Travel (II) - Europe 6 - Crete, Greece

I was amazed when I learned that about 2600 years ago, Greeks in Thira were already enjoying multi-storied apartments, equipped with flushing toilets and in-wall heating system, which did not appear in Europe until 18th century. Imagine that Thira did not get destroyed by volcanic eruption - Julius Caesar might be watching 3D HDTV already.


So when the chance came for me to visit Greece, I had to see Thira (Santorini) - it's kind of funny that I was attracted to Santorini for a different reason than its beautiful sceneries.


Well, then I discovered the existence of Knossos in Crete.  Knossos was the Minoan Palace, the center of the Minoan civilization, and the second most important archeological site in Greece only after the Acropolis in Athens.  Given limited time, I decided to skip the "ancient Thira" site in Santorini and visit Knossos instead.


Luckily the ferry from Santorini to Crete was easy and I did not suffer sea-sickness.  Again we booked a family hotel due to the very positive experience we had in Santorini.  It's located in Heraklio, the capital in Crete.  Dinner was home made and customized by us in the hotel.  We only wanted some light and cooked vegetables and that was delicious.


I decided to take it easy the first day after we arrived.  One because it was the Easter and it's said all the streets would be deserted and many siteseeing places would be closed.  And second I would mind relaxing for a day after all a long journey.  And lastly, the family was hosting an Easter party home and we were invited (with a very moderate fee) - we thought it might be fun to participate the festive celebration.


The host family started roasting a whole lamb since early morning.  After my super long morning nap, the feast was about to begin.  Athena and I, as well as a few college students from Canada, lazed around the pool in the backyard.  It was very relaxing sipping the special mountain tea first and then the home made red wine, without thinking of anything.

Over the next couple of hours, we were drinking, eating, and chatting.  For record keeping purpose, I wrote down the name of some special Greek dishes : magiritsa , satziki, taramosalata, kadaifi, ekmek ice cream; and I also had a few shots of raki and limoncello snaps (lemon with grapa).  

Dimitri, who ran the hotel together with his mom, was an educated young man at his mid 30s.  He shared much interesting info and views.

We were informed that Easter is the most important holiday in Greece.  Greeks call it Greek Easter as Greeks started the tradition of celebrating Easter.  Greeks will spend the entire week celebrating it and most of the organizations and stores will be closed.  Many people will fast for about 40 days before that without eating any meat.  So most families will roast a whole lamb on Easter and invite friends who do not.

He also shared his views about the Greek economy which had been in trouble for a while.  He thought that easy money (for construction etc) from EU changed the characters of population. Their parents generation were hard working, unlike the current generation.  Dimitri himself did not want to take a government job when he graduated from college in early 90s as there was less money in public sector.  He took a sales job instead.  Well, in recent years, corruption in public sector is terrible.  One civil servant might get away with claiming 3-5 salaries by simply adding his family members' names to the payroll.

He seemed quite angry with the current situation Greece is in.  He said his ancestors created something outstanding yet Greek people could not continue the glory.  Running the tourist business, he noticed that these days there are more and more Chinese and Indian tourists.  With a heavy sigh, he said "The world development is like a giant wheel moving forward, some going up, some going down, it's unstoppable.  Greek people learn from this lesson."  

After the feast we took a walk on the beach, which was only couple of blocks away from the hotel.  Rows of straw umbrellas and beach benches were already in place, however, it was still too chilly for real beach activities.

Monday, my last full day in Greece.  Our plan was to visit Knossos and downtown Heraklio.  

Knossos was amazing.  It was burnt down and rebuilt three times after its first erection during 2000-1750BC.  There one can see the residuals of staircase structure, the flushing toilets, the aqueduct system which was used to collect mountain water 20 miles away, the giant jars that were used to store olive oil and other agriculture produces, the clay tablets that carried one of the earliest written languages, many art pieces such as mural and statues... the tour guide blended the tour with some Greek mythological stories about Zeus, Minotaur, Labyrinth, and all.  It was fascinating.

Downtown Heraklio was not much fun as almost everything was still closed for Easter.  Following some guide book we were in search of some places of interest.  However nothing turned out to be impressive although I believe we were not being too critical.

Crete is a huge island with four sections.  Chania, the west most section is said to be the most interesting but we did not have time to visit more than the center of Heraklio.  And we were a bit frustrated by the lack of English signs around too, especially taking a bus became such a difficult task without clear instruction at all.

Late afternoon when we arrived at the hotel, the party was still on, and people were half drunk and happy.  With warm invitations, we sat down at the table again, eating, drinking, listening to the music, and dancing.  It was a lot of fun.

Early morning we set out for the flight from Heraklio to Athens, and then I flew to JFK while Athena stayed in Athens for business.  In the Athens airport at the entrance to the waiting room for the flight, I was questioned senseless by a security woman.  Regardless I was happy as I could hear most people speaking English finally.  After I landed in New York, for the first time in my life I felt "oh I am home" about New York.  Isn't it amazing?  And for the first time I discovered my dependency on Chinese food - I had Szechuan food 4 lunches out of 5 the following week which had never ever happened before. 

Sometimes distance makes the heart fonder :-)

Travel (II) - Europe 6 - Santorini, Greece

Afternoon on April 20th, I took a ferry boat from the port of Piraeus in Athens to Santorini, officially Thira, arguably the most extraordinary island in Aegean Sea, located at about 120 miles south east to Athens.  The departure was delayed by 1.5 hours, the arrival was delayed by 3.5 hours.  The waves were violent that day and the small boat was dancing most of the time.  Many people on the boat were suffering, including myself.  I threw up 5 times, I guess.  Athena was kindly taking care of me.

The host from the family hotel we booked was waiting to pick us up even though that was past mid-night already.  I gave him a box of Belgian chocolates to express my gratitude.  I felt instantly better once we got off from the boat.  Driving through the night in Santorini made me even more relaxed - the dim image that I could see suggested a very promising stay for us there.  When we pulled the luggage in front of the hotel, Athena and I exclaimed - so, so beautiful!  The hotel was on a hill in Fira, the capital of Santorini.  Down from there we could see Greek white houses with pink tops, scattering near and far.  At the end of the land there was the warmly dreamed Mediterranean/Aegean Sea (although our boat sailed through it, I was too sick to remember my dream and appreciate it).  I almost could see the rolling and breaking of the waves and the romantic deep blue.  The ocean breeze gently caressing my face and the fresh ionic smell filling every pore of my body, all the hardship on the journey was dissipated and I became excited and ... touched!

The host brought some spring water, hot tea, and some home-made cookies.  Savoring everything, Athena and I could not believe that was real :-)

Morning of the first day, at the appointed hour the hostess knocked at our door and delivered the home-made breakfast.  We moved to the sun-deck facing the ocean.  It was a brilliant day, hard for me to keep my eyes open without shades.  Now we could have a good look of the views.  It was beyond words.  

