The art of matress testing

A tough job, but someone's got to do it

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

EasyJet

Due to the fiasco with getting stuck in Istanbul, I bought a cheap flight from EasyJet so I can spend extra time in Monaco. I had to be at CERN for the 1:45pm tour, and the train doesn't arrive till 12:35pm, that's if I take the 6:00am train.

EasyJet was pretty easy, the only difference is that you have to put up with extra line ups, and that wasn't a problem for me considering how much time I saved.

Internet Access over in this hostel sucks, so I won't be able to upload pictures for a while.

What do you think this looks like



Yep, it's a parking space for electric vehicles!

Ice cream, anyone?


I don't know if it's just my sheltered life, but I have never seen so many flavours of ice cream before.

Club Monaco

We then took the train over to Monaco, which was 30 minutes train ride away with fantastic scenary.


This is the hotel where the F1 track runs under, I remember it from driving games.



Monaco is a place of ridiculous wealth, you can see this Lady Moira yatch complete with a helicopter.



Every single square inch of this place is well groomed, check out this lawn under a bridge.

Best croissant I've ever had


Out on the tourist strip in Nice, we stopped for breakfast. It was the softest croissant I've ever had.

Socca


Buddy said that this chickpea pancake thing is some sort of local snack, so we sat down to have some, I didn't like it. Felt sick afterwards, but that may be related to the drinking from the night before.

Cote D'Azur

After much frustration, begging, arguing, I finally ended up in Nice through Zurich in search of Eurobabes. Hooked up with a buddy from highschool, and proceeded to check out the environ. We mostly stayed in the touristy areas. A local showed us the section where the "pissed off Arabs and Africans" stay, and warned us not to go.



Thanks to a friend of a friend, we were staying in a penthouse unit in Nice, it had a fantastic view, I got such luck.

So he has been in Nice for the last week hanging out with some very civilized people and was feeling antsy. So when we went out to get a coffee, for some strange reason we ended up in a bar called the Thor pub having "Bulldog" shots from a Polish bartender called Christine. Buddy partied hard, dancing with Euro/tourist babes - but paid for it later with hangover.



Nice is ..... nice... Look at the colour of that water! It actually glows!

France Day 1 pics

Tuesday, May 30, 2006

Turkey Day 8 Pics

Sunday, May 28, 2006

Disaster Strikes

I was pick pocketed, stranding me in Istanbul for a day.

As usual, losing a wallet is a huge hassle. I feel so violated.

Turkey Day 6,7 Pics

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Turkey Day 5 Pics

see them here

Sunday, May 21, 2006

Photos sorted

Friday, May 19, 2006

Istanbul photos

It's too late, so I don't have time to tell everything, but check out the pictures

Istanbul Day 1 pics

It's so late in fact I'll have to do the Turkish bath thing tomorrow instead....

Everyone is your friend

In the touristy Sultanahmet, every vendor tries to get your attention.

"Hello, my name is..." then tries to shake your hand.
"Where are you from?"
"Please come in!"
"Carpet, look!"

It just drives me away, in fact, it scares me.

Full Day

I wasn't going to go into the mosques today, but I gave into the temptation instead.

So I saw the Topkapi Palace, Hagia Sophia, the Blue Mosque, the Basilica Cistern, asia side, Haydarpasha Train station and the aquaduct.

I even got a hair cut and bought new glasses. The $5 haircut was from the train station, it's amazing how much one can convey while wildly gesticulating. The sunglass vendor on the Asia side doesn't speak any English, when I finally picked a good one, he can only gesture with approval.

Istanbul is fully packed with sightseeing goodness. You can do so much sightseeing on foot.

Yerebetan Cad

I didn't see a hotel name on the voucher form, so I blindly followed the crowd into downtown Istanbul, where the tourist area is called Sultanahmet.

To get to where the tourist attractions are, you just had to take the Metro light rail down to the last stop Aksaray, then follow the crowd down to the tram way (500m walk). Take the tram heading to Eminono and get off at Sultanahmet.

One can see minorets everywhere on the Istanbul skyline.

I arrived early (05:30) local time, so I had to wait for the public transports to start.

The nice people at the hotel said my room wasn't ready, so I went upstairs to have breakfast.
It has a stunning view of both the Aya Sophia and the Blue Mosque.

(Blue Mosque - it is 400 years old built by the Ottoman Empire)

There I met a Canadian family from Victoria, and a couple from Washington state. They helped me take this pic.

After breakfast I went back to my room for a shower/first load of laundry, what a workout...

There must have been some mistake, but they gave me this room....

