Hey Sportsfans!

Here I sit in the local Cantonese restaurant that I've affectionately dubbed, "The Housefly Restaurant." The flies in this place are truly unbelievable and I'd swear they hire staff exclusively to swat flies.

I've finally accepted a job in Thailand. Craig Hanks of Stairway English in Hatyai, Thailand called me this afternoon and offered me the teaching position. I had four job offers on the table, three from southern Thailand and one on Cebu island in the Philippines. But, I readily accepted Craig's offer, given the working conditions, the support and the beautiful area that I'll be teaching in.

Things here in China are better after an extended meeting with the infamous Ms. Fang. Some heated deliberations, baring of teeth, raised voices and finally smiles, an agreement and a handshake. I think both of us were sick and tired of fighting. She knows and I know that I'm working illegally here because of this school's lies and deceptions. Although I don't really detect any sign of remorse, Ms. Fang seemed to at least appreciate the law and the position that the school's higher-ups have placed both of us in.

I've got fourteen days remaining here. I'll be flying out on the 26th of June. I'm not going to miss Guangzhou, or China for that matter, but I will miss these wonderful students and some of the friends I've acquired here.

Stay tuned for my new posts as I enter another teaching year in the, "Land of Smiles."

-Jeeem-

KLCC



KLCC?

Better known as Kuala Lumpur City Center. It's a city within a city. The highlight of KLCC are the Petronas Towers, a landmark of Kuala Lumpur and at 452 meters tall (one thousand four hundred eighty three feet), until this year, the tallest buildings in the world.

Now, the newly built Taipei 101, a rather ugly building boasting a daunting 508 meters (one thousand six hundred and sixty six feet), has captured the title.



Maybe they've lost the title of the tallest buildings in the world, but I assure you, the beauty of these 88 story buildings, even at night, cannot be surpassed by the Taipei 101 (sounds like a language course).

These majestic buildings are surrounded by Suria KLCC mall, a six-level, crescent-shaped shopping mall that boasts one million square feet (93,000 square meters) of which over 80 percent is actively leased. 'Suria' means sunshine in Bahasa Malaysia language. This awesome place is filled to the brim with specialty shops, clothing shops, food courts, cafés, landscaped walkways, skylights, 864 seat concert hall and ample parking. I damn near got lost in the place, looking for Annie's workplace: The California Pizza Kitchen, where I ordered a delicious Cheese steak pizza.



Here's a good shot of the sky bridge. This awesome structure hangs a daunting 170 meters (558 feet) above ground and I was lucky enough to secure a free ticket for a tour of the bridge, which offers some great views of the KLCC 50 acre park and surrounding city suburbs. This structure, which connects the two towers, was built in South Korea. It is 58.4 meters in length (192 feet) and weighs 750 tonnes (826 short tons).



This is a good view from the sky bridge, of the fifty acre park surrounding Suria KLCC and the Petronas Towers. Actually, I saw very little of the fifty-acre park, mainly because I chose to stay inside the wonderfully climate-controlled Suria KLCC mall, as it was damn hot and humid in Malaysia that particular Thursday when I visited Annie at her workplace. I did follow her suggestion and walk out to the small bridge in the park to get a good picture of the towers.

I shopped around for awhile, ate at a couple little food stands and then nestled myself into a comfortable corner at Chili's, ate some tortilla chips and salsa and bought a Kuala Lumpur Chili's polo shirt. I wasn't there an hour when the sky literally opened up and the torrential downpours famous in Southeast Asia, took over. Later that evening, Annie and I went out to eat at the Hard Rock Café in Kuala Lumpur, where you can't get real bacon on your hamburger. Actually, in KL, you're hard pressed to find pork anywhere.

Those pesky Muslims?

All-in-all, I loved my experience in Kuala Lumpur and my trip to Malacca. I can't wait to return! Stay tuned for my next posting, which shall reveal the truth about the mysterious Straits of Malacca's mud-sucking, human-eating shorelines. (I know you're grinning Annie!)

-Jeeem-



(Sorry 'bout posting this a fortnight late, y'all, I was in Poland raising hell. Leastways, that's *my* excuse...Chris.)

Hello everyone!

