Hong Kong, 2014

After skipping the INTA conference at Dallas last year, I made a special appearance at International Trade Mark Association Conference (INTA) held in Hong Kong in May. It’s the first time INTA was held in Asia. Over 8500 people attended the event. This does not include those who did not register for the event including myself.

The conference was held at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre. I was here in 2009 to attend the Asian Patents Attorney Conference (APAA).

Those who did not register are not allowed into the conference area. Nevertheless, many fixed their meetings at hotel lobbies such as Renaissance and Grand Hyatt or the cafes in or around the conference area.

I did not fix many meetings. I only met people who I’ve worked with or know quite well. But I was fortunate to meet some friends who made impromptu outings to various receptions around Hong Kong.

I touched down Hong Kong on Thursday and headed straight to my hotel at Wanchai. It’s called the Wharney Guang Dong Hotel. It’s a hotel along the red light district of Wan Chai. There were plenty of Filipino girls and mama-sans by a row of pubs soliciting business.

I had only 4 meetings on my first day of conference. It was actually 5 meetings but I missed the first one cause I forgot to key it into my calender!

My first meeting was at Man Ho Chinese restaurant at JW Marriot. It was a luncheon meeting jointly organised by a Thai and Hong Kong law firm. I guess I got invited because they help me out with some of my trade mark applications. I sat between a Singaporean lady and a Chinese Canadian lady. The latter told me that she forgot to bring her clothes from Canada because she was rushing to the airport. She had to do her shopping upon touchdown!

I had dinner at a place called T Chu at Zen Too. Interesting food. I was invited by a Singapore patent attorney, Chong Yee and his wife. We had dinner with another friend of his and his wife. The former is a partner of Bird & BIrd, an international firm. His wife is a Malaysian. Small world!

Since Umeng is coming to visit me from Macau on Sunday, I set aside a day to meet him and roam around Hong Kong.

I met a friend of his whose mother owns a “Che Chai Mien (Little Cart noodles) restaurant. We took a train to Wong Tai Sin to visit this Little Cart Noodles shop.

It’s located in a residential area surrounded by old apartments. The shop is a few steps away from Sheung Fung Street Market


We had a peek of how the locals live.


The shop, like many other Hong Kong eateries, is small. One has the go through the tight lanes to get a table.


Umeng can’t wait for his food

To get food, one has to line up to choose his or her dishes. We didn’t need to line up. Our friend chose the dishes for us.

Little Cart Noodles is a mixture of all forms of animal “spare parts”. We had chicken feet, cow stomach, coagulated blood. It also has pomelo skin and radish.

It comes with a bowl of noodles.

The taste is interesting. Something I’ve never tried before. Pomelo skin tasted strange. Its texture look like cooked radish but it is soft and has a very distinct taste.

While having our meal, we overheard some people talking about taufufah (taufu) noodles. Although we were pretty full, we dropped by the takeaway eatery that sells this taufufah noodles. I was told that this new eatery is owned by some guys who won a reality TV contest. Those guys pitched the idea of this eatery and won some cash to fund their business.

The sweet gravy, however, overpowered the taste of taufafah. I don’t taste much of it. Noodles are a little bit tough for me.

Umeng and I dropped by Mong Kok to kill time.

We met my friend Erin at Central Station. Since it was Sunday, the place was packed with Filipino ladies and some Bangladeshi men. The ladies were hanging out by the curb and occupied every empty space. Even the stairs were occupied by them.

At one corner, there was a small stage. A small group of Filipino ladies was dancing and singing. Other ladies were cheering and screaming for them.

Erin brought us to Da Verm Climbing Club at Sai Ying Pun. We had to take the tram to get to this place. It rained halfway and all we had was Erin’s umbrella. I actually brought an umbrella all the way from Kuala Lumpur and of all days, I forgot to bring it when it rained heavily!

We had to brave through the rain to get to Da Verm. Da Verm is a small indoor climbing gym. It consists of mainly bouldering walls. The surface of the wall is painted and smooth. Most of the walls are reclined walls thus making it difficult for new climbers. Umeng had to struggle quite a bit. Erin on the other hand was steady because she had been climbing since I started (about 10 years ago!).