Aegean sea has a special spot in Chinese pop culture.  Most likely because the pronunciation of Aegean resembles "love" in Chinese, apart from the fact that it's the cradle for one of the most ancient civilizations.  There are beautiful love stories and love songs around Aegean sea.  I, as a romantic Chinese who adores history, no doubt worships Aegean.  Can you imagine my feelings then when I was at such a proximity to it?

Our plan was to lead a relaxing and "hedonistic" life on the island - well, only relative to the rest of the trip.

Shopping, donkey ride, caldera, sunset view in Oia - that's first day.  Red Beach, Perissa, Pirgos, grilled octopus, Eastern celebration - that's second day.  More shopping - that's the third day before ferry took us to Crete.

Santorini has much to do with volcano.  It is itself a caldera, at an ancient rim of a still active volcano.  The eruption of the volcano is considered responsible for the destruction of the Minoan Crete.  Nowadays beautiful white houses on the caldera cliff form one of the most pictures on earth.    The beaches on the island are in turn very different from most other places, it can be white, red, or black.  The sands are not very fine.  The glittering feature led me to guess that the sands are rich in minerals.  All three colors can be seen in Red Beach, while Perissa is known for the best black beach.  Sitting in one of the many restaurants on the cliff side, an all black volcano island can be seen very close by, and another island a bit further away is known for hot spring.  

Watching sunset in Oia is one of the rituals that must be done.  We arrived at around 4pm while sunset was not to start until 7pm.  Surprisingly when we reached the good spot, many tourists were already waiting.  We found a table in one of the small cafes.  Needless to say they charge a premium due to the location.  There was not even much choice on the menu.  More and more people joined us gradually.  By 6ish, every space was occupied, steps, roofs, random rocks, walls, and patch of grounds.  It was truly stunning when the soft orange sunshine painted the white houses, the whole cliff, the bell tower casts a long and slanted shadow, and the sun looked like a fire ball hanging in the colorful sky right above the twinkly water.  However, I was not sure why sunset in Oia is so special.  Heather said it was because of sulfur element.

The most amazing event we came across was the Easter celebration in Pirgos on Friday night.  Pirgos is one of the 15 villages on this small island.  When we first arrived the host pointed it to us on our way from the port to hotel and said that Friday night it's going to be most splendid and a huge amount of people would come there.  As he only spoke limited English, we did not know what to expect.  Again we arrived early, found a good spot in the restaurant which turned down many late comers during our dinner.  BTW, I had the most delicious grilled octopus there, which inspired me to order grilled octopus later in the trip whenever I saw it on the menu.  After dinner we followed the visitor flow to walk up to the top of the hill.  Then we settled on a roof right next to the church.  By then we finally learned that there would be a lot of fixated torches lit up and after that there would be a parade walking through the village.  We waited with thousands of other people.  We got a little impatient after the sunset and the sky turned purple.  Standing on the roof on top of the hill, we could see clearly that an ocean of cars were still coming towards this direction.  Nothing happened until the last stray of sunlight disappeared.  From multiple locations, the torches started to light up one after another.  Soon, we were surrounded by flames and the scope was expanding continuously.  People got excited.  It was quite unique to experience such a ritual.  After lingering a bit we headed out to catch a bus.  Only when we walked further away to the streets did we notice that actually the entire hill was lit up by flames.  It was stunning.  And it indeed felt holy.

Road was closed by the police, and we had to walk a lot more to reach the bus station.  We waited for a few minutes and no bus came in sight.  We were not sure if the bus was to come at all.  And certainly no way for us to grab a cab.  Well, then I had my first hitchhike experience.  A gentleman and a lady picked us up and sent us to Fira even that was out of their way.  Knowing nothing about them, I really want to thank them for the kind help.

Santorini is nowhere like Athens.  It's beautiful, clean, orderly, and tons of cute stores.  Buses are ready to take you from Fira to most other scenic spots.  It was still off-peak season when we visited so it was not crowded, and the hotel price was very low.  Of course sitting on beach was not quite enjoyable as it was windy and a bit too chilly.  Athena and I laid on beach benches under straw umbrellas and enjoyed tremendously anyway.

Travel (II) - Europe 6 - Athens Day 1 & 2

Like many others, I had been carrying notions about Greece since very young age.  The history, culture, art, philosophy, and science that Greeks created has been enormous influence on Western civilization.  Greece had always been mystical and magical in my mind, deeply worshipped, despite its recent near-bankrupt financial status.  And this trip to Greece was, in a way, a pilgrimage to me.

Athens, named after the goddess of wisdom, a one-time powerful city state that cultivated many superstars such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, and the modern day cosmopolitan capital that hosted 2004 Olympics, no doubt had always been the crown jewel in my fervently brewed Greece dream.

Athens’ golden age, the pinnacle of the classical era, came after the Persian Empire was repulsed at the battles of Salamis and Plataea (480–479 BC). The city has passed through many hands and cast off myriad invaders from Sparta to Philip II of Macedon, the Roman and Byzantine Empires, and, most recently, the Ottoman Empire. In 1834 Athens superseded Nafplio as the capital of independent Greece. 

Poof! - unfortunately, my Athens dream popped right there, right during my 1.5 day visit from April 19th to 20th.

Having decided to put behind the non-impressive experience that I had the night before, April 19th morning, I set out in search for the mystery in Athens with high spirit and curious mind.  The Greek gentleman that I met in Brussels airport suggested me to walk from Thissio metro station to Monastiraki station, where locates the Acropolis, as "it is very beautiful".   Looking at my "cartoon"-version of the subway map that I printed out from internet, Petralona station, close to where I stayed, is equally distant from Thissio as Thissio from Monastiraki.  "What's the difference to walk two stops if walking one is quite easy", so I thought.  Well, it turned out to be a big mistake as Petralona to Thissio is way, way longer.   However, I was glad that I took the walk so I could see more, although what I saw was disappointing : residential areas look old, dusty, and the worst of it was the ubiquitous graffitis.

There was restaurant row on the side of the road from Thissio to Monastiraki, as well as street vendors  selling souvenirs, collective coins, and accessories.  Supposedly I walked through "the Plaka" to reach Parthenon.  It's said to be the oldest neighborhood in Athens.  If I was not mistakenly taking a different route, I really did not see much special in that neighborhood besides souvenir shops and restaurants, and graffitis everywhere again!

It's said it's impossible not to trip over an ancient column walking around.  That's true.  There were quite a few archeological sites on the way to the Acropolis.  The small ones do not offer much besides a few stand alone columns and remains that barely above the ground.  Other major archeological sites are definitely worth the time, such as the Ancient Agora and Theatre of Dionysious.

Even if you do not care about archeology, do not care about what ancient Greeks contributed to the human civilization, and you do nothing else on your visit to Athens, the Acropolis is one site you have to visit.

The Acropolis, a landmark visible from many parts of the modern city, is the original site of Athens, a limestone plateau supporting the Parthenon, the all-marble temple dedicated to the goddess Athena Parthenos (literally virgin Athens). In the same section is the Erechtheion with its six stone Karyatides maidens holding one side of the temple (four of the originals are in the Museum of the Acropolis and the one stolen by Lord Elgin is on display at the British Museum).  

