Saturday, December 23, 2006

Christmas tree

I'll be leaving Hong Kong tomorrow... For the first time in my life, I'll spend my Christmas in a Muslim country.

Here's an interesting trivia, or something not very trivial (depending on your point of view) about Christmas tree.

Did you know that Christmas tree decorating and using the clippings of evergreen shrubs as decorations for Christmas has been a controversial practice at times in Western history? For instance, when the Roman Church decided in the fourth century that Christmas should be celebrated on December 25, some of the pagan celebrations of the Roman Saturnalia (celebrated at the same time of year) were carried over, such as feasting and exchanging gifts. But others were too controversial to carry over....

Using the clippings of evergreen shrubs from the landscape to decorate houses, a common practice during the December celebrations of Saturnalia, was strictly forbidden by the Church. The associations between decorating with evergreen shrubs and paganism were just too strong. Already in the early third century Tertullian had complained that too many fellow-Christians were falling into the Saturnalian rut by adorning their houses with lamps and with wreathes of laurel as Christmas decorations (Tertullian, "On Idolatry," XV).

But the controversy over Christmas tree decorating and using clippings of evergreen shrubs as Christmas decorations is not relegated to that remote epoch in history. In the sixteenth century John Calvin objected to observing the Christian calendar -- which includes Christmas and Easter -- because he felt such celebrations promoted irreligious frivolity. It was in this same century that Germany, by contrast, was establishing Christmas tree decorating as we know it today, launching the modern history of the Christmas tree. But in England the Puritans, influenced by Calvin, forbade the observance of Christmas (see "The Christian Calendar: A Complete Guide to the Seasons of the Christian Year," Cowie and Gummer). And it wasn't until the mid-nineteenth century, at the instigation of Prince Albert, that Christmas tree decorating achieved its present status in England.

Friday, December 22, 2006

Dog eating

4 guys were imprisoned for killing dogs in order to eat them.

I don't eat dogs. I have to state this before you think I'm a dog killer.

This is just like a case of racial discrimination for animals, why you put people who kill dogs into prison, yet allow people to eat pigs, chickens, whatever..??

Yeah, yeah, yeah, dogs are the best friends of human... if you keep a fairly intelligent animal, and you treat them well, many of them will become the best friends of human...

If it's not some kind of animal discrimination, what is?? This is all human perception. It's really weird thing how such a concept- "dogs are the best friends of human", a very Western concept, turned into something so many people believe in...

Weather

Want to do some research on the weather of the place you're going in order to choose what sort of clothes you're gonna pack? (Yeah, exactly what I'm doing right now)

I found two interesting sites, you probably know all other sites like I do before like weather.com, yahoo, BBC, CNN...

This one showed you the "Realfeel" temperature. "The RealFeel Temperature is an index that describes what the temperature really feels like. It is a unique composite of the effects of temperature, wind, humidity, sunshine intensity, cloudiness, precipitation and elevation on the human body--everything that affects how warm or cold a person feels."

Sounds good? Check this site out. One of the best things about this site is that you can find weather of places that you can't find anywhere else... like the places I don't know how to pronounce in Morocco... haha!

This one has a great concept as well. Do I need a jacket? You can just type in the name of the place you're going and see if you need a jacket! However, the one who created this site must be very strong. From the weather in Hong Kong right now, his conclusion is that we DON'T need a jacket?!!!

Thursday, December 21, 2006

New way to lose weight??

Maybe some day, we can take something like Yakult to lose weight...

Researchers found a strong connection between obesity and the levels of certain types of bacteria in the gut. That could mean that someday there will be novel new ways of treating obesity that go beyond the standard advice of diet and exercise.

According to two studies being published in Thursday's issue of the journal Nature, both obese mice and people had more of one type of bacteria and less of another kind.


Read the full article here.

My Itinerary

I'm going to work till 10pm on 23/12, then leave for airport at 7am on 24/12 (and be late, but I'm not going to arrive before 8am for a flight that leaves at 1105, why on earth did they set the assembly time so early??!!!)

Haha, this is my itinerary... as I said in the cbox... anyone needs anything from Paris, tell me...

24/12 Hong Kong- Casablanca
25/12 Casablanca-Rabat-Fes
26/12 Fes
27/12 Fes-Erfoud-Sahara
28/12 Erfoud- Ait Benddou- Ouarzazate
29/12 Ouarzazate- Marrakesh
30/12 Marrakesh-Casablanca
31/12 Casablanca- Paris- Hong Kong
1/1 Back to Hong Kong!!

Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Lois & Clark

I finally got all 4 seasons of Lois & Clark in DVDs!!! Unfortunately, the 3rd and 4th season did not have English subtitles... (I bought the US edition, coz it's cheaper) I can practically remember every word in every episode (hey I watched most of the episodes numerous times and checked every fan site and subscribe to discussion lists... I was crazy. I know.), there's no problem in understanding the words, but it'll be good to have English subtitles... anyway...

When I was in secondary school, I fell in love with this TV series. The most amazing thing about the series was how it dealt with a superhero as a normal person.

Superman was no longer a just super hero who is perfect in every way, no problem of his own, other than Kryptonite. He got to deal with his inability to save everyone, lawsuits, not being normal and trying to fit in, etc... And Lois was no longer a "vase", not just Superman's girlfriend. She had her own character, attitude and story.

It doesn't hurt that Dean Cain is SO gorgeous!!

I was so disappointed when the show was cut after the 4th season... It's one of the best TV shows I've ever seen.

Now I can finally throw away all those video tapes that's got mould on them...

Tuesday, December 19, 2006

Incubus Dreams

Writers tend to have a tendency to write better and better and then worse and worse. She is not the first writer I have come to like that ever has done that. Incubus Dreams is so awful that I stopped at page 180 to rant about it now.

Laurell K. Hamilton used to be one of my favourite writers. I don't particularly like vampire stuff, but I have devoured every book in her Anita Blake series. Everything on vampires, zombies, werewolves... Until Incubus Dreams.

Anita was a necromancer who had fallen in love with a vampire and a werewolf but struggled with her faith on her job and relationships. Great plot in all the books.

Now LKH is just inventing excuses to feed Anita's ardeur... (she feeds with sex, sigh, sounds like the plot of cheap bad porn...) with every monster in sight... what happened?? It's so boring... page after page of boring sex... If she doesn't know how to write them, stop writing!!

I can't even recommend her earlier books now, because if ANYone by ANY chance has come to love the books like me (and thousands of people in the world), he/she will be disappointed later... Just take a look at the reviews at Amazon.com... you'll know how unhappy her fans are...
sigh...

'Jailhouse Lawyer' Lectures Harvard Law Students

What good can a prisoner do? Study hard in prison and find a good job and help others after getting out of prison?? What if you have a life sentence with no chance of parole? Wallow in hopelessness?

Not this prisoner... He will be staying in the prison for the rest of his life. Yet he's teaching Harvard Law School through a speaker phone, trying to do what he can to change the future lawyers. All because he got an unfair sentence with the "help" of an overworked attorney.

"O'Bryant was determined to change those odds. He taught himself the law and is now teaching law students a lesson that can't be found in any textbook.

"We have to deal for the rest of our lives with what happens in that courtroom," he says. "And it's very important that they do what they can."

"He's reminded us of how important it is to really provide adequate meaningful counsel for those who are unable to obtain it," says Harvard Law student Lauren Smith, who's class has been lectured by O'Bryant.

