Wanderer...still

Wow

2009-10-31T09:01:00.003Z

Wow - It is the first word that comes into my mind now I am back on the blogging scene.

How can it be such a long time since I have last written something? There had been a lot of thoughts that I wish I could treasure. Whilst there are some memories that should be erased, they are memories nevertheless.

So four years on, spent mostly in my birthplace but also elsewhere in Asia, it has been a pivotal four years with some upheavals in my life.

First I've moved to HK finally, which was particularly exciting at the beginning. The first task was to find myself a job. That was particularly difficult as I was going through a career change. I wondered how I managed.

Wardshuset Ulla Winbladh

2005-07-19T19:36:00.000+01:00

As I was packing, I digged out this postcard from Stockholm.

It was from a really good restaurant that I went to whilst in the city. The food was very good and the service was of a very high standard.

I would highly recommend it to anyone who happens to visit that part of town to pay it a visit.

http://www.ullawinbladh.se

Interrail, flight and travel insurance

2005-07-12T22:09:00.000+01:00

Most of my current arrangements have been finalised. My Eurostar ticket has come through, the interrail pass and the travel insurance from STA Travel have been purchased.

The Eurostar ticket to Paris was 19 pounds, as I had a voucher from the girl's magazine What to wear.

The selected travel insurance contains the best cover possible, given this is one of my first major solo travel.

The interrail pass was purchased from Rail Europe at Piccadilly. The process was speedy and I had my passport at hand to show. Unfortunately there was a booking fee of 6 pounds.

Bouncing back

2005-07-08T11:08:00.000+01:00

Bouncing back
Originally uploaded by natural_and_happy.

I went into work today on the District Line. It was a comfortable ride without the usual throng of commuters and tourists. However there was an errie silence in the carriage and a cool breeze that adds to the somber atmosphere.

Eurostar booking

2005-07-04T14:45:00.000+01:00

I have booked my Eurostar train!!

25th July - Leaving London Waterloo in the afternoon and arriving Paris Gare du Nord late evening.

Mediterranean

2005-06-30T19:31:00.000+01:00

What a momentous day! First I took half a day off to queue for Live 8 Screen tickets.

How mad must I be? In fact it took less than half an hour to get them. I got chatting with this girl who works in the advertising agency whilst queuing. She offered me the shelter of her umbrella, nice and interesting conversation, of course. Apparently it is all about who you know in the industry.

Off I went to Borders to check out travel guides. 20% off most Lonely Planet guides. Sod's Law: except Mediterranean Europe, which I wanted. Being a Mediterranean by nature, I peeled off the discount sticker from one of the books and slapped it on mine. What's the best is that I got away with it! Yah, Europe on a shoestring starts here...

To round the day off, I met my colleague in Hyde Park to check out this Keane concert.It was so energised. We discovered that a ticket is required. Again a Mediterranean by nature, we looked for gaps in the fence literally. The stern security guard would not allow us in, but pointed us to this area with lots of metal fences. They were of course very climb-able! We were in...I think I took my colleague by surprise that I was serious about climbing the fence. We ran and ran...no guards, no spotlight, no dogs, blood on my hands (scratch on the fence!). Then two usher-like individuals were checking for bracelets. 'Could you let us in please?' said my colleague. No bracelet? After some discussion, one of them said to the other, 'oh it doesn't matter, doesn't it?. Final stage passed and we got there finally! Keane were playing their last two songs. Horrah! Electrifying atmosphere..I am a convert of live concerts. I was thrilled to be there and can't wait for Live 8!

F.I.L.T.H.

2005-06-22T12:45:00.000+01:00

As the preparation to move to HK continues, I will write a dummy's guide to becoming a FILTH (Failed in London, try Hong Kong).

