Global Sources has kicked off the 2016 spring show season with the Global Sources Electronics Show on 11^th April 2016. With tens of thousands show visitors in town, it’s only fit to compile a list of cool places to feed those empty stomachs and quench thirst after long days at the fairs. So we’ve put together a list of best 26 for trade shows, ranging from cheap and cheerful to high end splurges. Mostly located around Central and Wanchai – where many of the shows are. Enjoy!

Dim Sum 

First stop, dim sums! No visit to Hong Kong can be complete without digging chopsticks into those wonderful things.

1. Lung King Heen – World’s first 3 Michelin starred Chinese restaurant, best dim sum in Hong Kong. Lunches provide more value at about HKD 300-400 per head. Remember to book ahead.

Lung King Heen – Daniel Food Diary

2. Fu Sing in Wanchai has the best BBQ pork in Hong Kong, sweet, succulent, simply delicious. Their dim sum is very fine also.
3. Tim Ho Wan – Michelin star dim sum chains, now expanded internationally to Singapore and Sydney. Cheap and cheerful – get your stomach filled with those crispy pork buns and prawn dumpling (har gow). International Finance Center’s outlet is on your way to the airport express, it is perpetually filled with people. Worth the wait! 

   
   Chinese

4. Peking Garden is a chain restaurant under Maxim Concepts, it has various outlets around Hong Kong. Their Peking duck is a treat and the chefs will slice the skin off the duck right in front of you. Fun!

Peking Duck at Peking Garden – SCMP

5. Mott 32, nested inside a former bank vault, Mott 32 is part of the highly successful Maximal Concepts Group – trendy and awesome food and presentation. Popular spot, hard to book table usually. A bit higher priced, about HKD 500-800 per head for dinner, but well worth it.
   

Mott 32 – Inhabitat

6. Spicy Sichuan at San Xi Lou – this was my comfort food back during those long nights in the office as a banker. Great spicy food, the boiled fish covered in chillie and peppercorn is delicious and tender. San Xi Lou also does great hot pot (boil food in a pot filled with delicious soup base).
7. Hee Kee under the bridge chilly crab (Wanchai)
8. Ho Lee Fook – another one of my favorite hip Chinese joints, funky, loud, fun, intense experience. Great food, come with an open mind and strong appetite.

Ho Lee Fook – Hungry Hong Kong

Other Cuisines

9. Yardbird – Fun atmosphere, really good Japanese yakitori, no booking so have a drink while you wait and people watch.

Vegetarian

10. Pure Veggie House – Voted the best Chinese Vegetarian restaurant on Tripadvisor. This is my favorite haunt when I want to eat light. Actually took a couple of Vegan friends in town for the show there this week and they absolutely loved it. Loved the delicious taste and exquisite presentation!

Pure Veggie House – A Foodie World

Splurge

11. Robuchon – Best French in Hong Kong. Period.
12. 8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo – Best Italian in Hong Kong. Great cocktails!

Brunch

13. Zuma – Japanese fusion with flows of champagne. The food feast and alcohol is very fun. Go with a bigger group and enjoy an entire afternoon in decadence.
14. Hutong – Amazing panoramic view of Hong Kong island. Enjoy the tasty Chinese buffet lunch and special live performance. Quite an experience to chill and unwind. Tsim Sha Tsui 

Drinks in Tsim Sha Tsui

15. Aqua – Breathtaking view of Hong Kong island

View of Hong Kong island at Aqua – Day by Day

16. Peninsula’s The Bar – Remember to go to the toilet and check out, worth it for just that.
    

Bars in Central
Lan Kwai Fong is where the Actions are at After Dinner

17. Stockton – Hidden, swanky, the place to go for whisky. Usually packed after 11pm.

Stockton – Asia Bars

18. Azure – Open patio, touristy spot for view, great overview of central area
19. On – Outdoor terrace, great cheese and wine and cocktail selection.

