is it weclome BACK or TO formosa?

Pic above: Sydney University's foodcourt at the famous Quad building. I've heard of the song "me soo horny" before, but never seen a restaurant with a similar name. can you say lost in translation?

Taiwan’s known by its official name as the Republic of China and also its informal Portuguese name – Formosa, meaning “Beautiful Island” after the Portuguese sailed here around the 1540’s. While the Portuguese didn’t colonize the island, but the Dutch and the Japanese both did once upon a time. *It’s crazy to think that had the Chinese not defeated the Dutch/Japanese, Nelly Furtado/Godzilla could’ve been my cousin or something.

Been to Taipei, Taiwan since Monday night. I have done quite a bit everyday since then. Since I am staying with my parents/grandparents at the moment, I am spending a lot of time with them daily. My mom’s my best mate right now. I am staying about 30 to 40 minutes train ride from the center where all the actions take place in the east side of Taipei (literally means Taiwan’s North). I got a pair of designer sunnies (“…what’s ur persona. About this Canadicana? Drama, am I shallow? Cuz all my shades designer….”), visited the national palace museum, ate at a night market where I grew up near by, visited my friend whom I travelled to China with last fall, and hung out with my parents’ long time friends here. I think the museum and the night market were probably the most interesting parts thus far just because I love street food and old Chinese artefacts (not just any artefacts, but all the good shyte from the Forbidden City itself in Beijing.) The Nationalist party first relocated these national treasures to different parts of China from Beijing to safeguard them from the Japanese invasion. Then the stuff was moved again from mainland China to Taiwan after the communists defeated the nationalists who then retreated and governed Taiwan since then.

While at the night market in Shi Lin, I saw some Chinese Fire Belly newts/salamanders for sale as pets. Sorta strange to see and they were called the "Brazilian Fire Dragons" in Chinese. There were also some pet dogs (Pugs) for sale. And my all time personal favourites, Prawning! It’s like a little tank of water with live prawns in it and one pays money to try and catch them with a line and hook. Once captured, the prawns can be bbqed right away on an open fire grill provided next to the tank for some delish eats.

Another notable thing at the night market includes T-shirts with the phrase “Otaku” in Japanese, which refers to people with obsessive interests in anime and manga (Japanese comics). This is also a mildly affectionate/abusive term used loosely in referring the anti-social people whom stay in their rooms all the time in the glorious empire of Japan. Fujoshi is the female form.

Other interesting sightings: Mister Donut, Beard Papa, other Taiwanese-North Americans, SE Asians, and white people. I didn’t know about the Mister Donut chain until I got to Oz. It’s a big Japanese chain, but originally started in the US. As for beard papa, it’s a cream puff chain from Japan. I have seen the stores in Oz and Taiwan. Didn’t know that it was in Vancouver as well. However, according to the “wikibible”, there are no stores in Oz and Taiwan. Haha.

I walked around the Taipei train station area near Xi Men Ding area one day with my mom and all I heard, other than Mandarin, was young kids and teenagers speaking English in a North American accent. Not sure if they were from the states or Canada. And once I got to the Shi Lin area where I grew up, I have learned that it’s since then become a popular neighbourhood amongst white English teachers and other foreigners. I didn’t talk to them since I was too occupied with just taking everything in and mental notes for my blog entries later. Other than the white people, I have noticed the other Asian groups in Taiwan. Ever since I grew up in Taiwan, the Filipino au pairs have always been popular in Taiwan, but I guess that I didn’t really notice much of it at age 12. And combing with the fact that I have recently visited parts of SE Asia, I have become more aware of the presence and facial characteristics of different non-Han Chinese SE Asians. Walking around the streets of Taipei, some of them looked more Thai and Filipino’s than Chinese/Taiwanese. It’s an interesting mix and I wonder what their story is. Other than jobs, what brought them to Taiwan and if they enjoy working/living here. If they feel isolated and who are their friends.


Random:

In relation to the title of this blog entry: Talked to a friend of mine back home whom I play basketball regularly with on msn the other day. He’s also of Taiwanese-Canadian descent and moved to Canada when he was 9 years old. He’s here visiting relatives as well and has been here since June. He agreed with me that he doesn’t feel like he belongs here. While it’s fun to be here, but he feels more like a tourist. We both feel like we are “home” and tourists, if that makes any sense at all. Actually of the twice I have been back here, I have felt the same way. I am not sure if it’s the same thing for my Australian cousin who’s been here to work for the last 3 years as an industrial designer for a major Taiwanese computer processor company. I have only seen her once in the last 15 years. I will see her again in a few weeks.

While still in Oz,
1) I really don’t think the North American accent is that cool. Haha. Perhaps the accent is so “main stream” due to Hollywood and all. It’s just not that special. Even the English accent isn’t that special. In terms of various English accents, the Irish, Scottish, and Walsh accent are much more “sought after.”

2) I noticed that in terms of building floor layout, Oz is more similar to England. From the bottom to the top: basement, Ground, 1st floor then 2nd floor. Where is in Canada, it’s basement, Ground, then 2nd floor.

My 25th Hour in Oz

*I chose to name it the 25th hour in reference to Ed Norton's movie - The 25th Hour. Fantastic flick by yours truly, Spike Lee.