Current ideas

Job hunt/accommodation/culture/sport/climate/entertainment

all from an ex-hongkonger perspective

all ideas welcome

Aircraft emissions to double by 2030 despite hi-tech jets

2005-06-21T13:55:00.000+01:00

By Ben Webster, Transport Correspondent, The Times

Any savings in average emissions per flight will be eclipsed by the huge growth in air travel.

GREENHOUSE gas emissions from aircraft will double by 2030 even if airlines invest in new fuel-efficient planes, the industry predicted yesterday.

Any savings in average emissions per flight will be eclipsed by the huge growth in air travel forecast for the next 25 years.

British airlines, airports and aerospace manufacturers yesterday published a strategy for improving efficiency, which included an ambitious target for halving emissions per trip.

The Sustainable Aviation group, which includes British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Airbus UK and BAA, the airports operator, has been set up to lobby against environmental taxes on aviation.

The European Commission is investigating the feasibility of a tax on aviation fuel or an emissions charge as an alternative, or in addition, to extending its emissions trading scheme to airlines.

The group aims to introduce new aircraft by 2020 that will produce 50 per cent less carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, than equivalent new aircraft did in 2000.

Other targets include reducing nitrogen oxides by 80 per cent and noise by 50 per cent.

The group admits that improvements in efficiency will not keep pace with the rising number of flights. Roger Wiltshire, the chairman of the group, said: “Growth in demand for air travel may well exceed growth in technology’s ability to offset emissions.”

The Government estimates that passenger numbers will more than double, from 200 million in 2003 to 470 million in 2030. Aircraft carbon dioxide emissions, even assuming that fuel efficiency targets are met, are predicted to increase from 8.8 million tonnes in 2000 to 18 million by 2030.

The group admits that emissions of greenhouse gases at cruising altitude are far more damaging than emissions at ground level. Environmental groups say that the impact is three times greater. At this rate, a passenger on a return flight from London to New York would contribute twice as much to global warming as the average driver does in a year.

The group pledged to cooperate with scientists in investigating the impact of emissions at altitude. It also gave a commitment to report each airline’s fleet fuel efficiency by the end of 2005. This will expose those airlines which have failed to invest in new aircraft.

Airlines will also encourage passengers to make voluntary contributions to offset their carbon emissions. Several projects, including Future Forests and Atmosfair, already offer air passengers the opportunity to pay for carbon-reducing measures such as planting trees.

British Airways is going further by working with customers from large corporations to help them to offset all their carbon dioxide emissions.

Andy Kershaw, BA’s environmental affairs manager, said that the airline would calculate the emissions from all flights booked by a company and then jointly invest in sustainable projects around the world.

The group hopes to persuade the Government that aviation can best help the environment not by reducing its own emissions but by paying for other industries to cut theirs.

Mr Wiltshire rejected calls for environmental taxes on flights, describing them as a “blunt, inappropriate and ineffective weapon”.

But the group admitted that airlines were unlikely to find an alternative to fossil fuels to power aircraft for several decades.

The GreenSkies Alliance, a coalition of environmental groups opposed to the growth of aviation, said that the targets in the strategy were merely commitments to conduct research and that there was no guarantee they would be met.

Jeff Gazzard, the alliance’s co-ordinator, said: “The best that can be said is that this strategy, if it happens — and it’s a really big if — will make things a little less horrible than would otherwise be the case.”

Twenty-five hours to Shanghai

2005-06-20T14:21:00.000+01:00

From the Financial Times
By Fionnuala McHugh
Published: June 18 2005 03:00

All the guide books warn you that travelling in China before the lunar new year is an experience to be avoided. According to China Daily, the government's newspaper, there are 40m people in transit every day, travelling home to celebrate the spring festival with their families; it's the world's largest annual migration.

But I suddenly needed to go north and squawking up the rail track from Hong Kong to Shanghai, a 25-and-a-half hour trip, seemed most appropriate.

