tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87492383686667997302024-03-13T13:18:32.676-07:00Terence's Time OutI've quit my job in advertising after five and a half years and have decided there's just something else out there for me. I'm travelling around the world this year to see if I can find it and if I don't, at least I'll have the great experiences along the way.Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.comBlogger68125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-31308677731892111122015-12-11T04:16:00.001-08:002015-12-11T04:16:56.251-08:00Istanbul: Land of mosques, cats and the best legs workout of your life.Better late than never - having been almost two weeks since my trip to Turkey and Jordan, I thought I better get my ass in gear and start writing about the amazing experiences I've had during my fourteen day trip in the Middle East.<br />
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I've seen friends' photos of their trips to Turkey and Jordan and both countries have always been on my wishlist to go. If life circumstances hadn't worked out the way they did (i.e. a cancelled trip to Australia / New Zealand, leaving my job mid-November), neither of those countries would have been on my radar this year. Convincing someone to go was the next task - so I recruited a seasoned travel buddy of mine, Lindsay. It wasn't that hard to twist her arm in going - within a matter of a weekend Skype call, a week's worth of itinerary planning and bookings, we were all set to go.<br />
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A quick side note before recapping my city adventures, I want to say a few words about how the media has completely exaggerated what is happening in the Middle East and the impact it is having on tourism. While it wasn't as obvious in Istanbul, the other places I visited (Petra, Cappadocia, Bodrum - which will be covered in future blogs), the effects of a hyped up media frenzy were pretty obvious. Tourism is suffering, all because of the perceived threat of ISIS. Folks, if terrorists are going to strike, you can't really stop them or stop living your lives. I'm not saying go book a plane and go into a war zone, but all of these places are not in harms way. I had a friend of mine who said that their annual conference in Istanbul was going to be rescheduled - and that's a shame. It's really disruptions like that play right into the terrorist's hands. <End rant.><br />
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As an executive summary (sorry, the business world hasn't escaped me yet), Istanbul can be summed up into the four Cs (again, old business school habits):<br />
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<b><u>Cats</u></b>:<br />
Calling all cat ladies and gentlemen (eyeing particular friends on Facebook), if there was a city that's more cat friendly, I'd find it hard to believe. Cats here rule the streets - they are without fear and the nice ones just jump into your lap, as my friend Lindsay quickly found out on her first night as she was hanging out outside our Airbnb.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>I'm sorry, but this seat's taken.</i></span></div>
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I think the funniest story with cats in this city has to be from our second day. After many kilometres of walking and sight seeing, we decided that life was hard enough for us that we needed to chug a few litres of Turkish wine (which by the way is fantastic and is discussed further on in this blog.) Having found a small café, whose waiters clearly recognised our alcoholic needs, we enjoyed a nice meal of Turkish cuisine and watched the world go by. A Spanish couple seated two tables from us, clearly exhausted from a full day of shopping, were completely oblivious to the fact that for some reason, the bags on one of their chairs seemed to be moving at a rhythmic pace and the sounds of cat moans were drowning out the daily calls to prayer. Both the copious amount of wine and the comical situation led to Lindsay and I practically doubling over and peeing ourselves, along with most of the staff. It culminated with a "wine spewing from your nose" funny moment at the end where the Spanish lady finally caught onto what was happening (about 10 minutes too late) and turned to the wait staff and said in broken English, "oh no, I don't like." Hey lady, cats have their needs too.<br />
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I think my friend definitely had the time of her life in Istanbul and the cats just added the cherry on top of the travel sundae. Lindsay was the definition of the Peter Piper of cats - during a walk home, I swear to God, there was a marching band of cats behind her. It was as if she was their Goddess heading the parade of followers.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The cats were playing musical chairs with the window sills. The black one hissed at any that got too close. #Territorial.</i></span></div>
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But seriously - I can see why pet population control was such an initiative in North America. It breaks your heart to see a cat on the streets uncared for and worse, unloved. Spey and neuter your pets.<br />
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<b><u>Culture:</u></b><br />
I know mosques are a place of worship, but what I found out during this trip was that they are in fact places of art and design. I knew that coming to Istanbul, I had two sites I definitely had to see - the Blue Mosque and the Hagia Sophia. Good news to all you lazy travellers out there, they are literally right across from each other - so bonus for not having to go all that far to check off two of the world's most beautiful monuments off your list of to dos.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Hearing the call to prayers and standing in the courtyard of the Blue Mosque was pretty magical. </i></span></div>
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There's something quite hypnotic about the calls to prayer - especially when the mosques in the surrounding area are echoing the same prayers. When you step inside the Blue Mosque, you're bound to have neck problems when you leave as you're just staring up at the beautiful and intricate designs on the ceilings. I know Michaelangelo scored high praise for his mural on the Sistine Chapel, but emoji hands up to the team that did the ceilings of the Blue Mosque - that's dedication, artistic skill, religious devotion and patience right there. I guess people were so much more productive back in the days when social media wasn't around. And it wasn't just the Blue Mosque, any mosque you stepped into (there were three on the Asian side of Istanbul) are equally impressive, with their own distinct designs / personalities.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>[The main dome of the Blue Mosque]</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Excuse me sir, do you have a paint by numbers outline for this?</i></span></div>
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The Hagia Sophia is a short stroll away. Albeit a ticketed venue, the entry fee is worth every lira. As Istanbul has been a city that has changed hands several times from one religion to another, the Hagia Sophia is a standing monument to that, a trophy if you will to who's religion currently dominates the city. If you look close enough, there are old frescos dating back to when the Holy Roman Empire controlled the city that have been somewhat restored after someone from the Ottoman Empire was too keen to erase all signs that Christianity once ruled the city on the Bosphorus.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The best trophy this side of Europe/Asia.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The stunning interiors are starting to fade, so a refurbishment is underway so this wonder can have the facelift it deserves.</i></span></div>
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Set aside about two hours to do both venues properly. They are doing a massive renovation on the Hagia Sophia right now, which made my inner photographer / instagrammer a bit peeved, but you can still capture the beauty of the interiors nonetheless.<br />
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Much is made about the Grand Bazaar in the old city. I'll be honest, I wasn't a fan of this sprawling complex of tiny shops and boutiques. The famous SE Asian saying of "Same Same but Different" applies so well to this landmark. Unless you're desperate to find trinkets to buy for your friends and family at home to show off your Turkey trip, this place is a good 30 minute stroll for a few photos. The Spice Market was much more impressive. You see daily life happening - locals bartering for freshly caught fish from the Bosphorus and conical pyramids of spices arranged in a dazzling spectrum of gold, orange and red hues.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>All of the lights.</i> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Take a whiff...just don't sneeze.</i></span></div>
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As mentioned above, Turkey is the perfect destination for wine lovers. I had no idea of the amazing quality of Turkish wines until several bottles later, the taste testing turned more into drunken professions of love for the regional vineyards. Out of all of the ones Lindsay and I tried, this one (<a href="http://thewinecompanyni.com/white-wine/kavaklidere-angora-white-wine.html" target="_blank">Kavaklidere Angora White Wine</a>) was my favourite. A bit gutted they didn't have it at duty free, but my sadness turned into pure delight knowing I can order it from Tesco here at home.<br />
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Finally, one cannot leave Istanbul without capturing its amazing street art. In contrast with Amman, where graffiti was just writing on the wall, Istanbul has embraced its local talented street artists and allowed its walls to be decorated into murals of humourous commentary. No wonder Istanbul has made it on several top lists for places to appreciate street art.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Because...this is fucking Istanbul man...</i></span></div>
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<b><u>Cleansing:</u></b><br />
When reading up about Turkish baths, I was a bit weary and skeptical. Not that I have any issues with my body (thankfully, once you hit your thirties, you can't give two craps about who sees you naked), but the idea of someone bathing and scrubbing you down seems all a bit...medieval. Bathing is such a personal thing, so when it was suggested that I try a hamami, I got the juvenile giggles. My friend Sandy, recommended an amazing bath called the <a href="http://kilicalipasahamami.com/" target="_blank">Kiliç Ali Pasa</a> and told me that we needed to enjoy this place to its fullest. My friend Sandy is rarely wrong with her travel recommendations, so we booked as a #TreatYoself moment at the end of our two week trip.<br />
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One thing to note - if you're traveling as a guy/girl, this hamami does single sex sessions only during the day. Women are first from 10 to 4, men start in the evenings from 430 onwards. As conservative as that sounds, it really does make the experience better that you're not worrying about the opposite sex seeing you in your birthday suit.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Go for the earlier sessions where you can take some nice photos. Once the place gets bumpin', you'll get some angry stares from the half naked patrons who do not want to be in your photos.</i></span></div>
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Your hour session starts with the staff providing you with a cold juice made from dates (mmm...fibre) and showing you to the change rooms in which you're asked to strip down with only a wrap to hid your goodies. Women, from what I was told, go topless and can wear underwear or bathing bottoms to hid the downstairs, where as men are asked to go naked - there was a blush of embarrassment as I had to clarify the point having come prepared with my bathing shorts on.<br />
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You're led into the first chamber where you sit beside a marble basin. An attendant asks you to dip your hand into the bowl to see if you're good with the temperature, and the minute you say yes, you are baptised with several douses of water from head to toe. As refreshing as it was, you're caught off guard with the intensity of the splashing. You're then led to a heated marble slab as you recover from breathing in a bit of water during that first cleanse.<br />
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After lying down for about 20 minutes on the marble slab, you kind of get a bit stir crazy. As someone who can't keep still for more than 2 minutes, my constant rotation from back to front must have annoyed my neighbours. You're also constantly getting drips of warm water on you from the condensation off the ceilings of the hamami - it kind of reminded me of Hong Kong where you are constantly ducking from air conditioning drippings.<br />
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You're tapped on the leg by an attendant. He is also in a wrap and sporting the most fashionable, but functional non-slip Crocs you'll ever see. Mine was Onur (apologies if I've butchered your name Onur...) and he was a lean, mean scrubbing machine. Face, back, arms, legs...it felt super weird at first to have someone that close to you and cleaning you. At one point, he showed me the exfoliator and I dry heaved at all the dead skin he removed just from my back. Other than that, the entire process proved to be relaxing, if not, healing in a way. After two weeks of dirt and sweat from all of our adventures, this was proving to be such a great idea after all.<br />
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The best part of the cleanse is the soaping. They take what is like a pillow case, dip it in olive soap water, let some air in, twist it up into a big sack of suds and squeeze it all over you multiple times. It was as if you were in some giant bubble bath.<br />
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The effects of the bath were instant. I felt more relaxed than I've ever felt - no drug inducements with this level of tranquility. You're led to a cool down area and wrapped up as if you were planning to be discovered as a mummy in three millenia's time. There's no rushing, you take things at your own pace, and the staff is very courteous and attentive. Hands down the best 150 Turkish Lira spent.<br />
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<b><u>Climbing:</u></b><br />
I think one of the best parts of traveling is the fact that you can stuff your face and drink jugs of wine and know that the amount of walking will help counteract any weight gain. Istanbul steps it up a notch by adding in the incline. This city loves its hills, stairs and man, my ass thanks Istanbul for the workout.<br />
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One place you have to check out is the rainbow staircase, and there's quite an inspiring story behind it as well covered by the <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/09/10/turkey-rainbow-stairs_n_3895082.html" target="_blank">Huffington Post</a>. It wasn't a statement for activism, it was just a man who simply wanted to make people smile. I don't remember the exact location, but if you take a wander or the tram up the Meclis-i Mebusan Cd., you'll see them standing out quite clearly.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Oh, hai gurl hai.</i></span></div>
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Having spent a total of 6 days and 5 nights in this beautiful city, I've added it to my short list of cities that I will visit time and time again. Hell, if Turkish wasn't such a difficult language to learn, I'd move to the city if I could.<br />
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To say I haven't captured everything is an understatement. I could write chapters about Istanbul if I could and I might, as there are a few short story ideas brewing. As I have a few weeks of funemployment ahead, I'll be capturing my trip to Jordan and the ancient city of Petra, the hot air balloons of Cappadocia and the coastal beauty of Bodrum in later blogs. <br />
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Ciao for now. #TJTravelsTerencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-17970571557768553102015-11-01T14:29:00.001-08:002015-11-01T14:33:15.364-08:00Halloween in LondonLast year, I didn't really celebrate Halloween here. In all honestly, I escaped back to Toronto for a quick pit stop visit to settle my house and missed out on Halloween altogether, in both cities.<br />
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I was determined to do some fun Halloween-ish activities this year that didn't involve dressing up in a skimpy outfit or spend a ridiculous amount of money on a costume (ahem, fancy dress here in the UK) or going out on the town and dealing with other drunken yahoos in terrible outfits.<br />
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So I picked something obscure and something super touristy. On the southeast coast of England, is the sleepy seaside town of Margate. It used to be a vacation destination during the Victorian era, and now, there are parts of it stuck in the past including the boardwalk full of arcades and fish and chip shops. Margate is also home to a weird little secret - a shell grotto discovered in 1835 and opened to the public to see since 1838. No one knows who built it, no one knows when it was made and no one knows why it was made. Containing over 4.6 million shells from oysters to cockles, historians theorise that this was the work of pagans or druids who used the symbolism of flowers and other simple shapes like stars and hearts to pay tribute to nature and their gods. Me thinks it might have been a hoarder who had too much time on their hands. The tour lasts all of 20 mins, two very small chambers and while it might seem like traveling an hour and a half outside of London wasn't worth it, it was surprisingly breathtaking and one does appreciate the level of OCD detail that went into each of the 20+ panels of mural work.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The dome leading up to a small opening to the sky. </i></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Shelled heart.</i></span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The winding tunnels of the grotto.</i></span></div>
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Following a Sunday on the coast, I decided to do a tour with friends on the sickening and scandalous case of Jack the Ripper, the notorious serial killer who terrorised East London in the late 1880s. As we decided to do the tour two days before Halloween, the Ripper Vision tour was very much in demand. Well over 200 people showed up and we were lucky enough to score Jamie as our tour guide - his East London accent along with his acerbic wit and biting humour added a nice touch of authenticity to the terrible stories of the murders and the sad fate of Jack the Ripper's victims.<br />
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To add to the authenticity, the evening was rainy, dark and damp, and this tour, touted as the only tour with projectors, showed the then/now sites of the murders, the gorey autopsy photos and finally sketches of who the real killer could be. It was a nice laugh at times, incredibly educational of a dark part of London's history and a nice loop of Whitechapel. If you ever go on the tour, make sure to grab a well deserved pint at the Ten Bells as a reward for all the walking on the hour and a half tour.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The poorly lit alleyways of East London provide the perfect playground for Jack the Ripper to strike without being found.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Our great guide Jamie who kept our attention at every stop.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The famous pub, The Ten Bells, where a few of the victims of Jack the Ripper had a pint of gin before they died. Yes, I said a pint of gin.</i></span></div>
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And after all of that, I did decide to be a joiner and head out for Halloween, even after promising myself a quiet night in. But what does one do for a last minute costume? Well, thankfully, I have an uncanny resemblance to a beloved cartoon character and just so happened to have a red striped shirt and toque lying around.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Where's Terence? Instead of Waldo, here in the UK, he's known as Wally.</i></span></div>
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Happy end of October everyone!Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-89430587359093438022015-10-22T09:43:00.002-07:002015-10-22T09:50:14.441-07:00The ad I'm the most proud of my career.When I started my job at Gravity Thinking in December 2014, the first project I was briefed in on made me go "Wow." It has been a long time since my days on Gillette that a feeling about a project like that has happened.<br />
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I was shown a video about the science of cymatics, in which sound waves affect the shape and patterns of thin layers of solid and liquid matter. A petri dish with dark liquid danced and performed intricate shapes while resting on an active sound speaker. I've never seen anything quite like that before and the creative team working on this turned to me and said, "So, what do you think?"<br />
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To be honest, it was both exciting and frightening as it was a project scope I have never encountered in my life. The concept was simple - show how the Glenfiddich 21 Year Old whisky, which is matured in oak barrels for 21 years and finished in Caribbean rum casks to give it its sweet flavour. Cymatics and musicians performing a song would help show that idea of the whisky being raised in Scotland and roused by the Caribbean in a metaphorical sense. It was the "how are we going to do this" that was the mountain to climb ahead.<br />
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There was a song to consider, talent to recruit, a location to find and a cymatics instillation to build and at first, four months before production to do it all. Surprisingly, the latter wasn't the issue - having found a creative technologist team through our production company, <a href="http://tenhertz.com/" target="_blank">Ten Hertz</a>, took on the task of conceptual design to final build like they've done this before. When I first saw the devices being tested, I felt like a kid at the science museum with my nose pressed up against the glass.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Our original sneak peek of the cymatics at work. </i></span></div>
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What ended up being the most difficult was landing a song. I do not envy producers who have to scroll through lists of music and listen to clips just to find the "perfect" fit. Then, it's trying to sell in a cover and new arrangement that both the Clients and the artist licensing the song rights would both enjoy. Seriously, I don't think I want to go through another discography list again having done about four rounds of music selection.<br />
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Thankfully, we pushed back the film production so there was more time for us to do it right - two days and 30 hours on set, it was all coming together. Sitting off set with the patch into what was happening on screen was just like that moment I had when testing the cymatics. Unlike other shoots, I wasn't bored or just hanging out around the craft services table.<br />
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So after 11 months of hard work and difficult conversations, I'm proud to share with you what I helped to create. I'm even more proud of this work as it'll likely be one of the last I'll work on in the advertising world and it's not a bad one to leave the industry with.<br />
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To have a behind the scenes view of how the film came together, take a look here:<br />
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Phew...now for that dram. Sláinte!Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-75123592469034394202015-10-18T13:13:00.005-07:002015-10-18T13:13:54.242-07:00A whirlwind weekend.I'm not usually one to celebrate birthdays, but there are one or two memorable years where everything aligns and my friends go all out to throw me an amazing bash. When I was 20, my roommates at University threw me a surprise party, when I was 25, my friends had 25 drinks waiting for me to ring in the day (surprisingly, I didn't die of alcohol poisoning.)<br />
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And this birthday certainly joined those epic celebrations as one of the most memorable. First, on Thursday, a dream came true as I was able to attend a taping of the Graham Norton Show here in London. I've been trying to get tickets for a year now from the production company and attending other show tapings to try to get access to a priority ticket and a few weeks ago, I was told I had them. But I had no idea that we would have such amazing luck as the usher pulled my friends and I aside from the lineup and told us if we were really well behaved and didn't take any photos, she'd sit us in the VIP section right by the stage. We were 8 feet away from Graham and his guests Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Dawn French, Chris O'Dowd and Rod Stewart. My friends and I felt like we were in some weird dream - an hour and a half taping went by so quickly as the guests were hilarious and chatty - I didn't want it to end. London Bucket List item checked off my list - and in such an incredible way!<br />
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<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">We were right in front of the stage - where that silver cylinder is which is the lever for the Red Chair. (Inner girl scream.)</span></i></div>
