Opposites.....

Living in Hong Kong is definitely interesting. It is a very cosmopolitan place with lots of Eastern and Western influences.

There are a good number of things that work really well in Hong Kong:

- shopping: an abundant amount of shopping malls for all budgets

- public transport: superb and cheap.. covering buses, trains, minibuses and taxi's really well set up

- food: such an abundance and available 24hrs a day!

- internetbanking: it takes a while to get it started..but do love my hsbc internet banking.

- immigration: lots of paperwork...but straight forward

- service in most restaurants and shops: fast

- availability: shops, supermarkets, starbucks....all over the place

and heaps more.......

Things that surprisingly are slower or work with difficulties:

- supermarket restocking: often compared to the Netherlands products are not available, out of stock or just out of the collection

- banks: sooooo many forms needed for hsbc

- dry cleaners: takes around a week!!! to get a suit dry cleaned

Just a few thoughts after going to dry cleaners and supermarket this morning...

Trailwalker 3/4 of team 140!

19102008(001)
Originally uploaded by Marcel_Ekkel

Last sunday there was another training session for the upcoming Oxfam Trailwalker.

Finally we had the opportunity to train with the missing teammember. After a few weeks searching Dothan introduced Martin. He had been traveling a fair bit...but there he was.

The route was a part of section 5 followed by 6 and section 7 of the MacLeHose trail. The weather was superb, not toooo hot, little breeze!

It was good that we had another participant who volunteered to be killed on the trails :). Anyway, we kept up a good speed and blasted over needle hill and grassy hill in 4 hours.

It would be great if we can keep a similar speed during the event as it would result in a finish time way under 20 hours. Trick here was ....we started fresh instead of arriving there after 11 hours of walking already.

Only 17 days before the event, and although this will be a tough one I am looking forward to it.

Old Friends Reunion

Old Friends Reunion
Originally uploaded by Marcel_Ekkel

I am currently in Ho Chi Minh city to run a 1 day "introduction in projectmnagement" for one of my clients.

The last time I worked in VietNam was in 1998. During that time I was working on my first entrepreneurial stint...setting up a Nha Trang based scubadiving centre for Vietravel, a VietNam based travel organization.

As I spend regularly time in Ho Chi Minh city, at the companies HQ it was a good opportunity to make some friends there as well.

Over the years I kep in touch with some of my friends from that time. As I was coming over again, I organized a dinner with my friend Thuy and her husband. (Thuy, congratulations on the second baby!)

Whilst having dinner we talked about the "old days" and Thuy picked up her phone to call one of the old friends from those days.

Mr Binh was positively surprised and jumped on his motorbike to meet up in town for a coffee. (The Vietnamese do love their coffees! and interestingly enough...no Starbucks to be found here). It is always interesting to here what people do with their lives.

Mr Binh for example is now married with a young son and is working in Sales in a steel company. Completely different then when I met him. Young out of Uni party live loving person working in the travel industry.

Anyway, it was good catching up and sharing old memories.

typhoon8

typhoon8_August 004
Originally uploaded by Marcel_Ekkel

Today Hong Kong was hit by another TYPHOON 8, the signal was up for most of the day...which is a very long time.

As a result of heavy rain, and all kinds of stuff that came down my drains clogged up a little.....

So when the water was raising to "door level" it was time to run out and do some damage prevention :)

Results of Heavy rain in Sheung Wan

Results of Heavy rain in Sheung Wan
Originally uploaded by Marcel_Ekkel

In the last weeks there has been a lot of rain in Hong Kong.

On Saturday the 7th of June I planned to do some spinning classes in the gym in central. However when waking up, there was this massive rain fall sound which caused me to turn around in my bed and sleep a little more.

When checking the weather forecast online, it showed black rain storm and thunderstorm warnings.

This means that there is a lot of rain. In this case a recored rainfall, causing floods, landslides etc. The rainfall was that heavy that Tai O got closed off the rest of Lantau when a massive landslide, and in the New Territories unfortunately 2 people got killed when they got covered by a landslide. Also many roads got flooded, including the road that leads to the airport.

It is interestin to see how many houses, offices lets say buildings in general have difficulties dealing with the rain. Examples are the shops and offices in Sheung Wan where I was in the afternoon. Lots of damage to the shopowners dried wares.

Olympic Torch passing Admiralty Hong Kong

It has been madness... cheering crowds, some protest, no interruption

Positive Taxclimate for Entrepreneurs in Hong Kong

On Wednesday I attended a seminar organized by my virtual office hosting company Bridges Executive Center which I have been using since 2005 to setup and support my company. Regularly their team organizers seminars that can benefit their client base, like this one on the Hong Kong tax system and your annual obligations.

Hong Kong has an easy taxsystem which is even dealable with by small companies.
A ground principle is for example that business performed in Hong Kong territory is taxable. So when I am doing training or a consultancy assignment in Hong Kong, I am liable to profit tax on that. On the other hand, if I am delivering a training in malaysia then this is not liable to payment of tax profit. Obviously I can't file any deductions for that either.

Profit tax rate currently stands at 17.5% if I recall it well. A very sharp rate, and thats before deductions. Deductions cover things like MPF for employees, salary, and all other expenses needed to generate profit. This also covers office rental, capex etc. For example IT investments are 100% deductible in 1 year :)

On the salary tax, there are some ways to structure payments to staff to make it more interesting. As director I receive a directors fee. This is of course taxable, however it is in a different category compared to standard salary.

Another trick is reimbursement of house rental. Providing an allowance for this is directly taxable. Calling it a reimbursement (ie money paid after a claim has been made) will provide a "benefit" for both employee and employer on the bottom line.

Altogether an interesting climate to start your business!