OK!! What does the red-shirters have to do with the chips? And why are chips so important? And why am I making a big fuss out of chips? It's a long story. So, I will try to make the long story short:
Chips are our past time. It's a girly past time. Especially when we want to return to our puberty time and enjoy those silly conversations about classmates (now ex-classmates or colleagues), school (now work), boys (now husbands or boyfriends). We have planned our whole trip around chips because 1) Thailand has perhaps the most variety of chips 2) We can consume all different kinds of chips and be nostalgic about the good old days.
Unfortunately, there is something in my body that stops me from enjoying chips to their fullest. If I eat too much, I will have fever. I am not kidding you. I only found that out when I became a full-grown adult. (By which I mean when I was 25) haha! This was also the time when I realized that I couldn't drink alcohol (I had alcohol poisoning once when I studied in London. And the doc (bear in mind that he is a caucasian) had to tell me that I should refrain from any alcoholic drinks.
Anyway, I still lingered to the dreams of enjoying one or two pieces of chips even to see my friends having such a wonderful time is good enough for me (How nice I am...) So, we have planned to go to the supermarket on Sunday for Sunday night will be our last night in Bangkok.
We went different ways to do our last shopping and agreed to meet at the food court at Parragon so that we could invade the gigantic food mall there. We ate our lunch and got ourselves ready to march to the snacks counter when suddenly we were stopped by the security guard at the entrance.
We were all shocked and I asked the security guard why we couldn't get in. She just said "EMERGENCY". And then I asked, "What kind of emergency to stop us from shopping and what's going on?" She then whispered into her supervisor's ears and afterwards with a nod from him, she told me "MOB! MOB outside". And we were sure that it must be the red-shirters. Luckily, we had learnt the shortcut so we left quickly and returned to our hotel in no time.
By then, I saw my cell had several missed calls. Four from my two brothers. Two text messages from my colleagues and friends. And I called them up to tell them we were very safe. Mortified, my brothers refused to believe me and thought I lied to them. I had to tell them this is not a voice mail to calm them down. Only when I returned to Hong Kong did I realize that what's shown on TV terrified the Hong Kong people. How powerful media can be!!
In fact, the only scary episode of the whole drama was that we saw the tank..... from our hotel. And apart from that, we were really safe. Shops and supermarkets were closed to avoid looting. But restaurants were still open and that's why we could enjoy C'est Bon (the French restaurant chain). Since there were no shops open, we were so desperate that we had to kill time at Intercontinental's ripping-off-tourists shop.
The street was not so dead quiet. There were still quite a few hawkers selling jewels and dodgy-looking hotpants. Still clinging on the dreams of a chips party, my friends asked one another if there were any 7/11s around Intercontinental. I couldn't believe my ears. Amidst the possible danger of riots, they were still thinking about...chips. How amazing! Other friends were already looking at those dodgy-looking pants and raved about how nicely they look on their butts and how thrilled their husbands would be when they saw them wearing those pants (One is a black one with a lot of cherries on as far as I could recall). I kept rolling my eyes as I guess cherries would expand to appalling shapes once they are on a human butt.... But... beauty on the eyes of a beholder. So, I shut my mouth.
We did have a great party sans chips. We did talk a lot about our lives together and we did ride the waves, for better or worse. Kapunka, Bangkok.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Tsoi Yuen Village - sacrifice for the greater good? To hell with the greater good!
I was supposed to continue talking about the red-shirters debacle on my Part II Trip to Thailand. But as there are something I believe it's more urgent to address, I skip my trifle and here discuss a more dire issue before I go back to my whining and dining (ahem. I don't drink while I dine. But I whine whenever I have time, so...)
I am now a researcher working on two projects: one is my thesis on the Hong Kong indigenous women. The other project I am working on is the railway dispute between the government and the Tsoi Yuen village. I happen to have the privilege working on this project because the village was just a doorstep away. Because of my research, I have moved from my home in the urban area to the village close to Tsoi yuen a year ago and I heard the whole dispute from the villagers in my village. Out of curiosity and a fervent encouragement by my supervisor, I began to work on this project as a paper.
I wasn't very familiar with the village. To be honest, I am not familiar with the rural part of Hong Kong at all. People living in the city thought they are self-sufficient and thus, very often, do not find the need to go to the countryside. If they do, it's more because of leisure. For me, I did the same. Why bother to go to the countryside if I can find everything in the city.
