Mikel Ward's News

GNOME Terminal Notification Update

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Tue, 19 May 2009 08:07:00 +0000

Late last year, I wrote a patch for GNOME Terminal to make it flash the window list icon when a command you ran in the background finished.

The GNOME Terminal maintainer asked me to make some changes to get it accepted.

In response, I wrote a new patch for GNOME Terminal 2.26.

Then last Friday, we had a "Hackathon" day at work, a day where we get to work on any project we like.

I figured I'd improve on this work and also display a desktop notification after seeing how cool they look in Ubuntu 9.04 [video].

There's now another patch that you should apply on top of the other patch that will make it look something like this.

GNOME Terminal desktop notifications in action

Hopefully it's coming to a distribution near you!

Until then, you can install it manually.

You'll need VTE version 0.20 or higher, plus some other development libraries. (Ubuntu 9.04 is recommended, but not required: it will work in Ubuntu 8.10 provided you download VTE from SVN.)

Steps to install:

Run these commands


$ sudo apt-get install gnome-devel libvte-dev libnotify-dev
$ mkdir gnome-terminal
$ cd gnome-terminal
$ svn co -r 3419 http://svn.gnome.org/svn/gnome-terminal/trunk
$ cd trunk
$ wget -O ~/patch1.diff http://bugzilla.gnome.org/attachment.cgi?id=133862
$ wget -O ~/patch2.diff http://bugzilla.gnome.org/attachment.cgi?id=134686
$ patch -p0 < ~/patch1.diff
$ patch -p1 < ~/patch2.diff
$ ./autogen.sh
$ make
$ sudo make install
$ echo -E 'PS1="\\007$PS1"' >> ~/.bashrc # or ~/.zshrc or whatever

Close all GNOME Terminal windows
Open GNOME Terminal
Go to Profile->Profile Preferences
Check/tick
- Flash the window list icon and bold the tab title when the terminal rings the bell
- Show a desktop notification when the terminal rings the bell
Run a long command (e.g. sleep 15)
Switch to another program window (e.g. Firefox, Evolution, etc.) while you're waiting

Voila!

Epson TX100 Is VERY Slow

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Mon, 27 Apr 2009 10:49:00 +0000

I just bought an Epson TX100 multifunction printer.

Epson TX100

The brochure claims up to 14 pages per minute black and 26 pages per minute colour.

Printing a web page with a small amount of coloured text and no images takes over a minute.

You can change to draft mode, which takes about ten seconds, but the output is so poor that you wouldn't bother using it.

I'm very disappointed and wouldn't recommend this printer.

Xian to Beijing - Part 3

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:59:00 +0000

The police officer told me it would take over an hour to walk to the train station, and I had luggage, so I walked to the nearest intersection hoping to find a cab.

Instead, there were two motor bike taxis.

One of them came up to me, and tried to get me to go with him.

I pointed at my suitcase and looked confused, as if to say, there's no way you're going to fit that!

He gestured at the little footwell on his moped.

No, that's fine thanks, and kept walking.

Another 20 metres down the road, and with a better view of the intersection, and still no proper taxis in sight.

Oh well! It'll be an experience.

How much? Two.

OK.

I held on precariously as he drove all over the road, on the long trip to the train station.

I figured there was no point getting tense, so instead I just held on, tried to mimic his movements (e.g. leaning into the corners), and tried to focus on the scenery.

We went past a nice big park and some office buildings on the northern side of the city, heading East.

Then we turned North and it started to get a bit more gritty.

At one stage, there were three buses coming at us from every direction. It looked like they were going to hit us, but I figured there was nothing I could do, so just held my breath and waited.

They stopped JUST before us.

After that, the experience actually became fun in a hysterical kind of way. It felt like we were invincible, weaving in and out of the traffic. Kind of like riding the motorbike on the farm, or playing a racing game on the computer, except not having the controls in my hands.

Finally we got to the station. At first I thought the newish looking shops were the station, but it was actually a big communist-style building across a big dusty plaza on the other side.

Gave him a 100 Yuan bill, but he didn't have change, so we to'd and fro'd until I agreed to go to a nearby stand and buy something to get change. As usual, they inspected the 100 Y bill, then gave me my bottle of water and some change.

Gave the driver a 20 and made my way to the station.

My moped taxi

Xian to Beijing - Part 2

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:58:00 +0000

I stopped at the information counter to tell them I had lost my passport. Several hand gestures later, and they understood I had lost my passport. Ended up speaking to another girl who could speak English reasonably well. Explained the situation.

Went to the Air China counter to explain the situation. He couldn't do anything, so I went back to the information desk.

Texted Mama to say I had lost my passport and might not be there on time.

I told them where I was staying, that I had taken the 10.30 bus, and that I thought I had lost it on the bus.

They asked if it was the 10 or 11 o'clock bus. I said, no, the 10.30 bus. The one that arrived only 10 minutes ago (by then it must have been about 11.30).

I asked them to contact the bus company while I called the hotel.

Hotel hadn't found it. They asked a cleaner to go check, but they also couldn't find it.

I was sure I had taken it with me that morning, and that I still had it when I checked out of the hotel, so it seemed very likely that I had either left it at the reception desk or that something had happened on the bus.

The information desk said the bus company hadn't found it, but I said that they couldn't have yet, because the bus wouldn't have made it back to the city yet.

Explained again that I was sitting in the second row on the right on one of the big buses, and that I was on the 10.30, and could they please ask them to double check when the bus arrives at the Melody Hotel.

OK.

Waited five minutes then called the Melody again. They gave me the number of the bus company's airport office.

The information desk saw the number and said "no", we already called them.

Spoke to the security guards.

Went for a lap of the airport to make sure it hadn't fallen out of my pockets.

Went to speak to the bus drivers. Wow, were there a lot of airport buses.

Was directed to the airport bus desk at the airport. Explained my situation to them. They hadn't heard of me before. Maybe the information centre didn't call them?

Anyway, they would check.

Got out the Lonely Planet to call the embassy to tell them I had lost my passport and ask for advice.

The number was wrong.

Lonely Planet was from 2005. Guess I should have bought a current one. Probably should have also obtained all that information on my own and stored it in my phone before leaving.

Sent an SMS to Arriahne to ask her to check the number for me. Got the correct number and gave them a call.

I should go to the police station to report the passport stolen and then go to the public security bureau (gong1 an1 ju2). Yay, back to the city. :-(

I would also need my driver's licence, Medicare card, and birth certificate. I had my driver's licence and Medicare card on me, but I had left my birth certificate and change of name certificate at home, because I was worried I would lose them.

I asked Arriahne to pretty please help, and take my papers to the passport office in Melbourne tomorrow. Thankfully she said yes. :-)

Waited another five minutes. Called the hotel and bus company again. Still nothing.

I gave the bus company and the information desk my Australian mobile number and asked them to call me if it was found.

Went outside and took the bus back to the city.

When buying the bus ticket, a cabbie came up to me and said "Cheaper! 24 Yuan!". The bus ticket was 25, but I'm betting the toll roads would have cost extra with the taxi.

Arrived back in the city.

Went to the hotel front desk and asked again. Surely by now they had had enough of me, but I had to ask.

They made me wait over five minutes while a cleaner went to check the room again.

I looked all around the foyer and under the desks, just in case.

Still no good.

Walked to the address of the police station or public security bureau listed in the Lonely Planet.

No such address. Just a building site.

Asked someone on the street. They directed me to a police station.

Or that's what I thought it was, because it said "Police" out front, had police out front, and looked like a police station.

Someone took me in, passed me over to someone who could speak English, and then I was taken to her office.

She explained that this wasn't in fact a police station.

She made a phone call to another department and put me on the phone.

The person explained things in more detail, but in essence, I needed to go to the police station and the public security bureau.

She said I should go to the police station.

I got her to show me on my map.

It was in the Muslim sector on such-and-such a street "only a few hundred metres away".

Well, nearly. Eventually found it at the other end of the Muslim sector.

Walking with a big suitcase was also not fun, but hey, that's the least of my worries at this point.

The Police Station!

They didn't speak much English, so I said the phrase I'd been practising from my phrase book for the past couple of hours in my head: Hu4 zhao4 diu1 le, I lost my passport.

Well, actually, I said Wu4 zhao4 diu1 le, because the information centre staff had pronounced it that way. The police didn't understand wuzhao, but they did understand huzhao. Thankfully!

A few gestures later and I was on the phone to someone who spoke English.

After bridging the language barrier and filling in some forms, they had me wait.

I called Mama to explain what was going on.

It sounded like she got a bit angry with them and asked why they had made me wait. Why didn't they just give me my copy of the lost passport form and let me be on my way to the Australian embassy in Beijing (by train)?

One of the nice officers took me over to a photo store, I had some photos taken, waited a while while they were processed, then we walked back together to the police station and finished the forms. I asked where the train station was (in bad Chinese), and he sent me on my way.

Woo!

Making some progress.

At this stage, I'm not feeling angry with anyone (well, except with myself a little bit), but I'm mostly calm, ready to accept my fate, and willing to do exactly what I am told, trusting that it will eventually work out.

One of the officers at the Xian police station

Xian to Beijing - Part 1

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 12:57:00 +0000

I'm going back to Beijing today.

Jimmy had suggested Starbucks for breakfast instead of the buffet.

He said there was one just opposite the hotel.

When trying to find it, I came by the McDonald's directly opposite and decided to go there instead.

All the usual options like bacon and egg McMuffins, but I figured I'd try the weird looking combo.

