macow

Era ending

2012-02-09T09:13:00.000+08:00

It is with great sadness I announce what we heard two days ago, that our show ZAiA at the Venetian Macau will be having its' final show on the evening of 19 February 2011. After over 1000 shows, 3.5yrs of blood, sweat and tears we will prepare to see it all finish - gone, vanish, become no more. It's been a tumultuous time for sure - we've come close to closing numerous times before, but nobody was expecting it this time around. The partner, Las Vegas Sands Corp (LVS) and Cirque du Soleil had just invested millions in a show relaunch months ago, a new advertising campaign attempting to inject life into flagging ticket sales and disappointing houses. But it was all in vain.

The hardest thing for me is saying goodbye - to all the people; peers, colleagues, friends, comrades, pengyoumen, amigos, artists. All stand-up people, from 25 or so different countries around the world - all brought together for this common purpose, this show, this event that will be all but a memory in less than 2-weeks time. But I know my comrades, my friends will not let this keep them down. I think we've all come to Macau with a commonality, a trait that makes us different to the rest: we love a challenge. We came to Macau for that in the first place - an experience, something that tests the soul. This will test our souls for sure, our spirits, our very nature. But when the finale rings out, for us it marks the signal of a new beginning. A rebirth from our experience. We'll show them. We won't let them beat us down. I know you guys won't disappoint me. Love you all.

Space

2012-02-04T00:36:00.000+08:00

"We're hoping to succeed; we're okay with failure. We just don't want to land in between."

David Chang
Founder of momofuku restaurant empire

If you've read my last two posts you're probably thinking - yeah, where's this screenplay, huh? Your last post was about Tony Bourdain and friggin cleavers...you're full of $#!t Trevor!!... Well, this may be true but I read somewhere (I know, I know..don't believe everything you read...) that after completing something that you've spent a decent amount of time on, you should take some space and lock it away in that bottom drawer for some weeks before you attempt editing/revising/reviewing it. Makes sense to me. You spend countless hours each day looking/making/creating this screenplay/novel/article/thesis for weeks on end, it becomes an extension of you; you think about it day and night. I don't think you could work on that thing honestly again without some breathing space.

At first I found myself trying to read every book on 'How to write a Screenplay' I could get my hands on but in the end I realized; if you want to attempt to get good at something, just do it. A good analogy I could draw would be the ability to do a chin-up: you can do lat pulldowns and rows as much as you like but when it comes to the crunch, just do chin-ups! Sure, you may need to do negative reps and other variations to get your chin up over the bar the first time, but just do it! So I just started writing. Routine is hard to establish at first. They say you should try to write a set goal, say 500 words or 1000 words per day; set periods of the day that you should write whether it be AM or PM. I found it easier to write in the morning, just being that my work schedule tends to be the PM hours; it was (1) when I had the time and (2) I just found it worked better for me than the wee hours of the morning.

Here are some notes taken from my notepad early November 2011:

4 Oct – 4 Nov 2011 – completed 80 pages of ____________

Finding writing outside of the house is much less distracting; coffee shops are good, just put in the headphones and write away. I don’t use wifi when I’m out and writing so I don’t get distracted, at home it’s too easy to do non-productive things like check email, Facebook and Gmail. If there’s anything I need to research for my script I write it down and look it up later. Good albums I’m listening to right now are; Common – Be; and various Erykah Badu – the beats are conducive to quiet writing and thinking. I’m certainly not prolific by any means but the slow grind is the way to get things done; I try to write a little every day. If I miss a day I try not to beat myself up too much and just start again the next day. Well, writing this is fun but I should get back to my real writing….

So I'm not super strict with my schedule; I try to write when I can and at a few pages at a time. My rewrite is looking daunting, my story has more holes than a block of swiss. But I guess that's part of the fun. Following Seth Godin's blog I came across David Chang who is the owner and founder of the momofuku Korean restaurant chain which he started in New York and has now expanded across to Sydney. His ideas on business I find interesting; and I like the name momofuku which also happens to be the name of the guy that invented instant noodles, Momofuku Ando. One day maybe I can actually eat at a momofuku somewhere. I think the quote at the beginning of today's blog sums it up nicely - give it a shot. Why not? I also like this gem which I came across initially on Ross Enamait's site, but from the mouth of motivational guru Zig Ziglar

"You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great"

Go on, get started!

Tony

2012-02-02T01:33:00.001+08:00

"Just because you like Jimi Hendrix doesn't mean you can play like Jimi Hendrix"
Anthony Bourdain

“I don't have to agree with you to like you or respect you.”
Anthony Bourdain

I discovered Anthony Bourdain quite late; I've watched most episodes of No Reservations but am only now reading (and loving) Kitchen Confidential, released in 2000, which made Anthony Bourdain the rockstar of the culinary world. My brother sent me the Youtube link for the HK episode of his new show, The Layover, a few weeks back but it seemed to me just an origami'ed version of No Reservations. Sure I love more Tony but it didn't really do it for me. I did like the fact that he visited Lamma Island in HK (we were just there a couple months back) so it was nice to see places I recognized; and I have to definitely get a new cleaver from the shop he visits in The Layover - Chan Chi Kee cutlery in Yau Ma Tei in Kowloon.

Their cleavers are the real deal - highly prized around the world for being economical in both usage and price. After a bit of research I found a whole sub-culture of cleaver fanatics; people that buy these CCK cleavers and then add custom handles to them. I love my cleaver (sharp blades in general) but this cleaver-love was a bit over the top even for me! Sugimoto cleavers - the Rolls Royce of the cutting world - go for around $400 USD a pop. To see what damage one man can do with a cleaver, watch the video below of Martin Yan (of Yan can Cook!) - jump to 1:40 for the action..

But I digress...

Tony Bourdain came to popularity interestingly around the same time as UK chef Gordon Ramsay; another no-holds barred, F-bomb dropping chain smoking culinary auteur. What impresses me is the fact that Bourdain's shows are not scripted and he can be so grandiosely eloquent while funny. Bourdain can effortlessly spout off about anything and everything. Tony to me is what I need to have more of - the ability to say what I want, when I want. To literally have no reservations in life, to be able to act and speak without thinking too much. Life like that must be sweet; unexpected and spontaneous. Sure, you might get the $#!t kicked out of you from time to time but... c'mon! Live a little.

In Kitchen Confidential, Bourdain talks of his love of home cooking vs high cuisine; the shenanigans that go on behind the counters of your favorite restaurant; of trying anything remotely edible at least once. From seal eyeballs to warthog rectum, Bourdain has tried it. Guess the most adventurous I've been is eating skewered balut (chicken fetus) in Xian, China. Can't say I went for seconds... But trying anything once in life is a good motto to have - we are only of this mortal vice for a finite period of time; maybe better to have lived and eaten eyeball/rectum/balut than not?

Reminiscing

2012-01-30T19:43:00.000+08:00

There IS a reason I haven't blogged for a while. Really, I'm not lying. I've written a screenplay. There's a saying that every writer has a million bad words in him or her, and that once those million bad words are out on the page, he or she can write something worth reading. Given my screenplay of approximately 20,000 words took me three months to write, that means I'll write something worthwhile in about 15 years... That's not all too bad, I'll be 48 years old; our eldest, Angie, will be nearing her 21st birthday and No. 2 Talia will probably be off on the back of some bikers' Harley Davidson raising hell. I'll most likely be jaded and cynical; my hands no good anymore from beating the hell out of circus artists and 65-year old arthritic knees. Let's hope my hands can still type by then.

I would have probably given all of myself from 20 years+ of treating, my soul dried and spirit gone. Maybe it would be time for myself then, when I can do those things I want to do - some tai chi in the morning for meditation and centering myself; some yoga following my light nap after breakfast and gym time in the afternoon, finishing with a leisurely stroll with my beautiful wife on the beach. Or maybe I'll just want a bottle and a place to write my novel (thanks to The Roots for that gem..). I hope my novel will be written by then, I'll have something finished and accomplished instead of just talking/blogging about it. Seth Godin talks about the age of the novel being dead, the publishing game now a washed up landscape of wannabees and has-beens, the future lying in the electronic age of Nooks and Kindles, iPads and tablet readers.

What will publishing ACTUALLY be like in 15 years? Will paperbacks be a relic of the past like beta video and cassette recorders, our children's children visiting libraries as they would a museum and marvel at the dusty tomes? Maybe things will take more than a generation to change. But don't we all remember (showing my 'maturity') the times when we had to use a pencil to reel in the tape that was 'chewed' by our tape cassette player? I know Angie wouldn't have the foggiest if I handed her a pencil and cassette tape (what is THIS daddy?). She knows how to wipe the streaks off the backside of a DVD, as does Talia, but will that too be a thing of the past with streaming video and TV? Time will tell.

Godin also talks about building a 'tribe' - if you have something to say then your 'tribe' are the people who are listening. Guess my tribe is you, if you are reading this. Come with me. I'll edit my screenplay (by end of Feb hopefully!) and you can read it if you are so inclined. Tell me it sucks - I can take it. I need to; no-one ever gets better at something if you pat them, just telling me it's great for the sake of. Fantastic, that's another 500 words of palaver. 989,500 words to go...

10 Steps to Becoming a Better Writer

2011-10-07T11:50:00.002+08:00

I like this recent post from Brian Clarke on his Copyblogger site:

10 Steps to Becoming a Better Writer

1.Write.
2.Write more.
3.Write even more.
4.Write even more than that.
5.Write when you don’t want to.
6.Write when you do.
7.Write when you have something to say.
8.Write when you don’t.
9.Write every day.
10.Keep writing.

And I thought there was some pill I could take for that...

Whip Staff

2011-09-24T00:51:00.003+08:00

The last few mornings at tai chi training i've been watching the regulars practising the bian gun or whip staff. The bian gun is a 4-foot staff similar to the jo in Japanese Kobudo or weapons system. It essentially is a short staff designed to strike, block, deflect, parry or poke an assailant or to defend against another weapon. These weapons tradionally were originally based upon farming tools in rural China or Japan - say you'd be out in the field hoe-ing and a group of bandits came to steal your harvest (or wife) and the handiest thing to use would be...you guessed it, your hoe! Bandits stealing your harvest may be a thing of the past but tradition is still sacred in some parts of the world so things like the bian gun and other weapon skills are still practised.

The bian gun they practise in the mornings here in Macau is not the same form as above but the music is almost spot on. Enjoy, and think back to your ancestors hoe-ing that field and beating off those bandits...

The Standing Steak Method

2011-08-20T10:40:00.008+08:00

I've been down to the square in front of the Sintra Hotel twice now to train with Sifu Leung accompanied by the little dynamo Jo, one of the trapeze flyers from ZAiA. His group meet every morning in front of the Sintra at around 7.30am. He began our study by introducing us to standing practise. Sifu Leung explained it is the most basic but most important basic training of tai chi. If you cannot hold your root while standing still how can you hold it when moving? When we're practising zhan zhuang or the standing 'stake' method, we stand directly in front of the Macau Restaurant, staring at its' facade. On the front of the restaurant there are numerous pictures of Macanese style meals the restaurant serves; Portuguese fried rice, baked seafood rice and osso bucco steaks. I've found it difficult standing staring at all that food first thing in the morning. The patrons in the restaurant must have an equally interesting sight looking out the window seeing both Jo and I standing and staring at them in the restaurant.

