with 28Kg worth of cash. RMB 7.9 Millions and USD 500K. She has been sentenced to death.
Picture of the money and the lady caught (Originally shown in Xinmin.cn)
Another case involved a group of city officials in Guangdong province; they used public fund to travel thru Hong Kong, South Africa, Egypt, to name a few countries. And the worst part, someone did a documentary and then it was leaked out to the Net. Clips and clips of the tour. That was suppose to be a "study" tour. Sign....
With the economic downturn, I expect there will be more and more of this type of revelations, making this as a deterrent to other "active" officials and a demonstration to the citizens this gov't is open.
There are so many people and so many layers of gov'ts; if not stopping the abuses doesn't matter if there are USD 3 trillions in reserve, it can quite easily be gone.
One case was this Nanjing official. She had been fast tracked thru the ranks. At the age of 22, she joined the party; at 38, she was sent to New Zealand for overseas study. Been a city, province People's representative... Now she was caught with 28Kg worth of cash. RMB 7.9 Millions and USD 500K. She has been sentenced to death.
Picture of the money and the lady caught (Originally shown in Xinmin.cn)
Another case involved a group of city officials in Guangdong province; they used public fund to travel thru Hong Kong, South Africa, Egypt, to name a few countries. And the worst part, someone did a documentary and then it was leaked out to the Net. Clips and clips of the tour. That was suppose to be a "study" tour. Sign....
With the economic downturn, I expect there will be more and more of this type of revelations, making this as a deterrent to other "active" officials and a demonstration to the citizens this gov't is open.
There are so many people and so many layers of gov'ts; if not stopping the abuses doesn't matter if there are USD 3 trillions in reserve, it can quite easily be gone.
Is this possible?
Another infrastructure work has started. This time it is from Shanghai to Hangzhou. The total distance is 158KM, give or take. A new highspeed train traveling at 350KM per hour to and from the two cities. And the two city local gov'ts want to make this as a regular subway schedule, departing every 3 minutes. Wow. Right now you it takes about 80 to 90 minutes to Hangzhou from Shanghai. By the end of this, will time will be shortened to 38 minutes with 9 stops in between. Fast .... The rail starts at the Shanghai Hongqiao airport subway hub (not yet completed) and ends at the Hangzhou station at the edge of the city.
This project is suppose to take 3 years to build. It has just broken ground. However, the Shanghainese gov't wants this to be completed before the 2010 World Expo. Can this be possible? And if this is built in less than a year for this 3-year project, how is the quality and safety on this rail?
It will be cool to be such short time travel to Hangzhou.
Point A is Shanghai, Point B is Hangzhou. That massive lake just north of Point B (太湖） was the center of news last Summer. The green algae polluted the entire lake and chocked off water supply to Wuxi in the high of Summer.
This project is suppose to take 3 years to build. It has just broken ground. However, the Shanghainese gov't wants this to be completed before the 2010 World Expo. Can this be possible? And if this is built in less than a year for this 3-year project, how is the quality and safety on this rail?
It will be cool to be such short time travel to Hangzhou.
Point A is Shanghai, Point B is Hangzhou. That massive lake just north of Point B (太湖） was the center of news last Summer. The green algae polluted the entire lake and chocked off water supply to Wuxi in the high of Summer.
2020 Shanghai subway
It's not going to just Shanghai subway by 2020. It's going to be a massive railroad system spanning at least 75 to 100KM outside of Shanghai. People by then can live in one province and work in Shanghai, to commute everyday. Take a look at this map. Sorry it is not clear as it is from the online newspaper; they scanned in using poor resolution and then stretched it out.
The number 11 line will stretch all the way to KuanShan, a city where it takes about an hour drive north of us.
The number 11 line will stretch all the way to KuanShan, a city where it takes about an hour drive north of us.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Salty coffee
And the Sh@ngh@! gov't said the salt tide only affected the outlining districts. Right.... I just wasted a perfectly brew strong coffee.
By accident this morning, the water left in the kettle was from the tap. Iron-wife filled it last night to boil some water for the water bottle, to warm up the bed. In my dream zone after waking up, I boiled the water in the kettle. Brewed the coffee. Yuck!!!!
Wonder how long before the water actually return to normal from all these pipes here. Rained last two days. But I don't think it will be enough.
By accident this morning, the water left in the kettle was from the tap. Iron-wife filled it last night to boil some water for the water bottle, to warm up the bed. In my dream zone after waking up, I boiled the water in the kettle. Brewed the coffee. Yuck!!!!
Wonder how long before the water actually return to normal from all these pipes here. Rained last two days. But I don't think it will be enough.
SWFC trip
SWFC aka Shanghai World Financial Centre is the highest building in Shanghai and one of the top ten highest in the world.
The entrance fee had cost about RMB150.00 or so per person. We started at the basement; security was like going thru airport check-point. Then we began our journey from the basement to 100th floor up! We were bombarded with a 2-minute pre-show. What a joke! We were tortured by this model of the building spinning and spinning with lights. Had no idea what that was. Welcome to the joint venture with the commie. They dictated the "program". Then we rode up to 97th floor. Looked around. It was a sunny day. But we couldn't see "that" far! Not because of the Earth's curvature but of the smog. The official website pictures, I believe they were all digitally enhanced. Behold... You are now looking at the real deal!
From the 100th floor observation deck
Overlooking the mouth of Suzhou Creek
View of Pudong area
Another view of Pudong area
Looking down at Jin Mao, another one of the tallest world buildings; also hosts the Grand Hyatt we stayed for our wedding anniversary celebration
The entrance fee had cost about RMB150.00 or so per person. We started at the basement; security was like going thru airport check-point. Then we began our journey from the basement to 100th floor up! We were bombarded with a 2-minute pre-show. What a joke! We were tortured by this model of the building spinning and spinning with lights. Had no idea what that was. Welcome to the joint venture with the commie. They dictated the "program". Then we rode up to 97th floor. Looked around. It was a sunny day. But we couldn't see "that" far! Not because of the Earth's curvature but of the smog. The official website pictures, I believe they were all digitally enhanced. Behold... You are now looking at the real deal!
From the 100th floor observation deck
Overlooking the mouth of Suzhou Creek
View of Pudong area
Another view of Pudong area
Looking down at Jin Mao, another one of the tallest world buildings; also hosts the Grand Hyatt we stayed for our wedding anniversary celebration
Friday, February 20, 2009
More SH news
Not that I am being negative, but things are not as rosy as everyone thought of Sh@ngh@I here.