I'm back in Hong Kong for (hopefully) my last visa run. I've got less than one month at the godforsaken Phoenix City Bilingual School and they are really raking me through the coals as far as my contract is concerned. Suffice it to say that I am beginning to believe that they are in some sort of contest to see how badly they can breach my contract.

Anyway, I'm at least trying to enjoy my time here in Hong Kong and just got back from eating at my favorite restaurant on Causeway Bay, the Yin Chang Vietnamese restaurant. The food there is truly delicious!

So, in the a.m. I'll grab some breakfast and then I'll be off to Wan Chai for yet another visa run. I was smart this time and purchased my return ticket ahead of time so I can be guaranteed that I will be in Guangzhou at a decent hour tomorrow night so I can catch the bus back home instead of having to spend $100.00 Yuan on a taxi ride.

I've got a new job prospect in the wings, possibly at a school in Beijing, but not totally sure yet. I'd much rather travel to Thailand, but beggars can't be choosers at this point.

More later...

-Jeeem-

Selamat Datong Malaysia!



This is a picture of my good friend Annie, taken in her car during my visit to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. (Sorry Annie, but you knew I'd do this!) I spent a glorious seven days in Kuala Lumpur and also got to visit Malacca, which is a three hour bus ride to the south of Kuala Lumpur.



The "Cat Eye" soup was wonderful!

It's not really cat eyes. The Malay name is Mata Kucing, which means cat eyes, because the fruit, which is also called Mata Kucing, looks a lot like cats eyes. (Annie was none too quick at mentioning this, no doubt reveling at my reaction) This "drink" is a mixture of the Mata Kucing fruit and winter melon. It's really not too bad, but not something I'd make a habit of sampling.

My hair was painfully short during this trip, the shortest it's been since Navy boot camp in 1979. I attribute this to Tanka's lack of fluency in Mandarin, when he accompanied me to Xintang to get my hair cut. From now on I will remain alert while I'm getting my hair cut! Thanks a lot Tanka!



This is Central Market in downtown Kuala Lumpur. My stomach was pretty tender during this trip, after Annie took me to an authentic Indian restaurant in the city. My poor tummy wasn't used to such an assault, although my taste buds thought it a treat! So, we went looking for a lighter fare while shopping about the market, which was filled with interesting souvenirs, clothing shops, restaurants etc.

We finally settled on Ahmad's Restaurant, a tiny Egyptian restaurant located in a small alcove. We ordered the chicken shawerma, which was a delicate and delicious tasting chicken wrapped in a piece of flat bread with other, unknown condiments that only added to the delightful flavor. Just thinking of this meal makes my mouth water. It was truly delicious.



There was really so much Annie and I did, day-after-day, that it's hard to remember the course of events. This is a picture of the outdoor market in Chinatown. Felt funny to visit here, as it almost seemed ridiculous to come all the way from China and visit a Chinatown, but still it was fun.



This is Masjid Jamek, the Muslim area of Kuala Lumpur. I loved this place. Annie and I came here looking for some aftershave lotion for my pal Tanka, a treat you can't find in China very easily. The people in Majid Jamek were all so friendly and the sheer culture of the place was enough to keep me there for days.

I remember that Annie and I had some packages with us, an umbrella and a newspaper. When we approached the store, they had a package check window where you put your stuff before entering the store. The gentleman at the window took the umbrella and the newspaper, allowing us to enter the store with our packages.

Annie and I looked at each other like, "What the heck?" Annie turned to me and said, "Perhaps there are many items in the store that can be smuggled out in a newspaper or an umbrella!" We got a good laugh out of that one!

The "covers" that the Muslim women wear, called "tudong" in Malay and "hijab" in Arabic, are as diverse as any other article of clothing. Some of them are stunningly beautiful silk adornments. A sign of the times, many women simply wear their hijab with jeans and tee-shirt underneath, while others wear the more traditional long silk robes, called Baju Kurung, also very colorful. Still other Muslim women dress in black or white with face covered except for their eyes. This is mysteriously captivating to behold.



Annie and I took a three-hour bus ride south, to Malacca, the oldest city in Malaysia, which was a wonderful experience. These colorful tri-shaws are everywhere and reminded me of the ornate and ostentatious jeepneys in the Philippines. For a mere 20 Ringgit, Annie and I were transported to the small Portuguese settlement of Malacca.

