Encounter with the Law Enforcement

My bicycle in Amsterdam
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A couple months ago, in a train station, I was stopped by a policeman. Of course I had no idea what he is talking about, later my friend caught up with me and translated the policeman's request. "Um, miss, there are a lot of people in this station today, beware of pickpockets" Seeing me with no response, he turned to my friend and asked him if I am a foreigner. After the confirmation, he asked me "Do you have the foreigner registration card?" Of course, I have got it in my wallet. This was actually a bit disturbing to my friend, because the policeman just singled me out from hundreds of other passengers, asking for my I.D.. I don't particularly looked foreign but...

I came back to Tokyo and joined the Sunday rollerblading. As we came to our first stop near Tokyo station, I saw a couple of friends who I haven't met for almost half a year. Excited, we were screaming and pushing around a bit, then the security guard came to me and asked me to take off my rollerblades. I was like, um, "Is it just me? Why not others?" The guard showed a distasteful face and replied me in English "All". Fine, I duly took my blades off, and the guard disappeared (I guess he figured he cannot get the whole group to obey his order, better walked away before losing more face). Well, there were 30 other skaters around, he picked me to show his authority.

Trip to Brussel and Colonge (3)

This is what the hotel looks like from the main street, the adverb said "You cannot miss it", "Very easy to spot". I think I really want to check their brain's interior.


The very interesting church in Berlin. Berlin was heavily bombed during World War II, the church was re-built and some modern artist built this hall right next to the tower. Very futuristic, this was made in the 60s.


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We managed to find Zee Brudge, it is already 3am in the morning. However, our hotel is no where in sight. It is supposingly easy to see from the highway but we are just not seeing it. The address doesn't really help because it is labeled as "Transporation Zone" which is the big cargo loading area, lots of storage warehouse around. Never mentioned the weeds as tall as a human beings. This place looks like one of the final scenes where the good cop is going to confront the gangsters in the movies. We automatically thought we were looking in the wrong place, and drove away.

We drove around the town, Zee Brudge. Of course, nothign is open and we don't know where to ask for help. Desparate, tired and really need to pee, we drove back to Brudge, at least it is a bigger town, we might be able to get some help or use the internet. As we came back to town, my weak nerves broke. I said to Cathy I have no energy to keep searching, let's check in to the regular hotel, pay the 100 euro and get some rest, it is 4am in the morning... Cathy gave up as well, we walked into the iBIS to check in. Almost embarrassingly, we explained to the front desk our bad luck in reaching to our reserved hotel and pleaded if we can use the bath room.

The front desk personnel is much helpful. He explained we were not too far away from our hotel. He helped us printing out the map, carefully explained the directions (too much details, both of us were getting a bit annoyed). We thanked him, almost want to kiss him. We drove to Zee Brudge the 5th time that night, and checked into our hotel. The hotel is really in the transporation zone, right behind the huge storage house, the sign was buried in the unruly vegetation. I am wondering how other people can find this....

Trip to Brussel and Colonge (2)

We love our small Daihatsu...
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We quickly decided to leave Brussel, the ring road is too confusing, we were heading west and supposing to make the connection to a highway heading toward Brudge, somehow after a slight curve we are heading south. We still cannot figure out how we missed the intersection until today.

We drove north, trying to get to Antwarpen, at least we are leaving the mysterious Brussel ring road. Both of us were already tired, exhausted, thirsty and could very well use the bathroom. It is close to 2 pm in the morning, to our dismay, there seemed no gas station open past midnight, no convenient store (I miss Japan...), no even 24 hour running dinner on the road side (later I found out that Belgium is the most communist country in the western Europe, the unions are very powerful, the working/opening hours are strictly controlled).

I am starting to think for the worse, if we don't get to our hotel on time, if we don't have the room because of the late check in, if... We might have to spend the night in the car. I thought that we should stop such that I can take a piss on the road side. I still cannot quite work out what to do with the water situation (I am really thirsty, damn, why can you be thirsty and needing to pee at the same time, so ironic).

We finally managed to get to Brudge without a map, but the hotel we made reservation is actually in Zee Brudge, which is 14 km away from Brudge. Brudge is another nightmarish place to drive, because there is again a ring road. The medieval city is surrounded by the river and ring road, and from any angle, any direction, they look ALL THE SAME.

Trip to Brussel and Colonge (1)

I was freezing to death in Berlin. The weather varies, rain came suddenly from time to time, leaving us no time to figure out what to do and how to keep warm. All my gears were all too thin...
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Without too much preparation, Cathy and I set off to Belgium, thinking we might figure out the way to Brussel. Getting a car to drive is very interesting feeling, I mean, at least I haven't been sitting in a private car for long time (VIVA public transportation!, Viva bicycle!). The drive was pleasant, weather was nice, and the road signs are pretty clear. We had not problem getting to Brussel at all, we thought.

However, we under-estimated the difficulty of getting into Brussel city center. Without a city map, we drove around and around, trying to find the direction to zentrum (centre/center/centrum). We finally found the central square. After parking the car, getting into the streets filled with mussels and frites restauarants, it had already turned 9pm. We picked a restaurant, ate the overcooked mussles and very expensive wine (I suspect they'd rather overcook the shellfish to make dead all gems and bacteria. Taste? Who cares, most tourists only come to Brussel once in their life time). However, the busy areas near the Cathedral and square are pretty nice to look at. Let's not worry too much about the food, we will find our hotel tonight, maybe I will buy some fruits and snacks along the way.

After the meal, we are ready to hit the road, 11pm that was. We had a couple of maps, all not very detailed. We need to figure out how to get to Brudge in 2 hours. However, we were first trapped in the city, although we duly followed the sign to ring road, we spent almost 45 minutes to get to the motorway. We thought that's the end of our nightmare, oh well, the show just started. First of all, we were driving to the wrong direction heading toward Paris (many thanks to me, I mis-read the map). When turning back to north, we were trapped in the most terrible traffic jam I have ever experienced in years. Our car moves like snail for almost 1 hour, it is already 1am in the morning and we were still at Brussel ring road!

Liberty Project (3)

The Amsterdam series just gets longer and longer, ha ha ha. I went on the walking tour this Saturday, just to get myself a bit of entertainment (I ponder if I get on these kind of trips frequent enough, I might be able to do a tour myself in no time).

I have been wondering why Dutch are very easy going with everything. It was guessed perhas they have been struggling with the flooding since 13th century, flood took away lives, destroyed homes, regardless your religion, belive, ethinic origin. Every one had to fight together. It is pointless to be angry if your home/land/love ones can go anytime. It is actually very interesting point. Suppose you and your political rival have a common enemy, you tend to bond with whatever allies to fend off the evil spirit (this can very well be used in my project, ha ha ha).

The other interesting thing to note is that Dutch was invaded by Neopolian force, and a french king was installed. He decided everyone should have a last name (this is very very interesting, no last name, no past and no baggage, life was created without bearing responbisibility to glorify the family). Thus, Dutch came up with last names from where they live, what they do, just like Japanese in Meiji restoration. It is quite amusing to learn some of the Dutch last name are "Dead Cow" or "Smelly alley" if translated into English.

Another interesting piece of information is that the oldest prostitute in redlight district ages 75, she is still working.

Impulsive Purchase

I was sitting at home at Friday evening, getting away from the office politics and trying get the evil thoughts out of my head (how to make dead of my team members by making them look very bad), my favorite law and order is showing. Having a glass of wine, cooked my fried pork with broccoli, life is really not too bad.

While I was sitting down comfortably after the simple meal, um, time to clean up with dental floss. As I was trying very hard to break into teeth, the floss snapped and, to my great horror, I had no long enough floss left. Shit, shit, shit. I had to dress up, put on my running shoes, and run to Albert Heijn before it closes. I ran down the vertical stairs (in Nederland, the property is taxed by the width of the building facing the street, thus, most of the canal properties have the nearly vertical stair well to save space/money). I quickly unlocked my bike, cycled as fast as I can rushing to the store, hoping to be able to come back in time to catch the final verdict of the episode of Law and Order. The Albert Heijn nearby didn't have floss, I quickly calculated my option, ran out of the store, biked to the other bigger AH near by Dam square.