Yesterday there was a very funny occurrence. A man was watching Jo and I practise for a while and then came over, placed his carry bag down and began doing tai chi right in front of us. Weird. He completed his elaborate from (which happened to be also the Chen style but the competition form) and saluted us. He then loudly proclaimed that 'song' or relaxation is the key, that he has been practising every morning for five years for two hours at a go. His form was punctuated with the trademark Chen family fa jing or bursts of energy. I looked over at Sifu Leung while the man was performing and could see he was getting annoyed. He came over to us and whispered "He's doing it differently. You can see he's not very relaxed. Oh well, too late now, you'll just have to watch him finish". Once completed Leung Sifu came back over with an annoyed tone "They've only been practising for two days. Leave them alone". The tai chi man was rambling on about something, I can't quite remember now. I think it was about him being from Zhejiang province. Sifu Leung didn't back down, something about the tai chi man not being relaxed. Jo and I thought they were going to have a throwdown. The tai chi man grumbled and walked off. We were left to stare back at our steaks on the facade of the Macau Restaurant, wondering if things had tended towards the physical what would have been.

Chen Xiaowang demonstrating proper relaxed Chen style fajing

Taxi Driver

2011-08-05T12:46:00.027+08:00

'Alian' may not be Travis Bickle from the movie 'Taxi Driver', but he does drive one of the ubiquitous black taxi's here in Macau - unlike the real 'Taxi Driver' he lets his hands do the talking, or in this case, pushing. I first met Alian soon after I started practising at the park in the mornings. We didn't cross paths often as he started his training late in the mornings, probably because he was out ferrying one of the many casino gamblers to/from their gambling ventures till the wee hours the previous evening. Today was only the second time I got to practise with him but hopefully it is not the last. His skills are different to all the other push hands players in the park but he is also very effective at what he does. Alian uses chin na - 'grasping and seizing' - tied into his push hands seamlessly. But his tenants remain the same - relax and it will come. His hands touch with a feathers' weight when pushing and he uses this method so your opponent 'cannot sense what you are doing'. He also stresses light stepping in pushing hands, much more so than the other adepts in the park. Again his explanation for this is 'if your opponent does not know where your weight is, he cannot detect what you are about to do'.

Chin na - Chinese wrestling

Starting practise with Alian today I was feeling pretty good about myself; we pushed for about 2 minutes with no-one getting the upper hand, or so I thought. Alian then decided to get a bit more serious and proceeded to push me sideways and lock my wrist and elbow without breaking a sweat. The uncanny thing about his method is that he moves ultra slowly and you can actually feel his technique coming but cannot change course - it's like moving in a dream. The other thing I noticed about his push hands is his shoulders, or more specifically, shoulder position. His shoulders feel like immovable boulders and he wields them both effectively aimed in at your midline. Alian is actually shorter than I am (probably only 1.65m) but with his rounded shoulders he feels like a man much bigger in stature.

The weapons rack at Lo Leong

Someone drummed a bit too hard

Tonight I was lucky enough to visit Lo Leong Kung Fu and Lion Dance school in Northern Macau; Macau's biggest and best school. I was introduced by James, one of my old Yaolin kung fu buddies, who is learning the Dragon dance drum while visiting from Singapore. While translating for James I was struck by the parallels between drumming and tai chi - sinking and relaxation are key elements in good drum playing. Like the writer Murakami writes in his memoir What I Talk About When I Talk About Running of the similarities in solitude a fiction writer faces as does a marathon runner (Murakami is an avid marathon runner), I was drawn to the same between kung fu drumming and tai chi. The guy teaching James at Lo Leong was strict and would not compromise on style; James has learnt quite a different style of drumming; faster and lighter whereas the teacher was of the older school; strong stances and slower beats.

James playing the drum while carefully being watched

The Lo Leong guys preparing for a competition later this month in Macau

On leaving Lo Leong we grabbed a bite to eat at a restaurant nearby. As I bit into the pepper beef and bitter gourd I thought of the Chinese saying 'chi ku' which directly translates as 'eat bitter'. In English the meaning would be 'hardship' or to 'put up with hardship'. Drumming, tai chi, kung fu, writing or acrobatics - whatever it may be - we all have to eat a little bitter sometimes.

The man who wasn't there

2011-07-30T10:24:00.013+08:00

Mr Zhang is a regular down at the park most mornings. Looking at him you wouldn't give him a second glance; skinny, almost gangly to a degree. About 65kgs soaking wet. But he is probably the most skilled push-hands exponent that i've crossed hands with. "Ethereal" comes to mind. He is most skilful at controlling your root so you literally don't have a leg to stand on - he has pushed me off my feet a number of times. Another sensation you get when playing with him is that he's there one minute, and in an instant his hands or arms are gone and you're pushing into thin air. He is also very open with his teaching and is quite unconventional. For one, he doesn't advocate long, extensive practise of forms. One of his mantra is "qing, qing de" which translates as 'lightly'. When asked how he developed this amazing skill he smiles and says "Just relax". I asked him about forms and the style of tai chi he practices and his response was "I don't have much time to practise forms. I just relax". One other noticeable thing about his push hands is that he doesn't use any fancy hand methods or techniques - it's all just push or pull and it's devastatingly effective.

Famous xingyi master Guo Yunsheng and students

This morning I had the opportunity to speak to him at some length about his opinions on relaxation, on fighting and his opinion on internal vs external martial arts. When asked about using his push hands for fighting he replied "You can use the same principles. When you're relaxed you can respond quickly and effectively without any tension in the body". He continued "We practise slowly. See how when I push with you I don't move fast or use many hand techniques, but you can't balance. It's simple. Relax your kua and the rest will follow". In English the translation for kua is most closely the hips or hip crease. It seems my kua are way too tense and tight and is the reason I cannot 'root' to the ground effectively. I could blame genetics but they tell me it isn't so. On forms I asked how many years he has practised and with whom did he learn this from - surely there must have been someone with a white beard who taught him this?? His reply "I haven't been training this for as long as you think. You might think I've had to practise this for many years but not so. Once you have the correct alignments and softness it will come". On teachers: "I've practised under many sifu (master) but not a disciple of anyone. Many teachers would not pass on all their knowledge to their students. But I don't agree with this. I teach everything and anyone".

Wang Xiang Zhai, founder of Yiquan in standing posture

On external vs internal: "In external arts there tends to be a 'one, two' punch (he demonstrates a reverse punch with pullback) but with what we do you can strike or move from any position" (he then demonstrated a palm strike from above his head, from underneath and from the side). I asked if he thought that in both external and internal martial arts if we are trying to reach the same end point, his reply "Yes, I think so. But I think the internal way is faster. You see old kung fu/karate masters and they seem to be more relaxed later in their years - they are using internal power". On health: "By pushing hands it's like receiving a massage; you find your tight points in your body and work on relaxing them. You can cure many things by pushing hands". This was obviously of interest to me considering my line of work. Various bodyworks like yoga and other taoist qigong systems must work in similar ways. He left me with this gem "Look at me. I don't look very strong do I? But can you push me?" I concurred. He then asked me to try to push him while he stood on one leg. I tried but the same thing happened; his soft, springy arms easily countered my pushing. I just scratched my head. He pointed over at a small fern on the ground. "Be like this plant" He pushed the frond and it moved but sprung back to position as he let it go. "Be springy, responsive - be like the fern".

Humble as Pie - Part II

2011-07-28T22:07:00.009+08:00

Yang Cheng Fu, creator of Yang style tai chi

I kept a mini-journal of sorts of my training over the last few weeks. Here are some snippets...

Sat 9 July 2011
8am - I tried to get down earlier today to see what the lay of the land was like.
It was certainly cooler earlier in the morning although the humidity is still ever-present; it was also quieter in the park at that time of the morning. Mr Tang - a locquacious gentleman with silver hair said "Jintian ni lai zenme zao" - today you're here so early! A reference to previous days me coming at 8.30am or later. There were a few men practising I hadn't seen before; some younger men - well, around my age - middle-aged I guess!! Ben suk was there hovering around the guys practising and correcting form as needed. Mr Tang invited me to push hands with him using his broken English. He said to push him as hard as I liked - he evaded me simply as all the others had. Try to relax. Again the tenants were the same "Our tai chi is soft, try not to use force". He said "Ben suk taught us this - you should learn from him" and led me over to him. Uncle Ben again laughed dismissively, with a "Who me?" gesture. He asked me to assume the tai chi posture "Strum the lute" seeing if I remembered his teachings from the day before. I tried to get my root together from the ground, relax into the hips as he pressed into my forearms. He slapped my shoulders "fang song" - Relax!! And I thought I was so relaxed!! I tried to let myself go even more. He said "Look at me, i'm over 70 years old and look at you, you're so young. But still you can't push me". It's not strength - you're stronger than me - it's the qi. It's all about the circle - rounded shoulders from the dantian and hips". He corrected my pelvic tilt to slightly anteriorly tilted; like a small "shime" in Japanese Karate or a very mild hip forward thrust.

Famous Bagua master Fu Chen Sung

Tues 12 July
Today I went again to the park at around 8am. Ben suk, Mr Tang and some other regulars were practising when I arrived. Uncle Ben pointed over at a man seated in one of the chairs and said "Ahh, he is a sifu as well. He is my sifu! I'm a sifu and he is a sifu also. He can speak Mandarin - Go speak to him". I went over to the seated man and introduced myself - he said hello. Mr Tang later explained that Sifu Leung is a famous tai chi sifu in Macau and has many students. He teaches at the Xin li hua jiu dian - Sintra Hotel courtyard every morning. Uncle Ben came over and said for me to demo something for Sifu Leung. I started the Yang 85 form. Sifu Leung and Uncle Ben watched and interspersed in Canto at various things, pointing at my legs and feet. I finished the first section, not a very good demonstration I might add. Sifu Leung said "Ni da de hen bu cuo" which was very flattering - your tai chi is not too bad. He then got up and said "But your legs and feet are not very relaxed". He asked me to demonstrate the pose 'ward off' - I got into stance. He said "See - here - he applied some pressure to my forearm and pushed. I tried to root but was pushed off balance. "You see" he said "Your feet, knees and legs are not relaxed so you have no-where to go". You need to relax each of your joints - straighten the spine and extend from the top of your head. He demonstrated. I tried to push him again but he wasn't there and I pushed myself off balance.

Physical Culture Society, Taiwan circa 1957

Friday 15 July
Pushing today I was eager to show what I had learnt but this only ended up with myself thinking too much and getting too tense. Thus I was pushed around a lot more easily. One of the pointers from today I remember distictly was "Feel as though you are rooting 1-metre below the ground". This visualisation in itself I found gives you a more rooted and stable sensation. Another one was "Feel your qi coming out of your fingertips" This I found harder to visualise. "When pushing with your forward arm in peng (wardoff)use your other arm (while holding your structure) and you will push the person away". Ben suk also today taught "Yi lian - using your "intention" -use your eyes to push past or behind the person". Today they also saw my Taizu long fist form; they asked if I had been training it a long while and that I should try to use more 'soft force' when I do the form to help develop my qi. Another older man invited me to push with him. I found out he was 78-years old but didn't look a day over 60. Age didn't matter in the contest though, as he easily had the better of me over the next five minutes.

Tuesday 19 July 2011
The eureka moment I had today while pushing hands was Ben suk saying "Yong nide dantien he kua an wo, bu yong nide shou" - use your hips and centre to push me, not your hands. Using this method I managed to root slightly better. Another gem he shared was 'Use your middle leg' - less salubrius types might take this meaning somewhat jokingly but his meaning was to feel as you have an extra leg creating stability. He continued "This cannot be learnt over 2 or 3 months - it takes a long time". Probably reference to me seeming overly eager in my training. Finally one of the others came up and said "Mei you mimi" - translating to "There are no secrets". I looked around at the people training, laughing and joking and then down
at my sweaty t-shirt. Considering that only a few weeks ago I was an 'outsider' looking in, and given how open they were in accepting me to their 'group' I tend to believe him.