(Hagia Sophia, orginally an eastern orthodox church, converted into a mosque, now a museum - it is 1400 years old)

I got this view and I'm trying to dry my pants and cotton undies...

Anyway, it's still early, I'll probably head over to Asia side today and look at these two buildings tomorrow.

Thursday, May 18, 2006

Not Constantinople

I'm off to Istanbul, wish me good luck!

Dressing up

I dressed like the salariman yesterday to meet with Dad for dinner. Tie and everything.

I blended in much better into Central's population, Mom saying that I looked more liked a civilized human.

I haven't worked for a month shy a day now, I feel like an outsider, not involved in this world. Though I tried to work on job seeking and updating my resume, I have been having trouble doing anything related to that.

I subconsciously avoid job websites, my resume file on my desktop, business books, business news, articles about the job boom, video and articles about how great it is to work somewhere (google, damn google).
It's weird, it's the right time to start because I'll be back in Canada in a month. But I felt a gag sensation when I opened any of those files/sites.

It's not that I hate working, I love working - I look forward to my next job, but something in me resents people who are happily working at impossibly good opportunities. (Mom: Working should not be fun, it's WORK!) (Buddha: Life is suffering)

Before I left I thought I wouldn't mind finding a job with Dad, but I just couldn't ask. Dad just mentioned that some executive's son is now working in the company for HKD$20,000 per month (pretty good considering the 15% tax rate, but an appartment costs 12k/month to rent). That guy's father deferred the salary negotiation to Dad instead, and Dad turned him down for any more increases. I just have visions of the very short salary negotiation with Dad, that's probably why I couldn't ask him for a job.

"Father... " "No! whatever it is"

Regularity

Some of you wonder why my obsession with toilets and other I/O functions.

Truth is I had trouble staying..umm... regular when I was little.. Because of this my mom keeps close tabs on my BM's, where the first question asked on a long distance call would be "Have you had a BM yet?"


(ah, the familiar shine. of the clear container..)

So BM is really something to be celebrated, in fact, a BM is usually rewarded with cheers and candy.

It is quite embarassing now that I came to HK mom enthusiastically produced a box of enemas... She wasn't shy about asking if I need it either (in public!). I'm glad I'll be taking the next leg of my trip alone.

With Imodium and Bandi Enema, who needs to worry when travelling?

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

March of the Volunteers


The Chinese national anthem is played everyday at 18:00 before the news.

You can watch it here courtesy of the "Committee on the Promotion of Civic Education", but you'll probably need Real Player installed. You can see the list of all of the videos here.

There was quite the contraversy, with some claiming that "video was disgusting, disturbing and left them with the impression they were being brainwashed".

But I liked the videos, it was no worse than the advertisements from Bureau of Tourism.

My videos from Korea

My videos from Korea just came online! Oh boundless joy.

Old lady 7

On the last day in Seoul, I decided that we would walk to Seoul Station to catch the limo bus instead of taking the airport shuttle in front of the hotel.

While we were consulting the area map a well meaning old lady, hunched over like the number 7 offered directions.

"Japanese?"
"Chinese?"
- "Ah yes yes Chinese, we speak English"
I showed her on the map that we want to go to Seoul Station and she offered to walk us there.
"English?"
- "Yes yes"

She took us back to the city hall station, which was opposite direction of where we want to be and told us to take the subway...

"ticket ticket!"

We didn't want to hurt the lady's feelings, so we took the subway to Seoul Station.

As the tour guide told us the day before, all Korean kids have to learn English from school, but it focuses on Leading. "What?" "Leading!!!" Koreans do not usually use the R sound, so it's easy to get into fun situations like that.

While we were looking for the limo bus in Seoul Station, I asked some soldier types for help, thinking that the hip youngsters will speak better English. I also took care to ask one with a girlfriend, so there is more incentive to show off and offer assistence.

"Go back down stairs to bus stop, whoosh!"

The limo buses uses a different bus stop, so it took us a while to figure out.

Typhoon


There is a large system moving towards HK, putting my flight to Istanbul in jeopardy.

This typhoon already swept through the Philippines, killing 57.

Please speak Chinese!

Walked by this Chinese primary school in Myeong-don. The banner says "Please speak Chinese!"

Snack machine



I have no idea what the snack is called, but they had these machines in all the markets. Next to a store, on a truck, etc.

Stuff it!

Some people complained that I should stop taking pictures of food, and that I'm packing on a few too many pounds.

This looks a little obscene, but this ginseng stuffed chicken in soup is some sort of Korean delicacy.