The K100 express through-train from Hong Kong's Hung Hom station to Shanghai leaves on alternate days, and loops northeast through four provinces. You can opt for hard-sleeper (a six-berth compartment), soft sleeper (four berth) or de luxe (two berth).

Six could be claustrophobic, two possibly sinister, so I decided to be cosy in four and at 3pm one humid afternoon at the end of January we set off - Mr Ma, aged 78, originally from Jiangsu province, and a Shanghainese woman going home with her 10-year-old autistic daughter.

The little girl rocked backwards and forwards with the train's motion, gasping quietly, clasping her hands in agitation as Hong Kong's housing estates sailed by. She was at a special school in Shanghai, said her mother, but the classes were so big, the teachers so overwhelmed . . . "Useless," cried Mr Ma sympathetically.

Shortly afterwards, the cabin attendants came in with hot water for our communal thermos flask and, after some consultation, mother and child were moved to a de luxe compartment so they could sleep together in a wider bed.

Then Mr Ma and I looked at each other and smiled, as you do when you realise that you are going to spend a whole day (and night) with a stranger. Mr Ma produced some nougat sweets, leaned over and asked, in an undertone: "What do you think of Zhao Ziyang's funeral?" Zhao Ziyang, former premier of China, who had been under house arrest since his public support of the students in Tiananmen Square in 1989, had died the previous week.

I eyed Mr Ma speculatively, wondering if he worked undercover for the Public Security Bureau, and said that it was an interesting situation.

"Jiang Zemin hates Zhao Ziyang!" cried Mr Ma. When I observed, mildly, that Hu Jintao, not Jiang Zemin, was now president of China, Mr Ma made a dismissive gesture: "Hu Jintao is too young!" (Hu Jintao is 62.) What about Mao? I asked. (Mao Tse-tung was 56 when modern China was born in 1949.) "Oh, Mao," said Mr Ma, and he looked out of the window, thinking, stirring Equal sweeteners into his coffee.

That beverage alone marked Mr Ma out as a man who had travelled far. Like everyone else in China, I preferred to drink big-leaf green tea, topping the same cup up for hours from the thermos; by nightfall, it would be a murky specimen of pond-life. Coffee-drinking Mr Ma's children lived abroad and he spent his time visiting them in the West but here he was, at 78, riding through the slush and mud of southern China, returning to a village where he had no close Âliving relatives after a gap of six years. Why? Mr Ma looked helpless. It was inexplicable. "I like my native land," he said, finally.

But under the spring mists, the raw countryside beyond the window often looked devastated, strangely reminiscent of Paul Nash's World War I paintings - a churned-up landscape with a line of poplars edging a road, and the black smudge of a motorbike, and its sidecar, heading off into the distance.

The villages are ramshackle, their original houses decaying, their new ones half-built. China, as the rooster crows in the dawn of another year in the 21st-century is, you feel, a place that is neither here nor there, young nor old, persistent but somehow askew.

"It's my native land," said Mr Ma, again, and when I looked out of the window, I saw how it could be a matter of perspective. Close to the railway track, the earth is rigidly farmed and by far the tidiest thing to be seen on the whole journey is that neat compulsion of agriculture. Beyond are the lumpy villages and then, on the horizon, rising like a creation from The Wizard of Oz, connected by ring-roads and half-built bridges, are the pale, ghostly cities.

The train offers the backstage view of China's theatrical pantomime, which the rest of the world is watching agog. There are satellite dishes on top of those shimmering Âdistant skyscrapers but that woman toiling beneath the embankment is wearing a conical hat unchanged in design for several millennia.

Mr Ma went to bed early, stretched out on the bottom bunk. I watched him sleeping for a while. He looked shrewdly amused, as if his dreams required concentration but were entertaining. Then I tucked his quilt around his feet and stood in the corridor, feeling piously Confucian, and I thought about home and tried to imagine what it would be like to be Mr Ma, kowtowing to his ancestors in a few days' time.