This is an account of my last days in Sydney. It’s quite a strange feeling now that I am leaving this continent/country that’s fed and sheltered me for the last 8.5 months. Just 3.5 weeks ago when I got back to Sydney from the east coast, I was sick of the cold weather and just Sydney itself. Nothing seemed to go my way and I scrapped off the plans to stay until October so I could visit other parts of Oz such as Darwin, Broome, the Kimberly’s, Katherine’s Gorges, Perth and the west coast. Instead, I chose to go to Taiwan then back home early. (yeh, I know….being cold is a lame excuse to leave here. Please lecture me some more.)

While I don’t love it here in Oz, but just by being here the last 8 somewhat months I have learned soo much more about myself and other cultures…….European cultures to be more specific – from meeting all the European backpackers. Other than the different cultures, I have now acquired an uncanny ability to tell apart different English accents within England. The shit thing is that I can’t really put that on my resume as a skill.

I have also paid more attention to what’s going on around the world just being here. Not sure why that is, but I definitely would not have paid as much attention to world news had I stayed home. I think I felt the need to stay in touch with the rest of the world since I am so far away from the rest of the world in terms of physical space.

I was real excited about leaving Oz for Taiwan because I’d get to see the girl whom I travelled to China with just last September. But now I am not so sure……since this means that I’d have to leave Oz first. Ironically enough, she’s coming to Oz later this September for her one year working holiday as well. The good thing is that I’d get to see her and travel around Taiwan with her before we part ways.

As the big day’s getting close, I have been feeling pretty depressed to leave Oz mostly because I am so sure that I will most likely never to return. I could if I wanted to, but I think there are other destinations await me this lifetime. To me, Oz is like a girl I had a brief fling with. Though I had a good time with her and I am sad to leave her, but I am really just going back to my first love.

There’s something about knowing that this is the end really made me uneasy. Things in my life are rarely this definite and it scares me. I think this might be the first time in my life where I prefer the unknown course over the definite future. I am scared because I am afraid that I’d never get to see the great people I have met along the way.

Other than the cool fauna, animals, and natural beauties in Oz, I am really gonna miss the friendly locals, cool travellers from around the world, and the way of life here. Oz will probably remain as the only country that I have spent the most amount of time in for travelling. It can be very different from Canada, yet it’s also so similar that I could almost be the adopted Aussie. Somewhere along the line, it got blurry and the perception becomes reality. Perhaps I am being melodramatic, but it sorta feels like I am leaving home instead of going home from Oz.

I spent half of my last day at Sydney harbour in between the harbour bridge and the opera house. I took another 100+ photos of the bridge, opera house, circular quay, and the museum of contemporary arts (even though the overcast weather was no good for pictures). I spent hours walking around desperately trying to soak in the last bit of Oz in me hoping to take a piece of it home with me.

I’d rather not say it, but it really is goodbye Oz, not see you later. It was nice while it lasted.

Parallel Universe xoxo
November 6th, 2007 – July 21st, 2008


Randoms:

1) I worked for the whole 3 weeks in Sydney for at a seafood shop and I really enjoyed my time there. Though the job might sound “fishy” and the hours were long, but my boss was really a cool guy. Being at 31, he’s already been married for 6 years with 2 daughters. I met his entire family and talked to him a lot on various subjects while at work. He loved talking to me that sometimes it got in the way of preventing me from completing my tasks on hand. Even though he’s Aussie, but he loves North American sports – NFL and NBA mainly. His team is the Houston Rockets. When not working or talking to me, he can often be seen on his computer watching classic NBA finals on youtube. We also talked about his trekking to the Himalaya’s in Nepal when he was younger. We talked a lot on the politics at work (yes, who woulda thought there are “beef” at a seafood shop?!) After my last day of work there, the bossman got a few other staff members to come out to a farewell dinner for me and the English girl. We went to a Japanese Teppanyaki (in Chinese/Japanese: 鐵板燒or 鉄板焼き) place and it was so much fun! I have had that much fun dining out in ages. It was like a show and dinner. I have been to Teppanyaki places before, but never had a full on show like that – interactive with a slight sense of danger. Teppanyaki is basically food cooked on a flat grill in front of you. We had beef, prawns, squid, rice, miso soup, salad, and some other stuff. Each grill has its own chef. After we got our soup and salad served, the chef started tossing us uncooked whole egg from the grill with his steel spatula. We had to catch the eggs with our bowls while not making a huge mess with all the egg components splattered everywhere. A few of the girls got egg all over themselves…….it was priceless. Ain’t nothing like a good old “point & laugh”. Mean? Yeh, but what’s your point?

After the eggs had been cracked nicely into the bowls, the chef separated the shells from the liquid and made an omelette out of it to be used to prepare fried rice later. It was time to catch pieces of chopped omelette dished out from the chef’s stainless steel spatula. The toughest part was to catch the pieces of the omelette with your mouth. Lastly, the show can’t be finished without some rice catching. Yes, you read it right……the chef packed down the fried rice into a bowl and tossed the bowl and the rice to us across the table. Or in my boss’s case, he just tossed him the rice without the bowl…….it was messy. Better yet, he got one of the girls to toss the bowl of the rice to me and it was the worst toss ever. I can’t believe I even caught that. (picture of the rice tossing to be posted by the English girl on facebook at a later day).

