As much of an anti-Obamaite I was back in 2008, I have decidedly become an anti-Tea Partyist here in 2010. A bit odd it may seem, but hear me out before you judge.
Back in high school I remember seeing a guy wearing a button that read "Dissent is Patriotic." I laughed at him and judged him a social misfit who could never be happy at the status quo. I guess I may fit that bill by some now.
I see it that the Tea Party's slogan of "Less Government" to be on par with Obama's "Change we can believe in." Inspiring to a large audience but rather empty rhetoric when you think about it. Less government? Less state government? Less federal government? Less local government? I am unclear to the extent that "less government" can be applied to, but I figure it has something to do with spending.
Another problem I see with the Tea Party's approach is the misguided belief in electing unknown politicians who are promising things in an opportunistic political environment. Not even promising anything very concrete except for "accountability in government spending" and "returning to the Constitution." I think they did a good job in reading Obama's 2008 playbook by speaking to their audience and a very upset independent voter base. I will not be surprised to see the same disillusion (albeit at a quicker pace) as what has rolled over Obama's base.
So the logic of sending people to Washington that are "of the people" and will "listen" to "us", seems a bit - unclear. Now with some obvious upset from the people passing an unpopular healthcare package (which passed on March 22 with a 9% for to a 13% against – depending on which poll you looked at), it wasn't like that was a surprise. It was the cornerstone of Obama getting elected.
So will, in the attempt to do "right" for the country, the Tea Party and its supporters have to raise taxes on everyone to pay off the national deficit? Will the Tea Party and its supporters, in the "best interest" of the country, put tariffs on all imports from China? Will the Tea Party and its supporters, looking out for what is "best" for the USA, cut all social programs for 2 years to help balance the budget. That means no Medicare, food stamps, unemployment benefits…
I bet you thought some of those were good and some of those were bad. I'm also sure there is someone else who thought they were all good and someone else who thought they were all bad. But what happens if those 3 people all vote for a Tea Party candidate and that candidate decides for or against some of those choices? Does that mean that the candidate no longer is "listening" to "us"? That he is a politician and not "of the people"?
So what are the alternatives to the mainstream political parties? Does the Tea Party serve as a good blueprint for people who are disillusioned? Is this a good thing? These type questions are opinions and so I am not interested in answering for you. But one opinion I will share is this: I have a healthy distrust of ANY political party/organization/network that wields power. To the point that I will rail against the Tea Party as much as I railed against Obama 2 years ago. I believe that the government will only work for its own benefit, and what we have here is no different.
If only all infomericials were this interesting...
Yeah, it makes me want one. That's for sure.
But seriously. So Dos Equis has a really good marketing campaign going on with "The Most Interesting Man" commercials. They are funny, short, and always end with "I don't always drink beer, but when I do, I prefer Dos Equis." The guy is a leather-faced old guy with the heavy Spanish accent. A mans man. I would say the Mexican version of Sean Connery. Here's a peek at a few of the commercials:
So I was excited when I was able to see THE Dos Equis guy doing an interview. I figured he would be, well, interesting to listen to. No.
Goes to show you what a good marketing program can do for both the product and the person pitching the product.
It is really hard for me to beleive that it has been a full month since I left Taiwan. A lot has happened to keep me busy and occupied during this time, which may be why I feel it hasn't been as long as it has been.
This past month has been split up with a nice 3000 mile roadtrip from here to Canada and back. Seeing family in some of the spots (some family just meeting for the first time) was definitly nice, but the traveling experience was just plain exhausting.
The time with friends back here in Columbia has been a breath of fresh air. Some of the people I knew before leaving aren't in the area anymore, which is kind of weird for me, but it has been nice to hang out with a lot of the same group of people I spent a lot of time with before leaving.
But there are some things that do change - and not necessarily for the good. There's an old saying: "There's no going home again" and although I wouldn't take that to an extreme, it does seem somewhat true. Seeing "far distant lands" at a pace that I set, working a pretty chill schedule and being able to hang out with a solid set of people over yonder every night definitly makes it strange to be back home - where people have moved on with what they do at a pace I had forgotten about.
The hardest part of adjusting for me comes from the effects of reverse culture shock. Going over to Taiwan I had built myself up for several months. I had put myself together mentally to be able to go into a new place where I would know noone and be fine. I made myself understand that I would have to let others do things for me that were basic - such as order food for me or tell me how to get to places - and it was fine.
Coming home, it's back to the world I know and am familiar with - but my outlook and perceptions on things are not the same. How I see issues, whether political, economic, even moral are definitly not the same as when I left. I think the hardest part of coming home is just that - coming back to a place where people remember and know you for who you were, but not necessarily who are are.
It's just a thought at least. I purposely made this more of a reflection on my perceptions.
But some promising things are occuring now for me. Biomagine looks to be on its final stages of development and we are setting a timeline to have it ready to go by January. The development of the commercial site (being the website we have up for it now is just a retainer) is coming together on paper and we are looking to have some RFP's sent out to some local development companies in the next week or two.
On the job front, I have a couple decent job interviews coming up in the next 2 weeks. Nothing that I would say are fantastic, but decent. The only problem is honestly I am not looking for that "career starting job" at the moment - I want to be able to devote time and have available time for Biomagine and all the things that will be associated with that over the next 4 months. So it's possible I might take (as made famous on The Sims video game) the "Slacker career track" for the remainder of the year - or at least at nights. I guess a real day job and a slacker job at night wouldn't be a bad thing...
Anyhow, I am still deciding if I have the time/moolah to go to Mexico. I am tempted to do it whatever the cost and THIS doesn't make it any easier for me not to go.
Mark your calendars. Circle August 27 (it's a Friday) on your calendar in red! What major sporting event will be performed that day? What trophy will be raised in the air?
In fact, this will be the 15th year that the Air Guitar World Championship has been held. This year it is in Oulu, Finland and it appears that they are in short supply of tight fitting, bright, sparkly pants. Makes me wonder why Axel Rose doesn't decide to make his real comeback in Finland.
But if you are going to Finland, you might want to decide and stay for the Mobile Phone Throwing Contest. Especially for you iPhone users (with the fantastic AT&T dropped call network) this is where you can finally vent out some of your frustrations (and in at least my case, dreams) of letting that phone fly into the air. The rules are simple:
You'll either throw the cell phone backwards over your shoulder and count the distance of the best of three attempts. Alternatively, and even more fun, you can do a freestyle throw for creativity points.
•The length of the official track is 253.5 meters, and the surface of the track is partially sand, partially grass and partially gravel. •The track has two dry obstacles and a water obstacle, about one meter deep. •The only equipment allowed is a belt worn by the carrier. •There is only one category in the World Championships and the winner is the couple who completes the course in the shortest time. •Also the most entertaining couple, the best costume and the strongest carrier will be awarded a special prize.
And a video from the 2010 Wife Carrying World Championships:
Toronto, Canandaigua, Schroon Lake, Ocean City, Columbia and a few other stops along the way. Almost 3000 miles in total covered in this latest trip. No McDonald stops.
Toronto we went on some kind of sailboat that went along Lake Ontario. It was nice and hot. We were sailing on a ship built in Germany in the early 1930's, was bought and sold a few times and a few years ago ended up being purchased and refitted to its original specifications to take tourists on a 90 minute ride along the Toronto/Lake Ontario coast.
After that my brother and mom went on to go to the top of the CN Tower. Being that I have already done that (see here) I decided to just find a nice park bench and people watch.
I must say that there are a lot of interesting people in Toronto. Canada being a bit different in their social norms than America is, it is a lot more common to see very open gay couples. Not being unacoustomed to this fact of life, it did catch my attention on how many gay couples there were in Toronto.
The next day we headed back for America (but not before hitting up Tim Hortons at least 3 times in the span of 24 hours). Expecting a repeat of the last time I crossed (in short, I was taken into a holding area as they searched the car and my cousin was yelled at because he used his phone while we were waiting to get back on the road - not to mention the hour-plus line it took to even get to the boarder guard) I was pleasantly surprised by a very nice American boarder agent and a line no longer than 10 minutes. I guess things do even out eventually...