In late 1600s, the Parthenon was severely damaged by an ammunition explosion.  Today we can only see the outer columns left and scaffolds set up for the repair project.  Despite that, it's still an awe-inspiring place.

Then I had lunch in one of the restaurants at the bottom of the Acropolis.  It's still a bit chilly although the weather was brilliant, and the seating was mostly outdoors.  What's fantastic was that they all provided heating equipment : a tall shiny metal device with fire on the top.  Cozy and comfortable, I enjoyed my first authentic Greek meal : moussaka, one stuffed tomato, one stuffed pepper, and pistachio milk shake.  That was delicious. Pigeons and sparrows wandered around for food.  Quite a few kids were playing musical instrument for money.

In the afternoon, I strolled around in the central market and Monastiraki Flea Market.  Both of them are simply souvenir markets.  When I was hesitating if I should buy a fridge magnet, I noticed one with the picture of Alexander the Great, and "Athens" on the top, his name at the bottom.  So I jokingly asked the shop owner, a gentleman at his 60s, "isn't Alexander the Great a Macedonian?"  Before he could make any comments, I suddenly noticed sitting right next to me an old lady was closing a book and started talking to me - she looked very dry, flesh decayed with aging, deeply chizeled wrinkles, withered mouth, and so the jaw seemed protrusive.  She obviously was the intellectual one in the family.  The next half an hour or so, she educated me passionately, with her right fist constantly pounding against her left palm, how Macedonia, Albania, Istanbul etc etc all belonged to Greece but were stolen by other people.  How these days Germany wants to take Santorini for the bailout they provided.  "As long as God sides with us, we'll get them back".  She was quite confident.  I then asked what went wrong these days.  She was angry with the corrupted government.

Next day my plan was to visit the National Archaeological Museum, which is said to be one of the greatest museums in the world.  However, after spending some time running errands, and wasted time on unknown disrupted metro service, I did not have enough time for that before I had to go back and catch the ferry boat to Santorini.  Instead, I spent some time in Syntagma, the very center of Athens - I tried hard to find the possibility to dissipate my disappointment about the city.  However, after walking across about 50 blocks, my disappointment only got exacerbated.  It's still dusty, polluted, full of graffitis, and seemed a bit messy.  If anything about the city infrastructure that's worth praising, it's probably the subway.  At least it's clean and reasonably well connected, if ignoring the disrupted service.  (Later I learned that most part of the green line had stopped running for more than a year because some archeological stuff was found during some construction project.  But then there had not been any followup and the service had not resumed after so long)

I then went back to the Acropolis area and visited every single archaeological site that I missed the day before due to early close and that I did not plan to see in hope to save time for something else better.

While I was waiting for the metro in Monastiraki station,  I exchanged a few words with an Australian old couple.  The old lady whispered to my ear : "the city is terrible".  I wish things could be different.

Take nothing for granted

"When the first beam of sunshine strikes on African grassland every morning, all animals will wake up and strive to run its fastest to survive : predators have to outrun preys to hunt for life, and preys have to outrun predators to escape death... " I told Jeff that I would begin an article like this, when I found it perplexing that some Americans furiously resist globalization because, for one, cheap Chinese labors take "their" jobs.  "Why do Americans think that they deserve a better life than their Chinese peers if they cannot produce more at a lower cost?" I felt a bit angry.  As a privileged and spoiled species, humans often forget that all beings have to fight and compete for a living, or using the civilized wording, work hard for a living.  Survival is not supposed to be easy for anybody, any species.  Living only on what ancestors created can be a short-term privilege for humans, but surely a slow suicide after all.

Just finished watching a documentary on DVD "Nature's most amazing events" by Discovery Channel.  Most amazing and touching, indeed.  It includes three episodes : The Great Melt, The Great Salmon Run, and The Great Migration.  The first in Arctic, second in Northern Pacific (British Columbia and Alaska), and the last in East Africa.

East Africa, Serengeti, the short-grass plains attract 3 million of grazing animals to migrate in December and out in May.  This herd of grazers, such as wildebeest, zebra, antelope, often stretching 25 miles long, travels for more than 1000 miles, following the rumbling storms to find fertile grassland to feed and calve.  During their journey, there are lurking threats everywhere from top predators such as lions, cheetah, crocodiles, who pretty much rely on the herd to survive and raise cubs.

You think it's cool to be a lion, no?  You'll be surprised that the king of animals actually suffers most and the survival rate of cubs is very low.  The movie followed the fortune of an Ndutu pride (i.e. a group of lions) for seven months from the dry season to the most prosperous one.  It is in fact appalling to witness the conditions those cubs were in during a dry season when there were few preys around. They were little more than skin and bones, waiting on the bare ground ravaged by fire and scorched by sun.  They got mange, and their skins were falling apart.  Some of them were limping.  There seemed to be little chance for them to survive.  The litter of 7 cubs dwindled to only 4, and then 2 in the end.  It was shocking.  And then they all disappeared.  When eventually the lioness and the surviving cubs marched into the horizon on the again-green grassland near the herd, I felt the triumphant excitement too, resonating the feeling of the cameraman - yes, they survived an eventful year of sickness, drought, fire, and volcanic eruption

At an equally stunning scale, every May to July, half a billion salmon will return home in British Columbia and Alaska, even Cali, after 4 years in sea, to lay eggs in fresh waters 2000 miles away!  I never imagined laying eggs would be a big deal for fishes.  Now I am filled with admiration.  Their journey is no less dramatic and arduous than described in one of the four greatest ancient Chinese literature "Journey to the West".  Long distance travel, upstream swimming, clearing the falls (like human jumping over a 4-story building); when it's too dry they get stuck in shallow water or stuck in a pool without able to move forward and, in turn, plague; when there's too much rain they have to battle strong torrents; as their kidney and other organs adjust to sudden change of water, they stop eating and even drinking., so they are eventually killed by the very water that draw them home, after swimming up stream and spawn; not to mention a full spectrum of coastal predators relying on Salmon Run to survive : grizzly bears, wolves, bald-headed eagles, steller sea lions, killer whales, salmon sharks, so on and so forth.  In the end the toll of this long journey is that for a thousand hatched, only 4 make it back to home.

A digression : why Pacific salmon take this epic run still remains a mystery.  Atlantic salmon come back to spawn every year and do not die after that.  Also how they find way home is largely unclear.  Only recently scientists found small particles of Iron in their brain, which are like compass and help it steer the magnetic lines of earth, showing them exactly where to go.

Salmon have to take such an ordeal to reproduce, well, it's definitely not easy for a grizzly bear to make it through either : half of the grizzly cubs do not even survive the first year.  Every year the grizzly will be hungry for more than half of the year, either hibernating or feeding on grass and berries.  By the end of the hunger, its head appears funnily sadly too big and body too small.

