Little Red Flowers - Looks Beautiful!

I watched this movie during my 2nd last day in Xiamen, China this past September. The title was called “Kan shang qu hen mei” or roughly translated to English as “Looks Beautiful” even though the English title is called “Little Red Flower”.

I loved the cinematography in this movie especially of all the scenes inside of the forbidden city. To learn more about the movie, please follow the link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0492473/plotsummary. I have cut and pasted the plot from the link to here. Couldn’t have said it better myself.

"Qiang is a four-year-old little rebel, possessed of a pair of luminous eyes and a precociously indomitable will. His father deposits him at a well-appointed residential kindergarten in post-1949 Beijing, since his parents are often away. Life at the kindergarten appears rich and colourful, made up of a variety of cheerfully sunny rituals and games meant to train these children to be good members of society. But it's not so easy for Qiang to adapt to this kind of carefully organized, minutely scrutinized collective life. A fierce individualist in miniature, he tries but fails to conform to the model his teachers enforce. Yet he still craves the reward that the other students win: the little red flowers awarded each day as tokens for good behaviour. But Qiang doesn't win any flowers: he can't yet dress himself, and doesn't play together with the other kids. He even dares to talk back to the strict Teacher Li and Principal Kong when they try to impose some discipline on him. Gradually, his charisma and bravado start to win over his classmates: their stealthy little rebellions gain steam when he succeeds in convincing everyone that Teacher Li is a child-eating monster in disguise. When their attempt to capture her is thwarted, Qiang's resistance develops a more disturbing dimension, and he is forcibly ostracized from his companions. Will he succumb to the adult-enforced conformity around him, or will he insist on growing up his own way, by his own rules?"

(After reading that, I just gota say that this is so typical Chinese culture………social/peer pressure to fit in. Asian culture in general).

Ice cream of Mine

the ice cream shop is stressful. i can now imagine another retail job......but change that to ice cream. at least the shoes/clothes don't have expiry date. fuck.........it’s tough managing young kids. it's fucked.

tell u a quick story….
this fucking old lady (40's) stopped by around 8pm tonight......gestured me over to her....and wanted to know we still had any hot dogs available for sale. i told her yes we do and how many did she want. she replied, "oh u know when you are sort of hungry but not? well, i am kinda deciding whether i'd like an hot dog or half a hot dog (i was thinking to myself, "wtf? half a hot dog???). while with my jaw dropped, i managed to be professional enough and replied, "well, take ur time to decide. i will help this other customer and get back at you after. she said ok......and then walked away. WTF? i thought that she was fucking retarded. moments later, a panicking husband came by and was looking for that lady.......because, according to him, she has the tendency to wonder off without him. he explained to me that his wife is mildy retarded. i felt like shit after for even thinking that she was a fucking retard. fuck.......

by the way, i wanted to swear soo badly whenever i am at work (just a bit stressed out latey), but i can't.........the customers are around and i can't swear around the 14 and 16 year olds. tsk tsk tsk tsk.........plus i have this 42 year old lady working for me. she apologizes to me constantly for being in the way.....or whatever. it's fucking annoying. i had to tell her to stop apologizing and just tell me to get out of her way. guess what? she apologized for apologizing too often. Nuff said.

she constantly asks me for permission to do shit.....i said to her.........go ahead, if u noticed something wrong, fix it. don't ask me for everything. she's very unsure about herself. and from what I gather about her husband (which isn’t much), but i am guessing that he's got a lot to do with why she's the way she is. i think that just how he treats her (not saying that he treats her badly), but their interaction may have resulted in her insecure behaviour. i felt bad constantly having to give her orders, but she only responds to that and constant reassurance. i have to constantly let her to know that she's empowered to handle whatever tasks at hand. It’s like baby sitting. Somebody please kill me now……..kill me softly.

can’t possibily reduce her hours, but she’s just not the person for the job. We’ll see……she's got a family to raise too............can't win eh? it's like i want to help her but she ain't done nothing to help herself (thank god for double negatives) fuck!

Happy Holidaes from Oz

Happy Holidays! (Yes, I know I spelt Holiday incorrectly in my picture, but that was intended.) I did stay at the "Holidae" Inn Express last night! (ahah...don't you just love my sense of humour?! Great Success!)

As for "4m", it meant From. Was too lazy to spell out all 4 letters. I shoulda just put down Oz instead of Aus. I sorta thought of that after I put down "A". Oh well, this card took me 1 hour to make so y'all better like it! : ) *I am facing the Opera House and behind me is the over 70 year old Sydney Bridge. One may pay just under $200 Aus dollars to climb the damn thing.

ps. I prefer Happy Holidays over Merry Xmas because not everybody celebrates Xmas. I, for one, certainly don't. Just another day of the year really. I know the concept is quite politically correct and it is quite ironic that for somebody whom is super politically incorrect all the time....I'd even be PC once. Speaking of Political Correctness, isn't the phrase itself an oxymoron?! It's like Civil War or Jumble Shrimp. There ain't no such thing (love the double negatives).

pps. This was boxing day and it was over 23 degrees C. Life is tough downunder. sigh!

ppps. That drawing is a kangaroo. I tried and it looks fantastic. My mama is proud of me so you should be, too!

Pppps. The 2nd pic was me and another fellow Vancouverite, Geoff. We were chilling on the steps of the Opera House and put up our best Asian Tourist pose for the picture. I made fun of his small eyes then he said I was the pot calling the kettle black. My reply: “Touche Mofo!” : )

Australians vs Canadians

I have been here for about 7 weeks now. other than random little things I have noticed about Sydney and the Sydneysiders........to a certain extended.....it appears that more aussies are more aware of what's going on around the world than we cdns (notice that i didn't say "us cdns" because it sounds too much like the US). but again that's just an opinion.

as for the aussies, perhaps it’s because they are in the asia-pacific thing.......thus more aware of what's up (take this with a grain of salt: though many aussies don't really get the world either. Trust me, I have been asked with some stupid questions about Canada). it makes sense that the aussies travel a lot.......cause if they wanted to go elsewhere, they'd have to leave their continent. honestly, i have not met many aussies except for the one girl i was diving with on koh tao island in thailand.

although i haven't kept up with world news here, since i watch a lot more movies when i am not working or online........i noticed that the sydney media (at least on foxtel anyways) always have some world news available and readily accessible for the general public than in canada. (perhaps it's not a fact, but i have noticed that more)

eg. the community newspaper for the north shore where i am staying at.......had a cover story on this restaurant in taipei, Taiwan about a month ago. i thought that was odd enough......and i have actually been to that restaurant last november when i was home visiting my grandpa. (it was the toilet restaurant, in case u were beating ur brains over it)

on the tv, there are a lot of different cultural tv programs whether they are news or soaps. i noticed that other than the newly arrived immigrants (within the last 10 years. legal or not.), most appear to have been here longer.........unlike the immigrants in canada whom are all fairly new within the last 2 decades.

i also noticed that the different races mix a lot more than back home. i just can't not tell what's the race background some people..........it's like i couldn't tell if this person is a mix of asian/white......or he/she is just looks asian but white........not to mention all of the kiwi's.......mori's......and other different race groups here. the large population of the lebanese def adds to the mix as well (in Sydney anyways). a lot more thai's, malaysians, and indonesians (and even some cambodians) than in canada.

ps. i love the movie selections here.....they obviously get the hollywood stuff as well as the asians........plus their own aussie movies. pretty neat. the cultures here and in canada are soo different, yet so similar. it's confusing for me sometimes. haha

An interesting flash file I have always enjoyed. gotta love how politically incorrect it is. hahah PC is dead.