That night we made it Syracuse. I think the south gets unfair attention for having a high population of uneducated rednecks. That's all I'm going to say about Syracuse.
The next day we went to some fort/mission place in the morning and headed on to Canandaigua for the afternoon. The pigeons in Canandaigua seem very well fed and willing to eat shark outlined Cheeze-Its.
Somewhere along the way between Syracuse and Schroon Lake we stopped at some Williamsburg type model 19th century town. It included an octagon house, the nations only authentic 19th century brewery, and more 19th century townness than you will find even in Columbia.
After that we spent the next 2 days at Schroon Lake in New York, where we have some family. It was a nice relaxing time once we were there. Got to ride on a really nice boat, do some water sports and do an authentic firepit cookout. Unfortunatley New York being that it is New York, I couldn't LEGALLY fish in the lake because I didn't have a license. And those DNR people are as pesky as those kids in the green van with a dog.
The last stop before heading back to Columbia was to Ocean City. More of our family lives there and we spent the first 24 hours battling it out with the neighbors. Now these friendly neighbors of ours were early/mid 20 kids that just recently moved in. They also liked to play their music REALLY loud on the outside porch - at all hours of the day and night (not to mention a few other things that would make Cheech and Chong proud).
In short, the war raged (pretty good) for about 24 hours but for the next 3 days I think we can claim victory. During the time there I went to the beach and walked the boardwalk. I think Venice Beach is nicer, but Ocean City has a bit of uniqueness that you can't find in a lot of other places.
Oh and I found out that you can buy one of those small floaties made for 3 year olds at Wal-Mart, cut out the bottom (where the kids legs would go) and use it as a body board. Just keep the animals head that is popping out of the side of the float in front of you. It works pretty well.
Finally, yesterday I arrived back to Columbia. To the heat, rain and thunderstorms. In upstate New York it was at most in the mid-70'a. In Ocean City it was only hot one day and the rest of the time was in the mid-70's to low-80's. Once we hit the South Carolina line it was 95.
It's "aboot" time I made it to Canada again. As fun as America was for the 7 days I've been there since returning from Taiwan, it's time to leave the motherland once again for new adventures.
This morning while leaving the hotel, not even 5 minutes up the road, I see a bunch of Amish with their straw hats and matching blue shirts putting up a building. Gotta love PA. But that was about as interesting as the trip got.
Getting to the Canada-US border was fairly uneventful - besides the by now expected god-complex crossing guard. Just pray that your cell phone doesn't ring when they are asking you if you are bringing guns, explosives or liquor across the border.
While in Niagara Falls we did the Maid of the Mist boat tour. Now for the cool experience that it is, it doesn't cost much to do it - under $16. You even get a free rain poncho to wear while on the boat (I guess too many people complained about smelling like fish for a week from the rainjackets they use to give out).
As an FYI, food places north of the border are priced like the Canadian dollar is still cheap. Lame. But Tim Hortons does have some good doughnuts. Which brings me to my next ramble: Using the greenback 30 minutes outside of Toronto.
Now it didn't surprise me too much when in Niagara Falls I could use American currency. But just 20 miles outside of Toronto (about a hour northeast of Niagara) I would not expect that you would be able to use a foreign currency. For dinner tonight, we went to Tim Hortons. Now I was cocksure that we would not be able to use American cash but to my surprise, they accept it. Since 97 cents American buys 1 dollar Canadian, the exchange rate is practically 1:1, so I guess having a currency on par with the Canadian dollar does have one upside.
Anyhow, we will be hitting up Toronto tomorrow. More than likely the things on deck for tomorrow will be the CN Tower, a boat ride of some sort and crusing around the city. Then we should be heading back to the US and go to the Fingerlakes in New York. A lot of miles we're covering but it's been a fairly enjoyable trip so far.
I have decided that I will consider to grow and document my growing of a Fu Manchu. Maybe not the greatest idea in case I do decide to venture out into the job searching market, but it's something I'm considering doing.
This kid was a putz. His name was Dennis and of all the kids we had to put up with, he deserved this more than anyone else. So please, enjoy this video:
Today was a day of travel for me. Originally we had planned on going to Williamsburg for a couple days to start with but we decided this morning to cut a few days off the trip and head staight to Pittsburgh.
Most of the day was spent driving on I-77 and I-79. Now, I think this is the longest time I've spent in West Virginia in recent memory, driving through for about 4 hours. You hear all the stories about West Virginia and I must say...all of those stories are true!
Today I must have seen about 8 really fat guys wearing sleeveless shirts with big ole tatoos on their arms driving those long vans with the windows down, a camo hat on, and a cigarette in their mouth. I can only imagine how many Cameros they own...
Anyhow. Today we went to the Duquesne Incline in Pittsburgh. We got there around sunset and were able to see the sun setting over the hills beyond the city. The incline overlooks the river and all of the city - which is a pretty cool view. I was able to see Heinz Field and a few other cool buildings. The thing that surprised me though is the size of Pittsburgh - it's a bit smaller than I would have imagined. Not Columbia small, but I'm pretty sure Atlanta is a lot larger than Pittsburgh.
Anyhow, tomorrow I will be in Canada (if they let me in...) and should be taking a boat ride into Niagara Falls. I hope I don't drown.
This will probably be my last blog post from Taiwan. It has been quite an adventure over here - many stories and memories I will keep with me for the rest of my life. I have learned a lot about a part of the world that I never thought I would be in - culture, customs, traditions and people. I have also learned a lot about people and organizations - both good and bad (which I will probably be posting more about a little bit down the road).
There is one thing I have tried to do in my "recent life" - which I define as somewhere between my sophomore and junior year in college - and that is this: To never leave somewhere, someone or something wishing I had done more. It is a simple motto that I have tried to live by.
Coming to Taiwan, I had 3 goals: 1. To do as good as a job possible when I was working. 2. To travel the region. 3. To learn some Chinese.
I can say without a doubt I have accomplished all of my goals - and more. Although a full disclosure on work (specifically the headhunting organization that got me here) will be withheld for a little while longer, I know by the reaction of the kids when they leave the school towards me, the fun that they are having in my class and the comfort and ease they acquire with foreigners their culture and their language (or me) that I have done my best here teaching english and western culture to these kids.
While here, I have been fortunate to visit 2 other countries: Hong Kong and Singapore. Before I arrived to Taiwan in February (hell, before I decided to go to these places) I probably couldn't have found either of these places on a map (or even Taiwan). Now, I can probably rattle off not only a list of countries in southeast Asia and point them out on a map, but I can say I know people, from many of these countries and even can give travel advice to 3 of them. Although I would have loved to visit Thailand, Korea and Japan while over here, the fact that I was able to see Hong Kong, Singapore and have for the past 2 months been covering a lot of Taiwan has made me more than content in achieving my second objective.
The final objective, until the past 6 weeks or so, I thought I was going to fail at. I had learned a couple of words and knew a handful of characters, but I had not really learned anything useful. Well, as of now, I can cuss like a Chinese sailor and have a Chinese name: "Shou Dee Dee Da Gee Gee", which would translate literally into "My little brother, the big chicken chicken". I'll let you figure out what that could mean...
I would say that I now have a vocabulary (of either words I can speak or characters that I know what they repesent individually) of close to 90 words. Not bad for 6 weeks of learning on the fly.
All in all, I have to say that my experience in Taiwan has been amazing and that anyone who has a chance should visit this tiny island country for as long as they can.
--
Now, for the "Best Names List" for this last week of school:
Afra - and she's Chinese! Billion - but he knows a dozen words! Bunny - she doesn't like carrots! Enzo - he is a Taiwanese students who is at an English school being taught by Americans and chose his name because he thought it sounded Italian. Try to keep up... Moon - she left because she was homesick - twice! Jimmy - who is Jet's identical twin brother (who we had 2 weeks ago)!
My time in Taiwan is reaching the final week and a half - which means I'm now in travel mode. This week has been spent cleaning the apartment, buying a second big suitcase, buying gifts to take back home, and shipping things home. Next week will be spent by me working until July 30 - and being I leave early on July 31st I need to get everything done this week.