Fu Chen Sung with bagua broadsword

Humble as pie

2011-07-07T22:34:00.026+08:00

Moving over to Macau has been good to us for many reasons; cheap markets, myself getting fitter by climbing 4 flights of stairs at least twice a day (we now live on the fourth floor, no elevator) and the fact that I've started training martial arts again. There is a park across the road from where we've moved to and in the mornings a number of people gather to practice tai chi, chi kung and other forms of exercise. Over the last few weeks I've been heading there in the mornings to practice on my own. This is something I love about China - you can practice whatever you like anywhere in a park (or elsewhere for that matter) and no-one will bat an eyelid. Back in Australia I would have the police there in a matter of minutes due to public disturbance.

San Franciso gardens - you can actually see someone practising in the bottom right corner

San Francisco gardens are reportedly Macau's oldest garden and centrally located right behind the Grand Lisboa casino. The garden has grand old trees - Jacaranda, Mango (!) - which provide ample shade in the stinking Macau summer. Yesterday another man I had met and was training with told me to come earlier the next day and now I know why. I was going at about 8.45am the last few mornings but today I went at about 8am. A few people were there I didn't recognize and they were all doing push hands. Push hands are a kind of stand-up wrestling exercise central to the practise of the Chinese internal martial arts of Tai chi, Bagua and Xingyi.

I warmed up by myself, went over towards them and hovered - the eldest gentlemen looked over at me and then turned to his group and said something along the lines of "he wants to join, invite him over!". I said hello to one of the gentlemen from a few days previous that had invited me over. I pushed hands with a younger guy there who was very patient with me, push hands not being something i'm very familiar with. I said in mandarin "I don't really know how to do this" and he replied "no problem, just try". He pushed me around pretty easily and they kept commenting about my lack of centre and rootedness...how embarrassing.

I then pushed with an older man who was a bit more aggressive and pushed me around like a rag doll, commenting once again how I had "no centre, no root". An older man approached saying "Our tai chi, we don't use force. Our master taught us this way - he pointed to the older, frail looking man who had initially called me out. They called him "Ben suk" - kind of like "Uncle Ben" - he introduced me saying I wanted to learn their "zhongding" which translates as 'central equilibrium'. The older man joked that he couldn't speak Mandarin, only Cantonese - I replied "it's ok, I will try to understand". Over the next ten minutes he proceded to profoundly show me what his training is all about; learning this 'equilibrium' - he asked me to pick a posture from bagua (I had come to be known as the bagua guy with no centre...sorry my bagua brothers!!). The first morning I had been invited over one of them said to me "hen hao kan, buhao yong; buhao kan, hen hao yong" - "your gong fu looks really good but is of no use; our gong fu looks really bad but has use".

Famous Internal arts master, Wang Shu Jin, practising his root

I assumed the front-on guard position from bagua; he pressed into my hands and I felt resistance and myself tighten up - he said just 'relax'. He asked me to try on him...he held his hands up and I pushed into them. They initially felt very soft, relaxed. "An wo" - "push me" he said in Mandarin; his Mandarin turned out to be very good. As I exerted more force there was this hardness in his arms that felt like it was coming from the centre of his body and I couldn't push him, as hard as I tried. He then gave me a little push and I was pushed off balance. He gave me a smile as I laughed - this old guy was the real deal! (I later found out that Uncle Ben is 76 years old). He said "The power doesn't come from your arms - all your strength is coming from your arms - it comes from here (pointing to the dantien - a point just below the navel) and this transmits to the ground and then returns into your arm". He continued "But you should also focus with your eyes, and extend through the top of the crown of your head, pushing straight down your spine into the floor through the soles of both feet. Also your other hand - even though it is not in contact with anything - you should be focusing your energy through the other hand, out the finger tips. Your eyes should look past where you want to push - and relax your arms". This was going to be hard to remember I thought to myself...

Hung I Hsiang, of Taiwan, practising with a student

I tried again - he pushed into my forearms while I held the 'tree hugging' position. He said "Don't use force - fang song - relax". I concentrated, focused on my dantien and rooting into the ground - and he tried to push my arms - this time he said 'Ah, yes, a bit better..". In my 10 years plus of martial arts training this really felt like a 'eureka' type moment. By the time we finished 30 minutes later I was dripping in sweat; when it's 32 degrees and 94% humidity at 9am it doesn't take very long. "Man man lai" he told me as we were leaving, roughly translating to "It takes time". And with any great endeavour, to get to the end point (whatever that may be) we will learn along the way. To be continued...

Video-mapping the Ruins of St Paul's

2011-05-20T09:41:00.004+08:00

Geez it's been a long time since i've done this. I've started various blog posts over the last few months but just haven't been happy with what i've written. Think of the last few months as a sabbatical of sorts. I'm hoping to get back on the blog-wagon in a big way and we've got a lot of exciting things coming up over the next few months - moving apartments, going to Singapore for my brother's wedding in July and relaunch of the show. So to start with, here's some video of an excellent show we saw a few nights ago for the Macau Arts Festival - video-mapping the iconic Ruins of St Paul's in central Macau.

Phu Quoc Island

2010-11-15T12:55:00.034+08:00

On the way to the airport we knew we were leaving the big smoke behind; the high-tech telephone connections:

A city where only billionaires can afford to buy new cars:

But we were going where the air is cleaner, the beaches long and white and the pepper and fish sauce the best in the world. Where the roads were congested but with a different type of beast.

Phu Quoc island. The pearl off the coast of Southern Vietnam, known to the Cambodians as Koh Tral and where the seat of choice is the hammock. We headed for Freedomland because there is really no other place you should stay in Phu Quoc.

Freedomland is rated number one on Tripadvisor and it is easy to see why. Peter and Rita go out of their way to make your stay comfortable and make you feel at home. It is not your typical resort stay; it is more of a cross between a homestay and countryside retreat. We stayed in their Sunset bungalow which had two rooms and two bathrooms.

Our bungalow

The girls bathing alfresco

Our beautiful outdoor bathroom

Phu Quoc is a tear-shaped island 50kms north-south and 25kms east-west at its widest; rugged peaks and hidden beaches dominate the North while long stretches of white sand dominate the South. Freedomland is roughly smack in the middle of the island on the west coast, located in the forest but a short 15 minute walk to the nearest beach. Mango Bay was our local beach hangout; the sheltered bay there is ideal for a swim and relax on the beds by the beach. There is also a resort at Mango Bay where you can have a nice meal or massage after a hard day at the beach.

What sets Freedomland apart from standard resorts or hotels are the nightly meals which are eaten together with other guests at the big blue table. The food is amazing. Peter being Vietnamese AND a foodie just means trouble. When he mentioned the first night that he was afraid there wasn't enough food I was a little apprehensive but as they brought the appetizer out, then the next appetizer and then the main course I was stuffed fuller than the proverbial turkey.

BBQ night at Freedomland

Sashimi

Angie helping out

Hing and Peter in the kitchen

The BBQ nights were special; BBQ's were prepared with charcoal as you could take your pick of chicken skewers, fish, prawns, squid and have it cooked directly for you. Not to mention the numerous salads on offer, all washed down with a Freedomland cocktail or Saigon beer. Some produce was freshly picked nextdoor; we went on a pomelo hunt one afternoon.

Peter and Angie checking the produce

And the pepper in Phu Quoc is top notch. We visited a pepper plantation in-between beach and hammock time.

We tasted the green peppercorns right off the vine. They have a very strong, fresh bite to them.

Got rice? Tali's fave food

We visited the Tranh waterfall on the east of the island. It was a refreshing place to have a swim given that the waters off the coast weren't exactly cooling.

Compared to the high intensity of Saigon, Phu Quoc was a welcome change. I imagine it's what Phuket or Koh Samui were like 20 or 30 years ago before the crowds came. Most of the roads on the island are not sealed so when there has been some rain the roads became really slushy. I guess that's part of the charm of Phu Quoc.

Angie chilling

Bai Sao beach

It was sad leaving Freedomland and Phu Quoc behind. We made some great friends there and it would have been easy to while away on the sand or in a hammock for a little bit longer.

Saigon

2010-11-04T10:27:00.032+08:00

If you were a motorbike I don't think you'd want to live in Saigon. I mean, if there are over 3 million of you on the road there are just too many options if you were looking for a motorbike partner. Much rather be in a place where there are less options..but that's just me. In a city of about 8 million people, 3 million motorbikes is not a number to sniff at.

Me seeing what the fuss is all about

Taipei might try; Bangkok may get close; Beijing or Shanghai only pale in comparison. Saigon is where Honda is making bank. Flying into Saigon, rows upon rows of streets teem with what look like worker ants from a distance but as the plane descends further you can make out that the little black things moving very quickly are in fact motorcycles. It is one crazy city. But amongst the craziness, there is a certain order to the madness which you often find in Asian megacities. Then there is the certain buzz; you can see why Tony Bourdain finds it his favorite place on Earth. Oh, and I guess the food ain't too shabby either...

Touching down in the city we felt that anticipation of discovery. We were met with a pleasantly empty immigration hall with super-friendly staff. The girls wasted no time in winning over the locals....

A quick and reasonably painless wait for our visas on arrival and we were set to go. I felt mildly sorry for the girl in line next to me who didn't have USD or Vietnamese dong to pay for her visa but she should have known... luckily they had an ATM nearby. We saw a familiar ATM on the way to our hotel. In fact, there were a large number of Commonwealth Bank and ANZ ATM's scattered all over Saigon. Guess they're not making enough money in Australia ..cough..cough.

We stayed at the lovely Ma Maison hotel in District 3, off the crazy main road and down a few alleyways. It's about as quiet as you can get in Saigon. Natasha and her team at Ma Maison really go out of their way to make you feel at home; from the welcome juice to the fresh tropical fruits to the personalised service they are a class act. If you're looking for a small (they only have 12 rooms) boutique hotel in Saigon that is in a quiet, local area I'd certainly recommend it.

Ma Maison is right in-between a banh mi vendor and a pho vendor so I knew we were at the right place. Banh mi is a Vietnamese baguette, essentially an Asian cold-cut sandwich. But boy is it good! There are a million variations but a standard banh mi would have some type of meat (roast pork, chicken), pickled radish and carrot, coriander, mayonnaise, pate and fresh chilli. Pho (pronounced 'fur') is beef noodle soup that has become a Vietnamese icon, traditionally eaten at breakfast but now is available 24hrs a day. Our banh mi vendor charged 10 000 VND ($0.50AUD) for a sandwich so I was in heaven... where else could you get this much goodness for 50 cents!!

From left; cold cuts, chicken pate, pickled radish and carrots

Surprisingly I did not put on any weight over this holiday... Over the next day we visited the central Ben Thanh market, got a banh xeo(savory crepe) fix and managed to also visit a day spa that my sis-in-law Bel recommended. Ben Thanh market is the main marketplace in central Saigon that sells everything; from durian to snake wine to chopsticks.

Ben Thanh market

Banh xeo! and cha gio - spring rolls

Banh xeo cooked over charcoal

We managed to get to Banh Xeo 46A in the afternoon for a Viet pancake fix. Banh Xeo are Vietnamese savory pancakes made out of rice flour and stuffed with pork, shrimp and bean sprouts eaten with lettuce dipped in a fish sauce 'dressing'. Banh Xeo 46A is 'THE' place for Banh Xeo in Saigon - there are many imitators in and around the main place but don't go for anything less. Their cha gio or fried spring rolls are great too so we polished off a plate of them also. Call me a stickler but food just tastes better cooked over charcoal and that's what they do at 46A. No fancy Miele gas burners here....

In-between Banh Xeo and Ben Tranh we managed to get to L'Apothiquaire day spa for a swim and scrub. Well, Nat went for the scrub and me and the girls went for a swim. The water was a bit cold but it was refreshing nevertheless. My sis-in-law recommended the place from her visit in 2009 and it was well worth it! We got to visit Notre Dame Basilica and the central post office which is a beautiful gothic remnant of French Indochina.

