A Guy in the World

My team of the year

2010-05-09T15:03:00.003-01:00

Another season is over. How depressing!! Luckily the world cup will keep us occupied. In the meantime it's time for my team of the season. See what you think.

I was going to pick the entire Leeds team but decided to restrict it to the premier league.

Goalie,
Joe Hart - Brum - Had an amazing season and probably the best loan deal in Premiership history. Where will he be next year? His clean sheets at the beginning of the year has kept the blues comfortably in the league. I thought Given, Robinson and Gomes also had good seasons.

RB
Ivanovic - Chelsea - Where have all the right backs in the premiership gone. Johnson and Bosingwa were both injured. Brown was embarrassed by Beckford and G Nev gets targeted too much. Ivanovc has done better than the rest.

LB
Evra - Man Utd - Bale and Cole came close but neither had full seasons. Evra is world class and as good as any left back in the world.

CB
Dunne - Villa - It pains me to say nice things about Villa but Dunne was a great signing. He scores, he tackles and wears his heart on his sleeve.

CB
Vermaelen - Arsenal - Signing of the season. He has looked solid all season and scored a couple of crackers. Wenger has picked out another great player. Jody Craddock also has had a good season.

RM
Cho-Young Lee - Bolton - I can see him getting a big transfer move this summer. He's a traditional get to the by line and cross it winger. He has also got his fair share of goals. Bilyaletdinov also was a great find and I'm looking forward to seeing Everton have a full team for a season.

CM
Lampard - Chelsea - People will say he has had a poor season but 22 league goals (27 in total) is world class and this is the 5th season in a row he has got 20 goals. Most strikers haven't done that.

CM
Milner - Villa - 2 Villa players I can't believe it. He's a Leeds player deep down. He's going to the world cup and had an amazing season. Would be player of the season if he was at a bigger club.

LM
Malouda - Chelsea - I wasn't a fan but he's converted me. Not an easy thing to do.

FW
Rooney - Man Utd - He has made the step up this year to be truly world class. I have criticised him in the pass for not scoring enough but he has carried utd this season. The one week he was away they got knocked out of Europe and lost the league. I hope he has saved something for the world cup.

FW
Drogba - Chelsea - Top scorer enough said. I think Bent and Tevez have also done well. Bobby Z also deserves a mention

Subs
Given, A Cole, Craddock, Fabregas, Bent, Tevez, Lennon and Zmaora.

Team of the season

Chelsea - They won the league and also scored over 100 goals. They beat the big 4 home and away. Can't argue with that.

Worse team of the season

Liverpool - Poor, poor and then poorer. Benitez has to go.

African Cup of Nations and going to South Africa

2010-02-01T11:21:00.005-01:00

Well I haven't used my blog for a while because with my new job I wanted to wait and see how far I could go with this. However football is not an issue they will be concerned with so I can talk about my month of watching the African Nations Cup and the build up to South Africa.

Firstly CAF, the most backward inconsiderate federation that ever existed in the world of football. My main gripe this time is the banning of Togo for the next 2 cups in Gabon/Equitoral Guinea and Libya. This is the perhaps the most ludicrous decision I've ever seen. I'm no fan of Togo but to ban them for getting shot at and fearing for their lives and wanting to bury their dead is astounding. I really can't put into words how awful this is. Does CAF have no relation to the real world? I can assure you if it was an England team then we would not only have left the tournament but banning all our sports men from going there and persuading UEFA to do the same. The Copa America usually invites a couple of countries and I hope they do invite Togo to stick two fingers at CAF.
This leads me on to people saying this will affect South Africa. Nonsense. South Africa and Angola are two very different places and I didn't thing the Olympics in Athens should of been stopped because of violence in the middle east. This is just stereotyping and not appreciating the different struggles in different Southern African countries. I have and had family in Angola and Cabinda and this is a domestic issue not a regional one.

One last rant, Issa Hayatou is a tool. He's the president of CAF. Along with his atrocious handling of the Cabinda affair he also complained that we were not promoting African football enough. Now the entire African Nations cup was on terrestrial TV and Eurosport. I can't say the same about the Copa America (far superior) and the Asian Football Championship. If CAF spent more time getting people into stadiums and structuring African football properly perhaps there would of been a better spectacle to watch.

The first game Angola V Mali was entertaining but if you can't keep a 4-0 lead at home for the last 11 minutes then it's telling you something about the quality of the team. It wasn't a great tournament but there were a few good signs. Ghana's youngsters were very impressive and Kojo Asamoah looked the real deal. I can see how they won the U20 world cup and with Essien, Appiah and Muntari still to come back into the team they look the hottest prospect for the coming decade. Egypt though were the only class team in the tournament, now 3 times champions and deservedly so. How they didn't qualify for the world cup I have no idea. Their striker Gedo was super sub of the tournament and took his goal in the final well.

As for the world cup teams, Ghana as I said had a weakened team but still got to the final. Algeria lost all discipline and finished with 8 men and a thrashing at the hands to Egypt. England have nothing to fear from them (famous last words). Ivory Coast were disappointing losing to a poor Algeria in the quarter finals. They will struggle against Portugal and Brazil in the World Cup. Cameroon struggled to get out a simple group and Nigeria were lucky against Zambia and lacked real quality. As for South Africa, well they weren't even good enough to qualify for this tournament so enough said.

I fear for the African teams in this world cup and I don't think any of them will get out of their group with the possible exception of Ghana. They look like the only team capable of defending a lead. The other sides have specks of quality; Drogba, Kalou, Eto'o and Toure but once you scratch the surface there is very little underneath and are not teams. They look good going forward but are naive defensively.

OK one last rant this time to do with the world cup in South Africa. I really want to go but I'm appalled how little FIFA and South Africa are doing to stop this being a tournament about money. Emirates the official sponsor of the world cup is charging £1500 to fly to the world cup. British Airways are little better. The best deal I have found is from Air Mauritius for around £800. Add to this the price of group matches are £80 more than double than that in Germany in 2006. Hotels and internal flights are also seeing this as a money making scheme. England will have the second largest contingent of fans in South Africa after the USA but we will be sending tickets back even though the demand here is massive. A two week trip for the world cup will cost around £2500. This is ridiculous and South Africa is shooting itself in the foot by allowing it to happen. Rant over.

European Presidents

2009-11-19T15:31:00.006-01:00

So Rompuy is the new president of the European Council, I'll be honest I don't really know anything about him apart from the fact he has a funny surname and was a prime minister. I'm sure I'll have to learn a lot about him but nobody really knows what he's going to do. It has brought up a lot of friction within the local populations about our lack of say in firstly having an EU president and who that should be. The undemocratic nature of it all does seem a little unnatural but when you think about it, it's probably for the best and his role is not really a new one. We had a rotating president before hand (each countries prime minister) so to have a neutral longer (but still short) term leader makes sense.

Winston Churchill summed up pretty much my views on democracy in November 1947 in a speech to the House of Commons. He said

'Many forms of Government have been tried and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time'

How can democracy be bad? Well defining democracy is difficult but I think it's pretty fair to say that it's being governed by the people. We the people choose somebody or some people to take charge and we decide (in theory) about what changes should be made in society. Now you can go down the path that democracy will lead to populism which is how many fascist regimes managed to take power in their countries. For me the problem is how society decides what is popular and what direction we should take. This is defined by our freedom, freedom of speech, freedom of political ideals and freedom of press. When these freedoms are manipulated that is when problems occur. I promise I won't start ranting about the press again but needless to say when major newspapers start declaring who they are supporting (The Sun) then freedom is being manipulated.

I've kind of lost track, so going back to the original topic. Should we have had a vote on the EU treaty? Forget everything about promises of votes on constitutions and referendums. If you believe everything a politician says when there are technicalities involved then you are more silly than you look. The problem with having a vote on the treaty is the simple fact that not many people know anything about the treaty, it is virtually impossible to have a neutral public consultation on anything without people dictating their opinions at us (yes i do see the irony of me saying that on my blog). I know plenty of twentysomethings that can't name any of the cabinet, let alone know the details of a treaty. One example of this was the potential Tony Blair nomination, reading the newspapers and talking to people he seems like the most hated candidate for this post. Now I don't think he would have been a good EU president but how has our opinion of him turned so dramatically bearing in mind he won 3 elections, one of them post-Iraq. I hazard a guess that our view of his popularity and downfall is the result not of our own opinion but what we are believed should be our opinion.

So when choosing an EU president it becomes just a populist race (much like how our national elections are becoming) and no longer a question of people choosing the best option. In likelihood a vote would lead to a high profile candidate rather than the best candidate. High profile candidates also have the problem that they leave half the people elated and half in despair, not ideal for someone trying to find consensus. Personally I feel the general concept of the treaty is good but it needs a low profile leader to gather consensus rather than strive for policy, even if I could vote I honestly couldn't say was the best candidate for the role.

We forget as well that there are far more influential people that can effect our day to day life's, the Chancellor, Some Secretary, Justice Minister, Foreign Secretary, Head of the Civil Service, Leader of the UN, World Bank, IMF would are all unelected by the populations they effect. There is a good reason for this.

As for elections in general, the last European election in the UK got a 34% turnout (Less than X Factor) compared to 61% in the general elections, I think this shows that European policy is not of great importance to the general public. As for the debate on Catherine Ashton being an unknown on the top of your head name me another G20 foreign minister other than our own, David Milliband and the former US presidents wife Hillary Clinton. The person should not be bigger than the institution they represent.

So I guess when it comes down to whether I want Joe Bloggs from the pub choosing our leader or the Swedish PM then I would probably go for the latter.

From 204 to 32; South Africa here we come

2009-11-19T12:58:00.003-01:00

The qualification for the 2010 World Cup is over, 32 teams will now fight it out in June and July to become the World Champions. There are a few surprises but most the big teams made it through, just. In July, I made my predictions for who would qualify (Here) and I was pretty accurate getting 28 of the 32 (Costa Rica, Russia, Saudi Arabia and Croatia were my guesses that missed out)

For me, Russia going out to Slovenia was the biggest upset of the whole qualification period followed closely by the African Champions Egypt going out to Algeria. Obviously most of the talk will be about France and Ireland. It was a hand ball, nobody doubts that, the game should of gone to penalties. Looking at it, the referee couldn't see it because of the amount of players in the way, I'm surprised the linesmen didn't see it. It's easy to blame Thierry Henry but if it was the other way round would the Irish players have owned up. We see it week in week out in the premiership by all nationalities and only once or twice have you ever seen a player own up (Arshavin and Fowler I think). Not that I'm saying it's acceptable. Should there be a replay? No. It would create a situation that whenever someone is unhappy about a decision we would have replays. It would be farcical. I am though on the video replay bandwagon in it's support. I think you could allow managers to challenge a decision at the cost of a substitution, if they are wrong.

The whole 'should they be seeded' argument is something I have mixed views about in one hand the seeded system is what ensured Ireland had Georgia, Cyprus and Montenegro in their group rather than England, Spain and Germany. I do think though that seeding gives the bigger teams an unfair advantage. Ireland can have few complaints about getting France in the playoff, out of the second place teams they were last. So you either let the top 4 qualify without a playoff (Russia finished top but yet didn't qualify, is that fair?) or you give the better teams an advantage. Robbie Keane suggesting FIFA is against Ireland is sour grapes I feel, was is bias that helped Slovenia beat Russia or Croatia knock England out in 2008.

Anyway back to the world cup. I'm really looking forward to it. I think there are a handful of teams that think they can win Brazil, Spain, Italy, Germany, England, Portugal, Argentina (they won't) and France. I'm looking forward to seeing Ivory Coast, Ghana and Australia. The underdogs North Korea, Honduras and Algeria I think will all struggle although I think Honduras may surprise a few.

The draw for the world cup is in a couple of weeks and I'll write more then.

Jose Saramago 'Journey to Portugal'

2009-10-20T11:18:00.003-01:00

I've been reading this book by the famous Portuguese author and his extensive travels around Portugal. In all honesty it's not the greatest book I've ever read but there is a extract that really sums up how I feel at the end of my travels.

'But that is not true. The journey is never over. Only travellers come to an end. But even then they can prolong their voyage in their memories, in recollections, in stories. When the traveller sat in the sand and declared: "There's nothing more to see" he knew it wasn't true. The end of one journey is simply the start of another. You have to see what you've missed the missed the first time, see again what you already saw, see in the springtime what you saw in the summer, in daylight what you saw at night, see the sun shining where you saw the rain falling, see the crops growing, the fruits ripen, the stone which has moved, the shadow that was not there before. You have to go back to the footsteps already taken, to go over again or add fresh ones alongside them. You have to start the journey anew. Always. The traveller sets out once more.'

Berlin

2009-10-16T10:30:00.006-01:00

The world could learn a lot from Berlin, it certainly could take note of the beer and currywurst, it could copy the design of the Reichstag, it could learn a thing or two about making cars. Most of all though the world could learn about how to deal with some of the darker parts of it's history. I've never been to a city that has been so honest about it's gloomy past, it's refreshing. There is no shadowing over the atrocities of Nazi Germany or the divide of Berlin. Actually, it highlights what it is has learned from those times, the Reichstag design is solid proof of that.
I wish more cities and countries were like this. I'm British-Portuguese so I know full well how to gloss over the darker parts of our history and having spent time in Japan this must seem a completely novel concept to them.

