Cambodia Postal eeeerh... ''Service''

Alex finally received the postcard I sent when i was in Cambodia, almost two months later. Not only were these the most expensive postcards I've ever sent while on holiday ( 1 USD for a stamp, even though the value was only 0.5 USD - bloody ripoff), they're also the slowest ones to arrive.

My guess is that they've sent a postman on a bike from Phnom Penh to Hong Kong to deliver it :)

*** UPDATE 15/12/08: my mum let me know that my card to them has arrived too. It was stamped 27/11/08 - means they kept it lying around in Cambodia for a month and a half :)

Chill...

At the beginning of the week the temperatures in Hong Kong suddenly dropped to 16-23 degrees. Flip flops disappeared, and all of a sudden everyone was wearing jackets, scarves, long trousers... And then there was me at the same bus stop with these people, wearing shorts, t-shirt and flipflops. Thought it was quite nice, to be honest, really mild weather.

Not looking forward to the weather in Europe in December though. Sending my big winter jacket to the dry cleaner this weekend, I will be prepared...

Pictures!

Finally found some time to post some of my pictures online. These are all made with my mobile phone, i'm actually quite pleased with the result :)

See the whole batch at http://www.flickr.com/photos/kitanlondon/

Madge - close 'em sweetie.

Does anyone else out here think that Madonna has come to an age where she should be closing her legs in pictures? Who really wants to see a 50yo with her legs wide open?

By all means keep making music, sweetheart, but close 'em legs, yeah? I know you're anxious to be 'shocking' people but it's starting to look a tad cheap. Have some class.

Cambodia

back in Hong Kong after a great holiday in Cambodia. A few impressions...

Cambodian people are really, really friendly. Haven't been to many places where people seem so genuinely nice.

The temples in Angkor completely live up to their reputation, they are amazing. Kicked off the flipflops and climbed them barefoot - they're pretty steep too!

Traffic in Cambodia is funny. Lots and lots of scooters, with up to 5 people on one scooter (daddy holdingt he handlebars, mommy in the back, in between two kids and an extra one standing between dad's legs). Add a load of tuk-tuks, some cars and a handful of bikes and the road is full. Traffic lights merely indicate the presence of a crossroad, but even when the light is red people just keep going everywhere. Driving happens on the right hand side of the road, but no one really blinks an eye when you drive against traffic or make strange u-turns. Since everyone moves at 30 km/h it's not really a problem when someone makes an unexpected move.

Food is great, but we were not adventurous enough to try the local snacks: deep fried tarantulas.

Street sellers are everywhere. From postcards to pirate copies of Lonely Planet guides, it's all there. Cutest offer came from a little kid. His siter was trying to sell us fridge magnets with pictures of the temples, and he clearly followed her example. So he pulls out two round, black magnets - plain magnets, no pictures or anything - and tries to sell these to me.

More to come...

How I feel today...

Taiwan

Long weekend in Hong Kong (public holiday on monday), quite a few days I still had to take as holidays, someone willing to travel with me, and a very reasonably priced package deal... what do you do? That's right - book a trip to Taiwan.

It was one fo these trips where everything seesm to go wrong, but the more it does go wrong the funnier it becomes. A typhoon was passing over Taiwan on sunday, so flights got cancelled and delayed. Our was delayed by about 6 hours, but Alex managed to get us on an earlier flight so in the end we only got there about an hour later than planned. The streets were empty, no traffic at all, people were staying in while the rain washed the streets clean.

At the hotel we got an upgrade to the top floor suite because there were so many cancellations. It was amazing: pink walls, white Louis XV-XVI furniture, and a large bathtub with jets and colour changing lights. The public areas of the hotel were decorated in the brightest colours and patterns, never seen anything like it.

We decided to go tot he famous 24h Eslite bookstore, and that's where it started. It had been open for 15 years non stop, and closed for renovation 2 days before we arrived. Then there was the Confucius temple: closed for restauration until the 25th. The open air observatory deck of Taipei 101: closed for maintenance. The big concert hall on the square by the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall: in scaffolding. Etc etc. All we could do was laugh, the weekend ended up being so different from what we had imagined it, and there was just nothing we could do.

