Another backdated post. Apologies for being quite long winded again. I don't know why I end up writing so much for these trip recaps. I also have no idea when Part II will be coming....
"Who cares about Taiwan" -Toyo
After the brief visit to Taiwan, my next stop was ShanDong province - 山東省. My first choice was actually 雲南's LiJiang 麗江. Unfortunately, the tours to 麗江 did not work out with my schedule, so I settled for 山東 and Mt. Tai, 泰山. As the saying goes "五嶽歸來不看山，黄山歸來不看嶽" - I might as well see 泰山 before 黄山. :-)
Following Rich's examples, I will spice up the post with some pictures from the trip. Unfortunately, the weather in ShanDong was mostly cloudy and foggy, which ruined the majority of my pictures. The net effect was that colours came out less vivid and the contrast just was not there.
青島 (QingDao/TsingTao)
"紅瓦綠樹，碧海藍天"
青島 (QingDao) is one of three host cities for the 2008 Olympic Games - other two being Beijing and Hong Kong. All the sailing competitions will take place on her beautiful shores. QingDao is one of the most beautiful and relaxing city I have visited in China.
When you land in QingDao's International Airport one of the first things you'll notice is all the Korean signs. Not surprising given the close proximity to South Korea (1 hr flight). Apparently, Koreans have invested a lot of money into QingDao and visit the big golf course in the city a lot.
青島 is a city on a peninsula in the eastern coast of 山東省. 100 years ago, QingDao was a fishing village. During the opium war, QingDao area was given to the Germans on a 99 year lease, much like Macau and Hong Kong. The Germans started to develop this city similar to how the British developed Hong Kong, envisioning it to become an international hub for trade and commerce. However, after their weak showing in WWI, the Germans lost control of QingDao. The Japanese, Americans and Spanish all occupied the city for periods after WWI, adding their flavours and culture to the city. This mixed Western heritage is what makes QingDao so unique.
Unlike any other Chinese city, 青島 feels like an European town. You would be hard-pressed to find any historical Chinese architecture in the city, but you can find several fancy catholic churches (i.e. 青島聖保羅堂). The streets are wide, the city is very clean and the crime rate is uber low. One of few cities in China where I won't be afraid to walk out at night. Their mild seasonal weather is awesome - max ~30C in summer, 10C in winter, with nice ocean breeze and no typhoons.
Very apparent is the fact that the government is really taking a lot of care in developing 青島. For example, the coastal beaches are adorned with amazing sculptures. The night market district is officially zoned for pedestrian shopping purposes. Beautiful murals are painted on the facades of the residential buildings around the night market district. Multi-colour lights line the main shopping area and all the side streets. The street vendor stalls, while crammed with people, are very orderly. Moreover, there aren't any smelly, stale water or garbage on the ground! You'd be hard-pressed to find such a night market anywhere else. I'm not sure how much of this development is related to Olympic preparation.
I should mention that I visited my very first Walmart in China at the night market here. Everyone kept saying there was a "沃爾瑪" here, and were getting really excited!! Their excitement perked my interest too. I had no idea 沃爾瑪 was just Walmart! (沃爾瑪 in Cantonese is 'yuk yi ma', so sounds totally different). The 青島 Walmart supercenter wasn't too special. The grocery section had large pails of rice, yellow beans, red beans and other Chinese goodies. Other sections were like a typical North American Walmart. However, there was a huge books and manga section in the store. There were not any sofas/couches like what you'd find in a Chapters or Borders, so a LOT of people were literally sprawled on the ground reading. Quite a sight.
Enough of Walmart and back to the city itself. Famed activist and philosopher 康友為 described 青島 as "紅瓦綠樹，碧海藍天" (He didn't say exactly this, but something similar). Since then, this phrase (red tiles, green trees, jade seas and blue skies) has been associated with the city. Quite a fitting description of the historic center of the city. As mentioned before, 青島 feels like an European town and the main reason is the buildings in this part of the city. For example, in an area called 八大関 (Eight Passes), filled with double stories homes showcasing different architectures, ranging from German, Swiss and Russian-style. The neighbourhoods are very quiet and peaceful - houses with open front lawns, tall trees shading the roads, very little traffic and pollution. The look-and-feel really resembles some of the high class residential areas in other great Western cities! We saw a few wedding couples in the area taking their photos.