Straight from the off there are reasons to appreciate Berlin. The Brandenburg gate masterpiece was built as a Prussian monument of peace and was taken by the invading Napoleon, only to be recaptured by Prussia in 1814. They added a Iron Cross and placed it back above the aptly named Paris Square (they later placed the French Embassey in the glare of the statute, who said Germans didn't have a sense of humour). I went on a free walking tour, which although isn't usually my thing was extremely good. I fully recommend it. We saw where Hitler killed himself (now a car park) and saw the main sights of Berlin.

We went to the Jewish memorial which is dead center in Berlin. It's very well designed and although no actual meaning was meant by the design I felt that each block represented a family that was unique it's own way but was systemically killed by the ruling Nazi party (hence the grid like way the blocks are situated). The museum below was although slightly depressing was a useful reminded of the history that took place not just in Berlin but all over central Europe.

We build up images in our mind of what certain things should like and sometimes are shocked by the reality. The Berlin Wall was one case in point. I was slightly underwhelmed by it. I think in my mind I had though up this giant impenetrable wall that was not only a curse but a feat of engineering. The truth though is that it was rather thin and with the help of a friend I could of gone over it. The reality does seem more logical than my imagination.

I could go on about the sights and history of Berlin but that would be unfair because Berlin was an awesome city to live in. There isn't the pretentious arty feel that Paris portrays or the Latin flair in Madrid. There was a slightly anarchist, who cares kind of feeling. The bars will win no style awards but yet you can feel comfortable and relaxed in them all. Germans are more like England than any other European nation is. There is a take it or leave it feel to the city that I like. I went drinking with Jeremy and Jessica almost every night and it was good to put the world to right over several beers. One beer in particular stuck in my memory for all the wrong reasons. I've never been tipsy after one pint but this was strong.

All in all Berlin was the kind of city I would like to live in for a while and will certainly go back to.

Olympic Stadion

2009-10-15T20:54:00.002-01:00

Once a upon a time we had churches and castles. Places where people congregated on mass to support a cause, they were places of community and icons of the cities they resided in. Nowadays, we no longer require castles (we have missile defense systems instead) and churches are no longer places for the community but places for people to try and justify their faith. Stadiums have become the Mecca's of our time, they are our last hooray at building community spirit. Stadiums though have a second purpose, they provide us with moments of inspiration and everlasting history.

Over the course of the last few years I have been to some of the most dramatic and communal stadiums in the world. Few though have the symbolism and immense emotion that the Olympic Stadion in West Berlin has. The two iconic towers that preside over the entrance of the stadium automatically take you back 73 years to Nazi Germany and a feat by Jesse Owens that will stand in history as one of the most dramatic sprints of all time.

When you step into the stadium and look across the concrete mass you see where the Olympic flame once shone brightly and it does take you back in time. I love that ability stadiums and sport has, Jesse Owens race time that year was not groundbreaking by todays standards and neither is it surprising for an African-American to be the fastest man in the world. In 1936 though, the thought that Owens could go to Berlin whilst Hitler was building his perfect race and completely dominate the games and push racial equality so far forward in a sporting event is truly remarkable and the Olympic Stadion stills holds those moments strongly within it's stands.

The actual design and architecture of the stadium is nothing that spectacular, the running track like in most stadiums makes it seems unnecessarily big and the mass of grey dispel it of beauty but that doesn't matter and that is why stadiums are so important in the world. They don't have to be, because they create, hold and sustain moments of time that can't be achieved anywhere else in the world. The Olympic Stadion is up there with the Maracana, Birds Nest, Wembley, MCG, Rose Bowl, Nou Camp and many others.

I hate flying

2009-09-20T20:44:00.002-01:00

I have a few entries to post of my travels but my internet is limited so you may have to wait for my return.

I hate flying, I'm not embarrassed to admit it. It's not natural , being propelled thousands of feet into the sky in a heap of metal is not normal. If it was I would have wings. Bradders and I didn't go around the world over land to save money!! It's the take off I particularly dislike, the readjusting of the gradient only tightens my grip of the seat (god know why, if i fall out the sky the seat is coming with me). I know it ridiculous, flying is actually extremely safe and although I'm usually a rational guy this is a complete irrational fear. I've been on about 50 flights so perhaps it's been bad luck that my flights have included; being struck by lightning (twice), a 9 hour flight of pure turbulence, dropping in the sky 4 times in one flight (on one occasion seeing a food trolley come off the ground) and over shooting the runway so much that we had to take off again and do a U turn. So for now my irrational fears remain, whilst I fly from London to Berlin, if only I was freer with money to get the train.

The Champions League Draw

2009-08-28T12:57:00.002-01:00

I always look forward to the Champions League draw, the prospect of months of mouth watering ties is just too much to resist. Having seen the draw I feel entirely comfortable that the English teams will qualify to the next stage. I don't think any can complain about an especially difficult draw when there were so many bigger teams they could of faced. The knock out rounds will be more difficult but I'm confident that the English teams will continue to dominate the tournament (6 of 10 finalists and 9 of 12 semi-finalists). I would of actually had preferred for them to have much tougher Pot 2 teams because then they would avoid them in the later rounds. This year I really fancy Chelsea. Barcelona will be favorites of cause but Chelsea had them beaten last year apart from the worst refereeing performance I've ever seen. Manchester United were poor in the final and never gave the Catalan giants a challenge.

Group A

Bayern, Juventus, Bordeaux, Maccabi Haifa

Bayern should breeze through this. Ribery and Robben now joining up they will cause teams problems. They also have the opportunity to get the tricky away trip to Israel out of the way early. Bordeaux were the French champions so shouldn't be overlooked but Laurent Blanc's team are new to this stage of the competition.

Group B

Man Utd, CSKA, Besiktas, Wolfsburg

I again fully expect United to go through. The main problem they have is the long away trips early in the group phase, this has the possibility of disrupting their progress in the league. I don't fancy them for the tournament this year though. They are not as strong as last year and Rooney is not in the same category as Messi or Ronaldo. I think their midfield will come up a bit short in the long run. Wolfsburg being the German champions will fight it out with CSKA for second.

Group C

AC Milan, Real Madrid, Marseilles, Zurich

This has the big names and talk of 16 titles will bring in spectators but neither AC or Real have achieved much in the last few years. Real have all the stars but there is no aurora surrounding them yet. Liverpool embarrassed them last year and I expect them to be better not I would still fancy all the English teams against them. Xabi Alonso is their most important player this year.

Group D

Chelsea, Porto, Athletico, Nicosia

I think this is a good draw for Chelsea. I do fancy them to win it this year. Drogba is playing again after missing the beginning of last year and they are the one side that have shown how to beat Barcelona. I love Porto but losing Lisandro and Lucho will be massive and I think they will struggle. Atletico will think that they should go through.

Group E

Liverpool, Lyon, Fiorentina, Debrecen

Liverpool have what Real need, a home where literally anything can happen. Some of the best games last season were at Anfield last season and although I think they are the weakest of the English teams I still think they can beat anyone at home. They are a 2 man team but it's an awesome two. Lyon are a shade of previous teams and Fiorentina are some what unknown at this level. Seeing Mutu and Gilardino could be interesting though.

Group F

Barcelona, Inter, Dinamo Kiev, Rubin Kazan

This is potentially difficult given the tough away trips to the east. Barcelona will win the champions league if they manage to avoid the English 4. I'm not a big fan of Imbrahimovic and think Inter got the better out of the deal. There are lots of Spanish - Italian match ups in the groups but I expect all the Spanish teams to come out on top. I don't think the Italian style is suitable the Champions League anymore. It cope well with the high tempo and emotional football that the knockout stages bring. Chelsea, Liverpool and even Arsenal are all likely to be in 7-8 goal chaotic matches and their style allows it. Italian need a game to be tight for them to control the midfield.

Group G

Sevilla, Rangers, Stuttgart, Unirea Urziceni

Comfortably the weakest group. I have mixed thoughts about clubs like Unirea being given an automatic place in the group. I can see how it develops the game but the gulf in class is vast. Unirea have a 7,000 home ground and will surely be beaten in every game. Is the Champions League purely to find the best in Europe or to develop the game in Europe. Surely the Europa cup is there to develop the game. If you look at the Russian and Ukrainian sides they have stepped up from being UEFA champions to the Champions League and will at least be competitive. I have no idea how this group will go I'd be surprised to see anything good from Rangers.

Group H

Arsenal, Alkmaar, Olympiakos, Standard Liege

I think this is the perfect draw for Arsenal. I don't think they are good enough to win it but with the right draw they could go to the final. The quality and experience is there but it all depends on confidence because they are likely to have 1 or 2 weeks where they lose it and go out of all the tournaments at once.

Overall I think the draw will determine this years champion. As long as the English teams are kept apart then I can't see anyone outside of Barca beating them.

Who was Kim, Dae-Jung?

2009-08-18T23:26:00.003-01:00

To many (most) of you the name Kim Dae-Jung will mean nothing. This is perfectly normal but I wanted to write a post about him because he is important and he sadly died this week. I know for many South Koreans, he is one of the most important people in their modern history and thus his story should be told worldwide.
Kim Dae-Jung was South Korean president from 1998 to 2003 and won the Nobel peace prize in 2000. However, these two feats are perhaps not what he will be remembered for. His story could read like a Hollywood movie script. He came from a farming family in the South of South Korea when it was under Japanese rule. He became very rich from owning a Japanese shipping company but had to flee the country during the Korean war. It was when he entered politics though that he's story really tells of how Korea has developed. He was the main opposition to the dictator Park Chung-Hee (who I've mention previously) and later Chun Doo-Hwan. He was close to being assassinated but was saved by Japanese and US officials. He was imprisoned twice for being 'anti-government' and for his perceived role in the Gwangju Massacre (if you get a chance watch May 18 (Hwaryeohan hyuga)).
After a short exile in the US, where he taught at Harvard, he returned to Korea and fought for election in the first democratic elections in 1987 and then again in 1992. After a brief time at Cambridge University he returned to Korea to fight yet another election (his 4th) and finally won, becoming the first president where power had transferred across parties. He helped steer Korea through the Asian financial crisis (in the short-term) and perhaps most famously met with Kim Jong Il and created the Sunshine Policy. The first such meeting of the two countries leaders since the Korean War.
He had his critics like every leader in history. He was very lucky to win the election (2 conservative candidates split their vote), some say he used affirmative action to get more people from the Jeolla region into parliament. The Sunshine Policy although good in theory, I personally don't think will actually ever work.
I believe he is a strange character in history. What he will be remembered for internationally will be his presidency and legacy, I personally don't think he was the greatest of presidents (his term came at the wrong time for the type of president he was) but I think his most important contribution to Korea was his opposition to Park Chung-Hee and fight for democracy. I have said in the past that Park's dictatorship was perhaps a necessary evil in the development of South Korea but Kim was a necessary shining light to show the people of South Korea that there was a cause to fight for, his light is perhaps what stopped successive dictatorships and pushed Korea into the next stage of development; which of cause is democracy.
I hope he is remember in a positive manner and that people appreciate what he has done for his country.

Why is our health service getting so much stick?

2009-08-16T21:37:00.004-01:00

What does France, Italy, San Marino, Andorra, Malta, Singapore, Spain, Oman, Austria, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Monaco, Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, UK, Ireland, Switzerland, Belgium, Colombia, Sweden, Cyprus, Germany, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Israel, Morocco, Canada, Finland, Australia, Chile, Denmark, Dominica and Costa Rica all have in common?

Answer. Well they all have health systems that were ranked higher than the USA in the 2000 World Health Organization Report (see here). Whilst I would accept criticism that this report does support a more liberal ideology that healthcare is a right and that it focuses only on five health-related statistics: health level, health distribution, responsiveness, responsiveness distribution and financial fairness. Health care like many other issues are difficult to compare across borders due to differences in demographics, economy, culture etc.., but we are not talking about the difference between 4 or 5 places here. The US is ranked 37th in the world.

Why then are the US media (FOX TV in-particular) very publicly criticising European and especially British health care? I'll get back to this but a few facts to bear in mind, taken from the CIA World Fact book and WHO statistical database (very useful) unless stated; Life expectancy in the US is 78.11 (50th in world), EU is 78.67 (41st) and the UK is 79.01 (36th). Child mortality rates in the US 6.26/1000 (180th highest in the world), in the EU it's 5,72 (182nd) and in the UK it's 4.85 (193rd). Bear in mind that the EU figures includes new EU countries Bulgaria and Romania.

So that must mean we spend more on health care; well in 2006 the US spent 15.3% of GDP and the UK 8.4%. Well the UK is a 'socialist' country apparently, so the government must be spending all their money on health care. Well again the US in 2006 under a republican government spent 19.1% of government expenditure on health care compared to 16.5% in the UK.

My aim here is not to say that the UK system is better than the US, the UK has it's problems in relation to our health service. It is very bureaucratic, it lacks consumer choice and thus innovation through competition. Some areas such as cancer care are ranked very low on a global standing (The US probably has the best Cancer care in the world, to those that can afford it). However it is nowhere near as bad as some US companies and press have been making out. Perhaps surprisingly to some Americans we also have private health care providers such as BUPA for those people that can afford or want a better service (they tend not to be very popular).
The UK is also very different from the US. We are a very over populated country, which means our health services get stretched much further than the ones in the US would do. We have an older demographic that also puts different pressures on our system. We also have a very firm belief that health care is a 'right' and that you should be entitled to a basic health service no matter your wealth but in the US 47m don't have health insurance. That is truly staggering. 47m people.