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The celebrations then continued Friday. Having never been to the Royal Academy of Art in London, I thought why not #TreatYoSelf and my friends to a guided tour around the stunning gallery. Having not read up on anything about the tour, I thought it would have been your standard walk around, but we lucked out with one of the museum's most experienced guides, Nigel (having done tours for over 11 years) and he gave us special access to rooms you would never see as a regular visitor to the gallery. One of the most impressive rooms was a lecture hall in which Charles Darwin read his Theory of the Origin of Species for the first time in public in the 1800s. We also saw an original incomplete Michaelangelo, which was acquired by the museum for £1.50 in the 1800s, which is perhaps the cheapest anyone has ever paid for that master's artwork. For an hour tour that stretched into an hour and a half and free entrance into a paid exhibit, it has become one of my favourite galleries in the city, mostly thanks to the talented and knowledgable Nigel Crenshaw. I tip my hat to you Nige.<br />
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Friday was a nice reunion of sorts for me as I hung out with people I worked with back in Canada. I wrote in my last post that I'm hopefully transitioning out of the advertising industry, but if anything would keep me in it, it would be the great people that I've made friends with and continue to be friends with even though it has been ages since we've worked together. I think I've met up with at least 5 - 6 former colleagues here in London and have always been excited to show them around. And hey, a five minute wait at Patty & Bun here in London was just the cherry on top of that cake! (A five minute wait NEVER happens).<br />
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And finally, Saturday completed the three days of boozing one should have for any birthday. My best friends here in London decided they were going to plan a day and surprise me with a bottomless champagne brunch at the Villandry Grand Café and a tour of the Meantime Brewery in Greenwich. Surprisingly, with that much alcohol, my liver and my stomach strangely was able to keep up with the level of consumption and we were able to have a great tasting and educational stroll around the roaring machines in the brewery.<br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>I'll take one of everything.</i></span></div>
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For someone who is looking to get into possibly doing something in travel and tourism, I was impressed by the professionalism of our tour guide Dan and the team at Meantime. Sadly, there were some rowdy lads that were really ruining the experience for all those who paid for a tour. They dealt with the situation really well and I thanked them during the tour for doing the best they can. And with that, we were able to get some nice product at the end of the tour. Yes - "samples."<br />
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I'll be keeping my birthday weekend memories close for a while, perhaps for the next few years when I have low key birthdays. I'm grateful for friends and colleagues who spoilt me rotten this weekend and spent time planning these past couple of days for me.Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-22879432463359666912015-10-13T14:16:00.001-07:002015-10-13T14:16:24.829-07:00Hey, it's been a while.<div>
As the title states, I've been a pretty lazy trying to update this blog. Life moves quickly and being exhausted after work most days and trying to make the most out of my life left very little time to sit down and collect my thoughts. Yes, I hear the excuses too, and here's to hoping I turn over a new leaf as I hope to turn writing into a living rather than just some hobby to be cast aside when it becomes inconvenient.</div>
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Quite a lot has happened since my last update in 2013 (tugs at collar and thinks 'God, two years since my last entry?") Tomorrow is a milestone day for me. One year, count that, twelve months to the day that I boarded a plane from Toronto and set off for two year stint in London. Nope, not the little one in Ontario, the one across the pond. <div>
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365 days goes by in a blink. During that time, I've seen the beauty of the UK countryside, traveled to new European destinations, worked in a boutique agency and on brands that pique my interest and have met many new wonderful friends. It's not all sunshine and roses though, London does smack you with a dose of reality that a place like Toronto will never expose you to. Through all of that, I've come to appreciate three important truths:</div>
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<b>1) Never take friendship for granted as it can be incredibly lonely in a big city.</b></div>
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I was skeptical of what my social life would be like over here. Having talked to a few people who have lived here, they voiced the challenge of meeting new and interesting people. Connections through friends and dating apps are very hit and miss. You're forced into the former at times because your well meaning friends think you'll have a lot in common but more often than not, those people have their own lives to lead and were also just meeting you out of common courtesy to their friend. The latter is even worse as there are so many frogs to kiss before you find someone who isn't a narcissist or completely lacking in personality. </div>
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I was lucky to have had my two best friends already living here when I landed. Their kindness extended a roof over my head and food in my belly as I pounded the pavement for work. They, along with one of their siblings, were my therapists while I questioned if London was the right choice in a series of weeks of self-doubt while on the job hunt. Even after I found a job and a place to live in the city, they are still a source of support and thankfully good home-cooked meals everytime we meet up. </div>
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And my luck seemed to have continued in the months following my entry into the UK. Through the apps, I soon met three people I can count as my other BFFs here. They have changed my life here, made me appreciate this city by hearing their experiences, and changed my perceptions of what it means to have good gay role models in your life. Amazing friends are hard to both find and keep around you. Invest in those that make the effort to always be on your team.</div>
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<b>2) Be a #TouristEveryday.</b></div>
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One thing I promised myself to do when I moved to London was to act as if I was a tourist with a limited amount of time. Everyday after an interview in the city, I would check out a new museum or a new neighbourhood. I took on the challenge of capturing all 58 Paddington bears on The Paddington Trail while it was on for four weeks around the city of London which made me learn all of the fun landmarks and navigate this notoriously confusing city. </div>
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My coworker once remarked that she has lived in London all of her life and hasn't done half the things that I have. In this city, that is such a shame considering most museums are free entry and that around every borough, there's art, music, food, and culture that's waiting to be explored. </div>
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I share this advice with those friends of mine who have moved to the city and even random people I've met off by chance this approach hoping it'll inspire them to look at this amazing city in a different light. Otherwise, you'll end up as disenchanted as one of the millions of worker drones that buzzes to and from home to work on the (shudder) trains everyday. </div>
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<b>3) Sometimes saying goodbye is the best thing to do.</b></div>
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From the beginning of my career in advertising, I always knew I wanted to move to one of the hubs of advertising and really sink my teeth into the industry there. A Managing Director of mine back at Proximity gave me the best piece of advice - wait until you're established enough to move to a New York or London, otherwise, you're never going to adjust to the standard of living. </div>
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The move to London was in planning stages since that piece of advice back in 2011. It took three more years of planning, saving and hard work to get here. However, the excitement for advertising that I used to feel was cleverly disguising itself as just excitement in moving to London. As I started to work here in London and working on some of the most exciting projects I've ever had a chance to in my career, the excitement started to die. I thought to myself, 'there are people out there who would kill to have the job and the projects you're working on, why are you not more excited?' and I just couldn't muster the energy like I used to.</div>
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So I made the tough decision to part with advertising in September. Thankfully, the conversation with my agency's management has been a mature and open discussion. I clearly haven't charted out fully what I'm planning to do next, but I can't continue in a career in which I'm not getting any satisfaction out of. It'll take some time for me to transition into my dream career as a travel writer, and during the time being, I'll have to fill the bank account with some freelance work in advertising (which is thankfully abundant here), but saying goodbye to the industry is the best thing to do, for both my sanity and my stress level.</div>
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This isn't my most well thought out post, however, it's just good to sit down and hash out your thoughts unfiltered. I'm glad and grateful I've made this journey and figured out some more self-truths this year. Here's to another year of excitement ahead, particularly because I have no idea what the hell I'm doing.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTTwE-dcCcOeM8blzh4rnxQJR06LeaQwtNTVpmeqzzv_JfSVm_myxoxHZf79kXaZIUpo3Tm5HrtCO6n19nbKDZvv0gy_skSXzSr8HdgtDq1yeXFcM3lfO9DFFSsFoi5KmKn7bXMh4765yD/s1600/IMG_2399.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTTwE-dcCcOeM8blzh4rnxQJR06LeaQwtNTVpmeqzzv_JfSVm_myxoxHZf79kXaZIUpo3Tm5HrtCO6n19nbKDZvv0gy_skSXzSr8HdgtDq1yeXFcM3lfO9DFFSsFoi5KmKn7bXMh4765yD/s320/IMG_2399.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><i>London in the evening is majestic. A great time to stroll and reflect by the beautiful Thames embankments.</i></span></div>
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One thing I do miss about home is not being able to jump on the Blue Jays bandwagon now that they are good again. WTF BJs, the one year I decide to leave...</div>
Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-71677868408717678562013-05-12T07:35:00.001-07:002013-05-12T07:35:17.407-07:00Happy Mother's Day!Happy Mother's Day to all you lovely, strong, full of love and life mothers out there. I especially want to wish those new moms a very happy 1st Mother's Day - you deserve it for what you just went through. Haha.<br />
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Ever since 2000, Mother's Day has been a bit of a sore spot for me. Having lost my mom at 16, I really didn't feel like being very happy on a weekend that most other people were going out for brunches. Thirteen years later, the negative feelings has not completely disappeared, but I do have another person to celebrate on this special day. Having had the time this year to get to know my stepmother, May, better, I realize I'm incredibly lucky to have another strong female role model in my life.<br />
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Thanks to Disney, stepmothers get a very bad rap - generations of kids were raised on the fact that stepmothers marry your dad and go on to destroy your life. I'll be honest, I didn't warm up to my stepmother all that quickly. I only learned of her around my 18th birthday when I started talking to my dad again after a two year self-initiated silent treatment.<br />
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My dad, never the one to be great at emotional parenting, thought it would be good to break the ice by telling me he had remarried and that I should say hello to my new mom. Let me give you a piece of advice if in case you ever encounter a situation like this in the future - if you just started talking to your son again after two years of not talking, and he just lost his mom two years before that, you might want to ease into the topic of your remarriage rather than "SAY HI TO YOUR NEW MOM."<br />
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I'll admit, I didn't recover from that for a while. And on my first trip back to Taiwan when I was 21, my discomfort with the whole remarriage situation certainly showed. I was terribly immature about the entire situation, and for a person in their early twenties, I had the emotional quotient of a seven year old who didn't get the toy he wanted on his birthday. Needless to say, my stepmom and I didn't really bond at all except for exchanging a few superficial pleasantries.<br />
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During my twenties, I had three other opportunities to go back to Taipei, and each time, we did bond more and more. But I was still hesitant, if not hostile, not really knowing whether to direct my anger of the situation at her or my dad, she still received some attitude and cut eye (and for those of you that know me, I throw some incredibly nasty shade when I want to). But just like my dad, my stepmother was incredibly patient, even when she didn't need to be, and still made the effort to bond and get to know me.<br />
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I found out a lot about my stepmother this year that surprised and impressed me. She was a Chief Auditor at one of the biggest banks in Taiwan, she oversaw dozens of branches and hundreds of employees. She had worked there for 25 years, gradually climbing the corporate ladder, because she was smart and she had incredible interpersonal skills (which my dad could learn a thing or two from). She and her family grew up with modest surroundings having lost her dad at a young age, she and her four other siblings took care of each other as they either immigrated abroad for education and work - she having taken her MBA in the US.<br />
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What impresses me most about my stepmom is her devotion to family. To her own family, she has been incredibly supportive in taking care of her mother. Her mother, my step-grandmother, is a very bubbly and energetic octogenarian, but often loses her memory from time to time. May shows the same patience she had with me and my brother's terrible attitudes, as she often accompanies her during the weekdays and entertains her frequently, and repeatedly asked questions. She is also quite devoted to my dad, even though there are times, I'm not even sure why she's with him. My dad, like so many other men, is quite devoid of reading his wife's anger towards him, which causes some very silly fights between the two.<br />
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Since living in Taipei, May and I have bonded over our love of drinking (there are times, she can outdrink me), gossip (she has been my informant on quite a few hilarious Jou family secrets) and being able to talk about life in general. Conversations with her are easier now as we've found more and more to talk about, and to an extent, I'm sure there is some jealousy on my dad's part that I confide more in May then I do him. To be fair, having a heart to heart with my dad can be more painful than extensive dental surgery. I swear, Kristen Stewart has more emotional expression in her face than he does sometimes when I try to have a discussion with him.<br />
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Okay, enough dad bashing. I am lucky that I now have another person to celebrate on Mother's Day. Someone who I am happy to introduce to my friends whenever they visit to Taipei, someone who I now email and communicate with voluntarily and someone who I can share stories and laughs over several bottles of wine.<br />
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Happy Mother's Day May. Thank you for everything.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixzES44eJ4q3CzmqdWMIeWRC8hHPUJnFZLvwC5Ovh0gczR117uoQThAZDpshhvQvyp3Zu-l60-O70I2ObhRhyDMIGkyD7PzpOSFcRJFH96p8WLZTOcQm9pYFiA18fWBiEdOQniezXrtXIn/s1600/Screen+shot+2013-05-12+at+10.36.23+AM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixzES44eJ4q3CzmqdWMIeWRC8hHPUJnFZLvwC5Ovh0gczR117uoQThAZDpshhvQvyp3Zu-l60-O70I2ObhRhyDMIGkyD7PzpOSFcRJFH96p8WLZTOcQm9pYFiA18fWBiEdOQniezXrtXIn/s320/Screen+shot+2013-05-12+at+10.36.23+AM.png" width="302" /></a></div>
<br />Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-62987504097115554112013-04-29T17:28:00.002-07:002013-05-01T10:19:24.106-07:00Hey G Adventures - let's take a stroll through my gallery.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Hello G Adventures Team!</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">So you've read my cover letter and reviewed my CV, it's time to get to the good stuff - the photos.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I'll admit, because I like being upfront and honest, I have not had any sort of professional photography training or done any professional photography work. All of my work displayed below is amateur. But I believe I have a great eye for photography, I also try to learn by experience and teach myself how to improve on my technical and composition skills each time I go and explore with my camera (quite the "autodidact" you can say).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Anyway, you've read enough chatter, let's take a scroll through my photos and you can see for yourself if I'm what you're looking for.</span></div>
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<b>Taken at Angkor Thom, Siem Reap, Cambodia.</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIJHuyNHm9e3rip_u7SBIy15yDmguTervcjxbkoWbanm1meMrnSpK0QP0g682koXYn5TOHLPVxrtjkLRccZsh5dCa5_iSPStGwBtIas1CSLYBKtpoeQBimRtePBQ5t1zwfJQNlR4_JsWFa/s1600/11201_10101031549434041_1612013738_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjIJHuyNHm9e3rip_u7SBIy15yDmguTervcjxbkoWbanm1meMrnSpK0QP0g682koXYn5TOHLPVxrtjkLRccZsh5dCa5_iSPStGwBtIas1CSLYBKtpoeQBimRtePBQ5t1zwfJQNlR4_JsWFa/s640/11201_10101031549434041_1612013738_n.jpg" width="480" /></a></div>
<i>A great tour guide I once had said something I will never forget, "Always remind yourself to take a look at what is behind you." Turning around after walking through the narrow west gate of Angkor Thom, I turned back and snapped this fella not two feet behind me.</i><br />
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<b>Taken near Le Hotel du Ville, Paris, France.</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-z9gl4VXP-0f1DgH-LI92KY9UZ1EVuhCVTTX69xJpoNjJ0WPlsuAzXp3H28lUNO4kHXY6d9JVqK63osUYe4WnIsYAz6tJIKJAZyOJHezQHMhdTiKQteD0WGtGyePkgJzPRKvRsNzn_exo/s1600/294850_10100378731172071_537742344_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-z9gl4VXP-0f1DgH-LI92KY9UZ1EVuhCVTTX69xJpoNjJ0WPlsuAzXp3H28lUNO4kHXY6d9JVqK63osUYe4WnIsYAz6tJIKJAZyOJHezQHMhdTiKQteD0WGtGyePkgJzPRKvRsNzn_exo/s400/294850_10100378731172071_537742344_n.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></div>
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<i>There's something about the way that this bubble was captured in black and white that reminds me of a sci-fi movie shapeshifter.</i></div>
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<i><b>Taken from the top of the Marina Bay Sands, Singapore.</b></i></div>
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<i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf7_ZilU-6yNGxvYJZUroQzi0qFF7R67U6TtvSsKtk76lT15qnYA1F5yJzNNwrJSpAqHDtZZ-_8PMOW5WCBF2dZcefbXfNtzljvpFUoHdRAUbEq4bpf2vzkMsqC2eIc5n2zQgOjpM0R9qn/s1600/522259_10100718839132991_84611857_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjf7_ZilU-6yNGxvYJZUroQzi0qFF7R67U6TtvSsKtk76lT15qnYA1F5yJzNNwrJSpAqHDtZZ-_8PMOW5WCBF2dZcefbXfNtzljvpFUoHdRAUbEq4bpf2vzkMsqC2eIc5n2zQgOjpM0R9qn/s640/522259_10100718839132991_84611857_n.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="640" /></a></i></div>
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<i><i>The sky's reflection sandwiches the Singapore cityscape.</i></i></div>
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<b>Taken at Wat Po, Bangkok, Thailand.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwd9ERWr6Gr05kCrtJHm-qkqS4EPOZBcebW4HQjNbJwCah0oGVKjCSpD2nbGlDJYLBu6UNDXIyQBuFmyfIdf2JV0eCeeXu9OjlVDNlhDIaZXVRpRrbrzwgB84mBrXOILCo3RMS1r7dX0x/s1600/11610_10101030379623351_1918747185_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXwd9ERWr6Gr05kCrtJHm-qkqS4EPOZBcebW4HQjNbJwCah0oGVKjCSpD2nbGlDJYLBu6UNDXIyQBuFmyfIdf2JV0eCeeXu9OjlVDNlhDIaZXVRpRrbrzwgB84mBrXOILCo3RMS1r7dX0x/s640/11610_10101030379623351_1918747185_n.jpg" width="466" /></a></div>
<i>Tradition has it that if you pick up a bowl of coins, drop a coin in each bowl along the temple and you have the exact number of coins to match the bowls, the Giant Laying Buddha will bring you good luck. This woman clearly wanted to ensure she got it right, creating quite the backlog of irate luck seekers.</i><br />
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<b>Taken at the Isle of Skye, Scotland, UK.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiribnJNH_tHiSUSNg9lk9nucikWnJVZKLpgYfhJkYV8h04iDxqP75DfiRtZ_rvqwXrSn536EyMkF5krgI7BZ5120_7w9sNYhNYBq5cz50v_0HSZX9PjI9FPlNFU8lX6SY9guhoA4HNc8UE/s1600/200791_10100790893066331_1522356105_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="364" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiribnJNH_tHiSUSNg9lk9nucikWnJVZKLpgYfhJkYV8h04iDxqP75DfiRtZ_rvqwXrSn536EyMkF5krgI7BZ5120_7w9sNYhNYBq5cz50v_0HSZX9PjI9FPlNFU8lX6SY9guhoA4HNc8UE/s640/200791_10100790893066331_1522356105_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i>The overcast clouds of Scotland provide perfect lighting for this shot of my friend wandering out into the middle of a lake. The stillness of the water and lack of wind that day helped provide a near perfect reflection.</i><br />
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<b>Taken at the docks on Koh Samui, Thailand.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF3h3jkY4aFYb_3QApmz4468TdmPg4hrcVUqxtalRLF37WEgdsA8E_BLRDn4L9jSnaRUW_qW7JKJOtNXc3wXrBgC1LEkcTy9vsowlzYylebAoZlhCbthcKVZLm7M_omZBxaFu2omkhkH7V/s1600/248361_10100280831094611_5770803_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="296" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF3h3jkY4aFYb_3QApmz4468TdmPg4hrcVUqxtalRLF37WEgdsA8E_BLRDn4L9jSnaRUW_qW7JKJOtNXc3wXrBgC1LEkcTy9vsowlzYylebAoZlhCbthcKVZLm7M_omZBxaFu2omkhkH7V/s640/248361_10100280831094611_5770803_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i>Thailand's three islands in the southwest are the perfect getaway for those trying to escape Bangkok. Here, relaxed passengers get ready for the return to the big city.</i><br />
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<b>Taken in Asakusa, Tokyo, Japan.</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOwSYHapLyS8hXuz9Nuw6Q8WEImf2eMINvjoW36gP-S09NNG58ZP-2eUI6skZ6Tl8TaS7DLvJdkrbHzpvdXru7wrvch6O2cY_i63fz1J_oHSUc-MtIqMIt_0ZTDM1zA8lX9s2GPGE-koQ/s1600/397706_10100946940525971_306052941_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrOwSYHapLyS8hXuz9Nuw6Q8WEImf2eMINvjoW36gP-S09NNG58ZP-2eUI6skZ6Tl8TaS7DLvJdkrbHzpvdXru7wrvch6O2cY_i63fz1J_oHSUc-MtIqMIt_0ZTDM1zA8lX9s2GPGE-koQ/s640/397706_10100946940525971_306052941_n.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="480" /></a></div>
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<i>Tokyo is often represented in tour guides by this one area - Asakusa and its bustling markets. On the weekends, we see a rare glimpse in this photo of actual pavement as it is packed with locals and tourists alike.</i></div>
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<i><b>Taken at a carnival in Paris, France.</b></i></div>
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<i><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhffIXVQwrlT6fMRLT8w096KZJ58wT3l7y9yAE5LuegXd24vVoxDasjSjqJ8FmZ9t8YVI2ojYyQPjSDyhPwfV_FxAePoGb4WoSGEkQq0tdsfEKdDWnt78c6nS4jQcUqpDVc_SZMt_u2IgjV/s1600/406679_10100782429193001_1699200998_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="428" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhffIXVQwrlT6fMRLT8w096KZJ58wT3l7y9yAE5LuegXd24vVoxDasjSjqJ8FmZ9t8YVI2ojYyQPjSDyhPwfV_FxAePoGb4WoSGEkQq0tdsfEKdDWnt78c6nS4jQcUqpDVc_SZMt_u2IgjV/s640/406679_10100782429193001_1699200998_n.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="640" /></a></i></div>
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<i><i>Memories of the CNE flooded my mind as I bought a few entry tickets to a carnival my friend and I stumbled across while wandering aimlessly through the 19th arrondissement.</i></i></div>
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<b>Taken on a boat headed to Siem Reap, Cambodia.</b><br />
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<i>Sepia really brought out the general haze of sailing up the river towards Siem Reap. Passengers gathered on the top deck to get some sun and escape from the stale cabin air below. </i><br />
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<b>Taken at Gold Beach, Normandy.</b></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9WQY5AmJoVQcCiEamOn94wS8z5n_hvIZp0ijTYLLN9JF_41gqhpR2C7sUZOLNwohghUyRzoWHBHJvxnMmbwHTudJJqzGUQsRdSsvyO4Tt9H05DXPeUqw_cGEGCeMOxGAz5HcdoM4BKn2Q/s1600/552394_10100776972079101_999964267_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="314" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9WQY5AmJoVQcCiEamOn94wS8z5n_hvIZp0ijTYLLN9JF_41gqhpR2C7sUZOLNwohghUyRzoWHBHJvxnMmbwHTudJJqzGUQsRdSsvyO4Tt9H05DXPeUqw_cGEGCeMOxGAz5HcdoM4BKn2Q/s640/552394_10100776972079101_999964267_n.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="640" /></a></div>
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<i>A day going from beach to beach in Normandy and we were rewarded with this spectacular view over the cliffs at Gold Beach.</i></div>
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<b>Taken at the Central Market, Phnom Penh, Cambodia.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYMN541DOnDAqsqheL-44oVImK48qlOyTnCqm6ENuY3M37LA6BTRCkBFz1e3U7CSVsPV8CeBc_jU6YttqcZ0LjHmptKTGbwsIH8rG1pYIH8uN_14Sg14yq8D-gVGdr5H2czep8aiv-yrNg/s1600/3519_10101030423749921_1678359745_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="395" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYMN541DOnDAqsqheL-44oVImK48qlOyTnCqm6ENuY3M37LA6BTRCkBFz1e3U7CSVsPV8CeBc_jU6YttqcZ0LjHmptKTGbwsIH8rG1pYIH8uN_14Sg14yq8D-gVGdr5H2czep8aiv-yrNg/s640/3519_10101030423749921_1678359745_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i>I affectionately call this one "Mary Poppins Monks." It was fascinating the respect they got - traffic came to a halt as they walked through traffic.</i><br />
