幾年前夏天茶怪到西藏旅行，在拉薩一佛寺認識了一位名叫澤西的年青僧人，應邀到他房舍小聚，好客的澤西端出一個暖水壺，將淡褐色奶茶倒進一個小杯子，茶怪欣喜地接過杯子，好極了，西藏也有奶茶，一喝，嚇了嚇，不敢吞，定了兩秒才發現奶茶竟然是鹹味的。好奇一問，才知道西藏的奶茶有加糖的、也有落鹽的。茶怪猜想，大概是因為西藏地處內陸，藏人少吃海產，所以多食一點鹽作補充。澤西問，飲不慣的話，亦有甜的，奶茶說，鹹味的也不錯。於是一邊傾談，一邊喝鹹奶茶，記不起添了多少杯。
自幼出家的澤西，過著苦僧的簡樸生活，但年青人始終喜歡追明星，澤西的偶像是劉德華，房舍牆上除了達賴喇嘛的肖像，還掛了一張劉華的明星相。小粉絲嘗試解釋自己不是拜偶像，只是對明星有一種仰慕，茶怪真佩服劉華。興之所致，我倆還合唱了一曲「忘情水」，他歌喉比茶怪好得多。
澤西養了一只花貓，動作異常靈巧，也愛撒嬌，那個懶洋洋的下午，牠找到了喜歡的臥毯，那就是茶怪的膝頭。從未養過貓的茶怪，縱使喜歡，亦顯得有點不自在，主人看見便拿走牠，豈料，不一會牠又爬回來。澤西拿出食物，牠便走去吃，吃的不是魚不是乾糧，而是從市場買來血淋淋的生牛肉。藏僧也食肉，因為除了畜牧，當地的土壤種不出甚麼蔬菜五穀來。
鹹奶茶、迷劉華的藏僧以及食生牛肉的貓，如果不親身經歷，聽來像是哈利波特的魔幻世界。最近為了宣傳與朋友合著的新書，茶怪接受了雜誌社訪問。談到奶茶，記者問茶怪對不同茶餐廳的奶茶有沒有偏好，原本想趁機會大談茶經的茶怪，突然想起西藏，答：「只要是不難飲的，就可以了。」不敢苟且為以往喝過的作定論，因為你永遠不會預知下一杯奶茶的滋味。
2007/04/28
茶餐廳人類遺產?
民建聯計劃將「港式茶餐廳文化」申請列入「人類非物質文化遺產」，令茶怪「O咀」。想不到每日必到的地方，其文化將可能成為「遺產」! 「國家地理雜誌」會否用港式茶餐廳為封面，呼籲世界保護這種頻臨絕種的文化? 以後每次到樓下發記食早餐A配「茶走」，豈不是身處周圍都係恐龍化石的博物館?
茶餐廳不是頻臨絕種，而係行落街就有。又不是遺產，因為持有人老闆娘未死。既然不是甚麼熊貓珍禽，哪何須加以保護? 茶怪想，茶餐廳文化反而是最有生命力的文化。
它不停地變，幾十年前的茶餐廳除了賣奶茶咖啡和蛋撻糕點之外沒有別的。現在的茶餐廳有魚蛋粉、雲吞麫、义燒飯、牛扒餐，正式要乜有乜。個個客人都想坐卡位，但一般茶餐廳卡位不多，最近到過有間全間100%卡位。很多人喜歡吃出前一丁，一般要加錢，有間專做出前一丁，有很多款式，作為招徠。茶餐廳文化不像歌劇、木偶表演，它沒有任何造手功架的規章要遵守，沒有固定的格式，因應地點、人流、客路和附近的對手，真正各出其招，也不斷從自己的經驗嘗試改進。
如果民建聯申請成功，必須制定很多規章以界定誰有資格被認可為「茶餐廳」，例如指定要賣甚麼食品。也有很多限制以保留其「傳統」，例如叫檸樂，落單哥仔一定要在紙仔上寫「06」，不得電腦化落單。這樣，茶餐廳就失去了賴以為生的靈活性，很快就變成只吃竹葉的熊貓一樣頻臨絕種，到時就名副其實是遺產。雖然民建聯希望幫香港谷旅遊用心良苦，但「人類非物質文化遺產」的設立是為了記錄人類文明，不是為誰賺錢的。
茶餐廳不是頻臨絕種，而係行落街就有。又不是遺產，因為持有人老闆娘未死。既然不是甚麼熊貓珍禽，哪何須加以保護? 茶怪想，茶餐廳文化反而是最有生命力的文化。
它不停地變，幾十年前的茶餐廳除了賣奶茶咖啡和蛋撻糕點之外沒有別的。現在的茶餐廳有魚蛋粉、雲吞麫、义燒飯、牛扒餐，正式要乜有乜。個個客人都想坐卡位，但一般茶餐廳卡位不多，最近到過有間全間100%卡位。很多人喜歡吃出前一丁，一般要加錢，有間專做出前一丁，有很多款式，作為招徠。茶餐廳文化不像歌劇、木偶表演，它沒有任何造手功架的規章要遵守，沒有固定的格式，因應地點、人流、客路和附近的對手，真正各出其招，也不斷從自己的經驗嘗試改進。
如果民建聯申請成功，必須制定很多規章以界定誰有資格被認可為「茶餐廳」，例如指定要賣甚麼食品。也有很多限制以保留其「傳統」，例如叫檸樂，落單哥仔一定要在紙仔上寫「06」，不得電腦化落單。這樣，茶餐廳就失去了賴以為生的靈活性，很快就變成只吃竹葉的熊貓一樣頻臨絕種，到時就名副其實是遺產。雖然民建聯希望幫香港谷旅遊用心良苦，但「人類非物質文化遺產」的設立是為了記錄人類文明，不是為誰賺錢的。
2006/12/11
Minibus does not always run fast (or jump red lights)
i got to know Fat So when i rented an apartment flat through her, as a real estate agent. She was a stout, as her nickname suggests, yet energetic, woman in her early forties with a boy's haircut, a macho voice and a big easy smile. That day, she walked me through twelve apartments before we concluded a deal late in the evening. i expected to see her again around. However, what really took me by surprise was how i did. One morning i walked down the street for a newspaper, i found her sell newspapers at a newsstand.
