Kinmen over the weekend

I finally made it to Kinmen this weekend. Kinmen is ironically closer geographical, 2km to Xiamen, China rather than to the main island of Taiwan.

So why is Kinmen, Taiwan and not PRC? Who knows.

Shortly after the war, before US stepped in to warn China off, there was fighting at Kinmen between the PRC and the KMT of Taiwan. Most of our touring were of the war remnants, like forts and bunkers.

The highlight was the closest point to Xiamen, China. We could literally see the talk buildings there!

Our tour came with free bus tours, there were 4 but our laidback style meant that we kept missing the start times of the bus tours and we'd take taxis to some midpoint and jump on the bus there. The Kinmen people - taxi drivers and the tour bus drivers seemed very bemused to have sudden additions to the tour midway through. And they never understood us - you want me to take you to bus tour stop where?! They kept muttering these Koreans... we ain't Koreans!

The 3 things people buy from Kinmen - knives, gaoliang wine and peanut candy. I bought a bottle of gaoliang - can't help myself. Will think about who to give it to when I bring it back to Singapore. The peanut candy was consumed in minutes. Whew!

Pix - http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157620723081736/

The Geek Transformation

I started out with a simple Yahoo email account, then I started a blog, added a Flickr account to park my pix, needed a Youtube account to hold my videos, along the way added a Yahoo ymail email account, on much cajoling from Yingzi, started a Facebook account. And now, my latest update on Twitter.

It's like Transformers, I am pretty geek-fied.

Speaking of Transformers, I got free tickets to the VIP premiere on Monday. Er.. it clashes with a regular conf call. This gets tricky - work or movie, conference call or entertainment, responsibility or relaxation. What am I saying? I'll be in the movies if you need me at 9pm Monday night. :)

Listen to the words

Happy Birthday Calvin!

La.. la.. la...

For the 3rd day in a row, my inbox was 0 when I left work.

Today I went to a Microsoft event for the Windows 7 launch. It ended at 4pm, I was home by 4.15pm. Cleared my emails back to 0 again by 5pm.

Now contemplating whether to do an evening run in the 29degrees C heat or just stay on my couch and rot on a Friday evening....

Day hike - 鹿角坑-阳明山

With the HP Mountain-Climbing society again, on a day hike to a waterfall in 阳明山.

It's basically rock-scrambling, hopping, jumping alongside a very clear stream until we hit the end-point, a nice cool waterfall.

Very few people make it out here, so the walk was really pleasant, cool under the shady trees. The trail smelled good, of flowers actually... All very pleasant Sunday hike.

We met at 6am, were down to eat a huge lunch together at 1pm and by 3pm, I was home napping.

More pix-
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157619442079020/

Success

Was talking with a friend Sat night about success (material success as defined by the world today).

We were both in the same HP department in 2000, 2001 and comparing our team-mates today, 8-9 years later - people with qualities for success aren't high up the career ladder versus the ones everyone hated and disliked.

Which begs the questions, what parameters does success require?

Garin thinks it's because we're too nice - so the age old adage, do nice people really finish last?

There was an article in IHT today about IQ and success, and the conclusion they arrived at was, success depends less on intellectual endowment than on perseverance and drive.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/07/opinion/07kristof.html?_r=1&em

What if you had perseverance & drive, but also a nice person? Why should your niceness work against you as it seems to, based on track records of so many...

And then today's gospel, Mt 5:1-12 had the answer. Eternal success over material world success.

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn, for they will be comforted.
Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the land.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the Kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are you when they insult you and persecute you and utter every kind of evil against you falsely because of me.
Rejoice and be glad, for your reward will be great in heaven.

Stop the world, I wanna get off...

I'm in another one of those moods. I want out of the world for a bit.

It's funny, every couple of months I get the blues. Where everyone annoys me, every little selfish act against me grates. And being alone intensifies it. Strangely, unhappy when left alone, still unhappy with not left alone.

Obviously my goals towards amiability are falling short. Perhaps I am not amiable afterall. Gasp!

Ecclesiastes Chapter 1

The words of David's son, Qoheleth, king in Jerusalem:
Vanity of vanities, says Qoheleth, vanity of vanities! All things are vanity!
What profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun?
One generation passes and another comes, but the world forever stays.
The sun rises and the sun goes down; then it presses on to the place where it rises.
Blowing now toward the south, then toward the north, the wind turns again and again, resuming its rounds.
All rivers go to the sea, yet never does the sea become full. To the place where they go, the rivers keep on going.
All speech is labored; there is nothing man can say. The eye is not satisfied with seeing nor is the ear filled with hearing.
What has been, that will be; what has been done, that will be done. Nothing is new under the sun.
Even the thing of which we say, "See, this is new!" has already existed in the ages that preceded us.
There is no remembrance of the men of old; nor of those to come will there be any remembrance among those who come after them.
I, Qoheleth, was king over Israel in Jerusalem, and I applied my mind to search and investigate in wisdom all things that are done under the sun. A thankless task God has appointed for men to be busied about.
I have seen all things that are done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a chase after wind.
What is crooked cannot be made straight, and what is missing cannot be supplied.
Though I said to myself, "Behold, I have become great and stored up wisdom beyond all who were before me in Jerusalem, and my mind has broad experience of wisdom and knowledge"; yet when I applied my mind to know wisdom and knowledge, madness and folly, I learned that this also is a chase after wind.
For in much wisdom there is much sorrow, and he who stores up knowledge stores up grief.