It turns out it consisted of a really, really nice little egg and ham pastry and a spicy chicken burger. The coffee was bad, but still, it was worth it for the food.

Yummy ham and egg pastry for breakfast

The flight wasn't until 1.20pm, so I figured I'd do some walking around and see if I could find some other shops and little interesting things in the inner city.

Walked towards the bell tower to see what was beyond it, and lo and behold, there's a Starbucks down, at a plaza down below street level, presumably so that nobody can see it. :-)

Interesting-looking Starbucks

After realizing that there was nothing of interest to the East, I started walking South.

Walked by a Chinese brand shoe and sporting goods store. It's called Anta and apparently it's huge here. Looks rather like Nike. There's also another brand called Li-Ning that looks like it wants to be Adidas.

Storefront for Anta, a Chinese sportswear company

After walking around a bit longer, I happened upon a big plaza (Xing Zheng Yuan Plaza) with a sign for Wal*Mart on it. I'd never been to WalMart, so I decided I should check it out.

Wal*Mart in China? Better check it out!

The stores still weren't open, so I went to a bit of a walk around.

Upstairs in the shopping centre, they had an ice skating rink, according to the building directory sign.

Around the back, it looked like all the centre workers were waiting to be let it.

Then I found a plaza, quite open, with a big TV screen where they were teaching people how to play Othello (a.k.a. Reversi).

Reversi on the big screen

After tiring of watching the guy play Othello so slowly, I went to a walk in a different direction...

... and found the main Wal*Mart entrance, and found it was open!

They had a huge range. It was kind of like a Big W except it was much bigger, and they sold fresh produce as well.

In the food aisle, they even had a special section for MSG. :-)

A little way further, and I found exactly what I was looking for! Chinese-made Gillette blades that are unavailable in Australia.

They cost 6.80 RMB (1.40 AUD) for a 5-pack. I got 10. Each blade lasts at least two days, so

MSG section in Wal*Mart

Score! Chinese Gillette razor blades!

Picked up 10 packs, which should last at least 90 days, for a total of 14 AUD. Not too shabby.

Other sections included a big produce section, a deli which sold live fish, and a whole heap of yummy looking baked goods.

Live fish for sale

I think you really could buy everything there.

Paid for the blades and walked back to get to the hotel.

Finished packing, checked out, and took the airport bus to the airport.

Spoke to a girl from Guanzho briefly, but she wanted to sleep.

We passed a "non stale food market". :-)

Further along the road, there was an overturned tractor being lifted up by a crane. It looked like either a wheel had fallen off or an axle had snapped.

The airport bus stopped at terminal 1, which was only for a few airlines. An American couple started getting off, but I said to them "there are two terminals", since I think they assumed the bus was only stopping there. They got off anyway.

The bus drove to terminal 2.

Got off.

Grabbed the suitcase from the storage area, thanked the driver, and walked towards the check-in counter.

Wallet? Check.

Ticket? Check.

Passport?

Passport?

Passport?

Hmm. Not good.

Xian - Day 3

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 12:59:00 +0000

Went to check out the Muslim Quarter today.

It was close by, just North of the Drum Tower.

Moped taxis outside the hotel

The Drum Tower

At the start, there were lots of little shops on the street selling copied stuff. The main difference here from other cities is that everyone in Xian was also selling terracotta warrior figures.

Got a t-shirt that said "dragon" on the front in Chinese characters, or so the saleswoman told me. Wanted one that said "China" on the front in Chinese characters (中国), but couldn't find one.

No, the first letter does not mean Red Dragon, inspite of what the movie teaches us. :-)

Walked past the big Muslim Mosque. Was hungry, so decided to come back to it after finding something to eat.

Went thru a little laneway (another one!), but this one had all Arabic signs, some stores selling different-looking paintings, and lots of little bird cages above the doors.

The laneway came out into a bigger street where there were lots of food stalls selling baked goods and dried fruits.

At one stall, I tried something similar to baklava. It was delicious of course (mmm, nuts and honey, how could it not be!?), so I bought two of those and some sesame snaps.

At another stall, I bought some dried apricots. One of the bags they had prepacked looked like it had a wasp or bee inside. :-)

One of the alleyways in the Muslim Quarter

Bird cages were pretty common

Mmm tasty nut treats

More tasty goodness, this time of the fruit variety

Turned right into an even bigger street. Lots of little street vendors selling meat skewers and flat breads.

Went to one of the restaurants that looked like it had some yummy fried potatoes.

Some flat bread with different fillings

What, from a distance, I thought was potato

Wasn't potato!

It was a very soft, clear, jelly-like substance with lots and lots of chilli. Apparently it's made from beans, but isn't tofu. "The other tofu" as someone described it to me.

I had also ordered some bread and meat skewers by pointing at other people's food, but those never came.

Washed it all down with a local generic orange soft drink that tasted a lot like Fanta. A lot a lot.

Went back to the mosque. 25 Yuan admission. Looked a lot like the other temples I'd visited, but a bit more run-down, and some signs and engravings were in Arabic.

Was still quite an experience, however. It was the first time I'd been to a mosque, and it was very interesting to see the worship, if only from a distance, seeing as only Muslims were allowed to enter the prayer hall.

The chanting reminded me of the sound you hear when you found a religion - presumably Islam - in Civilization.

Yeah, maybe it's sad, but I've learned a lot of world facts from Civ. :-)

Apparently they also have that in Arab countries where there is a minaret that plays the same or similar sounds.

A nice-looking gateway

This building looked a bit different from the rest

The Muslim Prayer Hall

On the way, I passed by some of the same street stalls. This time I stopped to have a better look. In particular at the watches. On vendor was pointing out that one of the fake Rolexs or Omegas or whatever was an automatic. Oh, you mean I just shake it to wind it up? Hmm, how does the Mao watch work? You have to wind it.

Ah.

It had been over fifteen years since I'd seen a wind-up watch.

I ended up going to bed early again, because I still wasn't feeling well.

It would have been nice to at least see the big fountain, the Taoist temple of the eight immortals, or the Big Goose Pagoda, but it wasn't to be.

Tomorrow I'm heading back to Beijing.

Xian - Day 2

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 12:59:00 +0000

The "Eastern tour" was leaving at 9.

Went down for another interesting breakfast experience.

Still had plenty of spare time, so watched some TV. There were a lot of Chinese action movies that reminded me of Monkey Magic, a show that I watched on ABC as a kid.

Got down to the foyer at 8.30, waited a bit, chatted to the tour guide, who thankfully spoke English (one of the benefits of this tour group), had a chat to some of the other people from the Melody who were going on the tour, and got on the bus.

In particular, one guy was called Jimmy. He was from Taiwan and spoke good English. He worked for a semi-conductor distribution company.

We also picked up a group of foreign language teachers from Shanghai, Leonardo, Caitlin, and Marco.

At the last stop, we picked up some American girls, Sami and Sam.

Had a decent chat.

First stop was a museum about an old village, and they way they buried people. They also had a kiln. Babied were buried inside urns. Adults were buried with some loved possessions that might have been needed in the afterlife. Their heads faced West if they died a natural death and East if they died an unnatural death. The best theory is that West resembles the setting sun, and hence the end of life.

Started talking to some others in the group, including Kenneth and Chris, who were working on the development and testing of Windows Mobile.

Next stop was a pottery store that sold many things, but the obvious drawcard was the scale terracotta warriors. Ended up giving in, deciding I needed some more souvenirs, and bought a couple as a set for 700 Yuan. Think I probably paid too much, but they looked to be good quality.

Big statue of a horse and knight in the middle of a roundabout

Me as a terracotta warrior?

Later we passed some shops selling poor quality ones for much, much less. Perhaps as low as 1 Yuan. Still, if my other ones make it home in one piece, I'll be happy.

Stopped for lunch. There was a guy twirling the noodles right in front of us. Had a pretty good Chinese-style meal.

Some of the guys in the tour group: Sami, Jimmy, tour guide, Dmitri

Then on to the Terracotta Army!

Drove for a while, maybe half an hour if I remember correctly. The entrance to the Terracotta Army was quite strange and understated. We drove thru a little village and stopped near a town square.

After a bit of a walk, they had some large archways and buildings that gave it the grandeur I was expecting.

Was pretty cool, but not exactly what I thought it would be. A bit portion of the chamber was still being excavated and repaired.

Lots of different types of units. The main ones were generals, warriors, archers, horses and cavalrymen.

Interestingly, they were aligned in what was supposed to be the battle formation of the day, so its purpose was to protect the emperor in the afterlife.

Some way to go!

The Terracotta Army

Me and the Terracotta Army!

Some soldiers up close

Some horses up close

A kneeling archer

Back in the courtyard outside, mountains in the distance

Xian - Day 1

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 12:59:00 +0000

Woke up feeling pretty ordinary.

I'd received some free breakfast vouchers, so I went down to the dining room to make use of them.

The breakfast was all Chinese style. Some soups, some mini bread rolls that were like dim sum but didn't have any filling, some fried rice, some stale fruit, and some buns. The fried rice was OK, but didn't enjoy the rest.

Had to order coffee separately. Since my Chinese was bad, I ordered "Ka Fei". I wish I knew how to say Cafe Latte, because what came back was a lukewarm short black (i.e. espresso).

Went back to my room feeling a bit disappointed.

Watched some TV. Today's forecast: 23 degrees. There was also a show on the English station, CCTV 9, about an actress and singer called Zhao Wei. Her most recent movie was "Postmodern Life of My Aunt". Sounded quite good.

Got an SMS from 3 saying my phone bill for the month had reached $500. Wow!

