So yes. Yesterday evening involved drinking.
Chinese kids in b-boy dress-up sat at the table opposite me looking cool.
I'm really pissed with the last two lines of that poem. Anyone think of a better word that rhymes with window?
A girl from uni knitted me a scarf. How can I show my appreciation? I can't knit, I can't really make anything in particular.
I'm vegetarian in China from now on.
There are wealthy people in Kunming. You'll see a porsche boxter or an Audi S6 drive past a donkey pulling a peasant's trolley full of produce fresh from the countryside. On my street, in the city.
'Socialism with Chinese Characteristics' - Deng Xiaoping, Leader of China, 1978-89. More like 'Capitalism with Socialist government...and Chinese Characteristics.' There were no beggars thirty years ago.
It's been raining all morning. Patting away my little thoughts and anxieties.
Supposedly there is a whole community of American families living in northern Kunming. With nice apartments, swimming pools, children dressed in white and church on Sunday. We never go there, they never come here.
My listening class teacher got married last weekend. It was a Christian wedding.
Hi China, I know you're still here, somewhere...
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Come on baby light my fire
alcohol consumption is:
- fuck you I'm playing the doors loud at 3:53am
- fuck I'de like to fuck you
- my head hurts
- I should drink water
- I'm sitting at the computer naked in the dark
- and it feels great
- fuck you I'm playing the doors loud at 3:53am
- fuck I'de like to fuck you
- my head hurts
- I should drink water
- I'm sitting at the computer naked in the dark
- and it feels great
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
'there is no such thing as illegal immigrants, only illegal governments' Asian Dub Foundation - Colour Line.
Friday, June 16, 2006
The world beneath my nose
In the world beneath my nose
Runs a valley to my toes.
I’ve found a tree and stolen time.
A useful strife,
one splendid chance to ponder life.
The wind is slight,
My music plays,
Green foliage softens the sunlight.
Thoughts awaken, stretch
And stroll into consciousness.
I close my eyes.
Tiny hidden insects tickle my skin.
But my mobile calls,
And brings a sky of sorrow.
Reminding me of an unquenched desire
To throw it out a window.
Runs a valley to my toes.
I’ve found a tree and stolen time.
A useful strife,
one splendid chance to ponder life.
The wind is slight,
My music plays,
Green foliage softens the sunlight.
Thoughts awaken, stretch
And stroll into consciousness.
I close my eyes.
Tiny hidden insects tickle my skin.
But my mobile calls,
And brings a sky of sorrow.
Reminding me of an unquenched desire
To throw it out a window.
Monday, June 12, 2006
Tuesday, May 30, 2006
to my readers
It's sad. I thought my blog would be more interesting because I was living in China. Silly little me. In actuality, I give you the same boring rants, but now they are an extra few thousand miles, and few thousand years of cultural difference, removed from your daily life. So what do I do? Because this is public domain, not a private journal. I want and expect people to read it.
I've tried photos, I've tried poetry, I've even tried storytelling. Now I think I'll try me.
I'm slouching in front of a tv I don't understand. But still it comforts me like a pet you've had for years lying in the corner of the room. Although I'de never know, the closest pet relationship I had was with a tortoise in my pond who bit my finger when I stuck it in the water and hibernated sporadically for months every year. But I can imagine. Whenever I think of pet/human relationships my mind conjures up the image of an old widow sitting alone in her house knitting woolen sweaters with a cat in her lap. Now that's cultural conditioning.
We've had no hot water for three days. We survive on solar and its been raining since thursday. Bree braved the cold to wash her hair. She hasn't washed in two days- it can wait till tommorow morning. I showered at the gym thankyouverymuch.
I've stopped to watch a feature show about hamsters on CTV7. It's mesmerising. Closeups of hamsters running on wheels, running through plastic mazes, eating a peanut out of a woman's hand. Her finger looks like it has been specially nail-polished for the camera. White petals on pink nail.
Sam's talking to me on msn...just remembered, must listen to guns and roses when I go to bed tonight.
Enjoy life. (Is that a Coke slogan?)
I've tried photos, I've tried poetry, I've even tried storytelling. Now I think I'll try me.
I'm slouching in front of a tv I don't understand. But still it comforts me like a pet you've had for years lying in the corner of the room. Although I'de never know, the closest pet relationship I had was with a tortoise in my pond who bit my finger when I stuck it in the water and hibernated sporadically for months every year. But I can imagine. Whenever I think of pet/human relationships my mind conjures up the image of an old widow sitting alone in her house knitting woolen sweaters with a cat in her lap. Now that's cultural conditioning.
