Turbaned Traveler

Effectiveness is the measure of Truth (Pono)

2010-09-26T22:19:00.001-07:00

Huna principle #7

Flexibility. There are many ways to do something. There are countless ways to achieve our goals. To be stuck with one way is to place a limit on this wonderful mind of ours. We do what makes us effective.
Now, one might think that this means that the end justifies the means; but actually, it is the reverse. That is, the means are what determines our effectiveness. If we choose violence, we get violence. We cannot get peace with violence. If we choose greed and clinging to achieve wealth, we can never have lasting prosperity.
When we are trying to achieve something we often believe that the method we're using is the only one that exists. And then when we hit a wall, we are frustrated and maybe even give up on our goals. But in an infinite universe, how can there be only one way or one solution?
So don't box yourself in and don't be too fixated on any one idea. There are many roads to your destination.

All Power comes from Within (Mana)

2009-11-24T01:27:00.000-08:00

Huna Principle #6

Swim in the ocean and feel the power of the waves.
Stand under a waterfall and feel the power of gravity.
Walk against a strong breeze and feel the power of the wind.
Try to push against a big boulder and feel the power of stability.
This is power...the power of the universe.
But the thing is, and that is something I personally believe, all this power is One. It is from the same source and it flows to and through every atom, every molecule and every object in our universe.
Which means that this same power flows through us.
Which means that we are all creators of our own lives. That we have the power to effect change in our circumstances. That we have the power to live our lives to its full potential.
It's all up to us.

Upside Down

2009-08-25T01:35:00.000-07:00

Before continuing on to the rest of the Huna philosophy, I just wanted to type out the lyrics to one of my favorite songs by one of my favorite poets:

Upside Down

Who's to say what's impossible well they forgot,
This world keeps spinning and with each new day,
I can feel a change in everything,
And as the surface breaks reflections fade,
But in some ways they remain the same
And as my mind begins to spread it's wings,
There's no stopping curiosity,
I wanna turn the whole thing upside down,
I'll find the things they say just can't be found
I'll share this love i find with everyone,
We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's song,
I don't want this feeling to go away

Who's to say i can't do everything
Well I can try
And as I roll along, i begin to find
Things aren't always just what they seem
I want to turn the whole thing upside down,
I'll find the things they say just can't be found
I'll share this love I find with everyone
We'll sing and dance to Mother Nature's song,
This world keeps spinning and there's no time to wait,
Well it all, keeps spinnin' spinnin' round and round and
Upside Down
Who's to say what's impossible and can't be found
I don't want this feeling to go away

Please don't go away
Is this how it's supposed to be?

-----------Jack Johnson

To Love is to be Happy With (Aloha)

2009-08-02T22:38:00.001-07:00

Huna principle # 5 (Aloha)

Aloha is more than a greeting. It actually means "The joyful sharing of Life Energy in the Present".
So to increase Love is to increase Happiness and vice versa. When we do something with Love, or when we communicate to someone with Love, the Happiness that is created is a very powerful force that makes us more effective and successful.
Let's say you want to learn to play the guitar, or maybe you want to start a new business. In the initial stages, there is a lot of enthusiasm which is pretty much born out of our love for what we want to achieve.
So we start out really strong.
But after a while, we tend to find that it's not as easy as it looked.
We hate that we have to spend our free time learning new chords or that we have to chase that client who is quite a pain in the behind. What's actually happening is that we have lost the love that we had when we started out. We start questioning our motives, our thoughts get scattered (remember Makia?), we begin to get irritable etc.
The end result?
Failure.
Failure where we blame the bad guitar teacher or that blasted bad economy.
But really, what has happened is that we lost sight of whey we started out on this adventure in the first place.
We started it out of love. It made us happy.
So.
Find the love again and it will lead you to power which will keep you on your path and definitely bring about success.
Same with our relationships. We love someone to the degree that we are happy with that person. Love does not include the jealousy part, the angry part, the sad part or the ego part. Love is the happy part. So if we keep in mind this Aloha aspect, we find that we can actually be happy with the people in our lives. Which leads to more love, less pain, less misunderstandings and less illnesses.
How to be happy? Well first, happiness is a choice so DECIDE to be happy. Then take a moment and think of all the good things in your life. That is, count your blessings.
Simple as that.
So, Love is not just a wimpy word used by infatuated people and religious teachers. It's actually an extremely powerful force that can bring about real change and success in your life.

Aloha. Be Happy.

Now is the moment of Power (Manawa)

2009-06-11T00:25:00.000-07:00

Huna principle #4

Now is all we have. The ghosts of yesterday and the illusions of tomorrow intersect and manifest in the Here and Now.
That much is intellectually understood. But really, are we actually here at any given time? There is always something else to think about, something else to worry about and something else to plan for.
So what we're doing is actually destroying "Now', which is the only place we have Power. Power to change, power to create and power to act.
Yes, it's good sometimes to visualize and dream, it's good to contemplate and postulate.
But that has to be a conscious decision on our part to do so.
In the Present.
So be present, be here now and decide consciously what you want to do...
Right now.

Manawa
Be Present

I like this REM song called "Stand" that comes to me when I'm absent which is actually quite often!

"Stand"

Stand in the place where you live
Now face North
Think about direction
Wonder why you haven't before
Now stand in the place where you work
Now face West
Think about the place where you live
Wonder why you haven't before

If you are confused check with the sun
Carry a compass to help you along
Your feet are going to be on the ground
Your head is there to move you around
.....

Energy Flows where Attention Goes (Makia)

2009-05-29T00:33:00.000-07:00

Huna Principle # 3

Well, to me this is pretty obvious. It's all about Focus. When we were young we played this game where we would take a magnifying glass and focus the sun's rays on to a piece of paper. In a few seconds the paper was toast...or rather, ash.

So to the degree that we focus, that is to the degree that our attention goes, our energy follows. This is great when we want to learn something new or complete tasks we find are boring or dull.

Now, if Energy flows where Attention goes, then it also means that:
Attention goes where Energy Flows. With this, we can see that if we really try to do something (put our energy into it) our focus is automatic. Which means that if there is motivation to achieve, we find it easy to focus.
Which in turn helps us succeed in anything we set our minds on.

Now for the cool part:
According to Huna, there is something called the duplication effect. That is, if we focus on a particular object, we find that within 2 or 3 days, something equivalent is manifested. In other words
We get what we focus on (!!)
Now it could be the case of our subconscious doing what psychologists call selective perception but whatever, it works in the most mind blowing way.
In the first lesson of Hunatrainer, Pohaku tells us to focus on a blue feather. He says that when do this, in about 2 or 3 days, a blue feather will turn up in some form in our lives.
Mine did on the second day. It was in a book I was reading.
So, and again, to paraphrase Pohaku, don't take my word for it. Just try it for yourself and see.
Let's try to create a Purple Pony. How about that. It's something that is pretty rare. Try it and leave your comments and tell me how long it took you and in what form it manifested.

Makia
Be Focused.

There are no Limits (Kala)

2009-05-25T21:34:00.000-07:00

Huna principle # 2

In this world of infinite possibilities and potential, there are no limits. The only limits are what has been set by us, either consciously or subconsciously.
So what this principle gives us is FREEDOM. We are free to decide anything about anything.
Free to live our lives the way we want to, free to expand our possibilities and potential, free to believe in what we believe in and free to change our minds and lives when the circumstances change.
It also gives us the freedom to actually impose limits when we feel it is appropriate. After all, rules and limitations are there to make sure that systems work a certain way. We classify things into neat tables to increase our understanding and to improve our effectiveness.

Following this thought a little farther, we find that if there are no limits, then it follows that we are all connected. Not only are we connected to each other but we are also connected to trees, stars, the sun, the moon and the ocean, animals, rocks, computers and everything else.
Which in turn means...our thoughts and actions do count and they affect us as well as everything around us.

Kala
Be Free.

The world is what you think it is (IKE)

2009-05-15T00:48:00.000-07:00

Huna Principle # 1

The world is what YOU think it is. That is, we each create our own individual reality based on our own filters and perceptions. We decide if we want to feel happy, sad, angry or loving. Of course, circumstances are there to influence us but what we think and how we react to them is completely up to us.
Now: IF our world is what we think it is, and IF we create our own reality, then it follows that:
By changing our thoughts, we can actually change our reality.

In the beginning, I had a little issue with this principle. For example, is it classic denial? Do we turn a blind eye to all that's going around us and believe that it's not real?
Stuff like that.
But then, as i went on, i realized that yes, there are events outside our control and yes, there are situations that occur, that seem totally overwhelming.
But the thing is, we have a choice on how to react to these events. That is all we can actually control.
And when we do realize it and actually live it, we find that we really are the author of our own life story.
So decide for yourself right now what you want to think and believe for that is the only reality you will live in.
An interesting consequence of this principle is that everything is a dream. We are all dreaming this world into existence. So to make changes in your life (which is a dream), you consciously change your dreaming.

Try experimenting with this principle...you may find that the external world directly mirrors your internal world.

Ike
Be Aware.

Huna

2009-05-15T00:20:00.000-07:00

A couple of years ago i read some books by Serge Kahili King that introduced me to an ancient Polynesian philosophy called Huna.
This 'science of living' as i would like to call it has helped me make some very positive changes in my life. I'm definitely not any expert but in the next few posts, i would like to share with you (and myself) what I understand about this philosophy.
So let's travel together.

My thanks and appreciation to Serge King (www.huna.org) and to Pohaku and the folks at Hunatrainer (www.hunatrainer.com) who helped me start on this path.
Mahalo nui loa.

Resolution!

2009-03-01T22:57:00.000-08:00

I'm done with pessimism.
And cynicism.
And fear and anger and loathing.
For those of you who know me, please don't be alarmed. I've not grown all sappy and sentimental.
I do think however, that there's way too much negativity in the world. Look at any newspaper and you'd be hard pressed to find anything to be hopeful about.
And I'm so done with that.
So, from now on, I resolve to try my best to only write on this blog about the positive side of things and about how the good and even great times are indeed on its way.
Who knows? Maybe like the proverbial butterfly flapping its wings, my small effort might even affect the collective web consciousness with a sense of...Hope.

Don't forget to Smile

2008-12-01T04:32:00.000-08:00

Amidst all the gloom and doom surrounding us, a message from the heavens reminding us to smile, to bless the present and to be happy.
Check out Jupiter, Venus and the Moon in a rare event.

Ch Ch Ch Changes

2008-11-25T23:34:00.000-08:00

The only constant is change, continuing change, inevitable change, that is the dominant factor in society today. No sensible decision can be made any longer without taking into account not only the world as it is, but the world as it will be.
— Isaac Asimov

Change as in Obama and the NY Giants,
Change as in Deleveraging and the vaporization of trillions of dollars.
Change as in the PAD annexing Suvarnabhumi airport,
Change as in Russia sending warships to Venezuela and waltzing into Georgia
Change as in the rise again of pirates of the high seas,
Change as in developed countries asking for financial help from "emerging" ones.

I was just listening to the great poet and philosopher Bob Dylan and although written in 1963, his words are simply timeless:

Come gather 'round people
Wherever you roam
And admit that the waters
Around you have grown
And accept it that soon
You'll be drenched to the bone.
If your time to you
Is worth savin'
Then you better start swimmin'
Or you'll sink like a stone
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come writers and critics
Who prophesize with your pen
And keep your eyes wide
The chance won't come again
And don't speak too soon
For the wheel's still in spin
And there's no tellin' who
That it's namin'.
For the loser now
Will be later to win
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come senators, congressmen
Please heed the call
Don't stand in the doorway
Don't block up the hall
For he that gets hurt
Will be he who has stalled
There's a battle outside
And it is ragin'.
It'll soon shake your windows
And rattle your walls
For the times they are a-changin'.

Come mothers and fathers
Throughout the land
And don't criticize
What you can't understand
Your sons and your daughters
Are beyond your command
Your old road is
Rapidly agin'.
Please get out of the new one
If you can't lend your hand
For the times they are a-changin'.

The line it is drawn
The curse it is cast
The slow one now
Will later be fast
As the present now
Will later be past
The order is
Rapidly fadin'.
And the first one now
Will later be last
For the times they are a-changin'.

But where did it go?

2008-10-12T21:42:00.001-07:00

Just to put things in perspective, the following article from Bespoke Investment Group
http://bespokeinvest.typepad.com/bespoke/2008/10/world-equity-ma.html

World Equity Market Declines:
-$26,000,000,000,000
Here’s one to take home with you tonight, although it might make it tough to keep your dinner down. Since last October, the value of stocks worldwide has fallen 41%, or $25.9 trillion. Bloomberg’s World Market Cap index has fallen from $62.5 trillion at its peak on October 31st, 2007 to its current level of $36.6 trillion. On an individual country basis, the US has lost by far the most at nearly $7 trillion. China ranks second at -$1.77 trillion, followed by the UK (-$1.72 trillion), Japan (-$1.54 trillion), and Hong Kong (-$1.47 trillion).”

Circling the Drain

2008-09-23T21:10:00.000-07:00

Any comment would be superfluous...

Gaudi Cathedral

2008-09-18T21:18:00.003-07:00

The Pyrenees

2008-09-18T21:18:00.002-07:00

Slack and Sloth

2008-09-18T21:18:00.001-07:00

I've been slack in putting out details of our trip to Spain but sometimes words fail me. They fail for a long time. Or maybe sloth drowns the words.
Whatever, i think I will just put up some pics of the trip to Spain and call it a vacation.