Erin


Free chalk!


There’s a small training room in the gym. It has a peg wall. I could only get to one peg! My locking power is still quite weak! It also has a sandbag. It was great punching it again.

Erin, Umeng and I ended the night with a workout set by Erin. It was so tough that we almost gave up halfway!

We had dinner thereafter at Tsim Chai Kee. They are known for their wan tan mee. My three toppings noodles – fish balls, wanton and sliced beef – was tasty.


Umeng stayed over my hotel as he has a meeting in Hong Kong the next morning. Here he said, “I’ll be there in a while, Honey”.

I did not fix many meeting on Tuesday. In fact I had large gap after my 11am meeting. I thought of heading to the hotel for rest but I met Caroline, a Thai lawyer. We met many years ago in one of the many receptions. We had lunch and ended up meeting other lawyers from other countries for drinks and two other receptions. We even had the time to have Godiva ice cream at Queen’s Road East. I find it more enjoyable meeting people on randomly than having fixed meetings. The latter sometimes is too short.

I wanted to meet a Japanese friend, Takeshi, but his schedule was completely full. One thing about Japanese lawyers is that they always have packed schedules. They are extremely systemised. I met one Japanese firm that has a script on what to discuss during meetings.

I managed to squeeze in a meeting with Takeshi at a Korean law firm reception. We were hosted by a Korean lawyer who spoke impeccable nihon-go. She told us that she had studied Japanese in Korea. I was so impressed.

We had one reception at Tott and Roof at Exclesior Hotel overlooking the Victorian Harbour. It was organised by Awapatent, a Swedish intellectual property firm with offices in 13 regional offices. It was founded in 1897 and in 2013, they have EUR 63,2 million in turnover. I was there for a short while before rushing to another meeting.

I had to rush to Admirality train station to meet up with another friend in Conrad Hotel. He brought me up to a lounge on top of the hotel. Great view of Hong Kong as well.

Once again, Nitin, my friend from India, and I met up for dinner and drinks. We dubbed it the India and Malaysia reception. I probably had 3 pints of Guinness. We managed to gather a number of people and even Erin and her friend, Chris, came to join us. We had friends from Hong Kong, Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia. We’ll probably make this a yearly event! We lasted until 1:30-am before heading home.


This is a reception held by Kangxin, a Chinese firm held at The Hong Kong Jockey Club Happy Valley Racecourse. I visited some friends from Kangxin when I was in Beijing. I was put on a table with some lawyers from Korea and Israel. Interestingly, my Israeli friend was a tennis champion of Israel during his younger days.

Halfway through the dinner, the firm held a contest where each table had to guess the winning horses. They then showed a pre-recorded horse race and the winner is based on the result of the pre-recorded race. We didn’t win of course.

I left Hong Kong a day earlier. Getting to the airport was a breeze. I only need take a train to Central and then another train to the airport. I’m glad I made a trip to Hong Kong.

Next INTA, San Diego!

Hong Kong 2013: One Day Trip

We stopped by Hong Kong for a day to shop and eat. I took the opportunity to meet some business associates.

We took a ferry from Macau to Hong Kong. We had to bring our passport to get into Hong Kong. Although the trip to Macau is only an hour, I was seasick. I find it rather strange as I once survived a 8 hour grueling boat ride to Tioman (and terribly seasick too).

I am told that one should look at the horizon if one is seasick. However, all the windows were covered! However, I slept throughout our journey from Hong Kong back to Macau. I didn’t feel a thing.

We had dim sum for lunch at Lin Heung Tea House. I’ve never eaten dim sum in Hong Kong. My first time was interesting.

In Lin Heung, you must first fight for your seat. Then you must fight for the waiter’s attention to clean the mess left by the previous customer and for him to serve you drinks.

Once you win those battles, you have to enter the war against the other customers for your dimsum. The dim sum cart doesn’t come to you but you need to hunt them down to grab your dish. Some of the dim sum cart ladies were pushing the cart while I was choosing my dish. I felt like a refugee hunting down a lorry with food.