We've had no hot water for three days. We survive on solar and its been raining since thursday. Bree braved the cold to wash her hair. She hasn't washed in two days- it can wait till tommorow morning. I showered at the gym thankyouverymuch.
I've stopped to watch a feature show about hamsters on CTV7. It's mesmerising. Closeups of hamsters running on wheels, running through plastic mazes, eating a peanut out of a woman's hand. Her finger looks like it has been specially nail-polished for the camera. White petals on pink nail.
Sam's talking to me on msn...just remembered, must listen to guns and roses when I go to bed tonight.
Enjoy life. (Is that a Coke slogan?)
Saturday, May 27, 2006
We can actually read and write some Chinese now. This is our flat advertisement, supplemented by a wonderful drawing by Matilda.
It's peach season. As I walk down my street I dodge the flying peaches. Discarded in the custom of taking one bite, tossing the peach, and then continuing with the bargaining process for basket after basket of peaches direct from the countryside.
It's peach season. As I walk down my street I dodge the flying peaches. Discarded in the custom of taking one bite, tossing the peach, and then continuing with the bargaining process for basket after basket of peaches direct from the countryside.
Saturday, May 20, 2006
Experience
Oh joy, the life of a traveller. Yesterday was a splendid trip down memory lane. It took me all the way back to Berlin, New Years Eve, 2002.
Oh the memories! Some time that afternoon I shifted my nonchalant gaze from a featureless beige ceiling to the only window in the room, intent on inspecting the festivities from a viewing pane which provided a glimpse of a few building rooftops and a rather unexplosive sky. I could hear the fireworks though. The consistent pop of disturbed air glided into the room and left me reflective. The world was going on. Somewhere, nearby, lots of people were having lots of fun, together. I knew what I was missing but it didn’t make me sad. Three weeks of travelling alone and three days in hospital had already dulled my already weak sense of social purpose.
I’d purchased and eaten vegetarian spaghetti from a kebab house down the road from my hostel. The Accused. When I sat down to eat it I was tired, lonely and cold. I’d walked round Berlin all day. Peered at the street lights reflected in the ice sheets forming over a small waterway and shivered; visited a big, dark, empty gothic church; walked around the German parliament and its memorial to the Jews and Nazi Germany. I peeled off the steamy plastic take-away container and peered at my meal. Jabbed at it with my fork a little. Sighed inside. It had little bits of beef mince in it. Crap, fuck, fuckwit shop owner. Two voices of reason wriggled into my consciousness, my Mother’s, of course, and the Do’s and Don’t’s section of my Lonely Planet. But at the same time a voice which has been with me long before I could understand my mothers tongue, and one which I personally have always found hard to resist, ordered them silent. It was My Stomach and he ordered me to eat. Bad move. He regretted it.
I spent the next twelve hours alternating the two holes which mark the beginning and end of the digestive process over a toilet bowl. I couldn’t even return to my room, it was too far, there was an extra door in the way. Brief pit-stops were spent on a conveniently placed couch outside the bathroom. In the morning, I walked downstairs and fell asleep on a pile of beanbags. The receptionist came and brought me a cup of tea. I drank it, then went upstairs and sat on the toilet again. When I came back down he told me I should go to the hospital, I could walk there, it wasn’t far. It wasn’t far!? I’m explosive man, come on! But I went, there wasn’t really anything left in me anyway. I felt like a lost ghost drifting down the street, but I found it and after a while, was admitted.
They almost took my appendix out, I was on a drip for four days, I didn’t eat or go to the bathroom for three days, I woke up one night covered in my own blood after my drip fell out. But that’s another story. I’m meant to be talking about yesterday.
Yesterday I’d been sick for two days. My nostrils were a tributary of green slime. My throat was as sore as I can remember in living memory. My whole body ached and I was struck by the kind of lethargy which made it difficult to get up and get a glass of water. I wasn’t getting any better either. So I called a friend. Smart move Stefan, smart move. She has almost finished studying to be a paediatric nurse here, she’s from Beijing originally but has been in Kunming for a while, she got me my teaching job. I met her at the hospital and we went and saw a doctor.