In the middle of the night, the train stopped at Zhuzhou station in Hunan province, only a few hundred miles, as the rooster flies, from Mao's birthplace in Shaoshan. Dumpling carts were steaming expectantly on the empty platform; their operators, alert in white caps and long white coats, looked like surgeons until one of them blew his nose between his fingers and flung the snot on to the platform. Another train pulled in opposite. Suddenly, as if a pistol had been fired, the platform was thronged with migrant workers, laden with massive bags and scrappy suitcases tied up with cord, shoving to get on it as if that train were the last chance of escape from a war zone.

I could see a woman with a megaphone yelling from the train doorway, I could see the police managing the frantic crowd, and I could see the faces of the passengers already on the train, stricken with the knowledge that the hordes were about to descend upon them. There was a rustle nearby: Mr Ma was awake. He pulled himself up a little, looked out on the scene, and said, cheerfully: "Everybody going home!"

In the morning, Mr Ma and I had noodles and kumquats for breakfast. We bought them from the trolleys that were wheeled up and down the train corridor; later on, the attendants would offer more enterprising fare, such as fake Chanel and Louis Vuitton bags, and Spring Festival greeting cards which read "Happy New Ywar".

Mr Ma took some pills - "For youth", he explained - while the countryside of Jiangxi province unfolded pagodas and orchards and rice-fields. "Much fighting here," said Mr Ma, succinctly, as he peered up into the misty hills. "Mao".

It was in this landscape that the Chinese Communist party forged its identity, with painful determination, against the Guomindang 80 years ago, and began its Long March to a new China. In a drizzle as persistently linear as the fields, a man shifted under the weight of a pole with a load on either end. I watched him and then asked Mr Ma if he felt sad when Mao died. "Sad?" cried Mr Ma, astonished. "I happy!"

London is the best place to eat?

2005-06-19T20:00:00.000+01:00

The Sunday Telegraph
By Karyn Miller
(Filed: 27/02/2005)

London is the best place to eat on the planet, according to America's leading food magazine. The latest edition of Gourmet says its restaurants are far superior to rivals in Paris, Rome and New York.

Editors of the "food bible" said they were "blown away" by London's food. "The glory days are back," said one.

Gourmet Magazine
Gourmet: 'blown away' by London's food

The magazine devotes its entire 180-page March issue to London dining. It was the first time that Gourmet, which has a worldwide circulation of more than a million, had been dedicated to Britain - and the first time that one city had been declared better than all the others, the editors said.

The verdict confirms London's pre-eminence among the world's centres of culinary excellence after decades of struggling to shake off a reputation for stodgy, unimaginative food.

British food has been mired in the realm of "grey toast and cold oatmeal" despite noble efforts by chefs such as Gordon Ramsay and Jamie Oliver, the magazine says.

A recent visit to London to sample its restaurants was a revelation to John Willoughby, Gourmet's executive editor, and his colleagues.

Heston Blumenthal: 'double-take'

Mr Willoughby said: "When we came off the plane in London an official asked us, 'Are you here for business or pleasure?'

"My editor-in-chief, Ruth Reichl, replied: 'We're here to eat' and he said: 'Well, that's definitely not pleasure.' We were very happy to find out that he was wrong.

"We came to London because we had been hearing about great chefs and great products. We were hoping to find good food, but we didn't expect to find so much of it.

"We were blown away. What London has that other cities don't right now is high-quality food at all levels. In every category, from comfort food to gastronomic experiments, we loved what we ate.

"A few years ago, the food was no better than bad American food. Now, when people ask me where to go I tell them, 'London'. The glory days are back."

Elizabeth Crompton-Batt, a restaurant PR consultant, said: "I have been doing PR for 15 years and all my chefs have always wanted to be in Gourmet. We don't have anything like it here, it is the definitive food magazine, talked about all over the world. This will be the foodie version of Vanity Fair's 'London Swings Again' issue, which had Liam Gallagher and Patsy Kensit on the front.