So, Fat So sells million-dollar homes at night and five-dollar newspapers in the daytime. That's a good example for the high versatility of Hong Kong people. "How does that work?" i asked her. "I sleep less," she replied without hesitation. Fair enough. Fat So is one of the many part-time workers who sleep little. But why does Fat So sell home and newspapers, but other combination of goods like fruit and fish, dim sum and wanton, etc? The apparently unrelated combination of businesses of home and newspaper offers an important synergy Fat So cannot resist.
No one buys newspaper at night. In contrast, no one sees flats in the morning. A newsstand opens from dawn until 11 a.m. The busiest hours last about an hour when people grasp their newspapers on their way to office. It is meaningless, profitless, to leave the newsstand open for the rest of the day. On the other hand, home-seekers usually have to work, and are free to shop for flats at night only. On weekdays, the rush hours for a typical real-estate agency usually last two hours, from eight through ten in the evening although it opens all day long. Therefore, Fat So can capture the best moments of both businesses and earns her living efficiently.
Fat So is flexible enough to perform different tasks in a day. Unfortunately, many companies cannot.
All public transportations, from MTR to ferry, bus to taxi, were half-seated, at best, for the majority part of their working hours. See the empty well-air-conditioned buses wandering in the dark streets. See the long queue of taxis with their roof lights helplessly switched on. However, any transportation business has their once-and-for-all-day big shot during the rush hours. Besides, fast food chains, Cafe de Coral alike, convenience stores, such as 7-Eleven, especially for those located near business districts, are cold and quiet at night shifts. However,their lives all depend on business in the rush hours.
