Shanghai says big 'Gidday' to Sydney

Link

SHANGHAI and Sydney, Australia's biggest city, signed an historic agreement this week that will open the door to a myriad of business opportunities.

Morris Iemma, the premier of New South Wales, of which Sydney is the capital, revealed yesterday he had signed a "Friendship Co-operation Agreement'' with Shanghai authorities which he says will open the door to many significant possibilities.

He told more than 200 guests at the NSW Premier's China Business Mission "Gateways to the Future'' function at the Portman Ritz Carlton that this new relationship would extend to business, tourism, research, education and culture.

Mr Iemma led a 40-strong delegation of New South Wales businessmen and academics into town this week to seek out business and other opportunities in the country that is Australia's biggest trading partner.

He told guests at the function 25 different Australian companies and nine universities were represented within the delegation.

Mr Iemma said China had a long history of investment in New South Wales but the relationship between Australia and China is more than 150 years old.

More recently however Sydney and NSW had become major tourist and education destinations for Chinese people, he said.

In announcing new relationships between the University of Sydney and the University of New South Wales with Chinese universities this week, he said more than 85,000 Chinese were attending educational institutions in NSW.

Meanwhile, Iemma expressed deep sympathy for victims as he pledged AU$600,000 (US$576,210) to the relief fund.

Speaking at the NSW Premier's China Business Mission function in Shanghai, Iemma said the "heartfelt sympathy" of everyone from New South Wales went out to the earthquake victims and their families.

Iemma also praised the way China had handled the earthquake crisis.

Olympic torch in Shanghai

In less than 2 weeks the Olympic torch will make its way into Shanghai, and I'm excited! (and all the China haters can go and get stuffed =D When I go home I'll try to find and scan and upload my torch relay pic from the 2000 Sydney Olympics when they passed through my suburb and I got up at some ungodly hour to wait for them to come through).

Link

You can track the torch's journey here

Shanghai will hold a torch-lighting ceremony on Donghai Bridge in Nanhui District on May 20 when the torch arrives from Zhejiang Province, Eastday.com said.

Torch bearers will relay the torch across Fengxian, Jinshan, Songjiang, Qingpu, Minhang and Changning and Xuhui districts. They will then take it to Century Avenue and Bingjiang Boulevard in Pudong New Area via the Nanpu Bridge in Xuhui District.

After that, the torch will be taken to the former Shiliupu pier in Huangpu District by ferry. It will then pass Zhongshan No.1 Road E. of Huangpu District.

Another ceremony will be held in Century Square on Nanjing Road E. at the end of the first day, the report added.

On May 21, the torch will be lit near the Memorial Site of the First National Congress of the Communist Party of China in Luwan District, and then relayed to Jing'an, Putuo, Zhabei, Hongkou and Yangpu districts. It will be ferried to Chongming Island from Baoyang Road pier and then ferried to Baoshan District from Shidongkou pier.

The torch will then move into Jiangsu Province after a ceremony in Anting Motor City in Jiading District.

The journey, which begun on March 24, will cover 137,000 kilometers, the longest in history, and last 130 days and involve 22,000 torch bearers worldwide.

Unfortunately I can't find a close-up actual map of its path in Shanghai. If anyone has seen one I'd love to know, thanks!

Adapting to different cities/countries

This is a sort of continuation from this post

From speaking to people and thinking about events in my life I've come to the conclusion that there are those people who love change and those who hate it.

I used to think I hated change but I think that part of the reason why I like Shanghai is because it is so different to Sydney. Totally different. There are many people like me who like different places to the ones they grew up in. Then, of course, there are those can only deal with the types of places they grew up in.