Afraid of Everything

2008-09-18T21:18:00.000-07:00

On any given day, it seems that we're bombarded with bad news wherever we go. A quick sweep of the paper tells us that we must be afraid and that's the only way to be. Let me list some fears that are put into us on a daily basis by the media.

Fear of travel,
Fear of staying indoors
Fear of outdoors,
Fear of cell phones,
Fear of being out of touch
Fear of food
Fear of eating too much food
Fear of eating too less
Fear of medicines,
Fear of not taking enough meds
Fear of not having enough money
Fear of losing money
Fear of banks failing
Fear of property crashing
Fear of flood,
Fear of not enough rain,
Fear of authority,
Fear of indiscipline,
Fear of the law
Fear of lawlessness
Fear of unvaccinated pets
Fear of sickeness from flying birds and flying bugs
Fear of no information
Fear of too much information
Fear of earthquakes
Fear of forest fires,
Fear for the environment,
Fear of the environment,
Fear of being watched
Fear of not being watched enough
Fear of crazy dictators,
Fear of crazy presidents
Fear of crazy religous leaders
Fear of change,
Fear of not changing,
Fear of God
Fear of the Devil

Well, I could go on.
Is it any wonder then that our brain simply refuses to process most of the information that passes our senses?

Ancient Marketplace

2008-08-28T00:40:00.000-07:00

The Empurias archeological site is where the Greeks set up a trading outpost in the 6th century BC. The name came from the Greek word 'Emporion' which means 'Market place'. This port really flourished and became the ancient world's major Mediterranean trading towns.
Great place to visit and can be combined with a trip to the beach.

Gala Dali Castle

2008-08-27T23:57:00.000-07:00

About 10 minutes drive from Madremanya is the village of Pubol where Salvador Dali made and dedicated a castle to Gala, the love of his life.
If you think that the Taj Mahal is a monument of love that a man had for his wife, then the castle of Pubol is a monument of obsession.
The castle was a ruined mansion which Dali bought and refurbished to Gala's taste before presenting it to her.
And what taste.
Opulent meets the surreal, everything is gold, blue, and red...there is even a gold throne where they presumably received guests. When she was alive, Dali used this castle as a private retreat but he could not visit unless he had a personal engraved invation from Gala.
She died in June 1982 and is buried in the basement of the castle. A depressed Dali tried to live there after her death but there was a fire and he had to move to an apartment in Figueres.
Interesting place with some interesting art but my favourite was the Dali-esque garden.
Is it just me who thinks that his art and style resembles the illustrations from Dr. Suess books?

Over the hills and far away

2008-08-18T00:54:00.001-07:00

About 25 minutes northeast of Girona, on a small country road along rolling hills, is the little village of Madremanya.

And when I say little, I mean little.

There's really not much information about it on the internet and even the car rental people did not know anything about it

Perfect.

Good friends of ours have a beautiful house there and they kindly let us make it or home for the ten days we spent in Catalunya...Imagine waking up in the morning and looking outside your window and seeing fields of sunflowers everywhere.

After Bangkok, this is simply unreal.

And Then

2008-07-31T00:03:00.000-07:00

Confucius Say : Man who complains too much shall eat his own words

After the experience at the Spanish embassy, i must say that i was pleasantly surprised to have had one of the best travel experiences ever in Spain.
Nice easy going people, good weather (except when i got very hot in the south), good food and wine, efficient public transport....the works.
Details to follow.

Smile

2008-07-09T00:38:00.000-07:00

If first impressions are last impressions then I'm not so impressed.
I mean isn't an embassy supposed to be a representative of a country? Their attitudes, mannerisms, efficiency (or lack thereof) pretty much predicts how one can expect to be treated during one's trip there?
No?
But it should be.
Case in point is the Spanish Embassy in Thailand.
Besides requiring every single paper you can produce to substantiate your existence, besides having only 4 waiting chairs, besides saying things like "I don't make the rules"; they are excruciatingly slow.
I mean S L O W .
What does an embassy do besides...well...ambassador-ing? Shouldn't they be spreading goodwill and cheer and joy between countries rather than looking stern and important and finding ways to prevent natives from coming into their country? Isn't this the complete opposite of what embassies and ambassadors are supposed to do?
Visas do nothing to prevent illegals and other undesirables...those people always find their way. Instead they discourage and degrade people who have a valid reason to enter a country.
Passports, visas, lines drawn in the sand --- it seems like an extremely inefficient way for the world to function.
I mean if people want to move from one country to the next, they will do so due to economic reasons. For an Asian to move to the EU and suffer under high taxes and low employment is to me unthinkable. And if they do, they would have to really outperform to survive which can only be beneficial to the host country.
I read a report in the Economist Magazine about how the Mexicans who entered the United States illegally are now moving back due to better prospects at home. This is even true of legal migrants like the Indians.
I think it really is that simple.
People are motivated by economics.
Consider all the foreigners who are traveling and even moving to places like China forgetting that just a short while ago they were the evil and dreaded communists.
Ah...but look now at what the Dragon is doing...
It's making it harder for people to visit the country due to security reasons during the Olympics.

So there we have it ---- Security is what makes the world go round.

After all, it's for our own good to have our thumbs scanned, record our life stories on a computer chip and have cameras tracking our every movement.

Anyway, my musings were interrupted when it was finally my turn to collect my passport now newly upgraded with the Schengen stamp.
Three months multiple entry.
Gee, thanks.
Let's do this again.

Transformers T Shirt

2008-06-15T23:44:00.000-07:00

While I've had my share of ridiculous experiences with gatekeeper idiots that adorn the various airports of the world, nothing tops the Transformer IT Consultant threat that was thwarted by the over zealous security officers at Heathrow's terminal 5... read the article below or click here to go the news site.

Transformer T-shirt passenger threatened with arrestMonday, June 2, 2008
An airline passenger claimed today that a security guard threatened to arrest him because he was wearing a T-shirt showing a cartoon robot with a gun.
Brad Jayakody, 30, from west London, said he was stopped from passing through security at Heathrow's Terminal 5 after his Transformers T-shirt was deemed "offensive".
The IT consultant was set to fly off on a business trip to Dusseldorf in Germany when he was pulled to one side.
Mr Jayakody said the first guard started joking with him about the Transformers character depicted on his French Connection T-shirt.
He wrote on his blog: "Then he explains that since Megatron is holding a gun, I'm not allowed to fly.
"It's a 40ft tall cartoon robot with a gun as an arm. There is no way this shirt is offensive in any way, and what I'm going to use the shirt to pretend I have a gun? (sic)
"Now here's the stupid part. I was only taking carry on luggage, so my clothes were in my bag, so I said I'd get changed. So I stripped off at security and changed T-shirts, putting the 'offensive' T-shirt in my bag.
"I've done what they've said. No point in arguing with the drones.
"The supervisor comes over and is now a dick to me, telling me if I put the shirt on I'll be arrested.
"I then told him that I wasn't going to waste time arguing with him and he wasn't worth the effort and didn't have any power to change anything anyway."
Mr Jayakody added that the character on his T-shirt was Optimus Prime.
A spokesman for Heathrow operator BAA said: "If a T-shirt had a rude word or a bomb on it, for example, a passenger may be asked to remove it.
"We are investigating what happened to see if it came under this category.
"If it's offensive, we don't want other passengers upset."
He said there was no record of the incident and the passenger "certainly didn't make a formal complaint at the time"

I'd better remember to leave my Green Lantern and Batman t shirts home before taking the next flight.

$200 per Person

2008-06-12T01:37:00.000-07:00

Amidst worries of people losing their homes, rising oil prices, scarcity of food and climate change causing storms and floods comes the following:

STOCKHOLM, June 9 (RIA Novosti) - Global military spending totaled almost $1.34 trillion in 2007, a real-term increase of 45% since 1998, or some $200 a year for every person in the world, a prominent political think-tank said on Monday.
The figures were published in the SIPRI Yearbook 2008, released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute on Monday.
The SIPRI yearbook includes reports detailing research into international security, armaments and disarmament, major armed conflicts and multilateral peacekeeping operations, and is highly valued and respected by military experts all over the world.
This year's edition said the current amount of military spending corresponded to 2.5% of world gross domestic product (GDP).
U.S. military spending totaled $547 billion in 2007, and accounted for 45% of the
world total. The U.S. was followed by the UK, China, France and Japan, with 4-5% each. Russia occupies 7th place in the list of "big spenders" with an annual defense budget totaling $35.4 bln.
The research also said "arms sales by the 100 largest arms-producing companies in 2006 increased by 8% in nominal terms over 2005" and "international transfers of major conventional weapons were 7% higher over the period 2003-2007 than in 2002-2006."
Approximately 80 per cent of the volume of exports of major conventional weapons for the period 2003-2007 were accounted for by the five largest suppliers - the U.S., Russia, Germany, France and the U.K., the document said.

The business of killing and dying is always in a bull market.

China Vs Oil

2008-05-28T22:37:00.000-07:00

The Year of the Rat has not been kind to China.

Let's see.

New Years day saw Shanghai and the outlying areas totally paralyzed due to freak snow storms conveniently occuring at a time when millions of workers travel home for the holidays.
A few months later, issues with Tibe re-surfaced --- something that can only end badly.
The tragic earthquake in Sizhuan caused a huge loss of lives.
On my trip to China last week, there was a total blackout of foreign media with almost all channels showing how bad the earthquake was and how the government is doing all it can to alleviate the situation.

But lets shift our attention to some man made problems...an issue that could be the start of something pretty bad.
I'm talking Oil.
China does not have enough of it. I saw massive lines at gas stations. Like a couple of kilometers long.
It also seems that there's a limit on how much one can fill in the tank. For instance, we had to refuel three times during our ride from Wuxi to Shanghai.

The government has put a cap on gas prices so that transport and production costs are controlled so that exports can continue to tick along. This is in direct conflict with the gas companies who want to raise prices but are not allowed to do so.
Anyway, lset's play out a couple of scenarios:

1. China caps gasoline prices to keep exports on track; reserves are used up fast as oil prices continue to rise; US and European economies slow down; China economy slows down; Reserves are almost used up; Factories shut down; Unemployment ==> Social Unrest;

2. China does not cap gasoline prices and allows it to rise in line with world prices; Factories have to increase prices to stay in business; Huge slowdown in exports; Economy slows down drastically; Workers are laid off ===> Social Unrest.

There is nothing that the Chinese government fears more than social unrest. Money, or rather the quest for quick money, keeps people distracted and lets the central government do whatever it does with no interference. Who knows what unemployed people and especially young unemployed people with time and energy on their hands could get up to?

Interesting times indeed...

Hotter than July

2008-03-31T01:11:00.000-07:00

Bangkok is hot.

And I'm not talking about the night life.

I mean the weather is HOT. Very HOT. The temperature says 38Celcius but it feels more like 45.

And combine that with exhaust from cars, the dust from skyscraper construction and the heat from air condition compressors--it's simply hellish.

But check out the croc. It seems happy getting a shower from the novice monk...but let's hope the treat does not include dinner!

Asheville

2008-02-27T00:24:00.000-08:00

Ashville has been rated as one of the top 7 best places to live in the USA. The city is situated on the edge of Biltmore Forest and in the Blue Ridge Mountains.
Beautiful weather, good food, great music, clean air...it's hard not to like this place.
Visit a pub and you're as likely to be sitting next to a multi millionaire doctor as you are with someone who has just stepped off the Appalachian trail and in dire need of a shower.

f you're in the area...
Good Trekking
Fly Fishing
Barley's for Pizza and Beer
The Orange Peel for GREAT music

Or simply breathe in the air and do absolutely nothing!

Climate Change

2008-01-16T19:59:00.000-08:00

Amidst all that snow and cold, it was hard to think of concepts such as global warming and melting of polar caps. While we felt sorry for the polar bears we felt more sorry for ourselves and wanted to turn the heating way up to more Bangkok levels.
But here is a report that I read recently in Bloomberg and which i copy in full...

Antarctic Ice Melts More Than Scientists Expected, Study Says
By Adam Satariano
Jan. 13 (Bloomberg) -- Climate change may be causing sea levels to rise more quickly than expected, according to a new study of melting ice in Antarctica.
Using satellite data and regional climate models, researchers estimated that West Antarctica lost 132 billion tons of ice in 2006, a 59 percent increase from the roughly 83 billion tons shed in 1996. Sixty billion tons of ice on the Antarctic Peninsula melted in 2006, according to the study published today in Nature Geoscience.
The size of Antarctica, centered on the South Pole, is determined by the amount of ice being discharged into the ocean by glaciers and ice streams, and the amount of snowfall accumulating in the continent's interior. Ice is melting faster than new layers can develop, a change that could cause sea levels to rise more than the 18 to 59 centimeters (7 inches to 23 inches) by 2100 forecast by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, said Eric Rignot, the study's lead author.
``We see the polar regions changing faster than anybody predicted,'' Rignot, a professor of earth system science at the University of California, Irvine, said in an interview. ``That means that maybe we don't have as much time as we thought we did to make some decisions'' on combating global warming.
The ice losses are concentrated mostly along the western coast where ice flow has accelerated, indicating the movement of glaciers along the continent is having a ``dominant impact'' on ice mass levels, the study said.
Sea-Level Rise
``It's not that Antarctica is leaking away, but because there is so much ice there a small amount of leakage is very significant,'' he said.
According to the IPCC, the ice sheets of Greenland and Antarctica hold enough ice to raise sea levels by almost 70 meters (230 feet) if melted completely.
Rignot's team analyzed data from several satellites from 1992 to 2006, covering 85 percent of Antarctica's coastline, to determine the amount of ice being lost. Those figures were compared with regional climate models to determine the amount of snow that accumulated during the same period.
The location of melting along the coast of western Antarctica indicates changing ocean characteristics have been a significant factor, Rignot said. Eastern Antarctica hasn't had any declines in ice mass because the continent's vast interior region is shielded from the subtle changes of oceans, he said.
Shifting Glaciers
Models used to predict global warming's impact on Antarctica's ice sheet haven't properly considered ocean composition or the speed at which glaciers shift, Rignot said. As glaciers move more quickly along the sea below, the melting accelerates, he said.
A United Nations report in June 2007 said millions of people worldwide may be affected by rising temperatures that are melting snow and ice, threatening to reduce water supplies and flood coastal areas.
``The thing that is worrisome is these things don't change overnight,'' Rignot said. ``They didn't start yesterday and they aren't going to end tomorrow. What is going to happen in Greenland and Antarctica in the next decade is almost written in stone. We need to think a little bit more down the line.''

