The focus is on the sports, douche-bags

Perhaps the party's decision to order a pretty 9-year-old girl to lip-synch the patriotic singing of another girl deemed insufficiently cute for the opening ceremony can be dismissed as a misguided quest for artistic perfection. Nor the manhandling of journalist by police -- as happened on Wednesday (Aug 13) during a small pro-Tibet demonstration -- an unusual event.

Indeed, it is an not an unusual event after recalling the standards set by Simon Cowell in every seasons of American Idol and X Factor. His attitude towards the not-so-good-looking girls are bluntly offensive and disrespectful even though the girl in question has the voice to make it to the penultimate stage of the contest. However, he certainly does know what a star-quality is made of and there is not even a shadow of doubt that he is able to find and pick up the most sparkling gem of all.

One (or many) of UK's newspapers questioned the party's decision, "Is she too ugly?". The comments were mostly ignorant and completely in breach for blatantly disregarding cultural background that is implicitly tied to the decision.

Words used in association to highlight the news, e.g. fake, scandal, cute girl forced to mime, banned, etc. in my opinion are all over-the-board harsh and unjustified. They were all from UK's newspapers. The person who entitled his/her article "...cute girl forced to mime after China banned..." has to be obtuse, retard, and stupendously ignorant. It was a very difficult CHOICE for Mr. Chen to make.

“The reason why little Peiyi was not chosen to appear was because we wanted to project the right image. The reason was for the national interest,” said Chen Qigang, the renowned contemporary composer and French citizen who directed the music for the opening ceremony.

“The child on camera should be flawless in image, internal feelings and expression. Lin Miaoke is excellent in those aspects but in terms of voice Yang Peiyi is perfect.” Chen is, nevertheless, operating on the same level of professional capacity as our Mr. Nasty Cowell. China has put up a spectacular show for the world to see and in pursuit showed over 3/4 of the world's population that a new economic super powerhouse dawns upon us. There are doubts that London 2012 Opening Ceremony or even hosts of future Olympics opening ceremony can top over what China has done.

Enough said. Team GB has not even gold medals (or just medals per se) to compare with the US, Germany, Italy, or China! However, they surely deserve abundant gold medals binge-drinkings, alcohol intoxication, and the sports of idiocy. This certain groups of British are definitely making a name for the English people -- by tarnishing and marring UK's global image with their undivided love for alcohol. It is understood why even the commentators at BBC for the Olympics are biased and prejudiced towards team China. Again, the focus is on the sports and team GB has even lost to Australia (biggest colony). I can only sigh in disbelieve and thinking 'What a bunch of douche-bag sore-losers.'

Ma Vacance En L'Égypte

"Are you ready to go to Egypt?", HF asked just after we finished packing up.
Without an instance of hessitation, "Yesss!!", I answered with the most expected straight-faced alacrity. She was asking me the most obvious question; one for it is the place I've waited to visit for a very long time, and two, we're already packed up!!

Our recent trip to Messr (actual name for Egypt) was, apart from educational (bleh!), awesome! T'was phenomenal! Definitely extraordinary! My excitement was fueled by preconceptions of what Egypt was – one of the greatest, most complex ancient civilizations to exist on the surface of planet earth – and especially my inability to understand how great structures such as the pyramids on the Plateau of Giza were built. In addition to that, I stood in awe trying to appreciate the massive beauty of the pharaonic temples carved straight out of mountains or rocks, or both. Granites, dolomites, limestones, sedimentary stones, and sand stones were among the thousands of rocks used. There are halls after halls of colonnades (Karnak Temple) the width of up to four arms length, the height of at least 20m still stand erected complete with original (and restored) scenes with hieroglyphs illustrating the chronicles of the glory days of pharaohs. Egypt was one of the world's three most complex civilization to exist.

The city of Cairo is bustling with live, lights, culture, and of course, tourists. We arrived the city past midnight. As our van exited into the cloverleaf's bent, our guide alerted us pointing to the west. Behold, the great pyramids illuminated not too far on the horizon as silhouettes under the glowing moon. It was surely a breath-taking sight, even it was a short glimpse from afar.

