Sham Shui Po--The First Day Of CNY 2021

First day of the Chinese New Year is very different if compared to the first day of the calendar year, as celebrated in the Philippines.

In here, the shops are closed on the 1st day of CNY. The market, the bakery, even the malls are closed! Add in that, the pandemic and you won't have a reason to go out. A shame really, cause it's a holiday.

Good thing, we're at Sham Shui Po. This district is akin to Binondo in Manila. The place is residential and inhabited with the less wealthy. The street is lined by stalls and market stores on the regularly day, but they're closed today.

Instead, traders are lining the streets; with their wares on a mat at the floor.

Second hand items, old items and antiques are for sale. Goods and goods everywhere.

There are shoes

Vases and displays

Second hand cameras

Jewelries

And antiques at each corner and street.

It's a wonder feast for your eyes. I wish I can buy some vase, but I have nowhere to put them. Plus, the house we left at the Philippines is already full of vases and knick knacks galore.

Want to stroll at Sham Shui Po? Take the Tsuen Wan line and alight at Sham Shui Po station. Visit Apliu street by exiting thru exit C.

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Happy Chinese New Year, Year Of Metal Ox

Chinese New Year 2021 or the Spring Festival falls on February 12, with this year as the year of the Metal Ox.

This is the first time that we would be in Hong Kong for the Chinese New Year. It's supposed to be the biggest festival in all of China, but with the pandemic, everything is muted.

Festivities and public celebrations are cancelled in favor of social distancing. No Chinese parade (Dragon dance) at Tsim Sha Tsui, or fireworks at Victoria Harbour. For a full list the cancelled festivities, check this site.

I'm not big on traditions but I can very much say that I wish I can see what their New Year's eve look like.

What thing I did notice, while living at Sham Shui Po market is the change in the items being sold in each stall. Suddenly, the stall selling vegetables is now half-filled with various types of plants associated with money or good fortune, like a money plant; and tons and tons of beautiful flowers! The potted orchids displayed are exquisite, but expensive!

Following are some of the traditions observed by the Chinese during Spring Festival.

1. The house is decorated by beautiful flowers! This is spring, so bloom is the order. I'm more of a plantita, so I bought potted plants that would bloom even indoor.

2. Mandarins, Oranges and Clementines are the auspicious fruits! This is because the color orange is close to gold. Gold represents wealth and good fortune.

A funny story: Hubby bought these giant Mandarins not knowing the meaning behind. He found them amusing because of their size. I mean, as a Pinoy, we're only used to the size of a Kiat-kiat. These Mandarins are the size of coconuts.

According to hubby's colleague, we're not to eat them before Chinese New Year. They're supposed to decorate the table together with the flowers.

3. Red Packets (Hung4 Baau1) or what we call ampao in the Philippines, is the lucky red envelope containing crisp notes. This one I'm very familiar with. Hubby regularly brings them back to the Philippines when he vacations.

You give them to family, friends and officemates as a good luck. You're not supposed to take out the notes immediately but keep them. Huh?! Tell that to Pinoys!

Aside from the above, I've also learned things that you're supposed to avoid during Chinese New Year, to ensure that your good fortune would last the entire year.

1. Apparently, you're not allowed to clean the house for the first 5 days of the New Year, hence, the intense cleaning of the entire house a day before! Uhh, I don't think I can adhere to this one!

2. No cutting of hair for the first month of the year. So, make your hair appointments before, not after. If you do, bad luck would hound your uncle at the maternal side. Now, as to how that is, I have no explanation.

3. Eat a longevity noodle without cutting the noodle! Yup, that's right. You're supposed to slurp that noodle end-to-end without cutting it. The name of the noodle is self-explanatory.

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Tea Madam?

I'm a coffee girl; and a cola girl. I don't go buying milk tea back in the Philippines, even if it's the craze back then. Not because I don't like the taste, although I find it too sweet and honestly? Expensive!

People here love tea! Whether it's a herbal tea, milk tea or iced lemon tea. Each meal is commonly paired with tea.

After coming here, we kinda fell into this habit of having hot tea before going to bed.  It started when hubby had constant stomachache. He's acidic, so coffee is out. And noone wants to take bland hot water.

With some experiment, we came up with a recipe.  Ginger tea with honey, topped with a Lipton tea bag. The ginger soothes the stomach by reducing gas, honey for sweetness, and the tea bag, for flavor.

Now, everytime we relax in front of the TV--after dinner and excercise--we have tea. Sometimes, paired with a cake or a daifuku.

Try it sometime. I normally have a 1L flask where I put sliced ginger and hot water to let the ginger steep. So everytime we want tea, a brew is available.