Yun, that’s my friend’s name, walked straight in and found one of her teachers, me in tow quietly assessing the general appearance of the place, which you really shouldn’t do in China, because huge cracks in the floor and dirty walls doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad hospital here. I also caught a glimpse of a young female doctor with a surgical face mask on, who struck a striking resemblance to an assassin you’d see in a Japanese ninja movie. So I got my first little bit of paperwork and went and saw a doctor.
One remaining constant about my foreign hospital experiences is that there always seems to be an invisible woman dying awfully loudly in a bed in the same room which I am admitted. She does not receive any treatment, not even a side-glance, while the doctors calmly assess the patients with runny noses and mild fevers.
I explained to Yun what was wrong with me and she communicated it to the doctor and then the doctor asked me what was wrong with my anyway, as doctors do, and should do. So I explained. Did I have a fever? I don’t know, don’t think so. She took me temperature, 38.5. Hmm, yes, I had a temperature and suddenly felt it, geez it was hot in that cramped room with the invisible woman writhing in agony behind me. I wiped my brow. She took a look at my throat and mumbled the Chinese word for serious, then told Yun to come have a look. Yun made a noise I interpreted as a bad noise, she agreed. At that point, I also explained that I’d just got back from Thailand and had been bitten by lots of mosquitoes. Malaria, maybe, no? No, throat infection, but we’ll do a blood test.
So off we went. I had to wait behind a little boy and his father at the blood test clinic. He saw me and stared. Fair enough little boy, I know I look different, I know what you’re thinking, ‘foreigner, foreigner, god, foreigner, look, foreigner, so different, foreigner, so strange, foreigner…’ and so on. I’ve felt that look a thousand times. But I got my revenge. He cried, he bawled, just like any little boy or girl from any country would, when faced with the gross, unexpected injustice of a needle prick in the finger, followed by blood extraction from that prick. So blood test and then a ten-minute wait for the results. You can actually watch them peering into the microscope and mixing samples from behind a glass dividing panel from where you sit. China - like restaurant, like hospital. Then back to the doctor.
No malaria. But I needed antibiotics and a drip, oh the wonderful drip again! So we went off and paid for my consultation, $4, and my antibiotics and 4 drip bags and blood test, $25. Collected the little vials of medicine stuff, went here, went there, got pushed in on a couple of times, were told this little bit of paper wasn’t complete, this other one wasn’t clear enough, so on. At this stage I just couldn’t stop thanking Yun enough, she revealed to me her foreign friends had come to call her Supernurse, I concurred.
Eventually we found a bed in the outpatient department and they paired me with another waiguoren (foreigner), a seventy nine year old German man with a fever, sore throat and aweful hospital temperament. Over the course of the next four hours he’d raise himself like a mummy every fifteen minutes and demand to go home. The absolutely lovely head of the Chinese Medicine Department, who had worked in Germany for two years and could speak German, was overseeing him and would plead with him to no avail ‘bitte, bitte!’, before ordering him in terse German to lie back down, to which he reluctantly obliged.
She was hilarious, every time she had to deal with him she would mumble in Chinese about how troublesome and difficult this old man was, how she wanted to hit him, asking me and Yun if we agreed, we would nod and laugh. It was Friday evening, she had plans, she was working overtime for no extra pay, so this one patient could talk German to someone. I found out that every Chinese hospital has a Chinese Medicine Department. She made me Chinese medicine tea and felt my pulse for five minutes to assess my heart, my health, my general well being. She gave me my first acupuncture I’ve ever had. A needle in each earlobe - pressure points for the throat.
So yeah, I got a shot of penicillin in the bum and my drip started flowing. I even got some noodles. Bree and Matilda, Aussie classmates, came and saw me, and then had to evacuate the room when the old German went to piss in a container. But they came back and stayed for a while, which was nice. Yun stayed the whole time and even dressed a blister on my foot – lifesaver, Supernurse! Then I went home with a little red receipt and some Chinese herbs feeling a whole bundle better. I’m going back today for some more drips, they love their drips here; give them out on a whim.
So there you go, be a little afraid, but don’t be bored. You’re sick, you can’t do anything about it. Enjoy the hospital experience. I do, if I can.
Oh the memories! Some time that afternoon I shifted my nonchalant gaze from a featureless beige ceiling to the only window in the room, intent on inspecting the festivities from a viewing pane which provided a glimpse of a few building rooftops and a rather unexplosive sky. I could hear the fireworks though. The consistent pop of disturbed air glided into the room and left me reflective. The world was going on. Somewhere, nearby, lots of people were having lots of fun, together. I knew what I was missing but it didn’t make me sad. Three weeks of travelling alone and three days in hospital had already dulled my already weak sense of social purpose.