O'Bryant's presence at Harvard has transformed the career goals of many students.

"They're giving up Wall Street, high salaries and all sorts of professional prestige and praise, to make sure that what happened to Chris O'Bryant does not happen on their watch," says Ogletree, the students' professor.

"I think it's something my career in the law is going to be focused on, is trying to find ways to give people a voice that don't have voices," adds Farbman, the review editor.

O'Bryant taught himself the law, filing handwritten appeals from behind prison walls. When his efforts failed, he focused his attention on helping fellow inmates appeal their own cases.""

Read the whole story here.

Monday, December 18, 2006

New Camera again


P1000056
Originally uploaded by amyhsk.
This is taken on the MTR with high ISO. Before I bought the camera, everyone says Panasonic cameras do really bad job at high ISO settings... not really good, but not very bad...

I found this great site about travel photography. If you're interested in travelling and photo taking, take a look, loads of very useful information!!

New Camera


P1000050
Originally uploaded by amyhsk.
I tried my camera out on the mini-bus and MTR on my way home... looks really stupid taking photos, so I took pics of the street. I tried out lots of function, hopefully I'll be more familiar with the camera function before I start my trip in a few days' time...

Sunday, December 17, 2006

Digital Camera! Finally!

I finally got my new DC from my friend!

Panasonic LX-2!! If you want to know more about it, click here. Black one, look so pro.

I'll put up some photos here later after I try it out. haha!

Man of the Year

Who's man of the year? Me! You don't believe me? Check this out. Maybe I should say "us"... hehe... It's person of the year, to be exact... Americans are really obsessed with being politically correct...

Friday, December 15, 2006

A baby who had only lived for 9 days...

For those of you who still haven't heard the story, this is from the Standard. Her story is a testimony of how God worked through the tiny little baby who was born with a congenital defect. And how God used the weak instead of the strong. A very touching story.

"She was tiny. Yet her nine days have not only imprinted marks of love on her parents but also awakened calls from thousands who have closely followed her story online.

Ko Lam-lam was born with a defective diaphragm and her parents knew about it when she was still in her mother's womb.

Her parents refused to follow the advice of doctors that she be aborted, insisting Lam-lam be given a chance, however small, it might be for she was their most precious gift from God.

Her father Ko Cheen-pang and mother Man-ki are Christians.

"We'll never regret that we had been together for only nine days," her parents told The Standard's sister newspaper, Sing Tao Daily. The couple also created a blog to store the "precious moments" they had with their little one.

Since the blog was created two months ago, more than 13,000 browsers have read Lam-lam's touching story.

Recently, the parents added a message to the blog dedicated to their daughter: "If there's ever a day God would ask us to choose between Lam-lam having never appeared before us at all or there being only nine days of union, we'll definitely answer `nine days."'

The story began on October 7, 2006.

Immediately after her birth, Lam- lam was placed in the intensive care unit only to be connected to breathing machines. She was quiet and inactive, without the cries which make parents rejoice. Doctors confirmed there was a hole in her diaphragm.

"Every time we heard the machine beep, we got uptight," Ko Cheen-pang said. The tiny girl passed her first day without a drop of her mother's milk.

The next day her parents were allowed to enter the intensive care unit to remain at her bedside, touching her soft skin and whispering to her. She opened her eyes, looking curiously at her parents for the first time.

"At that moment we, the family of three, were together," wrote the Ko couple.

Lam-lam showed more signs of life on day three. She was active and showed her tongue naughtily.

On day four, her limbs moved as she half-opened her eyes to look at her parents. Nurses brought her to another floor for a medical check.

It was the first time she left the intensive care unit.

As her parents began to believe their daughter was making good progress, a shock hit them again.

"Doctors said it was time for the surgery. They explained the worst-case scenario. We were very anxious. Our eyes were swollen with tears."

The doctors were about to operate on the stomach and extend the intestine to the lower end. This was a major operation for an infant who was only four days old.

Her parents waited anxiously outside the operation theater, hoping doctors would come out of the room with good news.

But the surgery failed and doctors suggested removing the breathing machine to end the girl's suffering.

Lam-lam was then baptized and blessed by many of her relatives.

On day seven, the doctors again asked the Ko couple the same question and the parents pleaded with them not to give up.

"It'll be very difficult. The chance of infection would be very high," said doctors.

Lam-lam's conditions worsened the next day. "Hold on if you want to see your dad and mum for one more minute. If you can't, let go and need not worry about your parents," the couple wrote. On October 15, her parents placed toys and clothes beside Lam-lam, made a print of her palm and changed her clothes. That night, she passed away."

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Team Hoyt

Someone forwarded this remarkable story to me about a father and his son.

"Dick and Rick Hoyt are a father-and-son team from Massachusetts who together compete just about continuously in marathon races. And if they’re not in a marathon they are in a triathlon — that daunting, almost superhuman, combination of 26.2 miles of running, 112 miles of bicycling, and 2.4 miles of swimming. Together they have climbed mountains, and once trekked 3,735 miles across America.

It’s a remarkable record of exertion — all the more so when you consider that Rick can't walk or talk.

For the past twenty five years or more Dick, who is 65, has pushed and pulled his son across the country and over hundreds of finish lines. When Dick runs, Rick is in a wheelchair that Dick is pushing. When Dick cycles, Rick is in the seat-pod from his wheelchair, attached to the front of the bike. When Dick swims, Rick is in a small but heavy, firmly stabilized boat being pulled by Dick.
"

Read the whole story here.

Watch the video on youtube here.

Horrible experience in getting my hair cut

You'd think I'm afraid to look at the mirror right now from the title?

You're wrong!

Yesterday, I had to work at 1pm, but I wanted to get a haircut in the morning. I don't want to spend time going to the hair salon I usually visit. There're a few "salons" near the building where I live, I had been there a few times long time ago, and I had the memory that they're ok.

SO I decided to go into one of those "salons"...

The glass door was covered, so I could not see the inside. When I opened the door and entered, I realised I had made a huge mistake... by then, the barber (he's more like a barber than a "hairstylist") was already telling me to sit down...

The more I looked around using the huge mirror in front of me, the more I wanted to go, but he was already preparing me for my haircut...

So what's so horrible there?

It's VERY dirty... no dust covering everything, no spiderweb, not THAT dirty, but still you could see dirt, and I expected the place to be clean...

I washed my hair immediately after going to home... I'll never enter that shop AGAIN!

Monday, December 11, 2006

Not the first time...

I just remembered today, yesterday's election wasn't not the first one I missed. I also missed the Christianity subsector poll last month.

Because I am eligible for voting in two different subsectors, I got the chance to compare the two, though I did not vote in either.

In my own professional subsector, I received various ads from different candidates. Most of them concentrate on the development and changes in my own profession (sometimes just a list of the positions they held in various organisations), rather than Hong Kong as a whole(which is to be expected in a subsector election, but frankly rather disappointing for me as a voter). There're slight differences but most of them are similar... Better pay, better hours...

As I mentioned in my blog yesterday, I don't believe ANY substantial changes can be made despite what the future CE may say during the elections... (The only way to get things done in the government, sadly, is to garner enough public support through the media. They never do things before that. Only after everyone is blaming the government for a certain problem, then and only then, they'll TRY to do something.)

Anyway, after reading through the ads, I still have no idea politically where they stand. I did read an ad on a newspaper yesterday with a list of pro-democrats in the various sectors. If I didn't read that, I would NOT have any idea whatsoever.