2) I think I’ve been blessed with some weird jobs, but interesting nevertheless……come to think of it, I have been invited to some work party at every job I had here in Oz. At the butcher job, I was invited to another traveller’s farewell BBQ. At the ice cream job, I was invited to some Xmas dinner thing. At the car rental shop, I went out with all the office people, it was quite awkward for me, but they bought all the drinks and I won $100 dollars in a gift card for groceries.

3) Some Aussie bloke thought I was Filipino based on my so-called “American” accent. He was just a random guy heard me speak to another friend at a bus stop when he decided to come up to me and popped the question, "hey mate, what accent have you got? Are you Filipino?" *thinking to myself: weird….why would he guess Filipino? I didn’t even get that dark along the east coast of Oz. Whatever happened to the good old “if you were Asian, you must be Chinese” assumption? Did that go out of fashion already or did I not get the memo/TPS report?

I then politely corrected him in my poorest impersonation of Steve Irwin, "Crikey, mate.......I am as Canadian as the young Aussies roaming on the ski-hills of Whistler with their iPod's, oversized sunnies (sunglasses), meat pies, and a can of BC's finest Kokanee beer (in replacement of another terrible beer - VB).

4) I randomly looked up one of my fav shows – the chappelle show on youtube for the Racial Draft episode. I had this crazy idea when I went to the pet shop on my break the next day.

Wouldn’t it be cool if we could have a pet draft/trade for all the potential pet buyers? We could even go further and conduct an online pet-trading website for across the globe. What I am proposing is to create a catalogue of all the pets/pet stores/spca from around the world in order for the service everybody. For example, one could trade lizards from Africa for spiders in Australia (assuming that all the legality’s taken care of at the gov’t level.)

I could then create jobs for people to produce online “scouting reports” (profiles for the pets eligible for sale online) to potential drafters/traders/buyers/sellers in return for a small fee.

I am actually going one step further on this draft/trade service. I was thinking that I could even combine this basic draft/trade service with lavaLife – online pet dating! The dating would not only involve just the pets but also the pet owners. It’s literally 2 birds with 1 stone. I think I could make some major cash with advertising.

To further top the crazy idea, I could even create a very exclusive club called “Noah’s Arc”. The club memebers would be able to own a pair of animals of each species from all over the world to emulate their own version of the biblical story.

*somehow I think the pet dating thing’s been done already, but worth looking into. It’s kinda like your local dog park (like that movie “dog park” as well) where the singles go walk their dogs and meet other singles.

5) just watched this awsome program on discovery channel called "Unknown Island" about Taiwan’s oldest capital (prior to Taipei in the north), this one is Tainan where the dutch arrived in the 17th century and traded there. Then came the Ming Chinese whom defeated the Dutch in 9 months.......then the Japanese colonized it for 50 years in around 1880's. I am looking forward to spend a few days in Tainan to see all the historical stuff. *I missed last week’s episode on Kinmen – a little strategic Taiwanese satellite island located closer to Mainland China than Taiwan in the Taiwan Straight.

6) Remember Paul Hogan of The Crocodile Dundee? He was in an Aussie film called “Strange Bedfellows” (2004) – which was an exact replica of Hollywood’s “I now pronounce you chuck and larry.” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0360032/)

Just watched that movie “In This World” again(2002). [aka “The Silk Road” in the UK] (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0310154/) and everytime I have seen this film it just reminds me of how luck I am. The things people do for freedom and a better life. It’s estimated that there are 14 million refugees In This World and 5 mil of them are in Asia. (“The journey to freedom has no borders”) All I can think of right now is - If only dreams can be bought In This World.

7) This past week Sydney has played host to 2008's WYD (World Youth Day). The city is littered with Catholics from around the world to see the Pope box a kangaroo (okay, maybe less the "box a kangaroo" part). I have nothing against the Catholics or any other religions, but I thought the name "WYD" is a bit deceitful. It should be "WCYD" for Catholics. or better yet "WRCYD" for World Rich Catholics Youth Day cause chances are only the rich ones can afford to come to Sydney. The other brokeasses are at home watching on TV.

This just in: The backpackers in Oz are essential a type of pilgrims, too.....since we are all doing the same things really. Up and down the east coast of Oz in particular like a line of ants. We definitly drink the goon (cheap boxed wine) religiously.

"I'm only a little bit Country!"

Follow up to my previous entry about “Eat Drink Man Woman” (1994), I only called it “Drink Eat….” Because the literal translation should’ve been in that order (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111797/).

And going back to what I had discussed before on how the dialogue sounded more like a Hollywood movie than Taiwanese…….well, I was right!!! Watched the dvd’s extras for the interview with the director, Ang Lee, afterwards. Apparently, the movie was cowrote between Lee and James Schamus whom also cowrote or produnced “Lust, Caution” (2007), “Brokeback Mountain” (2005), “The Ice Storm” (1997) and “Sense and Sensibility.” (1995). While during the interview with Ang Lee, he said something pretty neat about today’s movies from Hollywood – overuse of sex, but not enough food. And in “Eat Drink…” the food basically replaces the elements of sex since both are visually appealing to the eye. *yeh, I know, kinda ironic for a guy whom made “Lust, Caution” last year. Haha….but again, you can’t tell that story without the sex in it. It’d be like a Karma Sutra book without the sex tips in it.

