nwoT eikgnoH Hongkie Town

So the first part of this post will be food p0rn, shots from tonight's dinner in a small restaurant on a side street in the Shinbashi area.

I was told that this huge poster represents rankings of the small sushi restaurants in Tokyo. It is produced quarterly. I was given one as a souvenier because, apparently, this place ranked pretty highly. It's a large sheet - laid it out on the bed for the photo.



We started with dried soba:



Sashimi - I could have eaten this entire platter myself but had to share with 4 other people:


Salad - the white chunks are not tofu or chicken, they're grilled tuna:



A Japanese take on a classic Chinese dish, sweet and sour pork:



Our waitress, caught at an inopportune moment. She's holding the ingredients for hotpot, or is it called nabe here?

Here it is:


I was so full after this (and a little tipsy after drinking half a bottle of sake myself) so I didn't bother to photograph the last course, congee.

After dinner, raining fairly heavily so just back to the hotel. But after that, eventually over to the branch of Tsutaya in Roppongi Hills. (Sorry, didn't have camera with me.) This shop is open from 07:00 to 28:00, which I presume means until 4 AM.

The ground floor is a Starbucks and a bookshop that is primarily devoted to art, design, photography and architecture, with huge sections on food and travel. Think about that for a minute. An art book store open till 4 AM 7 days a week. Think we'll see anything like this in HK soon? It is to laugh.

Upstairs is a CD/DVD shop.

Next door is Foo:D Magazine, a 24 hour grocery store run by Seiyu (which is partly owned by Wal*Mart). The shop concentrates on imported and higher end stuff, including excellent departments for meat, fish, cheese and a bakery (though the bakery shelves were empty at midnight).

Now please don't think I'm turning into Brian Donovan but here are shots of three of the more unusual snacks I picked up - well, unusual varieties of brand names we all know well, but only available in Japan as far as I know:





And that's about it. Work, lunch and dinner with colleagues, no bars, no girls, about to get into bed with just a book.

Some quick shots from the main crossing in Shibuya. Note that there are three large video screens on separate buildings (only two of each visible in each shot) and they are synchronized to each play the same thing. This is not silent - there are outdoor speakers blasting the soundtrack to whatever ad is playing.




The huge crowd of people, coming down Centa-Gai (Center Street) waiting for the light to change to cross over to the Shibuya train station and Hachiko, the statue of the faithful little dog, a popular meeting place.


Tokyo Tower in Roppongi - a replica of the Eiffel Tower, but bigger.

So in Tokyo now. I hate that I seem to get upgrades on shorter flights - who needs business class for a one hour flight? - but for this four hour flight, no upgrade, no empty seat next to me, and leg room in these A330s is nonexistent. As Lewis Black once said, the seats were clearly designed by a dwarf with scoliosis who was very pissed off that day.

As always, my first night spent at HMV and Tower in Shibuya. I would be there yet except those stores close at 11 and my backpack was full. As usual, bought too much. Anything that sounded reasonably interesting and had Japan-only bonus tracks. Plus some UK/US stuff not too easily found in HK. Too bad I didn't back my DVD-drive for my laptop or I could put this stuff on the iPod now. Some highlights:

Union of Knives - Violence and Birdsong - kind of J&M Chain-ish?

Neutral Milk Hotel - In the Aeroplane Over the Sea

Rodrigo y Gabriela

Prefab Sprout - Steve McQueen legacy edition

Songs the Bonzo Dog Band Taught Us - original versions of songs the Bonzos covered

Johnny Thunders & Patty Palladin - Copy Cats. Finally on CD. Almost jumped up and down and spun in circles when I saw it at HMV. Thank you!

Omar Rodrigues Lopez - Se Dice Bisonte. No Bufalo. Big guitars. Some electronics.

Fields - Everything Last Winter - tuneful

Mumm-Ra - These Things Move in Threes - also tuneful

Charlotte Gainsbourg - 5:55 - er, um, chanteuseful?

David Pastorius & Local 518 - no idea if he's Jaco's son but he plays like Jaco and the band sounds fierce

Gilles Peterson - 2 disc set of selected tracks from the Fania archives

and assorted others ...

Plus a book on the making of Grindhouse and several Japanese tattoo magazines & books, all of which will eventually find their way to Jimmy Wong's shelves in Bangkok after I've searched them for inspiration.

After that, I was amazed to spot a sign for Nanbantei right near Tower. Maybe they've been there forever and I just didn't see it before. Maybe they're not the best yakitori in Tokyo but they are certainly the most foreigner-friendly. Even this Shibuya branch had an English menu (with lots of things not found on the menu in their HK branch) and an English speaking staff. Several old favorites and tried one new thing - mentaiko stuffed with chicken. All yummy.

And then a stroll through late night Shibuya, seeing some astonishing looking women, not one of whom would even acknowledge my presence.

Just sent to me by a friend. Here's the link and here's the intro:

I’m seeking a like-minded woman to share a disastrous 3-9 month relationship with, ending in acrimony, emotional chaos, and possibly legal proceedings.

My name is Lloyd, I live in Chicago , I’m 27 years old, fairly well educated, I hold down a good job and am pretty stable. I’m told I’m fairly good looking, but I’ll let you be the judge of that - I’m generally caring and very honest.

I am looking for an attractive female who will at first give me obsessive love, praise and devotion - but whose paranoia, self-loathing and fear of rejection and abandonment will eventually lead her to alternately push me away and pull me closer in a love/hate cycle that will lead to infidelity, consensual sexual violence, and the eventual emotional breakdown of one or other party - or if we’re lucky - both!

Wonder if this guy reads my blog?

One picture from Kaohsiung that I forgot to post, this 85 story building that dominates the city. The architect is the same man who designed Taipei 101, for now the world's tallest building.



All over Taichung I saw different ads featuring Kelly Chan for Toto toilet seats. This is not the best one, but it's the one I got. Can you imagine any western celebrity endorsing toilet seats, especially butt-washing ones? Wanting their image associated with this kind of product? Apparently in Asia either it's not an issue or Kelly is just that desperate for money. "When you think about taking a shit, think about Kelly! (Or at least her music?)"


The U.S. has "park 'n ride," low cost parking lots near commuter rail and bus stations. Here in Taiwan they have the much nicer "kiss and ride." But apparently you have to bring someone with you for the kiss, they don't just have people employed to stand there and do that for you.