- City of Yancheng in Jiangsu province's drinking water supply has been contaminated by Phenolic compound (酚类化合物). Residents are buying bottle waters. Today at 6am, strange odor was detected and by 7:20am, water supplied stopped. Yancheng is the second largest city in terms of population with 8.1Million residents. Ouch...
- A really good policy; it's about time! Shanghai city gov't has banned one of the major noise pollution (complains) in this city - Video advertising at bus stops, in buses and in taxis. Also, this ban extends to subway station as well. Guess, one good policy before World Expo next year! Violating advertising must be removed by Dec 31, 2009. This ban is temporary. Bummer.
- Job is hard to find. University graduates cannot find any jobs, in particular those who studied sociology and sustainable/ecology. Go figure. 15 of those graduates are now officially passed their trail period as street sweepers. They have signed contract with the local street cleaning company. Monthly pay is RMB1,850. Because of job scarcity, candidates must pass both written test and an interview.
- Not all sectors of business are hurting, according to some connected foreigners the Pharma area is booming.
- Did a check on www.ctrip.com on hotel pricing in Shanghai. Wow... Dropped by 2/3 from six months ago. Novotel Shanghai is now offering at 388RMB per night, for example. Most Inn type motels are not breaking RMB 200.00 barrier.
- Residential project developers have suspended their projects pending an economic recovery. Right. Still a long ways to go for the bubble.
- JiaoTong University MBA program has dropped its pricing. Its reason was to help the students going thru the economic down turn. Fudeng University and other foreign universities offering MBA programs currently have no plan of following the price drop. Actually it cannot as pricing and bookings were based on last year's calculation. One reason I suspect JiaoTong can do this is because it is more close to the City gov't and has lots of funding. It was the university that refused any outside expert partners to assist.
- City of Yancheng in Jiangsu province's drinking water supply has been contaminated by Phenolic compound (酚类化合物). Residents are buying bottle waters. Today at 6am, strange odor was detected and by 7:20am, water supplied stopped. Yancheng is the second largest city in terms of population with 8.1Million residents. Ouch...
- A really good policy; it's about time! Shanghai city gov't has banned one of the major noise pollution (complains) in this city - Video advertising at bus stops, in buses and in taxis. Also, this ban extends to subway station as well. Guess, one good policy before World Expo next year! Violating advertising must be removed by Dec 31, 2009. This ban is temporary. Bummer.
- Job is hard to find. University graduates cannot find any jobs, in particular those who studied sociology and sustainable/ecology. Go figure. 15 of those graduates are now officially passed their trail period as street sweepers. They have signed contract with the local street cleaning company. Monthly pay is RMB1,850. Because of job scarcity, candidates must pass both written test and an interview.
- Not all sectors of business are hurting, according to some connected foreigners the Pharma area is booming.
- Did a check on www.ctrip.com on hotel pricing in Shanghai. Wow... Dropped by 2/3 from six months ago. Novotel Shanghai is now offering at 388RMB per night, for example. Most Inn type motels are not breaking RMB 200.00 barrier.
- Residential project developers have suspended their projects pending an economic recovery. Right. Still a long ways to go for the bubble.
- JiaoTong University MBA program has dropped its pricing. Its reason was to help the students going thru the economic down turn. Fudeng University and other foreign universities offering MBA programs currently have no plan of following the price drop. Actually it cannot as pricing and bookings were based on last year's calculation. One reason I suspect JiaoTong can do this is because it is more close to the City gov't and has lots of funding. It was the university that refused any outside expert partners to assist.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Some Shanghai news
- Two luxury hotel chains have quietly stopped their hotel projects in Shanghai. One is Hilton and the other is Dubai's Jumeirah. Both new hotels are located in the HK developed XinTianDi. This area, last year's residential apartment was selling close to RMB110,000 per sq meter. I hate to know how much these two hotel chains have paid for the piece of land.
- Overall hotel occupancy rate in Shanghai is way down. Hitlon is about 50% as of yesterday. Others are slashing their room rates. During the Chinese New Year, one luxury hotel chain actually slashed its room rate from RMB3,000.00 to RMB9,00.00. No name was mentioned in the news article on that. Because of the economic downturn, smaller franchises are giving out free vouchers for rooms. The news article further has further pointed out that expect some hotel chains to fail by the end of this year. (Ummm... why do I still see people buying expensive vehicles? Like this morning, I saw someone test driving a Bentley coup; where are all those money coming from if there is a crisis?)
- And we have a water problem here. Three districts are affected: Baoshan, Putou and Pudong. In Pudong, one of the area is heavily populated with foreigners. A foreigner ghetto so to speak. Saline water intrusion (Salt Tide). When river water flow is not enough, the sea water flows back into the river where the source of drinking usually is located for big cities. Normally, this happens at drought affected areas, like the summer time in the Pearl Delta area - Macau, Hong Kong. This problem will last for 5 to 6 days or as much as a month.
- Just came back from a meeting with ReGen Asset Management company here. This company claimed a return of 41% last year for its clients. The minimum investment amount is RMB1.0 Million, based in RMB. This fund offers to Chinese Nationals only. The new one will open in soon and close in May. It only accepts 50 new investors. The fee structure for one year is 2% management fee. Front-end loaded. 1.5% fee to the trust and then a 20% Performance bonus to the management company. Investor can only withdraw money after one year. Sounds too good to be true? Stanford, Madoff?
- Overall hotel occupancy rate in Shanghai is way down. Hitlon is about 50% as of yesterday. Others are slashing their room rates. During the Chinese New Year, one luxury hotel chain actually slashed its room rate from RMB3,000.00 to RMB9,00.00. No name was mentioned in the news article on that. Because of the economic downturn, smaller franchises are giving out free vouchers for rooms. The news article further has further pointed out that expect some hotel chains to fail by the end of this year. (Ummm... why do I still see people buying expensive vehicles? Like this morning, I saw someone test driving a Bentley coup; where are all those money coming from if there is a crisis?)
