Elections!

Like I said before, I don't care much for the elections in Hong Kong... predictably, the democratic party won this battle. Anyway, here's what I've observed throughout the days leading up to the election. I'll let you pass judgment.

• The slogan for the democratic candidate is "vote with your conscious." As far as I can tell, her agenda has something to do bringing democracy to Hong Kong, something she has labeled "real democracy" while labeling others' methods "fake"
• The slogan for the main rival, pro-China of course, has something to do with... actually, I'm not sure, because she never really talks about her views on policies... she's busy defending herself from a past mis-step in policy making.
• The slogan for a pro-democracy newspaper is "Report happiness, report sadness, and report fairness." The same newspaper issued a special edition on election day urging people to vote for the pro-democracy.
• "Dire election situation" is a similar tactic used by both sides to urge people to vote. This is suppose to bring out "supporters" to vote for their respective party.
  

You'll pardon me if I can't take this election too seriously. These are the headlines of various newspapers in Hong Kong

• pro-democracy paper: Democratic party candidate celebrates decisive win
  
• pro-democracy paper: Democratic party candidate wins by xx,xxx votes
  
• pro-democracy paper: Democratic party candidate wins by landslide
• pro-China paper: Pro-China candidate loses by a little
• pro-China paper: Pro-China candidate wins support from voters
• pro-China paper: Subway merger goes smoothly

Man, just thinking about this makes me sad.

Hong Kong Green

When tourists think of Hong Kong, they think neon lights and crazy crowds. Little do people know that Hong Kong is actually 60% green. Virtually all the mountains are designated parks and protected from construction.

I've hiked a few times, but not quite enough. Here's hoping that I can increase the frequency. There's the Wilson trail (50km) and the Trail Walker (100km), both I would love to try at some point.

Here are some pictures from the very easy (too) trail of Parkview to TaiTam to Quarry Bay.

The TaiTam Reservoir

I got lucky to get this amazing shot of an eagle (okay, it's probably too small for an eagle...)
Like the contrast

Hong Kong is green

Let's play

Laptop rules, napping, and saying goodbye

The Sports Guy just had an all day chat with his readers. It's for the Jimmy Fund. Here is one question from his readers:

"Rick (Boston): I have taken 2 poops during your chat, but taken the laptop in the bathroom both times. Just thought you should know this is must see chatting."

Reminds me of PNGF's story that someone was typing inside the bathroom at HPC. There are somethings that are unwritten rules about laptop usage. Not bringing it into the bathroom is one of them.

Here's another article that's worth reading. If you ask me what the moral of the story is:

• tis not the importance of napping at work
  
• tis the importance of "inemuri, which literally means 'to be asleep while present'"

Brilliant. For you all MBA fresh grads out there, note that inemuri can only be undertaken by "only those high up or low down." In other words, only entrepreneurs (high up) and bankers (low down) can inemuri. Sigh. I knew I should have been a banker.

A friend of mine is a lawyer. We were chatting and she told me that today she saw her client off to jail. Which made me wonder... how do you bid farewell in that circumstance?

• Have a nice day? See you later? Take care? Don't drop your soap? Hand in there! See you in 20 years.

Instead, she said "see you in appeal." Makes me appreciate my job that much more.

Later, some news on my new toy Wii and the movie "Thank you for smoking."

Subway...

Well, it had to happen at some point. Subway has finally made its way into Hong Kong.

Combined with the fact that our office has moved (temporarily) to the center of all restaurants, I'm literally 10 minutes from all the restaurants in Central. And of course, Subway is high on the... I mean it would be nice to have Subway every once in a while.

Steak and Cheese was good... though the bread really sucked.

Subway, Eat Fresh!

Thoughts from wedding

Holy crap, it's been 10 days since I last blogged! Past weekend: saw Sampras-Federer in Macao, bought a Wii, played too much Wii, worked a bit, and heard one of the most disgusting "I let him stay at my place when I wasn't around" stories.

Attended a good friends' wedding last Tuesday (missing Linkin Park concert, sigh).

First the ghetto story. Chinese weddings give you a little laisee (red pockets with a small amount of money) to thank you for coming. Since I was helping organizing, I put down the envelope on my designated seat at the banquet. Well, when I came back, the envelope was still there... but the invite and the laisee was gone. GHETTO.

I found out during the wedding that another good friend (also present) is engaged... through another friend. While prompting wrath from those who were not informed in person, I digress into my selfish little world.

I have never been asked to be best man or groomsman. PNGF says it's because my BFs aren't married (Best Friends, not Boyfriends). There is a more direct explanation: I'm not a good enough friend for such responsibilities. Yeah, that's kind of depressing, (I thought about this while on the tram, by the way... I knew it!) but then again...

• most of my BFs got married when I was in a different place
• more of them haven't gotten married yet

Ah, all those silly thoughts on the tram.

All in One

This is an all-in-one post.

Yesterday (Sunday) was election for Hong Kong's district council. I know nothing about these elections, so anything I say is basically from my behind. Not that different from reality. ha.

The job of the district council is to make districts, on a street-to-street basis, better. What does that mean? Well, based on the election material I get from my mail box and from the street, the district council will alleviate sound pollution and air pollution, take responsibility to add plants in a garden, reduce traffice (and therefore inconvenience). In other words, they are responsible to make my life better.

Well then. What will be the outcome? The winner will have to fulfill his or her promises. The loser will have to intensify his or her work at the district level to get a chance at the next elections. Either way, I win.

Oh, and the results. The pro-Beijing camp won by a landslide. The pro-Democracy camp will have their taste of victory in the legislative council, due next year.

I watched a Hong Kong movie called SPL. Stupid story, mostly horrible acting (Yum Tat Wah is still good as usual), great action shots. The fight scenes were very well done. It's not a Jackie Chan style of using the environment to fight; rather, more of a let's slug it out with fists and knives. Awesome shots.

On my Christmas wish list: a low-light macro lens. I'm thinking the Nikkor 60mm/2.8F. Also on the list is the 105mm/2.8F. Decisions, decisions.

Also on my list: Wii. Just because.

Yet another Japanese food place. SAE's traditional stuff was pretty good. I'd skip the fusion menu. Here are some pictures:

I have to say, sashimi mountains are better than sushi boats

One of the best shrimp sashimi I've ever had

The shrimp was very fresh. You can tell when your first bite consists of the feeling of having good paste. El dente. The taste was slightly sweet but not overpowering. A bit of lime helps to get a bit of freshness into the taste though I'm not a big fan. And of course the bed of ice helps the overall taste of the sashimi.

Delicious desserts

Gossip Magazine

Last month, I (barely) made an appearance on the front of a local Hong Kong gossip magazine. This gave me some insights on how these low life magazines worked. Oh, and if you are wondering why... it's cus I had dinner with a good friend who "works" in the entertainment industry. Yet I digress.

Truth: her birthday party with about 14 people, with a mix of gals and guys
Magazine: many guys are chasing her

Truth: we all take different transportations to the movies
Magazine: a Porsche is her mode of transportation

Truth: we leave the theaters
Magazine: three men surround her to get her attention

Truth: everybody proceeds to a night club
Magazine: she's desperate for men

Truth: she leaves alone
Magazine: nobody wants her

Truth: it's a birthday dinner, movie, party with a bunch of people
Magazine: she is dating a dozen guys

Some of my friends are angry that I am portrayed as one of the dozen guys. I'm actually more amused than anything. Plus I get some insights as to how gossip magazines work. Speaking of which, if you remember the porn cab, I'm starting to regret that I didn't ask more questions as to how his business worked - for example, if a family of three comes on, will he play Disney movies (thanks to RL who infused creativity beyond porn)? Why am I showed porn? All single men? What about two guys? I'm beaming with questions now.