Had a chance to visit some of the more famous houses in this area. The first stop was the 康友為故居. As one of the most forward thinkers of his times, 康友為 tried to introduce western like modernization reforms into China during a period of imperial instability. He had the young (powerless) Emperor's support. Unfortunately, the day before the coup, the Empress 慈禧太后 found out about the revolt and 康友為 and his fellow conspirators were captured or forced into hiding. After moving around in 40 different countries, 康友為 finally settled in 青島. This particular building is a German/Swiss styled villa, which after 康友為's passing, was occupied by the homeless. The government, in an attempt to find historical places for 青島, just decided to make this building such a site, just for the heck of it. The rooms were big and spacious, and there were a lot of artifacts from 康友為's descendents on exhibit. The one piece I was most impressed with was this sofa set, which was a gift from the young Emperor. Looks like a plain wooden sofa, until you closely inspect the engravings and decorations adoring the pieces. Quite impressive. Moving on...
Arguably one of the nicest buildings in the entire city is the former German Commissioner's residence (not really correct translation) (青島前德國總統府 ). The building is like a mini castle without the towers. Since Chairman Mao stayed in this building before, during the rebellion, most of the building was spared from pillaging. The little damage that was done, however, were quite interesting. In the ballroom, there were these human faces sticking out of the wall. The Chinese rebels had a distaste for the German's long noses and decided to axe off a chunk to make the faces look more normal. On the 2nd floor, there was a small light ball with an assortment of colour crystals. On cursory glance, these rocks must be fake (not really polished or clear). Apparently, this little ball is made of real rubies and gems! Someone chopped off one of the rocks and took it home... smart thief. The rest of the residence is really nice. As you walk in, you enter this giant foyer that extends several stories. There are two guest seats in the far side of the room. From the second floor, there are hidden trap windows that lets the owners peer down onto those seats. Sneaky! It was quite impressive how they kept track of all the things that Chairman Mao touched or used. This was the table, desk, seat, bed, bubble gum, etc that Chariman Mao used. Maybe not bubble gum. Overall a very cool and rare building to visit in China.
Another point of attraction is little QingDao (小青島). 小青島 is a small island just off from the city coast. The island had bore the name 青島 until the city stole that name and bestowed it the title of Little 青島. In the middle of the island is a park with an artistic statue of an exposed female angel. All the tour mates (old guys) were all oogling, and the sick jokes started flowing out. The island is also right beside a naval museum, which has the only PLA submarine on public display. Speaking about the seas, there's a famous 青島 icon of a rock that resembles an Old man in a thinking posture. I kept on thinking that was the Old Man and the Sea. One of the best photography spots (like Kerry's Park in Seattle) is Fisherman's hill, which overlooks beach #1 in QingDao. You can get a panoramic shot of the beach and all the little European houses in the neighbourhood. I took a panoramic, but haven't had a chance to put it together yet. Also, on the hill, there were a lot of people selling fresh strawberries. Very tasty.
Likely the most well known symbol of 青島 during the Olympic games will be the ball structure at 五四廣場, as the shoreline along the plaza is the official site of the sailing events. Visited during the day, and there were people flying kites. Watching and hearing them zoom by was pretty cool. Aside from the kites, there were a few beggars at the plaza. They weren't like the type that invaded South Park. These were people who were missing fingers and arms, have ugly wounds, etc. I bet half of these wounds must be self-inflicted. Anyway, my group just kind of ignored them, but one of them came up and grabbed my arm while I was taking a picture. "Do you have any change?" WTF. WTF. WTF. You can ask nicely and I'd just ignore you, but why TOUCH me?!?! Later on, one kind hearted guy pulled a Kyle and gave a beggar ONE RMB. All of a sudden, a dozen beggars came out of nowhere and swamped us. We scrambled back onto the bus to escape the mob. I went back myself that night to catch some night shots of the plaza. The mob was gone.
Finally, the last 青島 icon I'll describe is the long dock/bridge 桟橋. Historically, the bridge was a pier with a small inn at the end for sailors. We did not actually go on the bridge as a group, since it was filled with pick pockets and beggars. We've had enough of them. We instead went to a Kodak photo spot to take pictures from afar. For those of you who did not recognize the bridge, this is the same bridge as the logo of 青島 most famous product....