We set off the visit the pyramids the next day -- early. Unexpectedly but not surprisingly, the heat outside felt like an oven at 220°C by 8 AM. It was so bright and the glare around was so intense that it was difficult to go about without shade. As for the locals, they use shades to shade themselves from being directly in the sun. They take advantage of shadow casts from walls, buildings, and trees or any inanimate objects that would offer any [open] shelter from the sun. Brilliantly simple!

The height of this ancient civilization peaked with my levels of expectations as well as enthusiasm and excitement. This is the one place I have longed to travel to. We traveled with TravelTalk Tours. We had an excellent tour guide, who goes by the nickname of Yuki, and our group of travelers was made up of young, vibrant, fun-loving, and interesting people. Majority of them are in their 20’s and most of them are Australians – don’t mess with Ozzies! It has been a great and memorable time not just on our part traveling, but also because of the people we traveled with.

Precautions

No trips are ever safe. If one has been to the city of Naples (Napoli), Italy, one should know that actual incidents there are more likely and real. Throughout Egypt, it is generally safe or safer than that of Naples.

There are, however, some precautions that are noteworthy. As long as you are

not an Egyptian;

do not live in Egypt;

do not ask anyone including police, guards, tourism police, strangers... anybody not belonging to your tour group for any favors nor receive anything from anybody else. Such favors can be as simple as taking photos for you. We (my partner and I) were led into a tiny enclosure in Saqqara thinking it was toilet. Apparently, it was not. It was more like a dead end with a stone to step on. HF got on that stone and crossed her arms on her shoulders. That man took his head-dress off to put on HF. I snapped a photo. We got out, he sent 2 men after us for tips. They followed us for at least a 100m before giving up.

So don't let your vacation be harassed by unnecessary people. If you're cash-strapped and don't mind being a philanthropist, you will only be stopped when a group of poor people ganged up on your straps and pockets. I'm not against giving money to the poor, but I just don't want any troubles when in foreign land.

Your tour guide would let you know if 'they' have been tipped. Amount to tip ranges from 10 EGP to 50 EGP. Sometimes it's hard to decline to tip, but you just gotta bite hard and say "La'a" ('No' in Arabic) through your teeth.

Suncream or sunblock lotion? You had better equip yourself with a good one. If you're fairer skin (as with most Caucasians are), you'll need it. If your darker skin, you won't need as much as our fairer counterpart. Personally, I think the stuffs that's been going on about skin cancer are all fear-mongering and total BS. I'm not asserting that skin cancer as a result of not using sun block is not true.

Photos (Part I)

My photojournal of L'Egypt

Saqqara: Standing on the steps where ancient Egyptian priests ascends to place offerings to their gods.

Camel stop: At long last, the perfect camel for the job!

The camel ride experience from one side of the Giza desert to the back of Khafre pyramid was an unforgettable one.

Ya'alaa! Heading towards the world famous ancient landmark visible from space-- the pyramids of Giza!

Look, camel is smiling too! What a great way to express that they too enjoyed having us!

And we kissed; camels are happy for us too!

And they kissed, too! We are happy for them! It's what we called a-picture-perfect!

An outstanding smile from the camels on such a beautiful day in Egypt!

On the hump.

HF's beast. This time her beast was much more tamed than the previous one in Santorini, Greece.

I have never seen anything like it before; [male] camel's genitalia are on the reverse side. Can't imagine? Dog's peepee pointing towards 'north', camel's towards south. That's the best shot I could get!

With the beast of the desert, after transporting us from the other side of Giza.

The base of the pyramid of Khufu, the largest pyramid of all after Cheops and Khafre.

Each of these base stones weighs at least 5 tons. Stones further away from the ground are lighter but no less than 1 ton each.
Putting the size of these stones in perspective, I stand at 5'10".

On the plateau of Giza, with Pyramid of Khufu as background

On the ground against The Great Sphinx; a body of a beast with a human head.