Rush hours are short, lasting about four hours a day, but they do pay. For public transportation along the right routes, stores at the right locations, working class voluntarily, or involuntarily, flood in from all directions, with no question asked. They enthusiastically squeeze into your trains and you don't even have to feel sorry about inadequate seats. At 8:30 a.m., they just love your trains. At 8:50 a.m., they chase your taxi. They hunt down breakfast with determination from your fast-food shop. They wipe out newspapers and snacks at your convenience store. No discount, fine.
That's an all-you-can-win situation in fixed, albeit short, period of time. To maximize revenue from the rush hours, businesses have to either speed up the customer turnover, that's to serve as many customers as possible, or increase the billing.
Minibus drivers go for the customer-turnover tactics. Riding in a minibus is a roller-coaster experience. Some minibus drivers commit speeding and ignore the speed-control alarms installed in their vans. i would rather the minibuses deactivate the alarms so that i can have a quieter environment, or the drivers should drive more slowly. Riding in a speedy van with the alarm persistently going off double the pain in the neck. Minibus drivers sometimes jump red lights. If you think that's their bad driving habits, you are wrong. i am sure, in the mid-afternoon, you have been long idled in an anchored minibus as the driver is expecting more customers to get aboard.
Those minibus "pilots", as if they fly aircraft, are not evil or bad kids. They take risks of their lives too. They do the stunts during rush hours only, like a hungry man having starved for a whole day. The reason is that they got only a short period of time to earn as much as they can. Their routes are typical long, for instance, from Kwun Tong to Tsuen Wan. Should they drive slowly, they cannot do many trips before the rush hours of that day are over.
Tea restaurant and fast food shops cannot increase the customer turnover as customers stay as long as they please. The lunch hours are from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. It takes about half an hour for each customer to finish his or her meal. Therefore, the restaurant could possibly have a customer turnover of three times. Their strategy is to boost the sales per customer, by offering super-sized meal set. A big entree comes with a soup and tea or coffee, and sometimes butter bread. The restaurants deliberately boost the meal sizes so that higher meal prices can be justified. They do not do that all day, but only in the rush hours. They have slim and inexpensive tea sets when the shops are quiet.
Most restaurants in Central do not even open for dinner because the business district becomes a ghost town after sunset, except for the pub and fancy restaurants in Lan Kwai Fong and SOHO area. The lunch-hour battles for those restaurants are even tenser.
Yet another solution for the rush-hour problems is to do something productive during the quiet hours, like Fat So does. But not many fixed assets, whether they are motor vehicles or restaurants, can be converted to cater different services day in and day out.
Banks are becoming more flexible to a certain extent. Recently, banks are bolstering their improving services by extending their business hours. In fact, basic banking services are performed during normal office hours. The extra hours during weekends are for their promotion of investment and insurance plans, and nothing else because they understand that people are free to deal with their personal finance at leisure timeonly.
Unlike Fat So, most of us stick to a single job. A survey shows that Hong Kong people works 51 hours long a week. Among jobs taking the longer hours are retail and catering services. i believe the really busy hours for most of those jobs last last than 25 hours a week. Why do people work overtime? 40% of respondents say they stay late to be seen. If only all the bosses in Hong Kong know Fat So and how well she works.
Next time, i will revisit the topic about Octopus cards and how they are helping solve the rush-hour problems.
Nov 21, 2006
Copyright Quamnet
So, Fat So sells million-dollar homes at night and five-dollar newspapers in the daytime. That's a good example for the high versatility of Hong Kong people. "How does that work?" i asked her. "I sleep less," she replied without hesitation. Fair enough. Fat So is one of the many part-time workers who sleep little. But why does Fat So sell home and newspapers, but other combination of goods like fruit and fish, dim sum and wanton, etc? The apparently unrelated combination of businesses of home and newspaper offers an important synergy Fat So cannot resist.
No one buys newspaper at night. In contrast, no one sees flats in the morning. A newsstand opens from dawn until 11 a.m. The busiest hours last about an hour when people grasp their newspapers on their way to office. It is meaningless, profitless, to leave the newsstand open for the rest of the day. On the other hand, home-seekers usually have to work, and are free to shop for flats at night only. On weekdays, the rush hours for a typical real-estate agency usually last two hours, from eight through ten in the evening although it opens all day long. Therefore, Fat So can capture the best moments of both businesses and earns her living efficiently.