I am excited to check out a few more of Ang’s movies: “Xi Yan” aka “The Wedding Banquet” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0107156/), “Sense and Sensibility”, and “Tui Shou” aka “Pushing Hands”. I am actually most interested about “Pushing Hands” and “The Wedding Banquet” since I think I and we could relate to that.

Since then, I have watched a few more flicks and the notable 2 are “The Grizzly Man” (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0427312/) and “Dixie Chicks – Shut Up & Sing”. The G Man is about some coocoo American, but lovable guy and his mission to defend the grizzlies in the Alaska peninsula. Though he died at the end from being mauled down by one of the grizzly bears, I found that the foxes to be the most interesting thing out of the whole documentary. RIP Timmy.

As for the dixie chicks documentary for the years between 2003 to 06, I can’t believe what I am about to say now….”I’m a little bit country.” Yeh, pretty interesting film on the reactions the band got from stating that “[they] are embarrassed that George Bush is from Texas” during their first global tour stop at Shepherds Bush theater in London, England. Shepherds Bush eh? How ironic and appropriate. Anyway, so the quote was blown up in the US and for a while the d chicks were boycotted by their very same fan base and country radio stations. For a while, their careers appeared to be hanging on a shoestring, however, with the time the pain eases and other public figures were bound to do something that’ll take the public’s attention off them. (of course TIA -This Is America. They love a good comeback story.)

The chicks came back with another album called “Taking the Long Way” in a desperate attempt to resurrect their spot in the country music scene. (remember that song, “Not Ready to Make Nice”?) In 2006, they returned to the “scene of the crime” at Shepherds Bush, England and rubbed it in all the haters’ faces with: "And all week, the only thing people keep asking is, 'What are you gonna say? Do you know what you're gonna say?' As usual I didn't plan anything, but I thought I'd say something brand new and just say, 'Just so you know, we're ashamed the President of the United States is from Texas.”

While their concert tix sales plummeted in the southern US, they virtually sold out in all venues in Canada including a small town called Moose Jaw in Saskatchewan. They actually made fun of Moose Jaw’s name in the docu. Lol…….

Interesting stages in the docu:

1) The chicks apologized right away to GB for what’s said in the early stages of the incident. They played it down as if it was just a mildly abusive joke.
2) Salvaging what’s left of the PR mess
3) Once back on their feet, it was screw you, again, GB!
4) The whole episode seemed more like “we are sorry for the situation, but not for what’s being said.”

I guess it’s only human nature that the chicks panicked a bit at the beginning while recognizing the seriousness of the situation and how this could potentially become a career suicide with the IRS knocking on their front door.

I just think that if you were gonna say something like that…..be prepared and don’t retract your statements. Playing it down is a bit weak. Stick with it if you meant it. I think that they can only say whatever they are saying today because GB is crashing and burning & the chicks are back on top of the world again. It’s all about leverage and timing, ain’t it?

*new verb: "don't say that, you might get 'dixie chicked!'" how fantastic! gotta love pop culture references!

Reading in Sydney

Our part-time home and native land

MICHAEL VALPY
From Saturday's Globe and Mail
June 28, 2008 at 12:06 AM EDT

The dawn of our country's 141st birthday breaks over a Canada astonishingly turned outward to the world in ways our first prime minister, John A. Macdonald, would never have imagined — or, indeed, if he had, would have suspected himself too deeply immersed in his tipple.
It is a Canada that, at first glance, looks to be stretching social cohesion beyond limit, a Canada crumbling into author Yann Martel's metaphor of the world's best hotel, but where none of the guests make small-talk in the lobby. No getting together in the dining room for meals, no gathering in the bar to watch hockey.

It is a Canada that has arrived at multiculturalism Mark II and a generation of new adults who have moved decisively beyond nationalism to embrace a kind of transcendent planetary supranationalism. We are becoming the land of global citizens, by all accounts galloping out ahead of other advanced democracies.

It appears to be occurring within a broad consensus.

University of Montreal political philosopher Daniel Marc Weinstock, who studies globalizing cultures, says there is little evidence to suggest it is causing Canada problems. A recent Environics poll found nearly 70 per cent of respondents thought it was a positive thing for Canada's image that three million Canadians live outside the country.

Canadians comprise 10 per cent of the population of Hong Kong. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions, more live as immigrant transnationals: maintaining a cultural and even physical presence in both Canada and the countries that they, or their families, may have left years earlier.

A huge majority of young Canadians — as well as a majority of all adult-age cohorts — say they want to live, study or work abroad, according to the same Environics poll done earlier this year.
Forty per cent of Canadians say they donate money to international charities. Twenty per cent say they send remittances to overseas relatives. An increasing portion of Canada's international trade comprises Canadian Diaspora entrepreneurs doing commerce with their original homelands.

For an overwhelming majority of young Canadians, international issues such as climate change and global social justice are primary political concerns. What happens at home, while not absent from their agendas, takes a distant second place.

It is a phenomenon increasingly evident among young Quebeckers who dismiss as yesterday's issue the politics of the Conquest that absorbed their parents' and grandparents' energies.
Does it mean that Canada is sliding into a state of non-being, a mere aggregate human habitation on a chunk of geography with maple syrup stocked in the shops?