- And we have a water problem here. Three districts are affected: Baoshan, Putou and Pudong. In Pudong, one of the area is heavily populated with foreigners. A foreigner ghetto so to speak. Saline water intrusion (Salt Tide). When river water flow is not enough, the sea water flows back into the river where the source of drinking usually is located for big cities. Normally, this happens at drought affected areas, like the summer time in the Pearl Delta area - Macau, Hong Kong. This problem will last for 5 to 6 days or as much as a month.
- Just came back from a meeting with ReGen Asset Management company here. This company claimed a return of 41% last year for its clients. The minimum investment amount is RMB1.0 Million, based in RMB. This fund offers to Chinese Nationals only. The new one will open in soon and close in May. It only accepts 50 new investors. The fee structure for one year is 2% management fee. Front-end loaded. 1.5% fee to the trust and then a 20% Performance bonus to the management company. Investor can only withdraw money after one year. Sounds too good to be true? Stanford, Madoff?
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Freaking stupid...
The only famous food street in Shanghai, in our district is going to be chopped away. It will be replaced by 2 tall commercial building and 3 hotels. Right. All will be developed by HKR International and Swire Properties. As if we have not have enough freaking empty commercial buildings here as well as hotels! Hilton, with this economic downturn, last week had about 20% occupancy rate! And Shangri-la is suppose to be built about 5 blocks away. Totally ridiculous. So with all those buildings, we will have no sun! And more car exhausted being trapped here. This is suppose to be the new business centre for Shanghai. Right... There are still two empty commercial buildings here. Not used. Been emptied for years. One is just recently showing sign of life but not sure what yet.
Pictures from the street.
Pictures from the street.
A nice meal
That was the way to spend my 40th b'day. A nice evening out with parents and wife at a very nice tropical location with a nice menu. We were all in Singapore's Botanic Garden. Enjoyed a nice evening walk, nice breeze and extra fresh air followed by a nice meal at Haila, the restaurant deep in the heart of the garden. The menu included appetizers like truffle ice cream with white asparagus and fried flower stuff with cottage cheese. The main course menu offered duck breast stuff with chestnut and sweet potatoes, rack of lamb, baked eggplant with tofu.
Sitting outdoor was really nice. It was muggy hot though. But a ceiling fan really helped. O yeah, a cup of strong coffee infused with ginger and cardamon to wear off the 3 glasses of red wine. Yes, I could not hold my liquid anymore. Tipsy.
Sitting outdoor was really nice. It was muggy hot though. But a ceiling fan really helped. O yeah, a cup of strong coffee infused with ginger and cardamon to wear off the 3 glasses of red wine. Yes, I could not hold my liquid anymore. Tipsy.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Fly, eat, walk, eat...
Singapore again from Sunday to Wednesday. This time, we flew in style from Shanghai. Took Singapore airline with 3 seats between the two of us! Haha... Nope Biz class; not worth it. Our Indian vegetarian meal came in a tray double the size the of the regular econo meal. And Yummy... beans and rice (O so spicy). Nan bread. Salad and fruit. O yeah, service excellent and red wine galore. Why not. And of course, personal entertainment system. Saw two movies. Max Payne and VigilentiKills. Max Payne, ok; if you want blood. The latter, was good. Had me going till the end of the movie. With the two main actors - De Niro and Pacino. Wow... Very hard to see good movies out nowadays.
Now, back to the food thing. I am the host for my parents; convinced them to come to Singapore as well. On Sunday, we arrived 5 hours before they did. And they almost never made it. Heavy fog in Macau, ferry couldn't leave terminal. Too early for that. Global warming.....
Parents are staying at this boutique hotel just at the edge of China Town and Singapore's business district. 50 M from their hotel is a food centre called Maxwell Food Centre. We spent a totally of SIG 16.00 for the three of us at lunch time. A SIG$3.50 Hainan Chicken Rice. SIG$2.0 Two jugs of fresh sugarcane water. SIG$4.0 noodle soup and then various cakes that mom and dad used to have when they were kids in Macau and Indonesia. O yeah, a SIG2.0 Oyster pancake!
The first night, yesterday, I took them to Rendezvous Hotel for curry. That used be a very famous curry place back in the early 20's. Now, the curry is so so. And darn expensive too. Last night had cost us SIG$75.00. We only had 4 dishes of curry include the special of the night - Fish head curry. Rather than simmering the fish head in the curry, it was just cooked and then curry put on top.
Combined from last night and today, I believe I have made my parents walked over 20K. In Singapore, if one wants to eat better exercise.
And one more thing, the b'fast at Scarlet was very cool. Buffet b'fast but not the traditional kind. You have buffet on bread, cereal and fruit. Then you order from the menu for the main set. And when the main set came out, it was arranged in the form of a small nice salad, a kid size stacked strawberry pancakes and then your main either a French Toast stacked with Avocados and smoke salmon or Egg Benedict. If need to pay for the buffet b'fast, it would have cost SIG$15.00. That was cheap.
Now, back to the food thing. I am the host for my parents; convinced them to come to Singapore as well. On Sunday, we arrived 5 hours before they did. And they almost never made it. Heavy fog in Macau, ferry couldn't leave terminal. Too early for that. Global warming.....
Parents are staying at this boutique hotel just at the edge of China Town and Singapore's business district. 50 M from their hotel is a food centre called Maxwell Food Centre. We spent a totally of SIG 16.00 for the three of us at lunch time. A SIG$3.50 Hainan Chicken Rice. SIG$2.0 Two jugs of fresh sugarcane water. SIG$4.0 noodle soup and then various cakes that mom and dad used to have when they were kids in Macau and Indonesia. O yeah, a SIG2.0 Oyster pancake!
The first night, yesterday, I took them to Rendezvous Hotel for curry. That used be a very famous curry place back in the early 20's. Now, the curry is so so. And darn expensive too. Last night had cost us SIG$75.00. We only had 4 dishes of curry include the special of the night - Fish head curry. Rather than simmering the fish head in the curry, it was just cooked and then curry put on top.
Combined from last night and today, I believe I have made my parents walked over 20K. In Singapore, if one wants to eat better exercise.
And one more thing, the b'fast at Scarlet was very cool. Buffet b'fast but not the traditional kind. You have buffet on bread, cereal and fruit. Then you order from the menu for the main set. And when the main set came out, it was arranged in the form of a small nice salad, a kid size stacked strawberry pancakes and then your main either a French Toast stacked with Avocados and smoke salmon or Egg Benedict. If need to pay for the buffet b'fast, it would have cost SIG$15.00. That was cheap.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Another 1/2 satisfied hotel
OK; sampled the Pudong Sheraton Hotel last night. I stayed overnight so that iron-wife would have a place to shower and b'fast; then afterward straight to her course teaching on the second floor. You see, she flew red-eye back from Singapore after a 2-day training course there.