I succeeded in getting myself into the store seconds before it shut down for the day, ran quickly pass the veggie section, cannot help but notice the fresh white asparagus (they are in season). Dutch illiterate as I am, I thought it is on sale for only 99c euro. Without thinking twice, I picked it up and ran to the personal hygiene section. I quickly picked up the floss looking little white box, cannot be bother to read the text (I won't understand it anyways), as I waited in the check out register, picking up the famouse Dutch waffle cake. Never mention that I managed to pick up a carten of milk (I normally don't drink it, but I have some cereal to finish...) and a pair of plastic gloves (they are my best friend in life).

I was really surprised the total came to almost 10 euro, it turned out that the innocent looking white asparagus costs me almost 5 euro. Feeling really bad, I rode home only to the beginning of another show I don't like very much. I will never be able to find out who won the case in Law and Order. Fine, at least I can floss my teeth and have a good night sleep. How wrong I am, the white dental floss looking box actually contains wooden toothpicks.

I was biking around the city and running between 2 supermarkets like a maniac and had achieved nothing I had planned for and spent 10 euros...

Cycling

I really enjoy biking in Amsterdam. The city is flat, no hills thus no need to have geared bicycle. Everyone is biking with the grandpa style heavy touring bike, you rarely see the fully dressed cyclists with helmets on street. Girls bike with their heels, so do I. Only a couple of embarassing situations happened so far, my heels was trapped in the padel and, panicking, lifting my foot resulting in lossing my shoe in the street. I had to stop a few meters after, pushing my bike backward to pick it up.

I listen to my pimsleur's Japanese lessons while taking my 45 minute biking tour to and fro work, it is great because I can recite whatever the instructor's talking, no one spare a look, they all think I am on the phone, I guess.

The very good thing in Amsterdam is that people are not paranoid about things. You see canals all over the city without railing. It is really unthinkable in other places, adults refuse to admit that kids are intellegent enough not to jump into the water just for fun. You can see a lot of parents riding bycicle carrying small kids in the rolley in front, sometimes one in the baby seat in front and the other one in the back. This is so great. I cannot think of a better way to transport small children for all parents.

The problem with biking in Amsterdam is that you are risking of lossing your bike to thefts. I duly locked my bike with 2 locks, the bike rental shop owner assured me that the lock provided is the best in town. In fact, it can be more expensive than the bike itself.

Liberty Project (2)

Ah ha, we are finally in the interesting bits of the business. The girls normally negotiate prices with the patrons. They start counting the time the moment you put the bills on their hands, 15 minutes (it is for your benefit to find the girl with less fabric covering her body). Verbal contract is everything, you two would have to agree on the position (changing position costs you more), what she will be wearing, and, of course, doing what.

The sad thing is that Amsterdam city is trying to close down the window prostitution in 2 years' time. It is considered a lowest of prostitution, normally brings in more crime. Um, I guess it is just going to turn underground and perhaps it is going to put the girls into more unfavourable situation.

As I am writing, I think my neighbor is having a super grass party...

Liberty Project (1)

Amsterdam is a very free and tolerative city. Since 16th century, this has been the place for sailors from all over the world to get drunk and have some luck with sex. Although it is illegal to drink or possess any alcoholic drink on the street, if you are not being an ass, police men walk pass you as if not seeing your illegal act. Coffeeshops are not supposed to sell more than certain grams of weeds, however, not one really enforce the law. I was only surprised to find out that Cocaine was legal until 10 years ago because the law didn't make a clear distinction with soft and hard drugs (approx 100,000 Cocaine addicted Germans were living in AMS before 90s, that's when Amsterdam cleaned it up).

I guess it is hard to surprise Amsterdamers with anything, they have seen it all for hundreds of years. Prostitution started in 16th century, girls lingered around the harbour, luring the drunk sailors. They were sailors' wives, or girls from the countryside. The interesting thing to note is that the brothels and the windows are scattering around the churches, one guess is that men could pay off their sin first then have some fun later.

The window prositution actually stars around 70s, the propertiers rent out the window space (200 euros for 6 hour shift during the rush hours), the telephone number on top of the building is not the girls' but the landlord's. The girls are protected by CCTV and invisible bouncers (or pimps, love boys, whatsoever).

The Difference Between Tokyo and Paris (4)

I forgot to mention the final episode of my ordeal of Paris trip. I came back to my apartment in Amsterdam, unpacking the bag that's missing from my life for 2 days, only to find that my contact lense solution and toner were almost gone because the caps were not tightened properly. I checked in my bags because of them....

Note on June 19th. I just found out that one of my newly purchase foundation in my cosmetic bag was also unscrewed this morning when I tried to use the darker tanned tone. The grease flooded all over the bottom the bag. Shit, shit, shit, I started to wonder if someone in Berlin Tegel or Paris Orly airport, secretly opened up my bag, careflly unscrewed all bottles I possess in my luggage, so-single-mindly to drain out all the liquid.

The Difference Between Tokyo and Paris (3)

Traveling really stresses me out. I am finally getting ready to pack up and cannot wait to go back to my sweet, sweet home in Amsterdam (I hate Paris). I gave myself 1 and half hour to go back to my hotel near Champ Elysee, to pick up the train ticket the Paris Office Manager left me (why she wants to do that is strange, I should get a electronic one...). Then I can go to Gare Du Nord (I double confirmed that is the right train station for train leaving for Amsterdam).

However, I miscalculated the time, although Paris Metro system is very compact, practical, on time and cute, I forgot to include the walking time from the hotel to train station (10 minutes one way). When I was leaving the hotel, it is almost 5:40 and my international train is leaving Paris at 6:25. I was running, sweating, pondering when my traveling nightmere is going to end and what I am going to do if I DO miss the train again.

I got on the train eventually, 3 minutes before the train departed. I sat on my seat and thanking everyone that I am on the train, if any of my connections in Paris Metro system broke off, I won't be able to make this train.

4 hours later, I am home, oh how I miss Amsterdam....

The Difference Between Tokyo and Paris (2)

I have had missing lugguage experience with Air France (oh no, not related to French again). On my way to Tokyo, I can see my name on a board on the conveyor belt, "Miss Liao, your bag is coming in the next flight from Paris to Tokyo, please identify yourself to the ground crew". OK, I dully filled out my address, and custom declaration form, I went home happy and received the luggage delivered to my door at 9pm the same day.

Obviously you cannot apply the same logic to French. I spent the most miserable 2 days in Paris without my contact lense solution, eye glasses, clean underwears, mouth guard, and make up (really sorry for my Paris client, I showed up without make up, that must be really really scary). What's worse is the stress kept me awake, and eczma attack slows crawling back to my face. I constantly pondered what I should do if I can never see my bag again? If they cannot delivery on time to the hotel, what is going to happen if I give them my address in Amsterdam, can I trust their ability to deliver my bag to another country?

The bag turned up 7am in the morning on the day I am supposed to take the train back to Amsterdam. Believe me, that's the happiest moment in my life for a while. At least I can go to work with clean underwears and some make up in my last day.

The Difference Between Tokyo and Paris (1)

I flew from Berlin directly to Paris because my boss sold me to a Paris client for 3 days. Not really keen to go but I figure it is a good chance for me to meet up more people in this fields and make connection, I duly obliged and packed up my bag, heading toward the airport.

Everything is fine, the airplane departed on time, I worked out the RER route to go to the center of Paris, I event figured how to get to the client from the train station. I then waited for my bag in the conveyor belt, I started to have a very bad feelings when everyone had left with their bags. Shit, that's not true, I was forced to check in my bag because of the damned contact lense solution, otherwise I could have take it as handcarry.

I had had a very bad start of my trip, I missed my train from Amsterdam to Berlin on Friday night because I didn't realise the train is actually leaving form Amsterfoot (hey, the train ticket says from Amsterdam to Berlin, I thought it is departing from the Amsterdam Centraal station like every medium size city). Panicking, oh well, if a problem can be solved by money, it is not a problem at all. I closed my eyes and paid for the full fare train ticket to Berlin, departing 2 hours later. I started to become very agitated and nervous with the rest of my traveling schedule...

Anyhow, the chatty, attractive French man behind the lost baggage claim counter helped me fill out the missing form, assuring me that I will have my bag back (is that real so? I am leaving in the evening in 3 days). He said positively, you will be ok, and can I take you out for coffee while you are in Paris? I said, yeah, after you found my bag, everything is ok.

Really worried about getting to the client side on time, I jumped onto the train and heading toward central paris.