Clubbing 

20. Tazmania Ballroom – Fun club with some big ping pong tables. Hip hop. (Central)
21. Dragon I – Models night. Hip hop and techno (Central)

If you got at least half a day to unwind,
you can also consider visiting the following:

22. Lie down on Stanley beach on south side of the Hong Kong island. (South Side)
23. Lamma Island – Rainbow Restaurant. 45 minutes on the Ferry from International Finance Centre
24. Catch the tram from Admiralty to the peak, fun old school experience. (Central)
25. Hatton road hike up to the Victoria Peak – from the entrance of Hong Kong University you can hike up to the peak. It takes about one hour and really is an easy stroll on cement. There is pretty view of the city’s skyline on the way up and plenty of food selections at the top. (Central)

Twins Peak (HKFiles)

26. Hardcore hikers should check out the Twin Peaks, comprising of lots of steps with endless rolling hills in sight. You are rewarded with incredible views of the south side of the island on the way down. The hike takes about 2-3 hours. (South side)

I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a line at chucklingeveryday@gmail.com

By far one of the weirdest and most uncomfortable things I’ve ever done was also incredible and propelled me onto a whole new level of courage and fearlessness. You see, for someone grown up in a Chinese family as an introverted child, trained as a banker laser-focused on the bottomline, I was never really interested in doing anything without the probability of a high ROI (return on investment) for my time and effort. So, weird, crazy, strange as it seemed to do this, even to the me from merely four year ago, I was left truly empowered by this experience. There simply isn’t enough love and energy out there, so I write this to commemorate and share with you, this day I baby-stepped outside of my comfort zone: Random Huggers Day Hong Kong, a day I will never forget. For, everything I want is outside of my comfort zone. So I want to transform and pass on the energy.

So Random Huggers Day was started 13 years ago in London and has since expanded globally.

On September 22, 2012, 13 of us went around Central to give free hugs, and a free sticker afterwards.

I hugged about 70-80 people after 2.5 hours.

In the beginning we were on the IFC walkway, grounds I treaded on daily to and from work. Knowing at the back of my mind I’d run into people I know, I felt embarrassed and uncomfortable when many people saw us from afar and walked away, while my buddy the tall, “crazy out there” German scientist, Frank was highly energetic and unflappable. I was mentally hindered. My mind was full of thoughts that were like cars on a highway, ‘why am I doing this’, ‘this is so pointless’, ‘why are people are so cold’ etc etc… After 20 minutes I thought okay I’ve had enough of this “I’m scared of looking bad when people reject me” and stormed off to the bathroom. After about 5 minutes in the IFC bathroom practicing my smile (yes sure there were people lining up looking at me weird but i was pretty oblivious and determined to do this ‘right’) during which my buddy was no doubt wondering what on earth I was doing. I felt energized, and positively ready to go.

First stop, Pret in IFC. This one I shall call Rock the House Hugs – I was paying for the juices when the Hong Konger shop assistant behind the pret counter was looking at my tee shirt. I proceeded to give him a hug across the counter after I offered and he said sure. Then the others behind the counter also wanted hugs. So Frank and I went around the side and gave hugs to a few more Pret staff who all came out of the counter area. Energy in the whole shop was lifted just in that instant. No doubt the customers were wondering what on earth was going on. ;)

Soon afterwards we were kicked out of IFC onto the IFC walkway for we were ‘doing some promotional activities’ whatever that means, followed by some interesting observations:

The overwhelming realisation F and I got were that people are so unrelated to and scared of each other. So many people strutted around wearing earphones, I must admit I’m usually a culprit myself, although truth be told in noisy Central or pretty much anywhere in urban HK how clearly you can hear whatever it is you are listening to, is anyone’s guess.