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<b>Taken near Lhasa, Tibet.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5wydS9UIamAV1j0fUQq8CQ1d0S8pX9AuGzNp8nRLeHQvTJil4NoiBb1rFY-wyHcsNRXFTXi9myvWystzHugqOxIdCbWIn3Nq2YR84G2GpqUIIyrHYI0dwiuj_OWyzmeC0V3ZqTthg8ZVg/s1600/392501_10100718237847971_1963862016_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi5wydS9UIamAV1j0fUQq8CQ1d0S8pX9AuGzNp8nRLeHQvTJil4NoiBb1rFY-wyHcsNRXFTXi9myvWystzHugqOxIdCbWIn3Nq2YR84G2GpqUIIyrHYI0dwiuj_OWyzmeC0V3ZqTthg8ZVg/s400/392501_10100718237847971_1963862016_n.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<i>In one of the most awesome feats of human engineering, the First Palace near Lhasa stands on top of a steep hill with a path that leads to a shrine at the peak. From the peak, you look back and see the stunning backdrop behind the palace where the old Dalai's use to be able to walk out and meditate to everyday.</i><br />
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<b>Taken in the streets of Bangkok, Thailand.</b><br />
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<i>When the sun sets on Bangkok, the food carts come out to play.</i><br />
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<b>Taken by the Seine River in Paris, France.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRlB1sLb-9LqJhsakPnWh3ZBYpKHQIIabsKZlqhlhDCjeV-3Glcs86tet1wj-lJwqaSjB88ekY8pYd3FeW_cO5DeDykMljYVpMSnVO67Qy0HLPWi4HK46glmKtjdalR2Z7Xn9iMCXM3rYD/s1600/488349_10100782428953481_1967885317_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRlB1sLb-9LqJhsakPnWh3ZBYpKHQIIabsKZlqhlhDCjeV-3Glcs86tet1wj-lJwqaSjB88ekY8pYd3FeW_cO5DeDykMljYVpMSnVO67Qy0HLPWi4HK46glmKtjdalR2Z7Xn9iMCXM3rYD/s640/488349_10100782428953481_1967885317_n.jpg" width="470" /></a></div>
<i>1,000 drummers took to the streets to celebrate music. This is just a third of the group.</i><br />
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<b>Taken in Halong Bay, Vietnam.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxxUAMV-gdZeVSAmw0aQXR06wo8NduZlCP_THRlW3bPGdwpLLDliAJlnB4hddolZMzAWO3qNKorKu8S8t1dqL1yeFOCqZzPYh7UQkY5y-72A7R1cikipebhSPefGaoNNheOZmUfuMwUZM5/s1600/536123_10100718302034341_2088678450_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxxUAMV-gdZeVSAmw0aQXR06wo8NduZlCP_THRlW3bPGdwpLLDliAJlnB4hddolZMzAWO3qNKorKu8S8t1dqL1yeFOCqZzPYh7UQkY5y-72A7R1cikipebhSPefGaoNNheOZmUfuMwUZM5/s640/536123_10100718302034341_2088678450_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i>Passengers take the opportunity to embrace and hide from the powerful Vietnamese sun.</i><br />
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<b>Taken at Ulan Temple in Bali, Indonesia.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzhHhZKPuPKYvIRrwJFh6ANRqPlyxwJAygHJTdFV6b7bMsCT5TjiwHA5eCiCJ-_Qnw0jlpNrRLXrSLlIyr23k9zvA2tAEtlnLm3Cq9Uts1Egtles996kr6MVh3wS49G_o4WsnAi-QsnEuM/s1600/542846_10101045142678071_474915910_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzhHhZKPuPKYvIRrwJFh6ANRqPlyxwJAygHJTdFV6b7bMsCT5TjiwHA5eCiCJ-_Qnw0jlpNrRLXrSLlIyr23k9zvA2tAEtlnLm3Cq9Uts1Egtles996kr6MVh3wS49G_o4WsnAi-QsnEuM/s640/542846_10101045142678071_474915910_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i>Balinese women on their way to a wedding with gifts upon their heads.</i><br />
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<b>Taken in Johkar Square in Lhasa, Tibet.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdBf56DNTmeNWL-0DTPl0NBlNjHiqLT5cwQNq5KhOAModpKrNfBck7xOCiArqYQrMEbag_SbX1OauTl9xP6c4emEkQVGgkeFdpnSnicLvBWtzHSEEFNtZzqtT_0vcaZ4uOSgG5jO8_DRo0/s1600/544879_10100717886092891_820110685_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdBf56DNTmeNWL-0DTPl0NBlNjHiqLT5cwQNq5KhOAModpKrNfBck7xOCiArqYQrMEbag_SbX1OauTl9xP6c4emEkQVGgkeFdpnSnicLvBWtzHSEEFNtZzqtT_0vcaZ4uOSgG5jO8_DRo0/s640/544879_10100717886092891_820110685_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i>The wares of the Tibetan traders in the market square. What's your best offer?</i><br />
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<b>Taken at Mljet National Park in Mljet, Croatia.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4VAmdIjje-Gs8B357Cxl3ejnCs59XqaIDUkD2XL7xt9nIVWIImS8JD5wCe_v9y53VIA_JEyJDm2OIYFXPSW5Nn6DjAfQqhPrTqkUQ_eOCkm-iLgpqPyyqImKU8GD9IarvjuP8AvuewiHJ/s1600/549735_10100781806525831_1563227274_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4VAmdIjje-Gs8B357Cxl3ejnCs59XqaIDUkD2XL7xt9nIVWIImS8JD5wCe_v9y53VIA_JEyJDm2OIYFXPSW5Nn6DjAfQqhPrTqkUQ_eOCkm-iLgpqPyyqImKU8GD9IarvjuP8AvuewiHJ/s640/549735_10100781806525831_1563227274_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i>Leaving a piece of Canada behind with the Inukshuk.</i><br />
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<b>Taken near Inverness, Scotland.</b><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGG6jV6Y2QKsbkhKrZayRepnBsog8hbNqVym3SVn-Sbo9P2Kaj8C9wsLXbhQvp1onlpvYB1Jx9uGZXTxL-lxFSKE_5FpsU8YVHMz7rW9Q99M3FYsEst-IlM9pRu34qkqdi8syK_nWffxmS/s1600/553427_10100791990417231_17204661_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="356" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGG6jV6Y2QKsbkhKrZayRepnBsog8hbNqVym3SVn-Sbo9P2Kaj8C9wsLXbhQvp1onlpvYB1Jx9uGZXTxL-lxFSKE_5FpsU8YVHMz7rW9Q99M3FYsEst-IlM9pRu34qkqdi8syK_nWffxmS/s640/553427_10100791990417231_17204661_n.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<i>Could it get any more Scottish in this photo? All we're missing is haggis.</i><br />
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<b>Taken in Hvar, Croatia.</b><br />
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<i>They boats were hypnotizing as they swayed back and forth while tethered to the sea floor.</i><br />
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<b>Taken near Central, Hong Kong.</b><br />
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<i>Someone decided that this neighbourhood could use some colour - and it sure worked.</i><br />
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<b>Taken in Tibet.</b><br />
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<i>Hairy buffalo line the river's edge so that tourists can jump on for a souvenir photo.</i><br />
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<b>Taken at Angkor Wat, Siem Reap, Cambodia.</b><br />
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<i>This young monk ponders why he's of so much interest to tourists.</i><br />
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I hope you enjoyed my portfolio / digital gallery and that you had a chance to see my composition and point of view in taking photos.<br />
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If you have any questions, or want to chat in person, I'd be happy to meet.<br />
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Thanks again for reviewing my work. I appreciate your time.Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-44412512332192666952013-04-19T12:18:00.001-07:002013-04-19T12:18:11.386-07:00Tibet - One Year Later...During all of my recent job interviews, the topic of my travels has 99% of the time led off every conversation. When I tell people the places I've been, the one that most people ask about is Tibet. It is still hard for me to fathom that I traveled to this remote region of the world a year ago today. <div>
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I had the opportunity to go because of my Dad. After he had heard that I quit my job so I can go traveling, he thought it would be a good bonding experience to take me to Tibet and also experience some other parts of Mainland China. </div>
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Our journey started in Western China, in the dusty city of Shining. Like most of the China that I experienced, it was a city of extremes: </div>
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- a large populous, but many abandoned buildings due to over construction, </div>
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- a diverse ethnic mix, but visible factions between ethic Chinese and the Central Asian minority groups that first populated the region,</div>
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- and modernization but with issues with social traditionalism and the treatment of women as second class citizens. </div>
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Shining stuck out as a collection of metal surrounded by incredible geological wonders and nature's most stunning backdrops. It was here that we experienced the way the Chinese countryside functions - having been stuck in a traffic jam for almost 4 hours and watching the locals force their way around the jam on the one stretch of road leading back to the city.</div>
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The trek to Lhasa was also one of breathtaking scenery mixed in with a total kick to my comfort zone's gut. Crammed into a coffin-style bunk (stacked three bunks high with two columns per room) the 24 hour trek up several thousand meters of elevation caused dizziness, shortness of breath and a total lack of any personal space. The best challenge was the struggle to use a squat toilet on a fast moving train where the previous users have been less than careful with their aim. One experience with that, I told my gastrointestinal system that we were going on a full shutdown mode to avoid another traumatic experience with the loo.</div>
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Stepping off the train and onto the platform at Lhasa, the blast of fresh air was like no air I've ever breathed in before. Clean. Crisp. Wonderful. Not realizing that I've been breathing at twice my normal speed because of the lack of oxygen, the walk to the tour bus felt like a brutal 5k run uphill. </div>
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Over the next two days, I would spend time during the day wandering alongside the town folk of Lhasa, visiting some of the holiest sites in Buddhist culture and observing some of the strict military presence used to remind the Tibetan people, that someone else owns you. But the Tibetan people, mindful that they are not fully free, have very little cares in the world and are among the most happy and friendly people I've met on my year abroad. A mix of not knowing what else there is beyond their borders and a simple style of life, they greeted you with a familiarity that is hard to explain. In the market of the Johkang Temple, stalls would be bookended by military police posts, there to guard against any protesters ready to immolate themselves and cause embarrassment to the Chinese government. But the shopkeepers go about their day, as if the guards didn't exist, perfecting their craft, peddling their art, bargaining with passersby interested in taking home a piece of the local culture.</div>
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The next seven days were ones that tested my physical endurance and my comfort zones to an extreme. We stayed in not so great accommodations, some without warm water or heat, some looked like the place you saw in the movie Hostel, and all with very little entertainment in and around the area. During the day, we would spend hours in a 4x4 trekking to the highest peaks and then down to flat desert all in an eight hour period. The high point (literally and figuratively) was being at base camp Everest and seeing this monstrous tip of rock sticking out of the ground and being left breathless at the sight of it (and the fact that there was little to no air). The lowest of lows was when one of the cars in our convoy of vehicles hit a small child who ran into the middle of the road. We don't know what ever happened to him - his aunt scooped him up, and ran off to their hut. The image of his wailing mother, collapsed at the doorstep of their home still gives me chills today.</div>
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We ended the trip in Shanghai - completely the opposite of what we experienced in the previous 12 days - a city that went from squalor to splendor in 25 years. Shanghai was where my other half of my family was from before the Civil War torn millions of Chinese families apart. Walking down the same streets my grandparents walked down when they were children, I wondered how they would have reacted to the changes and how emotional it might have been if they had experienced that.</div>
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My two week trip in China with my Dad was the start to repairing years of a strained relationship. It is always hard to travel with family members and at the time, I kept seeing my Dad as the same guy he's always been - this annoyance that just would not let me be an adult. I was short, I was brash, I was rude on various occasions during our time together and I'd constantly kick myself for being such a child. This was a gift that I was able to experience this trip of a lifetime, and I was a complete dick in the way I was showing my gratitude. But my Dad continued to be the patient man he always is, and looked past my behaviour while looking for nothing else but a closer relationship in return.</div>
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Tibet forced me to learn a lot about how I was living my life in Toronto. How selfish I was, how I had misplaced many priorities which chasing after others that really are not all that important, and how I had been using my "independence" as an excuse for building proper relationships with my family, with friends and with partners. Tibet kicked off a year of self-discovery and reflection that I doubt any other destination I have been to this year would have been able to force out of me. The remote area, the spiritual presence, the lack of a busy lifestyle all made me sit and think, and think, and think...nothing else but that.</div>
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I thank my Dad for the chance to see the world's most amazing views, I thank the Tibetan people for their hospitality and I thank whatever's watching over me for keeping me safe and for guiding me through a once in a lifetime adventure.</div>
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What a difference a year can make.</div>
Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-85357258526611915972013-04-15T09:44:00.002-07:002013-04-15T09:44:48.506-07:00Why we should never complain about our job hunt...Having been back to the city for almost a month now, adjusting to life back in the city of Toronto has been a slow process. Transit is a joke, the weather has been abysmal, and the city has this duality of familiar yet foreign to me - perhaps I've been away for too long.<br />
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The job hunt, on the other hand, has been going well. Due to great friends in the industry, I've been flooded with details about interesting roles back in advertising. The interviews have been more like conversations - chats with strangers who didn't feel all that unfamiliar since we spoke the same ad speak. Some interviews have lasted over an hour and a half which is always a good sign. But the process is always long and tedious, with meetings set on different dates, shifting gears from one agency to another, one account to another. A lot of research and a lot of waiting. And waiting. And waiting...</div>
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But I should not complain. I should be grateful for having the opportunity to even be considered for a lot of the roles coming my way. It was definitely not that way for my parents and for many of their generation as immigrants to this country.</div>
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I cannot imagine how scared my parents must have been during their first interviews in this country. I remember when either had even the opportunity of a job interviewed, they stayed up late to prepare their answers, repeating them over and over again. As if struggling with their own answers wasn't part of the problem, but having to deal with the language barrier was another hurdle that had in their way.</div>
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I remember it took months for my mom to find a role in her field of accounting and the role she finally took was an entry level bookkeeping job at a petroleum transportation company out in the middle of (then) nowhere Markham. And the job hunt was not kind to my father, who had a Masters in Marketing Management and was forced to abandon his hunt and taking a role in a fast food restaurant as a Supervisor. This story is common for any child of an immigrant parent and it still plays out today for all of those people coming to Canada.</div>
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When I was interviewing other people for ad jobs the one thing that would irk me the most would be how underprepared some of those candidates were. If they had put in a fraction of the time most immigrants put in on their interview prep, they would have the role, no problem.<br />
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I put a lot of time prepping for roles that come my way. Most of this training does come from my university days, but I'm inspired by my parents who put every effort they had into trying to land that job so that they could provide a better life for me and my brother.<br />
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We've got it easy, folks.<br />
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Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-576460877551186342013-04-11T20:51:00.005-07:002013-04-11T20:51:38.453-07:00Oh the places left to go...It's been three weeks since returning to Toronto and already I have this voice in my head asking: "Where to next?" While most would be worried about a mild case of schizophrenia, I find this voice to be reassuring. It means that I'm still curious and hungry to explore.<br />
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October will mark my 30th birthday and one of my goals was to have traveled to 30 countries by that time. This past year off made that goal a reality, so it was time to set newer, even more ambitious goals: <b>40 countries by the time I'm 35. 50 countries by the time I'm 40.</b><br />
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Both are completely achievable - I mean, I've only been to 15.3% of the world so far*, so it shouldn't be that difficult to brainstorm other places that I need to go. So I sat here for an hour, staring at a map of the world and plotted out my wishlist outlining my next 10 years of travel.<br />
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As I scribbled away on my notepad, I was like a child writing down his letter to Santa weeks before the big day. Giddiness swept through me as I furiously wrote, erased, re-wrote, scratched out and charted with arrows each change and addition made to the itinerary. This was the most amount of fun I've had in three weeks.<br />
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A lot consideration went into picking out the destinations including major world events, weather/seasons, people I know who live there, planned life changes. But we all know, even the best, most well-thought out plans never quite work out to what they should be. Who knows, maybe I'll take another year off somewhere in between and knock off more countries than I expected. Or something even more unexpected might occur: a relationship, god forbid, even kids could pop into the picture and ruin everything. (Can you tell I'm not kid friendly?)<br />
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So here it is, my big (scary) audacious travel plans until 2023, who's in with me?<br />
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<u><i>2013 (+2 new countries):</i></u><br />
- <b>Iceland</b> (September) - 30th birthday gift<br />
- <b>Bahamas</b> (October) - Giving thanks to good sunny weather<br />
- Taiwan (December) - Visit the fam that I love so much<br />
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<i><u>2014 (+4 new countries):</u></i><br />
- <b>Russia, Finland</b> (February) - 2014 Winter Olympics! 3rd Olympics!<br />
- <b>Peru</b> (April) - Machu Picchu baby!<br />
- France (September) - Bordeaux Marathon - wine served at water stations<br />
- <b>Denmark</b> (December) - Christmas Markets, Legoland, Little Mermaids<br />
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<i><u>2015 (+5 new countries):</u></i><br />
- <b>Ireland</b> (March) - St. Patty's Day<br />
- <b>Norway, Sweden</b> (June) - Scandinavia during the summer so it won't be so cold.<br />
- <b>Luxembourg</b> (September) - So tiny, you have to visit.<br />
- <b>UAE</b> (December) - Dubai<br />
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<i><u>2016 (+9 new countries):</u></i><br />
- <b>Trinidad & Tobago</b> (Jan/Feb) - Carnival<br />
- <b>Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Chile</b> (August) - Summer Olympics! Olympics #4, and since I'm in the neighbourhood...<br />
- <b>Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan</b> (October / November) - Take a few months off to travel the Aegean and the Middle East<br />
- Taiwan (December) - Pit stop to recharge my soul.<br />
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<i><u>2017 (+3 new countries):</u></i><br />
- <b>Burma</b> (January) - Just 'cuz<br />
- <b>Mongolia</b> (April) - Just 'cuz<br />
- China (June) - Great Wall, Beijing, Xi'an then get out.<br />
- <b>India</b> (December) - I'll be in some need of some craziness as I approach 35.<br />
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<i><u>2018 (+3 new countries):</u></i><br />
- <b>South Korea</b> (February) - Winter Olympics! Olympics #5 - if it's still there!<br />
- <b>Australia, New Zealand</b> (December) - Take the month off and discover the land down unda and Gandalf land!<br />
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<u>TOTAL BY END OF 2018: 30 + 26 = 56 (+16 countries from goal)</u><br />
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<i><u>2019 (+3 new countries):</u></i><br />
- <b>Sri Lanka</b> (February)<br />
- <b>Nepal</b> (September)<br />
- <b>Maldives</b> (December)<br />
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<i><u>2020** (+5 new countries):</u></i><br />
- <b>South Africa, Tanzania, Kenya</b> (April) - Climb Kilimanjaro<br />
- <b>Egypt, Morocco</b> (September) - See the Pyramids along the Nile and to see the marketplace in old Algiers...(I know, wrong country, but I liked the song lyrics.)<br />
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<i><u>2021 (+4 new countries):</u></i><br />
- <b>Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia</b> (September)<br />
- <b>Fiji</b> (December) Just 'cuz<br />
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<i><u>2022<b>+</b> (+2 new countries):</u></i><br />
- <b>Ecuador</b> (April) - Head to the Galapagos<br />
- <b>Aruba</b> (October)<br />
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<i><u>2023 (+2 new countries):</u></i><br />
- <b>Cuba</b> (February)<br />
- <b>Laos</b> (May)<br />
- Taiwan (December)<br />
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<u>TOTAL BY END OF 2023: 56 + 16 = 72 (+22 from goal)</u><br />
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<i>* 30 countries / 196 countries in the world. </i><br />
<i>** Summer Olympics to be added in as a destination.</i><br />
<i><b>+</b>Winter Olympics to be added in as a destination.</i><br />
<b>BOLD </b>indicates countries I have not been toTerencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-10743473996575551012013-01-01T07:18:00.000-08:002013-01-01T07:18:03.095-08:00Goodbye 2012, you've been awesome.Happy new year's everyone! I'm sad to see 2012 go because it has been such a great year for me. It was a year for taking a break and doing some soul searching. In fact, I feel I've done more personal development in the last 10 months than I have since graduating university. My eyes have been open to new experiences, awesome destinations and evaluating my strengths and weaknesses.<div>
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It was this time last year that I made this life changing decision. Stepping away from my career and taking some "me" time was an out of the box move for me. In writing that resignation letter, I experienced such a mix of raw emotions. Looking back on it now, all of those emotions had been repressed for a long time and had just begun to bubble up to the surface. In putting my career ahead of everything else in life, I was becoming a very unhappy individual.</div>
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When I boarded the plane in early March, I was still not used to the idea that I was leaving a very comfortable life for the uncertainty of new experiences that were ready to challenge everything that I had learned in my 28 years on the planet. Being thrown into uncomfortable circumstances really makes you ask yourself the tough questions and come up with answers you might not like. These truths were a shock to my system but it was a wake up call that only helped me to progress and improve. Here are some of the things I learned:</div>
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<b>It is okay that I let myself be emotionally exposed.</b></div>
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Everyone has baggage. From failed friendships, bad relationships, the loss of loved ones and betrayal by people you've trusted - baggage comes in all shapes and sizes. My solution has always been to repress those experiences or ignore the issue. For example, there have been countless times I've just alienated a person that I have had a fight with as opposed to being direct with my feelings and showing how hurt or upset I am with their actions. As much as I thought it was an emotionally mature way of dealing with things and by keeping up appearances, it was the most immature thing anyone can do to resolve (or not resolve) conflict. Other moments have challenged me as well and it has led to a lot of tears, both good and bad. The last time I cried this many times in a year was when my mom passed away back in 2000, but it felt good to let it all out. Keeping it all bottled up inside was making me into such a miserable person, I was barely able to look at myself in the mirror.</div>
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<b>I can be a know-it-all but that I have so much left to learn.</b></div>
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This is something I've struggled with all my life. The combination of being stubborn, a lot of education and an A-type personality has amounted to an ego with a terrible "I'm Right, You're Wrong" mentality. In traveling to new places (ten new countries, with three more in 2013!) has really helped me understand that I should shut up once in a while and listen to what other people have to teach me. </div>
