Fetishism in the new millenium

I shouldn't be surprised. A blog devoted to my favourite brand of notebook (although I sometimes stray and use other brands as required). I wonder if there are blogs devoted to my favourite pen makers - Cross & Montblanc?

Working on: a short prose piece entitled 'POV', that I originally started in June, then left to languish somewhere on my hard disk.

Coveting: the new Wallpaper City Guides

China photos

MoCA, Shanghai

Pradip at MoCA

Kristof at MoCA

MoCA

MoCA

Peoples Park, Shanghai

Peoples Park, Shanghai

A Handsome Devil, Peoples Park, Shanghai

Shekou, Shenzhen

Shekou

I finished reading two great books: 'Shah of Shahs' and 'The Emperor', both by Ryszard Kapuscinski. Kapuscinski is one of my favourite writers, and I lament the fact that he never completed his trilogy on power - the third part was to be about Uganda's Idi Amin, who gave himself the title of 'His Excellency President for Life, Field Marshal Al Hadji Doctor Idi Amin, VC, DSO, MC, Lord of All the Beasts of the Earth and Fishes of the Sea, and Conqueror of the British Empire in Africa in General and Uganda in Particular.'


Learn by heart this poem of mine,
Books only last a little time,
And this one will be borrowed,
scarred,
Burned by Hungarian border guards,
Lost by the library, broken-backed,
Its paper dried up, crisped and cracked,
Worm-eaten, crumbling into dust,
Or slowly brown and self-combust,
When climbing Fahrenheit has got
To 451, for that's how hot
it will be when your town burns down.
Learn by heart this poem of mine

Gyorgy Faludy, the voice of Hungarian Resistance, 1911-2006

Lust

OK, this week's list of women I have lusted after (but have no intention of doing anything about, coz that'll spoil the fun):

• Young lady at the gatehouse in Bantian, with eyes I could dive into
• My contact's PA (again at Bantian)
• 'Anna' in Shekou
• 'Sindy' (below - the one without the beard) in the Irish bar in Shekou, she pulled up a chair and just wanted to listen to us speak English. OK, not mad - but at 2am in a bar empty, except for us, half-cut? I worried about both her wellbeing and sanity

Places to check out in China:

• Chongqing (Shuzheng says it has the most beautiful women in China, but Leo told me it was Shenzhen, etc, etc)
• Chengdu (Sichuan Province)
• Qingdao

This ain't Tesco, baby

Unlike (here starts a sweeping generalisation) the USA & Europe, a trip to a shopping mall in Hong-Kong or Taiwan brings culinary delight. In Taipei today, Max (a nut for HK cuisine) took me to a restaurant in the local Carrefour in Neihu district. Minced beef soup, pork dumplings with crab roe and shrimps in orange sauce overshadowed the stir-fried chicken.

Today's shrimps in orange were much like yesterday's spare ribs in strawberry sauce. They were different, almost unpalatable on first bite, but as crunch on, you delve deeper and deeper into the realms of flavour, and you don't want to come up for air.

Honk-Kong Phooey

A great day out in Kowloon. Kris and I stuffed ourselves silly at Mu Dan Ting (the spare ribs with strawberry sauce were 'a bit different'), then parted company. He went back to London (with a BA upgrade, the git), while I flew on to Taipei, back in my old home The Ritz Landis. Alas, there is no time to hang out before I move on to Hsinchu on Tuesday morning.

Johnny Cash sung...

...'I walk the line'. Well, we walked the gauntlet - again. This time, I was 'blind' while another guided me. I passed by unmolested. I made the mistake of looking down, as my guide was a tad kak-handed.

Yes, I paid women. Several. To tickle Kristof.

Shekou sweethearts

Shekou has a 'red light' district. Actually, not really. As it is part of the World's factory (Shenzhen) and has a port, it has merchant seamen and factory workers all over the place. So yes, there are 'working girls' - in the athletic sense of the expression. There is also the 'gauntlet', which a street lined with hostess bars on both sides. Walking from the restaurant back to the hotel, one has to 'run the gauntlet'. Or in our case, stroll. As we did so, an enthusiastic, devoted - and clearly drunk - employee of such a hostess bar launched herself at me...or rather, she dived, missed, splatted on the ground with not inconsiderable force, obliging me to help her to her feet, thus distracting me, while another ambushed one of my colleagues. Kristof, of course, just stood there and watched - camera in hand.

