I've tried, I've really tried my best. But after nearly 2 weeks in the country I have to give Vietnam a thumbs down. While the views have been spectacular and the food good I am thorougly dissapointed with my interactions with the local population. It seems to me that everyone I speak to is only interested in me as a path to making money. The "hellos," "good days" and "welcomes" that are shouted at me on any street I walked down are immediately followed with a request to look at some shop, buy some product or hire a cyclo or motorcyle taxi if I acknowledge them with more than a headshake.
OR they are people wanting me to rent a motorcycle or bicycle.
Listen Vietnam, if I want to rent a motorcycle odds are I'll go over to your lot of five or six shitty looking vehicles and address you. If I am walking down the street in shorts and flip flops and trying to avoid the rain, yelling "Where are you from?" does not create a bond upon which I feel the need to purchase something from you.
Furthermore, people here are frequently trying to hustle you. A few of the more common schemes:
Incorrect change: Because the exchange rate between the Vietnamese Dong (16,000=1 USD) is difficult to get your head around at first people will often rely on you mistaking a 10,000 note for a 100,000 note.
This conversion problem also encourages people to try overcharge, particularly in points of entry to the country like Hanoi. I had many taxi drivers quote me prices in the hundreds of thousands for something that would imediately drop to 20,000 when I'd walk away. It's scummy and so I wouldn't take their services.
Service fees, I understand a commission. I get it! I pay more with you because you are at my hotel and speak english well enough that I feel I can get all the answers I am seeking, however, I've seen these commissions approaching forty to fifty percent. That's simply not sane! And when I did a boat cruise in Halong Bay due to 'higher costs' they were charging about 200% more for drinks on board the boat than off.
Also, I would like to whip the ass off whatever moron started purchasing tourist crap from people passing by the front of the cafe they are in. Now everyone who has any piece of rubbish handycraft must interupt my meals or conversations to enquire if I'd like to buy a newspaper, whistle, or ugly scarf. "No thanks I am good!"
Travel here is also very very frustrating, the infastructure is not exquisite so 12 hour bus rides to cover 400kms is sort of the expectation, no matter the hours the travel agent tells you. I am okay with this, I expect this. However, it's the honk to pass system that makes it fairly unbearable. All through the night, whenever someone wants to pass another they honk to let them know that they are coming up behind and going to pass. Usually a triple honk, because we are all very macho here. If the passee does not yield right away it is a longer and fuller blare on the horn, certain to wake most sleepers up. All of this would be pretty bearable, it's not an uncommon system, I've seen it work well in Central America and Cuba. However, the Vietnamese have added a twist, most all big vehicle owners have beefed up their horns so that it isn't the familiar toot to shrill blast we are all familiar with it. It is an air horn of such octaves that it hurts your ears and sets you on edge. This leads to a form of psuedo Chinese water torcher where you are on edge expecting the next blast at any moment but never know when it is coming. (As an aside I suppose America is now the leading country in water torcher, but I mean the old fashioned, rather civilized form of torturing someone by letting water drop at irregular intervals on their head, not the new fancy simulated drowning of water boarding.
Thanks for sharing your sights with me Vietnam, but I cannot wait to be out of here.
And for the record I do recognize that for some people this is how they need to make a living, however, that doesn't mean I need to spend more time here instead of a country not plagued by these problems. Oh I miss you China!
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Sunday, November 30, 2008
From the insanity of Hanoi to the near peacefulness of Sapa
Sorry I've been kind of slack on the blogging for the last week, I've been moving around a fair bit and "today I rode a bus for 11 hours, found a hotel, went to sleep and got up and road a different bus for 9 hours," does not make fascinating reading.
I am in Vietnam right now, finally into a new country for the first time in far too long. I arrived in a Hanoi 4 days ago and was only really about to survive about 24 hours of it. The hustle and bustle of the city was simply overwhelming, there were motorscooters everywhere and as in all developing countries the blare of car horns is near constant. Crossing the street there requires real nerve as one must simply cross the street and count on the fact that the river of motor scooters will flow around you and not over you. However, either I am too big of a target, or plain lucky I've been fortune not to be clipped even once. It's strange though, in China you find the gaps in the cars and you cross when there is space in Hanoi you simply cross.
Sapa is quite different though. It is a mountain village about 900meters about sea level and in the mountainous region that runs between Southern China and Northern Vietnam. It is a beautiful part of the world with epic mountain peaks and rice paddies terraced through the lower parts of the vallies.