Every summer the Arctic will welcome many migrants who come to feed and reproduce, most of which travel more than 600 miles one way, such as Narwhal whales (a.k.a. the arctic unicorn, named after its strange spiral tusk, the most secretive and elusive animals in the world's oceans), Beluga whales, sea birds such as guillemot, etc.  Also there are locals such as polar bears and polar foxes.  The challenges that polar bears facing are well known.  Even for polar foxes, often 2 out of 8 cubs will get fatten enough from the abundance that a short summer can offer to survive the winter.

These are fascinating stories to learn.  What's more, I was reminded once again that nothing should be taken for granted, including survival.  One may argue that it's their instinct, nothing lofty.  True.  Food, shelter, survival, and reproduction are just an instinct.  But since when we lost our very basic instinct, and got reduced to a bitter and sour and cynic whiner?

Shan't we be quixotic?

Yesterday afternoon I was browsing videos on internet, in hope to understand the dismal economic situations, and bumped into this video clip from Bloomberg news.  It'd be just a normal one out of the hundreds, had I not noticed (perhaps only my own imagination?) the unnecessary and unprofessional, tricky smile on Margaret Brennan's face, 4:00 into the video, when Ron Paul was first mentioned.  Then Ron Paul's photo/video were pulled in.  Suddenly for the first time I connected Ron Paul with the image of Don Quixote, and Margret, one of the hottest and popular female news anchors in NYC, with the Duke and Duchess in Cervantes' fictional work, the arrogant high class who exploited Don Quixote's delusion for their own entertainment and cared little about their own honor.


I then came to realize that I could not be the first person to see this connection for Ron Paul, so I googled.  Right, I was far from being the first.  Media referred to his being "Quixotic" often in a somewhat derogatory manner; while some of Ron Paul's supporters proudly claimed that's a badge of honor, and they made a video out of Ron Paul's pictures with "the impossible dream", the song from the movie "Man of La Mancha".  


I absolutely love the term "quixotic" and proudly adore "quixotic" Ron Paul. 


Don Quixote was delusional.  But I doubt this mad man's story would have become one of the greatest literary fictions if the whole point is just that Quixote was delusional.  It is more the message than the man.  Honor, pursuit of dreams, protection of the weak, romance, justice, performing good deeds, persistence... Well, some Dukes and Duchess might not have interest in really learning what it is all about.  So be it.


Ron Paul is not delusional.  He is a brilliant human being who understands the real crisis this nation faces, and he sticks with his purely principled stance, albeit unpopular, being a sturdy flag for his followers.  


Do I agree with him on everything?  Still learning and debating myself, I cannot answer yet.  But I definitely like his views on issues such as sound money, non-aggressive foreign policy, free trade, etc.  But these aside, what I adore him most is his integrity and his being "quixotic".


He never minded casting the only one dissident vote in Congress.  He does not pick where and when and to whom he applies his philosophies.  He is utmost consistent.  He has been devoting to what he believes in, active on the front line fending off arrows and bullets to get the messages across.  BTW, he was a great medical doctor too having helped many in his community.


With such qualities, even if that person stands on the opposite side to myself, I will still respect him.


Before knowing of Ron Paul, I did not realize that I am actually a romantic heroic character too.  What is life to us?  A good education, then a decent salary, a spouse, a house, a couple of kids, and some vacations?  Is that all?  Might be, for some; might not be, for many others.  I adore people who do "silly" things to pursue passions, to chase after dreams - "silly" in forsaking the tangible comfort and/or pleasure.  Ron Paul is an excellent example.


I'd like to conclude with the lyrics of  "the Impossible Dream".  May we all be courageous, be true to ourselves, and living without regret - only so can we say it with a peaceful smile that "I lived" in the death bed.


It is the mission of each true knight...
His duty... nay, his privilege!
To dream the impossible dream,
To fight the unbeatable foe,
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go;
To right the unrightable wrong.

To love, pure and chaste, from afar,
To try, when your arms are too weary,
To reach the unreachable star!

This is my Quest to follow that star,
No matter how hopeless, no matter how far,
To fight for the right
Without question or pause,
To be willing to march into hell
For a heavenly cause!

And I know, if I'll only be true
To this glorious Quest,
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest.

And the world will be better for this,
That one man, scorned and covered with scars,
Still strove, with his last ounce of courage,
To reach the unreachable stars!

Bridesmaids, a worthy movie

Watched the movie this Monday.  It's not your typical comedy, definitely not a typical chick-flick.


Laughed, almost knocked out;  shed tears, touched by the friendship; tired, after such emotional roller coaster; and chewed it over when relaxed.


It's directed by the same person who did "40 year old virgin", "knocked up", and "superbad".  All very funny movies, but I think this movie being the most realistic and having the best substance, yet the fun came in totally unspoiled.


We probably all have acquaintances in life somewhat resembling Annie, Helen, and other ladies in the movie.


Annie, the protagonist, was failing everything in life : "I am in my 30s, I am 40,000 in debt, living with a weirdo (roommate)", in a non committal relationship although she was longing for a real one, lost her job, no friend, car accident, had to move back to live with her mother which was what she disliked.


With sympathy, I think she largely created the whole situation herself.


She had a job but she sabotaged it with her negative attitude.  She could have a good, honest relationship where she would be understood, respected, cherished, and her passion would be supported, but she was after the gorgeous guy despite being mistreated, and she was pretending like "I am ok, everything is ok" in the relationship.  She had a car accident which she could have avoided by simply having the taillights fixed, instead of blaming busy schedule, nemesis, and unfair life.


"Where there is a pathetic person there are scornful characters", as Chinese saying goes.  If one does not help oneself, does not put a lid on one's destructive emotions, one is doomed to misery even she/he if is a royal princess/prince.


Life knocks us around, which happens to everybody and is ok.  The difference is some get up and fight, and others give up and blame the world.  And that's the moment that separates the pros from the amateurs and the winner from the loser.  When Megan, the biggest and toughest bridesmaid, pushed Annie to fight back as Annie's dwelling miserably at her "bottom" in life, tears came in earnest for me.


And we surely see Helen's around as well.  They maintain a perfect facade (always well-kept looks, the most polite smile, socially adept), they are snobbish, yet with a fearful inside.  Eager for friendship, but do not know how other than trying to "buy" it with the ample resource they have : money and power.  To be honest, I still kind of liked Helen in the movie - good looks do have an advantage on me :-P, and she was not really doing much harm to anybody except being annoying in usurping Annie's duties as the maid of honor.


Other characters are interesting too such as the frustrated wife and mother who sees Lillian's wedding as an escape.  One interesting side aspect is how the movie depicts kids - it's definitely discouraging population growth. :)


I like this type of movies : funny on the surface, and have some substance for me to take away as well, just like my favorite movie "the groundhog day", which, by the way, still remains my favorite so far.