Fat So is flexible enough to perform different tasks in a day. Unfortunately, many companies cannot.
All public transportations, from MTR to ferry, bus to taxi, were half-seated, at best, for the majority part of their working hours. See the empty well-air-conditioned buses wandering in the dark streets. See the long queue of taxis with their roof lights helplessly switched on. However, any transportation business has their once-and-for-all-day big shot during the rush hours. Besides, fast food chains, Cafe de Coral alike, convenience stores, such as 7-Eleven, especially for those located near business districts, are cold and quiet at night shifts. However,their lives all depend on business in the rush hours.
Rush hours are short, lasting about four hours a day, but they do pay. For public transportation along the right routes, stores at the right locations, working class voluntarily, or involuntarily, flood in from all directions, with no question asked. They enthusiastically squeeze into your trains and you don't even have to feel sorry about inadequate seats. At 8:30 a.m., they just love your trains. At 8:50 a.m., they chase your taxi. They hunt down breakfast with determination from your fast-food shop. They wipe out newspapers and snacks at your convenience store. No discount, fine.
That's an all-you-can-win situation in fixed, albeit short, period of time. To maximize revenue from the rush hours, businesses have to either speed up the customer turnover, that's to serve as many customers as possible, or increase the billing.
Minibus drivers go for the customer-turnover tactics. Riding in a minibus is a roller-coaster experience. Some minibus drivers commit speeding and ignore the speed-control alarms installed in their vans. i would rather the minibuses deactivate the alarms so that i can have a quieter environment, or the drivers should drive more slowly. Riding in a speedy van with the alarm persistently going off double the pain in the neck. Minibus drivers sometimes jump red lights. If you think that's their bad driving habits, you are wrong. i am sure, in the mid-afternoon, you have been long idled in an anchored minibus as the driver is expecting more customers to get aboard.
Those minibus "pilots", as if they fly aircraft, are not evil or bad kids. They take risks of their lives too. They do the stunts during rush hours only, like a hungry man having starved for a whole day. The reason is that they got only a short period of time to earn as much as they can. Their routes are typical long, for instance, from Kwun Tong to Tsuen Wan. Should they drive slowly, they cannot do many trips before the rush hours of that day are over.
Tea restaurant and fast food shops cannot increase the customer turnover as customers stay as long as they please. The lunch hours are from 12:30 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. It takes about half an hour for each customer to finish his or her meal. Therefore, the restaurant could possibly have a customer turnover of three times. Their strategy is to boost the sales per customer, by offering super-sized meal set. A big entree comes with a soup and tea or coffee, and sometimes butter bread. The restaurants deliberately boost the meal sizes so that higher meal prices can be justified. They do not do that all day, but only in the rush hours. They have slim and inexpensive tea sets when the shops are quiet.
Most restaurants in Central do not even open for dinner because the business district becomes a ghost town after sunset, except for the pub and fancy restaurants in Lan Kwai Fong and SOHO area. The lunch-hour battles for those restaurants are even tenser.
Yet another solution for the rush-hour problems is to do something productive during the quiet hours, like Fat So does. But not many fixed assets, whether they are motor vehicles or restaurants, can be converted to cater different services day in and day out.
Banks are becoming more flexible to a certain extent. Recently, banks are bolstering their improving services by extending their business hours. In fact, basic banking services are performed during normal office hours. The extra hours during weekends are for their promotion of investment and insurance plans, and nothing else because they understand that people are free to deal with their personal finance at leisure timeonly.
Unlike Fat So, most of us stick to a single job. A survey shows that Hong Kong people works 51 hours long a week. Among jobs taking the longer hours are retail and catering services. i believe the really busy hours for most of those jobs last last than 25 hours a week. Why do people work overtime? 40% of respondents say they stay late to be seen. If only all the bosses in Hong Kong know Fat So and how well she works.