Yesterday afternoon I was up at half seven to go explore some of these peaks and valleys with my latest temporary travel companion a lovely French-Canadian girl from Montreal who I'd met the night before in Hanoi. It was a great experience as two local ladies of different ethnic minorities joined us as our defacto guides. They showed us through their homes and rice paddies, the local school and some more remote sights that bigger tour groups simply would not get to experience. It was a lovely afternoon and well worth the 6$ dollars I had to pay for a friendship bracelet at the end.
This morning I purchased my night train ticket back to Hanoi and from there I will travel onto Halong Bay which looks absolutely amazing.
I am in Vietnam right now, finally into a new country for the first time in far too long. I arrived in a Hanoi 4 days ago and was only really about to survive about 24 hours of it. The hustle and bustle of the city was simply overwhelming, there were motorscooters everywhere and as in all developing countries the blare of car horns is near constant. Crossing the street there requires real nerve as one must simply cross the street and count on the fact that the river of motor scooters will flow around you and not over you. However, either I am too big of a target, or plain lucky I've been fortune not to be clipped even once. It's strange though, in China you find the gaps in the cars and you cross when there is space in Hanoi you simply cross.
Sapa is quite different though. It is a mountain village about 900meters about sea level and in the mountainous region that runs between Southern China and Northern Vietnam. It is a beautiful part of the world with epic mountain peaks and rice paddies terraced through the lower parts of the vallies.
Yesterday afternoon I was up at half seven to go explore some of these peaks and valleys with my latest temporary travel companion a lovely French-Canadian girl from Montreal who I'd met the night before in Hanoi. It was a great experience as two local ladies of different ethnic minorities joined us as our defacto guides. They showed us through their homes and rice paddies, the local school and some more remote sights that bigger tour groups simply would not get to experience. It was a lovely afternoon and well worth the 6$ dollars I had to pay for a friendship bracelet at the end.
This morning I purchased my night train ticket back to Hanoi and from there I will travel onto Halong Bay which looks absolutely amazing.
Saturday, November 22, 2008
The fortunate traveller
Last night I experienced one of those nights that has driven me to spend close to 2 years of my life in traveling to more than 20 countries.
I am in a pretty city right now in the South West of China called Yangshuo, I would describe it as a cross between and old Chinese village and Alps village, if I'd ever been to the Alps. It is fairly quiet, with few cars and surrounded by jagged Karst mountains. They are the type of mountains that raise suddenly from the ground like a a dragon's tooth. They are very dissimilar to Canadian mountains in that ours tend to roll and be gradual inclines these are violent and sudden protrusions.
Anyways, the fun part.
Last night I bought a ticket to go see a very famous show on the river here. However, I am one of very few westerners in town and I accepted going into that I'd be doing a lot of guessing about where I was supposed to be and what not. However, in the van load of people that I was with was a man from Shenzhen who spoke quite good English. He translated the relevant instructions that I needed to know and introduced me to his wife and two of her co-workers who spoke a smidgeon of English. We did the usual chatting about China, where I was from, how cold Canada must be right now and what not.
However, after the show he invited me to come to a local restaraunt with them to try Beer Fish, a local spicy specialty of fish cooked in...suprisingly...beer. It was pretty good and we had a few other meats with it that I couldn't recognize the size, shape or name of in Chinese. But it was fun to dine with people and I invited them to a local bar called Havana (naturally, why wouldn't there be a tiny Cuban bar in this village?) that had great Mojitos and decent cigars. We played pool and chatted in a rather limited fashion until well past one.
It was a really fun night that all turned on saying yes to a bloke who randomly spoke English in my van on my way to a beautiful show on the Li River.
I am in a pretty city right now in the South West of China called Yangshuo, I would describe it as a cross between and old Chinese village and Alps village, if I'd ever been to the Alps. It is fairly quiet, with few cars and surrounded by jagged Karst mountains. They are the type of mountains that raise suddenly from the ground like a a dragon's tooth. They are very dissimilar to Canadian mountains in that ours tend to roll and be gradual inclines these are violent and sudden protrusions.
Anyways, the fun part.
Last night I bought a ticket to go see a very famous show on the river here. However, I am one of very few westerners in town and I accepted going into that I'd be doing a lot of guessing about where I was supposed to be and what not. However, in the van load of people that I was with was a man from Shenzhen who spoke quite good English. He translated the relevant instructions that I needed to know and introduced me to his wife and two of her co-workers who spoke a smidgeon of English. We did the usual chatting about China, where I was from, how cold Canada must be right now and what not.