My parents are a perfect example. They both grew up in Taiwan and left in their late 20s. My father loves living in Australia and really doesn't like Asia at all. He did a 1 year stint in Germany and really liked that too (apart from the cold weather). He really looks up to Western people, culture, on the most part. Maybe it's because he suffers from this 'reverse racism' thing where he believes that everything in the West is better, white people are better, etc etc. My mother, on the other hand, although she lives in Sydney too, is always yearning to go back to Taiwan (or Hong Kong or China) and visit. She loves the hustle and bustle, the crowdedness, the cheap food stalls on the street, the great shopping the nightlife... My stepmother moved to Sydney a couple a years ago and is always complaining about it. She can't seem to see any positives about living there (despite the fact that there are millions of people around the world who would kill to live there, I'm sure). She is constantly whinging and complaining about how crap Sydney is and how great Taiwan is. ARGH. It's so frustrating. I guess age has a lot to do with it too as the older you are, the less malleable you are to change.

Then, of course, I think that the longer you stay in a place, the more it loses its 'lustre'. What seems like a great place for a vacation may actually be a shitty place to live! It got me thinking that it's like a relationship with a person ;) at first it's fun and interesting, then as time goes on more and more problems arise and you have to try harder to rekindle the interestingness that was there at the beginning!

Just a pointless post that doesn't really mean much to anyone except me.

Defending my 'home' city/cities

I just had this weird random thought about how I'm always defending my 'home' and saying how great it is and recently I've found myself not caring much or thinking much about my real 'home' (that is Sydney).

Maybe it's because I've lived there too long (27 years give or take!) but I used to be so proud of living there. I used to spend a lot of time in the CBD (AKA 'downtown') area wandering the streets because my university was located there. In my lunch break or other break I'd go to Hyde Park and stroll around. I LOVED Hyde Park. I don't know how many times I went there during my many years of study. The beautiful wide path down the center with large trees that curved inwards to form a canopy (I believe that they have since been cut down due to disease :( ), the Anzac Memorial, the big fountain. It was my sanctuary from the hustle and bustle and traffic and people.

I loved going to Circular Quay. Every single time I go to Circular Quay I get this shivery happy feeling all over. It's the most beautiful view in the world seeing the Harbour Bridge and Opera House in all their glory.

Since I love photography (and always have) and I was so proud of Sydney, I found myself offering to take photos for strangers, and randomly chatting about things to do in Sydney or helping people who got lost. Back in the days when I was a student.

I'd always be telling interstate or overseas friends how great Sydney was. Blabbering non-stop. And now I find myself doing the same thing for Shanghai.

Except it's different.

I feel myself having to defend where I live all the time, because it's not as 'cool' as New York, or London, or Paris, or Tokyo or any other so-called 'great' city. Because everyone looks down on China as being poor, overpopulated, polluted, a country that makes shoddy goods, etc. OK so all of that is all true ;) but that doesn't mean you can't live here and have a decent life.

It's also different when you go to a city for travel or to live. Totally different. You can't assume because you loved a place you travelled to that living there will be great, or if you hated it that living there would be torture. Actually in most places once you live there long-term it's not as fun as if you just spent a week there on vacation. What I find is that the more open-minded people will have more fun in Shanghai and the closed/narrow-minded people won't, for vacation or for living. Just thinking about all the people that have stayed with us as guests or other people I've met through other means it's funny how everyone's outlook is so different.

Prior to my stint here, I'd never left Sydney for more than 3 months (and that was an extended vacation to Taiwan). But after this experience I regret I didn't live overseas sooner and earlier. But I guess you learn from your 'mistakes' and now I can't wait to move elsewhere and try out a new city. I think that once you stay somewhere for too long you become stagnant, you don't grow and change, and also the negatives of the city will creep up on you and gradually start to outweigh the positives. Well, that's how I feel about Sydney right now and I'm pretty sure soon enough I'll feel the same about Shanghai (unfortunately).

Hmm...

Sydney - Cost of living

This post has nothing to do with Shanghai so move along if that's what you were looking for ;)


I think most people roll their eyes when I tell them how expensive it is. They think I'm just another 20 or 30's-something-er whinging because they can't afford a house/mortgage. Well I'm not exaggerating or bullsh|tting at all. Sydney is freakin' expensive! And it's not just housing either but food, clothing, entertainment...

I was shocked to find this though. A bunch of people who think that Sydney is just as expensive as New York City or San Francisco - the two most expensive cities in the USA.

Food for thought.