Next time, i will revisit the topic about Octopus cards and how they are helping solve the rush-hour problems.
Nov 21, 2006
Copyright Quamnet
From Tea Restaurants To Taxation To Milk Tea
i like going to Chu Kee, a small tea restaurant down the street of my place. It offers a neat standard "Breakfast A" for $17, including a sunny-side-up egg, sausage and ham, macaroni, toast and coffee or tea. The same package costs $20 in Central. Some back-street take-away counters in the business district match the Chu Kee prices.
i don't know why there are additional charges of $2 for cold drinks, if any reader can help me find the answer. Some say it is for the ice while others say the size per serving is bigger than that of hot drinks. Maybe, the problem lies with me who prefers hot drinks.
Tea restaurant is everywhere and it is a culture so rooted in my mind. i remember how i got amused when i casually ordered a hot lemon coke with ginger in one of the stylish restaurants in the reconstructed Murray Building in Stanley Bay. Well, i caught a cold that day.
The conventional business is full of economic sense. For an additional $2, you'll get a drink. For a further $2, you can change from ordinary noodles to specifically Demae Ramen. For an additional $2, you get this and for additional $1 you get that. Customers are often pleased to accept as they realize that the items if ordered separately cost much higher. The trick is customers tend to value an item on a per-unit basis, while the restaurants value an item on a marginal basis. It seems that local McDonald's has copied this strategy.
People often blame the fierce competition for driving down the prices, as well as the quality of food and services. Are tea restaurants under airtight competition (perfect competition)? Not really.
There are thousands of tea restaurants in the city, offering "Breakfast A" every morning. But they do not compete directly with one another. For an ordinary worker like me, the choices of tea restaurant are quite limited by the route i take from home to the office. There are just half a dozen options available.
Therefore, half a dozen tea restaurants share the market within a community. Those located in the prime district can price food and beverages at a premium. However, to a large extent, the owners of the property housing the restaurants will extract the premium though rents. That's reasonable as the "value" of location belongs to the landlords, but not the tenants. Landlords are often bedeviled as bloodsuckers raising rents ruthlessly and sucking the life of the hardworking restaurant operators. In fact, landlords have problems too.
Believe it or not, the truly fierce competition appears to lie on the competition for retail space. Capital flows freely from one district to another to bid for the most rewarding retail slots to invest, adjusted for risks. Yes, landlords do raise rents as much as they can during good times. However, nobody prays for them during bad times when they suffer losses.
Tea restaurants compete within a district. Property investors compete in a large circle. Who are the ultimate vampires? The government. But it is a benevolent vampire.
The government's expenses exceed 20% of GDP. However, no one is paying more than 16% of income as personal income tax. Most employees pay none. Corporations pay 17.5% of earnings. From these numbers only, people should be very happy with the government's performance. We pay less for much more.
Revenue from land sale closes the gap. By controlling the land supply, the government effectively charges "taxes" to land users. The land users include homeowners, renters, and you having the Hong Kong-style French toast.
In fact, this is not a bad idea for such a taxation structure. This "land" tax is progressive, by which i mean the rich pay more while the poor pay less. Those who live in the mid-level pay the most. And they are happy to pay the land premium while they are playing the bigger fool game, waiting for others to buy their properties at higher prices. Those who cannot afford private housing get public housing. Those who have their breakfasts in Mandarin Oriental in Central pay more "land" tax than i having mine in Chu Kee.
Financial Secretary Henry Tang wages campaigns to push for a sales tax, arguing that Hong Kong needs a broader group of taxpayers. In fact, Hong Kong needs no sales tax. Everyone is paying the "land" tax. Sales tax is regressive and unfair to the poor, as the poor pay more (as a percentage to their income) while the rich pay less.
Any discussion about tea restaurants ignoring milk tea is incomplete. Let me recommend you a tea restaurant brewing the best milk tea in town. It is "Man Kee" located in Yung Shue Wan, Lamma Island. The milk tea there has a kinky mixture of sweetness and salt. i am not sure if it has anything to do with the water they use although tap water there comes from Hong Kong Island. Tofu in Lamma is famous, thanks to the water there. Despite the dear land and locations, a business can have a lot of possibilities beyond those, such as making a good cup of milk tea.
