Big names get the attention but it's worth looking at Hong Kong too!

Even amidst the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic,

life's a beach for some, it seems!

 The sense one gets when in Repulse Bay is that

the (super) rich are different... 

Outside the Hong Kong Country Club though is a reminder

that the Wuhan coronavirus strikes the rich too

Before this week, Hong Kong had a grand total of two recorded deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus.  But just four days after news came of the territory's third fatality from this deadly disease has come that of Hong Kong's fourth death from the coronavirus that now has spread to over 131 countries (with the East African countries of Ethiopia and Kenya being among those reporting their first confirmed cases of infection today).

The city's confirmed number of Wuhan coronavirus infections also rose by three today to 134, with a 16-month-old baby being among the latest cases.  (So, no, that which really is a more severe disease than the flu doesn't just infect elderly people though people over 50 years of age do appear to be at higher risk than younger ones.)  

Another noteworthy, and disturbing, finding about Hong Kong's three latest cases is that they all were found to be infected on their return to Hong Kong from visits to Europe -- as were the toddler's parents (whose infections were confirmed in the past two days and who appeared, as with their child, to have been infected by a fellow passenger on their flight back from London).  Put another way: it looks like Hong Kong has experienced the "reverse infections" from another continent that China has voiced fears of happening to it now that the coronavirus looks to be spreading much faster in the West than Asia.

Interestingly, as the coronavirus has spread outside of East and Southeast Asia, it has infected the kind of people who many would have thought would be less susceptible to fall victim to serious fast-spreading diseases.  Iran's vice president and two ministers have been infected by the Wuhan coronavirus.  So have a number of Western government officials (including Britain's health minister and Australia's home minister).  

Probably the biggest "name" thus far to have tested positive for the Wuhan coronavirus is Hollywood actor Tom Hanks.  On the same day (yesterday) that he and his wife, singer-actress Rita Wilson, made public their having been infected, two NBA players -- including the idiot who tried to make fun of the global pandemic by touching every single microphone and recorder in the media room he gave an interview just this Monday -- were also announced as having tested positive for the coronavirus, and the basketball league they play[ed] in announced the suspension of its season.     

Today, it was the turn of the English Premier League to announce its suspension -- tentatively "just" until next month -- after news came that Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta and Chelsea player Callum Hudson-Odoi had tested positive for the Wuhan coronavirus, with a number of other players currently undergoing tests as well.  Oh, and the Canadian prime minister's wife also has been infected by this coronavirus, with her spouse probably being the first head of government to be obliged to work from home and self-isolating as a result of this coronavirus!

Maybe the news of these personalities testing positive for the Wuhan coronavirus will get people realizing that "anyone" (i.e., not just Asians or those of Asian ancestry) can come down with it. Maybe not.  Perhaps it will get some people finally realizing that the Wuhan coronavirus is a serious deal.  Perhaps not. 

Something that is being really clear to me in recent days is how much of the world outside of East Asia appears to not have been paying that much serious attention to what has been happening in this part of the world since as early as November last year and was known to be taking place in Mainland China by certain members of the medical community by late December (despite the Communist Chinese authorities trying to suppress information about it for weeks).  Belatedly though, articles have appeared in various Western media essentially urging people and administrations in the West to learn from the likes of Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan about how to deal with the Wuhan coronavirus.  

To be sure though, as can be seen from the additional fatality and cases of infection announced today, Hong Kong is not out of the woods yet -- and most certainly cannot afford to be complacent.  Still, I do believe that Hong Kongers -- even if not their government -- have been far more "clued in" as to what's been happening, and for a while, and, frankly.  Consequently, they managed to dodge a big bullet early on and, hopefully, will be able to do so for as long as is needed -- which, sadly, is looking like it will be for many more months, especially if idiots continue doing what they have been doing to help its spread.

Back to Africa again after all these years... :)

Panoramic photo taken on my first morning in South Africa :)

The kind of amazing vistas I was privy to on a road trip

on day six of my recent South Africa visit :b

Lest there be any doubt, of course Puppet Ponyo

was there for the ride and experience ;b

 

Back in the summer of 1986, I went to Africa -- specifically Kenya, the home country of a boarding school friend -- for the first time.  In the decade after, I'd go on to re-visit that East African country, and also spend two years in Tanzania as well as set foot in Zimbabwe and Zambia.  Since 1996, however, I had not been back on the African continent: that is, until a week and a half ago.