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<b>That with traveling, everything works out if you just don't stress about it.</b></div>
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I've always thought I was a decent traveler but it turns out I can be a bit of a stress case (especially when traveling with certain personalities). In any case, a big area of discovery comes from letting small things go and allowing yourself to just play with the cards that you're dealt when traveling. If you miss a flight, there's always a next one. If you lose something, it can always be replaced. You'll lose more out of the experience if you latch onto the material things you're missing out on rather than living in the moment.</div>
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<b>I learned that I am extremely proud of my cultural background and cannot wait to share it with others.</b></div>
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Having left Taiwan when I was just four years old, I didn't have much of a chance to absorb what it meant to come from this background. I shunned my Taiwanese side after my parents' divorce because of my then dislike for my father. In the last five years, I have come to really appreciate this tiny island off of the coast of China and that there is a whole side of my heritage that I have to be proud of. I've embraced my mother tongue this year and have made great strides in relearning Mandarin. Although I'm still at a 6th grader's level of comprehension, I'm impressed at how much I've learned in four months. I fell in love with the food as evidenced by my 10 pound weight gain and a softer belly than when I left Toronto (it does not disappear no matter how hard I work out). I find myself fascinated with the history that is Taiwan, not only from my fathers' ancestry (Chinese from Fujian province) but from my mothers' side (Nationalists from the Mainland that retreated to the island back in 1949). In fact, I find myself being a better Canadian for embracing my Taiwanese background because it allows me to share with others this vibrant culture and incorporate it into the mosaic that is Canada. </div>
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<b>I learned that my family means more to me than I've let them or others know.</b></div>
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In living with them for about five of the last ten months, I've come to love being a part of a family again. I chose to close myself off from family after my parents' divorce and my mom's passing and quickly forgot what a great feeling it is to have people who truly love you around you 24/7. </div>
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As much as I love making fun of my dad, I find his emails to bring a smile to my face each time I read them. The one above was sent to me the day after I came out to both him and my mom - it was an email that I sat reading for almost an hour even though it is six simple lines of text. It has taken me a while for me to share this aspect of my life with them and almost two weeks of sleepless nights to craft the right thing to say in person. Finally, after three bottles of beer, I finally worked up the courage and blurted out what I've been holding in for a very long time and all before the clock hit my 29th birthday. Their reaction was nothing short of extraordinary. Having worked up so many different scenarios in my overly active imagination, ranging from the bad to a complete and off the handle rejection, I was astounded by how easy it was for them to look past my sexual orientation and say that they love me no matter what. It was a good hour and so of talking, of crying, and of repeating some of the same things over and over again, but I felt more loved and an enormous weight lifted off my shoulders. As much as Taiwan is a liberal society, there's still a lot for my parents to learn on the issue. But I am so very lucky to have parents who are willing to learn with me as I grow more comfortable in my own skin.</div>
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So that's it for my reflections on a wonderful year. I want to thank all of you for being on this journey with me. I want thank my friends from back home who've shown me so much support in my decision to get out there and travel. I want to thank the friends I've traveled with this year for sharing in the laughter, talking through the difficult conversations, and drinking our worries away. I want to thank my new friends that I've met this year for allowing me to get to know you and to share our stories. And I especially want to thank my family for taking me in and making me feel completely okay about being a 29 year old unemployed man living at home with his parents for a year. </div>
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My wish for all of you is that you make 2013 a year in which you have an AHA! moment about your life's direction and I look forward to reading your retrospective at the end of next year!</div>
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Cheers!</div>
Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-30713266786149544492012-11-20T01:26:00.001-08:002012-11-20T01:26:40.550-08:00The Jous go to TokyoIt has been too long since I've properly sat down and put in the time to do some blogging. Part laziness and part distraction (Mandarin school was getting quite intense with the workload) attributed to what was a two month hiatus of typing my little heart out. Time to catch up on some of the things I've been up to in the last couple of months.<br />
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For anyone who have been on my Facebook page have seen at least a post or two about my Grandma Jou. In her mid-70s, she is the matriarch of my Dad's side of the family. She was born in Taiwan when the island was under Japanese occupation, and was one of the few thousands of children lucky enough to get an education all the way through to high school. Having been educated by the Japanese, she is fluent in the language, which allowed her to work as a tour guide for Japanese visitors in the 50's and 60's. She is a woman who is fiercely independent, something I greatly admire, and when she's got an opinion on something, well, she lets you know it. (I guess that's where I get it from.)<br />
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What's most impressive is that she raised five kids in a time when Taiwan was one of the poorest countries in the world. Under military rule and still mostly an agrarian nation, there was little income for any family to work with. She and my grandfather were able to send all of their kids to school and see to it that they all received university degrees. Furthermore, they all were sent to Japan to receive Masters degrees and today, my Dad's siblings are all pretty successful - two work in business, two are doctors and one is a pharmacist. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Family Jou in Ginza.</i></td></tr>
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Recently, my grandmother has been diagnosed with lung cancer - her third time battling this disease. Unfortunately, the prognosis doesn't look great this go around, but she has a positive outlook on the situation. Her optimism comes from her deeply rooted belief in a branch of Buddhism called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nichiren_Sh%C5%8Dsh%C5%AB" target="_blank">Nichiren Shoshu</a>, something she acquired in her youth when the Japanese influence on Taiwan was still very strong. This school of Buddhism comes from Japan from the teachings of a 13th Century Buddhist monk named Nichiren. It's main temple is found at the base of Mount Fuji in Japan, and my grandmother was determined that her entire family was to go on a pilgrimage with her to say a prayer at the Mecca of her religion. Of course, everyone obliged.<br />
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It is a shame we didn't get a chance to do more things in Tokyo due to our limited amount of time, but we did spend an entire day in the Ginza district, another epicentre of sorts for those who adopt shopping as a religion. Since my grandmother has to use a wheelchair, it took us most of the day to get from one end of Ginza to another. The street is the 5th Avenue of Tokyo, lined with shops after shops of luxury brands and department stores that rival that of Harrod's and Saks. I could barely afford anything on this street, but I wasn't doing any window shopping - I was mostly people watching. This is where the best dressed residents of Tokyo come and parade their fashion sense for visitors to see. Tokyoites are much like their Parisian counterparts, due to their overwhelming appreciation for food, fashion and culture. At one point, we were even treated to a conga line of classic cars, driven by men clearly going through midlife crises with passengers being either their daughters or second wives (cough...mistresses). Ginza was buzzing - and to think that there's a recession still going on here.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The vintage car parade.</i></td></tr>
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I have to give my grandma props - she went a whole day almost 10 hours of sitting in her wheelchair and shopping while I was about to drop from exhaustion at around three in the afternoon. Even after this amount of shopping, she was still up to having a family party in her hotel suite - the eight of us feasted on food and wine bought at the fancy department store earlier that day. In Japan, the premium department stores all have food stalls in the basement selling incredible looking (and tasting food). I basically ate with my eyes walking through the various displays.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I want to go to there.</i></td></tr>
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With no rest for the wicked, we headed out for the temple the next day at about 7am in the morning. It was a three hour drive to get there, and I'm pretty sure all of us, except for my grandmother, were slightly hungover. We get to the Nichiren temple two hours late due to the horrendous Tokyo traffic. Like most of my traveling companions know, whenever I'm in a moving vehicle, I behave like I've just been roofied - so I was mostly passed out the entire way to the temple.<br />
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To say that the temple is nothing short of impressive is an understatement. With Mount Fuji serving as a backdrop, three large gates lead up to the main temple - which is about the size of a football stadium. Once inside, you are led through hundreds of pews to your seat facing a gold plated wall. Upon the ringing of the ceremonial bell, hundreds of monks stream through the doors on either side of the altar and the panels of the gold plated wall start to fold back to reveal the most elaborate altar I've ever seen. Standing three stories tall, there are two smaller altars that need to be manually opened by a monk before the formal prayers could begin. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7P0Vkb_N-tXhCdjtpcZxeDHYy-gnDyad0b-Tgsh6zs-bkdGUxau7yMel9hWFQ0ntF06UHZ_7Iky82WLTjuSUWNrPAikIzmEY1Qj7rKubcm01r1TTn5GJv6AyAXFN-eGTcRl8c4Kdyrwr-/s1600/IMG_3385.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7P0Vkb_N-tXhCdjtpcZxeDHYy-gnDyad0b-Tgsh6zs-bkdGUxau7yMel9hWFQ0ntF06UHZ_7Iky82WLTjuSUWNrPAikIzmEY1Qj7rKubcm01r1TTn5GJv6AyAXFN-eGTcRl8c4Kdyrwr-/s320/IMG_3385.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Nichiren Temple. Incredibly big.</i></td></tr>
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If this didn't impress, then the full hour of simultaneous chanting was something to experience. Everyone had a small book of scripture that they have memorized and chanted to rhythmically for the full hour. I had no idea what they were chanting, even though I was able to make out a few of the Chinese characters in the scripture. With a string of beads wrapped in their hands adding in clicking sounds as they rubbed against each other, the prayers sounded like a hypnotic piece of music.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0N3mTLLuYCSEEWOgbZD5T6cFnm9v0YsE8k-s4zDJXvkvXN4EMvgcTEGsWsRQCxRwUtAiOcQFzu8NhXuOEzZEz44K116y8nRwLoGE3iTLHgTlItaiHZq4PPDn2lGmHUgbzc22kwSMkv7f/s1600/IMG_3503.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr0N3mTLLuYCSEEWOgbZD5T6cFnm9v0YsE8k-s4zDJXvkvXN4EMvgcTEGsWsRQCxRwUtAiOcQFzu8NhXuOEzZEz44K116y8nRwLoGE3iTLHgTlItaiHZq4PPDn2lGmHUgbzc22kwSMkv7f/s320/IMG_3503.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mount Fuji appears after an afternoon hiding behind clouds and fog.</td></tr>
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And just as it began, it ended in the same fashion, the altar doors were closed, the wall panels folded back into place and the procession of people exited quietly. Strolling through the temple's expansive gardens and monk dormitories, the experience was enchanting. This being the third religious holy site that I've visited in my lifetime, it was equally as breathtaking as the Vatican and the Potala Palace. There is a sense of serenity in the gardens, plenty of places to go and meditate, away from the noises and sounds of the city.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQUmWbOPl2EljYPguTfYzRJT0NXIvmKf0BsBqk_MQo9klgIljgxIHpnwqGPDH_z2DyuoAjDqV8nP4zpGXTDn561eWJTvN-WpZw4-e3D7YS2suBBcZKTIRhjyWugl4u4eOkv3ANCNHNB_C/s1600/IMG_3364.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQQUmWbOPl2EljYPguTfYzRJT0NXIvmKf0BsBqk_MQo9klgIljgxIHpnwqGPDH_z2DyuoAjDqV8nP4zpGXTDn561eWJTvN-WpZw4-e3D7YS2suBBcZKTIRhjyWugl4u4eOkv3ANCNHNB_C/s320/IMG_3364.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The gardens of the temple. Super serene.</i></td></tr>
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Most of all, my grandmother was truly happy with having her family accompany her to this holy place, you could see the energy in her eyes. I've never seen her so happy. I was very lucky to have had the chance to travel with my family, especially my grandmother, since this will most likely be her last trip overseas. I learned a lot about the sense of one's duty to your family, the importance of caring for those who gave you so much. I was grateful for the lessons learned and being able to observe the interactions of this dynamic family with very different personalities. While they didn't convert me to their religion, I could see how this faith has shaped the foundation of their life. I am impressed with the amount of faith they have in the Nichiren - it's something that I don't think I'll be able to achieve with any religion.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcZPWzP1gRH8QuSipzTQMnUlVzmmHcPEvswhAHdb_nBhXDUuqrLkR48Fhr5CrgahQlXkOQ7Qr7b5395iB4ILmQr6sqNkmvpzHpDVAmdYH9gupwhqQtCeCHhF7pveU1LLhM4IzAKJtMN9O/s1600/IMG_3349.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUcZPWzP1gRH8QuSipzTQMnUlVzmmHcPEvswhAHdb_nBhXDUuqrLkR48Fhr5CrgahQlXkOQ7Qr7b5395iB4ILmQr6sqNkmvpzHpDVAmdYH9gupwhqQtCeCHhF7pveU1LLhM4IzAKJtMN9O/s320/IMG_3349.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Goodnight Tokyo.</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;">Strike another item off my bucket list of things to do: this Jou family trip is something I'll treasure. </span></td></tr>
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Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-17242192136544333382012-11-18T01:30:00.001-08:002012-11-18T01:32:33.064-08:00Chapter III: Lhasa - Temples, Incense, Praying...Oh my!After 24 hours of a sleepless journey from Western China, arriving in Lhasa was a blessing. Taking a deep breath after taking my first step off the train and onto the platform was required - at almost 3,500m above sea level, there is a notable difference with the air you're taking in around you. It reminds me of Thanksgiving in cottage country Ontario where the air is clean and crisp, but in Lhasa, you struggle to try to get all the air that you can. <br />
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While the air deprivation helped in the light-headedness, I was on a different kind of high. It was the excitement of being in a place where not many tourists even get to go. One of the reasons for that is attributable to the first of what I call the three "S"s of Tibet - <b>Security</b>.<br />
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The minute we stepped through the station, we were whisked to a checkpoint. In China, there are a few realities one must embrace at any checkpoint. There are no lines, just a mass huddle of people not only shoving each other, but also sticking their passports into the Customs Officers' faces hoping for immediate approval. While being shoved every which way by people two, three times my age, I somehow found a moment to look around and noticed the reality that Tibetans had to live with - the constant supervision of the Chinese military. One can count at least two to three dozen officers outside the station along with the two or three groups of patrols, their boots' perfectly syncronized click-clacking like a metronome.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP6tIsMzR3hyphenhyphenn00EmqAE5B5ChpqZAr9GPNA6hWxcdxKg6TwCssrAHzWvo6xR0bYmNNCIcFVq86MFHaYKgyFkFqDiTwVm4gXfnkWDkWgwxUusyD4ni6Ao-FMVlERjRcomuRvGGAz49Nxju7/s1600/IMG_4319.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhP6tIsMzR3hyphenhyphenn00EmqAE5B5ChpqZAr9GPNA6hWxcdxKg6TwCssrAHzWvo6xR0bYmNNCIcFVq86MFHaYKgyFkFqDiTwVm4gXfnkWDkWgwxUusyD4ni6Ao-FMVlERjRcomuRvGGAz49Nxju7/s320/IMG_4319.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>One of the few pictures I was able to take of the security<br />posts at Jokhang Market.</i></td></tr>
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The security didn't let up after we left the train station either. During our entire stay in Tibet, convoys of military vehicles would surprisingly appear out of nowhere to remind everyone that this land is a part of China. Tourists would be reprimanded when taking photos of or anywhere near a patrol - I nearly made this mistake when pointing my camera towards a building just as a patrol walked by. Looking out the window of our tour bus and seeing the third convoy pass us with in a matter of 20 minutes, I wondered: How does one cope with living under this constant watch of the military eye?<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6WaMSRTzFLxielaZOX7ZAs6ZT3Tv7rAtfY-5fc69Yru0QVNFHmBeoWaWU-XGLbfhKgrsEzIVQ6OEavF4enhhIhWL60PCtkhHvqyTfMzksu-1rKob-nLX-UG0T5xYUfYwMXboDSkupOO_s/s1600/DSC_0101.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6WaMSRTzFLxielaZOX7ZAs6ZT3Tv7rAtfY-5fc69Yru0QVNFHmBeoWaWU-XGLbfhKgrsEzIVQ6OEavF4enhhIhWL60PCtkhHvqyTfMzksu-1rKob-nLX-UG0T5xYUfYwMXboDSkupOO_s/s320/DSC_0101.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The faithful on their way to temple.</i></td></tr>
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And the answer is quite simple - the second of my "S"s of Tibet - <b>Spirituality</b>. The Tibetan people, faces toughened by the elements and decades of Chinese occupation, escape into their deep faith of Buddhism in order to forget about the realities of the men in green uniforms. The city is dotted with temples and shrines dedicated to their worship, incense is woven into the air and everywhere you look the faithful are spinning prayer spinners while on their knees praying to the heavens on the two kilometre devotion path around the city centre. <br />
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The Potala Palace is the Mecca of the traditional Buddhist faith. Having only been to one other spiritual epicentre of a religion, the Vatican, the Potala Palace offered a different kind of feeling of majestic beauty. Rather than the marble of the Vatican, stone and wood are the building blocks of the Potala palace. Built in the 17th century, the palace is divided into three portions with the dominate colours of red, white and mustard yellow dividing each part of the palace. Climbing this palace is not an easy feat - you're easily winded if you don't pace yourself and it's hard not to feel slightly inadequate upon seeing 70-80 year old monks passing you up the steps. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXx14IiAU_rB-EqRdqmtOMaeWrJzGJm6UkIpzI3PBh4yhDArHM9jbowbLuFa6euojEW7VU4ISuiYbkSvodo-00cd4peyPFtcKlrEGGmoHkTThsnPEqVgSCqGfetyNqd2uXUq-3ns1QvSRE/s1600/IMG_4286.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXx14IiAU_rB-EqRdqmtOMaeWrJzGJm6UkIpzI3PBh4yhDArHM9jbowbLuFa6euojEW7VU4ISuiYbkSvodo-00cd4peyPFtcKlrEGGmoHkTThsnPEqVgSCqGfetyNqd2uXUq-3ns1QvSRE/s320/IMG_4286.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Potala Palace.</i></td></tr>
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At the top, the Potala offers you a spectacular view of Lhasa - flanked by mountains, a plateau and a large river, the sight is truly breathtaking. Which brings me to my final "S" of Tibet - <b>Serenity</b>. Now it may seem strange that I would place Serenity along side Security, but I found myself staring at landscapes and listening to the sounds of nature during my entire stay in Lhasa. The gardens of Nobulinka certainly provided much of that serene atmosphere. As the summer home of previous Dalai Lamas, Nobulinka is a vast swatch of gardens that you rarely see in a climate as harsh as this. Beautiful foliage surrounds the summer palace, clearly a perfect place to meditate and collect your thoughts. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The weather here was incredible during my stay.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqMRwLIgxfsX_6HiQpoVsFnvmYVh_pZjQb0s-r1AGyE6zbxeJKKdSw-VLWrEg3TOVybUoCjQLR_P2YaAiUn2sOn7M7V-g5bbPNAUhr48UJsnCqt8Q7sdRIADiamQQKRT79tkSWPX2uT0Yy/s1600/DSC_0170.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqMRwLIgxfsX_6HiQpoVsFnvmYVh_pZjQb0s-r1AGyE6zbxeJKKdSw-VLWrEg3TOVybUoCjQLR_P2YaAiUn2sOn7M7V-g5bbPNAUhr48UJsnCqt8Q7sdRIADiamQQKRT79tkSWPX2uT0Yy/s320/DSC_0170.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>From the top of the Potala Palace looking at the mountains and the river.</i></td></tr>
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Lhasa is a beautiful city, its traditions kept alive by the faithful and perfectly curated by the military to keep a fragile peace. The most uncomfortable experience I had in Lhasa was at the Jokhang Market and Temple. The oldest temple in Lhasa, it was built in the 7th century and had been the seat of the Dalais for centuries before the Potala. This market is famous for Tibetan monks protesting the occupation of their homeland by China. Most of these monks set themselves on fire by dousing themselves with gasoline. Within every hundred metres or so, there are large tents with two to three dozen fire extinguishers and a phalanx of guards - all prepared to deal with the horrific situation of a man on fire. But the people of the market go about their lives as if the guards aren't there. The peddle every type of artifact you can think of - pots, pans, prayer beads, prayer spinners, all to make a buck that they will likely donate back to the temple. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The many things you can get at the market.</i></td></tr>
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Lhasa was definitely the highlight of my Tibet trip. While there are other points of breathtaking moments (most likely because I had very little oxygen left to breath), there were also moments of deep sadness which I will share in the upcoming posts.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Spinning the golden prayer cylinders.</i></td></tr>
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<br />Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-45337589211533528062012-09-11T06:33:00.001-07:002012-09-11T06:33:11.051-07:00Me and My Dad: Learning to Appreciate Our SimilaritiesRecently, I was reading an article about written by a guy who wants his kids to know <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/09/things-id-like-my-sons-to-know_n_1867992.html" target="_blank">25 key things about life and his love for them</a>. It also featured a few videos of awesome dads - some have built roller coasters for their kids in their backyard, and some dress up as Spiderman to go trampolining with their son in public. After a few laughs and some tugs at the heartstrings, I reminded myself about how lucky I am to have my dad and how he's given me way more than just 25 things to remember about life through his everyday folksy Taiwanese parent advice.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Not sure my Dad would have done this when I was 5, but then again, he likely doesn't know who Spiderman is.</i></span></div>
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It has been a while since I've blogged about him. In fact, it was about 5 months ago in which I wrote a blog about my shortcomings as a son and how I was looking forward to traveling with him in Tibet this past April - you can read it <a href="http://terencestimeout.blogspot.tw/2012/04/me-and-my-dad.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Now that I finally have my life back to normal after several months of traveling, I had better put some thoughts down on "paper" about our always growing relationship.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>On the Tibetan Plains. With our shades. Rockin' it.</i></td></tr>
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Compared to six months ago when I landed in Taiwan, I've been able to check my attitude and speaking tone with him better than before. Still, there are a few slip ups where I let out an outburst, usually it is after one of his moments of advice where I feel like I am still a 8 year old child in his eyes. My mom once told me that his parental nagging will never change - "your parent will always treat you as if you were still their baby and that their love for you can never change in that respect" - and then she bluntly told me, "You're just going to have to live with it."<br />
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Well, ain't that the truth. As much as I see it as an annoyance at times, I was completely blinded to the fact that these little tidbits of wisdom he's been trying to pass down shouldn't serve to irritate me but to show me how there's someone out there who loves me so much that they would take the time to pass on advice that he would never share with someone else (I believe one of his commandments is to never trust restaurant chopsticks and bring your own disposable ones. He's pretty OCD about germs and dirt.) And if anything, it provides constant entertainment for me as I learn more and more each day about how his mind operates, that we're not so different in personality and that I have so much left to learn from him.<br />
