Tricia

I've spent the last few days partying because I've finally finished the last of my midterms and the following week is China's labour holiday so I finally get to take a break from studying, teaching and working on the conference (well kinda).

So during my drunken weekend, I was able to meet someone very special (not because I was drunk, but I do have to stop drinking so much).  Her name is Tricia Chen.  Now when I say special, I don't mean it in that whole relationshippy way.  There would be no future for us, we are both too ambitious.

Okay, so in all seriousness, Tricia is a soon to be superstar, she is about to release a CD this July.  Hey Fred, remind you of anyone?

Actually, I didn't know she was famous until her good friend (a girl studying here at Fudan) told me after.  I guess if I knew they would have thought it might have fucked up the whole dynamics of meeting someone as an ordinary person.  It was quite hard though, this girl had at least 4 guys around her at any given moment.  She was hot yo!  And I'm such a fool for not getting evidence that I touched her arm and had conversations with her!  Anyways, the picture underneath was the best one I could find of her.  It really does her no justice.  She's about 5'7 and has an exotic look about her.  Upon asking her, I found out she is one eighth Portugese.  And if you are familliar with the HK star world, you will know that she is Edison Chen's older sister.  They really don't look that much alike, although I haven't met this Edison Chen guy before.  It's kinda sad I didn't get any pictures with her, because she's gonna be big stuff, I can guarantee that.  But I'm comforted by the fact that she may be coming back very soon to Shanghai.  Who knows Marv, maybe sometime in June?

Look out for her CD in July 2002.

North Korea

Ryuma just got back from a 3 week stint in Japan.  He also just got married.  When he told us, we were all blown away.  Anyhow, he's having a bachelor party (because he missed it) in Osaka in July, so I'm thinking of going.  Just have to figure out how many times I need to sell my body to get over there.  Probably just once. 

So the other story I wanted to tell you about is about North Korea.  Nick's friend's friend is an EU correspondent.  He was put in charge of reporting on the results of the North Korean president Kim Il Jung's (?) visit to Russia and Putin.  For those of you don't know, Kim is quite a paranoid fellow.  He's always thinking people are always out to kill him and shit.  Also, he doesn't like flying in planes, so his trip to Moscow entailed a several day long journey by train.

His train was a special train.  There was a train in front and behind for extra protection.  The train he was in had various "requirements" for him and his elite band of followers.  It was its own cart with all the presidential goodies that come with it.  He requested it of course, state of the art technology, bulletproof windows, high tech computers, Internet connection and Counter Strike.  Yes, Internet gaming is in the Korean blood north and south!

So this guy, Kim, the North Korean president, on his whole train ride down to Moscow is playing CS.  He's playing on more than one computer too.  Icing on the cake is during every stop on their way to Moscow while they were in Russia, they picked up prostitutes, picking them up from one town, dropping them off in the next and loading a new batch on.

SO, let's analyze this.  Generally, this is probably every guy's dream.  Hot chicks and CS while travelling from A to B, what better way to kill time?  But this guy is the president of a friggin country!  There are millions of people starving under him.  They are one of the most isolated countries in the world.  And did I mention that his favourite movie was Rambo? 

Anyhow, he arrives in Moscow, and all the while Putin is in the general vicinity ready to accept his comrade.  He doesn't actually want to wait there because it would have just made him look dumb.  Desperate for diplomatic relations, for Putin this visit is extremely important.  After 7 more hours in Moscow (no doubt due to some more CS) Kim finally steps out of the train.  Putin is notified and is rushed to the scene.  They shake hands, and Kim runs back into his train.

Now this may be all heresay, but Nick's friend seems pretty reliable.  So if you were this EU correspondent, what would you write in your report?

This is another ASES picture.  It is me and China (HK included).  Can you pick up the mainlanders from the hk fobs?

Messed Up Politicians

My friend Nick has a friend who's currently on a backpacking journey.  He just arrived in Shanghai a couple days ago, but he started in London, England.  He went across Europe through Russia and into Mongolia into China and man has he some crazy stories!  Of all the places he's been to, he says Russia was absolutely the worst.  It was all chaotic and in disarray.  Prostitutes everywhere, thieves and corrupt policemen.

The most interesting story told however, was something that took place about 25 years ago on another continent.  At around that time, there was an incident in Israel where a plane was hijacked full of Israeli passengers.  The Ugandan president, then somewhat of a pshychotic leader ready to join in the plight of anti-semitism welcomed the plane to land in Uganda and offered to protect the hijackers.  After some unfruitful negotiation, the Israelis got impatient and took things into their own hands.