Chinese New Year in Sydney, Australia

Most years I try to catch the Chinese New Year excitement in downtown Sydney but last year I missed it (because, um, I was kinda getting ready to get married ;) ) Anyway one of my friends who travelled interstate to come to our wedding and was staying in a hotel near Chinatown happened to catch the parade and sent me photos of it afterwards. This year (it happened on the 10th Feb) it was just as spectacular and seeing these pictures kinda made me a bit homesick and a bit sad.

You can see the spectacle yourself through Helen's gorgeous photos. The attention to detail of the costumes are amazing! I particularly love the yumcha (dimsum) table girls. Check out the rest at her blog.









According to statistics only 3.5% of people living in Australia have Chinese heritage but dare I say it, in Sydney (if you just counted Sydney) I would guess it would be something like 20%!

On another note, this abovementioned friend and my sister both recently told me that the lion dance they saw at M's and my wedding was better than the ones they saw during this year's CNY entertainment in restaurants and places, which kinda made my day. It was something we both really wanted to have and we were glad we did, to see the looks on all our guests' faces :)

Beijing smoking ban? Ha!

I'm sure some of my readers may have been wondering why I never write about pubs and clubs. Well the short and simple answer is because I don't go to them! And the reason I don't go to them is because of the damn @#$@%@$ smokers. I would love to go to them but I don't. I didn't go to them in my hometown of Sydney either. Not until they banned smoking. OK I'd go rarely and never stay very long till it just got too awkward so I just stopped going altogether. I hate the stench and I hate the fact that I just can't breathe after a while and cough non-stop. It's not particularly easy to have a 'good time' when you can barely breathe...

As great as Japan and Europe are for places to travel to, the smoking problem leaves a lot to be desired (moreso in Europe). After being in Taiwan where it was like 'heaven' and coming back here to 'hell' I just want to scream! Apart from Taiwan the only other place I have been to recently which was non-smoking-heaven was Hawaii. There, you are not even allowed to smoke in public places OUTdoors! eg at bus stops, parks, beaches, etc. And because the people who live there are so nature loving and are at one with their environment they are all very happy to oblige. To me it was simply heaven and made me enjoy my time there even more (in fact made me want to move and live there!)

link

Tue Jan 22, 1:26 PM ET

BEIJING (AFP) - Beijing is about to extend a ban on smoking in public places ahead of the Olympic Games despite the Chinese capital's image as a paradise for smokers who have faced few restrictions on where they can light up.

According to a draft bill the majority of public places, such as restaurants, schools, hospitals, stations, libraries and museums will have to be non-smoking.

Hotels will also have to reserve at least 70 percent of their rooms for non-smokers.

Smokers who ignore the ban will face a fine of 50 yuan (6.9 dollars, 4.7 euros) while those who allow them on their premises will have to cough up between 1,000 and 5,000 yuan, according to the bill.

Beijing had already taken some tentative measures to establish non-smoking areas in 1996 without much success, but the approach of the August Games provided the impetus for the new decision, Chinese media said.

The places that will accommodate athletes and officials during the Beijing Games will all be non-smoking.

China has about 350 million smokers, or about a quarter of its population, and accounts for a third of the world's smokers, according to official statistics.

About a million people die of smoking-related diseases each year in China. Since October, Beijing taxi drivers have in theory been banned from smoking in their vehicles under penalty of a fine of between 100 and 200 yuan.

Link

Customers desert smoke-free restaurant
Fri Jan 18, 2008 1:45pm EST

BEIJING (Reuters) - Beijing's first smoke-free restaurant chain faces going out of business after its customers deserted it in droves after the ban was enforced, state media reported on Friday.

The Chinese are the world's most enthusiastic smokers, with a growing market of more than 350 million, making it a magnet for cigarette companies and a focus of international health concerns.

The occupancy rate at Meizhou Dongpo, a chain serving the spicy fare of southwest Sichuan province, had dropped to "about 80 percent of that enjoyed by other restaurants across the street" after it banned smoking in October, the China Daily quoted its manager as saying.

"We figure that if we're going to die, at least we're going to die honorably," the paper quoted Guo Xiaodong, deputy director of the restaurant chain, as saying.