Still wasn't feeling well, and my neck was killing me. I'd seen the hotel offered massages, so I thought I'd check it out.

Had to ask several times how to get there. I had to go to a passage way on level 4 up to level 5 in a different building. (Which explained why I couldn't find it on my level 5. Signs didn't mention the different buildings. Well, not in English anyway.)

Had what they called a European-style massage. No, not a "massage", just a back rub. ;-)

Then I went for a walk around the hotel.

The Drum Tower

The Bell Tower

Pineapple on a stick!

Erm, something else, on a stick!

An interesting mural

The map helps a bit if you know where the compass points are

Walked into every shop I could find looking for different beers. Found one selling Gillette brand old-style razors and razor blades. Since I have been trying the old style shaving out, I grabbed two.

Another little stand pointed at my Gillettes and said how much. I said nine. She pointed at her razors for four Kwai (the more common name for Yuan). Figured they were worth a shot too.

Unfortunately neither of them sold Gillette razor blades separately, but a supermarket did have some unknown Chinese razor blades, so I got some of those.

Gillette and Rhino razors

Went to Ajisen Ramen for lunch. Had a nice, hot, moderately spicy beef, mushroom, and noodle soup dish. Ordered an "Asahi", but saying just that, but somehow they didn't understand me at all. Tried to say "Asahi Pi", pi being the Chinese word for beer, but that didn't help either. :-(

Beef, mushroom, and noodle soup at Ajisen Ramen

Booked a Terracotta Army tour ticket at the tour company inside the hotel foyer, and went back to my room hoping to sleep off the cold.

Shanghai to Xian

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 12:59:00 +0000

Left the hotel at 9.30.

There were two taxi drivers standing around out the front with their cars parked. They approached me and asked if I needed a taxi. I said I was going to Longyang Road. "Maglev?" they asked. "Yes, Maglev!"

One of them took the fare. In the car, he kept saying, Maglev 70, 50, 120; Airport 150, and made chopping gestures. It seemed like he was saying there's no way he can beat the Maglev, isn't the Maglev really cool, so I answered, yes, Maglev!

After he did this a few more times, it dawned on me that what he meant was that he would take me one way to the airport for 150 that was quick with little traffic, but that the trip to the Maglev station would take a long time because it was busy on the road.

Good way to get me worried. The plane was leaving at 11.55. Leaving at 9.30 would have been plenty of time if I'd taken the subway. :-(

We drove for a while, in several different directions. He took me out to a major expressway to the North. Saw some of Shanghai that I didn't see on the way in. In particular, there were lots and lots of new roads being built, and the whole area smelled like steel welding, or maybe concrete, construction at any rate.

Got there at 10.30. Hopefully just enough time. He dropped me at the far side of the road and pointed to the Maglev terminal.

The fare was 80 Yuan. I gave him 100. Don't know why. He made me feel like he was trying to do me a favour, but I think he was just trying to get a bigger fare out of me. Oh well.

The next Maglev train was at 10.45. Not freaking out yet, but rather worried.

The train went thru lots of marshland, farm land, and old houses. More like the old China you'd expect. Quite a contrast. Still this far out there were lots of new elevated expressways being built.

Made it to the check-in queue at 11. Check-in closed at 11.10. Made it to the desk just in time! Phew!

The taxi ride, check out the gray sky

The end of the taxi ride

The Maglev train

The flight was uneventful.

The Xian airport is actually about an hour away from the city. Took the airport west shuttle bus.

Spoke to a guy called Xie Guanlu. He was a team leader at ZTE mobile phones. He was based in Xian, but had been travelling around to places including Hong Kong, Shanghai, and Sydney. Actually his ZTE mobile phone was Telstra branded!

He said he'd call one night for dinner if he was free.

Arrived at the hotel, the Melody Hotel. The airport bus stopped right out the front. Very convenient, central location.

First impressions of the hotel were good. Reception were very friendly if a little slow. There was even an Ajisen Ramen noodle restaurant inside the hotel!

The Melody Hotel

Inside my room at the Melody

Not much of a view, but that doesn't matter

Medicine vending machine, cool!

Went out to find a drink. Most places were little sidewalk convenience stalls that sold Tsing Tao 9. Packaged quite differently from Tsing Tao, but still called Tsing Tao. Made in Xian.

Only cost about 3 Yuan, but tasted like water, and was warm. :-(

Tsing Tao 9, OK but very weak

Did some reading and went to sleep.

Shanghai - Day 3

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 06:06:00 +0000

Woke up, as you do.

Spent a little while revising some Chinese, then went online. Ended up spending an hour writing a list of the 15 most important albums in my life.

Then left, to grab some lunch (well breakfast since I hadn't had that yet).

Saw a bus advertising the Earth Hour. In Shanghai! Good luck with that!

Went to take a photo, and my camera said I had to change the battery.

One of the downsides of my camera (a Canon IXUS 65) is that it doesn't have a battery gauge, so it's either working or it's not.

Of course, I should have charged my battery the night before, but I didn't.

Also couldn't find my spare, so ended up going back to the hotel to let it charge for a bit.

The narrow sidewalks

Ad for Earth Hour

Kedi, the most numerous convenience store

Left around 2.30/3.

Headed South down to Nanjing Road, and then West along it to the middle of town to grab a quick bite of lunch.

Then headed off down past the People's Square to try to find the site of the First National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party.

Went thru a park. There were some birds tweeting, so I tried to get closer to the trees to take a look. Then a park officer blew his whistle repeatedly and pointed at me.

Guess you're not allowed to walk on the grass.

So much for the peace and tranquility of the park, tho.

A bit further up, there was finally a sign to the CCP, and it was a fair way before it. Google Maps on my phone wasn't much help.

By the time I found it, it was 4 o'clock, and it had closed for the day. The building itself didn't even have any prominent signage, and none in English.

Then tried to find Sun Yatsen's former residence. Again, Google Maps was way off, and it also closed at 4.

Shame, because the tourist things in the inner city were usually open till about 10pm.

Hershey's chocolate store on the Southern side of the People's Park

Park where I walked on the grass and got told off

A lot of cars have the Transformers logo on them

A poor-looking area, mixed in nearby new, tall apartment buildings

The site of the First People's Congress (Yi Da) - Closed

Then headed West to try to find the restaurant and bar area on Hengshan Lu, which was called Avenue Petain when it was controlled by the French.

Walked for quite a distance, probably for about half an hour. Mostly along Fuxing Road I think. Quite a few little shopping strips with European style fashion, handbags, and the like. A bit further up, there was also a bit musical instruments shop.

Got to an intersection where there was an American consulate (and an Iranian one), and it started looking a bit more promising for bars.

Walked down what I think was Huaihai Lu (formerly known as Avenue Joffre), before realising Hengshan Lu must have been back a bit to the East, so I took a less busy road East until I got to a corner with a big hotel on it. The street signs said Shaanxi Road, but I think it was actually Hengshan Lu.

Started walking along that street, saw a few bars, but mostly what I think of as American bars: big open sidewalk bars with beer brand umbrellas and lots of neon signs. Walked past the subway station. Decided to start looking for the Paulaner brew house I'd read about in Lonely Planet, so pulled it up on Google Maps.

Should have known the directions weren't very good, but it did get me pretty close this time.

When I was near where I thought I should be, I noticed a weird-looking restaurant. It had a big yet almost anonymous sign at the top. It was in Chinese and English, but I couldn't read either (the English was in some bad cursive). What I could read was a little sign saying:

Happy Hour 5-8pm
2 for the price of 1
Cascade, Pure Blonde, Coopers, Tsing Tao

Hang on!

This is an Australian bar! :-)

Walked inside to have a look. They had big posters of Coopers beer and Wynn's Coonawarra wines.

Otherwise the decor wasn't immediately noticeable as Australian, but definitely an Australian theme.

Thought about it for a bit, and decided I might as well.

Had a Coopers Pale Ale. When I'd finished, the waiter gave me the next one.

The place was pretty empty, and it didn't have any seating at the bar. Then I noticed the barman looked Australian, so I thought stuff it, and went to go hold the bar up and have a yak.

His name was James, and he was from Brisbane. He'd been working there for a little while (three or six months), and the bar was owned by an Australian guy as well.

Interestingly, the Australian beers cost 40 RMB (8 AUD), which is only slightly more expensive than they cost when I buy them at a bar back home. Of course, with the 2 for 1, they were effectively 4 bucks each, so you can't say no to that. :-)

One of the things I learned is that there are in fact several different kinds of Tsing Tao, all of which are called Tsing Tao. There is the obvious difference that the convenience stores and Chinese restaurants sell it in a big green bottle whereas the Western restaurants sell it in a small brown bottle with a gold label. Apparently the former is Tsing Tao, the latter is Tsing Tao Gold. I much prefer the former. It tastes like a nice German lager, and is cheaper. The other one's fine, but doesn't taste as nice I reckon.

He then went on to say that even the green one can be different. Not just by batch, but there is some difference that you can only notice by looking closely at the Chinese characters on the back. Unfortunately he didn't know more than that.

Ah! Now there's a sight for sore eyes!

Me and James at "Australian Lifestyle" in the French Concession

Then James mentioned that there was another Australian bar where they had a barbie on a Wednesday night. Tonight being Wednesday, and Australian Lifestyle being pretty quiet, that sounded like a really good idea.

I got directions from James, said goodbye, and headed off with a hand-drawn map.

It was a little difficult to find...

At one point, I was looking for number 155, and the numbers went 135 then 210. Asked at a local hairdressers (which was still open this late, as many shops are), and they said yes, go towards 210.