Holocaust in Berlin

Hung out with Berlin tour guide, Stevie trying the German/Italian coffee (bitter expresso on top of vanilla ice cream, plus some Chocolate whipped cream). Suprisingly, it is not too sweet.
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Berlin is vast, everything is spreaded, scattered around. There are a lot of greens, and of course, history everywhere. I think people are drawn to Berlin because of its special geographical location (the wall around the city, located inside the heart of east Germany) and the disturbing Third Riech history during the war, at least I am.

It is very heavy going through the Holocaust memorial and musuem underneath it. Sometimes life can be just lighter than air, 6 millions of Jewish people vanished, that's 6 zeros after the single digit 6. I still cannot figure out how a person can treat another person as if he/she is not a human being. We went through a open exhibition, "Topology of Terror" located in the original Nazi government buildings. It is amazing to see how Hitler went to the thorne of power by elbowing out the opposition parties, and it is equally amazing to see how intellegent, well-educated citizens turning into the followers of this crazy politics (want to go back and re-read the "Lucifer Effect").

Berlin was not in its best weather while we were around, I was constantly freezed, regretting I should have brought my winter gears with me from Tokyo. Summer in Europe is really like late autumn in Asia.

The reader

Watched the film on the plane to Amsterdam from Tokyo, I cannot exactly tell you what I feel about the movie but I can only tell you the pieces and bits of the movies linger in my head constantly.

Kate Winsler's acting is remarkable. Hanna, the illiterate German woman served the prison term out of the shame of admitting her illiteracy in the court of law. What would I do if I were in her shoes? Before the prison, her love affair with the 15 year old boy had brought her something in life?

Speaking of "in her shoes", just finished a lengthy movie "In Her Shoes". Man, I can understand why people want to look at pleasant things in movies. The elder sister, Rose, is such a straigh-faced, clumsy creature, compare to her younger sister, Maggie, the dylexia suffering, vain, but good looking girl (although I don't think there is much more else, I still enjoy watching her). We are all visual animials, aren't we?

Windmills

Got a friend visiting Amsterdam and had the chance to be dragged out of the city to enjoy the country side of Netherland, we are waiting for the bus to go to the windmills

The windmills were built 2 centuries ago in order to drain the water to the canal, the canal bed is higher than the farmland... Gee, the people living here must have had a tough life, constantly worried about the flooding.
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The 4th week in Amsterdam, I rented a bike and cycle to work every day. The weather has been generous, it is very enjoyable despite the 45 minute ride to and fro work. Still have no intention to bring my clothes for professional cleaning, I hand wash all my laundries. Surpringly, it is not troublesome. I get to develop a special, and strange attachment to my laundry routine. I carefully wash them piece by piece, observing the delicate decay of the linens, watching them dry under the sun (my studio apartment has abundant sunlight in the afternoon).

Great Globalization

Shopping for consumer goods in Amsterdam is not a difficult task though knowing no Dutch. Walking past the house cleaning aisle, I can pretty much figure out what those various bottles contain. Dish detergent and toilet cleaner bottles are shaped in the exact way you can see in North America or UK. To double confirm, the graphical explanation (for laundry detergent, you can tell by sign showing the number of loads this bottle can support) helps greatly. The marketing and branding have to conform, we are brain washed by this culture. It is hard to imagine if Colgate starts to sell Chocolate, for example.

It started raining in Amsterdam since Friday night, the weater is freezing cold. I am numbering the days going home.

Super Surfing Weekend (end)

I really appreciate Sandy being in Taipei, she has opened a window in the city in which I grew up. Besides, it is more fun to go with my cute cousin (she has more connection in Taipei than me after moving to Taipei in Feburary) Uncle Thomas accompanied us for the super surfing Sunday. To compensate his sacrifice, we went to the upscale hot spring resort for our after-surfing bath. The bath is outdoor, we bathed in the 40 celcius spring water, looking over the green mountains and blue sky.

We went back home to pick up my mom for dinner, 4 of us went to a restaurant only sells goose. The goose meat was boiled, but tender and with a lot of flavor. We ordered so much food that almost covered the whole table, unsurpringly, we finished them all and ordered some more for take away...

Super Surfing Weekend (3)

We went surfing challenge again the next day, my arms were really sore after a night's rest. I almost want to give up the idea of carrying the heavy surf board and nonstop paddling, flighting with the waves. The moment we hit the beach, everything just came so naturally. The surf boards were picked up, and before we realised our sore bodies, we were cutting through the waves paddling agagin.

The waves are better today, they come in unison (it is really hard if the winds blow in different directions, you will have to handle waves coming from everywhere). I had a couple of successful 1-second standing, good no hitting the nose so far.

In one of the successful standing, my board was carried all the way to the shore. I naturally dived off the board (wrong, wrong, wrong, I should stay on the board, I only understood this later), wanting to carry my board to the shore and have a rest. However, the wave was too strong, I was knocked over by the wave. Another wave came, my board was (luckily) at my waist and butt on the sand, I was pushed all the way to the shore. It is really not fun when your butt is sunburned the previous day and very sensitive. When the wave subsided, it carried my board (and my butt) down again... While waiting for another butt sanding to come, Sandy came to my rescue. She helped me fix the surf board and help me stand up. Oh my god, I was leaving the water in such a messy condition, I can see the guy with surf board walking pass trying hard not to burst into laughing.

Super Surfing Weekend (2)

My bikkini panties are loose, I am very worried if they would be washed away by the strong wave. Apart from that, everything is great. The sea water is not exactly clean and clear, but just sitting on the board waiting for the wait, enjoying the warm sunshine on my body and seeing the endless sea water is quite relaxing. The undesired side effect is that my butts and back of my legs were pink at the end of the day, I guess it's because those areas were not exposured to the sun that offen.

On one of the attempt to stand up on the board, I was like the princess of the sea for 1 second and fell off the board. Panicking, trying to get my head above the water, the board was pushed by the wave toward my raising head. My nose took the hit and I finally understood the feeling of being knocked over. Not really serious, I climbed up to the board, started to paddle out and realised I had had the first bleeding nose experience. Cool as it can be.

Sandy and I went to have food and hot spring bath in the nearby town, the hot spring bath is public and free of charge, relaxing our sore limps and sunburned skin in the warm water. Ah.... Life is pretty good sometimes.

Super Surfing Weekend (1)

When hiking with Sandy and Jennifer earlier this year, Sandy revealed the secret of surfing to us. To be honest, when I was in Taiwan, I was really a kid, moving only between school and home, never explored anything in this island. Surfing sounded too much fun to let pass, I determined to learn this and experience the beauty of sea once again.

I picked up Sandy and set off to the coast in the early morning, reached the surf board shop just before 11am (I was lost again, I'm never be able to get to the hiking trails or beach on time). We had a very experience instructor to come to the sea with us (although Sandy is going to be my coach, the surf board shop owner sent one of his patrons to go with us anyways). After a brief explanation, we dived down to the sea.

Paddling out is challenging. It is not easy to fight off the waves while laying on top of the huge surf boad, belly down. Once reaching out, we sat on the board to rest and wait for the broken wave.

I have never gotten so excited about seeing the white cap coming toward us (waves are no good, white caps are where real pushing power exists). Timing is everything, we had to wait, judge whether the coming wave is good enough for us to take off, including the time we need to turn around, and paddle. Before the board sits exactly on top of the white cap, we need to paddle really really hard to generate the momentum, ideal the same speed as the wave. If everything goes, the board would ride the wave effortlessly. That's the time we need to jump onto the board and start to rock.

Returning Home

Spending 3 days in Tokyo before heading back to Taipei, it is so nice to sleep in my own bed. My wash machine is the busiest moving item in my tiny apartment, 3 loads of non stop washing. Though I still not speak the language, I find myself seeing Tokyo as my home, a place with books I've finished and I am planning to read, a place with my clothes, a place with my rollerskates, hiking shoes and running trainers. I like to lie on the floor in sunny afternoon waiting for the sunlight slowly crawling over me, listening to my limited music collection, and pondering what to cook for dinner. Walking around in my neighborhood shopping, or going to the community center hoping to meet GString-san again.

The big project has come to an end, and there is little reason to keep non-Japanese speaking consultants in Tokyo office. I am dispatched to projects in Europe, Amsterdam, possibly Munich or Johnessburg afterwards. This makes me think what a home means. Friends, family, books, foods, or some addictive hobbies that entertain you when you are bored?

