Celebrity Life

We talk to four Hong Kong couples about love, romance and long-lasting healthy relationships.

February is a month of celebration: starting off with the Lunar New Year, closely followed by the day of lovers. For this year’s Valentine’s Day, we join Hong Kong couples as they reflect on their relationship and share diverse stories of romance.

4 Hong Kong Couples on Relationships & Romance

Janet Ma and Michael Wong

(Answers from Janet)

How did you meet?

We were shooting a jewellery commercial together.

What’s key to maintaining a healthy relationship?

I think trust and giving each other enough space are very important. It’s very basic, but it does takes time to achieve.

What’s the most memorable moment for you?

Our most memorable moment isn’t Valentine’s Day, but our anniversary.

What brings you joy?

Seeing each other, our children and the people around us being happy brings us most joy.

Tell us a secret about him.

I’m not telling, as I won’t betray my loved one — a secret is a secret.

Which joint goals haven’t you achieved yet?

For many couples, the goal is to be happy ever after. As we still have a long run ahead, we hope to achieve that — like everyone else — by loving each other till the end.

May Chow and Jodie Chan

(Answers from May and Jodie)

How did you meet?

We met at an event a couple years ago through mutual friends.

What’s key to maintaining a healthy relationship?

Communication, mutual respect and trust. Taking an interest in each other’s interests, knowing each other well in terms of the weak and strong parts, and being able to support and cover each other. Prioritising one’s partner over one’s self gives a healthy dynamic.

What’s the most memorable moment for you?

Jodie: The most memorable moment was our official first date. May set up a picnic at Tamar Park and she curated different foods from places that I like. We enjoyed a bottle of wine and the meal together alongside a playlist I created. We don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, as it can be every day. We make an effort to have regular date nights and keep the romance. We also take a huge number of pictures and videos together to keep every moment unforgettable.

What brings you joy?

We’re both very people-oriented — we both love to eat and spend time with people we love, sharing experiences. Also travelling to new places together and discovering the stories behind things we’re interested in keeps us happy.

Tell us a secret about each other.

Jodie: For anyone who doesn’t know May, she’s a softy — her emotions, in terms of being touched, are easily moved by things and people around her.
May: Jodie is the alpha and the rock who’s able to secure us, as well as the decision-maker in our relationship.

How do you plan to spend Valentine’s Day?

Romance should be all the time, so we love to celebrate Valentine’s Day not just on that day but normal days too, perhaps cooking a meal at home just to keep it simple and intimate.

Which joint goals haven’t you achieved yet?

We’re going to get married and have a celebration of us as a married couple, rather than a commitment to start a family at this stage. There are many adventures for discovery, things we’re looking forward to exploring and achieving together before the next stage.

Cara Li and Matt Reid

(Answers from Cara)

How did you meet?

We were introduced by friends in New York.

What’s key to maintaining a healthy relationship?

For us it comes naturally. We genuinely are each other’s best friends and love being in each other’s company. We share the same interests — we both love to cook and we make each other laugh a lot. We also respect and support each other.

What’s the most memorable moment for you?

Most recently, the birth of our beautiful daughter Ireland, who brings us so much joy every day.

What else brings you joy?

Sharing all these amazing milestones together. We love just being home and having our family over, cooking for them and taking in all these special moments.

Tell us a secret about him.

Matt makes a mean breakfast sandwich.

How do you plan to spend Valentine’s Day?

Last year we had an amazing lunch at L’Envol. Matt knows that a good cheese course is the way to my heart. This year will probably involve some kind of cheesy date.

Which joint goals haven’t you achieved yet?

We’ve both always appreciated design, and we love interiors and furniture. We’d love to design and build a home together from scratch.

Charlz Ng and Clement Tsoi

(Answers from Charlz)

How did you meet?

We were introduced by a mutual friend at a friend’s karaoke gathering.

What’s key to maintaining a healthy relationship?

Being transparent is most important in maintaining our relationship. Putting everything on the table and talking about it can help avoid misunderstanding and friction.

What’s the most memorable moment for you?

A memorable moment was Clement playing a love song to me on his guitar. The most unforgettable Valentine’s Day is yet to come, as this will be our first — we’re looking forward to it.

What brings you joy?

As simple as waking up next to each other every day.

Tell us a secret about him.

Clement participated in the Good Night Show hosted on ViuTV.

How do you plan to spend Valentine’s Day?