Which was totally wrong.

Turns out I was at the wrong Zhongshan Er Lu. I think maybe I was at Zhongshan Xi (West) rather than Zhongshan Dong (East).

Called James to check. Eventually found my way to a tiny alleyway.

Inside the alleyway were maybe 20 different bars. Again, nobody knew where it was. Or more likely, the owners thought I'd stay at their bar if they didn't tell me where the Australian bar was.

Finally found it. A place called Kommune.

They had mostly non-Aussies, and mostly groups. Struck up a conversation with the bloke cooking the barbie. Had a few VBs. Spoke to another group from America. Wish I could remember their names.

Then I ended up in another room with a group of Germans who were working for a German naval company in Shanghai. One of the girls had a birthday.

When they left, I ended up chatting to the two managers and one of the barflies. Had a long and argumentative conversation about visa regulations in China that didn't make any sense to me.

Somehow the only other recollection of the night is that I should watch the movie Human Traffic. Also that Bob Hawke would supposedly be cooking the barbie some time in April!

One of the guys offered me a lift part way home on his scooter, but I declined as he was going the other way and had already had quite a few drinks. (By the end of the night, we were all drinking free VBs that were past their use-by-day.)

Ended up walking home along Huihuai Road, a huge concrete viaduct (i.e. elevated road), then Beijing Road, over the creek using a different bridge, then Tiantong Road, past a big shopping that looked like it was vacated for major renovations, and finally crept into bed. The whole walk took about an hour.

The alleyway with all the bars

Some of the crew at Kommune

The long walk home

What a night!

Shanghai - Day 2

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 12:59:00 +0000

Had breakfast in the hotel.

A nasty looking bacon and eggs with lukewarm black coffee and soggy toast.

Will have to look for something else tomorrow morning.

Could also smell smoke in the corridor, but not much I can do about that I guess.

Spent most of the morning writing and practising my Chinese, then headed to Nanjing Road to check out the city centre.

Some local girl came up to me and started speaking English. She "just wanted to speak English". I'd heard that one before, so I had a brief chat and then told her I had to go.

Went to KFC for lunch.

Ordered "Er" (number 2) from the menu, which was a crispy, spicy chicken burger (what we call a Zinger). The burger was pretty similar to ours, but the chips were standard McDonald's style French fries. Fine, but I think most Aussies prefer the special chicken salt that KFC has back home.

I know the third character means East, and I think the last one means road?

Nanjing Road, looking West from the Nanjing East station

KFC: a Zinger and Maccas style French fries, ordered in Chinese

Walked further down Nanjing Road, and who should I bump into, but "John" the "English teacher"!

He started his spiel about hello, where you from? Then he realised we'd met yesterday!

Had a chat anyway. My wallet was firmly in my pocket, so no harm done.

He suggested we go to a traditional Chinese tea house. I declined. :-)

Took a photo. :-)

"John" the "English teacher"

He gave me directions to the park.

Ended up feeling thoroughly confused about what had happened.

I guess maybe he would have been happy to be my guide. Don't know what would have happened about paying for the tea and any meals.

But he definitely pulled a fast one on me yesterday.

Anyway.

Walked towards the park, expecting to check out the Shanghai Museum.

There were no signs, so it took me a while to find my way. Walked into the park but had to turn back around because there were no exits on the right side.

On the way, I also helped a Canadian group find their bus stop.

The clock tower on the Art Museum

Monument in the People's Park

The Shanghai Grand Theatre

An old-looking bus stop on the way

The Shanghai Museum

The museum was really good.

Free entrance, and four levels of artefacts. Firstly pottery, then paintings, then calligraphy, then coins and jade.

Went thru at a moderate pace, as a lot of the artefacts were similar, but got to see quite an array of interesting stuff.

For example, I learned that all artworks and documents were marked with a red seal, which explains why all the posters for sale at the market had red squiggles on them. (Either they were authentic or were meant to look authentic!)

Also saw a lot of beautiful watercolor art that was probably less sophisticated than European-style oil paintings, but beautiful nonetheless.

And of course, lots of nice Chinese porcelain ("China").

Another section of particular interest was the currency section. Lots of early Chinese coins with square holes in the middle, but also some foreign ones from the Silk Road, such as curvy Indian ones, and some bank notes from different banks during Shanghai's colonial era, such as the Chartered Bank of India, Australian, and China (Chartered Bank), the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC), the German-Asian bank (Deutsche Bank), and I think one from another major power (e.g. France or Russia).

Clay sculpture

Clay pots

Chinese porcelain

A nice watercolor painting, note the red seal top left

Seals

Very early Chinese coins

Bank note from the Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China

On the way out, some people asked me to take a photo of them. I obliged, then we had a chat.

His name was Zhangshuai and her name was Yinger.

I asked if they were free and wanted to go have a beer.

We ended up going to a Chinese tea house instead for a traditional tea ceremony.

It was quite expensive, but worth trying once.

At the start, they asked us to pick a lucky number, six being good luck, eight being wealth, nine being long life.

I said that I would like good luck, so six it was.

Apparently that was how many teas we were going to try.

Then we saw the prices (48 RMB/10 AUD per person per tea) and decided three teas would be just fine, thank you.

We had Gingeng & Oolong tea, Jasmine tea, and Fruit tea.

All were nice, but the fruit tea was particularly nice.

Also learned that oolong tea should be brewed in a clay pot with 100-degree water, whereas Jasmine tea should be brewed in a porcelain pot with 80-to-90-degree water, and that good tea doesn't take more than a few seconds to brew. (Or maybe that just meant she was putting more than I'm used to in the pot?)

Then they tried to sell us 300 Y of tea leaves. We all agreed that wasn't particularly good value. :-)

They needed to head off, so we exchanged details. They said they might come to Australia, and if they did they would look me up.

They also said they didn't have a Facebook account. Apparently in China it's not very popular. (By now, all of my Australian friends are on Facebook.)

Zhangshuai, me, and Yinger

The tea ceremony room

Ended up a bit South of the park down near Yanan Road at this point, and it looked like it would get busier if I headed East towards the Bund, so that's what I did.

Went past the Bund Hotel, then found a huge, seven storey, bookstore. It had foreign language inscriptions outside, so I wondered if that was the foreign language bookstore Lonely Planet had recommended.

Went inside, and altho most books had dual Chinese and English titles, the contents was only Chinese.

Went for more of a walk, and found another bookstore that was the Foreign Language Bookstore. :-)

Bought a book about tea there, both so I could learn something about my new-found favourite (well, nearly favourite) drink, and so I had something to read on the plane.

Then headed to the Bund.

A market street

Big bookstore (not the Foreign Language Bookstore)

Called Mama and Papa and then Mum and Dad to say hi. I'd told them both I was alive via SMS and this blog, but I figured they'd appreciate a phone call.

Then decided I'd check out the other side of the river (Pudong), so I took the "Bund tourist tunnel".

It was convenient, and worth doing once, but it was totally craptastic.

Rather than a decent view of the harbour (which I guess would be difficult with brown water), they had a really, really bad sound and light show.

To see how bad, watch this movie on YouTube.

Today's shot of the East bank (Pudong) from the West bank (Puxi)

Inside the Bund tourist tunnel - bad lights and sounds all the way

When I got to the other side, I went up the Oriental Pearl TV Tower to get a better view of the city.

There's three levels, but the top one was about 150 RMB (30 AUD), so I went to the first level, which offered a decent view anyway.

Without knowing Shanghai very well, it wasn't overly meaningful for me, but what was obvious was that it's built up and lit up in every direction, not just the dense Bund area. In fact, the financial district (with all the new bank buildings) is on the Eastern side near the tower.

View of the West bank (Puxi), customs house far left, people's monument far right of picture

Downtown Pudong, the banking district

And at the bottom, included in the entry price, is a the Shanghai History Museum. Really, really interesting!

Far too many things to mention here in detail, but basically an overview of the colonial influences in Shanghai, particularly the English and the French (and to a lesser extent the Germans and Russians), the Opium Wars, the old names for the streets (which I assume were renamed either after the Chinese defeated the occupying powers or after the Chinese revolution).

A woman makes tofu blocks

A court presided over by a half-Chinese, half-English authority

Map showing the old street names, Avenue Edward (now Yanan Road) divides English and French sectors

An opium den

A Chinese tea house, the traditional gathering place

The Bund and Customs House, as they were over a hundred years ago

A very European-looking street

Warships in port (unmarked)

Walked back home, again via some dusty roads that were having work done, said no to the guy selling "girls" outside the hotel, got to my room, finished the blog, and went to sleep.

Tomorrow I'll be checking out the French Concession.

Chinese Crash Course

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 02:05:00 +0000

So I think I've finally made sense of it all.

The Ts in Tsing Tao is actually from an old system for writing Chinese called Wade-Giles, the same system responsible for writing Beijing as Peking. It is actually properly pronounced Ching Dow everywhere.

These days, the standard system for writing Mandarin with English letters is called Pinyin. That's the one that writes Beijing as Beijing.

Oversimplifying a bit, Pinyin is similar enough to English, except for:

q is like ch
zh is like ch
x is like sh
z is halfway between z and tz
r is like a French j in the word azure
vowels ending in n or ng sound weird like "or" in work

for example, Yuan is said more like yoo-en or yoon

so does i at the end of a word after some letters

And now I'm going to stop sweating the exact pronunciation and move on and start speaking some Chinese!