 

As with my first visit to Africa, I had the good fortune to be invited to accompany a friend on a visit back home.  After many years of hard work, my regular drinking buddy here in Hong Kong had finished his Masters degree studies and was headed back to South Africa to receive his degree and spend time with various members of his family.  And at Sake Bar Ginn one evening a couple of months ago, he asked if I'd like to go with him on this trip.  

 

Before he had the time to change his mind, I quickly said "Yes, please!"  The truth of the matter is that South Africa is one of those countries I've long wanted to visit -- not least because Nelson Mandela was/is one of my greatest heroes -- and my South African friend's home city of Cape Town just happens to be the number one part of the country that I wanted to spend time in.

 

Before the trip, my friend and I had a number of conversations as to what I wanted to do there, what he wanted to show me as well as were "must do"s as far as he was concerned, and what to expect while there -- bad and good.  Post visit, I will say that I actually didn't get to see or do everything on my list but I also got to see and do a lot more than I had thought would be the case.  

 

Put another way: I ended up going to some famous places but also a number of gems that are beloved by locals but (for some unknown reason or other) haven't been covered much -- if at all -- in tourist guides.  And, as those of you who deign to check out the blog posts I'll be offering up in the next few weeks should soon realize, I really do consider my South African trip to be one of those trips of a lifetime that's chock-filled with the sort of sights and experiences that will stay long in my memory. :)       

Hope against the odds?

Mural with a message in a Sai Ying Pun alley

 Out of Africa comes hope?

The shenanigans involving the selection of Hong Kong's next Chief Executive yesterday have overshadowed the events, including this year's edition of Art Basel -- Hong Kong, that made this past week Hong Kong's busiest fine art week of the year.  And the political furor is continuing, with leading members of 2014's Occupy/Umbrella Movement being told today -- the day after Chief Executive-designate Carrie Lam vowed to heal societal divisions -- that they face prosecution and, potentially, up to 21 years imprisonment.  

This repressive government/police action strikes many people as vindictive, and smacking of an attempt at political cleansing rather than a genuine upholding of justice, particularly since the crimes the pro-democracy activists are now possibly being prosecuted occured some two and half years ago and it's not like they -- who include university professors, lawmakers and a clergyman -- have got a criminal reputation.  And it might make those who already feel despair at the selection of 777 feel even more hopeless.

But even while I'm saddened by recent political events, I refuse to give up on Hong Kong just yet.  For one thing, I learnt a long time ago that life is a marathon, not a sprint and also that we need to think long term rather than just knee jerk react to events related to causes that we hold dear.  And in this particular case, I really hope that people don't decide that the race is over before the finish line is in sight.

And as far fetched as it may initially seem, I think people could do worse than look at the fight to save elephants from extinction in our world.  Human actions caused these noble pachyderms' numbers to fall dramatically in the 19th and 20th century, and there were fears at certain periods in some quarters that these large mammals -- who have existed on this planet for millions of years -- might not exist in the 21st century. 

But while these pachyderms are still being killed for their tusks and their habitat shrinking, elephants continue to roam across much of Africa (including Tanzania, Kenya and Zambia -- all countries I've personally seen these creatures wandering about in the wild) and various parts of Asia (including Malaysia, where elephants can be spotted in national parks and elephant crossing signs by the side of at least one highway).  And there actually have been elephant conservation successes to celebrate in recent years.  

Among the biggest of these was the decision by China late last year to ban domestic ivory trade by the end of this year.  Not too long ago, that action on the part of the Mainland Chinese government would have been unimaginable.  But thanks to the effort of conservationists, some of whom -- like Tanzania-based primatologist Jane Goodall, pictured on one of the murals I came across in Sai Ying Pun last week -- have been at it for much of their life, they have actually become not only possible but reality.     

Returning to the subject of Hong Kong: Rather than despair about its future, one should keep hoping, and also acting -- like the conservationists have been doing.  At the risk of sounding over-dramatic, I'd like to urge those who love Hong Kong to stay angry and active, and keep your eyes on the prize. 

Or, in the words of Jane Goodall: "Without patience, I could not have succeeded"; "It is these undeniable qualities of human love and compassion and self-sacrifice that give me hope for the future.  We are, indeed, often cruel and evil.  Nobody can deny this.  We gang up on each one another, we torture each other, with words as well as deeds, we fight, we kill.  But we are also capable of the most noble, generous and heroic behavior"; and "What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you make".  

