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For this lesson, I decided to give you guys some fancy Japanese proverbs to keep you busy. I’ll be adding more soon, and feel free to email me (pirokun(at)gmail(dot)com) with some of   your own (or post in the Japanese Lesson forum). Please .. NO “Confucious says” proverbs.

Ok … here are a few that I found:

Iwanu ga hana
čØ€ć‚¸ć?¬ć??č?±
- Literally: “Not speaking is the flower”
- Meaning: Some things are better left unsaid / “Silence is golden”

Hana ni arashi
ę??ć?«å¸¢é›² or ę??ć?«ē¾¤é›²] č?±ć?«åµ?
- From the Japanese saying “Tsuki ni murakumo, hana ni arashi”
- Literally: Clouds over the moon, a storm over blossoms
- Meaning: life often brings misfortune at the time of great happiness

Nou aru taka wa tsume wo kakusu
č?½ć?‚ć‚‹é·¹ć?Æē?Ŗć‚’é? ć?™
- Literally: “the hawk with talent hides its talons”
- Meaning: a wise person keeps some talents in reserve / the person who knows most, often says least / one shouldn’t show off.

Rakka eda ni kaerazu hakkyou futatabi terasazu
č?½č?±ę˛¯ć?«åø°ć‚‰ć??ē ´é¸?冨ć?³ē…§ć‚‰ć?•ć??
- Literally: “fallen blossom doesn’t return to the branch, a broken mirror can not be made to shine”
- Meaning: what’s done is done / do not cry over spilled milk

Ningen banji saiou ga uma
äŗŗé–“äø‡äŗ‹å?˛ēæ?ć??馬
- Literally: “humans everything venerable Sai horse” (In the Japanese language, words are often ommited in a conversation. You sometimes have to guess who or what the subject and/or object of a phrase are based on the rest of the conversation or based on common knowledge.)
- Meaning: All human affairs are like Saiou’s horse: what at first appears to be good luck may turn out to be bad luck and vice versa; inscrutable are the ways of Heaven; fortune is unpredictable and changeable.
- Origin: From a Chinese folk tale about an old man called Sai.
One day his horse ran away. His neighbours commiserated with him over his misfortune, but Sai said “How do you know this is not really good luck?”. A few days later the horse returned, bringing another horse with it. His neighbours congratulated him on his good luck, the old man said “How do you know this is really good luck?” Some while later Sai’s son while riding the horse falls and breaks his leg. This in turn was good fortune because when all the men of the village are ordered to join the Emperor’s army. Sai’s son doesn’t have to go since he has a broken leg.

Hana yori dango
č?±ć‚?ć‚?団å­?
- Literally: “Dumplings rather than flowers”
- Meaning: the practical is preferred over the aesthetic
- Origin: In spring, Japanese traditionally go to the countryside or parks for flower viewing (hanami). But they often seem to be more interested in eating foods or drinking alcohol (and littering the place with filth) than appreciating the beauty of the flowers. It shows a part of human nature.
- This proverb can also be translated as “boys rather than flowers”, instead of the dumplings (food and alcohol), boys are prefered. I haven’t seen the anime series “Hana Yori Dango” yet, but I’ve been told the second meaning applies to it. [ 団å­? is pronounced “dango”, (sweet) dumpling, but ē”·å­? is pronounced “danshi”, youth/young man, so this is a Japanese pun of å­?.]

The English parts of this list are often a litteral translation of the given Japanese proverb. Since a lot of those are existing English proverbs I’m not sure if these are just English ones translated to Japanese, or if they are actually used in Japan…

Akuji senri o hashiru
ę‚Ŗäŗ‹å¨?é‡?ć‚’čµ°ć‚‹
Literally: Bad things run a thousand ri (1 ri = 2.44 landmiles, or 4 km).
Translation: Bad news travels fast.

Asu no hyaku yori, kyou no gojuu
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.

Doubyou ai awaremu
å??ē—…ē›øę†?ć‚?ć‚€
Literally: Fellow sufferers pity each other.
Translation: Misery loves company.

Hitotara ka ayamachi nukaru’n
äŗŗé?”ć?‹é?ˇć??ę??ć?‹ć‚‹ć?®
Literally: People make mistakes.
Translation: To err is human; errare humanum est.
Note: this proverb is not used in Japan, but merely a translation of the Latin proverb.

Hitsuyou wa hatsumei no haha
Necessity is the mother of invention.

Ikkoku senkin
äø€å?»å¨?金
Literally: One quarter of an hour, one thousand pieces of gold (priceless).
Translation: Very valuable time; time is precious; time is money.

Ro-ma wa ichinichi ni shite narazu
Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Kane no kireme ga en no kireme
Where poverty comes in at the door, love flies out the window.

Kai inu ni te wo kamareru
Bite the hand that feeds one.