Namsan

Also on Narchie's recommendation, I took the cable car up to Namsan (south mountain). It's a peak in the middle of Seoul, affording a nice view of Seoul.



And I thought I knew how to work a toilet

This throne had probably 20 buttons controlling various heat, pressure, angle parameters. I never worked up the courage to put it to work. The last thing I need is to have the toilet spray the water onto my face.

Another patriotic moment


Taken at Myeong-don, it was just the lone flag not tied down properly.

Kojengi's



What am I supposed to say, when I see something like this?

Lotte World

Those of you who love chocolate koala bears will know that the Lotte Group made them.

The conglomerate runs an indoor theme park/shopping complex in Seoul, so mom decided that we must go.

So we took the Seoul Metro system to the theme park.





Mom also went on the roller coaster ride with me, she was screaming the entire time.

Those who watch k-soap will know this carousel.

Palace

Didn't have much time on this trip, so we didn't see all the palaces I wanted to see.

I only get to see this one (Gyeongbokgung) across the street from the city hall. Most of the buildings on the site were burnt down by the Japanese in 1911, so these are rebuilt.



Apparently, they had rocket launchers.

DMZ

Thanks to Narchie's recommendation, I took the tour to see the DMZ. This demilitarized zone probably inspired internet firewall configurations.


Photography is mostly prohibited when taking this tour. So I don't have much to show for it
The guide said, the first time you take a picture, they'll make sure that it's erased, the second time you take it, they'll confiscate the film, the third time you try taking a picture at the wrong places, you will get a "special" memory.



We were given a briefing in English by a S. Korean soldier, introducing the DMZ using a model as well as the large window view into the DMZ. He spoke with thick English accent, sounds almost like a WWII British commander. He was tall and not half bad looking, so mom insisted on a picture without him looking.

The North Koreans apparently have been trying to dig tunnels through the DMZ, and 4 attempts have been discovered and stopped. Part of the tour included a trip down to the tunnel, taking us very close to the MDL, it was a steep climb down, quite the workout to come back up.

Apparently now there is a highway and railway directly through the DMZ to a special economic zone in North Korea, where workers are paid directly by special south Korean corporations.


So we stopped by the Dorasan, the last train station before going into North Korea territory.
The station was totally empty, but the upbeat guide tried to say that one day soon North/South trade will make this station very busy. That was probably propaganda under the sunshine policy, I doubt one can be that insistent on the prospect of peace with the fences, guns and soldiers standing in your face.

Myeonhdon

This is where I stayed, also a busy market, but caters mostly to the younger hipper crowd.

And crowds there are, all the time, all day. You can see young couples on dates (people with flowers), steady couples (dressed in matching clothes), and the dramatic types (ones making out in the middle of the street). You can also see girls walking down the street holding hands like they were couples, use your imagination.

The S. Korean Won

It feels kind of weird to be blowing tens of thousands S. Korean Wons, but 1 Canadian dollar is like 800 Wons.

Water at the airport=900 Wons
One way subway= 1,000 Wons
One Bowl of Congee = 12,000 Wons

Namdaemun

Namdaemun, or the great southern gate is a major land mark for Seoul.


It is next to a busy street market. Selling clothes, twinkets, snacks, etc


They had boiled worms from a few street vendors, but I really couldn't handle the smell. So I didn't even stick around to take a picture. So here's what it looks like courtesy of some other brave soul.


We saw a hoard of women shuffling around this vendor, so mom decided to also dig in and buy some kid's clothes for cheap.

Congee Resaurant

Starving right after we got off the flight, we went to a congee restaurant right next to the hotel.

I was hoping for some sort of English labeling for there menus, no such luck. They have some Japanese characters, that's it.

S. Korean Cars

I see that on the road there are 3 or 4 brands of cars: Hyundai, Kia, Daewoo, SSangYong, etc
Very rare to find any import brands

HK Airport

The HK airport is a single large space, so you can in theory lob a grenade from the departure hall into the gate areas.

Everything is separated by glass, connected by escalators and mini-trains. Walking through the airport feels like a going through black mesa at the begining of half-life.

Monday, May 15, 2006

In S. Korea....

Here are a few things I learned from S. Korea:

1. They have lots of young people
2. Young people like dating
3. A single rose must be given to the girl for at the start of the date
4. Koreans are not shy about PDAs, embracing in the middle of the street, k-soap style.
5. Couples dress in the same clothes, some times matching, most of the time identical.