However, after the show he invited me to come to a local restaraunt with them to try Beer Fish, a local spicy specialty of fish cooked in...suprisingly...beer. It was pretty good and we had a few other meats with it that I couldn't recognize the size, shape or name of in Chinese. But it was fun to dine with people and I invited them to a local bar called Havana (naturally, why wouldn't there be a tiny Cuban bar in this village?) that had great Mojitos and decent cigars. We played pool and chatted in a rather limited fashion until well past one.
It was a really fun night that all turned on saying yes to a bloke who randomly spoke English in my van on my way to a beautiful show on the Li River.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
One of those nights
I was out tonight drinking in various locals and despite the variety one constant remained the same: having my book to scribble thoughts in. I recognize that I am no author, years of editing and critiques have taught me this. However, this was a little something I came up with between Mojitos and beers. Please let me know what you think this is truely a transcribed first draft and if people want to hear more of the story I might tweek it and see where it can be taken to.
"The hardest word is the first, like the first kiss you steal from a girl, a good first one unleashes a torrent that makes you forget the first and release a torrent of followers and then when you look back wonder what the hell was I waiting for? When I write write I simple skip the terror of the first page and launch full formed onto the second, it increases the passion and the drive and skips the the sense of ceremony."
He paused as she nodded, the 'I am a writer line got a lot more play then the bullshit about acting. With acting girls knew that you weren't in movies they had seen and quickly they were moving on. However, writing wasn't like that. Virtually nobody, outside of a few anti-social professor types, could keep up-to-date with the various litearature scenes, the blogs, the print and the journals. The daily avalanche of consumable text that was seldom if ever consumed. Choice was everywhere and people were choosing the youtube videos of idiots doing stupid things. Words were everywhere but seldom read, an indictement of a society that constant commentators proclaimed ready to fall. Too many opions not enough listeners. A society in which 'C U @ 8 :)' was considered a perfectly reasonable and coherent sentence! He was starting to chase the idea further down the rabit hole as he took a long pull at his drink. But, he noticed the girl... what was her name?...
Looking about the room "Sorry," he continued "Sometimes something catchs my...me offguard. I get lost in etching a moment in my mind for a later tale."
"Really, am I going to turn up in one of your next works?" Claudia, Claire, Chloe, or Catherine giggled
"Well so far we've got little more than a hello. I'd need you tell me more about you, who you are, what makes you laugh, cry, and go to sleep with a smile on your face at night?" It was a blantant, but he thought by the way she was drinking her third or fourth pinkish drink play but worth dropping in now. If she laughed him or demured it was early enough that an adequate replacement could be found.
She took the bait and and she started to yammer about bullshit that no wanted to hear nearly as much as she wanted to say. He nodded encouragement and agreed at the painfully obvious pauses that searched for the approval to continue in her diatribe.
The whole time he was listening for a few key words: "god, kids, husband, boyfriend" or bullshit pronoun choices about exs. The last a certain flag of lesbianism because bi chicks, the gate keepers of the holy grail of threesomes, dropped that bomb early in conversations in a bar like this. Any of these flagged words were certain to lead to a no or complicated and therefore regretable sex. None of these came out and grinned his half cocked smile, he knew that if Claire, Cassandra, or Cat wasn't omitting any of these words it was intentional or actual. Both went down as good omnes for the night to come.
He laughed at some anedote about a time in her youth when she got her finger stuck in a seat belt on a childhood date. One of 'those' dates when mommy and daddy drove and chaperoned you to a movie. There was not much chance of that tonight, the only one keeping an eye on them was the bartender making sure neither glass went dry though they were getting close.
He leaned closer, pretending to need to be able to better hear, however, his only intention was to make sure that she and he were both comfortable face to face.
He knew that soon would come the moment famialir to all card players, and most acutely to poker players. He had seen the cards, and as he looked both at this girl and about the bar he knew it was time to bet. He had to choose. He could either bet and order another round for both and continue to feign interest in what her big brother liked to do for fun or he could fold and wish her a 'goodnight.' He considered his hand, she seems to have loved the idea of a writer and she was not an un-pretty girl however, she'd been less than pithy during the back and forth of the evening.
He checked.
He drained most of his mojito, rose and excused himself to the bathroom. He always hated using the facilities when the game was afoot. However, it was what was needed at this moment. After this needed relief and a thorugh self inspection in the mirror he returned. He took the long route back and so that he could approach her from behind and get the all important hand at the small of the back in.
In the overworked lights of the small bar on the corner of a busy downtown street he see a fresh mojito sitting on the bar in front of his stool.
His half cocked smile was replaced with the swagger of a plyer whose straight flush was met by an all in
"The hardest word is the first, like the first kiss you steal from a girl, a good first one unleashes a torrent that makes you forget the first and release a torrent of followers and then when you look back wonder what the hell was I waiting for? When I write write I simple skip the terror of the first page and launch full formed onto the second, it increases the passion and the drive and skips the the sense of ceremony."