"After that was published [in 1997] I had calls from press everywhere who wanted to write about London. I expect that there will be lots of spin-offs from Gourmet's London issue, with other magazines writing about us."

The cover photograph depicts four chefs on the zebra crossing in St John's Wood made famous by the Beatles's Abbey Road album. The caption reads: "British Chefs Are Leading The Way." The magazine, published by Condé Nast, pays tribute to British cookery's "up-to-the-minute vision" and "incredible array of cuisines". Borough Market, near London Bridge, is pronounced "our favourite outdoor emporium".

Heston Blumenthal, of the Michelin-starred Fat Duck in Bray, Berkshire, an hour from London, is praised as a pioneer of "molecular gastronomy", cookery based on scientific principles and unusual flavour combinations. He prepares desserts in liquid nitrogen and serves bacon-and-egg-flavoured ice cream. Ruth Reichl wrote: "I have not found another restaurant, anywhere, that is this much fun."

Mr Blumenthal said: "I almost did a double-take when I saw what had been written.

"For the last few years there have been rumblings about London being a good place to eat, but for Gourmet to say all that they have makes me very proud. The magazine has the most powerful food writers in North America, and its reach is all-encompassing."

Joe Warwick, associate editor of Restaurant magazine, said: "London is a very exciting place for restaurants and chefs are flocking here."

A spokesman for VisitBritain, the national tourism authority, said that the number of American visitors to London was expected to rise following such positive press coverage.

"There are strong preconceptions about British food, but even a single article in a publication of Gourmet's standing can count for a lot," the spokesman said.

"People used to say that you could eat well in Britain if you had breakfast three times a day, but times have changed."

Some restaurant critics were less convinced. "London above Paris?" chuckled Egon Ronay, who published his first restaurant guide in 1958. "London has improved a lot and it is moving towards becoming the best, but not yet. Paris has more places at the moment, and its top places are very, very good. To say that London is the best in the world is a kind exaggeration."

Fergus Henderson, the chef and proprietor of St John restaurant in Clerkenwell, which the magazine compliments on its breakfasts, also urged caution. "We seemed to have lost our way over the decades and although things are better now, I hope we don't become too smug," he said.

Travel books illustrate how Britain has struggled to shake off its reputation for poor food. As recently as 2001 the Rough Guide to Britain said that the British "tend to regard eating as a functional necessity".

The Lonely Planet guide, wrote that British food was "so undesirable that there's no equivalent for the French phrase bon appétit".

Just four years later, however, its online edition says: "London's recent renaissance in quality is spreading to the provinces. In cities travellers will find a remarkable variety of dining options from all over the world."

Last year, Restaurant listed the world's top 50 restaurants, as rated by 300 international chefs and food critics. Eleven were in Britain.

The Fat Duck was second, behind the French Laundry in California. Others in the top 10 were Nobu and Gordon Ramsay, both in London.

Unfortunately I don't have the pocket for these fancy restaurants. One day......

The Anglo-French envy cordiale

2005-06-19T11:11:00.000+01:00

BBC News Article

This article pretty much sums up the sentiment across both sides of the Channel. The British has a strong work ethic in Europe, while the French knows how to enjoy the finer things in life. Having said that, my French teacher will undoubtedly dispute the fact that it is difficult to put people into 'chomage' - unemployment.

When it comes to transportation, wouldn't it be nice to have something that works and a pleasure to use? Free market does not necessarily mean privatised railways?

Patrick's blog

2005-06-07T16:05:00.000+01:00

My colleague, Patrick also has a blog. :-) Be careful now, no office gossip on the web.

Check it out at http://petz.textdriven.com/

My travel credentials

2005-06-06T21:49:00.000+01:00

As I look forward to being on the move again, it is time to review my travel credentials. Amongst my globe-trekking friends, I am still high on the number of countries visited. However this is not to say that I am an expert in travelling. Many of these travels were undertaken with my parents in my teenage years and I still have vivid recollections of these places. Now I'm slowly becoming more of an independent traveller. After all, it is the quality of your travel that matters, not the quantity.