This is the workstation area at Hotel One in Taichung. 42 inch TV, Sony DVD with 5.1 surround - note the subwoofer in the central base of the workstation area. On the bottom right, note the laser printer in the cabinet. Lastly, on the back of the Aeron-style chair, it says "Enjoy!" I certainly did.

The view from the 36th floor of Hotel One in Taichung. Heavy rains meant the windows were not that clear and it was also difficult to get a shot without my reflection in the glass. Note the bank of low clouds coming in over the mountains. (I've now figured out how to get the G7 into manual focus mode, which turns out to be as simple as pushing one button and then using the scroll wheel on the back. In the LCD screen, they provide a magnified area in the center as well as a digital read-out of the selected distance of the focus, making this really as easy as possible. I know this may sound crazy but now I'm wondering if I really need the Nikon D80 or if I should look to sell it.)


In Taipei, half of the sidewalk on all of the main streets is given over to scooter parking. Terrible for pedestrians, especially because these scooters scoot down what's left of the sidewalk going to and from the parking spots. But of course, if you have a scooter, it means you can park almost anywhere.

Lingerie shop along Fuxing Road. Love this window display!

Last Taipei shot.

Last but not least, no photos unfortunately but I jotted down the Chinglish names of some menu items from the hotpot place in Taichung:

• Selected rectum
• Selected honey cumb
• Selected hog bowel
• Rice nuddles

Of course, I'm actually grateful that they went to the trouble of having an English menu and while it wasn't the best hotpot I've ever had, everything was fresh and tasty and the service there was first rate. Plus I'm glad they would take the trouble to actually select the rectum as opposed to just tossing random pieces of ass at you.

Thursday lunch at a small restaurant down some tiny lane somewhere in Taipei, with a guy who used to be a major in the Taiwan air force, so he's taken "Major" as his English name. I was told he's an expert on Taipei restaurants and based on this choice, I have no reason to doubt that. I didn't recognize about half the dishes, was told the place was a mixture of Taiwanese and Sichuan food. He asked if I could handle spicy, I told him of course, so he ordered a bowl of beef swimming in chili oil, and then seemed fairly shocked when I told him I didn't think it was very spicy (but it was delicious and I told him that, too).

Thursday afternoon shopping at Costco in Taipei. Bought so much stuff that I also bought a rolling duffel bag to hold it. This was in an area just outside the city, perhaps 10 square blocks, that was packed with multi-story hypermarkets and discount outlet malls. Carrefour, RT Mart, factory outlet clothing and furniture palaces, huge auto supply shops and so on. Why don't we have shopping on this scale in HK? There's room in New Territories and enough people have cars. It's because the billionaires and real estate cartels that really run HK won't allow this kind of free market access and choice. And the government won't do anything about it because they don't have to answer to the public.

Thursday night, ladies night at Brass Monkey in Taipei. I was there from around 9 till almost 3. Interesting, young crowd. I was done in by being too honest and by losing track of how much I was drinking.

As things were warming up, I noticed a lady who stood out from the crowd for two reasons. The first is that she was noticeably older than the rest of the women there, most of whom were in their 20s and she was at least 40. The second reason was that she was wearing an extremely short skirt and, whatever her age, had amazing legs. She was standing on her own, kept looking at her mobile phone in annoyance. Finally I went over and said, "You're waiting for someone, right?" She said yes. "Well whoever you're waiting for is an idiot," and she looked a little bit shocked at that. I continued, "No man should let such a beautiful lady wait alone in a bar for so long." She almost smiled but also clearly was not willing to continue the conversation. Later I noted that she was meeting a woman, not a man. And even later I noticed her leaving the bar and going home alone.

Fortunately by then I had recovered my balance and met someone, not my dream girl by any means but good spirit, fun. "I'm not young, I'm old! I'm almost 40!" she told me. And it turned out that "almost 40" meant 34. She wanted me to watch some rugby game with her on Saturday, I confessed I was leaving on Friday, at that point probably too drunk to even attempt a lie. But phone numbers exchanged, various SMS's received from her today.

Friday morning up early. I generally don't get hangovers but this morning was darned close. I was gonna walk around for a bit before heading to the airport, but stepping out of the hotel door (yes, it is Les Suites, one of my favorite hotels in the world) it was so freaking hot that I gave up on that idea. Yes, even worse than HK. Absofuckinglutely baking on the streets.

Dragonair has moved to the new Terminal 2 at CKS Airport. It's a huge improvement over the decrepit Terminal 1 but HK and Changi have little to fear from it.

At one duty free counter, the girl refused to sell me a carton of cigarettes after seeing I was going to HK, limit of just 3 packs for residents (and why does HK have such a ridiculously low limit?). But she didn't know I was a resident and didn't speak any English so I couldn't explain to her the "mistake" she was making, that tourists can bring in entire cartons. I simply went to the next shop, where they assumed that I was simply a tourist heading to HK and sold me whatever I wanted.

Dragonair upgraded me to business class but printed the boarding pass on an economy ticket, so I didn't know I was upgraded till I got on the plane. Looked at the seat number, looked at the seat, looked at the ticket, sat down, kept waiting for someone to make me move. At any rate, business class on a one hour flight seems like a waste.

Tonight, started out at Heat and then checked out Underground HK at Galaxy. So freaking weird. The HK indie bands and the people who follow them and lots of hookers sitting at the bar. And poor Sammy, he's so sad, I'm telling him it's great that he's trying something new with the bar and look how packed the place is (and it was, too) and he looks like he's gonna cry. The first act was two guys with acoustic guitars singing weepy folky stuff, the singer looking like Elvis Costello in a dutchboy cap. One song about "how do I find the words to make you love me," the next about needing a reason to keep on living. Oh boo fucking hoo. My friend kept shouting "Show me the money!" at them. The next band was kind of power trio-ish but the songs were tuneless (especially odd in a bar of hookers that a band couldn't manage a hook?) and we decided we'd had enough. Also I was not thrilled to discover that while most people were paying a very reasonable $50 cover charge for the bands, the hookers were allowed in for free. They should charge everyone the $50 and this will keep the hookers out until after the show is over. Otherwise, this is not gonna work too well.