Eating alone

One of the things that people hate to do is eating alone. I admit that I don't enjoy it very much... then again, I don't dread it. Or at least that's what I always tell myself. The propensity to call a friend when dining time comes tells me that I'm probably a hypocrite. I too need company at a restaurant.

"Luckily," I've been able to put this to test in Taipei, where my last consulting case took place. I was the only person on the ground... and so I was also the only person doing pretty much anything related or not related to work. And yes, that included eating.

For most of three weeks (weekdays anyways), I ate alone. It wasn't bad though it had its moments. I tried to stay out of the spot light the first time, picking a corner seat so I don't look out of place and lonely (yup, I'm a hypocrite!). Then I got better at it. Second meal, I started to look up more and notice the environment. I started to note the operations of restaurants (man are they inefficient!). I took note of a couple flirting and then fighting in a span of 10 minutes. I even smiled at others who gave me weird stares.

Best of all, I took my camera. Here's my lonely (alonely?) set up at Ton Sushi, a well regarded sushi establishment near Taipei 101, the world's tallest building.

In sushi restaurants, you often get extremes. Either the stuff is not fresh and you're wondering why you shelled out $50 for some seafood that's been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days; or it was $50 very well spent on every aspect of the meal from the salad to the sushi to tea to dessert. Imagine my surprise when the sushi came with fresh fish and plain rice. I don't even think it is Japanese (read: vinegar!) rice. The fish was so good I found it hard to believe that the rice was sub par.

The following pictures are eel sushi and a assortment dish. Overall, still yummy... but the rice was a big big disappointment.

Flying week in and week out

Silly things happen when you fly so often:

• Forgot to turn off phone as it goes off when the plane is LANDING
• Left laptop in the seat pocket in front of you (not my story

Hey, I'm just saying. It's a matter of probability.

I've flown to Taipei the last three weeks and I've never noticed this announcement:

"It is illegal to take drugs into Taiwan. The most sever punishment could be capital punishment. Please pay attention to the video supplied by the Taiwanese government to learn about the details of the regulations."

(Repeat in Cantonese, and then Hongdarin - pretty bad Mandarin)

If you are wondering, I was probably in deep sleep my previous two trips. Anyway, I found the announcement funny so I prepared to pay full attention as instructed.

The video had bad video quality and even worse audio quality. This led to the next announcement:

"We apologize for the poor quality of the video and audio. Please be reminded that the highest punishment is capital punishment. Taiwan also has strict regulations on the import of vegetable, fruits, blah blah blah"

(Repeat in Cantonese, and then Hongdarin - pretty bad Mandarin)

And just to drive the point home, there was a final announcement:

"We would like to remind you that the punishment for bringing drugs into Taiwan is the death penalty."

I gotcha.

Without Techonology

"Damn, what did they do when they didn't have SMS/blackberry/etc?"

Chances are, you've thought about this question when you are furiously typing away during a meeting, on the plane, in the lounge... and you've probably also wondered how people lived without TV, phone, and all those gadgets that make our lives work.

Well, I've put that to the test last few week:
Internet - limited. Client site doesn't allow Internet access. There are several Warm to Cold spots around the office where I can hook to wireless networks.
Phone - good. I can't call. But I can receive calls. And send SMS.
Blackberry - luckily, I don't have one.
TV - virtually none. Hotel TV shows Taiwanese and Japanese stuff.

There were some frustrating moments obviously. Not having Internet is kind of nuts, but I've come to find that it isn't disastrous. Things take a bit longer, but they nonetheless work. Not having a TV hasn't even affected me a bit.

You know one thing I can't not have though? It's the air conditioning. I needed that.

Well, so in the end, comfort trumps convenience. =)

Time to wake up, baby!

I have a tendency to wake up several minutes before my alarm sounds. Don't know why. It just happens every now and then. Today, however, was a bit different.

I woke up to an earthquake! At least I thought I woke up to an earthquake.

Funny how the human mind works. Instead of snoozing - most evil invention #6 - for half an hour or so, everything cleared and I took a quick look around the room to see where I can hide. So instead of staying in bed, I was up immediately with all joints working.

Which leads to my next consultant / entrepreneur thought: an earthquake alarm clock!

You have another hour...

Watched Transformers at home last night (yes, that also means I finally have a TV after... oh... just 2 months in Hong Kong). Two points. The girl in the movie is quite hot (no good at acting though). The movie is decent, but very corny (come on, the defense secretary blasting a shot gun at Decepticons!?).

Nonetheless, as I carried no expectations whatsoever in the movie, it was cool to see my favorite cartoon come to life. Optimus Prime, how I miss you. I still remember the days where I would nag my parents until they got my Prime. And we're talking full size Prime here, not the mini one made of plastic. Of course the toy is nowhere to be found now. Anyway, I have one big question...

• Hoover Dam began construction in 1931
• The great great great grand father of our hero discovered Megatron in 1871 or something
  
• So how would his discovery of Megatron in reveal that the Cube is in Hoover Dam?????????

I am perplexed. And how everybody suddenly converged on Hoover Dam is beyond me. How Megatron died (did he!?) is also beyond me. The fight scenes were kind of cool and the transforming wasn't bad at all.

In other news, housewarming / Halloween party was a bummer. The TV/sound delivery didn't happen since I was in Taiwan. So a party with no noise. Friday nights are not good for bankers. So I was the only one "dressed up." If you count dressing preppy as dressed up.

Had a pretty good Japanese meal. Pictures coming later. The tasting menu was $25 and the fusion menu was $45. Should have suck with the tasting menu... one of those cuisines where you can't do too much fusion on it. Raw fish... is raw fish.

When my reminder went off at 3:30pm, I quickly finished off my work product, packed and printed things I needed and started to leave the office. Out the door. Into the elevator. Then I looked up at the TV screen and read... 3:45pm.

Now... I have been planning on departing for Taiwan at 5pm. For some reason, I kept thinking it was 4pm.  And it's not 5pm yet. In fact, quite far from it. So suddenly I have a whole hour to spend, which resulted in some work done and also this blog post. Quite unusual sequence of events. I'm quite good at timing. And now... I suddenly have another hour on my hands. (Just like day light savings, which also happened this weekend. Weird.)

Taiwan Taxi

I can't imagine what it is like to not have Internet access. But I'm getting close. I've spent most of this week without Internet access during business hours. Let's just say that it is excruciatingly painful. Doubly so when you are left alone.

Taiwan taxis are like taxis anywhere in the world. The drivers are slightly crazy and have an opinion on just about anything. Most are friendly (Shanghai the lone exception) and are curious as to who you are and what you do. All are talkative. Most are courteous (Shanghai is the lone exception). All are dangerous drivers. Cars are nice and clean. Most are small (Hong Kong, of all places, being the lone exception) size cars that can barely fit you in the door.

This particular Taiwan taxi, however, was mind bottling.

Travelling between two client sites, I slipped in the cab and quickly snoozed. The ride is usually 20 to 30 minutes long. I just had back-to-back client meetings and I was feeling quite tired… by the meetings certainly, but also by the prospect of the impeding work that I have to deliver. Anyway, I was drifting in and out of consciousness. I did try to stay awake and alert and notice the roads and where I am, but it only worked for a few seconds before I went back to nap again.

Yeah, so far it's like a regular cab ride. I finally woke up probably 5 minutes from the destination, noted that I'm very close to the destination, and started people watching from inside the cab. Suddenly, some corny music starts in the cab, stopping the radio broadcast. I looked back in the cab to see what is going on... and there it is, a porn video - yes, PORN VIDEO - was playing on the DVD screen of the taxi.

Did I say porn video?

Now you have to understand that this is a very awkward situation. Do I watch? Do I talk? Do I keep looking outside the window? Uh... and I hope the driver isn't distracted. Luckily, our man the taxi driver knew exactly what to do.