I’d purchased and eaten vegetarian spaghetti from a kebab house down the road from my hostel. The Accused. When I sat down to eat it I was tired, lonely and cold. I’d walked round Berlin all day. Peered at the street lights reflected in the ice sheets forming over a small waterway and shivered; visited a big, dark, empty gothic church; walked around the German parliament and its memorial to the Jews and Nazi Germany. I peeled off the steamy plastic take-away container and peered at my meal. Jabbed at it with my fork a little. Sighed inside. It had little bits of beef mince in it. Crap, fuck, fuckwit shop owner. Two voices of reason wriggled into my consciousness, my Mother’s, of course, and the Do’s and Don’t’s section of my Lonely Planet. But at the same time a voice which has been with me long before I could understand my mothers tongue, and one which I personally have always found hard to resist, ordered them silent. It was My Stomach and he ordered me to eat. Bad move. He regretted it.
I spent the next twelve hours alternating the two holes which mark the beginning and end of the digestive process over a toilet bowl. I couldn’t even return to my room, it was too far, there was an extra door in the way. Brief pit-stops were spent on a conveniently placed couch outside the bathroom. In the morning, I walked downstairs and fell asleep on a pile of beanbags. The receptionist came and brought me a cup of tea. I drank it, then went upstairs and sat on the toilet again. When I came back down he told me I should go to the hospital, I could walk there, it wasn’t far. It wasn’t far!? I’m explosive man, come on! But I went, there wasn’t really anything left in me anyway. I felt like a lost ghost drifting down the street, but I found it and after a while, was admitted.
They almost took my appendix out, I was on a drip for four days, I didn’t eat or go to the bathroom for three days, I woke up one night covered in my own blood after my drip fell out. But that’s another story. I’m meant to be talking about yesterday.
Yesterday I’d been sick for two days. My nostrils were a tributary of green slime. My throat was as sore as I can remember in living memory. My whole body ached and I was struck by the kind of lethargy which made it difficult to get up and get a glass of water. I wasn’t getting any better either. So I called a friend. Smart move Stefan, smart move. She has almost finished studying to be a paediatric nurse here, she’s from Beijing originally but has been in Kunming for a while, she got me my teaching job. I met her at the hospital and we went and saw a doctor.
Yun, that’s my friend’s name, walked straight in and found one of her teachers, me in tow quietly assessing the general appearance of the place, which you really shouldn’t do in China, because huge cracks in the floor and dirty walls doesn’t necessarily mean it’s a bad hospital here. I also caught a glimpse of a young female doctor with a surgical face mask on, who struck a striking resemblance to an assassin you’d see in a Japanese ninja movie. So I got my first little bit of paperwork and went and saw a doctor.
One remaining constant about my foreign hospital experiences is that there always seems to be an invisible woman dying awfully loudly in a bed in the same room which I am admitted. She does not receive any treatment, not even a side-glance, while the doctors calmly assess the patients with runny noses and mild fevers.
I explained to Yun what was wrong with me and she communicated it to the doctor and then the doctor asked me what was wrong with my anyway, as doctors do, and should do. So I explained. Did I have a fever? I don’t know, don’t think so. She took me temperature, 38.5. Hmm, yes, I had a temperature and suddenly felt it, geez it was hot in that cramped room with the invisible woman writhing in agony behind me. I wiped my brow. She took a look at my throat and mumbled the Chinese word for serious, then told Yun to come have a look. Yun made a noise I interpreted as a bad noise, she agreed. At that point, I also explained that I’d just got back from Thailand and had been bitten by lots of mosquitoes. Malaria, maybe, no? No, throat infection, but we’ll do a blood test.
So off we went. I had to wait behind a little boy and his father at the blood test clinic. He saw me and stared. Fair enough little boy, I know I look different, I know what you’re thinking, ‘foreigner, foreigner, god, foreigner, look, foreigner, so different, foreigner, so strange, foreigner…’ and so on. I’ve felt that look a thousand times. But I got my revenge. He cried, he bawled, just like any little boy or girl from any country would, when faced with the gross, unexpected injustice of a needle prick in the finger, followed by blood extraction from that prick. So blood test and then a ten-minute wait for the results. You can actually watch them peering into the microscope and mixing samples from behind a glass dividing panel from where you sit. China - like restaurant, like hospital. Then back to the doctor.
