Bar Snacks

This is what the Uni bar at school serves for bar snacks.

PS: a glass of wine at the Uni bar is $38HK, which is bargain-basement, so I will start happy-houring there, with my fish head.

Fashion Ethics Dilemma

(And I don't just mean whether you can wear white after Labor Day - you can, obviously.)

Today I went to Shenzen. This was my FIRST TIME IN CHINA!!! Although really, Shenzen is just like being in another Hong Kong mall except instead of toilets you get holes. Jodee and I actually held it for 7.5 hours while we shopped until we got back to the Hong Kong side of the border.

Shenzen was the first of China's Special Economic Zone (SEZ), stemming from Deng Xiaoping's reforms/"capitalism with Chinese characteristics." Since it's selection in 1980 to be an SEZ, it has been the fastest growing city in China, meaning there are EVEN MORE shopping centers than I've gotten used to in Hong Kong.

Jodee and I only made it through one mall, the one closest to the border we arrived at. It reminded me a lot of Itaewon in Seoul, except a bit dirtier. There were stalls and stalls of vendors and hallways and hallways of stalls throughout this mall building, selling everything from pirated DVDs, "copy" designer bags, cheap clothes, designer clothes, fabric, tailoring services, spa services, etc. I ended up leaving with a USB drive (32GB for $15US), a few sweaters and dresses ($7-15US), a DVF wrap dress ($60US), an amazing chiffon blouse for work/play ($30US) and 2 Burberry outfits for Dena & Irulan's baby girls (total $30US).

Which leads me to my dilemma - fake it or don't fake it? I have no problem faking it with Burberry infant wear, because I think it's ridiculous to even produce that seriously, but what about the bags...? They had really nice ones... MJ, my fave... and LV, which I just haven't been able to justify paying the price for since the shapes are so... middling.

On the one hand (let's call it the "right" hand) I don't think it's ok to make fakes, and on the other hand I want more bags than I can afford, particularly right now. But why is it that I don't think it's ok to make fakes? Mostly because I don't want the bags I paid dearly for to lose their status - is this really an ethical reason? Pure IP is also issue, because I do believe in the superior design and quality of the designer bags I purchase and covet (note that not all designer bags fall into this category, I'd like to think I actually do make decisions based on design and quality in addition to my brand whore-ishness) but the fact is these bags aren't perfect replicas, they are, as the salespeople clarified, "copies." Meaning a knowledgeable person could probably tell by looking and touching that they were not real - especially if they looked inside. And most label whores, like myself, would look for those signs when seeing a designer bag, and would therefore not have the same respect for the person carrying the fake. Which means someone with the real thing (I still fall in this category for the moment...) loses no status due to these "copies."

So the real reason I'm not buying a "copy" bag, I realize now, is that I don't want to be spotted as the carrier of a fake. Hmm... That sounds even more shallow than buying a $2,500US bag for the status I think it gives me.

So I put it to my readers - all 9 of you! - "copy" cream/luggage brown MJ by MJ clutch or not? (Keep in mind it is $30US and could also be chalked up to economic stimulus spending.)

West Coast Sh*t

Spent Tuesday holed up in my new favorite place, Pacific Coffee. I think this is Hong Kong's answer to Starbuck's. I only wish it were Hong Kong's answer to Caribou Coffee, aka free wi-fi. In fact, in a place that has crystal clear cellphone reception in moving subway trains, I find it more than a little disappointing that there isn't free wi-fi everywhere. Seriously? Everyone knows that's where the world is heading, so these places should just stop penny-pinching and offer it. Apparently as a university student in Hong Kong I do have almost omnipresent wi-fi through the PCCW University network, but I didn't know how to log in, and of course couldn't email anyone to find out.
Wi-fi aside, they did have free computer terminals that I could have used, and my cappucino was great. GREAT. The foam stood up on its own at least a millimeter above the rim of the mug.

Baby monkey...

When you're not around, I miss you SO SO much.

Happy New Year!!

Another great thing about HKUST is that they do so much for their exchange students! (It must have something to do with the fact that we make up about 15% of their student body.)
Monday after class the dean of the business school, Steve DeKrey, invited us to his apartment for a cocktail party before the welcome extravaganza the school had organized for us. Those amazing harbor views are from his balcony.
The extravaganza was a quasi-Chinese New Year, quasi-Lantern Festival celebration, so the silver lion danced (quite coyly, I might add), the undergrads did a martial arts exhibition (with types of cutlery I have never seen before), we answered riddles that were pasted around the wall (normally they hang from lanterns), and they overfed us (again with delicious, dining hall food - I know, normally that's an oxymoron).
I don't remember any of the riddles now (I was a few glasses of wine in by the time we were doing them), but we should be getting them back with the answers and the de-riddling winner, so I will post them then. They were tough - but Denise and I were the clear winners, so I'm just waiting to see what our prize is.

To the haters

Of course I have heard of a USB drive. It turns out it is not my camera that is the culprit, but my computer. So I'm uploading my photos to my roomies computer (till she gets sick of it) and using a USB drive to transfer them over the my computer.
Why has my Mac betrayed me? I have done nothing but compliment it and let it travel all around the world at the expense of my shoulder and my Gucci bag's handles.

Oh yes they can

The undergraduates at my school are in the midst of some sort of election and they are going so all out in the pursuit of votes. It's hard to tell from this pic, but they have completely covered the huge entrance atrium as well as the outside roundabout in what can only be called a circus. There are flags, there are booths, there are costumes, there is chanting and clapping and shouting...
One team constructed a huge Connect Four game that you slid metallic circles the size of bowling balls into.
Another was passing out curry fish cake balls on a stick (popular snack here - quite tasty).
Another team was dressed as a green army - jumpsuits, plastic guns, helmets... the works! - and was doing drills all morning.
Another team was warming up for some pop-and-locking, but unfortunately I had to run to class.
Two other teams were participating in what I think was a stomp-off of sorts? Lots of yelling and stamping their feet at each other.
There must be something other than just school spirit at stake, because this is very excessive...