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Lego Place at Langham Mall, Kowloon HK

Are you or your kid a Lego fan? Coming to Hong Kong? Why not visit the Lego Center at Langham Place Shopping Mall at Kowloon, Hong Kong.

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The store is at the 12th floor of the mall and offers the latest Lego figures and sets.  They even have hard to find mini figures and key chains.

Below is a Lego Mini City of Kowloon area. The black building is Langham Place Shopping Mall.

To get to Langham Place, just go to the Kowloon station of Tseun Wan (Red) line and take Exit E1.  Follow the signs leading to Langham mall as it is connected to the train station.  Take the escalators going up to the ground floor of the mall, then to the 12th floor.  Do not worry, the mall boasts long escalators that goes all the way up 4 levels at a time.

After shopping, you can even treat yourself to a Jollibee Chickenjoy.  Jollibee Kowloon is just across the Langham mall.  Go back to the ground floor and look for the Adidas store.  Cut across the store and exit the mall.  Jollibee should be at your right.

An alternate route is to take exit C4 from the Kowloon station.  You'll come up right next to the Jollibee store with Langham Mall right in front of you.

Enjoy shopping!

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Opening A Bank Account in Hong Kong - HSBC One

Saving is always a good exercise, and with that a bank account. There are plenty of big banks here in Hong Kong. HSBC, Standard Charter, Citibank and Bank of China are some of the biggest bank here.

I opted to open an account with HSBC to have access to their 12-in-1 currency and investment account, called HSBC One. Imagine, only one account, but you can deposit at different currency like USD, CNY, JPY, etc. That would also mean, you can withdraw funds at those notes when traveling in other countries.

Here's a run down on the requirements so you can also open your account.

Documents

HK Identification Card (HKID)

Passport

Proof of Billing - as recent as last 6 months

Fund

There's no minimum to open an account. You can open for as low as 10HKD.

Age

Adults, those above 18, can open a 12-in-1 account. This comes with an ATM. You may also add a check, if you wish.

Minors, those below 18, can open a kiddie account but should be accompanied by their parent or guardian. The account doesn't have access to other currency, only HK dollar. Also, no investment instrument.

Best to open a kiddie account together with your main account, if you're planning to get them started in financial literacy early on. Remember, no minimum amount!

Interest Rate

Interest rate for a deposit account is really small at 0.001% APR. Your money would earn interest when it reaches a daily maintaining balance of 5,000HKD.

Anyways, the interest here is not your goal in openning a bank account, unlike in the Philippines. Here, people open bank accounts to build up a good credit standing with the bank and for convenience. Banks won't offer you credit and loan instruments if you don't have a bank account. Also, government subsidies are routed via banks.

Miscellaneous

One thing to bear in mind, opening an account takes a bit of time, about 1.5hrs to 2hrs for 3 persons! But, you'll get your ATM the same day and get to set-up your online account as well. So, do give time for it. Do not go to the bank with just less than an hour to spare. They would probably ask you to return the next banking day instead.

Take time to find the branch where you can open an account. Branches in Hong Kong are not all the same. A tragedy I found out that led me to 2 failed attempts of opening an account!

 

The are business branches, premier branches, overnight banking branch and a regular deposit account.

Business branch is self explanatory. Premier branches are for those with 1,000,000 HKD to open their account. Overnight banking are mostly for inquiries and check deposits. Look for a regular deposit account, approach their customer assistant and start your account opening.

Good luck!

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Welcome To HK -- Welcome Me!

Kowloon Peak Jumpshot

I guess by now, I can be considered a prolific blogger.  I find something interesting, I get lost in it and I create a blog.  Mainly to document my thoughts and share my experiences. A live journal of some sorts or maybe I just like to talk in my head.  But I'm also the type of person who gets so lost into something new that I tend to shelve the old things.  Here's to a prayer that the same won't come true for this blog.

Anyways, that aside, welcome to my latest blog!  I'll try my hardest to continue this and post regularly.

This blog is my way of documenting my daily (mundane) life in Hong Kong.

We've transferred here -- as in, me and the kids--last June 24, 2020 to escape the lock down and craziness that became our life in the Philippines because of the pandemic.  It was a Go-No Go decision. A spur of the moment thing when we've realized that it might take years, not months, for the travel restrictions to ease.  I can't bear having a torn family that can't even meet at least every 3 or 4 months.  Plus, I no longer have a job and the kids are home schooling, so yes! To Hong Kong we went.

Fast forward to February of 2021.

We're now on our 8th month here and I still have no work--not for a lack of trying.  Whether that's good or bad would depend on different factors.  The kids are back to Zoom classes and we've just dodged two full lock downs in our area.

Cheers to my first blog entry on a new chapter in our life! See you on the next post!

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