Isreal flew one of their own passenger planes into the main airport in Uganda where the hijacked plane was.  Ready to attack them, Uganda had the place surrounded with its own army and had the hijacked plane relatively well guarded.  What was the Israeli strategy you may ask?  Well, the bay doors of the Israeli plane opened and a couple limousines rolled out.  The limos had tinted windows and had the Ugandan flag flapping from the front hood (like any presidential limo would).  Somewhat confused, the Ugandan army must have thought it was the president of Uganda rolling out of the planes.  Meanwhile, inside each stretch limo was a cadre of armed special force Israeli hit men hiding behind the tinted windows in a bulletproof limo, ready to take out everyone that stood in their way.  Only one person died on the Israeli side, former PM Netanyahu's brother who was the commander of that cadre of army men.  Within hours the Israeli army cleaned house and the hijacked plane was flown back to Israel.  Anyhow, Uganda and Israeli are still not on good terms.

I find people don't seem to comment too much on my longer posts, so I'll tell you the one about North Korea's president next time.  THAT one's fucked up too.

Here I am karaokeing at ASES Stanford.  I'm a little drunk.

$29.95

Okay, so many people think it is as easy as opening 20 Hotmail accounts.

BUT

I'm in China on a 56K modem, I have the patience and attention span of a 3 year old and I like it when all porn is diverted into one email box and not have my mailbox explode.  Hmm... have you guys been getting strange emails in your Hotmail accounts?  Like emails with 160 some odd K, but when you view it, it's blank?  Can someone tell me what that is?

I just found out my friend Mercy is in SH for a couple days.  I also bumped into a friend at the San Francisco airport on my way back to SH.  I met him on that Taiwanese Loveboat thing and it turns out that he just got a job with SMIC here in SH.  Small world.

So who's coming here next?

Here's a group picture from ASES Stanford.

Those MSN fuckers.

I just paid $29.95 for more storage in my Hotmail account because I cannot afford to have important emails bounced back to their senders.

FUCK!

Back in SH....

Well, after a long 12 hour flight, I'm back in SH.  This past weekend in Stanford was one of my most productive ever, and even more so, I'm getting excited about this damn conference.  I've even got a couple people who want me to send them my resume!  Keep your fingers crossed for me!

My last evening at ASES Stanford consisted of dinner along with a panel of reputable speakers from Silicon Valley (one being the founder of Hotmail).  From their various anecdotes and speeches, it was quite apparent from the start that all eyes were on China.  Hope for me yet.

What was even more interesting was the speaker from Deloitte & Touche.  He was the Director of Asian Operations and after the panel had finished speaking, I approached him alongside a group of other eager beaver students.  Being very pro-China, he continued to answer questions about China's future and somehow got onto the topic of Taiwan.  Apparently, hot of the presses, this guy has found out about major corruption between the U.S. and Taiwanese governments.

He hates what the US is doing to Taiwan/China relations and here are some reasons why.  Apparently, Taiwan's ruling party has a slush fund of a couple hundred million in USD that is used to bribe Republican party officials.  Everytime a US official visits Taiwan, the party receives money from this slush fund helping them fund their campaign.  This not only encourages Republicans to show up on Taiwan's front lawn, but pisses Chinese officials off because it is almost like a sign of TW independence.

TW is also the largest purchaser of US arms with about 50% of US arms sales going to TW.  It is argued that the US has a fear of China and TW getting back together.  This all powerful ZhongGuo will truly be able to test the US's superiority in the world.

He mention's that many in Taiwan don't really care about separating with the mainland.  That many statistics show that (aside from politics) TW is doing a lot to warm up to China.  TW student rates are soaring in China, business investment in China from TW businesses also increasing year by year, and more and more from TW travelling to see China.  All these occur despite the many barriers that are set up (you cannot travel to China straight from Taiwan, you have to come in through a hub like HK or something and students, to get into Chinese Universities must take a standardized test that isn't offered in TW).

Well, here's what I found after surfing around a bit on the net.

Wacky...

So did you guys know that the first manned spacecraft was of Chinese origin and not American or Russian?  Click on the picture...

I've been at Stanford for about 5 days now, and this whole Stanford atmosphere never ceases to amaze me.  I think I've gotten bitten by the entrepreneurial bug that seems to have infected most of the students here, yes, I'm thinking of starting my own company.  What have I got to lose?

Many of the speakers I've met over these next couple of days might be very helpful for me in preparing my conference as well.  One VC I met, a fellow Torontonian, flies between Asia and the Silicon Valley constantly.  I approached him because his involvement with Asia hoping that he might have some contacts in SH for me.  Well it turns out that he does have a few, including Jiang Zemin's son.  For those of you who don't know, Jiang Zemin is the president of China.  Anyways, this guy knows "Eric" on a first name basis.  Nutty, eh?