I got upgraded when I checked in using my soon to expire Gold Starwood membership card (part of my AC SuperElite upgrade for last year). First impression, my room was nice and huge. And I got a view of the bridge with river. Closer look, windows! Someone never cleaned them. Ummm.... Then the room was hot, I finally figured out that someone had wired the switches incorrectly. Due to lack of strong caffeine, I never realized until this morning that, "3" is the slowest fan speed and "1" is the strongest. Ah, the Chinese thinking, have to be number 1 all the time! Then when I tried eating at the restaurant, "对不起，餐厅已经包起来“。 Translation: "Sorry, the entire restaurant is reserved. Wow... "and if you like, you can order food at the lounge or at the Chinese restaurant". Right.... Me eating Cantonese food in Shanghai? After walking outside to look for a place, I gave up. Golden arches.. Yeah, I am trying not to clog up my arteries here. And size 34 pants and shrinking... No thanks. I went back to the hotel room and ordered room service. And of course, a hamburger and fries. Haha.. What did I just said? Well.. it was a real grilled beef burger. Not fat at all. Right, but the nice thick Fries and Katcup. Yummy.... Ok, one glass of wine and a little of Scotch and I am tipsy. Yikes cannot hold my liquor anymore.
I tried using one of those shaving mirrors hanging on the wall. Pull the arm out and the entire mirror came out with it! Who did the construction? I knew I have been lifting weight but I am no incredible hulk! I looked closer and the screws weren't long enough; wrong electric box installed. and then someone tried to fudge it by putting couple piece of wood across the inside of the box to hang the entire mirror. Wow... Good thing the wiring was good. Or was it the Scotch or wine that made it good? ;-) I called and the engineer came, 20 minutes later. Then another engineer came with some screws. Haha... Two of them, 10 minutes of screwing around. Fixed. When they close the door, I could see the entire door frame moved! Or was that my head spinning? Nope. The frame moved!
The TV was one of those made in Chin@ ones, SVG. The remote to the TV must be talking to different Chinese dialects. Took me couple tries to go from off to on. Or was it the battery wearing down?
B'fast... Yes... Looked big, lots of food; but none appeared to me. And it had cost me RMB 200.00. My room came with a free one so iron-wife used it. All I had was watered down coffee, some British scramble imitation that was left under the heat lamp too long, 3 pieces of watermelon and some smoked salmon. That was it. RMB 200.00!!! Ridiculous.... But at least this hotel is only RMB 888.00 per night plus taxes. The total cost with everything was only 1/3 of what I paid for the anniversary night. Go figure.
Mind you, the staff was very friendly and helpful. Courteous. Efficient. Guess a give and take. Good think I didn't pay too much for it.
I got upgraded when I checked in using my soon to expire Gold Starwood membership card (part of my AC SuperElite upgrade for last year). First impression, my room was nice and huge. And I got a view of the bridge with river. Closer look, windows! Someone never cleaned them. Ummm.... Then the room was hot, I finally figured out that someone had wired the switches incorrectly. Due to lack of strong caffeine, I never realized until this morning that, "3" is the slowest fan speed and "1" is the strongest. Ah, the Chinese thinking, have to be number 1 all the time! Then when I tried eating at the restaurant, "对不起，餐厅已经包起来“。 Translation: "Sorry, the entire restaurant is reserved. Wow... "and if you like, you can order food at the lounge or at the Chinese restaurant". Right.... Me eating Cantonese food in Shanghai? After walking outside to look for a place, I gave up. Golden arches.. Yeah, I am trying not to clog up my arteries here. And size 34 pants and shrinking... No thanks. I went back to the hotel room and ordered room service. And of course, a hamburger and fries. Haha.. What did I just said? Well.. it was a real grilled beef burger. Not fat at all. Right, but the nice thick Fries and Katcup. Yummy.... Ok, one glass of wine and a little of Scotch and I am tipsy. Yikes cannot hold my liquor anymore.
I tried using one of those shaving mirrors hanging on the wall. Pull the arm out and the entire mirror came out with it! Who did the construction? I knew I have been lifting weight but I am no incredible hulk! I looked closer and the screws weren't long enough; wrong electric box installed. and then someone tried to fudge it by putting couple piece of wood across the inside of the box to hang the entire mirror. Wow... Good thing the wiring was good. Or was it the Scotch or wine that made it good? ;-) I called and the engineer came, 20 minutes later. Then another engineer came with some screws. Haha... Two of them, 10 minutes of screwing around. Fixed. When they close the door, I could see the entire door frame moved! Or was that my head spinning? Nope. The frame moved!
The TV was one of those made in Chin@ ones, SVG. The remote to the TV must be talking to different Chinese dialects. Took me couple tries to go from off to on. Or was it the battery wearing down?
B'fast... Yes... Looked big, lots of food; but none appeared to me. And it had cost me RMB 200.00. My room came with a free one so iron-wife used it. All I had was watered down coffee, some British scramble imitation that was left under the heat lamp too long, 3 pieces of watermelon and some smoked salmon. That was it. RMB 200.00!!! Ridiculous.... But at least this hotel is only RMB 888.00 per night plus taxes. The total cost with everything was only 1/3 of what I paid for the anniversary night. Go figure.
Mind you, the staff was very friendly and helpful. Courteous. Efficient. Guess a give and take. Good think I didn't pay too much for it.
Obviously
That the economic downturn still has not deter some companies to expense Biz class seats from Hong Kong to Shanghai. There were still tonnes of foreigners and Chinese sitting up front. I was back at the bus with the usual gang of Chinese. Bad breath. Babies crying. Protruding elbows in the face while eating. Getting over me before I got get off my cramped seat. Such was the travel in China. I guess those people up front still want the luxury. Hey, I can buy a biz class too; but only 1 hour and 55 minutes of flying time, how much important work do you think you will get done during that time? Plus you got served a 3-course meal!
Seriously, these group of people need to rethink. Not their money I guess.