A visit to 青島 just is not complete without a visit to the BEER FACTORY! 青島 produces one of the most well-known Chinese beer - the 青島啤酒. Actually, 青島啤酒 makes over 60 beers under different labels. I'm not that much of a beer fan, but I've also liked 青島 beer for their light, refreshing taste. Anyway, as part of the tour, you are entitled to unlimited beer (the real kind, made with spring water from 嶗山)! My table was essentially comprised of non-drinkers, so everyone took a sip and I ended up finishing 3/4 of a pitcher myself; "so it won't go to waste". My face was red for the rest of the tour. Ironically, the best part of the tour was not the unlimited beer, but the PEANUTS. Only produced and sold at this factory, these roasted peanuts uses a secret recipe of herbs to produce the perfect companion to 青島啤酒. I fell head over heels eating these peanuts. Everyone ended up buying boxes of these peanuts to go. I picked up two boxes. Seriously, these were some of the best peanuts I've ever had. Something NOT to be missed.
to be continued....
I had agreed to write up my following experience a while back, but never finished. Finally got around to it this morning in a concerted effort to clear some blogging backlog.
Recently, I have been involved in a couple of situations where I had to pitch an idea in front of a panel of experts, survive their grilling questions and hope for a passing outcome. Not-so-small investments and recognition are involved, so these sessions are more high stakes than your everyday idea-pitches to your advisors, leads or management. Several people have told me these sessions are nicknamed "Mini PhD Defenses". I've never sat through a real PhD Thesis defense, so I really cannot comment on the comparison.
The first one is always nerve racking. How do you prepare for your defense? What kind of questions are they going to ask? In the end, what more can you do to prepare? You have to know the material you are preparing pretty well. Preparing an elevator pitch to showcase your idea really helps fine-tune the relevant points. In front of the panel, you really don't have time to go over the nitty-gritty details until cross-examination, so you want convey the key ideas across first and let the questions drive your technical detail discussions. I found I was spending more time researching other similar ideas in the field, so that I could answer the true money questions: What makes your innovation unique and different? What makes it relevant to others? What contributions to knowledge, profits, customer satisfaction, etc. are you bringing? Why should we invest? These are all asking the same thing in the end. If you cannot effectively answer these questions, go back and do some more homework. Also, try to expand your scope by thinking of ways to extend your ideas. This can come as other applications of your techniques or future work to be done.
When facing the panel itself, it can be a little intimidating. The panel is typically comprised of renown experts in their field. Typically, the sessions starts with general questions to allow you to sell your ideas. That elevator pitch I mentioned before is useful now. I typically follow the layout of an academic paper. Brief introduction, quick discussion of existing works and what makes the idea unique, description of the core idea, followed most importantly, by results. You have to make a good impression by the end of this section. I've sat in a few sessions where people did a poor job conveying their ideas. It's hard to get people excited if they don't understand or are bored.
The next section is the onslaught. The most feared moment of the entire session. I was a bit nervous the first time. To an external viewer, questions from the panel are often quite sharp. These guys did not get to where they are now without being able to ask the right questions or the questions most people don't think about. In my experiences, I have found the questions generally fall into two categories. One set is good hard questions about your ideas. These are the nicest sort of questions, the ones you know how to answer. Use them to continue to dig deeper into your ideas, always reinforcing its results and relevance. The second set are questions that are out of the blue. Most are totally irrelevant to your idea. For this type of questions, thank the panel member for their question, tell them it is irrelevant to this idea and explain WHY (really important!). Remember to reiterate why your ideas are relevant in your scope/niche. There is nothing wrong with telling them that their question is great, but inconsequential to the discussion. Now, there are also the questions that are relevant, but you've never thought about before! The big "OMG, why didn't I think of this?" ones. So far, I've gotten only one such question and I handled it by saying that we had considered that idea, and will expand on it as future work. Given the time and resource constraints, we thought it was more appropriate to focus our idea to the smaller scope. That, by no means, imply that our idea cannot be extended to your new perspective. Furthermore, we can also extend our ideas in other areas, such as blah blah blah... (prepared beforehand).
If there is one thing I took away from these experiences it is that there is no one else in the world who is more knowledgeable about your idea than you. These so-called panel experts might understand the field better, but when it comes down to the specific concentration you are addressing, treat them as eager students wanting to learn from you. If you can sense this from the panel, you are well on your way to success, since they are intrigued and easily sold onto your idea.
The last section is the council vote. Based on the discussions, you should have a pretty good idea of how many people you convinced. The rest is just formalities. It is cool to hear the 'yes' votes come in from around the table. Like the LOTR council meeting in Rivendell. Time to pump the fist. :)
Anyway, I kind of glossed over a lot of the details, but hopefully some of my experiences can be useful to others.
Last year's Chinese Lantern Festival at Ontario Place was spectacular. I could not stop recommending it to everyone. Some photos from last year are here.