But I must say that food was good.


Awesome Ma Lai Kou

After lunch, I met two Hong Kong Intellectual Property lawyers to catch up with them. One is a partner of an international law firm whereas one just joined a newly established law firm as a partner. The former’s office is located at Central with numerous floors. Their reception has a few receptionists. It reminded me of another law firm in the UK. No doubt it was grand. We had a quick chat at a cafe below his office.

The latter’s office does not have a reception. I walked straight into their meeting room. In fact, the latter’s office is a paperless and open space office. They do not have receptionists or secretaries. But they do have junior lawyers and paralegals. Work from the western countries still flows into Hong Kong and this include subject matters arising in or relating to China notwithstanding that Hong Kong lawyers cannot practice in China unless they are PRC qualified. However, not all foreign law firms in China are profitable. I am told that many such firms are running at a loss.

Hong Kong Law Society abolished scale fees many years back and I am told that it affected conveyancing lawyers quite badly. Scale fee for trade mark registrations will soon be abolished too.

I’ve told many young lawyer, especially during my seminars with them, that they should move away from conveyancing as their main focus. Eventually one day the Bar Council will abolish scale fees and probably liberalise the conveyancing practice to non-lawyers. Lawyers with no other skills other than conveyancing will have a hard time surviving.

It rained the whole evening in Hong Kong. We got conned into buying a lousy HKD20 umbrella.

We had dinner at a highly recommended place called Tai Ping Koon. It was packed with people. We ordered fried beef noodles, roasted chicken and Portuguese chicken. The bill came up to 500+ HKD. LEI LOU MOU.

The chicken must have been fed with diamond and water from an extinct mountain and cooked with a gold work.


Cute baby seeking attention

I guess Hong Kong isn’t one of my favourite places on Earth. I have a conference here next year. No more Tai Ping Koon for me!

Wing Wah Noodle Shop @ Wan Chai, Hong Kong

[Last entry on Hong Kong!]

Throughout my stay in Hong Kong, it was almost hotel food from morning till night. Fortunately, on my last day, I managed to venture out to try all those yummy Hong Kong food everyone has been talking about.

Wing Wah Noodle Shop was a place that my colleague and I found by chance. We were walking along Hennessy Road in Wan Chai to look for food when we saw Wing Wah. It had newspaper cutting featuring their restaurant at their front door hence we thought this place would be good.

There was also a small article outside the restaurant saying that Wing Wah is listed as one of the Hong Kong Michelin Guide Budget Restaurant for 2009 for their culinary expertise in noodles and desserts. It was definitely worth a try.

I ordered a bowl of dried beef Wan Tan Mee while my colleague ordered the roasted pork dried Wan Tan Mee. Although called ‘dried’ noodles, it came in a small bowl filled with soup. It was small like McDonald’s Kid’s Happy Meal!

Nevertheless, the meal was tasty. The noodles was springy and the soup was unique. No wonder they were voted one of the best.

Also, if you’re around the area, drop by Aida Food Stall to try their Kai Tan Peng (literally means Egg Biscuits). Hard from the outside but soft in the inside.

However, you may want to avoid other foodstuff there. Read some reviews and they say that Ada’s food sucked.

Also not forgetting a stall nearby selling good egg tarts!

Map

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Address
Wing Wah Noodle Shop (永华面家)
G/F 89 Hennessy Road
Wan Chai, Hong Kong
Tel: 2527 7476
(Within walking distance from Wan Chai train station)
Opening Hour: 10:00am -11:00pm

Related Links
Tasting Hong Kong – Wing Wah Noodle Shop

Hutong @ Peking Road, Tsim Tsa Tsui, Hong Kong

Hutong is a high end restaurant which has an excellent view of the Hong Kong Harbour. In fact, Hutong earned its first Michelin star in the Michelin Guide for Hong Kong and Macau.

Price is extremely steep. When we were there, we were told that there is a minimum charge of HKD1000 for a seat by the window.