– Some people don’t hear you properly and automatically walk away and say no no. I’m just like that on the weekends I must admit. Time to let that fear of relating to people go, I told myself.
– People (myself included) are so sceptical and cynical and automatically suspect everything is fishy that we want no part of – “how much you want” we got asked a few times even when we assured them it was all free
– Some people say “I’m fine thanks I don’t need a hug”. You see that word I have come to resent in past few years. In fact I get angry when I hear it. Fine. Life’s not great, not extraordinary, but ‘fine’. Complacency? Dream big, dream extraordinary, dream weird even, don’t ever settle for fine. Cos fine, is what stops you from being great, from being extraordinary
– Surprisingly westerners we encountered that day were more scared of us vs Hong Kongers and most hurried along or avoided us like a plague. No worries, after this and my mental transformation I’ve come to realise there is no need to take things personally, EVER.
– Sometimes people make anything up to get out of situations they fear of – I was most amused by an older Hong Kong man who I approached with my very broken Cantonese – today’s free hugs day, would you like a free hug? He said no no I don’t know. I pressed on and said “really? but do you know how to hug?” He said ‘no no I don’t know’ as he hurried away. Lol

Then there were some funny ones:

– Most Hong kong guys only want same gender hugs (ditto for their girlfriends or wives), as a result I got to hug my disproportionately high amount of female counterparts, as the boyfriends/hubbies no doubt didn’t want their partners ‘harassed’ by a “weird looking” German
– I learned how to switch channels very rapidly between mando, canto and English, sometimes the other person spoke ‘I don’t know’ in mandarin in which case I had to switch rapidly. We managed to capture some ‘extra business’ from many mainland tourists and some photo opps which Freaking Funny Frank needed some of my language ability to generate (*grin* with a proud look)
– Right in the middle of Queen’s Road Central, when some People (mostly girls, and from out of town) would gush ‘aww it’s random huggers day’. And here I truly need to thank my piano teacher for those sensitive ears where I’d do a swift turn and skipped and hopped towards them and jumped while I shouted ‘tadaaaaa! yes would you like a free hug? Yes! You do I know it’! And we hugged and it was happily ever after
– Some of the people were so stiff and paralysed when I hugged them, as if they were about to be hugged by a vampire (O.o I promise I’m not, rahhhh)
– Some volunteered their little kids who were pretty lost as to what was going on and just extended their arms and stood there as I bent down to hug them. So cute. Sniff.

And then there were moments that left me truly moved, touched and inspired.
The pregnant lady – in the middle of Queen’s Road Central opposite M&S, I saw hordes of people (about 25-30) walking towards me all at once and I approached an Asian woman who was about 5-6 months pregnant. I said, it’s free hugs day today, would you like a free hug? She said yeah why not and we had a big hearty hug. I then hugged her husband next. He then said you know you actually hugged two people just now, including the little one in her belly. I was very moved, touched and inspired. (*teary*)

There was also a gweilo couple – I hugged the woman first, and then the man said he didn’t need a hug as he then proceeded to hug his lady. Awwww how sweet was that?!

My partner in crime and I managed to expand our repertoire by the end of that.
Security guards
Ladies holding the signages pointing to shops
Flyer distributors
Real estate agents
Elderly ladies collecting donations
Tourists (from Korea/Philippines/Taiwan/China/America)
Helpers, in fact all of Statue Square had a sticker thanks to efforts of our awesome crew

People who I never used to pay attention to, or avoided even. Yet, these are the exact people who make this city function properly.

It just felt so truly liberating to do things just cos. No agenda, no catch, but just to give, and not expecting anything in return. The energy of abundance really works – the more you give, the more you get and the more you have.

Personally it has somewhat helped me overcome my inability to look at people while I speak to them. And really to be with them. Sometimes people hesitate and when you persist, they end up giving the warmest hugs. You just never know.

Everything you want is outside your comfort zone. For that one tiny step outside of my comfort zone yesterday, I got so much. I learned so much. About myself and about the world. And the truly amazing people I was with on this day.

At the end of every article, I will put out a little CTA (call to action) to you. The CTA for this one – get out there today, and do just one thing that isn’t the ‘norm’ for you and makes you uncomfortable, be it say hi to someone who steps in the elevator, or maybe message the guy / gal you fancy, ANYTHING. Mind you, your intellect may be screaming for you to stop because it ‘is stupid’, ‘make you look bad’ or whatever the reason, but just push on and go do something you’ve always wanted to but never did. Everything you want is outside of your comfort zone, because If it’s something inside the comfort zone, you probably already have it.