I have also been putting together an outline for my trip to the northeast US/Canada when I get back and here is a tentative schedule:
August 8, 9: Williamsburg August 10, 11: Pittsburg August 12: Niagra Falls August 12, 13: Toronto August 14, 15, 16: Ottawa August 17: Lake George August 18, 19, 20: Ocean City August 21: Columbia
Looks to be a fun trip.
Anyhow, I have decided when I get home I will be posting a lot of videos I have taken over here in Taiwan. A lot of these videos are really cool, but being they are a few minutes long (and I don't have the greatest internet connection) it isn't really feasible to upload them here. So rest assured, more entertainment from Taiwan is still coming your way - even when I'm back in America.
Being followed is not fun - especially when you know you are being followed. During my time in Taiwan, I have had the feeling that I have been followed since day 1. The worst part is, the people following me have not even been very stealthy. Who has been following me? Garbage trucks.
As the video shows, these things are very joyful sounding. They play songs similar to the songs you hear in America when ice cream trucks are approaching. But seriously, EVERYWHERE I go, I hear these bloody trucks.
When I was in Kuosheng a few weeks ago, I hear this song for 5 hours straight - but I never once saw the truck. When I was in Kenting a few weeks ago, I was walking up the main road and the trash truck was following me the entire time I was walking up the road. I turn around to walk down the road and ANOTHER truck follows me down the road. In Danshui this past weekend, a trash truck and its lovely tune followed me the entire time. In Yilan while I was in the cold spring, I could hear a truck singing its lovely tune in the distance the entire time. Bloody hell, these things are following me!
This past weekend I went on a trip up to Danshui and then took a bus to Yilan. Danshui is in the northwest part of Taipei county and is a coastal area. It's about a 40 minute ride on the MRT from the Taipei 101 area.
Danshui is a pretty popular area for both locals and tourists. The area has a boardwalk type area where there are lots of little shops filled with every type of trinket imaginable. I even found (and bought) a boob stress ball. Definitly going on my desk when I get home.
But while in Danshui, I found my favorite translated sign to date. In fact, the reason I like this sign is not because it was translated poorly. No. In fact, I like it because it is perfectly translated from Chinese to English. Take a look:
The next day I headed to Yilan. Now there are a few things to do in Yilan: a big nightmarket, McDonalds and a natural cold spring. I'll start with the natural cold spring.
I don't even know why they call it a spring, because in my opinion, it has the opposite effect. But anyhow, this thing was C-O-L-D. It costs $NT 300 (or $10) to get a private room for 45 minutes. And by private room, I mean you can hear everything going on around you - which is people usually screaming about how cold the water is.
The water had some kind of minerals also - I had a bunch of bubbles on my body while I was in the water. It was like bathing in a bathtub full of Sprite or something. But truth be told, I was not really savoring my time in the cold spring water.
The nightmarket in Yilan is pretty big and has a few things you can't find in other nightmarkets in Taiwan. They have a vendor stand that sells a special cake that is unique to that nightmarket. The place I stayed in Yilan was a freaky horror-movie quality place. I won't put the details online, but lets say I'm not intending on going anywhere near that place again. Freaky.
But the time in Yilan and Danshui was definitly time well spent. Here are a few other pictures from the roadtrip:
Yes, I believe that I am a bad role model for small kids. I realized that this week (although others were astounded I hadn't realized this before now).
I'll go back a few weeks (or months maybe). Now learning a little bit of Chinese isn't very interesting to me if I'm learning words I will never use. But I find that I can quickly and easily learn words that my mother would not be proud of. In fact, on several occasions, kids have tried to teach me how to say certain words (for example, "Chicken Steak") and I do a minor mispronounciation and everyone starts laughing. Me not knowing why asks them, "What did I say?" They then tell me that I said a really dirty word. Now a good role model would say something like "Sorry" but not me. I ask them to pronounce for me the "dirty" word, then go to one of the Taiwanese staff members and have them tell me what it means. Talk about a bad role model.
Another example happened this week. I was walking the kids over the bridge and below us is the river. In the river that day there were several people swimming. I hear all the boys yelling down things (which by now I know is never a good thing) and hear them all laughing. I then hear the people below us yell something back. I ask a kid who speaks good english what the students had yelled. He told me that they were making fun of the people swimming and told them to put some clothes on because they weren't that bad looking. Now a good role model would have made the boys apologize to the people and would have yelled at them. Me? I started laughing and said, "That's pretty funny."
Horrible.
There are other stories like this that I'm sure I'll post later, but just know: I am not a good role model for impressionable children.
My time in Taiwan is quickly coming to an end, which is bittersweet - especially when it comes to this blog. I have found it to be very useful in conveying things that I have been doing to a wide amount of people, so when I talk to them after an extended period of time they know what I have been doing and I get to spend more time talking about things away from my world. With my return planned for July 31st, my blog will have to take on a new form altogether, as I will be more or less doing nothing all that exciting.
With that being said, I am thinking of ideas to write about that would be interesting for me and interesting to those of you who have taken time to read this. I must say, it is always a thrill to get an email from someone who said they liked something in one of my posts.
In the past (and some recently) I've fallen back on political/economic related postings. Although I find my own views interesting and correct, I'm sure that if you're reading this, you're not reading it to see what I am thinking about a certain political topic.
When it comes to business and all things related (whether it be my own personal experiences working for other companies and just expanding out my thoughts or the work that has been done and will be continued on Biomagine) I find it that it can be interesting, but that more than 1 or 2 articles a month on that would find me lacking much quality and original thought - so I need to find other things to write about as well.
So in short, I will be needing to think about what I will continue to post on this blog, but will love any suggestions. It seems that my friends and family seem to know what I enjoying doing and talking about more than I do most of the time, so let me know if there is anything you want me to write about.
Moving on...
Today was my birthday. It was spent working here at the school and getting sunburnt. All in all, not much different than any other day, which is fine with me. I do feel my age catching up on me. Being 24 is different than 23. Hearing goes, vision fails, things don't work...
Just kidding.
The other day I walked around a part of Taipei I hadn't visited before and came across a pretty neat temple. Now in reality, most of these temples look a lot alike from the outside - and if you just walked through without paying much attention, they would look a lot alike from the inside too.
But this temple was a bit different when I walked inside. They had statues of people lining the walls where the entance/exit ways were. The ceilings were very decorative and there was a place for burning papermoney for your dead ancestors (or whyever they do it). Here are a few pictures of this temple (which was at the entrance of the Raohe Street night market):
Well, the countdown is now at 18 days until I'm back in the States. I did see that Frank Turner has 3 concerts scheduled in November around my area (and by "around" I mean within 6 hours roundtrip). Gamecock football will be starting about a month after I get back as well - but I'm still not sold on being excited about that just yet. Made that mistake for 3 years, but maybe this year will be the year...
After a bit of traveling around Taiwan, I can now say I am glad I decided to stay on this island rather than travel to another country.
From Thursday to Monday I was traveling around southern Taiwan. I went to Tainan, Kaoshiung and Kenting. Southern Taiwan reminded me a bit of Singapore - more sunny, hot and windy. A lot of the people in southern Taiwan don't speak mandarin Chinese, but the local Taiwanese language.
I think I could write a bit about my time and experience there, but I think I'll just post pictures and let those speak for me. Most of the pictures are from Kenting.
So it's offical (well the date I'm coming home at least): July 31st at 6:35 pm I will be back in Columbia, South Carolina - the greatest state in the Union (yeah, that's right bitches from other states).
Actually, I have a strange feeling that I will have a good story about missing a flight that day. You see, my flight pattern is this: Taipei to Tokyo to Washington, DC to Columbia, SC. I have plenty of time between all flights except the DC -> Columbia flight: which is also where I have to change from an international flight to domestic flight (hence go through customs), get the ticket for my flight, get to the right terminal and get onto the aircraft. All this in less than 1 hour time. So I think that I will be missing my flight back home. Should be fun after flying for 22 hours.
Well I have decided not to take anymore trips outside of Taiwan between now and when I return home. I really haven't even explored much of Taiwan yet so I figure that it will be best to allocate my final few weeks to seeing Taiwan.