Kannin bukuro no o ga kireru
å Ŗåæ¨č¢‹ć?®ē·’ć??å?‡ć‚?ć‚‹
Literally: The cord of one’s store of patience breaks.
Translation: The straw that broke the camel’s back; to be out of patience; to be unable to put up with something anymore.

Kouin ya no gotoshi
Time flies like an arrow.

Korobanu saki no tsue
Look before you leap.

Koronde mo tada wa okinai
After a fire, hold a fire sale

Kyuu sureba tsuuzu
ēŖ®ć?™ć‚?ć?°é€?ć??
Translation: Necessity is the mother of invention

Me wa kuchihodo ni mono o iu
The eyes say as much as the tongue.

Mekura hebi ni ojizu
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.

Oka ni agatta kappa
Like a fish out of water.

Saigetsu hito o matazu
Time and tide wait for no man.

Sannin yoreba, monju no chie
Two heads are better than one.

Saru mono hibi ni utoshi
Out of sight, out of mind.

Sawaranu kami ni tatari nashi
Let sleeping dogs lie.

Seishin ittou nanigoto ka narazaran
Where there’s a will there’s a way.

Kon’ya no shiro bakama
The shoemaker’s children go barefoot.

Saru mo ki kara ochiru
ē?æć‚‚ę?Øć?‹ć‚‰č?½ć??ć‚‹
Literally: Even monkeys fall out of trees.
Translation: Anyone can make a mistake.

Gou ni itte wa gou ni shitagae
é?·ć?«å…?ć?£ć?¦ć?Æé?·ć?«å¾“ć??
Translation: When in Rome do as the Romans.

Hatake kara hamaguri wa torenu
ē• ć?‹ć‚‰č›¤ć?Æꨕć‚?ć?¬ or ē•‘ć?‹ć‚‰č›¤ć?Æꨕć‚?ć?¬
Literally: you cannot take a clam from a rice field.
Translation: You can’t get blood from a stone.
Note: I’m not sure about the kanji.

Sendo uko shite fune yama ni noboru
Too many cooks spoil the soup.

Seite wa koto wo shisonjiru
Haste makes waste.

Shiranu ga hotoke
ē??悉ć?¬ć??仸
Translation: Ignorance is bliss.

Shoujiki wa saizen no saku
ę­£ē›´ć?Æę?€å–„ć?®ē­–
Translation: Honesty is the best policy.

Sugitaru wa oyobazaru ga gotoshi
Too much is as bad as too little.

Chiri mo tsumoreba yama to naru
Great oaks from little acorns grow.

Koi to seki to wa kakusarenu
Love conquers all.

Yanagi ni kaze
ę?³ć?«é¢Ø
Literally: The wind [goes] over the willow.
Translation: Follow the path of least resistance.

Nana korobi ya oki
äø?č»¢ć?³å…«čµ·ć?¨
Literally: Fall seven times, stand up eight times.
Translation: If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again; the vicissitudes of life; always rising after a fall or repeated failures.

Heso o kamedomo oyobanu
Don’t cut off your nose to spite your face.

Suntetsu hito wo sasu
åÆø鉄äŗŗć‚’å?ŗć?™
Literally: Stab the pithy saying man (he who speaks vigorously).
Translation: Brevity is the soul of wit.
Note: I don’t know how this is written in Kanji, but “hito” could also be written like å?Ŗå¾’ which means “bandit”. And bandits usually had smaller weapons, which would also explain the original meaning of åÆø鉄, a short blade.

Takara no mochigusare
宯ć?®ę??ć??č…?ć‚?
Literally: The owner of a treasure will rot/be spoiled. [not too sure about this]
Translation: Pearls thrown before a swine; to give something beautiful to someone who won’t appreciate its value; a white elephant.

Toki wa kane nari
Time is money

Tora no i wo kariru kitsune
Literally: A fox who borrows the skin of a tiger
Translation: A bluffer.

Tsukiyo ni chouchin
Literally: A paper lantern in a moonlit night.
Translation: Coals to Newcastle.

Yasumono kai no zeni ushinau
Penny wise, pound foolish

Yowarime ni tatarime
å¼±ć‚?ē›®ć?«ē??ć‚?ē›®
Literally: In time of weakness, there is an evil eye.
Translation: Misfortunes never come singly; it never rains but it pours.

Pronunciation is probably one of the hardest things to master for most gaijin. It determines whether you get the response of “hai? wakarimasen (I’m sorry, I don’t understand)” or “ua! nihongo zyouzu desu ne (wow, your Japanese is so good)”

Most Americans pronounce “god” as “gawd.” Therefore, it would sound rather weird applied to the Japanese word. A good rule of thumb for pronunciation is to use long vowel sounds, but shorten them to crisp clean bursts.