On the ground against The Great Sphinx; a body of a beast with a human head.

With the legendary Sphinx

What's for lunch in the middle of the desert on Giza plains? You have a choice of KFC or Pizza Hut!!

All packed up ready to leave Giza (Cairo) for Aswan by train

All packed up ready to leave Giza (Cairo) for Aswan by train

The El-Giza train station

With Qazi, a fellow ambitious traveler

The room of sleeper train, albeit tiny, provides comfortable rest. Dinner and breakfast served. Meals not very fantastic but if you can stomach it, you'll be kept away from near starvation

Arrived Aswan after nearly 15 hours train journey. Our train was delayed 2 hours

The sleeping car (train) locomotive. Don't expect high-tech modern looking electric-run train.

The frescos at the Aswan hotel.

Inside the tabernacle of Philae Temple

Previous conquests in Egypt left their mark on the walls, just as the way ancient Egyptians do with hieroglyphs. Here, the French, Ottomans, Germans, and various parts of Europes left evidences of their visits.

The papyrus paper making factory, Aswan

Volunteered and made my first sheet of papyrus paper. It was a very simple process

---

We stayed over in 3 cities – Cairo, Aswan, and Luxor. We also spent 2 nights on felucca boat along the Nile. The felucca experience has to be an unforgettable one and it’s only because we did nothing for 3 days 2 nights but just sailing from bank to bank along the river from Aswan to an small island near Daraw (24°23'10.94"N, 32°54'28.76"E). It’s a good size boat but there aren’t any toilet facilities onboard. When you need to go, just let the skipper know and he’ll bank up the felucca so you can bark up a tree/bush to relieve yourself. Nobody had the luxury of privacy offered by being confined within four walls. It was done wide open in the air and it couldn’t get any more ‘nature’ than that. It was back to Paleolithic period.

The felucca (sailing boat in Arabic) on the outset looks rather basic and simple in design. Its big mast with huge sail is propelled by winds sweeping along the Nile and steered by wooden rudder situated at the back of the boat. Little did we know that the felucca can be rowed without being propelled by winds. The oars, which are at least 20 feet long each, are strapped vertically to the felucca’s mast. After partying and drinking on an island along the Nile one night, the crew rowed us back silently and skillfully back to Daraw (24.39639, 32.927132) from 1AM to 7AM.
From this point, we visited the crocodile temple in Kom-Ombo, then to Idfu (Edfu), and finally arrived Luxor where we spent another 2 nights. In retrospect, we visited 10 pharaonic temples altogether and some of us, surprisingly, got bored after the 6th or 7th site visits. There could be a number of explanations: 1) It is too hot. From 09:30 to 18:00, temperature averages between 44 and 47 centigrade (we were there in June). You get dehydrated very fast in the heat. 2) Because the majority of us do not understand hieroglyphics, most temples appear to be similar. Therefore, a visit to the next temple, albeit belonging to a different pharaoh, wouldn’t be appreciated as much as the first two or three. The scenes inscribed on the walls of all temples tell a story. Fei and I almost lost interest in another temple visit.
Nevertheless, my favorite temple visits are Temple of Ramses (Abu Simbel), Karnak (Luxor), Valley of the Kings (Luxor), Temple of Hatshepsut (Valley of Queens, Luxor), and the Kom-Ombo.

Among the many things we noticed while visiting historical and archeological sites is the presence of white-uniformed guards. They are the AK-47 rifle wielding Tourism & Antiquities Police! I mean, Tourism Police with a big bad-nasty rifle slung over his shoulder?! “Excuse sir, ‘salamoilaikum! Uh, where is the toilet?”, a curious and lost tourist asked. “Don’t mess with me!!”, grabs his rifle, “Think I’m a fool?! Well, think again! Give me 10 Egyptian pounds I’ll tell you”. You pissed in your pants! Too late! It’s crazy to arm these TA Police with big rifles.

to be continued...