Down Memory Lane to a (short) vegan period of my life

A soupy Korean dish that mixes tofu 

with seafood and general spicy goodness

 

 A Cantonese dish whose main ingredients

are tofu stuffed with minced fish paste

As regular readers to this blog know, I'm a fan of various types of tofu. At the same time, I'm definitely not a vegetarian -- and it's also true enough that many of the dishes with tofu in it that I like combine tofu with non-vegetarian ingredients, including Yunnan ham or minced fish paste.  (More than incidentally, I'm writing this blog post just after having had a dinner made up of a delicious bowl of "cart noodles" whose ingredients consisted of oil noodles topped with water spinach, tofu cubes and cubes of -- the squeamish had better stop reading -- solidified pig's blood!)

 

While looking through my photo archive, I got to thinking about tofu often getting mixed together with seafood in many East Asian cuisines -- and remembering how my paternal grandmother didn't consider seafood to be meat, so, on the days when she would restrict herself to a diet she considered vegeterian, still would feel able to eat fish, prawns and other sea creatures!  

Because of my paternal grandmother, I grew up thinking that vegetarians could eat seafood.  And it was only after I left Malaysia that I encountered vegetarians who didn't eat seafood -- and, also, people who weren't only vegetarians who eschewed seafood but actual vegans!  

 

More specifically, the first vegan I ever knew was a Kenyan Indian schoolmate of mine at boarding school in England. Shivani was her name and the summer after we completed our A levels, my vegan friend invited me to go and spend a few weeks with her and her entirely vegan family in Nairobi.  

 

Suffice to say that I accepted and proceeded to have a great time visiting with Shivani and her family on my first ever trip to Africa.  More to the point for the purposes of this post, I got to thinking that Shivani's mother was one of the best cooks whose food I've ever had the privilege to eat.

 

I loved the chapatis this amazing woman made so much that I ended up eating -- no lie! -- 96 of them over the course of my approximately 3 week stay with Shivani's family.  And I had an incredible variety of dishes to eat all that chapati with.

 

How incredible can be seen by my not noticing and even forgetting that none of those dishes had any meat (and yes, that includes seafood!) in them; something that got underlined when, a couple of weeks into my stay, Shivani's family and I went on a day trip up the Rift Valley to Lake Naivasha.  

 

Upon stopping for lunch at a restaurant located on the banks of the lake, Shivani's family told me that the restaurant served barbecue (meat) and suggested that I order up some of it.  I said "okay" and asked if they wanted to have some too.  At which point they started laughing and Shivani said to me, "But we don't meat!"  And truly, only then did it dawn on me that since arriving in Kenya, I had not eaten a non-vegan meal up until that lunch (for yes, when given the opportunity, I did go ahead and have some meat to eat that day)!! ;b      

Visa-free vs -required travel musings

Himeji Castle -- located in a country (Japan)

which I need a visa to enter

View of Heidelberg -- a picturesque town in country (Germany)
which I can enter without applying in advance for a travel visa

"Where in the world do you want to holiday next?" This is a question I've been asked more than once in recent weeks -- partly because the past couple of weekends have been long weekends for many in the Big Lychee -- courtesy of Hong Kong's public holidays this year including Good Friday (April 22nd this year), the following Saturday, Easter Sunday (April 24th), and the Monday after Easter, May Day (May 1st) and the day after May Day (May 2nd) -- during which many a person I known has flown off for a short vacation.

My reply has honestly been: "I don't know yet". But I'll also admit that I've been considering going on a Scandinavian cruise for the first time ever this year or visiting Venice (not least because of the beautiful photos of the place that can be found in blogs such as Churches in Venice and Trekcapri's) or Vietnam... or returning for another visit to Japan -- only with the latter there remains the bureaucratic hurdle of applying for a visa; something which I won't have to do should I wish to travel to the other destinations I've been thinking of doing.

If the information on Wikipedia is to be believed, a Malaysian passport is ranked pretty high (i.e., number 13 in the world) in terms of travel freedom and visa-free access. And it's true enough that there have been times and places in the world where I've been happy to have had a Malaysian passport -- including when living and travelling in Africa, where I found that Malaysia being a part of the British Commonwealth made it so that I did not need a visa to visit Tanzania (except that I also successfully applied to be a resident of Tanzania proper and also Zanzibar in order to work and live there for two years), Kenya, Zimbabwe and Zambia (on account of those African countries being fellow members of the British Commonwealth).