Taxi driver (TD): Nice, huh?

Slightly amused Josekin (SAJ): uh, yeah

TD: where are you from

SAJ: Hong Kong

TD: Can you buy these in HK?

SAJ: Yeah

TD: For how much?

SAJ (thinking): About $10 Hong Kong dollars

TD: Oh, that's $40... this one is only $20

SAJ: Oh, that's cheap

TD: Yeah, even in Taiwan you can only get one for $50

SAJ: Oh, how did you get yours then?

TD: I'm selling these for $20

Very stunned Josekin ( VSJ): ......!? Huh!?

TD: Yeah, you want Taiwanese? Japanese? American? I have Hong Kong too.

VSJ: What do you mean?

TD: No worries... I'll wrap them nicely for you. Just a regular VCD. You can play this at home. Oh, let me show you the Japanese one (changing discs)

VSJ: ......

TD: It's already very cheap... this price beats the entire market. Can't go lower...

(Arriving at client cite)

VSJ: uh, no thanks. , here's my stop. Thanks!

(All figures in Taiwanese Dollar, unless otherwise indicated)

Red Sox and Taiwan

Red Sox won the World Series... again!

And as I was watching game 4 (sort of) while on the beach, I was told that I have to go to Taiwan for a case. So here I am, on Halloween night, in Taipei, writing a blog entry.

Here's a pretty cool link to how to take better pictures.

Beach Time

In consulting, when you are in between cases, you are "on the beach." What does this mean? Well, as I've found out the last two weeks, it means all the hard work you put in during the case and all those lost nights are returned to you. Which means:

No need to be in the office*
Need to work on ad-hoc stuff
Time to get life outside of work back on track

*need to be ready to report within 2 hours if called upon

So yes, I do enjoy consulting.

Meanwhile, I think I just saw Gagne warming up in the bullpen with Paplebon and I threw up in my mouth. As a rule, if you have your best pitcher warming up, you shouldn't have your worst doing the same. Red Sox are ready to clinch another World Series... or so I hope.

Wrong Kong

A trail of thought that got lost somewhere... not that you would care. But I'll post it anyway.

Hong Kong has been consistently voted the "freest economy in the world." In other words, this means minimal intervention in the economy by the government, a move coined "positive nonintervention" that is so admired by the likes of Milton Friedman (and other U of C economists, I'm sure).

If you cared to read the above link, you will easily find the reason why Hong Kong is so successful: lots of big money merchants who fled from Shanghai to HK from communism being able to do whatever they want with their money and resources with minimal intervention. This is consistent with capitalism theories on the most efficient use of money leads to the best developments in the economy. Note that the key ingredient: big money people fleeing to Hong Kong.

Yet nowadays, when I read newspapers in Hong Kong, there are complaints about everything: more freedom in elections, social services not enough, support for low income families not enough, healthcare not enough, too much pay for civil servants, too much collusion among big businesses, more support on education, reduce monopoly prices on electricity and transportation, focus on urban development undermines cultural sites, etc etc.

Therein lies one of the biggest ironies of my home country... if you are keeping tab: freest economy, limited political freedom, a very free press, and too much freedom in certain sectors of the economy.

The aforementioned complaints breaks down into this:
1. More political freedom
2. Spend more to support lower class, health care, education, etc
3. Don't collude with big business

In other words...
1. Government give us more political freedom
2. Government spend more on lower class
3. Government to suppress big business

The Hong Kong government is the favorite target of Hong Kong people (media?). I cannot argue with point 1 and 2. Note that the same people asking for 1 have been asking for the last 10 years without much push (real push... everybody wants it mentally... but nobody is moving for it... such is the Chinese culture). Those who want 2 also oppose an increase in tax to pay for it. Hm.

The next favorite son to blame: greedy big businesses. This is where I get most confused. As I wrote above, the success of Hong Kong has been the result of government not interfering with big business. Now people want the reverse. Part of the reason is that big business equals Chinese government (think about THAT irony!!) due to all the money that is made in the mainland. Part of the reason is us consumers don't want to be screwed over. Big business (read: China) is taking over and making us give them all our money!

What about the reverse: big business also gives us a lot of employment and money to spend! In fact, many economists oppose tax brackets because it encourages (in US anyway) people to play with deductibles and miss the tax bracket. Also dangerous is that it discourages business from spending the additional income on its employees because they have to pay taxes.

I wonder what the solution is. Increased government intervention runs against what made Hong Kong. At the same time, no intervention will fuel more cries from the people (media?). I believe the HK government should focus on education and healthcare. All the commercial stuff leave it up to the people and the media - they seem to have enough free time to protest against businesses. And perhaps they ought to know: it is not because the government is useless and passive (it could be... I just don't know), but also should consider that their passivity has propelled Hong Kong to its current prosperity.

On the tram back home

One nice thing about taking the tram home is that I have 30 minutes of calmness. For instance, yesterday coming back from work:

• I think I can do this (i.e. consulting) for a while
• How did I survive my first case without scratch
  
• I have a new format for slide #4 (disrupting calmness)
• Where can we hike this week
• I wonder how the pictures turned out from last week
• I miss Alan
• I miss PNGF
• Beach time is nice
• I should organize something social - I used to do that a lot in Boston... what happened
• What should I talk about with my staffing manager (disrupting calmness)
• I should buy a new lens for macro photography... I really need one
• A Wii could be nice at my home
• Should I go to Mong Kok for a set of stereo
• I need to exercise
• Food is so cheap in Hong Kong
• Basketball, perhaps...
• What if the Red Sox win another World Series
• The Pats and the Colts are playing next week. I want to see that game
• HK TV sucks

Ops, my stop now.

Weird pricing schemes

I got myself a TV over the weekend. What I couldn't figure out is the following paying options:

1. Pay $10K now
2. Pay $10K in 12 monthly installments, interest free
3. Pay $10K in 18 monthly installments, interest free
4. Pay $10K in 24 monthly installments, interest free

Is there something U of C didn't teach me here?

(by the way, I added a tag for "consulting" so I can keep track of my comments on general business suggestions and questions. This particular pricing scheme seems to be out of whack with whatever the company is trying to do)

White Food in Yellow Land

First things first, congrats to Tufts Jumbo being mentioned in a sports column!

BSLW once commented that Hong Kong has no good white food, just like Chicago has no yellow food. I set off to prove him wrong.

First stop was Le Mieux Bistro, tucked inside an industrial building in Chai Wan. There are many restaurants like this now because of crazy rents in Hong Kong. Good chefs find a cheap location and set up shop inside and rely on word of mouth to get business. Unlike many HK restaurants, they rely on price rather than turnover to stay afloat.

Here's the menu: Sashimi of scallop, Japanese Angel Prawn, slow cooked salmon and sea whelk, seafood raviloi (their spelling mistake!) with tomato lobster sauce, roasted Australian beef tenderloin and sword fish loin, chocolate cake with raspberry sorbet. Coffee or tea. All for $33.

Definitely the best sashimi I've had in years. The shrimp beats (gasp!) Oishi's. Extremely fresh and well put together dish. The seafood ravioli had very good sauce... and I forgot what was in the ravioli. Beef was so so - threaded beef isn't my type of steak. But the swordfish and dessert were excellent. Okay, so I do realize that this verdict supports white food is no good in HK... but at least the dessert was on par!

Cooked shellfish, sashimi scallop, salmon, and shirmp

Second testing grounds was Caprice at Four Seasons. This French bistro opened not too long ago and has been touted as one of the best in Hong Kong. Indeed it was. In addition to the appetizer (escargot and warm foie gras) and starter (lobster and seabass) and dessert (Rasberry dessert) we (PNGF and I) ordered, we also got pampered with small food items in between.