Meizhou Dongpo had trained its waitresses how to discourage people from lighting up, but met resistance from customers who would lock staff out of private dining rooms to sneak a quick puff, Guo said.

"It just illustrates how much resistance there is to kicking the habit among Chinese smokers," the paper quoted Zhang Xuemei, a Beijing reporter who lobbied the restaurant to ban smoking, as saying.

Beijing, set to mark the 200-day countdown to the Olympics on Monday, has yet to issue clear rules on smoking bans, despite Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao promising a "smoke-free Olympics."

Along with spitting, and not queuing, Olympic organizers fear Chinese people's tendency to smoke anywhere at any time could taint the country's image in foreign eyes.

China banned smoking in taxis in October and launched a drive to ban smoking in hospitals, schools, and government offices last year.
But resistance to the campaign has been fierce.

Beijing authorities had written to 30,000 restaurants asking them to put smoking bans in place, but not a single one had taken up the suggestion, the paper said.

Good luck to them! I'd like to be positive but in my mind it just aint gonna happen. 6 months is not enough time to get people to change lifetimes and generations of bad habits. 6 years and that'd be a good starting point but it does not change that quickly. Even in a country like Australia the process was LONG and gradual...

I really really hate the fact that my social life has to go down the toilet just because some brain-dead $#%#%#@% choose to light up incessantly! ARGH! Drives me up the wall. Coupled with the fact that Chinese people are the worst for following rules. Make any rule or regulation and they will break it. They just don't bloody understand!

Do I miss home? / Weather...

(Warning: Yes I'm a foul mood hence the tone of this post)

People constantly ask if I'm homesick and to be honest I'm not at all which is strange considering I definitely thought I'd start to get homesick around the 3-6 month period and now it's 7 months already. Of course I miss my family, friends, clean air, blue skies, beaches, my own bed/room, yadda yadda.. but apart from that, not much.

The reasons I don't miss home (Sydney, Australia) are as follows (in no particular order) or... WHY AUSTRALIA SUX:

* Everything is so much more expensive there, especially notable is food/eating out

* Everything that involves labour is slow, slow, slow. I mean in the time we've been in Shanghai they have built several new rail lines (officially opened on December 29) in God knows how many years Sydney hasn't even completed one part of one rail line. Here, if I ring the landlord with a problem regarding the plumbing, electricity, water, furniture, etc it is fixed within minutes, hours or at most 24 hours. In Sydney I'd be lucky if it was fixed within 2 days. What about something like the telephone line/internet? Here they will come to your house (usually within 2-3 hours of calling) and look at it and fix here. In Australia be lucky if they come within a week!

* Hayfever. I suffer from very bad perennial (all year round) hayfever back home. Here I don't get it at all. It is such a relief not to have a constantly running sneezing nose (and being asked fifty billion times by people if I have a cold - no I don't!!), eyes so itchy I have constant thoughts of pulling my eyeballs out of their sockets (Itchy and Scratchy style) and dunking them in a bowl full of ice water for a few minutes before putting them back in, etc. Antihistamines and nasal sprays do shit-all for me too (not to mention the expense and the toll on your body by taking these things daily) so I'm stuck with this horrible condition. In Shanghai I only went through a few days where I got it in the beginning of autumn/fall. It was horrible but at least it was gone pretty quickly.

* Crap public transport. The public transport in Sydney is a joke. The buses are crowded and slow. The reason why they are constantly late is because the driver has to give people change. Imagine 20 people get on a bus and 10 pay with cash and need change. AT EVERY STOP. Of course this is gonna screw up the timetable. Trains. Never on time, either. The older ones are disgusting and don't have air conditioning nor heating so you either sweat like anything in summer or freeze in winter. Stations in the city are downright dirty and disgusting and signage? What signage!! They seriously need to get a clue and some brains about labelling and signage and giving names or numbers to the exits for example. I don't think anyone knows what 'information signage' is. And the privilege of riding transport... well it's not even cheap!! I could give them a billion and one suggestions (as a matter of fact have written them countless letters in the past) but when big decisions are made by big, fat, pot-bellied, balding, middle-aged, rich, white men who spend their entire lives in cars - it's not going to be a good outcome.

