Coming a complete circle

每个人都会经过这个阶段，见到一座山，就想知道山后面是什么。我很想告诉他，可能翻过山后面，你会发现没什么特别。——《东邪西毒》

BUERJIN – 2 Oct 2006 - 7.20 pm. As our van traversed the unfolding miles of desert, it occurred to me just how similar the colour of two deserts during sunset can be. The shy pink that bleeds into the blue of the twilight sky, the terrain that so resembles the surface of the moon… Give me a photo of »Atacama and another of Xinjiang: I will be unable to differentiate.

KANAS LAKE – 4 Oct 2006 - 2.30 pm. I love the turquoise of Kanas Lake. I had exclaimed in delight when I first saw it. But the resemblance that Kanas bears to Yosemite and Switzerland made me harbour a thought, a fleeting thought as to whether I should have traveled for almost three days to see something resembling what I have already seen…

But such is man. Why do we trek long and far, to seek the known but unexperienced?

I decided that it is because it is there. And man must know*.

So no, certainly no regrets about the journey. Because without having made it, I would never have had the hindsight to think about regretting it.

But I cannot escape the thought that has been lurking in my mind– is this a sign that I have now come one big circle in my pursuits of the world? When the sights of a new place starts reminding you of another, is that a nostalgia for the past, or a foretelling of the future that you will feel more and more places alike and there is no need to clock more miles any longer?



* Where know = experience.

树命诚可贵，爱情价更高

Ms W 很爱老公，老公也很爱她。
在迷人的喀纳斯湖边，Ms W 请老公给她营造几许落叶的浪漫：



树命诚可贵，爱情价更高哩! :D

Xinjiang

2009年新疆暴乱后记：原来，和平友好是很脆弱的。

The blue of Kanas

Greetings to all after a long while :)
This is the most beautiful of Xinjiang for me - the blue of the Kanas Lake.

This has been a great trip - with great folks - 七剑!


Will be back with more posts of Xinjiang...

树上流星雨

今天本来心情灰灰的，回家途中经过北京路，发现树上竟然下起流星雨了！*

真的好漂亮，我就站在那儿，左手一包蔬菜鳗鱼牛奶右手一盒月饼，感叹了好几分钟。

心情也就这样晴朗起来了 ：）



*想必是要10－1国庆的缘故,所以得张灯结彩一番吧。

Men are like cabs

Yesterday, Ms T came up with an absolutely brilliant analogy:

Men are like cabs.

Hoards of them when you don't need, but never there when you are trying to look for one!

Basking in my red red room

So I took the plunge on Thursday - I painted my room scarlet!



Now I no longer feel like I have to buy my own apartment anymore. (Convincing my landlord was much easier than I thought too.)

Plus... Klimt looks simply, simply gorgeous on red.

百度

刚才看了一篇文章，才发现百度（中国第一号搜索网站) 的名字原来这么有典故。

百度一名取自辛弃疾的《青玉案》：

东风夜放花千树，更吹落、星如雨。
宝马雕车香满路，凤箫声动，玉壶光转，一夜鱼龙舞。
蛾儿雪柳黄金缕，笑语盈盈暗香去。
众里寻她千百度，蓦然回首，那人却在，灯火阑珊处。

妙!

Assassins in Shanghai

A rainy day often provides fodder for imagination.

It has been raining for almost 3 days in Shanghai now, so you can imagine there is a lot of fodder floating about in my brain.

My latest idea is about drivers in Shanghai and it goes like this: their true identity is not really driver; they are really assassins on a killing mission, armed with a black list of targets. Going undercover as a driver in Shanghai is very appropriate since the social incentives are perfectly aligned for drivers to kill rather than hurt - apparently it cost less to compensate the victim's family if the victim died rather than if he were seriously injured. In fact, the difference is significant enough to one errant driver that he decided to roll over *a few times* someone he had accidentally knocked into but didn't die.

But back to the asssasins. Over the past 3 days, I realized, without the shadow of a doubt, that I must be one of their targets, perhaps even quite near to the top of the black list. How else to explain why cars speed towards me rather than slow down even though (a) it is raining; (b) it is a raining night; and (c) I am a lady in heels and a dress walking home on raining night? And what about the fact that there are so many cars on a rainy night accelerating from 0 to 60 kmh in 3 seconds AND collectively beating the red light? Surely surely surely, they must be hoping their brakes would lock and skid once I step off the kerb. Need more convincing? Here is the last straw: they would accelerate from 0 to 60 kmh in 3 seconds even when reversing - into me.