The 7th Hotel

This last hotel I checked in is totally different from those before. It is chick, posh and unpretentious. Very Shoreditch like, the remake of deprived, running down neighbourhood is very clever. It is not trying to demolish all old, shaby Victorian features of the streets and buildings, it rather uses clever art work display and to-the-point decor and lighting to give it a modernized feel.

The hotel staff behaves like those in a youth hostel. The room is suprisingly nice and clean. No mini-bar, if you want to buy them, come down to the front desk. Free organic breakfast from Pre-a-manger. The brochure in the bathroom encourages visitors to hang their towels for re-use like every other hotels, but makes it clear that the hotel wants to save money, too (I always wonder how often the cleaners leave the used towels as is, I think it is much easier for them to replace the used with freshly clean one and it is happening in all the hotel I stay).

Not pretentious in a way this hotel tells you its every effort it does to save money (and preserve the environment). No nonsense, no excessive attention, no fake welcome, this is pretty much my style of hotel.

3 Weeks 6 Hotels

I cannot believe that I have checked in and out hotels almost 6 times during this 3 weeks. I hate hotel living... The stress is showing on my face with a severe eczma attack, which hasn't been a problem ever since I moved back to Asia. There must be something about the water (or Fenshui) in London. Or perhaps I am not eating proper meals.

The redden skin and rash went all over my face, itchy like hell. I ran out of the steroid cream which might effectively control the inflammation. Anyhow, I have no other choice but live with it.

The only good thing is that I am now used to fundation, powder and concealer. Those really effectively cover up the uneven, patched skin. That also has a funny side effect, I don't scratch my face at all, afraid of destroying my make up. But toward the end of the day, when my body is tired and exhausted, the problem is more pronounced. I racked up my limited understandings of Chinese medicine. The heat in stomach would result in the skin condition on face (fire supress metal, which is the element controling breathing and skin), perhaps there is too much heat. The heat is also damp, so that means I have excessive water element in my body. If water is the element to supress the fire, but why under the condition I have dampness yet the fire is not supressed? More study required...

Grade C Duck Noodles

I have strange appetite of animal innards. Mosunabe is one of my favorite dishes in Japan.
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After eating cold Sandwiches for 2 days, I think I should have something hot and soupy. Walking around Amsterdam, found a couple Chinese restaurants, and I decided to trust one of them to provide me something to calm my Chinese stomach.

When walking into the restaruant, I can smell the long grand Thai rice smell, not the top quality one. Ok, at least we are sure this is run by Hong Kong immigrants (Hong Kong people have this strange habbit of eating long grand Thai rice, very very fragrant, whereas Chinese from other places don't). I can guess this is a not fancy but practical Cantonese food shop.

The soup is the clear broth base, cooked with dried fish, which is the traditional way. Good sign. It is scolding hot, even better. The egg noodles are those mixed with some alkaline. Texture is bouncy, full of wheat and egg flavor. However, I found some noodles are still stick to each other, oh no, point deduced.

The duck meat is dried and the skin is too fatty. The funny thing is I found I have around 5 or 6 pieces of fresh duck meat, and 2 old one (maybe the unsold roast duck being sent back to oven the next day, great way to sell not so fresh meat). Which is exactly the same as those duck noodles in London. I wonder if the duck noodle chefs all went to the same cooking school?
I cannot have the second helping.

Chain Saw, Chain Saw

Sakura in imperial palace, this year's sakura is not as angry as last year (maybe I have grown used to it), still quite a view.
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Akiko arranged a get-together-dinner with SunGard people, we went to a casual French restaurant, and let Michael (the wine connoisseur) to do the wine ordering. For some strange reason, wine doesn't taste as good as it was before to me, damn, it is getting harder and harder to please myself.

Michael is an American living in Japan for more than 15 years, with a Chinese wife, speaking fluent Japanese. He is the most cynical person I have come across. Very funny guy, but he never laugh or smile at his own joke, sometimes looked uninterested and I-am-bored. Anyhow, one of his stories he told us happened when he was teaching English some years ago in Aomori, a small town.

He was drinking beer with his colleagues and 2 Yakusa-looking men (they miss some fingers or something) came taking the table next to them. The whole pub went quiet but these 2 innocent young American couldn't understand the reason. They chat with the gangsters, those 2 gangsters like American horror movies a lot. With their broken English, one of the guy shout in excitement "American Horror movies good, I like chain saw". The other guy agreed and they chantted in unison, "chain saw, chain saw, chain saw" with the geasture of moving a heavy chain saw. One Japanese guy sitting close by dropped his glass, he immidiately bowed mumbling "sumimasien, sumimasien..." and tried to clean the floor with his bare hands.

Michael's comment is those Japanese gangsters have very easy life.

Window Shopping

I duly followed everyone's advise, you have to do some window shopping when in Amsterdam. Like other Nordic countries, Netherland people get off work really on time, I had some daylight after work and I set out walking around.

The redlight district is not as seedy as I imagined (or the area of old city is equaly seedy and dirty everywhere, you sort of get numb. My Tokyo sense of clean street subsided in a week). It is hiding inside the narrow alley ways between canels. People strolling around (most of them are tourists), bouncers hanging around (funny they all look the same, with the same body build across countries, culters and cities), peeping show and sex stores scatter around. When walking past one of the windows, a man walked straight into the door, I clearly heard the girl inside greeted him "How are you doing", as if he is one of her friends, no remorse, it is just a business. Let's make it as pleasant as possible.

I think sexiality has a lot of elements in it. The main driving force is desire, to want and to be wanted. That consequent emotions are passion, fullness beyond desire and satiety. It is more than just 2 opposite sex stripping naked and tangling together. Perhaps for men it is harder to (or it is not necessary) to identify the difference.

Hotel Survival Guide (3)

I wrote the Hotel Survival Guide (1) and (2) 2 years ago when I was doing the crazy traveling, practically living in hotels 3 weeks a month. After 1 year and half of peaceful life, I am back on the road. There are many factors that made me to consent to this schedule, anyhow, it is a welcome change (I am a bit tired of my Tokyo client, also, I think the feeling is mutual).

I swang by the local supermarket before heading back to my hotel room afterwork. Fancying ice cold beer, I abandoned the can beer on the shelf but go straight the freezers for bottle beer (Not really thinking that I have no can opener). Anyhow, when there is will, there is a way. I managed to pry open the beer with the coffee spoon, man, I am so proud of myself. I think we need to have a small swiss army knife thingy whenever we travel.

The other thing we need to really pay attention to is that the floor towel and face towels are really the same size. After arriving, I routinely took the contact lens off and started my face washing. Without seeing much, I took the towel on the top of the pile, scraping and wiping, thinking this towel's texture is really good, crispy and firm. Perfect for exfoliating. Only the next morning when I step out of the shower I realised I was using the floor towel last night.

What do You Do When Riding a Bicycle

I listen to Pimsleur's Japanese language lessons while biking to Shinagawa, good duration of 45 mintues. It is just too much fun to stop doing it, especially when the weather is good. I picked up Japanese through it more than the formal class.

This morning I saw a guy, stopping in front of red light, moving a small electronic device in his chin. Oh my god, he is saving while riding a bicycle.

Scared the Dog

I do not quite like the traditional Japanese soba, with 100% wheat. The texture is soggy and floury. The good soba should break when your chopsticks pick it up. I do prefer the chowy version, which mixed in higher percentage of flower. With dashi, it is a good meal on its own. If keep eating soba and tofu in Japan, I guess you can easily live up to 100 years old. But why do you want to live that long?
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The spring equinox holiday, I spared myself to enjoy the extra-long swim session in the pool. Really feeling good, but the allergy reaction toward chlorine was keeping me looking sick and ill for almost one day afterward.

Visiting a friend near Yoyogi park, walking past the the narrow street to a pub. My sudden burst of violent sneezes scared a dog, which was held in his master's arms. The dog barked, I hope the dog didn't pee on his master.

After Death

The famous Budda monk in Taiwan passed way a couple weeks ago. He could have prolong his life by kidney transplate but he refused. His arguement was "I have lived long enough, it is meaningless to take a young healthy kidney from a person who can live with it". He could definitely afford it but his value system stopped him from doing so. He also mention "Death is like transfering to another bus, a ner journey begins". I wish I could do so if the inevitable occurs to me.