He paused as she nodded, the 'I am a writer line got a lot more play then the bullshit about acting. With acting girls knew that you weren't in movies they had seen and quickly they were moving on. However, writing wasn't like that. Virtually nobody, outside of a few anti-social professor types, could keep up-to-date with the various litearature scenes, the blogs, the print and the journals. The daily avalanche of consumable text that was seldom if ever consumed. Choice was everywhere and people were choosing the youtube videos of idiots doing stupid things. Words were everywhere but seldom read, an indictement of a society that constant commentators proclaimed ready to fall. Too many opions not enough listeners. A society in which 'C U @ 8 :)' was considered a perfectly reasonable and coherent sentence! He was starting to chase the idea further down the rabit hole as he took a long pull at his drink. But, he noticed the girl... what was her name?...
Looking about the room "Sorry," he continued "Sometimes something catchs my...me offguard. I get lost in etching a moment in my mind for a later tale."
"Really, am I going to turn up in one of your next works?" Claudia, Claire, Chloe, or Catherine giggled
"Well so far we've got little more than a hello. I'd need you tell me more about you, who you are, what makes you laugh, cry, and go to sleep with a smile on your face at night?" It was a blantant, but he thought by the way she was drinking her third or fourth pinkish drink play but worth dropping in now. If she laughed him or demured it was early enough that an adequate replacement could be found.
She took the bait and and she started to yammer about bullshit that no wanted to hear nearly as much as she wanted to say. He nodded encouragement and agreed at the painfully obvious pauses that searched for the approval to continue in her diatribe.
The whole time he was listening for a few key words: "god, kids, husband, boyfriend" or bullshit pronoun choices about exs. The last a certain flag of lesbianism because bi chicks, the gate keepers of the holy grail of threesomes, dropped that bomb early in conversations in a bar like this. Any of these flagged words were certain to lead to a no or complicated and therefore regretable sex. None of these came out and grinned his half cocked smile, he knew that if Claire, Cassandra, or Cat wasn't omitting any of these words it was intentional or actual. Both went down as good omnes for the night to come.
He laughed at some anedote about a time in her youth when she got her finger stuck in a seat belt on a childhood date. One of 'those' dates when mommy and daddy drove and chaperoned you to a movie. There was not much chance of that tonight, the only one keeping an eye on them was the bartender making sure neither glass went dry though they were getting close.
He leaned closer, pretending to need to be able to better hear, however, his only intention was to make sure that she and he were both comfortable face to face.
He knew that soon would come the moment famialir to all card players, and most acutely to poker players. He had seen the cards, and as he looked both at this girl and about the bar he knew it was time to bet. He had to choose. He could either bet and order another round for both and continue to feign interest in what her big brother liked to do for fun or he could fold and wish her a 'goodnight.' He considered his hand, she seems to have loved the idea of a writer and she was not an un-pretty girl however, she'd been less than pithy during the back and forth of the evening.
He checked.
He drained most of his mojito, rose and excused himself to the bathroom. He always hated using the facilities when the game was afoot. However, it was what was needed at this moment. After this needed relief and a thorugh self inspection in the mirror he returned. He took the long route back and so that he could approach her from behind and get the all important hand at the small of the back in.
In the overworked lights of the small bar on the corner of a busy downtown street he see a fresh mojito sitting on the bar in front of his stool.
His half cocked smile was replaced with the swagger of a plyer whose straight flush was met by an all in
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Quiet night in Hong Kong
Tonight is my 4th in Hong Kong and I am lazying about the hotel I am. I haven''t had tv for almost 18 months now and it's temptation to simply chanel surf is quite impressive, in spite of the fact that I've only got 9 channels and of those 1 or sometimes are in English. But there is a remote control, so that adds a degree of comfort to the flipping.
So since Xian and the Terracotta Warriors, what's been up?
I returned to Shenzhen for a night with Chris to show him around the city I spent the last year teaching in. We were joined by some of my colleagues for a nice dinner and a late night of drinking. We turned into bed about 2am and were up early the next morning for a trip to the Zhuhai hotsprings.
The Hotsprings were wonderful and it was fun to add a third party to our trip, a fellow teacher named Michael. We spent 24 hours and about 60 Canadian dollars getting massaged, soaking in hot springs and eating pretty tasty food.
However, what's a little relaxation without some action after, right?