Something positive has come out from all these near-death encounters - I am feeling terribly important. I must be, since only important people get assassinated right? If I survive all this rain and attempts on my life, I shall endeavour to discover what propelled me to such fame...

Happy Think-Positive Day. (Kudos to »Ms M.)

9月1日的常德路上

难驯的千爪鱼
把三轮货车推下坑
自己却
懒洋洋地
躺
__在 _______车
____三___货___上。
______轮

汗水掺杂着铁锈，
在上海车道中央
驭兽不遂的
是你古铜色的身躯。

汽车苍蝇
狠毒至极挥之不去
萦绕在
你的躯体上。

视若无睹狼心狗肺
是你的同志；
力不从心却帮你驯兽的
是一头金发
和一只
颤抖的细手。

出了坑的千爪鱼千金
依旧刁蛮
你吃力地踩着三轮货车
一寸_____地蠕动着。
____一寸

静安国际广场的灯火已在闪烁
你的古铜色 －－－
却消失在
我背后的黑暗中。

This globe can fit 8 motorcycles - Our lives are so boring

It takes an intrepid trio to check out something that has a high chance of turning out kitschy or eyebrow-raisingly boring, but good old Mr L and Ms Y were game enough to go to the Shanghai Circus with me after I told them that my new Estonian friend Ms T had raved about it. All I knew from Ms T was that it was like more like a musical than a circus (a la Cirque de Soleil), and that there would be a fantastic performance at the end involving 8 motorcycles in a globe cage.

Now, "fantastic" in my mind connotates just excited happiness - the way my France trip was fantastic or the night out was fantastic. But to really describe the Shanghai circus performance, you have to add in a liberal dose of "crazy", so that it becomes either crazily fantastic or fantastically crazy.

You will see what I mean when you look at the picture. Those whirls of lights are not just lights; they are the headlights of 5 motorcycles (at least) circling and criss-crossing inside the globe at goodness knows what km/h. Oh, and two of these crazy daredevil performers are girls - very pretty girls beneath the terracotta costume.



By the end of the show, we were left in a daze, gaping and shaking our head.

Mr L, who had to end his vacation in Shanghai in less than 24 hours, was the first to speak: "Our lives are so boring man."

Ms Y quipped, "Yah, I knew it was a mistake to give up my childhood dream of becoming a trapeze perfomer."

And so throughout the journey home, we kept thinking how boring our work was... Darn, why do we have to go back to work the next morning?

To be fair, the show was not all adrenaline-rushing. But it was very well-done in that the momentum crescendo-ed well and the acts had a touch of unusualness about them. The usual plate twirlers and urn balancers you expect of Chinese circuses were still there, but they were only space-fillers while the centrepieces got ready. There were also all these little touches that make you go 'Oh!'. Like having tiny contortionists burrow out of the big urn meant for the balancing act... Or casting the balancing acts behind a screen and playing with big and small shadows. I particularly liked the trapeze love story - it reminded me of a scene in the Chouinard performance I saw earlier, only better, more lyrical, and more challenging. The couple was flying 15-30 meters in the air, holding on to only a foot or an arm... It is hard not to fall dizzyingly in love.

More pictures » here, in the event my power of persuasion is inadequate to convince you that this is a to-do for Shanghai...

House-proud

Layout courtesy of the fantastic Pages, which is a Mac software of course :)

Finding some humour in this hot, uncertain world

Tisha Presley, bound for Fort Bragg, North Carolina, hurriedly sipped from her bottled water before going through security at the Atlanta airport.

"I assume before too long we'll be naked on the plane -- and that's fine with me," she said.

Boyd sees the U.S. Transportation Security Administration's ban as a knee-jerk reaction that leaves Americans no safer than they were before the 9/11 attacks.

"Remember Richard Reid, the guy who tried to light up his shoe on the airplane? After that we had to take off our shoes. Imagine what would have happened if he had hid that bomb in his pants," Boyd said.