Working on the ethnographic research about the village and the railway dispute teaches me what self-sufficiency really means. It means you grow your own food and you eat your own food. During the economic downturn, if you can't sell your vegetables, you eat them. You eat your rice. You mix your own honey with water and the drink is absolutely refreshing. And this is such a novel experience to an urbanite like me.
However, the government has planned to build a new rail connecting Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou that will shorten the time of commute to one hour.
I have no objection whatsover to the building of a railway. After all, I enjoy traveling by train and it's always more fun to travel by land than by air.
But, if this is built on somebody's soil and homes will be wrecked and families be destroyed. What should we do?
Well, I guess a responsible and considerate government will first look into the case and see how it could help to rebuild the homes of the affected. In such a way that villagers could still maintain their own ways of living, if the choice of the villagers' invaluable land becomes inevitable. In short, the government would uphold quality living for their people as top priority and minimize the disturbance done to the villagers.
Usually, before undertaking this sort of huge project, a responsible, civilized and considerate will widely consult the public, and then conduct an environmental assessment report, before discussing and negotiating with the affected parties.
Unfortunately, our government, in order to appease the Chinese government,jumps the queue. That's to say, they copy down and conduct spot check of each household in the village before even the local district body knows.
The upshot: I have been witnessing hubbubs and confusion and crying in the village. I could hear laments, roars of frustration. I could see tears weltering in the eyes of grannies. I could hear sobbing about the loss of their farm. I have heard loads and loads of stories about their 50 years tying to the soil.
I heard one story from Tang Gun tai's mother, who is 70 something. I bumped into her one time near the market and we took the minibus together. I asked how she was doing. Looking frightful, she was shaking when she told me how scared she was if she had to leave the village. "I spent 50 years with the soil of Tsoi Yuen village. I built my own house, my own farm. Now, I spend my time at my home growing and selling my own vegetables. I don't know what I can do if I remove my house. I don't want to live in the public housing estate. This is my entire life!!. Where else can I go? I know no one. I have my kids of course. But the soil is my life. It has always been my entire life! I am very scared!!" Her eyes were red and full of tears.
As a researcher, I have to stay as objective and independent as possible. But at the same time, I can't help feeling the dread, the unwillingness, the frustration, the anger of those people. It moves me. Despite the differences among the villagers. Despite the different concerns between the so called "indigenous" and
"non-indigenous" villagers, I feel the same concern, the same bewilderment among them. Why take my home? Why don't you care that this is my home? Does it matter whether I am not the "indigenous" or "non-indigenous" when this has been my home since God knows when?
Well, I guess there is still a long road for Hong Kong to pride herself a modernized and civilized society if she could just ignore and marginalize those who are not in power..... Power to the people, by the people? It's now up to the Legislative council to prove itself it's not a rubber stamp.
I am now a researcher working on two projects: one is my thesis on the Hong Kong indigenous women. The other project I am working on is the railway dispute between the government and the Tsoi Yuen village. I happen to have the privilege working on this project because the village was just a doorstep away. Because of my research, I have moved from my home in the urban area to the village close to Tsoi yuen a year ago and I heard the whole dispute from the villagers in my village. Out of curiosity and a fervent encouragement by my supervisor, I began to work on this project as a paper.
I wasn't very familiar with the village. To be honest, I am not familiar with the rural part of Hong Kong at all. People living in the city thought they are self-sufficient and thus, very often, do not find the need to go to the countryside. If they do, it's more because of leisure. For me, I did the same. Why bother to go to the countryside if I can find everything in the city.
Working on the ethnographic research about the village and the railway dispute teaches me what self-sufficiency really means. It means you grow your own food and you eat your own food. During the economic downturn, if you can't sell your vegetables, you eat them. You eat your rice. You mix your own honey with water and the drink is absolutely refreshing. And this is such a novel experience to an urbanite like me.
However, the government has planned to build a new rail connecting Hong Kong, Shenzhen and Guangzhou that will shorten the time of commute to one hour.
I have no objection whatsover to the building of a railway. After all, I enjoy traveling by train and it's always more fun to travel by land than by air.
But, if this is built on somebody's soil and homes will be wrecked and families be destroyed. What should we do?