For example, a long “o” sound in English sort of has a “w” sound at the end of it…kinda like “ohw,” you would want to shorten that sound to a quick “oh” sound.

Another thing that seems to be hard for some is the R’s in Japanese. Sometimes they almost sound like D’s. An example of this (since I’m a videogame nerd and feel the need to make a street fighter reference here), the name RYU is misspronounced by nearly every gaijin i know. It’s often pronounced “raiyu” or sometimes “reeyu.” The rolled R is pretty tough for Amercians anyway because we roll the tongue differently (inwards instead of outwards like the Japanese). In any case, try using a short D sound when attempting the R’s.

EX: Ryu - Diu, Ryaku - Diaku, Rikon - Dikon..etc. remember, less emphasis on the D sound.

Here are some other helpful tips:

‘a’ as in “mama” or “mine”, not as in “day”

‘e’ as in “they” or “day”, not as in “me” (also not as in “the” or “hello”)

‘i’ as in “Mississipi” or “me”, not as in “mine”

ohayo (good morning) —> like “Ohio”

gozaimasu —> God + *sigh* + mass + u as in “you” (short sound)

konnichiwa (good day / hello) —> kon as in “Conny” + nichi(day) as in n-”itchy” + wa as in “what”

sayonara (goodbye) —> *sigh* + oh + nara as in “sahara” (or onara as in “O’Hara”)

gochisou-sama-deshita (after dinner) —> Go! + chi as in “chill” + so + sama as in “mama” + de as in “deaf” + shit + short ‘a’

gogo (pm / afternoon) —> as in “Wake me up before you GO GO” .. (oh my god, did I just say that??)

Some sounds, when combined, become a new sound —

300 should be “san-hyaku” but becomes “sanbyaku”

600 should be “roku-hyaku” but becomes “roppyaku”

8.000 should be “hachi-sen” but becomes “hassen”

For those of you who want to get some words or sounds on audio: My good friend has a bunch of stuff that might interest you on http://www.katje.be/japanese/. Check out the folders starting with “audio” .. If you’re interested in the programs, I have to warn you that most programs are about learning the japanese writing and not just romanji words. Also, the language/advernture demo is intended for children ..

The funny thing about romaji (romanji) is that there are quite a few different ways to type it. There are some sounds that do not even exist in the language so they take that to their advantage to shorten the words when typing them.

For example, the sounds “tee” and “see” do not even exist in the Japanese language. The closest sounds is “chi” and “shi.” However for romaji purposes, they sometimes type it “ti” and “si.”

EX:

chigaimasu (that’s wrong) may also be seen as “tigaimasu”

shitsure shimasu (excuse me) may also be seen as “siture simasu.” (notice the “tsu” was reduced to “tu.” )

I just makes it easier to type when using that wacky J-shift keyboard (roman charater to Japanese charater)

Oh yeah, if you ever try to chat with a Japanese person in Romaji, keep and eye out for the use of “ha” instead of “wa.” This is JUST for keyboard purposes and is NOT proper Japanese.

EX: kore wa pen desu (this is a pen) MAY SOMETIMES BE TYPED… kore ha pen desu.

the reasoning for this is because when they type “wa” in there, the wrong “wa” character will pop up. It may be a little hard to grasp but I hope you get the idea.

Confused yet?

Okay…whew . Remember kids, even though I am the “m4st3r 0f l33t”, I’m in no way a master of japanese, but feel free to ask questions about this and all of my lessons (email me at pirokun(at)gmail(dot)com) (or post in the Japanese Lesson forum)…and also call me sexy. Especially that last one.

Rant-ON

IGPX - Immortal Grand Prix Premiere ———————————-

By: Alpha

      I am sure by now you have heard of IGPX, or Immortal Grand Prix. The joint production of Cartoon Network and Production I.G. will air on Toonami on Saturday, November 5th, 2005 at 10:30PM (ET). As I am writing this, I am watching the screening of it at WCG or World Cyber Games. The event was held at the Manhattan Center on West 34th street, 8th avenue uhhh Manhattan (Duh!). Upon arriving there, the ONLY aggravating thing happens to me. I left the house at 4:00PM, knowing that the subway takes only 40 minutes to arrive to my destination. But what I did not calculate was the stop times the subway I was on took. Stupid train made my 40 minutes travel time to a whopping an hour and a half. What the hell? Why did it take so many stops? Well the reason behind it was because there was another train ahead of the train I was on. WHAT? Make that stupid train go express and we would not have to stop every two minutes!