End of the World (flash file): http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/end

Xmas in Australia

Hard to imagine that just a year ago today, I was spending Xmas in Portland, Oregon with my cousin's husband's family. And here I am now - in Sydney.

I learned that they don't have egg nogs here. And other than eating turkeys, they also have Xmas bbq. How strange yet interesting.

I find that the Aussies eat a lot of pork. This echoes in that movie "Lucky Miles" - what are aussies like? "They eat pork, drink alcohol, and smell like monkeys".

*on a side note, it was sort of funny to see that the Cambodian refugees thought the empty aluminum cans on the grounds may have been landmines when they first arrived in the Northwestern coast of Australia. The movie took place in 1990 in Australia, but one of the main cambodian characters was born in 1972, which is about 4 years before Pol Pot's communist regime from 76 to 79.

Last but not the least, even the bacon look different from the North American's. I guess they just cut it differently. There are a varieties of bacon....middle bacon, round cut...etc. (let's not even get into the lesser known Canadian bacon, which is essentially ham with peameal on the outside.

I have included a pic of the 2 types of bacon above. Here's a funny link called "US Survival Tips for Aussies" (http://www.uq.net.au/~zzdonsi/gallery/bacon.jpg) I wonder if they have the samething for Americans downunder. (who am i kidding?! the yankees won't travel below the "state of mexico").

One One

Went to Blue Mountains yesterday on a day trip with my Irish friend. However, I am gonna save that story for another time.

Slept in today since I have been working my ass off the last 10 days. Watched Mel Gibson's Apoclaypto before going out to play some bball for the first time in over 3 weeks. Rusty as usual.

I fucking hate the bball games here. they play some retarded rules here. plus none of them can play d. Where's mel davis when u need somebody to teach these guys the fundamentals. Stick to footy, guys!

hopped on the train and went home in the evening. had to walk another 40 minutes to get home since there were no bus going to where i live from the train station. checked out the fleet of grey fox bats flying out of the valley on my way home. i am mesmorized by the bats......truly amazing.

watched another movie tonight .......in fact, a taiwanese movie called "Yi Yi" aka "A one and A two". I loved the little boy in movie......very interesting character. I was sorta distracted during the movie, but it was def worth to see.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244316/plotsummary

Xmas in the Summer

I know that I've said this before, but here it is again.

Funny to think that a year ago I was in Portland, OR, USA for Xmas and now I am in Sydney, Australia for Xmas. Where would I be for Xmas next year?

The only thing is that it's summer here .......and it's Xmas. I can't get that wrapped around my head.

As the Aussies would say, "WTF?"

Mo Movies, Mo Feelin's

I have been on a movie frenzy every night after work. though i am just beat after work, but i make myself sit through these movies because there's just no other way!

watched the following recently:

1) beijing bicycle......loved it. i love a story that's just about a story and nothing more. no themes or symbolism really needed to be gotten through.

2) lucky miles (australian) - about some illegal immigrants landing the northwest coast of Australia by boat from SE Asia in 1990. The men were consisted of Iraqi's, Cambodians, and Indonesians. The illegals were making their way towards Perth.....and this movie is about their journey along the way with uniquely Australian landscapes.

*should be watching 2 other movies this weekend. they are Mel Gibson's Apocalypto and a Taiwanese movie called "Yi Yi" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244316/)

Movies I plan to see within the next month:

1) Crazy (Canada - french)
2) Madame Sata
3) Samsara
4) Yesterday
5) Amandala
6) Darwin's Nightmare
7) Dogora (this movie has gotta be about Cambodia.....i have seen the images on preview and the images don't lie) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0400370/ ( it is apparently a lot like Baraka!)
8) Ten Canoes
9) Kandahar (Afghanistan)
10)The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
11) Heading South
12) Noise
13) Sabah
14) Sherrybaby
15) Home Song Stories
16) Life in Loops (Austrian - Baraka look-a-like again?)

Game Theory

Let me tell u a story.

I met up with a friend of mine last weekend. Before that, I had not seen this guy since we graduated together from U of G in 2004. he’s been working in Sydney since graduation. He’s a stock broker.

Anywyas, we met up for dinner and some drinks. Caught up for the time we missed each other the last few years.

I will give u a quick background on this guy. He’s originally from Indonesia. Did his highschool in kingston.

His family moved to Australia from Indonesia after he graduated university, so he moved with his family to here.

So yeh, I was telling him about my time in Cambodia and india. I expressed my interest in getting into the field of non-profit / ngo to help ppl.

He and his Malaysian buddy kept telling me about these stories about cheap labour in SE asia…..and how there’s like a ranking for the most expensive maids to the least (the Pilipino’s are the most expensive………Indonesian’s are in the middle while the thai’s are the cheapest…….did u know that? I thought the thai’s would be up there before the Indonesians).

Anyways, according to them I am “white-washed” because apparently only white people would want to do that “pro-bono” shyte. I was indifferent to what they had to say…..but I can certainly understand why they’d say that, especially being raised in the asian culture myself. I understand the whole idea of becoming a professional and taking care of my parents when they are old (which I expect myself to do……it’s not an option, but an obligation. Very much an immigrant mentality as one might think. I ain’t afraid to admit it………it is what it is.)

So I threw the ball into their court and said, “why wouldn’t u want to help these ppl in developing nations? They’ve got nothing.” Their response was that…when you have grown up with that [ in SE asia] and u have seen that all your life…….after a while, u get desensitized. Plus u just can’t help them all.

I don’t know anymore. To a certain degree…….i think I can only describe the mentality of the people in developing nations with 50 cent ‘s debut album title – “get rich or die trying”. (u know I got class when I quote rappers…….i am hardcore!)

They guys tried to convinced to go come back to the “light” and back to the sensible side. Haha…, it was quite funny. They tried to convince me that I could just make a lot of money and then go help ppl with the money I got instead of having a career in the field. I guess that was a point I never really considered.

Without having any knowledges or experiences with the non-profit/ngo sector, I can see it being tough work……particularly frustrating in many ways, especially if u really wanted to make a difference.

Not only it is a noble thing to do….., I just want to do something that matters and make a difference in this world in my life time. - this is a side story, while interviewing for my current job in Sydney (ice cream shop), my boss asked me what I want to do when I go back to Canada. I told him that I am not going back to my QA job with this fastfood chain because it really is just sandwiches and I wanted to do something that actually matters. He immediately followed up with another question, “well, isn’t this job just about ice creams?”

