28 September 2014, Hong Kong

 Fenwick Pier Street - Police officers stood behind the double yellow line. What exactly were they supposedly defending?   

While the Police was surrounding Tim Mei Avenue and Lung Wui Road, Fenwick Pier Street was surprisingly occupied in the early afternoon. This, as the organisers described, was counter-surrounding. 

Powers of officious bystanders: Harcourt Road in the afternoon 

People donated umbrellas to protesters who were defending pepper spray. 

Queensway in the afternoon

27 September 2014, Lung Wui Road

The line has been drawn. 

Standoff

Can BN(O) vote in the Scotland Referendum?

It is perhaps fair to say that there was no practical benefit to use my BN(O) passport for the trips to Maldives or Singapore, compared with the HKSAR passport held by Mrs. Always Right. Both offer visa-free access and the same conditions of entry. It has been reported that the British embassies and Chinese embassies belong to different leagues but I would not mind these are never put to test. There are visible differences though. The HKSAR passport has a politically correct design: a national emblem of the PRC and the character "hua" on every page. For me this per se makes the renewal of BN(O) a real bargain.

The BN(O) is more than just passport. This, according to section 4B of the British Nationality Act 1981, is a status. Further, under section 37 of the 1981 Act as amended, a British National (Overseas) "shall have the status of a Commonwealth citizen." I had come across stories on the web regarding Commonwealth citizens' right to vote in the UK elections but it was still a pleasant surprise when I discovered that Commonwealth citizens, "who have leave to remain in the UK or do not require such leave", resident in Scotland, can vote in the Scotland referendum. It is not clear to me exactly what "leave to remain" means but there was a Guardian article published in 2010 which suggests that a three-year stay will suffice.

Coincidentally, having lived in Hong Kong for almost 34 years I was recently reminded by the Party that we do not deserve a genuine vote to select the chief of the city. All very well. we can still vote with our feet to travel with our BN(O) passports.

The choice of passport can be a vote of no confidence against Beijing and its puppets in Hong Kong.

British Empire 2: Singapore

On the Singapore Airlines flight from Male to the SIN City. Lion Lager is a product of Ceylon, Tiger Beer of Singapore.

Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple, a Hindu temple

An umbrella inside the Sri Srinivasa Perumal Temple

Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple, reportedly one of the oldest Hindu temple in Singapore, situated at the heart of Little India.

The back of Sri Veeramakaliamman Temple

Above the Tekka Centre is a "HDB estate".

The back of Sultan Mosque, taken from Arab Street

Haji Lane

A quiet man and a quiet cat in the Haji Lane

Yet another No Signboard Seafood Restaurant at Clarke Quay Central, yet another shopping mall in Singapore. The crabs of No Signboard had brought us to Singapore but it turns out that this city-state has a lot more to offer than just crabs.

There Mrs. Always Right ordered a crab from Ceylon.

Supertrees at the Gardens by the Bay

Inside the Sultan Mosque

Watching time fly at the Long Bar, Raffles Hotel

The hot kitchen of Tian Tian Hainanese Chicken Rice, Maxwell Road Hawker Centre, Chinatown

The escalator of Clarke Quay Central, outside GOD Singapore

British Empire 1: Maldives

Seaplane by Maldivian at Male Airport

 Taking off

Barefoot pilot

A seabird's-eye view of yet another atoll(?) in the southern Maldives

 DHC-6 300 in the sky

 Before Sunrise - Maldives

 Sun rising from the Indian Ocean

3,000 miles away from Hong Kong on an obscure island in Maldives, I was presented with a copy of the hotel newspaper. A blunt reminder that there is no escape.

 Beach, palm trees and two ladies

 

Baby shark near the jetty

OCBC Wing Hang

All's well that ends well. Some months ago rumours had it that the Agricultural Bank of China was bidding for the controlling stake in Wing Hang Bank. OCBC has since emerged as the winner. These days, the state-owned banks in Hong Kong embrace the freedom of assembly by encouraging their staff members to turn up at the "anti-occupy Central march". The last thing this city needs is another big PRC bank.

OCBC Bank has a branch in London at Rex Building in the City which offers mortgage loans for property investments in London. I would love to see more competition with Bank of East Asia, HSBC and Shanghai Commercial Bank, which are apparently the the only lenders which offer UK mortgage loans to their Hong Kong customers.

On 18 August, Wing Hang announced that its name would change to OCBC Wing Hang with effect from 1 October. A happy coincidence.

Diversify by Investing in Hang Seng Index

I have been accumulating iShares MSCI China Index ETF for a year or two. While I have wanted to diversify by investing in shares in British companies, the P/E ratio of the Vanguard Developed Europe Index ETF (20.0x) suggests that I should be patient at this time.

The need to diversify remains and on second thought investing in the Hang Seng Index may help a bit. No doubt there is duplication between MSCI China Index and Hang Seng Index (the usual suspects include Tencent, China Mobile, CCB, ICBC and BOC). Yet the following constituents of Hang Seng Index makes it different:-

Finance

HSBC, AIA, HKEX, Hang Seng Bank, Bank of China (Hong Kong) and Bank of East Asia

Utilities

CLP, Hong Kong and China Gas and Power Assets

Properties

Cheung Kong, Sun Hung Kai Properties, Wharf, Hang Lung Properties, Henderson Land, New World Development and Sino Land

Commerce and Industry

Hutchinson, Galaxy Entertainment, Sands China, Swire Pacific, Li & Fung, MTR and Cathay Pacific

Hang Seng Index will bring opportunities to invest in Hong Kong, Macao (through Galaxy and Sands), Asia (AIA) and even the UK (HSBC and Hutchinson). In 2013, 17% of revenue of Hutchinson was generated in the UK (compared with 15% in Hong Kong, 14% in Canada and 12% in China); 23% of EBITDA from the UK, again more than any other countries.

Time to do some math. As at 15 August:-
The price for three board lots (or 600 units) of 2801:HK was $13,200 whereas one board lot (or 500 units) of 2800:HK was $12,875.