      Argh! Whatever. That was the worst thing that happened though, now comes the bad thing. After my friend and I got out of the subway station, we proceeded to walk to the location. After walking a good six or seven avenue blocks, we look for the number of the venue. 311. I do not see it. I see a 300 and a 317, but where the heck is 311? After asking a mailwoman, she said it was that way and we did follow her simple instructions only to be at that 300 - 317 thing. So I ask another person and he was not much of a help, only stating the obvious. Then, suddenly something hits me. The way we walked was going up meaning we will leave the West side and go to the East side. Making sure of this, I looked up at the street sign and saw E. 34. I was like, ‘….’ Then I power walked back to the West part and checked the watch, I was already an hour and a half late. The screening was to be shown at 5:30PM and I was still walking at 6:30PM (Yes, I know it is only an hour difference, but I wanted to be there at 5:00PM). Anyways, my friend and I kept walking down and finally saw a big crowd. I knew immediately it was it. And to my surprise when I got there, the screening has yet to start! Maybe because they saw how important I was and had to hold it off until I arrived (Just joking!).

      Anyways, when we got in, we got greeted and some raffle tickets handed to us. As we step into the main area, the place was filled with computers in the front and umm geeks :P. I noticed the big NYT sign and their station so I proceeded to walk over and looked for Taeko, who invited me to the whole thing. Nope. Did not see her, then I took some posters and stuff and played a little Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: 2nd Gig on the PSP and left to search for Taeko. Walked around a bit, and then I saw her. Approached her and stuff and when she said to me that there were issues with the IGPX screening, in my mind I was saying, ‘Cool, I have not missed a thing.’ Since IGPX was not going to show until the person on stage finishes up with his prize giveaways I waited and it was funny how in order to get a prize, the contestant must act out a video game that the crowd screams out… uhh, how do you act out Dead or Alive? Or Initial D? The only person that made a great effort was the Super Mario dude. Okay anyways, yeah yeah, here is where Dave Chappelle’s ‘Wrap-it-up’ box comes into play.

      So after a long time standing around, we finally get to sit as the show finally commences!!!! IGPX’s Eastern premiere!! The people grab their seats while my friend and I grabbed those same seats, we then later on moved onto these big single couches. Man was that nice hehe. While those people are sitting on those uncomfortable chairs, we were sitting on these ‘at home’ type of chairs.

      When the lights dimmed and the episodes rolled, I was immediately taken by of course, the animation, as things that look good always have a lasting appeal to a person’s mind. Production I.G. deserves some props. But just because something looks good, it does not mean that something will be good. What I thought of IGPX? Nothing much actually. It is like Nascar mixed with those speed ice skaters. I mean, the whole Immortal Grand Prix is a metal skating, offense and defense racing course for mechas piloted by different teams. Sure it is an original anime for the Cartoon Network, but has this type of anime never been done before? Nothing should be dubbed original, unless it is something that nobody has done. Well, that is what I believe in. Now as for the down low or low down. Takashi of Team Satomi (the main character, I assume) is a rookie racer and has yet to prove himself on the asphalt. The first two episodes scroll back and forth between cuts of the races and scenes of his background. While I find it hard to pay attention to the screen during the story development I found no problem at all when the speed comes into play. You can just feel the adrenaline rush from watching the races. The mecha design is amazing. Add the transformation feature and it will grab your attention even more.

      The music is right on for the action sequences. Blockhead did their job on it… but only if they had shortened their live performance after the screening was over. I do not know how anybody can stand hearing an endless loop of techno music for thirty minutes and above. Dude, everyone needs a rest. The crowd starts splitting, yet you are still spinning the turntable. I did not want to move, because I like to give people chances to impress me, but they had me at five minutes. When they stretched it to twenty minutes, I again, had to question where that ‘Wrap-it-up’ box was. Now my friend was crazy. He shouted out ‘Yo WRAP IT UP!!!’ But I guess nobody heard him except me.

      When Blockhead finally decided to stop, we cheered and walked around a bit more to see what was left. Nothing much. Most vendors had closed shop, and most people had gone off to either the ‘Players Lounge’ or wherever. Even the event host had to say that the raffling would be drawn out the next day. Well dude, here is a news flash. Not everyone has time to come the next day! You are being unfair to those who stayed till the end.

      When I was waiting on Taeko to take a picture with me, she kept running about and it was a mission to get her so I decided to go… only to be stopped by a… geek. The dude was scary. He comes out of nowhere, starts talking and then proceeds to hand two cans of sugar free Red Bulls to me. Then he was nice enough to offer to go get some regular Red Bulls instead of the sugar free ones. After I took a sip, I felt some tingles, but that was it. But when we left for dinner I really felt the effect. I swear to never drink Red Bulls again, because I feel like crap after I drink it. Oh wells, both of us went off into the night with some goodies back. The whole event was great, but I would have loved it, if I had known people that were there. Just standing and walking around is not my thing. I guess. Oh wells. IGPX should be a hit for Cartoon Network, and although I was not surprised or deeply impressed by it, I give them (Cartoon Network) a high five for trying to produce something for themselves. I can just visualize this as a trend of the future hehe. Hey you never know ;).
  