Or does it mean a new Canada is emerging, wrapped in air travel, e-mail, mobile phones, the Internet and still the presence, if not a greater presence than before, of crystallized Canadian values that bind us together?

The firm evidence of common values is found in the Strategic Counsel survey published in today's Globe and Mail, values consistently echoed in other polls, in the Washington-based Pew Global Attitudes Project and the World Values Survey conducted by political scientists around the globe.

Maybe Canadians need to better understand what makes their fellow Canadians tick.
Ask university students who their heroes are, and they readily name Canadians engaged in the world: Stephen Lewis; humanitarian physician James Orbinski; Maude Barlow with her global projects for public access to water and multinational corporate responsibility; retired Lieutenant-General Roméo Dallaire, hero of the Rwandan genocide, who makes speeches to young Canadians urging them to become global citizens.

Canada has aggressively recruited immigrants with skills, money, entrepreneurial talents — and, by definition, options.

"The message our immigration officers put out," said Prof. Weinstock, "is not 'Come to Canada and, once you're here, you have to give up all kinds of allegiances and have a single-minded devotion to this country alone.'

"We give a very different message. We tell them that it's a good place to do business — implicitly 'for a while' — and that you don't have to give up your prior identity, and by and large Canada has done very well in this way."

This is how Canada won the Hong Kong immigration sweepstakes.
Queen's University geographer Audrey Kobayashi has studied what are now in some cases three generations of families who have moved back and forth between Hong Kong and Canada, for education, for business, for periods of residence.

They speak with Canadian accents — Prof. Kobayashi talks of being in Hong Kong business offices and hearing nothing but Canadian accents. They have deep emotional feelings for the land, a pride in Canada's public institutions, an engagement in Canadian affairs. Rooted in Canada, but from time to time living elsewhere.

Luz Bascunan describes how Canadian rooting takes place. She and her husband, both educators, and their two small children fled to Toronto in 1977 from Augusto Pinochet's brutal Chilean dictatorship — fully intending to return once Pinochet was gone.

He lasted longer than they expected. Their children grew older. First Ms. Bascunan got involved in organizing daycare. Then she organized a Chilean language and history school because she and other parents feared their children were losing their heritage.
Then she became a citizen because her children disliked being singled out as different when they went on U.S. school trips. Then — always intending to return to Chile — she was invited to run for the school board, and won. Then she gradually discovered more and more things about Canada she liked.

In 1990, when the dictatorship ended, many Chilean families who made plans to return found themselves opposed by their fully Canadianized children. Ms. Bascunan and her family today make regular visits to Chile. She still doesn't rule out returning for good one day, but she acknowledges being fully engaged in Canadian life.

In her fascinating study of second-generation Indo-Canadian immigrants, University of Saskatchewan sociologist Kara Somerville portrays young people who think comfortably of themselves as belonging to both cultures, visiting India regularly, in constant touch by e-mail and telephone with family and friends on the ordinary subjects of their day-to-day lives: cooking, health remedies, child-raising, marriage, jobs.

Radha Rajagopalan, 26, born in Peterborough, Ont., the daughter of Indian immigrants, talks of living this double identity, about her Canadianism and her pride in maintaining a grounding in the rich Indian culture in which she grew up. She thinks of herself as Canadian in India but Indian in Canada. And the question she gets in both countries amuses her. When she says she's Indian in India, she's asked: "Yes, but where are you really from?" When she says she's Canadian in Canada, the query is the same.

Ms. Rajagopalan, an aspiring filmmaker with a postgraduate degree in environmental studies, can answer on this July 1 national holiday that she's truly a Canadian of the 21st century.
McMaster University historian Henry Vivian Nelles has crafted a lovely metaphor of Canada as a masked Haida dancer: the mask and the course of the dance changes through time, but the dancer remains the same. Sir John A. would get it, and raise his glass in a toast.


Olympic preparations curb capital's freewheeling spirit
Tourism declines as Beijing cracks down on security ahead of 'Killjoy Games'

GEOFFREY YORK
From Friday's Globe and Mail
June 27, 2008 at 4:00 AM EDT

BEIJING — Every night at 8, dozens of red-shirted security agents begin their patrols of Beijing's most famous bar district, wielding batons as they watch alertly for any signs of rowdiness or excessive drunkenness.

The Sanlitun district, two blocks of nightclubs and cafés, already has a police station in the middle of it and regular police patrols. China, as an authoritarian state, has never had a shortage of police. But now, with the Beijing Olympics approaching, the security presence is heavier than ever.

Special new units of security agents, about 80 men with uniforms of red shirts and black pants, have begun prowling the short Sanlitun strip, accompanied by dozens of undercover police officers.

Altogether, more than 100 new security agents have been deployed, according to one plainclothes agent, even though the bar district has always been tame by international standards.

It's just the latest in Beijing's massive new security operation as it strives to eliminate any potential embarrassments to its showcase Olympics this summer. The bars are seen as a key target for Chinese security because of their combination of alcohol, young people, foreign customers and occasional drugs and violence.

