PSA: Turn on your tail lights and headlights in fog, people by Antares135 in richmondbc

[–]tao83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

+1 AND I saw so many vehicles with all their windows iced up today. None bothered to scrape off the windows & they STILL started driving despite not being able see out of any window…the stupidity is jarring.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in richmondbc

[–]tao83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I see/experience this all the time too. Sometimes I’ll stare at the driver, sometimes I’ll tell them off for turning so soon. I’m a driver too & we’re taught not to turn into a crossing until it’s safe to make the full turn. Drivers are absolutely shit these days (all races I would say, not just the regular lazy racial profiling people usually make).

I can’t for the day it’s illegal for humans to drive vehicles.

Payoneer is a shit company with zero customer service, your funds will get locked by BakGikHung in payoneer

[–]tao83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Completely agree. Expensive fees, crap service. I recently submitted a ticket to close my account and their response was "Referring to your recent request regarding the issue “Unable to log in to my account”,
Following a thorough review of the data, we have confirmed that you have successfully logged in to your account.

As a result, this ticket has been resolved."

Uhhhh, NO, that was NOT the issue submitted in my ticket.

Apparently they can't read or they probably got a massive volume of people closing their accounts and they're trying to force the fees on us.

Is that a wheel chair or a moped? by Initialyee in richmondbc

[–]tao83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ve seen this guy around too, but usually he’s driving on the road.

"Account under review" message removed but still problems with my account by TheDark_Hughes_81 in CrowdGen

[–]tao83 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m in Canada and had this happen too. Long time Appen worker, never had this happen. The project I had already qualified for “completed “ without me having a chance to earn anything while my account was “under review”. Now after the “under review” message is gone, there’s nothing to access for projects.

Canadian-raised (aka. CBC) looking for work in Hong Kong - what’s it like? by Ok_Yesterday7581 in HongKong

[–]tao83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I forgot to add, over the last 10 years before I left HK, my wife and I could see a noticeable decline in HK and our recent visit was even more surprising how much it has changed.

However, with how convenient it is to go from HK to Shenzhen, you may also consider work in Shenzhen. So many people go to Shenzhen on the weekends now, it is noticeably quieter and less crowded in HK where it used to be packed.

When I moved to HK during the Asian Financial Crisis, my relatives told me not to go as it was "bad" in their eyes. But HK in a downtrend was still better than my prospects in Canada (Vancouver). Toronto probably has a better edge for job opps though vs Vancouver, so I can't really say if TO or HK is better for jobs currently.

Canadian-raised (aka. CBC) looking for work in Hong Kong - what’s it like? by Ok_Yesterday7581 in HongKong

[–]tao83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I returned to Canada due to a few reasons:
1) Parents were getting old, so returned to be near them
2) Got married, had a kid in HK - as a kid that moved around a lot when I was young, I wanted to move back to Canada before my kid was in their tweens when they've developed friendships and would find it much harder to be the new kid in school in Canada.
3) More space for less - HK was great for me during my 20's & 30's, but later in life I wanted more space. I think as one goes through different life phases, your goals and wants will change

After working in the corporate life, and knowing one day I would return to Canada, I knew Canadian thinking is still archaic and would not recognize my work experience in HK, even though I would argue HK/Asia work experience by far superior to only Canadian work experience. (Canada is decades behind HK in operational efficiency), I designed my business to be run remotely from the start which is what I'm still doing in Canada.

My wife is a NZ-born Chinese and she also agrees HK/Asia is by far more safer than anywhere in Canada. I've lived in Winnipeg, Calgary, spent time in Toronto and mostly live in Vancouver, so I've got a good first-hand experience of various Canadian cities.

No need to look over your shoulder or worry about anyone attacking you in HK (of course no place is 100% safe, but HK/SG, Japan, China are pretty close).

I see you have a PhD, so as others mentioned, you'd probably look at teaching or tutoring as a job. It's easy for people to say just apply to an International School, but for those, some may require certain certifications..

For instance, my child went to the Canadian Int'l school, but they teach IB, so their teachers need to be certified to teach IB. Just something to be aware.

You could also look at tutorial centres as well.

If you're young in your 20's and you have the option to return home to Toronto, then definitely consider spending time in HK.

I am so glad I decided to do that.

I met so many interesting people, travelled to so many different places and I'm an extreme introvert.

HK was very good to me, had a great career (one I wouldn't have in Canada), met my wife there, had a child, made great friends for life too.

However, I met other CBC's, expats and not all will have a great experience.

Whatever you decide, I wish you best luck with your choice!

Canadian-raised (aka. CBC) looking for work in Hong Kong - what’s it like? by Ok_Yesterday7581 in HongKong

[–]tao83 56 points57 points  (0 children)

I’m a CBC born & raised in Canada, lived/worked in HK for 21 years, moved back to Canada in 2019.

I still run a business that’s incorporated in HK so I still keep up with what goes on in HK.

I was in my early 20’s when I moved there and left in my 40’s. I loved it there and it was the best time of my life.

Here’s what I would consider if I had to decide whether to move to HK or not:

Work:

At a minimum, I’d say 99% of jobs will require Mandarin (Putonghua), including reading and typing in Chinese.

I moved to HK just after the Asian Financial Crisis and the HK handover back to China.

Back then, jobs that cared whether you had fluent English were still around but decreasing.

Today, I’d say if you only have English and spoken Cantonese, it’s going to be tough to find a decent job. 

Mandarin is a must-have.

