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Exploring asian culture, travel and technology



Bangkok Day 1: Canal Boats & Golden Mount (Feb 5)
Everyone who knows I live in China is always surprised to learn that I’d never visited Southeast Asia – up until now I had always been more preoccupied with exploring the mainland and Korea / Japan. I decided to put this straight and during the Chinese New Year holidays and managed to get some cheap tickets to Bangkok in Thailand. Arriving late on a Saturday night I headed straight to my accommodation in the Phaya Thai (พญาไท) district and had a quick bite for dinner. The next morning I took the BTS Skytrain (Bangkoks elevated rapid transit system) to Ratchathewi station (ราชเทวี - when pronounced sounds a lot like ratatouille!) in search of the Khlong Saen Saeb canal. The surrounding neighbourhood here seemed to be a bit run-down but there were… Related posts you might like: Wuzhen – Ancient Canal Town Venice Curse of the Golden Flower


Optimising Security for Life in the Cloud (Jan 30)
With our lives rapidly migrating into the cloud and the distinction between online and offline becoming evermore blurred, I’ve become increasingly paranoid about the security and integrity of my data (maybe I’m just getting old!). There are two scenarios that worry me the most: My laptop is lost, stolen, or the hard drive becomes corrupt thus loosing all my documents, photos and music etc. One of my main online accounts (e.g. Gmail or Facebook) becomes compromised and abused by a malicious hacker Even great utilities like Time Machine, which backup to an external hard drive, don’t cut it these days since it only solves about 25% of the problem. Aside from the usual advice about using strong passwords and backing up frequently, below are six useful tools… Related posts you might like: Storing Sensitive Data In The Cloud Art? Wordle Cloud


Lok Fu Part 2 – Nga Chin Wai Walled Village (Jan 20)
In the second part of our photo walk around the area surrounding Lok Fu MTR station in Kowloon, we pay a visit to the little known walled village of Nga Chin Wai (衙前圍村) – the last of its kind in Hong Kong. Although once in near to the harbour, the village has long since become land locked after the construction of the former Kai Tak airport. Nga Tsin Wai walled village has a history of over 650 years, dating back to the Yuan Dynasty, and the name means “The walled village in front of the yamen” (a Chinese official’s building – the remains of which can be found nearby at Kowloon Walled City). Living in walled villages like this helped safeguard residents against attacks by rival clans, and especially… Related posts you might like: Lok Fu Part 1 – Kowloon Walled City Pok Fu Lam Village Jeonju Photo Walk – Part 1


Lok Fu Part 1 – Kowloon Walled City (Jan 14)
If it were not for some intriguing local history, the area around Lok Fu (樂富) MTR station would be a pretty unremarkable as for the most part it’s made up of generic public housing estates. Part of the district was home to the infamous Kowloon Walled City (九龍城寨), which is today Kowloon Walled City Park. The former Kai Tak International Airport was also located in the district and the area is still in a state of transition. Over a yearlong period I visited the area three times and below is the first part of a compilation of what you can find on walk around the local neighbourhoods. Along one side of Carpenter Road are many side streets packed with small restaurants, many serving Southeast Asian food. Old streets with huge… Related posts you might like: The Hong Kong Island – Kowloon Divide Beijing 2008 Part 1: A City Evolves Container City


Marching Backwards into the Future (Jan 8)
After leaving Shenzhen at the end of 2010 I began 2011 in a state of limbo, living somewhere between temporary accommodation in London and Hong Kong airport, while I was working on a fairly dull project. After an unexpected turn of events (getting a new job) I ended up doing something completely different and far more exciting. Along the way I got to know Hong Kong a little better, made a short film, moved house four times (never again), paid my second visit to the US, my sixth to South Korea, built three apps, met some cute pandas, and worked more hours than I care to remember. The year of the rabbit was one of the best to date. “Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and… Related posts you might like: Stereo Future Thinking Backwards Cheung Chau Island


Wuhan’s Fake Apple Stores (Dec 29)
Back in July 2011 a story about a number of fake but extremely realistic Apple Stores in Kunming, China spread around the main western news outlets after an expat blogger posted photos of them online. The wide exposure of the story lead to Chinese officials shutting down a number of the offending copycats but what seems to have been missed in this story is that you can find similar fake stores all over China… On a recent trip to Wuhan I came across a street containing no-less than eight electronic shops trying to pass themselves off as ‘Apple Stores’ and one in particular which had gone to great lengths to copy Apples signature style. This shop did an OK job of the brushed aluminium panels, but the… Related posts you might like: Shanghai Apple Store Apple Apple Farm Cafe in Wonju


Return to Wuhan (Dec 22)
As part of my job I need to visit Guangzhou in south China every so often (2 hours from Hong Kong by train) and on my last trip there I took the opportunity to venture further inland to Wuhan (武汉). Sitting slap bang at the intersection of many transport routes in the middle of Hubei province its an easy place to reach, and indeed I first visited back in 2007. The biggest change since my previous visit there is that the city is now connected by a number of long-distance high-speed rail services, which have been rapidly covering most of China over the past few years. The 968-kilometre (601 mile) Wuhan-Guangzhou route which I took is currently the world’s fastest train service with trains running up to a maximum… Related posts you might like: Weekend in Wuhan Return to Beijing Wuhan’s Fake Apple Stores


Taking a DETOUR (Dec 12)
A couple of weekends ago I attended DETOUR 2011, Hong Kong’s annual design, culture, and arts festival which was held at the former Police Married Quarters (PMQ / 前荷李活道已婚警察宿舍) on Hollywood Road in Sheung Wan. This year focused on the theme of “USELESS”, highlighting the impacts of irresponsible consumerism through a mix of exhibitions, performances, and forums. My first impression of the festival was one of pessimism; with so many installations containing works that would probably be thrown away at the end how could it live up to its ambitions of promoting sustainability? Luckily I was proven wrong – while the installations were a mixed bag, most of them seemed to have taken the theme seriously and raised some interesting questions about how we contribute… Related posts you might like: Lok Fu Part 1 – Kowloon Walled City The Hong Kong Island – Kowloon Divide


Steve Jobs’ Thoughts on Life (Dec 3)
As anyone who’s read his biography will know, Steve Jobs was not particularly pleasant to the people around him (to put it lightly). Like it or not this seems to often be the case with people who end up in positions of power, but whatever his personality, his impact on the world was undoubtably immense. Below is some footage that comes from a 1995 interview conducted by the Santa Clara Valley Historical Association, in which Jobs succinctly outlines his vision of life and how to broaden your horizons. I wish they taught this in school, the world would be far more interesting if more people thought a little differently. “When you grow up you, tend to get told that the world is the way it is and your life is just to… Related posts you might like: I Want My Life Back Revised Thoughts Life Without Language


Design Driven Brands (Dec 3)
Walk into almost any shop. Regard the tacky watches, the rip-off tablets, the cheap radios, and the clothes that fall apart after the second time you wear them. Most products today have had little thought or care gone into their design, focusing on fashion over function and cost over quality. They are marketing-driven ploys which deceive the consumer into a never-ending cycle of designed obsolescence where the value of a product has become less about what it does and more about having the latest model. I don’t want things for the sake of having, but for the sake of needing and making life easier. For this reasons I have grown an intense dislike for being forced to wade through the sea if mediocre choices every… Related posts you might like: MUJI Design in Taiwan Apple UNIQLO & 3M in Harajuku