So the lot of us headed over to Macau, the Las Vegas of the East, for a night out of more drinks and some gambling. Chris got busted out pretty early, Michael held in. And I did okay for myself. The first Casino we went to was the famous landmark of the former Portugese colony The Grand Lisboa it was a rather sterile and boring affair although, I was getting a long well with the pit boss and the dealer. However, wtith the boys down in the count they were anxious to push away from the tables.
We headed next to the Wynn Casino, it was bigger and and fancier but no Casino Royale. However, I did get to fulfill a little gambling fantasy, unfortunately it was not "Rollin' Freddo" style, but instead it was getting to have a cigar and a proper free drink at the table. Double Vodka and ice, not a martini, but also a lot less pertensious then being *that* guy.
Lady luck was again on my shoulder and unfortunately not my friends'. I was up about 200$ Canadian, tipping dealers/cocktail waitresses and having a laugh in my extremly limited Chinese with my fellow players. However, after ordering a round properly tipping to make sure it was actually a double VODKA, not double water I was told that the Casino had cut me off! It was only my third drink and I had already tipped the dealer. I was pretty unimpressed, so I pointedly asked the pit boss for the directions to Venetian took my winnings and walked out with the fellas in tow.
Unfortunately I'd left Fortuna behind in Wynn and playing at the 30$ table I was soon down almost 300$. I pushed away at the shock of it and took my Grey Goose and new cigar to watch how Michael was fairing. He was up but the action at his table was slow. My gamblers ego started to whisper in my ear. I slipped away to the ATM, and bought back into the game with a further 300$ it was a silly decision, one should never buy back in when theyve busted out with the amount they wanted to spend. However, the goddess heard my faint whispers and returned to my side. I was hitting doubles and splits regularly and soon recovered my 'donation' to the casino. I eventually left the Venetian even at their casino and still up 300$ on the night. I got lucky with the buy back in, but the playing, smoking, drinking and late hour combined to make me desperately tired. We returned to the room where I am pretty sure I was asleep before head hit pillow.
The next day was a late afternoon in Shenzhen to sort out some travel logistics and get one more night out drinking with Chris in the city.
The next morning we were up early to meet Graham, a different teacher, for Dim Sum and then the three of us departed for Hong Kong. We spent the afternoon walking about seeing the basic sights of the city. The Star Ferry across, for my money, the most beautiful harbour in the world, the Peak to enjoy the amazing vista of the city, checking out the Temple night market and it's many unusual goods. (An aside, who in their right mind would by sex toys at an open air market) That night were out Lang Kui Fook (spelled that wrong I suspect) and drank until 2 in the morning.
The next day was Chris' last in China and we spent the morning and early afternoon at The Hong Kong Heritage muesum, where the had a wonderful display from Ancient Greece, including the world famous Discuss Thrower. It was beautiful and fascinating. However, I was a little worn out as for the last 3 or 4 days I was going throw many tourist sites I'd seen before, so afterwards when Chris wanted to go see the giant Buddha I decided to take a pass and go see the new Bond with Graham (great movie!)
After the show Graham headed back to mainland China and I returned to the hostel to find Chris. We decided to head once more to the harbour to enjoy that view of the city an the Walk of Stars, an interesting little Hollywood-esque area where famous Hong Kong stars did the dipping hands in wet Cement thing with Hong Kong Island as a backdrop. It is a very fun place to be. Afterwards we went shopping through a different night market with Chris working hard to try to find those last minute souveneirs for his bird and various friends back home.
The next morning Chris was up early and off to the airport, I however, had an exceptionally lazy day doing a lot of walking and reading and bloody much else.
I am rather looking forward to returning to the mainland tomorrow and starting travelling again. Hanging out in Hong Kong for 4 nights is some what akin to somewhat from Victoria spendning 4 nights in Vancouver, at a certain point you've seen all the sites.
Alright, back to Chinese Channel Surfing
So since Xian and the Terracotta Warriors, what's been up?
I returned to Shenzhen for a night with Chris to show him around the city I spent the last year teaching in. We were joined by some of my colleagues for a nice dinner and a late night of drinking. We turned into bed about 2am and were up early the next morning for a trip to the Zhuhai hotsprings.
The Hotsprings were wonderful and it was fun to add a third party to our trip, a fellow teacher named Michael. We spent 24 hours and about 60 Canadian dollars getting massaged, soaking in hot springs and eating pretty tasty food.
However, what's a little relaxation without some action after, right?
So the lot of us headed over to Macau, the Las Vegas of the East, for a night out of more drinks and some gambling. Chris got busted out pretty early, Michael held in. And I did okay for myself. The first Casino we went to was the famous landmark of the former Portugese colony The Grand Lisboa it was a rather sterile and boring affair although, I was getting a long well with the pit boss and the dealer. However, wtith the boys down in the count they were anxious to push away from the tables.