Well, I guess a responsible and considerate government will first look into the case and see how it could help to rebuild the homes of the affected. In such a way that villagers could still maintain their own ways of living, if the choice of the villagers' invaluable land becomes inevitable. In short, the government would uphold quality living for their people as top priority and minimize the disturbance done to the villagers.
Usually, before undertaking this sort of huge project, a responsible, civilized and considerate will widely consult the public, and then conduct an environmental assessment report, before discussing and negotiating with the affected parties.
Unfortunately, our government, in order to appease the Chinese government,jumps the queue. That's to say, they copy down and conduct spot check of each household in the village before even the local district body knows.
The upshot: I have been witnessing hubbubs and confusion and crying in the village. I could hear laments, roars of frustration. I could see tears weltering in the eyes of grannies. I could hear sobbing about the loss of their farm. I have heard loads and loads of stories about their 50 years tying to the soil.
I heard one story from Tang Gun tai's mother, who is 70 something. I bumped into her one time near the market and we took the minibus together. I asked how she was doing. Looking frightful, she was shaking when she told me how scared she was if she had to leave the village. "I spent 50 years with the soil of Tsoi Yuen village. I built my own house, my own farm. Now, I spend my time at my home growing and selling my own vegetables. I don't know what I can do if I remove my house. I don't want to live in the public housing estate. This is my entire life!!. Where else can I go? I know no one. I have my kids of course. But the soil is my life. It has always been my entire life! I am very scared!!" Her eyes were red and full of tears.
As a researcher, I have to stay as objective and independent as possible. But at the same time, I can't help feeling the dread, the unwillingness, the frustration, the anger of those people. It moves me. Despite the differences among the villagers. Despite the different concerns between the so called "indigenous" and
"non-indigenous" villagers, I feel the same concern, the same bewilderment among them. Why take my home? Why don't you care that this is my home? Does it matter whether I am not the "indigenous" or "non-indigenous" when this has been my home since God knows when?
Well, I guess there is still a long road for Hong Kong to pride herself a modernized and civilized society if she could just ignore and marginalize those who are not in power..... Power to the people, by the people? It's now up to the Legislative council to prove itself it's not a rubber stamp.
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
Trip to Thailand - Part 1- Nutty cab driver - Sawadee Ka ! Ma Pood Thai! Leave me alone!!
How wonderful when you realized that at the age of 40 (well, almost), you still have a gang of buddies who are ready to have some juvenile fun with you. Even though sprout after sprout of grey hair is now visible on your scalp and almost all of your friends are happily married, even with kids. Family is a big concern when you are planning a big 4 day trip with your uni buddies. And every 10 years, we have this, and it's such a big deal to all of us. As I wrote on my facebook, a triumph of sisterhood.
This time, I still live up to my name of rabble-rouser. My main role is to provide entertainment and laughter for my folks. I am never a good organizer of a trip so I leave it to my friends to deal with it. Anyway, we had loads of fun. We went back to where we belong: Eat,shop and be merry. Lots of horrendous laughter every five to ten minutes (I think in some ways it's pretty much what happened to girls from Catholic girls school- totally unrestrained when it comes to expresing their joy). I squeeze time to enjoy the sun by the pool while my dear friends cook their way out and smell with chilly and curry from buttering up their culinary skills in a Thai cooking school.
The first two days were rather peaceful even though my brothers were on the verge of dying when they heard that I would be going to Bangkok. "I can't believe you did that to us. Don't you know there are those red-shirters. Why are you that carefree? I want to die." I still can't understand why men are prone to heart attack. Or perhaps that only happens to those men around me. Sorry!
We couldn't sense how serious the situation was because at the heart of Bangkok, it was business as usual. We only knew that the red-shirters were going nuts and wrecking the ASEAN conference in Pattaya. Only in Pattaya. So, we kept laughing like crazy, shopping till we dropped, massaging here and there and most importantly eating whereever and whenever we could.
