Yuen Long City Centre

Today, I ventured into Yuen Long City Centre after work... (Sorry for the poor quality, it was my phone camera with only 2 Mega Pixels...)





It looks like some other old districts in Hong Kong at first glance.

However, I don't think you can find these easily in Kowloon/Hong Kong Island now? I remember I used to see these quite often when I was a kid.



And I don't think I have ever see shops for this purpose ever... maybe I have never paid much attention... =P



Ghost seeking??? hmm... interesting, I can understand why one needs an "expert" for this job. But why do you need to pay her for worshipping those "gods"? I don't understand...

Kowloon Tong MTR Exit

I don't think it was there when I first went to China Graduate School of Theology a few years ago. I remember searching for the exit for Devon Road then.

Today I suddenly saw that CGST is on the sign, when I was walking back to the MTR station from CGST. And the funny thing is that there is a Buddhist foundation on top of it. I think it's supposed to be in alphabetical order, still two religious institutes here in an area well known for motels. =P I'm so mo liu. =P

Can you guess how to turn this water tap on??

I spent a lot of time trying to figure this out...

How to get to Pok Oi Hospital

Not many people have been to Pok Oi Hospital before, I have been there once when I was in Primary Two... =P Because I need to go to Pok Oi Hospital, I went online to see how I can get there, anyway I found a map without any scales, so I didn't know how far it is from the Yuen Long Train Station. I had difficulty finding someone who can tell me how to get there, but in the end I found a colleague who could tell me two weeks ago.

It actually feels pretty good to go there, as it's like a countryside outing!! =) You'll see what I mean from the photos below. =)

First get off the train at Yuen Long Station



And exit at H



When you leave Exit H, you'll see Pok Oi Hospital on the left hand side, beyond the construction site, last time I went there I walked around the construction site to get there.



Today I noted there is actually a footpath across of the construction site, so I think I managed to save myself 5 mins.



Then walk along the bicycle path



Then you arrived at the hospital (I like the English translation of the village, haha! such a direct translation!!)

Flamenco Second Lesson

You thought flamenco class is just using your body, not your mind...

I received this sheet of NOTES!! for my flamenco class yesterday!



The teacher said we should count the beats by Spanish... and know the names of the dance steps, so we need to learn a bit of Spanish... unfortunately my Spanish is just limited to "gracias", "Hola", "senor" and "senorita"... =P so I probably need to spend a bit of time on it...

The second lesson we learned a bit more of the steps and twisting of wrists. I discovered I really need a bit more of stretching exercise, coz when the teacher forced me to do some stretching exercise (in a position I have never done before), I had trouble standing up afterwards because my calf felt so PAINFUL!!! And I found out that shoes without straps is not a good idea for flamenco...

Escape from Iran

I don't know how much of this news report is true or if it is propaganda for the US against Iran...

It's just shocking to read this story about a guy who's only slightly older than me. And the story about how he survived all these tortures in prison and escaped to America is stunning.

I have some questions about the story though. The guy could leave the prison for exam for a degree and escaped with a video camera, Dell laptop and withdrew cash from an ATM machine???!!! Is this real??? I don't understand how this can happen...

The last part of the report sounds like propaganda, if not for the last paragraph.

When his flight from Vienna landed at Dulles Airport near Washington in late June, Batebi was astonished to see that the airport worker waving the jet into the gate was a Muslim woman wearing a tight head scarf.

Batebi was enthralled, sensing a casual tolerance that was exactly what he had longed for in his own country. "It seems to me that people here are free to live their lives, as long as they do no harm to anyone else," he said.

There are more distinguished figures in the Iranian opposition - people who have spent decades in the struggle - as Batebi is quick to acknowledge. But he is discovering that few are so recognizable. For the Iranian diaspora, The Economist's 1999 photo remains an iconic image.

Batebi was a little nonplussed, Mazahery said, when an Iranian-American woman outside a Washington grocery store walked past him a few days ago, did a double take and called out his name. When he said that, yes, he was Batebi, the long-imprisoned dissident, she burst into tears.

Zahir Janmohamed of Amnesty International USA called Batebi "grounded and humble" about his role.

......

Batebi speaks of working from afar for peaceful change in Iran. He recoils when asked about the possibility of U.S. military action against Iran, saying that if the United States attacked, "I might go back and fight for my country myself."

I don't doubt that parts of the report must be true, and it makes me treasure the freedom I have even more.

Flamenco First Lesson

As I have mentioned before, I have decided to join dance classes to have more exercise in an interesting way. =) Today is my first flamenco lesson.

The dance course is quite cheap! Just $520 for 8 lessons. I think CCDC (City Contemporary Dance Company) Dance Centre should be a reputable learning place. One of my friends warned me it's too cheap, probably a very big class.

Today, I attended to the class with linlin, and as we walked towards the dance centre, we saw this 濟公贈診室 just next to the dance centre (the yellow building). Wonder what sort of medication they give to people?? Just like "Chai Kung"?? HAHAHA!!