One passenger really particular struck out to me. A greeter right at the gate with big sign: CIO Leadership Exchange, Locandro Joe. OK. A CIO Leadership conference. And this passenger just came off from the Biz class in his tailored suit, expensive polished leather shoes and a brief case probably worth the same as my economy class seat. Unless he uses a Macbook Air, I failed to observe anything remote a computer carry case. So, what kind of Leadership was that in this economic downturn. I was ready to walk up and ask if he is thinking of using Cloud computer or SaaS to compensate the expensive IT expenditure. I checked the guy out online, apparently he's the CIO for CLP at Hong Kong - Electricity. Ah.... It has no effect for economic downturn. I see.
Of course, I don't know the full story; but if there is a corporate governance and aware of economic downturn; better not have too much attention to yourself. In particular in Hong Kong with people losing jobs and no work! Only an hour and 55 minutes of flying time; how much work do you think you can do with your computer when someone is sitting next to you and a 3-course meal?
I listened to my IT security and Windows podcasts at the back of the bus.
Seriously, these group of people need to rethink. Not their money I guess.
One passenger really particular struck out to me. A greeter right at the gate with big sign: CIO Leadership Exchange, Locandro Joe. OK. A CIO Leadership conference. And this passenger just came off from the Biz class in his tailored suit, expensive polished leather shoes and a brief case probably worth the same as my economy class seat. Unless he uses a Macbook Air, I failed to observe anything remote a computer carry case. So, what kind of Leadership was that in this economic downturn. I was ready to walk up and ask if he is thinking of using Cloud computer or SaaS to compensate the expensive IT expenditure. I checked the guy out online, apparently he's the CIO for CLP at Hong Kong - Electricity. Ah.... It has no effect for economic downturn. I see.
Of course, I don't know the full story; but if there is a corporate governance and aware of economic downturn; better not have too much attention to yourself. In particular in Hong Kong with people losing jobs and no work! Only an hour and 55 minutes of flying time; how much work do you think you can do with your computer when someone is sitting next to you and a 3-course meal?
I listened to my IT security and Windows podcasts at the back of the bus.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Well said...
Followed the recent Forbe's billionaire ranking, it suggested that Stanley Ho has lost 90% of his asset value. A reporter asked how he felt after a speech yesterday. With his advanced age, he doesn't look that, responded very humorously. He said: "That's good. Now when people ask me for donation, I have no money. When people try to rob me, I have no money and when gang tries to kidnap a wealthy businessman, I am not the target.". And then he followed up by offering some interesting information to Forbe. "Asset evaluation of me, only I know how much I have; Forbe doesn't. The Casino company that went public last year, I only purchased a little bit. If I lost the values of my share holding, I still won't lose sleep over.". And then he followed by saying "My Casino is like a printing press. Keeps on printing money." Ummm......
This guy's tongue is sharp. He offered a very "sarcastic" comment in the recent privatization of PCCW in Hong Kong. The major shareholder is Li's son. Ho said "He (Li's son) is a sharp kid. I admire him". Yesterday. The Hong Kong gov't stepped in to investigate a major shareholder's vote; lots of insurance brokers were lamenting they did not know they were duped by the proxy; and now the Chinese gov't wants to know what's going on.
This guy's tongue is sharp. He offered a very "sarcastic" comment in the recent privatization of PCCW in Hong Kong. The major shareholder is Li's son. Ho said "He (Li's son) is a sharp kid. I admire him". Yesterday. The Hong Kong gov't stepped in to investigate a major shareholder's vote; lots of insurance brokers were lamenting they did not know they were duped by the proxy; and now the Chinese gov't wants to know what's going on.
Interesting.....
When booking my Dragon Airline (aka Cathay's other airline) ticket for Hong Kong couple days ago, CIBC blocked it even though I entered the correct pin and all from its Visa card online verification. It was the online transaction company that Dragon Airline used, BilltoBill. CIBC Visa Centre tried contacting me right away apparently.
Then I used my Scotia card, gone thru no problem. But then just got a call from Scotia's Visa Centre on my iPhone (yeah, have to rub it in) saying there was a suspicious transaction, same company. But I didn't get block while booking. Just now. Ummm.... I already flew down to Hong Kong; and ready to fly back this morning to Shanghai.
So which one is more secure?
Then I used my Scotia card, gone thru no problem. But then just got a call from Scotia's Visa Centre on my iPhone (yeah, have to rub it in) saying there was a suspicious transaction, same company. But I didn't get block while booking. Just now. Ummm.... I already flew down to Hong Kong; and ready to fly back this morning to Shanghai.
So which one is more secure?
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Wow...
Dream on with recent Shanghai real estate market is stabilized. We just got another SMS message, a new 191 sq meter apartment in a very posh area is selling with a RMB 500,000 discount. Almost Top floor.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Let see who's right?
After the Forbe magazine's reviewed yesterday of the HK billionaire ranking, Stanley H who lost 90% of his holding value predicts that HKSI will be at 25,000 level by this October. Right. And another billionaire thinks HK will recover faster; only the export side will be very weak. Right. The HK office for the China Trade group said export oversea will not recover for HK soon; so exporters should "focus" on export to the mainland. Right. Sounded like the Canadian export relies on US market. I think that would be a suicide.
The Chinese policy is "保八“ (bao ba). This means to maintain a GDP of 8% this year. Whether it is achievable, we shall see.
Another one bit the dust. More corruptions and arrests are happening. The latest is the China Insurance corp for export. The amount involved in one instant was total US$200Million. He was helping a Shanghai-based technology firm to pay off bank loans. This technological firm CEO has been arrested. How many more? Expect to have lots of this type of arrests happening as the economy cooling down, have to keep the citizens cool from rebelling.
Another effect of economic downturn. After Chinese New Year, there are lots of white collar workers in this city changing apartments. Why? Company subsidy on rent has dropped by 30%. So everyone is switching out the bigger houses with a smaller and cheaper one. Wow. I did not know that companies here have been giving rental subsidy. Income for those companies must be good before. Or they really don't make anything.
A new sale promotion for new residential development. The 15th day of the new lunar year is another festival here. So... A developer is excluding maintenance fees, cables, etc valued at RMB10,000 if purchase a new apartment; but the size of the apartment is about 90 sq meters. Also, the new owner can have a chance to have further discount between RMB 5,000 to RMB 8,888 with an instant draw. Man...