* Shopping. Expensive and crap. Nothing ever fits. I'll try the smallest size and it'll still be too big. Apparently the smallest size gets sold out the quickest but the dumb-ass buyers don't ever think of ordering more clothes in smaller sizes. Besides the sizing scale is a rort. All it does is make bigger people feel better about themselves.. Wow, I'm now a size 12 instead of a size 16! Cool! Meanwhile the size 8 girl is now a size 4 and not all clothes come in a size 4, hardly any in fact (but the thing is it's still a size 8 just labelled differently). The thing I don't get is Americans generally speaking are also big if not bigger than Australians. So why is in the US I can find clothes and shoes to fit me, but not in Australia? I don't get it. Maybe ALL the buyers for department and chain stores are brain dead. I once did an experiment. I went to Myer in the city and played a game. What would I buy if I had endless amounts of money? So I couldn't look at the price tags, just choose something I really liked. I so I went through the whole floor and chose random stuff and not one single thing I liked came in my size. Even the AUD$300 top or $1000 dress. I used to think it was because of my 'budget' that I couldn't find smaller sizes but nope... Shoes is even worse than clothes because if it doesn't fit you can't wear it at all. I have smallish feet (36-37 Euro, 5.5 Australian, 6.5 US) but not obscenely small but in Australia all I ever get told is "We've sold out of that size." "We can order it in for you... it'll take a week or two." "We don't make that style in that size." "The small sizes always get sold out the quickest." And all sorts of similar comments that just make my blood boil because there are heaps of people with feet my size and smaller! Besides, I don't want to pay $150 for a pair of uncomfortable FAKE leather shoes that are made in China anyway. So in Shanghai I have bought heaps and in Taiwan I have already bought two pairs. It's like a dream come true to know that there is a 90+ % chance they have my size in stock. Also, Australia very rarely gets any cool brands from overseas from Europe, the States, Japan or elsewhere. Zara or Gap? Nope... (in short, what is supposed to be a pleasant experience for any woman just leaves me angry, disheartened, and depressed. Trust me, it's not only the 'big girls' who feel like crap when they can't buy stuff in their size!)

* Uneducated labourers getting paid top dollar ie plumbers, electricians, builders, etc. It makes me feel like getting a degree is not worthwhile and just a waste of time, really. It's funny because the opposite is true here. Those people are paid lowly. Australians don't value education (yes I'm generalising!) and it seems now only rich peiople are allowed to get degrees given the cost these days. Hey I'm not smart enough to get into the course on my own merits so I'll get mummy and daddy to pay top dollar for my degree! Pfft! OK OK I know this is the same for many other countries but they used to have a decent system and are allowing more and more places for fee-paying students which sux IMHO.

* Travel. It costs a lot of money and a lot of time to travel anywhere. It takes around 5 hours to fly from Sydney to Perth, 4 hours Sydney to Auckland, New Zealand, and 6 hours Sydney to Bali, Indonesia. Here I can fly to another country in 2 hours and 11 hours to London. Anyone flying from Sydney/Melbourne/Perth to Europe will tell you it's a nightmare especially if you cannot sleep on planes. I mean it takes 22-25 hours!! It's not just air travel.

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I wrote the above post (in draft mode so it was offline) on 6th January.

Now it is 29th January and I find myself really missing home... weird. The number one reason I miss it right now is because of the weather. Because it is summer there! Sure it can get hot in summer but it rarely gets so hot where it is very uncomfortable, like say in Queensland where it is not only hot but extremely humid as well. Summer time in my parents' family home was a true joy. It is so cool in our house (because we live fairly close to the coast) that one year we didn't even need a fan. Most years we get the fan out and use it only about 5-10 days of the year. I shouldn't talk about how freezing our house gets in winter but in summer it is really nice and comfortable. It is 27 degrees right now in Sydney, 15 in Taipei and -1 in Shanghai. What a difference!