We had a good time though. Saw some nice things, had great food and had a very relaxed time at the hot springs. I guess I also should mention our visit to Hello Kitty Sweets, the one and only Hello Kitty cafe. As you can imagine we were the only guys in the there, the rest were girls :)

Taipei is a nice place, very friendly and damn cheap compared to Hong Kong. I'll be back there at some point, I'm sure. It's only an hour and a half away :)

Mid Autumn Festival

The Chinese festivals keep coming. After the Ghost Festical in August where people remember those who died, we now have the Mid Autumn Festival coming up. There's a dragon dance involved, some godess flying to the moon and a rabbit living in the moon (isn't it fun to be a cultural philistine?) but more importantly: there are mooncakes. Traditional mooncakes are pastries of about 10cm diameter, with a crusty pastry outside layer and a filling of lotus seed paste. In the middle is a lotus seed and a salty duck egg yolk. These traditional mooncakes are still available, but at the same time many modern versions are on the market, with fillings ranging from chocolate trufffle to caviar or foie gras.

I tried the traditional one - got to go for the real thing, I say - and it tastes disgusting. Really, really heavy, to start with. The lotus seed paste is sweet, but tastes strange, and the contrast with the salty yolk is just horrible. Tried it, didn't like it, won't have it again thankyouverymuch!

push push push

Let's clear up one misunderstanding about the Chinese. You have that image in mind of serene, patient, meeky people. Forget you ever had that thought. Here are a few situations that I encounter every day here in Hong Kong.

In the morning when i take the MTR (Mass Transport Railway) and get off at Admiralty station, there is a rush to the escalators. Being used to London, where people patiently follow the mass of people to get on to the escalator, I was quite surprised to see that over here people have a lot less patience. While people are queuing to get on, there always are people who go right to the front of the queue and push in from the side. When I say 'push in', I mean that quite literally: they push. In London people observe a certain patience and politeness towards each other. Not here. The worst offenders are invariably women, they are just plain rude at times.

A second example. After I get up the escalator, I get to the lift lobby at the Lippo Centre, where I work. Four elevators next to each other, and a bunh of people waiting along the width of the four doors. When a lift arrives, people who happen to stand in front of that door get in, select the floor where they asre heading, and then right after that start pushing the 'close doors' button - not once, but over and over again. Do they care about the people who are a bit of a distance away and have to walk to the right doors first? Not at all. I've seen it happen several times that people are still walking towards the elevator and inside someone is already playing a drum solo on the button so it closes before the person actually reaches the doors. Again - very rude and inconsiderate when seen through western eyes.

The funny thing is though that you take over these bad habits. An eye for an eye, I guess. See that woman running on her stilettos to get to the lift in time? Oh, the sheer satisfaction of pushing that button so the doors close right before she gets there...

Me like athletics :)

Allright, I admit: I just like the sight of hot men in lycra ;)

Keeping Up Appeareances - more from Beijing

Turns out there was more faking going on during the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics than we first thought. The foot prints firework was fake, the girl didn't sing live, but now more nice facts are emerging from the Chinese capital.

Remember these 56 children who were representing the 56 ethnic minorities of China? Turns out now that they were all Han Chinese - the ethnic majority in China with over 1.2 billion people. Of course that wouldn't have been a problem, if they had not told the world that these children all were chosen from the ethnic minority they represented. It also would have been less of a problem if they hadn't faked other parts of the ceremony too. What do you mean, 'control freaks'?

That control freak image is being reinforced by the stories that emerge from the training and selection procedures for the girls who present the Olympic medals. They were asked to strip naked, then were measured to make sure they had the right proportions. If they didn't have the right proportions, they could still join the training to be cheerleaders. Training for the three minute procedure was tough, the girls got up at 5am, started training at 6am and didn't get back before 8pm. And that during six months prior to the Games.

All it shows to the world is a government that is so desperately trying to control every aspect of the Games that the rest of the world only gets more convinced that they are doing exactly the same with the people they represent. Or are supposed to represent, because democracy still is a relatively unknown idea in modern day China.

Tribute to the REAL star

There we go, the little Wei Peiyi who was the real voice of the national anthem for the opening ceremony of the Beijing olympics. Respect!

Hyacinth on an Olympic scale

The game is called 'keeping up appeareances' and the setting is Beijing. A couple of funny little anecdotes show that the Chinese are up to their old tricks again by trying to pretend everything is perfect in their Glorious Nation.