From what Jim Rogers talks about China and India

* Related post : China vs India : who has a better chance for economic growth

In the article Jim Rogers Talks About Inflation, China, Commodities, Unrest and India, Jim Rogers was enthusiastic about China boom as ever, while being pessimistic about India :

Q. What do you make of India?

A (Jim Rogers). I am not optimistic. I’m short India, as a matter of fact. I can go on and on about the shortcomings of India and how people don’t understand India, but the one fact is that India now has now a 90% debt to GDP ratio, which, for some reason, the bulls either don’t know or ignore. As you probably know, the studies show that when a country gets to 90% to GDP it’s very difficult to grow very rapidly because everything you’re doing is paying off the debts of the past. So no matter how productive and dynamic you are, you’ve still got a big burden. So for that and all the other reasons, I’m less optimistic about India then most people. It’s a phenomenal country to visit, but boy, it’s tough to do business there. Even for Indians, it’s tough to do business there.

India's high debt/GDP ratio came as a surprise for me, and Jim certainly has a good point on that.

What might surprise many is that he found tough to do business in India, not only tough for himself, but also for Indians.  And he did not mention this problem when speaking of China.  The ironic thing is that Indian constitution declares that India is a democracy and that instantly convinces many westerners (for example many of my western friends) that it's easier to do business in India than in China, as democracy equals rule of law, doesn't it.  Does it really?

Well, Jim Rogers' comments are really not surprising for me.  I've heard Indians talking about the lack of rule of law in India.  I am still not in a position to make this call due to my lack of research.  However, I know how not difficult to start business in Shanghai as I worked on starting up a company there.  I remember about 10 years ago before I came to US, Pudong (the east part of Shanghai, the newly developed hi-tech industrial area) promised a simple registration procedure for start-ups which would take no more than 2 weeks.  Things might be more complicated for foreigners, due to currency exchange issue and potentially local industry protectionism too, and one would have to find a Chinese partner.

China is surely facing sundry challenges as well, among which corruption seems particularly a pain in the neck.  Corruption no doubt indicates weak rule of law.  When being limited by a regulation, a Chinese is more likely to endeavor to circumvent it than to try to create the necessary conditions to conform to it.  Well, China is certainly not alone when it comes to having a culture of corruption.  A few months ago I heard on a radio show about an interesting study on "cultures of corruption" (table on page 20) of how likely foreign diplomats, grouped by nations, are to pay parking tickets in NYC, thousands of miles' away from home.  In terms of average unpaid violation per diplomat per year from 1997-2002, China ranks 65 out of 146 nations studied, and India is slightly better, 79.

In my old "China vs India" post, I already mentioned that whether democracy necessarily helps economic development is debatable.  Hans Hoppe's book - democracy the god that failed - claims that democracies can be a worse form of government because people will elect those who will redistribute the wealth and make the country impossible to do business. (Thanks Jeff for the reference)

On a different note, India does not seem to have the most harmonious relationship among people : different languages, religious divide, and legacy caste system.  This could be worrisome and even get escalated to be a political risk.

With men as a mirror

Emperor Taizong of Tang was the second emperor of the Tang Dynasty of China, ruling from 626 to 649 AD.  He is typically considered one of the greatest, if not the greatest, emperors in Chinese history. Throughout the rest of Chinese history, Emperor Taizong's reign was regarded as the exemplary model against which all other emperors were measured, and his "Reign of Zhenguan" was considered a golden age of Chinese history.
 

He had an advisor called Wei Zheng. Few men in history would be so frank and honest with their monarch.  When Wei Zheng died, Taizong was overwhelmed with grief.  The Emperor said to his ministers, "With a bronze mirror, one can see whether he is properly attired; with history as a mirror, one can understand the rise and fall of a nation; with men as a mirror, one can see whether he is right or wrong. Now I've lost my faithful mirror by the death of Wei Zheng".


This was a story most of Chinese learned from childhood.  I always find it amazing and inspiring.  I strive to take, as well as make, honest and frank comments.  As Chinese idiom goes: "good medicine tastes bitter; good advice sounds harsh", both taking and making honest comments require courage. 


Eugene has been a very supportive friend, but what I appreciate most is that he shares with me his honest opinions.  


On my blog post "defending competitiveness", he pointed out that for a few times I had my low back injured in tennis games due to my "competitiveness", which was unnecessary. He said sometimes I could be stubborn.  Hmm... have to say that he has a good point :-)


On another post about my friend Y, he praised my standpoint that one should still have one's own life after marriage/children.  But he warned me not to walk to another extremity.  Couples should create chances to participate each other's growth and emotions.  I think what he said is spot on.  Come to think about it, at times I probably overly demand myself to be strong and independent.  I could seem so self-contained that I do not need anybody else in my life, which might be misleading. And "create chances to participate" - what a wonderful piece of advice!  Total dependence is not desirable in a relationship, nor total independence.  We shall work towards a dynamic interdependence, where each party's truth is recognized and all are woven together.


On a separate note.  Another friend Nishant, in a recent group discussion, stressed the importance for kids to be trained to do homework.  He said even though homework itself might not be necessary for kids to do well in exams, especially for smart kids, it's a important training for kids to stay focused.  Smart kids might be able to get by when things are easy.  However sooner or later things will become difficult and one would not achieve much if he/she could not stay focused.  I was impressed by his viewpoint and confessed, painfully, that it was my personal lesson.  I have been struggling with staying focused ever since the beginning of my career after getting by for 20 years in school.  Short attention span is like a stubborn disease, worsened today by the easy access of smart phones and internet.  I guess I will have to fight a hard battle.


And, there is Jimmy who often points out my non-PC wording to avoid me offending others.  There is Yan who re-enforces my tender heart besides a critical mind.  There are Jeff and Steve who have such unique insights on many subjects that often stun me and enrich me.  


My appreciation is beyond words.  Salute!

Sophia's painting

Sophia is my friend Yan's daughter, not even 5 years old yet.  Yan showed me this photo of one of Sophia's paintings the other day, and I was so impressed that I had to ask for a copy and since then having been "showing off" to many friends as if I was showing off "my" daughter :D.

But seriously, look at the use of the color, the blending of it, the details, the composition of stillness and motion, and that was entirely pictured from her imaginative mind.  Not to belittle myself, but I guess I would have a hard time emulating her on this front.

How can one not respect children and their abilities?!

I have only met Sophia once, but she has been giving me abundant fun - sharing her creative "language manipulation" skill and bubbling thoughts has been a very enjoyable pastime between Yan and myself, and the amusement is much more safely guaranteed this way than subscribing to a "joke du jour" iPhone app.

Two years ago my favorite Shambhala teacher Joe mentioned the concept of subdue adult arrogance and respect children.  I think it's wise and necessary.

Extinguish not their originality, and trespass not on their solitude. 

===============
Update on June 2, 2011, 12:22am

It's said that Sophia herself does not like this painting - "it's one of the worst", she said.  I am certainly bewildered by such a shocking twist :-)

Measure of life (V) - wisdom vs. intelligence and knowledge

This subject is a necessary digression for my story telling.