I will be heading up to the north coast of Taiwan for the afternoon today and then this evening will be jumping on the high-speed rail down to southern Taiwan. Then I will be heading to Kenting on Friday through Saturday or Sunday. Hopefully I'll get some good pictures to post on here.
Anyhow, only 30 more days until I'm en route to the USofA.
It's hard to imagine this if you haven't actually seen it before. Think of rapids flowing in a river. Take that mental image and place that on a staircase and you have my school during a heavy rainstorm.
Yesterday and today there have been very strong thunderstorms in the afternoon. Apparently after the Dragon Boat Festival thunderstorms are the norm for here. Yesterday, it rained so hard, so quickly, that the staircase by where we eat and the main staircase by the schools gates were literally whitewater rapids. I have never seen anything quite like that before.
Today I was doing my thing (teaching frisbee) and while I'm watching the kids throw the disc I see something moving really fast in the grass. It took me all of a second to realize that it was a pretty big snake (at least 2 and a half feet long). The snake was greyish with yellow pinstripes on its side and right as I see the snake, I see a kid running right towards it. About the time I get the word "stop" out of my mouth, the kid steps right on top of the snake. The snake - probably about as scared as the kid was - coils up in the air. Luckily, the snake hi-tailed it out of there into the brush on the hill area above the field.
About 5 minutes later, a kid throws the frisbee into the brush on the hill and as I am just about to reach in to pick out the frisbee, I think to myself "this is probably pretty close to where that snake is." Just then, I see the snake again pefectly placed in an inperfect environment - right under the frisbee.
Now this snake must be really having a bad day. It starts moving again and I back off - to return a little later with a big stick for protection. Luckily for it (and for me) it was gone by the time I returned.
Anyway, Tuesday is all but over. The weather is hot, humid and muggy, but I still think it's not quite as hot as it is back home.
Also, looking like the northeast US/Canada trip is beginning to take shape. Looking like I'll be traveling that area from August 8 - 23. Should be fun and all, but I think by the time I get back home, I'll be travelled out for quite some time.
Well since I got back to Taiwan I've kept busy. Wednesday was Dragon Boat Festival - which is a very big deal in Chinese culture. It is one of the 3 most important festivals celebrated in Taiwan (the others being the Moon Festival and the Lunar New Year).
Dragon Boat Festival commemorates the death of the poet Chu Yuan who was a counselor for the Chu government a long long time ago. Although banished by the King of Chu for giving advice that wasn't much appreciated, he was very patriotic to the Chu state. While in exile, the Chu state was defeated by the Chin state. When Chu Yuan heard this, he jumped into a river and drowned himself. The local fishermen who liked Chu Yuan heard what happened, hopped into their boats and raced to try to save him before he drowned. They were obviously too late and there were fish trying to eat him - so they beat their drums to scare the fish away and threw things called 'jongzi' (which is sticky rice wrapped in bamboo leaves) so the fish wouldn't eat Chu Yuan's body. So to commemorate this, every year the ritual of the Dragon Boat racing is held to symbolize the effort to rescue him and jongzi is eaten in memory of the fishermen's effort to save his body.
There is also another custom which is done on this day (which turns out wasn't Michael trying to pull a trick on us). At exactly noon on Dragon Boat Festival, if you can stand an egg on its end, the coming year will be very lucky. Of course, Micheal told us that we should have THROWN the eggs at the boats as they rode by, which he said was us wishing the boat rowers good luck. I think he wanted to see us killed. So you can see why we didn't exactly believe him about standing the egg up on its end... The World Cup has been going on (as pretty much everyone knows) and I've been able to watch a good number of the games here in Taiwan. Although I have yet to stay up to watch the 2:45 AM game yet, I think this weekend I'm going to go for it - maybe even tonight as it is the England game (which is right after the US game). And to all of you US haters out there -> USA! USA! USA!
Of course we all know that North Korea will win it all...
I've been also weighing my options about where I will be traveling to. After thinking of all the countries I could go to, I stopped and realized that I have not really even explored Taiwan at all. So although Thailand sounds nice and Japan seems cool, I think I may just end up staying here for the remainder of my time. But that could always change...
Anyhow, the pool is open at my apartment now. It's actually kind of a nice pool, but its been cloudy practically every day since it opened. And the water is very cold. VERY cold. Shrinkage cold...
On Saturday I got up early and went to the zoo. The zoo is not in a very convient location - about a 30 minute bus ride after you get off the MRT (which took about half an hour as well).
The day started off nice and sunny. It looked like it would be a nice day to harass the monkeys (monkies?). One of the first animals that were encountered were the Proboscis Monkeys. I aptly renamed it the Promiscious Monkey. This thing had a friggin' big nose. And you know what they say about monkies with big noses'...
After that, I came across some white tigers. They could have definitly taken on the black panthers. No doubt. I wouldn't be surprised if one of these were Michael Jackson's tigers.
Then moving on to the kangaroos. They definitly didn't like me all that much and it was obvious. They just gave me this evil stare. I tried to give them a leaf but the kangaroo just ran off...or hopped off.
And then it started to rain. And this wasn't a nice spring shower type of rain. This was rain that would've made Noah uncomfortable. But look at what this monkey did to prevent himself from getting phenomnia:
It stopped raining for a bit soon after so I decided to visit some more of these smart monkies. This guy was not having a good day though:
After that, there was a polar bear show going on so off I went to see it. Now I have seen a polar bear before, but I guess I've never really seen one up close before. They are friggin' huge. I'm saying that if Chuck Norris and a polar bear got in a fight, well Chuck Norris would still win but he may have a black eye or something.
Then I went on to see some hippos. These hippos were fairly friendly. It was their feeding time and they knew it. Who says you can't train an animal? When food is on the line, they'll do anything...
After that, I saw a Jaguar with a definite mental problem. This thing jumped up on a log and just kept pacing back and forth on it for at least 5 minutes. No real reason to why, he just kept pacing.
Then I went on to another show. This one had a trained seal that seemed to enjoy making everyone wet. Fortunatley, he didn't get all the glory as it started pouring down rain halfway through the show. Again, I am soaked.
Following that, I went to the feeding of the leopards. Now I don't know many cats that like the water as much as this one does. These things were going crazy (as it was their feeding time and the guy throwing them the food was doing a good job of hitting them in the face with the meat).
After that, they fed all the monkies which was a fun show to watch. The monkies just sat there and get pegged with sugar cane stalks. They also have these chimps that they brought out of their cage to give water and food to.
Finally, I went on the Night Safari. This is a cool tram ride at night through a different part of the zoo. A lot of these animals are not fenced in or in cages and came really close to the tram as it rode by. I did see a laughing hyenia and realized that these are some really big animals. I always thought they were the size of a fox or big dog, but they are actually a bit bigger than that.
They had a tribal drums performance and an entertaining opening show at the Night Safari as well.
After all of this, there was a big night show where the animals were (suppose) to do specific tasks and tricks. The poor lady that was the MC had a bad night. It was capped when the hyenia that was suppose to come out and go to a log took a detour, found a frog and started attacking the frog. I think I like this version better than I would've liked the planned version.
Anyhow, that was my last day in Singapore. I got back to Taiwan yesterday and am at the school today. It's raining and it is an in-service week which makes for a great time!
I have begun to weigh my options for the next trip that I will take before coming home. Originally I thought that I would go to Japan but that place is ridic expensive. I'm not looking at a few other places: the Phillipines, Thailand, Laos or somewhere along that area.
Well I think that yesterday's post was good and all, but it is lacking a very important story that happened RIGHT after I finished and posted it.
So I had walked to the internet cafe about 2 blocks from where I am staying - nothing special. I got here sat down yada, yada, yada. About 2 minutes after sitting down, this lady sits down at the computer next to me. It's nothing outside of the ordinary.
Not long after sitting down she asks for help on doing something with her computer. About 3 minutes after that, she again asks for help on doing something with the computer. It's clear she doesn't use a computer very often.