No malaria. But I needed antibiotics and a drip, oh the wonderful drip again! So we went off and paid for my consultation, $4, and my antibiotics and 4 drip bags and blood test, $25. Collected the little vials of medicine stuff, went here, went there, got pushed in on a couple of times, were told this little bit of paper wasn’t complete, this other one wasn’t clear enough, so on. At this stage I just couldn’t stop thanking Yun enough, she revealed to me her foreign friends had come to call her Supernurse, I concurred.
Eventually we found a bed in the outpatient department and they paired me with another waiguoren (foreigner), a seventy nine year old German man with a fever, sore throat and aweful hospital temperament. Over the course of the next four hours he’d raise himself like a mummy every fifteen minutes and demand to go home. The absolutely lovely head of the Chinese Medicine Department, who had worked in Germany for two years and could speak German, was overseeing him and would plead with him to no avail ‘bitte, bitte!’, before ordering him in terse German to lie back down, to which he reluctantly obliged.
She was hilarious, every time she had to deal with him she would mumble in Chinese about how troublesome and difficult this old man was, how she wanted to hit him, asking me and Yun if we agreed, we would nod and laugh. It was Friday evening, she had plans, she was working overtime for no extra pay, so this one patient could talk German to someone. I found out that every Chinese hospital has a Chinese Medicine Department. She made me Chinese medicine tea and felt my pulse for five minutes to assess my heart, my health, my general well being. She gave me my first acupuncture I’ve ever had. A needle in each earlobe - pressure points for the throat.
So yeah, I got a shot of penicillin in the bum and my drip started flowing. I even got some noodles. Bree and Matilda, Aussie classmates, came and saw me, and then had to evacuate the room when the old German went to piss in a container. But they came back and stayed for a while, which was nice. Yun stayed the whole time and even dressed a blister on my foot – lifesaver, Supernurse! Then I went home with a little red receipt and some Chinese herbs feeling a whole bundle better. I’m going back today for some more drips, they love their drips here; give them out on a whim.
So there you go, be a little afraid, but don’t be bored. You’re sick, you can’t do anything about it. Enjoy the hospital experience. I do, if I can.
Wednesday, May 17, 2006
another day of bombings and shootings
Just in case you'de forgot, people are still dying in Iraq. Keep on rocking free world.
Sunday, May 14, 2006
A thought occured to me the other night, patience and stubborness often come together in a person. I think they are often a manifestation of the same base quality, an internally generated willpower which shuts off external influences/concerns.
I should be studying.
Here's a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay:
The True Encounter
"Wolf!" cried my cunning heart
At every sheep it spied,
And roused the countryside.
"Wolf! Wolf!"—and up would start
Good neighbours, bringing spade
And pitchfork to my aid.
At length my cry was known:
Therein lay my release.
I met the wolf alone
And was devoured in peace.
and another,
Grown up
Was it for this I uttered prayers,
And sobbed and cursed and kicked the stairs,
That now, domestic as a plate,
I should retire at half-past eight?
How's life people?
I should be studying.
Here's a poem by Edna St. Vincent Millay:
The True Encounter
"Wolf!" cried my cunning heart
At every sheep it spied,
And roused the countryside.
"Wolf! Wolf!"—and up would start
Good neighbours, bringing spade
And pitchfork to my aid.
At length my cry was known:
Therein lay my release.
I met the wolf alone
And was devoured in peace.
and another,
Grown up
Was it for this I uttered prayers,
And sobbed and cursed and kicked the stairs,
That now, domestic as a plate,
I should retire at half-past eight?
How's life people?
Saturday, May 06, 2006
The land of tourism
I got angry at Thailand this morning. She was too nice. Too inviting. Her waters too shallow and warm. Tourism is supreme here and it's making people angry. The burden of a service lifestyle, service culture. I feel like I'm walking through a kind of upside down China town world. By this I mean the following:
China town is a place in a foreign country where Chinese people go, with Chinese stores catering to expat Chinese as well as a little of the local population. Thailand is a place where foreign people go with foreigner orientated stores catering to foreigners, with the odd pocket catering to Thais.
Then, this afternoon I slowly forgave here as I spent two hours floating in the warm water bath of ocean outside my bungalow.