Photo courtesy of startofhappiness.com

I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a line at chucklingeveryday@gmail.com

Graduate of Stanford Law, cofounded PayPal, sold it to Ebay for $1.5 billion, and then went on to establish Palantir Technology, one of the most valuable privately owned tech company with an estimated valuation of $15 billion. So when Peter Thiel talks about technology, you want to listen to what he has to say. So on the stormy afternoon of 23 May, I joined the Thiel talk along with 500 enthusiastic audiences. Here are 7 things I learned from him that day (most of the points are captured in his popular book Zero to One):

1.  Avoid Madness of the Crowd

When Thiel graduated from Stanford Law years ago, the largest cohort of people went to do the hottest thing. Today, chasing the hottest thing is still prevalent among MBA graduates at the end of their two-year program. He dubs this the “madness of the crowd”. Similarly, in business, he says the standard approach for companies is to go after big and competitive markets because subconsciously humans find competition reassuring and we even think of those who aren’t competitive enough as losers. But according to Thiel, competitions are for losers. Avoid madness of the crowd, go where no one else is going.

2.  Being the Big Fish in a Small Pond is better than Small Fish in a Big Pond

All happy companies are different, but all unhappy companies fail to escape competition. Thiel’s advice is to aim for monopoly in a small niche: failed companies tend to be ones that face too much competition. Facebook was able to go from zero to 60% market share within 60 days because initially it was only targeting the 12,000 students at Harvard.

At the other end of the spectrum is being a small fish in a big market, the logic is that since the market size is so huge, even retaining a 1% market share is big enough. Most of the companies that went after “a small market share” in the multibillion clean tech market failed exactly because the competition was way too fierce. So go after large share in a small market, rather than a small share in a giant market.

3.  The Big Fish don’t Admit that they are Big

Monopoly in a niche market is rarely understood for the simple reason that monopolies themselves do not talk about it. For example, rather than acknowledging its dominance in search (as of May 2014 Google owned 68% of the search market vs 19% and 10% for Microsoft and Yahoo! respectively) which is probably as prevalent as the one Microsoft had on operating systems in the 90s and 2000s if not more, Google would downplay its influence and instead claim it is a small player in the huge technology and advertising market in which it owns only <0.3% and 3.4% respectively.

4.  Last Mover Advantage

Successful companies such as Facebook and Google were not the first companies in social networking or searches. Yet over time they flourished because of their respective key differentiations – Google was known for its machine-powered search while Facebook was the first to crack real identity. The critical difference between them and those who struggle is durability.

By definition, a company’s value is the aggregate of the present value of its future cash flows. According to Thiel, tech companies are counterintuitive in that they are often loss making initially with the bulk of cash inflow projected to come in much later. This model of delayed revenue is due to the fact that it takes time to build a valuable business. Most tech companies’ values are derived from cash flow revenue at least 10-15 years away. For instance, in March 2001, he found out from a discounted cash flow analysis that 75% of PayPal’s present value would come from 2011 and beyond. Therefore, the crucial question will be whether or not the business is durable enough to last the time frame.

5.  Build it Lean and have a Plan

Identify a niche, narrow the focus down to a category and then build a “lean” startup (read: flexible). But one should still have a plan, because having a plan is better than no plan at all. Once that’s in place, continue to iterate and improve the model. This way the business has a higher chance of survival than just “wing it” aka figure it out as you go along.

6.  Thiel on Asia and China

According to Thiel, the competitive advantage Asia has is its hardworking people, while the challenge lies in its hyper competitiveness and the speed at which ideas can get copied. So the critical issue lies in the two time frames – T1, the time at which it takes you to dominate the market vs T2, the time that it takes for someone to copy you. Making sure T1 is less than T2 is key. As for China, a country that has experienced more globalization than any others, Thiel says one needs to look at China beyond its GDP numbers – how much longer China can continue to innovate will be important.

