Bloggin'......

Ramblings

I don't know if anyone even noticed, but I have been using a new camera. A few weeks ago, I got Kyocera S5R on a whim and just had an awful time with it. It was a lemon. Colors were off, pictures had wierd tint effects, and so on. I exchanged it for another one and I have been in love with it since. It was hard to give up the S50 since it had so many more features, but the kyocera seems to be a true point and shoot, with no fuss. Night pictures are more crisp, with and without the flash. We'll have to see what the new year brings in terms of new pictures.

I spent last night hanging out with some friends, first at Hydration in San Jose, before they closed for the night, and then at the lounge at the DeAnza Hotel. I took pictures with my hands, so most pictures were still blurry, but much more crisp. My S50 was a much more difficult camera for night/dark pitures.

So darned Good!

...... it reminds me about what is right in the world. It is the Godiva G Collection chocolates, got it as a gift this past week. Each chocolate is of a different flavor and special design, that it's maker claims is, "A true fusion of art and chocolate". I've already finished off a box of regular Godiva chocolates before these, and gosh these are so much better..... oh so good.....

First Boarding Trip of the Season

Several friends and I went to Lake Tahoe over the weekend for some holiday snowboarding, a great way to work off some of the holiday stress that builds up this time of year. It was my first trip of the season, but lately, with all the traveling I've been doing, all the food I've been eating, and the lack of time for excercising, I was pretty out of shape. It seems to be a re-occuring excuse, but this is really the reason I was so tired and was finished by midafternoon!

We daytripped to Alpine Meadows, expecting the worst, with it being a holiday weekend and all.... Big crowds, long lift lines, kids in ski schools (obstacles course)... But it was PRATICALLY empty! We jumped in line, rode up the lift, boarded all the way down to get right back on the lift! Although this is where endurance and stamina is so important, we were just going up and down all morning long!

It was a bit icy, though. Boy, we learned early... We knew it hadn't snowed in a few days, but it was the first run of the morning. Me, Diana, Mike, and Young were feeling really good about snowboarding and decided to go all the way to the top of Alpine Bowl. Excitement lead to laziness as we didn't want to walk all the way around the bowl to drop in and decided to go right where we were. I was a little hesitant, since I remember I slipped down the same slope last year, but Diana was already to drop in. Oh well, I thought, it was time to conquer my fear. Then I heard screaming, as Diana went over, lost her traction and slide ALL the way down the side of the face herself! Hmmmm, I thought, maybe if I try a different line, like to my right... and..... AIYA! It was no good, I got about 20 ft off the edge, before I too slide and bounced all the way down the icy slope! Jeezes! Ironically I slide down and narrowly missed Diana, stopping right next to her! I rolled over and looked at her, thinking, "are we OK?"

I looked up and Young was a little smarter, went out to the softer snow, and glided down the slope. Mike on the other hand was actually too busy fixing his bindings, as I found out, to notice what had just happened, but only saw that Diana and I were down the slope. He only started on the slope when I jump and tried to grab Diana, tellling her we gotta move!!! Mike slipped too, and the slopes must channel in to the same area, because Mike landed right next to us!

Licking wounds aside, we got in a lot of snowboarding!

Jen is away for the holidays, but we tried to let her know her animals missed her.

Happy holidays to all!

Merry Christmas

Some Christmas cards I got and mailed while I was in Korea. Season's Greetings!

Whirlwind Tour

Traveling back home on a more somber note, my aunt passed away this past week. Though I was in a bit of disbelief, I couldn't really say I was surprised. She had been very sick in the past year and had suffered several minor, but debilitating, strokes in that time.

There weren't many flight early options and services were not until the weekend, so I decided to finish my work in Shenzhen and take the train back to Hong Kong friday night. I don't think my plans changed very much, but I stayed in a hotel for the night and visited some other family early saturday morning. We did some sight seeing on Victoria Peak, shopping in Yau Ma Tei, and dinner back in Tsim Sha Tsui, before I hopped the airport bus shuttle for the 40 minute ride to the airport. So many things to do, but so little time!