Gero Onsen

Went to onsen with Irene, Gero is supposed to be one of the top 3 onsens in Japan.
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It is very nice to travel with Irene, feeling that we are easily excited high school girls again. We spent some time in Nagoya, had the nice Taiwanese style bubble tea with topioca, walked around the flea market, then heading toward Gero, staying in a small ryokan. Food, bath, breakfast, bath, walk around, then bath. It is very relaxing in the mountains....

Landmine Explode

I think this frog like thing might be more interesting than my Italian food experience in House Bee Crystal
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I went to a very bad Italian restaurant in Shibuya last night. It is not easy to get that but we managed to have a bad meal. The carpaccio was made from the cheap Salmon, not the good cut (I am expecting some clean tasted, greasy white fish such as Aji). I ordered the Avocado shrimp salad, the shrimps were cleaned fine (the discussing black intestines were gone), however, I am just afraid they were processed with some chemical, such that the meat textures are firm. But there is no flavor left. The dressing is too sweet, worse than most bottled dressing in the supermarket. The worst part of it is it doesn't go well with anything in the bowl of salad. The only eatible thing is the bowl is the avocado, if you carefully remove the dressing.

The pasta is alright noodles were cooked al dante, but my tomato sauce is still on the sweet side, there is no fresh tomato smell, nor oliver oil, it is just canned sauce. The seafoods were coming from the frozen package. My friend's cream sauce pasta is also a disaster, the cream is too rich and salty, unfortunately the smoke han didn't help a bit. I cannot believe I had this type of Italian in Japan, I was so angry that I almost wanted to talk to the chef. I wish this restaurant go belly up soon so that to poison any other innocent patrons.

Who's Got the UpperHand?

The hat is amazingly warm.
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I have a friend who is amazingly talented in dealing with complicated relations in everyday life. When we grew older, of course, she handles office politics. She observes, protects her turf, no one can really take advantage of her. Marriage to her is just like another power play.

Observing from my friends, marriage is never a matter of 2 people. The girl is marrying into a family, being fed/imposed a complete different sets of values. How laundries should be handled, how money should be spent, and how foods should be prepared are all different from the way she was brought up. It is a game between 2 parties, who should conform and who should take the upperhand?

The subtilty of overthrowing the master of the household (normally the mother in law) was staged. She lost the first war because the newly wed didn't get to live in her choice of location. I guess she knew it is time to fight back. She insisted on redoing all interior to her standard. This is like a big bomb in her husband's household. Though very rich, they live very frugal and simple life. She didn't give in, continuously debate/negotiate/install her thinkings. Her family is also supporting her, paying for the renovation cost... Oh well, the mother in law had nothing to say, though unhappy. She successfully won the second battle. Though still many value concept clashes, She is left alone.

I guess it is true for everything, you need to set the tone right (what is right? In favor of yourself is right) at the beginning. No matter it is the first time you step into the project room, meet a new friend, or walk into the restaurant.

Really Hungry Today

The famous huge ramen near our client's office in Shinagawa.
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I am feeling very very hungry today. I finished my lunch as breakfast, beef stew with noodles. Finished my colleague's snack on the table, started to work on the gummy bear candies. Around 5pm, I was so hungry that thinking is impossible (my is stomachaching). I ate my supposingly breakfast. Now I am thinking something with grease and temperature...

Fooled by Randomness

Rollerskating around Tokyo street is very fun thing to do
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Just read Gladwell's outliner, the ran into Taleb's "Fooled by Randomness". I guess there is all fate. If I have read Fooled by Randomness, I guess I would have laughed by way through the outliner. The 1000 hour rule, the connections, and all other factors deciding why some people outstand others in any field... are all becoming objects of my skeptism.

According to Taleb, there is no prove why you should put your money to a fund manager because of his track record of not lossing money (when time is good, he is even making money) for the past 10 years. Why is he famous? Because no one can be bothered to study the 99.9% of failing fund managers. There is really no enough statistical data to support any pricing models or money making strategies.

In financial market, randomness is the king. The book "Millionaires next door" depicts frugal people saved money and invested wisely, they eventually become rich. That's all pure luck! What if they bought the loser stocks that went under and, thus, losing all their investment?

It's depressing, all our work in financial market has been depending on luck.

IBM Korea, India and New York

Being sent to the project everyone in our company thinks impossible and difficult (in terms of communication due to culture differnce), I had amazingly good time there. Part of the reason is that I was only there to design the prototype and IBM consultants will be implementing and delivering it.

But seeing all the incompetent IBM consultants working on the projects (of course, there are a few exceptions), I started to contemplate why banks would like to contract with such a large organization filled with useless people. I guess that has everything to do with project failure risk. Suppose the big name fails to deliver, the bank can sue its ass off, having a 10 year long law suit to get their money back (plus interest not lower than the risk free treasury rate). In that aspect, I guess it is better to have big name associated with my project.

People I have met in Seoul are geniunely nice but being a nice person is not a guarantee to deliver.

End of Seoul Excursion

There are again a couple of interesting things I observed in Seoul. People likes to drink hot drinks from the straw (inserted into the cup through the cup cover with a opening designed for sipping). Seeing a lot of young people doing that on the street while strolling. That's very strange, nope? Isn't the hot drink hot enough to burn your tongue? To me, the smell accompanying the warm (sometimes hot) fluid into my mouth is absolutely essential. Perhaps it is because the temperature is so low that they cannot afford to lose any warmth from an open cup?

I have also observed a single guy taking taxi by sitting in the front passenger seat (just like in Beijing). I understand it is a lot easier to give direction to the driver that way, however, it is a bit not proper. Taxi drivers are the service providers, not your friends. You are not getting the ride for free. I am not saying I don't want to be friends with a taxi driver, I just think that's a bit insensitive to do that.

Eating around in Seoul sometimes, I found that I am not very happy with the steel chopsticks and rice bowl. Stell chopsticks are slipery and heavy. Percise and hygenic maybe, but not elegant. It is always hard to pick up the rice bowl with steaming hot rice. You have to leave the ball on the table and scoop up rice with, again, steel spoon. I do miss the nice, earthy ceramic bowls and plates.

Long Time No See

Midway through our Sunday City Stroll, I felt hungry and produced a half-drunk ice tea (yes, in McDonald's paper cup with a straw) and a half-eaten McMuffin, from my backpack. All my skating friends were cracking up. I started to breakfast and skate at the same time.
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I cannot believe that I almost didn't write anything for almost a month. The shortest month in a year cannot seem to be my execuse. Oh well, there has been a lot of happening to me during these past couple of weeks. I had a couple of very good ideas to write about, but just didn't have the displine to login to my blog.

Back to the writing business, I promise, will try to catch up the average number of posting per month before month end.

Interesting Hairstyle

Korean girls have very nice facial figures, high check bones and blemishless skin. Young girls like to have the straight-line fringe, cute. What puzzles me is that young guys also have the same hairstyle. Is it easier to maintain? It is not too bad on Korean guys though.

The other interersting hairstyle that is ubiquitous is the curly, black, ear-lope length hairstyle in middle-age women. You can see those everywhere, in the TV documentary of tofu making (the tofu factory owner has it), the street vendors, and the women shopping in the department store. Strangely, I cannot work out how Korean women pick the same hairstyle to wear when reaching certain age.

Small Things in Life (4)

Pebbles can be so pretty.
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I went home from ski hill, exhausted and smelly, I decided to do my laundry tonight. After showering, I was carefully arranging my clothes, jeans inside out, nylons and bras into the washnet, etc. I then challenged the all-Korean wash machine, had pre-wash, spin, drying time set, I proudly pushed the start button. I sat back, relaxed, let technology does the job for me.

A couple hours later, when I went to fetch the dried and warm clothes from the wash machine, I realised I forgot to put the detergent into the drawer before starting the whole cycle.

It's all Coming Back to Me

I met with CK, the tour guide, from the DMZ tour the day before. His name stands for "Crazy Korean". 45 of the age, 15 of the behavior, he has various instructor licenses, scuba diving, sky diving, skiing, snowboarding, water skiing, etc. Overly energetic and totally hyperactive. Talking nonstop, within a day, we all have learnt that he has 90 something old grand parents, his father smokes for 50 years yet still goes hiking 5 times a week. His family are all VERY healthy, his family owns a land to grow Ginseng (he took 2 capsules before breakfast) and a family burial ground. He has many interests, likes to meet people from different country, loves his jobs so much (he is representing his country and so on). His plans for career advancement, starting a travel agent in Hawaii... He is good, I only hope he can talk a bit less. This is also giving me some inside of Korean's mentality.