We headed next to the Wynn Casino, it was bigger and and fancier but no Casino Royale. However, I did get to fulfill a little gambling fantasy, unfortunately it was not "Rollin' Freddo" style, but instead it was getting to have a cigar and a proper free drink at the table. Double Vodka and ice, not a martini, but also a lot less pertensious then being *that* guy.
Lady luck was again on my shoulder and unfortunately not my friends'. I was up about 200$ Canadian, tipping dealers/cocktail waitresses and having a laugh in my extremly limited Chinese with my fellow players. However, after ordering a round properly tipping to make sure it was actually a double VODKA, not double water I was told that the Casino had cut me off! It was only my third drink and I had already tipped the dealer. I was pretty unimpressed, so I pointedly asked the pit boss for the directions to Venetian took my winnings and walked out with the fellas in tow.
Unfortunately I'd left Fortuna behind in Wynn and playing at the 30$ table I was soon down almost 300$. I pushed away at the shock of it and took my Grey Goose and new cigar to watch how Michael was fairing. He was up but the action at his table was slow. My gamblers ego started to whisper in my ear. I slipped away to the ATM, and bought back into the game with a further 300$ it was a silly decision, one should never buy back in when theyve busted out with the amount they wanted to spend. However, the goddess heard my faint whispers and returned to my side. I was hitting doubles and splits regularly and soon recovered my 'donation' to the casino. I eventually left the Venetian even at their casino and still up 300$ on the night. I got lucky with the buy back in, but the playing, smoking, drinking and late hour combined to make me desperately tired. We returned to the room where I am pretty sure I was asleep before head hit pillow.
The next day was a late afternoon in Shenzhen to sort out some travel logistics and get one more night out drinking with Chris in the city.
The next morning we were up early to meet Graham, a different teacher, for Dim Sum and then the three of us departed for Hong Kong. We spent the afternoon walking about seeing the basic sights of the city. The Star Ferry across, for my money, the most beautiful harbour in the world, the Peak to enjoy the amazing vista of the city, checking out the Temple night market and it's many unusual goods. (An aside, who in their right mind would by sex toys at an open air market) That night were out Lang Kui Fook (spelled that wrong I suspect) and drank until 2 in the morning.
The next day was Chris' last in China and we spent the morning and early afternoon at The Hong Kong Heritage muesum, where the had a wonderful display from Ancient Greece, including the world famous Discuss Thrower. It was beautiful and fascinating. However, I was a little worn out as for the last 3 or 4 days I was going throw many tourist sites I'd seen before, so afterwards when Chris wanted to go see the giant Buddha I decided to take a pass and go see the new Bond with Graham (great movie!)
After the show Graham headed back to mainland China and I returned to the hostel to find Chris. We decided to head once more to the harbour to enjoy that view of the city an the Walk of Stars, an interesting little Hollywood-esque area where famous Hong Kong stars did the dipping hands in wet Cement thing with Hong Kong Island as a backdrop. It is a very fun place to be. Afterwards we went shopping through a different night market with Chris working hard to try to find those last minute souveneirs for his bird and various friends back home.
The next morning Chris was up early and off to the airport, I however, had an exceptionally lazy day doing a lot of walking and reading and bloody much else.
I am rather looking forward to returning to the mainland tomorrow and starting travelling again. Hanging out in Hong Kong for 4 nights is some what akin to somewhat from Victoria spendning 4 nights in Vancouver, at a certain point you've seen all the sites.
Alright, back to Chinese Channel Surfing
Saturday, November 8, 2008
Barak Obama
Alright, good one America. You kind of bombed on the last two elections, but you came through this time. Not sure the rest of us are ready to let you slide for Bush, however, we will start inviting you to the cool parties again.
It was interesting being here in China for the election, normally I'd be glued to the internet and tv keen to get any sort of update I could. However, this time I was out exploring the Summer Palace in China. I remember clearly the older Scotsman who told us the news that McCain had conceded we were all pleasantly surprised that it was official.
However, I think then and now think that the real news is the Senate race, it's been pretty clear for 6+ weeks that we were headed to and Obama win, even if we were reluctant to actually say the words. The real race was in the end for the Seante where the Democrats picked up 6 seats to give them 55 with a few still(!?) left to be decided. I think this is where the Obama agenda could be held up and if the party was able to reach 60 seats it would've been a lot stronger because it would have been filibuster proof, close but not quite.