Well, what did you think of that....nice report huh?
Ocfourse we could ignore it all if we feel that we can build something that is the equivalent of Noah's ark -- in the form of a spaceship naturally --- and collect everyone, including animals, and plants, and simply take off to a distant galaxy far far away. .
And I've always been a cynic and my cynicism is especially prevalent when it comes to world improvers.
But in this case, I am firmly in the world improver camp.
So, let's do something....anything!

More Snow!

2008-01-14T05:47:00.000-08:00

Greyhound

2007-12-24T13:07:00.001-08:00

To get to Albany (NY) from Burlington (VT) is not easy.
I mean it's ok if you have a car and it would take you 3 hours if you don't get lost.
But since, I didn't have one, the best way (at least on paper) it seemed, would be for me to take the Greyhound bus service from Plattsburgh which is 45 minutes away across Lake Champlain in upstate New York.
So I hitched a ride with a very kind person who offered to take meall the way there.

And here then are my thoughts from my first time on (drumroll) The Greyhound:

1. Just because you have a confirmed ticket does not mean that you can get on the bus.
2. You have to come as soon as possible to the bus station or you might not get on...remember that a confirmed ticket is no guarantee of a seat. This is because passengers going to 'major' destinations have more priority.
3. While waiting for the bus, it is possible that you will be interrogated by a border patrol cop. This is especially the case if you're brown....which makes perfect sense since what is a brown guy doing in all this snow anyway?
4. Your next seat neighbour can either be an ex-convict or an illegal Chinese immigrant or both.
5. The bus can and will breakdown.
6. A two hour journey can take 5 hours...which is ok if you're the introspective type and if you have plenty of time. Morevover, the scenery can be quite stunning.
7. A good experience
8. Once is quite enough.

Winter Wonderland

2007-12-24T12:51:00.000-08:00

It's cold.
And that's an understatement.
Let me put it this way. A couple of days ago we were in a swimming pool in Bangkok trying to keep sane amid a 35 Celsius , 80% humidity weather.
Today we're in a -16 Celsius 10% humidity environment.
Brrrr.
But then we look around us.
There's a carpet of pure white on the ground stretching as far as the eye can see;
The Evergreens carry the snow on their branches as if they were precious diamonds;
There are icicles hanging off the sides of rooftops;
Stunning.
Winter wonderland is the only word that comes to mind.

Leaving New York

2007-12-24T12:23:00.000-08:00

Leaving New York's never easy.
We were sitting and having breakfast at Terminal 6 of JFK when a telephone call alerted us to the fact that we should already have boarded the Jet Blue to Burlington, Vermont.
Total pandemonium ensued during which we left our hot chocolates, coffees and breakfast bagels on the table, ignored the curious looks from bemused fellow passengers and sprinted to the security check.
Luckily the lines weren't too long and after taking off jackets, sweaters, shoes, belts, laptops from bags, metal objects from pockets, we went through without a hitch and ran to the gate.
Two minutes more and the gates would have been closed.
Phew.
So we buckled up and looked forward to the short one hour ride to our destination.
Well, one hour passed by and we were still on the runway.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we apologize for the delay. There's a snow storm in Burlington and the visibility is virtually zero. We have to cancel this flight."
So off the plane we went and were instructed to wait another five hours for the next flight.
That is, unless the storm worsened.
After a few pizzas and coffees, we boarded the next plane which took off on time.
But couldn't land.
Well it tried to and then the visibility fell and the pilot had to go up and try again.
After much dipping and swerving during which we shivered and sweated, he finally brought us in for one of the smoothest landings ever.

How that thump made us Jump

2007-12-24T12:09:00.000-08:00

It was like we dropped out of the clouds.
Literally.
Like an old man carrying a sack of potatoes and suddenly realising that he cannot hold on any longer; the pilot of the Thai International A340 plonked us on to the runway. Amid visions of newspapers with headlines like "Plane crashes while trying to land at Kennedy", and after much screaming from some passengers; here's what the pilot said:
"Ladies and Gentlemen, I do apologize for the bad landing. No excuses. I accept full responsibility for this."
Very noble and manly and all that, but you have to wonder. The expensive state of the art flying machine does most of the work and the few minutes you have control of it, you clumsily just dump it on to the ground.
Pathetic.

Non-sticky mess

2007-12-10T00:30:00.000-08:00

A UK company (Revolymer) has come up with a new kind of chewing gum that is easy to wash off any surface. You can pull it off your shoes or your hair and on some surfaces it won't even stick.
According to the company's CEO, Mr. Roger Pettman, about 600,000 tonnes of chewing gum is manufactured every year. A large portion of that ends up on streets and pavements, becoming a pollution issue.
Every year London spends about 2 million pounds cleaning up the sticky mess from subway trains and stations according to a report by the London City Council The UK's department of Environmental Food and Rural Affairs has launched a national campaign to tackle gum litter.

So cheer up Singapore, you're not alone in this sticky mess...but pretty soon this problem will be solved and you can go back to attracting tourists of the chewy variety.

Prachuab Khiri Khan

2007-12-09T23:10:00.000-08:00

The best kept secrets are often the ones in plain sight and Prachuab Khiri Khan is indeed a surprise.

You drive pass ChaAm and Hua Hin and the highway turns into this beautiful drive down the coast with rolling hills and green meadows on both sides. The traffic is light and you can stop and actually look around. Prachuab is located on the narrowest strip of Thailand and is only about 10km to the Burmese border.
We hardly noticed when we reached since the place turns up almost unexpectedly. We drove into the city and turned left onto the coast line road towards Ao Noi.
And promptly slammed the brakes really hard to avoid ---
Monkeys!
Yup, lots and lots of them. All over the road and on the footpaths there were baby monkeys, papa and mama monkeys....they just stood on the road like they owned the place.
Which i guess they do. They live in a temple atop a steep cliff overlooking the ocean and there is even a statue devoted to them. They seemed pretty tame and apparently spend a lot of time down on the coast as there are many people who enjoy feeding them.

We continued our drive down the coast line which is very pretty but mostly not very swimmable.
Except for Ao Manao.
Ao Manao is beautiful and the drive there is even better. We went through the air force base, through the residences and club house, over an airplane runway (they have traffic lights there to stop traffic in case there is a plane landing) and past the army's golf course.
Some websites say that one has to get permission from the the air force base to get to Ao Mano but it wasn't that way during our visit. We simply waved at the marine standing guard at the gate.
Anyway, Ao Manao is a great place to spend the day...the beach is clean, the water is crystal clear and not too many people trying to offer you a manicure or a tattoo.
So.
Cheap hotels, very few tourists, clean beaches and good food...
And best of all, NO tailor shops.

Fall in Kyiv

2007-11-09T00:09:00.000-08:00

Kyiv

2007-11-08T23:49:00.000-08:00

The scene is a cold early morning at Kyiv Borispol airport.

I walk up to the immigration officer and hand my passport. Panic in her eyes, she asks me to wait.

Pretty soon another officer comes and invites me to an interrogation room.

Well, not quite the kind we see in old movies about the cold war but it's more fun to tell the story that way.

I wait for a while.

And for another while.

I notice that outside, more brown people have been asked to 'wait'

Finally another immigration officer comes in....picture a stunning blonde model in a uniform.

"Your name?"

"Your address"

"Reason for visit?"

"How long?"

"What work do you do?"

"How much money do you make?"

"How much money you're carrying?"

"Is anyone picking you up at the airport?"

"Do you have a return ticket?"

"What hotel are you staying at?"

"Are you going to be travelling outside Kyiv?"

"What are your vital statistics?"

"What are your hobbies?"

"Here's my tel no..."

Well, I made up the last three lines ofcourse, but all in all, it was a very pleasant early morning conversation.

Finally stamped my passport and sent me on my way.

Transit in Dubai

2007-11-08T23:26:00.000-08:00

Went through Dubai airport again after 2 months and nothing's changed. The place is a veritable fish market.
There's a mad rush to buy, buy, buy.
After all, one can never have enough perfumes and alcohol and tobacco.
But hello, what's this?
"Property for sale --- your dream home for sale!"
You've seen the desert, bought the guide book. Now own a piece of it.
The whole place is being re-built. Condos. villas, theme parks, office buildings, zoos, hospitals, airports.
All of them are pretty much the largest or the grandest or the most ornate in the world.
If you've seen it, I'm sure you agree that it is quite overwhelming. About a quarter of the available construction cranes in the world are here at the moment.
Investors are coming from all over waving their cash and grabbing what they can. Prices are shooting up. People have never been happier.
Wonder how long the party will last.....but so far, there are no signs or it being close to the end.

Bottles as Kinives

2007-08-27T19:06:00.000-07:00

Walked into the crowded Dubai airport. Checked in, stood for a long time before getting to immigration. And then stood for a longer time at the immigration. Security check and then walked a mile to get to the gate.
For another security check.
"Boss, is this your bag?"
"Yes"
Do you have 2 bottles in it?"
"Yes, a couple of small ones.
"Show me, please"
"Ok"
"Oh I see, well, you cannot take them on the plane"
"But they're sample bottles...and they're empty"
"Here look....I take one, and hit it against the other and they become weapons. Worse than knives"
"Er, really.....all right, then I guess..Never mind, you keep them."

The (soon to be) tallest building in the world

2007-08-21T01:50:00.000-07:00

Dubai

2007-08-21T01:19:00.000-07:00

Dubai is glitzy, modern and opulent. Buildings have to be the tallest, hotels have to be the most expensive, houses have to be the most fancy, malls have to be the biggest. And if they also happen to house an ice ski place, all the better. The place is very multicultural. Beer and wine is available, though not on every corner like Bangkok. The drive down Jumeira beach makes one feel like one is in California mixed with Miami mixed with Vegas. The Mall of the Emirates looks just like the Mall of the Americas and if it weren't for the Arabic signs, I would have totally forgotten where I was.
But here is the reason I like Dubai.
No taxes.
No corporate tax, no income tax, no bull on foreign currency controls. Nothing.
The government makes money by charging atrociously on everything else from residence permits, to car licenses to alcohol licenses etc.
It seems to me that places like Dubai, Singapore and Hong Kong are increasingly prosperous for this very reason. Investors don't want to be told where they can spend their money and where they cannot. They want economic freedom without taxes. And I also believe they wouldn't mind paying in other ways as long as the government keeps out of their business.
And that is the reason a lot of European, American, Russian, Indian companies have set up shop and even headquarters in places like this.
Of course there is always a trade off and some personal freedom has been sacrificed but for that one gets economic freedom. And good schools and hospitals. And security, and safety. There is almost negligible crime in Dubai and Singapore.
So go ahead, take a closer look... you will find it very prosperous and stable in the midst of an unstable Middle East.
Only don't be paranoid. Big Brother does watch. You won't be free to protest, free to complain, free to make a nuisance of yourself publicly.
But financially, you're free to do as you please.

Bridge too Far

2007-08-09T00:30:00.001-07:00

In view of the bridge collapse in Minneapolis, check out the following factoids:
(Source Arnaud De Borchgrave Washington (UPI) Aug 02, 2007)

--- 30% of the bridges in the US are classified as 'deficient' and 'in urgent need of repair'

--- The bill for urgent work on the nation’s bridges is estimated at $80 billion.

--- The Iraq and Afghan wars have cost more than half a trillion dollars so far. The two conflicts are running at the rate of $12 billion a month, or $400million a day.

--- In 11 Northeastern states, 50 percent of bridges not only need urgent repairs but are not designed to handle current traffic levels.

--- Many of the bridges are 50 years or older.

--- In New York, the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883. The George Washington Bridge is one of a network of spans that link New York’s five boroughs as well as the Big Apple and New Jersey. It was opened in 1931 and now carries 300,000 vehicles a day.

--- Despite major renovations of U.S. infrastructure, an estimated $1.6 trillion is still needed over five years to bring it to "safe standards."

That is in the US....I wonder about the bridges in Bangkok. The Thai Belgian, Thai Japan, the Thai Pluto etc..
Especially, when I am stuck on one of them with my car stationary for 30 mins or more at a time; and then the bridges start bouncing up and down like a concrete trampoline.

Homey and Bart do Bangkok

2007-08-08T23:58:00.000-07:00

You just can never tell who you might meet on the streets of Bangkok. Walking on Silom around lunch time yesterday, I bumped into Homer and Bart, who were in town to promote their movie. I tried to talk to Homer who looked a little sad because he could not buy beer until 5pm;

"Doh!"

And all the while, Bart was happily busy disrupting the traffic.

"Eat my shorts!"

By the way, did you know that his full name is Bartholomew "Bart" Jojo Simpson?