So far I have been to:

Hong Kong (of course!)
China (Southern China, Guangzhou, Macau, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Hainan)
Japan (all over, including Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu)
South Korea (Cheju island and Seoul)
Taiwan
Thailand (Bangkok and Koh Samui)
UK (all over, England, Scotland, Wales, Isle of Wight)
Ireland
Belgium (Brussels)
France (Paris)
Netherlands (Amsterdam)
Germany (along the Rhine, Koln, Bonn, Albstadt)
Sweden (Stockholm)
Switzerland (all over, Bern, Zurich, St Moritz, Lucerne)
Northern Italy (Lake Como)
Liechtenstein
Luxembourg
Greece (Athens, Corinth)
Cyprus (southern part, Nicosia, Limassol, Paphos)
Israel (Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Tel Aviv)
Egypt (Cairo, Giza, Luxor)
Spain (Madrid, Barcelona, Lazarote)
USA (Boston, New York, Washington)
Canada (Toronto, Montreal, Ottawa, Quebec City)
Barbados
Belize
Mexico (Cancun, Chetumal)

My favourite parts of the world are Belize, Jerusalem, Bangkok Chinatown and Switzerland. What I hope to achieve with this forthcoming trip is to be on a shoestring and to be as eco-friendly as possible. The train journeys and ferry crossings reduce carbon dioxide emission and the interrail pass would save me lots of money.

My interrail trip

2005-06-05T13:38:00.000+01:00

Now I have resigned from my job and decided to move back to Hong Kong, my birthplace. I am planning my exit out of my home, the Blighty island. This interrail trip I will undertake will be one of my most adventurous endevours. Solo travelling is still an experience that I have only partake during my time in Japan a couple of years back. This will be the longest I will do. A month across Europe and Asia.

London -> Paris -> Provence -> Northern Italy -> Rome -> Athens -> Mykonos -> Santorini -> Athens -> Istanbul -> Dubai -> Hong Kong

Ok it's not trans-Siberian, but I have neither cash nor time for it! I hope this will be equally exciting. Plus there is my love for the Mediterranean. Russia seems like vast expanse of tundra and forests. It seems to be a place for me to visit with a travel companion.

The itinerary is still at its embryonic stage and my travel tends to be more sponeous than planned. However it would be sensible to book a flight out of Istanbul to save cost and hassle, so I will have a deadline at which I will leave Europe behind, a continent that I have lived for so long.

I also welcome suggestions from you as to where to go and stay in France, Italy, Greece and Turkey.

Today I went to Spitalfields Market near Liverpool Street. Indeed London is almost a microcosm of the different world cultures. Imagine this: A British-Chinese guy sipping Afghani tea whilst chatting with a Belgian and a Turkish Cypriot in a Lebanese cafe near Brick Lane. Isn't it wonderful? I don't think you have that anywhere else, except maybe in New York.

By the way there was a nice stall serving many kinds of truffles......

Truffles
Originally uploaded by natural_and_happy.

Running Log

2005-05-31T22:51:00.000+01:00

Ran for a good two hours from home to Kensington Gardens across Hyde Park down to Green Park and St James's Park and went home via Knightsbridge. Slow pace and stopping occasionally. Weather's dry and fairly warm.

My friend Anthony's blog

2005-05-30T13:50:00.000+01:00

http://bigmac.blogs.friendster.com/my_blog/

Run 10K

2005-05-24T13:30:00.000+01:00

I got accepted to run for Terrence Higgins Trust on 3rd July last Saturday and got the pack in the post. I will start my cavassing on Friday. Hope there will be lots of donations.