I then realized that I didn’t get my point across completely…..because I assumed that he read my mind about my interest in the non-profit sector. So I just explained to him after that. He wasn’t offended, but just wanted to throw a curve ball at me for the sake of it.

Lastly, I am just rambling on now….i was watching some program and one of the statements really struck a cord with me. One of the characters made a point that being a doctor is nice and all because u get to help people, but today’s doctors don’t really help people. They help rich people. ( I guess that’s a debateable statement..and some what generalizing…..not to knock the docs, but it’s got some truth to it, doesn’t it?) it’s like: “hi I am a doctor….i would help you if you could afford it!” - now, that’s a kick to the junk!

* I did have some free medical advice from this American doctor from san fran while in phnom penh. I had a pretty bad case of heat rash……just met him randomly at a pharmacy…..and he told me what to get to put on……..and that I should just stay cool (wtf? How was I supposed to stay cool in the middle of October in SE asia? I didn’t come all the way to stay in a/c rooms to watch tv). So I just got some crème to put on and took some anti-histamine and layered myself with some baby powder to stay dry.

I chatted with him for several hours that day and the next day while in phonm penh about everything and anything. He told me about some history on Cambodia and the aki-ra landmine museum in siem reap (which I visited…and it’s proudly funded by cdn gov’t). he also spent some time in taiwan before. Gave me some props for making this trip. And told me about that swiss doctor aka beatchello in siem reap who owns his own children’s hospital. (he’s not a fan of him) this American doc works for another hospital in siem reap.

Alright, I am out like Vancouver grizzlies.

ps. watched Ed Norton's "down in the valley" tonight......it was not as good as i thought. i didn't really get it.

Who u gonna call? The Japanese videos!

This is WHY we love the Japanese; other than the fact that they make good food and cars. Oh, they also have cute shit like Hello Kitty.

Random info is back in biznass

1) watched "volver" tonight.........thought it was ok. saw "black snake moan" last night........i love craig brewer's movies. all the characters in his movies are very plausible. he does a great job at telling a story.

2) funny to learn that there is no boxing day sales here in australia. however, huge sales take place in january. perhaps it's because of the summer.

3) my plan for the rest of my trip. thinking of going back to canada earlier now......not next november.......but perhaps next fall or summer even.

here's my proposed plan:

now to march: sydney march to april: tasmania......and melbourne
april to may: ayers rock in the desert.....perth in western australia

may to june: darwin (norther aus) then down the east coast of australia back to sydney (cairns....brisbane...etc) perhaps put my scuba diving certificate to use at the great barrier reefs (finding nemo!) in cairns.

some time after june: fiji perhaps.........i don't think i will go to new zealand this time. then back to taiwan to see my grandparents before flying back to vancity.

Films, Movies, Motion Pictures.....etc

Been working like a mad man. Currently on my 6th day on my 10 day work week. it's stressful. tired after work everyday. but i rented 4 movies a few days ago from this placed called Civic Video close to the train station. it is fantastic. i have never seen a video store with such a large collections of foreign films. i loved it! anyways, i rented: Moolaade, Kekexili (Mountain Patrol), Tibet: Cry of the Snow Lion, and Australia's very own - Wolf Creek.

Long story short, Wolf Creek was shit. Not even worth renting. Moolaade and Kekexili were fantastic. However, the one movie I was really interested in seeing was the Tibet one, which was a no-go, since the dvd kept skipping. They didn't have another copy at the store. what a shame!

Moolaade (protection) was about young girls going under the knife for female circumcision at the age of 9 in a part of Africa (nearly all of the females whom went under this cruel procedure had to go thru C-section once they are ready to give birth. A woman in the village refused to have the girls circumcised and offered them proection aka Moolaade to the girls. This action stirred up a huge disturbance in the village.

As for Kekexili, which means "Beautiful mountains and girls" in Tibetan. The plot: A civilian-operated patrol team in Kekexili trying to protect the endangered Tibetan Antelopes from poachers. The furs of TA are sold all over the world for it's softness, many countries around the world have since then banned TA fur due to TA being an endangered specie. A half-Tibetan journalist from Beijing went into town to write a story on this self-sponsored patrol team only to find himself becoming more involved with the team's operations and eventually found himself in the thick of things.

The landscape of Tibet is unreal. Def amongst the places I have to go in China during my next trip.

Still gotta find a place to rent the other Tibet movie.

Ps. I met up with my boy Wiel from university the other night. He's been working in Australia since graduation. It was great to see him again after 3 years........of all places......Australia. haha. we had some interesting discussion during the few hours we spent catching up together. I will update u with our convo next time.

In This World.....randomness

1) People eat a lot of sausages, fish & chips and kebabs here. Every corner has a seafood or kebab shop. Kinda shitty that you’d have to pay for ketchup or even tar tar sauce. How are u supposed to eat fish & chips without tar tar sauce? Why don’t u just give me sweet & sour pork without the sweet and sour sauce. Wtf?

I have noticed that there’s not many Subways here. I barely see any around Sydney. I also noticed that most restaurants are independently owned, not as many chained place around compare to North America.

2) The movie, 1408, has just come out in Australia. Just a wee bit slower than NA…..where it came out earlier this year or late 2006. I shouldn’t be surprised since they are still on season 3 of Gordon Ramsey’s Hell’s Kitchen. That was ages ago, son!

3) was reading msn Australia’s homepage.....some bra boy gang member got arrested yesterday after he was speeding and driving without a license (he was banned from driving in australia for 19 years in 2002)

* “The Bra Boys are an Australian surfer tribe in Sydney's southeast. The tribe is centred on the Sydney suburb of Maroubra.The tribe was started in the 1960s. The group is named after the suburb Maroubra, not to be confused with the Board Riders Association. Members of the group often tattoo "Bra Boys" and Maroubra's post code "2035" on their backs.”
fyi: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bra_boys not sure if they have Hells Angels here.........but ONLY IN AUSTRALIA, there's a “Surfer Gang"......wtf? i wonder who would win if the bloods or the crips got beef with the bra boys. way to pick a name too.........bra boys? tsk tsk tsk.......almost as good as the naia team in the us called the Wisconsin beavers.........almost! i could only picture in my head when the other gangs call out the bra boys by saying......."u know how i know you are gay? ur crew is called the Bra Boys." great success Bra Boys? what are we talking about here.......Bra Boys ......come on.......bra boys?! What? Bra boys?......i am repeating myself like allen iverson from his infamous speech on "practice". the name bra boys really send a chill down my spine.............somebody's gonna get a hurt real bad!

4) Went to my boss’s 43rd bday party/farewell party for my coworker who’s leaving to go back to Japan in 2 weeks. The party was a great time. Drank some wine and had some sausages (surprise!). The aussies are def more uninhibited when it comes to speaking out of turn and watching their language around kids. Some of the things said by the older peeps I will not quote. Haha. Some of the younger guys around my age were flirting with older women….sort of weird for me to see since the women were like my mom’s age. Ewww. I guess it was all for good fun, but still……..eww. And I am the habitual line stepper?!