We ordered their signature Crispy De-Boned Lamb Rib, spicy Sze Chuan soft shell crab and tofu.


The lamb rib came on top of a block of wood. Very yummy, comes with a crispy skin.


Spicy Sze Chuan crab came in a basket full of Sze Chuan chilli with soft shell crab hidden amongst the sea of chilli. We had to dig through the chilli to find the soft shell crabs. It was so spicy that I had tears whenever I finish a piece.

3 dishes weren’t enough to fulfill the HKD1000 quota hence we ordered dessert. I ordered a mango pudding which came in the shape of a koi fish. It tasted really good!

This is a good place to bring your clients or to impress someone. Spaces are limited hence make sure you make a booking before going there.

Address

1 Peking Road, Tsim Sha Tsui, Hong Kong
Phone: (852) 3428 8342

Map


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Asian Patents Attorney Association Council Meeting @ Hong Kong, 2009 – Overview

My trip to Hong Kong for the Asian Patents Attorney Association Council Meeting (“APAA”) was fruitful but very tiring. It was held in the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre at Wan Chai.


The road I take to get to the Convention centre everyday. Just 5 minutes walk from my hotel.

A little bit a background of this conference. This yearly conference is basically a meeting for Asian patent attorneys and this year had the record number of participants. 1400 patent attorneys and other professionals of related field attended this 5 days event. There were also other participants outside Asia e.g Europe, US and Africa.

Throughout the entire conference, talks and sub committee meetings were organised by the conference organiser. Although there are many talks and conferences, not many participants attend the them. The ultimate aim for most participants is to network. Through networking, participants may cross refer their work to other participants. For example, a Japanese patent attorney wishes to file a patent in Malaysia would need to seek a Malaysian patent agent to file the patent. With a connection established, the Japanese patent attorney may refer the work to the Malaysian patent attorney.

A typical day for me would start at 9am and would last till 12am. There were times I slept at 2am to do work and wake up at 8 – 9am for meeting. On my last day, I slept at 4am and woke few hours later for a 11am meeting. I was zombified.


Loot for this year. The amount of name cards obtained.


Conference area

However, our schedule was not as hectic as one Japanese firm. They had 13 meetings in a day starting from 9am until 530pm! Thereafter, they went for night receptions until wee hours in the morning!

I stayed in a hotel called Harbourview. It was the most affordable hotel in the list of participating conference hotels.


Looks impressive huh? Check out the view.

Although named Harbourview, my room doesn’t have any view of the harbour. All I had was an office building and a strip of light.


zoomgg the strip of lighttt.. soo beautifullll

Further, on my first night, I woke up in the middle of the night to find the TV turned on by itself -_- Thank god nothing spooky happened after that.

The conference ended with a Gala dinner at the Hong Kong Exhibition and Convention Centre. After the dinner, we adjourned to Lam Kwai Fong for drinks. I was there until 330am and woke up for a 11am meeting few hours later. uuhh..

We had some time for ourselves on our last day. However, I don’t have any friends in Hong Kong thus I didn’t have a place to go. I decided to follow my colleague to Wong Tai Sin Temple, a Taoist temple established in 1921 and also one of the most famous temples in Hong Kong. Those who know me well, I am not very eeer.. religious. In fact, I am agnostic.

There were some old ladies selling joss sticks and other praying materials at the train station. However, other than the joss sticks, other praying materials are not allowed to be brought into the temple.

We dropped by Wong Kok after the temple visit. However, we got lost and ended up at one street selling renovation materials and also offering renovation services. It was extremely boring. We passed by some markets as well. We didnt get to see the well known Lui Yan Kai and Poh Hai Kai.

In regards to food, I didn’t get to try most of the local stuff. I spent most of my time eating hotel food. I didn’t have the chance to explore many places for good Hong Kong food. Hotel food is really expensive. Grand Hyatt Hotel was serving Hainanese chicken rice for HKD200 (around RM100!). Nevertheless, I did get to try a few nice things which I will blog later.


Chocolates that I bought from Hong Kong! Gave 99% of them away.

More later!