For the Christian sector, it's even worse. I never EVEN knew who was running. I just watched a TV documentary on this election a couple of hours ago, actually one of my university classmates (who's from a big church across the Island) ran in the election! He lost. All the 5 of his teammates lost. (They're all pro-democrats.) I did know a deacon from my church was also in the election. That's about it.

I know of some of the churches are more politically involved. In contrast to my own church that insists on separation of church and state. (I have no objection to this, don't take me wrong. See my views on this here.) I need a lot more information, and it's sadly lacking...

Overall, I'm happy with the result that Alan Leong got a chance to run for the CE next year. Not so happy about the whole election thing. (My views for democracy has changed quite a bit in the past couple of years, that's another long topic of discussion though... I'm going to stop here.)

Sunday, December 10, 2006

Voting

This week is the voting week. With the mayor election in Taiwan yesterday and the Election Committee Poll in Hong Kong today. For the whole week, news seemed to be all about elections.

I have always wanted to vote ever since I was a kid. I completed the voter's registration form myself a few days after my 18th birthday. (There was no upcoming elections at that time and hence no promotional campaign to get people registered. I just picked up the form myself!)

And I've NEVER missed voting UNTIL TODAY!

Last week, someone (who knew some of the candidates) reminded me to go and vote today, AS IF I need ANY reminder. I told him, "I can't go. I have to be on call from 8:30am (for 24 hours for anyone who doesn't know), and the polling centre is too far away from my home, and it opens at 7:30am, how can I vote? I didn't even bother to think whom I would choose from the list."

NOT THAT it makes any difference, Donald Tsang will still be the next Chief Executive. The government policies in our sector is not gonna be much different, no matter who becomes the chief executive. He's just going to give some empty or vague promises. I'd really like Alan Leong to get a chance to participate in the race though.

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Chinese...

Last time I went to Hangzhou, a very friendly local woman introduced us to various sights around when we met on a bus. She asked us if we were from Shanghai. We smiled and said, "No, we're from Hong Kong." I can understand that. Honestly we don't look that different from people who lived in Shanghai. We do look VERY different from people in Hangzhou, so I can understand why people mistook us for Shanghaiers.

The same thing happened today, but I'm VERY mad... I was shopping in a boutique, a saleswoman talked to me in PUTONGHUA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Can you believe that? Initially, I thought she was some new imigrant working in the shop, or I mistook some tourist from mainland as salesperson...

She repeated the question in Putonghua again...

Then when I looked extremely puzzled, she changed back to Cantonese...

Needless to say, I did NOT buy ANYTHING from that shop...

Progress Notes (9/12)

I was better today than I had expected... considering that I had woken up TWICE last night, and coughed non-stop for ONE hour each time before falling asleep again...

This morning, someone gave me some codeine tablets, a bit drowsy as expected, but the coughing seemed to improve, no control here, I do think it's the drug, coz my coughing got worse a few hours afterwards after its effect wore off...

Thank God, I still had my voice for the fellowship meeting this afternoon, albeit a weird one... I was talking to a friend of mine (who is also recovering from a cold), her husband said it was as if two MEN were talking...

Friday, December 08, 2006

Bored...

Whenever people learnt that I'm the only child in the family, they usually asked me if I was bored with no brothers and sisters. The truth is I never get bored at home. I know the word bored, when I'm at school, not being able to talk, not being able to read books secretly, THEN I'm bored.

When I was a kid, I read, and watch TV and play games with myself. I never remembered a time when I couldn't read. My mom said she couldn't remember it either. I've been reading like forever... In short, I'm NEVER bored at home.

Yet today I'm bored. I wanted to read, yet got so tired when I started reading... I wanted to surf on the web, nothing interesting on the web... My survey questionnaires are finally all back, yet I'm so tired that I can't face the task of entering data...

Just typing this makes my head ache...

Yet I can't sleep as I'm coughing non-stop... I tried to go to sleep but abandoned my attempt in 20 mins... When is this going to end?

My voice...

I'm losing my voice... and I'm on call on Sunday, it'll be really cheap to get sick leave when you're on call unless you're dying or something...

And tomorrow I'm responsible for the fellowship meeting...

sigh...

Everyone asked me whether I need to go home and rest today...

Don't call me unless absolutely necessary, I don't want to say anything... and I want to stop coughing...

I woke yo before 5 am this morning because of the coughing...

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Progress

I'm still sick... no longer feverish, no more muscle pain... coughing more and more though... maybe I'll lose my voice tomorrow...

How to plan for travelling overseas for dummies with a low budget? (Part 5)

For me, the most difficult part of travelling without a tour group is getting from place to place in somewhere without metro...

The problem for me is I don't know how to drive. Honestly, if I knew how to drive, renting a car would be expensive for me.

My solution is to join local day tours or local tours.

I strongly recommend this company if you're ever thinking about going to Ireland-- Shamrocker. I went to Newgrange from Dublin on this company's tour.

You can find a lot of day tours from this site as well-- Viator.com. For different countries in the whole world. I joined a tour from this site last time I went to Spain. I didn't like the tour though it was a cheap way to travel around. It was cheaper than train tickets. However, the tour was conducted in all sorts of different languages...

We got on the tour bus, then the guide started to speak in some sort of language I don't understand... then after a while, I raised my hand and said, "Sorry, but I don't speak Spanish!"

The man started to mumble something about he had already asked us before whether we understood him or not... Luckily, some guy from the States was sitting next to us, he said he did not hear him asking us anything in ENGLISH!

well... that day continued with everything explained in 3 or 4 different languages, the last one being English, so very boring day...

Wednesday, December 06, 2006

How to plan for travelling overseas for dummies with a low budget? (Part 4b)

After I finished part 4 on food, I recalled one more way I used to save on food during my first Europe trip.

There was this place in ?Milan (I couldn't remember clearly) with no self-catering facilities. One of my friends brought a mini electric water kettle. We bought some lettuce, and we cooked the lettuce in the water kettle that could only hold like one cup of water at a time... We spent more than 2 hours cooking the vegetables for 4 people...

Now you know why I spent less than HK$20000 on a 35 day Europe trip. Impressive, huh?

Getting sicker and sicker...

I think I most probably don't have a fever... but I feel feverish. Why do I need to be sick now? Why not one week later? I'm attending this course this week on study leave, which I have paid for. If I get sick next week, I can get sick leave...

Really difficult to concentrate when I'm sick...

Tuesday, December 05, 2006

Flu...

Yesterday it was just allergic rhinitis...

Now the runny nose seemed to turn into flu... I've got sore throat as well...

Digital Camera shopping

No, I still haven't bought the DC I wanted! I just want to vent my anger here!!!

I went to buy a DC for the professor who came to Hong Kong all the way from Australia to teach us in a revision course. We've decided on Canon IXUS 850IS. Great function, I would have chosen this one if I wanted an automatic camera. =P However, I wanted a manual one... (btw, for those who've been reading about my DC hunting story, Panasonic just dropped the price of LX 2 to 3990!!!)

However, both Broadway AND Fortress ran out of all their stock!!!

The two biggest electrical & electronic products stores in Hong Kong!

Then, what could I do? I went to another shop I've never bought anything from before CITICALL!! Why all the !!!? I need to warn all of you about the shop.