The escargot came in soup form. There were some escargot in the asparagus-based soup and there were also three wonton-type escargot that you can dip into the soup. The asparagus soup was very well made and the taste of the escargot was better than most I've tasted in Paris, mostly because the flavor of the escargot was not overpowered by garlic oil. Rather, the asparagus soup brought out the ever faint flavor of the snails.

Warm foie gras wasn't bad. A bit too mushy for my tastes.

The seabass was a good dish. Most seafood dishes in Hong Kong are with the very high standards that locals have set up (not so much for Japanese food, I don't understand why). Fresh seabass cooked to perfection.

The star of the night was the lobster though. It was well cooked and served with a vanilla foam. The sauce was both from the lobster oil (in lieu of butter sauce) and a hint of vanilla. I thouroughly enjoyed this dish. Something was missing though: only one claw could be found! I know that the lobster tail is where all the meat is... but still... I'd like to see both claws. Given all my Boston experiences, I think this one comes damn close (Boston ones are old school and would never try anything adventurous like this).

Lobster was comparable to Boston ones

And the little dishes that they serve in between dishes wasn't bad either. The following is the last one served up after our order of dessert AND a free sample of chocolate.

Marshmallow dish was satisfying (I couldn't wait to take pictures...)

Last but not least, I also went to Cru, apparently a frequent visit for bankers in Hong Kong. I've been there twice and both times I was led there by someone working for a big bank. I remember the sesame tuna was good, as well as the prawn skewers (a bit on the salty side for me) and pumpkin salad. I ordered a seafood pasta dish that was quite well made. But the key to the night was the Mars Bar Cheesecake. I'll let the picture do the talking.

Mars Bar Cheesecake is evil

I'd say white food is quite good in Hong Kong. Now I am craving for a decent piece of steak.

All roads lead to the office

I'm evaluating how I should get to the office from my home, and I've broken them down into three categories (remember, I bleed consulting): speed, price, and comfort. This is from fastest to slowest.

1. Taxi: fastest at about 15 minutes, cost $30, and always entertaining while listening to the driver bitch about whatever
2. MTR: about 30 minutes, cost $4.6, likely inside a cramped cabin followed by walking on busy Central streets, lots of trains so no waiting
3. Tram: at about 35 minutes and $2, I can always get a seat and enjoy the breeze... though it is truly old school without air-con and wooden hard seats (by the way, the tram is surprisingly fast because it has its own tracks and not slowed by traffic)
   
4. Bus #5, 5B, 18: at about 40 minutes and $3.7, they bring me right up to the building like a cab, I usually can get a seat on the bus too

I picked... tram. There's something about riding an old transportation vehicle and enjoying the old districts zip by you while enjoying the breeze. Just love that feeling.

And the fact that I will be spending about $40 on transportation to work per month. Sometimes, being cheap excites me. I can't explain it. Maybe I need a raise. haha.

(all figures in HKD)

Michael Clayton, and more on Lust, Caution

Michael Clayton

When I heard that the writer of Bourne series worked even harder on the script of Michael Clayton (George Clooney), I decided to go see it with PNGF even though I had no idea what it was about. I knew it had something to do with lawyers... so it's got to be some struggle between good and evil. Someone mentioned it was Oscar-worthy too.

Well, I came out the theater satisfied while slightly disappointed. Satisfied because there were some fine performances and the movie was overall captivating and meaningful. Slightly disappointed because it was so predictable. (Not Oscar worthy, by the way... maybe the supporting cast)

Back when I worked for AG, one of my colleagues decided to go to public policy because she often found that our clients are not "worth defending" because they make so much money. This movie would be perfect for her.

Anyway, the movie is less about the evil corporation. Michael Clayton is the focus of the movie. The movie is about the transformation of a person. A series of events have planted the seeds for Michael's transformation and one big change just lit the fire (quite literally). I think one of the key questions I came out asking myself is how long can one person be in a shitty situation. Michael kept taking it in the movie: from his friend, his boss, his firm, his client, his family. In fact, this is a man who takes shit for a living. Reason? Because he has bent over and accepted it. I will not be that person... and I also thought seriously on whether I will be the person who gives shit. No answer on that one yet.

Verdict: Go see it.

再談色,戒

Last time I mentioned excessive sex scenes in Lust, Caution, an anonymous comment linked to a HK commentator who discussed why the sex scenes were necessary. My response: yes, for some audiences. No, if those scenes switch the attention to sex - something we as humans do on a regular basis. People in Hong Kong make this into such a big deal. Sure, the three scenes have more love involved progressively. I think that's quite obvious. Some of the positions are quite provocative and have meaning of more compatibility between the two characters. I understand all that. What I also understand is that the focus is shifted to the superficial visual understanding of the story. Most of the audience come away talk about balls and boobs and sex. And that bothers me.

May the record show that Lust, Caution is not about sex! It is about forbidden love and how love does not trump all. Reality does. Situation does. Fear governs the male lead - the scene where he dives into the car in escape ranks as one of the funniest moments in such a serious movie. Love and loyalty governs the female lead - her constant struggle between the sides is painful to fathom. Patriotism governs another male lead - he is so blinded by the grandeur of nationalism that he misses the love that is in front of his eyes (which could have ironically saved everybody).

Yet when push comes to shove, reality takes over. People die because of love. People survive because of reality. And that's what Ang Lee is trying to tell us.

Fortune Telling

Funny how I've been in Hong Kong for years and never visited the legendary 黄大仙 (Wong Dai Sin - literally the Great God with a last name Wong... why am I explaining this!?) temple. The temple attracts many to go and make peace with the gods after their regular work day… and of course learn their futures from the nearby fortune telling stalls.

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect. I've always associated Wong Dai Sin with lower class Hong Kong. As a child, I learned that the temple is chaotic and there's a lot of smoke from all the praying. I knew there was an MTR station to it, but I didn't know exactly which line it was on or how far it is (I got crap from FK and DT when I thought it was in the New Territories � it's actually in Kowloon).

Anyway, I've never thought of the Taoist temple as a tourist attraction. Since one of my aspirations while in Hong Kong is to follow the guide books and experience Hong Kong as a tourist, a visit would be quite novel.

So last weekend, PNGF, who's over here for 10 days, and I went together disguised as tourists. There's something unsettling when you walk out of an ultra modern subway system and an old temple sits right next to it… together with a bustling mall (some stores selling incense, no less).

Colorful entrance to the temple

The temple itself is very colourful (pardon the English � the Brits have it right). There are a few of them littered around the premise and each one of them represents different gods. The Confucius one is for education, for example. There's also a deceivingly peaceful pond and garden tucked behind the temples � don't miss it because it's very rare in Hong Kong to be able to enjoy a peaceful moment within the city. The main temple is where all the action is �people offering fruits/food/whole pig (cooked) to the gods, incense burning everywhere, people on all fours praying, people just praying, children running around as grandparents try to make them pray. Quite a scene.

The main temple and all the praying patrons

However, the real deal in Wong Tai Sin that attracts all the tourists (I'm guessing this is a relatively new thing for HK tourist…?) is the fortune telling. Here's how it (the simple version) works:

1. Get a bamboo container that has many bamboo sticks inside � if you are facing the main temple, the booth is on your left
2. (You can also get the instructions there if you are confused as to what to do)
3. Kneel on your knees facing the temple � anywhere will do
   Ask the gods a question, any question (e.g. what does my career in the next 2.5 weeks/months/years look like? Should I move to a new apartment? Is my partner having an affair? Is surgery going to cure my friend's cancer?)
   Shake the bamboo container facing up (if in doubt, observe others)…
4. …until ONE bamboo stick falls out
5. There should be a number (1 to 99 or something) on the stick; write down the question and the corresponding number
6. repeat the question, shake, write routine until all your questions have been asked
7. Take all your questions and numbers and head to the fortune teller!
8. They charge HKD30 per question… and they will upsell you with more fortune telling stuff

Back to our fortune telling adventure. 很邪 (very supernatural/superstitious):

I shook mine good while concentrating on my question… and the stick with the #38 fell out.