I saw Daniel Hannan on Fox News absolutely berate the NHS. Firstly, he is an MEP (Member of the EUROPEAN parliament) and sits on the fisheries and Afghanistan committees as well as being Conservative he is the MEP for my local area ( we elect parties not individuals and I certainly didn't vote for him). So what he is doing talking about the NHS on American TV I have no idea. Actually the amount of rubbish I have heard on Fox News is staggering. Kim Jong Il is sitting at home wondering what tips he can learn from Fox on how to promote propaganda. To be fair it's not just Fox News that mislay the balanced argument. Michael Moore's 'Sicko' was just as bad just in the other direction.

I have lost track, the issue I find most concerning here is perhaps not what kind of system America implements because that's for the American public to decide and I am no where near qualified enough to talk about how their system works at the moment. The issue is that a sensible honest debate can't be held anymore (not that I remember a time that it could). Media outlets are so politically biased (both left and right) that it's got to the stage where facts don't matter anymore and pure lies become acceptable. I quite often look at Politifact and constantly amazed by the amount of lies that are told by very senior influential people. I don't believe in media censorship but something has to change because people watch or read these stories and base important decisions on what they are told.

I think trying to sort this out will be one of the biggest issues facing Obama. I admire the fact that he is trying to tackle difficult issues but feel perhaps on this issue he has rushed to get too much done before proper consultation with the public. The major issue is that there is a lack of facts and too much hype on small issues. He has the ability to go out there and answer tough questions but without some media backing I fear this issue will get swept under the carpet and we'll be back to good old America, preaching to the world whilst standing on a broken chair.

2009-08-10T17:11:00.002-01:00

Reruns of 'Yes, Prime Minister' have been the highlight of my days recently. Even though it was set a long time ago it is still remarkably relevant. It is also a sign of the times that a show like this is becoming popular again. This particular clip is precisely what I mean. It's still so true that you can tell what a person is like by the paper they read. A sign that if the media was neutral and providing an unbiased account of events then they would all be writing the same thing.

A new gadget

2009-08-09T22:20:00.003-01:00

I'm a big admirer of TED and other kind of places where really innovative ideas can be shared. The prominence of open-source software and the ability for individuals to be creative I'm sure will drive the future of all our countries. Especially for a country like the UK, innovation is our competitive advantage over many of the countries in the world and we need to pursue and promote that growth. This is a little clip of a development by MIT Media Labs.

I really want one, especially looking at people word clouds.

Premier League Fantasy Football Tips

2009-07-22T14:25:00.004-01:00

It's that time of year again fantasy football time. After one of my most impressive seasons I have already been planning for this season. As usual I do my fantasy football (not nfl) through premierleague.com, it's the best I've found so far and has a couple of new additions this year. Firstly, the ability to have a sub-captain and also to carry over transfers. There is one problem though no Ronaldo. My captain for 3 years has disappeared and I'm a little lost without him. I've got pass this and created my new team but wanted to provide a bit of a guide of players to look out for to give newcomers some help.

Firstly, premierleague is slightly different in that you have to pick a squad (2 goalkeepers, 5 defenders, 5 midfielders and 3 strikers) this means you really need to choose between having an all-round team or a star and bargain team. I prefer the latter. I think that midfielders are the key, in recent years they have been scoring as much as strikers and also build up the assists tally. The top 5 point scorers last year were all midfielders. A mistake people make is thinking strikers are where it's at, when apart from Anelka last season none finished in the top 20ish.

So where to start, Goalkeepers. Last season Schwarzer finished top of the tree, thanks in large part to Fulham home record and at 5.5m he is still good value. Van Der Saar (Man Utd) just beat Reina (Lpool) to the most clean sheets but looked a little dodgy once his clean sheet record had gone. A large part of his record came from the sublime performances of Vidic. Reina and Cech (Chelsea) should be a safe bet for points but outside the top four you have to pick between Howard (Everton), Friedel (AV) and perhaps Robinson (Blackburn). I don't think Man City or Spurs are defensively minded enough to keep clean sheets. On the other end of the scale there are only 2 realistic choices; Sorensen (Stoke) and Hart (Brum), they are the two cheapest keepers that might actually play.

Defense is another area that you should perhaps look at the club rather than the name. As the players get most their points for clean sheets then as long they play in the team they will all get the same. It's difficult to look beyond the top 4 but last year Fulham, Everton, Wigan and Aston Villa were the glimmers of light. In the top four the key is to pick a player that will play alot but not cost a fortune. Chelsea back four would be Cole, Bosingwa, Terry and probably Carvalho (All over £7m). Liverpool you would think would play Johnson, Carragher and then either all the others will play bit parts. Man Utd would pick Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand and then a choice at right back. From those players Evra I think is the hidden gem. Other players outside the Top 3 would be Lescott and Baines (Everton) who are both expensive. Hangeland surely can't have a repeat of last year. Bramble and Figueroa (Wigan) are cheap and potentially hidden gems if Martinez gets Wigan playing. With Steve Bruce at Sunderland maybe they will learn to defend.
Personally I would go for 2-3 top players and then 2 cheap gems.

Unlike Defense and Goalkeepers, Midfielders are more individual scorers than team scorers. You need some guaranteed points and it's difficult to look beyond Gerrard or Lampard or both in your team. They are expensive but consistently in the top 3 scorers in the game for the last 3 to 4 years. They are worth it, how Chelsea play under Ancelotti will be interesting and may effect Lampards goals. Dirk Kuyt is a player than would make a good partner for either player and he does work hard!! I'm not sure how Man City will go this year. I'm not convinced we will see the best of Stephen Ireland this year and how forward Barry will be allowed to go. I'm avoiding them all together. I was very impressed with Clint Dempsey in the Confed cup and he's done a good job for me for a few years. This could be a good year for Luka Modric (Spurs) and they surely can't be as bad as the start of last year. There is no Man Utd midfielders who really take my interest and this is a good position to look at clubs like Spurs who score goals. Young, Milner (Villa), Arteta, Cahill, Felliani, Pienaar (Everton), Murphy (Fulham) or even Matt Taylor (Bolton) are all players than on their day can bag the crucial points. Arshavin will be interesting and did a very good job for me at the end of last year. On the other end of the scale Mendy at Hull is cheap and had a good year last season and I'm very interested in Moekena who didn't do alot at Blackburn but may be given a lease of life at Pompey.
If Fabian Delph is signed by any premier league team then he is instantly my captain. I would spend all your money making sure you have at least 4 decent midfielders.

Strikers are the glory position but the way the game is now not many players score a bucket of goals. Torres, Anelka and Drogba will score goals. Rooney should shine without Ronaldo. Owen I think will be the bargain of the season. I'm amazed no other club went for him. Agbonalor, Bent, Carew, Defoe all scored plenty. Defoe should pick up a nice load again this year. Further down Ebanks-Blake and Doyle (Wolves) score goals and will be important if Wolves are to survive. Ashton has been out for a couple of seasons and if he is fit could be the biggest bargain. I think one top striker and 2 gems is what is needed. Like I said before it's all about your midfielders.

Hope that helps, as for my team well I can't say everything.

Who's going to the world cup?

2009-07-02T19:16:00.003-01:00

Another sports entry I know, I promise this will be my last for a while.

With the new football season getting under way with San Marino champions SP Tre Fiori entertaining the Andorran champions UE Sant Julià in a one all draw. It officially started the 2009/2010 football season, the season in which the biggest prize in sport goes to South Africa and I personally can't wait. FIFA has given South Africa the chance to host the biggest event in the continents history and I'm sure they will host it brilliantly (as long as someone can get rid of the stupid horns that were in the Confed Cup).

With my anticipation reaching fever pitch I'm daring to think of the possibilities that may occur given that the first few teams have qualified. So here is my run down of the 32 who's going and the staggering 172 who won't be there.
Firstly, the hosts South Africa. For the sake of the tournament I hope they get out of their group and recent signs have been good for them after a terrible 2008. They will need a good draw though.

Asia was the first continent to decide its qualifiers. Australia, Japan and South Korea all qualifying comfortably and unsurprisingly. The Aussies should do well but I fear for both Japan and South Korea who both have weak sides. North Korea complete the East Asian dominance in Asia to the surprise of Iran and Saudi Arabia. Their womens team have been making good headway in major competitions but this is a big of a turnup, but 5 clean sheets in Pyeongyang has helped them. I don't think they have the ability to play away from home and will struggle to score goals. However, memories of 1966 are sure to fly back. Saudi Arabia and Bahrain will fight it out for the chance to be in a playoff with New Zealand. I suspect Saudi Arabia will win comfortably and get through all this. This is a continent I feel needs to be broken up into East and West Asia for it to develop the smaller nations.

Oceania is a farcical area to be honest and without Australia for the first time it is struggling. Australia needed to leave it and it was the right decision for them. I saw nothing from New Zealand to suggest they will qualify. Sorry Martha!!.

North and Central America has been a little more interesting this time round with Mexico seriously struggling and the US pulling of a series of deserved shock results in the Confed Cup. The US team is now a decent outfit with Howard, Dempsey and Donavon. I was impressed with Altidore but he needs to develop to become a world class player. His movement and tactical awareness is seriously letting him down. Only the top 3 go through and with the 4th place facing a difficult match against the 5th team in South America there will be some crunch games. Costa Rica and USA should qualify easily. Mexico have three massive home games against the USA, Honduras and El Salvador. Honduras and El Salvador have to play each other in the final set of matches. I fancy Mexico because Honduras and El Salvador haven't done it away from home. There is a potential upset though in the playoff.

In South America, Brazil are running away with it and not even conceding goals, whilst Argentina under Maradona reign are struggling. It would be a castrophe if they were not to qualify and I honestly believe they will. Chile and Paraguay look good for places and I think Uruguay will pip Ecuador for 5th. Ecuador are bad travellers and only have one home game left. A quick mention should be given to the Bolivian front line of Botero and Martins. Botero has been round the South American block a few times and Martins is at Werder Bremen at the moment. The 6-1 hammering of Argentina showed that given the chance they will score goals.

Africa still has a way to go in their qualifying but never has the African sides had a better chance to make a stamp on the tournament that their individual abilities merit. For me Ghana and Ivory Coast are shoe ins to qualify. This is the year they have to make a serious mark on the tournament. They have to many world class players not to. Michael Essien has the opportunity to show the world that he is the best defensive midfielder in African history. From the other groups, I tip Nigeria to pip Tunisia due to having more home games and a hard fought away draw in Tunisia. Algeria will see off Zambia and the extremely disappointing African champions Egypt. The final group is so hard to call. Gabon having started amazingly against Morocco and last tournaments surprise package Togo. I'm not sure they will be able to hold out though. Cameroon are in desperate trouble but do have the players to get out of it.

Ok, last but not least is Europe. The hardest qualifying section by a distance. Every group has at least 2 or 3 good teams. Netherlands have qualified and the other teams that look odds on are Spain and England. Serbia have a good chance to hold off France when they face them in Belgrade. Germany should see off a good Russian side. Italy should qualify even though I think it will mask a very poor Italian side. Slovakia have been a bit of a surprise package in Europe and I hope Northern Ireland push them close. Poland, Slovenia and Czech Rep have all disappointed. Group 2 could go anyway but I fancy Greece. In the last group my heart rules my head and I hope and pray Portugal qualify. They have too many good players not to but I would like to see Quieroz sacked because he has proven constitently he's not up to the job. When you have Ronaldo, Deco, Quaresmeda, Pepe, Carvallho, Bosingwa and Simao you can't justify being below Hungary and Denmark with 2 wins in 6. They have 2 away games against Denmark and Hungary where they are must must must win games.

The prospect of European play offs are scary, France, Portugal, Russia, Croatia, Ireland, Northern Ireland, Switzerland and Bosnia all competing to go to Africa shows the strength in depth Europe has.

I would like to see some restructuring done in the qualifying section of world cups. A decision has to be made wether we want a global world cup or the best sides in the world.

Whoever does qualify I just hope it's a great success and we get to see the best players playing well. Oh and England winning would be good.