In case you want to sponsor me on this 10k run, please give generously at: www.justgiving.com/wilman

2005-05-23T00:07:00.000+01:00

re-orienting

alienai says:

i've just moved to london and although i'm starting to settle in i'm still having difficutly finding my bears.

how do you guys wrap your head around where ever it is you're going?
Posted at 2:19pm, 14 May 2005 BST ( Permalink )

natural_and_happy says:

I'm guessing you are puzzled by the intricacies of the streets in London compared with the N American street system. With European and Asian cities, I usually visualise the landscape with a bird's eye view of the place by having a quick glance of the local map. I feel it is important to have a different approach based on the geographical features of the city. London, for example, has the Thames, but what's important is that most of the city is to the north of the river. So I'd be using another prominent feature. In this case, the major roads are the easiest one to recognise. Then you overlay the tube map (adjusting slightly because of the simplification of the tube map) and block of areas e.g. Mayfair, Soho, Hyde Park, Regents Park, Kensington, Bloomsbury etc. What is important on the ground is to know where you are on your mental map and which way is which in terms of direction. As you turn from one street to another, make sure you update your bird's eye view to reflect on your new direction. Then you should know roughly where you are. I can say that this approach worked for old cities such as Bangkok, Hong Kong, Paris and Boston. Hope this doesn't sound too complicated.
Posted 10 hours ago. ( Permalink | )

Nougats from Marc

2005-05-16T09:29:00.000+01:00

Nougat is a confectionery made with sugar or honey, roasted nuts (almonds, walnuts, pistachios or hazelnuts are common) and sometimes chopped, candied fruit. The consistency of nougat can range from chewy to hard depending on its composition. White nougat is made with beaten egg white and is soft, whereas brown nougat is made with caramelized sugar and has a firmer texture.

Nougat is particularly popular in southern Europe, for example in France in Montélimar and in Spain at Christmas (where it is called turrón or torró).

The nougat found in many modern candy bars is not very similar to traditional nougat recipes, being a mixture of sucrose and corn syrup aerated with a whipping agent such as egg albumen or hydrolyzed soya protein. It may also have vegetable fats, milk powder and nuts added.

Spanish turrón follows the traditional recipes with toasted almonds (66%), sugar, honey (12%) and egg white with a net weight of c. 300 g.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nougat"

I love the Eurostar!

2005-05-09T09:51:00.000+01:00

Eurostar is one of the best form of transport I could imagine. What is better than being taken from one of the most cosmopolitan city in the world to the most romantic cities in peaceful and tranquil carriages? No hassle queueing at check-in desks, suffering from aeroplane noise and ear-popping, delays in taxiing etc. Just sail through the journey like a proper European and take delights in the finer things in life.

Unfortunately the British Government does not seem to understand the need for clean and efficient public transport as illustrated below:

Eurostar Train
Originally uploaded by Jason Cartwright

Directions: Eurostar struggles
May 08, 2005 (from the Times)

Travellers taking the train to the Continent face an unexpected diversion on foot through one of the least salubrious parts of London, thanks to problems with the new Eurostar terminal at St Pancras.
Eurostar still plans to quit its base at London Waterloo in summer 2007 and move north to St Pancras. But plans to connect the new Eurostar terminal with Thameslink rail services — which run from Bedford through central London to Brighton — have collapsed after the government failed to provide the £70m needed to build a new station.
This means passengers connecting to Eurostar will instead have to alight at Thameslink King’s Cross and walk 500yd to St Pancras, dragging their suitcases through congested streets and across busy road junctions.
Eurostar said the funding shortfall was “a great pity”.

It expects up to 100,000 people per day to pass through St Pancras. The journey time to Paris will fall from 2hr 35min to 2hr 15min; the time to Brussels will be reduced from 2hr 15min to 1hr 53min. Some trains will also stop at Stratford, Dartford or Ashford.

Eurostar has decided not to continue hourly services from Waterloo. The London Transport Users Committee called the decision a “great disappointment”, saying it would increase journey times for many passengers to the south and west of London.