Suvarnabhumi

2007-07-20T00:29:00.001-07:00

On the approach of our Air France Airbus to Suvarnabhumi, I saw lightning and noticed rain on the windowsill and my mind obsessed on the fact that an airbus had just skidded off the runway in Brazil a couple of days ago.
And so I braced myself for what turned out to be a very smooth and uneventful landing.
Walking out, I felt a wave of affection for the airport that everyone loves to hate. I guess it might be because I've been through it so many times since it was built and that I'm probably just getting used to it... but seriously, it is not that bad.
Think about it.
If we had gotten something like Singapore or HK, we would never have been able to live with it. We would have mixed some sanook with some sabai and added some chaos to the whole thing.
And we would have converted it to just what we have today.
So admit it and get used to it... we like our places to look fancy; be a little inefficient and to contain a lot of great eating places.

Scenes from Saigon

2007-07-19T00:29:00.000-07:00

Tourist Headache in Saigon

2007-07-18T23:45:00.000-07:00

I am back in Saigon, (prefer that name to Ho Chi Minh City) , and this time am taken in by the sheer number of visitors of all kinds here.
There are a lot of French of course, but besides them I saw Japanese, Taiwanese, Americans, Spanish, Russians. Even saw some drunk Brit lads who tried to pick a fight with me...well what happened was that I was taking some pics with my camera phone and the chappie thought I was taking a picture of his girlfriend. !! He walked up to me and asked to see my phone which i showed him and sure enough, all he could see was the opera house and the street lights and so he pushed my hand and walked away. I would have to say here that he was dealing with the new and improved 4 decade old version of me and so I let it rest too. After all, who needs more violence in the world? Well, for a second there, I needed it...but only for a second.
Or two...
Anyway, back to Vietnam.
This place is quite happening in terms of tourism and one can easily see that there aren't enough hotel rooms. In fact, the cover of one of the magazines had the headline, "Tourist Headache" or something on those lines.
My friends in the hotel business would be remiss if they did not take a closer look here...every month there are more flights making connections and the new terminal of the airport looks to be almost ready. The country has everything from mountains to rivers to beaches and islands.
And don't forget the business travelers. There is almost a mad stampede to set up new businesses and factories.
I do hope though that they can grow without the usual traps of modernization like pollution, deforestation and killing of endangered animals.
Actually, for the last one they might not need any help. According to the copy of the Lonely Planet I bought on the road side for 100,000 Dongs (love that word), the Vietnamese are wont to eat 'unusual' things. Like dogs, crocodiles, cock's testicle.
"...they'll kill a venomous snake before your eyes, cut out its still beating heart, feed it to you with a cup of the serpent's blood to wash it down, and say it increases your potency. They'll slay a monkey and then barbecue it at your table side."

But then again, We have our own issues....think about the mass killing and processing by KFC and McDonalds....
Morevoer, they see nothing wrong or strange in eating anything that will nourish the body.
So if you're adventurous, go ahead and try everything. It probably tastes real good.
Just like chicken.
Only please be careful to not eat anything that is endangered.

Water

2007-07-02T22:39:00.000-07:00

This trip to China highlighted some key issues that I feel will drive the future of that country in particular and Asia in general.
A factory we visited told us that we could not go in to see their production facilities due to the fact that it was their 'electricity cutting day'.
Here's how it goes:
Twice a week every factory has to stop using electricity. It does not have to be on the same day for all factories but it has to be twice a week. And if the local authorities find a company cheating on this, the punishment is 7 days of no electricity.
And with factories in every street on every highway, this shows a massive problem for China trying to balance prosperity with energy use.
And not just energy... there seems to be a deficit in every basic commodity. Consider that their appetite for metals such as aluminum, steel and copper has propelled their prices to astronomical levels and thereby giving new life to the economies of countries like Australia and Canada.
But then everyone knows this.
There is a bigger problem, in my opinion, facing the world today and Asia in particular. A resource taken for granted but which has the potential to be a major reason for conflict and even wars in the coming years.
Water.
A report by an Indian strategic studies professor, Brahma Chellaney, shows how important water is and the lengths that countries will go to in order to secure it. I have italicized a few key paragraphs.
Check it out..

"Water has emerged as a key issue that could determine if Asia is headed toward cooperation or competition. No country would influence that direction more than China, which controls the Tibetan plateau, the source of most major rivers of Asia.

Tibet's vast glaciers and high altitude have endowed it with the world's greatest river systems. Its rivers are a lifeline to the world's two most-populous states - China and India - as well as to Bangladesh, Burma, Bhutan, Nepal, Cambodia, Pakistan, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. These countries make up 47 percent of the global population.

Yet Asia is a water-deficient continent. Although home to more than half of the human population, Asia has less fresh water - 3,920 cubic meters per person - than any continent other than the Antarctica."

"...This concern arises from Chinese attempts to dam or redirect the southward flow of river waters from the Tibetan plateau, starting point of the Indus, the Mekong, the Yangtze, the Yellow, the Salween, the Brahmaputra, the Karnali and the Sutlej Rivers. Among Asia's mighty rivers, only the Ganges starts from the Indian side of the Himalayas.

...

As water woes have intensified in its north owing to intensive farming, China has increasingly turned its attention to the bounteous water reserves that the Tibetan plateau holds. It has dammed rivers, not just to produce hydropower but also to channel the waters for irrigation and other purposes, and is presently toying with massive inter-basin and inter-river water transfer projects.

After building two dams upstream, China is building at least three more on the Mekong, stirring passions in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. Several Chinese projects in west-central Tibet have a bearing on river-water flows into India, but Beijing is reluctant to share information.

Having extensively contaminated its own major rivers through unbridled industrialization, China now threatens the ecological viability of river systems tied to South and Southeast Asia in its bid to meet its thirst for water and energy.

The idea of a Great South-North Water Transfer Project diverting river Tibetan waters has the backing of President Hu Jintao, a hydrologist. The first phase of this project calls for building 300 kilometers of tunnels and channels to draw waters from the Jinsha, Yalong and Dadu rivers, on the eastern rim of the Tibetan plateau.

In the second phase, the Brahmaputra waters may be rerouted northward, in what be tantamount to the declaration of water war on lower-riparian India and Bangladesh. In fact, Beijing has identified the bend where the Brahmaputra forms the world's longest and deepest canyon just before entering India as holding the largest untapped reserves for meeting its water and energy needs.

The future of the Tibetan plateau's water reserves is tied to ecological conservation. As China's hunger for primary commodities has grown, so too has its exploitation of Tibet's resources."

And as water woes have intensified in several major Chinese cities, a group of ex-officials have championed the northward rerouting of the Brahmaputra waters in a book titled, "Tibet's Waters Will Save China."

Hmm..I wonder how far they will go in order to "save" their country?

Two Cities

2007-06-27T21:45:00.000-07:00

The immigration counter at Zhongshan has an electronic device with four buttons where you can rate the service of the immigration officer. It ranges from 'Excellent' to 'Very poor'. At the end of the passport checking process, the device lights up and you can press the button that most matches your experience. The officers behind the counter were smiling, polite, courteous and non condescending.
We then went on to Hong Kong. This was a couple of days after they celebrated their 10 year anniversary of independence from the UK and dependence on China. The place is breathtakingly amazing in terms of technical advancement. It was like we were on the boat for an hour and then simply transported decades into the the future.
We handed our passports to the immigration officers.
We smiled.
They frowned.
We stood there and they went through our passports. Checked our face against the passport picture.
And checked it again.
Stared at us a little suspiciously.
Stamped it reluctantly and threw it on the counter.
Very efficient.

La La People

2007-06-26T23:47:00.000-07:00

"...well, you spend the money, but if it solves a problem, i don't call it spending. It is what money is for"
"Yes, I guess you're right"
"You're from Thailand?"
"Yes"
"My professor told me a funny story about Thailand. You know, he was teaching at a university in Bangkok and there was this one girl in his class. He taught her for a full 2 years before he realized that she was actually a boy"
"Oh?"
"I hear that is pretty common in your country."
"What is?"
"You know...you have a lot of la la people"
"What do you mean?"
"Well how do you say it? People who are men but want to be women."
"Well, I guess there are some.."
"I hear that there are a lot. But I don't understand them. How can they be both? Are they happy?"
"I guess so, that's what they want to be."
"Do they have -- how do you call it -- a p@@@@ ?"
"Well, yes if they have surgery done."
"What about their DNA? Is that of a male or female?"
"I guess their DNA remains the same."
"But this tells me that your country is very fair and very free. You can accept all kinds of people ---
Hey! look at that family on a motorcycle! The husband and wife have two children sitting with them and none of them have any helmets on!"
"Do they have helmet laws in China?"
"Yes, of course."
"What about children, Is there still a quota? "
"Yes, but a lot of rich people have more than one child. They have to pay money to the government"
"How much?"
"100,000 RMB"
"Oh. And if they don't?"
"Well, the children grow up without ID cards, no doctors will treat them and no one will give them a job."
"So in effect they don't exist"
"Yes."

Back to Fragrant Mountain

2007-06-26T23:20:00.000-07:00

I am back in Zhongshan, and this time even took the correct ferry.
Since the last time I was here, I have tried to look at what else this place is famous for.
And discovered..not much.
Basically, this is the birthplace of Dr. Sun Yat Sen, the Chinese revolutionary leader from the early 1900s. He is credited with overthrowing the Qing Dynasty and a lot of his political philosophy is still in use today.
Besides that, Zhongshan is a fairly new town and due to its proximity to Guangzhou and Hong Kong it actually has a lot more industry than I originally thought:
Lighting, Hardware, Furniture, Food, Pharmaceuticals and Garments.
In effect, pretty much everything.
And some hot spring resorts.
I stepped out of the ferry and noticed..something a little different.
After a while, I realized what it was --- something that I had rarely experienced in China before this --- that I could actually see the sky.

Our Fate?

2007-06-13T02:15:00.000-07:00

The only excuse I can give for being away for an extended period is a mild case of writer's block mixed with a lot of indifference on the goings on of the world.
I do hope to be back for a while at least.
Until I'm away again.
For those of you who have been moved to comment either on the topics (which would be ideal) or on my cynical and self adulatory outlook on life, I would love to post them here. The thing is most of them are anonymous.
So whatever you have to say, please at least put in your name and or email address so I know you exist and stand by your statements.
Ok.
I wanted to highlight something I read recently.
It seems that the world military expenditure for 2005 reached $1118 billion dollars.
I think that we should stop masking such amounts in words like billions and trillions and actually express them in real numbers.
So let's see..
$1,118,000,000,000 big ones or translated to small ones Bht.39,130,000,000,000 .

Just so we're clear on which road we are heading down.

Pump and Dump

2007-05-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

Today, the Canadian Dollar surged to its highest level since 1977 against the US dollar. As of this writing, it is trading at 0.93/USD . The Bank of Canada said that more increases in interest rates might be required to keep inflation in check.
Consider other countries that are signalling interest rate hikes to battle inflation or to support their currencies:
The UK, The Euro Zone, New Zealand, Australia, Japan, Taiwan, China and India to name a few.

And then there is Thailand.
The Bank of Thailand cut interest rates last week and promised to cut it some more soon.
Why?
Are they really so confident that they have inflation under control?
Or is it that Thailand is now very investor friendly and that foreign money will continue to flow in regardless of low yields?
Do we have a very stable political system?
No?
Why then is the Thai Baht so strong?

I offer the following scenario:
Hedge funds (or whoever) buy a currency which is yielding a somewhat decent return;
The currency goes up in value;
Being an export oriented economy, the BOT (Bank of Thailand) tries unsuccessfully to stop the appreciation;
The currency keeps rising;
The BOT then starts to cut interest rates to stem the appreciation. After all, inflation is under control anyway;
The currency remains strong and so the central bank cuts rates some more;
Yields drop to unattractive levels compared to other countries;
Hedge funds find that they have made enough money on appreciation and there is no reason any more to keep holding a low yielding currency.
They sell the currency;
The Baht starts to drop;
The BOT sighs with relief --- it finally gets what it wanted;
Interest rates are kept low to stimulate the economy;
Funds then sell the currency some more;
Money that is already flowing out now rushes for the nearest exits;
The Baht crashes setting about a chain reaction in the region;
Central Banks panic and increase interest rates to stem the decline;
The currency slides a little more before stabilizing and --
Becomes a cheap currency with good yield.

And the game starts again.

You might call this a conspiracy theory.
And you could be right.
Maybe my turban is on too tight.
But then again can you seriously think of any sane reason for the strong Baht?

The Mama Index

2007-05-24T23:01:00.000-07:00

The Mama Index has turned sharply up, prophesying choppy times ahead.
For those not familiar with this strange but quite accurate economic indicator, consider this:
When times are bad in Thailand, the consumption of instant noodles go up, with 'Mama' being the brand of choice.
The logic is that people are more likely to cuddle up at home with their steaming hot bowls of noodles and watch TV; rather than go out to restaurants and spend their money on more expensive types of food.

Today, Thai President Foods, the company that makes Mama announced that they are expecting sales to increase by 15% for the year and are gearing up for this by increasing their capacity to 7.2 million packs a day.
That's a lot of noodles.
But the Bank of Thailand seems to agree and they recently announced a rate cut of half a percent in an effort to stimulate the economy.