You know, this may not be such a bad idea in this 38 degrees heat of Shanghai... I started perspiring this morning within the two minutes I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom.

Just trying to find some humour in this hot, uncertain world...

Hello?

So, the Shanghai mui finally met her first rude people two days ago - which is a miracle here apparently. You are supposed to meet them within two hours of arrival. Actually, they are not rude rude per se; just "hello??", or as Singaporeans would say - "Duh"...

Incident 1
"I'm looking for facial cotton balls. Could you tell me whether you have it here in Carrefour?"
"This is the cosmetics department."
(Poker face. Period. End of converation.)

Excuse me? Is that a yes or a no huh?

Incident 2
At the Carrefour checkout counter, a bag of books which I bought from the bookstore across the road beeps at the security gantry.
"What do you have in there?"
"Books. I bought it from the bookstore across the road. You don't sell such books here."
"Next time don't bring here."
(Poker face. Period. End of converation.)

Hello? Means I can't shop for anything before I come here? Carrefour has an exclusive monopoly on the things I buy in any given day I plan to go to Carrefour?

Humbug. Thankfully, most days are better. Tomorrow I will go to the Sim Lim of Shanghai - possibly more stories!

Twilight bund

Weekend number 3 in Shanghai, I finally got to see the Bund thanks to the timely arrival of Mr and Mrs C. (Pretended to play host but was secretly glad I had a good excuse not to be doing a gazillion other required, but less interesting errands.)

May I proclaim that I love the Bund?

A new home in Shanghai

The Shanghai mui got her keys today. Gosh moving into a new place is tiring... I've just been cleaning and ikea-ing after getting my keys this afternoon. Am still sleeping in the hotel tonight and probably tomorrow 'cos the landlord is still bringing in a few more small furniture and so the ayi hasn't come to clean the house yet...

But in any case, a peep at the to-be-further-furnished new home:

The economics of tampons in Shanghai

I made my first trip to Carrefour today and much to my dismay, it has been confirmed: OB has a monopoly on the tampons market in China.

There is a whole Carrefour aisle (and you know how big Carrefour aisles are) of about 20 brands of pads, but just one teeny weeny brand of tampons - OB.

(Gentlemen reading this who think this is TMI and feel queasy should probably stop here. But for those macho enough to follow, here's some background - OB is the applicator-less tampon which you either love or hate it. Like probably 80% of tampon users, I happen to hate it.)

The unfortunate Carrefour discovery was quickly followed by a quick SOS to good old Ms T who promises to mail some Tampax right over tomorrow. I should have googled for a list of things to bring earlier. Someone on the Shanghaiexpat forum listed:

...........
Comfort food. For when you are down sometimes.
Tampax. A whole suitcase of tampax.

Righto. That is exactly what I am going to stock on the next time I fly out of Shanghai.

Now that all the follow-up actions have been done, the economist in me got thinking: what exactly happened in the tampons market in Shanghai? Surely this is a case of market failure. A quick google on the internet revealed that Playtex used to be available in Watsons here last year, but I went to probably the most upmarket one in Jing'An last week and there was still nothing except OB :( Which means that Playtex must have pulled out of the market.

Okay, so you say - what's so difficult to figure out about that? Lack of market demand in China, only room for one player, natural monopoly for OB.

But the interesting thing about OB is that it is not exploiting its monopoly position at all. According to my Carrefour market research today, a box of OB costs just slightly more than US$1 here, and even comes with freebies, whereas it cost about US$4-5 in US and Singapore. In fact, it was so cheap that I just had to buy one - I figured an inferior substitute is better than no substitute.

I am thinking that OB is stuck in a difficult place where it cannot exercise its monopoly powers - seasoned tampon users don't want to use it because it is not a like product to other tampons, while pad users are even more worse to win over - you have to make them switch to tampons, then to OB at that. In short, OB's market segment is way too niche.

So maybe that is why OB has to resort to using a price strategy to win customers over... It got me to buy a box of OB after a long time - so perhaps the strategy did work somewhat. But in the initial conversion of the Chinese market, there could be merits in having some competitors so that you can share the cost of advertising and education.