5) Weird to see that most of the houses are built with bricks different from vancouver’s wood houses, but I guess it’s not as cold here. Also strange to see that the laundry rooms are placed outside of the house in a shed. Some of the restrooms are the same as well. It is particularly annoying when the restrooms are not inside the restaurants. What’s up with that? I guess it’s an outback mentality. Don’t get me started on the urinals…..or the lack of.

6) Watched 3 movies last night on tv. “thank you for smoking”, “in this world”, and “all the invisible children.”

- I had seen thank you for smoking before so it was nothing new to me, but it’s something I could never get tired of. I especially love the sub-plot of parenting. The film has many dimensions. As much as it is a comedy, it is also a drama with some pressing topic at hand.

- “In this world” was a great movie about 2 afghan boys making their way to the UK with the help (or the lack of) of the snakeheads. In the film, 3 languages were spoken…….Pashtu, Frasi, and English. Their journey from the Middle East through western Europe towards the UK showcased a variety of different and stunning landscapes (Afghanistan to Iran to Pakistan to Turkey to Italy to France to England). the movie was shot partly like a documentary just because of the still shots and narration. As a viewer, I felt like I was there with the 2 boys. I have never really experienced such feeling while watching a film.

Some fun trivia: “The film had two working titles before settling on its final name. While it was being shot, it was known as "The Silk Road". This was primarily as a cover, since officials in many countries were told the film was a documentary about that historical subject. Later, it was known as "M1187511", which was the UK Home Office's file number for the real-life Jamal's application for refugee status. Before its release however, the title was changed to "In This World". As Michael Winterbottom describes on the DVD, the title came from a line in the film where Jamal was translated as saying that a central character was dead. Jamal informed Winterbottom, on seeing this, that it was inaccurate. What he had actually said was that the man was "no longer in this world". Hence the film's title.” . (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310154/)

One of the most interesting part of the film, other than the landscapes is the boys will for survival. They did whatever they could to make their way into the UK. I am not sure if I had enough in me to make it across like they did. Big ups.

- “all the invisible children” was a film composed of 7 short films. I heard that it was shot for unicef. The films are basically all about under-privileged kids from Tanza, Serbia-Montenegro, NYC, Brazil, UK, Italy, and Beijing. One of the 7 films that struck me the most has gotta be the Chinese one because I am not biased at all. The title was called "Song Son and Little Cat" directed by John Woo. It’s basically a story of 2 little girls living the exact opposite lifestyle. While one was a homeless orphan, the other lived a very privileged life but had her own troubles with her parents. I guess I just identify myself more with the Chinese kids thinking that I could be any one of them.

More Movies

Watched another movie tonight on tv, it was a Chinese movie called “Sunflower” aka “Xiang Ri Kui” in Chinese. (by the way, have you noticed that I love Chinese cinemas?!) I am just intrigued by everything Chinese! I just can’t get enough.

So the story takes place over 3 decades from the mid-60’s to the early 2000’s (during an interesting social-economical time of China. The story is about a family’s struggle in maintaining a harmonious relationship amongst its members. The particular emphasis is between the son and the father. Mostly about how the son never wanted to do anything his father wanted him to, therefore he became rebellious for the sake of it. However, the story was more than just about a rebellious son. It further examines the traditional Chinese culture and values through the interactions of different families in the community.

The actress playing the mom is very famous. I remember watching her movies growing up in Taiwan. Her name is Chen Choung aka Joan Chen. I have always liked her as an actress.

During the movie, it was again great to see some of the scenaries of Beijing. The streets. The walls of the Forbidden City and a place that looks like Hou Hai.

I have also learned some interesting things from watching this movie:

1) This made me re-examine my relationship with my family. I bicker a lot with my family, mostly about small things. I oughta try to do less of that and more of loving! I just gotta learn when to shut my mouth.

2) Not sure why, but I have been on an emotional rollercoaster lately, especially when I am watching movies. I guess I usually prefer dramas over any other genres. I prefer it because they are real and something I could relate to. It’s true……just like Amanda Marshall’s song “Everybody’s Got a Story (that will break your heart)”. This reminds me of my driver in India, Narinder. I once asked him about his family and learned that they are back home in some small village in northen india. I asked about his son and what sports he plays. He told me that his son plays cricket. What I found out a week later through him….”Actually, Steve, I lied to you when you asked me about my son last week. My son is paralyzed so he can’t play any sports.”
I was a bit shocked, but he only didn’t tell me the first time because he didn’t know me that well. Throughout the course of the 2 weeks my friend and I were with him, we got to know him a lot better and the vice versa. Everybody’s got a story that will break your heart eh.

On a different note, I have been sheding a few tears during the movies lately. For example, when the father lost his chess buddy and long time friend, I sniffled like a little girl. I got right into it…I was never like that before. Perhaps I have gotten more sensitive than before. Perhaps I just wanted to be sad because I wanted to (rhetoric, I know!)

3) I have noticed that the Chinese language is so specific and straight to the point that there’s really isn’t any room for vagueness. I find that you can’t call somebody out vaguely or even remotely suggest it in Chinese because it’s just such a precise language. I think that English is much better for vagueness if you didn’t want to answer a question head on. For example, if you didn’t want to see somebody again, you might still say “see you around” when you don’t’ actually mean it. That’s vague, but you are not really lying….so it’s accepted vagueness.

Random thoughts outside of the movie:

- I have noticed that I have been eating a lot more carbs lately. Not sure why…I usually do in the winter, but it’s summer here. Perhaps my body knows it’s December and it’s getting me to eat the normal amount of carbohydrates in the Canadian winter.

- It’ is soo weird for me to see Xmas decorations everywhere when it’s hot and summer outside. People coming in to order ham and turkey for xmas in the summer at the meat shop is just plain strange! I still can’t believe it’s summer in December.

- Lastly, I am really not sure what I am doing here in Australia. What am I doing here? I am a bit lost. No idea. wtf?

Thinking of You

"Oh I am thinking of you.....and all the things you wanted me to be......and I am trying now." - Lenny Kravitz's "thinking of you". a song about his mother.

I am just listening to this while typing on my blog. Went out to play some bball tonight at the North Sydney Indoor Sports Center. There were league games all night and let me just tell you that the quality of competition sucks ass. I have yet to be impressed to say the least. A word of advice to the Aussies, stick to footy!

Watched another movie tonight on TV.....by one of my favourite Chinese directors - Chen Kaige. The movie was called "Together" (Int'l title) or aka "Together with You" (UK title, which is more accurate translation from the Chinese title - He ni zai yi qi.) Chen also directed another of my favourites - Farewell My Concubine.

Very typical Chinese movie, though it shows a lot of the cultural aspect of how Chinese people deal with each other, especially the ones closest to them. Again, through this movie, I realized the unconditional love of parents towards their kids.