Crammed tightly into this garish three-wheeled bike, we got a slow tour of Malacca, without having to budge. At some point, Annie's mobile phone went off and after a brief pause I asked her, "Well, aren't you going to get that?" We both got a good laugh out of that one, because we scarcely had room to breathe, let alone fish something out of one of our pockets.

Malacca, founded in 1400, has a rich history, one that I am not prepared to tackle here on this blog, but suffice it to say I was able to visit the Malacca Fort, the Dutch church (with a wonderful view of the Straits of Malacca), Padang Pahlawan Square, the Red Square (with a brief stop at Annie's favorite Chicken rice ball restaurant), the suburb of Bandar Hilir and not to be missed...The Straits of Malacca themselves, where I got UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL with the Strait, a personal story for another blog?



Monuments and historical places are okay, but give me a Monitor lizard any old day! This rather scaly fellow was on lease to me for three Ringgit, while Annie snapped away with the camera. The owner of this cheerful fellow had two other, rather large snakes, which he offered to place on loan for a picture or two, but I gently declined as I am not really partial to snakes, especially ones bigger than me.



I couldn't wrap up this blog without mentioning Simone, who is Annie's sister. This is a rare photograph of her hugging her evil counterpart, who tortured her through the better part of her young life. We finally got to meet on Wednesday, after she returned from Singapore. Simone was a delightful person to get to know and it still amazes me that she remained intact, through all these years at the hands of her villainous sister Anne Charmaine!

Well, enough for now. I hope to publish more pictures in the future and please, please stay tuned for my...confession, er, uh, excuse? In regards to the truth about my (and poor Annie's) experience upon (in?) the Straits of Malacca.

-Jeeem-

Howdy!

I'm in an internet cafe in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia checking out my blog site again. It's funny how I have to leave China to do that.

I'm gonna be posting some very interesting photos of my Malaysia trip, so stay tuned! So far, Annie and I have taken a trip to Melaka, Malaysia where not only was I able to see the strait of Melaka, I got stuck in it!

I can't tell you more now because my time here at the cafe is running out. But please stay tuned!

Ciao!
-Jeeem-

Hello everyone!

Just a short posting to let everybody know that I am safely in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia - staying with my longtime friend Anne. I arrived late last night at KLIA airport, which interestingly enough is nowhere near Kuala Lumpur. They announced during my flight on China Southern airlines that it was a balmy 27 degrees Celsius in KL, but after walking outside the airport with Anne to get into the taxi, I'm SURE they got that information wrong. Thirty degrees celsius MAYBE, but surely not 27.

I'll be vacationing here in Kuala Lumpur for a week and will be returning to China on Friday the 7th with plenty of pictures to post! This place is really, really awesome!

-Jeeem-

Back Home From Hong Kong

This is a picture of the famous Bank of China building in downtown Wan Chai, Hong Kong Island.

I'm back home from Hong Kong, wishing my stay would have been longer. I was just starting to get comfortable with the city and then had to leave.

This is what the night life is like in Hong Kong, reputedly the city that never sleeps.

Nightlife in Hong Kong is simply amazing. Bright lights from signs hanging out into the road from both sides of the street, steam rising from bamboo baskets bearing Dim Sum delights, fleshy carcasses of chicken, duck, goose, monkey, dog, and whatnot hanging from hooks in large paned shop front windows, money exchange counters sandwiched between large restaurants or cell phone stores, bubbling crock pots filled with octopus shish kebabs, restaurant hackers out in the streets announcing their specials and trying to drag hungry night revelers off the street and into their places of business, brightly flashing barroom beer signs, massage parlors, reflexology centers and busy news stands.

It seems that there are more taxi's and buses in Hong Kong than there are passenger vehicles. This picture shows one of the typical scenes of taxi's lined up waiting for fares.

My accommodations at the Wang Fat Hostel in Causeway Bay were modest to say the least, but at least comfortable and affordable.

Hong Kong Island was an awesome experience, if not a bit intimidating. But, in looking back over the last couple of years and all my travels, traveling only gets easier. You just have to forge ahead and not get rattled by new scenery, loud noises, fast traffic and total chaos. I found most of the taxi drivers in Hong Kong spoke English, but if I had to sum them up, I would have to say they are rather impatient.