Notre Dame cathedral

Central post office

On our final day in Saigon we visited Cholon - Saigon's Chinatown. We payed our respects at Thien Hau (or Tian Hou) temple which pays worship to the goddess of the sea. She is known here in Macau and Southern China as 'A-Ma' or grandmother.

Thien Hau temple

There are many interesting murals within the temple depicting life in Southern China in the 19th century. Some show Lion and Dragon dancing and other murals depicting monks and European sailors.

On our final night we visited the park across the way from our hotel. There were heaps of people exercising from playing feather shuttle hacky sack to jogging to dancing a strange form of 'Zumba' that i'm thinking of incorporating into our ZAiA exercise classes. After all the touring and eating and dancing we needed some decent R and R; next stop - Phu Quoc island!

Home sweet home

2010-08-30T01:11:00.017+08:00

A week at home is just not enough. After all that eating, visiting, (some) relaxing and attending courses there isn't much time for anything else. I didn't get to do a fraction of the things I wanted to do back in Perth but it was really nice to see family and friends after almost 13 months in Macau. Thanks to all the people who I managed to see for making the effort amongst work and the routine of normal life!

Now....drumroll for some of the highlights of the week...

Catching up with the folks and my bro while he was in town

Celebrating Angie's 4th birthday with family and friends

The blue skies!!!

More blue skies!!!!

Catching up with friends

Angie and her cousin Maya tramping it

Hot mama!

Cousin Lara and Talia

Uncle Dan and Talia

Beautiful Talia

What a whirlwind! Now we're all back in Macau - 'home' for now. It's amazing to think over a year has now passed since I first started writing on here. We're still having fun so Macau will be 'home' for a bit longer.

Bangkok - Phranakorn Nornlen Hotel

2010-07-05T23:20:00.024+08:00

Inside Phranakorn Nornlen hotel - an oasis in the heart of Old Bangkok

Unfortunately we didn't have much time in Bangkok; we flew out of Krabi and arrived in Bangkok around 1.30pm. The baggage service was a bit smoother this time around and the taxi service is a lesson in efficiency at Bangkok airport. There is a service counter where you line up alongside all prospective taxi drivers who must use a special ticket which features all their details, name, company details, taxi number, etc. That way if you have a complaint or forget belongings in the taxi they are easy to track down. It was a 30-minute taxi ride to our hotel which was located in the Thewet district which is considered a part of 'Old Bangkok'. We stayed just one night at the Phranakorn Nornlen hotel but it made a big impression on all of us. From the relaxed vibe to the welcome herbal teas we really felt at home at Phranakorn - we were already looking forward to staying there from what we had read online and from their website.

The Thai's make you feel very welcome

Inside the girls' room

Phranakorn is situated in a small soi (sideroad or alleyway) in an older part of town, very close to the river and a short stroll to many local vendors and shops. We arrived to a lovely welcome at the hotel and were all a bit peckish so decided to visit the noodle vendor down the street we spied while we were in the taxi.

Slurping some yummy rice noodles!

The old lady behind the noodle cart looked like she had been there for aeons; it was one of those small cart vendors that serve only one dish and many locals were sitting and slurping so we knew it was going to be good. A bowl of rice noodles and soup was only $25baht ($0.80AUD!!!). While we were there a fruit vendor wheeled his cart by and we got a fresh coconut for $30baht ($1AUD) and 1kg of lychees for the same! Nat saw that just next to the vendor was a hairdresser and she wanted her fringe cut so she popped in for a quickie.

Nat getting her fringe cut

From there with full bellies we went back to our hotel which was a 1-minute walk away. The day was especially special as it was 29 June and was Talia's first birthday. Phranakorn organised a birthday cake for us in advance so we had a small birthday celebration in the play area.

Chocolate ice cream-custard cake!

Phranakorn is really an oasis in Bangkok - the decor and ambience are unlike any other hotel we have stayed at. There are many trompe-l'oeil featured on the walls...

And their play area for the kids is second to none...

They even grow their own vegetables on their rooftop garden...

After a short rest we decided we should head out and caught a tuk tuk to the area around Khao San road which is a famous tourist street in Bangkok. We wanted to head to Paragon or a similar air-conditioned shopping mall but considering the time was around 6pm the traffic would have been chaotic so we decided to go somewhere close.

Bangkok tuk tuk

Khao San road - spot the local....

Khao San road is pretty crazy; cheap clothing, trinkets and almost everything else can be found here and bargaining is essential. There are a heap of tourists but it is one of the most popular shopping streets in Bangkok. You can also sample items a little off the norm...

In the top picture from the back you can see scorpions, cockroaches, crickets, grasshoppers - basically anything you would normally squash with your flip-flop was fair game and for sale as a snack in-between a little shopping. How unfortunate it was that I was still full from the noodles we had eaten earlier... We did a bit of shopping and had a meal before retiring back to the hotel.

The next morning we had a great breakfast at the hotel - an organic vegetarian meal which consisted of minestrone, mushroom and avocado bruschetta and wild mushroom fried rice which was fantastic. I'm a bit of a carnivore but was thoroughly satisfied. They also had a full service expresso bar so after a couple of espresso's I was set.

Organic breakfast

Angie finished the last of the chocolate cake from the night before as well as a serve of hotcakes before a final play in the playroom. Our taxi to the airport was arriving so we said our goodbyes. Phranakorn-Nornlen is not your typical hotel (they don't even have TV's in their rooms) but if you're looking for something different and special we wholeheartedly recommend it.

There's even a monkey on the keychain!

Krabi Province

2010-07-01T09:49:00.046+08:00

A few days ago we got back from a relaxing week-long break in Thailand. It was our first visit to the 'land of smiles' but i'm sure we'll be back at some point. We were all struck by how friendly everyone was - Thailand certainly lived up to its' reputation and every second person we passed on the street would tickle Talia's feet while she was snug in the baby-carrier or bend down to shake Angie's hand.

Sweet old lady in hairdressers in Bangkok

Our first stop was Bangkok Suvarnabhumi airport and from there we caught a domestic flight to Krabi. Macau to Bangkok - 2hrs 20mins.

We had roughly 1.5 hours to catch our flight to Krabi which should have been straightforward enough but had to wait 30 minutes to get our baggage (that's one downfall of flying a budget carrier - no transit service!). By the time we got to the check-in counter they said they had closed and had to call the captain if it was ok for us to still get on the plane. Luckily for us the AirAsia gods were kind and it was a serious dash to get on the plane. Bangkok to Krabi - 1 hour 20 minutes. From Krabi airport we caught a taxi (we shared with Erick, my colleague from Cirque who was also heading to Krabi) to Ao Nang, the beach-side town that is jumping point to the more beautiful areas in the South of Thailand such as Ko Phi Phi, Ko Lanta and Rai Leh (or Railay) which is where we were heading.

Krabi province is in the south-west

Railay Beach is a short 20minute long-tail boat ride from Ao Nang

We said our goodbyes to Erick (not for long though...) at the Ao Nang Sunset hotel where we had booked to stay the night. The Sunset was a basic, clean hotel and I chose it because it got good reviews on Tripadvisor and was a short walk to the longtail boats we had to catch to Railay. One thing I overlooked was that the Sunset did not have baths so Talia had to make do with the sink. She probably could do this for a few more months before she gets too big.

They had also prepared a babycot and extra bed for us in advance - the babycot was a throwback to the days when infants were 'imprisoned'; let's hope it's the only time that Talia is 'behind bars'.

We had arrived at Sunset at about 7.30pm so it was actually 8.30pm Macau time with Thailand being 1-hr behind and Talia was needing to sleep. We grabbed a quick meal downstairs at the restaurant joined by Erick (who had opted to stay a few doors down - the Sunset rooms were quite big for a lone traveler) and said our goodbyes as tiredness got the better of most of us. I noticed that there was a massage centre adjoining the Sunset so after I put the girls' to bed I thought what better way to start my holidays than with a Thai massage. It was getting late and as I chose the 1 hour Thai massage for $250baht (about $9AUD) I noticed the girls eyes roll and a grunt of dissatisfaction as she realised her day was not over just yet. For those that have never experienced proper Thai massage before it is not your typical relaxing massage. It is an hour of pretty intense bodywork, yoga-like stretches and other interesting techniques performed on the floor with the 'patient' wearing loose clothing. I've had it done only a couple of times before and never in Thailand so knew it was going to be an experience. A very interesting and provoking technique Thai massage employs is the 'blood-stop' technique. It is similar to a pressure-point blood-stop technique used by first-aiders to stem the bloodflow along a major artery. This is done predominantly done along the femoral artery and is held for approximately 30 seconds. From my understanding it is performed with the belief that you are 'unclogging' the artery of any unhealthy deposits. For those with a basic understanding of anatomy and physiology this is a mistaken belief and the blood-stop technique could be dangerous if held for long periods of time. 30 seconds is probably the maximum amount of time I would want my arteries pressed, unless of course I was bleeding out.

The next morning we headed out to Nosey Parker's Elephant Camp just out of Ao Nang for an elephant trek. The camp was set in forest at the base of some limestone karst peaks which are famous throughout Krabi. The plan was for Nat and Talia to hop on the back of a smaller elephant and Angie and I to ride a bigger elephant.

Angie was beginning to look a bit sheepish and as we were about to climb on the elephant let out an almighty growl - after that, there was no way Angie was getting on. All this while Nat and Talia were already on their elephant and had almost returned (Nat had enough already... it was a bit difficult with a infant strapped to her chest...). So in the end I jumped on the smaller elephant and went for a bit of a trek. The mahout (elephant rider/keeper) let me ride bareback which was pretty cool, albeit in a 'horsey' style rather than the 'lotus' style you can see the mahout riding in Nat's picture. We also got to feed our elephant some cucumbers which were much deserved after having us on his back!

From there it was back to the Sunset to pack our things to head over to Railay Bay via long-tail. Long-tail boats are the main method of transport in the waterways throughout most of South-east Asia. It was low tide so we had to travel around to the west end of Ao Nang to catch our boat. The long-tails cannot get too close to shore so you have to get knee-deep in the ocean to get in/out which is fun...well, for Angie.

Railay Beach is famous for its' karst peaks jutting out of white-sand beaches and is home to some of the best rockclimbing in the world. There are two main beaches - the East and West beach. The West beach is the more beautiful beach and is better for swimming while the East beach is mainly mangroves but is where more of the accommodation can be found. We stayed at Railay Bay resort which is on the West side and was fantastic. The staff were great and the resort itself is not world-class but the setting on the beach alone is worth it. It currently is low-season so you can get pretty good deals on accommodation but Railay beach is still pretty quiet this time of year - all the better for our relaxing holiday!

Our welcome!

Playing on our beach

The other end of the West beach

Morning beach

Beach at dusk

We were lucky the first few days as the weather was glorious. The last two days there was some rain in the mornings but it managed to clear up after lunchtime so we could still have our daily swims in the pool and beach. On our third day we did a day trip to Ko Phi Phi island - in retrospect we should have at least stayed overnight as it was a slow 1.5 hour ferry there/back so we only had a few hours at Phi Phi. Ko Phi Phi is a lot bigger and more developed than the Railay area but has a lot more staying and drinking options. Phi Phi was pretty busy with tourists but we managed to have a nice swim and meal by the beach, listening to Bob Marley played by Thai rastafarians through their loudspeakers.

Ko Phi Phi

One of the locals trying to win over Talia

On the ferry back to Railay

The ferry from Railay to Ko Phi Phi sets sail from the East beach and at low tide you have to first catch a long-tail out to the ferry as there is no jetty at Railay.