Incidentally, I have often recounted the -- in retrospect -- funny experience of how it was that I literally walked across the Zimbabwean-Zambian border by way of the bridge that crosses the Zambezi River close to Victoria Falls because I wanted to see the amazing natural phenomenon from both countries -- and, at the border, when asked by the Zambian immigration official how long I intended to stay in his country, miffed him somewhat by honestly telling him that I just wanted to stay long enough to view Victoria Falls from the Zambian as well as Zimbabwean sides! (Fortunately, the guy wasn't upset enough to deny me entry into his country -- and I spent only a few hours in Zambia before walking back to Zimbabwe later that same day!!)

In contrast, I would not be able to walk across the border between Hong Kong and Mainland China without first acquiring a China visa -- something which I actually don't possess at the current time -- and, in fact, only have applied for once... years ago when I went on holiday to Beijing with my mother! (And for the record: for all of my having now lived in Hong Kong for more than four years, I still have paid a single visit to neighboring Shenzhen...)

On another ironic note: I also require a visa to visit the U.S.A., a country where I lived, studied and worked for close to one and half decades of my life. (Again for the record: I never did apply for a green card, never mind citizenship -- not least because, as I told many a (then) disbelieving American friend, I actually didn't think I would want to spend the rest of my life in that country and would want to leave it one day...)

All this I actually don't mind too much. On the other hand, it's true enough that I wish that Malaysians didn't require a visa to visit Japan. And if that were the case, I definitely would travel to the Land of the Rising Sun more often -- to sample its food and other attractions that I really wish I could conveniently avail myself of... though even with the visa requirements, I do plan to pay visits to such places as Nikko, Kamakura and Shikoku some day soon (as well as already have had the pleasure of visiting such destinations as Mount Aso, Dazaifu and Himeji along with the cities of Tokyo, Kyoto, Osaka, Sapporo, etc., etc.!)

Cultural diversity in Germany

A taste of Africa in Ludgwigshafen

Roman material culture in Cologne

Approximately 24 hours after I set foot in Germany for the first time this century, I was effectively served notice that this vacation would not (just) involve the usual sights and experiences that many leisure travelers to the country can expect to have. For, as it so happens, what my German friend and host had lined up for my first evening out in her town turned out to be... an African fair!

After first having dinner involving dishes such as fried sweet plantains (yum yum!) and a chicken curry concoction (that also had plantains -- these ones more regular potato like in flavor -- in it), we spent some time surveying the arts and crafts that were on display and up for sale. And since attendance at the event was on the sparse side (because, my friend suggested, the evening had been on the rainy side and it was a week night), we ended up having plenty of opportunities to also chat with the stall vendors -- one of whom told us he was originally from Senegal (like Patrick Vieira!) but currently a student at the local university; another of whom, a Kenyan woman who had lived for several years in Germany, I got to practice my Kiswahili with.

On a further linguistic note: It was interesting to hear lots of French and English being spoken as we wandered about checking out the African fair. At the same time, my definite sense was that most, if not all, of the Africans at the event were people who had decided to make Germany home. (And, as unlikely it may seem to some, they would by no means be the first Africans to have done so.)

At various other times during this German vacation, I would get still more evidence that many people of varied cultural and geographic origins had settled in this part of the world over the years and centuries. For example, in Cologne, physical proof of it having once been part of the Roman empire abounds -- seemingly miraculously when one considers that the city was bombed in 262 separate air raids (including a notable 1,000 bomber attack) during the Second World War. (And lest it be thought that I only learnt about the horrors wreaked by the Allied forces, my German friend also took me to visit sites -- notably the remains of a 12th century mikveh ritual bath and Jewish courtyard in Speyer -- that provided poignant proof of the lengthy settlement in the area of a people that the Nazis sought so virulently to wipe out.)

On a lighter note, we also dined on a selection of meze at an ethnic Turkish restaurant one evening, came across another multi-cultural fair while strolling about Heidelberg, one in celebration of immigrants from territories as diverse as South Korea, Ethiopia and the Ukraine -- and, in the small German town of Schwetzingen (with a population of less than 30,000), visited a palatial castle built by a nobleman known for his love of the English language as well as German whose grounds include gardens in the English and French styles with features such as a "mosque" and "Chinese bridge" that speak to the nobleman's fascination for the East.