Still on the up and up

2007-05-17T00:31:00.000-07:00

The one thing I always take back with me from China is a sense of amazement.
And alarm.
Things seem to be moving too fast.
There are more new buildings.
No, excuse me.
There are entire blocks of skyscrapers. Built everywhere and anywhere. In the city and in the middle of nowhere. A lot of them are sold out but there is no one living inside.
And more new factories.
Built in industrial estates.
In huge monsters of industrial estates.
Or built beside highways simply by cutting out entire sides of mountains.
The factory owners I spoke to seem to think that there is an unlimited demand for their products. So they are busy doing deals with the local mayors and politicians who will help them get more money from banks.
So they can make another super sized manufacturing facility.
The beauty of it is they don't have to pay it all back at once. They can use that money to make more money in the stock market or speculating in property.
And so what if there is a crisis?
Surely, their local politicians will force the banks to bail them out somehow?
They have to.
After all, the government simply cannot afford to have hundreds of thousands of workers unemployed.
Maybe this is why they're building up their foreign exchange arsenal.
For a dark and stormy night.

Contact

2007-05-16T22:30:00.000-07:00

Whatever you say , you can hardly accuse the Shanghainese for being drab.
There are all kinds of buildings -- some quite interesting and some outright freaky.
But if you're an architect, I would definitely recommend moving here since your outlandish ideas and extremes of imagination would have a more than better chance of acceptance.
And speaking of moving, there are all kinds of people relocating to Shanghai. From German engineers to American purchasers to Indian traders, this city is a magnet when it comes to attracting expatriates.
And the living is quite good too. Especially Pudong where there are modern IB standard schools, big hospitals, parks, wide avenues with broad, spit free footpaths to walk your Labradors.
And relatively low crime.
Well, there is that pesky language barrier but nothing wrong in learning a language spoken by a billion people.
What about the communism thing?
And the government controlled media?
Hmmm..that could be a big problem for world improvers and for people fighting for their right to vent profanity against the powers that be.
But look on the bright side.
Where else would you be able to wear a new rolex and carry a new LV bag..
Everyday..
For the rest of your life?

The Sporting Guy

2007-05-06T23:39:00.000-07:00

The Sporting Guy is back and in form -- though he does seem to be a little miffed about ManUtd winning the league.
Anyway, check out what he has to say..

"I just returned from an extended trip to Guangzhou, China. While I did not take any detailed photographs like our Turbaned Traveler (I do not want to steal his thunder!!!), I did see a very interesting banner in the Exhibition hall that I visited. It read “Warm welcome to our brothers from Hong Kong SAR, Macau SAR and Taiwan province”. Hmm, when did Taiwan become a province? Is CNN and BBC hiding something from us?

Well, the Premiership is done and dusted and the trophy is on its way from its previous home in the Nation’s capital to the city of Manchester. The Sporting Guy is a die-hard Gunner fan but must unashamedly admit, Man-U played a fantastic brand of football. Especially in the early part which proved the main foundation of their entire season. However, they did “limp” over the finish line and they were woefully lacking in imagination and guile against AC Milan so lets see how Sir Alex spends his Millions in adding and subtracting to his squad for 2007-2008.

What now lays in store with the special one, aka, Jose Murinho? I suppose his fate is tied to the FA Cup final on the 19th? I can’t imagine how a manager who has won so many trophies in such a short time, fate be on the line? This will also pan out during the upcoming months so stay tuned!"

===The Sporting Guy.

Well.
Unimaginative, yes.
Limping, maybe
But a win is a win.
Is a win.

A little Nothing

2007-05-06T23:16:00.000-07:00

Been busy doing nothing.
Which is my favorite kind of busy,
Been deeply contemplating nothing
Which is my favorite kind of thought,
And realizing I have nothing to say,
Until I say something..
I offer the following lines from my favorite philosopher:

"How would you explain it Pooh?"
"With a song, a little something I just made up.

How can you get very far if you don't know who you are?
How can you do what you ought if you don't know what you have got?
And if you don't know which to do
Of all the things in front of you
Then what you will have when you are through
Is just a mess without a clue
Of all the best that can come true
If you know what and which and who"

"That's it", he said leaning back and closing his eyes.

--A.A. Milne

Zhongshan

2007-04-27T01:35:00.000-07:00

What and where is Zhongshan?
To tell you the truth, I really don't know much about this place either.
But it's a quiet city about 60kms from Guangzhou. The people are quite nice and you won't see a flurry of activity common in other Chinese cities. Even the cyclists are few in number and don't seem too frantic..quite a refreshing change.
Oh and it is very popular with business people in the lighting industry. You know, chandeliers, lights, flashlights etc. Of course, like every place in China they do have other types of factories but their mission is definitely to make the world a brighter place.

The Ultimate Solution

2007-04-23T09:05:00.000-07:00

People make pilgrimages to various places. Some go to holy lands. Some go to mountain tops. Some go to their ancestral homes. Some go to the jungle.
And some go to Canton.
Yes.
Twice a year, every year, China puts on a huge display of its manufacturing powers at the Canton Fair.
From watches, to heavy machinery, to electronics, to textiles, to outdoor furniture to roulette tables; everything you trade, everything you ever think you would want to trade, you will find it here.
As I sat at the Hong Kong airport waiting to transfer to my ferry into mainland China, I noticed the throngs of people en route to the Canton exhibition. Israelis, Lebanese, Russians, Brazilians, Americans, Iranis, Brits, Thais, Indians, Bangladeshis, Arabs and various other colors and denominations of humanity mingled waiting to cross the immigration lines.
And for a moment all personal, political and religious differences are set aside so that they can haggle over prices and over the delivery and quality of their products.
So there you have it --- the ultimate solution for bringing about world peace.
Trade.
Made in China, of course.

Getting to Zhongshan

2007-04-23T08:45:00.001-07:00

To get to Zhongshan in Mainland China in the easiest and most cost effective way you would take an international flight to HK and follow the clearly marked signs to the Ferry Transfer Desk.
You would also have ready in your pocket the HK$250 to purchase your ticket. And then you would get on your ferry and arrive at your hotel in time for Happy Hour.
Before you left for your journey you would get on the net and check out the ferry schedules at www.cksp.com.hk . There, you would note that there is only one ferry a day to your destination, and that you have to arrive at least one hour before if you have checked baggage so as to give them enough time to do the transfer.
Or you would simply not have any checked bags at all, in which case, you could arrive half an hour before time.
Simple.
You would know all this ahead of time and plan your trip accordingly.
You would if you were an efficient Singaporean
Or a hyper Indian.
Being neither I was to be found then, Starbucks Americano in hand, loitering around the airport in Hong Kong.
Waiting.
Waiting for the bus
That would take me to the ferry
That would take me to Taiping (Humen)
Where I would take a cab
That would take to my destination.

So:
90 minutes at HK airport+.
70 minutes ferry ride+
90 minutes cab ride

Total time spent above and beyond the necessity of duty = 250 minutes.

As of this writing I’m still hoping to get there in time for a night cap at least.

What we Learned

2007-04-20T01:59:00.000-07:00

---Tom Yum is Thailand’s most successful export. We found it everywhere we went in Borneo. However, itt tasted very far from the real thing, basically like tomato soup with a lot of chillies.
---The coral off Kota Kinabalu is still in good shape. In Thailand we have to travel farther and farther to be able to see well preserved reefs.
---There is about 35% primary forest left in the entire island of Borneo. Out of this, about 10% is protected. In Thailand by contrast we would be hard pressed to find any primary forest.
---A lot of the felling has moved to the Indonesian part of the island, where it is easier to 'deal' with the local authorities.
---It’s not that easy to spot birds or other wildlife simply by walking through a jungle. Which is actually a good thing. If it is too easy to spot them, it probably means that their habitat is under threat and so they are out and about looking for a new way to live and eat.
---There's a heck of a lot of churches in Sabah. Mostly catholic. Most of the people are Christians, followed by Muslims, Hindus and Sikhs.
---A lot of schools too. Even the rural ones are quite nice. It seems they're investing a lot in education. In my opinion, this is the only way for countries to get and stay ahead of the game.
---The Proton, which is the pride of Malaysia is a clunky but reliable car.
---People drive just as crazy as in Thailand.
---You have to pay up to five times the price compared to a local for entry to parks. Ok, so we have the same issue in Thailand but get this, they even charge for your camera.
---Orangutans are genetically speaking 96.4% identical to human beings
---Prices for accommodation and food are generally cheaper than Bangkok. Best value for money is the Hyatt Regency in Kota Kinabalu. And if you are tired of the local food, “Little Italy” is a great restaurant right behind the hotel.
--- Air Asia is an experience.. I understand you get what you pay for but what’s up with no seating? No where does it say that discount airlines cannot assign seats. People go crazy rushing in to the plane looking for a place to sit. Luckily we had children so we were allowed to get on first.

The Revered Place of the Dead

2007-04-20T01:10:00.000-07:00

The locals believed that Mount Kinabalu was a place where the spirits dwelt and that the moss on the bare rocks near the peak provided food for their ancestors.
It never occurred to them to climb the mountain.
And then the white man came.
Sir Hugh Low of the British Crown colony assembled about 42 people and became the first person to make it to the top. It took them 9 days to do the journey. Although the peak is named after him, he actually only reached the summit plateau. That first man to the the entire 13,435 feet was a zoologist called John Whitehead.
What a bunch of sissies.
Today it takes normal folk 2 days.
And there are even some crazy super humanoids doing climbathons that take them 2 or 3 hours.
Anyway, one has to plan in advance because there a lot of people who do this trek. You have to climb first to the base point which takes about 4 hours. And then after spending the night there you have to wake up early to climb up to the summit to catch the sun rise and then come back down.

We stood on the slopes and looked up.
Shrouded partly in mist, the peak looked absolutely beautiful
Spiritual even.
We promised ourselves that we would definitely be back.

It's Poring

2007-04-19T23:58:00.000-07:00

Poring is about a 3 hour drive from Sepilok. It's known for its hot springs and the canopy walk. The hot spring is piped into open air Japanese style baths. However, there are some private baths for individuals and families too.
We stayed in the park in a two unit room known as the River Lodge. Very beautifully done with outdoor bathrooms which offered us the opportunity to see how long certain beetles can survive after being sprayed with a shower.
And there were heck of a lot of beetles and other flying thingies.
We did get used to it after a while though and even began naming some of them.
"Hi Fred"
"Cheers again, James"

The Canopy Walk is a three part walk on a wooden plank high up in the trees somewhere. The planks are connected to three giant trees so we can spot birds and wildlife.During our stay, two of the parts were closed for repair which made us question the wisdom of actually going up on the one that did not have maintenance done.
But since logic has never been my strong point, we hiked up and climbed a gazillion steps to the starting point. Ahead of us was a big group of extremely noisy tourists so we waited patiently for them to get done.
The walk was a very bouncy and nerve wracking experience and is not recommended for people scared of heights.
And we saw a total of one nest and zero birds.

After that we went to the Butterfly Farm. It left me a little perplexed as to why the farm was needed as there was this big jungle with the same plants and flowers as in the farm. But I guess this was like the Beverly Hills of the insect world and I can almost swear I saw a multi colored beauty sneering at the poor flying caterpillars living outside the fence that protected this gated community.

The best part of Sepilok was the trek to the big waterfall. We hiked 3.5 km uphill past a bat cave, past a couple of streams, past beautiful bamboo and other giant trees. We paused frequently to catch our breath which helped us see beautiful views.
The waterfall at the end of the rainbow was very high, multi layered and absolutely spectacular.
We stopped there for a total of 5 minutes and resumed our journey back.
Why?
Because we did not have much daylight left and none of wanted to spend the night trying to negotiate the somewhat slippery climb back down.
The total hike lasted 4 hours and we had the chance to soak in the hot spring bath at the end so that we would not hurt the next day.
It's been two weeks now since that day and my leg still hurts.

WAF

2007-04-18T23:51:00.000-07:00

The Rafflesia, or as I call it , the Waf (Weird alien flower) is a parasitic flower found only in South East Asia. It has no roots, no stem, no leaves.
It has a wide gaping mouth and it goes out at night on a wild rampage and devours little children. And then the Masked Rider comes and fights with it. And then..
Okay..alright, I'll get serious.
But this is one strange flower.
It emits a foul odor and attracts flies and other insects. It can grow up to 1 meter in diameter and in about 2 or 3 days, just like that, the flower gets dark and collapses. And dies.
All that remains is a black slimy mess.

Now that I've told you about the WAF, you'll understand why we were on the lookout for it.
And why, when we saw a sign saying "Rafflesia in Bloom--15 minutes this way===>", we stopped, negotiated and finally paid 20 ringgits for the opportunity to check it out.
We drove 15 minutes into someone's farm and then walked about 15 minutes more into the jungle. Rather, my wife and girls walked. My son and I got busy trying to chase away an overenthusiastic dog who wanted our behinds.
And we got lost.
The jungle is strange in that it distorts sounds so that you really don't hear anything unless certain angles are just right.
So they didn't hear us shout.
Or so they said.
Or maybe images of snakes, wild boar and bears made us whimper and not shout...
Anyway, not to dwell on machismo issues, we were eventually found by them and shown a picture of the waf. This particular one was about 60 cms in diameter.
I tried asking for my money back but the motherly farm lady gave us a bunch of bananas and set us on our way.

Zombie Trees

2007-04-17T22:39:00.000-07:00

Driving back from Sepilok to the Poring Hot Springs area, we saw some dead or dying palm trees. It just looked so weird.
Like some futuristic apocalyptic vision where the trees are committing mass suicide.

