Struggling On in Face of Adversity

Yesterday, Gweipo agonised over her own and her son’s struggle with pesky Mandarin. She invited her readers to comment on who or what’s to blame for us foreigners not being able to learn Cantonese and/or →

New Service

Hello, my name is Cecilie (pronounced “Cecilia”) and I’m a China-holic. And Hongkie-holic. I’ve been living here for more than 20 years and speak, read and write Cantonese and Mandarin fluently. More than 20 years →

Cantonese, Beauty, Great Food … all a short bus ride away

Why fiddle around with airport security, hours in taxis to and from airports, being in a place with only other tourists and leaving gigantic carbon footprints every time you go even on a weekend trip →

Today’s Expression: 霧 (including Today’s Weather Condition)

嘩！今日好大霧呀。Wah! Gam yat hou daai mou ah. (“Wow! Today well big fog ah”)  –  My but it’s foggy today. Oh, and if you’re surprised that it’s foggy, you could say: 咦？咁大霧嘅？ Yi? Gam daai mou geh? →

New Feature: Guerrilla Cantonese!!!!

Do you want to learn some survival or day-to-day Cantonese but can’t commit to  regular, weekly sessions because you’re just too damn busy or simply can’t be arsed? Guerrilla Cantonese may be the answer for you. Guerrilla means: →

Today’s Classifier: 個

                                                         四個四川人 – sei go sei chyun yan →

Learn Cantonese the Natural Way –

– from a Norwegian! A glimpse behind the scenes of Happy Jellyfish People’s Democratic Language Bureau:

Joy to the world, my life is complete. For ages I’ve been writing Chinese characters in the worst way invented by man; by typing the words in pinyin, in other words Mandarin, imperialist communist speech-language. →

I just received this from one of my victims, Elise Lefebvre: “Yesterday night, I was invited for dinner at a Chinese friend’s place for what seemed to be the last of the Chinese/lunar new year →

一條路 (Yat tiu lou) (one stick of road.) Well, footpath really, but you get my little driftie. Yeah, I love 條。It’s the classifier for long and thin, bendable or bending things, like a river: 一條河 →

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Who Speaks More English, Hong Kong People Or Belgian People?

Here’s one of my students, let’s call him X, taking the gun off some local on one of our outings to southern China. He’s been studying for a while now and has always done very →

It’s Beer O’Clock But Where Is The Good Beer?

I’m running a series on Facebook called Beer Is Beautiful, largely featuring this woman and her associates. And other people I know. The other day I tried ‘beer is beautiful’ in Cantonese in Honolulu Coffee →

When Life Gets You Down, Shoot A Film

Sometimes I’m tempted to give up the whole Cantonese thing. I mean, what’s the point? The Mando behemoth is going to roll Hong Kong and the Cantonese-speaking world into the ground and pour concrete on →

Completely Lost In A Strange City Without Knowing A Word Of The Language

This is the very first photo I had taken of myself in China (a Chelfie?) in 1988. It was in the then famous silk market, no doubt demolished now, and the guy was probably some →

SUNDAY: I’m Sorry To Say, Chinese and Western Food Cooking Shall Never Meet

Is it racist to say that Chinese people in China aren’t great at making Western food? That is my experience anyway. And that experience is now almost 28 years. Wow! Not that I have eaten →

New Service For All The Hungry People On Lantau – And The World

I must have mentioned once or twice that I cook Sichuan food which I serve on my, I have to say, beautiful roof terrace overlooking the South China Sea? It’s just that recently I’ve been →

Here’s To Technology Although My Phone Is a Nokia From 2006

Although I may seem like a Luddite with my Nokia and my stubborn insistence of having tangible, physical CDs and DVDs, I actually love technology. The whole internet thing; reaching people all over the world →

Breaking: HK Government Official Stuns World With Harebrained Scheme!

This never happens: A former senior town planner with the Hong Kong government has suggested getting rid of a Hong Kong icon! So novel; where do they get these ideas from? This time it’s the →

Chinese Stuff: Only For Chinese?

Chillies, chopsticks, even cha are they only Chinese things, meant for Chinese people? I’ve had this conversation hundreds of times in the mainland and in Hong Kong, but I somehow didn’t expect to have it →

Beer Then Wine, You’ll Be Fine, Wine Then Beer Makes You Queer

everybody knows that. But how about beer, then wine, (Moet Et Chandon, saved since June 7th, thank you Teng and Lok!) then beer, then more beer and some beer? Queer is not a good →

Camels Aweigh!

Camels, what’s not to like? They are haughty but kindly, patient but laconic. They understand human nature, then spit on it.

In Dunhuang, an oasis town between the Gobi and Taklamakan deserts, there are camels galore. Hundreds. We thought that by staying 15 minutes’ walk from where the camels are kept, at the Ming Sha sanddunes, and being there at 5.30AM, we would have a good chance to have some uninterrupted camel riding.

Unfortunately about 3,000 mainland tourists had the same idea. At 5.30 in the morning? It was still dark when we got there, for Christ’s sakes. Yes, I suppose the whole country is on holiday in August so we can’t blame them. Off-season is better, but then how about the melons and grapes? they’ll be off season too! Ah, the eternal conundrum …

I don’t know if you’ve ever sat high up on a camel riding into a huge desert, but I can tell you, it’s a spiritual experience. At least for someone who loves camels and deserts. Up there between the floppy humps, feeling the great back muscles work under the saddle, it’s a time to reflect on life and stuff, especially when the sun sees fit to rise at the same time.

What I got was four teenagers riding in line right behind my camel, screaming at the top of their voices, singing pop songs and talking on their phones. Ahhrghhh, so much for quiet reflection.

There are 8000 visitors a day at the Ming Sha sand dunes in Dunhuang, and if it opens at 5.00 and is already packed by 5.30AM – when is the right time? Maybe in winter? But of course it was worth the money and having my eardrums pierced, just to be on the coolest dudes of the animal kingdom apart from cool dudes: Joe Camel. Without filter.