In short: I was witness to more cultural diversity in German than I had expected; and came out of this recent vacation having learnt quite a few new things about the land and its people -- even while also having had had a really enjoyable time throughout. So... yes, count me in as a believer in the adage that travel broadens the mind (and, no, it doesn't have to loosen the bowels in the process!). :)

Visiting UNESCO World Heritage Sites

A quiet alley in the heart of the Historic Center of Macau,
the closest UNESCO World Heritage listed site
to where I currently reside

Close-up shot of one of the many buildings in
the Changdeokgung Palace Complex that is one
of three UNESCO World Heritage Sites
in South Korea that I've visited

Alejna of Collecting Tokens asked over her blog: "Have you been to any World Heritage sites? Are there places on the list that you long to visit?" And although I don't think that she was officially declaring the start of a meme, I can't resist but respond to her queries with a list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites I've visited (along with a couple of choice photos above):-

• Historic Center of the City of Salzburg (Austria)
• Palace and Gardens of Schonbrunn (Austria)
• Historic Center of Vienna (Austria)
• The Great Wall (China)
• Imperial Palaces of the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Beijing and Shenyang (China) - though, strictly speaking, I've only been to the ones in Beijing
• Summer Palace, an Imperial Garden in Beijing (China)
• Temple of Heaven, an Imperial Sacrificial Altar in Beijing (China)
• Historic Center of Macau (China)
• Chartres Cathedral (France)
• Palace and Park of Versailles (France)
•  
• Palace and Park of Fontainebleu (France)
• Paris, Banks of the Seine (France)
• Palaces and Parks of Potsdam and Berlin (Germany) - though strictly speaking, I've only been to those in Berlin
• Museum Island, Berlin (Germany)
• Cologne Cathedral (Germany)*
• Speyer Cathedral (Germany)*
• Upper-Middle Rhine Valley (Germany)*
• Roman Monuments, Cathedral of St Peter and Church of Our Lady in Trier (Germany)+
• Borobudur Temple Compounds (Indonesia)>
• Prambanan Temple Compounds (Indonesia)>
•  
• Himeji-jo (Japan)
• Historic Monuments of Ancient Kyoto (Japan)
• Historic Monuments of Ancient Nara (Japan)
• Iwami Ginzan Silver Mine and its Cultural Landscape (Japan)#
• Shrines and Temples of Nikko (Japan)^
• Gusuku Sites and Related Properties of the Kingdom of Ryukyu (Japan)^
• Historic Villages of Shirakawa-Go and Gokayama (Japan)^^  
• Buddhist Monuments in the Horyu-ji Area (Japan)~
• National Museum of Western Art -- one of 17 sites that are part of The Architectural Works of Le Corbusier (Japan, etc.) -- inscribed 2016 but visited I visited in 2006!
• Hiroshima Peace Memorial (Japan)+++
•  
• Itsukushima Shinto Shrine (Japan)+++
• Kenya Lake System in the Great Rift Valley (Kenya) -inscribed 2011, but which I visited in 1986!
• City of Luxembourg: its Old Quarter and Fortifications (Luxembourg)+ 
• 17th-Century Canal Ring Area of Amsterdam inside the Singelgracht (The Netherlands)++
• Bryggen (Norway)##  
• West Norwegian Fjords - Geirangerfjord and Naeroyfjord (Norway)## 
• Singapore Botanical Gardens (Singapore) - inscribed 2015, but I visited in the 1980s!###
• Robben Island (South Africa)~~
• Jongmyo Shrine (South Korea)
• Changdeokgung Palace Complex (South Korea) 
• Hwaseong Fortress (South Korea) 
•  
• Royal Tombs of the Joseon Dynasty (South Korea)*** 
• Jeju (South Korea)*# 
• Gunung Mulu National Park (Malaysia) 
• Melaka and George Town, Historic Cities of the Straits of Malacca (Malaysia) - of course I have been - George Town is the capital of my home state! :D  
• Alhambra, Generalife and Albayzin, Granada (Spain)*# 
• Cathedral, Alcazar and Archivo de Indias in Seville (Spain)*#
• Historic Center of Cordoba (Spain)*#
• Monastery and Site of the Escurial, Madrid (Spain)*#
• Old Town of Segovia and its Aqueduct (Spain)*# 
• Old City of Berne (Switzerland) 
• 
  