The Sporting Guy (#2)

2007-04-17T01:28:00.000-07:00

Today The Sporting Guy gives you a brief respite from my reports on the Borneo trip by talking about the EPL.
But, hold on, what's this?
It seems sports is not the only thing on his mind...check it out:

Well it seems, in the English Premiership and Champions League, the favored teams got through, un-scathed. There is a very distinct possibility of Chelsea meeting Man-U on 3 occasions and in all 3, there will be determining face of a championship of some form, i.e., they are meeting in the FA Cup Final, crucial match on May 9th (if Chelsea wins, points will be equal) + could meet even in the Champions League Final. My God, what if Jose wins all 3? His already hugely inflated Ego will be reach no boundaries + his Russian Billionaire boss will have to eat his words. Let’s see what pans out over the coming weeks

The Sporting Guy would like to use this opportunity to touch on what happened in Virginia, USA. What has the world come to when people start opening fire in the, now, not-so sacred, halls off of education? It seems American’s obsession with the ability of being armed to defend themselves is biting them back in this ugly manner. Worse is the fact that would be “copy-cats” (of the mentally ill type) will look at this and maybe try to make martyrs of themselves?

Well, the Sporting Guy will be traveling from 18th and back in action on the 2nd of May. I leave Thailand with a lot of anxiety about what will happen here on the Political front as the country remains in a huge cloud of un-certainty. Our PM has a perpetual look on his face of being tired and “what the hell am I doing here”? This look does not exactly portray any confidence to the general public, well at least, that is my take of it. Constant rumors and rumblings of protest turning violent do not help as well. I pray that some form of stabilizing factor envelops this country very soon.

===The Sporting Guy

Sepilok and Orangutans

2007-04-16T07:08:00.000-07:00

Sepilok, on the east of the island, is known for its Orangutan rehab center.
Why do these "men of the jungle" need rehab?
Because these are orphaned orangutans and because of deforestation, many of them were caught and sold as pets in Asia.
Almost all the trees in this part of the island have been felled and in their place stand palm trees.
Lots and lots of palm trees.
Entire mountain ranges of palm trees.
Well, they are trees and it does make the place look green but all the primary forest has to be cut down so we can smell good and so that our teeth can be whiter.
And this of course makes the palm plantation owners massively wealthy.
Another plus for these business people is that since there is now only a limited space for the animals to live in, they are squeezed together in a tiny area which makes them easy to spot. This is great for tourism.
And thereby makes the plantation owners what?
Yes..massively wealthy.

So take a look at the orangutan pictures. You might as well because you probably won't be able to see any live ones in future.

Driving crazy

2007-04-14T04:10:00.000-07:00

Well, we drove today.
We drove in the city and out of the city.
We drove up the hills and into the mountains
We drove through the passes and down into the valleys,
We drove through the jungles and past churches,
We drove on paved highways and bumpy roads,
We drove past villages and palm fields….
We drove for a LONG time.
And finally arrived at Sepilok.

Mamutik & Sapi

2007-04-08T06:31:00.000-07:00

It was cloudy this morning.
Just our luck.
For this was our first full day here and we had decided to go island hopping. We could have gone white water rafting instead but we really couldn't resist the allure and promise of the ocean.
By the time we reached our boat, it started to drizzle.
But being the experienced ocean and island people that we are, we knew that the ocean and the tides would reveal what it wanted to reveal. And that the snorkeling could be just as good in this weather as it could be bad on a perfect day. So with that faith and with our chins up, we set off.

The first island we went to is called Mamutik or Palau Mamutik (Palau being the word for island or 'koh' as in Thai).
My goodness.
The coral and the sheer kinds of fish we saw was simply amazing. Parrot fish, Angel fish, Clown fish, Morey eels, Sea Anemones, Butterfly fish and a host others I didn't know the names of. And all this was about 10 meters from the beach. None of that jumping off a boat in the middle of the ocean nonsense.
Two hours simply flew by.
And then the sun came out, the sky cleared..
We were rewarded for our bravado, false though it was.
So cheered, we went on to Sapi island.
And saw tonnes of people from places like Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam, Japan sitting at tables with table cloths having their lunch buffets.
Lunch buffets I can live with.
I'll even accept tables and chairs on an island.
But, seriously, table cloths??
A strange thing to get irked about maybe, but aware of the fact we were also tourists, we tentatively went onto the island, onto the beach and eventually into the water.
We quickly found that the coral was not as good as in Mamutik. But the sand was smooth, the water was clean and there were all kinds of fish as soon as you ventured into the water. The ocean was blue, turquoise or green depending on how one wanted to describe it.
No waves hardly and one could simply swim with no effort whatsoever. I saw it as one huge swimming pool with a beautiful landscape underneath. The entrepreneur in me thought that someone should make a swimming pool and instead of tiles on the floor, they could put some coral (artificial of course) and put some fish into it. People could swim laps forever not getting tired because their minds would be occupied just looking at at the life in the underwater garden.
It would definitely beat any country club pool.
Simply beautiful.
We spent the rest of our time there until about 4.30 pm when we had to go back.
All in all, I have to say that in spite of being ripped off with the price of the speed boat and in spite of having as our sailor an 18 year old pip squeak, the day turned out to be one of the best we've had in a long time.

5 degrees north of the Equator

2007-04-07T07:25:00.000-07:00

Borneo.
This world’s 3rd largest island is called ‘The Land below the Wind’ because it often escapes the yearly typhoons that devastates nearby Philippines.
We took Air Asia and upon approach to the island, I looked out and saw a beautiful ocean with long sandy coastlines and picturesque islands that were probably the inspiration for numerous postcards and guide books.
I began to fall in love with the place even before we landed.
Upon landing at Kota Kinabalu however, reality immediately set in as I found a number of frustrations associated with logistics and transport. Chief amongst them was that the airport that had no currency exchange. I asked the information counter who told me that the nearest exchange counter was 10 minutes by cab to Terminal 1.
All right but how was I to go to terminal 1 by cab without Ringgits (the local currency)?
“No problem, sir, they will accept your local money.”
All right.
So I get into the cab and was promptly lectured on how this was not Thailand and that in Malaysia they only used their local money.
"Sorry."
Anyway, we agreed that I would exchange some money at the hotel counter and pay him upon arrival.
“Ok sir, no problem.”
And so we arrived at the Hyatt Regency lobby where I stood in line at the front desk waiting for my turn.
And I kept standing.
The receptionist took so long and was so patient with each guest that it took me 45 minutes to get my turn. In the meantime I found that a bell boy had paid for my cab and told me to pay him whenever I could.
Amazing.
I will definitely have to slow down my mind as well as my expectations of efficiencies…I mean this place is even more laid back than Thailand.

The Sporting Guy

2007-04-02T20:02:00.000-07:00

I like sports.
But I'm not that avid a commentator on the various controversies and issues that often go on during games unless it concerns my favorite team or players.
Just a matter of not having enough bandwidth.
I have a friend though who is a great fan of everything from the EPL to the NFL and NBA to the Kentucky Derby. So starting today, and every once a while, I will be inviting him to comment on all things sports.
Today he bears in on golf/tennis and the domination by players such as Tiger and Federer.

I give you: "The Sporting Guy"

"It seems everyone is raving about Roger Federer and Tiger Woods, the fact they are very dominant in their sport + their recent friendship. There is no doubting that, both are present “greats” and dominating factor of Tennis and Golf but I feel that both are running a high risk of being burn out, both from a perspective of the physical aspect of their games + commercially as well. Seemingly public expectation will take its toll on both fine athletes

Roger has just lost twice in 2 weeks to the same person, the previously known steroid abuser, Guillermo Canas. Tiger may have won the WGC but closed with a 73. It seems the public wants Roger to thrash everyone 6-0 6-0 and Tiger to shoot 21 under every time he sets foot on a golf course.

I am of the opinion that there is no dynasty here with these 2 fine athletes and the general field has very much caught on to them in terms of skill level. Both are still dominant forces only because of their strong mental toughness that they bring to their respective games. I have seen that both Novak Jokivic (who has just won the Sony Ericsson open in Miami) has the game to match Roger’s as well as Adam Scott in Golf (incidentally also coached by Butch Harmon). Scott just won the Houston Open which means he has the game but lacking consistency. If both can add steel to the mental aspect of their sports, they will both be breathing down Federer and Woods necks very, very soon.

With Modern Technology and “gurus” ready to pass on their skills for hire, the days of complete and utter dominance by Jack Nicklaus and Bjorn Borg are a thing of the past and I believe that both Federer and Woods will be caught in 2007 not in the years to come as many sports analyst are saying."

---The Sporting Guy

Fellow Travelers

2007-04-01T09:17:00.000-07:00

I am often struck by how familiar my fellow passengers on the plane look.
It seems I’ve seen them before.
Maybe in the past, or sometime in the future.
Maybe in some parallel universe or in an alternate reality.
Maybe we’re all assigned a fixed number of people whom we see throughout our lives…they’re like props or extras in our stories. Or maybe we're their supporting cast.
Either way, 250 odd travelers of various sizes, colors, genders and ages; each with their own story get together; their lives intersecting within a metal frame 35,000 feet above the planet. Their lives pause for a few hours or at times for many hours. They eat together, sleep together, read and watch movies together. They even at times fight to go to the bathrooms.
And then, almost suddenly, like switching channels on the TV, they descend onto a different land under a seemingly different sky.
They pick up their belongings and get off the plane, onto the travelator and slide away.

JFK/Bangkok

2007-04-01T09:12:00.000-07:00

Looking at the Green Mountains of Vermont, breathing the crisp clean air and admiring the beauty of its lakes and streams, it is almost possible to forget the problems in the rest of the world.
What was happening with the Iran hostage situation?
Were there any more bomb blasts in the south of Thailand?
What about the Baht/USD or the Yen and other exchange rates?
I had no idea.
My cell phone had no service because there is no GSM agreement between AIS and any provider in Vermont. I was too busy to look at a newspaper and too jet lagged to watch TV or check the financial and political news on the net.
I had in effect gone ‘dark’ --- to use one of agent Jack Bauer favorite lines.
Writing this on the plane ride to Bangkok and, after devouring the Wall Street Journal, The Nation, the Bangkok Post, FT and the Economist, I find that not much has changed. The financial system is still on shaky ground; there has been no resolution yet to the Iran hostage situation, and the Thai government is still stumbling and bumbling along like dunces.
Welcome back.

Jet Blue

2007-04-01T09:06:00.000-07:00

A few words on Jet Blue airways. I booked the JFK/Burlington/JFK flight online FOR $59 each way. It has an automated check in counter where all you do is punch in your reservation number and seat preference and it prints out your boarding pass. You then go to the baggage drop area where the agent puts on the baggage tags. The whole process took me about 1 and a half minutes.
The planes are Airbus A320s with leather seats. A lot of legroom and, get this:
Direct TV!
And in spite of being a discount airline they serve snacks, coffee and soft drinks for free. It was all a very pleasant experience. I definitely recommend it for all your domestic travel within the US.
The website is www.jetblue.com .

Vermont

2007-04-01T08:41:00.000-07:00

Did you know that Vermont has no billboards on its highways? Apparently there is a law against them. Driving south towards NY state all we could see were the mountain ranges, the streams and falls, the farmlands still wet from the recently melted snow and the perfect formations of the flying squadron of geese. I saw shop signs saying “Patti’s Patches”, and “Kitti’s Collectibles" and “Memory Lane Antiques".
It was all very pristine and idyllic.
Until we crossed over the state lines into NY..
Then we saw huge billboards.
And loud billboards.
It seemed as if they wanted to be as in your face as possible. Just for the heck of it.

Traveling Photographer

2007-03-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

Said he needed money to travel by bus to Detroit. Was a little suspicious as to why I would want to take his picture but eventually relented as long as I didn't use it for any "evil" purposes.

The Lumpini of NYC

2007-03-27T13:41:00.000-07:00

New York City

2007-03-27T06:43:00.000-07:00

NYC is absolutely pulsing. There is energy swirling all around and one can just tune in, plug into this matrix and draw the available chi to go about one's business. And if you dial the right frequency, you can hear their thoughts:

"Worked all night on this damn presentation. She'd better be happy with it."
"Late again today. C'mon! Let's go, let's go!"
"Man, I have the worst hangover..."
"Today is the day. I'm going to ask her out today."
"Goddamn tourists, I wish they would just go back to Ohio or Nebraska or wherever they came from."
"Oh, another day, another million. Damn I'm good!"
"Sell? No way. I'm going to ride this baby all the way to $100."
"I really need a vacation."

Good morning

2007-03-27T05:20:00.000-07:00

You're a traveler. You're jet lagged. You wake up early. Your stomach is growling. What do you do?
You go on the prowl.
For Breakfast.
The pics you see are my favorite places on Seventh Ave in Manhattan.
If you're ever here, walk around and look for them. Try each a day or even all on the same day. And please, none of that cholestorol, health or weight talk. You can eat anything you want for breakfast and get away with it.

JFK

2007-03-26T07:52:00.000-07:00

The best flight to the US from Bangkok is the direct 'New York Express' operated by Thai Airways. Planes are the relatively new Airbus A340 with a great entertainment system, good service, good time of departure and about 16 and a half hours flying time. Quite short actually if you consider that any other flight would take you via Tokyo or Hong Kong and would take you about 20 hours not to mention the layovers and potential delays etc. However, I read that they are planning to discontinue this service because it is apparently losing a lot of money even with a 90% load. They're also complaining that Russia is charging them around $25,000 for using their airspace.
Didn't their financial people crunch the numbers before they started flying this route, I wonder.

Anyway, I arrived at 6.30 am and managed to join the morning rush hour traffic and took about another 1 & 1/2 hours getting to Manhattan.