So please, OB competitors, please come to the Shanghai market. 3 million young women for your conversion and many ready-to-buy foreigners!

夏日的南京路泡沫

我很喜欢静安寺的南京路。静安寺在左，久光在右，古今交错的上海应该就是这样的吧。
那天我下班后到南京路走走。走着走着，许许多多的泡沫突然漂浮下来。
周围的小孩与我停下了脚步，呵呵呵地触摸着泡沫。
原来快乐是可以那么简单的。
而夏日的南京路也可以这样有诗意的。

（过后我好奇，走上台阶去看看。原来楼上的广场有人结婚了。）

＊＊＊

昨天下班后我又到南京路去。这回是从公司步行过去的。
（下班时我在想：整天打滴，好像蛮罪孽的。我又不是没走过路的人。）
我从静安寺的南京路一直走到恒龙广场的南京路。
恒龙广场的南京路很高档 － Gucci, LV, Ferragamo 什么都有，就象新加坡的Paragon一样－ 但因为高档，乞丐也相对的多，令人心酸。
我在想：我一天的打滴费，能分给多少人？

＊＊＊

上海有一点我是觉得很可爱的 － 这儿的商业广场到了傍晚，都会有很多老人穿着朴素的睡衣来散步。
他们有的做做体操、有的坐在喷水池旁聊天，自享其乐。
我本来以为只有我的办公楼是这样，原来连恒龙广场也是。
你能想像新加坡的老人穿着睡衣到乌节路去和朋友散步叙旧吗？
在新加坡来说很奇怪，但在上海却好像是很理所当然的。

这可能是因为上海所谓的商业区象夹心饼一样，中间还夹着许多小市民的住宅区与小巷。
（上海好像称小巷为“弄”。话说北京有胡同，上海有弄。）
这点我是很赞同的。我喜欢一个空间多人用的概念。
打着领带的专业人士与朴素的老人共用一个空间 － 这要算是民主还是共产？

Of flying spit and splinters: Shanghai episode one

Day 4 in Shanghai.

For those who haven't heard, I have just moved to Shanghai a few days ago to work for the next two years. That is also why I have been leaving this blog patch of mine in dilapidation for the past few weeks. (Sorry folks - there was just a gazillion and one thing to move and do before leaving.)

It is now Day 4 in Shanghai and I still like it - despite the crowd, the traffic, the flying spit and splinters. (You've gotta love a multi-tasking cyclist - cycling past me and spitting at the same time. The flying splinter story is less exciting - just some carpenter trying to axe some wood and whooola, a visible chunk of splinter comes flying out onto the walkway in front of me. Anyone considering sending me a helmet for my birthday?)

Shanghai reminds me of Tokyo, which is probably why I take to it very well. Not as civilized and clean as Tokyo, but the old-world-meet-new-world charm is equally alluring. Colonial amidst Chinoise amidst Ikea - that is more than enough to redeem Shanghai from any flying spit and splinters. Did I mention that I really like the sound of Shanghainese too? I wonder where I can learn it.

People-wise, drivers and waitresses have been friendly, and friends have been selflessly helpful. Ms C, a local Shanghainese, has been fully involved in my apartment hunt to ensure I am not fleeced while Mr C came to my rescue yesterday after hearing my bank draft sob story. (Never bring a bank draft to China - it takes 1 WHOLE MONTH to clear.)

My only real lament is the internet here. Now, the access is wonderful - I have free LAN in my hotel room, and the content is excellent - see this amazing 3D map of Shanghai. But, and that is a big but, blogspot, wikipedia and goodness knows what else are banned. It's funny how you take the concept of free internet as an entitlement until one day you realize that it is a privilege elsewhere.

So for those of you whose blogs I read, please email me if you wanna share your joy with me. I can still post, receive your comments, but can't view my own talljoanne.blogspot.com, so pardon me if photo layout etc look haywire. For the next two years, I will be a blind blogger groping in the dark...

More upbeat news about Shanghai soon - my new apartment for one!

The cabbie blood in me

I think it is the cabbie blood that I inherited from my father - I was really cheered by this story on Japanese cab drivers from the Terrie newsletter I received. Must be the image of them leaping out in the rain to open my taxi door! Of course, you may say that you pay a bomb for the taxi fare, but in this world, you can pay a bomb for many things and still get mediocre service...