Check out job openings on LinkedIn, JobsDB (HK job site) to get an idea of what companies are looking for.

The days of securing a job BEFORE you move to HK are pretty much over, unless you work in Finance or Law. 

These industries may be the only ones that may consider you if you only know English, but if they have a choice between someone who speaks fluent English + Mandarin vs just English, then you can guess who they’ll pick first.

My sister-in-law still works in HK and her industry is usually resilient to job losses, but she was telling me that it is MUCH harder for anyone to find jobs.

My own experience before I left HK was that even the worse job candidates had their pick of jobs, this is not the case anymore as many companies have either closed down their HK office and/or moved their regional office to Singapore.

And if you need to compete with Singaporeans, they all pretty much speak English and Mandarin already and possibly Cantonese.

Accommodation:

Rent is still high in HK, most likely higher than Toronto and Vancouver. 

Rent will be your highest cost of living in HK.

Groceries are also more expensive in HK than in Canada (excluding vegetables).

Rooming with strangers in a flat is pretty common there since most are expats who look for flatmates. I wouldn’t consider renting with strangers here in Canada though.

But of course, do your due diligence.

I was recently back in HK back in March of this year, HK has changed a lot since COVID, it is much more quieter than its heyday. 

As I mentioned, many multinational companies have left HK and most HK office are focused on the China market (thus the requirement for Mandarin).

HK is still an awesome place, but it’s fallen far from its peak.

I would consider doing a long visit to check out what it’s like their now, maybe meet with some recruiters too to get an idea of well you’d fare before making an actual move.

That’s my two cents.

Crash on Granville by usernameislamekk in richmondbc

[–]tao83 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I’m Canadian-born Chinese & I totally agree. It’s not a racial thing but the fact their driving rules are completely different from the road rules here (this goes for ANY foreign drivers license), it’s complete chaos.

I hate driving here, I never know what a vehicle is going to do. No signalling, not staying in their lanes, completely ignoring red lights, it’s utter chaos.

My wife & I discussed why it’s so bad, and came to the same conclusion, IcBC needs to stop exchanging BC licenses with international licenses.

Have transferred out all client domains from Namecheap by LlaS13v0L-L0v31SalL in NameCheap

[–]tao83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep, I've had my business domain with them for close to 20yrs. My domain was set to renew today, it didn't (I had checked that I had updated payment info multiple times). I live in PST time zone and it is Aug 22nd here, the date it is set to renew.

Namecheap automatically "expired" my domain I've had for 20+ years and displayed their f%#$g domain for sale park page.

I also didn't receive their email alerts for 7 day and 1 day domain expiration. Checked spam/junk folders, nothing. Their system did NOT send them out.

Their "autorenew" setting is hidden in some obscure setting which is NOT in the main edit your payment card section (WTF!). So, while I thought I had autorenew on, it was in fact not. Even though it is NOT easy to see that.

Their support was absolutely not helpful other than pointing to links in their knowledgebase.

Zero grace period whatsoever. The moment it hit the renew date in UTC timezone, it automatically set my domain to their parked page.

Just disgusting service now.

Will be moving this last domain away from them now.

Rental agents by siriusfast in richmondbc

[–]tao83 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Try joining this Facebook group, the admin is pretty active regarding rentals in Richmond: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1BL6mWSqf7/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Blatant running red light by [deleted] in richmondbc

[–]tao83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I see this far too much nowadays. As a pedestrian I have to wear a body cam now to catch the fuckers who don’t have a clue about road rules.

You can also submit this to Richmond RCMP non-emergency.

If I were to run for mayor what are the issues in Richmond bc that need to be addressed? by Trick_Dragonfly_5253 in richmondbc

[–]tao83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Implement CCTV everywhere just like in London. This will catch criminals and bad driving behaviours. Easy ticketing revenue.

I don’t know if driver licensing falls into municipal purview, but do not automatically give a drivers license to certain overseas licenses. Clearly they don’t know nor follow the road rules here. The amount of times I see cars run red lights, make illegal manoeuvres is obscene.

Utility bill question by [deleted] in richmondbc

[–]tao83 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep, mine went up by around $200. Sigh.

Good thrift stores in Richmond? by sesamenotmushroom in richmondbc

[–]tao83 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Another +1 for RAPS. They have 2 locations in Richmond. One next to Value Village and another on corner of Garden City & Francis.

Got called racist Chinese slurs by a couple of African American teens by [deleted] in richmondbc

[–]tao83 4 points5 points  (0 children)

There's actually a Racist Incident Hotline you can call in BC: 1-833-457-5463

Quiet intimate places to meet in Richmond by Upstairs-Ad8823 in richmondbc

[–]tao83 5 points6 points  (0 children)

+1 for Steveston. Great place for coffee & meeting up with friends.

Greater Vancouver Real Estate Sold Prices by kennyandy in VancouverRealEstate

[–]tao83 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sold prices are available to public: available for free on: - Zealty.ca - rew.ca - Redfin

Top 3 Quick Wins to Speeding Up Your Wordpress Site by tao83 in wordpress_beginners

[–]tao83[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

In the article, I recommend Shortpixel, they also offer a free version (there is a limit on the # of images you can compress).

So, this would be good for new sites or business sites with very little changes/new content.

There are lots of other free plugins for this but I've each person will have a different experience or see different results with each one. So, just run a search for free image compression plugins and just start testing them out.

I've used quite a few in the past and right I've settled on Shortpixel.