It was also cool to see the places I have been to in Beijing since the story took place in Beijing. For example, the Beijing Railway Station and the Temple of Heaven both made a cameo (personification 101) in this film. Funny that I was there about 3 months ago.

After which I saw part of a documentary on slasher films ("somthing......pieces"). One interesting thing that was brought up was that the scary movies used to never show the blood coming out of the victims in the 70's. However, nowadays, the audience almost feel they are let down if they didn't see the blood and guts spill over the silver screen. It really reflects us as a society or better yet the state of our society (crosscultural).

How to date......

My friend and I saw this book at a book fair back in 2002 at yaletown in downtown vancouver.

this old white lady tried to sell me this book. i kindly turned her down and asked for the other title "how to date girls in general if your name was steveo".

needless to say, she didn't have that one in stock! darn!

Beijing part 1 (belated)

Originally emailed out on 9/2nd.

Hi all,

So I am in Beijing now at a hostel. was gonna write a super lengthy update on my blog but as i had suspected, china did block my blog......plus i am running short on time here at the internet cafe.

I arrive on 8/30th in the afternoon, got to downtown BJ and found a hostel. It was 4 floors below the ground. the room had no windows.....therefore awsome! haha, i think the ontario building code doesn't allow any bedrooms without windows (mark, am i right?).

anyways, one night there was enough. the next day, i went to the forbidden city for the 2nd time in 10 months with my friend xanthe. she'd never been before. today, we checked out one part of the great wall called Badaling outside of beijing. pretty cool.......check the pic attached. i had been to another one in Mutanyu last november, but these 2 are pretty different.

badaling is way steeper, but mutanyu is way less crowded. also went to 1 of the 13 emperors' tombs from the Ming dynasty. it was called Ding Ling. pretty crappy as I thought i'd get to see the emperor's bones or whatnot. instead, i only saw the cuffins and massive tombstone. the only exciting part about it was leaving the tomb itself. it's about 27 meters below ground. we had to go through this Ying Yang gate and yell out loud "I am back" in Mandarin once leaving the gate. this is to inform the evil spirits from the other world know that my biznass is thru with them.

leaving beijing for shanghai tomorrow night on a 12 hour train ride. plan to stay in shanghai for 2 or 3 days before heading to suzhou. the not sure what's up after. gonna be kicking around china until 9/24th before heading to thailand.

there's soo much i'd like to tell u about my time so far in china other than sight seeing.....but i will need to do that perhaps tomorrow or when i get to shanghai.

peace out.

enjoy the 4 pics. they are all from the great walls today. no forbidden city pics are up yet. i posted some forbidden city pics from last november when i was here on facebook....check out my photo album on facebook if u have an facebook account. if not, then get one! haha.

pic 1: the wall was soo freaking steep.........i could bendover backwards.
pic 2: me climbing on all 4's.
pic 3: small potatoes
pic 4: no joke.......lance armstrong couldn't beat me in a race to the top.

Beijing part 2 (belated)

Originally sent on 9/2nd.

Hi everyone,

I know none of you got the pictures. dont worry about the pics........u prob wont get them until aus in november. sorry! Right now, I can update up with my storytelling.

I had to fight off a following internet cafe-er to get this computer since he budded in front of me when I was already in the line. Told him like it was, straight up! Anyways, 2 hours until my 12 hour fast-train to shanghai. Good times ahead.

Went to the temple of heaven today in beijing. Pretty neat, but not as good as the forbidden city. Pretty tired today from all the walking we did this past 3 days on top of the jeg lagg. It's also only been a week since I had one of my wisdom teeth pulled. So the combination of everything really dragged me down. I also haven't been eating well. I should blame myself for eating tiny meals for about 1 to 1.5 dollars cdn per meal. Drinking lots of liquid though, as I am sweating like nobody's biznass.

So while at the temple of heaven today, there were a lot of labourers working away in replacing the cement slates on the ground. They ranged anywhere from the 20's to the 50's. the backbreaking work is just ridiculous. I wouldn't be able to endure it for even 8 hours. I was quite upset at some of the people looking on and giving the labourers the dirty look because of what they do for living. I got pretty sick to my stomach oberving it all thinking that I could be one of those labourers if we were to trade places. It is true. A man in China is no longer defined for who he is, but what he has. Cash is king, the saying that a businessman will sell you a rope to hang himself certainly isn't an understatement here.
As I had told u before in my email to you last November while I was in beijing (bj), the gap between the rich and poor is huge here. There is an uprise of the middle class. China really embraces the newly found middle class in its major cities, however it is very ironic that this surge of middle class is the very same thing, the commy gov't destroyed for a long time.

Apparently, the hip thing to do now amongst the rich and middle class is to buy things that aren¡¯t on sale because it shows that they can afford to shop even when there isn't a sale on. (can you say insecurity about being stereotyped?) This can't be good for the poor, as this behaviour allows the merchants to select their clientele by their spending power.

Random things I noticed during the last few days in bj:

I see at least 2 kids a day pissing right in front of me on the streets. One pissed on the stoop (while the bus was in motion) of this charter bus I was on going to the great wall.

There are a lot of us (chinese ppl) in the world. I knew there are a lot, but didn't think that there are that many.

I have to pay for my food before eating it at the restaurant. They don't even do that in Taiwan. Weird.

The locals think I am retarded because I speak mandarin to them, but can¡¯t understand the way they speak. Or I'd ask stupid questions such as what does that word say? I have a difficult time reading some of the characters.

Limestone powder can be a life saver if you had rash on your body from the humidity. I applied a large amount on my sexy body to keep the skin dry. There has been some serious chaffing in between the thighs. Is that a TMI (too much info?).

The locals have a case of aggressive BO during the hot months. Russel Peters can prob relate to this.

China is a smokers heaven because the only non-smoking place is at the gas station.

Ps. I got some must tell stories for y'all during my first 2 days in beijing. I can't find my journal in my napsack now, but will update u when I can.

Zhai-Jien (see you soon)

Suzhou, China (belated)

Again, originally emailed out on 9/8th. "Venice of the East"

Hi All,

I got to Suzhou for about 3 days now. Visiting my aunt, who has been working in China for the last 5 years or so. It's been good staying here re-charging my battery before the journey for the next 2 weeks in China. It's difficult to grasp the idea that I have been to 3 cities in China for 1 week already.

While in Suzhou, my friend and I have seen a couple of places: The Humble Administrator's Garden, Lion Grove Garden, and Tiger Hill. The most impressive of these 3 was the Humble Admin's Garden. This was the first place we visited here in Suzhou and was also the first place we got a tour guide. We didn't get any tour guides at any of the other places in Beijing or Shanghai.

The tour guide was fantastic, as he explained the significance of the garden to us in details in Mandarin for over an hour. I listened in on some of the english speaknig guides, but they didn't go indepth to the history behind some of the garden designs, as ours did. I don't blame them though, since it would be very difficult translating the deep meanings of the background stories which revolve around the garden.