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My dad and I are alike in many ways. A couple of years ago, on a trip from Ottawa to Guelph, my brother pointed that out to me and I spent about two hours of that car ride trying to convince him how I wasn't but failed to convince anyone. Here's a rundown of how similar we are:<br />
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- My father and I are both the first borns in our family, which has resulted in an ability to be somewhat dictatorial and critical over how our siblings should behave. However, he has mastered this and his siblings very rarely question his authority. My brother, on the other hand, disposed my rule long ago and sometimes treats my advice as how I treat my dad's (oh, karma.)<br />
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- My father and I are pretty OCD when it comes to cleaning and organizing. I realized this when I organized my table before I left for my European adventure only to come back to see that he organized it in a completely different way. He's also a great suitcase packer, I mean, I'm pretty good, but he's Olympics level good.<br />
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- My father and I are hopelessly impatient. We both walk at a pace that's twice as fast as regular people and always want to be the first in line (I noticed this as we were always the first to hop off our tour bus to get the best photos when we were in Tibet. And yet, he somehow always gets his way where as I've been slapped on my hand several times for my anxiety. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf8eIUAfTJSUzHqurSlG8SQwYGU5blqW-yM7jVLzQNRNc7lilmeei8yfCEvzNvRlE3g2hlbJlDu8IQWqWAlaqWrLOAShhKWGBX-ZbdBPwPUZHKONRNlnL2tOA-UjTDyUUpdOwatoCAJdtX/s1600/%25E7%2585%25A7%25E7%2589%2587+975.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhf8eIUAfTJSUzHqurSlG8SQwYGU5blqW-yM7jVLzQNRNc7lilmeei8yfCEvzNvRlE3g2hlbJlDu8IQWqWAlaqWrLOAShhKWGBX-ZbdBPwPUZHKONRNlnL2tOA-UjTDyUUpdOwatoCAJdtX/s320/%25E7%2585%25A7%25E7%2589%2587+975.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>First off the bus = first to get this picture of the Tibetan mountain ranges. #Winning.</i></td></tr>
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I'm happy to say we've been able to find things that we can bond over - our love for photography, drinking beer and weird news articles. His high praise for some of my photography made me feel really good, as it's been a while since I've received a compliment from someone I truly care about.<br />
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Over the past six months, I've had the chance to appreciate the time I've spent with my dad and to learn what an great man he is. I'm sad it has taken me so long (almost 18 years since my mom and dad divorced) to realize this fact, but the truth is that there are dads out there that would have given up on his children after a divorce and start a new family elsewhere. After all of the shitty things I've done and said over the past 18 years, this is a man who's been able to let all of that slide. He's picked himself up off the ground from every emotional punch I've thrown at him and refused to hit back. <br />
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My dad never gave up on my brother and me, even with the huge number of barriers that some threw up in his way to connect with his children, he never let us go. This is why to him, we'll always be children - it's the memory he's held onto to get to this point.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQzqOET1HhiWsQ2mNhjR5w2EdcYVARhh7MgRwtUlaTdavoTnGVS8pJdBfS2bg6c6ueQORRLis4VfoIpBoHQItZ_9t_Iithi9TmcLjzM3VSxnGprpN3U9TYQbJRe36hErkbXPaXCMV4CIN/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-09-11+at+9.16.08+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicQzqOET1HhiWsQ2mNhjR5w2EdcYVARhh7MgRwtUlaTdavoTnGVS8pJdBfS2bg6c6ueQORRLis4VfoIpBoHQItZ_9t_Iithi9TmcLjzM3VSxnGprpN3U9TYQbJRe36hErkbXPaXCMV4CIN/s320/Screen+shot+2012-09-11+at+9.16.08+PM.png" width="229" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A rare photo from our time in Taiwan. This, as my mom says, is how I will always look in his eyes.</i></td></tr>
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So with this post, I am saying with a blog that I've never been able to say in person, which is to say that I love my dad. With 18 years of catching up left to do, I'm happy that at 28 and with him at (almost) 57, we will have our remaining years to try to fill in that missing time - it's something I'm looking forward to.Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-9185232682146343192012-09-08T08:23:00.000-07:002012-09-08T08:23:05.758-07:00Croatia Sailing - Eat, Sleep, Swim.It is about time that I tackled my European adventure posts. I am still pouring over the 2000+ photos that I took on my two months abroad in Portugal, Spain, Croatia, France and the UK and I am still not done. (Sigh, life is hard.)<br />
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With this daunting task ahead of me, I thought I should at least attempt a blog about one of the countries I've visited. Croatia wins as it is where I took the least amount of photos. There are two reasons why I only took about 200 photos on this leg of my journey. First, I was paranoid about getting my camera submerged in water, and well, when you're on a boat, that fear is constant and real. And second, I was asleep on the deck of my sailship for most of my time in Croatia getting an awesome tan.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-gCFf3aTioOs67SKUypgHQX_M6cHrnIfiRvOoWU5-DjT9xXWSQw1GJp2PVfn3GJ9uLDh2vUPmPqsiNrHhULTz3ozh1gEjxGV-f-Z9Nuj453-YpR6VEBzDBbS8ggYZvXP1PDU-9G_k2deb/s1600/IMG_1615.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-gCFf3aTioOs67SKUypgHQX_M6cHrnIfiRvOoWU5-DjT9xXWSQw1GJp2PVfn3GJ9uLDh2vUPmPqsiNrHhULTz3ozh1gEjxGV-f-Z9Nuj453-YpR6VEBzDBbS8ggYZvXP1PDU-9G_k2deb/s320/IMG_1615.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I was literally glowing from the amount of sun in the Adriatic.</i></td></tr>
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Croatia didn't start off all that well. My flight into Zagreb from Barcelona was delayed and by the time I got into the alphabetically last of the world capitals, it was 10pm and the sketchy bus from the airport took me to an equally sketchy bus terminal in central Zagreb. I'll be honest, daytime Zagreb is just as meh as nighttime Zagreb. I was warned about this from several friends who've been to this Balkan country that the capital is nothing to really write home about. What I did appreciate was the Viennese architecture that was prominent throughout the city. When the Balkans were absorbed by the Austro-Hungarian empire, the Archdukes used their influence from Vienna to try to mold Zagreb in the same fashion. Having lived in Vienna in 2005, it brought back some nice memories of my strolls down Mariahilfestrasse - it was the only way to brighten up my opinion of the Croatian capital.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm5XxxA4L56QK4FWhXqO3QTeFrxOlCLrWFcL6C0Wr4JSfIKPkARblNKW2Bpcsrl3tDAQYOyEreCnKtYkIoyxbwNEPBPEl7J7VdJvVnkO9tbClV3jB3jSKij46oROjWuUgThOYretn8C91u/s1600/IMG_1425.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm5XxxA4L56QK4FWhXqO3QTeFrxOlCLrWFcL6C0Wr4JSfIKPkARblNKW2Bpcsrl3tDAQYOyEreCnKtYkIoyxbwNEPBPEl7J7VdJvVnkO9tbClV3jB3jSKij46oROjWuUgThOYretn8C91u/s320/IMG_1425.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Really cool clock at the Zagreb Cathedral.</i></td></tr>
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Perhaps I'm being too harsh, there are some highlights like St. Mark's Church and the town centre, and the best museum I've seen in a while called the Museum of Broken Relationships. My official travel opinion is that Zagreb is good for a pitstop, one day is good, two max. Anymore than that and all you'll find yourself doing is drinking.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0qa3TUGnPJhxasO56zxSnFWqpoIJarPMp372vV9G9XDORtZyy95dVzm0nqmWGQniI0FOipxSG94VQ6oWYkjQbNWugjyRH9FtlZ2s98qQeAUajHpduAe47Kau4WnES0fK8sVT0vL2boaNu/s1600/IMG_1476.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0qa3TUGnPJhxasO56zxSnFWqpoIJarPMp372vV9G9XDORtZyy95dVzm0nqmWGQniI0FOipxSG94VQ6oWYkjQbNWugjyRH9FtlZ2s98qQeAUajHpduAe47Kau4WnES0fK8sVT0vL2boaNu/s320/IMG_1476.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>It was tough to get through the huge tourist crowd at St. Mark's Cathedral.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwqhucrPo9n_TDoLsXh0tnvoiK6L0EW7deGjhNOjTP0AImhUqnXQbS2mf1CJj5ciTH_Xg_L81KEbFDZk1AR7s02x-ccUHV0jP-XTxkyj4c7DVKawae9MMeiIpB4yoEYZg8X0iFi_G4s5YZ/s1600/IMG_1483.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwqhucrPo9n_TDoLsXh0tnvoiK6L0EW7deGjhNOjTP0AImhUqnXQbS2mf1CJj5ciTH_Xg_L81KEbFDZk1AR7s02x-ccUHV0jP-XTxkyj4c7DVKawae9MMeiIpB4yoEYZg8X0iFi_G4s5YZ/s320/IMG_1483.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>An exhibit at the Museum of Broken Relationships. I want this clock.</i></td></tr>
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The real reason I decided on Croatia as a destination on my European adventures was that I booked a sailing trip along the Dalmatian coast on the advice of my friend Sandy. She has always wanted to do a cruise in Croatia and suggested the Busabout tour to me. After a lengthy train ride, which included a four hour delay due to a fire on the track (which we then went through after the fire was put out and got me to thinking how safe the track was after it had been on fire for four hours...anyway) and an amazing conversation with Pavel, a seminary student, 34 years of age, (we talked about politics, the church, and reality TV for eight hours nonstop), I got into Split. Pavel was kind enough to show me where my hotel was in the city and without his help, I would have been seriously fucked because this place was so well hidden that I needed to solve the Da Vinci Code to figure out where to go.</div>
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My cruise took me on the following itinerary:</div>
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Split -> Hvar -> Mljet -> Dubrovnik -> Korcula -> Macarska -> Omis -> Split</div>
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Finding the boat on the first day was quite the task - there's a billion fucking ships in this harbour. Being the competitive person that I am, I turned this into a mini-The Amazing Race challenge and ran around with my luggage trying to find my elusive boat. I finally stumbled across the Busabout boats out of sheer luck and was covered in a layer of sweat from the 15lb backpack I'd been lugging around. Resting in the air conditioned cabin, I had a chance to meet some of the other people on my boat including Jacinta, who happened to be the person I ran into on the dock and gave instructions to on how to find the boat. (She later explained that she was a bit freaked out over the fact some random Asian man was directing her to her boat just on first impressions.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ6DiIdv3v5ElKfamOiEBpi5_XgNBDYYbrcb1-9_iodqKE4qhDnu18nYXba_NME5HCjZdsNotW_zcc-Li_YSlxehXJFOzGPd435d7vWdvuTyr8bVRVvGpT0mzTYNMmCK_JCSCJvCtwI7lc/s1600/IMG_1553.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ6DiIdv3v5ElKfamOiEBpi5_XgNBDYYbrcb1-9_iodqKE4qhDnu18nYXba_NME5HCjZdsNotW_zcc-Li_YSlxehXJFOzGPd435d7vWdvuTyr8bVRVvGpT0mzTYNMmCK_JCSCJvCtwI7lc/s320/IMG_1553.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The beautiful Split Harbour.</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY_tFeDWnC9ji8ckj9hTWDNzlPLi5F__fSomV4pNe2_R1QZPVpu2aR9s2A8g2VICT3olUJTFDqAGLyP05xWy6uxVMi6D_1tpcq4axo4Uz2XvOaHWOSMnzjWJ5jkp2lG4YcpfKh7iUdHNQ_/s1600/IMG_1529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgY_tFeDWnC9ji8ckj9hTWDNzlPLi5F__fSomV4pNe2_R1QZPVpu2aR9s2A8g2VICT3olUJTFDqAGLyP05xWy6uxVMi6D_1tpcq4axo4Uz2XvOaHWOSMnzjWJ5jkp2lG4YcpfKh7iUdHNQ_/s320/IMG_1529.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The underground market in Split.</i></td></tr>
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Our first stop was Hvar, known as a party destination for all Busabout cruises. Having docked in the early evening, we didn't get a chance to wander around much. That evening, we all went out to drink at a bar where they specialized in lemon vodka shots that were prepared by the patron putting on a helmet (worn by countless thousands of others and had never been washed) and the bartender slamming the shot glass on the stupid patron's helmet causing mild concussion. I had two and I wasn't sure whether or not I was drunk or suffering from double vision.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghmAwO2qvKAs6fQIdj6HS6gCN2cICx6NjiI9ughGaILf1PGJlW_vi6lSqqq9bqwi4wVLdrxBQ-65LTzoXfwUjVlsht4tAAHrIIKVpciiuOa-9qaVL5avURvvxjEWdCzCSNokhu7hy1M0re/s1600/IMG_1573.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghmAwO2qvKAs6fQIdj6HS6gCN2cICx6NjiI9ughGaILf1PGJlW_vi6lSqqq9bqwi4wVLdrxBQ-65LTzoXfwUjVlsht4tAAHrIIKVpciiuOa-9qaVL5avURvvxjEWdCzCSNokhu7hy1M0re/s320/IMG_1573.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Hvar Harbour at Sunset.</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0z49gfWBMBfnljjC7b8hC84QRW7FjV1vbmE4GFC2puKKyzdYBpW8ck-FeGEpjrT9IxpmBdLEfGSn68M46ARjY1PynkxJp9qMXS3Zok2r14otJI9fvtGMTI7-1yMIlPKJIpzUzqlhTBDkD/s1600/IMG_1579.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0z49gfWBMBfnljjC7b8hC84QRW7FjV1vbmE4GFC2puKKyzdYBpW8ck-FeGEpjrT9IxpmBdLEfGSn68M46ARjY1PynkxJp9qMXS3Zok2r14otJI9fvtGMTI7-1yMIlPKJIpzUzqlhTBDkD/s320/IMG_1579.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Hvar at night.</i></td></tr>
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Mljet was a nice break in between Hvar and Dubronik. Everyone was nursing a bad hangover except for us old farts (we called ourselves The Breakfast Club because we were the only ones who showed up for breakfast everyday.) One thing I would never want to experience on a boat is a massive hangover as the only recovery would be to hang your head over the railing and puke the entire day. Mljet had an amazing national park which surrounded a large green salt lake but getting to it was about a 25 minute hike. Naturally, we were all gross and sweaty from the hike and as a result, jumped into the water as soon as we were done with our photo shoots.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRGH342qecTpP0qFce9jByhTjzx5EJib8wA8jFN_iAfDtBI-o048H3mdMhNGMdXgMiAEgDghCTsAnfy9YFra5P-E-DcN7Dwe8xHz7a_PkAcVaMUu-5YQPL_mBf1AhXVmwo4E6S6X80cWzx/s1600/IMG_1598.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRGH342qecTpP0qFce9jByhTjzx5EJib8wA8jFN_iAfDtBI-o048H3mdMhNGMdXgMiAEgDghCTsAnfy9YFra5P-E-DcN7Dwe8xHz7a_PkAcVaMUu-5YQPL_mBf1AhXVmwo4E6S6X80cWzx/s320/IMG_1598.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Turquoise waters. I wanted to stay here forever.</i></td></tr>
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Dubrovnik is really a must see city. Walking along the old fortress walls provides the best view of the coastline and the entire Venetian inspired city. The terracotta tiled roofs provided a cool colour contrast between the blue waters of the Adriatic. We happened to be here at the opening of the summer festival in the city and as some of our boatmates found out the unfortunate way, they stumbled right into the middle of a school performance as the stage was just the village square they just so happened to walk across. The were booed. The rest of us found this hilarious as we were all hammered from the 3 litres of house wine at dinner which cost less than the bottled water.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP6UupAVbwvAWcfxFE-Jf2EhCqb69qrAdEhGgq29INTQ_-ofKYXfMuN-EcNljWJeuq84xSYwi-fgN0cefKcsRYfiTfuYSu95E9LN5rB5w6PaZM2ZPxVfs76onqQ3Et8MSfe4VgVUaMC9rA/s1600/IMG_1632.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP6UupAVbwvAWcfxFE-Jf2EhCqb69qrAdEhGgq29INTQ_-ofKYXfMuN-EcNljWJeuq84xSYwi-fgN0cefKcsRYfiTfuYSu95E9LN5rB5w6PaZM2ZPxVfs76onqQ3Et8MSfe4VgVUaMC9rA/s320/IMG_1632.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I'm not sure where I am...</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJH-JOJ4JMyTl11PmVpU1MdZFq1JWPGV8XNL4EaQ9xpcQ00VYncZOkOIS0Pi0t0z3_-mPWdUpxmB4p-TvM9tl2_xJ9xlRrAKRInVixwqgg6fSDlShBAXn9uA_XRszhx_zyxaxK4qh1jI_T/s1600/IMG_1674.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiJH-JOJ4JMyTl11PmVpU1MdZFq1JWPGV8XNL4EaQ9xpcQ00VYncZOkOIS0Pi0t0z3_-mPWdUpxmB4p-TvM9tl2_xJ9xlRrAKRInVixwqgg6fSDlShBAXn9uA_XRszhx_zyxaxK4qh1jI_T/s320/IMG_1674.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A coastal city in Italy? No, it's Dubrovnik.</i></td></tr>
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We were then off to<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;"> Korkula which I'll be honest, I was glad we were only there for one night. There really wasn't much to see and the only interesting part was that we were taken to an old castle turret that was turned into a bar. Now the climb up to the top was interesting as it was up a narrow ladder that girls, if you decided not to wear underwear that night, you'd be giving everyone behind you quite the show. If you didn't get a view climbing up the ladder, the view from the top was fantastic - as you can see from the sunset photo below.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMlWZXy_p1BNW_bClkwaBG3DMuEIh-q3up9xasqczlHQzdLeZex_JZCW_2e6zBPzW6EzR2q5EbHQ30pQtT8dl5eLOp1Jp2nmLisNCfUMOZ41ZvUszTvgazZu55Y4P5ATcTPHEfP7NoMYyA/s1600/IMG_1715.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMlWZXy_p1BNW_bClkwaBG3DMuEIh-q3up9xasqczlHQzdLeZex_JZCW_2e6zBPzW6EzR2q5EbHQ30pQtT8dl5eLOp1Jp2nmLisNCfUMOZ41ZvUszTvgazZu55Y4P5ATcTPHEfP7NoMYyA/s320/IMG_1715.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Croatian sunset - this was about 10pm.</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_zqB3bS__WaJGR8lyVBWGaBTZvCOwpKymtkSQipx4q4FokPXx00AZ3ARIE5IVcE2w7eLA51A_jCotVnTF3MYJNJw0rPHSamgWa-odl1wPEazxnQb9SBTx1suPuEsSYWToFjk1jNxKYXZL/s1600/IMG_1726.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_zqB3bS__WaJGR8lyVBWGaBTZvCOwpKymtkSQipx4q4FokPXx00AZ3ARIE5IVcE2w7eLA51A_jCotVnTF3MYJNJw0rPHSamgWa-odl1wPEazxnQb9SBTx1suPuEsSYWToFjk1jNxKYXZL/s320/IMG_1726.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Castle Bar.</i></td></tr>
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Markarska left quite the impression because I had the best lasagna of my life here. Down the main strip near the beach, there is a restaurant called Orca - it was well worth the 20 minute walk to get there, I really should have ordered another slice. After our meal, we descended into the Rave in the Cave - a club called DEEP. The inside of a cave was turned into a bar and filled with all sorts of neon lights. It was a cool experience, but because of the intense heat, you were literally dripping in sweat after five minutes on the dancefloor.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgchF__K_Ja0AeF3XM5kjZ4POTaqPe_8moyMUkUZCE80R7PGXFFpK7UrOCvL5p4ZoTPPoCCe3x7HbzEZS8SwZqCXTzohmUEiqPgHk2GIry_SIlfFBv9C2rxPRrvJMayOPLg5Hnaenojm-6Y/s1600/IMG_1750.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgchF__K_Ja0AeF3XM5kjZ4POTaqPe_8moyMUkUZCE80R7PGXFFpK7UrOCvL5p4ZoTPPoCCe3x7HbzEZS8SwZqCXTzohmUEiqPgHk2GIry_SIlfFBv9C2rxPRrvJMayOPLg5Hnaenojm-6Y/s320/IMG_1750.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ravers in the Cave.</i></td></tr>
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Omis was our last port of call before heading back to Split. To be quite honest, at this point of my trip, I was starting to look forward to Paris. I was tired of the boat and needed to be on land 24/7. And I was running out of laundry. In Omis, we woke up early (cough, 7am early) to climb to the fortress. 40 minutes of climbing resulted in several people puking along the way (they raved too hard in the cave the night before). This was perhaps the only day I saw more than 7 people at breakfast - when we returned we were all starving for food.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbUh-bF5rjHznsDz3elqht5Oi2Mc6peAV7SSQ_oRNRJm2WAn52343P6CrCHtNO6YEGvQQ6hoa8DDrjxhCRrjC0uDcbQtYGRwaUZqPY7cQGpKuzh4BtRzcoDVkNEoNqfwFU7OAO7H-D6arU/s1600/IMG_1775.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbUh-bF5rjHznsDz3elqht5Oi2Mc6peAV7SSQ_oRNRJm2WAn52343P6CrCHtNO6YEGvQQ6hoa8DDrjxhCRrjC0uDcbQtYGRwaUZqPY7cQGpKuzh4BtRzcoDVkNEoNqfwFU7OAO7H-D6arU/s320/IMG_1775.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The view from the top.</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"> </span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyTCcLyTFRbK45lDUN8uIB3bySLW0G-q3bTyVvKNIPaU6gwCeQV4J3z8MbaKFUZpl1glBaECFyf2iAPqVJdv6Umn5OLpi-KJXFuVeZcknlVNi9iXLdZbreIXM2HuGAGiaByzJ4wnkPLDxb/s1600/IMG_1783.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyTCcLyTFRbK45lDUN8uIB3bySLW0G-q3bTyVvKNIPaU6gwCeQV4J3z8MbaKFUZpl1glBaECFyf2iAPqVJdv6Umn5OLpi-KJXFuVeZcknlVNi9iXLdZbreIXM2HuGAGiaByzJ4wnkPLDxb/s320/IMG_1783.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Yes, I conquered this hill. Still super dark.</i></td></tr>
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Our last night in Split was pretty tame. The group of us that hung out together were not in the mood to get wasted and all decided to have a good meal, walk around the city and bring some drinks back to the boat and have a good chat before we all went our separate ways. I contemplated staying up all night as we finished our talks at 1am and I had to be up at 430am to get to the bus station to catch the early morning shuttle to the airport. I implore you - if you ever have an option of taking an early morning flight out of Split, DON'T DO IT. The bus station was super sketchy as drunk people filtered out of one of Croatia's largest clubs - Imperium. And if it wasn't the drunks, it was the homeless people. Thankfully, I made friends with a couple of Americans who were of the same mindset to gang together in order to make it to our bus stop that was down an alleyway with no lampposts. <br />
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Regardless of how it ended, I had a blast in Croatia. While I wouldn't recommend a tour like this to people of my age, I would certainly say that if you have a wealthy friend with a yacht who invited you on a cruise along the coast of Croatia, that you should take them up on the offer. <br />
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As a follow up to this story - it was only a few weeks ago that Anderson Cooper was vacationing with his boyfriend along the coast with their friends Kelly Ripa and Andy Cohen when news broke that Anderson's BF was photographed kissing another man in Central Park. That must have made for a very awkward boat ride.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0C8a3RntLekOn3o3AY_tAb24-GDPCezZ1jBnRZALwEge2oTv-eR0Cb6BfPQqty5fcb0ii-g_Q6y6WPBuuyz3Mr2aSoJkKR8sVTBoLDstR69rTHdQ_Q3jWP3l1Q7e-mfu_KYJ976bwN4GB/s1600/IMG_1575.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0C8a3RntLekOn3o3AY_tAb24-GDPCezZ1jBnRZALwEge2oTv-eR0Cb6BfPQqty5fcb0ii-g_Q6y6WPBuuyz3Mr2aSoJkKR8sVTBoLDstR69rTHdQ_Q3jWP3l1Q7e-mfu_KYJ976bwN4GB/s320/IMG_1575.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Croatia from the port hole in my room.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQKvNTmnc3giKmRVUkW5VeriKl0tAfMHuyw3oO1kx2yPcLA_z7RBEMjNdtFOdRtbzQAP09L8_MTw6SuYklLU-CQTis65RltqVvwc6jF1X9r6z4Sc_4mPQyUz06B3jnfCXgIvCh_L6d0T_W/s1600/IMG_1822.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQKvNTmnc3giKmRVUkW5VeriKl0tAfMHuyw3oO1kx2yPcLA_z7RBEMjNdtFOdRtbzQAP09L8_MTw6SuYklLU-CQTis65RltqVvwc6jF1X9r6z4Sc_4mPQyUz06B3jnfCXgIvCh_L6d0T_W/s320/IMG_1822.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>One thing I do miss is the Croatian sunset.</i></td></tr>
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Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-5043585828349423192012-09-04T04:54:00.004-07:002012-09-04T06:44:56.219-07:00The Beauty that is Chinese CharactersWeek Two of Mandarin school and the fun continues. I'm amazed by how many characters I've learned (and memorized) up to this point - my last count was approximately 200 characters (silent happy dance and Woot Woot). However, there are things I discover about this language everyday that make me wish that I had not abandoned it so quickly as a child. One of them, which I continue to unravel as I absorb more and more characters, is the artform in constructing a Chinese character.<br />
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A brief lesson on the history of the written Chinese language. Chinese characters evolved from pictograms, simple words like fire, man, female, wood and field all came from what the word looked like in nature. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsR5hnOoEuuvkrQ043pS9BRIB0JovAXF2y79HUwul7DcIq7Kos6_13syYatD0Y_PAsD7YnxhwmISdIONHOyD0Md_d9z_6t3TKojEMp8OQffdXJf-FUENmF_bwLtwBpUN8zQ4xE1hviyMHN/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-09-04+at+7.27.04+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="85" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgsR5hnOoEuuvkrQ043pS9BRIB0JovAXF2y79HUwul7DcIq7Kos6_13syYatD0Y_PAsD7YnxhwmISdIONHOyD0Md_d9z_6t3TKojEMp8OQffdXJf-FUENmF_bwLtwBpUN8zQ4xE1hviyMHN/s400/Screen+shot+2012-09-04+at+7.27.04+PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Fire - looks like a bonfire.<br />Man - looks like a person walking.<br />Female - looks like a person with wide hips.<br />Wood - looks like the branches of a tree.<br />Field - looks like how rice paddies are organized.</i></td></tr>
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However, throughout what was China at the time, each kingdom and territory had their own written and spoken form of Chinese. It wasn't until the Qin Dynasty in 200 BC that the Emperor decided to standardize the written language so that people from one end of China could communicate with people on the other end, regardless of what dialect they subscribed to. <br />
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Since standardization, the base words have been used to create new words and characters. These base words - 214 characters also known as The Chinese Radicals (which a friend of mine remarked would be an awesome name for an indie band) - would be used in different formations to create other characters that would represent other things. It's in fact how I've been able to memorize so many characters - is by breaking them down to their basic meaning and remembering what order they appear in the word.<br />