PNGF shook hers and it took a while; many bamboo sticks stood out and finally one came out: it was #38 also!

Guess who pitched the Red Sox into the ALDS that day? #38 Curt Shilling! This is all making sense!

Back in reality, we were wandering to the fortune telling stalls and we picked one that indicated that he spoke English. I hide my Cantonese and asked for a fortune telling session, and he led us to another lady.

She sat us down and picked out a piece of paper that corresponded with #38 (that's right, PNGF and I both got the same paper), which is a medium lucky number. On the paper was a poem about a famous idealist poet 陶渊明 who quit his job and went to live on a farm because he didn't want to compromise his morals in politics.

Basically, this is how the fortune telling works: the lady answers your question based on the story on the paper. In our case, since the story is about someone who won't compromise and took the unemployment route instead, then:

If you asked about love, then don't argue or else things won't go right
If you asked about health, don't do the surgery
If you asked about career, compromise a little bit
If you asked about moving homes, don't force stuff in the new place
Etc
Etc

Though I won't tell you what my question is, with #38 and Mr. "I'll quit if it's too much reality � and I'll be quite well off without reality," you can imagine my fortunes aren't exactly what I wanted to hear. I need challenge, I need change.

Hong Kong, a mix of modern and traditional, east and west

Good Question, Shmoo

Reporting from Hong Kong:

It is now 12:32am and I've just decided, based on Shmoo's comments, that I will not not blog (always wanted to use a double negative). I've also decided that I need to leave work now and not post blogs via emails when I can do so back home in a few minutes.

Blogging at work

Not that I'm supposed to do this... (hey, you know me - I love controversies!)

Recently, we (as a firm) have been granted access to Gmail and other internet email sites. However, I still don't have access to blogger (the working site for blogspot) at work. Hence I have resorted to using the email to send a blog post in. The downside? Can't do pictures. Not that I have much anyway. Herein lies one of the biggest downsides of being home: you don't tend to carry a bulky camera around a town you call home... yet I digress.

Work's been busy. So blogging will end (today).

Restaurant story

It's been a while since I've had an "all went wrong went wrong" story... so I'm not about to start. But this encounter at a Japanese restaurant is pretty funny.

BL and I met for lunch somewhere in Causeway Bay. The Japanese restaurant isn't well known for sushi so we ordered some cooked dishes. Among them was a sizzling plate - you know, the ones where you put the meat on a piece of metal that's either heated or on top of some heating device - with beef tongue.

Turns out the dish was a hot metal piece on top of a gas stove. The dish arrived with an array of sauces. The waiter came over immediately to warn us that the sauce is not to be put on the sizzling plate because it causes a lot of smoke and sometimes customers drip the oil on the gas stove and all hell breaks loose. Okay, we got it. No sauce on plate. He repeated the instructions once more.

The problem was obvious from the on set. With no oil on the cooking device, the meat was going to stick onto the plate. And it did... and our chopsticks couldn't tear one piece of beef tongue from the plate because the sizzling metal wasn't fixed and efforts to turn the beef kept bringing the stupid plate as well. So... what to do? I got a piece of napkin to wrap it around the handle of the metal and hoped to turn the meat before the heat got to my finger.

Naturally, the napkin dipped a bit too much and caught fire from the stove. Unfazed, I tried to blow it out... which of course didn't work cus I'm adding oxygen to the fire. Hmm... the fire is burning through the napkin and is getting hot on my finger.

Remember the sauce that came with the dish? Readily available, this liquid seemed like the perfect cure to the fire in front. And BAM! The flame went up a few feet. That quickly got the attention of the waiter and one of them came rushing in with an extinguisher and spray that shit all over our food as BL and I dove for cover.

Or at least that's what would have happened if this were a Mr. Bean movie (tons of those floating around HK for some odd reason). I placed the burning napkin on the table and extinguished the fire using the bottom of my glass, which was filled with water. I didn't want to use the water cus it might splash back on me. haha.

Sorry, I wish it were more dramatic too! Also as important is the speed at which the waiter rushed over to help. This dish has clearly presented problems before...

Tech Support

The survey sent out from tech support was for a survey to rate their services. One question caught my eye though:

"How is your hardware?"

It's good, thank you very much, it's good.

Lust, Caution

Perhaps anecdotal, but this Freakenomic find is fun to read.

For a lighter read, this coverage on Isiah Thomas' sexual harassment trial is fun too.

Red Sox are heading into the playoffs with the best record in baseball. Of course this doesn't mean anything. But something special is brewing; I'm not even talking about Josh Beckett and David Ortiz and such. It's the rookies. We have a key starter (Dice-K), reliever (Okajima), second baseman (Pedroria), and a key sub (Ellsbury) who are all in their first year in the MLB. Amazing.

In other news, I watched Lust, Caution by Ang Lee.

Like Brokeback Mountain, Lee has kept many unnecessary scenes in the movie. More importantly, like Brokeback Mountain, Lust, Caution is an excellent movie that is Oscar worthy (and just won the award at Venice). The movie is an adaptation of a short story that is a mere 30 minute read. Hence it is quite amazing that Lee has managed to translate a simple (yet intense) 30 minute story into a 2.5 hour movie. Truth be told, the movie could have been 2 hours by cutting 30 minutes of sex scenes.

I won't dwell on the details of the movie. Rather, the movie has once again ranked reality over love - ala Brokeback Mountain. There's marriage love, casual love, sibling love, sex love, patriotism, loyalty, war, separation, reunion, trust, suspicious, fear, ignorance... all these feelings are present in the movie and are a constant struggle within and between each other.

And then there is reality, the mother of all emotions. Perhaps we as audience (I know I speak more for the US audience) are accustomed to the happy endings. It is not easy to comprehend that love did not conquer all. Hong Kong being Hong Kong, the major topic of discussion are the balls - yup, balls, told you there are some unnecessary scenes - of the famous HK star and that diamonds are what's wrong with the world. WAKE UP!

It is reality that governs life. It is situations that governs life. And in Lust, Caution, you will see what happens to those who value love more. Insensitive and cruel, perhaps. But nonetheless true.

On the follies of email...

Once upon a time, email was the cure to homesickness.

12 years ago, I arrived in Kent, CT to attend boarding school. I remember having to (gasp!) write letters to my friends and families in Hong Kong. I also remember the joy of receiving mail (better yet, package!) from Hong Kong, providing all the spiritual support (i.e. Asian food and comics) I needed as a teeager alone in the US - okay, it wasn't that traumatic... but the packages were still great!

When Hotmail was introduced, it was like a gift from god.

• nobody needs to read my awful hand writing
• speed
• copy and paste
• backspace
• ctrl+A, del (trust me, this might have saved my life multiple times)
• cc
• bcc (very dangerous)
• archives (also very dangerous)
• ctrl+f, replace (college, job, and MBA applications!)
  

All that good stuff simplified communications. It made me feel closer to home and closer to friends. While it didn't replace phone calls (especially to gfs and such) immediately, emails eventually took over when everybody started either a hotmail or yahoo account. It was a great communication tool as I was kept up to date on what was going on in Hong Kong.

The prevelance of email literally flooded the inboxes of everybody because of ease of use. Sure, I can connect with my best friends around the world; but look, I can also connect with all these other people via a few keyboard strokes and a click of the mouse button (I still remember sending one letter back to my classmates in Hong Kong which had a sheet of paper that addressed everybody - 36 of them, I think - in class). Which of course was also done by many people "communicating" with me. People are actually turned OFF by receiving random emails from people they just met.