Here are some pictures from the event.   I included two videos, one of them is a clip from IGPX and the other is the person acting out Pong.   :P.   Enjoy!

Here is NYT’s booth.   They got a few PSP’s set up for the people to try out.

The picture makes the venue look small, but if you were there, you would be impressed.

Intel’s “Extreme” team here, showing off the chip’s prowess.

Here is a PSP with a face sticker and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex: 2nd Gig in it.

I have no idea, whose booth this is… seems like my friend liked them.   Oh wells.

Weirdo host rounding up some contest participants.   Click here for the Pong participant (18.4MB, 640×480 Resolution.   Please Save Target As… onto your computer).

Team Satomi’s mecha.   Looks crazy nice.   Click here for the IGPX teaser video (18MB, 640×480 Resolution.   Please Save Target As… onto your computer) that I have gathered.

You know what they say, “Two is always better than one.”   But in this case, there were actually two more plasma televisions on the floor :/.   So that makes four is always better than one.

Some dude whose name I did not catch.

Here is Taeko of New York to Tokyo, thanking the people for coming and introducing Blockhead.

Well, these two dudes make up Blockhead.   I was not expecting a performance, such as, the one they put up.

We got a WCG player here!   Why am I not surprised that he is playing Halo 2?

Blockhead is still spinning those tables after thirty minutes.   Here is when I begin to shout out, “Wrap it up!”

At last, the stuff that we freeloaded from the event :).

  

Main Idea of this Rant?! - IGPX and WCG all in one!

  

Closing Statement(s) - The event was kind of confusing for me.   Maybe I am just not used to going to them.   It was a convention more than a screening.   IGPX will most likely win a lot of fanfare amongst the American viewer and I am just itching to see what might follow after this show.

Rant-ON  

My Trip To Hong Kong / China ——————————————

By: Alpha

It has been a couple of years since I had last traveled to Hong Kong, this time around though, everything feels so different. I am no longer an adolescent and I am traveling alone now. The day of the journey’s commencement, my father made me get to the John F. Kennedy International Airport an hour or so early, so there was basically nothing much to do, other than waiting after checking in with Northwest Airlines.As the boarding time approached, I took my leave and the adventure begins here. Right off the bat I knew my flight was going to be interesting. When I got to my assigned seat, I left everything alone, turned on my MD player and opened up Dan Brown’s amazing book, The Da Vinci Code. The flight to Tokyo’s Narita Airport was long, way too long. Approximately twelve to thirteen hours. During my break there I got to see a lot of kawaii Japanese females, but really, I am not here for that kind of business, so I tuned everything out and waited for the boarding of my flight from Narita to Hong Kong.

Arriving in Hong Kong was always special to me. Seeing the night lights during landing is an experience to remember. After getting out of the plane I proceeded to customs booth for Hong Kong citizens; a swipe of my identification card and I am out of there. Next up, baggage claim. I truly despise it. The process takes forever and you just never know if someone mistook your baggage and stuff. After a good twenty minutes, I am finally walking out to meet my aunts and cousin, whom have come to pick me up.

The new airport is an amazing architecture; modern and classy is a way I would describe it. Also the infamous double decker buses, which was the result of British rule of Hong Kong, was always a good sight for me. Well the bus ride was about an hour so by the time I got to my aunt’s house it was twelve something. I took my shower and waited for the next day.

May 19th, 2005

Nothing much went on today. Woke up at my usual 5:30AM, brush and washed up and turned on the television. In Hong Kong, there are only four channels available for free. Two broadcasters, two channels each. And if you know the history of Hong Kong a bit, you would figure out why a broadcaster will have two channels… give up? One is Chinese, whereas, the other one is English. Hong Kong is a tourist driven city, hence providing an English channel is the smart thing to do.

Anyways, I scrolled through the channels and found nothing but morning news. Sigh… I pulled my MD player out again and decided to play ‘If You Don’t Know Me By Now,’ by Simply Red. Heck I love oldies, the new stuff these days are all repetitive and boring. I will choose oldies over new music any day! Haha. When my aunt woke up, she told me she will leave work early to bring me to ‘Yum cha’ or drink tea. The people in Hong Kong will visit the restaurant any time of the day. Morning tea will feature an older audience as they had just finished up with Tai Chi and morning exercises. Afternoon tea features a young audience, mainly because people have their lunch breaks and take that time to sip a cup of tea with a colleague and what not. So, what is so special about Hong Kong’s yum cha compared to America’s? Well the most significant difference is that everything tastes great, they are cooked right after you checked your card of what they have, such as, dim sum and various types of things combo up with rice, and they do not ask for tips! That is right, almost everything required no tips. Hence making the meal I was about to enjoy even more cheaper in price. Ahhh food heaven.