I searched for a good explanation on this, but was disappointed.  So here comes my own definitions and comparisons -

Knowledge is collected information.

Intelligence is an ability to understand, reason, think, and solve problems.

Wisdom is distilled knowledge that one obtains by properly processing amassed raw knowledge (and often necessarily experience, if that is not counted as knowledge) using intelligence.  And yet, the outcome of wisdom is not guaranteed.  Wisdom enables one to discern, or judge, what is right and wrong, good and bad, and subsequently make sensible decisions.

Let me put it this way : if one wants wisdom, the distilled beverage, one has to have knowledge and experience as grain/fruit, intelligence as the brewing kit, a pursuing heart as the willing brewer.  And we all know eventually wines differ significantly in terms of color, smell, body, acidity, tannin, etc.  Some wine sells at $5 per bottle, and others $3,000 per bottle.

As a nerd, I will conclude this way : wisdom = knowledge + experience + intelligence + a pursuing heart + epsilon the random factor.

There is life wisdom, human wisdom, engineering wisdom, finance wisdom, and so on.  As this thesis is about life, I will only speak of life wisdom.

Here I have a beautiful case that exemplifies the relation:

“Can anyone who has heard this music [Beethoven's Appasionata], I mean truly heard it, really be a bad person?” -from the movie the lives of others (2006)

Yes, what's the use to know all the background information of every music masterpiece yet have no emotional response while immersing in one? What's the use to memorize all the Buddhism scripts yet lose temper when getting elbowed accidentally on subway?  What's the use of being a vegetarian allegedly out of the mercy towards every sentient being yet keep lying to loved ones? And, what's the use to possess the knowledge of the entire universe, yet find no joy in life?

I think gaining wisdom for any individual is as instrumental as the invention of tools for the evolution of human beings.  Joy is the fountainhead of life, of production, and wisdom opens up and unclogs the channels for the vitality to spread into every aspect of one's life.

Measure of life (IV) - ignorance can be bliss

When I was born, ten years of Chinese Culture Revolution just ended. China was pretty much at the brink of getting rotten. Most commoners literally were living next to nothing. I grew up with very limited material and intellectual resources, despite the fact that I was the only child in the family. I was ignorant, without a doubt, and I was a happy kid. I was happy because I was doing well in school. I was happy that I could help my parents with house work so they could do less. I was happy that we were doing better than many of our neighbors because my parents are very smart and hardworking. I do not remember anything that really bothered me: no toys, no books, no cute dresses, not knowing anything about the big world - hey, I did not know why I needed those, or perhaps I even did not know the existence of those, so I was not bothered. How lucky I was to be ignorant under that circumstance! Ignorance is bliss, indeed.  

With me continuously doing well in school, not surprisingly I kept walking into a bigger and bigger world. Nothing was planned, because I did not have the necessary vision to plan anything this "grand", nor did my parents. Again, ignorance is bliss - Without either my parents or myself or anybody in the world expecting me to achieve much, I never had much of a pressure, but only constantly reap pleasant surprises that I actually could do better.  

Luckily that I grew up in China where schools actually value academic performance, and I did not need to dodge flying daggers such as drugs, bullies, teen sex, racial / background discrimination, so on and so forth. To be honest, I was not even aware of those prevalent school issues in US until not too long ago. Call me ignorant. And I am happy I was.

Because I was a good kid, I was always appointed/elected a major student leader. Starting from very early on I was given the opportunities to (oh that's too rosy a description - I confess many times "was pushed to" suits the reality better) deliver a speech in front of the whole school, to command group exercises, to participate debate teams, to run a school broadcast station, to run a student government, to make up rules, to pull together a basketball team and a soccer team out of the only 11 girls in my class,... so I did not become a typical nerd.  

At the same time, I enjoyed good relationship with many people, and I helped many with my wide-spread connections. More importantly, I have always been satisfied with myself that I have been ethical, honest, and generous. In terms of money, I am rarely concerned. With my upbringing, I know I do not need much to survive and I do not need luxury although that is good to have; with my competency, I never worry that I would not be able to make a living.  The fore-mentioned three conditions, I think, are pivotal in determining most people's happiness level. Well, sometimes I did lament that I was not as pretty as I desired.  However, I often had admirers who were either the most handsome and/or the most competent, so with that little vanity as compensation, it was easy to shrug off my dissatisfaction with my looks, not to even mention that I actually was not enthusiastic at all about dating until really late.

My friend Y, when discussing happiness, said that "it's delta that matters, not the absolute value". Delta, is a mathematical jargon, means difference. In this context, there is delta between reality and expectation, delta between now and before, and delta between one and one's neighbors. I agree, that's a fact for many people, and many times, that's also the very fact that put us into the abyss of unhappiness, which will be elaborated in later chapters.

Nonetheless, I was pumped quite high in spirit by all three deltas : I was doing better than my expectation, I was doing better every day than the previous day, and as far as my then limited world spaned, I was doing better than most of my peers.

With me going through one of the best high schools and one of the best universities in China, it's a bit surprising that all the intellectual pain attacks pretty much shunned clear by at least a 3-mile radius from me, although I read and felt "blue" sometimes. Not a single reason occurred to me to cause serious unhappiness. I, today, do not know what to comment on that. Yes, that was ignorant happiness existing on the fact that I did not know more. But honestly I doubt I would beg to alter such a nice and easy period, to suffer more in order to deepen and enrich myself. If, if there were if's in life, that could last forever, I would no doubt be a princess in the fairy tale of "living happily every after".

However, nature has its own way to unfold things, and perhaps we humans are genetically wired to break fairy tales of that sort.

Measure of life (III) - is ignorance bliss?

What is ignorant happiness?

Without knowing the truth (truth is often complicated and less than beautiful), one is less bothered by the imperfect realities, one has less desire for more, or one can fabricate any fantasy to serve one's ends, hence easier to be happy.  Just like most children.

Intelligence = counter-happiness?

For that reason, many people, for example Lisa Simpson, concluded that “As intelligence goes up, happiness goes down. See, I made a graph. I make lots of graphs.” [The Simpsons, episode 257]

When I had a chat with my boss as I suffered the "intermittent intellectual pain attack", he admitted that he could reckon.  When I mentioned Noam Chomsky for some reason, he commented that "how painful the life must be for intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky and Bernard Russell".  At that moment I could not help empathizing with their deep-to-marrow sort of pain - although today I would be wary of this kind of generalization.

Out of sheer intellectual curiosity, I interviewed quite a few people.  It seems to me people are more or less confused.  On one hand, it does appear that those who do not know as much look happier.  But on the other hand, all that I talked to would choose to know more, if there is such an option.  If happiness is what we are after as a major character for a "good" life, and knowing more seems to destroy happiness or at least reduce it, then why, oh why, we want to drive ourselves into a less "good" life?!  Are we all masochists?!  Oh, how can I pass on such an interesting dilemma without delving into it.  So delve deep I did and hence this writing.