When I asked them, they told me the gifts they offered were exactly like the other two companies. I decided to buy it in case all the camera will be sold by tomorrow...

Then I realised the gifts are much worse!!!

Fortress offered high speed 1GB SD card, Broadway offered 2GB Toshiba SD card (at a slightly higher price or 1GB at a lower price). I didn't ask about the battery, but I was given a battery (not Canon one obviously) that looked horrible... like it's going to explode later...

And I asked if I could get the camera cheaper without the gifts. The salesperson said the price was fixed! (Broadway told me they could give me a further discount without the accessories...)

A HORRIBLE SHOPPPING EXPERIENCE! I would have waited for the camera from Broadway or Fortress if I were buying for myself. Unfortunately, I needed it THIS WEEK!!!

Remember, NEVER buy from CITICALL!!!!!!!!

Monday, December 04, 2006

The Day After Tomorrow

Most of the people who have got to know me for some time knew how environmentally conscious I am. I try to recycle everything I can. Not use air-con/walk as far as possible (I admit these are also for saving money, but hey, this is killing two birds with one stone.)

I just watched The Day After Tomorrow. The movie is entertaining, no matter how implausible the story is. Just wondering if the theory of melting icecaps disturbing ocean currents are really true. Probably no as fast as that, but may be possible??

My mom said movies were all lies and just lies. I said these movie makers created this just to tell us to protect our environment (and get a lot of $ out of it) .

I hated George W. Bush from withdrawing from the Kyoto treaty. Such short-sightedness. The vice president in this story is obviously him...

The math nerd is kinda cute too... haha!!

Sunday, December 03, 2006

How to plan for travelling overseas for dummies with a low budget? (Part 4)

You want to travel on a budget, what can you do?

You can save by walking for short distances. You can save by buying cheaper plane tickets. You can live in hostels or sleep in train stations. (I tried it once... that's NOT an experience I'll ever want to repeat...)

You probably can't save on admission fees (unless you're a student with and ISIC card), if you don't go and visit places, why do you bother to travel?

For Europe travel, the thing you can save most on is food. (For China travel, the only thing you need to do about food is choose one that's reasonably clean, most of the are cheap.)

Food is extremely expensive in Europe. A reasonable dinner costs like 5-6x that of a similar one in Hong Kong...

Ways to save on food (I have tried them before, so they're feasible, don't think I'm kidding)
1. Get as many loaves of bread you dare at your free breakfast from your B & B or hostel or hotel (if you're living in a hotel, I don't think you need to do this), and then you can eat them for lunch or even dinner if you get enough and can STILL stand bread... This is how I developed bread phobia from my first Europe trip...

2. Cook your dinner AND your lunch... Many hostels have self-catering facilities. Many people will cook their own dinner to save money. I cooked twice as much spaghetti I need at night and save some of them for lunch, treat them as cool noodles, you'll feel fine... they're much better than bread... but it costs extra $. You may look like an idiot when you sit somewhere in the street/park/stairs/wherever you are, take out your lunch box, and eat...

3. If you've got friends overseas, you can visit them. They may treat you for your dinner/lunch... but whether you'll be friends with them after these free food, hmm...

4. If you get embarrassed easily and refused to do 1-3, you can go visit supermarket daily and buy food that are on sale...

What can I say? I don't care about food. If you like eating... then save more before you go on a trip!

Saturday, December 02, 2006

How to plan for travelling overseas for dummies with a low budget? (Part 3)


Outside the Hostal
Originally uploaded by amyhsk.
Continue on my story about the hostal in Seville...

We went to Seville by a night train from Barcelona. When we arrived, it's daytime. We got off the bus at Plaza Encarnacion, walked across the street and arrived at our really beautiful hostal. It was situated just at the edge of a maze of fascinating alleys... great Spanish style, haha, well, as I know you're not exactly dummies, so you probably can guess what happen later.

We took care to get back to the place before it got real dark, but we needed to buy our breakfast and some water from the supermarket. The problem starts when we were going back to the hostal from the supermarket.

I didn't joke when I said it was a maze of alleys.

The alleys were so narrow, that they could barely fit a car. And you could see motorcyclists speeding through the alleys and drunkards holding beer bottles... you get the idea...

The worst thing was we got lost. The map was almost of no use inside the maze...

We were even more scared when someone noticed that we got lost and actually spoke to us in English!! We pretended that we didn't understand and ran like hell. Maybe that guy is really trying to help us, haha!!

To end the long story, I didn't regret choosing that place, coz it's really a beautiful place. I hated that map though. All the "streets" looked like streets on the map, when they're actually alleys with no street lamps.

Maybe you'll be surprised that I didn't know this... Hey, I'm from Hong Kong- a city that never sleeps!

continue next time...

Friday, December 01, 2006

Abstinence message goes beyond teens

The federal government's "no sex without marriage" message isn't just for kids anymore.

Now the government is targeting unmarried adults up to age 29 as part of its abstinence-only programs, which include millions of dollars in federal money that will be available to the states under revised federal grant guidelines for 2007.

The government says the change is a clarification. But critics say it's a clear signal of a more directed policy targeting the sexual behavior of adults.

Abstinence can be a good thing, but they THINK they can actually do this in the US??!!

"I think the program should talk about the problem with out-of- wedlock childbearing — not about your sex life," Brown says. "If you use contraception effectively and consistently, you will not be in the pool of out-of-wedlock births."

As for these people who opposes the program, seriously, you think contraception is 100% effective??!! What did they do with sex education?

Read the whole thing here...

Unexpected comment...

Ever since I was a kid, I got comments like "independent" from people.

Today, someone actually told me he found me not confident enough and tends to seek advice too much... Really??

Then I asked him for examples, he couldn't think of any, said it was an overall impression.

Really wanted to know what I did to make such an impression. I always thought I'd be perceived over-confident rather than the opposite... hmm...

Very surprised by this...

Thursday, November 30, 2006

Hong Kong Disneyland

I've never been there. Most of what I have heard about it are bad stuff...

Here's someone who actually like the place, read this...

How to plan for travelling overseas for dummies with a low budget? (Part 2)

The key thing for me is where to live.

I hated the process of travelling to different places every day with my luggage in tow... trying to find the place I have booked, the process takes like 1-2 hrs, or more if you haven't actually booked the place or got lost...

My solution is to choose a base where I'll travel from. Take my trip to Spain last year as an example, I used Seville for the base of exploring Andalusia, I travelled to Cordoba and Granada as day trips from Seville.

Then what you need to consider is how to travel to these other cities/towns. You want to travel by train, then you should live near the train station. Bus, then bus station. It'll be ideal if the train station is near the city centre OR if there's metro. Usually, you cannot get that in European cities.

When I went to Shanghai, I also used the same tactic-- Shanghai as a base of travelling to Suzhou, Zhouchuang and Hangzhou. I chose a hotel right next to the train station and the metro station. It's an extremely convenient way to travel.

Back to Seville, the metro was still under construction when I was there, and the train station was not exactly near the city centre...

I had to choose between city centre and train station... In the end, I chose neither. I can't say it's a mistake... it's something I wouldn't usually do, but it did cost me some problems...

I chose this hostal that is highly recommended by Let's go-- Hostal Lis.

A really great place, just click on the link above and you'll see what a beautiful place it is, and cheap!! And according to the web, it's just 10mins from the train station... In fact, you can even walk there to the train station, I tried that one day on my day trip to Granada, coz I took the early train ~6:30 am, and so I had to leave at 6am, no bus at that time... and I walked all the way to the train station...