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Take for example the word for "to speak":<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWhOw-f3A9AJ-uFqLFToueRoLbsL8cg0YKosCXe9thw6-M6kXqOAmWbLdP1n5Zzr29gyYEHRNSp0LjR3y8dcRlXTIrezNonjoWHphj6j-wNk6-_QppidQfE3bX2T3J7SYGddMDqOT_OTLV/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-09-04+at+7.26.26+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="93" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiWhOw-f3A9AJ-uFqLFToueRoLbsL8cg0YKosCXe9thw6-M6kXqOAmWbLdP1n5Zzr29gyYEHRNSp0LjR3y8dcRlXTIrezNonjoWHphj6j-wNk6-_QppidQfE3bX2T3J7SYGddMDqOT_OTLV/s400/Screen+shot+2012-09-04+at+7.26.26+PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>To Speak (shuo in pinyin) is made up of the characters for Words, Points, Mouth and Man.<br />The words are coming from the points leaving the man's mouth.</i></td></tr>
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Cool, right? It's similar to word construction in languages that use alphabets, but there's something more poetic to written Traditional Chinese. Each pen stroke has meaning (which I have yet to master) and each character contributes to a canvas of different elements to create a beautiful picture. <br />
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Here's another cool example of "dormitory" (two words):<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjizpE11ew5rpx8Vj72S_M9mDLVjUP7KQu5z_f0aOpO09RmGUzDLVopPQuK-yXtFubu3JvvgdKVrrI2HCcCpXzAMN5_7QjS4ZnNWf4qQeaBG4c4hsqbJiax_7HIh7QIGp67RUElFmLlnZHL/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-09-04+at+7.26.43+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="131" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjizpE11ew5rpx8Vj72S_M9mDLVjUP7KQu5z_f0aOpO09RmGUzDLVopPQuK-yXtFubu3JvvgdKVrrI2HCcCpXzAMN5_7QjS4ZnNWf4qQeaBG4c4hsqbJiax_7HIh7QIGp67RUElFmLlnZHL/s400/Screen+shot+2012-09-04+at+7.26.43+PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Dormitory (su she in pin yin) is broken into two characters. Su is made up of Roof, People and Hundred.<br />She is made up of People, Shield and Enclosure. Many people living under a shielded enclosure - not that hard to memorize.</i></td></tr>
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Finally, my favourite (albeit personal) interpretation of a Chinese character is the word for "love":<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ6Q71YqZXwpeYAVGfwdtWnOC_jOn8tqmCWoavszfAh4tCdmeIZF2Wcsr8zh1R3WvpI2HQ717Z4zLT3YSoRKsMUhmFoSufToz9kmO57bnxgi1SocP5YymNLOvZaV0XMJ0wKeor8eh2XnHD/s1600/Screen+shot+2012-09-04+at+7.26.52+PM.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="117" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZ6Q71YqZXwpeYAVGfwdtWnOC_jOn8tqmCWoavszfAh4tCdmeIZF2Wcsr8zh1R3WvpI2HQ717Z4zLT3YSoRKsMUhmFoSufToz9kmO57bnxgi1SocP5YymNLOvZaV0XMJ0wKeor8eh2XnHD/s400/Screen+shot+2012-09-04+at+7.26.52+PM.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Love (Ai in pin yin) is a character you likely recognize because millions of non-Chinese people have it tattooed on their bodies somewhere.<br />Surprisingly, I find that the character is made up of the radicals for Claws, Cover, Heart and Follow.<br />While the latter two are logical (follow your heart with love), the first two are quite comical - love would certainly claw at your heart, so you need to have some sort of cover to protect it.</i></td></tr>
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Again, the latter interpretation is purely my own personal thoughts on the word Love (not that I am at all bitter at the concept of Love). <br />
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If you're interested, here are all 214 radical characters:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilpqiC3e4gQkWB4TSEPkryQPYcgfidskvETeVvevMmNKlBA-BHI3j1xbdYb0GJF1CK_cNaAaaHEDXsAycHFtJ-1PEonb_QPlYUGHUT3YKHEwlJZYFLjJCp1xUMHx_HwAZODkF6jJf4tTpC/s1600/IMG_2957.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilpqiC3e4gQkWB4TSEPkryQPYcgfidskvETeVvevMmNKlBA-BHI3j1xbdYb0GJF1CK_cNaAaaHEDXsAycHFtJ-1PEonb_QPlYUGHUT3YKHEwlJZYFLjJCp1xUMHx_HwAZODkF6jJf4tTpC/s320/IMG_2957.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The first time I saw this sheet, I nearly crapped myself.</i></td></tr>
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When I stumble across more words that are of comical note, I will make sure to share with you all. <br />
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<br />Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-63463279950269686212012-09-02T18:28:00.002-07:002012-09-02T18:28:54.973-07:00Celebrating Three Anniversaries that Changed My LifeThere's something refreshing about the beginning of September. It's the beginning of the school year and having been a geek all my life, it was always something I looked forward to. It's the beginning of fall, my favourite season, especially in North America; the air is crisp enough to wear a jacket (I have an unhealthy obsession with jackets) and sleeping with the windows open requires that extra blanket so you don't catch a cold.<br />
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This September marks some important anniversaries in my life. One involves gaining independence, one involves a loss and one involves a journey of discovery. <br />
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It was ten years ago this September that I packed up a minivan full of my possessions, drove down the 401 past hundreds of farm fields to a small city called London, Ontario. Here, I would attend an amazing university, the University of Western Ontario. Here is where I would gain independence - no one was accountable for my grades, my bills or how I lived my life except for me. While there's not much of that Orientation Week that I remember (most likely due to the copious amount of alcohol that was consumed), I remember meeting a floormate who would turn out to be my roommate for the remaining three years and still an incredibly good friend today. More friends were gained along the way, some were lost, but overall, I was lucky enough to meet some fascinating individuals, some of whom I have had the great fortune of traveling with on my trip around the world.<br />
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It was two years ago this weekend that I talked to my grandmother for the last time. Having battled lung and bone cancer for over a year and a half, she died shortly after collapsing on her way back to her room at the hospital in Los Angeles. Luckily, I was fortunate enough to have planned a trip to visit her that Labour Day weekend and had a nice chat before she passed. It was my grandmother that really encouraged me to reconnect with my father's side of the family. It could have been guilt from all of the mean things that were said and done during my parents' divorce, but her one message to me throughout the entire time she was battling her illness was that I needed to patch things up with my dad. If it wasn't for her urging and what I believe is her continued guidance on the matter, it wouldn't have led me to where I am today.<br />
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And it was six months ago today that I quietly sipped on a gin and tonic while watching Toronto disappear from my window as I sat on my midnight flight to Taipei. Half excited, a quarter drunk and the remainder anxious, I had no idea what was in store for me in my year off. I had left a comfortable life for the unknown and having always been the person with a plan, not having one made me feel empty and lost. It never occurred to me that I was pretty empty and lost all along, even with my plans. What I was missing was family and having had the chance to be with my dad's side of my family 24/7 for two months made me realize how much I needed these people in my life. It also marked the start of an incredible journey that would take me to new places I had never seen before like Tibet, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Portugal, Spain, Croatia and Scotland. I've experienced some great moments like celebrating with thousands of Spaniards on La Ramblas after their Euro Cup win or taking a dip in Loch Ness while the sun blazed down on us sipping whiskey on the beach. <br />
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This weekend has certainly been a time for reflection - this perfect storm of anniversaries have made me appreciate that saying, "everything happens for a reason." Within the last six months, I've learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses - these next six months will be about how I take that knowledge and determine what I want to do moving forward. May more eureka moments occur, and may more truths shed light on paths that need to be followed.Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-63805797865740543402012-09-02T06:37:00.002-07:002012-09-02T06:37:17.887-07:00Alas, Tiger Student, I am not.This is my small break after six hours of prepping for my second week of school. After what seems like a lifetime of writing and repeating Chinese characters over and over again in my practice book, my right hand has cramped into a claw-like form. I might as well be half velociraptor.<br />
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I must admit, this week was quite the roller coaster of emotions and experiences. From the anxiety of the first day and seeing if I was actually placed properly into a class of my skill level, to the frustration of hours upon hours of written homework to improve on my writing abilities, and finally, to the joy of completing my first exam without feeling like I bombed the entire thing - I'm very glad this week is over.<br />
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I enrolled in the program at the advice of my father. In spending so much time here in Taiwan, it would be a shame not to learn something in the process. Having left Taiwan before entering elementary school, I had limited exposure to reading and writing Chinese. Most of my ability remains in speaking the language, and even that sometimes is more Chinglish than actual conversational Mandarin.<br />
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So it was a shock when I got my placement exams back and they placed me in the level 7 section (of which there are 10 levels) of the program at National Taiwan University. I immediately thought they had made some sort of mistake; nonetheless, I would go and try it out, see where my comfort level was and hopefully fit in with the other students.<br />
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After six months of not having a daily routine, it was nice to get back into one again. Normally, I would wake up at a late hour and laze around the house, go to the gym, write a couple of paragraphs of a short story at the local S-bucks and head to dinner with the family. Now, I am up every morning early, having breakfast, heading off to school to do a couple of hours of studying before my class starts at noon.<br />
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My class is an interesting mix of people - three Japanese, one Indonesian, one American and me. We are all at different skill levels in reading, writing and speaking, but within the same level of comprehension of vocabulary and sentence structure. Each of us have our own weaknesses, but we have found a nice groove helping each other out during group exercises and conversational breaks. <br />
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Our teacher is a lovely early 40s woman named Mrs. Shen. She's what you'd picture a teacher to be - patient, happy and always eager to help you learn something new. I've asked her for extra work (in an attempt to try to catch up to writing at a proficient level) and she's more than happily obliged, even helping me out with my phonetics, which is in dire need of assistance. <br />
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As an eager beaver student, I quickly rush to the library after my three hour class is over everyday to re-write all my notes. It's my way of memorizing the vocabulary that we learned that day - you have to keep re-reading and re-writing the words in order to memorize the characters, there's really no other way to learn. I'm there for another three hours as I take the extra step of teaching myself the bo/po/mo/fo phonetics technique and reacquaint myself with how to determine the intonations again. </div>
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All this preparation is done because we are tested at the beginning of every class on the previous class' material. If you don't do your homework or at least review what was taught the day before, you're totally fucked on the dictation quiz. I've been doing pretty average on these quizzes so far, even with the hours of prep time I've been putting in.</div>
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By mid-week, my brain is spinning from all the new words I've learned. This chapter is all about things around the house and while it is great to learn how to read and write this vocabulary, it's not so practical if I ever want to use it in business. The phrase: "Put the bowls away because the kitchen is smelly," is likely not something you'll throw out in a meeting. <br />
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It felt like an eternity, but once Friday hit, I felt like a sack of Chinese characters had landed on my head; my noggin was about to explode with how many new characters I had absorbed in just that one week. Our week-end exam was almost an hour long testing our reading comprehension, writing skills with a full composition section and a question and answer section with our teacher. I walked out of there knowing I didn't fail miserably, but probably scoring around an 85. Tiger Student I had hoped to be, alas Tiger Student I am not.<br />
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Having said that, this experience has been fun. There are "aha!" moments where I know exactly how to write the words by piecing together the root words. There are also "it's all coming back to me now" moments where I feel like I've resurrected a memory of Chinese school in Toronto from the deepest darkest recesses of my mind. Then there are the "wow, I did it!" moments - something I haven't felt in a while when it comes to learning something new. <br />
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This is just after one week, there's eleven more weeks of this fun. <br />
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Now back to more vocab - there are 35 new words and phrases to remember for my test tomorrow. Aiya. </div>
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Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-12199802584374255212012-08-29T08:27:00.001-07:002012-08-29T08:27:06.522-07:00A week in TokyoJapan has always occupied a parking spot in the curiosity section of my brain. I have snippets of memories from when I've lived and visited the Land of the Rising Sun before but they are incomplete snapshots of what I am sure were incredible experiences. <br />
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I've been to Japan twice in my life. The first, was when I was four and my father was studying at Yokohama university. During our year there, I picked up on Japanese pretty quickly and it was a shame that I lost it all when I immigrated to Canada and English quickly trumped both of my previous languages. That was also the first time I went to a Disneyland, met Mickey Mouse and bought his alarm clock, of which still functions to this day (a clear testament to Japanese engineering). The second was back in 2005. At that point, I was still a pissy little shit when it came to dealing with my dad after a decade of having a shaky father-son relationship. He treated me, my stepmother and aunt to a trip to Tokyo and Ito, of which I sulked most of the way through because I was with my father. When I look back on that trip now, I wince at how I ruined the trip for myself and likely for those who went with me. This also shows that when you're 22, you still are not mature enough to act like an adult sometimes.<br />
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So when my uncle offered me the chance to go with him to Tokyo last week to help him out with some business he had to do there at the Do-It-Yourself Trade Show in Chiba (just east of Tokyo), I didn't hesitate to say yes. With only a few days of commitment to the trade show, the rest of the time, I had to myself to wander the streets of Tokyo.<br />
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Just when I think I haven't gotten enough of temples and palaces, there's always room for more. Senso-ji and the Meiji Temple were both on my must see list in Tokyo. Both are Old World Japan monuments nestled in the hearts of Tokyo's busy neighbourhoods of Asakusa and Harajuku, respectively.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Senso-Ji Temple.</i></td></tr>
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I've been to Asakusa before on the trip back in 2005 - a charming little district with the Senso-ji sheltered by the Kaminarimon Gate and a long path of small souvenir and snack shops leading up to the temple. These tiny stores sell anything from cell phone cases to those annoying dangly cartoon characters that hang off said cell phone cases and one of the weirdest items, and ear wax picker. The food is fantastic - mochi cakes and waffle biscuits are all made to take the form or the large lanterns that hang from the gates leading to the temple.<br />
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The temple is a hive of activity. People stand in front of the large incense burner and wave the smoke that billows out of the furnace all over their body for good luck. There are fortune cabinets all around the exterior and interior of the temple. Give the metal tin a good shake and a stick with a number comes out. That number matches a cabinet holding your fortune. As with all fortunes, the user should really try not to buy into every word - I will apparently have good fortune at my current job and love life...neither of which I have at the moment.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Shake the metal tin, get your fortune stick<br />and get your fortune out of the <br />matching drawer.</i></td></tr>
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The Meiji temple is a slightly different experience from the hustle and bustle of Asakusa. This temple is surrounded by an expansive park with walkways the size of boulevards and trees as tall as apartment buildings. On a sunny afternoon, it is the perfect escape from the blazing fireball in the sky. (In fact, the weather during the week I was in Tokyo was so hot, I thought I was somewhere in the tropics. It truly lived up to the promise of being the Land of the Rising Sun.)<br />
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I had the fortune of listening in on a performance of the Tyko drummer in the temple - with each strike of the large bat (I swear it was larger than a baseball bat) on the vat sized drum, the boom reverberated in your organs as it spread out across the courtyard and out into the gardens. I wish I could share with you some photos and video of the event, but I was quickly stopped by a security guard to let me know that no pictures were allowed - quite the surprise in a land where everyone has their camera on them at all times.<br />
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Moving away from a taste of the old world to a completely new world attraction, I headed to the SkyTree communications tower to take a look at the tallest structure in Japan and the second tallest in the world - opened just in May of this year. From the base, it looks like a microphone for Godzilla to sing karaoke into. As much as I wanted to go up to the top to look at the skyline, there was an hour and 20 minute wait for it as a shipment of mainland Chinese tourists got there before we did. I shook my fist in anger and decided to save it for another trip.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Skytree.</i></td></tr>
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I ended my adventures around Tokyo in the shopping district Ginza. On the weekends, the street turns into a pedestrian thoroughfare, so it's neat to walk down one of the busiest streets in Asia or sit on one of the many tables and chairs set out for tired shoppers. Ginza is the Land of the Rising Department Stores and luxury goods as far as the eye can see. However, due to the recession, some mainstream brands have entered including the ever popular UniQlo which takes up a 12 story retail environment that made me slap down some cash when I really shouldn't have.<br />
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Finally, a trip to Tokyo is not complete without some delicious Japanese food. I really just gorged myself on noodles and sushi the entire time I was there. I did make it to some restaurants, but nothing beat the $8 - $10 CDN you can spend and get a feast at the local supermarket.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>All this from the supermarket for $8 Canadian. That's some good eatin'.</i></td></tr>
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So with all of these fun experiences, I plan on heading back to Tokyo in December with my friends Shelley, Marc and Jean to check out the nightlife the city has to offer...and also to get up early the next morning to see what the world famous fish market is like :D.Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-41489425222075394202012-07-30T06:47:00.000-07:002012-07-30T06:47:39.888-07:00Olympics "I Believe" Song on repeat<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I remember the first time I knew anything about the Olympics was in 1992. I was in the 2nd grade and our gym teacher had us run around the gym pretending we were Olympic athletes. Being the precious kid that I was, I decided being a spectator was my contribution to the "games." </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Even as a young child, I wasn't much into doing anything really physical. I couldn't even dig in the sand without distain.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Then Lillehammer 1994 happened and I paid more attention to these games as Canada actually medals in the Winter games. This was the year that Elvis Stojko unleashed the dragon and made figure skating two shades less feminine than it really is. And my grandfather was very much into hockey, so I watched the tournament with him, and even though Canada won Silver, it was one of my favourite memories of childhood as I was able to spend so much time with my grandpa.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Through the years, Atlanta, Nagano, Sydney, Salt Lake, Athens, Turin, and Beijing were always fun to follow, but I never really LOVED the games until Vancouver 2010. This time Canada was the focus of the games, and I was determined to go and experience the fun. I was lucky enough to get tickets to the Gold Medal Men's hockey game, gambling on the fact that Canada would be in the finals. The country was slow on the medal count, but the games finished like a fairy tale ending. An overtime goal by Sidney Crosby to capture Men's Gold, the Canadian Olympic Team set an all time gold medal record by a host country at 14 gold medals, and some incredible tales of triumph from athletes like Joannie Rochette, who lost her mom before she was to skate, made you tear up like a 40 year old single woman watching Titanic for the fourteenth time on a Friday night with her cats.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Going buckwild after Canada wins in overtime. One of my best moments of life ever.</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I'll admit, for a time after Vancouver 2010, I was in a funk. I wanted to turn on the TV to watch ANY sport that involved three medals at the end. It could have been Olympic speed knitting and I would have watched. I was so obsessed with the Olympics, I had the Nikki Yanokovski "I Believe" song playing on repeat on my iPod as I walked to work and pretended to move in slow motion like the people in the montages on CTV. It made for a slow walk to work.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Just in case you haven't had enough of it...</i></span></div>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So, when London 2012 crept closer, and I realized that I would be in Europe for the summer, there was no question that I would stop by this city to enjoy the games. Thankfully, my friends Alex and Sandy have conveniently moved to this city, so free accommodations mean cheap Terence can spend more money on booze. (And trust me, I have).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><u>The Opening Ceremonies</u></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After a day of walking around the city with Sandy and our friend Laura, we went to Canada House in Trafalgar Square to see what it had planned for the athletes. We were disappointed to find that all they had for us were pins (we took them nonetheless) and they directed us to the Maple Leaf bar in Covent Garden. We were joined by Alex, Phil (another friend from uni) and Phil's friend Jamie and we celebrated the Opening Ceremonies with at least 400 other Canadians crammed into the bar. There were several moments of SHHHH! to try to listen to what was happening. Other moments of laughter at the British sense of humour including:</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- Free health care promotion (an obvious F you to Mitt Romney who was visiting and made some rather silly comments about the Olympic games)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- the Queen jumping from a helicopter with James Bond</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">- Three dozen Mary Poppins flying into the stadium</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And of course, cheering for the countries as they marched into the stadium. We cheered the loudest for Canada and Team GB, but as we got drunker and drunkier, we started clinking our glasses for Team Swaziland and Uzbekistan...haha...who comes up with these names?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Speaking of drunk, one of the highlights of the bar, was this couple from the West Coast. The wife got hammered and started hitting on Phil and Jamie. She tried with Alex, but Sandy shot her some Asian cuteye and she backed off. They still stole our seats that we had occupied since 5pm. Lesson learned, don't be nice.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">However, we were unceremoniously all kicked out right before Sir Paul performed and people were losing their minds. Very unCanadian like behaviour was displayed and we all went home with a bitter taste in our mouths - or perhaps that was from the vomit after nine pints of Strongbow.