This year, the crew from China was back again for the second Roger's Chinese Lantern Festival. The theme this year was the Qin dynasty and the 2008 Olympics.
I had really high expectations for this year's show. Took tochicam and tripod and headed down to Ontario Place. Thanks to the OCT, we got discounts to the festival.
The pictures speak for themselves, so I'll save the commentary for the end. Btw, these photos are DouDou's present! What a great uncle, eh? XD I'm still waiting... haha.
More photos can be found on flickr.
In truth, I was quite disappointed with this year's show. The scale seemed to be a lot smaller than last year's. The designs were not as sophisticated - i.e. last year's pottery dragon was truly amazing. Inevitably, people would compare with last year. Listening to other people's reactions, it was pretty much along the following lines... "Last year, the twelve zodiacs stood here and it was so much better." Also, the Qin dynasty stuff wasn't impressive at all.
I will admit, there were some lanterns that I particularly liked. The pandas, the silver dragon, the pandas again. But overall, something was lacking from the show. Still worth going if you missed the one last year.
One last thing. The stupid DVP northbound was closed tonight for maintenance. I've never driven on the city local arteries uptown before, so I decided to take the 427 up to 401. I had such a hard time finding the entrance to Gardiner westbound from Ontario Place. 427 was also a lot further west than I thought. I hate road closures.
As a change to our weekly regiment of cycling, AB and I decided to participate in the annual Terry Fox Run for Cancer Research this weekend. A brief recap for those who are not familiar with Terry Fox's tale:
Terry was only 18 years old when he was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma (bone cancer) and forced to have his right leg amputated 15 centimetres (six inches) above the knee in 1977.
While in hospital, Terry was so overcome by the suffering of other cancer patients, many of them young children, that he decided to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.
He would call his journey the Marathon of Hope.
After 18 months and running over 5,000 kilometres (3,107 miles) to prepare, Terry started his run in St. John’s, Newfoundland on April 12, 1980 with little fanfare. Although it was difficult to garner attention in the beginning, enthusiasm soon grew, and the money collected along his route began to mount. He ran 42 kilometres (26 miles) a day through Canada's Atlantic provinces, Quebec and Ontario.
It was a journey that Canadians never forgot.
However, on September 1st, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 miles), Terry was forced to stop running outside of Thunder Bay, Ontario because cancer had appeared in his lungs. An entire nation was stunned and saddened. Terry passed away on June 28, 1981 at age 22.
(Terry Fox Foundation Website)
Millions around the world have continued the Marathon of Hope. The Terry Fox Run is now the world's largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research. People can elect to participate in a 5km (~ 3.1 miles) or 10km (~6.2 miles) run.
This is the forth or fifth time I have participated in the Terry Fox Run, though it would be my first time in 8 years. I remember last time I was able to jog for 5-6km, before I started walking. My goal this year would be to keep jogging for the entire run. Several people had asked how long it would take to run the entire 10km. Walking speed is like 3-4km/hr, so I guessed 1-1.5 hrs depending on the person.
Arrived at 8:30am for registration. They offered people bibs with "I am participating in the Terry Fox Run in honour of _____". Naturally, I attached one for D, which makes today's run even more special. The map of the run is here.
The horn blasted at around 9:15am and about 200-300 people took off. AB and I started off at the back of the pack and set a decent pace. We filtered through most of the people, till there were about 10 people left in front of us. As we passed the 1km mark, AB couldn't take it much more, and decided to walk. I continued on. After 2km, I saw that I was just over 11 minutes into the run. A quick mental calculation said that I had a chance to finish in less than an hour, if I could keep the pace up. This became my new goal.
From that point on, I settled into a nice pace behind this fellow jogger, Brad (I learned after the race). He was sweating profusely, but still manage to maintain a good speed. First water station at 2.5km marker. I just love grabbing water on the fly, dunking it down onto the dry throat. The next couple kilometers of the race were essentially just concentration and maintaining the pace. I was surprised that by the 5km mark, I was still feeling really awesome. A little tired but not too out of breath or sore. I passed the 5km within 26 minutes. The 1 hour goal is still achievable, though I knew that at 6km was a high incline grade and the last 2 km's were steady uphill climbs too.