Twenty20 Changes

2009-06-18T18:02:00.003-01:00

I have thoroughly enjoyed the Twenty20 World Cup in England. The majority of the games have been exciting and the atmosphere has shown the ability England has to hold major tournaments. If only we get the football world cup. I'm listening to South Africa V Pakistan as we speak and it's getting close. South Africa have been very impressive and along with Sri Lanka been the best team, but they may be going out tonight. England had been good at times but losing to Holland was embarrassing but wins against India and Pakistan were good. India was disappointing overall and the Aussies awful.
I think this is spelling the end to one day cricket and balances well with test cricket. BBC World Service recently had a fascinating documentary about the growth of Twenty20 and BBC has been showing the history of every cricket team for the last few weeks. I personally think Twenty20 has allowed new teams like Ireland and Holland to gain valuable experience and exposure in their countries. Any perspective countries will think with some investment they could be there competing and not making up the numbers like test cricket and rugby. Traditionalist will say it's just smacking the ball around and just not cricket. I agree to an extent but the truth is test cricket is not growing and doesn't attract new teams or sponsors. It also suffers from a lack of structure in the sense of a lack of a league or tournament. Eventually we will get bored of constantly watchng the Ashes or India V Pakistan.
I would though like to see a couple of changes in Twenty20, firstly I would prefer seeing bowlers have 5 overs each. This would pit batsmen against specialist bowlers rather than all rounders. The Duckworth Lewis method is fundamentally flawed in Twenty20 as highlighted in the England V West Indies match where England set a good target but West Indies had all there wickets for 9 overs. Perhaps a smaller wicket target or higher run rate being required is needed. I don't have the answer but the current system is ridicoulous.
Another idea would be for the bowlers being unable to bat. This would slow down the slogging session and make the batsmen respect their wicket a little more.
Either way a few small adjustments would make the game that little bit better. I have been a little concerned though by some of the India chairmen of the IPL who want to target the US market. I think this is dangerous, I think they should rather target some of the middle eastern countries were viewing figures are massive. The problem with breaking into the US is the fact you are relying on the expat community for growth.
The future though is bright and I hope the IRB will do a similar thing for Rugby 7's. Both events could be good Olympic sports.

Update

2009-06-14T15:20:00.002-01:00

I spoke too soon last night, just as I publish my blog Paul Krugman comes out and said the UK economy is best in Europe. I think he must be reading my entries. I'm not sure if I agree with him fully but I do think the economic crisis has been well over hyped by sections of the media. I have a blog about that coming up so I'll leave it for now.

There is still hope..... but just a glimmer!

2009-06-13T23:45:00.003-01:00

Well the dust has settled a little after a chaotic couple of weeks in UK politics, swine flu didn't wipe us out, the local elections didn't see the end of Brown and the European election highlighted the fact that people don't really care and there is a small but disgraceful bunch of far right fascists. Oh and the small matter of a few expenses claims.

The results have been pretty damaging for Labour, no wins or holds in local elections and dropped to 3rd in the European elections (5th in South East and West). There is still a glimmer of hope for Labour though.

Clinton famously coined the phrase 'It's the economy, stupid' and that is the only glimmer of hope left. The Labour heartlands are what Mr Brown most focus on if he has any chance of winning the election. Losing seats in the local elections in places like Lancashire, Staffordshire and Derbyshire must be reversed. There is a belt of the country from Liverpool to Hull that will decide where the election goes too. It is unsurprising therefore to see that one of the major problems in this area is unemployment. The bbc has a map that I'm sure many of you have seen and highlights the problem at heart. Therefore, if the economy picks up in theory job creation will increase and thus Labour can hold on to these areas. A similar tale can be said for South Wales and Birmingham.

Nothing I'm saying is rocket science really and there is a difference between saying it and doing it. There are small signs though that the worst is over. Lloyds have given back £2.3bn, Northern Rock have already repaid half of it government debt and the stock market has stabalised. Even the pound is gaining strength. If this continues (this is a big 'if') then job creation should start with a bit of a lag.

There is some obvious problems with this theory, firstly, unemployment rises quicker than it lowers. Companies can use the recession as an excuse to sack more staff than it really needs to because it is hard to sack people in 'normal times'. The UK also has a structural problem in the fact it's not very competitive as a labour market.
I don't want to go on and on but if the econmy does pick up and people see the difference then everything else will be forgotten and Labour will be reelected.

Team of the Year

2009-05-25T10:30:00.005-01:00

Well it's that time of year again. End of the season and a summer of waiting for it to start again. There will be a ton of transfer rumours especially from Newcastle. My fantasy team did well but as a present to Tom, I let him pip me to the post on the last couple of weekends. Every year I make a team of the year and this year is no different so here goes;

1. Schwarzer (Fulham) - He has been immense and perhaps the reason boro went down. People may say it should be Van Der Saar but I think his defence makes his job easier and after the string of clean sheets he looked dodgy. Reina also had a good year.

2. Hangeland (Fulham) - Fulham were one of my teams of the year and Hangeland was a hidden gem, I'd be surprised if Fulham can keep hold of him.

3. Vidic (Man Utd) - For me the player of the year, just immense and made Rio looked over priced.

4.Bosinghwa (Chelsea) Great first season and shut Messi out of the Barca game, even though he is naturally a right back not a left back.

5.Lescott (Everton) Has become a regular in the England squad and pivotal in Everton sucess.

6. Gerrard (Liverpool) No player in the league is more important to his team than Gerrard. If only England could see it. Liverpool would die without him.

7. Kuyt (Liverpool) He does work hard!!!

8. Ronaldo (Man Utd) He's the boy, pure and simple. First world player of the year in the premiership and his goal against Porto and put their season back on track.

9.Ireland (Man City) Perhaps doesn't have the star status of Robinho or Wright-Phillips but is hugely important to the team.

10. Anelka (Chelsea) How he was not a contender for player of the year is beyond me. Top scorer in the premier league and finally showing the ability he has had for years.

11. Davies (Bolton) Surprise choice maybe but no team wants to play against him and he has kept Bolton up.

Subs:

12. Lampard (Chelsea) Top in the assists and 12 goals
13. Rooney (Man Utd) Still doesn't score enough for me but undoubtely talented
14. Torres (Liverpool) Hardly played but scored 14.
15.Agbonalor (Villa) Great start but taled off
16.A.Young (Villa) likewise.
17.Jaaskalienen (Bolton) Most Saves

Maybe there were a few surprises in there. Looking forward to next year I think Essien will make a big big difference to Chelsea. Liverpool need 1 or 2 world class players and have to beat smaller teams. Arshavin looks the part but Wenger needs to get a Essien and a Vidic. Man Utd are still the team to beat. Ronaldo will stay and they need him too. He is unreplacable. I expect Everton, Villa, Man City and Spurs to push strong but still not break the top 4.

Most disappointing players,

1. to 11. Newcastle - The whole team has let the club down and they will enjoy Peterborough and Scunthorpe. I don't think they will go up either. Championship is a tough league. Martins is probably the only player that will be demand. Villa and Everton could do with him.

As for the best team in England, Leeds will win the league next year. We are too good for the League One now.

Not knowing my left from my right

2009-05-12T20:44:00.002-01:00

These are strange times in politics, especially British politics. Next May, we will probably have an election that could be pretty unique. These are difficult times financially, people are rebelling against big corporations and looking to target the rich. In Europe, we are calling for more regulation and for governments to take more control. Ideologically, these are left wing tendencies. Big government, more control etc.
However, we have had the Labour Party (Center Left) in power now for 12 years and it looks at though we will elect the Conservatives (Center Right) into power. This brings about a paradox. A more left leaning public electing a more right wing party. Can this be so? Why?
Well unfortunately, I probably know more about Korean politics than I do British politics but I have and will continue to vote so my opinion is valid a little bit. Both our leading parties I feel are now very centralist and to be honest don't have a ton of difference. Public sentiment may be swinging left but there is no credible party for them to go to (Liberal are not a realistic option for winning an election) so instead they look for change. Before in the mid-nineties we had a similar sentiment that brought in the first Blair government.
When America was looking for change it was a much simpler process. As they went left, there was a party and viable option to choose. We all know the result. Ironically the US Democrats would probably be classed as a right-wing party in the UK.
This leaves a difficult decision for the current Labour Government, it could try to become more left wing, increasing benefits, regulation and taxes. In times of recession though this is a dangerous path to follow. Alternatively, it can try and change it self. This is near impossible considering Brown has not really been in charge for long and what do they change to without contradticting their current policies. Time is off the essence. Could they become more centralist? The danger is that they will just be seen as copying the Tories. With the last budget, G20 and stimulus packages I feel the former is what they have choosen.
The problem I find in the UK apart from those who study a political science is that ideology doesn't really matter. I've met young Chinese children that know more about the left and right than some British graduates. The message of change brought about from the Obama campaign was so strong that it could bring the conservatives to power across the pond. The irony!
Personally, I can't catergorise myself like this and thus in a dilema still about how I will vote. My believes would put me left of centre but also I don't believe that one party should have power for such long periods as 2 decades. Given that both are parties only vary on the small details, I guess I could win and lose either way. In addition I think the type of government needed is different depending on it's state of development. So I couldn't say I was left wing because in some instances I don't think it's positive and vice versa.
With the European elections coming up this has made me think more. I have publically supported the PES but again I'm not sure they would be a positive infleunce in the UK.

Maybe I think too much!

Always vote for principle, though you may vote alone, and you may cherish the sweetest reflection that your vote is never lost

- John Quincy Adams

Paris and the art of travel

2009-04-16T20:37:00.003-01:00

I think it's fair to say that I've been lucky enough to visit a lot of the worlds great cities and Paris is no exception. Europeans love to mock Parisians and especially Parisian men (it's not completely unfounded) but deep (very deep) down we are all a little jealous of their life in Paris. I've been to Paris nearly a dozen times and the older you get the more you appreciate it. It has history like few others and a cafe culture London can only dream off. Parisian men are camp and arrogant but French women make up for that with beauty and style.
I had always jokingly dismissed Paris as a big city but I kind of like it. The sights like Notre Dam, Arc de triomphe and Eiffel tower are world class. The Louvre and Les Invalides are meccas to their subject but I think it's the general feel of the city that I enjoy. Strolling around the Latin Quarter, sitting in one of the many parks, sipping coffee around the Bastille or drinking in the enormous selection of bars is the good life. Paris can never compete with London or New York in terms of importance to the world because this good life means Parisians don't work that hard (although their companies are surprisingly successful) . French companies compete with state backing but this is not a bad thing. We should look at ourselves and ask why we work 70 hours a week, when we could be enjoying life. Our mockery of Paris comes somewhat from a deep rooted jealousy.
I really enjoyed my weekend away, it was a great chance to get away from home (Paris is actually closer to me than Manchester) and also catch up with Jeremy and Jessica, two of my most favourite people. It gave me a good place to think about things.

One thing that came up was how we travel, I've been lucky to live abroad, study abroad, travel with friends, girlfriends and on my own and each experience is different. I find myself though frustrated with travelers obsession with experiencing the authentic experience and going to unpopular places to validate themselves as a worthy traveler. It gets to the stage that people go places not out of interest but out of image. The truth is in most countries the authentic experience is pretty dull. For example if you want to experience live like a Korean, do a mind dumbing job all day everyday, then go with colleagues and drink soju until you can't move and go home save in the knowledge their little kid has been in private academies all evening not learning a lot, but it's ok because you pay more than your neighbour. Perhaps this is harsh but my point is that real life and the so called 'authentic' experience is different. I encourage people to travel and learn but you should always realize that no matter how authentic you think the experience is the chances are you're only brushing the surface of an authenticity that people want to portray of themselves. Just imagine if somebody came to your little town in search of the authentic experience. Would they really get one or want one?

Is Obama mania really necessary?

2009-04-07T20:47:00.005-01:00

Firstly, without sounding like I'm putting a disclaimer, i want to say that I actually support Obama and would of voted for him if I was American. I don't agree with all his policies and in areas I think the US will go backwards under him, but in general I think he is good for not only the US but also the world in general. It couldn't of got worse.

However, with his appearance at the G20 and NATO recently. I am getting just a bit frustrated with first, the ridiculously bad and sensational British media and secondly, public opinion about the new messiah.

This week I discovered who Michelle Obama's designer is, what she ate for every meal in the UK, how she hugged the Queen and several school kids, we also learned that she is not a big fan of tea and getting a Portuguese dog because their daughter has an allergy. We got to see every speech made by Obama several times over with every smile and glance analysed. We did not see however, Japan's view of the G20, or China's, India's, Indonesia's and Korea's. I thought there was 20 leaders visiting London (actually 22, math levels are dropping in the world). I even missed half of what our own Prime Minister had said because it was hardly repeated. I want to know why. Why was Michelle Obama even here? I mean I can't bring a girlfriend to work with me. Mrs Sarkozy wasn't here and that was a real shame. Is there really that much demand for the Obama's.

Is his perceived popularity real? Well a few facts, he got 52.92% of the US vote in the election. So 47.98% of those who voted, didn't vote for him. In most places we call 47%, nearly half. This is only one part of the tale. It equates to roughly 70m votes. Now if you bear in mind only 60% of the eligible voters actually voted then you see that he got 70m from 210m voters (roughly, it can be argued that viable voters range from 208 to 211.). So Obama got 30% of the eligible vote, so 70% of the eligible voters didn't vote for him. In England we call this the majority. In defence of Obama, there is no way to know who the people who decided not to vote would of voted for if they were made to vote. Also 30% was more than any other candidate and was a clear easy winner, even though it is widely regarded as an unfair electoral process (the irony that a country that promotes democracy around the world doesn't have a truly democratic system).
Read it again though. 70%. 7 in 10 potential voters choose not to vote for him. So why the massive popularity message. It can only be based on perceived popularity.

I think he has actually done a pretty poor job in his first couple of months. I say couple of months, the elections were in November so he has had a while to prepare. Yet even after saying the economy is a priority has pretty much left Tim Geithner on his own in the treasury with EU policy makers even making suggestions they had no one to discuss policies with. November was nearly 6 months ago! Add to this some naive appointments such as Daschle. Personally I thought Clinton should of been given the job of health because it is an area that Obama could make really improve and I don't believe she is suitable for foriegn affairs.