Thinking I have nothing else to do the next day (Monday would be the shut-down date), so I asked if I can join the skiing tour the next day. And there is a space! And the bus is coming by to pick me up! And they can rent me ski pants and jackets! Everything looked so perfect, I woke up the next day 6 am preparing for my trip to the ski hills.

I sold my old-fashion straight skis in London, that was very good quality but hard to control. I got the shaped skis in the rental, no complaints, I wasn't too sure if I still remember how to ski after 4 years of idling. I started with the bunny slopes, after 2 runs, I got too bored and went on to the bigger hills.

It is all coming back. Carving, shifting the weights, left and right, using both edges, left and right. Taking on a bit of speed yet still in control. I smiled as skiing down the hill (because it is really fun), drawing curves on the snow, feeling as if I was dancing on the slope. A good skiing day, the snow condition is perfect (it snowed occasionally). I will certainly enjoy more if I have a better outfit (I looked like a granny with the rental ski jackets... um, that bothers me) and ski goggles.

I seemed to be the only one who is skiing alone, ate my lunch alone, had my coffee break alone. The annoying thing is that doesn't bother me at all.

Trip to DMZ

Sorry no pictures, no one is allowed to take pictures in DMZ or inside the tunnel.
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I wasn't really into visiting a war zone or anything, but I had nothing planned for this long long weekend (Koreans celebrate Chinese New Year, we had Monday and Tuesday off). It was snowing like crazy in the morning. Before we left, one of the IBM colleagues went back to his room to fetch his passport while 7 of us, including the driver) were all waiting in the van. 5 minutes passed, 10 minutes passed, 15 minutes passed. I started to give cynical comments about how this guy is putting on make up and powder his nose. Trying to push other IBM guys to him a call but he has no mobile phone. I was furious and was telling the driver we should simply leave without him. He finally turned up before I took any further action. Of course, I didn't give him a break. I said "you have wasted everyone's time, you should buy everyone a drink". Though that's only a 15 minute delay and the heavy snow slowed down everyone anyways, I am still angry at this guy. I cannot stand people who are not capable of making swift decision and cleanly executing them. If I am leading the trip, I would certainly abandon him without a second thought.

The De-Military Zone between north and south korea was the most heavily armed borders in the world. If you have heard all these crazy things North Koreans have tried, you would have understood why it is necessary. North Koreans are nuts! 10 year mandatory military service for men and 7 years for women. Any sane pepole would become dumb/insane/crazy after this long brainwashed. North Korean soldiers instigated fights in joint security area (even throwing an axe and killed 2 American solders at the spot), shot people if standing in their shooting range, etc. They really think Kim Yong II is the savior of the world and all they have done can be exempted by the name of protecting the greatest country in the world, North Korea, and the greatest leader, Kim? Bloody barbarians. The most amusing part is Kim has made himself a lot of statuses, one of them can be seen from DMZ (in a good day), several story high, painted in GOLD! I bursted out laughing when our tour guide told us this fact.

North Koreans dug tunnel through the border to south after the 1953 cease fire agreement. When being caught, North Koreans said "Oh, we were about to mine coal and took the wrong turn". It is such a lame execuse, you cannot deal with people like that. We walked through the tunnel, which was blocked with 3 barricades between north and south, Oh well, how can you trust the north? Perhaps they have dug a tunnel beneath this tunnel with political dissindent's labor.

The Danger of Revolving Door

I love rock climbing
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I was late again this morning, waking up with my Taiwanese mobile phone alarm which is one hour ahead of Seoul time. I didn't realise I was one hour late until 8:30. Rushing into the bank, putting my badge against the sensor waiting for the revolving door to move. When it did, I only found out that the string of my badge was hooked to the emergency stop button outside. It took me a fraction of second to realise I had to let go my badge because I was pushed into the building by the revolving door.

It was all so comical, I cannot stop laughing and asked for help from the guy who witnessed this whole thing while going out through the very same revolving door on the other side. He got my badge back to me.

Afterwards I think I could have gone out myself to retrieve my hanging badge because we only need to activate the door from outside. I guess I was too amused to think clearly.

Really Like Taipei

We can see the "beware of the falling rocks, do not linger" signs everywhere we walked in Taroko. However, everyone is still strolling underneath the rocks, taking pictures. I think this is the national park's attempt to shed responsiblity if anyone is got injured.
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Maybe my Taipei folks would be very upset because I said Seoul is really like Taipei (I have no idea where this anti-Korean sentiment's coming about). Nevertheless, I have to say Seoul is very untidy and no-attention-details just like Taipei.

One thing very obvious is the lady's room. In other countries, used toilet papers are disposed into the toilet bowl. There is a small senitary bin that we can used to dispose napkins (some painfully clean places provides a small paper bag so you can wrap the used before disposing it). However, in Seoul, an open disposal box is placed right next to the toilet. By looking at the shapes of used toilet papers, your brain is filled with the vivid images of how people use them.

This is just very strange, why is it everyone doesn't dispose the supposingly water soluable toilet paper into the bowl? Oh, maybe they have bad experience with clogged toilets so that everyone was trained to use the bin. But, would it be so hard to provide a bin with a cover? It was not really fun to sit on a toilet right next to the filled-up basket (imagine the small space in each toilet stall, there is no place to hide).

Another funny thing is about the man's room. I can constantly heard that loud, cleaning throat sounds coming out of the man's room. Man, this is very much like Beijing. Is it because people live in North have bad throat all the time?

Trapped in Service Apartment this Weekend

The migration rehearsal didn't go well on Friday evening (London morning), I was called to stand-by for any emergency issue for the weekend. Without working mobile phone, I was kept hostage by my computer. Anyhow, it wasn't too bad, I enjoy staying home alone. I meticulously cleaned and ironed my clothes, cooked some food and drank beer while checking emails and skype responding managers (god knows why I have so many managers). Reading blocks and chatting with friends. Asking for permission to go out for a few-hour walk on both Saturday and Sunday (sound like I am on parole and asking permissio from my parole officer to go to places, ha ha ha).

It wasn't too bad at all. It is very much like the protagonist in Murakami Haruki's Norwegian Wood. Putting every-day life things in orderly manner is actually very satisfactory. I even feel the beauty and peace when properly organizing my life.

The only thing really puzzled me is that when I woke up on Sunday (worked very late the night before), my nightstand on the other side of my bed was knocked over and the telephone set (which was on my nightstand) was lying on the floor. I must be very tired so that that noise didn't wake me at all. Did I flip and turn so much to knock over the nightstand?

Put Beijing and Taipei Together and Divided by 2

I would like to keep a record of my Wakame-chan hair style because I swear I am not going to have any haircut until June. This is my service apartment in Seoul. Brand new building, however, everything reminds me of my apartment in Beijing.
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(Beijing+Taipei)/2 is how I feel about Seoul. The dry chill weather is so much like Beijing. The modern buildings facade the old, running-down low-rise buildings (that's where we had the delicious pork BBQ with IBM Korean folks). I took the subway to the grocery shops, and was amazed by the similarity of Beijing subway. I mean, The ticket office is never located in the convenient location, you would have to walk all the way to the other end of the hall to get your ticket because the ticket vending machine doesn't accept notes. Even the ticket sales' face and attitude were like those in Beijing. People are nice if you first show your friendliness (my way is to smile like an innocent idiot before I use my body language). Nevertheless, people are lazy to put on the welcoming face, however, there is no need to do so because there is no demand! Wow, this is so Beijing. No wonder there are so many Koreans in Beijing,

You can feel the dramatic difference in people's manner comparing to Tokyo. I was pushed away in a crowded supermarket a few times, which is never possible in Tokyo (Tokyo people would stand aside quietly until you realise your stupidness to block their way). In Seoul, people are more direct and blunt (again, just like Beijing).

I have no problem with those, I just haven't learnt how to push people away yet (I guess I never will, I hate to have physical contact with people, perhaps this is what I subconciously try to do exactly the opposite to what my father likes to do). Korean girls are all pretty with elegant facial features. However, they eat standing up in the street vendor, or pick up the snacks from a paper bags while walking on the street. I love that, I start to understand why people in other country mistake me for Koreans from time to time. Another interesting thing to note is that quite a few taxi drivers or shop assistants think I am Japanese.

