Sad

D recieved a call from his aunt last night. She tried to call earlier yesterday. She is worried about us. Wondered if we were affected by the Tsunami. She also asked if I had any family affected. Told her no, thank you, but Dad a tad upset that Singapore is still there and not floating somewhere off African coast. We reassured her as best we could.."Uh...well, Australia is not really that close to the rest of Asia and Sydney is like way on the other side."

We then sat down and watched the news. Tears came to my eyes as I watched the report on the inconsolable Aussie dad who had his 6 month old daughter ripped from his arms. The weeping women as they sat beside the mass graves being dug for their husbands, children. I thought of the unimaginable horror as the showed us the boxes and boxes of body bags being loaded on the Virgin airlines carrier...boxes and boxes. The amateur footage showing us the people scrambling for safety, the look of desperate horror on their faces as they are being swept away. I admit that tears also come to my eyes even when I watch Petronas Raya adds (especially that one where the kids try and meet up with dad with new GRO wifey), but watching one the greatest disasters since the Krakatoa eruption (1883) unfold on TV...I am still very very sad. The human tragedy. May they rest in peace.

I may have mentioned that I recently forced D to give away about 500 t-shirts (I kid you not..we had to rent a car to transport them). He is a hoarder and he has shirts he wore in High School, he has old Xmas presents, and even shirts he did not realise he had, with price tags intact. We chucked them, well, I did while he spent hours explaining to me why he HAD to keep that 1000th white tshirt. We dropped them off at the local clothes deposit. I joked with him that we may even bump into some of his old/new Tshirts around the neighbourhood. We have been told that the clothes will be sent off as part of Australia's aid effort. I gave D a big hug for being a hoarder..but still plan on chucking out his ugly ass ties.

All set for the new years celebration?

I am all Christmased out! It has been a strange one this year.

24 December 2002: Christmas eve spent skiving off work to do last minute shopping. Then it is off to a friend's house for dinner with his family and our friends. Great food, very drinkable plonk, and goodwill etc.

24 December 2004: Christmas eve afternoon was spent deperately looking for a whole chicken to roast for Christmas dinner. Found one, added a lamb roast thinggy that looked familiar (ie had seen one served at a grill somewhere) in my shopping trolley as I was feeding me, Doug, M (6ft 2) and his partner D (6ft4). Figured more is best. Also liked the thought of having farm friends together in the oven.

Then it was off to meet M, D and their friends for an early dinner before heading out to the Christmas carol session at the Town Hall. We had turkey in a nice, upmarket Italian cafe in Potts Point, with lovely house Verdehlo to accompany. Then it was off to the Town Hall. Where the MCC Gay and Lesbian Christmas Eve Service 2004 was being held. Doug turned to me and whispered "Wow, when M warned me that I would be the only straight guy at dinner, he wasn't kidding." It was a beautiful service. We sang carols(D cannot sing for nuts! Note to self: Do not bring him anywhere near a Karaoke bar). We listened to uplifting speeches. And a few boring ones. We celebrated goodwill for/to man, woman, lesbians, gays, transexuals, transgenders, and the generally confused (not my words, they were the reverand's). For me, it was a humbling experience to think that those at the service, those who are not kindly accepted by so many of the conservative religions, were there faithfully, without doubt, to pray to their own higher order, knowing that love and acceptance is a possiblity in this world. Such faith, such loyalty. The true spirit of Christmas.


25 December 2002: Lunch at No 27. I would be there early, after stopping by Cold Storage to pick up ice (traditional Xmas duty) and other bits like parsnip (Usually this entails a call to host as I would have no idea what a parsnip looks like). Arrive at 27, pretend to help while happily sipping glass of wine (drinking at 10am not sign of alcoholism if done at behest of host), eat, open pressies, watch video/pirated VCD and take nap. Go home.

25 December 2004: D still asleep at 4am. Try to wake him. He is not happy even after my explanation that technically we can open presents. Am forced to wait till 9am (well, I fell asleep but he doesn't have to know that) when his father calls to wish him Merry Xmas. I happily wake him up. We have breakfast and open a bottle of Moet (Again, champagne at 10am is not sign of alcoholism if someone else pops cork). He opens his pressies. In addition to the huge ass map, I bought him a tie (he has some ugly ass ones I am going to throw out), a book on the 40 must see sites before you die, and another book on the Ig Nobel Prize. The prize is given to academic researchers who carry out research that makes you laugh, and then think. One example is the study of homosexual necrophiliac behaviour among malard ducks. Another is one that suggests chickens prefer beautiful people. I was not allowed to open my pressie until we took a walk to our lookout point behind the flat.


Our lookout

I got this.





I must have been a very good girl this year, or a very, very bad one.

I said yes please. Firstly because I adore him. Secondly, I am so getting major brownie points for adding to the faith (this has been recently pointed out to me by dear friend who called today to reassure me that Damansara Heights was not, I repeat, not affected by the Tsunami). Thirdly, how can you not marry a man who only knows one jeweler because he remembered the movie?