Railay East beach at low tide - notice the rockclimbing wall in the background

Other end of Railay East at high tide

Angie enjoying a Thai pancake, or roti

With all the looming cliffs around I thought I should do some exercise after eating and drinking for 4 days so got in touch with one of the local rockclimbing schools. They offer half or full-day courses so beginners like me are able to climb with no prior knowledge. It was really cheap for a farang- $600baht($20AUD) for a half-day which includes all gear and shoes. We headed out to the peaks of East Railay which you could see in the background in one of my previous pictures. The area was reasonably busy with a few other groups climbing the different routes. Unfortunately (or fortunately) I didn't get any pics of myself climbing but managed to climb the same route as the guy at the top in the picture below:

This was supposedly a 6b rated route, which is an upper beginner/intermediate level. I tried a 6c route which involved some difficult overhangs but only managed to get a quarter of the way up. It was a super hot and humid day and I was pouring with sweat even before I began climbing. I ended up using my shirt as a mock headband to stop the sweat from getting in my eyes while climbing.

One of our guides had to retrieve a carabiner from the 6c route so she decided to show us how it was supposed to be done - in her flip-flops!

Our guide climbing in flip-flops!

With very sore fingers and forearms I headed back to the resort for a cool-off in the pool. The next day was our last full day in Railay before we flew to Bangkok. We went to Phra Nang beach which is on the tip of the peninsula, only a 10 minute walk from West Railay. It is a beautiful stretch of sand which has a huge cavern at one end that punches through the limestone peaks.

Phra Nang beach - in the background is the cavern which punches through to the other side of the cliff

The other end of Phra Nang beach

From inside the cavern looking out to the beach - you can the girls on the beach in the distance

Another distinctive feature on Phra Nang is a small temple in one of the small caves dotting the limestone cliff. It actually is a 'Phallus' shrine for the local fishermen that believe a sea princess inhabits the cave and by offering her phallic objects representing fertility they will have a bountiful catch. It is very bizarre. Have a look:

The phallus shrine at Phra Nang beach - notice all the phallic offerings

We had a long swim at Phra Nang and then walked back for our last dinner at Railay. Angie made a friend in her final days at Railay - a little cutie named Mia - who with her family were visiting from Singapore. The next morning we packed our things and had one final swim before heading to the East side to catch a long-tail to Krabi airport. The ride was reasonably quick - a 15 minute long-tail to a pier and then a 20-minute car ride to the airport. Our time in magical Krabi had come to an end. Next stop - the charming Phranakorn-Norlen hotel in Old Bangkok. To be continued....

Musashi Website!

2010-06-16T11:10:00.007+08:00

Sorry I haven't posted in a while! Have been trying to work on a new site for our webcomic - Musashi M.D. Click here to take a peek! I'll still keep this blogspot for family-related news and our upcoming adventures in Asia (we head to Thailand next week! - can't wait...). Here's some recent pics...

Macau Times

2010-05-03T09:47:00.008+08:00

Some recent photos at home....

Musashi M.D.

2010-04-19T10:50:00.005+08:00

My brother Gav and I have been working on a comic strip over the last few months. It's a bit of a goofball strip with the famous samurai Musashi working in his day-job as a M.D. and getting into all sorts of trouble. Gav proposed we come up with something together for a magazine which hopefully will be released later this year - I came up with the basic premise and basic script which we hashed out together while Gav did the rest. I've written a few Musashi scripts but Gav's a busy man with his other two on-going strips but hopefully he can find the time to weave his artistic magic! Check out MUSASHI M.D. and let us know what you think!

Taipei

2010-04-02T09:18:00.055+08:00

Having not really traveled all that much last year (except to Hong Kong and Zhuhai), we wanted to make the most of my three-day dark between 29 March - 1 April so decided to take a trip across the strait to Taiwan. Angie was, yet again, very excited she didn't have to attend school for a few days and wanted to take a picture with the Shanghai 2010 Expo blob at Macau airport -

This was the first time we flew with Air Macau and we were pleasantly surprised with their excellent service, even though 'blast-off' was delayed by 20 minutes. We flew direct to Taipei, the capital and largest city, which is at the northern end of the island and only 1 hour and 50 minutes from Macau by air. Having arrived at a decent hour where businesses are actually open - read my previous blog about KK here - changing HKD into NTD (New Taiwan Dollars) was a breeze.

We arrived in Taipei just after midday and Nat's friend Patricia, with whom she went to highschool with in Johannesburg 15 years ago, was at the airport to greet us. The Taoyuan airport is in Taoyuan County which is about 45 minutes by car from the city and costs about $1000NTD (about $33AUD) by taxi. Nat had not seen Patricia for 15 years since they went to school together but had kept in touch via snail mail and more recently something called the internet which seems to be all the rage these days. The first thing we noticed in Taiwan is the politeness of the people and lots of open space - yes, Macau can get a bit claustrophobic at times. Our hotel, Wonstar Hotel, was located in the trendy Ximending district where there are lots of hip clothing stores and pedestrian streets selling renowned Taiwan xiaochi or snacks.

Trendy Ximending

The confusingly named Wonstar Hotel

We laughed when we saw the towels in our room that read 'Onestar Hotel' - it was good to see that Chinglish was alive and kicking across the strait. I would have at least called it the 'Three star Hotel'. Ximending was a very convenient place to be located, really close to great shops selling all kinds of stuff and some local food places just a block away. We were all a bit hungry so we found a local noodle shop so satiate the beast!

Patricia telling Angie that Taiwanese noodles are ok

Niurou mian - Beef noodle soup

The noodle flour mixer

So cheap - the most expensive dish on the menu was $160NTD, about $2.50AUD!

Amazing what they can make from the simple soy bean!

From there, Patricia wanted to take us to Yangmingshan National Park which is only 45 minutes by car from the city. YangMing 'mountain' is named after a Ming Dynasty military official and was the summer residence of Chiang Kai-Shek, where the former leader of the KMT (Kuomintang) could escape the heat of the city. It is famous for its cherry blossoms, hot springs and walking trails.

Angie enjoying the greenery

Unfortunately the weather was not great and light was fading fast so we stopped for refuge at a makeshift restaurant in one of the many valleys. In this one valley it seemed there were 4 or 5 restaurants all selling iris flowers and making a living from people stopping for a pit-stop on their way up/down the mountain.

The mist clouding the mountain peaks

Outside the makeshift restaurant

We had a light meal of some local greens and a type of small fish which was deep-fried and served with a pepper-salt mix which was pretty tasty. I say 'light' meal as Patricia planned to take us to the famous Shilin night market after Yangming mountain so I had to save some room for all the goodies that awaited us. Shilin night market is probably the most famous of all the night markets in Taipei - a city where night markets are an institution and eating by the roadside is the norm.

Shilin night market

Taiwanese street food comes in various shapes and forms - from the notorious 'stinky' tofu, freshly cut fruits (maybe can't be classified as street-food as is too healthy?), noodles of all lengths and textures, oyster omelette, savory pancakes...the list is endless! Patricia recommended Ay-Chung Noodle House as a stall we shouldn't miss for their vermicelli noodles in soup. I thought 'how good could they be?' having eaten vermicelli noodles in soup a hundred times before. How wrong I was! Their noodles were silky soft and the soup was amazing - thick and rich - and just for good measure, some offal floating around too...ahhhh.

Man who has Ay-Chung noodle is a happy man

Even Nat tried Ay-Chung!

Actually I should mention that the 'fresh fruit' is only an option in a Taiwanese street market...strawberries are usually served Wimbledon-style with sugar and cream/milk! We asked the vendor for just strawberries for Angie but found out later when I had one that they were covered in sugar. Oh well... So after having two kinds of stinky tofu and some shopping it was late so we jumped into a cab with full bellies back to Ximending.

The next day Patricia and her uncle, Kenny, took us southwards in Taipei County to Sanxia (lit 'Three Gorges' - where Kenny lives) and to the Great Roots forest which is next to the Dabao river. Sanxia is a nice smaller town about 45 minutes out of the city that has a great old street which is very well preserved in colonial-style Japanese architecture. There is also the Zushi temple originally built in 1769 which is beautiful.

Another thing Sanxia is famous for are its Bull-horn croissants which are pretty tasty. A smaller, more dense version of a typical croissant.

Shop selling Bull-horn croissants

Great Roots Forestry resort is located in the only tropical rain-forest in Taiwan and features some nice walks and the rare 'buttress-root' trees!!! There was also a rope bridge spanning a gully which was fun...Nat was terrified!

Centuries old butt tree

Angie enjoying the hammocks along the walk

Just like out of Temple of Doom!

Angie doing a performance amidst the trees!

We were lucky enough to catch the cherry blossoms which were still in bloom...

Taiwan is famous for its hot springs, or wenquan, and there are many towns where you can experience a nice hot bath laced with sulpher dioxide! We went for a more sterile experience in a private bath.

It was a nice soak after a nice day. We all slept well that night.
The next day was our last full day in Taipei so we stayed in and around the city. We visited the Longshan Temple which is probably Taipei's most famous temple - a loud, colorful yet somehow serene place teeming with earthlings offering, chanting and divining to their gods.

From there we hopped onto the MRT - Mass Rapid Transit - to Jinhuacheng, the 'Living Mall', maybe the weirdest mall in all of Asia...looks wise that is...take a look...

It felt like being on a Klingon Bird-of-Prey (that's a big, mean spaceship for all you non-Trekkers). Jinhuacheng is also the home to Baby Boss which is just that - a place where your baby can be boss for the day. Well, almost. It's a mini-city that takes up a whole floor at the Living Mall where children can go to 'work' and earn Baby Boss dollars to spend on fun activities within the city, like going to the ice creamery or learning how make their own pizza. Angie played nurse, car mechanic and also did a stint at the milk factory complete with fake cows that you could 'milk' and moo'ed each time you squeezed their teats. Angie was in her element, although she tried speaking Cantonese to some of the other kids and they didn't understand her. But she had a great time nonetheless, 'playing' really is a universal language. I'll post more on Baby Boss in a separate blog, as I'm sure your attention is waning : ) Taipei was a lot of fun, it was a shame we only had three days to explore.

Kota Kinabalu

2010-03-03T10:28:00.033+08:00

After eight months or so working in Macau I thought I was entitled to a break as did other Cirque-sters so Zaia had our annual 2-week dark which began on the 18th February. We wanted a nice, relaxing family holiday and discovered Air Asia fly direct to Kota Kinabalu (KK) in Sabah, Malaysia. Geographically Sabah is a part of Borneo, shared with Indonesia.

The one downside of our flight was that Air Asia only flies at night to Kota Kinabalu so our flight was scheduled to depart Macau at 8.30pm and arrive in KK at 11.20pm. We had never flown AirAsia previously but had heard of the flight cancellations, delays and lack of legroom (even moreso than your average flight).
Luckily our flight wasn't canceled (an artist at Cirque once had his flight canceled and only found out through another colleague who was on the same flight!) but was delayed by 30 minutes so we ended up arriving at midnight. Not so great when you have a 3.5yr old and a 8-month old who don't sleep when you ask nicely "Please sleep now little darling". Angie was very excited about the 'blast-off' of the plane so that probably contributed to her lack of sleepiness.
Ok, so we were running a bit late, no biggie really. Almost at the end of our journey - we can jump on a taxi and the hotel we've organised for our first night is only 10min away - so grab our bags, on a taxi and 10-15min later we'll be at our hotel. I've just got to get some Malaysian ringgit for the taxi from the ATM and we're set. Surely there is an ATM at KK airport...that was working...right?
Wrong! I kindly ask the lady at the hotels counter where the ATM is and she informs me that the ATM is shut for the night. An ATM...shut? Guess he's on the 9-5 shift? A Money Changer then? Nope...shut too...aaagh!
OKaaay.. so look at the wife... she not smiling....baby crying..must ...think...fast...
Ok so Plan B - surely a taxi driver can drive us to ATM on the way to the hotel to get some cash to pay him. Well, the first few drivers didn't bite..but finally a nice Sabahan chap agreed to take us. The 7-eleven he drove us to also had an ATM that was 'resting' (this was a phenomenon I first discovered in Harbin where they shut down elevators regularly to rest them. Machines need to rest?). At that point I'm sure I was breathing chest-heavy, maybe panting is more the word? (the heat probably didn't help either). Next stop - a bank ATM - surely it's working....aaannnnd...yes!! And on the second attempt I remembered my PIN for my Australian ATM card and had a nice wad of ringgit in hand.