As I got to the 6km hill, I had almost 30 minutes left for only 4 more kilometers! This was enough motivation for me to grind up that steep hill. I actually picked up speed on the uphill portion, though by the time I got up to the top, I was a bit out of breath. At 8km mark, I decided to make my move. I gathered some reserve energy and made a push to overtake Brad. For the rest of the race, he was biting my dust. At 9km, only 1 more kilometer to go and I had 14 minutes to finish!!! I started having some cramping in my right abdominal muscles. The last portion was essentially an uphill stretch and we were mixed in with everyone returning from the 5km run. Aside from having to dodge kids, dogs, baby carriages (I don't know why they don't move out of the way), this cramp was really taking its toil on me. The thought of walking this last stretch popped into my mind a few times, but I was so close to achieving my original goal and the fact that Brad was essentially right behind me, forced me to battle through the pain.
Ended up finishing the race in 52:43!! No one passed me today and I passed a few people, so I'm pretty sure I finished in top 10. Here is a breakdown of my run and the approximate timings:
1km - 5 minutes
2km - 11 minutes (+6 min)
3km - 16 minutes (+5 min)
4km - 21 minutes (+5 min)
5km - 26 minutes (+5 min)
6km - 31 minutes (+5 min)
7km - 36 minutes (+5 min)
8km - 41 minutes (+5 min)
9km - 46 minutes (+5 min)
10km - 52:43:51 minutes (+ 7 minutes)
52 minutes 43 seconds! This was definitely a personal best for me - totally beyond my expectations. I could not have given much more. Wow. My body was aching all over from the lactic acid buildup, but it totally paled in comparison with the immense feeling of self-fulfillment. Downed three bottles of water afterwards and met up with Brad. I thanked him for setting the pace for most of the race, and he, in turn, thanked me for keeping it up in the last 2km. He would have probably walked had I not overtaken him.
To break it down, 10 km in 52:43 is equivalent to an average speed of 11.37km/hr - 7.06mph - 3.16m/s - 10.36 ft/s! The world record for 10km is 27:02 (totally insane), so I was going just under twice as slow. I fear I set myself up for quite a challenge in next year's run, but I'm quite happy with the accomplishment. I think D would have been proud too. :)
P.S. The site raised over $20,000. If anyone want to donate some $, you can make an online donation at the Terry Fox Run web site.
Today was the start of the 2007-2008 badminton season. Went to the usual gym after work. It was nice to see all the familiar faces again - some of whom I have not seen in over 2 years (D&D duo). Some new faces as well! I was expecting the session to be packed today, but seems like half the people forgot about badminton today.
Played a couple mixed doubles matches. Everyone was kind of rusty. My service game was still on vacation. So were my drop and slice shots. Smashes were slowly coming back. The only thing I could rely on consistently were my clears. I was moving around the court fairly well and reaction timing was decent - managed to block most of the smashes and drives. Ended up finishing 1-2.
Near the end, AR challenged me to a singles match. I've played AR in numerous singles matches over the years, with him winning the majority of the games. However, during the tournament last year, when it really mattered, I managed to pull off the upset victory. AR has been trying to redeem himself every since.
Not being one who will back down from a challenge, I dutifully accepted. Game up to 15. I was totally in the zone for this match. I controlled most of the game with effective clears, forcing him to run side to side. When he was totally out of position, I'd send him a nice drop shot. Simple, efficient and effective. I just knew where the bird was going to be and was in perfect position to return most shots. In the end, I came up on top 15-3! UM!!!! AR mentioned that I didn't get rusty over the summer break. lol.
After badminton, there was light rain outside. Tochi Mobile needed to get some fuel. Went to the gas station, got out and started pumping. It was then that StormOfWrath, which had struck Grapes's pants earlier in the day, hit the gas station. Sheets of torrential downpour swept sideways. In 5 seconds, I was totally soaked! It felt like I was coming out of a shower! WTF. I never realized that it takes FOREVER to fill up a tank of gas! I had to brace myself behind Tochi Mobile the entire time.
I jumped into the car afterwards, soaking wet. For the first time in months, I turned on the HEAT, setting it to full-blast. At least I now know that my heating system still works! Decided not to risk driving on local streets, so took 407 ETR home. Tochi Mobile weathered the storm quite well and I was home 10 minutes later.
In other car related news, earlier this week I took Tochi Mobile for its routine oil change. The mechanic told me that both my right tires (front and rear) ate a nail. I had noticed my right tires seemed to be deflated a bit a few days ago. I had pumped them only a month ago. I didn't really think too much about it at the time, but I should have suspected better. They were apparently leaking very slowly. The shop charged me $20 per tire to fix. $3 for the gooey patch thing, $17 for labour. Super expensive, but at least I did not have to get new tires.