So far, the most useful words and phrases have been:

Ní hăo (hello)
Xìe xie (thank you)
Zài jìan (goodbye)

Duì (yes)
Méi (no)

Dōng (east)
Xī (west)
Bĕi (north)
Nán (south)
Zhōng (central)

Rè (hot)
Líang (cold)
Là (spicy)
Chá (tea)
Kā Fēi (coffee)
Pí (beer)
Shuĭ (water)
Rŭ (milk)

Líng (zero)
Yī (one)
Èr (two)
Sān (three)
Sì (four)
Wŭ (five)
Lìu (six)
Qī (seven)
Bā (eight)
Jiŭ (nine)
Shí (ten)

The numerals including zero are particularly useful. No need to learn big numbers if you can do it one digit at a time (one seven three instead of one-hundred seventy-three).

There endeth the lesson!

Shanghai - Day 1

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 11:19:00 +0000

Mama ended up booking plane tickets yesterday for me to go to Shanghai today.

So Shanghai here I come!

The flight was with China Eastern Airlines from Beijing to the new Shanghai Airport at Pudong. The airport code for Pudong is PVG for some reason.

At the airport, one of the shops had a heap of different Western foods, including Goldfish, the snacks that CJ on the West Wing liked, but I'd never even heard of otherwise, let alone tried.

When I got to the gate, I ended up talking to an American tour group. They were a group of students from Texas, including their Chinese teacher, who was originally from Australia.

The boarding was a bit odd, with it moving gates, and then us having to board a shuttle bus from the gate to the plane, only to be waiting on the tarmac outside the gate for 15 minutes before going anywhere.

Then the plane sat there for another 15 minutes waiting for permission to take off.

On the plane I spoke to a guy from Oklahoma named Roy. He was from the chamber of commerce.

Chinese style toll gate

Goldfish, made famous by the West Wing

Shuttle bus from the gate to the plane

When I got to the airport, I decided I had to take the maglev (magnetic levitation) train from the airport to the city.

50 Yuan and a bit of a confusing wait later, and I was on my way.

I'd never travelled on a maglev. The fastest I'd been on previously was one of the InterCity Express (ICE) trains in Germany, which I think travelled up to 300 km/h.

This one claimed to have a top speed of 500 km/h.

When it started out, it sounded moderately loud. For some reason, I'd assumed it was going to be nearly silent.

We got up to 430 km/h before slowing back down again.

Not quite the advertised 500 km/h, but still pretty fast!

430 km/h on the maglev train

Then I got to the metro subway.

Unlike Beijing, all the signs were in Chinese only. Even the map at the service counter was only Chinese. Still, it was only fair that I learn some Chinese. Perhaps Shanghai would force me?

When I got out and up to Nanjing Street, took out my Lonely Planet, and tried to get my bearings. (A map is all well and good, provided you know where North is.)

A man came up and pointed me in the right direction. In English.

He said he was an English teacher, and wanted to have a chat.

Seemed harmless, and I was happy to help, particularly since he had been helpful.

We went to a nearby cafe. He ordered a platter of fruit, some nuts, and two coffees.

We had a chat about Melbourne and Shanghai. He said he was a teacher at a local primary school and had 35 students.

All well and good.

Talked a bit more.

Then he said we should have a whiskey in the spirit of friendship.

Well, probably shouldn't, but a nice Jack Daniel's does sound quite nice.

Finished the drink, then told him I should get going, since I was expected at the hotel, and I didn't want them to cancel the room.

And then he asked the waiter to give me (and only me) the bill.

580 RMB (120 AUD)!!

I told him I didn't mind paying half, but I didn't think I should pay it all. ("A" because he had invited me, "B" because most of the items weren't discussed, he had just ordered them.)

He responded with "thank you for the invitation".

What the!?

I guess I should have disputed it, but I didn't, so I ended up with an empty wallet and a bruised ego.

Chalk one up for life experience: Never trust an English teacher!

Then I made my way towards the hotel.

A girl from Germany was having problems finding her way to Citibank, so I took out the Lonely Planet and showed her the way.

Walked towards the hotel.

And walked.

It was a good five-minute walk along dusty side alleys with no room on the footpath for my suit case.

Chalk two up to experience: Take a taxi or bring a big backpack instead.

Nanjing Street exit from the subway

Which direction has the green light?

The hotel - not quite what I was expecting

More motorbikes here than in Beijing

Big roadworks nearby, the whole area smells of diesel fumes

Went looking for lunch.

Found a Chinese restaurant. Asked if they had dim sum dumplings. They didn't!

So I went to the next restaurant.

They had heap of options, but the first thing I saw that appealed was a BLT sandwich, so I went in and ordered that.

Except they didn't have the BLT sandwich. Or any sandwiches.

Hummed and hahed. Only wanted a light lunch, and not much else that I wanted.

Chose a potato, bacon, anchovy, and mayonnaise pizza.

Yeah, I know. :-)

Ordered a beer. The waitress asked if I wanted with ice or no ice. I said no ice.

Apparently that was the wrong decision. "Ice" meant cold. No ice meant warm.

Mmm, warm beer.

Still, at least it was Tsing Tao, which is drinkable even when warm.

The waitress also pronounced Tsing Tao as "Ching Dow", they way I would have expected in Hong Kong.

I'll have to double check the typical pronunciation in Beijing, but I think the "ts" = "ch" is a Southern thing.

(Update: Apparently it's named after Qingdao, a city in Shandong, meaning that Ching Dow is the correct pronunciation. Tsing Tao is an older spelling. More about Tsing Tao beer.)

Ended up getting the waitress to write down "cold" and "hot" in Chinese for me. :-)

Again, there was smoking in the restaurant. And the hotel smells like cigarette smoke too.

Walked back towards Nanjing Street to try to find the main tourist area called "The Bund".

Wow. Very picturesque. Also very, very dirty and dusty.

And again, a map with an English title, and then no English descriptions or Pinyin versions of place names.

Started differentiating places by coming up with names for the characters (little house, little window, TV, three-legged thing, etc.), or just by the number of characters. It also helps to know the characters for north, central, east, west, and south.

At the Northern end of the Bund, just before the Suzhou Creek, there is a park called Huangpu Park. It used to be a park where only foreigners were allowed, and you weren't allowed to bring pets or bicycles, leading to the humiliating saying "no dogs and Chinese". Now, the main feature is the Monument to the People's Heroes, which is in part a monument to those who fought to free China from foreign occupation.

A view of the Eastern side of Shanghai (Pudong), Oriental Pearl Tower on the left

The old clock tower, it has some history

An advertising boat, why not?

Apparently the whole city is sinking

Monument to the People's Heroes at Huangpu Park

Major construction on the road back to the hotel

It made me want to go and see the Pearl Tower and the museum at its base tomorrow. I'm also planning on checking out the French Concession, if for no other reason than it sounds like it has some good food.

Was also reflecting: before I came on this trip, the largest city I'd been to was Sydney, with 4 million people. In the past two weeks, I've been to Hong Kong (7 million), Beijing (13 million), and Shanghai (17 million).

Certainly a trip of firsts. :-)

Beijing - Day 4

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 12:13:00 +0000

Today we're going to the Great Wall!

As we stepped outside, you could see what I first thought must have been the moon, it was so small, but later I realised it must have been the sun.

The sky was quite dusty.

A dusty sun

We drove out North West of Beijing towards Badaling, passing by the olympic site on the 4th ring road, and then along the Badaling Expressway.

This sign is everywhere

A toll booth on the expressway

The first stop before the Great Wall was the Ming Tombs.

First there was a huge park that started with a huge gate, then a pathway past various animal figures, particularly lions and elephants.

And then thru a small town to the tombs proper.

In fact, there are thirteen of them, the one we went to was the Changling tomb.

Thru the streets of a small Chinese town

Our travel group dressed in imperial Chinese clothes

The giant tomb, now a museum

Emperor Yongle/Chengzu/Chang

Ceremonial headdress

View of the valley

Then we travelled back to the highway and to a nearby city for lunch.

Parking in itself was a bit of an adventure.

When we had parked and found a restaurant, we had, in order, broccoli, spicy pork intestines with whole chillies, spicy tofu, individual seasoned pork ribs, bacon with green shoots in black bean sauce, and special fried rice. Was all delicious, and the pork intestines were surprisingly good. The flavour from the chillies was awesome, if a little too spicy.

We parked here, on a main street

Lunch: chilli pork on the left, ribs at the back, bacon and shoots at the front

And then back on the road to Badaling and the Great Wall!

We parked at the bottom, evaded yet more street sellers ("Hello, hello! You want water!?"), bought tickets, and started the walk up.

The walk to the nearest part of the wall isn't too far, but the wall is some 6,000 kilometres long, so there's some scope for a walk if you want one!

Probably the most lasting impression is the sheer size of it. To think how many people they would have needed to build it.

Several sections are also quite steep to walk up, and I doubt they had the hand rails back then!

Back on the road to the Great Wall

At the forecourt

Me at the Great Wall

Mind the slope!

The view from the top of the section we climbed

After getting back down, I had a look in the shops. Not much of interest. The same old stuff.

Also went to go to the toilet, but the basket for clean toilet paper had some not so clean paper in it. Decided to wait. :-)

When we got back to Beijing, I went for a walk around the diplomatic compound.

There were lots of Western food places, including Sizzler, Baskin and Robins, Subway, Pizza Hut, Starbucks, and of course McDonalds.

Most of the foreign embassies were also nearby. I saw the Sri Lankan, Slovenian, Czech, Austrian, and Cuban, but doubtless there were lots of others too.