Anyway, the centre is like a secondary school inside, and the instructor is quite a pretty girl. One really weird girl wore a short dress and a pair of platform shoes (!) for flamenco lesson, really weird...

However, I think the class is quite good, value for money! There are just like around or less than 15 students, a small class! None of them said they have learnt any flamenco, but some of them apparently were quite good in dancing, as seen from the warming exercises... they could stretch their body quite easily, whereas I... sigh... Some of them even bought flamenco shoes and skirts for their lessons, they seemed really serious in learning.

I'm poor in coordinating my body movements!! Kept on forgetting steps and stuff... I still remember the flamenco performance I saw in Spain, the dancer could dance solo, and that is why I'd rather learn flamenco than other social dance (which usually require a partner). =)

Afterwards, linlin and I went to a nearby shopping arcade for dinner and saw this cute sign!! SO CUTE!!!



Hope I won't forget everything before the next lesson, I can't remember much now, just a few hours later...

wi-fi

Today, I had breakfast at McDonald's, and while I was there, I suddenly remembered there is supposed to be free wi-fi, so I got my eeePC out, and did a little search...

(Sorry for the poor quality of the screen capture)





Surprisingly, there were quite a few wi-fi networks in the TST McDonald's... but only 2 were secured wi-fi and I don't think they are free. Apart from the wi-fi provided by the government, is there are secure free wi-fi anywhere in Hong Kong? How can I check emails and stuff with these unsecured networks... hmm...??

What's meant by "universities via Y5Zone"... that's a secure network, but I can't find anything about it on the Y5Zone website... I'm supposed to have 100 minutes of free wi-fi every month with Y5Zone now with my new broadband plan... but I supposed it's probably the unsecured network...

Oh I found what's universities via Y5Zone, it's provided for students and staff of the various HK universities, but how come they don't provide secure networks to other people?? hmm... weird... it's WPA encrypted... so it's good...

The West Wing

I have been going through the West Wing marathon in the past few days. I have stopped watching the West Wing on TV in the mid 3rd season, when the drama kinda slows down. And just started watching the rest of the episodes this year.

I've just started the seventh season. It is mainly about the presidential election for the next president of the United States. It is uncanny to see how a TV series made in the year 2005-2006 (Season 6-7) is so similar to what is actual happening in the US.

I know Matthew Santos (the fictional Democratic presidential candidate) is based on Barack Obama, both are ethnic minority, one Latino, one black, and both are very charismatic. Still, the tight race between the democratic candidate, the relatively old liberal Republican candidate.

After I noted the similarity, I began to read more about it on the web, and discovered so many people think the same. haha!!

Whenever I watched the West Wing (even though there are so many politicians with integrity in the TV series that makes it kinda unbelievable), I cannot help but wonder why scriptwriters in US can write this sort of amazing script with excellent plots, witty conversations, likable and intelligent character (I love both of the presidents they have created, and Josh as well!!), and why Hong Kong TV remains bad all these years. I guess the reason is audience in Hong Kong simply don't want to use their brains when they watch TV (or have no brains at all!)

Movies I watched on my flight back

I don't know why all the 3 movies I chose to watch during my flight back to Hong Kong from Melbourne are all kinda sad... It's not even a deliberate choice, because I have no idea what they're about before I chose them...



Today, I kept thinking about this movie-- P.S. I Love You, it's about a young widow who has recently lost her husband and how she recovered from her loss through the letters left by her husband. (I don't know how it can be classified under Romantic Comedy, my tears just kept on running when I watched it... =P) Bereavement is a long process. During our fellowship sharing today, scenes from this movie just kept on flashing in my mind... I guess this movie kinda makes me think, this woman found the love of her life early in her life, when she had her husband, she quarreled with him the way every couple does. Then she lost her husband before she turned 30, it's like she lost everything in her life. When she recovered a bit, then her friends found their own happiness, leaving her alone. It's just so sad, and life is so unpredictable, when you should be happy, you aren't, and then you lose the important thing/person, life just goes on. I guess what I'm saying God is the only dependable being in our lives.



I didn't enjoy Charlie Wilson's War, it's not like it's a bad movie. It's more about politics than war. And it showed how one person can think they did something good, but the fact is what they have done would have some serious bad consequences. (This movie is about how the US helped Afghanistan in fighting the Soviet Union.) I didn't like the characters, I guess, that's why I was never "involved" in the movie, and even when it is also written by Aaron Sorkin, if you want to watch a bit of drama on politics, please watch the West Wing. The West Wing is just so much better. I didn't find the movie witty at all... despite what the other reviewers think...



I knew the Kite Runner is sad before I even watched it. I have been meaning to read the book for more than a year, but still haven't gotten round to it yet. It's also about Afghanistan. I have watched documentaries about the beauty of Afghanistan before the war, I don't know a lot about the history frankly, but how the friendship of the children was broken, that story is heart wrenching... and I have just read more about it on wikipedia, the novel itself seem to be worse... (I mean there're even more depressing details... I don't think I'll ever read it. =P)