been awhile

Wow, it has been so long again since I’'ve blogged

I was in Hong Kong again last week, spent Tuesday afternoon in town, first I had a small meeting with someone from a sourcing office, then I didn’t know what to do, if I should go to Lantau and see the Big Buddha again, (great vegetarian lunch), but then, since I had already gotten off the MTR in Admiralty, I decided to walk to the lower Peak Tram station and take the tram up, that was so cool! Naturally at the upper peak, they have a modern building with a great viewing platform, but inside are all kinds of fast food joints, cafes, and souvenir shops.

It was really neat, now that I can spend some hours at a time in HK, and have started learning to get around by myself, it is so much more interesting there. I bought an “Octopus” card last time I was there, really just a reloadable RFID or chip card, it is really practical. For those who don’t know anything about it, you load it up with a few HK-Dollars, and when entering or leaving certain public transport system, you just lay your wallet (or whatever you have it in) on a plate, and it shows how much is still loaded, and what the fare being taken off is. You can reload it at 7-11 (where you can pay for your groceries with it as well) or at the MTR stations. And as for example at the peak tram stations, there was usually a long line of tourists to pay for their tickets, and holders of the octopus card, just walk up to the next turnstile, lay down the card, and are immediately admitted.

It is strange, but I always get “homesick” for HK a few days after returning to Germany. I still don’t know how it would really be to live there, but the other day, I saw that they only have a maximum of 16% taxes on your pay, with reductions for dependents, there is also some sort of health care plan that takes another 5%, but I am not sure how that all works. But for example I pay around 28% on my wages, and that is LOW, other people, for example even my wife pas up to 45%. I still want to find out about employers tax obligations for their workers, but in Germany, the rule of thumb, is for every 1 EURO the worker is being paid, the company pays almost 1 EURO in taxes, so for a worker that earns say 2000 EURO, the company is paying almost 4000 EURO, and that is why so many companies are so pressed when it comes to hiring a new worker.

YO!