I also rode the Star Ferry across the harbour a couple of times as I've always loved taking the ferry in Hong Kong. There are so many things to see and it is always an experience.

When I arrived back in San Francisco, my family and I immediately went to the services for my aunt and burial services were this morning. Long, long weekend....

Sunrise over Shenzhen

Sunrise in Shenzhen, 7:30 AM from the Pavilion Hotel.

Travels in Shenzhen, China

I am sorry but don't have too many pictures from Shenzhen as I have been pretty busy. Just a few pictures from around the hotel and inside. Plus, it is not a good idea in China to stick out like a tourist with sketchy people around.

Observations since arriving:

The train from Hong Kong was so packed, I remember as it pulled up, people behind me said, "just push..." I was carrying my small suitcase and laptop bag, when the doors opened, everyone in the crowd hesitated in the slight hope that some on the train may exit, but no. I chipped my bags in, flat against people on the train, and pushed. It is good to be big sometimes, as I heard a couple grunts and groans as I got on. hahah! Just as quickly I got on, I felt several other pushes behind me and I made another two more feet inside the train.

Shenzhen is beautiful for a Chinese city. I say that because most cities, even small cities in China are heavily polluted. Dust, soot, and smog always cloud the cities, and Shenzhen is the same, but there seems to be a certain charm under all of the dirt.

....and last but not least, food, lots of food. Lots of good restuarants.

cheers!

Postcards from the Edge Dept.

Season's Greetings from Hong Kong! =)

Next Stop, Hong Kong!

Traveling in style? No, not really, it was actually kind of crappy flight and the guy next to me had pretty bad body odor.... argh! But I am so happy to be in Hong Kong now. Even if it is for only one night, it's a city I can't get enough of. When I arrived, I took the airport express train to the city center in Kowloon, where I caught a taxi to my hotel.

I had a pretty good conversation with the taxi driver on the way to the hotel, as it was pretty obvious I was not from around here. It's different in Singapore, where I have been several times before, even picked up a slight Singaporean accent at one time, but most importantly, they speak English. Here, Chinese people are pretty sharp. They pick up on small details and start up a pretty detailed conversation about it. He told me not to worry, as I was a good kid, and he would take care of me, showed me exactly where the train station was on the way to the hotel and gave me great points of interests along the way. Absolutely great!

I am staying in the northern region of the city tonight, in Sha Tin, right next to the train station which i will be taking in the morning to Shenzhen. It's not too late, so I think I will head down to Tsim Sha Tsui, where they should have all the Christmas decorations up by now.

An interesting picture I took from the morning back in Seoul. I really like the angle of the table with the window, city-scape, and light.

Seoul

In the afternoon, I took a nice long walk around the city. I'm staying in the south side of Seoul and there are not really any points of interest in the area. The walk was nice since I had not done anything else during the week except eat, drink beer, and work. Some might find that to be an interesting combination, but the walk today really did me some good. Just pictures, today. I'm trying to stay out of trouble. =)

Those that I work with will find this amusing....

Lunch

A pretty stressful incident happened to me last night and it is only now that I can calmly think. I did not get to the hotel until almost 2AM and had problems checking in late. The hotel could not find my reservations and I was getting really tired. You can only imagine how relieved I was when I finally got into my hotel room and went to sleep in my clothes and all.

But then, I have no idea what time it was, I heard banging at my door. This went on for sometime when I finally got up, just as it stopped. I looked out the peep hole and there was nothing outside. I fidgeted with the lights for a bit when I realized it was not turning on..... What the fuck!? Someone took my key card! I tried to open the door but the safety door latch was still attached. I slowly realized the door opens just enough that someone could possibly reach and take the key card. But really, what the FUCK?!? The key card?