It's interesting Chris and I've been casually keeping an ear out ever since he pointed out that he'd heard the name Obama a number of times in Chinese conversations. While neither of us no what they are saying it is clear that people are very aware of this election and for the most part I suppose this is a good thing.
I've had a lot of time to think about this election and I've been left with a few ideas that are incomplete but I'd welcome feedback about
1. Does an American election of a charismatic leader increase the bottom up pressure on the Chinese government for further democratization? The fact that everybody is talking about a leader they are impressed by that who was elected must have some members of the party worried. While many Chinese have pointed out to me in conversations that China is simply too big to be adequately administered by a democracy it must also strike them the contrast in personality by the President-elect and President Hu
2. When he becomes President, Barak Obama is not going to be god! I've heard and read some much utter rubbish about what he will and will not on blogs/facebook/hostel cafes that I feel this fact needs to be pointed out. Most of his first terms agenda/political capital will be spent on trying to address the short term probelms of the economic crisis while hopefully getting ahead of the curve in the long term. All troops will not magically redeploy from Iraq to return home to start doing socialized medicine in the streets.
Please do try to temper expectations.
3. I read his book and I am pretty into the hype. It is interesting, the power of an election. Americans went from being "Canadians" while the traveled back to AMERICANS! and while I can not gauge this I bet a lot of peoples' first words to them while travelling will change from "Bush bad!" to "Obama good!" This is part of the power of democracy it can cleanse alot of the negative associations. An insanely long campaign that occured almost exclusively on American soil is able to suddenly and effectively make people excited about the country again. Like I joked in the opening paragraph, welcome back to the cool parties America
4. Canada, please care as much about our elections as you do about the American ones. The next ass who goes off about how great and important Obama is without being able to name some Cabinet Ministers, there MP and the last...5+ Prime Ministers is getting a punch
5. If election fatigue hasn't crushed you, and it really isn't that hard go vote in upcoming Civic Elections. I spent 5 hours to vote in the Federal Election, surely you can take the time to pick up a newspaper and pop down to a polling station
It was interesting being here in China for the election, normally I'd be glued to the internet and tv keen to get any sort of update I could. However, this time I was out exploring the Summer Palace in China. I remember clearly the older Scotsman who told us the news that McCain had conceded we were all pleasantly surprised that it was official.
However, I think then and now think that the real news is the Senate race, it's been pretty clear for 6+ weeks that we were headed to and Obama win, even if we were reluctant to actually say the words. The real race was in the end for the Seante where the Democrats picked up 6 seats to give them 55 with a few still(!?) left to be decided. I think this is where the Obama agenda could be held up and if the party was able to reach 60 seats it would've been a lot stronger because it would have been filibuster proof, close but not quite.
It's interesting Chris and I've been casually keeping an ear out ever since he pointed out that he'd heard the name Obama a number of times in Chinese conversations. While neither of us no what they are saying it is clear that people are very aware of this election and for the most part I suppose this is a good thing.
I've had a lot of time to think about this election and I've been left with a few ideas that are incomplete but I'd welcome feedback about
1. Does an American election of a charismatic leader increase the bottom up pressure on the Chinese government for further democratization? The fact that everybody is talking about a leader they are impressed by that who was elected must have some members of the party worried. While many Chinese have pointed out to me in conversations that China is simply too big to be adequately administered by a democracy it must also strike them the contrast in personality by the President-elect and President Hu
2. When he becomes President, Barak Obama is not going to be god! I've heard and read some much utter rubbish about what he will and will not on blogs/facebook/hostel cafes that I feel this fact needs to be pointed out. Most of his first terms agenda/political capital will be spent on trying to address the short term probelms of the economic crisis while hopefully getting ahead of the curve in the long term. All troops will not magically redeploy from Iraq to return home to start doing socialized medicine in the streets.
Please do try to temper expectations.
3. I read his book and I am pretty into the hype. It is interesting, the power of an election. Americans went from being "Canadians" while the traveled back to AMERICANS! and while I can not gauge this I bet a lot of peoples' first words to them while travelling will change from "Bush bad!" to "Obama good!" This is part of the power of democracy it can cleanse alot of the negative associations. An insanely long campaign that occured almost exclusively on American soil is able to suddenly and effectively make people excited about the country again. Like I joked in the opening paragraph, welcome back to the cool parties America
4. Canada, please care as much about our elections as you do about the American ones. The next ass who goes off about how great and important Obama is without being able to name some Cabinet Ministers, there MP and the last...5+ Prime Ministers is getting a punch
5. If election fatigue hasn't crushed you, and it really isn't that hard go vote in upcoming Civic Elections. I spent 5 hours to vote in the Federal Election, surely you can take the time to pick up a newspaper and pop down to a polling station
Night Train and Terracotta Warriors
As promised the story continues
Yesterday I lazied out on covering the night train...