This was a bit much, as my meeting earlier that day started at 10am, and finished at 8pm, with an hour or so for lunch - and we then had to drive from Bantian to Shekou.

Weight problems

So here is the summary of airline/sealine excess baggage charges (say that while deepthroating salami at the Waitrose meat counter, at the same time, whistling the theme tune to 'The Archers'):

• Air China LHR - PEK (£400, but waived thanks to both judicious flirting and more likely, blind luck)
• China Eastern PEK - PVG (a few hundred Renminbi, paid)
• China Eastern PVG - SZX (not bothered/waived)
• Ferry Shekou - HK (a couple of hundred Renminbi, paid)
• Cathay Pacific HK - TPE (a couple of hundred $HK, paid)

But it's the final leg that concerns me, back to Blighty.

Dumplings, tea & ceremony

Nope, I am not going to explain. However, before all went tits up (in a pleasant way), I did check out Shanghai's Museum of Contemporary Art (MoCA) and the sculpture display in People's Park. As a home of contemporary art, MoCA is not as pants as some of its peers.

People 7, Shanghai

People 7 is something of a joker in the pack of Shanghai restaurants. When you book a table over the phone, you are given a code number. When you get there (an anonymous, nondescript entrance confronts you in grey) , you have to figure out how to enter the code to gain entry (there is no straightforward way to enter the code number). Failure to do this results in sirens sounding and a door sliding open to reveal a mirror emblazoned with the message 'you have failed'.

Pretty good food (even Kristof was satisfied) although you had to figure out how to place your order, as the waitresses/waiters didn't walk up to the table.

The toilets are hidden away in a labyrinthe. But not all doors lead to toilets (some of them lead to brick walls). Not good if you're desperate.

Stays open until 3am - amazing as most places close around 10pm.

Thanks to Murphy for the recommendation (i'll check out the Japanese place on the same road when I am back in Shanghai in a couple of weeks time).

Kerosene

Yep, kerosene. At least that's what I think Shuzheng gave me with lunch (roast donkey, very nice it was too, thanks). He also promised to introduce me to a friend of his wife (wanting me to get fixed up has appeared to become a WW preoccupation).

Excuse me, but I have got to say...donkey kicks ass.

Do YOU know where Lao Hanzi is?

Using 'that Beijing restaurant list' we went to seek out Lao Hanzi on San Li Tun Bei Jie. Not a bloody chance. We were in the vicinity, and not even the local hookers could help us find the sideroad. We ended up spending dinner in a Thai-like restaurant called Serve The People, surrounded by Euro ex-pat twats. At least I was able to offer the waiter sound advice to stop his nosebleed, and reminisced with him about classic Bruce Lee Kung-Fu movies.

We made it

Kristof and I were concerned whether we'd make it to Beijing, given that we reckoned we could be up to 20kg above our allowance on Air China (the airline charges £25 per kg of excess). I managed to halve my regular baggage weight, and that plus the kit, put me ~10kg overweight. Finding refuge in the radiantly warm smile of the check-in attendant, the excess fee was waived and I was given a great seat (while Kristof had to sit next to Mama Haystacks).

We have just returned from dining at the Jiuhuashan Roast Duck Restaurant in Haidian district, listed as the place for the 'best Peking duck in town' in the spreadsheet available on Harris Salat's blog. The duck meat was tender (not dry as it so often is in the UK) and the fat was crisp, but not burnt.

All I need to do now is to find a guide for Shanghai, Shenzhen & Tianjin. Perhaps the Orchid in Ealing could assist me?

Why is it...

...that being at home feels like a layover these days? I have been back home for a few weeks, but later today I go back out to APAC for a two week stint. Then, mid October, I go back for a four week tour, plus a brief stopover in Tokyo to see Kam (and hopefully HH & Hara-san). Then two weeks after that, a week-long China trip before Xmas. It's now getting to the point where I will start leaving my clothes at our Taipei & Seoul offices (maybe I can checkout the local laundries there) to keep my baggage light. But this is a trifling moan. This job has benefits, like:

• Part-funded MBA (possibly realised once I have filled out the application form, duh)
• The latest mobile phone technology (I have swapped the SE M600, out for only two months, for the not-yet-released W950)
• Free flight to Tokyo and back, abutted to my Oct/Nov tour (cheaper than returning after I have finished my work in Seoul)
• Free time in some of the World's great spots (with great food)
• A shared office (best in the campus) with two bum chums
• The chance to acquire lots of cheap CE gear in APAC (the W950 replaces my Shuffle, removes the need for a Nano, and I am eyeing the 80GB iPlop to replace the iRiver)

Of course, I am missing something. Someone to share it with?