The day I arrived in Taipei it was 21 degrees and sunny. I was really happy knowing I had just come from a 4 degree place. It was not too hot and not too cold. It was perfect. Now it's been consistently raining every day and around 12-17 degrees and although it may not seem like it, I am freezing. Yesterday I wore 6 layers of clothes, 2 layers on my legs and I don't feel hot. I just don't get it. Temperatures don't really tell the whole story at all.

I know I think about the weather and temperature way too much and the reason I do is because I find it really affects my moods and my health. I actually find it impossible to be sad or grumpy when it is sunny (even if it is cold) but if it is constantly grey and cloudy and drizzly it is slowing driving me up the wall! If I wake up and look outside the window and it is cloudy, foggy, raining or all of the above I just want to go straight back to bed.

Funnily, as I write this I can see the sun peaking out through the clouds outside the window - Woohoo!

New Years Eve fireworks and Donkey King

As previously mentioned, we watched the fireworks in Xintiandi. I'm not sure what the fireworks were like at The Bund but I am sure they would've been bigger there? I can't seem to find any decent footage only (only crappy home videos on Youtube).

Of course I am biased but I still think the Sydney NYE fireworks are always the best. The reasons are simple. 1) Good weather. It is always very moderate weather, never too hot or too cold. 2) Beautiful big harbour and the Bridge. Lots of vantage points to watch and lots of places to put fireworks. 3) Great artistic talent to 'design' the fireworks and make a story of some kind. From about 1997-2005 I watched them every single year. Yes. Every. Single. Year. I would go to some vantage point on the north shore with friends and sit and wait for them to start. It would be a LONG wait if you wanted a good seat, or a short wait if you wanted to squeeze in with all the last minute people. And of course it would be crowded. Very very crowded. And there would be those damn annoying teenagers blowing those big plastic horns that they sell and inevitably some drunken idiot causing a scene, or people stepping on my hair as I laid down on our picnic rug, but if I can wipe those bits out of my memory then it was a good time to be had by all.

You don't realise how BIG and bright and colourful they really are till you see them in the flesh. Then at the end of it all there would be a big symbol lit up on the bridge. It all started a few years ago when they did a smiley face, and ever since then there has been some kind of symbol. Last year it was a diamond, this year it was a sand egg-timer. It's funny because it's suposed to be a big secret what it is but if you drive across the Harbour Bridge you can see the wiring and you can see what sort of picture it is! Haha.



This year, Bart Simpson and Donkey Kong made an appearance in the fireworks. I had to chuckle when I read on some news sites they called Donkey Kong Donkey King.

http://news.sbs.com.au/worldnewsaustralia/wild_weather_takes_spark_out_of_nye_537109

And for the first time cartoon characters will make an appearance on the famed Harbour Bridge during the display in the form of Bart Simpson from "The Simpsons" animated television show and computer game character Donkey King.

"This is the first time that we've had a bridge effect that is actually funny," said City of Sydney creative director Wayne Harrison, although he refused to divulge full details of the special effects.

"For the kids who are watching... you might be able to depict our version of Bart Simpson when you hear the Simpson's music and you see something darting around... think of Bart on his skateboard," he said.

And for your viewing pleasure... 2007/8 NYE Fireworks around the world

My life as an Amy Tan novel... Taiwan continued...

I can't believe I'm writing such personal stuff but I feel it's very cathartic and cleansing to get it all out...

My parents being typically Chinese don't talk about the past that much, or about 'taboo' subjects. I have to pry and pry and sometimes they will open up. During his time here, my dad and I had a heart to heart over Xi yang shen (or American Ginseng). We were both stuffing Xiyanshen powder into clear gelatine capsules whilst having a big 'heart to heart' chat. After two hours it still looked like we had hardly done anything. I can't believe it took so long!