So over to Laguna, Joe Banana, Fuckwick. I didn't mean to have any alcohol tonight but eventually my resolve weakened. All the travel and drinking isn't affecting my ability to conduct business but I found that certain parts of my body aren't functioning as well as usual right now.

Thursday morning, holiday in HK but working day here in Taiwan.

Aside from the great hotel in Taichung, a nice spicy hotpot dinner. After which we went driving around endlessly in circles for an hour. Our two local hosts don't make big salaries and had no ideas which bars might be good. The town is filled with KTV joints with hostesses and the betelnut stands, with girls who dress like hookers even if they're not, close early. At 10 we went to some recommended music bar and at 10:30 we found a lounge bar and at 11 we stumbled upon some Brit-style pub - all of these places were empty and we were told they wouldn't be busy till at least 1 AM. Back to the hotel bar for a drink - also empty and my attempts to lure the girl from the front desk who'd checked me in were in vain - and finally a (legit) massage at a nearby sauna.

Wednesday, train to Taipei, upgraded to a suite at the hotel, can't complain there. Wednesday night, just wanting some simple western food for a change, had dinner at Hooters, one block from my hotel. Ended up talking with some American guy who'd spent 11 weeks in Taipei, took a weekend break to HK and ended up in the go-go bars along Lockhart. By the time he got pointed in the right direction (Sunday morning at the Bridge), it was time for him to fly out.

I was going to go to Carnegies but friends insisted I join them at some "piano bar" which was having its anniversary party. Turns out it's another overpriced hostess bar. The girl sitting with me spoke very good English and physically was very much my type, but I decided against enquiring about prices. The special event for the anniversary was that the club brought in two strippers - a very amateurish onstage performance in which they alternated dancing energetically and then staring at each other wondering what to do next. After stripping down to just g-strings and boots, they went around table to table, room to room, doing a series of table and lap dances. They removed most of my clothes and then poured ice cubes down my shorts, to the great delight of everyone in the place except for, well, the guy who was getting ice cubes poured down his shorts.

At 1 AM, finally over to Carnegies, which was packed tight, all asses to elbows. I couldn't quite work out the scene there and the music was really too loud to try to talk to anyone. The girls who seemed to be working there all looked old and hard. And no eye contact with any of the girls who didn't seem to be working, not for lack of trying. To add insult to injury, on returning back to my hotel, another taxi was dropping off some fat old guy with a huge mustache and a very cute young lady.

At 4 AM, received an SMS from an HK girl who'd done a very evil thing to me about 3 weeks ago. Claimed she'd lost my number and only just found it and could I ever forgive her? I have not replied.

Tonight, ladies night at Brass Monkey, might give it a try. Friday back home, get to spend 4 whole days at home before the next trip (Tokyo) and hopefully after that a week at home before the next next trip (Sydney).

If you should find yourself in Taichung, Taiwan, there is a new hotel called Hotel One and, one hour after check-in, I'm finding it to be a pretty freaking amazing hotel. Not quite sure of the rate but I'm sure it's under US$200 per night and if this was in Tokyo it would be at least three times that.

Start with a 42 inch plasma TV. Sony DVD with six speaker surround sound with connections for my iPod and my laptop. Free wireless internet throughout the hotel. Laser printer in the room. Huge bathtub right alongside the window looking out on the city from the 36th floor. Rain forest showerhead. This is just crying out for a party that I won't be having since I'm just here for one night.

I was offered (for additional fee) use of a mobile phone. The phone had two added features - first is that from anywhere in Taiwan I could just dial 8 on that phone and be connected to the hotel, second is that any calls to my room would be forwarded to that phone if I didn't answer my room phone.

They do in-room check-in here. The girl who brought me up to my room was young, cute and spoke good English. It took me about two minutes to find out that she lives with her parents and doesn't have a boyfriend at the moment but "dreams" of finding a nice one. She gave me a free drink coupon for the hotel bar and said if I wanted more, just ask her. On leaving the room, she turned and said, "I like you very much" in Mandarin.

And I almost forgot to mention this girl walking through the lobby as we were checking in. Backless dress, but I didn't need to see the back to see that she wasn't wearing a bra. Long, curly hair. Cowboy boots. And apparently not a "working girl" as valet parking had brought her car around. And maybe I'm flattering myself but it seems she did look back at me as she was going out the door.

I wonder if I could somehow stretch my trip here out to a few nights or weeks ....

Arrived in Kaohsiung Monday morning. Here's the view from my hotel room.


And as sunset approaches:

The hotel features a Hello Kitty shop in the lobby:


And a Hello Kitty car parked out front:


As you can see, there's an Outback Steakhouse near the town's famous Love River. Fortunately I did not have to eat there.


Here's a tale about the Love River. Years ago, at night, there would be hookers and pimps on scooters parked by the Love River. The hooker would be wearing a long coat with nothing underneath. The pimp would sell you a match for NT$50. You would then light the match, the hooker would open her coat, and you could look until the match burnt out. Folks, you can't make this stuff up.

The day was a series of retailer visits. Here at Costco, the watch on top sells for NT$744,000. That's more than US$22,000. Think about it. You want to spend $22,000 on a watch. Are you gonna go to Costco where you have to fill out the SKU number on a little slip of paper and try to find someone to check stock for you? Seems extremely odd to me.


The new Dream Mall in Kaohsiung features a ferris wheel on top of the mall.


The mall is anchored by the Japanese department store Hankyu. There's also a Marks & Spencer there. There is a central outdoor courtyard. You can sit outside there but they have ads blasting at top volume, making it an extremely unpleasant experience. I suppose they think the impact is that it will send you running back into the mall for more shopping, but to me it just shows contempt for the customer.

Clouds over the city at sunset, taken from my hotel room. (I am loving the Canon G7.)



For dinner, I was taken to this very local style seafood place. Seemed very popular and I was told that each night by 9 PM they'll sell out on the most popular dishes.


Some of the selection, if you get there early enough (we got there at 6:30):


While at Costco, we picked up a couple of bottles of wine to go with the dinner. That may help to explain why the focus is a little soft on some of these pictures. We were five people and had 12 dishes. This is "oyster sashimi," chopped up raw oyster with spring onion, japanese radish, wasabi:

On the left is squid slices, on the right shrimp balls:

This is rice noodle with shredded pumpkin:

Abalone:

The guys hard at work in the kitchen:

We also had fish soup, steamed prawns, steamed crab, a salad that consisted of baby bamboo and bitter melon, plate of roasted bamboo, couple more plates of veggies. Everything was very fresh and tasty.