China Eastern. A flight landed late in Haikou, Hainan Island slept on the plane overnight. Reason: The crew decided to sleep on the plane after the airline could not book discounted hotel room for them. It was Haikou's tourist season; the cheapest room was about RMB2,400 per night. With 8 people, almost RMB 20,000 just for one night. To save cost, the crew decided to sleep on the plane instead.
After the Party Secretary for Shanghai made a speech about "real estate price cannot be high, cannot go up anymore", the central gov't along with all other first line cities are not providing anymore subsidies to keep the speculation going. They are planning to make the pricing more "reasonable" for consumers. The policy is to make sure people have a house to own and a roof to live under. A contrast from several years ago.
A Shanghainese reporter has caught one of the big bath houses in the city using industrial treated water as bath water for customers. Yikes! That was totally against the Heath and Safety standard. Right.... As the economy goes south, less spending from customers, I am sure bathhouse owners are looking for a way to cut cost. Expect more of 'cutting corners' around. Hopefully, not. Otherwise, more incidents like the milk powder will come to fruition this year.
More dead birds are found along the shoreline in remote areas of Hong Kong. Some do carry the bird flu virus. People living around those areas and experts believe that the mainland farmers are throwing dead birds into the sea to rid of the "evidence". With the sea current, the Hong Kong has become the first "port of call". First it was the pollution from the factories across the border, now dead birds... What's next? Anything good?
The Chinese policy is "保八“ (bao ba). This means to maintain a GDP of 8% this year. Whether it is achievable, we shall see.
Another one bit the dust. More corruptions and arrests are happening. The latest is the China Insurance corp for export. The amount involved in one instant was total US$200Million. He was helping a Shanghai-based technology firm to pay off bank loans. This technological firm CEO has been arrested. How many more? Expect to have lots of this type of arrests happening as the economy cooling down, have to keep the citizens cool from rebelling.
Another effect of economic downturn. After Chinese New Year, there are lots of white collar workers in this city changing apartments. Why? Company subsidy on rent has dropped by 30%. So everyone is switching out the bigger houses with a smaller and cheaper one. Wow. I did not know that companies here have been giving rental subsidy. Income for those companies must be good before. Or they really don't make anything.
A new sale promotion for new residential development. The 15th day of the new lunar year is another festival here. So... A developer is excluding maintenance fees, cables, etc valued at RMB10,000 if purchase a new apartment; but the size of the apartment is about 90 sq meters. Also, the new owner can have a chance to have further discount between RMB 5,000 to RMB 8,888 with an instant draw. Man...
China Eastern. A flight landed late in Haikou, Hainan Island slept on the plane overnight. Reason: The crew decided to sleep on the plane after the airline could not book discounted hotel room for them. It was Haikou's tourist season; the cheapest room was about RMB2,400 per night. With 8 people, almost RMB 20,000 just for one night. To save cost, the crew decided to sleep on the plane instead.
After the Party Secretary for Shanghai made a speech about "real estate price cannot be high, cannot go up anymore", the central gov't along with all other first line cities are not providing anymore subsidies to keep the speculation going. They are planning to make the pricing more "reasonable" for consumers. The policy is to make sure people have a house to own and a roof to live under. A contrast from several years ago.
A Shanghainese reporter has caught one of the big bath houses in the city using industrial treated water as bath water for customers. Yikes! That was totally against the Heath and Safety standard. Right.... As the economy goes south, less spending from customers, I am sure bathhouse owners are looking for a way to cut cost. Expect more of 'cutting corners' around. Hopefully, not. Otherwise, more incidents like the milk powder will come to fruition this year.
More dead birds are found along the shoreline in remote areas of Hong Kong. Some do carry the bird flu virus. People living around those areas and experts believe that the mainland farmers are throwing dead birds into the sea to rid of the "evidence". With the sea current, the Hong Kong has become the first "port of call". First it was the pollution from the factories across the border, now dead birds... What's next? Anything good?
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Some economic news here
1) Intel will close its Shanghai's factory in the next 12 months and consolidate with its factory located in Chengdu. A lost of about 2,000 jobs here in Shanghai is expected. Ummmm... Wonder why it moves a factory to a more earthquake sensitive area like Chengdu and have to deal with logistical problem with shipping from in the middle of nowhere. Air flight or train are the only ways. OK trucks. But Shanghai has a shipping port. Wonder what was the business logic behind that. Tax incentive or discount from Chengdu offered more?
2) Gome, the every electronic store in China, Macau and Hong Kong will be closing about 100 stores in mainland China. The owner, his wife and the CFO have been in jail since early December due to "problematic" dealing with a related public company, pocketing millions with share manipulation.... This owner or founder of Gome is suppose to be the richest man in China. His arrest was supposed to be approved by the highest commie order.
3) Banks here are giving 70% off on current mortgage payment. Yes, 70% off as of Feb 1. Bad publicity with Industrial Bank here. It kept giving excuses not to do so. Finally it announced it will begin as of Feb 10 but only offer this discount to existing customers who have good credit rating history and good track record with the bank. Hey, buddie if people are not having problem there would not have been this type of discount from the Central Gov't.
4) PCCW the communication company in Hong Kong that everyone thought as a blue chip has turned private amid controversy. The richest just keeps on getting richer and the small shareholders are left with NOTHING. The biggest shareholder is Li's son. At the height, the share was about HK 140; now is around HK 4-5. People bought into the shares to collect dividends. Over the last 8 years since Li's son bought a huge stake, the company's share has been dropping faster than Citi Group. There were retirees done in overnight because of the drop. Now, the Hong Kong Stock Commission is investigating. Its investigators were at today's voting process. Carted away all the ballots. Right.. How much "li" 力 "power" do you think these investigators will be able to do? Not much if the trend is continuing. These major shareholders apparently could be walking away with about HK 20billions and control of a private company.
5) Who said there is a downturn? Yesterday, a wealthy Hong Kong person (anonymous) purchase an apartment on the peak for HK 180 millions. The seller lost money as it was bought at about HK 220 millions about a year and a half ago. Apparently very exclusive high end apartments still have demand.
6) China cities are hurting... Following Hangzhou's tourism incentive program, RMB 40million travel vouchers announced in January this year, Nanjing is doing the same. The total value is RMB 20million. Eligibility is for Nanjing city proper resident with its hukou （户口）。Of the 800,000 or so resident, 200,000 of them will win by means of a draw. Good luck. Of course, there is a catch: you need to spend in order to use the vouchers.