Photos (Part II)

What to wear in Egypt

This is without doubt a concern for most travelers to Messr mainly because of the weather there (if traveling between March and October), and the country's predominant religious practices -- Islam. I will address as best as I can this concern to ensure that your travel will be as comfortable and pleasing as possible.

From my experience and observation, there is not much fuss or complication. The general rule in regards to what-to-wear is comfortable. Whatever that is comfortable to you. I have been advised that as long as you are in tourist spot(s), which I suspect you will be throughout most of your trip, you will be fine wearing anything that you would wear back at home or going out for shopping in the city.

For women/girls, tank-tops, halter tops, sleeveless, mini-skirt, bikini (pool side only), etc. are all OKAY. If you are not going to get a tan (maybe because you're an Asian?), a long sleeve shirt will do. It'd be interesting to know one has victoriously withstood the heat of Egypt without baring any flesh at all.

As for men, shorts or bermudas are fine. The main goal is to be as comfortable as you can while you try to enjoy your vacation in the dry heat. This general rule of thumb applies to women too.

It would help if one has a hat.

Places that you'll most likely visit are the following:
1. Cairo
2. Saqqara (or Sakkara), the Step pyramid
3. The pyramids of Giza
4. Up to 8 or 10 pharaonic temples from Abu Simbel to Edfu, including ones in Luxor

As long as you are with your travel guide and/or tour group, you can rely on the sense of security it indirectly offers.

Do take a note, however, not to ask anybody (who are local, including police men) to do you any favors. Favors such as taking photo of you, asking for directions (maybe to the toilet), etc. will normally warrant them asking you for tips. It's a poor nation out there and it's inevitable. Well, if you are cash-strapped and would not mind doing some charity work, the whole of Egypt (perhaps outside Cairo) would definitely appreciate philanthropists such as yourself. There are children as young as 5 years out already out there trying to make a living on tourist's money.

Finally, dress as you would in any summer European vacation. The fact that you are a foreigner/tourist in their city/country is already attracting sufficient attention. They do not expect you to cover up from head to toe exactly like some, if not all, of the locals do. Just enjoy!

The Iraq War was about Oil, all along

As a supplement to this video posting, also read this article

Year 15 BPC

I have read this article by Lucy Kellaway with much interest as I began to relate with every points mentioned. As far back as I could recall a year and half ago (while still at uni), I remember committing my time to live through the time of pre-modernization with electronics. I did not even last though 3 hours! Suffice to say that I, if not we as the general public living in this modern era, have become so dependent on electronic gadgets that I would be akin to a retarded fool wandering on the big streets in the city feeling completely lost without them.

Would you go back to the days of typewriter? Maybe you would but anyone can bet against you that you will not last more than a month (even a month's time is an optimistic assumption). Going down this way could mean a change in [a higher] lifestyle [to a lower one] altogether. It makes me wonder if our children one generation below (those born in the late 90's and beyond) would ever put up with primitive technology such as manual typewriters, filofax, diary pads, flip chart presentations, etc.

It's really something to think about...
Have a read at the article below.

Source: Financial Times, June 29 2008.
I am writing this column with a silver fountain pen. I had planned to bang it out on a manual typewriter, but I threw away my old Olivetti a long time ago and don’t know anyone who still has one.

Pen or Olivetti makes no difference: the point is not to write it on a computer. I have just started a 24-hour low-tech vigil to mark the stepping down of Bill Gates, who more than any other human being has made the modern office what it is. I wanted to celebrate his departure from full-time work at Microsoft by reminding myself of what life was like when windows were things that let the light in.

Last Tuesday afternoon, I composed an automatic e-mail reply that said: “Lucy Kellaway is in the office, but not on the computer. You can send me a letter, or ring, or visit me on the second floor.” Then I pressed Submit, but got a message saying: “Error. Database has too many unique field names. Ask administrator to compact database.” God, I hate computers.

I love them, too. I have no truck with the idea that they have frazzled our minds and shrunk our souls: most office workers seem to be doing perfectly well, as far as I can judge. Although I am addicted to e-mail, it’s quite under control. Twenty-four hours’ cold turkey would be no problem.