I notice she starts to write something about the time I start writing yesterday's blog post and then stop focusing on things around me and focus on writing. After I finish typing and start looking at some other stuff, she turns to me with a note that is about a half page long. It's in (a form) of English shorthand. In short, she decides to inform me that she had seen me walk into here, followed me in here and wanted to offer me a good price. Let me rephrase that: She was a hooker who wrote me a love letter.
I could not help but start laughing. I thought it was really funny. I kindly slid the letter back to her and informed her that I would not be interested in her services.
This chick must have gone to business school. She makes a hand gesture like "hold on a second", starts writing more. It's along the same lines. After that, I stand up and leave. Oh, why didn't I keep that letter!!! Oh well.
Needless to say, I decided to go elsewhere.
Today I headed back to Santosa and laid out on the beach for about 2 hours. It's nice to be able to swim in the ocean again (even if it's more like a lake - they have created artifical barrier islands that keep the waves to a minimum).
The FIFA World Cup starts today and everyone seems to be in the spirit in Singapore. I've seen jerseys for Spain, USA, Germany, England and Brazil to name a few. Oddly enough, I didn't see any Singapore jerseys - but then again, they might not even be in the World Cup.
Tomorrow is my last full day here in Singapore. Hopefully it won't rain. Ha.
I think I am hooker free in the internet cafe tonight.
Yesterday I decided it was time to hit the beaches. Sentosa is the beach area here in Singapore complete with a Universal Studios, casino, and construction of many other things.
Now, I originally wanted to take the gondola to Sentosa, but found out that it is closed until next month. Fail. But that was ok. When I got to Sentosa, it was a quick 2 minute walk until I was on the beach. The water was warm, the sand was sandy, and the clouds were threatening. I walked the span of the beach (which turns into private property or something after only about 10 minutes of walking) and decided to take a swim in the sea (or ocean, or bay, or...well, I really don't know but I'm going to stick with sea).
The SECOND (and I'm being literal) I jump into the water, it starts pouring down rain, red flags get issued from the lifeguards - signaling a lightning warning - and my ambitions to swim home were quickly quashed.
I headed back into town and went into Chinatown to look for some things to buy. I found a lot of interesting looking stuff and ended up buying a 4-faced Buddah, which I am suppose to put on my desk to tell everyone when they walk in my mood. The Buddah's face (which can be mad, sad, happy or serene) will face outward. So you have been forewarned.
After a little more walking around aimlessly I headed back into Geylang, where I'm staying. For dinner, I decided to hit up this restraunt that is really close to where I am staying. As I sat down at the table, I realized that there was a cat sitting under my table. I'm a friendly person so I didn't tell the cat to move. Glad I did, because I got a lot of entertainment from the cat - and it's dead bird friend, which I will call Bernie.
The cat starts throwing Bernie all around on the ground. Then throws the dead bird out from the table. Bernie is getting tossed in the air and almost lands on top of some other peoples table. The people who are working at the restraunt are trying to shoo the cat away, but it keeps coming back with Bernie. It was a fairly entertaining dinner.
Today started off raining again. I headed first to some kind of stamp museum, but found it a very good source for more recent Singaporian history and culture. Definitly learned a little bit more about Singapore from a stamp museum. After that, I headed out for a boat ride. It was fairly nice, but I would rank it as not as good as either the boat rides I've taken in Ottawa or Hong Kong. In fact, I wouldn't really even recommend it as something to do here.
On the boat ride, I did have a casualty. One of the watches I bought in Hong Kong's pins broke (that held the watch to the strap. Funny enough, replacing the pin (which I plan to do) will probably cost more than the watch did originally.
Also, I have the SUPER Big Mac today for lunch. Mistake. Definitly a mistake. As a side note, I have realized something about Singapore's McDonalds: They are VERY similar to America's McDonalds when it comes to taste - and that is not a compliment. I would urge you to write your Congressman and Senator and have them outlaw McDonald's SUPER Big Mac from entering your state. It's not eco-friendly...
Besides that, it has been a fairly relaxing past couple of days. I am planning on getting some Mexican food tonight (but not Taco Bell - as I have been forbidden to go there).
Tomorrow I'm hoping to get back to Sentosa and hang out at the beach WITHOUT it raining on me. Wish me luck.
Rain rain rain rain rain rain rain. Yes, it's been raining for the past 2 days here unfortunatly, but that hasn't stopped me in doing things around here.
Yesterday I spent the day exploring more of the Raffle's Place area. This area is in the heart of the financial district and close to the Singapore river. I started off yesterday by looking for Lau Pa Sat, which is a place where you can get any kind of ethnic food you want.
So I started searching for it (mind you, I ate there on Sunday night). I kept walking and walking, but came up short in finding out where it was. I walked all around, by Clarkes Quay and other areas nearby, but couldn't find it. Sooooo...I ate at McDonalds.
Now get this. The McDonalds here have a SUPER Big Mac - it has 4 patties on it. Talk about something that will kill you. Well, I didn't end up getting the SUPER Big Mac, just the regular Big Mac. But I will try it before I leave.
After that, I went to the Asia Civilization Museum. They have an exhibit from Kuwait of a bunch of jewelry, artifacts and religious stuff from India. It was really interesting to see it all.
Last night, I went on the Singapore Flyer - which is a really REALLY tall ferris wheel. It's 165 meters tall and takes half an hour to do 1 full rotation. It was nice to see the city from above. There is also a Formula 1 track that you can see parts of (in fact, the starting line is directly below the Singapore Flyer).
Today, I went to the Jurong Bird Park. It takes about an hour to get there from where I am staying, but apparently it houses one of the largest bird varities in the world - over 8000 birds and 600 species. Needless to say, there was a lot of sqawking going on around there. And it was raining, which really didn't help the smell out much.
After that, I decided to find Lau Pa Sat and had it for lunch. I had a nice set of Indian food. But I almost forgot to mention that I had a Carl's Jr. (Hardee's) THICKBURGER today. Ohhh yeahhh. I still haven't found the Taco Bell though. That's next on my to-do list.
Anyhow, I think I'll be hitting up the Zoo/Night Safari on Saturday. Tomorrow, I'm thinking of doing some more touristy stuff - maybe do a Duck Tour (which is a vehicle that rides around the city then literally drives into the water and is a boat - a hovercraft if you will). Also figure I'll hit up some other things throughout the day.
I did find out that there is a zip-line place here, a gondola, and a casino. I will be checking out ALL of those from tomorrow through Friday. And who said that there aren't enough things to do in Singapore for 8 days?
Wow. That's about all I can say right now. To be honest, I wasn't expecting Singapore to be much. Heck, I don't even think I knew Singapore was a country before coming to Asia (thank you South Carolina public education!). But wow.
If there was a tangible and visible way for me to define 'Paradise', this would be close. The buildings, the arcitecture, the ease of navigating the city, the cultural attractions, the nightlife that is offered: Singapore has blown away all my expectations.
I got in late last night - around 9 PM. I was able to do a little exploring of the area that I am currently staying in (which is called Geylang, which I have renamed Gayland - I'll explain more later). Now this area is nice, it kind of reminds me of a little more ghetto version of Gatlinburg. My hotel doesn't have internet and there are whorehouses peppering the alleyways. This part of Singapore isn't the greatest, but to be honest, I think it's better than where I was staying in Hong Kong.
Now in Geylang, there is a hotel called Gay World Hotel. Now, I'm not sure if it's a Singlish (Sinapore's version of English) or what, but I definitly had a good laugh when I walked by it.
But once I get on the MRT and go down about 3 stops, I get into the heart of Singapore. I found myself on multiple occasions forgetting where I was and thinking I was in Charleston. The arcitecture in some areas rivals that of Rainbow Row in Charleston and similar (or even nicer) than some of the historic buildings there.
The Chinatown part of Singapore is amazing. There are many shops filled with what I've been wanting to find in Taiwan. Silk robes, fans, random trinkets. I have finally found where I can buy my touristy crap. There is even a really nice Buddahist museum/temple that I visited today.