After dinner, off to karaoke in a hostess club. Sorry, no photos of that! The girls were all tall, all wearing floor-length gowns slit up to the hip on the side. None of them too attractive but none too ugly either; very minimal English spoken. I started to think about the nasty way in which these clubs turn the women into objects, even as I sat there with two women with their arms around me. And in the interest of getting nice tips, these women were quite enthusiastic about their work. They keep pouring whiskey down my throat and when they removed my shirt, I stopped thinking about much of anything ....

Off to Taichung shortly.

Two! Two! Two posts in one.

When I travel to Shanghai, I always book a hotel car to pick me up at the airport. The taxi stand is a free-for-all, practically a melee, and I rarely have the desire to deal with it. Maybe it's improved in the past year or two, I don't know.

(The last time I took a taxi from the airport, it broke down on the highway. Another taxi driver stopped to pick me up and the two drivers got into a fight and I was almost hit by a truck running to the working taxi and being chased by the first driver. I don't need that excitement.)

This time, I was staying at the Four Seasons and my driver was a 40-something year old man named Jason. Jason spoke far more English than any Shanghai hotel driver I've ever had. And he was patient with what's left of my Chinese. I mentioned to him on the ride to the hotel that I had studied putonghua for one month at Fudan University. We talked back and forth for the entire ride, in a mixture of English and Chinese. He let me smoke in the limo. He told me his English name and his Chinese name and asked me to specially request him for the return trip to the airport.

On arrival at the hotel, I had no small bills. Normally I would just apologize to the driver and run into the lobby. But I liked this guy too much to stiff him. I tipped Jason 100 RMB. He acted as if that was the largest tip he'd ever received - possibly it was. And in a city where you can get a good meal for under 10 RMB (if you know where to go), 100 will go a long way.

Now, when I leave Shanghai, I generally take a taxi to the airport, depending on the time of day and the weather. (There are no taxis to be had in Shanghai during rush hour or when it rains.) But this time, I decided to book the hotel car and requested that Jason be my driver. Of course he remembered me. And he surprised me by remembering my Chinese name.

I sat in the back seat and closed my eyes. After a short while, he woke me up. It seemed that since we were early and traffic was light, we had some extra time so he decided to take a detour. We were parked outside of the entrance to Fudan University. He thought I'd like to see it again.

(Oh yes, we made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare and Jason received another generous tip.)

Despite what you might have read or heard elsewhere, there are still some extremely nice people in Shanghai.

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Tonight I was supposed to go out but stayed in. I didn't sleep much the night before. I was hoping to catch up on my sleep on the airplane, but was seated next to a chatty Australian bloke making his first visit to Hong Kong. He talked for most of the flight and I tried my best to answer his questions. So on getting home, I was more tired than I anticipated.

So instead of going out, I watched Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain. I thought it had the most beautiful trailer of any movie in 2006. However, the movie really polarized audiences. In its debut at a film festival, it was booed at the end. Rotten Tomatoes scores it 50%. So it took me awhile to work up the will to watch it.

Spoilers Ahead:

Here is the plot of the movie in a nutshell. There is a research doctor named Tommy (Hugh Jackman). His beautiful and intelligent wife, Izzi (Rachel Weisz, Aronofsky's wife), is dying from a brain tumor. She dies. He goes a little crazy. He gets better. End of story.

All accompanied by some incredibly beautiful photography (Matthew Libatique) and production design (James Chinlund).

Okay, there's this bit that takes place in the 1500s, when Queen Isabella of Spain tells conquistador Tomas to find the tree of life in the New World and that if he does, she will be his Eve. That's just a re-enactment on screen of the book Izzi is writing when she dies. And there's a bit set in the far future, as Tommy and Izzi (who is now a tree) travel through the universe in a huge snow globe towards a star worshipped by the Mayans. That's just Tommy's subconscious, insane visions.

It's a trifle of a story, which takes 96 minutes to tell. It attempts to be poetic, elegiac, the stuff that dreams are made of. In the hands of a far better writer, it might have added up to a lot more than it did. It's not a complete failure but it's far from a triumph.

In part, there isn't a lot of chemistry between Jackman and Weisz. She's radiant, continuing a tradition hearkening back to Ali MacGraw of looking stunningly beautiful as she's dying from a debilitating disease. He's grumpy, alternating shouting at people and then apologizing. The relationship is given to us in shorthand and we're supposed to fill in the missing pieces. We're supposed to believe that Jackman will be a better person for having gone through this and for having learned the lesson in the book that Weisz was writing, but we don't really care for him all that much in the first place.

The basic elements are there but a lot of the important pieces are missing, merely hinted at. The result will leave some people scratching their heads, some people bored, only a very tiny few will be emotionally moved.

The first round of shots with my Canon G7.

This shot, at Xintiandi at night, shows that the flash is pretty frickin' powerful for a compact camera.


Dinner at Xinjishi at Xintiandi. This dish is one of their signature dishes, "grandmother's pork."


Some chicken, a prawn and a shitload of pepper:


Crabmeat served in a ceramic crab:


This shot was taken without a tripod:


An older house in the central city, how much longer can it survive?


Another hutong like area in the central city:


Taken from my hotel window. Note on the right side, the Jin Mao Tower in Pudong (which includes the Hyatt, the world's tallest hotel) is in the process of being dwarfed by a new building to the right:

Again, taken from my hotel window, no tripod. Clearly, the IS and the high ISO are working in tandem nicely:



This is what I wanted, a camera that weighs very little and which can capture everything I want without my having to put too much thought or effort into getting the shots. I think this is going to get me out of the camera upgrade race for awhile.

People some times ask me why I don't do major medical things with Hong Kong doctors, why I choose to go to Thailand. It's not just the cost in HK, it's not just the women in Thailand. A member of my staff came down with a serious illness. At a major HK hospital they opened him up, pulled out his intestines, snipped off some bits, and literally stuffed them back in.

That last bit is in bold because he required a second surgery a week later for the sole purpose of "untangling" his intestines because they didn't bother to put them back properly the first time. I mean, well, have you evah?

