J is visiting Beijing for a week, and we hang out together yesterday. This is what we did for the whole day:
1pm - Met up for lunch, had 新疆菜 near 新疆饭店
3pm - Took a walk on 南锣鼓巷 near 后海, stopped for coffee in 过客
4pm - Walked at 后海, had various Beijing food including 豆汁 at 九门小吃
6pm - Went to 国家大剧院 (the "egg"), amazed at the architecture, met 黄牛党 (details in the next post)
7:15pm - Couldn't get tickets for performance at the Egg, disappointed, went to 首都剧院, watched the play 莲花 there
10pm - After the show, had dinner at 西门鸡翅 near 北大
11:30pm - Went to a bar with a live band near 清华, it is definitely overcrowded and we can hardly move, the music was good but hard to breath, amazed at the amount of exchange students in Beijing
12:30pm - Foot massage in 文津酒店
2pm - Got back home
Not something one can do every weekend, but it definitely feels good to experience a city with a good friend.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
A true story
Over the course of lunch, my dad told me a story of one of his aunts, named L below. L was 25 and married with 2 kids in 1949. Her husband was in the air force of GMD, and he retreated with the rest of the army to Taiwan, leaving L behind in Mainland. Since then they haven't seen each other for over 30 years, only communicated through letters intermittently. L brought up the kids alone. Despite no hope for reunion in foreseeable future, they both remained single, until they met again in HK in 1983. L have since migrated to Taiwan after the reunion.
The story really strikes me, as it is even harder to believe than fiction. Separating for 30 years and still able to keep the marriage is simply unimaginable. I am not sure if I can do it after 6 months, without a known duration of separation. I am sure stories like this is quite common one or two generations before. Comparing this to the headlines we see in HK newspapers recently (Edison Chan), I realized the world has really changed a lot.
The story really strikes me, as it is even harder to believe than fiction. Separating for 30 years and still able to keep the marriage is simply unimaginable. I am not sure if I can do it after 6 months, without a known duration of separation. I am sure stories like this is quite common one or two generations before. Comparing this to the headlines we see in HK newspapers recently (Edison Chan), I realized the world has really changed a lot.
Fireworks in Shanghai
It is awesome. Words just can't describe the atmosphere in this city on New Year's Eve. Starting around 11:30pm to 1am, one can see numerous fireballs shooting up from various parts of the cities and exploding in the key. The scale is simply unimaginable. This year is the first year I see fireworks as large as the "official organized" ones in HK or SF, and I wonder where people get those. Fireworks and crackers was actually officially banned for a couple of years due to safety concern, but the ban was lifted several years ago. Since then every year is at a new level. No doubt that fireworks in a city reflects the economic growth of the previous year.
Monday, October 29, 2007
Martin Lee's Article on WSJ
Read some online news and threads about the recent Martin Lee incident in HK. If you don't know about it, here is a good summary:
http://zonaeuropa.com/20071026_1.htm
Regardless of whether I support the point of view in Martin's original article (that probably worth another blog post), I am totally disappointed at the response of some of major medias in HK. To incline towards one side is something (I now believe that no newspaper is, or can be, neutral), but to condemn the other side with provoking words and false accusations is something else. I think the western medias can only see this incident as a silly soap opera from some of the news articles.
I am really worried about the future of HK media.
http://zonaeuropa.com/20071026_1.htm
Regardless of whether I support the point of view in Martin's original article (that probably worth another blog post), I am totally disappointed at the response of some of major medias in HK. To incline towards one side is something (I now believe that no newspaper is, or can be, neutral), but to condemn the other side with provoking words and false accusations is something else. I think the western medias can only see this incident as a silly soap opera from some of the news articles.
I am really worried about the future of HK media.
Friday, October 19, 2007
2 Books
Randomly picked up a book which I bought a while ago, 尋訪東西哲學的境界 by 梁燕成. It is surprising not boring (compared to another one I bought together). He went through all the different philosophies in the East and the West, using a lively first person conversation mode which is easy to understand, and ultimately tried to reach the conclusion that Christianity goes beyond all those philosophies and includes the spirits in them. I am only a third way through the book, and can't wait to finish it. Given that I am kind of tired of the endless bible studies and sermons which seem to repeat things unrelated to my life over and over again (largely due to my ignorance perhaps), this book may inspire me to look at Christianity from a different perspective, and start to look for more readings which can broaden my understanding about the religion.
Recently got the Feel 100% #16 from Hong Kong, the final one. I am glad that it has finally ended. I still remember it was published once a year during my highschool days, which was well over 17 years ago. After that it got to the market less and less frequently, and I think I have waited this one for over 2 years. After finishing the finale prompted me to read some of the older issues again. And interestingly, even for a comic book like this, I perceived new things. Most notably, for some of the behavior of characters in the book, I can now see them happening among my friends around. And I can now understand some of those behaviors which I used to think only happens in movies or novels.
Recently got the Feel 100% #16 from Hong Kong, the final one. I am glad that it has finally ended. I still remember it was published once a year during my highschool days, which was well over 17 years ago. After that it got to the market less and less frequently, and I think I have waited this one for over 2 years. After finishing the finale prompted me to read some of the older issues again. And interestingly, even for a comic book like this, I perceived new things. Most notably, for some of the behavior of characters in the book, I can now see them happening among my friends around. And I can now understand some of those behaviors which I used to think only happens in movies or novels.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
A Little Card Arrived by Mail
Finally got my green card after 3 and 1/2 years...and all the document preparation and filing, body checks, fingerprinting, etc...
No more waiting in long lines at immigration after a long 12-hour flight
No more worry to bring several documents with me on trips in order to get back into US
No more need to apply for new H1B visa and pay $$ to get the visa stamp in embassy in HK
No more asking around for the latest news on immigration
No more checking USCIS websites to get the latest progress
And if I got laid off today, I will get paid by the government for 3 months!
No more waiting in long lines at immigration after a long 12-hour flight
No more worry to bring several documents with me on trips in order to get back into US
No more need to apply for new H1B visa and pay $$ to get the visa stamp in embassy in HK
No more asking around for the latest news on immigration
No more checking USCIS websites to get the latest progress
And if I got laid off today, I will get paid by the government for 3 months!
Friday, September 07, 2007
If You Laugh At This...
Either you are still in school, or you are really geeky. I really like it though :)
e^x and a constant were walking down the street. Suddenly, the constant notices a differential operator walking along the other side of the street. "Oh, no!" exclaims the constant. "I've got to run away! You've got to hide me! There's a differential operator... he could reduce me to nothing!" "Hmmmph," came the haughty reply. "I'm e^x. He can't do anything to me." So e^x walked across the street and introduced himself. "Hi. How are you doing? I am e^x," he bragged. "Pleased to meet you," replied the differential operator. "I'm d/dy."
e^x and a constant were walking down the street. Suddenly, the constant notices a differential operator walking along the other side of the street. "Oh, no!" exclaims the constant. "I've got to run away! You've got to hide me! There's a differential operator... he could reduce me to nothing!" "Hmmmph," came the haughty reply. "I'm e^x. He can't do anything to me." So e^x walked across the street and introduced himself. "Hi. How are you doing? I am e^x," he bragged. "Pleased to meet you," replied the differential operator. "I'm d/dy."
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