I missed the memo. Nobody told me October was going to be 89 days this year. Some calendar adjustment, maybe? The Mother of All Leap Years? This was a long month. And it’s not just because of the elections, which can make time slow to a c-r-a-w-l for anyone unlucky enough to have a functioning […]

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This country, which includes Hong Kong, has come a long way — even after Mao’s ill-considered five-year plans, including the infamous Great Leap Forward. I was thinking about this, anew, while reading “The Faces of War” by Martha Gellhorn, a woman who spent about 60 years as a war correspondent. (She started with the Spanish […]

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I could almost swear it was Steve Dilbeck. Well, no, there was no reason Steve Dilbeck should be striding along as I caught up to him on the track at Victoria Park. I don’t think he’s been to Hong Kong, or intends to go. But it could have been him. Instead, it was his Asian […]

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I’ve been in China, let’s see … seven of the last 12 weeks, so that makes me, I believe, a Sinologist. Not necessarily a Sinophile … but a Sino-expert. I know this country of 1.3 billion people backward and forward. You bet. I have learned that the Chinese invented … everything. Just ask them. You […]

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I was doing my 5.4-kilometer creep (jogging is far too ambitious a word) around the running track at Victoria Park the other day, and on Lap 1 I noticed a woman painting. The track is 600 meters around, so each time I went by I studied the woman and her work a bit more. She […]

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That’s how many people live on Hong Kong Island, 1.26 million. And about 1.16 million of them live on a strip of land about a half-mile deep along the north edge of the island. In one of the thousands of high-rises that crowd together in what is, mostly, a concrete and asphalt world. And a […]

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I’ve been meaning to write about this for a while. I’ve been put off by how complicated and big a topic it could be. So I’m alllowing myself to be not overly insightful and clever which, often, is the only way you’ll actually get anything written at all. Make that deal with yourself. Sports writing […]

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Turns out, we may go beyond just seeing most of Hong Kong’s neighborhoods. We may live in them. After one week in North Point (albeit, a hotel), and 16 days in the madness of Wan Chai, we packed today and moved to Tin Hau, which lies between North Point and Wan Chai. The area is […]

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I’m superstitious, but I’m not. I’ll do certain things a certain way … but if that way gets moved or switched or changed, I roll with it. I’ve lost “lucky” coins and had routines changed. I may resist it, but what are you going to do? Sit in a room with the door locked? So, […]

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We always hear that basketball is an urban game. Not much space needed. Perfect for getting a lot of exercise for a batch of guys in a short period of time. A great outlet for a big, crowded metropolis. New York? Sure. But why not Hong Kong? This ought to be a playground hoops hotbed. […]

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