At about 6 pm Chris and I hopped aboard our coach to Xian, a 12 hour night train that would pass over 1200 kilometers of dark China. We took a soft sleeper with Chris in the middle bunk and me up top. Around 10 it was lights out but I was feeling a little antsy and claustrophobic on the top bunk with only about two thirds of a meter above me to move about in. Chris was asleep in minutes and I decided to watch a movie on my PSP. 2001: A space Odyssey. Stanley Kubrick? WHAT THE FUCK?! In the first 30 minutes of the movie there is not a single word of dialogue not one!
This did however, help me fall asleep. Unfortunately I was woken up by a Pakistan fellow from further down the train crawling into the empty top bunk opposite of mine. After his various grumbles woke me up it was his pleasure to keep me awake by snoring loud enough to drown on out the train. I've never wanted so badly and so irrationally to pummel somone, feelings that increased exponentially as 2 turned to 3 to 4 to 5 and finally 6 when I gave up any hope of getting any sleep on the night train that was about to end.
We arrived early into Xian, were greeted by a friendly fellow and showed to a nice hostel. We dropped off our bags, showered up and sussed out the local bus to the Terractoa Warriors. While were limited in how close we could get to the artificats the views we did see of them were spectacular, the pure scale of the site was amazing. Our guide told us that it was 56 square kilometers! Much of them had been damaged by the intervening years since 210BCE. However, the detail work on the faces, bodies and horses was truly impressive. We spent a few hours and many photographs at the park before returning on a bus to the City.
Tired from the night train I grabbed and an hours shuteye while Chris explored a little. Later that night we set off to try to find a fun bar and explore the city a little further. We found some very tasty street food in the muslim quarter of the city which was abuzz with activity. However, the hunt for the bar proved to be a bit of a waste as everywhere we went was limited to dice playing isolated tables. Apparently the economic slow down + chilly night + tourist low season resulted in a very quiet night out.
Today we wandered around town without much of a purpose. We looked in on Pagodas and antique markets, however, we were simply cultured out. In a couple of hours we are going to head back out and try to find a place to catch a movie.
Tomorrow morning it is an early flight down to Shenzhen to explore the old stomping grounds.
Yesterday I lazied out on covering the night train...
At about 6 pm Chris and I hopped aboard our coach to Xian, a 12 hour night train that would pass over 1200 kilometers of dark China. We took a soft sleeper with Chris in the middle bunk and me up top. Around 10 it was lights out but I was feeling a little antsy and claustrophobic on the top bunk with only about two thirds of a meter above me to move about in. Chris was asleep in minutes and I decided to watch a movie on my PSP. 2001: A space Odyssey. Stanley Kubrick? WHAT THE FUCK?! In the first 30 minutes of the movie there is not a single word of dialogue not one!
This did however, help me fall asleep. Unfortunately I was woken up by a Pakistan fellow from further down the train crawling into the empty top bunk opposite of mine. After his various grumbles woke me up it was his pleasure to keep me awake by snoring loud enough to drown on out the train. I've never wanted so badly and so irrationally to pummel somone, feelings that increased exponentially as 2 turned to 3 to 4 to 5 and finally 6 when I gave up any hope of getting any sleep on the night train that was about to end.
We arrived early into Xian, were greeted by a friendly fellow and showed to a nice hostel. We dropped off our bags, showered up and sussed out the local bus to the Terractoa Warriors. While were limited in how close we could get to the artificats the views we did see of them were spectacular, the pure scale of the site was amazing. Our guide told us that it was 56 square kilometers! Much of them had been damaged by the intervening years since 210BCE. However, the detail work on the faces, bodies and horses was truly impressive. We spent a few hours and many photographs at the park before returning on a bus to the City.
Tired from the night train I grabbed and an hours shuteye while Chris explored a little. Later that night we set off to try to find a fun bar and explore the city a little further. We found some very tasty street food in the muslim quarter of the city which was abuzz with activity. However, the hunt for the bar proved to be a bit of a waste as everywhere we went was limited to dice playing isolated tables. Apparently the economic slow down + chilly night + tourist low season resulted in a very quiet night out.
Today we wandered around town without much of a purpose. We looked in on Pagodas and antique markets, however, we were simply cultured out. In a couple of hours we are going to head back out and try to find a place to catch a movie.
Tomorrow morning it is an early flight down to Shenzhen to explore the old stomping grounds.
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