“I bet you £2 you’ll crack,” my daughter said when I told her about my plan. “Done,” I said.

That afternoon, I shut down my machine and turned off my BlackBerry. I cleared enough space on my desk for a lined pad of paper. I sat and looked at it. What am I supposed to do now, I wondered? Research my column, was the answer. But, without the internet, how does one find anything out? I became a journalist in the year 15 BPC (Before Personal Computers) and so I should remember, but I can’t.

Then I noticed that lots of people seemed to be coughing and squeaking on their chairs. Computers, it seems, make one deaf and, with the computer off, it was as if the power of hearing had returned to me. This wasn’t entirely a pleasure as the sounds of an open-plan office are better blotted out, especially if you are trying to concentrate.

Otherwise, though, I was finding concentrating fine. The problem was that, deprived of all the stimulation of the internet, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to be concentrating on. I looked longingly over a colleague’s shoulder and saw that he was reading something on the BBC website and writing an e-mail. His screen was busy; I just had a blank sheet of paper.

That evening, I went home early, feeling anxious about all the people who were surely trying to get in touch with me. At around 9pm, I snuck upstairs and quickly checked my e-mail, reasoning that, as I was at home, it didn’t count. This was a mistake: not only was there nothing interesting but also my daughter caught me at it and so I lost face . . . and £2.

The next day, I got in late, there being no hurry. The black screen on my computer looked like a death, but what had died was my job. I felt an impostor in the office, feebly jotting down some notes on a pad like a work experience person. I didn’t want to disturb colleagues as they were attached to screens, so must be working. I stared out of the window, fretting that my lunch might have been cancelled without my knowing. In fact it wasn’t, and I made it a long one and had some wine in the way we did in the BPC age.

Back in the office, feeling slightly tight, I wrote a thank you letter to my lunch host. An e-mail would have taken about one minute, but a traditional letter was quite a kerfuffle, involving a hunt for envelopes and paper and two phone calls, one to directory enquiries for the company phone number and one to the company for the address.

It took me 11 minutes all together, but I felt an unfamiliar stab of satisfaction when I was done and put the crisp envelope into the almost disused out-box.

Then I settled down with the fountain pen to write this. It was the biggest shock of all: writing with a pen involves thinking about what you want to say. On the computer, there is no need for this: I write any old thing in vast quantities, hoping that eventually I will write something I quite like.

On a computer, I write, then think. But the fountain pen forces one to do it the other way round, which is quicker but much harder. I am woefully out of practice.

But how many words had I done? How did we live without word count? I reread what I’d written and it seemed a bit amateurish, as if this was my first article ever. Still, a little earlier than usual, I was nearly done.

It had been a peaceful, if slightly lonely day. My phone had gone twice, both times the IT help desk trying to sort out the out-of-office e-mail problem from the day before. One person dropped by for a chat. I received no letters.

I had set out to see what work would be like without a computer. This, I discovered, was the wrong question. Work IS computers now. The two are the same thing. It may be technically possible to work without them but one has the feeling that one is in a wrong age or a wrong key.

Computers may make it hard to concentrate and they waste acres of time. But I don’t want to go back to the quieter life BPC.

I want to turn my computer on, copytype this article, check the word length, then see if anyone exciting has sent me a message.

Scamming is a job, too

There have been several occasions where I have witnessed a person going from one person to another telling each one of them of his/her tradegic situation. One of the most common story is the lost of wallet/purse. Another variation to this is his/her car got stolen and do not have enough money to get back home. One way or another, the situation is usually the inability to "get back home". Hence, the person lamenting his/her story would go around asking for money to "help" him/her.

One of their 'successful' aspect to get people into believing that their story is true is their professionalism. It's shown in the their clean-cut nicely dressed 'professional'. They'd appear to you as a white-collar professional or a PhD. student, etc. (depending on location) to avoid looking dodgy. It is an important aspect as first impression always count! Imagine just the opposite -- clothed in patch-worked shirt, stained and unwashed, dirty ripped jeans, and unwashed and uncombed hair etc. (what I'd call a genuine beggar) -- asking for "spare change". 9 (maybe 8) out of 10 would just walk away without sparing any change. The stranger would appear to be just-off-work (hence, still dressed professionally) but coincidently has just-been-robbed and seeking help from people to "spare any monies" ranging from 2£ to 20£ for a train fare.