Not quite carefree... indeed the night before the red-shirters returned, we were already in trouble - with taxi-driver. We had dinner at China town and afterwards we split into two groups and got on taxis. As usual, I began with a seemingly proficient "Sawadee ka" and then before they started talking to me in a language that I barely understood, I flaunted the hotel address (in Thai of course) to direct the driver to the hotel, the next thing was that he spoke to me in Thai and squinted his eyes. Right away, I suspected that he probably didn't know where to go. He kept talking to me in Thai, with me telling him "Ma Pood Thai" which means "I don't speak Thai." Perhaps my thai friend taught me the wrong phrase. Because the more I told him "Ma pood Thai", the more Thai he spoke. I was so scared. And then while he kept speaking to me, he missed a turn and we went all the way to a one way road. We almost wanted to kill ourselves. He kept turning round and round. My friends were feeling sorry for him because apparently he didn't know where to go. In fact, he was freaking out. I, the merciless one, was in full rage and at the end, I made my frustration verbally known to my friends. "I am really pissed. You know." Once I said that, they stopped talking and I bellowed at the driver, "STOOOOP!!!". He was so scared that he dropped us off at the middle of the road and cars just screeched by. We rushed across the road and quickly walked 5 minutes down to Parragon.
We took another cab at Parragon. This time, we wanted to make sure the cab driver understood English, and didn't take me as one of them. So, I switched to English and he perfectly understood and he spoke perfect English. As soon as we fastened our seatbelt and thinking of the jacuzzi in our rooms,he, the sneaky driver, took us to a big detour. My friends and I, who just did the round and round the rosie, quickly realized that was wrong again. But the driver just hummed song and kept saying, "solly.Oh solly!! I am solly!!" Now we know he is cheating. I went so berserk that anything came out from my mouth was God knows what as vulgar as possible in English and I screamed the hell out of him. I told him i would take him to the police station (and coincidentally, a police car was just in front of us). And my friends at the back were screaming"NO BULLSHIT!! GET YOUR DAMN CAR TO OUR HOTEL!!" And I kept saying the f--- word in Cantonese with a mix of the English f---,without realizing that i was doing it.( I was notified by my friend that I was the epitome of a psychopath). Probably that scared the driver, he immediately said, "OK!OK! Free meter." And at the end, I stormed out of the car, without paying a penny, of course.
Well, "Never underestimate the power of a woman" but better, 'Never underestimate the power of rage to a woman'.
This time, I still live up to my name of rabble-rouser. My main role is to provide entertainment and laughter for my folks. I am never a good organizer of a trip so I leave it to my friends to deal with it. Anyway, we had loads of fun. We went back to where we belong: Eat,shop and be merry. Lots of horrendous laughter every five to ten minutes (I think in some ways it's pretty much what happened to girls from Catholic girls school- totally unrestrained when it comes to expresing their joy). I squeeze time to enjoy the sun by the pool while my dear friends cook their way out and smell with chilly and curry from buttering up their culinary skills in a Thai cooking school.
The first two days were rather peaceful even though my brothers were on the verge of dying when they heard that I would be going to Bangkok. "I can't believe you did that to us. Don't you know there are those red-shirters. Why are you that carefree? I want to die." I still can't understand why men are prone to heart attack. Or perhaps that only happens to those men around me. Sorry!
We couldn't sense how serious the situation was because at the heart of Bangkok, it was business as usual. We only knew that the red-shirters were going nuts and wrecking the ASEAN conference in Pattaya. Only in Pattaya. So, we kept laughing like crazy, shopping till we dropped, massaging here and there and most importantly eating whereever and whenever we could.
Not quite carefree... indeed the night before the red-shirters returned, we were already in trouble - with taxi-driver. We had dinner at China town and afterwards we split into two groups and got on taxis. As usual, I began with a seemingly proficient "Sawadee ka" and then before they started talking to me in a language that I barely understood, I flaunted the hotel address (in Thai of course) to direct the driver to the hotel, the next thing was that he spoke to me in Thai and squinted his eyes. Right away, I suspected that he probably didn't know where to go. He kept talking to me in Thai, with me telling him "Ma Pood Thai" which means "I don't speak Thai." Perhaps my thai friend taught me the wrong phrase. Because the more I told him "Ma pood Thai", the more Thai he spoke. I was so scared. And then while he kept speaking to me, he missed a turn and we went all the way to a one way road. We almost wanted to kill ourselves. He kept turning round and round. My friends were feeling sorry for him because apparently he didn't know where to go. In fact, he was freaking out. I, the merciless one, was in full rage and at the end, I made my frustration verbally known to my friends. "I am really pissed. You know." Once I said that, they stopped talking and I bellowed at the driver, "STOOOOP!!!". He was so scared that he dropped us off at the middle of the road and cars just screeched by. We rushed across the road and quickly walked 5 minutes down to Parragon.