• Ngorongoro Conservation Area (Tanzania)   
• Selous Game Reserve (Tanzania)
• Serengeti National Park (Tanzania)
• Stone Town of Zanzibar (Tanzania) - where I lived for a time, actually!  
• Historic Areas of Istanbul (Turkey)  
• Durham Castle and Cathedral (Britain) 
• Stonehenge, Avebury and Associated Sites (Britain)
• City of Bath (Britain) - home for some years now to my sister! 
• Frontiers of the Roman Empire (Britain) - well, bits of Hadrian's Wall, at any rate...
• Westminster Palace, Westminster Abbey and St Margaret's Church (Britain)  
•  
• Canterbury Cathedral, St Augustine's Abbey and St Martin's Church (Britain)
• Tower of London (Britain) 
• Old and New Towns of Edinburgh (Britain)
• Maritime Greenwich (Britain) 
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (Britain) 
• Liverpool - Maritime Mercantile City (Britain) 
• Castles and Town Walls of King Edward in Gywnedd (Britain) 
• The English Lake District (Britain)
• Independence Hall (USA)
• Chaco Culture (USA)  
•  
• Hawaii Volcanoes National Park (USA)  
• Ha Long Bay (Vietnam)** 
• Central Sector of the Imperial Citadel of Thang Long - Hanoi (Vietnam)**
• Great Zimbabwe National Monument (Zimbabwe)
• Mosi-oa-Tunya/Victoria Falls (Zambia and Zimbabwe)

So... I make that 75 sites (in 23 countries).*# Which leaves a heck of a lot left unvisited. Of these -- to answer Alejna's second question -- there are quite a few I'd love to visit; with the top five being the following:-

• Angkor (Cambodia)
• Rock-Hewn Churches, Lalibela (Ethiopia)
• Petra (Jordan)
• Ancient Thebes with its Necropolis (Egypt)> 
• Budapest (Hungary)

And what about you, dear reader? (And yes, you should feel free to respond to my query on your own blog or this entry's comments thread!) ;b

*Added post-German 2010 holiday
^ Updated again in February 2012
**Updated once more in December 2013 
^^ Updated once again in May 2014 
***Updated once more in September 2014 
+Updated one more time in December 2014 
# Added and updated once more in May 2015 
## Updated again in June 2015  
### Updated once more in July 2015 
~ Added in October 2015 
++ Added in January 2016 
> Added in May 2017 
+++ Added in October 2017 
~~ Added in December 2017 
*# Added in 2018

Six weird things about myself (meme)

Earlier this week, I got tagged -- along with six other individuals she considers to be "strange and interesting people"! -- to reveal six weird things about myself by Bibliobibuli's Sharon Bakar.

According to the rules of the meme: People who are tagged should write a blog post of 6 weird things about them as well as state this rule clearly. In the end, you need to choose 6 people to be tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave a comment that says ‘you are tagged’ in their comments and tell them to read your blog.

So here goes (and please don't say that you've not been warned!):-

1. I've not worn a skirt in at least five years, and a dress in eleven and a half years.

Even as a child, I didn't care much for wearing skirts and dresses. And this before one fateful incident which saw my dress get caught on one of the spikes of the then spiked front gate of my family residence as I attempted to climb over it, with the result that I was left dangling fearfully in mid air for the better part of a few long minutes!

Then, much later, when I was a student at Beloit College, I used to get annoyed by it being so that every time I put on a skirt, I would get people asking me whether I was going out on a date that evening (and if so, with whom)! So much so that it gradually was the case that I only ever wore skirts on laundry day, when I had run out of clean pairs of trousers and shorts to wear...but since I've not had days in which I've run out of trousers and shorts to wear in years... ;)

2. I organized Communal Screams at my college.

At boarding school in England, a friend took me to an isolated end of the school grounds one day and introduced me to the wonders of destressing by screaming. In my first semester at college in Wisconsin, I decided to take the screaming to a new level by having a whole host of others scream with me at the same time for a fixed period. After getting the permission from the college authorities to organize such an event at midnight on the eve of Finals Week, the Beloit College Communal Scream was born.

Imagine, if you will, what seemed like a whole college screaming in unison for five minutes at a fixed time and place. And individuals being inspired to add to the experience by doing such as recording their screams in advance on tape and then playing the tape at full blast over their hi-fi stereo's speakers or augmenting the act of screaming by scattering their term papers from the windows of their dorm rooms...

It may all have seemed like bedlam to those not in the know. Except that it actually was organized bedlam. So organized, in fact, that before too long, the college actually took to funding the Communal Scream (and paying for the printing of the posters and for the artist who designed the posters)! As an American liberal arts college student -- like I was at the time -- might say, "how seriously cool was that?!" ;D

3. I used to think that I wanted to have my ashes scattered at Highbury after I died.

For those who don't know, Highbury = Highbury Stadium = the home of Arsenal Football Club (the English association football club and team I've supported since 1978) until the Gunners moved in the summer of 2006 to the far more modern plus larger capacity Ashburton Grove (AKA Emirates Stadium). And I used to fantasize that if my ashes were scattered there after I died, my ghost could maybe help Arsenal by doing such as trip up opponents and help block those of their shots that otherwise might have been goal-bound!