The security crackdown, combined with tighter rules on foreign visas, has helped trigger a sharp decline in visitors to Beijing in the past several weeks. By the time the Olympics begin on Aug. 8, the city's freewheeling spirit will be seriously dented. Some locals are already calling it the "Killjoy Games."

With only 42 days remaining until the opening ceremonies, the fate of China's historic coming-out party is still unclear. While the Beijing Olympics will likely draw praise for its memorable architecture, its efficient organization and its enthusiastic volunteers, it could also face criticism for its security excesses and potentially sterile atmosphere.

The number of foreign tourists in Beijing dropped by 14 per cent in May, after a 5.3 per cent decline in April, and the decline is expected to continue until after the Olympics, travel industry officials say.

Many of Beijing's hotels have suffered a sharp drop in their occupancy rates. The city's four-star hotels are reporting a dismal 45 per cent occupancy rate in what was supposed to be a booming Olympic year. Many outdoor gatherings, concert festivals and academic conferences have been cancelled for security reasons.

Thousands of foreigners have been forced to leave China because they were not permitted to renew their visas, and even some foreigners with valid visas have been barred from entering. Several foreign-owned magazines, including the Far Eastern Economic Review and a Beijing entertainment guide, have disappeared from newsstands in Beijing because of tighter controls on the media.

The heavy security is becoming visible all over the city. Some subway stations have installed X-ray machines to screen the bags of subway passengers. Police patrols have been boosted in many districts. Restaurants and bars adjacent to Olympic venues are being ordered to close for two months.

The Sanlitun bar district has been subject to several police raids in recent months, with dozens of people detained, some for drug offences and some merely for failing to carry their passports.
In April, the police called a meeting of managers from 71 bars and cafés in Sanlitun and forced them to sign an anti-drug policy, aimed at eliminating all drug use in the district by the time of the Olympics.

Many of the 440,000 Chinese "volunteers" at the Olympics will actually be security agents, watching for any trouble from protesters or dissidents.

At the same time, Beijing is ramping up its anti-terrorism operations. It has mobilized a 100,000-strong anti-terrorism force, including commandos and other military units, to prevent security threats at the Olympics. It has even deployed batteries of surface-to-air missiles near the main Olympic venues, in case of any terrorist attacks from the air.

Because the Olympics has become such a crucial project to China's national prestige, there is a danger that it could be over-regulated and antiseptic. Even the cheering behaviour of Chinese spectators is being strictly regulated.

According to the official cheering rules, Chinese spectators are supposed to clap twice, give the thumbs-up sign, clap twice again, and then punch the air with both arms. The Chinese media have described this as being "in line with general international principles for cheering."

Counting Down Under (part 1)

Just been working the last week and this week. Usually I am wiped after work, but I still make an effort to watch some movies on TV or that I rented. Went out with the Cdn girls I met on Canada Day last weekend to this coffee and chocolate festival near the Opera House. It was actually quite fun sipping on $1 coffees and Chai’s. Since I don’t drink coffee, I only had a shot of expresso………doesn’t make sense, does it? Had some chocolate fondue and called it a day.

Watched a bit of “The Pursuit of Happiness” and had the urge to wanna have kids. Lol………don’t think that was normal. I guess it’s true that after one had kids, their priorities changed totally and it could be the best thing that’s ever happened to them. It’s intriguing to study the relationship between a man and his son. (Also watched another movie with a father/son relationship…..”Sunflower” – a chinese movie which I had seen before and mentioned on my blog this past Feb.)

The dynamic between a man and his son is just too interesting, especially the man’s ego, pride, sensitivity, and patience (see Will Smith’s character in “….Happiness”)

But yeh, every time I have hung out with the Cdn girls (all about 28 and 29 years old) we’ve talked about relationships and stuff. The following are just a few things we talked about:

1) They call themselves the “Warm-Up” girls, since they all had long term boyfriends (5 to 7 years), but broke up with them. Something else in common? Well, their ex’s went on meetings other girls and got married to them within a year. Apparently this is quite common?!

2) The girls talked about how they all want go get married and have kids within the next 3 years. (Wow, I can’t even picture that right now for myself.) They also talked about how they do judge a man if he’s in his 40’s and not married. The girls tend to think, “oh, what’s wrong with him?” They were in shock after I posed the question back at them……..”Did you ever think that we (men) judge you the same way as well?” haha….One of them freaked out. Good job on you, Steveo! Way to impress girls, mate!

On a different note, I watched a BBC documentary (our worlds) on North Korea called “Out of North”. I knew about the regime, the famine, the concentration camp-like prisons, and all of the attempts by the North Koreans to dash for their lives – literally. However, this is nothing like what I had seen before. And since fleeing south to South Korea is out of the option (guarded by electric fences and grounds heavily layered with landmines), most North Koreans try to get to China for a new life. However even safely arriving in China, they’d have to live as illegal aliens for the rest of their lives while fearing for being deported back to N Korea where they could face torture, death, and certain imprisonment.

Even with such high risks, the N Koreans continue to cross the Tumen River into China butt-naked and in the dark. It is only in the dark it is safe to cross along with the “help” of corrupted N Korean border guards (thank god for corruption.) The N Koreans only crosses the freezing river naked because wet clothes signals that they are illegals from NK. The kids along the river on the NK side regularly crossed the river into China to sell dogs, steal, and beg for money/food. During the filming of the docu, the kids even sang NK’s anthem to get some money from the cameraman……how ironic especially with the lyrics such as “our general, thank you so much!”