After dim sum, my aunt and I walked to the shopping mall and just browsed through what they had. So many to choose from, your head will spin. When we were done, we bought things to cook for dinner and headed home. Home sweet home I thought, because I finally had time to continue where I had left off in The Da Vinci Code. After reading about seven chapters, I took a shower, watched a Hong Kong drama and then proceeded to sleep.May 20th, 2005

Woke up at 5:30AM again, said bye to my uncle and then listened to music as I was reading the book. An hour later, my aunt wakes up to leave for her work. She tells me to go downstairs to buy food later… and that I did. There is a mall directly downstairs of her building and I had many choices, but I narrowed it down to three, McDonald’s, CafĆ© de Carousel (I might have spelled it wrong) and Chinese fast food restaurant. I was sick of McDonald’s so I just went with choice three. I went in, ordered congee, chocolate milk, and toast. The lady looked at me weird, probably because of the way I ordered. I just picked what I wanted, she told me they are all separate items and are not a meal combo, so her point was probably that it was going to be expensive. I looked at her and kind of just said, ‘So?’ The bill came out to $26 Hong Kong dollars, approximately $3.34 United States dollars. Was that expensive? Heh, I do not think so, sometimes you can get breakfast for just $10 - $14 bucks and that is like $1.28 - $1.80 United States dollars. There are not deals like this in the United States. Lol.

After eating I headed back home and did what I had been doing since I arrived, music, television, and book. At 2:30PM, my uncle calls me and tells me to head downstairs for food, this time, CafĆ© de Carousel. I ate a tasty roasted pork/duck with vermicelli in soup. Man was that thing good… then I gulped down a cup of milk tea. After that we headed home and I did the usual. You may say, ‘Wow, it seems boring,’ but that is the way I live my life. I do not like to go outside for no reason. I would rather not waste energy on doing nothing, besides; it was hot as hell outside :).

May 21st, 2005

Saturday, my aunt is off of work today so she decides to bring me to visit my grandmother after morning tea with my cousin. Visiting my grandmother was the whole point of this trip, as she now lives in a home for the elderly after breaking her leg from falling down some stairs. Well, we went to Sheung Shui, taking the East Rail. Man these trains are silent, nothing like New York City subways, where it is dirty, smelly and loud as hell. Also if you ever visit Hong Kong and take the East Rail or any rail in particular, do not lean on the doors, because oncoming trains will scare the crap out of you if you are a tourist and is totally oblivious to that knowledge.

Anyways, after the train, we had to transfer to a sixteen seater bus. When I arrived at the home for the elderly, I could not recognize my grandmother. Her hair was white and she had a hair cut. But I guess we both break even, because she did not recognize me as well hehe. Welp, stayed there for a while, then headed back to the train station where the Landmark Mall is. We windowed shopped a few stores, such as, Blue Star Exchange, G2000, Bossini, and Fortress (electronics store). I was in no hurry to buy things as I still have a lot of time. When my aunt and I got back to Tai Po, we met up with my uncle at the Tai Po shopping mall and ate at CafƩ de Carousel. I had my favorite toast :). Then we shopped a bit and went home, showered, watched TV and sleep.

May 22nd, 2005

Today, my second aunt who lives in the building across from my aunt’s building promised me to yum cha, so I woke up crazy early, around 5:00AM, listened to music, read, and then decided to practice some basketball. Now I was rusty at first, but then the J’s started coming. When I saw the sun come out blazing, I left lol. When the sun is out, the heat begins. I took a shower, then around 10:00AM or so, my second aunt calls and tells me to go to the restaurant downstairs. I went and after the tea I left with my cousin to walk around Hong Kong a bit. We went to Sha Tin, they did not have much, other than Snoopy’s World. I was saddened by the fact that they took down the landmark of the Sha Tin mall; the musical fountain. Oh wells. We headed to Mong Kok, the place where all tourists go for cheap stuff. Heck we had no idea where the hell we were going so we just walked around and saw some interesting looking tower. We decided to go in and man was this place grand. Aside from looking modern and ancient (lol what a clash of two worlds), there was a special Star Wars event going on. Although I am not a fan of Star Wars, here are some pictures of the thingy.