I've managed to have three not bad meals this trip yet have not had (and probably won't have) any xiao long bao.

Yesterday's lunch at a new spot in an army-owned compound behind Julu Lu. This used to be Vietnamese restaurant Cochinchina, now it's called FCC but is not the Foreign Correspondents Club. They have two menus - one Vietnamese and one Mediterranean. We ordered from the Vietnamese menu and it wasn't all that authentic but still managed to be very tasty. The best part was that we could sit outside on the balcony of this old pre-1949 house, overlooking the park area in the compound. And there were three very attractive women at the next table - Chinese but talking in a mixture of Cantonese, Mandarin and English. If only I had the skillz to pay the billz.

Last night's dinner at Xinjishi, the branch at Xintiandi, where I made sure that the dinner included two of my favorite dishes there, "grandmother's pork" (super tender double cooked cubes of pork belly in a thick brown sauce) and little nuggets of chicken stir fried with about 5 pounds of peppers - they don't use the round Sichuan peppers though so the dish is not as spicy as one would think. Also some crabmeat in a thick sauce served inside a ceramic crab. (Three women at the next table again, a different three, duh, and only one attractive.)

Today's lunch at another new place, next to the new FCC restaurant, a Chinese restaurant with some difficult name, I think maybe Laomanke or something along those lines. We started with two cold dishes - one was marinated mantis in a vinegary sauce (perhaps some Chinese wine in there) and tea-smoked "wild" duck which was really fantastic. Then some not-really-Sichuan not-at-all-spicy Sichuan chicken, some tofu in a brown sauce, some veggies and the piece de resistance - foie gras in a brown, almost curry-ish Chinese sauce, which was prepared on a cart alongside our table. Not quite as smooth as the foie gras I'd recently enjoyed at the French bistro in Knutsford Terrace (which was world class) but not too shabby either.

Also today found a terrific little DVD shop - a selection as vast as the legendary Ka De Club stuffed into a shop just one quarter the size. After an hour I had only gone through about half of their titles and was too tired and hot to keep on going. Huge selection of Japanese and Korean films, tons of Criterion and other European titles, a selection of documentaries that was equal to their selection of animation. And a big sign in English in the window saying that they guarantee all their discs and anything defective can be exchanged.

Tonight maybe back to Xintiandi for dinner, don't know yet.

Didn't yet mention that the camera I settled on was the Canon G7. 10 megapixel, 6x optical zoom, and capable of full manual control as well as all the usual automatic modes. I didn't mind a slightly larger camera because I tend to carry some sort of shoulder bag or backpack every day, the larger size fits my hands better and overall it has a nice retro look that appeals to me. In terms of controls, it features a scroll wheel around the control button that serves different uses depending on what mode you're in, and makes the camera much easier to control. It has image stabilization and Canon's latest DIGIC III processor, which includes face recognition. The camera starts up fast and has almost no shutter lag.

Of the major complaints in all the reviews I read, most of them are not an issue to me. It seems that unlike the previous G6, this no longer supports the RAW format (which I never used) and no longer has a swiveling LCD screen (which I can easily live without). The optical viewfinder is horrendous - what you see in the viewfinder represents just two thirds of the actual image you're capturing and the lens takes up the entire left corner when you're in wide-angle mode. But so far, on the 2-1/2 inch LCD, everything is coming out fabulously. All of the reviewers seemed to agree that photographic quality was excellent.

The true test for me will be when I get home and look at the stuff on the big screen; forgot to pack a card reader. If the stuff comes out as nicely as I hope, will post some photos after I get home.

Last and far from least, an email from the friend I had dinner with on Wednesday night here in Shanghai. He wrote to me, "your innocence outshines your appetites."

Hey. How are ya? How's it going?

Ya know, I really oughta get outta here on Friday. Instead I'm staying till Saturday. Everything I needed to do is done. But I'll stay the extra night.

So I was standing in Manhattan Bar, you know the one, on Tongren Lu. The DJ was playing utter crap but one o' the two coyote dancers on stage was freaking unreal. And of the 50 or so women in the joint, maybe half Filipino, half otherwise, maybe 3 or 4 were truly pretty. Maybe 3 or 4 were truly scary. The rest in various stages along the middle range. The problem was that none of the pretty ones would come over to me, even though I'd make eye contact and smile. They all wanted me to go over to them, except I was really comfortable where I was.

And then this gorgeous one came in, showing a lot of skin. We locked eyes and she came over. I asked her where she was from, knowing full well she was Filipino. As soon as she opened her mouth, it was one of those "oh shit" moments. "I'm half Mexico, half Philippines," (s)he said in a deep voice. (Why is it transsexual Filipinos always claim they're only half Filipino, half something else? Discuss.) "I'm sorry darlin', I think you're bakla." "Do you like bakla?" "That's not my style." "I'm a woman!" (s)he protested. "Maybe now but you're not arguing with me on the bakla bit, sorry." And fortuitously, off she went.

And as I was standing by the wall, looking around, taking in rest of the view, such as it was, I became aware of a Chinese lady standing next to me. And she was quite tall. Which I like. But I couldn't really see her, she was too close. I was tempted to tell her that, to say, "I can't see you, you're too close, could you move a bit farther away."

And then I thought, blinding revelation (fueled by Jack Daniels). I can't see you, you're too close, could you move a bit farther away. That's a metaphor for my entire life.

And then I thought, wow, what a great inspiration. What a deep thought. I need to share it with the world!

And then I thought, oh bfd, it's a metaphor for almost everyone's life, not just mine, and almost everyone already knows it, everyone except me.

So I kept my mouth shut and returned to my hotel where I shall now attempt to go to sleep.

Thus endeth tonight's lesson.

Can I get an amen? I'd prefer an awoman. (Sorry. They paid Robin Williams millions for that joke. He used to be funny.)

Ma Lik says he may have been "rash and frivolous" in his comments on the June 4th massacre. But he still says it was not a massacre. Even Ma will admit that hundreds were killed (general opinion is that the true number is at least 3,000) but says it was not "indiscriminate" killing.

Does anyone see the irony in the leader of a political party which has the word "Democratic" in its name coming out and saying that Hong Kong should not have democracy?

In an expected move, James Tien of the Liberal Party has also announced that June 4 1989 was not a massacre.