The Cuban one was interesting, as it had photos of Fidel Castro making friends with the Chinese leadership.

Haagen Dazs and Sizzler, who's hungry? :-)

Starbucks and Subway, are you sure we're in China?

The Sri Lankan Embassy

The Austrian Embassy

The Cuban Embassy

The Australian embassy, however, is a suburb to the North at Dongzhimen.

Then I went to the nearby Silk Street market again, to look for watches and jewelry and get some groceries.

Came back with none of those, but did get the picture of the Great Wall I was looking for and a Tommy Hilfiger jumper.

Tomorrow I'm off to Shanghai!

Beijing - Day 3

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Today we went out to tour the most famous Beijing sights with a group of Austrians who I think were from the military to visit Mama and Papa.

The Austrians

We took the train to Qianmen station to start out at the gateway then walk North thru Tiananmen Square to the Forbidden City.

But first, we stopped at the city Planning Museum. Very interesting. They had a scale model of Beijing city. Obviously it had the Forbidden City and the other famous landmarks, but it also showed that the important buildings were arranged along a North-South axis, from Qianmen, to the Forbidden City, and then 8 kilometres North to the Olympic stadium. It also helped understand where the ring roads were, where the CBD was, and where I was staying.

A huge bronze model of Beijing hanging on the wall

Then we went under the street to Tiananmen Square, past the Museum, Mausoleum, and People's Monument (all mentioned in previous blogs), to the Gate of Heavenly Peace to enter the Forbidden City.

As you get closer to the gate, you start to appreciate just how big Mao's portrait is.

Qianmen, the gateway to Tiananmen Square

Me at the Gate of the Heavenly Peace

Inside, there were ticket booths and the obligatory street sellers trying to push trips to the Great Wall and sell various forms of crap.

And then a lot of bloody big temples!

One thing that surprised me a little was how similar these temples were to what I thought Vietnamese or Thai temples would look like.

There were lots of interesting stories about the history of the place, the emperors, their wives and concubines, Marco Polo, and so on, but it was all too much to take in.

One minor thing of interest was the bridal suite. Of which there were two!

Bed in the bridal suite, "Double Happiness" embroidered on the quilt

We then went past a few things like a temple atop a mount of oddly-shaped rocks, over a moat, and then out the exit. (Well, the exit was before the moat, but whatever.)

At the top of the next hill must have been the Drum Tower, but we didn't go up and see it. Instead we stopped for lunch.

Lunch

At lunch, we had some difficulties ordering. Or more to the point, the waitress, of which there were several, appeared to have problems understanding.

When Mama asked for a cup of tea, she got a whole pot.

Strangely, a 600 ml beer cost 5 RMB (1 AUD), whereas a cup of tea cost 15 RMB!

Then we took a 10-15 minute taxi ride to the Temple of Heaven.

Out the front, I finally succumbed to the street vendors and bought a Chairman Mao watch. Very kitch, but also an apt souvenir. I paid 50 RMB (10 AUD), but I later found out I probably could have had it for as little as 15.

Inside, we went thru several sections, each requiring another perforated slip off the ticket.

The main things or interest were the sacrificial altar near the start, the temple at the end of the parade, and then a huge park at the end off to the side.

Altar of Heaven

Temple of Heaven

In the park, there were lots of different performers. Most were singing or playing the accordion. There was also a man with a lute and some people playing hacky sack but with a shuttlecock like they use in Badminton.

At the exit, I had a look in the store there. I had been looking for some jade jewelry and a nice black-and-white painting of the Great Wall since I got here and hadn't found quite what I was looking for.

The situation remains. :-)

Tomorrow the plan involves the Great Wall.

Beijing - Day 2

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 12:00:00 +0000

Today is freezing!

Ventured outside around 9am, this time prepared with a t-shirt, jumper, jacket, and beanie, and still felt like my nose was going to fall off!

Noticed a lot of people didn't have gloves or beanies or balaclavas. Noticed lots of people had blue hands, too. :-)

A security guard at the entrance to the residential compound

Mama suggested I check out the Buddhist Lama temple Yonggegong and the Temple of Confucius.

I felt I had enough time, so I first headed to the Beijing olympic site to see the bird's nest stadium and the water cube.

But when I tried to go to the subway, there were security guards, and nobody was allowed in.

I think it was just because I was using the Silk Street entrance and the market wasn't open yet, because when I decided to walk to the next station, I ended up finding another entrance to Yonganli station and got on the train with no problems. (The Silk Street market opens at 9.30am.)

A Western-style corner opposite the Silk Street market

A monument to the Silk Street Market

Had to take three different lines to get to the Olympic site: 1, then 10, then 8.

The subway on the way to the Olympic site

The exit from the train station takes you up to a huge plaza still a way away from the stadiums. I'm guessing it was all designed to cope with a huge number of people at the time of the Olympics, but today it just made for a really cold walk. Had to pass a number of security guards and over one of the ring roads.

The plaza before the Olympic stadium

Passing over the ring road

The Olympic stadium!

The aquatic centre

Could have taken a tour, but it was too cold, and it seemed like it would be better to get on and see the temples, so I took the subway (a different way) to Yonghegong.

At one of the stations on the way, I stopped to use the toilet. It was one of the Chinese squat toilets. Quite an experience! Not hard, just different.

When I got out at Yonghegong station, I had to guess the direction and go for a bit of a walk to get there. It was mostly obvious, but not perfectly signed.

Found it, paid 20 RMB admission plus some more money for an audio guide, and went in.

At first there was an archway, then a courtyard with some more tourist stores, where a woman tried to sell me a nice-looking black and white handpainting of the Great Wall (originally 480 RMB, but she came down to 80),

The buildings were quite interesting at first, but not awe-inspiring.

That soon changed.

I passed thru several medium sized temples, all with burning incense, some with chanting monks.

Much deeper in, there is an awesome, Guiness World Record, 18-metre tall sandalwood Buddha. Unfortunately, I wasn't allowed to take a photo. :-(

The building housing the 18-metre Buddha

Left feeling like I'd seen something great, but a bit offended by the security guard who told me off for trying to take a photo.

By then, I was cold, and it was about 12.30pm, so I went to grab lunch at a vegetarian restaurant that Mama had mentioned.

They had a buffet for 68 RMB (13 AUD). They had black tea, not green or jasmine tea, unfortunately, but the food was quite interesting.

I could have sworn the signs said chicken, pork, and squid, but I'm assured it was all vegetarian. Very bizarre!

Vegetarian buffet?

After lunch, I carried on to the Temple of Confucius.

From the outside, it seemed less interesting that the Lama Temple, and I guessed I wouldn't spend too long there.

Two hours later... :-)

Inside, the style was similar but different from the Lama Temple. Less religion and incense. The latter was a shame, because all the fires for the incense kept me warm!

There was also some more mention of war. Not so much in the words, and not overt, but there was a small display of swords near one of the archways, and a number of the smaller temples had been built "to commemorate the supression of the rebellion".

Not a major theme, just a contrast compared to the Lama Temple.

Statue of Confucius near the entrance

A courtyard with lots of Cypress trees

What kept me awhile, however, was a section inside with lots of information about Confucius.

It mentioned how he was the first to offer teaching to all, rather than just the upper classes, how he preached virtue and honesty, and what effect he had had on Western philosophers. In particular, he is said to have been the first to say "do unto others as you would have them do unto you", and Voltaire is supposed to have been a strong adherent to Confucian teachings.

There was also a scene of a Chinese shopkeeper with a description that for every 50 grams their weight was wrong, they lost another virtue (e.g. wealth, happiness, long life), and that from the time of Confucius, shopkeepers became honest.

Another interesting thing was the balance between state control and religion. For example, many times it sounded like Confucianism and moral purity was used as a reason for deposing other kings and taking over their territories. Also, one section claimed that "Confucianism is the reason for the strength of the Chinese empire in the past, but also the reason for its backwardness recently". Perhaps part true, part propaganda?

Headed back home.

Did some shopping at a local supermarket. They had lots of tea, not much coffee, some typical Chinese and Japanese type packaged foods, and a bit of alcohol. Bought some basics, some oats for porridge, and a couple of Tsingtao beers.

Paid with cash and the woman checked the notes using a UV light.

On the way out thru the Silk Street market, I again ran the gauntlet of sales people.

One of the managed to sell me a belt. Apparently Armani, but who knows? Paid 69 RMB, as that's all I had left in my wallet. The starting price was 350. Time will tell if I paid too much!

Tonight while writing the blog, I realised the Temple of Confucius is also known as Kong Miao, however there are several of them in China, all with the same style and layout. (The one in Beijing is the second largest, after the one in Qufu, Confucius's birthplace.)

For me this is awesome, as it is something you can build in the game Civilization IV. :-)

Beijing - Day 1

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 09:00:00 +0000

Got up around 5 to catch the plane to Beijing at 9.

The Airport Express train started around that time, so I was able to take a 40 HKD (8 AUD) taxi to Tsing Yi station and the 60 HKD (12 AUD) Airport Express train from there.

The taxi driver spoke very little English, but I asked him how many taxi drivers there were in Hong Kong, having noticed there were taxis everywhere. He said 100,000.

Some quite nice views of what I assume was Discovery Bay out the train window.

My Hong Kong coins

Got to the airport with plenty of time to spare. Short queues for the Dragonair check-in. Got moved to the first class line anyway, as they had someone free. The woman behind the counter asked if I would like to take an earlier flight, but I figured it would be simplest to keep the same flight and meet the Winkelmayers (the family I stayed with in Austria when I was younger) at the arranged time.