When we left the Langham Place, we headed to Kowloon, and the way I know how to get there required some walking. We got on the MTR (this is the subway) and got off at Lok Fu. Once we resurfaced, there was a politician doing something. I had no idea what, so I just power walked out of the area, where the media was. We walked through the park that I always went to when I was a kid. Nothing much changed, although the horror stories still freak me out till this day. Once we got out of the park, a few blocks down will be where my kindergarten, elementary school is and where my home once was. They tore it down and built some old school temples look-a-like thingy there, sigh… just for the tourists. Well, the mission for the day was to find the cheapest price for a Sony PSP and $1690 was the cheapest for the regular edition and $1890 for the value pack. We left after learning the prices and headed home on 75X, the double decker bus hehe.May 23rd, 2005

Today is the day my grandfather comes back from China for his check up. I got up early as usual and played some basketball. After that I took a shower and headed down to CafĆ© de Carousel, the place was packed (while I am out of school, the students in Hong Kong do not get out until early late June, early July), so I said forget this and just went to McDonald’s and got some hotcakes. When that was over, I went back upstairs and watched TV until my grandfather arrived. When he arrived, we went to yum cha and just spent some time walking together as it has been a while since we have done that. We headed to the newly built supermarket and it was clean and does not even look like a supermarket. Attached are some pictures.

After we bought some groceries, I headed home, my grandfather went to walk around, because that is just what he always does. The day ended like usual hehe.May 24th, 2005

Today was my uncle’s off day and all of us went to morning tea. My grandfather left early for his appointment for his check up. I stayed a bit more to feast on more food. After that we went back home and I waited till my grandfather was done. When he came back, we went to afternoon tea, and I ate a lot again :P. Then my days in Hong Kong was ending as I head to China, to the place where my grandfather and ancestors lived; Da Peng, Lung Kee. The bus ride was about an hour and a half long and the scenery was pretty after passing Shen Zhen and seeing all the crazy drivers/Jay walkers. Enjoy the pictures.

May 25th, 2005My first full day in China, I woke up early and my grandfather, his maid and I went to Nam Au (my translation sucks) to yum cha. Immediately I felt the differences between the two places. The buses here all have busted suspensions! You will be lucky to walk out without catching some neck spasm. I also saw that some of these people are so lazy. Why? They cannot even walk a block to the place they want to get off. Let us say someone decides to get off the bus at the beginning of this block, another would get off at the end of this short block! What the hell?

The restaurant was not bad, but the variety was limited. Oh wells, after that we just bought groceries and went home. My uncle from China calls me and then we went sightseeing a bit. Man driving in China is not for n00bs. We were driving by the shore and the damn road had no railings! And there were boulders on the road and the bushes grow out so long, you cannot even see oncoming cars haha, I was glad to have survived that. When we reached the destination, I liked the views and the ocean’s breeze. It is just a feeling I cannot describe. So carefree, away from the stress in New York City :).

May 26th, 2005

Early in the morning, my uncle and I headed to Lung Gong (Dragon River). We hitched a ride from his friend who drove a Honda Fit sedan. The name sounds weird, but it is a car that you probably would not see in America, because we get all the crappy stuff. Just a note, did you know that Acura’s TSX is actually a Honda Accord? So the next time you go saying that your Acura is higher class than your friend’s Honda… think twice. There is just so much benefits from being so close to Japan and having similar demographic interests, such as, being efficient and saving gas/energy; something Americans are just beginning to learn about, because of the outrageously high gas prices :/.

Anyways, Lung Gong was cool, although it is no Shen Zhen as it is not as modernized as Shen Zhen. The restaurant was like four to five stars at least and the area was just nice looking. I have taken some pictures of the symbol of Lung Gong, and as you should expect, it is a humongous statue of a dragon surrounded by a bunch of other smaller dragons below. When we left to go back to Da Peng, my uncle asked if I have ever been to a massage parlor. I was surprised, but said, ‘Let’s go.’ Wow, was it an awkward experience. NO! It is not what television and movies depict it to be, although I am sure there are some that are. It was relaxing. I played basketball last night and she could feel that my muscles were tired. When the full body massage was done I was so loose. The massage cost $25 Yuan, no wonder why people go so often. That is like $2 - $3 bucks American.All that massaging was gone to waste as later at night I went to play basketball again lol. Man I hate how their game is. When they play full court, they run a constant fast break with a basketball that can break your nose, because it is so pumped up with air. While I was not a scorer in the game, I dished for my team, and even when we scored every time when I was controlling the game, they do not pass the ball to me enough. Wow. I was pissed about the game, because I know I can school every single one of them, but was not given the chance to. I left and went home, took a shower and watched this Hong Kong drama that I have been hooked on ever since I came back.

May 27th, 2005

My memory is not serving me well for this day :(, but I believe it was pouring like crazy. So nothing special went on, probably.

May 28th, 2005

Well today after yum cha in the morning my grandfather told my uncle to drive us around, because he saw that I had nothing to do in the house other than read… but that was not the case anymore as I have finished The Da Vinci Code hehe. Well I really had no problem with reading, because it gave me a free mind. But we went to eat crabs, taking the same dangerous road as I described last time. A funny incident happened. Because of rain, the guards were hesitant to allow people through, they stopped a few people and advised them, but when they saw my uncle’s illegal car, they did not even care lol.