I will give u a quick and watered-down version about this garden.

1) owned/built by a high ranking officical back in the Ming dynasty (early 15th century) after he was fired from his job because he was "too honest". He told people off as he always did, therefore he made a lot of enemies in the ruling party.

2) he built it out of sorrow and bitterness. though the english translation suggests that he was "humble", however, if you understood the Chinese word for the "humble" part, it really means "dumb or stupid" thus the "Dumb Administrator's Garden".

3) throughout the park, symbolisms are present everywhere in terms of expressing his mood and thoughts about how he was wrongfully treated and his political career was cut short. Most of the expressions were done in the forms of garden design, not soo much in poems or words. It's very interesting to see what he did and why he did it.

4) there was this sign above one of the pagodas which suggested that his honesty and integrity can only be understood by himself and the scenary around him, nobody else. I am above everybody else. (not soo humble, isn't he?)

That's all for now. Leaving for Huang Shan (or aka Yellow Mountain tomorrow). Should take about 2 days to climb up and then down. Not sure how we are gonna deal with the hike, but should be ok.

After climbing this mountain, we plan to be taking another red-eye train to Xi'an to see the Terricotta Warriors from the Qin dynasty before making our way down to Guilin to see the karst stone formations along the river. Then We'll make our way down to the southeastern coast to Xiamen for a few days before I fly to Bangkok and other parts of Thailand for 2 weeks.
ps. Shanghai was nice. very westernized. if u covered up the chinese characters on the buildings, you wouldn't know you were in China. The new parts of Shanghai is newer and bigger than toronto. crazy! The shanghai museum was fantastic. check it out if u are ever in town. plan to spend the whole day there, as there are soo much to see from 6 to 8 dynasty worth of materials on display.

pps. also went to this road called the Ping Jiang Road in the old town part of suzhou. the canals are everywhere. took lots of pics and got on a boat tour in the canal. very nice. the old man steering the boat also sang us a folk song. it was quite a cultural experience. There are a few towns around Suzhou famous for their canals as well (Tong Li and Zhou Zhuang). They are known as Venice of the East. Very Nice. I Like.

China Update part 1 (belated)

Picture of Yangshou on the Li River.

The following was written on 9/24th when I was still in Xiamen, China before leaving for Bangkok. I emailed it to my friends. Couldn't blog it since they blocked my blog in China.

"Huang Shan, Xi'an, Guilin, Yangshou, and Xiamen. Thailand is next‏"

Hi everyone,

wow, it's been almost 2 weeks since i'd written u last. can u believe this is the first time i got internet access since then? anyways, after i left suzhou on 9/9th, i took an 14 hour red-eye train from suzhou to huang shan (aka Yellow Mountain) to climb the almost 1900 meter high granite mountain. got to the mt in the afternoon of the 10th then spent the next 6 hours climbing upwards to the top. arrived at the summit at 7pm without any rooms booked. my friend xanthe and i met 1 dutch girl, 1 german girl, and a swiss couple along the way and climbed up all together. stayed at this hotel's staff dorm for 200 rmb (or $30 cdn) per bed. woke up at 4am to see the sunrise, but the sun was a no show, as there was only a 40% chance of seeing it according to the forecast. the view from the top was unreal. the climbing was worth it all, even though some parts were super steep and i, sometimes, had to be on all fours to climb the steep and wet granite stairs. (pictures to come by november when i get to Australia). did more climbing until 11am and we cheated by taking the cable car down the mountain by noon. got onto another mini bus for our 1 hour ride back into the city where we strolled around the old town for some eats before catching our 10 hour overnight train to Nanjing at 7pm.

arrived in nanjing at 5am, had some breakfast and checked into a "rent by the hour" hotel to shower and freshen up. went to this park for the afternoon before catching our transfer train ride the very same evening to Xi'an (another overnight 14 hour ride) to see the terra-cotta warriors from the Qin dynasty.

spent 3 days in Xi'an, did the warriors thing and checked out more eats around the muslim part of the city. ate no pork at all, as u can imagine being around the muslim part of the town. u ever had chicken feet or duck feet at them chinese restaurants? well, i had those, but can't say i ever had goat feet until Xi'an (knowingly). it tasted very sheepy, would skip it if given another opportunity to eat it. checked out the city wall. xi'an has one of the only 2 original/fully attached city walls in china left from the whatever dynasties (aren't u proud that i did my homework?). went to see the big goose pagoda where the famous monk, tang shan zhan, spent 19 years translating the buddahist scrolls he got from his trip to india. the pagoda itself wasn't impressive. would not go again. ps. i hate the fact that all the temples in china require admissions. i don't recall mandated admissions for churches in europe and temples in taiwan.

ok, now........i don't even know what date it was.....left xi'an on a 27 hour overnight train ride to Guilin. YES.....27 HOURS and 27 hours were spent sitting down, not on the sleeper train at all. it was quite an experience, i would recommend everybody who wants to waste 27 hours of their time on a train without any air con or hot showers (oh, don't forget the fact that smoking is not only permitted on the train, but also encouraged.........nice! i became a human version of the smoked salmon in no time). met more interesting locals on the train. chatted with them. listened to the obnoxicious euro-trance-pop playing from some old chinese guy's cell phone. chinese ppl love the trashy euro-trance. what ever happened to that gangsta rap i love. them chinese ppl really need to get into it (sorry for all the non-capitalization, abbreviations, and excessive use of sarcasm) i am a so-called habitual line stepper. i take it over way too many times, please bare with me.

fast forward to guilin, got there at 11pm at night, stayed at some seedy hostel across from the train station (my avg accommodation per night at hostels cost about 10 to 15 cdn dollars). went out to eat a much belated dinner around the "hood" (literally). wanted to get a hair cut, but they kept offering me massages from their ladies, not to mention other special services. i stayed far and away from the front door of the barber shop/happy ending palace. that pretty much ruined the beautiful guilin image for me. however, the next morning was great, as we did a bamboo raft tour down Li River for about 50 minutes and then went to see some limestone formations inside this cave at the seven star park. finally the night came and we checked out this i-don't-even-know-whatjumacallit show. it was like a ballet/chinese acrobat show. pretty interesting stuff as they didn't do the plates/bowls trick, but tossing chairs and spinning multiple umbrellas with their feet while balancing on their upper backs. thinking to myself, not sure what kinda talent i have in comparison to them. i can't use the excel spreadsheet very well nor can i make a mean yorkshire pudding. last time i checked, i could make my way to the fridge to grab an ice cold guiness without any assistance.

so anyways, made our way on a 4.5 hour boat tour downstream to yangshou where it is an international backpackers' heaven. strolled on the infamous West Street and exposed some scam-artist for his dirty trick in front of a bunch of his potential customers. he was not impressed with me at all. i dashed outa there quickly and peeped at him from far away while warning other tourist not to buy the self-dancing straw made puppets from him. oh yeah, during the 4.5 hour hours on the river, the karst/limestones scenaries are impressive to say the least. pretty much every interesting looking karst has a story behind it. anyways, taking u back to the west street, yangshou reminds me soo much of banff and canmore of alberta. just the sheer closness to the karst mountains reminds me of walking in banff and canmore.