Several times, I opened the door of a taxi, only to be curtly told to go to the other side of the street (a system I never figured out). It seems certain areas are for taxi's only going to certain locations but damned if I could figure it out. Also, I noticed that they sit idle in one place for long periods, but when they have you as a fare, they want to get you where you have to go and they don't want you dawdling in the vehicle once they get you where you're going.

One guy was so impatient with me fishing money out of my pockets (I was trying to get rid of the heavy one, two, five and ten Hong Kong dollar coins I was amassing) that he just grabbed what I had in my hand (about fifteen Hong Kong dollars) and accepted that as a fare, when the total fare was twenty-two Hong Kong dollars. It seemed he couldn't wait to get me out of that cab.

I could have walked the streets all night long, but alas, I returned to my small, cozy, modest room at the Wang Fat Hostel on Patterson road in Causeway Bay and turned on the T.V. American Idol was on the tube with a scrolling announcement that voting was closed to Asia (no doubt, because we're a day ahead of everybody else). I watched that non-sense for a bit before finally retiring in order to make the consulate in Wan Chai in the early morning for my China visa.

Wan Chai is a different (and more expensive) world than Causeway Bay. My taxi got me there quickly, in about ten minutes and I set about trying to find the China Resources Building. It wasn't any different from other consulates I've been to. Armed guards, metal detectors, etc., until I got up to the seventh floor and saw the mob (I was only five minutes late of the opening). I was told that my downloaded visa application form wouldn't do, and was handed out another (which wasn't much different than mine).

I was given a ticket number (A60) and told to have a seat.

Looking about, I felt like I was at the United Nations or something. Looking at their passports, I identified Moroccans, Algerians, Indians, Argentineans, Brazilians, British, Germans, Nepalese, South Africans, Filipinos, Indonesians, you name it, and they were all there, waiting to get their Chinese visas. Surprisingly enough, I only saw two Americans.

I waited from 9:15 a.m. until 11:25 a.m. before finally being seen, told I could not apply for a multi-entry visa if I was claiming I was a tourist, and instructed to come back at 3:30 p.m. with $840.00 Hong Kong dollars in my hand to pick up my passport. I wiled away the hours at, embarrassingly enough, a local McDonalds, reading the South China Morning Post, strictly out of convenience.

So now, back in Guangzhou, today is a beautiful day after two weeks of monsoon rains. I would have loved to get out in the sun today but I desperately needed to spruce up my apartment a bit, open the sliding glass doors and airing the place out. I've got a new respect for mildew.

Tanka, Bala and I will be going out tonight, once again, to explore the back recesses of Xintang for its shops and exotic restaurants. I'm still not burnt out on roasted oysters and mussels, so maybe I can talk them into hitting our favorite oyster haunt. I managed to pick up Tanka's highly coveted chickpeas (which I call Garbanzo beans) while in Hong Kong, so maybe I can bribe him to stop for a dozen oysters.

I've already started the slow process of consolidating my possessions here, which isn't too difficult because I didn't bring much with me when I arrived in China and I haven't really purchased many solid goods while here. I'll be giving away my printer, my lion head goldfish Lester, and some of my books, but the rest will go in the trash or in my luggage.

Annie sent me a text message last night, telling me she's been trying to reach me since she was in Lisbon, wondering if I was screening my calls. I get a lot of complaints from friends that I never answer my home phone or my cell phone calls, which doesn't surprise me because I usually don't. I really don't like the phone much, but it is a necessity and comes in handy when I run into language barriers here, which is just about every day.

For an example, I recently found myself without the aid of my little pocket notebook, which has several needful things scribbled in Chinese, to show to taxi drivers and the like. So, I just sent a message to my faithful friend Derek and asked him to send me a text message in Chinese, telling the driver where I want to go. Simple, yet a bit complicated, no? Ha! But it works! After a brisk "Ni hao!" I hand over my mobile phone, show the driver the Chinese text and I'm on my way.

Although I've only been abroad for eight months, I know in my heart that I belong here in Asia. Maybe not China, mainly because of it's pollution and language barriers, but surely southeast Asia, where I can just fold into the beautiful landscape, get dark skin like the natives and watch the awesome sunrises and sunsets over the ocean. I've found my niche and I'm happy, although I do wish I'd done this a long time ago.

