Tokyoahead

Traditional Hong Kong

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 23:11:53 +0800

Hong Kong is not the first place in the world when you think about traditional or conservative notions. It is known to be a stronghold of cut-throat capitalism in the middle of Asia, the city for modern architecture, huge finance businesses, millionaires in fast cars stuck in traffic jams. There are a number of old buildings but they are torn down one after the other. However, in 2007 for the first time, this created an outrage when the Queens Pier's dooming demolition caused massive demonstrations, hunger strikes and other campaigns to prevent it from being torn down. Is the city traditional after all?


Interestingly enough, there are still a lot of old elements left in the everyday life in Hong Kong. And where the new skyscrapers are taking over, new shops and restaurants are striving to recreate the image of old times. And concluding from the amount of older items abound in the city, from Antique shops to old cars and bikes, there must be a will for the people here to keep the old and hang on to those things that remind them of past days.

But it its not only the nostalgy for Mao and communist propaganda that can be found mocking on caricatures, T-shirts and at peddlers who seem to have raided a 70's toy factory. It is not all about antiques, statues and heavy ornaments with which Hong Kong residents as well as mainland chinese people decorate their homes.

Its much more the daily life, in which people here queue up for hours to get into that special temple on that special holiday and light thousands of incense sticks and spirals to make the new year a better one.

Its the streets full of dried deer horns that will never be replaced by the modern blue pills ("Its not medicine, but for health" the merchant told me), the specially dried fish and lizards of which all have their special help for this or that ailment.

Its the way how the ornaments for good luck are specialized in its own industry, the way the food is hung up in the windows of the restaurants and the way the butchers cut their meat on wooden blocks right on the street. The traditions of Hong Kong cannot be seen on the coastline promenades or where the tourists flock to be cheated by camera merchants. The tradition is kept in the way that beliefs and superstition live alongside and passed on from generation to generation where they have been already long forgotten in other metropolitain areas of this world.

New Year in Chiang Mai, Thailand

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 22:36:01 +0800

New Year parties seem to be the same all over the world. An oversized, hopefully good dinner with ingredients you otherwise would not order, Champagne, a countdown, fireworks, hugs & kisses, a party to follow up. If you are however in Chiang Mai where the laid back and nature-related attitude of the locals would not care about most of the above mentioned (apart from the food maybe), a very traditional, calm and touching event takes place that truly lifts the spirit.


Of course, there is some show and dancing, since that is what Thailand is famous for. There might be some acrobatics, and simluated fights since that is also a part of Thai culture. A fire show is surely something worth watching and combined with the dance and music, it truly gives you something that makes people stop their conversations.

The imagery of the shows together with the mostly elegant style of Thai architecture is also worth seeing. The water is a little cold in this season however and after a couple of minutes you start feeling pity wit hthe girls freezing in there...

Of course the firewoks are not the same size as in metropolitain areas and in some cases you wonder why not more of the city burns down during new year, but its definetely fun, worth watching and much fitting into the surrounding scenery than a computerized 30 minute spectactle with lasers as you might have it in Hong Kong or elsewhere.

When the official part is over and one chooses between a party and a more relaxed evening, you get a chance to light a khom loy, a mulberry paper lantern, that holds its own ring of fire, carrying it up and away, along with hundreds of others over the city, creating its own moving stars from horizon to horizon. The simplicity and silence of the lantern, along with the flicker of the fire and slow rising of your lantern truly sets you in a mood that you will not forget.

Temples of Chiang Mai, Thailand

Mon, 18 Feb 2008 21:42:25 +0800

If you want to see many historically valuable artifacts of Thai Culture in one place, Chiang Mai is definetely the place to go. Not only does it have a good climate and friendly people, a diverse cuisine and a very attractive price level, but also a landscape so full of temples that you harldy need to get into a car to see more of them than you would want to see in a day. The different temples, monasteries and surrounding buildings show how religious life truly is interwoven here with everyday life as if the whole town was only one big monastery.


Not only that you can see a lot of really old buildings, ruins and ancient artifacts but also new ones under construction and renovation showing how fragile the buildings are and with how much care they are still maintained today despite the fact that they are not only for tourism but rather true worship. Which, on the other hand might attract less money from foreign tourists but surely attracts more money from the Thai religious visitors, donating to secure their health and luck.

While some temples, depending on who was teaching there and what specific things they are famous for might have extremely ornate doors, roofs and statues in front of them, others are rather simple and concentrate on showing you how elegant Thai architecture can be.

You might discover golden pagodas after a turn into a small alley and in the inside donation jars that are so numerous that they hardly fit into the temple. The many buddha statues in all sizes, donated by the richer people are proudly presented around the end wall of each temple, along with the daily donations in fruit and an incredible array of flowers.

