How Much is Privacy?

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.

Back to the Blog

Ah, I have time again to do a little writing.

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 ;)

Until next time...

What's On Deck

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...

Hong Kong, Day 6: The Finale

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.

Happy Mothers Day/Hong Kong, Day 5

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.

Instead, I'll leave you with this:



Until next time...

Hong Kong, Day 4

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 ;)

Well, until next time...

Hong Kong, Day 3

Yesterday (being I'm writing this on Day 4) I finally was able to actually do some things here in Hong Kong besides just walk around. First, I went to the Hong Kong Museum of History. The museum is really cheap to get into, $HK 10, or about $1.30. They do a really good job of taking you back to the first people who lived in Hong Kong (think cavemen), have a lot of cool artifacts and things, and take you along a history timeline from the cavemen all the way to the present day.

You could easily spend 4 or more hours in there just looking at all of the things. Kind of makes me mad to think that the South Carolina Museum costs like $7 and it sucks big time.

After that, I started making my way to pick up my passport. On the walk to the MTR, I got bushwacked by Buddhist monks (how's that for illiteration?). They were hawking for donations and I must admit, they are pretty good at what they do. The dude put a "peace bracelet" on my arm and then proceeded to ask for money. He wanted $100, I gave him $40. I was only paying for the bracelet.

Picked up the Visa and then proceeded to go to Rockschool to buy the tickets. Ran into a fellow Frank Turner fan from Malaysia. She flew in from Malaysia literally just for the show. Apparently she will spend a grand total of 25 hours in Hong Kong. That's dedication for ya!

The Frank Turner concert was amazing - better than the first one, which is hard to believe. Got to talk with FT before the show as well. He played for at least 90 minutes, playing such favorites as I Knew Prufrock Before He was Famous, The Road and The Ballad of Me and My Friends. He even played a couple new songs and a cover or two.

He brought me on stage to do the harmonica part for Dan's Song. I didn't get boo'd so I guess that's good enough for me. When I get back to Taiwan, I'll upload some videos and pictures from the concert (among other things) to the blog. Also, as a fun fact, I do put a lot of pictures on Facebook - so if you're one of the few who doesn't have FB, get it, add me and you can see a lot more photos and videos.

Anyhow, today should be fun. I'm thinking of hitting up the gondola that goes over the water (if the weather is nice...), the science museum (have to get ideas for Biomagine), and maybe a McDonalds run (or two...).

Until next time...

P.S. - yeah, so i ate a pigeon today...kind of like overly chewy chicken.

Hong Kong, Day 2

Ah, the funness of getting a Visa. I spent my first, eh, 2 hours today waiting so I could hand over some papers (which took a grand total of 5 minutes, at that). I get to go back tomorrow to pick up a paper which will allow me to get my Visa when I fly into Taiwan (hopefully). We'll see how that goes when that comes around...

But it was kind of fun running into this Buddaist monk that I kept running into at the airport in Taiwan, and who was on my plane, and then again, running into him at the Visa office today. If I see him again, I might get a little paranoid.

So today was hot and humid. It took a lot out of me today - as around 6 pm I came back to the hostle, and minus a dinner run about an hour ago, I've been sitting in my bed watching an assortment of television programs I don't really understand.

I'm also not sure if I made a good decision by making this trip as long as I did. Don't get me wrong, Hong Kong is pretty cool. But it's also (according to some random survery) the 5th most expensive city in the world - behind Tokyo, Osaka, Moscow and Geneva.

Going back to yesterday's blog, I said it seems that there are most non-natives than Hong Kongians. Well according to the all mighty Wikipedia, 95% of Hong Kong residents are...native. Only 5% of the population is foreign born (which means not Mainland China/Native Hong Kong). But I did like this one sentence from the Wiki page: "The remaining 5% of the population is composed of non-ethnic Chinese forming a highly visible group despite their smaller numbers."

Which brings me into one of my "favorite" things to do: ignore touts.

"Hey buddy, do you need a shirt?" "Hey buddy, do you need a suit?" "Hey buddy, you want a replica of this watch?" And they follow you. And then start talking in their language (mostly Indians - so pick a dialect). I'm sure they don't say very nice things when they swich to speaking in their language.

The place on Nathan Street where I'm staying is called The New International Guest House, which is in the Chunking Mansion. And the Chunking Mansion is the epicenter of the "Hawking Club of Greater Hong Kong". I mean, I walk up 5 blocks or down towards the water 2 blocks, and all I'm gonna hear is "Hey buddy...", but if I get off Nathan Street on any parallel street, it's like I'm in a different world: one without "Hey buddy..."

It is kind of humorous though, and since I am staying at this place for 6 nights and I'm paying under $200 US, if I have to taser a few touts from time to time, so be it.

The Frank Turner concert is tomorrow, which is something I've been looking forward to for some time. I'm expecting it to be "ace", and have no reason to believe otherwise. Maybe I'll even get a picture with him this time.

Tomorrow will be my geek day. I'll try to hit up some of the museums (there are a lot in this area), then pick up my Visa paperwork, come back here, then head off to the concert.

Anyhow, until next time...