We took another cab at Parragon. This time, we wanted to make sure the cab driver understood English, and didn't take me as one of them. So, I switched to English and he perfectly understood and he spoke perfect English. As soon as we fastened our seatbelt and thinking of the jacuzzi in our rooms,he, the sneaky driver, took us to a big detour. My friends and I, who just did the round and round the rosie, quickly realized that was wrong again. But the driver just hummed song and kept saying, "solly.Oh solly!! I am solly!!" Now we know he is cheating. I went so berserk that anything came out from my mouth was God knows what as vulgar as possible in English and I screamed the hell out of him. I told him i would take him to the police station (and coincidentally, a police car was just in front of us). And my friends at the back were screaming"NO BULLSHIT!! GET YOUR DAMN CAR TO OUR HOTEL!!" And I kept saying the f--- word in Cantonese with a mix of the English f---,without realizing that i was doing it.( I was notified by my friend that I was the epitome of a psychopath). Probably that scared the driver, he immediately said, "OK!OK! Free meter." And at the end, I stormed out of the car, without paying a penny, of course.
Well, "Never underestimate the power of a woman" but better, 'Never underestimate the power of rage to a woman'.
Saturday, May 9, 2009
I am really BACK!! "You are such a writing girl. But too rational!!" "Yes, I am a rational writing girl"
Helloooo,
I got a facebook message from my first love, who hasn't been in touch with me for 15 something years. It was like this: I checked my gmail account, (in fact, every single account for like,... every two hours...) and there popped up a name that sounded too unfamiliar. Isn't it pathetic to say that? But that was how I felt. I was wondering who the hell was that guy shooting me a message on facebook and I would swear not let him be my friend. And then, you know from gmail, that you can see the first line... and it goes like "Its(sic) nearly 20 years, got a feeling that I could find you in FB.Been hesitating to send this message..............
Throughout all these years , always want to say "sorry" to you."
Now, after I received his facebook message, a few things came to my mind (nothing romantic,no butterflies in my stomach, OK? I have no romantic feelings whatsoever. He is no longer my cup of tea! Just to set the record straight!!):
1) Facebook is really powerful!
2) Facebook is really damn powerful!!
3) Facebook is so damn powerful that it scares me!!
Of course, one of the reasons I joined facebook has nothing to do with its power. To be honest, I was too dumb to even realize why on earth people need this thing when we have emails and msn already. Anyway, my flatmates Kate and Janit wanted to keep in touch with me in the facebookish way after I left for fieldwork and so I nodded and joined and got addicted and pretty much now a facebook junkie checking it like every one or two hours. At first, I found the idea quite repulsive as I would need to update my stuff and upload my photos on my page. But then, I managed to find some of my long lost friends in the college who are now miles away in their hometown and then some of my ex-colleagues and I began to think that this is not such a bad idea to be able to share your updates without paying the phonebills calling tonnes of people. How smart!!
And then, along came my ex, who shared how he felt about me and what he has suffered (and achieved) of course for the past, I guess, if I remember correctly, 15 years (we broke up when I was 24 and we went out for 6 years). And then we exchanged 22 messages of which they are all long and intense (not romantic at all, please don't think otherwise.) emails of life and I turned into Aunt Agony and finally, I got a compliment (at least that's how I take it). "You are really a writing girl! But too rational!" And I replied: "Yes, I am really a writing girl. I am really a rational writing girl! That's what keeps me afloat." Yes, he is right. I am a writing girl. But I am not sure whether that floating part from my response is true. I guess I am floating, at least, for the moment.
Well, how can I not love facebook! Anything can happen in this virtual world. I guess something bizarre may happen again in no time. Facebook, I love you. And I am a writing girl; and you are one of my muses.
I got a facebook message from my first love, who hasn't been in touch with me for 15 something years. It was like this: I checked my gmail account, (in fact, every single account for like,... every two hours...) and there popped up a name that sounded too unfamiliar. Isn't it pathetic to say that? But that was how I felt. I was wondering who the hell was that guy shooting me a message on facebook and I would swear not let him be my friend. And then, you know from gmail, that you can see the first line... and it goes like "Its(sic) nearly 20 years, got a feeling that I could find you in FB.Been hesitating to send this message..............