No.

Just hair.

Snooze

'Swiss Movement'

The cuckoo clock
taunts me with squawks
of synchronicity,
teasing me;
a casual reminder
of my inherent tardiness.

Taking a bar
of Switzerland's finest -
representing decadence and class,
I secure my revenge,
and stick it up the
cuckoo's ass.

Waiting for the hotel shuttle bus, 1am, Schiphol Airport, Amsterdam, 9th September 2006.
For Sara Diviani, who has the curse of being Swiss (ok, Swiss-Italian).

Another vital link for Amsterdam

The Independent Index

Blair: 'they love me, they love me not...'

Comparisons are being made between Blair & Thatcher, i.e. three time election winner, set to be deposed by disgruntled MPs. But there are differences. One of the key ones - not picked up by commentators thus far - is how party members and activists feel. The 'Tory faithful' didn't want Thatcher to go, but what about the New Labour commissars?

Before anyone questions my politics, I stress that I believe in the preservation of civil liberties, human rights, free market economics, mass immigration, but also State involvement in transport, health, as well as support for those in poverty (you will note that I don't advocate tax cuts, as the money has to come from somewhere).

But who can I vote for that meets the above and is competent?

Where politics *may* have gone wrong

We don't need the black arts of the spin doctors, making black appear as white, telling us up is the new down, or exiling the facts everytime they open their mouths.

We want the truth. We want TV weather forecast presenters. Yes - they tell you the truth as best they can, and even the worst of the weather is given to you in a friendly, non-patronising, reassuring way.

With the weather folk, we get the truth, but are not bludgeoned by it. We get the truth, but without feeling fearful or guilty.

We get the truth, without pretending to have to worry or care all that much.

Playtime!

Construct your own idol of ugliness with Flash Face.

The Power of Nightmares

Spent the day sitting on my ever-expanding ass. OK, i'll admit to jiggling it a tad, but mostly I watched:

• Almodovar's 'Bad Education' (finally, after 18 + months)
• Toumani Diabate and his Symmetric Orchestra in action
• Wholphin vol. 2
• Adam Curtis's 'The Power of Nightmares'

'The Power...' is an astute analysis of both the American Neocon movement, and Al Qaeda, two movements sharing their roots in late 1940s USA. It was screened on the BBC a couple of years ago, but all US TV networks refuse to broadcast it.

All three parts of the documentary are available on Google Video:

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

I'd strongly recommend you give the doc at least one viewing. It's your World.

Belgo Centraal

Nicky Video & Shambles, the happy couple:




Dad, Puddy, TaffyDaddy and Master Baker shoot the breeze and break the bread:

TaffyDaddy breaks the rule - never wear Wozzy's hat:

Something for the weekend Sir?

I'm off to Amsterdam on Thursday for a short business trip - fortunately with a weekend in the middle. I'll spend part of the weekend with the Rafi clan but will otherwise stroll solo. So, in a bid to plan ahead, here are some links for then:

Specialbite

Dining City Amsterdam

Dinnersite Nederland

Time Out Amsterdam

Remember to: get some hagelslag

Return to La Mancha

I saw 'Volver' yesterday. Beautiful.

Reading: 'We' by Yevgeny Zamyatin (ok, so it's only taken me over ten years to get round to reading his stuff)

Thanks to: Da Bomb for 'Freaky', and my immune system, for bouncing back with a vengeance

Telemarketing and drinking

Check out the TC2K, and watch it in action (with animation support).

Shedding tears for: Airfix (as a former constructor of a Boeing 747, F16, Tornado, Saab Viggen, Hawker Hunter, C130 Hercules, Mosquito and a Fokker, amongst others)

According to the BBC News website: 'Jeremy Brook, of the Airfix Collectors Club, said it was a sad day for those with fond memories of having sticky fingers'

Feeling like: the kind of fool who knows better than to mix his drinks, but goes ahead anyway. Next binge is early November.

Ratings:

• Nags Head: unchanged since the beginning of time
• Belgo's: same ole same ole; coconut and banana beers ok; moules good, frites shite
• Retox Bar: surprisingly quiet during 22:30-2am; 'Blackberry's Off' cocktails were akin to Ribena without the taste, with ice that looked like it was mixed with cocaine