Anyway for some reason or another we got talking about his parents (my paternal grandparents) and he was telling me stories of their lives when he was only a small child. So small that he cannot even remember the story and only knows from what they told him. He tells me that first of all, they were set up by a matchmaker. They were both living in Fujian province at the time. As in Chinese tradition, my grandmother moved in with my in-laws. Apparently my great uncle (grandfather's older brother) and great grandfather were horrible and mean to her. In 1947 at the age of 18 my grandmother gave birth to my father. In 1949, during the Nationalist-Communist Civil War the family moved to Taiwan. They had a reasonable life in China but now had practically nothing and were dirt poor. My poor grandmother... My father tells me she had to walk at least 2km each way on some crappy little dirt path, wearing shoes that were falling apart, whilst carrying 4 young children, to buy the food. Then she'd have to come back carrying the 4 children as well as the food. For those that don't know the summers in Taiwan are stifling and oppressive - not only hot but intensely humid (much more so than Shanghai - afterall, it is an island in the tropics).

My mother also told me some amazing tales of her mother's life before she was born. My mother's family are from Zhejiang province and my grandfather was in the army and the family was fairly wealthy. My grandmother didn't have to lift a finger and had multiple servants to serve her every need. After moving to Taiwan that all changed. They had nothing and had to start from scratch. My maternal grandmother ended up having 7 children, of which my mother was the youngest. She's told me stories like only having one pair of shoes per year and having chocolate once a year (usually Chinese New Year) and savouring every little tiny morsel.

Neither my father or mother had TVs or washing machines growing up. I am constantly being told how lucky I am to have these things. I was told when I was kid and didn't understand but of course now I understand and feel so grateful and lucky to be so spoilt and have such an easy life when they did not. I got driven to school every day, picked up from school or caught the school bus. My parents had to walk far distances - rain, hail or shine.

My mother had some big familiy secret that she didn't tell me till I was 12 years old. 12! I was angry she didn't tell me earlier and kept it from me for such a long time.

My father has told me things about my mother and what she was like before I was born and even before he met her (heard from other older relatives). My parents were also set up by matchmakers! They got married legally in Taiwan and soon after moved to the United States for the sole purpose of having children there, so that we would attain US citizenship. They had their wedding banquet in Los Angeles and I was born 1 year and 1 day after they were married, with my sister following 2 3/4 years later.

A few months after that they decided to move and were either going to choose Canada (Vancouver) or Australia (Melbourne). They crossed Vancouver off the list only because it was too cold and so we moved to Melbourne. My sister was only 7 months at the time and had a long haul international flight for the first time of her life. After a year or so in Melbourne it was concluded that the weather sucked (and it does!) and contributing way too much to my asthma, and they moved north to the biggest city of Sydney. This was in 1981 and we remained there ever since (where the weather was better/warmer/predictable but my asthma still remained).

Now I have family in China, Taiwan, the United States, Canada and Australia. I feel a bit sad that I grew up without any (none whatsoever) extended family around me but hey, you can't have everything! I guess I feel privileged to lead such an easy life and so amazed that my older relatives have gone through so much and come out so strong.

(oh my dad also told me he felt that first-borns were smarter, and of course I had to agree ;) I have big shoes to fill as the first born, of a first born, of a first born!)

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Xi yang shen / American Ginseng

My dad's been making me take this stuff for years, my whole life probably and not once did I even think to find out the English name for it ... until now. It looks like a dried root and my dad grinds it up into a powder himself. To make it easier/convenient to take we put it in capsules.

For the quantity it is quite expensive. However, not as expensive as the ginseng we saw at Carrefour... almost 60,000 RMB for 160g! No, that is not a typo!!

So not only did I not know the English name for it, I didn't even know what it would do for me. I guess I just trusted him. Well, now that I've looked it up it is supposed to help with:

increasing resistance to environmental stresses, general tonic, stimulant, diuretic, digestive aid, anemia, diabetes, insomnia, neurasthenia, gastritis, impotence, fever, hangover, immune function, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), pseudomonas infections in cystic fibrosis, aging, stamina, blood and bleeding disorders, atherosclerosis, loss of appetite, vomiting, colitis, dysentery, cancer, insomnia, neuralgia, rheumatism, memory loss, dizziness, headaches, convulsions, and disorders of pregnancy and childbirth.

Wow! Sounds like a miracle herb! :D Go check it out if you are interested. I am mainly taking it now to help build up my immunity towards nasty colds and flu for this winter. (you cannot and should not take it if you are already sick though).