Footnote to my pilgrimage

I was asked to provide a write up of the pilgrimage. It was a nice santatised version, none of my usual sarcasm and wit. If it publishes intact, I'll stick it up here.

More of my pix -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8062670@N07/sets/72157619139260130/

My Long Weekend - it was great!

What to do over a 4 day long weekend?

It was a toss-up between diving Green Island with Rae and perfecting my non-existent underwater photographic skills or, a Marian pilgrimage to Hualien.

Guilt won.

The pilgrimage took me to
- 2 churches. The main church of Hualien and the tiny chapel in the mountain of Hualien where we spent the night.

Main church in Hualien City

Tiny chapel in the mountains of Hualien

The view of Hualien city as I walked up the mountain to the tiny chapel where we spent the night.

- 2 tourist spots. Taroko Gorge where we marveled the beautiful marble cliffs created by God and, the Promised Land resort where we all sat around, bored.

Me in Taroko Gorge - after some China tourist got hurt by falling rocks, everyone needs to wear a hard hat now.

- 2 good meals out of the whole weekend. The seafood meal at Nan-Ao, I think I learnt this from 小川, steamed prawns with wasabe is just heavenly ; and a decent Chinese lunch at the Promised Land resort.
- 2 takeaways. I learnt about our Lady of Banneux - Virgin of the Poor. Our Lady appeared in apparition to an 11 year old kid in a remote village in Belgium. And the other message which was repeated again by a different priest over Sunday's sermon on Pentecost Sunday, free your mind.
You know, I've never been very much of a Marian person despite coming to know Jesus through Saturday Novenas. But reading the little booklet (provided by the church on a hill), thankfully they had the English version, actually sent shivers up my spine. Hey, I live alone u know... and I was reading it at 1am before falling asleep.

I gotta repeat our Lady's message at Banneux, nontheless.
- she called herself "Virgin of the Poor."
- she said she "come to alleviate suffering."
- she promised "believe in me, I will believe in you," repeating John 20:29 to believe in Jesus.
- and she admonished, on 2 occasions "Pray hard."

My other takeaway, the priest up in the mountains mentioned we have freedom to believe. God granted us free will. The freedom to choose to believe in Jesus. And on Pentecost Sunday at St John Bosco church, Fr Cary's sermon had a common refrain. He said that we need to free our minds to accept God's word. That same term - freedom. We were free, we had choice, we should choose Jesus, not the other stuff that we today choose (all the materials things we cling to). hmm...

On a lighter note, being on a weekend trip as a total stranger amidst people who all knew one another quite well was rough in the beginning. But once they realised I wasn't Filippino (as in, I speak Chinese), they were nicer, actually really very much nicer. It was mostly elderly women - a couple had husbands in tow, all Chinese speaking. From the English mass, it was 3 overseas Chinese from India (is there no escaping the Ah-Neh accent? Clearly Jesus has a GREAT sense of humour) and 3 Filippinas - yes they were maids. And then, there was me! Mostly I was the loner - I don't care really, I was there to grew closer to God.

My new exercise regime

Xinyi Sports Complex just opened, and it's right behind HP. From now til next week (I think), everything's on free trial.

http://www.cyc.org.tw/xysc/intro/intro.html

There's even an itsy-bitsy wall, worth bouldering for fun.

Emily & I went over and signed up for 4 classes of Pilates - Mondays over lunch from Jun 1.

I figured I'll bring my rock shoes into the office and perhaps go bouldering over lunch - since it's soooo convenient and it's free for the next couple of days!

Gasp! I saw Vanness of F4!

Seriously, I saw Vanness of F4 - i was waiting for the lift which was taking forever. Then the lift opened and right there, Vanness! He looked really good. Sigh. Truthfully, I only know a couple of things about him -

1. He's hot - look at his abs!

2. From many years ago, CY (our planner then) thought Terry Teng looked like Vanness of F4. CY while she's a great person, doesn't have very good eyesight. Terry Teng is NOT Vanness.

3. Vanness was on TV a couple of nights ago, and he quietly talked about no premarital sex until marriage. That he wanted to put God first. I respect this guy, to say that on Taiwan tv where he's a big star.

How to count calories

Ok, so I realise that my really inactive lifestyle in Taipei is not doing my health much good.

I eat erratic meals, I don't work out enough and there's way too much junk food consumed.

Counting calories, I realise I only need 1600 calories a day. I think a single biantang costs me close to that already *gasp*

Gotta get an exercise routine going. This ain't good.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/calorie-calculator/NU00598

Sick

Yes, I caught the dreaded flu and no, it's not swine flu.