7) Hong Kong Disney has been struggling. It's partly owned by Hong Kong gov't and partly owned by the Disney mothership in the States. Due to fallen revenues and poor visit numbers, in order to compensate, the Hong Kong Disney has announced a 19% hike in entrance fee. Huh? What? Just because this Disney is located at the worst possible place. I guess the "location, location, location" never sunk in to these guys. The Disney park was so far away. I get tired just by thinking of the walking underground to take MRT out there. Taxi? Forget that, that will be couple hundred Hong Kong dollars... Really wondering what were these guys were thinking when choosing a spot.
8) Winter drought in northern China is getting worst. Since last October, no rain.... All winter harvest... there is none. About 3.7million people will have water shortage problem. Sustainability is getting low ...
9) Gym membership cost across this city has been dropping by about 30% to start. Many big names are slicing off their annual membership fees. YaoMing's slashing from RMB 9,000.00 to 6,000.00; Hong Kong based Physical cut to about RMB 2,200 annually. There was on that were down to RMB 900 or so. But of course, there is a catch; extra fees for lockers, towel service and classes... Pretty soon will have an equipment maintenance fee too! The drop is to entice new members as companies use to pay for the fees as benefits are cutting back. Big hotel gym membership, not sure yet. Maybe...
That's about it for now....
2) Gome, the every electronic store in China, Macau and Hong Kong will be closing about 100 stores in mainland China. The owner, his wife and the CFO have been in jail since early December due to "problematic" dealing with a related public company, pocketing millions with share manipulation.... This owner or founder of Gome is suppose to be the richest man in China. His arrest was supposed to be approved by the highest commie order.
3) Banks here are giving 70% off on current mortgage payment. Yes, 70% off as of Feb 1. Bad publicity with Industrial Bank here. It kept giving excuses not to do so. Finally it announced it will begin as of Feb 10 but only offer this discount to existing customers who have good credit rating history and good track record with the bank. Hey, buddie if people are not having problem there would not have been this type of discount from the Central Gov't.
4) PCCW the communication company in Hong Kong that everyone thought as a blue chip has turned private amid controversy. The richest just keeps on getting richer and the small shareholders are left with NOTHING. The biggest shareholder is Li's son. At the height, the share was about HK 140; now is around HK 4-5. People bought into the shares to collect dividends. Over the last 8 years since Li's son bought a huge stake, the company's share has been dropping faster than Citi Group. There were retirees done in overnight because of the drop. Now, the Hong Kong Stock Commission is investigating. Its investigators were at today's voting process. Carted away all the ballots. Right.. How much "li" 力 "power" do you think these investigators will be able to do? Not much if the trend is continuing. These major shareholders apparently could be walking away with about HK 20billions and control of a private company.
5) Who said there is a downturn? Yesterday, a wealthy Hong Kong person (anonymous) purchase an apartment on the peak for HK 180 millions. The seller lost money as it was bought at about HK 220 millions about a year and a half ago. Apparently very exclusive high end apartments still have demand.
6) China cities are hurting... Following Hangzhou's tourism incentive program, RMB 40million travel vouchers announced in January this year, Nanjing is doing the same. The total value is RMB 20million. Eligibility is for Nanjing city proper resident with its hukou （户口）。Of the 800,000 or so resident, 200,000 of them will win by means of a draw. Good luck. Of course, there is a catch: you need to spend in order to use the vouchers.
7) Hong Kong Disney has been struggling. It's partly owned by Hong Kong gov't and partly owned by the Disney mothership in the States. Due to fallen revenues and poor visit numbers, in order to compensate, the Hong Kong Disney has announced a 19% hike in entrance fee. Huh? What? Just because this Disney is located at the worst possible place. I guess the "location, location, location" never sunk in to these guys. The Disney park was so far away. I get tired just by thinking of the walking underground to take MRT out there. Taxi? Forget that, that will be couple hundred Hong Kong dollars... Really wondering what were these guys were thinking when choosing a spot.
8) Winter drought in northern China is getting worst. Since last October, no rain.... All winter harvest... there is none. About 3.7million people will have water shortage problem. Sustainability is getting low ...
9) Gym membership cost across this city has been dropping by about 30% to start. Many big names are slicing off their annual membership fees. YaoMing's slashing from RMB 9,000.00 to 6,000.00; Hong Kong based Physical cut to about RMB 2,200 annually. There was on that were down to RMB 900 or so. But of course, there is a catch; extra fees for lockers, towel service and classes... Pretty soon will have an equipment maintenance fee too! The drop is to entice new members as companies use to pay for the fees as benefits are cutting back. Big hotel gym membership, not sure yet. Maybe...
That's about it for now....
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Recession finally hits Shanghai?
Wow.... 7pm and Nanjing Road was quiet. And all the restaurants were more than 1/2 empty. I hoped it was just because people are still on Chinese New Year holiday. But if that were the case, maybe companies hold told the employees to take an extra week off. Jury is still out on this speculation until next week. But one thing though, the supermarket was packed with shoppers to pay. Maybe cutting back....
Speaking of the economic downturn, where the heck did some mainlanders still carrying loads of cash to Macau? One guy got RMB140,000.00 stolen last week out of his jacket pocket (while hanging it behind his chair). Dumb? And then another guy almost lost HK500,000.00, a HK7,000.00 cellphone and RMB7,000.00 from his men's purse in a shop. Someone tried to steal it. So, where the heck did these guys get so much money? And there is still a currency limitation outgoing from China!
Speaking of the economic downturn, where the heck did some mainlanders still carrying loads of cash to Macau? One guy got RMB140,000.00 stolen last week out of his jacket pocket (while hanging it behind his chair). Dumb? And then another guy almost lost HK500,000.00, a HK7,000.00 cellphone and RMB7,000.00 from his men's purse in a shop. Someone tried to steal it. So, where the heck did these guys get so much money? And there is still a currency limitation outgoing from China!
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Night at the Grand Hyatt Shanghai
This hotel locates at the 54th floor of Jin Mao tower in Shanghai and extends to 85 floor. From the 85th floor, take another lift and you get to Cloud 9. It's a bar supposedly with a view. But don't go there during Feb-Apr. Socked in by fog...