You can also walked to the city centre, I tried that on my first day there, though we got lost. People in Spain can't speak English and we can't speak Spanish. With the help of body language, we finally found our way to the Cathedral. However, it took us like 2 hours... sigh...

What's the problem then?? (What?! I didn't consider getting lost a problem?? haha, yeah, not this time, if I hadn't lost my way, I'd never got the experience of trying to talk to Spaniards who didn't speak English and walked through streets no right minded tourists would ever go.) I'll continue later...

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

How to plan for travelling overseas for dummies with a low budget? (Part 1)

I was talking to some friends and found that some people actually find independent travelling a little daunting... I'm not talking about going to Antarctica. I'm talking about places like plain Europe.

You may have some expectations here when you read this, be warned that I'm not a person with unlimited time, so here I'm going for a real plan, very detailed one. I don't walk around in the streets for hours looking for a place to stay. I tried that the first time I went to Europe and MY SHOULDERS HURT with the backpack on!!!!

Let's get on with it...

First, of course you must already know that since you're reading my blog. Use the internet!! Everything you need to know and everything you don't need to know is on the web, you just need time to read them all. If you don't have the time, but have plenty of money, of course, it'll not be a problem coz you can hire someone to plan the itinerary for you.

For me, the first step starts with research on the web AND borrowing travel guides (usually Lonely Planet, and any other that are available) from public library. (Yeah, I said the low budget way!!)

Then you need to decide where exactly you want to go. Of course, you have already decided where you want to go, let me take my trip last year as an example. I have decided to go to Spain before the first step, and then I looked at various places in Spain and decided I want to go to Madrid, Barcelona, Seville, Granada, Cordoba, Avila, Toledo... (See I am really treating you like a dummy here. I'm not joking.)

Unless you have quit your job AND have unlimited budget (that means unless you're in your dreams!!), you have a time limit for your trip.

You decide if you can fit all those places in.

Say you have ten days.

2 days- Barcelona
1 day- Madrid
2 days- Seville
...

you get the idea...

Then you decide where you fly in and out of that country and join the dots together. And order the tickets and hotels/hostels online.

Sounds real easy?? It's not...

hmm... well, I'm going to share more of my experience in planning a trip later... that's it for today.

Continue to read here...
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4a
Part 4b
Part 5

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Funny thing today

The boss I am currently working under is a woman.

Today during lunch time, we were all sitting in the tea room chatting. A certain saleperson came in and asked, "Where's Anita King?" (The name of my boss but obviously a fake one here! What am I, an idiot?) To be honest, he was a little bit impolite in the way he talked.

She answered before anyone of us could, "She's not in right now. You can reserve an appointment with her secretary. She won't be here until afternoon." (She had a meeting elsewhere in the afternoon.)

As for the other people, we just looked at each other... suppressing the urge to laugh out loud...

Is it just me being busy??

I don't know, I would have thought ceasefire between Israel and Palestine was important news... how come I don't think I have heard this in any news report in the Chinese TV channels? Was I too busy that I did not notice? Or maybe the news report was too brief...??

Amos Oz, one of Israel's most prominent novelists, said it might be "the first flicker of light at the edge of the darkness". The ceasefire between the Israeli military and Palestinian fighters is only two days old, it only covers the Gaza Strip, not the still-occupied West Bank, and already it has been breached a number of times.

Maybe everyone knows this ceasefire is unlikely to be a real one... They can probably save time not reporting it, knowing that in a few days' time, it'll be over...

She has a really great sense of humour! This is hilarious!

If you don't know, Diana Gabaldon is my fav writer. #1 New York Times Bestselling Author on A Breath of Snow & Ashes (Book 6 on the Outlander Series)

I just found these videos today on youtube. Probably from some fans gathering...





Video of the Outlander series

Hold on! No, the movie/TV miniseries is still not here yet...

However, some fans got so impatient they actually made these videos or slide show(??). Wow! Anyway it must have took them a LOT of time.

I'm not such a crazy fan after all, I just check the compuserv community where Diana's very active every day... and re-read her books a hundred thousand times... yep, I'm not crazy AT ALL!



Monday, November 27, 2006

Tired...

I'm so tired today, after 12 hours at work...

And I forgot to watch Engine... I'm really tired...

Test your IQ (Remind me of childhood, always trying to answer these silly questions, haha)

Ready? GO!!! (scroll down)





First Question:You are participating in a race. You overtake the second place person.What position are you in?








Answer: If you answered that you are first, then you are wrong! If you overtake the second place person, and you take their place, you are second!

To answer the second question, don't take as much time as you took for the first question.

Second Question: If you are in a race, and you overtake the last person, then you are?














Answer: If you answered that you are second to last, then you are wrong again. Tell me, how can you overtake the LAST person?! You're not having a good time at this! Are you?

Very tricky maths! Note: This must be done in your head only. Do NOT use paper and pencil or a calculator. Try it.

Third Question: Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. Now add 30. Add another 1000. Now add 20. Now add another 1000. now add 10. What is the total?













Answer: Did you get 5000? The correct answer is actually 4100. Don't believe it? Check with your calculator!













Today is definitely not your day. Maybe you will get the last question right?

Fourth Question: Mary's father has five daughters: 1. Nana, 2. Nene, 3. Nini, 4. Nono.What is the name of the fifth daughter?













Answer: Nunu? NO! Of course not. Her name is Mary. Read the questionagain!
Okay, now the bonus round. You can partially redeem yourself with thisone!!!!!

Bonus Question:There is a mute person who wants to buy a toothbrush. By imitating the action of brushing one's teeth he successfully expresses himself to the shopkeeper and the purchase is done. Now if there is a blind man who wishes to buy a pair of sunglasses, how should he express himself?







Answer: He just has to open his mouth and ask. He's blind, not mute - so simple.
KEEP THIS GOING TO FRUSTRATE THE "SMART PEOPLE" IN YOUR LIFE

Sunday, November 26, 2006

Digital Camera

I want to buy a DC with manual control, possibly also wide angle, and optical image stabiliser... Not DSLR, they're too huge... I want to carry it around...

And there's only ONE choice, but people say Panasonic is bad... with a lot of noise... Canon is much better, I've got one Canon DC, it's quite good.

In this day and age, what're the camera companies thinking?? I'm not like requesting very special features... how come there're so few choices out there??

Now it's down to Panasonic LX2, Canon G7 (no wide angle), Canon S80 (no optical image stabiliser), Canon A640 (no wide angle, no OIS, but an adjustable LCD and real CHEAP!)

hmm... still thinking...

Saturday, November 25, 2006

And the richest fictional character is...

This is hilarious... from Forbes... I can't believe this...

"We still estimate Claus' net worth as infinite, but we excluded him from this year's rankings after being bombarded by letters from outraged children insisting that Claus is 'real'," according to a statement from Forbes.com.

Forbes.com said it took into account "the physical evidence - toys delivered, milk and cookies devoured" in removing him from consideration.

If Santa lost, who won? Read the full article here...

Friday, November 24, 2006

Bombing in Iraq

I am so sad after watching the news this morning about the recent car bombing in Iraq. More than 200 people died in this bombing. My mom told me she was confused about who was attacking whom when I discussed this with her. I explained that the Shi'ite is more pro-US and Sunni is the Saddam Hussein group, Sunni are killing Shi'ite.