However, Highbury is now in the process of being converted into luxury apartments and penthouses and, as yet, I don't feel even half as much love for Arsenal's new home as I did for its old one. Perhaps, in time, I will come to yearn to have my ashes scattered over at the Emirates Stadium. But I think this development will need to involve at least as many visits there as the number of pilgrimages that took me to Highbury. Therefore, in the meantime, I'm open to suggestions as to alternative places to have my ashes scattered after my death! ;S

4. I ate 96 chapatis in three and half weeks in Kenya.

As mentioned in a previous blog entry, I went to Kenya in the summer 1986 at the invitation of a friend and stayed with her family for the bulk of my visit there. But what I haven't written about until now is how much I loved my Kenyan Indian friend's mother's cooking. And in particular, how much I loved her chapatis.

So much did I love those home-made flat breads that every meal that we ate in my friend's Nairobi home, be it breakfast, lunch, tea or dinner, I would choose the chapati option over, say, rice or Western style bread. Before too long, this came to be noticed by my friend's mother and the rest of her family, and they decided it would be fun to count the number of chapatis I ate during my stay in Kenya.

Later on, as the end of my visit neared, that motherly cooking genius proceeded to announce that I wouldn't be allowed to leave Kenya until I had eaten 100 of her chapatis! Alas, despite my valiant efforts, I never did eat 100 of her chapatis -- at least, not on that particular visit. Still, the woman did generously decide to allow me to head home without having achieved that feat. Though not before enquiring only half in jest, as I got ready to head to the airport on the final day of my visit: "Are you sure you don't want me to pack four chapatis for you to eat on the plane?" ;D

5. I was bitten by tsetse flies in Tanzania.

As also has been mentioned previously, I spent two years of my life in Tanzania (Kenya's southern neighbor). Towards the end of my stay in East Africa, I decided to treat myself by going on a wildlife safari that took in visits to the ecologically diverse Lake Manyara National Park, the truly vast and animal-filled Serengeti National Park, the seriously awesome Ngorongoro Crater and surrounding Conservation Area, and elephant-rich Tarangire National Park.

For the most part, this wildlife safari was a wonderful experience. However, even in this modern day and age, this kind of experience is not without its problems and perils. For example, at one point, one of our Land Rover's tyres developed a puncture and, since an unpunctured spare tyre couldn't be found for miles, the car had to limp along very slowly for a few hours.

Then there were the tsetse flies which dogged us for much of our stay in Tarangire. And, I found, were well capable of biting through layers of clothing, socks and safari leather boots! While these insects' bites were painful and thus bad enough, what worried me more was that they are known carriers of the incurable disease popularly known as sleeping sickness. Fortunately, however, it does look like the tsetse flies that bit me weren't carriers of that fearsome disease... ;S

6. I have lots of dreams in which I'm doing things like reading, writing, watching movies and -- these days -- blogging.

In conversations with various friends, I've been told that they don't dream much. Or, at least, don't normally remember their dreams. I, on the other hand, feel like hardly a night goes by without my having at least one dream.

Something else in which I differ from many of my friends is that they tend to have -- or, at least, only remember having -- dreams which tend to be really unusual. Meanwhile, I seem to be stuck with having generally mundane dreams. Ones in which I do a lot of what I do in real life -- e.g., read, write, watch movies and, increasingly, blog and check my blog's site meter! I wonder: Is this because I don't have much of an imagination; or is it maybe a sign that I'm generally happier with my life than most? ;b

In any event, here's going ahead and tagging the individuals behind the following blogs* and requesting that they divulge six weird things about themselves on their blogs:-

Falling Stones are Not Heavy
Morsels of Peach Souffle
The Places You Will Go
Cultural Snow

Now off I go, as the meme's rules direct, to leave "you are tagged" comments over at their blogs! :)

* Addendum: As per the rules of the meme, this group originally was six in number but two individuals have asked to be "let off" having to write six weird things about themselves. However, if there are any volunteers to replace them from among this blog's readers who have their own blogs, please let me know and I'll happily add two of you to this list!