Our room's river view was blank. Haha... Fog. Couldn't see out for more than 5 meters. Expensive blank white view from 72nd floor windows. Room itself was big and nice. Very well layout. The towels and bathrobes, wow... very soft; even better than the ones supplied by the Four Seasons Hong Kong. Whoever designed the bathroom layout must have a fetish. Too many mirrors on the wall at different angles and all... Ummm... Not very sound proof... Could hear people walking outside and TV programming next door. The hotel was not full last night; so not sure why putting people so close to each other. Then the door. Agh yes, there was a gap from top to bottom. There goes the sound-proofing.
Restaurant food. The Italian restaurant. OK. Two starters, one salad, two main courses, two deserts, one cup of coffee, two glasses of drink (buy one get one free), came to RMB 1,500.00. Yikes! And there was no view. After the meal I was just comfortable. Maybe 85% to 90% full. That was after my desert; otherwise, I could order another main course.
Total cost: CAD750.00 for a night. Worth it? Nope. Just marvel the engineering into building the Jin Mao tower. That's about it.
Our room's river view was blank. Haha... Fog. Couldn't see out for more than 5 meters. Expensive blank white view from 72nd floor windows. Room itself was big and nice. Very well layout. The towels and bathrobes, wow... very soft; even better than the ones supplied by the Four Seasons Hong Kong. Whoever designed the bathroom layout must have a fetish. Too many mirrors on the wall at different angles and all... Ummm... Not very sound proof... Could hear people walking outside and TV programming next door. The hotel was not full last night; so not sure why putting people so close to each other. Then the door. Agh yes, there was a gap from top to bottom. There goes the sound-proofing.
Restaurant food. The Italian restaurant. OK. Two starters, one salad, two main courses, two deserts, one cup of coffee, two glasses of drink (buy one get one free), came to RMB 1,500.00. Yikes! And there was no view. After the meal I was just comfortable. Maybe 85% to 90% full. That was after my desert; otherwise, I could order another main course.
Total cost: CAD750.00 for a night. Worth it? Nope. Just marvel the engineering into building the Jin Mao tower. That's about it.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Remote Support
Guess I am always the centre of tech support. Ring... Ring... "Tech Support, Shanghai office, how may I ..." Before I could finished, the caller said rapidly and panicky "Did you get my SMS? My mobile phone said low battery. The screen is black.". Ugh.... "Charge it up and call me in a few hours.". Caller hang up. An hour later, Ring... Ring... Now before I could say anything "The phone is still black. I cannot receive calls! Here, talk to my husband.". "Dad, turn the phone on. There is a little red button on the side of the phone. O, please make sure you charge the phone overnight. One or two hours will not give the phone a full charge.". "Ok, Ok, the red button. I will try". 1 minute later. I received 3 SMS from my parents. All are well. Funny, nowadays even my parents could not live without cellphones and SMS to communicate. Haha...
And now, excuse me. I have to fix the f*%)_*Ynking annoying Vista that just crashed my Sony laptop. It crashed my Internet function and kept asking me to backup encrypted files (which I don't have)! And it automatically shut off my WIFI antenna too! How thoughtful! Latest review of Windows 7 is really really good. So skip Vista and go straight to Windows 7. And this new operating can even be installed on your old computer!
And now, excuse me. I have to fix the f*%)_*Ynking annoying Vista that just crashed my Sony laptop. It crashed my Internet function and kept asking me to backup encrypted files (which I don't have)! And it automatically shut off my WIFI antenna too! How thoughtful! Latest review of Windows 7 is really really good. So skip Vista and go straight to Windows 7. And this new operating can even be installed on your old computer!
Wow... 1 year already
Heading to the Grand Hyatt for the night. It is located on the top floors of Jin Mao tower. So I should have a really good view back to where our apartment is, across the HuangPu River.
This Jin Mao is a neat building; I consider the architecture on the outside is one of the nicest I have seen; the bigger and taller sister building just next door, I do not care much about. No character.
Will report more once I have some pictures. Maybe.
This Jin Mao is a neat building; I consider the architecture on the outside is one of the nicest I have seen; the bigger and taller sister building just next door, I do not care much about. No character.
Will report more once I have some pictures. Maybe.
First CNY after the big quake
This blog has the pictures from one of the hardest hit town in Sichuan during that big earth quake last June. Survivors were back on Chinese New Year's Eve to offer prayers and Chinese rituals to the victims - children, fathers, mothers, relatives, etc.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
After CNY
The Year of the Ox is here; but the markets in Asia are not having a bull run. Actually, they are contracting. And contracting they will continue. Just read thru some local economic news from within China: Shanghai and Beijing real estate market will continue to slump. Many are holding cash on the side line waiting for the housing prices to fall further. Along the coast, expect more Hong Kong established factories to close. Last estimate will be at about 10,000 factories affecting about 1 million migrant and local workers. Yikes.
Another note: A very interesting point raised by the Chinese Premier Wen Jia Bao in England. The incentive programs in China is geared for tax cuts and stimulating purchasing. The Chinese gov't has not been taking huge amount of money to compensate the big bank losses like the Western countries are, in particular the US. That is true to a point. The Commie head had taken a lot of money to assume losses in Citi (Hong Kong) on the Australian $ accumulator bet. Then there was the China Eastern oil hedging that lost 67 billion RMB. Still, majority of the money amount is tax cut vs the "printing" of money to fill the big holes in the bank losses. At this rate, I don't see the Asian big brother will be in any hurry to purchase any more of the Western big brother treasuries or bonds. Hands burned once, will be more prudent.
Another note: A very interesting point raised by the Chinese Premier Wen Jia Bao in England. The incentive programs in China is geared for tax cuts and stimulating purchasing. The Chinese gov't has not been taking huge amount of money to compensate the big bank losses like the Western countries are, in particular the US. That is true to a point. The Commie head had taken a lot of money to assume losses in Citi (Hong Kong) on the Australian $ accumulator bet. Then there was the China Eastern oil hedging that lost 67 billion RMB. Still, majority of the money amount is tax cut vs the "printing" of money to fill the big holes in the bank losses. At this rate, I don't see the Asian big brother will be in any hurry to purchase any more of the Western big brother treasuries or bonds. Hands burned once, will be more prudent.
Macau video
Macau video from Wall Street Journal Online. I was just there. It was filmed on the day I left for Shanghai.
See video here.
See video here.
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