So the next development was a natural one. Senders consolidated their emails into facebook, friendster, blogs, etc and posted on those. Receivers leave their inboxes flooded (yours truly clears his all the time, drawing awe from many people) and check only those that are important. Result? Less emails!

Instead of emails, you communicate by putting a status on your IM... "need furniture" is mine right now, signaling I just moved in to everybody. A blog entry (oh the irony) is used to communicate. Oh wait, but there's more! Enter Google Reader and Email Reminders (banks, photo albums, friend's websites, and so on). These little gadgets tell you when something is updated!

Thumbs up: no need to go to friends page anymore; everything is fed
Thumbs down: no need to go to friends page anymore
Thumbs waaaaaay down: no more emailing
Thumbs waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay down: no more communication

And that, my friends, is the follie of emails.

Fitting in...

First of all, some pictures from my new (temporary) home. It's actually quite ridiculous that I managed to live in a BIGGER place in Hong Kong than in Chicago. It's not like Columbus Plaza was small either. The convertible was more than enough for myself. And now I've actually got a bigger place. Amazing.

Anyway, this is probably a temporary situation only. I'll enjoy it while it lasts.

Living room and kitchen

Bedroom (there's another that looks like this one)

Toilet

Fitting back into Hong Kong society is not easy.

• I'm so used to driving myself to anywhere to do anything
• Walking three to four blocks to buy groceries is still a challenge
• Buying everything in small portions is a challenge too... in fact, the most rolls of toilet paper you can buy is 6... which may be a problem for some people
• Public transportation: there are 5 to 7 buses that get me from my home to my office. The problem? They are spread across 4 bus stops on the same street and I basically have to be in the middle, anticipate the bus, and then run to the appropriate station.
• Subways (MTR) are the greatest in the world
  
• Being frowned upon when you are courteous; city thing, perhaps?
• Saying thank you and receiving a blank stare
• Not saying thank you but receiving the best service
• Great attitude to meeting my needs
• 10% mandatory tip
• $0 left for the waiter after th 10% tip
  
• Good food
• Good food at dirt cheap prices
• Good food in dingy restaurants
• Manpower is cheap
• Efficient service
  

I guess I could go on forever... so here's a notice that I found when I moved into my apartment. The building is old.

2 days without flush water - luckily not my apartment

Luckily, this is Hong Kong so everybody in unit H probably just bent over and said "oh well." This would never fly in the US.

Working life

Here's a chart of my first three weeks of work. The chart is called a mekko, from the famous Marimekko (wiki!), which I saw in Finland. Basically, it boils down to the area of each square representing a share of the total (in this case, time). Always have a tag line that makes a point. So you see: I've spent the most time on case work, though I've spent some time traveling around already.

Some other stats in my 3 weeks:

• # of flights: 6
• # of cab rides: can't count
• # of nights past midnight: 2
• # of nights past 8pm: 2
• # of nights in Hong Kong: 5
• # of nights in hotel: 16
  
• # of meals with colleagues: too many
• # of meals with friends: 2
  
• # of meals with family: 2

Based on the above, you may come to the conclusion that I'd prefer something different. Well, not really. I like my job, my company, my manager, and my team very much. It's been two years since I did any serious job stuff (summer don't count!). It takes a little getting use to. I'm glad that discipline is slowly returning and that my work has some impact.

Speaking of work, here's my comment on my friend's blog about what the ultimate purpose of any job is:

Obviously, your job is to make your boss' job easier. And his job is to make HIS boss' (another boss (i.e., BOB, as my brother put nicely) or the ultimate boss - the customer) happy. This will be the same in all professions.

The major difference is how the company as a whole treats it. Does the company allow who likes whom to become the culture of the firm? Or is it based on meritocracy? i.e. if you are good, you will get the chance to shine even if your boss doesn't like you - you can't work for the same boss, but your talent could be used by another boss.

Another difference that you can make as a person is to not join companies and careers that you cannot agree with. I can personally attest that I have chosen my career that way. If it is a world that my principles don't agree with, I will not go there. Unless I expect to make a difference and change it - this of course being close to impossible due to all the inertia that people exhibit once they are stuck in certain situations.

清高? Maybe. Then again I need to make my boss - me - happy!

Retreat to Thailand

Well, in response to BSLW's comment about going to Detroit, I want to note that on the way from Bangkok to Pataya, there was a huge sign post on the side of the highway that read:

"DETROIT OF THE EAST"

And yes, I'm still trying to figure out:

• what does the sign want to convey?
• why is it in Thailand
• and why the hell is Detroit a reference point for any location!?

BSLW, TL asked me to ask you if you got a oil massage...

Here are some pictures:

Team building activity - it was torture

Parasailing on our day off

Next up will be some pics from my new pad (literally, a pad right now) and a recap of my first three weeks at B. Stay tuned.

Getting Old or Something Else?

I am feeling very tired right now... after taking the bus from the Pattaya resort to the Bangkok airport and then the plane back to Hong Kong (the same day a plane crashed at Phuket... scary). The travel day has drained me and my original plans to do some work at home have been delayed. Or procrastinated, depending on your point of view.

I used to be very good at traveling. Why the sudden exhaust now...?

Could it be age...?

Or could it be that I've taken a two year vacation at the GSB plus a summer of ridiculous debt-financed travels?

For my sake, I hope it is the latter.

911

Honestly, I can't think of anything to write about the sixth year since 911. I've been staring at a blank screen for 30 minutes.

So instead, I give you my travel log from Barcelona!

The real world started a week ago and I'm still around to tell you about it. That's cus it's training and then retreat. The real REAL world starts next Monday as I am already staffed on a case in Hong Kong. In fact, I have a feeling that tonight will be some work as well since I have an early flight to catch tomorrow and I'm due in the office in the afternoon per some request.

I actually enjoy having some discipline back into my life. The MBA and the summer has really spoiled me... my eye sight even got significantly better (doctor said it's cus I rested them for several months).

To the real real world.

Movie reviews finally

Before I discuss some of the movies I watched over the summer which I now barely remember, just a little update on my first week of the job. Well, I should get fired since I forgot to bring my credit card to Shanghai. So when I check out of the JC Mandarin after an eight night stay, I will either have a colleague do the credit card check out for me or grab wads of cash (smallest denomination in China is 100 yuan and 8 yuan = 1 dollar) to pay. LOL.

So, I skipped the entire summer movie season (in the US, anyway) and missed:

• Transformers, Rush Hour 3, Harry Potter, and Halloween (just kidding), among others...
  

Though I did see (in order of its "recommendability"):

• Crazy Rock (瘋狂的石頭) - It's an excellent movie. A Chinese comedy about a heist gone wrong as the professional battles amateurs while the owner of a rare piece of jewel, and the son of the owner have their own ideas, the security chief, and the second in command of the security all have different ideas. It actually almost like a dark comedy making fun of everything that is common in Chinese (mainland, anyway) society. The acting was superb and the way the director cut through certain scenes using an interlinking dialog was refreshing.
  
• Bourne Ultimatum - Jason Bourne kicks ass. And he will certainly kick Jack Bauer's ass too. I'm not sure why Desi thought it would be a competition at all. Anyway, the third installment of the Bourne trilogy was surprisingly good. The camera shaking is a little excessive if you ask me; otherwise, the realism of many scenes (the Waterloo assassination scene was just beatifully filmed, using the entire station - plants, ticket machines, tracks, hallways, ceiling, crowds, etc, nothing spared) took the movie to the audience. And of course watching the good guy kick some serious ass is always fun, although Bourne's utter dominance of the government is sometimes ridiculous. For example, why would you empty your office to hunt for a fugitive when you know he is within 1000 yards of your office? WHY!?
  