Conventional wisdom in Hong Kong is that if you find James Tien siding with you, you need to seriously question your position.

In this New York Times article on elections in the Philippines, they have quotes from "regional military spokesman Maj. Randolph Cabangbang." Cabangbang? What were the odds he'd end up in the military?

But for extremes of lunacy, one needs look no further than Hong Kong. Ma Lik, chairman of the Really Stupid Party Democratic Alliance for the Ruinment and Destruction of Hong Kong, was quoted yesterday as saying that Hong Kong people shouldn't have the vote because they still believe there was a massacre in Tiananmen Square. Which leaves two choices - the man is a complete idiot or completely without scruples, willing to say whatever Beijing wants him to say in return for ten bucks and a bottle of whiskey.

He explained his comments today, whilst wearing a red nose, a fright wig and size 37 shoes, as quoted in the SCMP:

"We should not say the Communist Party massacred people on June 4. I never said that nobody was killed, but it was not a massacre. A massacre would mean the Communist Party intentionally killed people with machine guns indiscriminately. How could people say bodies were minced under the tanks? Has anybody tried mincing meat under tanks?"

My money's on complete idiot.

I buy too many magazines and spend too little time reading them. Such is not the case with the current issue of Vanity Fair (UK edition). Kept me busy for the entire flight to Shanghai and there's enough left over for the return flight as well.

Pictures of Queen Elizabeth taken by Annie Liebovitz.

Healthy excerpts from Ronald Reagan's White House diaries.

Splendid lengthy article from Nick Tosches on the inner workings of the Tsukiji fish market and the history of sushi in the US.

Great editorial from editor Graydon Carter that starts out like this:

Imagine this: The world's premier military and economic superpower (let's call it Country A) gins up a war against a faraway opponent (Country B) after it refuses to kowtow to Country A's wishes. Country B, it should be said, is rich in the essential resources that A requires to continue its expansion. A showers B with name-calling invective and then, with war imminent, A's leaders predict that B will collapse almost immediately. But not only does B not fold—it rallies and fights back guerrilla-style. Meanwhile, in Country A the war's architects and proponents are accused of misjudging the enemy. Country A's leader (let's call him George) is accused of being ill informed and downright ignorant of the people and customs of Country B. Within A, tensions rise and the nation divides on the issue of the war. Country A throws everything it can at B—including a number of "surges"—and still B fights back. After eight long years of warfare, Country A concedes defeat, and from those ashes, B rises to become the next great sphere of influence in the world.

If you're thinking Country A is the U.S., you'd be wrong. A is late-18th-century Great Britain under the reign of another failed George, George III. Country B is the formative United States of America.

Incredibly scary article by Christopher Hitchens on the rise of radical Islam in the UK.

Michael Wolff calls Rudy Giuliani insane, and means it.

The Yoga Portfolio - stunning photo portraits of some of the key figures in the current yoga movement, celebrities and non.

Cullen Murphy attributes the fall of Rome to privatization and says the U.S. is going the same way.

And more ....

Don't wanna be totally silent here and give the wrong impression. What's going on isn't what some people think. It's not all bad, it's not all good, it just is.

So, externally, the album I'm playing the most this week is about a year old, A Blessing and A Curse by the Drive-By Truckers. They have several lead singer/songwriters and the band sounds different depending on who's in front for the song. Musically not very original but I like the sources they draw from and I like their lyrics. And while I liked it on initial release, it didn't get stuck on repeat play till this week. This one's called Gravity's Gone, by Mike Cooley, and it has an alt-country feel to it:

I went stumbling through the fog trying to find a reason for the things I told her
She woke up sunny side down and I was still thinking I was too proud to flip her over
Between the champagne hand jobs and the kissing ass by everyone involved
Cocaine rich comes quick and that's why the small dicks have it all

So I'll meet you at the bottom if there really is one
They always told me when you hit it you'll know it
But I've been falling so long it's like gravity's gone and I'm just floating

Those little demons ain't the reasons for the bruises on your soul you've been neglecting
You'll never lose your mind as long as your heart always reminds you where you left it
And don't ever let them make you feel like saying what you want is unbecoming
If you were supposed to watch your mouth all the time I doubt your eyes would be above it

Between the champagne hand jobs and the kissing ass by everyone involved
What used to be is gone and what ought to be ought not to be so hard

This one's called Aftermath USA and has a mid-to-late period Faces feel, which definitely matches the lyrics:

When I crawled out of bed this morning
I could tell something wasn't right
There were cigarettes in the ashtrays
They weren't your menthol lights
There were beer bottles in the kitchen
And broken glass on the floor
Someone must have slipped me something
Passed out a couple days before

The car was in the carport sideways
Big dent running down the side
Never seen anything as frightening
As when I took a look inside
Smell of musk and deception
Heel marks on the roof-line
Bad music on the stereo
All the seats in recline

The aftermath staring me right in the face
I'll get around to breaking even one of these days

My credit cards have all been maxed out
The meat in my freezer all thawed
The IRS laid the facts out
It's all worse than I thought
The welfare lady said enough is enough
The kids ain't been to school in weeks

Crystal-meth in the bathtub
Blood splattered in my sink
Laying around in the aftermath
It's all worse than you think

Even on the Spike Scale of Life, last night was pretty freaking weird.

Unfortunately, dear readers, I do not intend to document said weirdness here. Am merely noting it. Life, especially mine, is never simple and the complexity is purely of my own making and doing.

Going to Shanghai tomorrow for a few days. The timing is excellent.

"You can't make up anything anymore. The world itself is a satire. All you're doing is recording it." Art Buchwald.

With the above in mind, it seems as if Hemlock has actually gone and published a book. Not the long threatened Tung Chee-Hwa autobiography, How I Trashed Asia's Greatest Economy or something to that effect. Nope, it's called We Deserve Better - Hong Kong Since 1997 and it seems to be an actual book and seems to be available from Paddyfields (and eventually from Amazon?).

I was thinking he had self published, but it comes to us from Chameleon Press and would seem to fit in well with their existing line-up, which includes Panda Packs Her Bags, Sasha Visits Bali and How to Raise a Money-Wise Child. Not to forget Fruit Dreams by the wonderfully named Roseanne Thong and Jeremy Wagstaff's Loose Wire. (Come to think of it, if you're drunk enough, Wag Staff could be a rather rude name as well. And I would happily patronize any establishment named Wagstaff @ Thong.)(Anonymous commenter: You already do. Me: Shut the fuck up.)