These are key decisions because there is no way he can get half the work done that he wants without a strong backing. I do think Obama has been good on foreign affairs and creating a clean slab for foreign relations. This where I think the essence of Obama's popularity comes from. He has a natural gift that caught be taught. He creates hope and makes you believe in him. He is a brilliant speaker (although his speech writers must take some credit) and reminds me of how the UK was in 97 with Blair, who whatever you say about him is also a great speaker.
Although Obama is so popular around the world the US is still unpopular (can't have it all).

I could go on forever but I have many things bugging me at the moment. For one the anti-finance sector propaganda that is growing. Firstly, Sir Fred Godwin is not the sole reason the UK or the world is in recession. He also isn't the sole reason for the RBS demise. It is naive to think one person has that power. Saying this his pension is ridiculous and he should be ashamed of himself. Physically targeting him and especially his family is disgraceful. Are we barbarians?

Which leads me lastly to my last rant the protests. I am extremely proud that we are a country that allows freedom of speech and demonstrations but the ones at the G20 were truelly pathetic. Firstly, 3 protests in a week killed any chance of getting a big crowd. More people watched my local Sunday league team than turned up on the Wednesday. Secondly, climate protests, what on earth are you doing protesting at an event that not in a million Sundays was ever going to talk about climate. We've got to the stage where they go to every summit and people don't even blink twice. There is a big conference in Copenhagen coming up which is where all their attention should lie. I do agree with there points but they are so badly ran with no clear aims or objectives that are ever going to be put in place. Thirdly, the anti-war protesters. Did they not see that there was a NATO summit this week. Fourthly, the thugs that decided to smash the RBS building. Congratulations we own 70% of that building and will be paying for the new refurbishment. Also you look like idiots. I say we because as I saw most of the protesters were students not workers. Also if you want to act like an idiot then at least show your face or are you embarrassed.
The police in general did a good job (compare London to Strasbourg or Bangkok) but they were well over handed in some instances and they should not be let off the hook with that.

My main complaint though is that there is no organisation of a clear objective other than using the moral right to persuade politicians. They just looked a bit stupid.

I know most of my friends will disagree with every point I've made but it's been one of those weeks.

Northern hemisphere rugby just doesn't cut it.

2009-03-21T20:06:00.005-01:00

I keep writing about politics and economics so i fancy a change. I've been watching the 6 nations rugby, it's been entertaining. Ireland have won the grand slam for the first time in 61 years. It's a great achievement but I think it proves nothing about the quality of northern hemisphere rugby. I don't think this is the best Irish team I have seen but they got the right amount of luck and timing and fully deserved the title. I still hold though that Ireland and Wales are not good enough to compete on the world stage. To win world cups and be number one in the world.

Even though England and France had relatively disappointing tournaments they are for me still the powerhouses of northern hemisphere rugby and the only teams that can actually compete and scare the tri-nations. People I'm sure will say this is arrogance but i'll outlay a few facts for you.

In my lifetime Wales have won 4 out 46 matches against the tri-nations, Ireland 4 out of 38 and Scotland 1 out of 43. Compare this if you will with France 22 out of 70 and England 23 out of 69. I'll agree none of these are impressive but there is a marked difference. All of Ireland, Scotland and Wales wins except one have come at home. The other at a neutral ground (Wales V Australia June 1987). This victory was the only time these nations have beaten a Tri-nation team in a world cup. That fact is staggering. How can Wales and Ireland even think of winning a world cup if they can't regularly beat the tri-nations at home let alone in a neutral ground. (The next world cup is in New Zealand)
If i was South African or a New Zealander touring the north I would not fear Ireland or Wales at all. As Roux and I have debated many time we are sick of hearing commentators congratulating Wales and Ireland on a good performance when they lose time after time.
You are probably saying to yourself England, really! Well yes. England as bad as they have been still have a World cup and a final to show from this century. More than any team in the world. England and France knocked Australia and New Zealand out of the last world cup. England and France have beaten all the tri-nations away from home since 2000.

The reason this frustrates me is because Wales and Ireland have a couple of worldclass players. O'Driscoll and Shane Williams being two. They play lovely flowing rugby. Watching Wales is a joy. However neither of these two teams can be classed as world class until they compete, not win a match here or there but constantly do well against the tri-nations. This I fear though will be much harder than a 6 Nations grandslam.

I would personally like to see more 6 nations players playing in good super 14 sides. A realisation that Australia are very beatable if you have a strong aggressive pack. That playing free flowing running rugby is only playing into SA and NZ hands and that winning the 6 nations is not a big achievement if you can't back it up against the big team in the tri nations and world cup.

Where did it all go Pete Tong?

2009-03-21T01:33:00.004-01:00

My last post was'nt my greatest so I think I should write a new post to cover that one. I've become slightly addicted to various podcast's from historical speeches by Churchill himself to the history of the Euro. I've learned about the US Guantanamo esque camp in Ethopia to the route causes of the current crisis. It has confirmed to me that I'm actually quite sad and a bit geeky.
I've been really interested in the progression of the 'crisis' and trying to predict how it will develop. I'm by no means well informed but it seems to me there has been 3 root causes to this crisis; short-termism, greed and poor risk analysis. We all suffer from greed, it's inheriant in our make up. It may not be monetary greed but there will be some kind of greed. I'm a strong believer in the 7 deadly sins and I think how we manage them defines us. Greed, I think becomes a serious issue when found in a collective society because it goes from being something we try to push out of our lives to something that is actively encouraged (who doesn't want a pay rise, whether it's in the companies interest or not).
The crisis I think started in several areas, firstly we had had a long period of growth so were due a small downturn. Demand for housing grew quicker than supply (the buy-to let phenomen pushed demand up quickly) this led to an increase in prices. Rather than increasing supply or reducing demand (through regulation on second homes etc) the finance sector saw a potential growth market (i still hold that houses should be homes not investments) and increased access to credit. This is not necessarily a problem if the credit goes to people that can afford to give it back. However credit went to those who really couldn't afford it, through 125% morgages and the like. This led to a bubble, we all saw it and everyone with a few brain cells knew it wasn't sustainable.
Predictably people got themselves into so much debt they couldn't pay there repayments and with a downturn in consumer demand and high oil prices it exacerbated the problem. Thus putting some banks (Northern Rock and Bear Stearns for example) into serious problems. Once that happened banks suddenly went into an ultra cautious approach realising they had big liabilities and a lack of trust in other banks. This creates the snowball we have seen that banks stop lending, finding difficulties in capturing their loans back.
The public who now have big debts that need to be paid off stop spending and essentially put consumer markets in trouble. This cycle continues until we have the big corporations in the world struggling.
What happens from here, well people can't get finance and stop buying homes, cars and other non essential items (homes are essential but a few months extra with parents, or in the small flat is doable) Governments have tried to pump money (stimulus packages) into banks, to get loaning up again, which in theory starts spending. It has bought large shares in banks that looked as if they could fail to try and install trust in the market and use it as an apparatus to force loaning.
I think in general governments are doing the right thing. It's very easy to criticise them but I don't think it mattered what government was in charge, we still would be suffering this. I think that in the initial stages they should of done more to stop housing becoming a growth market. Stopping bad loaning policies would of helped but I think would of punished young buyers more than second home buyers. Something like a heavy tax on second homes may of created a better market for first time buyers and kept house value increases in line with inflation.
There is a good argument to say this started in America but honestly most countries have similar issues, it's just the scale of America that has exacerbated the problem and made it the tipping block.
What I think will happen next is that manufacturing countries will start to be hit badly, that's bad news in particular for Germany, Korea and Japan and to a lesser extent China and India (they still have domestic growth markets to support them). If manufacturing takes a fall then theoretically (I'm starting to sound like an economist. Heaven forbid) there will be less demand in natural resources, shipping and labour. I think that is where the buck stops (purely because then there will be nothing left).
What I think should be done? The govt's of the world need to provide capital. What concerns me though is if that they push for loans to be made then people will borrow when they can't afford it again. We need better lending before more lending. There needs to be better smart regulation (not more regulation) put in place before large sums of money are getting loaned again (news today of Northern Rock still having bad loan policies 6 months after nationalisation shows evidence of this). I think the banks will in time repay the loans given but I don't think this should be rushed or forced (politics and public attitudes will undoubtedly force early repayment). There is a danger that we could head for boom and bust years rather than sustainable growth if we rush the getting out of recession without changing attitudes amongst the public, especially in Britain. The government needs to change the saving attitude of British people, buying on credit is ok as long as we can afford it compared to our wages. We need to reduce our debts and then coonsumer spending will increase. An increase in tax free savings from £3600 to say a one year special allowance of £10,000 may help (not for spending though).
One area I don't agree with is the bailing out of the motor industry. The failures in the motor industry I don't believe are due to the credit crunch but are long term failings in the industry. Bailing them out will only postpone their failure. In my opinion capitalism is working here. It is showing us that there are problem in the industry that unless fixed will cause it to fail. In particular innovation has been lacking. If I had a 7 year old Renault Megane and was a little tight on money, what incentive or reason is there to buy a new car? The techonology in new cars hasn't really improved, cars look pretty much the same and there has been no real fashion fads (perhaps the reemergence of the mini cooper could count as one). The motor industry had such a great opportunity with the high price of oil to promote various fuel effiecient (not necessarily non oil) motors. We should be able to get small electric city cars cheaply, innovation in car design has been lacking. The reason they are not selling cars in because they are not offering us the right type of motors to make us interested in them.
The UK inparticular has particular indvidual issues. We need to get back to innovation and research. Something we do so well is attracting the greatest minds to work in our uni's and businesses. Our companies should be the next frontier in every industry. Innovation is not just technology and science but also business and banking. Banking innovation like mobile banking, social lending. A revolution of ideas need to occur because we are not a manufacturing country. Blaming foreign workers is misleading us from looking at the source of the problem, we're not leaders any more. Alot of our companies are now foreign owned. Why aren't world leaders like google British. It's not a lack of intelligence but perhaps a lack of guidance. We can blame the government but are we 'the people' asking the government for the right things or getting caught up in relatively small issues like politicians expenses and corporate bonuses.

I think this is the longest entry I've ever written, so if you have got this far congrats. I'd love to hear some rants.

I want a bonus!!

2009-03-16T19:32:00.002-01:00

It's probably the hottest topic in the world at the moment and particularly in my office. Bonuses!! Should we get them? This topic is a politicians dream, they can show anger and parade like a performing seal to their audience with no fear of retribution. Or can they? We've seen in recent weeks the anger of Obama and Brown over bonuses given at semi-nationalised companies like AIG, Lloyds, RBS and co. The thesauruses have been working over time with adjectives like disgusting, disgraceful, disrespectful.

I agree to a certain extent. I mean, why should they get a bonus, some of the executives obviously didn't do their job well. However, as with all things, it's not really that black and white. We see in the papers talk of millions and billions and I know I personally can't really put it in to context.

This isn't want I wanted to bring up though. The headlines would have you believe that all this money is going to big time executives (AIG haven't yet released where theres is going) but the truth is somewhat different. Lloyds for example, the executives had all ready given up their bonuses long before the government 'bail-out' and the pay out was for frontline staff earning not much more than the minimum wage. I'm sure in this time of recession they were very grateful of the hyped headlines which cost them there little extra in a time of need.

The underlying problem of this is that there is no fairness in the system. I think if you fail to meet you're targets then you should get nothing, no matter your level. However, if you make all your targets then you should get your bonus. Whether it's government owned shouldn't be an issue. I'll give an example, If I was the managing director of Lloyds retail at this moment I'd be pretty dejected. In a tough year they managed to make a £3bn profit (got lost in the healines). They did everything asked of them and more. Why shouldn't they get their bonus? That's how incentives work.

This brings my last point. People work in banking essentially for the monetary incentives they can get. So when you take away the incentive, they will either leave to find a new incentive or reduce their level of performance. Either way you lose a potentially skilled resource. This is why alot of government projects are so ineffective. The majority of the really skilled people in society work in the private sector.
If the governments really wants comapnies like AIG, RBS and Lloyds to be profitable you have got to run them like a private company and bonuses are an unfortunate side effect of this. Yes, try and stop bonuses going to specific indviduals who don't perform. Yes, take out legal obligations to bonuses (is this a bonus or pay). Don't punish everyone and drum up public hype of the issue.

Before I get a pile of comments, I didn't lose my bonus because I wasn't eligible for one this year.

A catch up

2009-02-23T18:27:00.002-01:00

Well, I'm home again. Home being the UK. My Korean exams went surprisingly well and I passed relatively comfortably. I was even surprised enough to find my speaking score was better than my listening score. Can you adam and eve it?
Once I go back to the UK, I had some job exams to take care of and made it back to good old Burgess Hill. Before I could even stop to breathe and take it all in, I was back in my old job. I wanted to work in the public sector so maybe it's destiny that my company has nearly been nationalised. It's only temporary while I wait for the endless process that is job application. (Why do they take months to do? Do they think I can just sit and wait?)
I had been warned that coming home would be depressing and I'm pleased to say that they were right. It is very very depressing. I don't know if it's the fact that I only really have a couple friends left in my hometown (they have moved away) and that they are pretty settled down. I just feel as if I'm going completely backwards here and after listening to peoples conversations about Jade Goody or Dancing on Ice, I'm dreaming of getting away. Unfortunately, my awesome adventures took their toll on my bank account but there is a slight possibility that I will spend 3 weeks in Portugal in the summer and a weekend in Paris to meet up with the J's. I have to look for small pleasures in life.
Well thats the catch up. Thoroughly boring isn't it. Well at least you don't have to live it.