ASES Stanford

I am currently writing from ASES Stanford at Stanford University in Stanford, California.   It is about 7:15am in the morning here and I'm still a little jet lagged.  I've been here for about three days now, and from what I've been able to see and hear about Stanford University, I'm extremely impressed.

I always had a bias to Queen's campus.  Its picturesque limestone buildings, strategic location against the lake and wonderful landscape made Queen's the best university town in campus.  It didn't hurt that they had quite a bit of money either.

Stanford is very much like Queen's except perhaps twice the size with much deeper pockets.  The buildings are built with limestone as well, but instead of grey it is a yellowish beige and the rooftops are of red clay.

Being here immediately reminded me of Paul and Kevin, the only two I know that get turned on talking about algorithms and linux operating systems.  The students here are what I would imagine Waterloo students to be, computer and engineer geeks.  Not that it is a bad thing, they're so damn bright and all seem very nice.  It was interesting to hear about DNA chipsets and current issues in stem-cell research.  Our dinner conversations involved everything from Simpsons to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, what a different and interesting world this is.  Their future looks so bright it is kinda depressing that I will be competing with some of these guys in the workplace, but also assuring that I may be working with them as well.  Their work experience is quite extensive with some having internships with Nvidia and IBM wireless Japan.

Many are extremely interested in ASES Shanghai, and I get more excited about this damn conference as more and more successes are realized.  I don't want to jinx myself, so I am not going to write about it yet, but as soon as we secure something, I'll be sure to let you know.

Being back in North America has made me think about my friends more, how I am so close, yet so far away from everyone.  I'm afraid this is the closest I'll get until my visit to Toronto!  Miss you guys!

March 7, 2002

Man, I really need a digital camera.  I've been in SH for about 8 months now and been to many places, met many people and have done many things.  I've always wanted to leave you with some physical evidence, but sometimes it's quite difficult.

This weekend I went to NingBo, a 4.5 hour train ride south of SH.  It is where my grandfather is from, and in a village about 30 mins from the city centre, is a village called Tong Cun.  The Chinese pin yin (or romanization) of my last name is spelt Tong and so I found out that Tong Cun (which means Tong Village) is where my roots are.  In Tong Cun, almost everyone's last name was Tong!  Kinda like the millions of Chan's and Lee's out there...

Every April 5th, the Chinese honour their ancestors.  This is done by visiting the graves of the dead ancestors, sweeping and cleaning the area, burning fake money and other fake items to be used by the dead in their afterlife and praying to the ancestors for a prosperous year ahead.  Before he passed away, my grandfather (who lived in SH) went back to NingBo to buy burial land for himself.  As he grew older, he would visit it more frequently, sometimes visiting it twice a day.  This was no small feat as my grandfather chose a site that took about 45 minutes to hike up to from the gates of Tong Cun.

Following my relatives on this ritualistic pilgramage led me up a mountain, then across to a second one that met the first mountain through a forest of bamboo trees.  Let me tell you, the bamboo trees were breathtaking!  I couldn't stop taking pictures.  The locals with us must have thought I was strange.   But I suppose to them it is as common as pine trees are to us.  But I must admit, the swaying bamboo trees and its rustling leaves were very calming. 

Near the top of the second mountain was a stone platform where my grandfather's tombstone and body lay.  I was given a paintbrush and repainted his name into the carved stone, which had been faded from a year's weathering, to give the etched carvings their original colours again.  It was really freaky because my aunt kept saying that grandfather would be happy to see us, and although I've never met him, somehow I knew inside that he would have wanted to meet me.  I'm a believer of God, so ghosts and shit kinda scares me.  Well, as soon as I placed the paintbrush onto the tombstone a huge gust of wind picked up, and my aunt said, "Looks like your grandfather has arrived."

It kinda spooked me, but I shrugged it off.  Coincidence.

When it was time to burn incense and bow before the grave (things I don't normally do due to my Catholic background but did so just to respect my Chinese tradition) things started to get wonky again.  A couple people went before me, and I was last.  When it was my turn to kowtow, as I approached the grave, the wind picked up again.  All the fake money we were burning swept up into the air around me and above my head and then away into the forest.  As soon as I put down my incense and walked away, the wind stopped.  Coincidence again?  I hope so.

So I leave for Cali tomorrow.  It is 4am, and I don't think I'm going to go to sleep tonight because I might miss my flight.  See you in the States!

 Happy Birthday Alastair, Colman