Throughout all these years , always want to say "sorry" to you."
Now, after I received his facebook message, a few things came to my mind (nothing romantic,no butterflies in my stomach, OK? I have no romantic feelings whatsoever. He is no longer my cup of tea! Just to set the record straight!!):
1) Facebook is really powerful!
2) Facebook is really damn powerful!!
3) Facebook is so damn powerful that it scares me!!
Of course, one of the reasons I joined facebook has nothing to do with its power. To be honest, I was too dumb to even realize why on earth people need this thing when we have emails and msn already. Anyway, my flatmates Kate and Janit wanted to keep in touch with me in the facebookish way after I left for fieldwork and so I nodded and joined and got addicted and pretty much now a facebook junkie checking it like every one or two hours. At first, I found the idea quite repulsive as I would need to update my stuff and upload my photos on my page. But then, I managed to find some of my long lost friends in the college who are now miles away in their hometown and then some of my ex-colleagues and I began to think that this is not such a bad idea to be able to share your updates without paying the phonebills calling tonnes of people. How smart!!
And then, along came my ex, who shared how he felt about me and what he has suffered (and achieved) of course for the past, I guess, if I remember correctly, 15 years (we broke up when I was 24 and we went out for 6 years). And then we exchanged 22 messages of which they are all long and intense (not romantic at all, please don't think otherwise.) emails of life and I turned into Aunt Agony and finally, I got a compliment (at least that's how I take it). "You are really a writing girl! But too rational!" And I replied: "Yes, I am really a writing girl. I am really a rational writing girl! That's what keeps me afloat." Yes, he is right. I am a writing girl. But I am not sure whether that floating part from my response is true. I guess I am floating, at least, for the moment.
Well, how can I not love facebook! Anything can happen in this virtual world. I guess something bizarre may happen again in no time. Facebook, I love you. And I am a writing girl; and you are one of my muses.
Why I have disappeared for such a long time? um....
Ok, There is a list of reasons why I have disappeared from my blog for such a ruddy long time:
-Lazy, lazy and lazy!!
-Too much work!! Trust me!! It's not an oxymoron from what I just said. My work at school and my research at another school drove me into a crazy woman constantly dreaming about my bed with my teddy bear bedsheet (my late mother bought it for me before she died as she wanted to think of me as still her little daughter....a bit perverse and the cause of my peter pan syndrome... )Perennially deprived of sleep. I need to be lazy because I need to escape from the cruel reality of neverending work. I need a break.... from everything. The first thing I could give myself a break is to... stop writing my blog.
-Too much traveling in the past few months - closely related to the above two. Just finished my trip to Thailand (for fun) and Beijing (for work) and now coming up - with the trip to the States (for work, again!!). I love traveling but constant traveling means that I would need to give something up and then... well... my blog writing stops.
-Too many excuses.....
-All of the above
I think it's time that I should start coming back to my blog because 1) I have got tonnes of things to write; 2) I have to use this to reorganize my thoughts for my research 3) all of the above.
Let the writing begin, again!!
Good night and see you later!!!
-Lazy, lazy and lazy!!
-Too much work!! Trust me!! It's not an oxymoron from what I just said. My work at school and my research at another school drove me into a crazy woman constantly dreaming about my bed with my teddy bear bedsheet (my late mother bought it for me before she died as she wanted to think of me as still her little daughter....a bit perverse and the cause of my peter pan syndrome... )Perennially deprived of sleep. I need to be lazy because I need to escape from the cruel reality of neverending work. I need a break.... from everything. The first thing I could give myself a break is to... stop writing my blog.
-Too much traveling in the past few months - closely related to the above two. Just finished my trip to Thailand (for fun) and Beijing (for work) and now coming up - with the trip to the States (for work, again!!). I love traveling but constant traveling means that I would need to give something up and then... well... my blog writing stops.
-Too many excuses.....
-All of the above
I think it's time that I should start coming back to my blog because 1) I have got tonnes of things to write; 2) I have to use this to reorganize my thoughts for my research 3) all of the above.
Let the writing begin, again!!
Good night and see you later!!!
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