But when you start walking towards to financial part of Singapore, it has the feel of what you see in Atlanta or Philadelphia. Singapore is more of a "Southern City" with a spread out lay to the way the city has been developed. There are many skyscrapers, including 3 buildings that are linked together by a huge pool that spans all 3 of them. There is a very VERY tall ferris wheel, a building designed after a very smelly fruit (that looks like a yellow turd when you get the meat off of the rind), and a lot of modern designed buildings.
There is also still the colonial feel from when the United Kingdom ran Singapore as a colony. A lot of "British" architectural buildings, defining the goverment as "Parliment" and spelling "Story" as "Storey". I'm waiting to see some "Shoppe's" soon.
Anyhow, I ramble. I'm actually in an internet cafe right now - must say that it's the first time I've been in one of these places. I'll be in Geylang through Tuesday morning but am hoping to find a hostel somewhere in Chinatown for the rest of the week.
But yeah, that's about all for now. Tomorrow I plan on visiting the "Asia History" museum and maybe an art museum or something.
Well, here I am waiting at the airport ready to get on my way to Singapore. It's been a dreary day today - all the more so because it's been raining and I lost (yet another) umbrella. I think I've gone through at least 5 since getting here. Oh well. I was told the average Taiwanese person loses 8 per year. Prorating at my current rate, I'm on pace for 20 umbrellas. Luckily I'm only here until August!
This past week went by fairly quickly. We had our largest amount of students to date - somewhere around 73. And of those 73, 40 of them were boys. But after a few taser blasts and beatings with sticks later...
The names were quite epic this week. Some of my favorites were: Monkey and Hank You. All else doesn't compare standing against those!
Anyhow, I'll be in Singapore until June 13 so hopefully I'll have internet at where I'm staying and hopefully I can find a picture transfer cable (yes, I forgot it again!)
So I just recently finished reading Chris Anderson’s newest book, Free: How Today’s Smartest Businesses Profit by Giving Something for Nothing, and I must say that I am left with a feeling of “eh”. I did have pretty high expectations for this book, and in terms of doing a decent job in describing the belief in why “Free” is going to be the next big business model, he doesn’t really touch on the reason why it probably won’t be the next big business model – at least in how he described it.
He goes into saying that “Free” isn’t sustainable just by advertising dollars. From people using a free service but then paying for the premium service to giving away free razors then charging a lot for the blades (think Gillette), his model isn’t just give away things and you’ll become a millionaire. You use “Free” to sell the premium good.
So yeah, I get that. In fact, that’s nothing new. Free samples have been around a long time. But what left me with the “eh” feeling was his view of how companies can also raise revenue by giving away things for free:
…it’s the unwitting free labor of thousands of people. Likewise for rating stories on Digg, voting on Yahoo Answers, or using Google’s 411 service. Every time you search on Google, you’re helping the company improve its ad-targeting algorithms. In each case, the act of using the service creates something of value, either improving the service itself or creating information that can be useful somewhere else. Whether you know it or not, you’re paying with your labor for something free. Pg. 28 – 29
With Google, Facebook and MySpace all currently going through crisis management and bad PR due to leaking user (“customer”) information, Anderson seems to ignore the 300-million pound gorilla in the room – the issue of privacy.
Anderson even admits that Facebook and YouTube still haven’t turned any kind of a actual profit yet, even with their huge user base and “Free” model. They haven’t been able to figure out the right formula to create ads that attract the people that the ad’s are aiming for. In fact, Facebook can only sell ads at around $1 per 1000 views – rock bottom! So what are companies that give away “something” for nothing to do? Google, for all of its free services, is still driven by selling ads (through Google AdSense and to businesses who want a good placement on their search engine). Google hasn’t turned a profit by giving away spreadsheets and e-mail.
But it has earned some money by using the data collected by the usually unknown to the user. What has this data been used to do? And as earlier quoted, “…improve its ad-targeting algorithms… or creating information that can be useful somewhere else.”
“Useful somewhere else” now includes face recognition software that it developed by giving Picasa away for free. Not to mention many privacy concerns due to Google Earth (just imagine if the US government put up pictures of everyone’s home!).
Now with Facebook under attack for letting users information become public information via web-searches (although, if someone’s going to put something that they don’t want others to see online…). This also includes work info, school info, and other specific things that advertisers can use to create more targeted ads to send to you.
As Electronic Frontier Foundation put it:
It’s slowly but surely helped itself — and its advertising and business partners — to more and more of its users’ information, while limiting the users’ options to control their own information.
So with everything going towards “Free”, and users expecting it now, how do these companies go from “great ideas” to “great ideas that are sustainable”? It seems to me currently that for web-based companies built on “Free”, it’s only by selling user data to outsiders – and without you knowing it.
But is it these companies fault? I mean, don’t the users of these services voluntarily input the information that is then sold off to businesses? Well, if the past year in American politics and the topic of individual privacy and freedom is any indicator, yes. And because of that, and the destruction that “Free” brings to business models without replacing it with newer sustainable models, some major companies that use to give away things for free (think News Corp) are now going back to the paid subscription model.
Are we now in the beginning stages of the backlash to free? Is privacy going to trump “Free” as the next big wave in consumer behavior? Was “Free” just another “here today, gone tomorrow” business fad that was as poorly thought through as the dot-com bubble was in the late-90’s?
I’m going to be bold and make my prediction public: Yes, I think so. I think that anything that seems too good to be true usually is. The big investments made by Microsoft for Facebook and by Google for YouTube will be seen in a few years in the same light as Time Warner Cables investment into America Online.
“Free” is not sustainable by itself, unless it is supported by a premium service or it is abused and mined for data that can be used to sell stuff to the users. So is marketing bad? Is gathering information on users, even without them knowing about it, a bad thing? Just imagine if it were the government.
Replace “Facebook”, “YouTube”, and “Google” with “The Federal Government” or “State Government”. Personally, I don’t think trusting big business is any safer than trusting big government.
A really strang thing happened today. As I was walking around Taipei 101 area, I hear a girl behind be go "excuse me sir!" I turn around and there is this college aged American girl. She's like "I saw your shirt (I was wearing my Kappa Kickoff 08 t-shirt) and I go to USC and I'm a Kappa!"
Talk about a small world. She apparently has been studying in Asia for the past semester and is heading home on Tuesday. We talked for a minute, had a few mutual friends and that was that. To be honest, I was pretty dazed that I ran into someone that knows the same people and visits the same places I visit back home, so far from home.
Last week I was working at Kuolai English Wilderness. The kids were very good, but some of them were strangly "prozaic". But I know that the kids all had a great time, and I got a tan. So I reckon we can call it even.
I did catch a big ole toad on Thursday night. This thing was the size of my hand (actually a little bigger) and had a bladder to match! There are so many different types of animals and insect where I teach (not to mention big spiders that like to hang out around my bed - and sometimes on it!). But with all the insects and diversity of animals, the thing that stands out is the respect that the students (actually the Taiwanese people in general) have for all forms of life.
An example is during lunch a few weeks back, there was a BIG UGLY HAIRY spider under one of the lunchroom tables. Now in the US, what we do is we either step on the sucker or we spray it and call it a day. But one of the Taiwanese staff members went and got a dust pan, got the spider to walk into it and took the spider outside and let it go.
A similar story about a huge red wasp about a month ago was in the cafeteria. The Taiwanese staff member picked up the wasp by its wings (!) took it outside and let it go. Things like that rarely happen where I'm from.
But now it's my offweek. I've spent pretty much all of it working on stuff for Biomagine. I've been breathing marketing stuff this weekend and am pumped up about some of the ideas and the possibilities. I also have been challenged by looking at one of our competitors and seeing how amazing their product is. I love that we definitly have a good company we can benchmark off of, but also know that once we start marketing the software, we are out of the gate better off than probably 90% of the software out in the market right now. And that's awesome to think. Hopefully we can translate that into actual success!
13 days until I go to Singapore. It's looking like Thailand is also beginning to calm down a little bit (but that North Korea is picking up the slack...) so I might be able to do a little regional travel while I'm there. If not, I've been given plenty of information about things to see, visit and eat while I'm in Singapore - so I think I can keep busy for the 9 days I'll be there. Also, as a fun fact, Singapore and Hong Kong have replaced the US as the #1 most competitive economies. The US is #3 now (but even the report said the difference between 1 and 3 is so minicule that its moot) but it'll be cool to have visited both of those counties during my time here.