As I was talking I realised I maybe fooled by the news, because this seemed like a children's story, where black and white are clearly defined. I was wondering if there's some political agenda behind all these that are not being reported... portraying Sunni as evil ones... And that's all I know... As you read from my previous post, I hate ignorance, especially in myself, haha, so I set out to search for the answers, you can read more about it here...

The US army will probably have to leave sooner or later with the people being fed up with the rising death toll of US soldiers.

What will happen to Iraq when they leave? Full blown civil war?

Finally decided!!

I am going to Morocco for my Christmas trip. Not Monaco (in case you're confused), Morocco is in Africa, whereas Monaco is in Europe.

I hesitated for a long time before deciding... coz I'll be back on 1/1/07 almost 6pm. That means when I finally get home it'll be at least 8 pm, and I have to work on the next day... Another thing is that I have been to Andalusia (Southern Spain) just last year, ans the architectural style seemed similar... Moorish style...

India or Morocco, India or Morocco, India or Morocco, India or Morocco, India or Morocco?

Finally Morocco won.

A colleague of mine told me India is real dirty, and she didn't like it. She's been to a lot of places , including Iran which was my first choice, if not for the lack of plane tickets...

So I'll be off to Morocco from 24/12 to 1/1.

If you still don't know where Morocco is, what you can see there, take a look at these amazing photos I found on the web. Wow!!

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Job Satisfaction

Just read a piece of news on the internet about job satisfaction in South Korea.

The survey showed photographers, pilots and bartenders are happiest with their jobs, whereas doctors, models and engineers gave their job the lowest satisfactory scores.

Rating from 1-5 (5 being happiest)
4.6 photographers
4.4 writers, composers, pilots
>4 bartenders, college professors teaching literature & politics, clergyman, monks, professional athletes
3.4 truck drivers, engineers, sales, actors, prison warden
2.8 doctors
2.2 models

As for pressure at work, it is highest among stock analysts, accountants, TV producers & reporters.

Is your job on the list? How happy are you with your job?

And I wonder why all these girls are fighting to be "America's next top model"... haha!! And why on earth am I working at all?? haha!!

The Long Road Home

A woman went home from Hong Kong to Britain riding a bicycle. She spent 7 months travelling across Europe and Asia, and raised a million dollars for children in Cambodia and Pakistan.

If you want to read about her journey, click here.

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Pompeii

I just read a friend's comment in my post about UNESCO World Heritage Site. Pompeii is really a must for Italy. Especially for people like me who like RUINS!!! I visited Pompeii as a day trip from Rome in 1999.

I bought an interesting book about ancient Roman Empire years ago in the UK (in one of the gift shops along Hadrian's Wall). It was written as if it had been an ancient newspaper.

I remembered one of the most interesting bit of news in that book was about Pompeii. (I can't find the book right now, so this is just from my memory.) A fortune teller predicted that in the future Pompeii would be known all over the world, and its arts would be copied by many. And the mayor was very happy with the prediction. Haha!!

We never know what will happen. Everything is in God's hands.

A Game of Thrones

Sometimes, a writer is so famous that I feel I had to at least try to read his/her books to see why he/she is so popular. That is why I started reading A Game of Thrones.

I had the feeling before I started reading that I would not like the book. Just after reading this review on Amazon.com. (GRRM is George RR Martin, the author of the book)

REASON TO NOT READ GRRM
(1) YOU LIKE YOUR MAIN CHARACTERS: GRRM does a good job of creating more likeable characters after a few die. But, if that isn't your style, you shouldn't be reading it. He kills off several, not just one, so be warned.
(2) DO NOT CARE FOR GRITTY GRAY CHARACTERS: if you like more white and gray characters, this may unsettle you. I suggest Feist or Goodkind or Dragonlance if you want a more straight forward story with strong archetypes.
(3) MULTIPLE POINTS OF VIEWS TURN YOU OFF: if you prefer that the POVS only go to a few characters, this might be confusing for you.
(4) SWEARING, SEX: there's a lot of it in this book just as there is in real life.
(5) YOU DEMAND CLOSURE AT THE END OF EVERY BOOK: this isn't the case for all stories in the series. Some are still going on; some have been resolved; others have been created and are moving on.
(6) IF YOU WANT A TARGET OR SOMEONE TO BLAME: this can be done to some extent but not as much. This is b/c he doesn't try to make anyone necessarily good or evil.
(7) ARCHETYPES: some readers like archetypal characters because it's comfortable; we like the good young hero (sort of like Pug in Feist's THE RIFTWAR SAGA); it's familiar and we sometimes like to pretend we're this upcoming, great hero. You wont' get much of this in GRRM with the exception of one or two characters.
(8) LENGTH: you don't want to get into a long fantasy epic series. In that case, look for shorters works as this is biiig.
(9) PATRIARCHY: men are most of the main characters with lots of power (one female exception). ....


I like reading novels though I had to care about the characters. They can be gritty, gray, swearing all the time, I don't mind. Humans are like that, but I think this book is more about plot than characters. The character development seemed just secondary to me. Maybe it's just my biased opinion. I really didn't find the characters likeable...

Everyone reviewing the series talked about how great and complicated the plot is. It's not that I don't like a great plot. I like it. For me, it's secondary in a book. I need character development. I can probably finish a book with a great plot but I'll never put it on my re-read list.

For this book, I can't even finish it.

I like lengthy books... just look at the Diana Gabaldon Outlander series, you'll see word count is NOT a problem for me. The other points on the list are ok for me as well.

This one is... I guess, not for me. (Stop throwing eggs at me, you George RR Martin fan.) I have read like 50 pages, (maybe the best part is after this, but I'll never know) and honestly I can't read it anymore...

If you think you may like it, check out this list of why you'll like the book (also from Amazon.com) This list sounded interesting to me, before I read the series. That means even if you like all the stuff mentioned, you may not like the book. haha!!

(1) YOU ARE TIRED OF FORMULAIC FANTASY: good lad beats the dark lord against impossible odds; boy is the epitome of good; he and all his friends never die even though they go through great dangers . . . the good and noble king; the beautiful princess who falls in love with the commoner boy even though their stations are drastically different . . . you get the idea. After reading this over and over, it gets old.
(2) YOU ARE TIRED OF ALL THE HEROES STAYING ALIVE EVEN THOUGH THEY ARE UNDER CONSTANT DANGER: this gets even worse where the author kills a main hero off but that person comes back later in the story. Or, a hero does die but magic brings him back.
This sometimes carries to minor characters where even they may not die, but most fantasy authors like to kill them off to show that some risked the adventure and perished.
(3) YOU ARE A MEDIEVAL HISTORY BUFF: this story was influenced by the WARS OF THE ROSES and THE HUNDRED YEARS WAR.
(4) YOU LOVE SERIOUS INTRIGUE WITHOUT STUPID OPPONENTS: lots of layering; lots of intrigue; lots of clever players in the game of thrones. Unlike other fantasy novels, one side, usually the villain, is stupid or not too bright.
(5) YOU ARE INTERESTED IN BIASED OPINIONS AND DIFFERENT TRUTHS: GRRM has set this up where each chapter has the title of one character and the whole chapter is through their viewpoint. Interesting tidbit is that you get their perception of events or truths. But, if you pay attention, someone else will mention a different angle of truth in the story that we rarely see in other novels. Lastly and most importantly, GRRM doesn't try to tell us which person is right in their perception. He purposelly leaves it vague so that we are kept guessing.
(6) LEGENDS: some of the most interesting characters are those who are long gone or dead. We never get the entire story but only bits and pieces; something that other fantasy authors could learn from to heighten suspense. Additionally, b/c the points of views are not congruent, we sometimes get different opinions.
(7) WORDPLAY: if you're big on metaphors and description, GRRM is your guy. Almost flawless flow.
(8) LOTS OF CONFLICT: all types, too; not just fighting but between characters through threats and intrigue.
(9) MULTILAYERED PLOTTING; SUB PLOTS GALORE: each character has their own separate storyline; especially as the story continues and everyone gets scattered. This is one of the reasons why each novel is between 700-900 pages.
(10) SUPERLATIVE VARIED CHARACTERS: not the typical archetypes that we are used to in most fantasy; some are gritty; few are totally evil or good; GRRM does a great job of changing our opinions of characters as the series progress. This is especially true of Jaime in book three.
(11) REALISTIC MEDIEVAL DIALOGUE: not to the point that we can't understand it but well done.
(12) HEAPS OF SYMOBLISM AND PROPHECY: if you're big on that.
(13) EXCELLENT MYSTERIES: very hard to figure out the culprits; GRRM must have read a lot of mystery novels.
(14) RICHLY TEXTURED FEMALE CHARACTERS: best male author on female characters I have read; realistic on how women think, too.
(15) LOW MAGIC WORLD: magic is low key; not over the top so heroes can't get out of jams with it.