Malaysian ringgit - harder to get at KK airport after midnight than the proverbial...

First stop - Degalleria Hotel...huzzah! I decided to pick a hotel close (read-cheap!) to the airport/city for our first night considering we were getting in so late and the Degalleria got some decent reviews on Tripadvisor. We managed to get a semi-decent sleep in that first night, although the look on Angie's face the next morning may tell otherwise...

Looking towards the Degalleria...it's a few doors down to the right...

The Degalleria was clean and reasonably cheap (150MYR - $50AUD, but we had to pay 50MYR for an extra bed, so 200MYR) and a great location in the middle of town. KK town itself really is that, a town and not a city. It is right on the waterfront and there some beautiful islands just offshore. The town also has some great eateries around where you can sample the local delicacies!

Our first meal in KK was breakfast and was a good one - I did some research beforehand and came across a small local eatery within walking distance from our hotel that is famous for it's Tom Yum noodle soup. It's called Seng Hing Coffee shop.

The Tom Yum was good - flavorsome, spicy and tangy. Angie's fried mee hoon (rice noodles) was good too with a nice smoky flavour from the hot wok. Aahh..Asian breakfasts...Breakfast of Champions! From there we just had time to head back to the hotel for a short rest (because eating is such hard work!) and I had time to go the money changer to exchange some HKD to ringgit before our search for Shangri-La!

The road to Shangri-la?

We stayed at the opulent Shangri-La Rasa Ria resort which is near Tuaran, about 40min by car north of KK. We chose Rasa Ria as it has some great facilities for children, a private beach and a nice big pool with a kiddies playground. We were there, after all, to relax!

Angie with her breakfast buddy

From our room on the ground floor there was a path leading into the gardens and pool. The private beach was only a couple hundred metres from our room. There were a large number of restaurants to choose from - A Coffee Terrace (where our breakfasts were each morning), a Malay-style buffet restaurant, a Teppanyaki place and an Indian restaurant. Being in a resort the restaurants weren't cheap by local standards but on par with what we would pay back home.
Pongo Kids club was a fave (both for Angie and mum and dad!) - a play centre in the resort where parents could abandon...i mean...leave their kids for an afternoon or three.

There was a nightly 'Lighting Ceremony' that re-enacted a traditional Sabahan ceremony. Angie was lucky enough to be the princess and was dressed in traditional Sabahan ceremonial garb complete with carry-on Prince! Poor Angie - the warriors were screaming and waving their fire swords all around their carriage - she was on the brink of running over to Mum and Dad but she lasted the ceremony!

Rasa Ria also has their own Orangutan rehabilitation centre. We found an orphan baby and brought her back to our room...

The holiday was great after the rocky start. It was just what we wanted - a nice relaxing break. Now, where to next?

Oldboy

2010-02-10T21:10:00.006+08:00

There is a time when you watch (or read) something so original, so fantastically great, that you want to share it. I saw Park Chan-Wook's Oldboy a few weeks ago and it is one of those rare gems. Violent, disturbing, original. You don't see films like it much these days. It won the Grand Prix at Cannes in 2005 and was voted one of the greatest Asian films of all time. It's worth watching for the infamous corridor fight scene alone which took (just?) three days and seventeen takes to perfect. It's a single, continuous camera shot that has to be one of the greatest, most realistic fight scenes of all time. You'll never see a hammer in the same light again.

Another example of a continuous shot - albeit much fancier - that leaves you wondering "How the #$%! did he do that?" is from Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men with Clive Owen and Julianne Moore - another great film. Cuaron is probably best known for his dark take on Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. COM is a Sci-Fi thriller that shows off some real hot cinematography from Cuaron. Warning: there is a spoiler here, and the scene is visually bloody intense.... to say the least! Not for the feint-hearted.

The rig that was used to film the scene was crazy. The camera used was running down a track inside the middle of a car (a Fiat!) and the actors had to lean out of the way if they weren't in the shot. Cuaron composes some great sequences in the film and creates a bleak, Blade Runner-esque world. Well worth watching if you like that kind of thing, which I do.

I was going to stop there but I know that was a pretty intense scene, so a more positive one to finish with. From the master himself - Martin Scorsese.

Isn't it a great shot? How he moves with the action, from outside to inside. And it's seamless.
'Union Delegate'...lol.

Robuchon a Galera

2010-01-14T11:29:00.017+08:00

Happy 2010 everyone! Hope this new year brings you all that you desire! I wished for a new Red bike but, instead, a lunch at Asia's 3rd best restaurant will do me just fine. Robuchon a Galera is Macau's only three Michelin-starred restaurant and is located at one of the old-time establishment's in town, Hotel Lisboa. And you thought Michelin only produced tyres! The Michelin brothers actually first introduced the guide to help drivers find lodging and a decent meal on their travels.

Now, the Michelin guide is a must for any gastronome in their search for the perfect meal. A three-star rating is very rare and according to my friend, Wiki, there are only 81 three-starred restaurants in the world. Galera is richly appointed, sumptuous blue and gold carpets in a traditional setting.

The French menu ranges from the $2288HKD ($300AUD) 12-course degustation menu to the $398HKD ($55AUD) Executive lunch. The winelist resembles an over-sized phonebook - big enough to fill the 6100 different wines on offer (the biggest winelist in Asia). We opted for the four-course lunch plus the sommelier selection of two wines to match our meals.

Jon's entree - caviar on salmon tartar with shiso sprouts and melba toast.... (what the hell is a shiso sprout?)

My entree - Lightly smoked foie gras shaved on vegetable pot au feu with horseradish...mmmm..foie gras.

Our soup selection - Jerusalem artichoke veloute served with shredded duck confit and black truffle....amazing depth in flavours and crunchy duck bits!

Jon and Erick's main course - Pan-fried Kurobuta pork loin, fricassee of artichoke and capers with peanuts and verjuiced jus... Kurobuta pork is supposedly the tastiest pork in the world from the Berkshire pig.

My main course - Jugged wagyu beef cheek in ravioli with green asparagus...super tender beef.

We also had a selection from the dessert trolley -

And by that time, we were rolling out of our seats. It was an amazing experience and we left relatively intact - about $850HKD a head including our wines and coffees. Not the kind of food you could eat on a daily basis unless you want to end up looking like a Berkshire pig but certainly worth the visit if you are in Macau.

Our very esteemed friend, Mr Jonathan Buchanan, paid us a recent visit at Casa de Nova City and we hopped over the border to Zhuhai.

We also spotted another West Aussie on the streets of Zhuhai.... clothing store Jeanswest. They are now supposedly fully Chinese owned and have been since the late 90's.

And of course, the infamous shopping pit....

And today is the day all us Zaians have waited for - we finally find out the fate of our show. It's no secret that our show has had problems from day dot; shoddy build, uncooperative partner, puzzling audience, reduced Mainland visa's, etc. We'll all know in a few hours!

Margaret's Cafe e Nata

2009-12-18T11:04:00.013+08:00

Hello happy readers! We were lucky enough to have some visitors with us over the last few days so had an excuse to fill up on Portugese egg tarts (Nata) and charcoal roasted meats. Thanks Kieran and Mel! And what better place than Margaret's Cafe e Nata in Macau to satiate cravings for buttery, flaky crust and caramelised egg. Margaret's (like most cool places in Macau...) is hidden away in an alley right near the Grand Lisboa and Sintra Hotel and is difficult to find - just ask for directions! If you get stuck it's at the Gum Loi Building Tel: 2871 0032.

Portugese tarts have a more caramelised top than their Cantonese cousins and a flakier crust. The 'Margaret' here is the ex-wife of the owner of the most famous egg tart store in Macau, Lord Stow's. When they separated she opened her own store on the peninsula. The tarts we had were piping hot out of the oven and lucky we bought 2 boxes as the first box was gone in no time, as were our taste buds from being burnt off our tongues. Ouch! But such is the sacrifice for good tarts...

From there it was necessary to walk off our caloric adventure past the gaudy Grand Lisboa, rising like a peacock plume out of the Macau alleyways. And then on a bus across the bridge back home to rest our sleepy heads and full tummies.

In other adventures over the last few days; rum and coke by the electronic devil, encountering giant jackfruits in the Three Lamps district and having to appease the Gods for all the above.

Ou Mun - ''Gateway of the Bay''

2009-12-03T13:14:00.021+08:00

This morning we went across the bridge to Macau to have a bite to eat and stroll around. A friend of ours frequents the Ou Mun Cafe ('Macau Cafe') so we decided to check it out for ourselves to see what the fuss is about. Ou Mun Cafe is near Senado Square off a side alleyway adjacent to the McDonalds called Travessa de Sao Domingos.

It's a Portugese-style Cafe serving drinks, sandwiches, pastries and other light eats. The exterior is quite nice, has a cafe-deco feel and is well signed. Inside it is quiet so it works well as a place to get away from the crowds that can sometimes be around Senado.

Nat wasn't overly impressed with the menu so she just grabbed a fresh OJ while I had an espresso and a toasted croissant. The cakes and pastries looked pretty tasty in the displays and they have various newspaper clippings of the history of Macau and the cafe framed on the walls.

Ou Mun Cafe is ok but not fantastic. If you want a quick coffee or bite to eat while around Senado there are worse places. Our OJ, espresso and croissant came to $70MOP (around $10AUD) so pretty mid-range - maybe a bit cheaper than what we'd pay back in Perth but not by much. From there we went across to the next side-alley further North-east off Senado, via another small pedestrian alleyway (Travessa da Se). Exploring the pedestrian alleyways in and around Senado Square is a lot of fun. There are a wide range of small stores selling everything from clothes, electronics and the various local delicacies. Nat was still hungry after only having her OJ (which, I admit, I drank half!) so we went to a little snackery we had been to before.

This type of eatery is very popular in Hong Kong and Macau. It's a semi-DIY routine where you pick various skewered meats, seafood, fresh vegetables, tofu, etc from the selection out front and place it all in a gigantic stainless-steel bowl. The lady at the stall then places your selection into a boiling vat of stock where it is freshly cooked and optionally covered in a mildly spicy curry sauce in a styrofoam bowl. Drumroll please...

So, yes, I did eat again. The croissant was really small I swear! Nat had a mix of mushrooms, tofu and gourd while I had some fish balls (as in 'balls' of fish, not what you were thinking....), meat balls, tripe, broccoli and tofu. Cost - $68MOP (almost $10AUD). And I was pretty full after that!

On the same small street there is a gelato store, a pastry store and also the famed Lou Kau Mansion which is a traditional Cantonese-style mansion which was built back in 1889. It is very well preserved and gives us an idea how the Chinese lived back in that era.

Talia was a real hit with the lady doing Traditional craftwork in the mansion. Something about babies that turn grown men and women into bumbling messes and it somehow seems more prevalent here in Macau. Interestingly, the mansion doesn't have a kitchen. Supposedly this was because the owner believed his concubines were there to give him pleasure but not in the gastronomic sense.

ZAiA turns 500!