Well, I figured I'd just write something since I haven't in a week or so - but I do have some political leaning posts being thought up in my mind at the moment. Therefore, I'm sure I'll have something to say shortly ;)
Well, my two week (paid) vacation is coming to an end. Sad face. But it's definitly been a good couple of weeks. With the Hong Kong trip behind me now, it's time to schedule bigger and better things.
And that is what I did.
So, a trip to Singapore has been booked for June 5 - 13. Now I originally pictured this trip to include Malaysia, Thailand and maybe another country (Vietnam or Laos) but due to some current - how should I put it - political entanglements in Thailand (and hearing that Malaysia is a good place to get mugged in) I'm just going to play it by ear when I get to Singapore on what I'll be doing.
I did want to share this video from my Hong Kong trip. I felt like I was Bear Grylling it:
Anyhow, I'll be looking forward to that. I'm also planning a trip to Japan in July before my triumphant return home in August (followed by a Canadian trip).
This week should be fun and draining. It's going to feel like going back to school after summer break - a bit of nervous excitement (more towards if this is going to be an inner-LA style group or a good group) and getting back into the rythm of things. But moving on...
Today all the teachers met the governor of Taipei for lunch. It was a very nice environment and the Gov was a very friendly guy. The best part though was when a group of people who had been swimming in the river came walking through the area where we were eating (the restraunt was divided on a public breezeway area) and they recognized the governor and he (like a true politican) shook the hands of all of them. Here's a few pics from today:
Also, here are a few pics from the Frank Turner concert. Again, amazing show. Might even see him again in August (as I might be in the same area of Canada as him...we will see).
I also (kind of apprehensively) am posting the video from when I got on stage. No judging (I know I sucked - thank you).
Well, that's about it, for now at least. Until next time...
Today the weather was a bit less than exceptional - which killed my plan of going to the observation deck on the top of the Bank of China building. But no worries.
Hong Kong is a very exceptional place. One of the highest population density areas on earth, it can almost feel claustrophobic at times. It then is almost a strange feeling from going from feeling like you're living in a sardine can to walking in a park, with hardly a soul in sight.
This happened twice today. As I was walking north up Nathan Road I noticed up on a hill a green tiled roof. So I decided to walk up and see what was up there. It happened to be, almost hidden in the city, a Rest Garden. It was an interesting sight to see a group of older men, huddled together praying, very similar to what you might see in a Christian church. But it obviously wasn't - since there were several men dressed in traditional Buddahist attire. But it was interesting to see. There were other things in the park too, like cast wall murals, bridges blocked by plants, and potted plants submerged in water. All in all, it was a nice place - but sometimes I just don't get why things are done in a certain way.
Afterwards, I walked back down Nathan Road towards where I'm staying. I had been planning on dropping by Kowloon Park since I got here, but kept pushing it back. I am very glad I made a stop there today.
The park is very large, and it includes a Monument Walk, a Bush Maze, birds on exhibit and a traditional Chinese garden (among other things). The park is flanked on all sides by skyscrapers, but inside this bubble it is like a world away from Hong Kong: very peaceful, very quiet, very unique.
After the park, I decided to finally hit up one of the night markets in Hong Kong. Now, I have heard a lot about these (as in, this is where you go if you want your bootleg stuff) so I pushed back going to it until tonight - because I knew I would spend all of my money whenever I went to it. And that I did.
Now for those of you who have been to a night market in Taiwan, you know that you can get some good deals. But the Hong Kong night markets take that to a whole new level! This one night market was at least a mile long, packed with people peddling their stuff, and almost all of it was fake (of varying quality).
At these night markets - and if you plan to go to Hong Kong, you better read this part - the people want to sell you their stuff. The key for them to know you're interested is when you say "How much is this?" Just a forewarning, once you say that, you LITERALLY will not be able to leave until you either buy it or you pry your hand away from the lady that is trying to sell you the item (and they will literally hold you until you buy it).
But haggling is the way to go. When you ask how much something is, their original price is going to almost be 30 - 50% more than what you can talk them down to. There are a few exceptions though: Designer bags and (of all things) lasers, you won't be able to haggle much because everyone wants to buy these things (so sorry Susan and Will...).
Here is a good example of what happened to me tonight. I had asked the lady how much something was. She said, $360. I said, OK thanks, I'll think about it. She then grabbed my hand and was like, (and I heard this a lot tonight) "But for you, I'll make you a special price...$320.
Again, I was like, "I'll think about it."
Still holding onto my hand, "$300".
I then said to her, "Let go of my hand."
"$250"
"Let go of my hand", and I started to try to get her to let go, but she really had an iron grip on me.
"$220"
I finally got her to let go, and as I was walking away she said, "Fine, $200".
And we had a deal. So I talked her down (if you can call it that) from $360 to $200 in less than a minute. And I was able to get other similar deals tonight on other things too by pretty much taking their inital offer down 40% and haggling from there.
So now you know. Also, a few other tips: 1. Prices do vary quite a bit in nightmarkets for the same items. So keep that in mind. 2. Alley dealers that are not in nightmarkets charge MUCH more for the same items. So unless you find something very unique, I would wait to buy it at a real night market where there is more selection and ability to haggle.
Well, I leave tomorrow back to Taiwan. I must say I have had a great time here in Hong Kong. Maybe I'll visit again before I head back to the States in August.
So first, HAPPY MOTHERS DAY MOM! I love you and hope you had fun today.
Now on to Hong Kong...
Today was probably one of the busier days I've had here in Hong Kong. No doubt, there is plenty to do here, and even as I am trying to fit everything into the 6 days I'm going to be here, I keep finding more things to do, and realizing I am not going to have enough days to do them!
As promised in yesterdays blog, I decided the first thing I would do is go to the science museum. Now the Hong Kong Science Museum shares the same area as the history museum (although they are separate buildings). After going through the history museum on Friday, I was expecting the science museum to blow me away. I was thinking there would be a lot of state of the art 3-D animations (which I was planning on taking notes on...), really cool science related tools and devices, and maybe some cool interactive things.
Wellllll, not quite. It reminded me of Discovery Place in Columbia. The museum was definitly geared towards a younger crowd - maybe middle school aged. They did have some cool things there, but they had a lot of stuff that was both dated and quite bad. Here is a video of one of the interactive games I was able to play:
But the museum also had a "Biodiversity in China" exhibit. It was kind of cool, although again below my expectations. It was very cool to see preserved animals such as a Red Panda, Vulture, a Takin (one of my favorites...) and many other kinds of animals. This museum was a bit more expensive too, costing $HK 35, or about $5.
So I spent about an hour there and proceeded to get lunch. Now after my McDonald's binge yesterday, the mere thought of a Big Mac made both my liver and kidneys ache. So I was thinking I would eat fresh - Subway. So I jumped on the ferry, crossed the river and ate at Subway.
After that, I crossed back over the river, planned on going to the Space Museum, realized it was mostly just a movie museum and headed next door to the art museum. Now the Hong Kong Museum of Art was pretty good. It is 4 stories (or maybe 5) tall with one large exhibit hall per floor. The art museum served almost more as an early Chinese artifact museum than an art museum. The first floor had a caligraphy exhibit, and the top floor housed a 30-plus piece exhibit of Wu Guanzhong's pieces, but the rest of the floors had pottery, gods, people, snuff bottles, and a lot of gold artifacts. The art museum was very inexpensive too, costing $HK 10. I think there is a correlation of higher quality/lower admission price...
So after leaving there, I decided that I was going to take a ride around Victoria Harbor. Now apparently Travel Magazine (or something like that) said it was one of the 50 "must-do" things to do when you travel. So why not? The Star Ferry Harbor Tour company does 60-minute tours, which are very nice. It reminded me of when I was in Ottawa and did the river tour there. There is just something about being on a boat that is both relaxing and invigorating. I learned a few things, such as an observation deck on the top of the Bank of China building (which I plan on visiting tomorrow), as well as this building being the tallest in Hong Kong: Ironically (and I'm embarrassed to say this) I learned what HSBC stood for. Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. I remember thinkking to myself when I got here, "Man, HSBC sure has a lot of ads here in Hong Kong..."
