... otherwise also know as the HTC Touch smart phone. Writing this posting by using the push-slide QWERTY keyboard/pad. Although typing speed would be signoficantly lowered, it's the superior alternative when away from laptop of the bulkier desktop. Sending this posting now... after a long absent from blogging.
-DT
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... I haven't been blogging for a long time. I figured there isn't much to write about anymore. Moreover, I can hardly find any time to actually sit down and type away about daily events or highlights of the day. Upon wrapping up the last sentence, I am rather convinced that things happened the way they are and that is just life!
Blogging used to be a way of my life. It used to be a way for me to keep my friends in contact; up-to-date with what is happening in my surrounding; to lending an eye to my readers what I see and what I am experiencing as I journey through this path called 'the growing up life'. Well, I am done with that now. I did get into trouble a couple of times with what I have written but that was a long time ago. But this is not the reason why I am stopping now.
78% of my blog's traffic originates from seach engines (mainly Google [surprised?]) looking for "new bliss wallpaper" and a phone number "02072519028". The latter is the phone number of a phony and dodgy company called Executive Advertising (DS-Max -- Direct Selling to the Maximum or DS-Max) in which I was almost scammed. One can argue that 'almost' doesn't count, yeah..., but I don't want to find out definitively as I have got better things to do with my time. Plus, if a job offer can raise suspicions I'd say to you NOT to take the job. As for the new-bliss-wallpaper, I just don't get it with people's obsessions with it. The entire world is looking for it. It is the strangest phenomenon as my statistics showed me.
I am not gonna stop blogging and I don't think I can stop. There's just too much fun. Things have been slowing down and there is not much activities to blog anymore. If you look at my archives, you'll noticed the number of entries from year 2004 till today have decreased dramatically. I write because there is something to write about. I don't bitch. It does look like there isn't much to write about each passing year. This is, after all, the vicissitudes of my life so far. It is helluva roller-coaster ride!
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.'
"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.
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 
