Facelift consultation

I had a colleague who used to say: "Give me your honest opinion" when what he really meant was: "Tell me how wonderful I am."

Government consultations in Hong Kong always feel like that. The organisers don't really want to hear your honest opinion; they want you to tell them how good their plans are.

At today's public consultation on Mui Wo's facelift, they spread out all these print-outs in glorious colour and basically wanted to know (a) or (b). It was like a multiple-choice exam in school – which one of our amazing ideas do you think is more amazing? They didn't want an essay on what Mui Wo people really thought.

People were asking: "Why are you 'beautifying' the bit of Mui Wo that has already had a facelife rather than do real facelifts on the ugly bits – ie everything to the left of the ferry pier like the lorry park and... oh yes, the town itself."

The answer: "Oh this is Phase I." A Phase I that seems to have gone on for five years while everywhere else falls into disrepair.

After half an hour, I left. I had more effective ways to spend my Saturday afternoon... such as hang out the clothes and update this blog.

Buffalo Wilbur, bless his cotton socks, is soldiering on and hoping to make a difference.

Mui Wo beautification project

Ooooo, looks like the beautification project that has been so long in the works it was beginning to resemble a mirage is on the way. Hope beautification doesn't equal concretisation, as it does in many parts of Hong Kong.

Here's the government announcement:

Tai O heritage hotel to open

November 09, 2011

A heritage boutique hotel converted from the Old Tai O Police Station will open by year's end, Secretary for Commerce & Economic Development Gregory So says.

Preserving the colonial architectural features and highlighting the history of Tai O, including the Old Tai O Police Station, the hotel will be an ideal attraction to local and overseas visitors, he told legislators today.

Besides the Tai O hotel, three new themed areas of Hong Kong Disneyland are due to be completed by 2013, with the first one, Toy Story Land, to open later this month.

The Civil Engineering & Development Department is conducting improvement works in Tai O in phases, and is embarking on the detailed design for a project to beautify Mui Wo. A new hotel with convention facilities in Discovery Bay will start operation in mid-2012.

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There is a 2006 document detailing what the Islands District Planning Office is proposing - the relocation of the lorry park and setting up seafood restaurants instead of the cooked food centre among them.

Wonder how much of it is real and how much is just a castle-in-the-air thing.

Making a splash

I got up with a enormous urge to plunge and submerge myself in cool, cool water so I roused Buffalo Wilbur and persuaded him to brave the Mui Wo public swimming pool.

We keep passing the pool and saying we'd go there one day but have been put off by reports about how packed it is all the time and how dirty the water is as a result.

The days of hot weather, however, made the prospect of a swim so inviting.

We were in luck (or out of it, depending on how you see it). It's free entry day today so we saved ourselves HK$20 each.

But that also meant a really crowded pool with kids zig zagging all over the place and adults hogging the lap lane to just soak and catch up with village gossip.

The pool was nice enough – nowhere near Olympic size though – and it had the one requirement I always ask of a pool: it was 1.25m at the deepest end so the water was never over my head.

If the temperature continues to climb, I'd probably go there again. But never on a free-entry day.

Is there a doctor in the house?

Before we moved to Mui Wo, we asked a friend who had lived in the area for 20-odd years: "Which doctor do you see if you fall ill?" He replied: "I try not to get sick."

Mui Wo has a lot of amenities but, astonishingly given the big expat population with private health insurance, it doesn't have a full-time private clinic. There is a Dr Alex Kwok (Tel: 2984-7530), but the last time we checked out his opening hours, it was something weird like 5pm to 8pm. And given how pissy Hong Kong companies are about getting that sick note, you can't afford to wait till the working day is almost over before you can try for one.

The only other private clinics are in Tung Chung (a long winding road away – not an option when you're feeling sick and nauseous) or Discovery Bay (a half-hour ferry ride away – again, not ideal when you're running a high fever and just want to get a doctor's visit over and done with).

There is another option: the Mui Wo government clinic (Tel: 2984-2080).

So the other day, when I was feeling like someone had whacked me over with a ton of bricks with the words "cold" all over them, I opted for that. It was a mere five minutes' walk away and I could be there and back in my nice warm bed in an hour, tops.

How wrong I was. I was there at 8.30am for registration and was told to queue up in the marked chairs. When the counter opened 15 minutes later, I shuffled forward to get my number. WTF?? I was No 36 and my appointment time: 11.15am.

The nurse saw my crestfallen appearance and advised me to go home and come back again at 11am. So I took my aching bones home, called the office and told them I might (but only might) not be able to go in to work. I wouldn't know for sure till I saw the doctor two hours later. There were sniffs of disbelief on the other line... so long before seeing a doctor?!

Anyway, I was there and waiting for my appointment at 10.45am. In that time, the numbers had hardly moved. It was just No 18. A long wait ahead. But by then I was committed so I hung on.

It didn't help that the clinic was full of inhabitants from the old folks home nearby. Each one took an excruciating amount of time to hobble to the door when their number was called. Another number, another surprised look, a fumble for all the plastic bags around them, shuffle, shuffle... the queue to hell couldn't move any slower.

By the time my number came, it was 12.30pm. Half a day had gone by – which the company would have deducted from my salary had I not been able to get a sick note from the doctor. By the time my time came, I was sick, not just from the virus but from apprehension. Thankfully I got my medical certificate and could go home and rest.

The staff were nice and the young doctor was knowledgeable. But next time I think I'll just catch the taxi to Tung Chung for the excellent Human Health clinic there.

Or try not to get sick.