Manual Strangulation

2007-03-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

India lost to Sri Lanka last night. Even their whitening creams couldn't save them. Anyway, this is probably the worst showing in any world cup by India. Quite pathetic and all but what I'm wondering is what will happen to all the money the sponsors have spent thinking that a billion Indians will be glued to the screens. By how much will that audience drop I wonder when the Indian heroes have to catch the early flight home. And it will be interesting to see how they will be greeted when they get back.

The Irish beat Pakistan on St.Patricks Day; effectively kicking Pakistan out of the tournament. The next day Bob Woolmer, the Pakistani coach, was found dead in his hotel room. The police said the cause was "manual strangulation" (as opposed to "automatic strangulation'?). A lot of conspiracy theories are floating about at this time and the Pakistani team have had their fingerprints taken by the Jamaican Police.

And you thought cricket was boring.

"Too much traffic"

2007-03-22T23:33:00.000-07:00

Bangkok cabs never want to go anywhere you ask them to go. They shake their heads and say, "No. Too much traffic."
Or if they do reluctantly agree, there is a high chance that they will give up and dump you somewhere in the middle of the journey and say, "Sorry, too much traffic."
Well, I don't know which village you hail from but dudes, there is traffic everywhere in Bangkok!

Alright, never mind.. let's just focus on the solution instead. Three things that have worked for me:

1. Try to choose a run down taxi driven by an old man. Chances are that the air condition won't work and you will be drenched with sweat by the time you get to your destination; but at least you'll get there.
2. Offer to pay them 30 to 50 baht more than what's on the meter. This works most of the time. I mean taxis in Bangkok are real cheap anyway, compared to any major city in the world, with the exception of maybe China. This is especially recommended if you're brown or black as you will also be increasing the credibility of your race and proving that white is not the only tipping color.
3. Negotiate a fixed price instead of using the meter. That is, just show them a red banknote.
4. If you're reading this blog, chances are you're probably an ugly male so my suggestion is for you to have a female flag down a cab for you.
It works. Really.

Cricket and Trinidad

2007-03-18T21:58:00.000-07:00

I watched India batting against Bangladesh in Trinidad on TV Saturday night. Will comment on the game a little later but what struck me was the number of cranes one could see all around the stadium in the Port of Spain. The city is the capital of Trinidad & Tobago and is growing at a break neck pace. And by growth it always means that the people are going crazy constructing buildings, condos, hotels and God knows what. Apparently their economy is doing very well and making a lot of money off the oil and gas business. There is also a huge foreign capital inflow and ofcourse most of it is going into the real estate sector.
The world is going mad with construction and unless someone can convince me that there will be aliens landing from the neighbouring galaxies to buy up condos and holiday homes on planet earth, I strongly feel that there will be hell of a lot of pain ahead.
Anyway, back to the game.
India lost.
Why?
India was pathetic and the heroes are full of money and fame and style.
The Bangladesh team is young and hungry and played very well.
As simple as that.

Bits n Pieces

2007-03-13T23:06:00.000-07:00

---The Thai Taliban has confirmed a ban on alcohol advertisementts so as to solve problems associated with abuse and drunk driving. Those considerate folks have also upped the legal drinking age to 20. So no more beer for you 12 year olds.

---Thailand dropped to second last in rankings of most corrupt nations. Just made it ahead of the Philippines but behind China, India, Vietnam and Indonesia. This poll is based on the perception of foreign business people and takes into account 13 nations in Asia. Maybe we can bribe them next time to up our rankings a bit.

---The Baht is at its strongest level in 9 years. Right now, CNBC is showing a rate of 35.08/USD. See? With a strong military comes a strong currency.

---ITV has died and been reincarnated as TITV. Maybe now their fortunes will perk up.

---Rising mortgage delinquencies in the US caused the Dow to drop by 250 points. Apparently there are so called 'subprime' mortgage lenders who lend money to losers without money who then in turn have trouble keeping up with payments Duuh! Anyway, as usual the rest of the world has to do its duty and fall too. As of this writing, the NIKKEI is down 500 points or so, HK is down 496 points and most of Europe is down around 1% or so. The Fnancial Times said that if the sub prime industry tumbles, it could drag the entire US mortgage industry down with it. The size of the US mortgage industry? 8 Trillion dollars.

---Sly Stallone has been charged and fined in Australia over carrying illegal growth hormones. What? Rocky? You mean it wasn't the one armed push ups?

---REM inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Finally!

---Windies beat Pakistan by 54 runs in the first game of the Cricket World Cup.

Jamaica Maan!

2007-03-11T22:58:00.000-07:00

There's a party on in Jamaica.
Well, there's always a party on in Jamaica. But this one--the one that kicked off March 11, is the 16-team Cricket World Cup which will last 48 days with 51 matches broadcast live to an estimated world-wide audience of 1.5 billion. The ICC is expecting revenues of $235 million dollars at the end of this carnival. The 2007 champions after the final in Barbados on April 28 will take home $2.2-million. In contrast the winners of the 1979 World Cup (West Indians) took home 10,000 British Pounds.
Finally, this sport is now also a business.

By the way, our Indian heroes seem up to the challenge, seeing their good performance during the warm ups last week. Let's just hope they don't choke.

Vietnam --- opportunity or threat?

2007-03-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

I know we all love Thailand and that we're the second largest economy in ASEAN and that this country is, despite its current problems, a great place to live, work and play.
But emotions and ego aside, let's take a serious look at Vietnam's attractiveness as an investment and business destination, and as a potential competitor to Thailand.

1. Growth: 2006 saw a GDP growth of 8.17%; industry and construction sectors grew by 10.37%; service sector by 8.29% .

2. Foreign investment : Foreign direct investment rose to a record high of US$9.9bil and the disbursed capital was US$4.1bil, also a record so far. Furthur, they are getting quite liberal in terms of relaxing work permit regulations.

3. Inflation: Consumer Price Index increased by 6.6% which is high but is still lower than the GDP.

4. Industry and Export: Industry grew at a rate of 17%, in double figures for the 16th consecutive year;Export revenues set a new record with US$39.6bil, surpassing the yearly plan by 5%, and a year-on-year rise of 22%.
News of Taiwanese and Koreans investing in big factories and requiring huge number of workers are the norm when reading newspapers and talking to people. The obvious reason is that investors are looking at alternatives to China.

5. Tourism :Foreign visitors arriving in Vietnam grew by 11.3% with a target of 4.4 million for 2007. This growth rate is the highest in Asia and is expected to continue for the foreseeable future.
Hotels rates are still quite reasonable and so is a good night out on the town.
Problem is they need a new airport very urgently if they are to grow the way they would like to. It is quite slow getting through immigration but not becaue of the staff, i think. It seems the computers are down a lot due to the sheer load factor and the limited bandwidth. Coming out of the airport and standing in the middle of thousands of people there to pick up and drop people, i did manage to see a new airline terminal almost ready. Hopefully it will open up pretty soon.

6. Stock Market: Very hot and maybe extremely overheated. For example, the market capitalization of HCMC and Hanoi grew from $12.8 billion to $20.3 billion...all this from the end of 2006 to the first week of Feb 2007. PE ratios are upwards of 40.
Everywhere i went, people are talking about how much money they made in the stock market. According to a business colleague, even street hawkers are buying shares. Obvious danger signals.

7. Property: I find it fairly priced.. For example a good quality condo in downtown Ho Chi Minh costs about US$2000/square meter. There are a lot of new developments coming up too mostly by Singapore Inc. which could make real estate higher still.

8. Government : Communist but stable for the forseeable future.

9. People: On the average, a 94% literacy rate, hard working in general and very optimistic and confident about their future. And quite a few people speak English at some level

10. Overseas Vietnamese: There is apparently a huge investment by overseas wealthy Vietnamese mostly in the real estate sector.

11. Local market: Most of the population is young and growing with 50% under the age of 35. That's about 40 million or so. People love to shop and love eating and drinking and love their mobile phones. In other words, a true consumer market.

Admittedly, there is a lot of overlapping in the core competencies of Thailand and Vietnam and there is some rivalry dating back to the 70s when we supported the US in the war. However, we can now either look at Vietnam as a competitor in various ways or we can really embrace what the world is about and look at this as a great opportunity.

The ball's in our court.

Comments

2007-03-01T08:15:00.000-08:00

You know Thailand is pretty much screwed when you hear comments from the Vietnamese like:

"Business is good here but I hear your economy is in a mess"
"Did you ever lose any bags in your new airport?"
"It's a war zone up there.."
"Tourists don't feel safe in Thailand anymore and in future they will all want to come to Vietnam"

And all these comments in one day. They're so damn smug.

Well you know what? We have Central, and Emporium and Multiplexes and the sky train and the subway and the best hotels and the best spas and the best golf and the best food and the best beer and the best beaches and the most smiley people in the world.
And what do you have? Cheap labour? Spring rolls? Paintings? That's it?
Good luck with that.

Vietnam

2007-03-01T08:06:00.000-08:00

On the packed flight to Ho Chi Minh City, besides there being the usual Japanese and Koreans, i noticed a lot of Americans. Mostly young, probably in their early 20s.
So.
The previous generation fights and kills and dies and the younger ones visit the war zone, the memorials, the tunnels where the guerrilla wars were fought...and they scratch their heads and wonder...
"Why?"
For all the people they meet are really nice. They even wear T shirts with the American Flag and baseball caps with New York Yankees logos. A lot of them want to migrate to the US. A lot of them are studying there right now.
The young ones are fine with the whole thing. They have no clue as to what went on or why. And neither do they care. It is not their war.
Well, those were strange times. Things were all wrong. The Soviet Union were audacious and wanted to take over South East Asia and the French couldn't go against them alone.
So the USA had to do something about it. After all, who else would've? Nobody else has a hero complex.
And now?
Well, we are evolved now aren't we?
What did you say?
Iraq? Afghanistan?
No worries..in a generation or so our children will be visiting the Middle East and the conquered will wear Old Navy Tees and they will declare the Great Satan as their long lost friend.

"Crash, Bang, Pow !!"

2007-02-27T20:05:00.000-08:00

It all started in China.
On Tuesday the 27th of Feb 2007, the Shanghai composite index dropped about 9%.
This set about a chain reaction and markets around the world sky dived without parachutes trying to be the first to hit the ground.
The Dow Jones industrial average slid 416.02 points, or 3.29 percent, The Standard & Poor's 500 Index dropped 50.33 points, or 3.47 percent and the Nasdaq Composite Index sank 96.65 points, or 3.86 percent.
In Europe, the FTSE, CAC 40, Milan, Amsterdam, Swiss were all down by about 2% to 3%.
Elsewhere the Nikkei in Japan was down 3.14%, the Hang Seng less by 3.13%, good ol' Bangkok SET followed the crowd and is at this moment down by 2.3%.
By the way, you gotta love the SET. Bombs and bomb threats won't bring it down; Military rule? No problemo. But if China hiccups..the walls come tumbling down.

So, what's reason for this carnage? Let's hear what the smart analysts are saying:
" ..Chinese government's statement that it would crack down on stock speculation, which triggered an agonizing sell-off in that country's market. Chinese stock values had roughly doubled in the previous year.
"..A U.S. Commerce Department report Tuesday found that orders for durable goods in January dropped by the largest amount in three months."
"..Investors are wary of recent sharp rises in sour loans in the subprime mortgage market, which provides home loans to borrowers with troubled credit records".
And of course, don't forget the standard Middle East issues ("Iran's being mean to me!") etc.

What are my 2 satangs? Nobody cares? Let me tell you anyway.
Hold on while i put on my thinking turban.
Ok.
"Bubbles in the world: China (huge bubble), Japanese Yen carry trade (humongous bubble). This is causing indigestion. We simply have to pass the bubbles like any organic being would do. Whether it hurts or whether it is loud and stinky, we gotta do it."
Oh, there is also a third way.
Postpone it. Why hurt now when you can hurt more later? Yeah, that's probably the best solution.
So don't worry. Take a sip of that wine; Look outside the window..
The birds are singing, the sun is shining, the sky is blue.
The powers that be will inject another shot of steroids soon.
And all will be well.

India Shining

2007-02-25T21:03:00.000-08:00

The Indian economy is supposed to cross the $1 trillion dollar mark next year;
India has the world's largest middle class market;
There is a mad rush to take over Western companies by Indian giants like Tata and Ranbaxy;
Tourism is booming, hotel rooms are full and international hotels are charging $250 a night if you're lucky enough to get rooms.
The cricket team is....well..never mind the cricket team.

Anyway, as you can see, the Motherland is positively shining.

And all this is happening because of an enhanced sense of confidence that comes with being a lighter shade of brown. All over, with the help of brands such as 'Fair and Lovely' and "Fair and Handsome' wheat shaded people are getting jobs, getting married to whomever they want, getting acting and modeling contracts, being invited on CNBC to analyze stocks and commodities. They are even becoming better motorcycle stuntmen as shown on the latest 'Fair and Lovely Menz Active' ad by the Thailand based Benetone Films.

So if any of you are planning a trip there soon, please try and convince team India to stock up on some whitening creams for next months World Cup.
Oh, and don't forget your shades.