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><b><u>Day 2 - 3m Women's Syncronized Springboard Diving</u></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Our only ticket to the games was to the diving event at the aquatics centre on Sunday. We were lucky enough to get seats to this event - little did we know that we'd be watching Canada get it's first medal. It started with Canada doing really well, and in true Canadian style, we lost the lead and China, being the powerhouse they are, won Gold. We were sitting in the nosebleeds but I truly believe our cheers reached all the way to the platforms 4,000m below us.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghvGfM6_iCQ_Qb_faRAaR67Zcx7YCZ2LC6IsZ_2QnbvqSpXLZCJRu8NdNrULhHtPoumw7kRB3tbojWCu-OHJ8ZvH2qXREAXYSJkbU81NYRXBl-zQ2aqaZuLf6lUPozwpptmUSrQwPv7as_/s1600/DSC_1043.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghvGfM6_iCQ_Qb_faRAaR67Zcx7YCZ2LC6IsZ_2QnbvqSpXLZCJRu8NdNrULhHtPoumw7kRB3tbojWCu-OHJ8ZvH2qXREAXYSJkbU81NYRXBl-zQ2aqaZuLf6lUPozwpptmUSrQwPv7as_/s320/DSC_1043.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>This is with 55mm zoom. We were still super far.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Alex, Sandy and I wandered around the Olympic Park afterwards and it's massive and quite impressive. The weather was bipolar, so we got waves of sunshine followed by a lightning show and a downpour back to happy sunny skies within a matter of an hour. Mother Nature must have been watching the Joannie Rochette story with her cats.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The Olympic Park is located in London's East end, notorious for being the shady part of the city, has been refurbished to be the most sustainable Olympic Park ever. The stadium, Aquatics centre, Velodrome, football and hockey fields are all located in this park. A big wildflower field also serves as a live TV venue for those coming in and out of other events. Alex wore his Union Jack and I wore the Maple Leaf flag. The spirit of the games made the Olympic Park into a grown up version of Disneyland where everyone was smiling and greeting people with "hello, how are you?" or a "woot! Canada!!!" The Olympic volunteers were so happy, I think they inhaled a bag of happy gas before starting their shifts. Here are some selects from the Olympic grounds:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaOgMwnHZMIFMz9YYEftPP-4bIZLw9hmW3mRE0VZUtERBo-3fyUuqyFHWffgEk9fjah5-azancc5l_cI2pbQ3A1j18wQGx6ZMH_H3Gy9A_gpL8qrSgiXlH9heSAHAudqUJTO9_ZgMNMcXn/s1600/DSC_1021.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaOgMwnHZMIFMz9YYEftPP-4bIZLw9hmW3mRE0VZUtERBo-3fyUuqyFHWffgEk9fjah5-azancc5l_cI2pbQ3A1j18wQGx6ZMH_H3Gy9A_gpL8qrSgiXlH9heSAHAudqUJTO9_ZgMNMcXn/s320/DSC_1021.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Wildflowers are present all around the park.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZCedMgoiXTJTeYtXi927yw4HJFaLHyAegDlZzgpjHfGUTUYNvWma9yKScrFW2aK2sO_BnxhvO7NA8ZlVQmaacvJE84zlOCxioVKFoSnjDdJ1n8Z0uqlXijhMbMKbTMGYFC2iCMFt39-pY/s1600/IMG_2029.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><i><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZCedMgoiXTJTeYtXi927yw4HJFaLHyAegDlZzgpjHfGUTUYNvWma9yKScrFW2aK2sO_BnxhvO7NA8ZlVQmaacvJE84zlOCxioVKFoSnjDdJ1n8Z0uqlXijhMbMKbTMGYFC2iCMFt39-pY/s320/IMG_2029.JPG" width="240" /></i></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The orbit - telecom tower and observation deck.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCm-b_tGiyLZrxG_daAVOKwRz4_fv03Fz_e4MHz8QKP9dPCpegSDgEupNdCdRMFxcd9kbh24VUwjiX1MO5rafFan8umkAhyphenhyphenJmuriAOuBmNuGz4DhMO-oOU9h2Ojt2EtUFNv31zAFCxGcHv/s1600/IMG_2035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCm-b_tGiyLZrxG_daAVOKwRz4_fv03Fz_e4MHz8QKP9dPCpegSDgEupNdCdRMFxcd9kbh24VUwjiX1MO5rafFan8umkAhyphenhyphenJmuriAOuBmNuGz4DhMO-oOU9h2Ojt2EtUFNv31zAFCxGcHv/s320/IMG_2035.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Very Polka Dot Door.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgje2cDgIyi0kmtkjCe3wHDv7zlalc_I3Tfkev_iE3PzxMhoAb2tX4XrnV25WNntyQzbEkR4LXGdYkNEP77gvSdXIC0jAunjFK6L3OiepD33-Sgvn2bifGQF93KLkeZNEJAkkLdx2x63r29/s1600/IMG_2077.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgje2cDgIyi0kmtkjCe3wHDv7zlalc_I3Tfkev_iE3PzxMhoAb2tX4XrnV25WNntyQzbEkR4LXGdYkNEP77gvSdXIC0jAunjFK6L3OiepD33-Sgvn2bifGQF93KLkeZNEJAkkLdx2x63r29/s320/IMG_2077.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Velodrome.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-0aqyUlk5KDAaHwxMN_VHu948n4CDz_vFv1VH1jV02gg5aul6SAQPkAfk83UZ62oZt5Kvu-xlyd5qcj6-w-6R8-aiMKQH_nFH4EpJOuc-pLwTtGOfCHWrJ9FbF_DHoU-yuq8iakGpXiJf/s1600/IMG_2083.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-0aqyUlk5KDAaHwxMN_VHu948n4CDz_vFv1VH1jV02gg5aul6SAQPkAfk83UZ62oZt5Kvu-xlyd5qcj6-w-6R8-aiMKQH_nFH4EpJOuc-pLwTtGOfCHWrJ9FbF_DHoU-yuq8iakGpXiJf/s320/IMG_2083.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>One Eyed Monster Mascot.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXxLEiJ8jITliaFDTIlnxamfyG47zk_JM34kbRyTORCh1OX3XqJu04J4DSHliDYpHscwWPTVRj9J7wPCZOpHogxY5P3wT11DinWnHSWJsHPr5E298fZ3cifyYnl05c1-V4owy2dulwDhuA/s1600/IMG_2087.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXxLEiJ8jITliaFDTIlnxamfyG47zk_JM34kbRyTORCh1OX3XqJu04J4DSHliDYpHscwWPTVRj9J7wPCZOpHogxY5P3wT11DinWnHSWJsHPr5E298fZ3cifyYnl05c1-V4owy2dulwDhuA/s320/IMG_2087.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The Stadium.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjol91wvnBDffKNAFwJwwXLM6_r1zIBLakBvHKhtbZYo5ekrfnvFp-k_eH-062WKxV7h8hx1vV8Sh0wZbH5MkYb5-dboz5Twj8AB65dPnLdX50HrfeV6gXdfSrgMcjueK3N9Jl03_0xyNBp/s1600/IMG_2039.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjol91wvnBDffKNAFwJwwXLM6_r1zIBLakBvHKhtbZYo5ekrfnvFp-k_eH-062WKxV7h8hx1vV8Sh0wZbH5MkYb5-dboz5Twj8AB65dPnLdX50HrfeV6gXdfSrgMcjueK3N9Jl03_0xyNBp/s320/IMG_2039.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Jump for the Olympics!</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">We don't have any more tickets to any of the other events, but with the controversy of the empty seats at the venues, we might get another chance to go! If not, anyone up for Sochi 2014?</span>Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-1940016324162042622012-07-23T05:19:00.001-07:002012-07-23T05:19:48.481-07:00One bite at a time - Eating my way through Europe<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">There's a scene in the movie Eat, Pray, Love, where Julia Robert's character, Liz, makes a simple Italian meal for herself and plants herself on the floor of her Roman flat, where she spends an entire afternoon just savouring each bite of her food. This scene is significant to me for two reasons - the first, is that I just finished reading the book on my European travels (<b>Sidebar</b>: did anyone else find it really hard to get through the India part of the book?); and the second is that I had several of these EAT moments in Europe.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Don't get me wrong, I really liked the movie, but I can see how people were pissed that so much was missing from the book. Definitely a rental.</i></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">From my acorn-fed jamon in Barcelona to the lasagna I had in Markaska, Croatia, to the (several) cheese and wine combos in Paris, I've gained two new friends - I've named my lovehandles "Carbs" and "Consequences." (Those "C" twins are so evil.)</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj23tO5YOzkVHDlaRG0rPQvfK0hBhnUW-I2oIrIqUvenYLTTUwVYt0LPguAnP5i5o5xRp1FiWZv6BxIHQrXBGJoZlZYUmEEKBwee9SE_xnVlex_zdKu-e-atNDmbil6UTLW3RJ5cvEyX-tB/s1600/409629_10100766325065801_284929680_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj23tO5YOzkVHDlaRG0rPQvfK0hBhnUW-I2oIrIqUvenYLTTUwVYt0LPguAnP5i5o5xRp1FiWZv6BxIHQrXBGJoZlZYUmEEKBwee9SE_xnVlex_zdKu-e-atNDmbil6UTLW3RJ5cvEyX-tB/s320/409629_10100766325065801_284929680_n.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I stare at this photo when I'm hungry. It's the way of encouraging myself to write a lot of award winning books, gain the income to hire the chef that made this award winning lasagna, and hire a trainer to work off the weight I'll gain from eating this for every meal, everyday.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">I've had a great time in Europe so far - besides the excellent food, I've experienced so much in the past five weeks that have opened my eyes to the fact that I am still as not as well traveled as I hope to be, that there are still things I need to work (cough...communicating my feelings...cough) and that I can really get used to this life of just wandering from place to place and not doing anything. Now if I can only find a way of making income out of doing nothing...</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Traveling has also given me a couple of story ideas to tinker with and hopefully that will result in the income that will allow me to travel some more, which will result in more story ideas and more income...you see what I'm getting at here? Sigh, it is hard not to get ahead of yourself when you have this much time on your hands to just dream. (Insert the Bob Sinclair Love Generation song from the Lotto Max commercials here as I dream about my next vacation.)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">There are several highlights of this trip (besides the food - wait, I said this already) that I can't wait to start blogging about in my following entries - they include:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- celebrating Spain's Eurocup win in Barcelona on Las Ramblas and watching people drunkenly climb the lamp posts and praying they didn't fall to their deaths, </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- meeting a seminary student on the train from Zagreb to Split, Croatia and talking to him about everything from politics to religion to Croatian reality TV for about four hours as our train was delayed by a fire on the track (no, not dangerous at all),</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- waking up every morning to the sound of the Adriatic waves splash against our boat and then jumping into the clear blue waters after breakfast on my Split - Dubrovnik cruise,</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdyU190WLT9IBT4jZLKgg2kDUvL7But10FiM9hK3-JU_tnsckNxL8kcKSGaUa-xKxWJ7sJRPaTblumAQGBxIu59KBG6kxpQIjMK6vEFsgAiLpEHPuhdRgDAp4QQWsklESE2XqWJ2RLO2c_/s1600/IMG_1811.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdyU190WLT9IBT4jZLKgg2kDUvL7But10FiM9hK3-JU_tnsckNxL8kcKSGaUa-xKxWJ7sJRPaTblumAQGBxIu59KBG6kxpQIjMK6vEFsgAiLpEHPuhdRgDAp4QQWsklESE2XqWJ2RLO2c_/s320/IMG_1811.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Life is hard when you have to jump off a boat everyday.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- the most random Sunday I've ever experienced which included a Tim Burton-esque circus exhibit, followed by running into a random Brazilian drum band and random carnival rides that made my friend Lindsay and I sick.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Each place I've visited in the last five weeks have left quite the impression. Portugal was a friendly destination where surprisingly everyone spoke English with you, because they are probably tired of foreigners butchering Portuguese or speaking to them in Spanish. Spain was incredibly hot and a great place to meet interesting characters on our Trafalgar tour - including some older Aussies and New Zealanders who insisted that the Spanish speak English. Croatia was relaxing after three weeks of bus tours and an eclectic mix of young Australians - there were only Aussies on this part of my travels, I was quite the minority as an Asian Canadian (or Canasian). And well, Paris, it was all about living the life of a Parisien, so much so that I was even getting annoyed with the tourists and saying my "Pardon!"s with an annoyance that would make any local proud.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">What makes life so great at the moment is that my European adventures are not over. There's still the London Olympics and Scotland and all of its foggy glory left to experience! </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">It's not hard to keep saying to myself - fuck, I'm so glad I decided to take this break.</span>Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-31952061446770182292012-06-13T05:47:00.002-07:002012-06-13T05:47:39.759-07:00Taking the time to have a meal outside<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">A guy I used to work with used to love eating his lunches outside during the summer time. There was once I joined him at his favourite spot near Yonge and Bloor, where we used to work. It was in a small parkette near a firehall and a condo, a quaint little square that obviously had caught the attention of others as it was packed. During my entire time there, I wondered, how was he able to do this everyday? And more importantly, why am I not doing this everyday?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">It wasn't until I quit my job back in February that I was able to truly appreciate eating a meal outside. Granted, I didn't do this while I was still in Toronto - it was still pretty fucking cold outside, but I did more of that in Taiwan, where it was 25 - 30 degrees Celsius everyday. I sat on a Starbucks patio, or a bench in my local park, or just a busy walkway in downtown Taipei - it was just good to eat, reflect and people watch. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">So apparently, this has been the best day in London for a while - it's been raining like mad lately, so with the sun out, I decided it was a perfect day to walk around and eat breakfast outside. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT13Yvd7wtUMapByK0ZR3Fc9_rhBgUr6Ldc_4hRz0ejOkydVbP-awpMUrfhMRctn6Wi4TPmBs2D74zdjwoECeFTxEzVmJHZUtuWghFe0wPxKEWU9iRdfY9oXnIP2OMhWcaPNh-QnPYcJ_x/s1600/IMG_8298.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhT13Yvd7wtUMapByK0ZR3Fc9_rhBgUr6Ldc_4hRz0ejOkydVbP-awpMUrfhMRctn6Wi4TPmBs2D74zdjwoECeFTxEzVmJHZUtuWghFe0wPxKEWU9iRdfY9oXnIP2OMhWcaPNh-QnPYcJ_x/s320/IMG_8298.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>What it looked like outside my hotel window this morning.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">I indulged my inner nerd this morning and decided to go to the British Natural History Museum. Well, it was also a cost effective move as the admission is free. Grabbing a croissant and a lemonade to go, I headed to the museum which is only a 10 minute walk away from my hotel. This was my first time at the museum as the last time I was here, we didn't have a chance to go inside and look around. When I turned the corner and saw the building, I was just mesmerized. Everything about it was impressive - the gates, the colours of the facade and especially the lush green lawn that surrounded the compound. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8IThv5okm5FlTEIj1vW88aA7y-1h09Vl-aoq-U5JDHmoybgN0HaIzKndDr8OmUiA9ciuEgai4Wd2jeYGqsLkwbyF4ERpJPukrldIkZC8MWn3H9hIQUAF7qqEHyaFnkaoLCD4tgLO6byKK/s1600/IMG_8307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8IThv5okm5FlTEIj1vW88aA7y-1h09Vl-aoq-U5JDHmoybgN0HaIzKndDr8OmUiA9ciuEgai4Wd2jeYGqsLkwbyF4ERpJPukrldIkZC8MWn3H9hIQUAF7qqEHyaFnkaoLCD4tgLO6byKK/s320/IMG_8307.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A perfect place for breakfast. </i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Sitting there for an hour was a bit of a challenge and something I still need to work on, which is slowing down. I inhaled my food (likely because I was hungry) rather than savouring each bite. I did think to myself after 15 minutes, so what now? All the other times I had sat outside for lunch, I was either eating with someone, reading something or surfing online. With none of these options available, I had to start training myself to sit back, observe, and enjoy the surroundings like these fine people below. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn-kgw17557QxlU04DQfL_weEoMCIOIn2sPSUdtoyJbTKwd48l8ng8vPyHnhUDDmzFC6jkwK3XIA0QlYQMs1HXBnaNZah_NK70fuAWN0UKKrUknET3GkIoXq_7atLWe_qiwYzn8BbXwiM4/s1600/IMG_8308.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn-kgw17557QxlU04DQfL_weEoMCIOIn2sPSUdtoyJbTKwd48l8ng8vPyHnhUDDmzFC6jkwK3XIA0QlYQMs1HXBnaNZah_NK70fuAWN0UKKrUknET3GkIoXq_7atLWe_qiwYzn8BbXwiM4/s320/IMG_8308.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A small part of me wonders why I didn't do this more often when I was working...</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">I encourage everyone to take some time out of their day to sit outside and have a meal. Don't make the excuse that you can't do lunch because of work, well, there's always dinner. Have a picnic, sit on your balcony or find a park bench or any bench for that matter and feed your stomach, your senses and your soul. Trust me, it really gives you perspective on what really matters out of your day.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span>Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-30072460167246056142012-06-11T00:29:00.001-07:002012-06-11T00:29:03.565-07:00Final Day in Hong Kong<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">It's very comforting to know that there's always a Starbucks near with wifi, a cool beverage and comfortable seating to rest your weary, walked to death feet. Surprisingly in Hong Kong, where everything else is super cheap, especially the food, a Starbucks Iced Coffee is just over $3 CAD. But hey, for a small reminder of home, it's kinda worth the deal.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">I decided to have a bit of a quiet day considering how much I've done over the last three days in Hong Kong and Macau. With my flight being midnight (and of course, this time, I am sure of when my <a href="http://terencestimeout.blogspot.hk/2012/02/what-dayi-am-just-not-meant-to-travel.html" target="_blank">departure time </a>is...), I had pretty much a day to kill, and it was time to explore a bit more of the Kowloon side of this city. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">It's no surprise that the day has been perpetually cloudy (see the exhibit above). It's been pretty much like this for the entire time I've been here. However, walking along the Avenue of the Stars this morning, having this cloud cover really helped because in this climate, you can either fight the humidity or the sun, not both. The Avenue of the Stars is located on the Kowloon waterfront with a gorgeous view of Hong Kong Island. Hong Kong, the Hollywood for Asian cinema, has its own mini walk of fame with the most famous icon being that of Bruce Lee's statue - in honour of the king of Kung Fu cinema. My advice, get there early - like 8am early as tour groups start rolling in around 930am and to get a clear shot of the statue sans mainlander tourists, you're looking at at least a 10 minute wait if you want them to clear out.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Hiya Bruce.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">After the stroll along the promenade, it was time to visit Kowloon park, located conveniently beside Tsim Sha Tsui (or TST) station. This park is so big, it even has it's own McDonald's stall selling iced drinks and ice cream. Smart. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Kowloon Park Art Piece.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">I saved the afternoon for museums as they were in close proximity to one another and all had free wifi and air conditioning. There are three points of interest here:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- The Hong Kong Museum of Art</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- The Hong Kong Space Museum</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- The Hong Kong Cultural Centre</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">If you're stuck for time, the latter two can easily be avoided. The Space Museum was ancient with exhibits from when I was a child visiting the Ontario Science Centre for the first time. I guess it's a commentary on our progression as a race on space travel. We've stalled in our progress to put people into space. With the shuttle program coming to an end last year, it's so sad that the passion we had for space travel when I was a kid in grade school has started to fall by the wayside. </span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The HK Space Museum - a sad commentary on our progressions with space travel with horribly dated exhibits.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">My walking tour ended with a stop at the Kowloon docks where you can catch a ferry to HK Island, which used to be the main form of transportation before the MTR, now it's mostly a tourist pursuit. At the docks, you'll find the HK Cultural Centre - a quick pit stop for air con and then head outside to take a photo with the famous clock tower. Sneak in one more photo of the view of HK Island. It's worth it.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNGQoeTPGSNou45OsmmJ7mtKGMlQy1THZ5-h6cSTMUG9PNXDlJJdMs0_jCW3AtkSMxpLLyoj9IkPfMM8NCprL5RzyshHopfaCo3TD_siJoUF0V9zwruVQIKXJrLzEvwVsx5viJ7NirqEER/s1600/IMG_8238.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNGQoeTPGSNou45OsmmJ7mtKGMlQy1THZ5-h6cSTMUG9PNXDlJJdMs0_jCW3AtkSMxpLLyoj9IkPfMM8NCprL5RzyshHopfaCo3TD_siJoUF0V9zwruVQIKXJrLzEvwVsx5viJ7NirqEER/s320/IMG_8238.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Clock tower.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>I've seen that Junk ship before at Stanley Point!</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">I've been really impressed with this city - four days was a perfect amount of time to take in the sights, sounds, tastes and the nightlife. It was great to meet up with friends that I haven't seen in a while and even better navigating a city (well, two if you count Macau) solo but feeling like you were a pro. I guess I'm a bit seasoned now traveling on my own. A friend once asked me, "doesn't it get lonely being a solo tourist?" It does get annoying at times that no one is there to take a photo for you, but what I love about being by myself in a foreign place is that I dictate everything - where I go, at what time, what I eat, what I spend. Nothing makes me happier than being a super control freak on vacation.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Of course, there's always a downside to every place you visit - HK is the less hygienic cousin of Singapore, with random water droplets falling down on you as you roam the sidewalks (just don't think about it, and if one gets in your mouth, it's time to take that Immodium). HK is a good place for only a couple of days - not an extended stay unless all you want to do is shop. And there are some social problems that you notice that get to you - including the shocking amount of seniors who pick out of garbage cans and beg on the street.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">I'm lucky I've gotten to see some of the major ports of call in Asia like Taipei, HK, Singapore, KL and Saigon. Each have their own personality, grit and polish. Of course, I'm biased when I say that there's no place to me that beats Taipei. It truly has become my home away from home.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">This ends my Asian journeys for now, until I go to Japan and Korea with a few friends in the wintertime. Can't wait to see what Tokyo is like in the winter. So for now, zai jian Asia and hello Europe!</span>Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-76518897843853379292012-06-10T10:39:00.001-07:002012-06-10T10:39:09.217-07:00Ni Hao, Macau!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">This is what it looked like when I left Hong Kong this morning. Having gotten up at an ungodly hour (6am) to catch the 830am Turbojet into Macau, this sudden downpour was not making me a happy traveler. Looking at the forecast for Macau as I left the harbour, there were calls for thunderstorms. Fuck.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">The good news was, once we had reached Macau's ferry terminal, the downpour was merely a light drizzle. Being light on my feet, the goal was to make it to immigration before the mainland Chinese tourists got there (Remember boys and girls, when going to Macau, you must bring your passport).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">The port is a wealth of information - not only can you get a great map that highlights a historical walking tour of the main peninsula (see my recommendations from that walking tour below) but the money exchange desk is not busy at all and gives a better rate than on the HK side. All you need if you're doing one day in Macau is approximately 300 - 400 Macau Petacas (approximately $50 CAD).</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">After hopping on the bus, head for the southwestern part of Macau's main peninsula (the other two parts of Macau are not worth going to unless you're visiting family or want to gamble because that's all that's there. You'll start at the Ama Temple (highlighted above). Get there early as the Chinese tourists are all there as of 930am and take the best photo spots, as again, highlighted above. This temple is actually older than the city of Macau itself and houses all three main Asian religions in here as inspired by the people who lived in the area.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Macau's rich naval heritage comes from a combination of the Chinese and the Portuguese. Throughout the city, you'll find artwork, like this Junk boat above on the pavements. There are stars, moons, fish, mermaids. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">The Jesuits make quite the mark on this place as they were the initial people who colonized the area for the Portuguese. They were also responsible for educating the local population (thanks to one Jesuit Priest named Marco Ricci). They then converted everyone to Catholicism and the impact of that are found throughout Macau as one famous church after another (most dating back to the 15th century) can be found.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">The Portuguese are also responsible for the colourful facades and the Mediterranean style architecture found in places like the Senado Square, now mostly a shopping district, it was the cultural centre of old Macau. Here, you'll find tourists up the ying yang, but locals also congregate and shop. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">After Senado Square, head to Macau's landmark photo - the Ruin's of St. Paul's. Built in the 1600s, the cathedral, the largest in all of Macau was destroyed by a fire. Only one side of the building was spared which has miraculously now been turned into the most popular tourist destination of the city. Don't forget to go in and walk up the walls - here's the view of the Macau Skyline from the other side.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">After all that walking around, it's best to have some time to think. While it's not on the historical tour path, the Jardin Luu Lim Ieoc is a must go destination. With a large coy ponds and several pagodas to rest, it's a perfect break to mark the last quarter of your trip around Macau.