However, I think Seoul is more refined than emerging Beijing. Somehow it is trying to be very culture (you can see the government's effort by requiring every major building to have some sort of art work display in the open space). Although Koreans are trying to deny their every tie with Chinese root, you can still see a few Chinese character signs. However, I can feel the ambience is very Taipei. I mean, this is an city with a well-establish middle class, who are trying very hard to pursuit a better life.

The Benefit of Living Alone

Emily's wedding, she is sooooo pretty
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Just heard from mom that the influenza virus has jump from my sister-in-law to my nephew, my brother. They are taking turns to falling ill. My mom was busy sending people to emergency, hasn't gone home for 3 days.

I think if we will be all better off if living alone.

Roaming in Seoul

Arriving in Seoul a couple days ago, it is bitterly cold just like Canada. Thank god it doesn't snow that much. It is like -10 Celcius. With wind, it feels like -40. There is no chance of getting around by recognizing Chinese characters, Hangku is everywhere. If you don't know the phonetic symbols, there is no way to pronounce it. My survival technique is to print out the maps of my service apartment, work, Canadian ambassy, and take cab everywhere I go.

Impossible to decipher the menu, I am currently living of the mercy of convenience store foods. Things might turn better next week, I want to eat bulgogi with beer.

Wakame-Chan

I had a ultimate haircut in Taipei. The hairdresser is very different from the stereotype hairdresser. He looks like an artist, choby with long curly hair, at least 4 or 5 rings on fingers and more rings on his ears. Cigarette hanging on the corner of his mouth, glass wearing. I really want to tell him that the hairstyle doesn't suit him very much. But he is really professional, he has at least 4 types of different thining scissors. He is a hairdressing class lecturer. I trusted him with my head.

I wanted to have the funky upside-down V shape, such that the hair on the side of my head is longer than those in the back. I think his execution is perfect, but somehow when I returned to Japan, my friend was looking at me and said "you look like Wakame-chan if looking from behind".

Predictably Irrational

Just finish reading another very interesting work, by a behavioral economist at MIT, discussing how people make decision. It is focusing on the irrational part of our decision making. Why we overeat, marry too early, driving too fast. There seems to be a reason behind every action we do (weighting the benefit over damage all the time).

We are actually very predictable, we are falling into the perceptual trap again and again. We cut off the coupon to save a penny when buying toilet paper, but waste huge amount money to buy alcohol. Belows are those interesting points Dan Ariel has discussed

How price of items is determined by a class of MIT students. Dan asked them to use the last 2 digit of their social security number as the price of the item, the prices were displayed. Later, the items were sold to the class in an auction, the prices of those items were positively correlated to the random numbers generated at the first place. We remember the first answer to a question. Anchor prices are determined in a very strange way, strangely, people are willing to pay for that. Another interesting point he brought up is that we value things we possess higher but not those we dont possess.

People are miopic, take placebo effect for example. We feel better when taking placebo and thinking that's real medication. Our bodies react to the white coat (despite the fact doctors spent 7 years in medical school, 75% of the healing comes from the way they dress??)

If given the chance to cheat and allow them never be caught, people cheat to the level they feel comfortable. For example, soft drinks were stolen but not money if left in the fridge without label. Or people change the incentive date on the option because it doesn't feel like stealing.

Late Fee

I was told that, in Taiwan, you will get fined if having the wedding registration too late, for example, the registration clerk would give you a nasty look to pregnant girl and say "Why coming so late? You have to pay the fine NTD 250".

Taroko National Park (3)

We climbed for 2 hours in rain for this....
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Those hikes we have done were not demanding enough, cousins are feeling they have not got any proper workout when hiking with me. We went for a challenge hike (level 2) in the afternoon. It started to drizzle, not downfalling, but we set out for the mountain. The first 2 km was almost like steadily climbing stairs, elevation from 550m to 1180m. Jen is starting to slow down and I was secretly relieved. The rain got heavier once we got into the clouds, we put on the raincoat and continued.

When coming back to the taxi we hired, I really sympathize with the driver because we really smelled not very good with rain, stinky with sweat and mud on the shoes. Worse of all, we all fell sleep in the car, it would complete the picture if any one of us snore.

Taroko National Park (2)

Do remember to bring a flashlight with you if you ever go
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We lodged in Michelle's for the night (thank you soooo much). Jen claimed the bed, Sandy and I shared the futon on the floor. I have become a better sleeper, no damange was reported. Farewell Michelle in the morning, we started our quest of hiking again.

We hiked for 2 easy route to see the most famous scenaries in Taroko, which is the largest marble gorge in the world. The river cutting down/through the mountains like hot knife running through butter, we were all overwhelmed by the few thousand meter high cliffs while walking through the narrow path, carved out from one side of the wall. We then went to the BaiYang trail, a 5K easy hike. However, we were not expecting these many tunnels. The darkness was so absolute, there is no single streak of light that could lead us out of this couple hundred meter long tunnels. I think that's because the rocky walls absorb lights. This was when I regret about those Chinese thomb thief stories I read about.

Jen was the fearless one. We queued in one line and Jen leaded. She was holding the railing with her right hand while waving her left hand in front, yelling at the same time "anyone there?" because that's the only one railing in the dark, someone like us without flashlight might come into our direction. However, I dare not to express my fear of getting a reply. But the scene is quite funny, we all cracked up. Sandy came up with the idea of how bats navigate in dark, by sonic wave response. She started to make the "Mwa mwa mwa mwa" sounds, which we all fallowed. However, the rocky interior absorbs sound waves as well, we cannot even hear the echo. I think if anyone who set foot into the cave then would be really really scared.

Taroko National Park (1)

Picture from Sakatong trail, way too easy for 3 energetic bunnies.
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My new year vacation in Taipei started with a 2 day hike in Taroko notional park in Taiwan with my cousins, Sandy and Jennifer. I first went to Taichung to kidnap those 2 from Auntie Feng (the price I had to pay is to play valley ball for the whole afternoon wearing Auntie Feng's running shoes).

We determined to do it in the cheapo grad student style, driving Sandy's temperamental second-hand car (she likes to take a rest when starting up, the cure is to pop up the engine hook and bang heavily on the engine, if it is not too hot. After a couple minutes, she will miraculously resurrect). Since the only route to HuaLian is the windy, narrow, truck-filled seaside road, we abandoned the idea of driving to our hike, but taking the train. After arriving in HuaLian, we took the local bus to Taroko park, started our first hike and planned for our trip tomorrow.

The local bus took almost an hour to cover the 30 minute taxi ride (we knew, because we took the taxi back later). Meanwhile, grandmom came up with grocery shoppings and so on. It was really too painful. We hiked the nice and easy 10K route the first day, walking along the small stream, which was filled by huge marble stones in different colour and carved by the water stream in various shapes. The weather wasn't great but still enjoyable. We finished the hike and went back to HuaLian for nice beer and small dishes in a local beer garden (taxi driver's recommandation). It was so nice to see my cousin Jen again, she has grown into a serious scentist. Sandy is the more street-smart one, I think she is surviving well in Taiwan after a year though her Chinese is still not very fluent.

Small Things in Life (3)

Finally wrapping up my work (and helping others' work) this week, I am really bored at work. I kill time by reading novel in lunch time and eat my lunch at business time. I like the coffee in Canteen, not so expensive and with very good flavor.

I went with my novel and ordered the drink in my broken Japanese "hado late onaigashimasu". The barista seemed amused and asked if I am the new apprentice. Ha ha ha ha ha, it is hard to believe that I can pass as a 20 something. But very interesting, should note it down as a record.

Small Things in Life (2)

I was sitting in the client's office as usual, and heard a scurried running sound behind my back. I turned my head and let my eyesight fellow that hastely running back. That's the head of this department, surprisingly, a woman. However, something is not very right about his skirt. Wait a second... Oh, she's got the light fabric skirt stuck inside her black pantie hosts, half of the behind was revealing.

She had no idea what's going on and I do not suppose in this all men office someone dare come by and tell her to sort it out. Without thinking too much, I rushed over and stood behind her, at least to cover a bit. Then I pulled the skirt out and said to her in low voice "your skirt got stuck". I soon moved back to my seat, with my heart pounding. Shit, what if she didn't understand what I was doing?

Those Small Things in Life (1)

Riding home, having a very bad feeling about the evening rain forecasted by news in the morning. When walking out of the building, the sky was darkened and it was drizzling. Too lazy to leave my bike in Shinagawa, I got on riding thinking I might be able to beat the odds.