Some of the temples are even completely built of wood, here the oldest teak temple in the country, others completely made of stone and the wood beeing destroyed already centuries earlier. The stone prevails in most cases and shows parallels to the bordering cultures of Cambodia, marking a strong diffference to the Temples in the same country, further to the south.

Still many patterns remain the same, be it the gold-plated buddhas, reclined or standing, or the repeating carvings in the alcoves.

Many things are new, and often you can see people working inside the temples, ornating statues with clay or carving intricate patterns into puzzles made of wood, combining them into huge ornaments for the temples under which shadows they are working.

As such, wondering through the city leaves you astonished about the small and big buildings, be they ruins or in perfect shape, the diversity in monsters, daemons, angels and gods, protecting, beeing slain or whishing you good luck for he remainder of your jurney.

The diversity leaves you confused wether you should focus on the intricate detail, the grand picture or the scenery between rivers, the sun & shadows, monks doing wordly cleaning or the sunset rounding off the images.

Brazilian real & Mexican peso now in the Currency charts!

Wed, 16 Jan 2008 11:49:52 +0800

From 1st of January 2008, the Brazilian real (BRL) and the Mexican peso (MXN) are in the currency charts. So all in all we have now 40 currencies listed. This means that you can from that date onwards the historic development of those two currencies and their relationship to all other 38 currencies in our database. Those two currencies are quite important since those two countries are known to be big emerging markets, right next to India and China. Unfortunately we do not have any exchange rate information about those two before 1st of January 2008. However I am sure that the future data for those two currencies will provide interesting insights into their economies.

Hong Kong in the clouds

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 09:04:38 +0800

If you come to Hong Kong in January/February, you might have a sight that is hard to get somewhere in Europe: Thick clouds so low you can touch them, and without climbing a mountain. I am not a meteorologist to know how this happens, but it can become a bit spooky at times. While normally in winter the view in Hong Kong is blocked by thick smog, you will recognize the clouds by the way they crawl over the top of buildings a change density from 0 to 100 in a couple of seconds. Then, it is very handy to be on an elevated spot and have a tripod available at night. You could sell off IFC - the home of many international Banking Coorporations - as the center of a super-evil conglomerate, trying to take over the world, anytime - but those days also by the looks.

Zuma Japanese Restaurant, Hong Kong

Sat, 05 Jan 2008 18:34:00 +0800

The Japanese Zuma Restaurant in Hong Kong has a very prominent address: The Landmark Building. It can get hardly any better than that. However, it is still hard to find. Allmost all shops of the Landmark are reachable via the escalators, but for the Zuma you have to find an elevator, which on one level is hidden inside a Supermarket, on another behind a corner and two more heavy doors. However, the setting is nicer than most other places in the Landmark because you look outside instead of into the mall's courtyard. The interior is modern and spacious, the solid stone counter wide and offers a nice view over the 3 parts of the kitchen, the Sushi, Robata (BBQ) and main (glass-box) cooking area.The menu offers an as wide variety of dishes as the kitchen sections promises: Sushi, Sashimi, Robata and other Japanese food types such as Tempura, Abalone etc. All ingredients of the food are kept to those you would find typically in Japanese menus, so no westernization is taking place here, but still the dishes are always a bit creative, fresh and therefore tasty. For the location, the setup and service level, the prices are reasonable, the most expensive lunch-set if ca. 500 HKD, including an appetizer, a sushi/sashimi/maki choice and a robata main course. So overall a really nice place to take out some clients or have a special night out, visiting the bar on the upper floor afterwards. If they got rid the cheap soysauce and the disposable chopsticks, they would present a really good package.Address: Level 5 and 6, The Landmark, Central, Hong KongPhone: +852 3657 6388

Warorot Market, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Fri, 04 Jan 2008 22:19:08 +0800

Visiting Markets in foreign countries can tell you a lot about the country's culture, health, wealth and customs of its inhabitants. Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand has profited over the centuries of hosting major religious sites, universities and beeing a tourist magnet for locals and foreigners alike. In adition, the Thai sense for style and beauty along with the diversity of the food available in the region make this market a specially nice place to visit. The people are cheerful, friendly and love to present their goods in the most impressive way possible. Whatever you can eat can be bought here, and many other things too.


Presentation is everything, and the merchants are proud about their skills and goods. The many fruits vendors can make only a difference in presentation so the higher the pile, the fresher and firmer the fruits must be. For those who cannot stack high, a wide variety is the key to success, in dried seafood for example.

Other goods that can be seen a lot are candies, dried squid and of course a wide array of vegatables.