7.  A Charismatic Founder is Important

Companies that are still founder-led such as Amazon and Google are doing better than others and have a more bullish outlook. On the other hand, companies led by professional managers tend not to be as effective in resource allocation. For example, according to Thiel, publicly listed companies may be more inclined to use cash for share buybacks or treasury bills than breakthrough technologies.

I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a line at chucklingeveryday@gmail.com

By Qing Yuan Zhou

Two large technology events, the Silicon Dragon and the Digital Entrepreneurship Leadership Forum (DELF) took place in Cyberport last week (April 2015), with a few hundred industry participants attending. Over and over, the same two themes emerged. First, whether you like it or not, the next wave of innovation (dubbed digital tsunami 2.0) is upon us, and we need to embrace it. And second, the time to act is now.

If the 2000s saw the digital tsunami 1.0, then Digital tsunami 2.0, the next big wave of innovation, is definitely here. Half the planet will be connected by 2020, with 4 billion smart phones, 1 billion connected homes, 50 billion connected devices and 100 million connected cars. But why is it important to stay on top it version 2.0? 80% of the world’s 100 largest companies will not be on the list in 30 years. The critical question is how can you stay relevant? How can you make hugely profitable businesses that cater to the current generation of fickle customers who have too many choices at their disposal?

Here are six major themes from both events that can help you stay on top:

1. Large corporations in APAC are not at all prepared for the next wave

As Singapore based venture capitalist Roger Sharp put it in his opening at DELF, a study that looked at 800 directors of the top 20 listed companies in Hong Kong, Singapore and Australia found that only less than 10% has experience or previous exposure to technology. What’s more, if you take out the telecom companies, that figure drops to less than 5%. Are large corporations in APAC ill prepared for the new era? You bet.

2.  Technology is destroying jobs faster than it is creating them in advanced economies

According to Sharp, the early 2000s saw many industries disrupted, affecting billions of profits and countless jobs. The conventional travel agency model for instance, has been significantly impacted, with nearly half of global flight transactions booked online today. The way we listen to music has never been the same ever since Apple introduced the Ipod and many people’s favorite pastime – retail therapy, has since seen tremendous pressure to adapt and adopt ecommerce.

A rather poignant example Sharp used is the newspaper industry – a prominent Australian newspaper group that once dominated the highly lucrative classifieds market such as real estate, jobs and automobiles now is dwarfed in size (2.5 billion US dollars) compared to the e-businesses of those classifieds combined which is multiple times that size. The truth is, technology is destroying jobs faster than it is creating them in advanced economies. Here is a look at where the future might lie for various industries and see where your future may lie. The size of the circle reflects the amount of jobs gained or lost. Renewables & environment, internet and online publishing are the three areas that see the biggest growth while newspapers, restaurants and retail segments will see significant shrinkage in job opportunities.

So what are the “next big things”?

Giant markets will be created in the near future, and the biggest among them would be the $300 billion sharing economy, the $200 billion cloud technology market as well as the $100 billion big data market. A phenomenon worth noting is peer to peer (P2P) lending. Hong Kong based company WeLab, aims to disrupt traditional credit services. Founded in 2013, WeLab has facilitated close to a billion HK dollars in loans through its flagship platform WeLend. According to Simon Loong, founder and CEO of WeLab, the vision is to democratize access to financing and improve the efficiency of the lending process, shortening the time required for the application processing time from a few days at the banks down to a matter of minutes through its big data-rich high tech platform. P2P lending has huge potential, with its US counterpart Lending Club facilitating 4.4 billion US dollars in 2014 alone. Welend closed Series A funding from top investors such as Li Ka Shing and Sequoia Capital in early 2015 and will use the money to expand into China. With the country’s huge potential due to population and unfulfilled loan needs, P2P lending is a space worth watching.