had the famous "beer fish" (cooked with lots of chilli peppers, garlic and beer) for dinner and had a drink at a local bar where the drink itself cost more than my dinner. *plz see my section on "how to waste ur money buying booze at a bar when it only cost a fraction of the price while traveling overseas.

had a lazy morning the next day, but quickly gathered ourselves by noon and rented some mountain bikes from the hostel for 10 yuan/day (or about 1.5 dollar cdn per day). we headed out on a 5 hour bike ride around town to the backstreets or some small villages next to the karsts. and by small villages, i mean 20 families at the most. we stopped along the way for pictures of the natural beauty around town as well as paying 15 cents cdn for a photo with this old chinese lady's baby buffalo. not sure why, but while having the picture taken with the buffalo, all i could think about was buffalo wings and buffalo meat burgers at the good old gryph's pub at U of Guelph. (or was it bison burgers?)

alright, so finally 5 hours on the bike seat and under the unforgiving yangshou sun was more than enough. we hopped on an 80 minute long bus ride back to guilin from yangshou where we had another late dinner at the night market around the hostel. while eating, this girl (no older than 10) approached xanthe and i to buy flowers from her. i said no, but then asked her what's she doing out soo late and where are her parents. she looked nervous and looked away without answering my questions. then after an awkward minute long silence, she finally said.......that her parents are at home (though i could tell that she made it up). i didn't mean to interrogate her though i may have come across that way. i asked that isn't it a bit late for her to be out here selling flowers while her parents are at home and whether or not she has school the next morning. she replied that she has no money for school and asked for 1 rmb for food. i gave her the 1 dollar and she walked away.

about 30 minutes later, i brought it up with our waitress about the little girl. she said that the little girl is always around and lives at a orphanage. thinking to myself, what the heck is 1 rmb gonna buy her for food. my friend and i looked around for her after dinner and we bought her some rice noodles for food (only 6 rmb or 90 cents cdn) and some for the other 3 kids she was with. we walked away feeling better about it and perhaps feeling better about ourselves. about 10 minutes after we left the kids, i had the sudden urge to walk back to see if the kids are indeed eating the food; i am not sure why i even wanted to go back to check up on them. so we walked back towards them while staying about 20 meters away from them. i saw the little girl just slurping down the noodles, which i was feeling pretty good about, but didn't see the other 3 kids eating at all. i approached the other 3 kids and asked how come they were not eating the noodles we got for them. the oldest boy, about 13 years old, said that some guy saw us giving them food and gave them crap for taking food from us. so he tossed the noodles away. i wasn't sure what to think about it, but asked the boy whom gave him crap for taking food from us. he said he "didn't know"......... there were a few adults next to him and all listening in on our conversation at this time. i could sense that it was probably one of the adults around us that gave him shits for the food. not to put the boy on the spot, i just told him that next time, just eat the food and forget about what other ppl says. what i said to him was more of sending a msg to the adults around him. i was really more concerned about whether the 2 little girls ate; they were as young as 6.

oh, did i tell u that my friend and i got suckered into a scam by my fellow chinese brother without realizing it until a few hours later? i will save that for another time. good times! that story will be on my "why i love china" list.

alright, so fastforward to our overnight bus ride from guilin to our final stop in china........Xiamen on the south east coast a few hours train ride away north of hong kong. we couldn't get a train from guilin to xiamen so we took the long distance night bus which took another 16 hours to get to. u are going to love this. 30 beds on the bus, all of them beds about 2 feet across and 5'9" in length. i fit almost perfectly with some wiggle room. about 1hour before we got to xiamen the next morning, smoke started to come out of the washroom cabin, which was also right next to my bed. something was clearly burning. got the driver to pull over and open the door. all the passengers started to panic. (i swear i can't make this sh*t up). apparently something was wrong beneath the restroom cabin. but anyways, after the little scare, we got to our destination a-okay.

spent the last couple of days around xiamen and a day on the Gou Lan island checking out all the colonial buildings left from when the 13 countries' business ppl called xiamen home. xiamen was occupied by the dutch, french, german, portugueses, japanese......etc for a long time. it was interesting to foot the island, since no cars are allowed on it. ppl could take rides on golf carts, but we chose not to. i still think that walking around is the best way to get to know a city. buses, rickshaws, and metros just don't cut it. walked along the south china sea shore today after my friend xanthe left me to go back to taiwan. i will miss her company when i get to thailand and cambodia. not sure what i am doing tomorrow until my flight at 8pm from here to Bangkok, Thailand.

all i know is that i will be get to bangkok along at 11pm at night hungry and without any accommodations booked. very nice!!

alright, that's all for now. not sure when i will get internet access again. hopefully less than 2 weeks time.

peace out. *heard steve nash was in beijing 2 weeks ago.....too bad he missed me. i coulda hooked him up with some private tours in beijing and at the great walls. or we could exchange some "tao of the steves".

My 2 Cents On It All

I thought about posting this long entry in separate entries, but I ended up posting as a single one. I am gonna give you my version of the "chapter summary". Sometimes I feel like I am publishing my own news paper. Sorry, it's a long one, but here it is.

1) Sunday 12/2 - movie reviews and my 2 cents on "Into The Wild", "Hustle and Flow", "Roger and Me"

2) Monday 12/3 - my old work, my new bike, and your favourite - random info. Last but not the least, my tribute to immigrants around the world.

Sunday, December 2nd here in the southern hemisphere

Watched a great movie with my cousin this afternoon called “Into the Wild”. (directed by your boy -Sean Penn)

It was based on a true story that took place between the 1990 and 1992. A young college grad from West Virginia left his troubled family for the wilderness of America. He went from the wheat fields of South Dakota to the Colorado River before heading to California and then Mexico (his eventual destination was the Great White North – Alaska).

The story was more than just about his journey. To me, the story was more about his relationship with everyone who’s ever been in his life. Some of the most interesting characters he had encountered during his adventures were the people on the fringes of America. Whether it was the Swedes, hippies, farmers, or the old folks, he was the happiest and content with life then (foreshadowing 101 again!).

Looking back at the movie, he really enjoyed himself each time he spent time socializing with different people in different places. For example, nearly the end of the movie, he wrote down “Happiness Only Real When Shared”. That was the tagline of the movie. He’s been searching for happiness for his entire life, or how he defined it as leading the non-materialistic lifestyle (“[He is] choosing to live in the dirt”). Even though he was happy being away on his alone, the irony is that he was running away from relationships with the others, but he was the happiest when he had company during his travels. These people helped him shape his understanding of life and whose lives he impacted as well (Hippies and old man).

He ultimately challenged himself by living into the frozen grounds of Alaska alone where nothing he’d ever known or expected came abruptly. It was a rude awakening.