China town is a place in a foreign country where Chinese people go, with Chinese stores catering to expat Chinese as well as a little of the local population. Thailand is a place where foreign people go with foreigner orientated stores catering to foreigners, with the odd pocket catering to Thais.
Then, this afternoon I slowly forgave here as I spent two hours floating in the warm water bath of ocean outside my bungalow.
Friday, May 05, 2006
Been diving and snorkeling and eating seafood the last week, life's tough huh? Gonna give the diving a break cause my sinuses are playing up and we kinda seen most of Koh Tao's dive sites anyway. Done 9 dives, 2 on the back of a massive hangover sustained while drinking 'buckets' with a british boy and girl.
Dive sites are good, but kinda sad, the human influence is ever present. Over fished and over dived. Lotsa fish, but no real big ones, no squid, no lobster, rubbish, etc.
Mark's good, but he's been overtaken by mosquito bites, scratching them feverishly every now and then. Malaria, oh oh! I think also the punishing reality that it really is too hot and humid to study here, unless you first achieve some kind of buddhist zen state/find a table near aircon, is making him a little perterbed (god, that word looks as horrible as it sounds).
But yeah, it really is beautful here.
How's life people?
and now for the photos,
Dive sites are good, but kinda sad, the human influence is ever present. Over fished and over dived. Lotsa fish, but no real big ones, no squid, no lobster, rubbish, etc.
Mark's good, but he's been overtaken by mosquito bites, scratching them feverishly every now and then. Malaria, oh oh! I think also the punishing reality that it really is too hot and humid to study here, unless you first achieve some kind of buddhist zen state/find a table near aircon, is making him a little perterbed (god, that word looks as horrible as it sounds).
But yeah, it really is beautful here.
How's life people?
and now for the photos,
Wednesday, May 03, 2006
Alas, I was warned.
I was warned about Thai bar girls, about prostitutes, about riding in tuk tuk's and boys that looked like girls. Unfortunately, I was not warned about random, innocent enough looking guys who, realising you are catatonically drunk, try wank you off after talking to you for a while. Enough said.
You have been warned.
I was warned about Thai bar girls, about prostitutes, about riding in tuk tuk's and boys that looked like girls. Unfortunately, I was not warned about random, innocent enough looking guys who, realising you are catatonically drunk, try wank you off after talking to you for a while. Enough said.
You have been warned.
Saturday, April 29, 2006
Of all the near death experiences in the last 48 hours, I must admit that the most harrowing of them all was self inflicted.
Ok, well, that's awefully dramatic isn't it? But jeez, its not every day you worry about flying China Eastern Airlines, and then slowly descend into lower and lower forms of transportation.
Our Thai friend from school was flying back home with us for the May break. She did us the service (service?) of telling the taxi driver, so he didn't take us on the run around, that we needed to get to the train station from the airport as quickly as possible - we had a train to catch.
There was no seatbelt in the back. He proceeded to ask us how much time we had, to which we replied, "um, go fast...well not too fast...we need to be there soon...but you don't need to rush..." He began weaving through traffic. Eeeeek! 120km on the freeway and Mark's looking at the map of Bangkok. Taxi driver decides to pull uot his own map and show Mark where we are on it. I helped out by trying to make sure our driver didn't rear end anyone/drive off the road while his eyes were in his lap.
Next the tuk tuk man. Who redefined the traffic weave before attempting to take us to his friend's house to look at stuff so he could get free petrol. No way man! No way!
After that the night train was an absolute blessing, and the ferry to Koh Tao wasn't too bad either. But then I made the mistake of hiring a scooter. A manual scooter. I can't drive scooters. I can't drive manual. So, like, 45mins later and I'm still hooning round the island with my big dark sunnies on and my hair permanantly held vertical. Got totally lost and stopped to look at my map, so some English idiot decides thats his cue to hitch a ride. Sure man, I'll take you...I'll take you down with me!
Anyway, to cut a poor ending short, we made it, we ate delicious kebabs (thanks sofi), and now im gonna go enjoy a bit of my saturday night before going to sleep in a humid, 30 degree, no aircon room.
Alas, life's tough,
WV
btw, that monk was playing on his mobile phone just before I took the photo.
Ok, well, that's awefully dramatic isn't it? But jeez, its not every day you worry about flying China Eastern Airlines, and then slowly descend into lower and lower forms of transportation.