Hong Kong, Day 1

It's pretty nice that in the same amount of time it would have taken me to drive from Columbia to Charleston, I can go from Taipei to Hong Kong.

First off, my first views and impressions of Hong Kong:

While still in the plane, "looking above it all", the first thing I see when we fly over Hong Kong was a golf course. Fitting.

Second, coming from Taiwan, where it is very mono-ethnic (which some sprinkling of Westerners once you get away from Taipei central) I was pretty much shocked into a very multicultural area. To be honest, if I had come to Hong Kong in February, it wouldn't have been that big of a deal - in fact, it would have been pretty much what I would have expected a major international city to be.

But again, coming from 3 months removed from anything that smacks of multi-cultural, it's kind of shocking. To be honest, I think the people from Pakistan, India, US, UK and (guessing) North Africa outnumber the local Hong Kongians fairly easily.

Third, it's not cool when you have to pay normal prices for things after being use to getting meals for $3 and under.

Fourth, it's about as humid here as it is in Columbia in July. It's steamy, hot and downright southern here. I'm guessing this is just a taste of things to come for me in Taiwan in a month or so...

Well, I was a genius and managed to pack everything I needed...except for my cord for transferring pictures from my camera. I guess something important needed to be left behind.

One interesting thing did happen on the way here though. While at the airport in Taipei, before boarding my plane, I had an interesting experience with the customs dudes. You see, my visa was a 60-day visa - and that ran out at the end of April. But before it ran out, I got an extension - without having to leave the country. Now that is rare itself, but someone knew someone who knew someone...and it got done.

Apparently, these guys had never seen that either, so they pulled me out of line and started asking questions...then proceeded to let me go through the diplomat area to the airplane. It was nothing special really...just a sign above the door that read "Diplomats/Official Entrance" that ended up connecting to the same hallway that everyone else was using. But still...

Anyhow, I will be doing some exploring tomorrow, and hopefully can find a cheap SD card reader so I can upload some pics.

Until next time...

The Art of Mis-Speak

A few funny stories.

So here in Taiwan, they use gas for everything - from what the stove uses to how you get hot water. So I recently ran out of gas for my hot water and had to order a new tank.

I figured it would be moderatly difficult, but nothing too bad. I mean, there is even a piece of paper on my fridge that has what I needed to say to order the gas in Chinese. Piece of cake.

Well, I called and within 30 seconds the lady on the other end of the line was like "Ok, bye." I figured, all was good. No problems at all.

About 30 minutes later my phone rang. It was the gas place calling. Odd I thought, but ok. So I answered, not exactly sure what I was going to say. Talking with another teacher earlier on how to order the gas, I was told just to say yes to everything. So that's what I did.

And I waited for another 20 minutes. Now normally, it takes about 20 - 30 minutes for the "gas-moped" (yes, they strap these bigass tanks of gas to the back of a moped and bring it to you) to get to my place. So I'm beginning to wonder where it was. Then my phone rang again. I'm beginning to think to myself that this isn't very good. So I answer, and again say yes to everything. Repeat my address. Say yes again. They hang up on me...

I'm thinking that I must not be communicating very clearly. A classic case of "failure to communicate". I decide to walk to the entrance of the apartment, just in case. It was a good decision. There is the moped, with a tank of gas strapped to it - and a very unhappy looking Taiwanese dude brooding with the security guy (who is always brooding).

I motion to him that I'm the person who called. He jumps on his moped and drives to the elevator - me trailing about 30 yards behind him. We get on the elevator, he comes into my place, goes to where the gas is, says something, takes out the old tank and puts in the new one. Walks to my door. I pay him and give him a nice tip, and he proceeds to help me pronounce 4 (my floor number). Apparently, I had said the 10th floor, instead of the 4th. But the tip I guess made up for the lost time.

Other funny stories that are school related (and mispronounced Chinese related):

One way to say "good job" in Chinese is "Ham B'ang" (or something like that) but if you change out the two "a" for "o" then it means something completely different. I found out this while teaching frisbee a few weeks ago. I was mispronouncing it and one of the kids (who was definitly a deviant) had a big grin on his face. The Taiwanese staff member that was out there with me looked at me and was like "Uh, I wouldn't say that again." Me, not being sure exactly what I said asked, "What did I say? Isn't that 'good job'?" No, he said.

Later I asked him what I was saying. Apparently, a few vowel changes makes "good job" into "blow job" or something close to that. Opps...

Also, the word bridge in Chinese (Dauch-ow I think) can be mispronounced by saying it fast and carelessly to mean "Big dick". I found this out the hard way when I was saying on one of the walks we take with the kids "Look at that bridge" (me replacing the English word for bridge for what I thought was the Chinese word for bridge...)

Ah, the art of learning a new language. There are a few others, but I'm sure I've given you enough entertainment for now.

I'll be heading to Hong Kong on Wednesday, May 5, coming back to Taiwan on Tuesday May 11. Looking forward to going there. I got a hostel that's in a pretty good location, but in a kind of rough area with a lot of pushy peddlers around the elevator (which apparently is going to be the slowest in the world, the smallest in the world, and you have to queue up to get on..."that's what she said"...) so that should make for some good stories.

Until next time...