May 11, 2005
Copyright Quamnet
i don't know why there are additional charges of $2 for cold drinks, if any reader can help me find the answer. Some say it is for the ice while others say the size per serving is bigger than that of hot drinks. Maybe, the problem lies with me who prefers hot drinks.
Tea restaurant is everywhere and it is a culture so rooted in my mind. i remember how i got amused when i casually ordered a hot lemon coke with ginger in one of the stylish restaurants in the reconstructed Murray Building in Stanley Bay. Well, i caught a cold that day.
The conventional business is full of economic sense. For an additional $2, you'll get a drink. For a further $2, you can change from ordinary noodles to specifically Demae Ramen. For an additional $2, you get this and for additional $1 you get that. Customers are often pleased to accept as they realize that the items if ordered separately cost much higher. The trick is customers tend to value an item on a per-unit basis, while the restaurants value an item on a marginal basis. It seems that local McDonald's has copied this strategy.
People often blame the fierce competition for driving down the prices, as well as the quality of food and services. Are tea restaurants under airtight competition (perfect competition)? Not really.
There are thousands of tea restaurants in the city, offering "Breakfast A" every morning. But they do not compete directly with one another. For an ordinary worker like me, the choices of tea restaurant are quite limited by the route i take from home to the office. There are just half a dozen options available.
Therefore, half a dozen tea restaurants share the market within a community. Those located in the prime district can price food and beverages at a premium. However, to a large extent, the owners of the property housing the restaurants will extract the premium though rents. That's reasonable as the "value" of location belongs to the landlords, but not the tenants. Landlords are often bedeviled as bloodsuckers raising rents ruthlessly and sucking the life of the hardworking restaurant operators. In fact, landlords have problems too.
Believe it or not, the truly fierce competition appears to lie on the competition for retail space. Capital flows freely from one district to another to bid for the most rewarding retail slots to invest, adjusted for risks. Yes, landlords do raise rents as much as they can during good times. However, nobody prays for them during bad times when they suffer losses.
Tea restaurants compete within a district. Property investors compete in a large circle. Who are the ultimate vampires? The government. But it is a benevolent vampire.
The government's expenses exceed 20% of GDP. However, no one is paying more than 16% of income as personal income tax. Most employees pay none. Corporations pay 17.5% of earnings. From these numbers only, people should be very happy with the government's performance. We pay less for much more.
Revenue from land sale closes the gap. By controlling the land supply, the government effectively charges "taxes" to land users. The land users include homeowners, renters, and you having the Hong Kong-style French toast.
In fact, this is not a bad idea for such a taxation structure. This "land" tax is progressive, by which i mean the rich pay more while the poor pay less. Those who live in the mid-level pay the most. And they are happy to pay the land premium while they are playing the bigger fool game, waiting for others to buy their properties at higher prices. Those who cannot afford private housing get public housing. Those who have their breakfasts in Mandarin Oriental in Central pay more "land" tax than i having mine in Chu Kee.
Financial Secretary Henry Tang wages campaigns to push for a sales tax, arguing that Hong Kong needs a broader group of taxpayers. In fact, Hong Kong needs no sales tax. Everyone is paying the "land" tax. Sales tax is regressive and unfair to the poor, as the poor pay more (as a percentage to their income) while the rich pay less.
Any discussion about tea restaurants ignoring milk tea is incomplete. Let me recommend you a tea restaurant brewing the best milk tea in town. It is "Man Kee" located in Yung Shue Wan, Lamma Island. The milk tea there has a kinky mixture of sweetness and salt. i am not sure if it has anything to do with the water they use although tap water there comes from Hong Kong Island. Tofu in Lamma is famous, thanks to the water there. Despite the dear land and locations, a business can have a lot of possibilities beyond those, such as making a good cup of milk tea.
May 11, 2005
Copyright Quamnet
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