We haven’t planned much this year as the Covid restrictions mean we’re unable to do much, so we’ll keep it simple and cook a nice meal at home instead. The must-do list this year is not to eat at Carbon, as we go there almost every day — it’s better to do something different on this special day with Clement. We both love Marvel, so we’ll probably re-watch The Avengers together.

Which joint goals haven’t you achieved yet?

We’ve done quite a lot in our time together, including meeting family, looking after each other while ill, going to the gym and working out together, making small tokens of appreciation and giving surprises that make each other’s day better. Perhaps what we haven’t achieved yet is independency, as we literally spend most of our non-work hours together.

4 Hong Kong Couples on Relationships & Romance

PHOTOGRAPHY ALISON KWAN
STYLING JEREMY WONG
LOCATION THE HARI HONG KONG
HIGH-JEWELLERY POMELLATO

The post Be My Valentine: 4 Hong Kong Couples on Relationships & Romance appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Charlz Ng is an entrepreneur with a heart of gold. Having spent years cultivating a community within the fitness and wellness space with the launch of the IRIS Festival, he's now made his mark in F&B with the opening of a new venture called CARBON.

"Sustainability is one of my main ethos in life," he says. Running a restaurant sustainably is expensive and challenging, but Ng, his co-founders and the team all believe that it's the future of operations and that it's up to this generation to protect the environment.

Ng is conscious about how his choices affect the planet – from choosing to drive BMW's all-electric iX, purchasing clothes and brands that are sustainably manufactured, to implementing food waste initiatives at CARBON.

We follow Ng around for a day to see how he finds an escape through sports, and how sustainability plays a major role in every aspect of his life.

The post A Day in the Life of Charlz Ng appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.

Promoting events was Charlz Ng’s life until he discovered the more rewarding joys of nurturing communities. He tells Prestige about creating IRIS, Hong Kong’s preeminent yoga festival, organising the Gay Games 2022 and his life goals.

When I meet Charlz Ng at House of Fitness, the boutique high-intensity studio in Sheung Wan that he co-founded with business partner Michael Melly, there’s a class going on. The venue is dark, awash with the blue and purple hues of florescent lighting, and absolutely pumping with music. The trainer shouts over the din as members stretch and move their bodies in unison to the beat. If it feel as if I’ve just walked into a nightclub, then maybe it’s intentional, because Ng started his career planning events in the nightlife industry.

Ng has an exuberant energy and positivity that are immediately evident as we greet each other for the first time. We haven’t met before, but anyone who’s in the least bit interested in fitness will have heard of him – and if his name doesn’t ring a bell, perhaps the festivals and events he’s put together will. IRIS: Your Escape, the festival that’s taken Hong Kong by storm since 2015 and propelled yoga and wellness into our collective consciousness, was the result of Ng’s blood, sweat and tears.

Active as a youngster, Ng played various team sports while in boarding school in the UK, but in university, he discovered a passion for organising parties, and fitness fell off the agenda. It wasn’t until years later, exhausted mentally and physically from late nights at the clubs, that he and his partners discovered the benefits of yoga and the importance of balance. Soon after, Ng’s Hybrid Group made the transition from hosting music events
to hosting wellness events: the first-ever IRIS was attended by almost 200 people, who showed up at Discovery Bay for a beach yoga session.

Through wellness, Ng also found a new purpose in life. Although IRIS started out as an event, it’s now evolved into a community for like-minded individuals. Yoga was a large part of the festival, but now, running into its sixth year, IRIS encompasses a yoga stage, a silent disco, a zen garden for meditation, a fitness space for other types of workouts, an insider platform for talks and performances, and even a marketplace to showcase a range of products, from fitness apparel to health foods.

“Before, when I ran an event, my goal was to maximise ticket sales, get sponsors and milk every dollar,” says Ng of his own wellness journey. “But when I started doing IRIS, the sense of empowerment I felt and the ability
to spread positive messages really grew on me. It gave me a new mission in life and it made me want to continue doing more,” he says.

He remembers receiving a note thanking him for organising the weekend festival, which helped the writer change their perspective on how to live well. “I was like, wow, this email really just sets the foundation for what
I want to do for the rest of my life. I’ve found my mission, my goal, and I just want to multiply this formula to all the different businesses and communities that I’m involved in. I like being able to spread any sort of positive message, even if it’s to three people at a time, or 30 or 300 or 3,000 … As long as I can touch a person’s life, it’s something I want to do.”

For someone who just turned 31 this year, Ng has done quite a lot. After IRIS, he helped his team at Hybrid bring the Spartan Race to Hong Kong. He’s also the co-owner of the boutique gym House of Fitness and the director of ceremonies of the forthcoming Gay Games 2022, an event that he’s been preparing for over the last five years and is potentially the largest and most significant sporting event the city will see in years.

