Introducing "Pig"

RL and I have exciting news... we have a new Pig! Pig is named in honor of the Lunar New Year which is the Year of the Golden Pig. But, she is not gold. Our Pig is a 2001 silver Volkswagen Beetle and we love her! Charlie, in particular, is thrilled to have wheels.

In Hong Kong, most people do not own a car. The public transit system is wonderful. Taxis are cheap and abundant. Most apartment buildings do not even supply a parking place, and to rent one starts at $300 US a month. (RL and I are very fortunate as a space come with our flat. It is in the basement, so we just have to take the elevator down--out of the rain! Yeah!)

So why did we buy one? I confess, I wanted a car. It's not to get around HK Island--take a taxi or the subway for that! No, it is to be able to get to some of the best hiking around in the country parks, out of urban Hong Kong. Okay, it was also for Charlie. He likes to hike too, and dogs are not allowed on buses.

Well, to even consider it, RL said it had to be cheap... and Pig is considered to be cheap chop suey around here and the US, for that matter. First, Volkswagens are not very popular. What you drive is very important in "face" with the Chinese. Where we live, most drive Mercedes, BMWs, Porsches, and Jaguars. We even have a Lamborghini in our garage (you should see RL drool!). Most of these status symbols are the big large versions, too. Pig is definitely not in that category.

The typical Chinese Hong Konger does not like to purchase a used car, either. Our Pig has had two previous owners.

Hong Kong does not tax used car purchases. On the other hand, they apply a 100% luxury tax to a new car. (So just double the price of all those cars in my housing complex!)

With all of that, factor in the huge flux of expats that come here for a few years and then leave. They buy a car ("used" is OK with them) and then when they leave, they have only a short time to sell it. I have read stories of people picking up really nice cars pratically for free as the owners had little choice on their way to the airport, moving back to their home country.

So you guessed it...Pig cost less than a golf cart. Insurance is cheap too, I guess because of fewer law suits here. The only real cost to Pig is feeding her. It costs $85 US to fill her up! Good thing she is not a "gas hog."

As for driving, we pretty much limit our adventures to the weekends. In Hong Kong SAR, people drive on the left side of the road, so that takes a little getting used to. But we are having a blast with Pig and I hope we have many wonderful times with her.

BTW......our license has an 8 !!

Hogs and kisses-- Mart

Where's the Consumer Union??

I suppose that in most places in the world, consumers are probably not as protected as they are in the US. Since living here, I have been just stunned over what human beings are capable of just to make some money. Harming, even killing people including babies happens here. My guess is that the same would be true at home, but thankfully we have in place systems that protect and prosecute such actions, at least for the most part.

Some examples:

1) A recent article in the South China Morning Post reported that some unlicensed manufacturer was caught making a cheap copy of a very popular liquor in China called Maotai. The key ingredient to making the stuff taste like the real thing was DDT! Probably explains its lack of popularity in the States.


2) Baby formula has been found to contain pesticides.

3) Few women wear lipstick here because a lot of the products have been found to contain lead.

4) Thousands of primary school students got sick after being fed contaminated soya milk.


5) Eggs imported from China contained the carcinogenic dye, Sudan IV. Hens and ducks were fed this to produce deep orange yolks. Chinese consumers pay more for eggs with red yolks as they believe the red colour is a sign of quality and better nutrition.

I could go on and on. Most Hong Kong residents are very upset by this and want the government to do something. Unbelievably, there are comments from a few that state pollution and contamination is just a part of today's world so get used to it. WOW!

Hong Kong is worlds ahead of mainland China. We can spend a little extra money and get food products imported from Australia. But we do face some difficulty... For example, the HK health commissioner recently requested that people not swim in the harbor due to toxic pollutants. He added that he had no idea how polluted the water was as repeated requests to see the data on water quality had gone unanswered.

It just goes to show you that the media can report it, but government has to be responsive to the people to get results. That is somewhat broken here.


FYI- I go to a lot of trouble to buy "Made in the USA" dog food for Charlie. I have actually spoken with the president of the company who shares my horror of what occurs over here. If you can do such things to children, can you image what they put in pet food? Anyway, the dog food is called "PetGuard" and I think you can buy it at Wild Oats. Charlie loves it. Maybe we should start eating it too. The company is based in Florida.

Bon Appetite! (Ha) Martha

Oh Happy Day!

I just had to let everyone know that Martha is a happy camper this morning. Her first subscription to the International Herald Tribune came this morning at 6:20 am. We now have New York Times world news and more important.....a crossword puzzle in newspaper print!

It just doesn't get much better. R.L.