There’s an estimated 3000 N Koreans living illegally in China now and most of them are women. While a lot of them are in the sex industry, some of them are living in the country side just crossed the river near the township of Yanji. Some N Koreans go as far as to Thailand from Laos via the Mekong River. Once in Thailand on a false Chinese passport, the N Koreans can then declare their defector status to avoid being deported back to NK.

Crazy? The things people do for freedom eh. (sidenote, the trip to Thailand from the NK/China border takes about 10 days on a bus.)

Also watched a French horror film called “High Tension.” Probably the goriest movie ever made. Good fun though!

Rented a Taiwanese movie (directed by a Taiwanese director – Ang Lee) called “Drink Eat Man Woman”. The movie came out in 1994 and though I had heard about it since then, but never got the opportunity to see it. I loved everything about it. I didn’t know it took place in Taiwan until the first scene of an busy intersection in Taipei. I recognized it right away based on the intersection, as it was distinctively Taiwanese. I also loved the traditional doors of people’s homes in the movie. The good fortunes written in black in on a red piece of paper all glued on the doors and on their side-columns. (Especially the word “Spring” in Mandarin flipped upside down because of the word pun of “spring arrival” and “upside down”. So classic!) Other than that, it’s interesting to see the traditional schoolyards, uniforms, and classrooms. It reminded me a lot of my childhood. However, the dialogue/script for the movie was probably the most interesting by far. It was also strange to see the dialogue……the lines all seemed so “westernized”. I didn’t think Chinese people talked like that. It almost seemed that the movie was made for the western society.

Canada Day in Sydney

Pic above: Port Macquarie along one of the beaches on the shoreline. Gotta show off the Maple leaf.

1) Bought a copy of May’s issue of the National Geographics after I got back to Rainbow Beach from Fraser Island. It was a special issue on China – Inside The Dragon. Fantastic read even though that I already knew about some of the stuff covered inside. If you were reading this, you gotta go to your local bookstore and buy one!

2) Heading to a local Canada Day celebration in Sydney on Saturday (June 28th), although the party seemed more like a Toronto’s version of Canada Day. Who am I kidding? Toronto IS the CENTER of the universe as we know. (see below)

“Don’t Blame Canada, come celebrate it!

What?

Celebrate Canada’s Birthday with $7.50 cocktails, $10 Caesars, Pancakes, Poutine, Canadian music, prizes, giveaways & even Canadian beers at local prices. Show your Canadian colours (hockey jerseys welcome) with prizes for best dressed. This year we've expanded the party to include a second level complete with a DJ and dance floor! Sounds awesome eh? But wait, there’s more…

Who?

Everyone welcome, so don’t just bring your Canadian friends! Kids also welcome from 4:00 - 6:30pm ($10 dinner specials for children under 12) – things may get a bit racy after then…

When?

Saturday, 28th of June, 4:00pm – 3am, no cover charge, no RSVP necessary – unless you want the $15 dinner deal. From 4:00 - 8:00pm, $15 gets you a full meal (6 options), your choice of a Kokanee, Labatt Blue or glass of wine AND a ticket to an Ice Dogs Hockey game. Dinner limited to fi rst 300 that RSVP by 24th June (it fi lls up fast). message me via facebook.

Where?

City Hotel, corner King & Kent Streets, SydneyHow?Thanks to our awesome sponsors we’ve got a night full of fun and quality prizes for the charity raffles and free door prizes – too many to list. Two main prize draws on the night at 8:30 and 10:30, and you’ve got to be there to win. Heaps of other giveaways, plus our friends at Canadian Club Whiskey will be running fun & games on the night."

*This part is since the Canada Day celebration on Saturday night:

I had so much fun that night. It’s been like a month since I had that much fun. The last time I had that much fun at a pub was at The Woolshed in Cairns. This had to be the best Canada Day ever and how ironic that it was in Australia of all places.

I met up with this Jewish girl from Toronto whom I met while in Melbourne. She brought her roommate, an English girl. I actually impressed her English roommate a lot by guessing which part of England she’s from on a second try (Leeds) based on her accent. I have met so many English people during my travels in Oz that I am officially certified in telling apart different accents in England. It’s quite simple to decipher the difference from anywhere north of London and anywhere south of London (including London). The north has a heavier accent and they talk funny while the people from London and south of it sound more “posh” if you will.

I also called up this other girl from Toronto whom I met in Sydney the day before I left for Tasmania back in February. She’s got a 2 year sponsorship for PWC in Sydney for accounting. She came later on to meet us at the pub. And all at the same time, I also called up another Canadian girl whom I met at Alice Springs for Ayers Rock. I had not seen her since mid May when I was at Ayers Rock. This French Canadian girl from Montreal came out with her sister and her 2 other French Canadian girl friends. We had an absolute blast that night, not to mention all the other Canadians we met that night representing practically every part of Canada. I saw all 6 Cdn NHL team hockey jerseys in the crowd, but they were mostly Leafs fans. There were 1 Vancouver Canucks and 1 Edmonton Oilers jersey. Many Ottawa Senators, Calgary Flames, and Montreal Canadiens jerseys mingled in between the Toronto blue and whites. There was even a guy wearing a “Hockey Night in Sydney” jersey. Hahaha……classic.
I also met some guy from Vancouver who happens to know the same girl I know from my hometown because they went to UBC together. Small world eh? He’s here in Sydney for his Physiotherapy school.