Ng admits, a little sheepishly, that five years ago he had no clue what the Gay Games were. He first discovered them when he saw his friend Dennis Philipse’s Facebook status on recruiting volunteers while Philipse was bidding to bring the international event to Hong Kong. Impressed by his passion, Ng offered to help. “Later on I was gobsmacked when I learned more about it. I couldn’t believe I’ve never heard of it before – but then no one
in Hong Kong had heard of the Gay Games. It was such a North American thing.”

Ng attended his first Gay Games in 2018 in Paris. “I thought I knew in my head what the Gay Games were, but arriving in Paris I got goosebumps. Oh my God, I’m getting goosebumps again right now!” he says, as he rubs his hand down his arm in excitement.

“The entire city, the entire airport became rainbow-coloured. It was so welcoming. Paris had a very unique position – as they’re hosting the Olympics in 2024, the city council was using the Gay Games as a trial. But it was great and the city was really vibrant.”

Aside from competing in the 10-kilometre run, Ng acted as a volunteer photographer, gaining the opportunity to run around the different tournaments and events, and experiencing the Games at close quarters, noticing the competitiveness, the seriousness and the sportsmanship displayed at every level.

He has fond memories of his time there, from cheering for the volleyball team at the finals – “All 90 of us who flew to Paris from Hong Kong went to the stadium to support and cheer. It was really emotional and obviously, we got gold” – to marching into the stadium at the start of the games, proudly waving the Hong Kong flag.

It’s his dream to replicate that level of excitement, acceptance and pride in Hong Kong next November. Although it’s involved five years of hard volunteering work, the Gay Games 2022 is starting to gain traction in the city. The team has long had the support of the Hong Kong Tourism Board and the Equal Opportunities Commission, and they’re hopeful that more major governmental departments will also sign up.

Hong Kong counts itself as an inclusive city and, as Ng points out, social media has enabled people of his generation and younger to express themselves freely. “Our parents are probably the last generation who are still stuck in a traditional mindset,” he says. “I think they had less information and there were fewer role models at that time to really explain or stand up for LGBTQ at that time.

“But this is exactly why the Gay Games is so important for Hong Kong. We’re not here to promote anything political, or even fight for marriage equality, nothing of that sort. It’s simply to raise awareness and tell people that, gender aside, an LGBTQ person and a straight person are equals. We can play sports, we can paint, we can meet,” says Ng. “Even for my parents, it was easy for them to understand what the Gay Games is and they’re quite supportive.”

Ng describes himself as an outgoing and social person who’s always been open about himself, but says he only came out to his parents in 2018. It wasn’t easy, he says, because he was waiting for the right moment. “I always had this script, this perfect scenario, like a dream proposal,” he recalls. “And my dream was to come out when I had a boyfriend. It just so happened that I didn’t until 2018.”

His parents have always supported everything he’s done in his life, but still, it was a difficult conversation. “As much as my parents love me and support what I do, they’re still traditional. Deep down, they still embrace this traditional thinking and this hope of having a son who’d carry on the family name,” he says. “That part was difficult because I’m trying to explain that being gay doesn’t mean you can’t have a baby. That’s not a real concern. And also, if I were straight, what were the guarantees that I’d have a partner or a baby anyway? If I didn’t have friends or a job but, oh, I were straight, would that be better? It’s all about perception.

“My mistake was to wait until I had my perfect story, but as a matter of fact you’ll never have that perfect moment to have that conversation,” he says. “After having it with my parents, I realised I could have had it 10 years earlier and it would have been no different.”

Having found power in building communities, for Ng’s next venture he’d like to move away from event planning. “I’ve had a fresh thought recently. I don’t think I want to stay in event management and production for life,” he says.

He’s currently working with eight other partners on Carbon, the new 8,000-square-foot restaurant, bar, entertainment, lounge and lifestyle concept that’s set to open at H Code in the late summer.

“It’s quite exciting because it combines everything I’ve done my whole life. Nightlife, wellness, building a community and an event space. It’s all coming full circle for me,” says Ng.

I ask him if there’s anything left that he’d like to accomplish one day. He pauses and then says, “The first thing that came to me was to go to Iceland, but that’s easy. One of my goals in life is to buy my parents a flat and also put them on a first-class plane to any dream destination. That’s something I really want to do.”

The post Charlz Ng: From Parties to Wellness and Gay Games 2022 appeared first on Prestige Online - Hong Kong.