Posterous theme by Cory Watilo

Cogito ergo sum


Let there be light

Hong Kong Diary - Cars

Taxi

Well, it had to be about cars didn't it? I had to rant and rave about them.

I will not go hyperbole on how I keep turning my head at every street corner virtually every 3 minutes. But I do.

Given the fact that housing itself is expensive here, parking is even more so. This coupled with great public transportation, most of the ones who own cars are the ones who can afford the really great ones. I have seen some great cars in the last 10 days (apart from the classic Toyota taxis). I am listing down the ones I think are worth mentioning.

Ferrari 458 Italia (Yellow)
Ferrari California (White)
Ferrari 599 (Black) (I saw no red Ferraris, maybe because the cabs are red here)
Mini Cooper S
Mini Cooper Classic
BMW Z4 (gets a mention only because I love it)
BMW Z3 (with Matte finish Black paint *wipes drool*)
Aston Martin DB9
Aston Martin Vanquish
Aston Martin Spider
Lamborghini Gallardo
Lamborghini Gallardo Spider
Jeep Wrangler
McLaren MP4 (in the showroom)
Golf GTI
Volkswagen Scirocco
Maserati GranTurismo
Porsche GT3RS
Porsche Panamera

I will add a few more in the next couple of days I am here as I see more of them. I haven't mentioned many other cars like Mercedes, BMW and Lexus luxury cars because they are not really exotic. Of course they exist here too like everywhere else. (I will continue to pretend that the entire reading world really cares about all of what I just said)

Maybe I sound like an idiot raving about cars which others might see around them everyday, but I have never been to a place where I saw all of them within a small area in just a week's time; so screw you! Also, maybe I sound like a 5 year old kid talking about seeing all these cars for the first time, well, I am one.

Hong Kong Diary

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Since the time I have come to Hong Kong (8 days back), I have been planning to write down everything I see here or experience here. But either I didn't find the time or the inclination.

What I am going to do, is keep writing separate posts about things Hong Kong. This will hopefully cover all my thoughts and also help me get over my guilt for not writing much about my first trip abroad.

First up, I LOVE this place. As a city, it has most of the important bases covered; great food, good people, decent weather (relative to where I come from), great transportation system, Wifi through most of the city and some awesome cars. Some of the things that work against it are the expense of living here, the surprising lack of recreational options except shopping and the crowd, the quantity. Given the fact that Hong Kong is a 'World City', what works against it is that it is after all an island with limited land mass. They have solved this problem by building insanely tall and efficient apartment buildings, however, when all the people decide to get out of their homes and be on the street, all hell breaks loose. But I guess one gets used to it.

This is kind of all that I have time for right now, but I do hope to cover the shopping (will require a separate blog by itself), the people, the food, the experience and much more in my future logs. Also, more pictures hopefully. Will tick each one off as I get to them eventually.

Earth Hour

It is 20.30 as I begin to write this and Earth Hour has begun. 

I fail to understand the concept of Earth Hour. I mean, I do understand the what and the why, but I don't understand why they are still keeping at it. It has obviously failed miserably.

The prime objective of the Earth Hour is to increase awareness and sensitize the populace regarding the damage they are causing to the environment. The objective is not to save electricity for one hour all over the world. However, what it has become, is a facade for pseudo-environmentalists to show they care. Earth Hour is to everyone, what a Toyata Prius is to Hollywood. Non-vegetarian Hindus all over the world pick a day of the week to eat only vegetarian food. They believe God will be pleased by this sacrifice they make. What about the other 6 days?

I take environmental damage very seriously. My friends and colleagues will vouch for my OCDish behaviour regarding this. I do my bit for the environment all year round. I honestly do. And it is not difficult. However, I chose this hour to switch on my laptop and write this post. I believe it can benefit the environment much more if even one reader gets inspired.

It looks beautiful when the Opera House in Sydney, the Eiffel Tower in Paris and other landmarks such as these participate in it. But has this served the purpose? Does the amount of energy and money used to publicise Earth Hour, generate an equivalent amount of return on reduced damage to the environment? I do not say stop this facade. I say find a better way.

Here is an idea for Earth Hour, don't tell people to switch of stuff at this hour. Tell everyone to switch on their laptops and PCs exactly at this hour and GOOGLE Earth Hour. Make Google show only pages about the Earth Hour for this one hour. Force people to read. Blanket all TV channels with hour long documentaries. Force people to know. Grab them and push it down their throats. Force them to discuss. It is the only way.

The problem with us humans is, we are not human enough.
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