Spent some time walking around the terminal. Lots of things to buy.

Checked out some new phones, namely the Samsung M880H, which had an 8 megapixel camera (!) and the iPhone, which I'd never really used before. They both seemed pretty cool. Couldn't tell how good the camera was on the Samsung, since it was indoors and pretty good conditions. The real test of a camera is how it performs at distance and in poor light. The iPhone also seemed good, but the ringtones weren't very loud even at maximum value. Still would have bought one or the other if they were cheap. :-)

They also had a Quicksilver shop, a tea shop, a Japanese shop (Ajisan or something like that?), a couple of fashion boutiques, and double as many again after passing thru security.

Some of the shops inside the Hong Kong airport

Qantas and Dragonair planes side-by-side

The flight was fine. The plane was like a 10-year-old Qantas plane with a single screen for the whole section and the same graphics showing the current position, course, weather, and time. Had a Chinese dim sum breakfast, which was quite nice.

Arrived at Beijing airport, cleared customs, then took the airport shuttle train to the t3c terminal to collect my bags. Thankfully everything was dual-signed in English. Perhaps it was always that way, but I'm guessing the 2008 olympics were also a great excuse to make everything so clear for tourists. They even had buttons to press to say if you thought the service was good or not at the customs counter! In contrast to Hong Kong, all the announcements in English had an American accent.

At the airport, everything was very smokey. Not pollution smokey, but fire smokey, like how it is in Melbourne when there are fires. Apparently it can be worse than that.

At this stage, I was wearing a t-shirt and an unzipped jacket, and felt quite warm. I was surprised, because I had heard the weather would be around 0 degrees.

Papa (Heinz) picked me up and drove us home. We had a good chat in German. The streets were quite broad and fairly quiet. It wasn't a peak time, but it also seems the outer ring roads are less busy than the inner ones.

Arrived at Mama (Brigitte) and Papa's house. They live in a diplomatic compound called Qijiayuan near the Yonganli station. There are mostly foreign diplomats, attaches, and their families living there, but I'm told that anyone can live there.

We had a nice lunch: schnitzel, rice, and salad with pumpkinseed oil, just like like I used to have when I stayed in Austria. Apparently the pumpkinseed is a particularly Styrian thing.

After lunch, Papa went back to work, and Mama took me for a tour of the neighbourhood.

First we went to the Silk Street Market, where Mama knew one of the store workers, who tried to sell me some Tommy Hilfiger clothes.

I said I wanted to change my Hong Kong dollars, so we found a booth upstairs. They were offering 100 HKD = 82 RMB (Chinese Yuan is usually abbreviated RMB in China rather than CNY), but I thought it was supposed to be nearly 1-to-1, so I said no.

Then we went downstairs to the subway station inside and bought a ticket. It was only 2 Yuan (about 40 Australian cents) for any trip in any direction!

We boarded a number 1 train Westbound to Tiananmen Square, the centre of Beijing.

Mama near their house in Beijing

The Silk Street market

I didn't know much about Tiananmen Square, other than for bad reasons.

It's huge!

It's the site of Chairman Mao's mausoleum, a momument to the Communist revolutionaries called the Monument to the People's Heroes, the National Museum of China, the Great Hall of the People, and the Planning Museum, but the main feature is the Tiananmen, meaning the Gate of the Heavenly Peace.

It's smack bang in the centre of Beijing, but it's not super busy, as the business district is small distance to the East.

Also felt a bit Russian in the sense that it was bloody cold! I quickly changed me mind about the necessity of a jumper! Reminded me of an episode of the IT Crowd where the smokers are banished to a cold courtyard, but the place didn't feel solemn or scary, just big, interesting, and important.

Tiananmen East Station

Me at Tiananmen Square

Mao Zedong's portrait on the Gate of the Heavenly Peace

The National Museum of China

The Monument to the People's Heroes

Mao's Mausoleum

Qianmen Gate

We then went to a nearby market, which had recently been rebuilt to look like an old-style village.

They had a lot of bright white stores selling cheap clothes, which I didn't like at all, but they had one nice expensive-looking tea house. I tried some green and jasmine tea. We weren't buying today, otherwise I would have got something. (But Mama did buy me some nice green tea and almond biscuits.)

The old-style village

Since we planned to come back another day, we then took the subway back to Yonganli.

We found a bank to change my Hong Kong dollars at the Friendship Market, this time at about 100 HKD = 89 RMB. That was the only thing there that was good value! They had some nice pearls and jade, but it was all ridiculously expensive. In stark contrast to the Silk Street market, all the people here were a bit less pushy. I think if they made one sale a month at those prices they would have been happy. :-)

A funny steam outlet

One of three entrances to the Qijiayuan diplomatic compound

The LG Twin Towers across the road

One of the diplomatic residential buildings with World Trade Center Tower III in the background

Got back home, practised some Mandarin Chinese, and went to bed.

Hong Kong - Day 10

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 10:00:00 +0000

Got up at 11pm to start work at midnight again.

Patched the firewalls and frontend switches, then tested all the fail overs.

All was working well.

Said goodbye to the security guard.

Went back to the hotel for a short sleep, then into the office to say goodbye.

The office in Hong Kong

The view from the office window

The Hong Kong crew

We went out for a quick lunch at a nearby cafe. Had a "Japanese" style chicken and potato curry. Was hearty and simple. Not too sure where the potato was. :-)

On the way back, we passed a heap of foreign restaurants. Russian, Indian, Indian, beef.

A beef and beer restaurant on Hollywood Road

The foreign bar alley

Hollywood Road

Got back to the office again. Had a good chat to everyone and sorted out some of their computer problems. :-)

Headed back to Tsuen Wan West station for my last sleep in Hong Kong.

Looking West from Tsuen Wan West station

Hong Kong - Day 9

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Started at midnight and got a lot done.

Only one more day left!

The lifts in the hotel are funny. People keep getting on and asking if the lift is going up or down. There is a light outside the lift that clearly indicates which. :-)

Hong Kong - Day 8

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 03:00:00 +0000

Woke up at 2 again for work at 3.

Got one of the switches done, but it took longer than expected.

Agreed with Rodney that we'd start at midnight tomorrow/tonight.

Got home, posted another blog entry, and got some sleep.

Or tried to.

My neighbours in the hotel were a bit noisy, and there wasn't much sound-proofing.

That and two people knocked on my door separately. They must both have assumed I was one of their Chinese friends.

Hong Kong - Day 7 Part 2

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 06:30:00 +0000

Walked back to Central with Katherine, Chris, and Lisa, thru the botanical gardens and zoo.

The botanical garden, with a war monument archway

Next, we walked by Government House, which I think is where the Hong Kong governor used to live. Now they have a chief executive and a legislative assembly. There is also a mayor of Hong Kong municipal district.

Government House

I'd noticed that a number of buildings had a kind of scaffolding frame on them. It looked pretty scary to me.

Scaffolding commonly seen on tall buildings

Got to the CBD, and Chris and Lisa went their separate way.

Katherine decided to take me to see the trams.

I thought Hong Kong had only the Peak "tram". but they have all of these skinny, old, double decker trams too!

Double decker trams

A diamond in a credit card - why not?

Me on the tram

We walked up a hill to see the main Hong Kong University.

Political banner ad

Police stand by, watching pedestrians jaywalk (unlike in Melbourne)!

A reminder that cars drive on the left in Hong Kong (this was actually a one-way street)

Mmm! Chicken's feet!

Bauhinia Blakeana, the national flower of Hong Kong

The university had an exhibition about the silk road.

A figure from when China was ruled by a Mongolian dynasty

An intricately carved wood door

A chair made out of wood and antlers

Old Chinese coins

A silk road God

Chinese pottery ("China")

Stone carving with Chinese writing from around 1100 AD

Embroidery

Chinese Chess set

Then we walked around the campus and had some afternoon tea. I had a pork bun and tea. Really like the Chinese tea!

Back down at the bottom of the hill, there were more stores selling weird things, so I asked Katherine what they were. Apparently it's mostly seafood, with things like dried shrimp, dried abalone, dried shredded squid, mushrooms, and shark fin.

Dried seafood, abalone on the middle left

Stuff at the bottom of shot is from Australia, stuff at the top is shark fin

Then Katherine put me on the Tsuen Wan mini bus. Luckily I got on, because at the next stop the bus filled up and some passengers couldn't get on.

It was an interesting trip. The bus had a big LED speed sign which beeped when the driver went over 80 km/h. The trip cost $15 HKD, which is more expensive than the MTR trains. Went over a bridge and then down into a tunnel. Got a good view of many things, including some sports parks. The ride finished at Tsuen Wan near the walled garden.

Went to bed around 6pm because I was starting work at 1am.

Hong Kong - Day 7 Part 1

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Sun, 08 Mar 2009 03:00:00 +0000

On Sunday, I headed to the city for brunch with Carey and then to see the sights of Hong Kong with Katherine.

Near the station, there was a very long queue. I've seen a few of those. Couldn't tell what it was for this time. In the past it had been for a bakery/cake shop, which presumably had a special on, and another time it was for the bus. My guess is it was for a shop that opened at 10, but who knows.

A big queue, couldn't see what it was for

Took the Tsuen Wan line to Central station, then walked inside to the Hong Kong station. There's a few stations like that that have a huge internal interchange. Not quite so many dense stations with 8 or 10 platforms all together. Apparently it's a result of the staged implementation of the MTR.

The concourse between Hong Kong and Central stations

Was going to meet Katherine at 10.15, but got there early, so went for a walk to look for something to bring to brunch.