Dazed and confused

I am back in broadband land!! I must add though that the Peace hotel in Shanghai provided in-room dial up facilities, so the level of relief to be back in fast connection land is slightly lower than when I hooked up in Vancouver.

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We arrived this morning, carrying our winter jackets, and squinting in the bright sunlight as we left the airport. I still have no idea what day it is, and the 2 alarm clocks we have (the only clocks we have in the flat) show both Shanghai and Vancouver time.

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Dumped the bags and rushed out to get my apple, carrot and celery juice at our usual juice bar. We are at home base at last. Back to reality and work. But first I had to get a little Christmas tree. Not a fake one, because it just doesn't seem right. I bought instead a small connifer in a bright red pot. It came with 4 red velvet bows with mini gold bells.

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So much to do. Like buy milk. Buy bread. Do laundry (the pile..when did we wear all that?). Download pictures.

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I know what to buy D for Christmas. I am buying him a world map, and have it nicely framed with a corkboard backing. I will then buy him thumbtacks in 3 different colours. Red, to indicate places where he has been, Blue for places I have visited, and Gold to indicate cities where we have been uh together. Only problem is that mile high episode....hmmm...

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I think I have more Christmas spirit than D. But then as a kid I believed that whole Christmas shabang was for ME, ME, ME. I am sure most boxing day babies feel this way.

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On a different note, did you know that Miranda of SATC left her partner of 15 years recently for a woman? You learn something new every day huh..

Vancouver, Canada

Vancouver is nothing like I expected it to be. First of all it is much smaller. But then again, a few days ago we were in Beijing where there are 8 (count em), 8 ring roads and the road in front of Tiananmen Square is 12 lanes. Vancouver is also very pretty. How can it not be when you are able to catch a glimpse of the snow capped mountains from the Banana Republic shop. I suppose my expectations were pretty low prior to my arrival, and I am pleasantly suprised. I like being pleasantly surprised.

Vancouver is what I would call a hip city. I hate that term, but in this case it fits. A bit like Sydney in its eclectic nature, but much more laid back. I like it. Because it is hip, and because it has a Starbucks on every street corner. I kid you NOT!

Am wandering again...

Did you know that the Chinese government implements a firewall so that sites like blogspot cannot be accessed by tourists like me??? Well, this firewall it seems is called the great wall by the locals.

How do I know this? I have been in Beijing for the past week and by God, am I ever so glad to leave it.

10 days ago D was asked to present a paper in Vancouver, and he insisted that I follow him to Vancouver (no, no I can't, it is too expensive for you...Ok) . We were planning to go via Honolulu (whoopee) but as a Malaysian citizen the earliest date for an appointment with an American immigration officer would be 23 December (helloooo). So we thought it would be interesting to visit Tokyo. I had not been there for yonks and D had never been there. Unfortunately, as a tourist in Australia, I was told by the Japanese Embassy that I could go back to Amsterdam or KL to get a visa as they are unable to issue one for me in Sydney. Bloody difficult being a wondering nomad if the damn border control officers are so difficult.

Only option was to go via China...and as the flight went through Shanghai, only a two hour flight from Beijing, we just had to visit the Great Wall.


The Starbucks within the Forbidden City...we had Skim Mocchas

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So we decided within 5 days of the offer to present the paper to go to Vancouver via Beijing...and within 30 minutes of landing we experienced for the first of many many times being fleeced by anyone and everyone Chinese. I hate to say this, but by God do we still have a bad taste in out mouth about being cheated left right and centre so blatantly. Our taxi ride from the airport to the hotel was officially 85 yaun, but we had no choice but to pay 230 yuan. As we haggled over this price (initially 385 yuan) in front of the airport guards, all I could think was "For Gods sake, you are a communist guard, shoot this damn insolent taxi driver!!". But then that was only a taste of the consumerism that has consumed Beijing. We had to haggle for everything, even the price of a taxi to Mutianyu to the Great Wall, with the Hotel tour office. Bearing in mind this is a 4 star hotel!! We started expecting to be cheated and had to start looking at the funny side of it, to avoid resenting the prejudice we were facing.

Don't get me wrong, Beijing is a must see. The Forbidden Palace, the Lama Temple, The Great Wall, the Tianamen Square, Mao's Tomb and the Ming Tomb's, these are historical wonders. But after visiting these sites, I hope that I never have to visit such a characterless, endlessly sprawling city such as Beijing ever again. It is such an unfriendly city, with practically everyone unwilling to assist a tourist who is only interested in experiencing a bit of their forgotten culture. It is the only city that I have ever visited that I wanted to get out of as soon as possible and never go back

Ever.

Their food though is quite good. Shame that we even had to haggle over that.

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I walked along Robson Street in Vancouver today, stepping into the GAP, looking at coats in Zara and finally choosing a baby pink one with a rose patterned lining at Banana Republic (with a cashmere scarf). The salesgirls were friendly without being borderline nasty/accosting and I knew that the stated price was fair and final. Relief. We will be here for a week then off to Shanghai. God help us.