-Jeeem-

Hello Blog world!

It's me again! The jeeemeister is BAAAAAAAACK! And I'm in Hong Kong. It's so awesome to actually see my blog after eight months in the dark.

Yep, I've been to Hong Kong several times, but only to Launtau Island, to the airport. This time I'm on Hong Kong Island, trying desperately to renew my passport. My school (which is less than one year old) doesn't have any more authorization to get me an "F" visa, so they had to send me to Hong Kong for a multiple entry visa.

I just arrived here at around 2:00 p.m. this afternoon, after leaving from the China Hotel in Guangzhou by bus at 9:00 a.m. I don't care what the hell they say or advertise about three hour bus rides to Hong Kong.....it ain't true! Hell, it takes a good hour in-and-of-itself just to get through customs in Shenzhen/Hong Kong.

I've been in a light panic to get my business sewn up with the Thailand ESL agency in Bangkok, and my latest venture has been to wire 2,500 Thai Baht to the agency to take care of my work permit fees. Going to Western Union in Guangzhou is a harrowing experience to say the least and they don't speak English....what a hassle! So, I decided to do my business here in Hong Kong.

I'm on Hong Kong island, in Causeway Bay, at the Wang Fat Hostel which is widely advertised in the China Lonely Planet guide. Nice place and right in the heart of things. This city is AWESOME! So much to see that it is just mind boggling.

Anyway, my trip to the Western Union proved fruitful. I hopped into a taxi (they actually speak English here) and showed the driver where I wanted to go. Much to my surprise, he said to me, "It's close....real close," then showed me how to get there and let me out. I was dumbfounded. In Guangzhou they would have just taken me there and then charged me the 7.00 Yuan to get there.

Taxi's here are a bit more expensive, at 15.8 Hong Kong dollars for the first click and 1.40 HK thereafter. So, I'm going to enjoy doing some walking around this awesome city with it's never ending tall buildings.

It was a snap at the Western Union. Easy as pie and in ENGLISH!!! Awesome. I had a nice walk from there, rubbernecking around and exploring some of the nifty sights. Hunger pangs hitting me, I ducked into a Vietnamese restaurant and had a wonderful meal of mixed vegetable soup, rice and lemongrass porkchop.

Still used to my China experience, I spoke Mandarin to the waitress at the restaurant, who was very pleased, proceeding with a flurry of Chinese, thinking that I spoke fluently. Ha! I'm very limited, and hell, I threw over half of my twenty-six some-odd words at her!

Well, gotta run folks. I'm gonna go out on the town and check out the nightlife here. Then it's to bed early and up early in the morning so I can hit the consulate at opening time. Then I'll be heading back to Guangzhou, in time to rest up before my private lessons on Saturday in Guangzhou.

-Jeeem-

Greetings Bloggees,

Once again I've caught the Great Firewall of China with it's guard down. So, I'll catch you up on all my current happenings here, while I've got the chance.

I don't want to jump the gun here and tell all of you out there in Bloggerland that I am going to be moving to Thailand, but it sure looks that way at present. I've signed a contract with a school in southern Thailand, near the Malaysian border, which was the most lucrative one to cross my computer screen lately.

Yesterday I mailed out a package containing my signed contract, copies of my degrees, my passport photos, TEFL certificate and other documents, to arrive in Bangkok (where the hiring agency is located) in ten days. I had to act on this opportunity quickly because this position is a good one, offering 48,000 Baht to start and offering many bonuses besides the regular salary.

So, hopefully things will progress smoothly and I will be moving to southern Thailand in July.

I kicked my current girlfriend, the Cantonese doctor from Guangzhou, to the curb. She turned out to be yet another "unfaithful" one, having a French boyfriend on the side. I don't know what it is about me, having this affinity for unfaithful women. Looking back, probably the best woman I had a hold of, was Alison in New Hampshire, but my wanderlust and stupidity got in the way of that relationship.

So, my search goes on....