4.  Sharing economy – sharing is caring and it is here to stay

Uber and Airbnb have disrupted the way we use transportation and accommodation. The sharing economy provides a system that allows people to share underutilized assets in their possession with others who are willing to pay to use it. Both Uber and Airbnb entered Asia at roughly the same time, and have seen explosive growth since.

According to Henek Lo, Airbnb’s Head of China Expansion, 76% of Airbnb listings around the world are located outside traditional hotel districts. This allows travelers to experience living like a local by skipping conventional “tourist spots” frequented by hotel patrons and benefit businesses surrounding the Airbnb listed properties. Nearly half of Airbnb’s hosts need the income from Airbnb to help pay bills while its guests also tend to stay longer (5 nights on average, longer than the typical tourist’s 2.8 nights). As Lo put it, right now is only “Day 2 of the sharing economy” and it is only going to get bigger.

5.  Which geographies should you have a presence in?

China and India are the most important markets technology companies should be targeting, according to speakers at the Silicon Dragon. Candice Lo, Uber’s Head of Greater China expansion, revealed China and India are Uber’s top priorities, with the company dedicating engineering and product development resources there. Already in ten cities in China, Uber is also localizing by forming a strategic partnership with Baidu, which bought a sizeable stake in the company late last year. Baidu is China’s largest search engine and its Baidu Map service has 240 million monthly active users alone. The Uber app in China will integrate Baidu Maps.

China and India are also high on the list for Guru Gowrappan, the COO of Quixey, a company that believes mobile search is broken and that the future of mobile engagement is in rich, content-focused discovery inside apps. To Gowrappan, China is now leading the way in innovation and has since become Quixey’s most important market despite its roots in Silicon Valley. Gowrappan echoed comments from Uber’s Lo on the importance to localize in order to build a strong footprint in China. Quixey recently successfully closed a series C1 with Alibaba as an investor and is building its China operations. Gowrappan says it is key to have a “true alignment of vision” whereby companies and their local partners agree on a long term road map as Quixey has done with Alibaba.

And whilst you are on China, don’t forget about India. Gowrappan thinks India is about five years behind China and he has seen a shift in the Indian government and conviction towards change and innovation. Advice from Gowrappan? “Build China and India, and do it now”.

6.  So how do you start a highly successful business?

It is now cheaper than ever to run your own business, with improved access to technology, so where do you start? Begin by identifying a problem to solve. Uber started as a lifestyle app that allowed the founder Travis Kalanick to share rides with friends using a smartphone. Airbnb started when cofounders Brian Chesky and Joe Gebbia started renting out their mattresses and soon realizing people’s accommodation is people’s most underutilized asset. Great businesses start with an idea coupled with execution that focuses on the users, which brings me to Xiaomi’s cofounder KK Wong’s who made a keynote speech at DELF. Hong Kong Borne and raised, the engineering trained Wong quit his long tenure at Microsoft after a four and a half hour meeting with Lei Jun.

Xiaomi’s rise to the throne as the #1 cellphone maker in China, the world’s largest handset market, in five short years has been nothing short of miraculous. It set the Guiness Record by selling 2.11 million mobile phones in 12 hours and had a staggering 254 million US dollars during last year’s Single’s Day flash sale on 11 November. At DELF, Xiaomi’s cofounder, KK Wong, shared Xiaomi’s success formula of winning the hearts of the Chinese consumers without a lavish marketing budget, he outlined the strategy simply as:

– Make amazing products
– Disrupt value chains
– Become friends with users

Making your product go viral is very simple: exceed the users’ expectations, and they will do the word of mouth marketing for you. This strategy has proven highly successful after creating legions of die-hard Xiaomi fans who are known to go out of their way to support the brand.

Finally, the wave of innovation is happening now and it is happening fast. “Just do it and enjoy it” were Wong’s final advice to budding entrepreneurs at the DELF.

I’d love to hear from you. Drop me a line at chucklingeveryday@gmail.com

By Qing Yuan Zhou