2009-11-17T22:16:00.011+08:00

Above: Me and Cirque founder Guy Laliberte

ZAiA, the Cirque du Soleil show I work with, celebrated our 500th show on Sunday. By coincidence, the founder of Cirque - Guy Laliberte - visited last Thursday (our 497th show) so we got to celebrate 3 days early. I had the chance to do two things last Thursday I had never done before:

Shake hands with a billionaire (Guy's fortune is estimated by Forbes at $2.5bil), and
Shake hands with someone who has been in outer space (Guy recently spent 11 days in space as Space Adventures' seventh private spaceflight client - at only $35mil!).

For a guy who has that amount of money and has had the privilege of going to space, Guy seemed like a very down to earth guy (sorry, I couldn't help myself). He even cut the 'birthday' cake and handed it out to us all.

I heard Guy was out of Macau the next morning at 9am. On and off to another one of his show's around the globe I am sure. For someone that started out his working life as a street performer it's a pretty amazing story.

As you've probably noticed (if anyone out there is actually following this blog...cue tumbleweed...
mum...you do remember how to go online right?).... I am back to posting pics. It was just a momentary lapse of stupidity on my part.

Here are some random pics from the last month or so.....

Angie's first day of school!!

She'll kill you - with a smile!

Our little Beach star!

The Demon-Dog of American Literature

2009-11-10T09:47:00.001+08:00

James Ellroy

Something a bit different. My brother Gav asked if I would write a book review for him to post on his new website which he is currently developing for his weekly e-comics (http://gatoons.com/). We're both big James Ellroy fans and Ellroy's newest novel was recently released in the last few months. Having spent the last couple of days writing and editing it, why not post it here for your enjoyment!

Blood’s A Rover
By James Ellroy
A book review

Clay lies still, but blood's a rover;
Breath's a ware that will not keep.
Up, lad; when the journey's over
There'll be time enough for sleep.

A.E. Housman

And so begins the conclusion to James Ellroy’s Underworld USA trilogy. Ellroy, the self-proclaimed ‘Demon-Dog’ of American crime fiction, is probably best known for his crime novel turned critically acclaimed film L.A. Confidential (99% on Rotten Tomatoes!). Blood’s a Rover follows a lot of baaaad shit that went down in the USA between 1968 and 1972 – Nixon’s 1968 Presidential campaign, the shadowy machinations of the FBI controlled by J. Edgar Hoover, Howard Hughes’s Vegas power-play – thrown in amongst Red-sympathisers, rogue FBI agents and Haitian voodoo-men. Blood’s rounds out a turbulent time in American history, concluding what his sublime American Tabloid (following 1958-63 USA) and its follow-up, The Cold Six Thousand (1963-68) begun. Ellroy writes like Dillinger with his Tommy Gun – a staccato-beat unlike any other. Blood’s may not be as sparse as his brilliant White Jazz (1992), but his sentences here are still nigh Jazz riffs served up like a jab to the kidneys.

Par exemple…

“The noise was big. Wayne dodged sign-wavers. Nixon signs bobbed upside his face. He lugged two big steamer trunks. Nixon was at the Fontainebleu. He had to walk. He couldn’t drive. The elephant stampede shut traffic down”

Above: Hoover, Hughes, Monty, Nixon and Castro.

The story goes with White Jazz back in 92, Ellroy handed his editor a 900-page draft. His editor only wanted 350-pages so Ellroy eliminated all the verbs, adjectives and did away with normal sentence-structure - thus Ellroy’s staccato-beat was born.

Two main characters return for the grand finale; Wayne Tedrow Jr - ex-cop and right-hand man to the Mob and Dwight Holly – J. Edgar’s FBI henchman and racist hate spreader. A new character is introduced - Donald Crutchfield – a pimpled peeping-tom and bug-man (as in ‘wire-tap’) on the way to losing his soul. Ellroy mixes these fictional characters with real-life heavyweights – FBI Director ‘Old Girl’ Edgar Hoover, Howard ‘Drac’ Hughes, ex-champ Sonny Liston – and ties them to real-life events. He does this with such aplomb that we’re willing to accept his history as status quo.

Blood’s picks up from where The Cold Six Thousand left off – Wayne Tedrow Jr left to fill Ward Littell’s job as bagman to the Mob in their quest to build casinos in the Dominican Republic. Dwight Holly, the ultra-right FBI agent and J. Edgar Hoover’s favourite G-Man, in the middle of Hoover’s fear of the Black power movement and his left-wing radical girlfriend. And probably the most interesting character, Don Crutchfield, supposedly based on a real-life Private eye but on the page clearly a young Ellroy (who has written in his memoir, My Dark Places, of his youth as a voyeur and petty thief).

Noir doesn’t get any blacker than this. Chandler this ain’t. Ellroy is Chandler on a 3-day crack binge chased with Red Bull and a double espresso. Blood’s will satiate Ellroy fans thirst; if you are an Ellroy virgin, maybe try the first of his L.A. Quartet – The Black Dahlia or the ‘10 times better than the movie’ L.A. Confidential. The language is not as staccato’ed and Ellroy used sentences back then. And from there…well, I envy you.

If you like hard-boiled crime fiction ala Dashiell Hammett or Ross McDonald you'd probably like Ellroy. If Twilight is more your thing, you probably wouldn't. Although, Howard Hughes (in Ellroy's world) did get pretty weird and vampire-like in later life so you never know. Remember the Simpsons episode where Mr Burns walked around in Kleenex boxes as shoes? Well that was based on Hughes as he descended into madness. See ,Mum, all that Simpsons WAS educational!

Here's the story, of a man named....

2009-10-21T09:27:00.000+08:00

Is this a line up from Macau's Most Wanted? No, it's our happy family! These were our recent (read - 3 weeks ago) passport photos for our Macau 'Blue card' which is the equivalent of a working visa back in Australia. The process is long (like most things in Asia...damn bureaucracy!) and we have been lucky enough to visit the tranquil immigration centre four times now. But we've finally been approved and the girls all have a nice green stamp in their passports which allows them to stay in Macau under a 'Family stay permit'...or 'relatives of a Blue-card holder' (read - me!). So no more visits to Hong Kong to get an extra 10 days on our visas, as much as we like Hong Kong. This also means we can avoid situations like this at immigration from HK or Zhuhai (China)....

Well, it's usually not that bad on most days. I believe public holidays are often like that. Speaking of Zhuhai, I managed to head North over the border to our seaside neighbour just yesterday. Zhuhai is the closest stop over the border in China for us here in Macau and it's where we go for cheap shopping ('unreal' Armani, Gucci, DVDs, etc), cheap massage (40RMB for an hour - $6 AUD!) and cheap(er) food. It's quite a difference crossing the border because there is a distinct, tangible difference in the air, the people, the streets. The best way I can describe it is that Macau definitely feels more like Wan Chai or Mong Kok in HK than distinctly mainland Chinese.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to Zhuhai to meet with Tai Chi master, Li Zheng. Master Li teaches Fu Nei Pai Tai Chi (lit. 'Within the mansion') which is a rare form of Yang style Tai Chi.

The story goes that Yang Luchan, the creator of Yang Style Tai Chi, originally taught 10 sets of Tai Chi within the Imperial Mansion of Prince Duan and these 10 sets are what is known as Fu Nei Pai. The Yang Style in prominence today was developed later by Yang Luchan's grandson, Yang Chengfu. Master Li lives in a pleasant sea-side suburb about 15min by car north of Zhuhai city. We had a nice afternoon together chatting about Tai Chi and he corrected some of my (1200) techniques : ) I hope to visit with him again soon.

In other news, Angie is settling in nicely at her new school. She attends Mon-Fri 8.30-11.30am and sometimes Saturday. She looks so cute in her uniform! And they even have a separate sports uniform(!!) All at 3 years of age. I can't upload pics at the moment but will be shortly due to PC issues.

Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi are playing in an exhibition match this Saturday at the Venetian Arena. Cirque will be putting on a little show between matches so I will probably be courtside to mop up their sweat, bottle it and set up a stall in Zhuhai. It may even cover my massage costs for next time...

Tie fune!

2009-09-16T22:05:00.000+08:00

Above: Tie fune...oops I mean Mifune....

So just another day in the gusty wind-blown islands located within the South China Sea, on Monday evening a Level 8 typhoon named Koppu came to within 150km of Macau. We happened to be in Hong Kong overnight, but that's another matter altogether. According to Chinese-English news source, Xinhua, no less than 145 minor accidents were caused by Koppu as it swept past Macau towards the mainland province of Guangdong. A Level 8 typhoon according to the Hong Kong Observatory and the Direcção dos Serviços Meteorológicos e Geofisicos de Macau (the blokes measuring the wind, i assume) may contain winds of up to 180km/h (113mp/h) and Level 10 is a full blown hurricane with winds of up to 220km/h(138mp/h). Now that's pretty quick, even for a Monaro (i'm sorry for all you non-Australians out there....).
But you'll all be glad to know that we arrived back to Macau yesterday in one piece...albeit I was a greenish hue from the boat ride over... Trust my parents, they came over (to Australia this is...) in a plane - i'm sure if they came over in a boat I wouldn't suffer from sea sickness. Speaking of my parents, they are here in Macau with us as I write this. I can hear them snoring from the spare room.
And just like me...the first meal we had today was....Burmese food! A Burmese family comes to Macau and what do they want to eat? Not Macanese, not Chinese...but Burmese. It was probably my fault as I took them to the Three Lamps district.

Above: the hard nuts on HBO's The Wire - best TV series ever?

Something lately that I'm loving - The Wire. I must thank my brother, Gav, for getting me onto this HBO crime series. It really is that good. I guess I shouldn't have doubted his judgement - we have pretty similar tastes. And what's even better is I've only just finished Series 2 - another full 3 seasons of crime-filled goodness! All the more reason to visit Zhuhai, the mainland city north of the border where the pirate DVD trade is full blossom. Sorry HBO, but I did buy the first 2 seasons legit - give me some slack if I just skip over the border and buy the last 3 seasons in one huge, Chinese style-almanac version with a label for a 1992 Van Damme film glued to the front! And you just have to love a series with a character that's named Stringer Bell. If you haven't seen it yet...do it now...your life will be more complete!

Loansharks, Ice Festivals and Dried Lizards

2009-09-02T21:49:00.003+08:00

I'm happy to announce that the gals and I are fitting into Macau life quite well as a happy family. Well, I knew they would. Nat ,after all, did teach English for 12 months in 2005 in Harbin - a city in far North-eastern China further north than Vladivostok and for three months of the year is about as hospitable as the planet Hoth.

Above, Harbin's famous Ice Festival.
Left, St Sofia's Church, Harbin.

Angie is already a seasoned jetsetter, having done a long haul flight from Hong Kong to San Francisco (14 hours!) when she was just 20 months. And Talia - well, she is just a little warrior . On the flight over from Perth to Hong Kong she was a perfect Angel, happily being passed around to the air hostesses while being snug as a bug. So, so far so good! We have settled into a nice routine. With me starting work most days either 2pm or 3pm we have a nice morning together - usually breakfast out at a Chinese restaurant/teahouse or at home then back to the apartment for a swim. The downfall is that I usually finish at 9.30pm or 10.30pm so the girls are fast asleep when I get back but it isn't all bad. This means that I can spend most nights at one of Macau's many Casinos and arrive home in the wee hours of the morning without anyone knowing.... except of course, Guangyang, my loanshark.....
So, as you see, life is perfect!
We're still awaiting our furniture from Perth arriving in another week so have been camping out in style - mattresses make pretty effective couches and dining tables too! We last saw our belongings all boxed away being loaded into a 20-foot container bound for sea. We now are wondering what to do with 90 boxes once they arrive - time to get some hired help me thinks.

Above, goodbye sweet Printer St!!

The other day I was walking with Angie to our local Burmese takeaway which has become a bit of a fave and came across a curious sight.....have a look below...