In a certain way, I can really identify myself with him because we are both travelers seeking for an adventure. Only that he was more extreme and I stuck to more of a traditional backpacker route. Though I haven’t hitchhiked like he did, but we are, essentially, doing more or less the same thing.

Furthermore, I think that part of the reason why I keep updating my blog during my travels is because I get the most enjoyment when I know I could share my experience with my friends back home or just anyone who happens to come across my blog. That’s what really motivates me to keep writing. Happiness is REALLY only real when shared! Cheers to that!

There were times when I felt the same about the materialistic side. But the truth is that I really don’t need much to satisfy me as far as the materials go. But I need a good physical and mental state for my wellness. I need to exercise and be challenged mentally on a regular basis. Who doesn’t though?

Anyways, after the movie, I played basketball at a court downtown Sydney with some Chinese guys. They were as their usual selves…..terrible players. They don’t play D and only play half-court games. I miss the days of running full-court games.

After I got home, this flick which I’d previous seen was on tv– Hustle and Flow. It was done by Memphis’ very own - Craig Brewer (whom also directed black snake moan). Some of my friends didn’t really enjoy this movie because of the large amount of southern slangs used in this movie, but, to me, it wasn’t so much of what’s being said, rather how it was said. The movie gave me a different perspective of the lives of the pimps n hoes down in state of Tennessee. It further accentuated the concept of You Are Not What You Do. One’s job does not define who they are as a person. There are more facets and dynamics to a person than just their jobs. (I expected myself to know better, but sometimes I just need to be reminded)

Guess what? Another film I have always wanted to see was also on tv. Michael Moore’s “Roger and Me”. It was a typical Michael Moore documentary, but I found one thing to be very interesting about the laidoff Ford employees of Flint, Michigan. Some of them took up other jobs in the fast food industry. However, all of them were fired because they couldn’t do the job due to the high pressure environment (in comparison to their union car plant jobs before). In addition, the low financial reward with high stress level of the fast food industry was not very attractive at all.

This comes to my next point: Why do people still make fun of the fast food industry workers?! Whether they are working there by choice or not, they are really just like you and I. I commend more respect for the fast food workers. They got mom’s and pop’s, bros and sis’s, aunts and uncle’s just like you and I.

I mean there are obviously jobs with more pressure and higher stress levels (such as those in the airport traffic control towers), but just cause that burgers and fries aren’t rocket science, doesn’t mean that they oughta be looked down upon.

Anyways, when MM interviewed the high society in flint about the unemployed ex-Ford workers, all they had to say about the crisis (unemployment rate, high crime rate) was that they are sorry about the situation. And that these unemployed needed to go out and get a job.

How the fuck are they gonna get a job when there’s not enough jobs to go around in the town? Fucking retards. Some of the social elites even commented that the city’s got a “good welfare system” (That’s an oxymoron if I ever heard one. Welfare systems aren’t supposed to be GOOD. They are designed so that the people on it are only on it because they got no other choices. It’s hard to live on welfare because it is systematically designed to discourage people staying on it). *I don’t actually know if that’s true about most welfare system, but that’d be logical.

For example, one lady was on welfare and she was raising rabbits on the side and selling them as pets and also to be eaten. She was making 10 to 15 dollars more per week, which means that’s 10 to 15 dollars more for bills and groceries.

Monday 12/3:

Went to work again before picking up my new bicycle at the mall after work. To my disappointment, I had to ride it in freaking monsoon rain to home. Of all the times, it had to be the day I ride my new bike home. Just my luck! Anyways, I think I made a mistake buying this bike since the road home was extremely hilly. (I knew that before buying the bike) Once after I’ve bought the bike, the hills proved to be more challenging than I had ever imagined, especially riding in the rain. Not sure if I should return the bike. I have biked in China and in Thailand. Sydney’s north shore is probably by far the toughest place to ride a bicycle just because the sheer number of hills. I am such a fucking retard!

Random:
While watching the discovery channel tonight (Megacities), I learned a lot about my home country (the country that made me who I am before Canada).

- Taipei (2.5 million people or 1/10th of taiwan’s population. Highly educated. 24 hour book stores. Safe and clean (relatively speaking). The Bamboo shaped Taipei 101…..bamboo stands harmony with wind, 8 sections with 8 floors on each. Everything’s done in accordance to feng-sui (Taoism).

- Saw a tourism commercial for Taiwan with the slogan: Touch Your Heart. I thought that was very good. It really emphasized the good nature of the Taiwanese people. They are very warm and welcoming in comparison to other Asian countries (not to say that the other Asian countries are no good, but the Taiwanese people are one of a kind). I am, of course, not biased not all! haha

Interesting facts about the program on Taiwan:

- Taiwan has come from a developing nation to international powerhouse in less than half a century.

- Keelung (25 kms north of Taipei) is the country’s main port. Over 70% of Taiwanese’ imports are raw materials. These materials are processed into technological products to be shipped out.

- Taiwan has one of the world’s biggest shipping (container ships, not cargo ships) companies and it is in Taiwan – Evergreen. (Cargo ships are pretty much only used in developing countries.)

- 30 years ago, Taiwanese’s main industry was in hand-made crafts and agriculture, but the Taiwanese gov’t choose semi-conductors as the field they’d charge in. If all the semi-c companies were to shut down in Taiwan, the world’s computer and high tech equipment production would stop at a stand-still (Taiwan produces world’s 3/4th of the world’s semi-conductors.)

- The world’s first wireless city.

- 67 elevators, with some of them being double decker cabins to transport more people more efficiently. The cabins are pressurized to protect the transients’ ear drums.

- The only sky scraper built in an earthquake fault zone.

- I love the wind damper (also the world’s biggest and heaviest). It’s weighs over 600 tons or the equivalent of more than 3 Boeing 737’s. It’s used to counter the tower’s movements resulting from typhoon, earthquakes and crosswinds. The damper aka the big ball is constantly moving with the hydraulic pistons keeping it from moving too fast in the process.

Pps. I was explaining what Canada Place looks like to my cousin’s wife just now. There are probably more similarities between Vancouver and Sydney’s harbour front than Sydney to Toronto.

I never thought I’d say this, but I actually miss Vancouver a lot more than I thought I would. I miss the cold rainy weather. It’s getting a bit too warm for my liking here. I can not imagine biking in the midst of the summer coming up in a few weeks. That hill is gonna be harder to climb than in the rain.

Ppps. The more time I have spent in Sydney (1 month today), the more respect I have for the immigrants (not just here, but anywhere). This is mostly because of the challenges I have faced while trying to find work here on a working holiday visa (and I speak the language here!).

I can hardly imagine what it’d be like for the immigrants when they first moved to another country a long time ago, especially when they didn’t speak the local language. How tough it was for them to learn the system, the way of conducting business, and the cultural shock.

There should be a World Immigrants Day. To all the immigrants from around the world, my hats off to you, if anybody could, you have.