Ended up in the international finance centre (IFC) towers, huge fashion malls. The tallest tower is 420 metres high, but couldn't find anything, so tried outside.

Ended up at what I believe was the Star Ferry wharf.

Saw a sign for Subway. Apparently there's only two in the whole of Hong Kong. (There are heaps of KFC and McDonald's, however.)

Also saw another big construction site. Apparently most of the new development is on reclaimed land.

Then headed back to the Hong Kong station to meet Katherine at the flight check-in desk. Pretty cool idea. If you're staying near the city, you can check in to your flight in the city and then take the Airport Express train straight to the airport.

The harbour from the Star Ferry terminal near the Hong Kong station

Finally! Proof of a Subway!

Construction on the wharf

Airline check-in counter at the Hong Kong airport

Arrived at Carey's a bit late.

Met his friends Chris and Lisa on the way up.

Gave Carey a Michelin guide to Hong Kong restaurants as a thank you gift, but unfortunately he already had it.

We had a delicious brunch on the rooftop. Bacon, frittata, and some interesting fruit juices from California including weird and wonderful ingredients like algae and wheatgrass!

Tried in vain to get the patio heater going. You'd think it was easy, but something just wasn't working. We left it for a bit, then Carey got it going later.

The view from the top floor

The outdoor dining set

Saw an Australian Sulphur-crested Cockatoo on the fence. Apparently they are everywhere, and are a pest in Hong Kong. I guess the tables are turned from when Australia had rabbits and foxes introduced.

A Cockie!

You can even see the Peak Tram from the roof!

The Peak tram from the rooftop

Said our goodbyes and ended up walking back to Central with Chris and Lisa.

Hong Kong - Day 6 Part 2

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 12:59:00 +0000

After lunch, I met Jim from our Hong Kong office and his girlfriend Aggie at the Tsuen Wan MTR station.

While waiting, I took a photo of this ad.

A common billboard at train stations

At first I thought it was for something else, but then I noticed it was actually for gym membership!

Jim arrived by bus, then we headed in to Tsim Sha Tsui.

Tsim Sha Tsui is a very built-up, touristy area on the Kowloon side of the harbour. Lots more Westerners here than in Tsuen Wan, and lots of fashion shops too.

Me in front of one of the most famous hotels, The Peninsula

Jim and Aggie with Victoria Harbour in the background

Another angle of the harbour

The 420 metre-tall IFC 2 on the right

The Tsim Sha Tsui clock tower

A large passenger ferry

We then went into the Harbour City, a very large shopping centre. Much more Western than anything I'd seen in Tsuen Wan. A big supermarket, again lots of fashion and boutique stores, and a huge bookstore with Chinese and English books.

Hummed and hahed, and ended up buying a Collins Cantonese phrase book. When I showed it to Jim, he said it wasn't very good. It uses Yale Romanization rather than the Standard Cantonese Romanization seen on all the signs, and it doesn't even have the correct way of saying no!

Next was Jordan, and then a walk to Mong Kok, which Wikipedia says is the most densely populated place in the world.

In Jordan, we went to a small cafe called the Australian Dairy Company and had thick toast with condensed milk, bad coffee, and a dairy desert that I'd never tried before (it was probably custard, but it didn't taste like the custard I know). Certainly interesting, but I don't think the name was very accurate!

Food at the Australian Dairy Company in Jordan

On the walk to Mong Kok, we went thru the Temple Street market. Got some small souvenirs. Lots of places selling presumably fake jeans and t-shirts (e.g. Diesel and Billabong), lots selling jade, and lots selling replica old Chinese coins. Also lots of Mahjong and Chinese chess (not checkers) sets.

In Mong Kok, we started by trying some spicy fish balls. Not very pleasant, and a very rubbery, hard to eat texture, but still edible. Was worried that it might upset my stomach, but I survived. :-)

Mong Kok

Mong Kok had a huge shopping strip. In particular, there were lots of electronics and sporting goods stores.

The electonics were a bit more expensive than in Australia (if I didn't already say), but I ended up getting a couple of Nike shirts for a bit less that they would have costed in Australia.

Couldn't find some cables I wanted to get, so we ended up going to Sham Shui Po again, and back to the same store as last time. Spent another 700 HKD!

Then we took a bus to Tsuen Wan for dinner. The bus was much smoother than in Melbourne.

We had to scan on with the Octopus card, but not scan off. The full fee is charged, regardless of whether you get off half way or at the end.

I said I liked Sushi, and so did Jim, so we ended up going to a really nice Japanese restaurant high up in the shopping centre at Tsuen Wan station. (It was in a nicer, new shopping centre to the East of the station that I hadn't been to before.)

Tried a heap of new things, including binchou tuna (raw tuna partially cured with vinegar), scallops, shark, and a weird, but very delicious inside-out beef roll.

Waiting for a table at the popular Japanese restaurant

Some of the more interesting items we had for dinner

Jim originally grew up in Tsuen Wan, but hadn't been back for years, so we went for a bit of a walk, then I took him up to the observation deck at the hotel for a decent view.

A funny ad for learning English

A view of the Tsing Long bridge to the West of the hotel

Another shot to the South - it's light 24 hours a day here!

Said goodbye, and fell into bed, very tired. :-)

Hong Kong - Day 6 Part 1

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 02:00:00 +0000

Woke up at Carey's house when his kids walked into the room I was in and asked what I was doing there. The room looked like it was a kids' game room, so fair enough!

Went back to sleep for a bit, then met his his kids, Darcy and Morgan, and his wife Kimberley, properly, had half a bowl of corn flakes for breakfast, then left.

Carey and his kids, Morgan and Darcy

Before I left, Carey mentioned a walking trail to the Peak. Inspite of my condition, I thought it might be worth a look seeing as I was so close.

Walked slowly up the hill. The path kept changing names, and wasn't very well signed. One of the parts of the path was called the Brewin Path, and another part the Hospital Path, but I can't remember all the names!

One of the signs on the path to the Peak

The cable car ("tram") to the Peak

The May Road Peak tram stop, named after governor May

How the other half live

Bay views

Walked up and up, then the path turned right, and gradually downwards for about a kilometre.

Finally, the Peak!

So it turns out the peak isn't really the top of the mountain! :-(

Tramways monument for the 100th anniversary

There was a huge number of shops. Very touristy. Shops like Starbucks, Burger King, Bubba Gum Shrimp Company, and even an EA Sports!

EA Sports interactive center at the Peak

It was really foggy, so I just took some photos from the public area, rather than paying to go up to the observation tower.

View from the top

Bought a heap of Chinese-style souvenirs, then took the tram back to the bottom.

Inside the Swiss-made tram

Looking down, near the bottom of the mountain

At the bottom, there were huge office buildings for financial companies like AIG (now known for the huge US government bailouts) and Bank of China.

The AIG building

I tried to grab a taxi back to Tsuen Wan, but three in a row said: "Kowloon side, I don't know", so I walked to Admiralty station and took the train home in time to meet Jim.

This time I took the Tsuen Wan West line. Both the trains and the stations were newer and cleaner than the Tsuen Wan line. They didn't have the cool light-up maps inside the carriages, however. Also involved a long change between train terminals half way.

Hong Kong - Day 5

mikel@mikelward.com (Mikel Ward) — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

Had another early start for work.

It was another rainy, misty day.

Had a chicken sandwich I'd bought the night before from 7 Eleven, and a can of Nescafe rich coffee for breakfast.

Moved more servers. Managed to break one of the rails when I was lifting a server and it got caught. Was starting to feel rather sore.

East Tsuen Wan, facing the Panda Hotel

When I got back to the hotel, I took some more photos.

Lai King wharf with Hong Kong island in the distance

Looking out a window on the 41st floor observation deck

Then I headed into central Hong Kong for the first time to see the work office and go out for drinks with the Hong Kong staff.

Again, I went via the Tsuen Wan MTR station.

Cake shops are everywhere

Starbucks and KFC alongside the Asian options

Intersection of Sha Tsui Road with the near ubiquitous pedestrian footbridges

Outside Tsuen Wan station, looking to the hills in the East

Boarding the train to Central

When I got to Central, I was amazed at how big, bold, and Western it seemed. Still Asian of course, but very London too. Lots of fashion stores, and even red double-decker buses!

Double deckers and billboards in central Hong Kong

Walked straight to the office. The walk was mostly uphill.

In contrast to Tsuen Wan, Hong Kong is pretty hilly

Those red taxis are everywhere in central Hong Kong too!

Aconex in the building on the right, Foreign Correspondents' Club ahead

Met lots of people I hadn't seen for a while: Phillip, Simon, Matthew, and Carey, and met Katherine, Jim, and Sunny for the first time. (Karen was in Japan.)

We headed to an Irish bar, had a few drinks, and half watched the Rugby. Spoke to Carey and his mate Kim, debating the finer points of Union versus League and the strength of the Australian cricket team. Jim left, then Katherine, Kim, Carey and I went to a Thai and Vietnamese restaurant.

After we had an entree, I started to feel ill, and vomited. And vomited. At the table, in the bathroom, outside on the footpath.

Wasn't a good look at all.

Not sure whether it was lack of sleep, the dodgy chicken sandwich, or too much alcohol. I had four beers that night, which hasn't been a problem before, so I blame the sandwich.

Katherine and Carey looked after me. We had to leave the restaurant, so we went back to the office.

Still wasn't feeling well, so Carey took me back to his place. Went there in a taxi still holding a bin.

He was really great, and sorted me out with a shower, toothbrush, and a bed.

Slept it off.