** 26th April update: The game and interesting individual behind Collecting Tokens has volunteered to be included on my list of "taggees" for this meme. Here's looking forward to seeing her "weird" revelations over on her blog at some point in the near future! :)

My first visit to Africa

In the summer of 1986, I visited Kenya -- and Africa -- for the first time.       At boarding school in England, one of my best friends had been a Kenyan Indian named Shivani. Together with two other good gal pals, Stacey (whose family then resided in Zimbabwe) and Anne (who had come from Lesotho by way of Uganda -- since her Ugandan doctor father was working for the United Nations in Lesotho), they gave me my first invaluable lessons about Africa, a continent which I didn't previously know much about -- and, if truth be told, hadn't cared to know that much about.

Just from meeting them (not least since Stacey's "white" and Anne was part Jamaican by way of her mother), I got to realizing that Africa is not as ethnically plus culturally homogenous as some might think. Additionally, from a whole series of conversations which took place over the course of our time at school in England, this trio taught me that, despite my hailing from a different continent as well as culture vis a vis them, we actually had a lot in common. (For example, call it coincidental but we all had attended Convent schools in our respective countries; and this despite not of a single one of us being of the Catholic faith!)

Every once in a while, however, something would be said which would make me say "but I didn't know that!" Almost inevitably as well as invariably, there'd be a shrug of the shoulders and a matter-of-fact assertion from one of the trio that "Anyone's who been to Africa knows that!"; at which point, I would have to remind my good friends that, well, this particular individual had (hitherto) never been to Africa!

In retrospect, it therefore seemed but a matter of time before one of them would tell me to go visit Africa. Only the bonus was that when that suggestion finally got made, it came with an invitation to spend time and stay with Shivani's family in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.

Almost needless to say, I jumped at the chance to make my maiden trip to Kenya and the African continent. Also, that I saw lots of novel and interesting sights plus had perhaps more than my fair share of new and wondrous experiences while there. Some of these merit independent blog entries of their own and will be recounted at a later date.

For today though, I'm going to start off by pointing out that soon after landing in Kenya, I saw my wild African animals. And if memory serves me right, the route we took from Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta Airport to Shivani's family home actually passed through Nairobi National Park, a bona fide national park that's home to such as giraffes, zebras plus lions and lionesses despite being located just seven kilometres from the center of Kenya's capital city!

Some further ideas of what I got to see and experience over the course of my first visit to Kenya may be ascertained by my stating that they include: a day trip to the natural wonder that is the Rift Valley and locales within it like the banks of scenic Lake Naivasha; another day trip to the Karen Blixen Museum/House in the Ngong Hills, a locale made famous by Karen Blixen (AKA Isaak Dinesen) being the author of Out of Africa who was portrayed by Meryll Streep in the Hollywood movie of the same name; and a multi-day safari (the evocative Kiswahili word for "journey") as far north as the Samburu Game Reserve that also took in an overnight stay at Treetops, the wildlife lodge made famous by being where the young Princess Elizabeth woke up one morning to discover that she was now Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and several other territories.

At the same time though, I wish to underscore that many other of my other Kenyan experiences were less exotic, even if often no less interesting or fun for their being so. For example, part of the 1986 football (soccer) World Cup Finals were played when I was in Kenya. And gripped by "World Cup Fever", I spent several hours playing "one-v-one" football with Shivani's brother in the garden of the Nairobi house that we were staying in on that visit! 

Something else that I think is very much worth mentioning is how, often times, many a Kenyan found me as exotic as I found them. Actually, judging by the behaviour and reactions of some of them, I'd say that they found me more exotic than I found them! As proof plus illustration of this, let me recount what happened when I went to visit the National Museum of Kenya with Shivani and her brother.

To set the scene first though, here's pointing out that in my entire time in Kenya (during this and subsequent visits), I only ever saw one other East Asian person in that East African country. Therefore, I most definitely was the only East Asian person at the National Museum of Kenya during my visit to that museological facility.

At least initially, however, I ignored this fact as I went around the museum. Indeed, I did what I usually do in museums: focus on the exhibits and to such an extent that I am liable to get lost in thought in front of them. This time around though, when I "came back to earth", so to speak, I discovered that a circle of Kenyan schoolchildren had formed around -- and that those kids (who my friends later told me were from out of town and "up country") were gazing intently at -- me.

Alternatively put: I had become one of the exhibits in the museum! Something which my mischievous Kenyan friends -- who had moved to a far corner of the room and were now giggling as though there were no tomorrow -- were no doubt aware of and greatly enjoying! ;DDD