My advice. Never go home!!! Missing it is better than living it!!!

Oh one small note, anybody that uses Google Earth a lot will probably of tried adding various layers and kml layers. Well here is a link to a really good one on North Korea that highlights various buildings, military units and even suspected gulags.

http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=165472#Post165472

Celebrity Collage by MyHeritage

2009-02-08T10:16:00.003-01:00

Will there be war?

2009-02-03T13:12:00.003-01:00

No, I think is the easy answer. I'm of course talking about SK and NK. I seem to rarely talk about anything else. This week you may of seen the symbolic ending of military and political agreements that were made early a few years ago. It also deals with some maritime border disputes.

Then, more recently it's thought (US and Korea suspect) that NK will test out another missile in the next two weeks. What is significant about this one I hear you shout, well it's an improvement on the Taepodong 2 missile that they tested near Japan. I'm no weapons expert but from the little reading I have done it's like a scud rocket that could theoretically act as a nuclear delivery system. I'd be interested to hear from anyone who knows more. More importantly analysts are saying it can reach 6000- 6700 km. That puts Alaska (and I think Hawai) into touching distance. Although realistically I'm not sure it can carry heavy loads that far.

Does this mean the heightened tensions on the Korean Peninsula are reaching climatic stage? Well, I don't think so. NK lives on and needs attention, they have been sulking about the lack of attention the new US govt has given them. The fact that special envoys have been sent to the Middle East and South Asia, whereas North Korea hasn't been mentioned apart from the 6 party talks (NK have wanted bilateral talks for a long time). Add to this Lee Myung Bak is currently really unpopular in the South and they are playing on this.

What all this tension does is increase it's leverage in negotiations and make the issue seem more important than it actually is. They said very promising things about a new relationship with the US and therefore this creates pressure on the Obama regime to do something. LMB is essentially a puppet in this but for once I think he is right in taking a tougher line. Without LMB help and US ignoring them, NK has no where really to go apart from make threats. The problem is NK can't really go through with these threats because it gives their enemies an excuse to remove them. Therefore all they have left is to make symbolic gestures to try and create a sense of fear in the public sphere that puts pressure on governments to change it's policy (how the media spins these symbolic gesture will decide how successful they are) . If you read my blog post of a few weeks ago I did actually predict this (It's not often I'm right so I have to highlight it when I am)

I'll leave you with a random fact. For the third year running, South Korean students have made up the largest proportion on foreign students in the USA, accounting for nearly 15% of all foreign students ahead of both India and China.

An amazing find...

2009-01-24T14:43:00.002-01:00

Just a quick quick note. People know I'm not fond of the media at the best of times and is a reson why.

http://ccgi.newbery1.plus.com/blog/?p=147

It's an amazing spot and although not overly critical in it's importance is with other coverage forming a false opinion of an important leader in the world.

Shame on the BBC!!!! If i was paying my license fee I would not be impressed.

Size matters!!

2009-01-24T13:43:00.004-01:00

OK, this will be my last maps related entry. I think!

I think sometimes we forget our position in the world. I come from essentially a rich island and live in a relatively rich semi-developed country. Both countries somewhat punch above there real weight on the global scene. Both Britain and South Korea are in the top 20 economies in the world but their respective size suggest otherwise. I feel that when making comparisons with the US, it is much more important to compare it to the EU rather than to the UK alone.

This map is not particularly new but does highlight the economic clout that the US actually has. I think it is from 2006. Some notable states would California being equivalent to France and Canada being Texas. California would be one of the richest states in the world if it was independent. Only Germany, UK, Japan, India and China are richer. This is evening more worrying when you consider a former Austria body builder has the same economic capabilities as the whole of France.

I'm sure this would be similar if it was GDP but it actually population. For as much publicity Tibet gets it only has the same amount of people as Jamaica. I know the region is extremely mountainous but compared to the rest of China it's sparsely populated. The UK is compared to Hubei. This map really shows the potential China has to become a super power because if it's per capita GDP was to rise from around $2500 to around $11,000 (Poland) then it would become easily the largest economy in the world.

This last map was released by the Dutch health authorities in Sept 2007 to show patients how lucky they are. I'm sure you can debate the actual figures. I mean it doesn't mention anything about cost or quality of health care. The best countries may seem a bit of a surprise. In order Cuba, Belarus, Belgium, Greece, Russia, Georgia, Italy, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Lithuania. The UK is about mid way in the list but numerically there is little difference between the top 30 countries. Africa unsurprisingly has a complete monopoly on the depths of the ranking.

The amount of former soviet states at the top of the ranks shouldn't be all that surprising. Generally under communist or socialist rule countries have a large state health care system.

For me, maps don't show facts but merely trends. The data as with any data can be argued but the general trends they show are eye opening. I have recently been reading a lot of Korean economic papers. Academics here tend to constantly compare themselves to Japan, China and US, maybe this leads to a results driven society. The first two maps though show that maybe countries like the UK and Korea should look at ourselves in comparison to more realistic targets like EU countries or US states.

I've always wondered what would happen if the US disbanded and became a union like that of the EU and the same to China, Russia, Japan and India. What kind of world would we live in then?

American Maps

2009-01-19T06:53:00.006-01:00

I love maps, i admit it. It brings out the geek in me and I found the mecca for all map lovers. A blog on strange maps (see links) and I thought I'd highlight a couple of maps in particular.

This is a map of the South East of the USA. The dots represent the white cotton production in 1860 (each dot is 2000 bales). The blue and red is the election results in 2008. Red being Obama and Blue McCain. The correlation is staggering. If my lecturer did drum one thing into me at uni, it was 'Correlation is not Causation'.

I don't know enough about regionalism in the US but the blog says it's to do with the placement of African Americans in the US. I doubt this because they aren't a big enough minority to shift states. I'll guess that most of these states have voted the same way for some time. I would think that the places where cotton mills existed were financially better off than those areas without them. Upper class have tended to be more right wing than poorer areas. This is a guess though.

The next map is a map of US motto's. I thought it was interesting for no particular reason.

Do we value some lives more than others?

2009-01-18T07:07:00.002-01:00

I just wanted to highlight 2 stories from this week that got my blood lukewarm. Those of you that watch any European or Asian news will have noticed that the headline for most of this week has been the plane crashing in the Hudson river. Luckily no lives were lost because of the expert skills of the pilot. My complaint is though that every news agency has decided to give this full news coverage (i will excuse the US on this case because it's local news for them and you would expect extensive coverage) even though for Asia and Europe it isn't local news and although deserves to be mentioned deserves no where near the attention a mechanical failure deserves.

This brings me nicely to the second set of items. This weekend Fiji suffered it's largest ever flooding killing 14 people, an Indonesian ferry also sunk killing about 300 people. However did anyone see these stories in the news. Perhaps you would have if you read in depth regional news but should you have too? 300 people! I'm don't know the process for choosing news items but who ever does it is misguided.

I know many people will read this (OK a few people) and say that's sad and then go on normally and I don't think that is necessarily a bad thing because we care about news we relate to. I guess we can relate more to American incidents more than we can Indonesian. However the coverage in our countries (this is not just the UK, Korea and most of Europe is just as bad) shouldn't play on this but provide a more leveled coverage.
That's the end of that rant.

Another news item that I watched and perhaps more personal was the North Korean military spokesman. It was on TV here and I understood some of it but struggled with most of it. The Korean Times reported him saying

"Now that traitor Lee Myung-bak and his group opted for confrontation, denying national reconciliation and cooperation, backed by foreign forces, our revolutionary armed forces are compelled to take an all-out confrontational posture to shatter them,"

This is pretty hard core stuff. I have mixed views about LMB, I hate most of his policies but he has decided to take a hard line on NK reducing aid and taking a stronger line. I kind of agree with him. In the last 10 years the more liberal governments have been kinder to NK and achieved nothing. So maybe a change in strategy is required. I mean there is little incentive for NK to improve it's human rights. They say they will do something like abandon nuclear weapons for large amounts of aid. Then once they get it they go back on their word and the process starts again.

Realistically, NK won't and can't shatter SK. They may have a lot of missiles but they have no international support and would lose any conflict heavily. SK has plenty of missile defences and would probably suffer limited losses (more so economically). The timing of this I think though is key. It's been well documented that Kim Jong Il is deciding on who will replace him.

I personally put my money on Chang Song Taek. He's Kim Jong Il's brother in law and considered the number 2 man. I don't think any of his sons are capable or willing to take control. The problem is the military, they must by now have a massive influence over the government but all the senior generals are in there 70's and 80's and suffer from poor health. This announcement though suggests that the military is positioning itself should any decision not be to their liking. Hyon Chol Hae is a name that may crop up in regards to the military. He was Kim Jong Il's bodyguard during the Korean war and is now the 2nd in charge of the army (the top guy is somewhat a lame duck).

The next few weeks are going to be interesting. With Obama coming into power it will be interesting to see what NK does. Maybe we'll see something symbolic like missile tests again but I doubt there will be anything too bad.

Something small to think about

2009-01-16T07:29:00.002-01:00

Just think for one seconds about how the money spreads around the world.
A women in Nevada works as a prostitute, she earns money and pays taxes. These taxes go to the the US government. The US government in turn bail out companies like AIG for instance. So the people of America essentialy own AIG. AIG sponsors Manchester United in what is a very big sponsorship deal. Manchester United use that money to pay their overpaid players, like Wayne Rooney for example.

So next you earn some money and pay tax just think how much an English football player is getting of that?

They say everybody knows everyone else in the world through a connection of 5 people. I think the same applies for money.

A rant kind of..

2009-01-12T12:03:00.002-01:00

I know my posts seem to come in pairs at the moment and I'm not sorry. Pay me and then I'll apologise. I still have a post about Park Chung Hee ( I know none of you know who he is but oh well).

At home, where time begins (literally) there is a massive debate (ok, not massive) about the introduction of short paid internships. It seems we have too many graduates and not enough graduate jobs (didn't see that coming) and the governments wise idea is to promote several hundred internships in various but mostly finance related industries. This is all being done to counter the 'credit crunch' (why is the excuse always the credit crunch, like car companies getting bailed out because of the difficult times. It's not the credit crunches fault, it's the fact they make shit cars that it the problem. Another rant another time).

So it's led to the argument that we have too many graduates. In theory governments are supposed to help people go to uni and improve it's work force. The problem is though there is only so many smart people that a country needs. Add to this that honestly most graduates are not skilled in anything useful. I don't think the problem is really that we have too many graduates I think it's more that we have too many graduates in useless subjects.

Now I know I'm going to offend a bunch of friends ( i have to be careful because although my degree was in Accounting (a profession) i did do my masters in a Social Science albeit focusing on economics) but really how many interior designers, media students, historians, artists, literaturists (see I don't even know what they do) and geographers does one country really need. I'm not saying stop these classes, far from it. These are industries that are important in country. I just think that they should allow students that excel in it because we all know the other half move into more traditional and useful industries like business. Subjects where we are lacking graduates like engineering and nursing are just not being taken up.

The problem now is that graduates with these useless degrees are not willing to take low skilled jobs so we have immigrants do them and left with a mass of graduates without key skills on the job heap and mounting student debt. How about the government say 'if you're not good enough to get a job in an industry you're trained then you should maybe apply for one of these 'lower skill' jobs' and then we wouldn't have the unemployment problem, a over hyped immigration issue and people like me, that can work in a profession (if i choose too) can laugh. Ok that was a little harsh. I feel your pain!!! Don't even get me started with teaching grants!!!!!

I believe in dictatorships

2009-01-12T10:57:00.002-01:00

OK, before I start getting chased down the street and beaten to a pulp, I don't believe in dictatorships. I 'm not joining Mugabe's mailing list any time soon. The main reason (other than the obvious ones) is that I don't believe in one party states. However I don't make bold statements without some element of truth.

I'm not sure if there is a term for what i think but I'm going to christen the idea 'Dictatorial Democracy' (not the Tamil Tigers version of it) . In short I think that poorer countries should have a system that allow their democratically elected president, leader, wise one or numpty to have a slightly longer term in office and have far larger control similar to that of a dictator. I'm not talking military or human rights abuser before some wise one speaks up. Just someone who can have say 2 terms of 7 years where they have complete power.

I'll back up a few steps. I think countries and states are like children with poor 3rd world countries being small babies and large historical forces being old people. When babies are small they need lots of care and attention. They need stability and to be guided on the right path, spoon feed a long the way. As they get older you give them more freedom and access to access to other children. Once then are mature enough, you let them loose in the real world with all the dangers that entails but if they have been well brought up they strive and lead.

Countries I feel are the same. 3rd world countries need stability and lots of government intervention. They need plans and paths to follow. They need the foundations of a society, schools, hospitals and infrastructure. As they become richer I think they should control their trade with other similar countries to generate mutual progression. They should protect themselves against richer 'bullies' until they reach the stage that they capable of competing like to like. Once they are fully developed it is then their job to help others and be a wise owl.

To put this in a more practical perspective countries like North Korea are the ones about to be born (i hope). Cambodia and Laos are the kind of countries that are just over breast feeding. Then you move to the Nigeria's and Ghana's of this world that are young children before coming across South Korea, South Africa and Mexico that are teenagers pushing the limits of power and strutting around but lacking the chest hair to do it. Next you have the BRIC countries (Bra,Rus,Ind,Chi) these are the freak children that come around and use there pure size to get from place to place. From here you have the adults (Turkey, Aus, Canada) who are developed and plodding along making their own legacy. What we are missing is the manager, a person at the top of their career and with only one way to go, on their way to the pension office (no guesses who this is). Lastly but not least is Western Europe and Japan. These are the senior citizens. They've had their time, had a run in with the law and tried all the stuff. They're are past their best but are experienced souls.
(I've realised that I am a geek)

Anyway, back to dictatorships. My problem with true democracy is nothing get done. We see a set of policies and by the time they are in place govt changes and a whole new set of policies come into place. Radical ideas never get through government and governments become tame (probably for the good). Dictatorships though have the ability if it choses too (critical point) to install a set of policies and see them through properly and quickly. (It has been argued that some dictators actually in their first few years, were the best leaders that some countries had had. Kim Il Sung being one). I believe ( I may be unique in this) that the initial stages of development are actual quite simple. I mean it's a well trodden path that doesn't require much innovation but technological catch up. What could go wrong??

Essentially I think that if a country starts from scratch as North Korea will do one day then they have several steps to follow.
1) Find out what is in demand (starts with agriculture, moves to light industry, heavy industry and services)
2) Supply it (use all the labour available. Once you have full employment even inefficient employment the the wheels start turning. People earn then they spend increasing demand which increases supply blah de blah)
3) Improve the labour (build schools, hospitals, infrastructure, legal system)
4) Become more efficient so you can produce more without creating unemployment (technology and machines, business practices)
5) Innovate ( high end innovation, education and research will make the country a leading force)
6) Pay Marc a consultants fee (Optional)

I know I've simplified this a lot (I studied this for my masters and read far to much to condense in 1000 pages) but it should be this simple. So if it's simple then stability and a good consistent plan is what you need. Hence, Dictatorial Democracy.

As a country get more developed then a truer democracy can be brought in. I'm against the notion that there is a one size fits all approach to development. I don't think you can say a democratic capitalist state is perfect for every country at every stage of development. I think it's a gradual thing whereby you start with a protected socialistic country and as it gets richer and can compete it becomes more liberal and more capitalist.

Let us not forget that every developed country has in it's time protected itself, having a government that had firm control of the country. Britain still has an the capabilities of an elective dictatorship and the US a constitutional dictatorship. We're not world leaders because we're dumb so people should stop listening to us and start copying us.

LiNK and North Korea

2009-01-03T06:13:00.003-01:00

Happy New Year!!!
I've decided that this year my blog is going to continue it's transformation from a diary to opinionated column. Basically my life is starting to get boring and I have nothing to write. I also have done a ton of academic reading that will be wasted if I don't write it all down.

Most of you will know, if you don't why not, that I have a fascination with the Korean pennisula and see it as both the most extreme cases of human behaviour and yet the biggest potential in the world.

I should say first that I don't particularly believe in charities or NGO's unless in short term emergency cases. I feel they highlight issues well but allow government to neglect serious social problems, particularly in South Korea. Saying this though I want to draw your attention to a charity I'm willing to support and believe in. Why I hear you holler? Well go to any academic journal, book, debate or political policy and you will discover unlimited amout about the North Korea nuclear issue. This I feel though is completely over shadowing the most extreme case of human right, economic, health and political abuses in modern history. This is a country that still has concentration camps and deliberately enforces a closed society.

The charity is called 'Liberty in North Korea' (LiNK) and essentially tries to highlight these issues as well as support refugees, it's a US based organisation with branches across the globe. Spend one hour watching this video and then go to my facebook page and add it to your causes.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=zHvf8OhYND4&feature=related

Over the coming weeks I do have a few blogs lined up about Korea and won't try to put you on a hippie campaign but today I will.

If you haven't watched the video just ask yourself 'When your children or the children of North Korea grow up and ask you 'Why did you let it last so long?' and 'What did you do?' What will you answer?'

It's not a lack of military, money, intelligence, population or ethics. It's a lack of a desire to change things.

2009 Predictions

2008-12-30T05:27:00.006-01:00

For full blog visit http://blueatjustchill.blogspot.com/

I'm going to put my money where my mouth is, actually not my money but my opinion and in the grand scheme of things that isn't worth too much. Anyways, I should be studying the intricacies of the Korean honorific system and thoroughly bored to tears. So I will write this instead.

Sport

England will not be number 1 in any major sport (Football, Rugby or Cricket). I'm starting slow with the predictions.
New Zealand will finish the year as number one Rugby union team but will again get complacent before the next world cup.NZ will win the 7's. Wales will win the 6 nations but England will improve. (Hard not to from 4th out of 6).

South Africa will be number one in test cricket with India and Australia close behind, but Aus will remain number 1 in one day game.
England will win the ashes!!!!!!!!!!!

Spain will continue to be the pace setters in football but England will qualify comfortably and I will convince myself that we are the best team in the world and will win the world cup. Wales, Scotland and N.Ireland will be valiant in their typical demise. France won't qualify for the world cup. Portugal, Greece, Czech Rep, Germany, Spain, England, Lithuania (Surprise), Italy and Holland will win their groups.

Chelsea will win the premiership ahead of Man Utd, Liverpool and Arsenal (Please don't let it be Villa) There will again be an all English Champions League final. Leeds will win the play offs. West Brom, Stoke and I hate to say it West Ham are going down.
Man City will not be able to sign any world class players and West Ham will be on the verge of bankruptcy and get deducted 10 points sending them down.
Beckham will leave LA Galaxy to return to Europe to try and make it to the world cup.
Andy will win his first triathlon at the end of the year!!!!!
No other sports really matter.

The world

OK if the sports predictions had a lack of expert analysis then this certainly will. I have discovered since travel that the more we learn the less we actually know and that every situation is complicated beyond belief. This has led me to a complete mistrust of the media and experts who speak on every field because i know there is no way they know it all. Events in Thailand have taught me that in particular with journalist spouting out rhetoric that they probably got off wikipedia and seeing a protest and making the assumption that protesters must be in the right.
However I am not a journalist, expert or incredibly smart so take it with a pinch of salt.

The economy I don't think has seen the worse of the crisis. People are only really starting to get laid off and it won't be for a couple of months until the masses of unemployed no longer have savings or money just to survive. There will be more unemployment and more non essential companies will fall. I will guess one of the big US car makers will collapse even with govt assistance (personally i don't agree they should get backing, It's good for the US to back them but not global economy). I think that late spring is when it will hit worse. I expect to see a large increase in university applicants especially for masters programs from people who take redunacy and decide it's a good time to do further study. In the UK i can imagine there will be a big campaign to end benefits but they will continue. I think if we do have an election in the UK then maybe Labor will win with a Liberal coalition. It all depends how the govt work in the next 3 months, this is there chance to wipe away the faults of the last few years.

Obviously it's Obama's first year in charge and perhaps the economy is a hidden benefit to him, no one will blame the man who can do no wrong and by the end of the year the economy will show signs of recovery and he will be praised for it. Guantanamo Bay will hopefully close. It won't be all good for him though, i don't think he'll get even half of what he wants through congress. I don't think Hilary will be a good foreign secretary (i would of given her a domestic role like health care) I think she will suffer from being a celebrity more than being a proven negotiator.

I won't make predictions about Israel and the Middle East because lets be honest the year will end like every year, civilians on both sides will needlessly die and nothing will or can be resolved. I'm almost to the view that the world should just stand aside and let them get on with it because until one side completely annilates the other this won't end.

More in my interest I hope that South Africa take a more hard line against Mugabe and that the UK support South Africa rather than do things unilaterally. The EU i hope also follows the UK line rather than support dictators. I think this has the potential to be resolved by the end of the year if neighbouring governments have the desire. SA though has an election next year will decide what happens.

Thailand i think will continue to have protests all year. I can't see their current PM lasting the year and if they have elections then they will lose to the rural majority and be in exactly the same situation as before. I can't see Taksin getting back into power. The Thai economy will suffer more than any in the region.

In my adopted home of South Korea I hope they ride the economic crisis, it's fair to say I'm not a great fan of the president here but the opposition are acting lack spoilt children and there is serious lack of maturity amongst politicians here. This year I hope that none of the presidents big ideas (especially the canal) will be allowed to proceed. I think Korea will get a nasty shock from the new Obama team and there export economy will suffer. I feel Koreans need to forget about high economic growth and concentrate on updating its social welfare and social policy. This country has the potential economically but the lack of social development is worrying. I would like to see a clamp down on private academies and religious movements but I'm sceptical. How Korea progresses from a poor export country to a cultured developed country relies on how the masses act and what they will demand.

The North Korea situation will continue to be terrible, our only hope for the year is that the great leader dies. Then and only then will something happen. I think we will see the emergence of prodige probably from within the NK military. There will be no military action from the south. I really hope that China decides that enough is enough and put serious pressure on NK. China I think are in control of what happens this year. I would hope but doubt that the media and US policy team focus more on what is the worse humanatarian crisis in the world not only this year but in the last 30 plus years. It is despicable that the nuclear issue has been allowed to overshadow this. China also has a key role to play in Burma where the junta remain in control. These really are three issues that i study and focus on and would like my career to focus on.

Like usual many other countries will have seriously neglected issues and it seems you need to create a bloodbath before any media outlet will take it seriously.

I think thats enough for predictions. Israel, India and South Africa will all have elections so it will at least be interesting. One last thing, Pound one to one with the Euro WTF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. That better change otherwise i will never be able to cross the channel again.

Personally, I'll be back in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland on the morning of the 13th of February. I will probably be stuck in some dead end job for at least 6 months until various interviews and applications are over. So by 2010 I can start to conquer the world!!!

The year that was!!

2008-12-30T04:25:00.008-01:00

For full blog visit http://blueatjustchill.blogspot.com/

Can you believe it's nearly the end of this decade!!!!! 2009 Oh my days!!! 2008 was an eventful one not only for me but for everyone. I've personally been to so many places and met so many people. I've had many special people come in and out of my life so I hope 2009 will be even half as good.
As everything seems to have an end of year awards I've decided to give out the inaugural 'Marcies' awards.

'Highlight of the Year' - Watching Usain Bolt not only destroy the 100m and relay world records but beat Micheal Johnson's 200m world record in incredible style.

'British Highlight of the Year' - Again at the Olympics, seeing the British cycle team completely dominate the world stage yet again.

'Funniest Moment' - Standing on a platform in the middle of Russia watching a man jump on to a moving train with his dinner in a polystyrene plate and seeing it go all over him as he is clinging on for dear life. Bradders and I were in tears of laughter for at least 2 days.

'I should of known better Award' - Zip lining into a river in Vang Vieng, Laos not once but twice and losing my hearing for several days, eye sight for a couple of hours and breaking nearly every bone in my body. Idiot!!!!

'Best Country Award' - Joint winner Laos and Japan, with Croatia a close runner up.

'Best City Award' - Beijing (i was there at a truly historic time) New York would be a close runner up.

'Worst Country' - Tough to give it to anyone but maybe Poland or Cambodia. I did enjoy my time in both but they can be depressing countries.

'Worst City' - With out a single doubt Zhengzhou in the middle of China. Hell hole!!! I think Moscow except the Kremlin deserves a mention.

'Best Wonder' - The great wall, Chungju Lake (Korea), Lake Baikal ( Russia) and Lake Bled (Slovenia)

'Most overrated wonder' - Imperial Palace in Tokyo

'Best Museum' - The Baltic states war tour that Bradders and I made. The communist museum in Prague and the Korean War museum in Seoul that I've now been to 5 times. The UN building in New York and Red Cross Museum in Geneva.

'Worst Museum' - Bosnia National Museum and Laos National Museum. They have such potential but yet such a let down.

'Best Argument' - Bradders and I in Vienna subway station both acting like brats.

'The Wrong place Wrong time Award' - Being in Bangkok Airport at the start of the protests and not being able to leave the country for 5 day, subsequently missing the wedding of the year in which i was one of the best men. I will stick one of their clappers somewhere painful if i ever go back.

'The small world award' - Unexpectedly meeting Carlos in the Temple of Heaven in Beijing just before the start of the Olympics. Also meeting Elizabeth in Lithuania, Latvia and Seoul.

'Biggest Disappointment of the year' - England not qualifying for Euro 2008 and Spain winning it. All my worst nightmares at once. Leeds not getting promoted again!!!

The 'I surprised myself' Award - Cycling the entire length of South Korea and taking a Korean Language course.

'The biggest expense Award' - Buying a world class suit from John Kerry's tailor and missing the wedding i was going to use it in. It really is a good suit!!! The train from St Petersberg to Moscow was ridiculous.

'Best Accommodation' - Live the bubble, Dream the bubble, Enjoy bubble. Andy I'm coming to move in with you anytime.

'Best Sporting Achievement by a country' - This is an added award before i get mobbed by angry South Africans. They are now the best Rugby union and Test cricket team in the world. According to rankings!!!