I quickly opened the door and saw a couple walking away and I said "Hey!" They turned around and started to talk to me in Korean, which I was thoroughly confused because of what time it was and that all I wanted to do was sleep. They walked towards me and my first thought was, these people took my key card? What are they going to do to me? Turns out they had just checked in themselves and were assigned the same room. Drama aside, they were just as confused as I was, as they just wanted to go to sleep too. They gave me back my key card, and apologies were exchanged.

Lunch was a Seafood Rissotto.

Seoul Tower at 1 AM

It was crazy yesterday. Work-wise, it was great. I had gotten the system acceptance signed off the day before, so it was just an overall smooth day, as everyone was in a happy mood, and it was Friday! We finished around 6PM and my colleague and I started to head back to Suwon and Seoul. We would stop by his office to fax back the necessary system paperwork and celebrate the good news over more Korean BBQ and beer, of course. I didn't mention, but the night before, we already celebrated over the sign off with the customer over steak and of course local beer. We continued that night with a second round of beer at another bar. Man!

The celebration is significant because this is surprisingly the first system we've shipped to South Korea in over three years. We've shipped dozens of tools to other countries, but this is South Korea! After dinner, we drove to Seoul where I will be staying for the weekend, before taking my next flight to Hong Kong.

It was funny, when my colleague asked, hey do you want to see the Seoul Tower? So we ascended (yes, the stairs all several thousand of them!) to the top of the hill where the tower sits. It's a neat tourist attraction, but at 1 AM in the morning, there's not much to do.

The worst part of when I travel, is I am using my work laptop which does not have photoshop or any other image processing software, so I'm left to paste pictures together in Microsoft Paint =(. Maybe I'll buy photoshop while i'm in China.... (evil grin).

Greetings from Kumi, South Korea

After settling in, I went down to the old town section of Kumi City. Surprisingly there is a bit of a nightlife of bars, restuarants, and shops. Not really sure if Kumi is really a tourist destination, but you have to be here to appreciate it... or at least trade places with me.... please? hahha... Here's to korean beer.

Traveling in Korea

I arrived in Incheon last night, and took a bus to Suwon, about an hour and a half south of Seoul, to meet with my colleague. Stupidity occurs when you cannot open your own hotel room door. I went down to the reception area to complain, in which they sent someone up with me. They opened the door outward. WHAT THE...! Visions of Gary Larson's Far Side cartoons should be appearing in people minds just now, of the kid pushing on a door, clearly marked pull.... The hotels in Japan aren't even complex like this..... Interestingly, the rooms had hardwood floors, which were surprisingly warm, THEY"RE HEATED FLOORS! Crazy!

Today was a little more interesting, as my colleague from the local office and I drove three hours south to our destination, Kumi City. It's very industrial here, and I am staying at the Interpark Motel, which I was assured has the best accomendations in the town. It is a real shithole..... hahhaha! The view from my hotel room, is of literally a dump. I miss my hotel room in Singapore.... Thank goodness for the internet, instant messaging, and people with blackberry pagers.....

Dardy's Birthday

It was Dardy's birthday last week (Happy Birthday Dardy!), so we decide to at least take him out to dinner since it was during Thanksgiving. We went to Havana Cuba for Cuban food, of course. Unfortunately, I have to be mean about the place, the rice they served was undercooked (a sign of not being careful) and the seafood paella was too fishy. "How can that be?" I had this argument once already with a colleague about freshness of fish. If it smells fishy, it has already begun to go bad. Just think sushi. We also had a braised oxtail, which was OK, but some people had an expectation it would be softer. I thought it was OK, but I don't regularly eat oxtail.... luckily Dardy appreciated the food, and we all had a good time just hanging out.

We went back to Mike C's place afterwards, for some ice cream before calling it a night. I have to pack for my trip to Korea and China! Also, I'm trying out another camera, I exchanged my Kyocera S5R for a new one, and I have to say it is working much better. It has a much faster shutter, and feels more accurate than my Canon S50. The couple shots I took were in pretty dim settings, look decently with low noise, pixelation, and blurriness. The optics do look better on the S50....