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The coy pond in the Jardin.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><u>Tourist Tips and Tricks:</u></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Take the ferry from Kowloon's China Ferry Harbour Terminal - with Turbojets leaving every half hour, and taking only an hour to get there, this is a really convenient way of getting to Macau. The cost should be about 166HKD or $25 CAD</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- On the boat, take the time to fill out the immigration cards (offered at the concession stand). Do one for both Macau and for your return to HK since you can't get up to take pictures anyways.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Once you get to Macau, go to the departures floor to check the times for the return ferry. Make sure to leave before 530pm, as that is the last ship to leave at the daytime rate (saves you about $2 or $3 CAD)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- You can also change money on the departures floor. Better to do it in Macau than in HK as it's a better rate.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- On the ground floor, you'll find a Tourism Office with free maps - take the blue covered "Macau Tourist Map" with a photo of the Ruins of St. Paul's on it. It's a smaller map than the other one (green cover) provided and it has a great historic walking tour route. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Stick to the Macau peninsula for the sights - there's nothing really to see across the bridge on the other side.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Take the # 10, 10A or 28B bus to your first destination on the walking tour - Ama Temple. This was a great walking tour guide as it allowed you to go to the furthest point and walk back from there. There are some points along the way that you don't need to see - here are the ones I found to be the best.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><u>Terence's Walking Tour (with timing):</u></b></span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(1) Ama Temple (10 minutes by bus to get there - 5.20 MPC to get there)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(2) Maritime Museum - right beside Ama Temple</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(3) Moorish Barracks (5 min walk uphill from Ama)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(4) Lilau Square (5 mins)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(5) St. Lawrence Church (7 min). You'll want to go inside, you can't take pictures, but it's still cool to see. Take a water break here as well. The heat gets to you.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(6) Dom Pedro V Theatre, St. Augustine's Church (4 mins)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(7) St. Joseph's Seminary and Church, Sir Robert Ho Tung Library (1 min)</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>A devout parishiner prays before Mary at the Seminary.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(8) Senado Square (10 mins) - take a rest here. There's a Starbucks for some much needed iced coffee and air conditioning.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(9) Holy House of Mercy, Lou Kau Mansion are all near Senado Square - mostly photo ops</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(10) St. Dominic's Church - go inside and take photos (5 min)</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The alter at St. Dominic's.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(11) Ruins of St. Paul's (10 mins) - stop by Koi Kei Bakery for Portuguese egg tarts. 2 for 14 MPC or $2 CAD. Honestly, I don't like egg tarts and I couldn't stop eating these. Buy some for breakfast the next day. Also, go up the face of the side of St. Paul's - great picture of the city below.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Mmm...egg tarts.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(12) Na Tcha Temple and Old City Walls (2 mins) - right beside St. Paul's and a quick photo op.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(13) OFF THE TRAIL - Casa Garden, Protestant Cemetery (20 mins roundtrip back to St. Paul's) - you can forego this part if you want. It was okay, just some rich guy's house. Take a rest at the gardens for water. No need to stop for a washroom - you've sweated out all of the liquids.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(14) Mount Fortress - right beside St. Paul's - you'll want to spend at least 30 mins to an hour here admiring the view of Macau. There's plenty of benches to rest your already tired feet.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ready...Aim... The view from atop Mount Fortress looking at the Hotel Lisboa.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(15) Jardin Lou Lim Ioec (20 mins from St. Paul's) - a great place to sit by a pond and reflect and take in the soothing sounds of the crickets and secada beetles (I dunno if that's what they are called, but maybe I'm just thinking of Neil Sedaka...who knows).</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(16) Tap Seac Square (5 mins) to admire the old colonial architecture.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>How can you not love buildings with this much colour and personality? @ Tap Seac Square</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(17) Cross the street to catch the #8 or 12 to the Macau Cultural Centre (3.20 MPC or $0.50 CAD)</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(18) Walk across the street after getting off the bus and go to the two photo op points of the Science Centre and the Kun Iam Deity statue.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">(19) Walk back to the same bus stop to catch the number 3A, 10A or 12 back to the Harbour to leave (3.20 MPC)</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6DmtIg6Z-0nGLAurJH6hXarudZSqlmXMXEjEhMOulBD7vTkEGLoervagnkRLsF8ZwX6c-RLZU_T6_5dJsA2venO5tJ7ZftZZ595gfn-gso96-a7McwPMBnal6PhbpfGwXMTUIGvRDzOj/s1600/IMG_8114.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6DmtIg6Z-0nGLAurJH6hXarudZSqlmXMXEjEhMOulBD7vTkEGLoervagnkRLsF8ZwX6c-RLZU_T6_5dJsA2venO5tJ7ZftZZ595gfn-gso96-a7McwPMBnal6PhbpfGwXMTUIGvRDzOj/s320/IMG_8114.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Stop 18 - The Macau Science Centre.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLB7t-Zfgtj8OdieGjfWE6LFcjnCox3FYKzuGDIC4I4a5MIPPLoEwKwf-LvTmf6jcGhgtbo74B0-MqXT9hTR1GgrTIYN7aoFO-NPJRQy4sn6xFL_Ak90_-ttHx0SXGuJy_-POtMOhD23uN/s1600/IMG_8123.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLB7t-Zfgtj8OdieGjfWE6LFcjnCox3FYKzuGDIC4I4a5MIPPLoEwKwf-LvTmf6jcGhgtbo74B0-MqXT9hTR1GgrTIYN7aoFO-NPJRQy4sn6xFL_Ak90_-ttHx0SXGuJy_-POtMOhD23uN/s320/IMG_8123.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Kun Iam looking upon the city of Macau. She thanks you for walking about 20 full kilometres today.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">All in all, this tour took me from 10am - 130pm to complete. Not bad for almost 4 hours of continuous walking. Bring a 2L bottle of water - I drank it all by stop 16. The turbojet does not take you back to Kowloon Harbour, rather, the Macau Harbour on the HK side. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Macau is a must see - and a great way to collect a stamp for your passport. Easy and fast to get to, super cheap if you're just going to walk around and take in the sights! You don't even have to book a hotel!</span></div>Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8749238368666799730.post-72962969829913014392012-06-09T07:42:00.002-07:002012-06-11T00:29:45.088-07:00First Stop - Hong Kong. AKA Eat, Pray, Shop.<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEgMgC0mWLVD6b3od7eUVzr82mxP2tCwd3SEQnvE7yptM1y2j7W4no5ooFF02q5lGfF6d7uImdd_mEFhclrAMLoyGB9AWdNySMVtAQ9iI6JXmlUavBYqow6_MbGP662vowDI4d6GdHj60L/s1600/IMG_7589.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEgMgC0mWLVD6b3od7eUVzr82mxP2tCwd3SEQnvE7yptM1y2j7W4no5ooFF02q5lGfF6d7uImdd_mEFhclrAMLoyGB9AWdNySMVtAQ9iI6JXmlUavBYqow6_MbGP662vowDI4d6GdHj60L/s320/IMG_7589.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ni hao, Buddha. @ Lantau Island</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">When I was planning my European adventure, I decided to have a brief pit stop in Hong Kong before ki</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">cking off the two month roadshow. I had been to Hong Kong only once, when I was a five year old kid. Needless to say, I remember nothing from that trip. It just so happens that when I visited Hong Kong at that age, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tian_Tan_Buddha" target="_blank">Tian Tan Buddha</a> that you see in the photo above wasn't even built yet. (Fun fact: it was completed in 1993 - kinda takes the "WOW" effect away from it as I had always thought that it was some ancient monument. Still, it's pretty fucking awesome.)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Since Cathay Pacific's hub is in HK, it just made sense to have a brief repose - 4 days, 3 nights before my 16 hour flight to London. HK is incredibly convenient transportation wise (and cheap). With $1 CDN = approx. $7 HKD, my budget of $200 CDN is likely to last me the entire time here (with a side trip to Macau). </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">I had gathered several suggestions from my friends about what to do with my time in HK, some of them involving friends that now live here. My sample itinerary for my four days started shaping out like this:</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Day 1*: Lantau Island, Dinner with Raquel</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Day 2*: Bus out to Stanley Point, Afternoon around Central HK</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Day 3: Macau and Mong Kok Night Market</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><a href="http://terencestimeout.blogspot.hk/2012/06/final-day-in-hong-kong.html" target="_blank">Day 4: Kowloon Park and Museums, Avenue of the Stars, Dinner with Sadella before my midnight flight</a> (I wrote a secondary post to cover this part of my journey)</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>*Travellers Tips located at the bottom of this post.</i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">My dad, after hearing about my spending four days in HK, asked, "what is there to do there besides shopping?" He had a point - the shopping culture around here is crazy, which I found out during my walk around Admiralty and Causeway Bay today. Being the traveller with many more places to go, shopping was at the bottom of my agenda.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Getting into HK midday, I decided that Friday afternoon was probably the best time to avoid the big tourist crowds at the Po Lim Monastery. The trip out to Lantau from Kowloon takes about 40 min on the MRT (subway) and then you'll have to take a cheap (approx. $18 CDN) gondola ride to the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Po_Lin_Monastery" target="_blank">Po Lin Monastery</a>, which takes another 20 mins. Given my love for gondola rides (as seen in <a href="http://terencestimeout.blogspot.hk/2012/04/fun-day-on-maokong-gondola.html" target="_blank">my previous blog on the Maokong Gondola in Taipei</a>), my excitement was palpable. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">The views from the ride were amazing. What's great is that they give you a map with tips on points on the ride in which you get the best views for photos. And they weren't lying...here are some of the great snapshots I took:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDKQET-1DlhFcDAL5ccoQcfABFMyV1LXgTZF6NfTadhgLiUtync22lzvU7g0CHOiBonrySZ6L1WJzTSx_ATL-XwiHrNZfjwQV-ufz2kDzi-Effg_ur151q66soFUlOk30sJQ5cTAkA4qyk/s1600/IMG_7474.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDKQET-1DlhFcDAL5ccoQcfABFMyV1LXgTZF6NfTadhgLiUtync22lzvU7g0CHOiBonrySZ6L1WJzTSx_ATL-XwiHrNZfjwQV-ufz2kDzi-Effg_ur151q66soFUlOk30sJQ5cTAkA4qyk/s320/IMG_7474.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The buildings here are painted with bright colours. Nice touch.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtKrY-R9ZFTzJ9lzkhX36ToMhQwrRSx7JoIxsomnYsCU2E1LEzT6dduBCkaYfIxpRGt-RS912ReDBiXspG6OtIx6iMKjDbOTI5ud68w86_Zhyphenhyphenb1huBV3tg4cEHpcr622HDNy9ZfRRDf2wO/s1600/IMG_7509.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtKrY-R9ZFTzJ9lzkhX36ToMhQwrRSx7JoIxsomnYsCU2E1LEzT6dduBCkaYfIxpRGt-RS912ReDBiXspG6OtIx6iMKjDbOTI5ud68w86_Zhyphenhyphenb1huBV3tg4cEHpcr622HDNy9ZfRRDf2wO/s320/IMG_7509.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>On your left, you'll see a stunning view of Lantau Island and the clouds that top the mountains like whipped cream.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh-ABqbXKa5gu5H9xcgLmH4XtDM-v5-YZp3Fd0PkbzbGektVM7FIvHKF8DbBgZgfS3fTm0nPQmLQdcMKQ1TMjwLbRVxy7W0wYnb6NBSCQajmEpwrTiiRf1s6t6HwCBN9DAdDPmdcXsbaKN/s1600/IMG_7515.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh-ABqbXKa5gu5H9xcgLmH4XtDM-v5-YZp3Fd0PkbzbGektVM7FIvHKF8DbBgZgfS3fTm0nPQmLQdcMKQ1TMjwLbRVxy7W0wYnb6NBSCQajmEpwrTiiRf1s6t6HwCBN9DAdDPmdcXsbaKN/s320/IMG_7515.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>On your right, you'll see the sea.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Once you arrive, you're greeted by a recreation of an old Chinese village with stores like Starbucks and Subway for those not eager to try the local cuisine. Pretty easy to bypass this area and head to the Buddha. Along the way, do stop and enjoy some of the arts and craft stores. There was a huge mask outside of one that I had to take a picture of.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid29J00c4AOAbMmT9vyQTe3dinr5H1ZxdeSsEoDx9MO7YB7Ry0k0B-YMM7mz6yjnHXXZg9eG3mjKKVi0VL8CcSgsRoql1e_08PzasvXiOacR6kS8ZrHtQbh20A6tsT4yCS7D9bG9z2go2Q/s1600/IMG_7533.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEid29J00c4AOAbMmT9vyQTe3dinr5H1ZxdeSsEoDx9MO7YB7Ry0k0B-YMM7mz6yjnHXXZg9eG3mjKKVi0VL8CcSgsRoql1e_08PzasvXiOacR6kS8ZrHtQbh20A6tsT4yCS7D9bG9z2go2Q/s320/IMG_7533.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">You'll soon come across a gate with a path lined with 12 statues - each of these statues are a guardian of an animal on the Chinese zodiac. At the end of the path, there's a sign that causes no confusion of where the Buddha will be.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnTbhkiEaRzMn9qpbzcw5DzRcm2wj812-VHgLGDzhqZEKtDjuILM4zshmLc4oKV2qgyDbXth8ftfPO47PHN_3E0MVOyu9BJnKfyWmG2pP7QUaAi46LYoN4dsTZeufaER-xCB0aXIY_l-n2/s1600/IMG_7560.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnTbhkiEaRzMn9qpbzcw5DzRcm2wj812-VHgLGDzhqZEKtDjuILM4zshmLc4oKV2qgyDbXth8ftfPO47PHN_3E0MVOyu9BJnKfyWmG2pP7QUaAi46LYoN4dsTZeufaER-xCB0aXIY_l-n2/s320/IMG_7560.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">There's about ten flights of stairs for you to take to get up to the Buddha, not for the faint of heart, I saw one man huffing and puffing his way up while a monk, who was definitely in his 80s, marched right past him with the speed of a teenager. Now that's devotion.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">Once you're done with the Buddha, and it's easy for the trip to get cut short due to the fog that rolls in to make the entire area look like heaven, or a scene out of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, head to the Po Lin Monastery for some quick snapshots of the amazing temple and even light some incense outside.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvCTWo3JH4KlmpRayegT16x9Nl8UWTJaGZI7KJcQ_IVE1IzGeBQMjCt_Pzrb0sfEMkR_ajjERbAGPqDE7Cvk0hjOZkVhaT_T7qpvrmQVV6VHfu6wAA9ERAQyN5JYZiNhohp7puUZ1v_J12/s1600/IMG_7614.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvCTWo3JH4KlmpRayegT16x9Nl8UWTJaGZI7KJcQ_IVE1IzGeBQMjCt_Pzrb0sfEMkR_ajjERbAGPqDE7Cvk0hjOZkVhaT_T7qpvrmQVV6VHfu6wAA9ERAQyN5JYZiNhohp7puUZ1v_J12/s320/IMG_7614.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>As the fog rolled in, I was expecting to see some ninjas fly out of the sky.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Burn some cool smelling incense.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGlqH6a7ZhzCpMNb3ZCmBUALMK3kfTZj0ow7TqGKgr4efFgi4UHA_pfY585uJ7a7S6ug9iR7dVy_QBc_EeuBRrMaz-B46k3W72o_pObnZyj7JpHhbIl0VPDTWIBlPs5ZHYrssgoB3RST4/s1600/IMG_7654.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbGlqH6a7ZhzCpMNb3ZCmBUALMK3kfTZj0ow7TqGKgr4efFgi4UHA_pfY585uJ7a7S6ug9iR7dVy_QBc_EeuBRrMaz-B46k3W72o_pObnZyj7JpHhbIl0VPDTWIBlPs5ZHYrssgoB3RST4/s320/IMG_7654.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The alter in the temple.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">So after all of this walking around (the whole trip there and back took about 4.5 hours), I was one hot mess. That's the thing with being a tourist in Asia, you're constantly sweating and need to take at least three showers a day to keep from looking like a melting candle. A quick shower and change at my hotel and I was out to meet a friend from Toronto. What was supposed to be a dinner (at a great, but eclectically decorated restaurant known as <a href="http://www.openrice.com/english/restaurant/sr2.htm?shopid=46911" target="_blank">Satay King</a>), turned out to be a night of dart playing at a local bar where I met my friend's new friends from the UK - Chinese people with British accents are so fascinating! We drank until 2am, which, from what I hear is early by HK going out standards. God, I'm old.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3emZzvFukNpEnHawRzqys6F8b6SFMkP5Ewi3POMfTdRV1R648usqijlqAU7R_XvjwAkaP2r3EpkSg8je60dzRUCF_35v3Od3TGINmmPIOXh7vaEdCCtfhfLvd8jUon2GNxYIxB5PluVQ3/s1600/IMG_7709.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3emZzvFukNpEnHawRzqys6F8b6SFMkP5Ewi3POMfTdRV1R648usqijlqAU7R_XvjwAkaP2r3EpkSg8je60dzRUCF_35v3Od3TGINmmPIOXh7vaEdCCtfhfLvd8jUon2GNxYIxB5PluVQ3/s320/IMG_7709.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Satay King's weird interior decorator had a Moroccan themed style with full sized statues of famous people and pirates. Here I am with Obama.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">With that partying, I had slept in until 10am today. One of my friends Rachael had told me to take a double decker bus to Stanley Point and spend a couple of hours walking around out by the bay. It was worth the trip - $6 CDN was all it cost me, round trip for some amazing views of the waterfront and the south point of Hong Kong island. Here are some of the points of interest:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzSonmHgKRUc8Apyk3sk_p_J38A2CN5gDg9PLKf-Jjs7qIUGpYTJIhjfBGLa8qzAhnDeSISnNBeoQCXt2G5tjkb8uQA0ZDlLqFFsn5B-yW9LV-G55IySeLTCpgyBxTZqNY3Hn7kNyic5YF/s1600/IMG_7803.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzSonmHgKRUc8Apyk3sk_p_J38A2CN5gDg9PLKf-Jjs7qIUGpYTJIhjfBGLa8qzAhnDeSISnNBeoQCXt2G5tjkb8uQA0ZDlLqFFsn5B-yW9LV-G55IySeLTCpgyBxTZqNY3Hn7kNyic5YF/s320/IMG_7803.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>The rocky pier that people write their names on (mostly couples - gag me.)</i></td></tr>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRbZnGFmsbgqpRLJB0s1dx2PDH2hD6GZmyyKftleW55vFl__ktmGPwxeLivVTubf3KLs2GZ1wElt-QPtLc-Y3dE7K6gUBORZQKqMmFvP_Sd4J-hXPTRDTSMfC3gUMET36JYBh9izxQj1fO/s1600/IMG_7826.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRbZnGFmsbgqpRLJB0s1dx2PDH2hD6GZmyyKftleW55vFl__ktmGPwxeLivVTubf3KLs2GZ1wElt-QPtLc-Y3dE7K6gUBORZQKqMmFvP_Sd4J-hXPTRDTSMfC3gUMET36JYBh9izxQj1fO/s320/IMG_7826.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
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<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Blake Pier</span></i></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXC8UvBjeTKMA_pLG6ne7mfIdcYgYH5UN6yukt2czb63WSN5Y5dTMZ13DqkAIqMEtNxYczQkwNnoOvOJwFFj_UEcEipV4myM9ugY919Rx4Qau0MLNGEf7Xg63ZKa3BGE9QWszXKyt7jMo/s1600/IMG_7749.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilXC8UvBjeTKMA_pLG6ne7mfIdcYgYH5UN6yukt2czb63WSN5Y5dTMZ13DqkAIqMEtNxYczQkwNnoOvOJwFFj_UEcEipV4myM9ugY919Rx4Qau0MLNGEf7Xg63ZKa3BGE9QWszXKyt7jMo/s320/IMG_7749.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Repulse Bay Beaches.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">I met up with Raquel again in the afternoon and headed to the shopping districts of Admiralty and Causeway Bay to see what my dad was talking about. The malls here make the Eaton Centre in Toronto look like a shitty strip plaza with a Biway. Pacific Place had the most incredible washrooms ever - no wonder the line ups were long to get in there - with wood panelling and classical music, who wouldn't want to stay in there to rest after a day of shopping? Time Square didn't disappoint either - big department stores like SOGO have set up shop and the mainland Chinese were there shelling out the cash. During lunch at a great noodle place, the table beside us had bags upon bags of merchandise. I could tell by their accents they were Shanghainese, which made me wonder why they would come all the way to Hong Kong just to shop when Shanghai has a pretty impressive shopping district of their own. Oh, mainlanders, you can never understand them.</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOKwgZIJWKQcN-dFXnWCbNqCgUf_y3Ua2RSNBRENFiWS6aC6gpJd6S_pdoebHyR8FhWhIXSrNQAw9a33jv9X0A2GSoSoxmfpoTeVuNwY25H76G9SL4Q83L48V6C8KkEyB1sxkJtDSbI6k_/s1600/IMG_7893.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOKwgZIJWKQcN-dFXnWCbNqCgUf_y3Ua2RSNBRENFiWS6aC6gpJd6S_pdoebHyR8FhWhIXSrNQAw9a33jv9X0A2GSoSoxmfpoTeVuNwY25H76G9SL4Q83L48V6C8KkEyB1sxkJtDSbI6k_/s320/IMG_7893.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Noodle soup which I ordered that was supposed to contain beef, but came with mushrooms instead. <br />Best not to ask questions.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-dTy3HyUPeMIxOJdWWGGrkOQPX8uqu0M7KyDJf01Gfl2gX-UyTDyiKj_YJto2ZYB9GgKwYjvpanN_NaCLUM-e6qaf4pIzKvwCSsss4WhfYmMEPuFoBW3dm168K4B9Lg0w90GMlBJG02wD/s1600/IMG_7885.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-dTy3HyUPeMIxOJdWWGGrkOQPX8uqu0M7KyDJf01Gfl2gX-UyTDyiKj_YJto2ZYB9GgKwYjvpanN_NaCLUM-e6qaf4pIzKvwCSsss4WhfYmMEPuFoBW3dm168K4B9Lg0w90GMlBJG02wD/s320/IMG_7885.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Time Square - feed your consumerism.</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkhvBVX6nuodtGZEc7_f4ypcr3Q4mzORit2SWJqpC-nl_pWB1LaB4BC0cwemFQ9NCW0TDh-upjoFGWK8nzSkVu1FJ6QQKxdCJVXIkCZticEsG8bd1aBt191ZALvvOI1auxY1YUP_1iQ6mC/s1600/IMG_7883.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkhvBVX6nuodtGZEc7_f4ypcr3Q4mzORit2SWJqpC-nl_pWB1LaB4BC0cwemFQ9NCW0TDh-upjoFGWK8nzSkVu1FJ6QQKxdCJVXIkCZticEsG8bd1aBt191ZALvvOI1auxY1YUP_1iQ6mC/s320/IMG_7883.JPG" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Pacific Place - I rate the washrooms here a 14 stars out of 10.</i></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">That brings an end to two of my four days in HK. Headed to Macau tomorrow for what promises to be a day filled with walking, historical monuments and Portuguese food and drink - a great preview for what I can expect when I actually go to Portugal next Thursday.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">And with that - I bid you all a good night.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b><u>TRAVELLER'S TIPS:</u></b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">** Note: Costs are all quoted leaving from Kowloon's Yau Ma Tei Station. If you're staying on the HK side, costs might go deviate by 7HKD as the MTR pricing to cross the bay is that amount.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Getting to Tsim Sha Tsui - EAT</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Take the MTR to Tsim Sha Tsui (otherwise known as TST) 4 min by MTR, or 4HKD - just over $0.50 CAD</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Head out gate B2 - you'll end up in shopping and eating Mecca</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- I recommend walking one street down and over and eating at Satay King in Camvaron Plaza (5th floor) near Cameron and Camvaron intersection</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Try the Ribena and Green tea drink and eat the glass noodles with beef curry and try the naan like bread with yellow curry dip. A meal between two people shouldn't cost more than 200 HKD or less than $30 CAD.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Take pictures of the decor and post your funny comments to Facebook.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><br /></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Getting to Lantau Island - PRAY</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Take the MTR to Tung Chung Station (35 mins by MTR, 16 HKD or $2.25 CAD)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Exit at Gate B, Head towards Nyong Ping 360 Cable Car (past the bus depot)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Head up escalators to the paying platform (note the payment centre at the bottom of the escalators are for the buses only, NOT the cable cars.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- get in Non-Reserved line up - 125 HKD is a roundtrip ticket ($18 CAD)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- must see are the Buddha, Po Lin Monastery, there's a Starbucks with free wifi near the cable car exit if you need it.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;"><b>Getting to Stanley by Bus - SHOP</b></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Take the MTR to Admiralty Station (10 min by MTR, 11 HKD or $1.75 CAD)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Exit at Gate B, exit the station and walk right to the #6 bus stop. You'll know you're there when you see Pacific Place and large office towers across the street. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Take the #6 or 6X to Stanley (7.90 HKD or $1.10 CAD to get there)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Sit at the top of the double decker on the left hand side window to get the best views and picture taking opportunities </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- Get off at Stanley Market (should take 50 mins depending on traffic)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: x-small;">- If you like shopping, spend time at the market, if not, head to the Promenade and to the left you'll have the beach, to the right, you'll have Blair pier and a Junk Boat cruise. There's also a food area near the pier for you to stop and eat either at a restaurant or at Starbucks (again for the free wifi). A number of restaurants are situated along the pier overlooking the water - they are pricier, but worth the view and the people watching opportunities.</span>Terencehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13664342522670732555noreply@blogger.com0