I have returned the book to the library today. Luckily, I borrowed it instead of paying for it...

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Christmas trip 2

Bad news, really bad news...

I NEED to work on 23/12/06!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Till 10pm!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That means I have 1 day less for my trip... I went to 5 different travel agencies today, only 1 or 2 tours fit my time, none of which is confirmed yet... And I have asked about a lot of tours already, including Turkey, Egypt, Nepal, India...

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

What should I do??!!!

Monday, November 20, 2006

Christmas Trip

When can I confirm the dates of my leave???!!!!! ARGHHHHH!!!!!! MAD & UNHAPPY!!!!

I found a great tour company to Iran, with a VERY reasonable price, but no more seats available on ANY plane one ANY airline. (Can you imagine? Just below US$900 with ONE guide and ONE driver for ME ALONE!!!! WOW!!! Check this company out if you want to go to Iran. It's even cheaper if you can find friends to go with you, just around US$750.)

No flights for Malta as well...

And for the Tunisia & Libya tour, I probably can't join, coz I need to be at the airport at 8am, but I'm only leaving work at 8am on that morning...

So now it's back to Egypt & India with escorted tour... Or Israel maybe... I think they're hoarding all the seats on the planes... THAT'S WHY I CAN'T FIND ANY SEATS!!!!

I REALLY wanted to go to Iran!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sunday, November 19, 2006

Separation of church and state

I really don't like ignorance.

I don't like ignorance in people, well... including myself, I can't understand why people don't know (or simply don't want to know) what's happening around them... That's NOT the point here, however.

A few weeks ago, Christians could vote for their representatives in the 800-people election committee for the chief executive election next year, as there's still no universal suffrage here in Hong Kong. Members of my church could go to the church office and obtain a certificate to indicate their membership for voting purposes.

A friend of mine told me she thought it was extremely wrong for this to be announced during our church's service... Baptist churches believes in the separation of church and state, so it's wrong to promote the election of Legislative councillors in the church... what??

As I have mentioned before, ignorance is one thing, it is the promotion of ignorance. That's my point here.

I understand why people say church should not dabble in politics, I know the history behind this. However, is talking about this in the church forbidden or what?

Frankly, it's ridiculous.

The Bible never said this. And I don't know how Christians can be salt & light to society if they don't know what is happening around them...

Quite the opposite, in my opinion, my church should talk MORE about politics. Chinese people in general are NOT interested in politics. Chinese churches are EVEN less interested. It's really an unhealthy phenomenon. This promotes ignorance.

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Monitoring Students' Xanga/Blogs

I just watched a news programme on TV. Some teachers are now monitoring their students xanga/blogs. To see if they're studying after school, who they're with. Checking their photos with friends, where they've been to, etc... Of course, their feelings towards teachers, parents, school, friends...

I remembered a time when I was in secondary school when we have to write a weekly journal for our teacher, mostly for practising our writing skills. Most of the stuff in those "journals" are highly censored to fit for perusal by our teachers.

I don't know how students think about this. If the teachers have good intention to begin with, this might actually be a good thing. They'll get to know their students in a way that's never been possible before.

However, if it's just for them to find the naughty students and penalise them, hmm... then teenagers will just find other ways to cover up their activities, and they'll lose the channel of communication.

Teachers have such a high workload these days, and now they even have to check their student's activity on the web... what next??

Friday, November 17, 2006

Parachute use to prevent death and major trauma related to gravitational challenge: systematic review of randomised controlled trials

If you want to read the full article after looking at the title, click here. If you're still not interested, read the abstract, and go back to the above article after reading it. (LOL)

Abstract

Objectives To determine whether parachutes are effective in preventing major trauma related to gravitational challenge.

Design Systematic review of randomised controlled trials.

Data sources: Medline, Web of Science, Embase, and the Cochrane Library databases; appropriate internet sites and citation lists.

Study selection: Studies showing the effects of using a parachute during free fall.

Main outcome measure Death or major trauma, defined as an injury severity score > 15.

Results We were unable to identify any randomised controlled trials of parachute intervention.

Conclusions As with many interventions intended to prevent ill health, the effectiveness of parachutes has not been subjected to rigorous evaluation by using randomised controlled trials. Advocates of evidence based medicine have criticised the adoption of interventions evaluated by using only observational data. We think that everyone might benefit if the most radical protagonists of evidence based medicine organised and participated in a double blind, randomised, placebo controlled, crossover trial of the parachute.

UNESCO World Heritage Sites

"The World Heritage List includes 830 properties forming part of the cultural and natural heritage which the World Heritage Committee considers as having outstanding universal value. These include 644 cultural, 162 natural and 24 mixed properties in 138 States Parties."

I used to think I'll go and visit all the places on the list one day. With the list getting longer and longer, I think this is probably an impossible dream...

Here's the list of World Heritage Sites I have been to.


Austria

China

France

Holy See

Ireland

Italy

Spain

Switzerland

United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Firefox 2.0

Firefox 2.0 is available for download now. Try it out. Stop using IE. You'll love Firefox. It is SO MUCH better than IE.

Download it here.

Some of the features in the new IE 7 already existed in the previous versions of Firefox... copying... copying... And Firefox still won in all the comparison by magazines and on the internet...

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Engine

I have always liked Takuya Kimura, not a crazy fan, but I have watched every one of his drama series... I just found out today that Engine will be shown on television, I was ecstatic... UNTIL I found the first episode was already aired last night...

Luckily, I found this on youtube, well... thanks to the internet...





Updated news on ME

The lump on my foreheard is getting smaller, though it's still painful when I press on it. And my hand is getting better, not completely well, but better...

Monday, November 13, 2006

Reading

Some people like drugs, some like drinking.

For me, reading is my way of escaping into another world when I need temporary relief.

When I read, I'm immersed in it and I can forget about the rest of the world.

Haha, I spent last night and today in another world, rather than studying, which is what I should be doing...