Year of the Pig(let)

2007-02-17T04:12:00.000-08:00

My teacher and friend, Tew, explains that this year of the Pig according to astrological calculations is a Fire Pig Year and denominated as 'Ting Hai' which means Fire over Water. Generally this is not a good sign of things to come. Water over fire would denote creativity ( as in cooking) but fire over water usually means some sort of explosive upheaval.
I guess this isn't surprising looking around the world today.. there are two wars with threats of more; terrorism is still a possibility everywhere and so are explosions in Bangkok. We do live in turbulent times.
But astrology for me is like the weather forecast. It can tell you that it'll be getting stormy or that there's a high chance of thunder showers or that conditions will be hot and sunny etc. but eventually what matters is how we personally handle the situations that come our way.
So this being a 'Pig' year, i'd like to bring up A.A. Milne's Piglet from his most famous work 'Winnie the Pooh'.
Piglet is Pooh Bear's best friend and is small, timid and often quite anxious. But in most of the stories Milne shows how Piglet uses his small but great heart to try to be brave and often conquers his fears. He also gets by with a little help from his friend, Pooh and the rest of the characters in the Hundred Acre Wood like Tigger, Rabbit, Eyeore, Kanga and Owl. All these characters represent an aspect of humanity and Milne in his classic teaching style puts a lot of lessons in these simple stories.
So, if things get choppy for you this year, remember Little Piglet and his brave heart.
And also remember to surround yourself with good friends.

'Supposing a tree fell down, Pooh, when we were underneath it?'
'Supposing it didn't,' said Pooh.
After careful thought Piglet was comforted by this.”

Eldee Young (7/7/1936 - 13/2/2007)

2007-02-14T23:02:00.000-08:00

Listening to Eldee Young play was like taking refuge in the cool shade of a tree away from the heat and the pollution of the streets of Bangkok. Whenever he was in town, I just knew that no matter how my day went, at the end of it, there was a place i could go and listen to the soothing jazz and bass of a great and talented musician. He had a way of connecting with each person in the audience that other perfomers can only dream of.
He passed away in his sleep at his home in Bangkok. Peacefully. Like the way he played his music.

Conversation

2007-02-11T22:41:00.000-08:00

Driving home one evening with my 10 year old daughter:

"I heard that it's not safe to go to any department stores, papa"
"Why, baby?"
"Someone in my school said there might be bombs in there so please lets not go to any stores ok?"
"Who said it"
"My friend's mom. She got an email from her embassy"
"Really?"
"Why are there bombs papa? Why do they want to explode them and kill people? Like, what is the point??"
"Er..ah..well i'm still trying to figure it out--"
"So we cannot go and watch movies during this break then. And what about ice skating?"
"I'm not sure.."
"What about the place my ballet school is at? Is that safe?"
"I think so"
"But what if it isn't?"
"Don't worry, I think the government is working hard to fix the situation"
"Who is the government papa?"
"Er..look we're home. It's late now, we'll talk about this later. Go on and shower and go to bed ok?"
"Ok, papa"

Suvarnabhumi

2007-02-07T21:27:00.000-08:00

Flew back from China, landed on the runway avoiding all cracks;
Walked 1km to empty immigration lines;
Bags waiting on the conveyer;
Singled out for special X-Ray check at the Green Channel;
Wondered how long customs officers would continue wearing white trousers and white shoes;
Passed the time watching people of various other colors waltz by with 6 bags each;
Finally got an A+ from the customs officer and walked out to a crowded waiting area with limousine and hotel touts;
Relieved that everything is good and normal.

China -- the party continues

2007-02-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

Wuxi is an old industrial town about 128 kms west of Shanghai. The city is split in half by the beautiful blue Taihu lake.
Five years ago when i first started going there to source products, it took us about 4 hours by car along a new 2 lane highway. The city was quiet, with about a couple of good international standard hotels. There was quite a lot of construction but nothing crazy and property prices were relatively cheap.

This time the trip from Shanghai took us 2 hours along a 5 lane highway. We drove into a bustling metropolis which the Chinese call a 'medium size city'. There are 2 Starbucks, a Mariott, a Ramada, lots of malls, a lot of high rises and a new airport. A bullet train made its debut on Jan 28, a few days before we reached. The train travels at 160kms/hr with a top speed of 250kms/hr.
Food is generally ok but i would stick to Chinese. A really good restaurant is Charlotte's restuarant with outstanding food including Wuxi pork ribs and spicy Tofu. We paid about a quarter of the price for the same size meal there compared to what we did in Shanghai's Xin Tian Di. Also, the 1994 Great Wall Cabernet was excellent value at 130rmb.

All over China, people seem to be prospering and getting wealthy. The factories we visited are huge and every year they get bigger. This time we learned of massive capacity expansions which would quadruple the production of a couple of our suppliers. One of them is even planning a hotel and a mall so their customers can stay and access the factory without having to go to into town.

Does the world really need all the products that China is making --- all the air-conditions, the stationery, the cosmetics, the watches, the packaging, the furniture, the garments, the electronics, the toys?
What was i doing there contributing to all this?
Should all the factories in the rest of the world close down for China to go on?
How do they do the costing of their products?
What about the industrial waste created by all these trifles and trinkets; and by the batteries that operate the toys that break down in one day?
Why are their banks still lending like crazy? Will they get that money back? Do they even want to get that money back?
Why does the Chinese government still finance the rest of the world, their wars and their luxuries by buying their bonds?
Is all this real?
Is there no end?
How long will the party continue before things get ugly?
What will then happen to the Dollar stores and the 100yen stores? To Walmart and Tesco and Carrefour? Where will Santa get his toys from then?
What will happen to the US dollar? What will happen to the stock markets of Russia, Thailand, Singapore and the UK?
How about property prices in Phuket, Tampa , Varna and Sydney?
What will happen to the price of oil and gold?
How many people will be bankrupt? How many companies will go under?
How many people will lose their jobs and their life savings?
Will there be social problems around the globe?
Will somebody rescue everybody and become millionaires and billionaires in the process?
Is there a great game that we lesser mortals are not privy to?

I'm a little alarmed but then I'm always alarmed.
Probably nothing to worry about.

Bush's budget 2008

2007-02-06T22:34:00.000-08:00

I could close my eyes it's still there
Close my mind be alone
I could close my heart and not care
But gravity has got a hold on us all
-- Jack Johnson (Crying Shame)

Our President has requested a budget of $2.9 Trillion.
For simple folk like me, whose calculators don't even have the space to punch in this amount,the damage is $2,900,000,000,000.00
From this, spending on military and defense is $481.4 billion or $481,400,000,000.00

A war for peace against a holy war.
Meanwhile, below are some stats compiled from the FAO and UNICEF :

In the U. S., 12.4 million children are hungry.

In the developing world, 20 million low-birth weight babies are born each year. They are at risk of dying in infancy or suffering lifelong physical or cognitive disabilities.

Every year, 10 million children in developing nations die before their fifth birthday. By comparison, in the U.S., 1 child in 165 dies before age 5, or approximately 1.8 million per year.

3/4 of all deaths in children under age 5 in the developing world are caused by malnutrition or related diseases.

Each day in the developing world, 16,000 children die from hunger or preventable diseases such as diarrhea, acute respiratory infections, or malaria. Malnutrition is associated with over half of those deaths. That is equal to 1 child every 5.4 seconds.

Hungry children are more likely to be ill and absent from school.

Hungry children suffer from 2 to 4 times more individual health problems--such as unwanted weight loss, fatigue, headaches, irritability, inability to concentrate, and frequent colds--as low-income children whose families do not experience food shortages.

I just wanted to brighten your day.

Secret Society of Taxis

2007-02-04T22:56:00.000-08:00

On the average, Shanghai cab drivers are one of the most polite in the world. But there was this one guy who i think grew up watching Dukes of Hazard.
Hurtling, green faced, stomach churning in his cab, I had the revelation that somewhere, someplace, there is a secret convention of cab drivers who dress in white and meet while burning effigies of blue suited, briefcased passengers. They meet once a year at midnight in a major metropolis like Mexico city or Mumbai where they chant and affirm the Seven Secret Laws for Cab Drivers (SSLCD):

1. When taking the right exit out of a major, fast moving freeway; first veer left. Then overtake two cars before cutting right in front of a 20 wheel truck. And vice versa;
2. Turn the radio station to a country music station. It does not matter which country, but remember to play it loud and clear;
3. Always take the path of highest resistance. If there are none, then take the longest possible route to the destination;
4. Try to get lost as often as possible;
5. Always, always, curse loudly. Preferably if the passenger has a young child with them;
6. Engage your passenger in conversation, especially if they seem to be reading or lost in some contemplative thought on bringing about world peace ;
7. If and when the destination has arrived and the passenger has paid, drive off immediately with a screech. This is mandatory if the passenger is still trying to extract all their limbs from the backseat.

Shanghai

2007-02-04T22:52:00.000-08:00

The upside of arriving at Shanghai bleary eyed after an all night flight from Bangkok is the empty lines at the immigration. Without this handicap, which often delays the entire process by sometimes more than an hour, we were out in 20 minutes. No second look at brown people at that hour of the morning...after all this is the shade of people who are buying a lot of their pens and perfumes.
Sitting in the cab i read about how Shanghai's growth is going to slow down this year to a paltry 9% or so due to the fact that they now want the city to be more environmentally conscious. They will increase fuel efficiency in cars, overhaul sewages, implement European fuel emission standards etc...altogether about 265 projects are to be completed. The mayor Mr. Han Zhen sounded a little depressed as he made this announcement to the Shanghai People's Congress.
Meanwhile the overall Chinese economy is expected to grow at 10.7% this year.

Money

2007-01-25T23:24:00.000-08:00

I like money. No...scratch that. I love money. And anyone who says they don't is either a liar or just plain simple. But lately I have been musing on the philosophy of money. Really, what is money anyway? Now I am by no means a financial expert or an economics major. Just an entrepreneur who gets a kick from seeing his creations do well. A little bit of megalomania comes to mind but that is a story for another day.
Ok, so what is money?
In days of yore, before the television and before CNBC and about 2 months after Adam and Eve were given time out; when we were collectively not much superior to rocks and such, we discovered that we coveted our neighbors' er, possessions. So we suggested to them that we could exchange part of something that they wanted for something that we did. And that worked pretty well for quite a while until the problem of logistics came to play. How could i physically move my 100 horses and carry away 100 acres of forest? After all I have already given the horses away. So then someone came up with an ingenious solution. Silver and gold. Yup, people had been looting and killing over them anyway so they did not need much publicity and it was an easy adoption. By the way precious metals like gold, silver and bronze were used only in the west by Turks, Romans and Greeks. The more practical Chinese used base metals with holes in them so they could string and hang around their neck. These forms of metal coins were around for a long time since it offered a way for the rulers to put their images and their slogans and so their egos also became wealthy.
The Chinese then had another brainwave ...why not just print the value on paper rather than go through all the trouble of mining and minting coins...especially the ones with those pesky holes in them? So they did and then used this for about 500 years before a severe bout of inflation put an end to paper money in China. It took the Europeans much longer to come up with bank notes.
OK, then in the 1800s, England which was the mother ship in those days, fixed the value of their money to the price of gold. This was later unceremoniously overthrown by the USA who was past its ugly duckling stage and therefore quite confident; and issued paper currency based on ‘Faith in its Government’ and ‘Trust in God’. In other words, one had to derive one's sense of well being and the fulfillment of one's base level Maslow needs from the behavior of some government.
Now, if I am a rich fellow, I will have a million of something that is based on faith and trust? Let’s look around the world and see which government we should trust? USA with its Dollar and gargantuan deficits? The UK Pound whose biggest export is the Premier League? The European Union that has accepted countries like Romania and Bulgaria but rejects (or to put it politely, 'is considering') Turkey?
How about confused China?
India? Thailand? Singapore? Japan?
All on faith?
Fine I agree. Let’s say I have a million United States dollars in the bank and I have total faith in the Americans. After all, they do make some mean sloppy joes. Does the bank actually keep that money where they say they keep it? Or is it just a blip in a computer? We all know that banks don't actually keep our money in their vaults and that they lend it out, or invest it or play pac man with it. Banks are banking on the fact that we will not all run to the bank and withdraw all our money at the same time. So in the trillions that are traded daily, isn’t it just movement of electricity and bits and bytes? Just debit and credit? And how do I make sure my one million dollars will remain the same value in 10 years? The Thai currency for example swung from 25/usd to 55/usd to 35/usd. Interest? A pittance at best. How much is enough?
So am I rich? Where is my money? Am I hallucinating?

In a bid to increase my sense of security then, I feel I should use my electronic blips to buy some “hard” assets. Like land and buildings. Property has gone up every where in every part of the world from Kiev to Kalamazoo. I then buy an attractive parcel somewhere in a country that lets me do so. Now am I rich? If my property has gone up vis a vis money, then doesn’t this mean that money has lost its value? So then do I sell the land for more but lower value money? Or keep the property and smoke a pipe? Because after all, they do say they are not making any more land.
Ok fine, since I am a citizen of this world I play this game. I hire a financial consultant and diversify my holdings into cash (assorted currencies), precious metals and some hard assets.

Has any of you heard of 'Second Life'?
It’s a “3-D virtual world entirely built and owned by its residents”. They claim total residents and inhabitants at about 2.9 million people and is growing explosively every day. Complete with entertainment, business, people and land to build your house on, you can live there and do business there. Millions of dollars are exchanged monthly and are traded on the LindeX which is the currency exchange in Second World. There are economy graphs and economic statistics, market places. You can trade goods and services and you can earn money and then exchange it for real life US dollars at several “thriving online exchanges”.
And by the way, they are making more land which you can of course buy and invest in.

Money started as a medium of exchange, and now has its own life. Looking at the weird world of derivatives and financial products that are invented by American corporations under the control of Russian ex-rocket scientists, it seems we might have created a Frankenstein --- one with multiple arms and legs that have sunk into every facet of our lives. Although we breathed life into this creation of ours, that very being now controls every breath we take.