6. Either there are lots of lesbians in S. Korea, or it is normal for girls to be holding hands
7. Koreans eat worms from street vendors
8. Koreans like their coffee shops/cafes, like Starbucks
9. Restaurants have limited menus, no galbi from the congee restuarant
10. If you don't know what it is, it's probably spicy
11. Koreans like to dress in outrageous clothings
12. Shoes, lots of different kinds of shoes.
13. Not all directions in English are correct, dispite well intentions.

Seoul


I have been spending the last couple of days in Seoul, pictures are here:

Day 1
Day 2
Day 3

Nice place, will tell you more later

Friday, May 12, 2006

Computer mall

There are these computer / gadget only malls in HK. Prices are good, the selection is better.


Any of you want any gadgets from HK please let me know now, my mom is leaving for TO next week. I won't be back in TO until end of June.

Snot nosed

To think that I used to be dragged around town in such a uniform....
Hardly fits the aura of cool I have now. I would never, ever be caught dead with a chicken little doll around my neck.

Best Thai, apparently


Well, at least my mom's favourite called Wong Chun Chun.

Had some really good curry crab and mango fried rice. REAL FRESH MANGOS!

Anyway, I highly recommend the curried crab on Hwy7 + Chalmers called "Saigon Star". The best curried crab in Toronto.

Invented here

Speaking of suicides, the people of hing Kong has invented a novel way to commit suicide - charcoal burning. It's a form of carbon monoxide poisoning, and the HK people do it probably because most of them do not have a car.
What they usually do is rent a cottage in the outlying islands to do the deed. Because death in a home seriously affects its resale value. (Real estate agents are obligated to disclose the death)
Now when you go to buy bags of charcoal, they come with big labels: "life is precious, please refrain from suicides." Cottage owners will also refuse to rent out places to single people, especially people with coal.

HK has a soul-less, pure money culture, it is quite often that people kill themselves after losing a job, going bankrupt, or becoming "negative net-worth" due to real estate crashes. But then again, if you are in HK without money, you really are nothing. I can see so many graduates handing out flyers for money because they cannot find a job, things are getting better lately though.

Standardised Test

As part of a massive programme to torture the young and turn people off of learning, the Form 5 Standardized test is one of most important tests an HK student can ever take. It's the difference between scrapng the street of chewing gums and a souless office job. The grade from this test will determine their standing in society, only the top scorers can obtain the few seats for matriculation and more standardised testing torture for higher education. It is the exam before the A-level test which would have been equivolent to the American's SAT test. (note that single sex schools always do better.)

Whenever the stakes are so high, innovative cheating is to be expected. Premature opening or distribution of the test is a criminal offense. The HK media is going nuts right now regarding just such a scandal, where a student claims that some students are using phones and pda's to cheat.

The tests are conducted from April to May, it is going on right now. Young people are studying day and night in this ultra competitive scheme, I can see a few of them falling asleep in the library. They posted extra staff just to wake people up.

After the tests, and results posting, HK can usually expect a few suicide attempts.
HK's suicide rate is actually quite respectable for young people, 7.7 per 100,000, or half of what's in the US. Though this only tracks the completed suicides, with success rate of 1.2%, you can imagine ho many people actualy tried. In general older people are more likely to commit suicide, by twice the rate of young people's.

MacRice burger

I tried this rice burger from Macdonald's, and it tasted ok.

The buns are made from rice entirely, and they but terriyaki beef in the middle.


They also give out 300 g of premium japanese sticky rice if you complete a tongue twister within 5 seconds. I tried my best and was given the rice anyway for the effort.

Fate that brings people together


(yuenfen), or the fate that bring people together, is something that two people have, it's not something one can have all by himself. I talk about this in terms of Taoist believe, though this concept is quite prevalent in Asian cultures.

Yuenfen describes the relationship between any people or groups. It is sort of a combination of compatibility, spacial and temporal intersection.

So mom was obviously asking about romantic relationship when divinating for me. But divination doesn't always tell you what you want to hear, so she simply ask if I have any yuenfen with someone. The real question she wanted to ask is what happens if I get married.

That soothsayer cuts right to the chase, "You have no yuenfen!".
That was sort of a bad thing to hear, so mom asked "You mean it hasn't came yet?"
The old man shook his head and said, "Nope, not ever again, it has come and gone. He had his chance 3 years ago." Wow, apparently I'm doomed to a life without yuenfen, he may probably be right.
"He's too picky, and the people who are compatible don't like him." That's a contradiction.
"Just stay friends for a while and hope for good luck." Well, that is that.

My mom turned red faced and panic-laughed, concerned that she may not get any grandsons from this offspring. "He really doesn't sugar coat anything."