It turned raining like crazy when I reached Tsukiji, another 20 minutes to go, I was soaking wet and the freezing temperature didn't help. I started to really worry about my leather gloves and handbags. Most of all, is my computer bag waterproof? Getting really annoyed being stopped by red light, even angry. An umbrella came over to my head, a guy was also waiting to cross and giving me a half of his shelter. I was very delighted but couldn't find the proper Japanese to express my gratitute - "domo aligado" was the only think I can say before running into the rain again.

What is True Love

Joey with bad hair cut
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I went out drinking with my friends in the last night of my stay in London, I might not come back to London again in January at all. Hanging out in a crowdy pub, with all our laptop bags on the floor, after finishing the last sip of our drink, my friend produced a candy from her pocket and handed it over to her boy friend.

She is known for hating sweets like candies or cakes yet she kept a candy handy so she can surprise her boy friend anytime. Seeing the delighted face on him, I guess this is true love.

Precision

I had these 2 gel package freebies from my nail polish purchase in Tokyo a while ago, didn't get a chance to use them until I am in London. Since they are gelly like, and pink (the other set is dark pink), I assumed they must be for the lips.

Only today I was trying hard to decode the Katagana, it turns out "a-- i-- ka---la--". "pu-- si---shu--" Holly sh*t, I have been applying the eyecolour on my lips for 2 weeks.

Outliner

Finished reading Melcolm Gladewell's outliner in 3 days. This is really cheating, double spaced and thick papers (but I also complain if the words are too small, women are hard to please). The ideas are pretty much very Melcolm, I mean, just like his previous "Tipping points" and "Blink", what he said in those books are very very common sense. However, he is just a very good story teller, who organized the idea in a better way such that the dull, mundane common knowledges become very interesting.

In one of the chapers he said that the middle class family tends to train kids to speak with adults with ease, thus, they tend to conform with the society better (knowing how to deal with the authority, filling up the forms to apply for scholarship, etc). However, kids grew up in poor family tend to be against the authority because they have been rejected all their childhood. Anti-social, or has difficulty to communicate or to bargain for a better deal for themselves in school, or in life.

It took me a long long time to talk to adults with ease, ha ha ha ha, even after I have turned into an adult myself.

Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots

Sorry about not writing much this month. I found this great Odenya (Oden house) in Ginza, featuring Kyoto style cooking. After being in Tokyo for a while, you can feel that somehow everything in Kyoto is more elegant and most people do agree. Tokyo people are feeling cultural inferior to Kyoto despite the booming economy

That's the power of culture. It has no obvious meaning of all the ceremonies and rituals or decorations. But without them, life seem so damn boring.
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The story of an unwanted daughter in a Chinese family. The whole book was filled with self-pity and insecurity. Even when the author was around 50 something, successful career woman with good family, she is still begging for her step mother's acceptance and love. WTF! I cannot believe this. She has wasted all these year living in fear, reciting how badly she was treated in her childhood and how proud of herself she was because she put herself through the difficult time.

Wake up, move on, and stop writing/thinking about your childhood (maybe too late, she's published a book) and pitying yourself.

I have no idea what type of people would spend money to buy the book, trying to satisfy their curiousity about China before after WWII? Or they would like to know how Chinese women's feet were bounded. Ok, I have to admit I started to read it because of that. After chapter 3, I only want to know how bad this book can be. Thank god this bad read didn't take me too much time, finished it on my flight to London.

I want to create a category "IMPOSSBLE TO READ" in my blog just for this book.

How to Degrade Your Enemy

Asking your colleauge to prepare for snakes and drinks for a meeting seems to be the way to do it.

Facebook is Evil

I got an email from Thang's family via Facebook saying that he was in the intensive care unit, and we have to expect the worse last month.

I got another message today, the sister of my university friend, Michael Thorsley, wrote to me saying that Michael has lost contact with his family 3 years ago, she was wondering if I have heard anything from him since. Damn, I thought he is only playing seek and hide with me, I hope everything is ok.

Credit Crunch Theorya

Was chatting with my friend Cathy in California. She said tha she just figured out one theory after the stock market crash, spend as much as you can while you can enjoy it. You lose money faster in stock market than buying a Gucci bag or Burberry shoes. Besides, as you get old, it is more and more expensive to make yourself happy. Do it while you can afford it.

I guess I am going to buy the most expensive shoes in my life this weekend.

Self Development and Growth

I do not particularly like these types of books. One of our family friends has turned herself into sort of a cult leader, giving talks, publishing books and hosting a blog to answer questions. People truely admire her, follow her advise and sincerely want to elevate their spiritual level such that they can separate themselves from unsatisfactory realities.

My dentist in Taipei was her faithful follower, so keen and eager to discuss her books with everyone who set foot in his clinic. He was so much like to get in touch with her once he realised she is our family friend. My mom turned to me for help. Oh gee, we haven't seen her for almost 15 years (after she divoiced my father's friend). I wrote her an email, hoping she still remember me and introduce my dentist to her.

I have never understood why people spend money on this type of books. Her writings are simple, story-like, without deep philosophy. The deepest is that "oh, you have to look into your innerself to ask what you want" Man, I am doing that everyday, I seriously ask myself what I want to eat. All these are bloody straightforward, everyone-understand concepts, but few people achieve. People just buy them to give themselves a false hope that they will be able to let go desire and temptation?

TV shows

Coming back to London, one of the things I am very happy about is that, finally, I am in touch with English speaking TV programs again. I spent my Saturdday night watching CSI New York, CSI Miami, CSI Vegas, then Law & Order. topped with Agatha Christie's 2-hour long program, OMG, I am in heaven. It is no longer the programs that I can only guess (Japanese TV shows are also quite interesting, I only had to guess 80% of the time). I can understand the plot, how the director want your attention to drift, wow, amazing.

I no longer able to do my manicure, iron my shirt, cook/eat dinner while the TV is on. That's the only shortcoming of it.

Agatha Chrstie's England

I am a big fan of Agatha Christie's detective stories, read most of them in both Chinese and English. But seeing BBC's production of it is another thing. It is not easy to imagine those stiff-upper-lip, Eton graduates's life was like in the pre world war II London or Oxfordshire. Though human natures are pretty much not surprising in every culture (love, hate, desire and fear), the BBC series gave a fair images. No Brits myself, but I quite enjoy the England depicted in it.

Women dressed in puffy skirts and skin tight tops, the waists are so tiny almost like a part of their bodies have stayed in the age of 10. They look confident, flirtatious and humorous, regardless of their age (Miss Marple is the exception, but I think that's her camouflage). Men are dignified and calm, even when the killer was identified at the end, rarely the killer lost his/her cool. Everyone seemed to have a story but no one is telling (English is very private), suspension arises, hard to find any better setting for detective stories.

Scent of Woman

Al Pacino's "Scent of Woman" was one of my all-time favorite movies. Oh, I don't remember most of it, but I am going to talk about scent. I used to think the medieval Europeans must be mad, they would exchange a ounce of peppers for gold. They sailed into the uncertain angry sea in search of fresh exotic spices and fragrance. Who needs those stuff? Growing up in a Chinese family, my parents never used colong, perfume. My father smelled of ciggarrete, toothpaste (in the morning) and tea. My mom smelled a bit of sweat and light body odour. Our clothes smelled of detergent and camphor. The most exciting spiece we used in our foods are ginger and chillies.

After turning 30ish, I start to rediscover my body, It is perhaps we were so distracted to explore the surroundings when we're young that we had no time to see (really seeing) ourselves. Now we were to bored with the world, so we look at ourselves to find some entertainment.

I do not think I have strong body odor, but perfume has become something I must wear before going to work. It is almost a statement and a hint of my existence. It is part of the dress that day. Of course, it has a percentage of attention attracting purpose. I started to realise why those Europeans were obsessive with scent. Before all the chemical engineering makes fabricating smells easy, what they can do about creating a good smell? Right, colonize the tropical lands! Oh well, it is all economics, business men found it is lucrative to sell the spices and parfume, let's lobby the royal family to build a big ship, money can be a pretty strong motivation.

Software Production

Party, party, party, Susie likes to have me in her parties.
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I started to realise that you dont need to be a super smart, rocket scientist to produce software that clients will accept. It is all about expectation management, planning and quality assurance. There is no bullet proof software, it largely relies on how well we educate our users. Everything is possible, if you use the software the right way.