On 18 February 2014, a 33-year-old employee of JPMorgan Chase jumped to his death from the rooftop of the company's 30-storey office building in Hong Kong. This is already the third suicide in three weeks for the financial institution. In January, a 39-year-old Vice President of Corporate and Investment Banking Technology plunged to his death at the bank's 33-storey London … [Read more...]
Finding great bargains in a Chinese New Year fair
We were in Hong Kong during Chinese New Year. Four of us stayed in an hotel's family room overlooking the Victoria Park. The Victoria Park Lunar New Year Fair was just across the road. We decided to pay a visit the next morning. The first visit It was the largest flower market in Hong Kong, with 475 stalls occupying six soccer fields. Besides three rows of … [Read more...]
The common traits of banks
If you understand something about banks, you may notice that they have a few common traits: 1. When you least think of them, they contact you most (with cold calls). 2. When you don’t want to see them, they want to reach you (to collect outstanding loan). 3. When you need them the least, they want to lend you the most. 4. When you need them the most, they want to lend you … [Read more...]
The analogy of a blissful marriage and a good property
Tonight while flipping through the local TV channels in my hotel room somewhere in Taiwan, I came across a variety show with the hosts and guests sharing their views on 'what makes a blissful woman'. The blissful marriage A local celebrity backed her argument with a thought-provoking remark, “女人不是要嫁得到，是要嫁得好。” (What women really want is not to be able to get married, but to … [Read more...]
Can’t afford not having it
We had lunch in a neighborhood shopping mall on Saturday. Although the carpark was already full before 1 p.m., we were surprised too see that there were no queue in front of the restaurants. In fact, the traffic in the shopping mall was just like any non-peak hour on a normal weekday. Where are the rest of the shoppers? While waiting for the food, I went down to the … [Read more...]