The water here is so nice. There was a natural spring water from the mountains (not Poland Spring crap). It was a great place to sit and dine right next to the ocean. I really loved that feeling.

May 29th, 2005

As my days in China are coming to an end, my grandfather, aunt and uncle drove me to West Chung and East Chung. I am not even going to attempt to translate the names. West Chung had several beaches and all of them were clean, blue. I swear, take a look at a picture here, if you had not known that I was in China, you would probably have thought that I was in the Bahamas. Heck, all I needed to sell the picture was a bottle of Corona haha! I love the breeze, the sun, the sound of the waves, does that make me weird? :P.

  

May 30th, 2005Today was a great sight seeing day, but I was stupid enough to not bring my camera! We went to the peak of a mountain and guess what was there; a golf course. Damn rich people. When Chinese people are rich, they are truly rich. Buying stuff with stacks of cash, driving the latest Benz convertible or BMW Z4. Something always came to my mind when I saw rich people living up in the mountains. You see, back in the day, poor people had to live in the mountains, because it was just how it was; cheap. The people with money lived in the city and stuff. Now the whole thing is reversed, hence, some people just do not get it. I wished I had pictures, it was a great scene one after another :(.

May 31st, 2005

Finally, today is the day I go back to Hong Kong with my grandfather. After dim sum, we headed for the bus. Once we got back to Hong Kong, we went back to Sheung Shui to visit my grandmother. Then we shopped at Landmark Mall; this time buying stuff, because I leave on June 2nd. Once we put our luggage back in Tai Po, I called my uncle since Tuesday was his off day. We told him to go to afternoon tea, surprisingly, my aunt got out of work early and the four of us went to afternoon tea, then shopped even more. We walked a lot and I bummed off a pair of all black Air Max 95’s from my grandfather. I also found the best PSP deal, $1630. I bought it for a friend and when I was testing the game when we got home, I told my grandfather, I think I am fixing myself one too lol. We laughed and the night ended.

June 1st, 2005

Well the time has come near and my grandfather and I went to visit my grandmother one more time. After that we took a break in KFC and headed back to Tai Po. We waited for my aunt to come back, then we headed back to the PSP store hehe. We were there to pick up the PSP case, but then my grandfather asked if I wanted it. I said, ‘Yes,’ and I got the value pack edition for $1820, very cheap considering all the throw ins the owner gave. After that we bought groceries and headed home. Later at night, I told my aunt that I was going to the supermarket downstairs to buy snacks for the flight. So she calls my second aunt and we met her there. I just swiped everything not available here in the States and my second aunt offered to pay as a present. Oh wells, when we got back I packed the stuff nicely and waited for the next day to come.

June 2nd, 2005

The day has finally arrived. I woke up at 4:00AM and went back to sleep for an hour later. Everyone woke up, my uncle was heading for work, my aunt, grandfather and my other uncle was going to drive me there and see me off. The drive was shorter than the E41 bus ride. I wished I had taken a picture or two of the Tsing Ma bridge, it is the longest suspended bridge in the world. When we got to the airport, we went to McDonald’s and had a meal there. After the meal I departed for customs check, said my goodbyes and my travel back in time begins.

  

Main Idea of this Rant?! - A diary of my vacation to Hong Kong / China.

  

Closing Statement(s) -

All in all I loved this trip, there were so many cool things that I have seen. You know what? I will add in some pictures of the other places I went a few years ago. All pictures of great tourist areas.

Inside the West Rail.   Newly built at the time.

The famous clock tower of Hong Kong.   A lot of proposals are done under this tower :).

Do I really need to introduce you to my friend here?

The Peak, it is the symbol of Hong Kong.

I am smiling here, not because I am thrilled… it is more of a smile in the face of fear.   I cannot stand heights…

If you are afraid of heights, then this is not the place for you to go… just riding on the tram to get up to the Peak will scare the crap out of you with its’ crazy incline.

This is probably one of my best photos ever taken, but my aunt is in the picture!!! :(

While my trip was short, it was great. There were some stuff that was not all that cool as well. Like some dude cursing at me after I moved out of the way when he said excuse me. I moved myself away without looking at him and he just speak about my mother. WTF? The other incidents were all on the flight back. The person sitting next to me, slept like he was delivering a baby and the dude behind me kept coughing. The lady in front of my had her seat back so much that I wanted to just punch the damn thing so she can realize it. And what is with the babies? The baby a few rows back of me, would not stop crying!!! Argh! The JFK baggage claim sucks. How are you going to put five flight’s luggage at one baggage claim? You should see the crowdedness of the belt and the time it took for me to claim my bag. Sigh… with these negatives, I am still contemplating a trip next year again, as the newest and most modern Disneyland will be opened there by that time. (September 12th, 2005 specifically I believe).