Presently I'm in a mild panic over my visa situation here. My visa will expire in about sixteen days and the school says they cannot provide the visa service anymore. So, I will have to travel to Hong Kong soon to do a "visa run" which involves hopping on a bus to Hong Kong at 4:30 p.m. here at the transportation center, arriving in Hong Kong around 7:30 or 8:00 p.m., getting a hotel and then heading to the Consulate Department Office of the Commissioner of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China in Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (what a mouthful) the next morning, to obtain my (rather expensive) multi-entry visa via one-day processing and then traveling back to Guangzhou.

Sounds like quite the hassle, but I plan on using it as a nice opportunity to explore the night life in Hong Kong for at least one evening. I've been to Hong Kong at least three times, but only to the airport on Lantau Island. This time I'll be exploring Wan Chai. So, I'll update all of you, as to my progress, in a later blog.

My old acquaintance Sebastien, whose visa was allowed to expire by the Phoenix City Hotel where he worked, went on a visa run to Hong Kong about two weeks ago and he's been detained ever since. My Nepalese friends Tanka and Bala have informed me that Sebastien is not allowed back in China and his situation looks pretty grave. So, I'm hoping that I won't end up in a similar situation and end up deported to the U.S. It seems Sebastien will eventually be allowed to re-enter China, but only to pack his things and return to Canada.

So today I'm doing some research on visa requirements in Hong Kong. Tonight Tanka and I will be heading out to Xintang to go out to eat and maybe do a little shopping. Tomorrow I head back to Guangzhou for my private English class and then I'll meet up with the father of one of my students. Kenan is Genwa's father and a native of Syria. His English is good and he's been inviting me to the Maedah Muslim Restaurant in West Guangzhou, a place I really love.

Just walking towards the Maedah restaurant is a cultural experience. Although in China, this particular neighborhood is a resting place for many Africans, Indians, Nepalese and Middle Easterners. Once inside, the Chinese waitresses wear traditional Muslim attire and the clientelle scattered about at different tables gives the impression you're visiting some Middle Eastern country for a few hours.

The Africans often show up in brightly colored dresses and scarfs and the muslims sport various styled and colored skullcaps, which adds to the flavor of this exciting place. The conversation is a mixture of several languages, which is interesting to listen to. The food is delicious and I especially like the Lebanese flatbreads that I use to sop up the very last droppings of my flavorful plate.

Enough for now. I'm gonna be taking a closer look at this strange and harsh land in the next couple of months while I prepare for my move to the "Land of Smiles."

-Jeeem-

It's a rare instance that I am able to get on Blogger and actually make changes, and this is one of those rare instances, so I'm taking advantage of it.

First on the agenda is a hail and salute to Meg, from Mandarin Design, for doing all the wonderful work she did for me in the last six or so months. Also, a hearty welcome to Chris Allen from Belfast, Northern Ireland (alias Zebulon Mysterioso) who is now doing my posting for me.

The wonderful and mysterious Great Firewall of China is very unpredictable! I still can't read any of your wonderful blogs out there, but occasionally (like now) I can sneak in here and actually do some blogging on my own, even if I can't ever even see my own blog site.

As you can see, I'm currently reading (voraciously) "Looking At America - Memoirs of a Chinese Girl" by Kelly Cha. It's interesting to see a Chinese person's view of America when I (having grown up in America), am now living in China. Stay tuned for my comments and arguments towards Kelly's views. She's evidently living in Los Angeles now and commuting between the U.S. and China, so hopefully I can shine some current light on her interesting subjects.

The weather here is still cool. We've gone into the rainy season and the thunderstorms here make any idea I've ever had about thunderstorms, seem pitiful. The clouds move in here quickly and quite literally turn daylight into nighttime. It gets so dark here (at ten in the morning) that we have to turn on the office lights to be able to see what we're doing. The rumbling and crashing goes on for hours, not minutes, and it is other-worldly here!

I've purchased my round trip ticket for Malaysia in May, but received my passport back today from the school with a stamp that expires in just a few weeks. So, in a slight panic, I e-mailed the school Know-it-all, Ms. Fang, who handles (rather poorly) all the foreign business here, and asked her to please assure me that my visa will not exprire on the twenty-fifth of this month.

I'm still in the air as to where I'm going for next year. I've got emergency resume's out in Thailand, Singapore, Borneo, Cambodia, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, and other areas of China but no news yet. So, stay tuned and I'll try like hell to update you folks as often as is humanly possible from here!

-Jeeem-