But the tour was really nice, and I would recommend it to anyone. I would say that you might want to do it your first day or two here, that way you can mark out the places you want to go when you're on Hong Kong Island.
After that, I ferried back across the water (I told you I was going to ride that thing a lot today...) and got Subway again. My body rejoiced (although for dinner I did go to the darkside...McDonalds)
Which puts me to now. I do have a few things I want to write about my observations on the differences between Taiwan and Hong Kong.
First, there are actually trashcans in Hong Kong. In Taiwan, you literally cannot find a trashcan. They do not exist there. In Hong Kong, it's like being back in the States. You walk to the end of the block and there is a trashcan. Such a novel idea.
Second, they drive on the wrong side of the bloody road here. It's almost gotten me killed here a few times. But it's nice that they paint on the road by the curb "Look Left" or "Look Right".
But being that they still have the British way of driving here, that means there are no American modeled cars here in Hong Kong. And I'm not saying that for dramatic effect. There are NO American made cars here (Jaguar is now Indian for those of you thinking that...)
Third, I've seen very very VERY few mopeds. Quite the contrast from Taipei. I have also seen many many MANY high dollar luxury cars here. I have seen a good number in Taiwan too, but I'm talking 700-series BMW's, the big Mercedes, and Ferrari's.
Fourth, the diversity of Hong Kong (being it is only 5% of the population) is still kind of surprising to me. You might not think it a big deal, but being in a place where pretty much everyone is Taiwanese for 3 months, diversity becomes almost exotic. And being in February I was in DC, Philly and Boston, I wouldn't have thought I would be taken aback by this.
Fifth, a little geopolitical understanding of Hong Kong:
Hong Kong is a special administrative region that is overseen by China. Hong Kong and Kowloon were "leased" to Great Britian after the First and Second Opium Wars (I know if you are a historian, you want to slap me, but just go with the macro picture here...) The lease was for 99-years, which took it up to July 1, 1997. That is also the day that the UK gave back ownership of Hong Kong to mainland China. In the agreement though, China agreed to let Hong Kong have an autonomous government for "at least 50 years". The only thing Hong Kong and China are connected to are foreign relations and military protection (no biggies, right...)
Anyhow, I found out that China has a quota of 150 "one way visas" for mainlanders who want to move to Hong Kong and be with family that are already here. Now Hong Kong is autonomous until "at least" 2047. I'm just saying that these quotas equal to 54,750 people per year, or over 2.7 million people (not including children they may have) over a 50-year timeframe.
Being that Hong Kong's population currently is a bit over 7 million, you could imagine even with normal growth, if the quotas only stay the same over the next 37 years, there will be a lot of "Red" influence when the "at least 50 years" question comes up - and with it Hong Kong's autonomy.
I could dive a little deeper, but I don't want to bore you with the theorhetical.
It's hard to believe that I only have 2 more days here in Hong Kong! It's definitly been a fun experience (and a little expensive.) But being that I'm only going back to Taiwan, if I ever decide to visit here again it will be relatively easy.
Today, I think I have traveled in more ways than I usually do. I've been in the sky, on the water and underground: Yes, a gondola, ferry and a subway. Why? Why not!
I decided that today I was going to take the Ngong Ping 360 gondola up to wherever it would take me (see how far in advance I think!). The MTR transit route was faily simple: Jump on at Tsim Sha Tsui, take that to Central then switch to the Tung Chung Line and ride it all the way to Tung Chung.
Well the MTR ride took about 45 minutes - after which I decided to get lunch (now this will be a re-occuring pattern throughout the day). I decided that I wanted to get some good, old-fashioned American food...better known as McDonalds. I proceeded to get a Big Mac meal.
After that, I took the Gondola for a ride - which was about 25 minutes long. Definitly a cool experience, as it passes by the airport, over water, above mountains, into clouds at one point, over graves, and to a place where there is a REALLY BIG Buddah. So I get to this place, and it oddly enough reminds me of Busch-Gardens in Williamsburg, VA. I don't know why, but it really did.
So I start walking towards the Big Buddah, which is probably a half mile away, and I'm walking by all of these European themed restraunts and Chinese themed stores filled with all the trivial touristy stuff that you are only going to buy on the spur of the moment. I almost got sucked in with a few things, but managed to have enough will-power to resist...but I digress...
So I am walking toward the Big Buddah and I see these signs in both Chinese and English that say: "Go to Big Buddah --->" Now that's simple enough for me, so I go to the Big Buddah.
I get to the Big Buddah and as I look up at it, I realize I have to climb a hell of a lot of stairs to get to where it's at. I'm not talking 20 or 30, I'm talking 200 - 300 stairs. And I'm in decent shape, but even this was a challenge for me. As I was walking up the stairs, Buddahist monks as well as followers would walk up a stair or 2, then bow down on their face towards the statue. And then they would continue up another 1 or 2 steps and repeat. It was definitly an interesting experience.
Let me go back one step for a second. Before I started my climbing quest, there was this ticket office area that everyone has to walk through. Now you don't have to buy any tickets to go to the Big Buddah, but they sell meals and a "museum pass" - mainly to raise money and all. So I decided it would be nice to see the Big Buddah museum, but I figure if I'm going to be paying $HK 21, I need something more. So I got them to throw in a free drink and ice cream cone as well... Anyway, back to where I was. It was very very windy at the top, but the view was quite spectacular. There were a lot of people just milling around, but when you get to the top, and see the enormous size of the Buddah statue (and other statues that are there too) it's quite humbling...if that's the right word to use. Here are a few pictures that I took that will give you an idea of some of the things that are there:
But yeah, the museum part of it wasn't really that good. But they did have a few really impressive art pieces...unfortunatly, you can't take pictures so I can't show you what I saw. But I done did see it, and it was a-sumthin'!
After that, I headed back to the gondola and started my long trek back home. All in all, it took about an hour and a half to get back to Central MTR station. I decided then that I was going to take a boat back home. So I wandered around for a little while trying to figure out where exactly the boat was. During this wandering process, I found some pretty cool places - including an art district, some old colonial sytled buildings, and a place to eat dinner.
I was again hankering for some of that good ole fashioned American cruisine, so I racked my brain on where I should go. It came naturally that I should go to...McDonalds. And so I went. For the second time. And got a Big Mac meal. For a second time.
After taking another 3 months off my life, I found the ferry. Now the ferry is SO expensive here: $HK 3...or like 40 cents. Geez! It was a nice, but short, ride: maybe 10 minutes. But for that price, I was thinking that tomorrow or Monday I would just go back and forth a few times...until they either kicked me out or I got seasick. I'm considering it...
So I get back to Kowloon where I am staying (which is north of Hong Kong Island), and happened to run across a big technology center. I went inside, looked in a few shops, bartered with one guy and ended up buying a memory card reader - hence why I have pictures up now!
I headed back to my place, as it was about 530 or 600 and I was getting tired. I uploaded some pics and yada yada yadded until about 730. Then I decided that I was again getting hungry. Where, oh where, could I eat? Again, I felt this strange urge to eat some American food. So I went to...all together now...McDonalds. For the third time. And for the third time I got a Big Mac meal. I think I just cut my life short by at least a year by my poor eating choices today.
So I walk around for awhile and I see in the horizon lasers flashing everywhere. So I walk to the Avenue of Stars and look across the water to the light show that was going on. They put lasers and big lights and stuff on the skyscrapers on Hong Kong Island, and it makes for a spectacular lightshow. Afterwards I walked around for a bit. I saw a tout get the crap beat out of him. Apparently he was too aggressive with someone and they gave him a nice shiner on his left eye. I should have tried to sell him some ice.....
Anyhow, tomorrow I'm planning on hitting up the Science museum, a local park and take some pictures of a big mosque that's 2 blocks from where I'm staying.
Also, apologies to my fellow Frank Turner fan who I mistakenly said was from Malyasia when she was OBVIOUSLY from Singapore. Very sorry ;)