We talked and drank a lot while playing Canadian trivia for some parts of the night. I gotta say that I sharpened my knowledge on hockey a bit. Learned that Ray Borque wore #77 so the Boston Bruins could retire Paul Coffee’s #7. On a different note, I also learned that Canada has 6 time zones, not 5! I always knew about the 5 being Pacific, Mountain, Central, Eastern, and Atlantic, but didn’t know about the NEWFOUNDLAND time zone. By the end of the trivia, I was gutted cause I didn’t win a case of BC’s very own Kokanee beers nor did I win a case of Canadian maple syrup.

Interesting fact: There was a most cdn dressed contest. Some Aussie won for dressing up as a lumberjack by wearing a Cdn Club toque, a red flannel shirt, suspenders, tight arse jeans, and a fisher-price chainsaw. (why would fisher-price make a chainsaw toy anyway, I ask?!) *oh, they were giving out free plastic cdn club blings with the letters “C.C.” engraved on them.

3) Saw this movie last night called “Heading South” about some women going to Haiti to “have a good time” with the local men. It reminded me of a discovery channel special on the “beach boys” in Jamaica. They usually trade sexual favours and their company for gifts, cash, and passports from the foreign women.

4) Been here for soo long now that it scares me to think that I might have become used to Australia’s way of driving. While watching a hollywood movie on tv, I freaked out at the main character in the movie for driving on the “wrong” side of the road. This can’t be good. I am gonna get nailed by a car or 2 when I go home.

5) Watched the NBA draft the other day. Can’t believe some guy from Taiwan got drafted. An American kid, Joe Alexander, was born in “Tiawan” (according to NBA’s website). He lived his first 8 years in Taiwan before moving to Beijing, Hong Kong, and Tokyo. He speaks Mandarin and his dad worked for Nestles in Asia. According to Steven A. Smith of ESPN, “Nobody from/born Taiwan ever played in the NBA.” It’s funny to see on ESPN that under each player’s profile for strength and weakness, it said “Born in Taiwan. Also lived in China and Japan” for Joe Alexander.

What a croc of poop. I can’t believe that they spelled Taiwan wrong and the whole strength/weakness thing is just so American. Good job America, don’t quit your day job.

6) Went on the Bondi Coogee coastal walk last week. It took about just over an hour the walk at a moderate pace, so I am guessing that it was about 6 or 7kms. Took lots of pictures as usual and also saw the Indian English girl whom I ran into at Cairns, Noosa, Brisbane, Byron Bay, and now in Sydney. That’s a stretch of land more than 3000 kms in distance and a long way to continuously run into each other without purposely trying to meet up. Actually we have never even spoke to each other. I overheard her conversation with some guy in Noosa that she’s heading to SE Asia after Oz.

7) Met up with the Dutch girl this past Sunday. I first met her while sailing at the Whitsundays this past June. She’s been studying in Melbourne the least 4 months (International Studies) and was heading to Indonesia, Cambodia, and Laos on the way home.

8) Watched an episode of this 10 part documentary series called the “Long Way Down”. 3 years after Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman toured from Scotland through continental Europe, Middle East, and Asia to the US on motorcycles, they set out their way south from Scotland to South Africa. The episode egypt down the nile to sudan Ethiopia, kenya, . Pyramids. Aswan (gap year like a backpacker.)

9) Still working at the seafood store. Been getting about 30 hours a week. It’s been hard for me to get there though. Starts at 7am and I have to walk about 40 minutes. And it’s cold here…..9 degrees. No heat in the house either. Oz houses generally have no heat and it’s also damp here. So it feels like extra cold here. Plus most houses are built with bricks, so they are only good for the summer. Not like the wood houses back home with fibreglass foams in between as insulations. I bought a touque so I can use it to go to bed at night. I am also wearing my long johns in bed. Imagine waking up at 6am and changing into cold clothes while stumbling for 40 minutes to work while it’s dark out. Lol story of my life. Other than that, I think I might have developed some kind of allergy to seafood/shellfish. I’ve been getting some rash on my forearms. Gotta find some anti-histamine.

10) While in Byron Bay a couple of weeks ago, I had Subway for the first time since I quit my job last July. It wasn’t good at all and reminded me why I haven’t eaten any since.

11) Watched another documentary program called “Baghdad High.” 4 highschool boys in Baghdad (Tariq bin Ziad High School) were filmed for 10 months by professional cameramen and also themselves during their last year of highschool. (From October 2006 to July 2007) The 4 boys were of different backgrounds - Sunni, Shiite (or Shia), Kurds, and Christian. *Interesting fact: Some Iraqi’s were happy to see Sadam Hussein sentenced to the death penalty by hanging when the news broke out.

12) Just polished off 4 more movies: Taiwanese's "Millennium Mambo" French's "Indochine" on Vietnam in the 1950's. Chinese's "Red Firecracker Green Firecracker" And just now "Akeelah and the Bee"