Well it's been around two weeks since the end of time at HK magazine, and it certainly feels odd, not having to go to wake up early every morning. I'm really not a morning person. Anyway to recap over my time there, I've decided to post of the online links to the features and interviews I wrote during the internship.
I have to say, it was a brilliant experience, and I certainly learnt a lot working there. Although by the end, I felt like I had done enough and was really glad to move on. You can only handle work with no pay for so long. My top moments were meeting all the lovely people, getting my own bylines, and getting perks like a free hotel buffet and Movenpick ice-cream tasting!
***UPDATE: All the links below have now expired, but I didn't want to delete all my lengthy anecdotes, so you can access all the articles here:
http://hk.asia-city.com/news-features/40388 ***
Get down and dirty feature
http://hk-magazine.com/feature/getting-down-and-dirty
Buffet dining feature
http://hk-magazine.com/feature/just-eat-it I managed to score a free dinner at The Langham in tst for this so I was one happy newbie! (I was just on my second week at the mag)
Skin Deep
http://hk-magazine.com/feature/skin-deep-august-28-2009
Interview with Stephen Bolton
http://hk-magazine.com/feature/stage-61
Street talk with a street vendor
http://hk-magazine.com/feature/mr-lam
Feature 2 on Kennedy town
http://hk-magazine.com/feature/take-trip-down-k-town This had to be the piece I was most proud of, as it remains the first full-length feature I got assigned. I took it really seriously as well, making all these trips down to uncover hidden gems. It was rather irritating that they left out my byline in the online article though.
Street talk with a Chairman Mao impersonator
http://hk-magazine.com/feature/gu-xiao-yue
This was seriously interesting, as it was actually my first encounter with a die-hard chinese communist. He also really did look eerily like the Chairman. Anyway, when I met him and his entourage, the first thing I got greeted with was "Oh, it's actually a young girl" which irked me quite a bit.
The interview descended into parts hilarious, parts frustration as he only spoke mandarin, which was a tad tricky for me. So I eventually ended up mixing mandarin, canto and even english when trying to communicate to his manager, a seemingly pointless sidekick and 2 PR girls the questions I wanted. I then had to pretend I knew what he was talking about when he answered my questions in mandarin, and try and get the limited extent of his imagination. Example, when I asked him what he would say to his idol Mao if he could meet him, he told me that it wouldn't be possible because he was part of the third generation and would never get the chance to see him. WTF?! I then tried to ask the question 'Who would win in a fight, Mao or Deng Xiaoping?', which provoked the manager string at me like I was crazy, and one of the PR girls to pipe "Oh, so your magazine is really political?" Shame they wouldn't respond.
Still, at least I got through it and managed to turnout a decent piece. Fantastic learning experience on how to deal in interviews.
Another Street talk
http://hk-magazine.com/feature/sister-four
Interview with Jim Chim-Sui-Man, my first hong-kong celeb meeting!
http://hk-magazine.com/feature/stage-66
Street talk with history record-breaking aviator. Really really provoking, meeting someone who is in the history books, although he looked crushed when he found out the actual size of the space for the article.
http://hk-magazine.com/feature/francis-chin-yiu-cheong
