What does an expensive new car mean to you?

I am sorry that you bought yourself a brand new car, you practically lose 1/3 of its value the moment you receive the key from the dealer.  You will be the slave of your brand new car for the next 1 year because you will be so worried wherever you park the car - it might get stolen or enjoy any food in your car - it might stink up the seats.  Not to mention the environment damage produced by the car factory and shipping.  You might argue that you are getting this for the sake of your family's safety hence the expensive car - I suppose there is no safe car if you drive it into the wall no one is safe in the car.  You might argue the expensive car is more fuel efficient - I suppose the carbon footprint of making a new car is enough to zero out all the benefit the efficient engine can give you in the first 5 years.

Please admit it that you buy a flashy new car and post how much you pay for it because you want to show that you are better off then anyone else who cannot afford the same car.  But it only means you are better off it doesn't mean you are a better person - buying a new car doesn't make any financial sense and create lots of damage to our fragile environments. 

Swim across Sun-Moon lake

This is the 3rd or 4th time I joined this event - swimming across the lake in the mountain at center of Taiwan.  The distance is 3.3km, not a great length, your sense of distance is distorted in open water.  It feels much shorter!

Jon and I were active swimmer - we stop hiking in the summer but go to the beach almost every weekend instead.  We normally do 1 or 1.5km in the pool or an hour swim in the sea.  The distance looks pretty far (when you are standing on one end looking over), but it was actually quite enjoyable.  The water is clean and cool - so different from the sea, the view is great the only problem is it is extremely crowded.  Imagine 30,000 people try to get into the water, it takes hours to queue.  Everyone is given the fluorescent orange swimming cap for safety reason, I guess the life guard can see you easily, so you see the swimming channel is filled with the bright orange dots from one end all the way to the other.

There are so many people and we have to wear the a buoy (another silly safety regulation only in Taiwan), the getting ahead swimming past all other fellow swimmers is just like playing rugby.  There is no way we get into the rhythm and swim fast, we had to constantly push and kick people away to move ahead.  At the end we got really fed up with this and decide not to get ahead anymore. Instead we stopped at every stop on the left to eat a piece of chocolate- there is a raft every 50 meters, serving food.  We were riding on the buoy, resting my chin and paddling forward slowly. 
The swim was uneventful - very easy and relaxing, it was the getting out of the mountain with 30,000 people is exhausting, we were trapped in the bus for 6 hours for a 3 hour journey, then 2 hour train back to Taipei and 1 hour to home.

After the long trip back home, both Jon and I felt that our chins are sore - like allergic reaction.  It took us a while to realize it was caused by our slow swimming at the end, we rub our chins against the buoys for too long.

How to make Bourgie Blossom

Our bougainvillea is growing bigger and bigger but she has given up producing any flowers.  The reason is that we have been taking care of her too well.  She needs to suffer to the edge of collapse, she would then feel the need to reproduce and blossom.  The internet article (google knows everything!) suggested to dry her for days then water, prune her branches or even bend them into circles (letting her grow tall is not desired), she will then feel the stress.

Building Site

The building site next to our apartment has been building for years - you see 5 or 6 people coming to work 8am sharp to do the work.  Including Saturday (the estate agent lied to us saying they don't work on Saturday).  The strange thing is in this super property bubble Hong Kong, this lot is in the prime location but has been in construction for years!?!?  We suspect the land owner might be using the loss over years due to delay in deliveries to write off the capital gain.

Partying Tokyo

Every one looked so normal and calm at the first party - soon deteriorated...  I remember I did the bee wiggle dance in the second bar, telling everyone where the pollen is. 

Spending the long long weekend in Tokyo to sort out some bank account issue and visiting friends.  It is quite nice to escape from the overly crowded Hong Kong for a short while - Tokyo is so clean, calm and relaxed. 

The taxi driver came to pick us up to Haneda airport - 4am in the morning, his white shirt is absolutely wrinkle-less and gloves were snow-white.  The taxi is spotless - Jon felt that we are being treated like the Royalties.