Below would normally be the typical conversation set. There be may other variations.

Stranger: Excuse me... Can you please help me?
*Hessitant, but first impression already got you*
You: Yeah? What is it?
S: I am not begging for money. My car was parked here while I attended a conference at the University of ... it has been stolen. I have reported to the police and these are the statements to proof that. I need to get back to London but I can't because...
Y: Oh?
S: Can you please help me? I need to get enough money for a train fare to [destination].
Y: Yeah, okay. How much?
S: Any amount will do. What ever you can give. I'd rrrrreally appreaciate it!
Y: There you go... I hope this is enough. Good luck!
S: Thank you so very much!

At this point, you either walk away or take out your wallet!

These people are scammers! There is no doubt about it! They are otherwise called panhandlers! I am writing this so that you be aware that these people are professional scammers out there to get your hard earned cash. They stories are obviously bullcrap and whatever [documentation] proof they can come up with can be cooked up at home. They, too, work 8 hours a day. Using simple calculations you can work out how much per-hour s/he is earning, and is probably more than what you earn working as a qualified solicitor-- tax-FREE!

By the time the panhandler approaches you, s/he would have approached enough people to have enough money to make a phone call back to either friends or family member(s)/relatives for such assistance. All he/she ever need is just 1£ or no more than 2£ to use the public phone! But no, because people are easily fooled by first impression and it is this gullibleness that these panhandlers are obliged to take advantage of! They live and work in that city where you'd run into one. So, the "train fare back home" is utterly and absolutely nonsense!

If that person in the dialogue above have gone to the police, it'd be hard for me to imagine that the police actually just left him in the city stranded and did nothing further to help the victim of the stolen car get back home! For all I know, that victim should still be sitting in the police station; probably waiting for a patrol car to send him off, or something!! Instead, he is out there asking people for money to help him get home! Although, to be bloody blatantly honest, I'd love to see how s/he react when I flag down a police officer. Panhandling is illegal!

Panhandling or scamming is a job too! They are making money out of your gullibleness! And it is unbelivably easy! It is ironic that one would give 'some' money to these scammers/panhandlers, who'd usually live a normal live outside of their "working hours", then to give to the really genuinely poor and homeless -- Big Issue sellers!

You have now been warned. The next time a person appears in suit & tie, be it a woman (gawdammit!!) or a man, telling you sob stories as described above, just walk away! However, I'd really hate the fact when if it was a really genuine case and I'd turned him/her down. Or if you really want to help, bring him/her to the police! I betcha s/he will walk away from you! Busted!

Here's another person's sentiment (click here), have a read.

Curving up

This transition from life as a student embarking on a life long journey to a professional in the working class has literally been a roller-coaster ride. The emotional thrill rides of the ups and downs, false promises disguised in the name of business or professional ethics, and the daily repetitive mundane tasks almost had the better of me. However, it was the daily vicissitudes of job-hunting coupled with determination and a positive attitude that prevented me from surrendering. The past few months has not been much of a thrill ride at all to say the least. I hit the pits. I was in the trough of motivations. It was like I was heading straight to a hell hole with many deadly cockscrew twists.

Just when I think there is no end to the descend, the ride I am now experiencing is leveling up and it's going to be curving upwards. With no idea what to expect ahead on the ride up, I am certain to be enjoying every moment of it throughout. I would not have been able to pull myself through if not for those who have helped me, therefore, I would like to extend my gratitude to them (you know who you are!).

In times like what seems to be impossible or futileness and/or disappointment, I recognized the importance of staying calm under tension and embracing the fight-back spirit of determination. Never give up. Perhaps nothing is really impossible. It's just a matter of time.