In all seriousness, or as much seriousness as I'm able to muster on this gloomy Monday afternoon, congrats to Hemlock on the publication and I wish him every success.

Have not been blogging personal stuff because, as sometimes happens, I'm in the midst of things that could be disrupted by doing so.

If you're not a geek or a nerd or a psychiatrist trawling blogs looking for new patients, you probably should skip the rest of this.

Thinking about cameras. Right now I have three. I have the Nikon D80, for when I'm trying to take serious photos. I have the Canon Ixus 700IS, which by and large I was pretty happy with. And I have the Sony T100, which I bought semi on a whim. My options at the moment are to sell either the Canon or the Sony ... OR sell them both and get something else. I'm not happy with the T100 over the long haul because for a snapshot camera, it seems to require a lot of fiddling to get the best results. And while I've liked the Ixus 700 IS, I do suffer from upgrade-itis and just knowing there's the 800 IS now means I can't sleep at night knowing that the 700 is on my shelf.

A friend who takes a lot of photos on a daily basis has one of Canon's Powershot A series cameras and seems to get consistently good results. There is the Powershot A710 IS, which looks nifty. Except megapixel.net rates the A710 an 8.4 for functionality and a 9.6 for photographic qualities, while they rate the Ixus 700 9.2 and 9.6. (They haven't reviewed the Ixus 800 IS yet).

Now Canon is about to replace the Ixus 800 IS with the 850 IS. The A710 is six months old, so that will probably be replaced soon as well. And there's also the S5 IS, packing a 12x optical zoom, but that's going to be a bit bigger physically than I'd want.

So waiting to see when these new ones are due out and what they'll cost.

In the meantime, having finally decided what size and shape bag suits me best, not finding it locally and having read many reviews online, I went for the Cargo bag from Waterfield. Industrial strength construction and some leather trip to make it look nice.


I figured as long as I was at it, I'd get the combo set. And then the iPod gear pouch as well.



I expect these in the next 10 days or so.

And then, in order to fly my geek flag high, I went for this shirt, containing a certain famous encryption code:



And then completely over the top, this bluetooth handset:

Both are from ThinkGeek.

Yeah. This is all due to the fact that my company pays annual bonuses late, I didn't have much to do this weekend, and decided to burn off the rest of what I'd set aside for spending.

Yeah, I know there's a certain percentage of you out there that wants to read about what passes for my love life or further adventures in Wanchai. Not now. Maybe later.

Trying to momentarily chill from my outrage over the recent internet conviction and fine, I've found the perfect thing.

No, it's not the bizarre new release from Lou Reed which I spotted today, Hudson River Wind Meditations, four instrumental tracks (two of which are described as being basically Doppler-effect sine waves) meant to be played while you're doing tai chi. I passed on that one.

What I picked up was a new DVD from Santana, Hymns For Peace - Live in Montreux 2004. His regular band is augmented with - take a deep breath - Wayne Shorter, Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, John McLaughlin, Steve Winwood, Angelique Kidjo, Patti Austin, Nile Rogers and more. Two discs, DTS sound.

Given the theme of this show, there are none of the usual hits. The song selections relate to the theme, and include Afro Blue, Redemption Song, Exodus, Get Up Stand Up, Blowin' in the Wind, What's Going On, In a Silent Way, A Love Supreme and Give Peace a Chance. Right now Adouma's on, I'm watching Angelique shaking her hips in front of Corea while he's trying to solo.

I'm going to finally need to figure out how to rip the audio off a DVD, this needs to be in my iPod.

Following a comment made a couple of hours ago, I needed to get more details on a story from today. Here are excerpts from the SCMP account:

A Hong Kong man who posted a message with an internet link to an overseas pornographic website was fined yesterday for publishing an obscene article via the internet.

The prosecution and conviction, the city's first under the Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance, involved the use of a common computing technique, the police's commercial crime bureau said.

The judgment has worried the local internet community, particularly with regard to possible constraints on the free flow of information.

Questions were also raised on whether guidelines are sufficient to halt online distribution of obscene material.

Woo Tai-wai, 48, pleaded guilty in Kwun Tong Court to publishing eight obscene photos via a local internet forum.

He provided a linked message which, when clicked, would enable other forum users to access an overseas pornographic website showing the photos.

Deputy Magistrate Jason Wan Siu-ming fined Woo HK$5,000 in light of his guilty plea and clean record.

He also said that while the articles at issue were obscene, they were not extreme or of deviant taste.

Internet Society chairman Charles Mok Nai-kwong said the court case, the first prosecution of its kind in the city, raised more questions than answers.

"It worries us as in this case the court has given a new direction to the public concerning the responsibility of internet users," he said, as well as affecting the notion of freedom regarding the distribution of information on the internet.

"It may cause damage to the freedom of information on the internet. This man posted a link on the internet, which now becomes an act that constitutes the breaking of law, and my question is whether a link is being regarded as the `obscene article'."

Mr Mok said he was also concerned that materials connected to links are changeable.

"Materials behind a link are always changeable. It could be pornographic material behind the link on the day of his arrest, but it could be something else on the day he posted the link," he said. "Where should the authority draw the line?"

He said popular search engines such as Yahoo and Google carried links to porn sites. "In cases where search engines list out all the links to pornographic websites, is it justifiable to ask whether these would have to undergo censorship as they also provide these hyperlinks to obscene articles?

"We are not encouraging the distribution of this kind of material, but I suggest more guidelines from the government for internet users," Mr Mok said.

The court heard in mitigation that Woo saw similar messages being posted at the forum and therefore did not know it was an offence.

Woo was remorseful, and he had just wanted to share the photoes "with other netizens", the court was told.

The case came to light when the Television and Entertainment Licensing Authority received a public complaint last November about obscene articles on the popular internet forum uwants.com.

The forum's webmaster checked records and found the message was posted by "fireman 1324" at the chat room "Adult Images Posting Area".

The IP address belonged to the defendant.

Police raided a Sham Shui Po flat and arrested Woo, who confessed and said the message was posted via his home computer.

"I uploaded the pornographic [link] to uwants.com but I didn't know it constituted an offence," Woo told police on his arrest.