As a person who have travelled extensively, I appreciate a good public transport network. However crowded it might be, my favourite underground system remains to be Hong Kong's and Paris'. Why doesn't the Government get its act together and put money into essential infrastructure that is eco-friendly and which reduces greenhouse gas emission?

Dual-nationality = Dual-identity

2005-05-07T14:18:00.000+01:00

As I am ethnic Chinese born in Hong Kong and grew up from the age of ten in England, I am British and Chinese. But What does it mean?

Firstly I can live anywhere in the EU and China. Isn't that great? In theory, I get the best of both worlds.

Come to think of it, my choice is still pretty limited. I can't speak any of the continential European languages and Mandarin fluently. So I'm still pretty stuck with the UK and Hong Kong.

In case you are wondering, I dream in imagery, not in words. I speak to my parents in Cantonese and can read and write Chinese fairly well.

But where do I feel at home? That's probably the most important question. Mentally I've been drifting for a long time.

London is probably the closest I can say to having a home. Why, you might say? I know my way round the city very well. I feel safe and secure here. Most of my friends live here and I grew up here since the age of fifteen. One thing I can't stand is the weather, but the summer is fantastic in London. There are so many events going on around the city, many of them multicultural and interesting to see. However I do wish we had a more prominent Chinese community that is more tolerant to other cultures.

Hong Kong has its good and bad sides.

For me it is a very crowded city with too many skyscrapers. You get the hemmed-in feeling standing rather belittled by the domineering buildings. There are days spent not having had a chance to see the sky. The pace is rather frantic and I sometimes find myself too stressed out by the experience.

On the other hand, it does remind me of my childhood, though it has changed significantly since then. The food there is cheap and great. Although I am not a huge fan of Chinese food, I like the occasional dimsum and roasted pork with steamed rice. The public transport system is slick and very reliable.

UK General Election

2005-05-05T15:45:00.000+01:00

This was my result from http://www.whoshouldyouvotefor.com/

Who should I vote for? v2

Your expected outcome:

Liberal Democrat

Your actual outcome:

Labour -5
Conservative -13
	Liberal Democrat 45
UKIP -15
	Green 37

You should vote: Liberal Democrat

The LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

My constituency has a large Conservative majority and my barber suggested I should vote for Labour to prevent them for gaining a seat in the Borough. Anyway, I will make my choice confidential here.

Bus Terminal

2005-05-04T23:42:00.000+01:00

Bus Terminal
Originally uploaded by Yogi.

This was the bus terminal where I took the long-distance bus to Cancun from Belize City.

Tube it!

2005-05-03T22:38:00.000+01:00

Tube it!
Originally uploaded by natural_and_happy.

OK here we go again. You know I'm a Londoner, so I bound by this identity to have an opinion on the system and quite rightly so, I have a lot to say. Despite many of its shortcomings, it is a fairly good system. What I like about it is its ability to impart mobility and convenience. You can go the minute you say go. There is no messing around with car parks, parking tickets etc. It's relatively environmentally friendly. It's also a social experience. As social animals, we thrive on interactions with each other. However little interactions that go on, for me, there is always a sense of sharing a journey with someone. One thing I don't like is the reliability, hygiene and some of the graffitti.

Canal at Bus Terminal

2005-05-03T13:05:00.000+01:00

Canal at Bus Terminal
Originally uploaded by Yogi.

Thanks to a fellow flickr user, I have recollection of the area where I took a bus from Belize City to Cancun with two friends. This area was very busy at 7am as there is a market next to the bus terminal.

Swedish ladies...ouch!

2005-05-03T12:43:00.000+01:00

Swedish ladies...ouch!
Originally uploaded by natural_and_happy.

I can't believe this photo has become this popular. When I was in Stockholm with my family, we just happened to stumble upon this mini-festival with female runners and performances.