Riding in one of Tokyo's ubiquitous cabs the other night, we had an interesting reminder of just how different Japan can be. This particular cab was participating in a product giveaway to salarymen returning home late at night. The product was a new energy health food bar from Otsuka Pharmaceutical. In handing over the bar, the cabbie apologized and said in Japanese, "Here have one of these -- it doesn't taste too good..." ??!!

Now, if you've been in Japan for a while, you'll know that this could either mean, "I'm being forced by the firm to give you this, but my advice is don't eat it," or "This is pretty good, but I'm being polite and am talking the product down. Now you just have to try it to find out for yourself, right?"

Receiving the bar, we did indeed try it out after alighting, and found that it actually wasn't too bad.

Munching away, we started thinking about Japanese taxi culture, especially here in Tokyo. Despite the low wages, long hours, difficult city lay-outs, and drunken, sometimes sex-crazed passengers, Japan's taxi drivers are the salt of the nation, and 99% of them are unfailingly polite. Indeed, one cab company, we forget which, even has its drivers leap across the passenger seat, race you for the door, and open it from the outside for you. This sudden series of movements by the cabbie can be a bit of a surprise when it first happens to you -- and even more so when it is pouring with rain. But it certainly does make you remember the extreme politeness of drivers from that particular firm.

There are apparently about 380,000 taxi drivers in Japan, most of whom seem to be servicing Shibuya-Roppongi and the other 5 major centers on the Yamanote line, after 23:00. They belong to 8,048 different companies, about 100 of which operate in Tokyo -- so competition is alive and well. Actually, the competition really took off after the government removed both price and licence-limiting controls in 2002, thus causing a surge of newcomers into the market.

There are cab companies of all types, including those with pet taxis, for taking your poodle or chihuahua to the vet -- or out on a date. One such company is Taikoh Taxi, which is located in Aichi, and charges JPY2,500 for the first 10km then JPY200/km after that. Although the initial cost is high, riding with your pet for any distance beyond 10km is actually about 2/3 cheaper than a regular cab. In addition to transporting pets, Taikoh also provides pet-sitting, pet-trimming, and pet-feeding services. www.taikoh-taxi.co.jp. Not yet in Tokyo, unfortunately.

Among the other types of services are bridal taxis, which have special cars with high roofs and wide doors to accomodate the bride in her full traditional wedding gown. If you've ever seen a bride with her oval headpiece, the tsuno-kakushi, you'll know what a pain it must be to get into a regular cab. See http://tinyurl.com/gc4ct for an image of the headgear. Other services include non-smoking cabs and welfare cabs -- i.e., those fitted out for disabled people.

Probably the best thing about Japanese cabbies is their integrity. Despite drivers traditionally saying, "please don't leave anything behind," we have personally forgotten bags, notebook PCs, company files, and books, realizing only later that we'd done so. In EVERY case, we've been able to call the cab company and the driver has either directly come back or has passed the package on to another driver to hand-deliver to our address. In other instances, and this happens regularly, if a cab driver picks the wrong route and as a result we get stuck in a traffic jam, he will refund some of the fare from his own pocket, all the while apologizing for not having known any better.

But this is not to say that every cab driver strives for excellence. With the economic setbacks of the 1990's and the traditional winter migration of workers from the frozen north, there is an increasing number of drivers who simply don't know where they are going -- or they are drunk. The Nikkei recently reported a new cell phone accessory by Tanita, which is an alcohol detector that attaches to any of DoCoMo's 3G FOMA handsets. Apparently the cab companies plan to make their drivers breathe into the thing at random intervals, and since the FOMA handsets have a camera, the dispatcher can see the person actually doing the breathing.

Although off-season country drivers who don't know Tokyo present no major challenge to those of us who have lived here for any period of time, it is disconcerting for foreign businesspeople who are new to the city. One way to cope with a lost (or drunk) cabbie this is to be forearmed. We suggest newcomers consider a rental phone from Go Mobile. For a very reasonable JPY150/minute, Go Mobile's Concierge service provides you with a help desk that will translate cabbie directions and complaints -- to/from English and Japanese. http://www.gomobile.co.jp/index_e.html.