Yes, I'm ok now and no, I did not have a good weekend.

Yes, I slept it off all day Sat & Sun and no, I did not go to the exciting and free Turtle Island cruise nor, did I manage to RUN UP THE 101!!! Which I trained 2 weeks for!!! Arrggh.

Yes, my emotions are ok now and no, I am not totally over missing the vertical marathon.. it's the 101 *whine*

Yes, I've forgiven Rae for passing me the flu and no, er.. I lost my train of thought.. I need more sleep - my head hurts.

Reminiscing Australia

Watched the movie Australia on my HDD - my colleague Emily er.. acquired the movie.

It was nice hearing the accent again. And watching the red dusty soil of the outback.

That plus the weekend in the cypress woods which smelt of Australia.

Hmm... reminds me of 15yrs ago when I was out at Geelong.

Sigh.

Happy mother's day

1 day belated. Hey, better late than never - as mom would say :)

I can't believe this, but seriously my mom used quite a few of these words...



So I called her a while ago...

Another weekend, another mountain...

First trip with HP Mountaineering society to 太平山 and a visit to Kavalan whisky distillery (the only one in Taiwan). The hikes we did smell fantastic - the cypress woods I guess. It smelt like spas most of the time. Really enjoyed it, except it was mostly steps - like being on a stairmaster all weekend. My calves ache like hell now.

And the other highlight was the whisky distillery. It's recent, into it's 3rd year and as the whisky distillation process takes 2 years, technically it is the first year of producing whisky. I bought 2 bottles back for Michelle/Ian & Calvin. We got to sample a small sip - it's nice. Rae and I clink glasses and downed it, much to the consternation of everyone else at our table, we got dirty looks of 'you alcoholics'...

Our overall itineary

5/23(六) 第一天(午餐自理)
6:50 am 台北集合出發=== 8:20 太平山入口(土場)，停車購票=== 9:15 太平山莊下車，整裝
9:30 搭09:30 分蹦蹦車去走三疊瀑布...每一小時一班，若沒搭上09:30 分蹦蹦車，就先遊走
鐵杉林自然步道全長1.7km，再搭10:30 分蹦蹦車去走三疊瀑布～～步行
三疊瀑布2.7km 下切3 百公尺，若不想走這麼累的人，建議可以走茂興懷舊步道
14:00 搭14:00 分蹦蹦車回太平山莊，Check In，自由活動，下列步道依個人體力作選擇，
於當日再召集有興趣者共同出遊，
1) 鐵杉林自然步道全長1.7km
2) 鳩之澤自然步道全長2km
3) 見晴懷古步道全長2.35km
18:20~19:20 太平山莊用晚餐，夜空數星星太平山莊(宿)

5/24(日) 第二天
5:30 起床...看日出，不看日出者可繼續見周公
6:30~7:20 太平山莊早餐，
7: 20 集合，7:30 搭接駁車往翠峰湖===8:20 抵翠峰湖～～8: 30 台灣山毛櫸步道入口
8: 30 台灣山毛櫸步道～～3.8 km * 2 來回約需220 分鐘(普通腳)，若不想走這麼累的人
中途折返，建議可以走翠峰湖環山(湖)步道
12:00 回程往太平山莊===12:50 抵太平山莊
12:50~13:50 太平山莊午餐
13:50 集合上車，14:00 開車前往金車KAVALAN Whisky 酒莊===14:50 底達酒莊
14:50~17:50 金車酒莊參觀，品酒，喝咖啡
17:50 集合上車===18:30~19:30 礁溪用晚餐(Option:礁溪洗溫泉，不包含於費用中)
19:30 上車回台北===20:30 底台北

IRAS - truly blood sucking

I realized last night that I was still getting monthly GIRO deductions made out of my SGP bank account.

I have been working in Taiwan since Aug 2007!

You'd think IRAS would realize that when my net income in 2008 was a big fat 0!

So much Singaporeans being global citizens, IRAS needs to get with it!

I called this morning, spoke to a Puvana who told me I still need to write in either email or via fax - "black and white", ironically what Jack Neo's movies always say. Not so funny when it happens to you in real life.

IRAS! Stop deducting my $ and I want a full refund with interest! You blood sucking vampires!

Steph, call IRAS today and tell them you work overseas or they might do to you what they did to me!

I made it to morning mass!

It's a first time since arriving on Taiwanese soil. Yes, it was all in Chinese, but for what it's worth, I'm happy.

I was walking home last night and thinking about my Catholicness - I couldn't explain to Emily (my co-worker) how many archangels there are, and why Michael is an archangel. And I felt so guilty. I suppose I could've taken that moment to explain about Jesus.. but I let that moment go by. And in the morning, I woke up at 6am (having slept like perhaps 3.5hours) and could not fall back to sleep.

Guess it was a sign, to go to church, to receive Communion and to take an active stand as Catholic, as Christian.