Our Thai friend from school was flying back home with us for the May break. She did us the service (service?) of telling the taxi driver, so he didn't take us on the run around, that we needed to get to the train station from the airport as quickly as possible - we had a train to catch.
There was no seatbelt in the back. He proceeded to ask us how much time we had, to which we replied, "um, go fast...well not too fast...we need to be there soon...but you don't need to rush..." He began weaving through traffic. Eeeeek! 120km on the freeway and Mark's looking at the map of Bangkok. Taxi driver decides to pull uot his own map and show Mark where we are on it. I helped out by trying to make sure our driver didn't rear end anyone/drive off the road while his eyes were in his lap.
Next the tuk tuk man. Who redefined the traffic weave before attempting to take us to his friend's house to look at stuff so he could get free petrol. No way man! No way!
After that the night train was an absolute blessing, and the ferry to Koh Tao wasn't too bad either. But then I made the mistake of hiring a scooter. A manual scooter. I can't drive scooters. I can't drive manual. So, like, 45mins later and I'm still hooning round the island with my big dark sunnies on and my hair permanantly held vertical. Got totally lost and stopped to look at my map, so some English idiot decides thats his cue to hitch a ride. Sure man, I'll take you...I'll take you down with me!
Anyway, to cut a poor ending short, we made it, we ate delicious kebabs (thanks sofi), and now im gonna go enjoy a bit of my saturday night before going to sleep in a humid, 30 degree, no aircon room.
Alas, life's tough,
WV
btw, that monk was playing on his mobile phone just before I took the photo.
Tuesday, April 25, 2006
the unnamed masses have spoken...
Tee hee hee. We've been nauty, now we've been warned.
It seems the man downstairs, who entered our apartment a couple of weeks ago wildy gesticulating and blurting-off in local dialect because our music was too loud at 10:30pm on a Friday night has burst his little temper bubble again.
This time, however, he's opted for the anonymous message on the door,
Which translates to,
In the afternoon siesta time (12:30-14:30) please turn your music down.
After 23:00, please turn your music down.
Your cooperation is appreciated,
'ten thousand grains of corn' (Many) thanks
- Oh well, could have been worse, right?
It seems the man downstairs, who entered our apartment a couple of weeks ago wildy gesticulating and blurting-off in local dialect because our music was too loud at 10:30pm on a Friday night has burst his little temper bubble again.
This time, however, he's opted for the anonymous message on the door,
Which translates to,
In the afternoon siesta time (12:30-14:30) please turn your music down.
After 23:00, please turn your music down.
Your cooperation is appreciated,
'ten thousand grains of corn' (Many) thanks
- Oh well, could have been worse, right?
Monday, April 24, 2006
Bra producers bust out D cups as breasts grow
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-04-24 09:29
A recent report suggesting Chinese women are growing larger breast made headlines around the country, but it wasn't news to bra makers, many of whom have been producing larger cup sizes for the last year.
Some underwear companies have even created sub-brands specializing in larger bra sizes.
Most lingerie companies say they started producing the larger bras within the last year.
Hong Kong-based Embry Group, for instance, began reacting to the trend last year by halting production of small-sized bras for some of its product lines.
"We don't produce A-cups for some bras with larger chest circumference now as demand is low," said Li Na, an official with Embry, which has counters in most of Shanghai's department stores.
"At the same time, we increased production of C, D and E-cup products and also found sales booming," she said.
Zhang Jing, a saleswoman with the Triumph brand at Landmark Plaza said she's surprised to find many women under the age of 20 need bras with C, D or even E-cups.
"It's so different from the past when most young women would wear A- or B-cup bras," she said. "You will never expect those thin women to have such nice figures if they are not plastic."
Taiwanese underwear brand Ordifen is another to act quickly.
Feng Wei, an official with the Ordifen's design, development and research department, said the company began making more C-cup products last year based on sales feedback and an internal survey.
"We make and sell products differently in various areas based on data collected in those places," said Feng. "For a time we only made A and B-cup bras for many categories of products but now C-cups have become a major focus especially in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing."
While there are no numbers to prove breast are growing quicker in large cities than underdeveloped areas, many salespeople say they have noticed that trend.
As sales of larger bras are busting out, Embry opened special counters for its bigger-cup bras under the sub-brand Comfort in February and is planning to set more of such outlets around the nation.
The Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology released a report last week saying the average chest circumference of Chinese woman has hit 83.53 centimeters, up nearly 1cm from the early 1990s. The growth trend is credited to women eating more nutritiously and taking part in more sports. ¡¡
Wintervacation says: I totally agree! The young women here have big boobs man. Like some have really seriously large boobs. I reckon it's all the milk stalls everywhere. But yeah, go Chinese modernisation!
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-04-24 09:29
A recent report suggesting Chinese women are growing larger breast made headlines around the country, but it wasn't news to bra makers, many of whom have been producing larger cup sizes for the last year.
Some underwear companies have even created sub-brands specializing in larger bra sizes.
Most lingerie companies say they started producing the larger bras within the last year.
Hong Kong-based Embry Group, for instance, began reacting to the trend last year by halting production of small-sized bras for some of its product lines.
"We don't produce A-cups for some bras with larger chest circumference now as demand is low," said Li Na, an official with Embry, which has counters in most of Shanghai's department stores.
"At the same time, we increased production of C, D and E-cup products and also found sales booming," she said.
Zhang Jing, a saleswoman with the Triumph brand at Landmark Plaza said she's surprised to find many women under the age of 20 need bras with C, D or even E-cups.
"It's so different from the past when most young women would wear A- or B-cup bras," she said. "You will never expect those thin women to have such nice figures if they are not plastic."
Taiwanese underwear brand Ordifen is another to act quickly.
Feng Wei, an official with the Ordifen's design, development and research department, said the company began making more C-cup products last year based on sales feedback and an internal survey.
"We make and sell products differently in various areas based on data collected in those places," said Feng. "For a time we only made A and B-cup bras for many categories of products but now C-cups have become a major focus especially in big cities like Shanghai and Beijing."
While there are no numbers to prove breast are growing quicker in large cities than underdeveloped areas, many salespeople say they have noticed that trend.
As sales of larger bras are busting out, Embry opened special counters for its bigger-cup bras under the sub-brand Comfort in February and is planning to set more of such outlets around the nation.
The Beijing Institute of Clothing Technology released a report last week saying the average chest circumference of Chinese woman has hit 83.53 centimeters, up nearly 1cm from the early 1990s. The growth trend is credited to women eating more nutritiously and taking part in more sports. ¡¡
Wintervacation says: I totally agree! The young women here have big boobs man. Like some have really seriously large boobs. I reckon it's all the milk stalls everywhere. But yeah, go Chinese modernisation!
Papaya
mmm, yummy! Get it while you can! Get it while it's cheap!
Currently doing an essay on Intellectual Property Rights. Which I haven't started.
Eeeek! Eeeek Eeeeek!
Current ideas/thoughts. The silly, totally crap, seemingly ingenious ones that come at night. So yeah, feel free to steal, IPR's can eat my ass dirt:
- orgasm rollercoaster for adults (well, yeah, adults, duh)
- thank god for the christians (get it, thank god)
Mwam mwam mwam mwam mwam.....
Overexposure never looked so tasty!
Current mood:
courtesy the late great Pablo Picasso.
China today: horns still beeping. 20 cent breakfast wrap still very, very delicious.
Tuesday, April 18, 2006
Note to all people seeking out a gym membership
Don't sign up to a gym further than 5 mins away from your house unless you are:
a) anorexic
b) a gym junkie
It'll just be a waste of money otherwise.
a) anorexic
b) a gym junkie
It'll just be a waste of money otherwise.
Sunday, April 16, 2006
Humanity is stupid
Humanity is stupid. Mainly because we think we're smart. Because we create our own definitions of intelligence, which are based on our own reasonings. And it might just lead to premature death as a species.
Currently reading: A short history of everything
Currently web-researching: scientology
On a more positive note, I spent a good deal of my day yesterday pouring water on other people, and getting totally drenched myself. Fully clothed, on an overcast day. It was Thai New Year and we went to the local minority culture park to participate in the celebrations. It was really fun.
Pouring water on random people seems more applicable to my concept of a worthwhile existence than most of what humanity does.
Currently reading: A short history of everything
Currently web-researching: scientology
On a more positive note, I spent a good deal of my day yesterday pouring water on other people, and getting totally drenched myself. Fully clothed, on an overcast day. It was Thai New Year and we went to the local minority culture park to participate in the celebrations. It was really fun.
Pouring water on random people seems more applicable to my concept of a worthwhile existence than most of what humanity does.
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