The court heard that Woo had made no financial gain from the publication of the link.

So fucking much for fucking freedom of speech in fucking Hong Kong, huh?

It's a damned shame this guy pleaded guilty. But considering that he lives in Sham Shui Po, odds are he wouldn't have been able to afford proper legal representation. Too bad he didn't get that professor who is representing the bad movie bit torrent guy. And too bad we don't have the equivalent of an ACLU to take up the case.

UPDATE: My thanks to boingboing for linking to my story on this. We need to publicly spread the word and express our outrage at this idiocy in the hopes that this will not be repeated.

An Eternal Thought in the Mind of Godzilla - blog of Patrick Macias, gaijin expert on Japanese pop culture. His most recent book - are you ready? - is Japanese Schoolgirl Inferno: Tokyo Teen Fashion Subculture Handbook.

Hong Kong Pussy Fest - "I am a married man with children living in Hong kong. I am fat, middle age man that is not particularly attractive but get so much pussy that I am absolutley astounded. I kind of treat this like a sport and go out to meet new gals just so I can have sex with them. I have a problem don't I?" Nope, not another blog by me. I'm not married and don't have children.

More to come (no pun intended).

Like many westerners in Asia, I've assumed that if I ever do get to the point where I can retire, it would likely be in Thailand. Reports like this one (found via boingboing) are making me think twice about that assumption.

Thailand's National Legislative Assembly approved a controversial law this week which could seriously effect how Thailand's internet users use the web. The main effect of the bill is to outlaw any attempt at bypassing government censors to access any of the thousands of sites that have been censored due to their moral or political purposes.

This single law could put Thailand in the same category as China and Burma with regards to censorship and the lack of a democratic right for free speech.

YouTube is just one of the thousands of "forbidden" sites. There is an online petition where one can register one's disgust at this proposed action. (The comments field there also contains links to other similar petitions.)

At the same time, this report (found via noodlepie) suggests that things are opening up in Vietnam:

Vietnam will permit foreigners working in the country to buy houses, local newspaper Youth reported Tuesday.

Under the scheme compiled by the Construction Ministry and submitted to the government for approval, those eligible for house purchases include people who directly come to Vietnam for investment or make contributions to the country and receive medals, or scientists who are bestowed Vietnamese academic titles and degrees, experts in socio-economic fields, highly-skilled workers, and persons who get married to Vietnamese citizens.

To buy houses in Vietnam, the people must meet three criteria: they are working and living in the country, they have entered Vietnam and been permitted to reside in the country for at least one year, and they will buy houses for accommodation for themselves and their family members.

Sure, they have a long way to go in a lot of different areas but this is a positive step forward IMHO.

I've seen lots of coverage on this all over the place, but this is a nice succinct summary. From Andy Ihnatko, writing for the Chicago Sun-Times, via LexisNexis, via ContentAgenda. The only thing is that it's the MPAA and not the RIAA that's going bonkers over this if I'm not mistaken.

More guffaws from the record industry; Heavy-handed group goes from comic to tragic

I don't know why the Kennedy Center is awarding the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor to Billy Crystal this year. For one, I don't think any of us have forgiven him for "Mr. Saturday Night" yet, despite the fact that it was released a decade and a half ago.

But mostly because, come on: if there's one American person or organization that's truly stepping up to the plate with exciting and ground-breaking comedy, surely it's the recording industry.

Pardon me if I'm savoring all of this, sensation-seekers. Because as a seasoned technology commentator I can sense that we're nearing the end of that phase when the recording industry's reaction to piracy and attitude towards the community of people who use and enjoy technology (i.e., anybody who doesn't strap on a black bonnet before heading out of the house in the morning) transitions from comic to tragic.

The latest high-water mark in the timeline of their unfolding dementia: their handling of what's become known as the 09-F9 Affair.

"09 F9" are the first two sets of digits in a 128-bit number that represents a "processing key" -- the super-triple-secret string that (along with a sprinkling of other mojo) encrypts HD-DVD and Blu-Ray discs, and prevents purchasers from ripping their movies into video files for their computers and portable players.

Some Clever People successfully extracted this key. The news, and the key itself, were duly reported by the usual tech news sites back in February, and then more or less forgotten. Nobody seems to be anywhere close to an iTunes-like HD DVD ripping tool.

I can sense that you're a wise person, both in the ways of the world in general, and in the broad problems of preventing theft and piracy.

You're thinking, "I suppose with millions of people trying to figure out a way to break the Advanced Access Content System, and consumers' relentless ongoing transition to digital media players, it was bound to happen."

And you're right. The first inroads against the scheme were logged last year, in fact.

"Well, what are you going to do?" you say, with a shrug. "Once information is out, you can't put toothpaste back into the tube, can you? 'Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change,' etc., as the old saying goes."

Indeed, dear reader, you show wisdom and maturity beyond your years.

The organization that stewards the Advanced Content Access System, for its part, shrewdly chose to have its lawyers send letters to every news site and blog that had ever published the key, threatening Old Testament-style legal retribution unless they immediately took it down.

It was a brilliant plan, and the Internet community's reaction last week was calm, reasoned, and served the goals of the organization.

Ha, ha! I guess I'm gunning for a Twain Prize of my own.

No, the Internet went more or less batspit.

I first learned of the kerfuffle when all of a sudden, two or three people on my buddy list had changed their Status messages to "09 F9 11 02 . . ." which had seemed vaguely familiar. A Google search of the entire sequence turns up, let's see, "about 1,720,000" hits.

So: somewhat short of a complete success for the Advanced Access Content System folks, then.

No digital rights management scheme can possibly withstand the relentless probing of millions of Very Clever People, many of whom believe that breaking a digital rights management scheme is a holy cause.

Moreover, digital rights management is simply bad for business. It marginalizes the content, consumers don't want it, and movies appear on file-sharing services long before they show up for sale at Best Buy anyway.

I suppose there's a silver lining to this. "09 F9 11 02 . . ." now joins "THX-1138," "CPE1704TKS," and others in the pantheon of immortal numerics that automatically provoke a chuckle of recognition among any properly geeky peer group. So you can't say that the modern entertainment industry never contributed anything to world culture.

When I read this SCMP article, via LexisNexis, via ContentAgenda some things just didn't make sense. This is the full text of that article: