bye baby bye

So the motorcycle is gone. No more '84 honda shadow. I feel sad about selling it, but it was just collecting dust in my garage. It was the first major thing that i ever bought with money that I had made myself. It may have been an old shitbox but it was my old shitbox. Even though I didn't ride it for the last season, having it there felt like i had accomplished something. One of these days i'll buy another one. Probably a low cc sportbike or cafe racer.

The windsurfing was good. It actually wasn't that hard to learn. Knowing how to sail helped alot. There was some good wind on saturday and though the morning sucked it cranked for half an hour on sunday so i got to see what it was all about. I think i need to buy a board at somepoint and maybe try out racing. I guess I have a new sinkhole for my money. I joined the Toronto Windsurfing Club on cherry beach. Its pretty inexpensive and lessons are 10 bucks a pop. The people seem to be nice and everybody was very helpful.

I was listening to some old cranberries stuff i have and i remembered this weird thing i heard in hong kong. They had taken the music from the song "Dreams" and changed the lyrics into something in chinese. I can't remember exactly what the song was about but it wasn't a direct translation. Other than the words, the music and the tune of the song and everything else was a direct rip off. They didn't even change the tempo or nothing. Covers should do something to change the mood or theme or something of the music. Otherwise its just kareoke The state of cantonese pop music is terrible. I had the oppertunity to meet a VP Universal Music asia pacific. She was nice enough to show me around and she told me how they just try and grab up the next big thing and push them out and market the hell out of them, just like here, except more than half of them can't sing at all. Then, as soon as they're no longer popular they're dropped like a farting baby. Most of the so called talent that they groom are really just personalities as opposed to musicians. She said that there was some hope. Many of the newer acts they're finding are from china and taiwan and they can really sing. But they don't sing cantonese.

The end of an era

I may have sold my motorcycle. This guy who cremates people for a living has decided that he wants it. So much that he carted it away despite the fact that it didn't start and has taken it to a mechanic to see how much it would cost to fix. I think my mom is secretly happy. Its been a while since i rode it, but it was my first...

I finished the infernal Harry Potter book and i must say that the ending was a let down. Not the necessarly the plot itself, just the way it was written. At least I didn't pay for it.

Watersports

I love boats and outdoor watersports. Sailing, canoeing, canadian canoeing, swimming, powerboating etc. This weekend I learned how to wakeboard. sort of. Next weekend I learn windsurfing. I can't wait.

In other news I started reading the new Harry Potter book at the bookstore. There's no way in hell you're gonna get me to pay for that.

Favourite Photos

Here are my favourite photos from the trip.


This was taken from about halfway up of IFC 2 (International Finance Centre) which is the largest and snazziest tower in Hong Kong. It requires security passes and has a weird set of elevators where some go to certain floors and others go to others and some need passes and some don't and some are like express elevators that only have one button. It was a pain in the ass. I think this is to prevent total collapse if a plane were to fly into it.


This is an old guy and his canary in Bird Alley in Hong Kong. He was funny, I stopped and asked him about the birds and he told me everything and his life story. Including how two of his sons are in jail and the other one is so good that he gives him half his paycheck. This guy was happy and damn talkative.


Here we are on a motorized sampan in Cheung Chau island(in Hong Kong). They guy on the right is my dad, looking either like a gangster, Judge Lance Ito, or David Suzuki (take your pick). The kid on the left is just some random kid but she sure is in awe. I couldn't help but take this picture, the expression on his face is pure gold. I wish I knew what she was thinking.


These are motorcycle cops in the Forbidden City in Beijing. I think the higher ranked guy is the one in the sidecar. That thing can't possibly be safe. Poor suckers don't even get airconditioning.


These are old guys in the park(somewhere in beijing) practicing their chinese caligraphy. They have these massive jury-rigged brushes that use just water. Apparently its very diffucult to use. They write poetry on the concrete. Then they admire each others' writing and discuss the skill, the content and the beauty as it evaporates. Not a trace is left behind.


Hong Kong at night in all of its bustling neon glory.


An impromptu market in a demolished burnt out lot. This was at the begining of the silk road near(in maybe?) X'ian. I looked over the city walls (a major tourist attraction) and there it was.


This is a park for adults. Its full of outdoor excercise equipment like rowing machines, stationary bikes, tread-rollers etc. Who needs a gym membership?


This is actually in an intersection on a busy street. The bus behind has broken down and they are attempting to tow it with another bus and a cable. But the cable keeps snapping at the ends or falling off and they keep on trying to repair it or hook it back on in the middle of the street. Improvision at its best.


Me in the gobi desert.


A goat-cart at the foot of the Flaming Mountains.


Me on a horse. This is just outside of Urumqi. I was returning to my roots, chasing down other people and racing across fields. All I needed was a sword or spear of somesort and I would have been truely home. Yes, those are sheep in the background.


Chillin at the family Hair Salon in Hai San, near my Grandpa's stone village. Not only do they wash your hair but they give you a half hour head massage too. Or just a massage.

So the rest of the photos can be found at

Bob Rae

I saw Bob Rae today while i was eating at Lee Garden on spady. Actually, that's the only place i've ever met him. Its been a long time since I've been there though. For those of you who don't remember, he was the NDP premier of Ontario before we got Mr. Stupidity himself, Mike Harris. Yup the bringer of Rae-days and Rae-pay is still alive. Don't know what he's up to now. Despite what everybody says I always thought he was a pretty good premier. Good premier, poor marketer.

In other news I started reading the biography of Queen Noor of Jordan at the bookstore.

Reading In Bookstores

Today I read "The Motorcycle Diaries" in Chapters/Indigo (whatever its called). I also read all of Jane in another bookstore. A couple days ago I read "Foreign Babes in Beijing" (which I actually started reading in Beijing) and "Fight Club." I started reading "Last Chance to See" a couple months ago but it seems to have dissapeared from the shelves. There's always a small contingent of people reading at the Chapters. They have a couple chairs near this nice big window that looks out onto John st. I watch the tourists and the trendy walk by. I'm too cheap to actually go out and buy books. I just can't justify spending 15 or more bucks on something that i'll probably finish in 2 hours. Libraries are too much of a pain to use. Their books are often old and they don't have everything. I can't be bothered to put stuff on hold. The bookstore is a lot closer to me anyway. Sometimes i even bring in a slip of paper to use as a placeholder in case i can't finish the book in one sitting.

Its not very popular to stand/sit around and read in this country. They used to try and kick me out. I went to some bookstores when I was in China and there everyone is reading. The place is full of people sitting on stairs, sitting on chairs, sitting on the ground, reading books. Nobody seems to mind.

I hate being Unemployed. Its the boredom that kills me.

Photos

I have posted photos, without labels or comments. knock yourselves out.
http://photos.yahoo.com/gen_mak/

Home

I made it home. Air Canada only fucked up a little. I was merely 1 hour late. It sure as hell is nice to breath fresh air for a change.

There seems to be an alcoholics anonymous convention going on. Not only is downtown filled with the usual amount of fat american tourists, now they're fat american recovering alcoholic tourists. brilliant idea. One of their ass cheeks is wider than my entire ass.

But really i'm glad to be back in Canada.