The store is a TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) store and they're dried lizards, seemingly with wings. Angie was fascinated (and so was I). A quick search on Google reveals that flying lizards are good for high blood pressure. I guess 'Dried flying lizard' has a better ring to it than 'angiotensin II receptor blocker'. It's something you don't see in suburban Perth!
Here are some random pics from the last few weeks.... obrigado!

Further Macau musings

2009-07-30T15:39:00.001+08:00

To your left 9 levels from the bottom you will see our new home, our casa de macau, womende xinjia, call it what you will!!! We had the option of the 36th floor but Nat was worried being that high up incase Angie felt like exploring out an open window.... my feeling is the 9th floor probably won't be muuuuch different...
But, mother, you will be happy to know the windows are relatively high on a ledge out of the way of 3 year old hands. Nova City or as it has been called by colleagues, Cirque City (due to the large number of Cirque employees that live there) is one of many Western-style apartment blocks here in Macau catering mainly to the expat population replete with swimming pool, sauna, gymnasium, tennis courts, creche and playground.

At present there are a large number of apartments available for rent as Macau has undergone (like many other places in the world) a housing bubble in the last few years with a huge number of similar apartment towers being built with a concurrent decline in the number of people to fill them. Good for us as we were able to get a decent price on our rent - cheaper than an apartment in Perth and most other places in the world. Bad for any property developer as they've seen a huge reduction in the value of their apartment and on their rate of return on their investment. I've been told since about two to three years ago rents have practically halved.

Macau is a very interesting blend of cultures - on one hand you have an ever industrialising Eastern city featuring world-class casinos and resorts to rival any city in the world. On the other you have colonial Macau, especially in Taipa where old-world European architechture is set in cobblestoned laneways spiked with gnarled hundred year-old trees straight out of Pan's Labyrinth. An excellent fusion can be seen in Macanese food, a hybrid cuisine mixing the best of asian and european flavours. But for now, you'll have to just contend with pics of my last few meals, mainly some Southern Chinese specialties - like the restaurant down the road from my hotel where they cook individual claypots of rice and other goodies, placed into a large steamer - mine had lap cheong - dried Chinese sausage and salted pork with gai lan - Chinese greens.

To the left we have Bibimbap- Korean claypot rice - and a Kim Chee pancake from a nice Korean restaurant in the other direction from my hotel.

And to the right a nice melage of Porky goodness with a black vinegar sauce...prizes for who can guess what bits are in it!!
And on that note....i'm hungry! Now where to for dinner??? And only a week till I head back to Perth and see my gals! Look forward to seeing you all again soon.

Sunday, Monday, Happy Days...Thursday, Friday...uggh

2009-07-24T14:06:00.000+08:00

Howdy all. Ok, my initial excitement now has died down and i've been brought back to reality by something that all travellers to Asia have at some point been familiar with - gastro. I spent a nice long day yesterday curled up in my hotel room bed flicking through 39 channels of bad cable TV. Well, 38 channels as they have Discovery. Here is an artists representation of what I was doing other than curling up in my bed...

(Ed. I'm not sure where the dog came from...)

And I know what it was that gave me gastro.... Bad burmese food (gasp!!). I was feeling adventurous so caught a bus across to Macau peninsula on Wednesday which is my day off. Where I currently live and work in Taipa there is a 2km bridge which connects Taipa (an island) to the mainland peninsula.

I had read that the 'Three Lamps' district is where there are a lot of Burmese restaurants so I headed in that direction with my trusty Macau tourist map. The 'Three Lamps' district is just that - an area of Macau where there are three lamps at an intersection of narrow streets filled with an array of shops, street stalls and restaurants. It is an area where a large number of ethnic groups from parts of South-east asia are concentrated such as people from Burma, Indonesia and Thailand.
So after jumping on a bus I was on my way for some authentic Burmese food! - as if my mums food is not enough you may ask.... As described aptly by my colleague, Erick, Macau is 'China-lite' so figuring out where a bus will end up is not too difficult. Even though bus routes are marked in Chinese they are also marked in at least Portugese as well (sometimes English) so you can figure out the direction the bus is heading. See a dated Three Lamps alleyway photo here....

After wandering a few streets in the area I happened across this small shop located off one of the larger streets....

And after playing with my very mediocre Burmese I was able to order nungee-thou which is like a curry chicken and noodle salad with onion and coriander. As the dish came to my table I thought of all the things one shouldn't eat when travelling in Asia, one being food which is NOT steaming hot. And as I took my first mouth I thought to myself 'this dish is not steaming hot...i'll probably regret this tomorrow'.... aannnd 'nuff said.

Here are some various shots taken on my day off...

And here is a recent video of the ZAiA crew performing at the Bollywood IIFA awards held here at the Venetian Resort in June. This has elements from the show itself but also parts which were added just for the IIFA show. I'll post again soon on my next adventure but for now....Enjoy!

M'ehcau

2009-07-18T19:33:00.000+08:00

Linda from Trip Advisor last June posted a blog heading describing a day in Macau. Thanks Linda, but i have to disagree - Macau has been treating me alright so far....
Macau Day 2.5 for me and all going well, slowly settling into Cirque and Macau life.
Luckily for me i'm gently being eased into working life, starting my days nice and late in the afternoon. It's something I could get used to!
And to add excitement in the mix we had a typhoon come past Hong Kong and Macau last night and the early hours of the morning. Initially it was a level 8 warning but only came to a level 3 in Macau but it has been quite a wet and windy day. Lucky for us (unlucky for HK) it passed through HK quite severely.

A highlight so far has been the great diversity of food available - from Macanese, Portugese, Chinese, Burmese, etc, etc.
The Crab porridge at Seng Cheong restaurant in Old Taipa village was something I read about online that I had to try......

The first day I went for a walk in the morning breakfast hunting, and low and behold....a Burmese takeaway!! So breakfast, Burmese style - Mohinga (fish chowder with rice noodles)...

So me and Macau are fitting like an old pair of jeans, like two old friends that are catching up over some drinks. The hotel i've been put up in has been fine, the empty pool now has one patron in the morning (me - except today due to the rain)...

Cirque so far has been very welcoming to the newbie so i've had a chance to find my feet and have not been rushed into anything. I've started treating my first artists which has been a bit different to the type of 'patients' i've been used to back home - but they are human after all so I haven't felt out of my depth.
Most (all?) of the artists are in amazing physical condition - a good analogy would be a mechanic that is used to working on Holden's or Toyota's that has changed to working in a Porsche workshop. I'm not complaining.
The only downfall so far has been being away from my 3 girls back home : (
But I know in a few weeks time we will be together again...

Nat's Delivery!!!

2009-07-11T19:55:00.000+08:00

WARNING - the following video may offend some viewers. Viewer discretion advised!

Most people now know that Nat had a home birth, and some friends have asked if we filmed the delivery. Well the answer is yes, and i've posted it here for all our family and friends to enjoy maybe with some popcorn or a nice hot mug of cocoa. Obviously I have edited the footage as best I could, but be warned...it is not for the squeamish. But, remember, childbirth is a wonderful thing!!!

And then there were two....

2009-07-09T13:54:00.000+08:00

Our two angels - Talia and Angie

As mentioned in my landmark post, we have had a recent addition to the family!
Talia Grace Aung Than was born at 8.26pm 29 June 2009 weighing in at a petite 3kg (6 lbs 6) and 50cm in length. My wife Natalie is an absolute warrior (princess) and had a home water birth just how it was done in days o'yore. I provided back up with frequent back rubs and soothing intonation, with Nat's sister Bel on cold-flannel duty. Talia is a quick learner and has fitted well in to the family hierachy - at the top- much to her older sisters chagrin.

Talia's birth was one factor that made our decision to relocate to Macau much harder. That and the fact that Angie has developed such a great bond with her grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins made our decision one of the hardest decisions we have had to make. In the end it came down one of those moments in your life where you just went with your gut instinct, what felt natural to do. When I received the email from Cirque two months ago my initial reaction was one of disappointment, a feeling that I would have to turn the job down (yet again! I initially was offered the job in 2007 but said no...d'oh!). But my warrior princess was by my side and said 'Well, you have to take it this time!!!' and the rest is history.

A good friend of mine 10 years wiser than me who has led an amazing life which has led him to all corners of the globe said aptly - 'You're lucky if opportunity knocks twice'.
And that's how I feel. Really lucky..... for everything. To be alive and healthy and have an inspirational wife and two gorgeous girls. And to get this opportunity, yet again. I couldn't say no this time - I wouldn't want to look back on my life in ten years and ask 'What if I took that job with Cirque?'. Now in ten years I can hopefully say 'How about that time when we were in Macau with Cirque....'.

Why not?

2009-07-07T23:11:00.000+08:00

Ok...here goes. After many half baked attempts at writing a blog of sorts...abracadabra. But in my opinion, a blog should mark an occasion of sorts, kind of like the decision I had to make recently. It was either;

(A) Continue on my comfortable, merry way in life or,
(B) Have another baby and/or
(C) Leave my job to join the circus.

I chose (B) and (C). Not necessarily in that order. Yes, you heard right. We've had another baby (more on that later)....and I'm joining the circus. Not Ashton bros or Ringling bros but the Circus of the Sun aka Cirque du Soleil. And I haven't decided to move cities or change states in which I live and work, but I'm moving countries. To China. Yep...the P.R.C. Well, S.A.R (Special Administritive Region) to be precise. The Macau S.A.R in fact. Now if that isn't enough acronyms for you....

Yes, Cirque have headhunted me from across the globe for the position as physio for their resident show, ZAIA, in Macau. So i've left the comfy job I had, left the house we have settled domestically blissfully in, left all that we had become accustomed to - for a country half a world away. But it will all make sense....

This decision will make a lot more sense to you (and me) after you read this post. It really will. I'll throw two things out there right now - Burma and Portugal. Unfortunately I will have to run you through some genealogy for this to make sense. For those who know a little about me I'm of Burmese-Chinese descent. My dad is 3rd generation Burmese of Chinese descent and my mum is Anglo-Burmese. Now this 'anglo' comprises no fewer than 6 or 7 countries that make up the UN, I kinda get lost in following it all. But she assures me that I have some Portugese blood - after all, her maiden name is Valles which is a Portugese nom de plume (Cirque are French Canadian after all). But then I hear that was an adopted name and then..... it just gives me a headache. So to simplify things, just remember...I'm part-Portugese (like 1/24th, or 1/36th).

Now if any of you out there have been to Macau or know a little about Macanese history, Magellan or some other Portugese ancestor of mine came across a nice harbour at the southern tip of China and thought...mmmmm....this is a nice place....let's stay! Well kinda...but it wasn't until the 1800's till they got to stay for good. Or so they thought, until 1999 when Macau was handed back to China as was Hong Kong. So it's only natural my primal , familial urge is to return to a country of my forebears. Well, a country that was a country of my forebears is close enough.

Now in between that time of 1800 and 1999, there was another country in that part of the world, Burma (now Myanmar) that was undergoing some severe unrest. It was in the 1960's that a whole lot of Burmese fled the country and oppressive rule. A lot of these refugees in fact fled to Macau, and it was a decade or so later that my parents fled to Australia. Which brings me back to my natural progression....Macau has a lot of Burmese people. Burmese-Chinese people. So it is only fitting that I - of Anglo-Burmese-Portugese-Chinese descent relocate myself and family to Macau, China because it all makes sense. I told you it would.

Which brings me to this blog. Either; (doesn't it feel like you're reading a Choose your own adventure with all these multiple choices???)

(A) I will never write an entry in this blog again or,
(B) I will update continuously witty, insightful rhetoric on our adventures in Macau.

I'm leaning towards (A) but I'm hoping it will be (B).