There are some stranger things, and the locals know what tourists want to know about, and label it in english. So you dont have to ask about Bamboo worms or Chrysanthemum Flower tea. The wide array of rice and grain remains known only to the locals and experts however.

The traditional arts are also represented. You can find many ornaments for religious donations, made live in front of you, and the famous Chiang Mai sausages, in all shapes and sizes..

Non-edible goods are also plenty. You will find many kinds of clothing, tableware, tools, etc. During the new year also locally made fireworks.

Wat Phrathat Doi Suthep, Chiang Mai, Thailand

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 18:57:24 +0800

Wat Phrathat is located on Mount Doi Suthep, above the northern Thai City of Chiang Mai. Its a landmark not only due to its exposed location on a ledge above the city but also because of its bright red roofs of the buildings. To get there, you have to take a 40 minutes drive along a steep winding road and another steep climb many steps up to the mountain. The climb is so steep that there is now a cable car going up to carry the many tourists, most of whom are Thai from Bangkok, spending holidays in the cool north.


Of course you have the chance to strengthen yourself with Chiang Mai sausages before you climb up. On the bottom of the stairs you have to climb, you will see the protecting Naga-snake, that winds up its tail along the stairs. Once you reached the top, you are welcomed by a majestic building entrance.

The gold plated central pagoda is hardly visible from the outside since it is not very tall, but still impressive once you have entered the inner courtyard. The sourrounding buildings are again surrounded by several smaller buildings and a row of bells along the walls. They can be rung by bending down to show your modesty and are supposed to bring good luck.

You can find the many usual buddha-statues as well as some more local figures, including famous monks cast in metal.

The ornaments all around are quite detailed and beautiful. Wooden carvings on a side temple pillar (center) are extremely detailed and skilled.

As in most buddhist temples, most of what you see is baout money, and you can see donations from followers all over the place in diferent shapes and values. First of all the buddha statues, then the gold leaves stuck to them, and also wind chimes lining the complete inner courtyard, with the names of the donators on them.

Then of course, the pure cash lined to flags, flowing in the wind and coins, stuck with wax to a panel. For the more spiritual there is a sale in incense sticks, but the buckets they are placed in are quite overcrowded, and a monk removes them even before they are burned down.

Then you can tie flags around a jack-fruit tree, or look at young girls performing a dance, helped by a small orchestra - with a donation box saying "For education" in front of them. Less talented kids show up with a traditional Hmong costume and ask for 10 Baht for a picture taken with them.
	The view over Chiang Mai form the temple can be quite nice, most of the time its a bit hazy though. You can clearly see the square-shape line of the ditch around the old city center, and some of the landmmark hotel buildings, as well as some of the larger temples from up here.

Siam Ocean World, Bangkok

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 17:30:00 +0800

In central Bangkok, in the cellar of the Siam Paragon Shopping Mall, you will find the Siam Ocean World Aquarium. It is one of the best Aquariums in Asia, and being in the cellar of a mall also the most surprising one. It is really huge and has some features you would not expect down there.


I have seen the ,mall several times and there the signs to the Aquarium, but I assumed it to be some small thing for kids but not a full-blown, several floors deep well-maintained Aquarium with a quite wide variety of species.

Most ofthe tanks are quite big and give the animals inside a good place to swim around and be seen by the visitor. Since you can find all, from the most tiny ones such as Sea horses and Mandarin Gobies (center), various pipefish (left) to larger ones such as sharks, manta rays and huge fresh water fish, as well as Penguins, water rats and other species, you won' t get bored there.

While some of the species have their own tank, such as morays and some of the smaller species like striped eel catfish, you can find a really huge tank in the middle of the complex with an astounding wide array of fish.

Of course you can look also at the poisonous types here, such as stonefish, lionfish and jellyfish...

Rays can be found in the central, huge basin, which you can cross with a tunnel and even look on from the top through a glass-bottom boat. The sea turtle has its own basin and can be studied in detail. Also Nautilus shells, a relative to the octopus, can be found in a smaller tank.

Of course, the sharks should not be missed, you can even dive with them if you want (for a fee), but there are plenty in the main basin, and even a baby-shark tank is there, where you can touch them carefully. A truly unique experience!



A large number of tanks is only for freshwater fish. They have huge specimens one would not want to encounter while swimming....

Currency & Index Charts version 2.4 released!

Wed, 28 Nov 2007 11:06:00 +0800

Today we upgraded the Currency and Index Charts from 2.3 to 2.4.
The improvements are:
- The curreny converter now shows all currencies in a table instead of only the one selected
- The matrix had an error in the form, the descriptions for first date & second date fields were switched
- The end dates for ROL and SIT were wrong in the Legend

Please tell us if you feel that other things could be further improved!