• The Simpsons - it was entertaining and funny. I prefer to see it on TV though.
• Tokyo Drift - in my defense, I saw this on the plane because the next movie I'm going to discuss was so bad that I only endured 10 minutes of it. Tokyo Drift fared a bit better as I lasted 30 minutes. It's funny to watch some Japanese guy teach an American guy how to drift as the American learns a lesson in life - Karate Kid, anyone?
  
• Some HK movie about a girl in police academy - this was so freaking dumb that I don't even know the English name of the movie. I was ready to kill the passenger next to me just because the movie was so bad. The actress was extremely annoying with her voice - for some reason, speaking in a childish way has caught on with Hong Kong girls. Don't ask.

Wow, I miss doing movie reviews. And food reviews. I can't even list the amount of good food I've had since returning to Hong Kong... there's just so much of it. Yesterday I had real Sichuan (四川) food in Shanghai (the Japanese from the day before, not so good). My god it was spicy. Other food favorites I've had are soup dumplings (小籠包), soy milk (豆奶), rice cake with abalone (鮑魚炒年糕), red bean paste (紅豆沙), congee (粥) at my favorite restaurant in HK (for sentimental reasons, anyway), etc etc. Yay!

Final Verdict on Business School

Working is great - the pay check helps; more importantly, discipline is reintroduced and there's actual productivity. Then again, this is only my second day and I don't know any better.

I'm starting to get the "so, was the MBA woth it?" (some in a sarcastic way...) question. The answer is an emphatic yes.

Intellectual: It wasn't just the raw knowledge that came with star stud professors; it was the type of thinking that the professors want you to engage in. Quantify everything. Challenge every assertion. Prove everything you say. You become trained to be "that guy" in the boardroom who is the Devil's Advocate.

Social: Somehow, the GSB gets the reputation for being a quant school for geeks. I tend to think that the free market approach to education (i.e. take any course, bid for course, open evaluations, open historic bids, no attendance, options for finals, etc) means that geeks can certainly come to the GSB, but so can the others. And there are plenty of great friends that I will take away for a life time.

Professional: The career service is top notch and will bend over for you. I trust that the friendships I've built will become networks.

Nonetheless, the MBA is not for everyone. I was very lucky in that I achieved exactly what I set out to do prior to business school - work in strategy in Asia. Plenty of people get lost and plenty of people had trouble getting to the finish line. Part of it is the free market approach. If you don't know what you want, you try a little bit of everything and (oh boy) fail to retain a competitive advantage.

So... in simpler words, in order to enjoy a successful (success as defined by the above terms) MBA life, you should:

• Know what you want. This is the MOST important thing to do before you step into school. If you don't, have a reasonable set of targets. Else, you are dashing around like a mad chicken. I have seen many people who have the brains to do anything they want, but ultimately don't know what they want to do. They are lost. They do whatever the others do or others tell them to do. They don't think about what they themselves want to do. Two years past, they have become smarter and made great friends, but still on square one as far as career change or advancement goes. You do not want to be that person.
• Be active. Sometimes, you are lost. It happens. You thought you wanted consulting but the traveling seems unreasonable. You thought you wanted marketing but you haven't got the passion for any particular industry or product. You thought you wanted private equity but the industry is ignoring you. Be active. Talk to many many many people - current students, alums, career services, professors. Most people are eager to help and their combined networks are much bigger than yours.
  
• Be social. Although some at the GSB (we wouldn't know them, I presume) disagree, I think the MBA is valued by the friendships and networks you build. You don't have to be class president. But you should pursue student activities in either a leadership role or just as a member. I am of course biased since I was blessed to lead the Chicago Asia Pacific group. Even if you are not leading, it's not a big deal. There are many ways to contribute. As for the social social scene, I'd say participation is important. Afterall, friendships are built over time.
  

And that, my friends, is my last post on the GSB! Off to the real world (first two days were okay)!

The Opposite of At Cause

The opposite... is bitching. A lot of bitching.

• "my manager sucks..."
• "the hours suck..."
  
• "Oh, this process sucks..."
• "Too many meetings..."
• "Deadlines are unreasonable..."
• "Workload is unbearable..."

To be at cause is to pro-actively seek a solution that would solve your complain. Even if solutions aren't coming to you, you still have the same solve-it attitude - stop the bitching and get someone to help you out.

And that's the number one thing my BOB (My brother invented this term) wants me to do at my new job. Be at cause.

The Best, the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

You know, it's only fair that I acknowledge all the stuff from my travels... before I return to the real world tomorrow (Monday). Woo hoo. The real world! I'm so excited! For the real check!

Cities
Best: St. Petersburg - I expected danger and chaos; I got elegance and bright nights; it's all about expectations
Good: Amsterdam - besides the red light district and the coffeeshops, there are also beautiful canals on the trip. Get it? Good trip.
Bad: Ibiza - I'm no longer capable of partying till 8am
Ugly: Copenhagen - For $10, we thought she'd bring a pitcher of beer. We got a half glass.

Food
Best: Loire Valley - home made food is always better; French hospitality cannot be beat
Good: France - Set menus make the meals easy and cheap to order
Bad: Copenhagen - See above. The same case for food.
Ugly: Barcelona - 80% of the restaurants we wanted to go to were closed or full or rude

Ice cream
Best: Paris - I'm going with Amorino instead of Berthillon; in ice cream, size matters
Good: Maxibon - if you don't know Maxibon (Wiki this!), you need to
Bad: Ice cream at Hungarian bath - it melted so bad that I pulled the stick out and had to use the stick to scoop the ice cream out of the wrapping
Ugly: What? Ice cream cannot be ugly

Hostel
Best: Homemade in Budapest - nice and quiet place for, uh, more mature travelers
Good: Wombat in Munich - nice and noisy place for, uh, more active travelers
Bad: Absalon in Copenhagen - we're cheap, what can I say
Ugly: St. Petersburg - BaBITCHka (see below) was at war with the hostel

People
Best: Peeter - not only was Peeter 7 feet tall with a deep voice, he also dances and says "it's big" when I asked him about the size of the soup
Good: Casper - the friendly ghost is more like the drunk ghost. He greeted us at Friendly Fun Frank (hostel in Riga) by telling us he's been drinking 208 days straight
Bad: French hotel - we though we were getting complimentary breakfast cus the reception told us so. Not quite, says the new receptionist "they made a mistake." Well then, here's your seven euros.
Ugly: Babitchka - she was at war with the hostel and we were collateral damage. She didn't let us into the building, making two of us sleep at another hostel and two of us barely got into the building. Plus all the yelling and screaming at us when we pass by her.

Museums
Best: Hermitage - it's not exactly structured like a museum, but the collection was fantastic and the self guided tour was pretty good as well
Good: d'Orsay, Louvre - I can't really think of a reason why they aren't as good as the Hermitage... besides a somewhat snobbish attitude that tells you "you should see this"
Bad: Russian Political museum - well, not that I was expecting more, but the propaganda was anti-Stalin (deservedly so, perhaps) and gave the rest of the museum less credibility, which is a shame
Ugly: Anne Frank - lines were at least 2 hours long. I couldn't even get in.

Cathedrals
Best: Even though Sagrada Familia's elevators didn't work (they did, but the wait was too long and the stairs weren't in operation), it still ranked as the best I've visited. It's just a fascinating piece of work by God's Architect Gaudi, who didn't use much drawings in making his buildings
Good: Russian Orthodox Church in Helsinki - we took a long long nap there, soaking in the views from the city of Helsinki
Bad: Notre Dame - we tried three times to get to the top to no avail. Museum pass didn't work there. And the inside had so many people that I felt sorry for the real worshipers.
Ugly: All the others - honestly, I'm sick of visiting cathedrals. It's really not that bad since you can choose to be there for only 2 minutes.