I will neither argue for, nor argue against that view point, because I think intelligence is not the very relevant variable here on this chart.  Rather, wisdom should take its place.  I am pretty confident that wisdom (if it can be measured properly) is a statistically significant factor, and the curve then will flip - flip around x axis or y axis still depends on my further research ;-) .  Intelligence and wisdom sound like twins, but I do not think so.

So the motif of my thesis is : wisdom is bliss.  Ignorance can be bliss, only when people are ignorant of their ignorance, which sometimes is indeed a blissful thing; wisdom, which differs from intelligence, leads to more mindful and sustainable happiness, and that requires skills to manage, hence I call it "skillful happiness".  And anything in between could put one on a big swing : one day in heaven and the next in hell, and that is often completely at the mercy of the God.

Measure of life (II) - two regimes

Joy, or happiness, has often been the common character of a "good" life, no matter to ancient Egyptians, or to Aristotle, or to probably most of us.

For thousands of years, countless many people have been pondering on this word, have been searching beyond and within for it, have been exerting trial-and-error efforts to understand it, and yet here we are, today, still baffled and battered every now and then.

Reading the ethics chapter of any philosophy book will give you a good summary of the views from many great minds, hence I just want to share something personal.

I am one of the happier gals, the fact of which, I believe, will be nodded at by most people around me.  In the domain of happiness, my days so far can be divided into two major regimes : "ignorant happiness" (or "blind happiness"), and "skillful happiness".

Accidently, coming to America 10 years ago denotes the watershed between those two regimes.  Don't get me wrong.  It's not like there are monsters and wolves in US.  If I am asked of a question that "what is the best thing that has ever happened to you", my answer, without hesitation, will be "come to America".  I think it's that dramatic change of environment catalyzed a quake that shattered the unsound foundation of my spiritual world.  And I am 120% glad that it happened that way instead of paining me through a slow death.  About 1.5 years ago, I started to have this delightful feeling that finally a butterfly had morphed successfully from a caterpillar, or that a phoenix had risen from ashes... I could smell spring everyday, and I had never been that live - not because I did something majestic or became a big shot, but because I felt I found, not without pain, joy, and the path leading to it - this time it's a different kind of joy, more mindful, more sustainable, and more sophisticated.  It has been a profound and life-changing experience.

Measure of life (I) - preface

I am certainly not claiming I under measure of life, and I am perfectly aware that different people adopt different measure, which is, and should be, everybody's freedom as long as one does not infringe others' rights. And I have no interest in judging what is better, but to share my two cents and perhaps to get some echos as well as different voices from generous readers.


“You know, the ancient Egyptians had a beautiful belief about death. When their souls got to the entrance to heaven, the guards asked two questions.  Their answers determined whether they were able to enter or not. ‘Have you found joy in your life?’, and 'Has your life brought joy to others?’”
                                                                               - from the movie <Bucket List>


I quite like it.


Searching for the purpose of life and finding means to better one's (and others') life probably have puzzled many aspiring and curious minds, including mine.  And I think it's a lifetime project, also a fun and intellectually stimulating project.  At least for now,  I think these two questions from ancient Egyptian culture seem quite spot-on.  And inspired by that, I will venture on writing about my experiences and views on this topic.

China vs India : who has a better chance for economic growth

I would never have written such a post had I not come across a post on a forum (gplus.com) listing 10 advantages that India has over China for 21 century economic growth.  So the following text is an adaptation of my response to that list.


Out of the list, I find only 3 worth discussing, although they are still not the fundamental drive of competency, according to my opinion :


1) India's resource consumption has decreased for every incremental dollar of GDP since 1991 (as against China, which was using three times more resources per dollar of GDP than India).
2) India is in a very sweet demographic spot, being the youngest country in the world: half a billion Indians are less than twenty- five years old, giving it a unique 'demographic dividend' among peers.
3) Its judicial system is robustly based on English common law. It's a genuine, albeit imperfect, democracy.


My response :


1. Cost of GDP. A quick look at the composition of both countries economy will tell you that India is focused on service (Service : fluctuating around 50% of GDP; industry : around 25-30% of GDP, and employs less than 20% of the workforce; agriculture : around 30%, but employs 60% of the workforce) while China has a more balanced distribution between service and industry (service : industry : agriculture = 43 : 47 : 10). Of course a call center will incur lower cost than a steel company. In case of the tail risk that the west alienates both countries, guess who will survive better?

2. Demography.

-Younger population is good, as long as they produce enough to reach beyond supporting themselves. If a big portion of them are hungry and (semi-) unemployed, it's hard to justify glorifying a big (young) population. In that, as the only-child in my family, I personally respect China for making a responsible sacrifice, while India cannot feed its biggest population.  If a bigger young population is unconditionally advantageous, come on, it's not like Indians are better at giving birth than Chinese are.  Not to even mention that China has more natural resources such as land and water to accommodate a bigger population.

-As a direct benefit of a one-child policy, the new generation of Chinese has a astronomically better opportunity in terms education and health than the older ones. Needless for me to prove that it's productivity that matters, not population. A smaller educated and healthy population might be more collectively productive than a bigger but uneducated and under-nutrition-ed one.

-Assume everything goes well in China : economy is booming, and opportunities ample for young people. Hey, maybe young Indians and other young Asians want to immigrate to China. We have been seeing more and more young Indian faces already in Beijing and Shanghai - people "vote with feet". Assuming there is not such a splendid future, many people do not have a job anyway, and it's safer to have a lot of old "unemployed" than young ones.

-a 60 years old today is not the same as a 60 years old in 20 years. Many 60 years olds might want to work in 20 years.

-With technology advance, fewer people need to work, people need to work for fewer hours, and work is less labor intensive.


3. Whether democracy is superior in terms of promoting production, it's in fact quite debatable. What matters for economic boom, I think, is economic freedom. They might be correlated, but not the same (Singapore is a good example).

Both nations' recent development are very respectable, and obviously both are not without problems. There is a huge essay I can write about this topic but I can comfortably drop most of my arguments because I think they, as well as most of the above, are just scratching the surface of the problem. I think the most fundamental (economic) competition edge for any nation relies upon economic freedom (including but not limited to rule of law) and education, with the former significantly depending upon the latter. Both India and China cannot boast on either. So if there is a race between India and China, it's a race of education. Just like neither big nation can organize a competent soccer team, population also does not correlate with economic success; a disorganized and disengaged big population only creates chaos - a younger population creates a more severe chaos in that case, for the obvious reasons.

Travel (II) - Europe 6 - Athens Day 0

Click here to view some pictures in Athens

In Brussels' airport while waiting for my flight to Athens, I had a chance to chat with a handsome Greek gentleman. He reviewed my top-10-things-to-do-in-Athens list, and gave me more practical and more detailed advices.