Sunday, November 12, 2006

Goodbye, Star Ferry Pier

I just watched the bells at Central Star Ferry Pier chimed for their last time on TV news... I am really sad... I'm going to miss that sound... and the whole ferry pier...

P.S. Many people posted their videos on youtube, here's one of them

Friday, November 10, 2006

Democrats vs. Republicans

As predicted, the Democrats won the mid-term election in a landslide.

I was just talking to some friends on this topic. Being devout Christians, which side would they support if they could vote? (None of them is interested in politics.)

I really hate George W. Bush, I hated his policies on Iraq, and all those axis of evil theories... And not to forget, the environmental pollution problem, was that the Kyoto treaty or what? I can't recall the name...

I don't agree with homosexual marriages, but I think killing people is even worse. Politics is just a matter of choosing the lesser of the two evils, so I guess I'll choose the Democrats. Haha, but I'm not a US citizen.

haha, it seems that my hand is better today...

Thursday, November 09, 2006

Sigh... what's wrong with me??















I started feeling some wrist pain on Monday, now it seemed to developed into carpal tunnel syndrome. i.e. my whole left hand feels numb... I can't do anything with it, and I even had to type with one hand...

Then I bumped my forehead onto a door today, I was feeling all the "stars" just like depicted in a cartoon, and now there's this huge lump on my head... and dizzy when I move my head quickly... sigh... what's wrong with me??

Tuesday, November 07, 2006

Interesting... Reader's comments on Literature from Amazon.com

You can click this to read it.

I don't like reading literature stuff. I have never read any of the books mentioned except the abridged version or excerpts in literature class or when I was a child. They're really interesting though...

I like this one most

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare:

Son of Sammy wrote: "i just read this book. everybody like always talks about how great it is and everything. but i don't think so. like, it's been done before, right?? soooo cliched. omg."

Sunday, November 05, 2006

Cheung Chau

Hong Kong is more than the city itself.

Here's one of the outlying islands.

Central

Going around Central taking photos like a tourist.

See what I got here.

When's Hong Kong going to learn its lesson?



Hong Kong is a fascinating city with a mix of new and old. Hong Kong people (or maybe it's just the Hong Kong government) just never seemed to able to appreciate the "old" stuff.

Central Star Ferry Pier is about to be gone. NOTHING can be done by us. I don't know how they can demolish something like that (it is so important in Hong Kong's public memory) without even consulting the people.

Just looking around at the Star Ferry Pier these days, you'll see MANY people taking photos of it.

It's just so Hong Kong. I'll miss it.

Tuesday, October 31, 2006

Iran

I'd love to go to Iran

Here's a very good article on Iran from the National Geographic.

Places I really want to see (but have never been to)

I'm seriously thinking about where to go in Christmas... and so I dug out this list again... How come all the places I wanted to go all so far away? Why can't I like going to Taiwan/Thailand like everyone around me? I only have 8 days off...

North America
United States
South America
Peru, Guatemala
Asia
Tibet, India
Europe
Czech, Poland, Romania, Russia, Germany, Greece, Malta, Croatia
Middle East
Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iran
Africa
Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Egypt

Places I have been to (Edited May 07)

My top fav destinations!
Rome
Scotland
Ireland
Morocco
Europe 1999
Italy: Rome, Pompeii, Florence, Milan, Venice
Switzerland: Bern, Luzern, Lauterbrunnen
Austria: Vienna, Salzburg
France: Paris
Scotland: Edinburgh, Inverness, Orkney, Fort William, Mallaig
England: London, York, Salisbury
China 2000
Chongqing,Three Gorges of Yangtze River,Wuhan
Europe 2001
Ireland: Dublin, Tara, Newgrange, Knock, Westport, Connemara, Galway, Cliffs of Moher, Dingle, Killarney, Blarney, Cashel, Kilkenny
Strongly Recommended: http://www.shamrockertours.com
England: London, Bath, Cambridge, Oxford, Carlisle, Lake District
China 2002 Summer
The Silk Road: Xinqiang,Qinghai,Gansu,Xian
China 2002 Winter
Beijing
Macau 2003 Easter
Macau
China 2003
Shanghai, Hangzhou, Suzhou, Zhouzhuang
Indonesia Short Mission Trip 2005
Singapore, Batam
Spain 2005
Barcelona, Seville, Cordoba, Granada, Madrid, Toledot, Avila, Segovia
China Church Visit 2003-06
Various places in Guangdong Province
China 2006
Yunnan: Kunming, Dali, Lijiang, Shangri-La

(Updated May 28, 2007)
Morocco 2006
Casablanca, Rabat, Fez, Erfoud
, Sahara, Ait Benddou, Ouarzazate, Marrakesh
Paris again half a day for transit =P

Wednesday, October 18, 2006

Lord of the White Castle (Elizabeth Chadwick)

I was really looking forward to reading this book, the reviews are quite good in Amazon, and one reviewer even compared it to those of my favourite writer -- Diana Gabaldon.

The initial part is ok, I like it. I kept on wondering how Chadwick can make this outlaw fit in back to the system. (I didn't know Fulke is a real historical character.)

Then after the intial 400 pages, I can almost guess what is going to happen... I kept on thinking how can you put Clarice and Fulke together??!!! Again that's history, but... I can guess what is going to happen even when Clarice is just a young girl and I just flipped over the pages to see the ending...

Diana's books are incomparable. However, if I want to read another straight historical novel, I'll choose Sharon Kay Penman's over Elizabeth Chadwick's.

Friday, October 13, 2006

New mobile phone finally...

As some of you may remember, I lost my phone early this year... I have been talking about buying a new one for... ahem... more than half a year....

Finally, I got a new one.

A few days ago, while reading newspaper, I noted a mobile phone with my fav color... (and NOT from Motorola, I've seen plenty from Motorola, but I don't like the brand...) I was acting like crazy that day and asked my colleague (holding the newspaper), "what color do you think this is... ?" hehe... my colleague said (puzzled), "burgundy, I think..." (probably thought I'm crazy...)
Then I went on to the Nokia website, but I couldn't find it... thought something was wrong with the printing maybe...

However, I saw it in mobile phone shops!!! A few days ago, my fav color was sold out. Today, it is available!!!

Bad news is while I was walking to the mobile phone shop, I took out my old phone (in fact, the phone I've been using was my gift to my mom), and found it could not be turned on... arrggghhhh... Now it still cannot be turned on... sigh...

Tuesday, October 10, 2006

False Prophet (Faye Kellerman)

Again, I read this book out of order because I've read most of the series already, just filling the missing gaps.

This one is a much better mystery compared to the Ritual Bath, there're many twists & turns and I didn't know who the culprit was. The problem with this book is that it ended the same way, I still don't know who the culprit is after reading the last page... Though the mystery kept me turning the pages, but the ending is really lousy.

Another problem with this book is that there're not much Jewish stuff in it. The most special thing with this series is the religious aspect. Without it, it'll be like an ordinary mystery. Or maybe romantic suspense, like the "In Death" series, which I think are becoming more & more boring, I kept on skipping pages till I reached the end in the recent few books.

And the only development in the relationship aspect in this book is between Decker & his stepsons. I do like reading about Decker and his stepsons, esp. with Jacob in the later books. This book doesn't have a lot of relationship development either.

For me, a good book is one that I can re-read again and again. That's why, for me, merely a good mystery can never be considered a good book. Well, this one can't even be considered a good mystery because of the poor ending.