Castles
Best: Neuschwanstein - skip the tour of the castle. The view of it from Mary's Bridge, however, is a must-see. It inspired Disney's main castle.
Good: Trakai Castle in Vilnius - it's a bit touristy, but the nearby lakes make the castle area a very relaxing and fun.
Bad: Suomenlinna in Helsinki - this castle / fortress was built by the Swedes against the Russians. It is now integrated into the vegetation and has very little to see, unless you count the extremely expensive coffee shops on the island.
Ugly: Hohensalzberg in Salzberg. We didn't even go in because of the price. And the hike was a bitch. The view from the top is quite nice though.

Fountains
Best: Peterhof in St Petersburg - the Summer Palace for Peter the Great had tons of fountains that were all designed differently. My favorite was the rotating one, although most people fall in love with the Grand Cascade.
Good: Residenz fountain was very nice though not grand
Bad: Versailles - well, they weren't turned on...
Ugly: Concorde - just didn't think the fountain matched the place

Airline
Best: FlyNiki - there are some sure things in life; when a fly (the insect) speaks about safety onboard, you listen. FlyNiki.
Good: Oasis - low cost international traveling, why didn't anyone think of that before!?
Bad: ClickAir - as EasyJet's two counters handled their entire flight, one counter at ClickAir (the one I am lining up at) checks in three passengers
Ugly: British Airways - you are ugly if you loose every Ibiza-London-Amsterdam luggage

Transportation
Best: The Scandinavian airports - clean and efficient, they even had automated belts to deliver the plastic containers where you put your laptop and personal belongings back to the head of the line
Good: Biking tours around Europe - most cities are flat and bikes allow the tours to go further away and save walking time
Bad: Rental bikes did not work in Copenhagen or Helsinki; people kept stealing them for their own use
Ugly: Budapest has the oldest metro in continental Europe. It probably still is. The validation machines don't work and you need to validate when you switch metro lines. It's confusing as hell and they aren't shy about fining tourists for not validating their tickets

Guidebooks
Best: Eyewitness - with illustrative pictures and a bit of history, EW gives the traveler plenty of information to choose from
Good: Lonely Planet, Rick Steves - it depends on what you want. LP does a good job for the DIY travelers, while RS gives you a lot of suggestions. Beware of RS's hand drawn maps though.
Bad: Let's Go - they put thumbs up on several tourist traps... though the pointers on how to get there cheap was good
Ugly: Let's Go - half the restaurants aren't where they are

Finally, Yellow Food

So far:

Shanghai food at 小南國 was decent. It didn't live up to the hype though. The 黃花魚 was deep friend and the meat came off the bone real easy. Unfortunately, that was the only highlight. But hey, I got my Chinese food fix. That was important.

Regular dim sum. Just want to say that I had the best dim sum all year.

Spicy Crab... 橋底辣蟹 at 喜記. I went there with RM because she was in town for business. She likes crabs. It was expensive ($50 per!) but extremely yummy. The crabs were stir-fried with a secret spicy sauce that definitely consisted of garlic, chinese soy sauce (not just regular soy sauce), some sort of pepper, and other stuff. The spicy calamari was also very good - just enough spicy to keep eating it.

Lan Fong Yuen (蘭芳園) is a famous Hong Kong style tea restaurant. In my opinion, they make the best milk tea in Hong Kong, though some complain it is too sweet. They make ice with milk tea too, so when the ice melts, the flavor doesn't become diluted. I had a pork bun which is infinitely better than the burgers at In&Out. Okay, maybe not infinitely better. But still better. Their dessert French toast is also to die for, with lotus paste inside instead of butter or honey. And the best part: $4 for all of the above.

Long Wah (龍華) has the best BBQ pork rice (叉燒飯) in town. I asked for half fatty half lean meat - the fatty ones were of course better. But you have to have both to get a true taste of the dish. The place is a bit noisy... but at $3, you can't ask for more.

I also had cold sesame paste (芝麻糊) with hot sesame paste wrapped in dough (芝麻湯圓) at a dessert place. I forgot the name. But that was a good fix too, at $2. I should go back there, since the walnut paste smelled very good as well.

Yum yum. My only regret is that I haven't brought my camera out at all.

Do you know where you were conceived?

My first day in Hong Kong: passport, visa, new account, close old account, credit card, foreign exchange, phone, dim sum, comics, questions on computers, cables, eye glasses, foot massage, spicy fried crabs... love the efficiency (not of me, but of the institutions).

This is a true conversation in the US embassy.

Embassy: where were your children born?
Filipino lady: Hong Kong
Embassy: and where were they conceived?
*Filipino lady: I told you they were born in HK...
*Embassy: no... I'm asking you... where were they conceived?
Repeat * four to five times
Embassy: I mean... er... how to say... where did... er... you and your husband... er... you know... er... how to say... er...
FL: OH. Um. (In deep thought) Hong Kong too.
Embassy: Okay.

That was the humorous part. (By the way, this Ali G interview of Becks and Posh gets to the conception of their child) Anyway, now comes the offensive one. The conversation proceeded...

**Embassy: I need to see your husband's passport and the stamp that proves that he is in Hong Kong during that time. I also need to see your passport and the stamp that proves you are in Hong Kong during that time.

(If I may interject with my thoughts: the kids are 5 and 7 respectively. You are asking for someone to remember WHERE they were conceived?? And what if they were born pre-mature? And what if the passport has expired? And why isn't this lady exploding mad - are you doubting that these are not his children? I am! Yet I digress.)

FL: I didn't bring my passport. It wasn't required by the embassy rules.
Embassy: Oh. Wait. (goes to manager)
Manager: Ma'm. Repeat **.
FL: I already told you I don't have the passport.
Manager: Are those your children (pointing)?
FL: Yes (calmly - I would say fuck you).
M: Can you bring them over?
FL: Sure (makes hand signal).
M: Hello, what is your name?
Son: Adam.
M: Is this your sister?
Son: Yes.
M: Is this your mother?
Son: Yes.
M: Hello, what is your name?
Daughter: Rose.
M: Is this your brother?
Daughter: Yes.
M: Is this your mother?
Daughter: Yes.
M: Thank you. Ma'm... (conversation continues)

Let the record show that the above conversation did NOT achieve the intended results, which I presume to be 1. US citizen father is real father and 2. Filipino lady isn't getting other kids and converting them to US citizenship. Homeland Security has resorted to using a child's innocence to help them screen out terrorists.

Man, was I angry. Where were YOU conceived... that's what I would have said to the embassy staff.

The End is Here

I need to vent: a ride on the London Tube is FOUR POUNDS. That's how much I spent on public transportation in Budapest for A WEEK. FOUR POUNDS! I'm still in disbelief.

Back to the post. Today is the end of many things:

• My MBA... in a way, the summer is a continuation of the MBA
• My European odyssey (France updated, by the way...)
  
• My summer, which also included South America
  
• And... My 12 years in the US; wow, I can't believe I just said that
  

Perhaps it is fitting that the following conversation took place at the business class counter for Oasis, yet another low cost airline:

Backpacker: Hi, I'm checking in for the flight to Hong Kong?
Counter lady: Are you flying business class?
Backpacker: This is the line for business class, and I am lining up here... why are you asking me that? Just because I have a big pack on my back and a small pack in my front doesn't mean I can't fly business class, right? Your airline is dirt cheap even for business class. In fact, I want to ask you something... do you have flight attendants? What about food? Are they paying you enough to be courteous?

Okay... I just said "yes" and bit the tongue. Actually, Oasis is quite decent. Aside from the all-male flight attendant in business class (!!??), everything was acceptable.

Oasis at Gatwick

It's good to be back in Hong Kong... 33 degrees (98 for my American friends). And a Shanghai restaurant satisfied my 3 month crave for Chinese food.

Now I need to get my life back to normal.