Mark Wu Info

Travel Stationary Geek

2009-06-23T13:12:03+00:00

I've always had a thing about quality stationary brands, ever since the ubiquitous Filofax organisers from the 80's. I still retain a personal and an A5 sized Filofax, filling them with personal papers and using them to keep together important cards and documents. Afterall, their customisable inserts make them practical for any physical essentials in the face of our growing reliance on digital. Practically all my work is digital, but having trained mostly with crafting by hand, I still cling to any vestiges of analogue I can fit in my life....

From Japan to Hong Kong - Confusion

2009-06-01T16:50:23+00:00

Coming back to Hong Kong from Japan initially confused me in a slightly entertaining way. I found myself standing on the left hand side of escalators which they do in Tokyo, but not in Hong Kong. And I would swipe my Hong Kong Octopus card at the MTR barriers whilst thinking of Shinjuku station and Tokyo's equally convenient Suica card. I have also never taken as much notice of the branding on toilet urinals as I do now, ever since visiting the Toto Super Space in West Shinjuku. Every public toilet in Hong Kong seems to be equipped with Toto tech....

Visible Chinese article in the South China Morning Post Magazine

2009-05-31T20:38:06+00:00

It's by coincidence that I'm in Hong Kong when its leading English language newspaper, the South China Morning Post, heard about the website I founded, Visible Chinese and contacted me for a short article about it! The article just came out today and is actually in their Sunday Morning Post edition, within the accompanying (Post) magazine. I was interviewed for a regular column called "Long-distance call" which features a Chinese expatriate every week, who explains their work and a little of their life story....

Apple Mac Apps I can’t live without

2009-05-01T21:28:56+00:00

If you use your Mac like I do, you'll love your programs of choice. All my work is done on my Mac laptop as well as alot of personal organisation too, so apart from paper documents that I still receive and need to keep, I pretty much have a mobile office. I can't resist checking out new and interesting sounding apps, although most never get opened more than a few times, but those that do have made it onto my list of Mac apps of choice below. It includes the typical, major software packages I design with as well as independent utilities and programs that enhance my digital life....

Post-Vietnam and blogging

2009-04-20T17:45:12+00:00

We spent the last three weeks of March in Vietnam. It's probably the longest we'll stay in any other East Asian country (other than Hong Kong) since Linh's father and family are there. It's the first time Linh has been back since her childhood and its the first time I've ever been, so with her father's hospitality and organisation, we saw a hell of a lot of Vietnam, visiting both the north and south of the country and also in between. We spent the majority of the time in Ho Chi Minh and how we survived in the heat I've no idea. Having experienced temperatures around the mid-thirties, I've now no fear of Summer in Hong Kong....

Hong Kong people

2009-04-03T12:06:08+00:00

Ok, its great to learn more about another culture and you have to "live" in a country to do so. As I've said before, Hong Kong is not totally alien to Linh and I. So far, we've found that our lifestyle is an improvement on the UK, but that probably has more to do with us not working a day job and therefore being able to chill out a bit. It probably also has alot to do with living in the New Territories - better air than Kowloon I think. Anyway, wanting to keep this post short - I don't want to say anything I'd regret later - but about Hong Kong people, why is it that: 1. They talk in the cinema during a film? I don't mean as a one off comment.. no.. they have to discuss what they think is happening next and what they think of the characters and the acting. And if their phone rings (with some cantopop ring tone), they answer and have an audible conversation. I think I'm the only one that gets bothered by this though. In the UK, a collective audience would tut at any single violator, whereas in Hong Kong, I'd be the only soul tempted to turn and slap the ******s....

The First Month in Hong Kong

2009-03-03T20:18:42+00:00

Having now "lived" in Hong Kong for more than a month, I've experienced the country with the point of view of building a lifestyle here as opposed to enjoying the place with a holiday mindset. I had previously thought that I wouldn't totally relax until after the first month when I'd been convinced that nothing would go wrong! Well, all was fine - even a call from the UK tax office to question my accounts proved to be a false alarm. What I hadn't expected was that spending more time here made me realise that there wasn't any urgency to go out spending. Normally on holiday, you might not get a second chance to buy something you like, so you get a retail rush to spend, just to make sure you get the souvenirs you want to take home....

MangoVine.net : A new website about living in Hong Kong and traveling in East Asia

2009-02-01T05:58:21+00:00

Yes, as if this site, Filoflow, Visual Streak, Visible Chinese and One Inch Punch weren't enough, I've now started another one called MangoVine. As you may have read from previous posts, I'll be moving over to Hong Kong for a year in a few days. My family have a home there in the New Territories and the plan is to spend a year there, but also travel to the other East Asian countries in that time. Part of the reason for going over to Hong Kong is to gain a little more knowledge of my heritage as well as get to know the ins and outs of living there. Visiting the other East Asian countries is simply to make the most of being close enough to explore practically and cheaply. Since my profession is design, I'm also keen to cast an eye over the various cultures and try to document observations that I find interesting....

Article in the UK Chinese Times

2009-02-01T05:02:32+00:00

I was privileged enough to be interviewed recently by journalist and writer Hsiao-Hung Pai, author of the excellent book Chinese Whispers. The interview was for a short article about the site I created called Visible Chinese (Hsiao-Hung is also profiled on there), and also includes a little about the experience of living in the UK as a British Chinese person. Since the UK Chinese Times is a Chinese language newspaper, the final article is in Chinese and you can read it as a pdf by clicking on this link: Article with Mark Wu, in the UK Chinese Times Update : UK Chinese Times article scan with Mark Wu The piece itself is aimed at Mainland Chinese, who may be interested in hearing about the site and finding out more about Chinese people in the UK, including what it means to be British Chinese....

Top Fives in London and Hong Kong

2009-01-21T21:29:58+00:00

I had a think about some of the differences between London and Hong Kong. About the sort of things that make each place unique, and also personal to me. This exercise probably has more value over the course of the year when there is a chance to capture the details of living and to give time to reflect on them. But as a start point, here are some lists which are quite superficial and which I will probably be ashamed of in a year's time. But it will be interesting to look back upon them....