The funniest one is the story of the little girl who sang the national anthem at the opening ceremony. She was so cute and won the hearts of Chinese and other people alike. Lin Miaoke is her name, and since ehr performance she's a star in China. But wait a minute - what performance? Turns out she didn't sing at all, she just faked it like a true Britney. When the selections took place, the part officials choose a different girl, the 7yo Yang Peiyi to sing the song. They agreed though that she wasn't quite cute enough (her teeth weren't all that straight, imagine) and that could bring down the image of China. So they swiftly decided to let her sing the song and look for a much cuter little girl to stand there at the opening show. Job done, China looked perfect once again.

Second example. For some of the events the turnout has been a bit low, with too many empty seats in the stadion even though the events are sold out. Reason for this is that sponsors often get tickets they don't use. Tis of course was not on, imagine the world would think that the Chinese don't know how to organise the games. So they've decided to bring in randon people in yellow t-shirts to fill the empty seats. Job done, stadions are full and China looks perfect once again.

The funny thing is that no one really cares about these things, except for the Chinese. They so try to be perfect that in the end they just look desperate. And we all know that people who seem desperate are just not attractive...

8-8-2008

8-8-2008... Since the number 8 is very auspicious for anyone who's even remotely Chinese, today is an exceptionally lucky day. Only once a century this number combination comes up, so women all over the country have been planning to have babies today, and those who are not yet giving birth are queuing to get a caesarian done. All to get that baby - preferably male, of course - out on this lucky day.

Also opening today: the most controversial Olympics ever. I'm looking forward, not to the sports bit but to see how the commie authorities will be dealing with the public. It ain't looking good, but you know they will get away with anything...

8-8-2008 is approaching...

http://www.amnesty.org/

Xi Yan / Yin shi nan nu

Two of my favourite movies (ever) happened to be on sale at HMV when i walked in last night, so bought both dvd's. Xi Yan ('The Wedding Banquet) and Yin Shi Nan Nu (Eat Drink ManWoman) are both directed by Ang Lee before he went on to make films like Sense and Sensibility, Hulk and Brokeback Mountain.

Bloody ripoff

Now that I moved to Hong Kong, I have to register with the Consulate General of Belgium in Hong Kong and Macau. Great fun, filling out another form with data you have already provided to the London embassy before... Surely there is a central system that keeps track of where people go?

Anyway. After registration, I am supposed to apply for a new Belgian ID card. Because all Belgians need an ID card. Which they are never going to use if they live abroad. If I travel to Belgium I will be going around with my passport, which I have to take anyway. So what the hell do I have to fork out another HK$ 141.9 for? Apart from getting money off you, I see no point whatsoever in ID cards for Belgian citizens living abroad.

Thunderbolt and lightning...

Another amazing thunderstorm passed over Hong Kong last night. The sky was electric, the lightning was so strong and frequent that I could see perfectly well without having to put on the light in my room. Thunder was loud enough to make my windows shake.

Next: the sirens of the fire brigade all over town...

(Just discovered that the Hong Kong Observatory keeps track of lightning. There were 3059 cloud-to-ground lightning strikes last night, plus another 1332 cloud-to-cloud.)

To Croc or not to Croc???

Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma. It is raining a LOT in Hong Kong. It is also warm. You want to wear shorts. What footwear do you choose? Trainers get soaked. Flip flops? Either the sole slides over the slippery pavement, or the soles of your feet slip off the flip flops. Nike sandals would be great, but I haven't found them yet.

So... I must admit, after the so manieth time I almost broke my neck on the slippery pavement, I have been very tempted to get a pair of Crocs. They're lightweight, they're ok to get wet, they're open so the water flows out and your feel stay cool, and... they're BUTT UGLY!!

I can't honestly be seen wearing these monsters. But they're ideal footwear in this climate. Dilemma, dilemma, dilemma. I may buy a pair in a discreet colour (if that is possible) and hide whenever I see someone I know in the street. Or should I try to blag it and walk around with this ''it's so uncool it's cool'' attitude?

No excuses...

http://www.lifeclever.com/learn-35-languages-for-free-in-itunes/

Cantonese is in the list too... I guess i don't have an excuse anymore, now that I bought an iPod... Oh well, i can still blame it on the fact that i don't have an internet connection yet so nowhere to download the podcasts :)