A digression.  He was doing his PhD in psychology in UK, with a research focus on lie detecting for forensic purpose.  Due to my long held interest in psychology, he instantly intrigued me.  I asked for some elaboration on this topic.  The first point he made was to "ignore body language completely".  He said according to research, the correct prediction based on body language was no more than 50%, i.e. a random guess.  The hype of deciphering people based on body language was pretty much a US FBI product.  I was glad to learn all these as I personally did not believe body language analysis based on my own experience.  When I asked how to detect lies, he said to ask many open questions and to see if that person elaborates and if the details make sense.  That instantly reminded me of one of my favorite movies "the lives of the others" where an East German secret policeman used a similar scheme to interrogate people, but with torture.  He laughed and said that's definitely his favorite movie too.  But in UK, the evidence collected through such kind of inhuman interrogation would not be admitted in courts.  He then asked about my PhD research and my current job.  I answered with carefully organized details :-P.  Later he mentioned that he used to major in dentistry and actually practiced for a while, and decided that's not for him, then he started from scratch in psychology.  Fascinating.

He mentioned to me that Aegean airline offers good meals.  That turned out to be true.  Meal on the flight was quite Greek and delicious : pasta with octopus, hummus with coarse texture (the most delicious hummus I had had), and the dessert was a Greek special sweet made from sesame with coca.

It was a short flight of 3 hours from Brussels to Athens.  I was busy writing my blog so did not even notice it before I arrived.  Read about the scoundrel taxi drivers in Athens, also got that "rumor" confirmed by the new friend I made as well as some airport staff, and it was past midnight in Athens time, I dared not to take a taxi from the airport to the city center.  The Metro was also closed at that late hour.  So I opted to take a bus to city center and then to take a taxi to my lodging place - Athena's friend offered us a newly decorated apartment in the center of Athens.  

With all my curiosity about and admiration for mythical Greek civilization and splendid Greek culture, I did not want to close my eyes for one second on the bus, even though that was already past 1 am local time.  I was amused when I saw so many mathematical symbols, sigma, lambda, theta, epsilon..., were part of the store names - "now we know where math was from".  However, what I saw along the streets were less than glamourous - it looked like some corny suburban towns in China.  At the beginning I thought that was only in the remote areas, but when I got off in the city center, nothing looked like a modern city, nor a historical city.  Hmm... 

Even though the taxi ride was short, I guess I could call the driver a scoundrel.  Anyway, it was late at night, and he was kind of old, I did not want to argue but to treat it as a charity.

Athena was already in Athens and she was kindly waiting for my arrival.  Her friend George, who provided lodging for us, was a wealthy ship-owner.  Even though I knew that was a spare apartment of his, my imagination about the condition of the building definately had gone beyond what I saw.  It was an old-looking apartment building.  The elevator seemed like from last millenium.  One would have to open the elevator door like opening a house door by literally pulling the knob.  And it ran with a huge noise.  The interior of the apartment itself was well decorated very recently and nothing that we would complain about.  So, what kind of city is Athens?  I was wondering before I passed out in bed...

Travel (II) - Europe 5 - Brussels, Belgium

Click here to view some pictures in Brussels

April 18th, Monday.  Last day in Belgium before I head out to Greece.  Solo tour for me again.  A few people mentioned before that Brussels is sort of boring compared to many other European cities.  That was quite contradictory with my original imagination of a garden city covered by flower carpet.  It turned out that the splendid flower carpet show is only up once every two years in an even numbered year, and only during the third week of August.  So I was totally going to miss it. 

Belgium is the capital of Flanders, Belgium, and Europe.  It houses the headquarter of EU and NATO.  I did not bother to identify which building is which in the neighborhood of the royal palace and congress, except for the fore-mentioned two.  However, the grandeur and formalness and conservativeness of those buildings kind of suggested that Brussels is a political center in Europe.  

Before heading out to the #1 tourist attraction Grand Place (or Grote Markt as in Dutch), I rested a bit in the big park right in front of the royal palace.  It's obviously a beloved leisure place by locals where I could see people jogging, kids playing, and many baby trolleys.  

Grand Place had a less than glamourous beginning.  It was just a swampy sand-bank between two brooks, known as "broek sella" which gave Brussels its name.  The sand bank was turned into a market and sold French and English textiles, French wines, and German beer.  In the Middle Ages wooden houses were built around the market and by 14th century wealthy families took to building stone mansions which led to the market developing into the main commercial administrative centre.  The Gothic Town Hall (Hotel de Ville) came in 1402 and by now it was also a political center. 

Many have admired the beauty of the Grand Place, wide open cobbled square, surrounded by elegant guildhouses.  I was also impressed by the grandeur of it and the decorativeness.  However, I was not charmed by the style of the decor. 

The side streets were full of souvenir stores, cafes, and restaurants.  Belgium is known for chocolates, waffles, beers, and Manneken Pis, the "Pissing Boy", or "Little Julian".  All were in the vicinity.  

The chubby-cheeked bronze statute of Manneken Pis, created in the 17th century by Jerome Duquesnoy, embodies the irreverent spirit of Brussels.  Although only 60cm in height, he is probably Brussels' most photographed statue.  That day he was stark-naked as usual.  But sometimes he gets dressed.  In fact he has an impressive wardrobe of 600 outfits displayed in the Maison du Roi (or Broodhuis as in Dutch, Royal Art Museum).

I bought a big waffle with dart chocolate, and sat among hundreds on the shoulder of the square in Grand Place.  Pretty nice!

Hoping to do some shopping in the local antique market as well as to buy some chocolates in some well praised shops, I headed to Place du Grand Sablon.  To my disappointment, the antique market is only open on Sundays.  However, it's a nice casual place with lots of cafes where locals like to hang out.  Right away I saw Wittamer, a recommended chocolate place that offers a tearoom experience.  I ordered a dessert and a hot chocolate, savoring while sun-bathing.  A little blond girl, probably 4 years old, came over to play with me, showing off her little duck and easter eggs, posing for my pictures, and trying to take pictures for me.  Although we did not share a common language, I had a good company.  When I stood up to leave, she dived into my arms, hugged me tightly and insisted to give me a kiss.  Such a sweet heart. :-)

Regretfully, I did not find the famous chocolate store Pierre Marcolini (39 Place Du Grand Sablon) for their exceptional displays.  Athena later confirmed that it was really beautiful.  I did not care enough to look for it with efforts.  Oh well, next time.

Another regret is that the comic strip museum was closed on Monday.  It's said that Belgium has more comic strip artists per square kilometer than any other country.  Maybe I'll be better off to first read some comic books about Tin Tin, Belgium's famous cartoon character hero, before my visit next time.  I remember B was reading them.  Bummer that I did not pay much attention.

Brussels seems to be the transportation hub in Western Europe.  It seems to have more railway stations than any other cities, and it's well connected by rail to the rest of Western Europe.  I also find its airport probably one of the largest that I have seen.   With my heavy backpack, I was tired out when I eventually reached my gate for the flight to Athens.  And I am sure that I walked the longest distance on the moving walk-way.