'Best Food' - South East Asia had great food, Fukuoka (Japan) had great ramyeon, Austria had great strudel and the baltics great dumplings. However, there is only ever going to be one winner and with out a doubt it's Korean food. For those of you that have never had it, it's not expensive high class difficult food. It's regualr cheap lower class food but it's so good. Dakgalbi, kimbap, just rice and kim, pacheon, all the soups, ramyeon and everything except tofu. I eat korean food ahead of anything and always eat my plate and my friends. Uni canteen food is the same but cheaper. Siney knows my feelings because I most of her food at lunch on top of mine.

If you have any more suggestions for awards tell me. I think overal it has been a great year, the olympics were a big sporting success, Obama winning the presidency is obviously big news that i was glad to see. The economic crisis has dampened the mood and it sad to see situation in North Korea continue to not get the humanatarian media coverage that it warrants. The situation in Zimbabwe, Congo, Thailand, Sudan, Somalia, Middle East and Georgia still remain poorly dealt with.

As for this blog I recently added a blog counter and after some trail and error it's working. I average about 20 views a day with 3-4 unique viewers. It's amazing what it tells me about the people who view this site. I will try to get a map up to geographically place them all. I'll give my 2009 predictions in due course now i know people actually read this. Also somewhere i must have a stalker because over I've had over 10,000 views on my flickr page. Own up who is it?

Being English Part 2

2008-12-09T07:40:00.004-01:00

Well i had so many responses about my last post that I've had to think about it more. Before i went on a bit of a patriotic rant and forgot what i was writing about. As Alistair correctly mentioned there is no such thing as ethnic English. However, I've said before that there is a difference between ethnicity and nationality. Ethnically the English are traditionally Germanic or Scandinavian with a mix of va va voom from across the channel. England though is in the globalised world,ethnicity in England is no longer consigned to white fair haired people. For well over a hundred years we have had a mixture of races especially Caribbean and Indian. Therefore our ethnicity is not what being English is. The English and American are not the same even though we have similar ethnic roots.

So being English in the modern day is complicated. I went to school with Caucasians, Chinese, Indian, African, Caribbean and Latin and to be honest i never really thought about Englishness in that way. I'm not naive enough to think it's always been like that. Being a English man now though, i feel should mean that we don't look at the colour of one skin and although there is racism, it is a hardcore minority. Trust me when i say in other countries there a majority who hold racist views. So I think we can be proud of that.

I think to be English means that we have pride in our heritage and development into a multi-cultural country (our national dish is curry). We also have a sense of arrogance that we are rightly at the upper echelons of world society. We are the noble and wise who has dealt with a falling empire. We don''t ask anybody for anything (or least we think that). We strive when the odds are against us and where we have to work as a nation against an enemy (the fact that Prime Ministers tend to get reelected during war time suggests this). We are a nation that will happily laugh at ourselves (when we're doing the joking) and we have a unique sense of sarcasm and humour that other countries (Americans in particular) just don't understand.

I remember sitting in an hostel in Chongqing watching the closing ceremony of the Olympic games when London did it's thing and Boris Johnson waved the flag. I couldn't stop laughing (as well as be embarrassed). The Chinese around me were in shock that i would laugh at my own country and make jokes about my own country. This is not unpatriotic just a unique sense of humour. Our coolness transcends into our music and films. It is this Englishness that people abroad find so honest.

To be English is to appreciate family life and personal time. We take orders from no one not even family but offer advice to everyone. We like to drink (sometimes too much) and complain about the weather. That is just what we do. We are scared of the unknown but in times of hardship we will offer assistance.

I say we but I should say I because I can't speak for all English. We are all different that's what makes us unique. Every country will have it's own positives and negatives. I used to be slightly ashamed of my country, we have done some awful things but we have also achieved some of the most the amazing feats known to man. We have contributed to the world we live in and that is a lot more than some countries I could mention. So now i am not ashamed of being English because after travelling around I've come to realise that although on the face of it countries may look great with new infrastructure and beautiful sights. Socially they are a million miles away from being English, where no matter your race, sexuality, status you can go to the pub and have a beer with the person next to you with no fear of persecution.

But maybe my English arrogance is coming out again. I'm sure Alistair will tell me.

Seoul National University

2008-12-09T07:17:00.003-01:00

So I made it here. Just!!! Korea's number 1 university. After an extremely drunken night with Elizabeth I turned up to class hungover and not really knowing what i was doing. The idea of studying Korean never really entered my mind until i was cycling around Korea. I had always wanted to study abroad but felt another masters or a PHD wouldn't be worth my while and with getting through the stages of the civil service exams I thought a language course would help me.

My Korean was already reasonable for a foreigner and i know alot of random vocab but not much grammar. I would of donea course but living in Pocheon is difficult to study from. My class is small with 12 students from Russia, Mongolia, Burma, America, Kuwait, Australia and Indonesia. Everybody is at a pretty similar level, which is a bit above the level we're doing. The first few days were drilling on our Hanguel pronunication which is what i need most. I feel lucky that the class is nice and we go for lunch everyday. My classes are from 9-1 so i have the afternoons to chill.

I'm staying in a dormitory room which are similar to Penbryn in Aber. I share a room (this must be an american thing) with a 1st year Korean maths student, who although has the largest collection of shoes and toiletteries i've ever seen is a really nice guy. I get on with him well and he's not all 'i'm rooming with a foreigner'. I think we will get on well together. Plus in has a massive computer screen that is immense.

Ok back to study!!!!

Being held captive....

2008-12-05T08:04:00.002-01:00

November 26th Bangkok international airport, 3000 Thai PAD protesters take control of Thailand's busiest airport forcing the cancellation of every flight in and out of the country. The problem is I'm stuck inside the terminal with little way in or out. I'm a hostage!
Ok that's a little extreme and perhaps my boredom has taken over and led to hysteria but we're in a sensationalist world now. My captures have been pretty nice to me. Ive been here about 8hours and been given several bottles of water, a seafood rice dish, a Danish pastry, 4 bread rolls, a small cake and 2 packs of gum. Not bad, being a hostage is cheap living.
The thing is I'm not sure why they decided to take the airport. I'm by no means an expert on Thai politics and what I know mostly comes from Andy and although he calls me a Marxist I think he calls it pretty well. Essentially the PAD is the urban class and in the minority to the UND rural government. After some coup and elections they continue to lose. They claim the UND is corrupt and tied to Taksin former pre coup administration. There is there seems some truth to this.Back to the airport, I cant see the benefit of taking it. Yes it creates publicity but the PAD has had relatively positive media attention and this seems to be changing. The government has played it perfectly I'm sure its been noted abroad. They have just left the protesters to it not using any police or restrictions. Obviously this helps the govt because without confrontation there is no news. This was ok until pro govt supporters created the confrontation and gun shots were heard with 11 wounded in the city.I've just been notified that the govt has paid for all passengers to be put up in IBIS hotels across Bangkok. I'm now in a propaganda war and the protesters seem a little dejected that all the foreigners are leaving because this obviously takes away some of the prestige, some foreigners though were starting to lose their patience with the protesters. The hotel is nice but I have to share with a Belgian guy. Rumour has it that the military general ( a potential military coup is also possible) will make a speech and the president will arrive back from the APEC summit via Chiang Mai.
Just watched the generals speech he says he is behind the govt and will not use force (you'd think the president would decide this).The airlines and particularly mine 'Cathay Pacific' have been beyond useless , I accept its not their fault but there is no info, no staff, no assistance, their telephone lines are blocked, their website still says flights are scheduled and they still haven't told me what I should do.
The night came and went and still no news. The events in Mumbai though may help (I felt for the couple scheduled to fly from Bangkok to Mumbai, where do their troubles start) all international news coverage is no longer covering the Thai situation but Mumbai so now there is no coverage, no passengers and no opposition for the protesters. I'm unsure how the situation can end, pro govt supporters have rallied in Chiang Mai behind the president.Let's wait and see.

The next couple of days i spent in the cathay pacific office trying to get out of the country. Rumours were adrift that they were sending Hong Kong citizens home, this i thought was my chance so off i trotted down to the British embassy to see what our flagship provider was doing for it's citizens. Sod FFing all is what. I shouldn't of been surprised considering they couldn't put open a terminal up without fing it up. So after complaining and about the hong kong situation and trying to get sympathy with an impending marriage (white lies are ok) I was advised to go to the Chinese embassy. So i went there (the taxi drives could smell blood I'm sure) and they knew nothing about this. A cover up i thought so i trotted to the Hong Kong office. A possible solution on which i won't write about but got me on a emergency flight from the army base to hong Kong. Unfortunately I would miss the big wedding. In the airport it was chaos, imagine Chichester airstrip with Heathrow's passengers. One x-ray machine and 2 desks dealing with thousands upon thousands of passengers. I met a girl from Hong Kong who i befriended the day before and who was trying to get on the plane without a ticket. Needless to say a bit of blagging got her on board on what was a semi empty plane. We landed in Hong Kong with the nightmare (plus dreams of seeing anarchy) all over. I may never get to see a coup. The history is well still being written a coup has been avoided with law makers banning the president and his colleagues forming a new collation. This is certainly not the end of things and don't be surprised off a possible social uprising or dare i say it civil conflict.

Hong Kong was how i left it, bright lights, clean streets and the smell of colonialism.

A smalll dedication to Hoi-To and Joyce whose wedding i may of missed but i will certainly be there for the 50 year anniversary. Congratulations!!!

Siem Reap

2008-11-28T09:50:00.005-01:00

Its not often I spend nearly 2 weeks in one city, but its also not often I'm near one of greatest temples in history, Angkor Wat.
'Siam crushed' as it's translated is surprisingly small considering its fame with a small market and a foreigner bar street. I chilled out, read books and sipped coffees. I have found I'm a much different traveler than I had been, sightseeing is almost a chore and I get through about three books a week now. Due to me having some spare time and the fact that I'm the nicest guy in the world, I decided to stay at an orphanage that Andy had suggested to me.
HSPCC was set up to help poorer kids in the suburbs of SR. It has grown to four centers, in the one I was at contained four 'older' kids from 15 to 22. However it was mainly a center for young students learning English. So at lunch time 15 or so kids of 5-8 years old came and terrorised us. The first day I was well up for being a climbing frame and face washer but by the fifth I wanted to give them back. The individual stories of these kids are too sad to describe but most were victims of societal faults. Many struggled with Khmer let alone English. One young boy particular took to finding me everyday to be carried and hugged, his story was also a sad one. The kids I lived with were very mature for their age and full of street smartness. I paid for food but wish I could of paid for more. I helped in the lessons and fixed computers. It was nice to see real life and go to the market. I found out how much foreigners get ripped off for food.
I think it will take time for the experience to settle in, dropping in for a week may seem like a noble thing to do but I felt odd like I was exploiting their position for my own experience. I can go back to my life but this is theirs.
I hope one day I have a job that gives these kids a chance because that's all they want.
With those thoughts I went to Angkor Wat, the chores that I undertake during my travels.
I decided on getting a bike to go to Angkor and left on the 20 minute journey at 6am. It was in hindsight perfect timing. I got to the Angkor Wat temple when there was nobody there and stolled around nicely. The temple has the enormity of the Great Wall and you can marvel purely at it's scale. The detail on every rock and wall is immense and although a religious sight it empicts a mass of fighting and killing. The irony!!
I left the temple at 8:30ish and met a stream of tourist heading for the temple. Mostly from Korea actually. Their groups completely take over and i was glad to be ahead of them. I visited a few of the smaller temples and got to the 'tomb raider' temple. I was surprised!!! Basically the trees had grown through the building and completely took over but left the building in relatively safe condition underneath. It was cetainly an iconic building. I spent the rest of the day visiting the major temples and by the end was completely templed out.
The sight was amazing and perhaps this blog doesn't give it justice. That evening i sat with a beer and somber at the thought that this was the last sight i will see on my travel. From here i got to Bangkok, Hong Kong and Seoul.

To be English Part 2

2008-11-16T09:51:00.001-01:00

To come

To be English not British

2008-11-16T09:01:00.003-01:00

What do you think it means to be English, not British but English? Ask a Scots man where he is from and he'll say Scotland, ask the welsh and they'll say Wales. Ask an English man and you'll get a plethora of answers from the UK, Great Britain or London. The word England is so synonymous with Britain that in numerous languages they even use the same word for both.

I ask this because I'm reading Jeremy Paxman's 'The English' and it has made me realise that I don't really know what Englishness means. We laugh at Korean patriotism but they know who they are, maybe its in the Han and Chong inside them. We even laugh at American kids who pledge allegiance as being naive, but we don't even know who we should be allied to. Name a country as big as ours that doesn't even have it's own parliament (there would be a revolution everywhere else). Scotland has the Scottish parliament, Wales the Welsh assembly but England only the British government. Scottish MPs can vote on English matters but not vice versa (this actually was crucial in the recent vote on rising English student fees). 13 of the last 50 prime ministers have been Scottish even though 85% of Britain is English. Which is two fingers to those who believe the English refuse to let minorities have a role in society.

The English have often been charachterised in the past as polite, reserved, unexcitable and having an island mentality. Our greatest memories have been of achieving when all was against us. The blitz, d-day landings, Agincourt to name but a few.

When I'm abroad I have mixed emotions about if I'm proud to be English or not. I do firmly believe that no country in the world has had more influence on the world as a whole, this is even more surprising given the size of England. I'm not naive enough though to think we went to distant lands offering flowers as gifts.

The British empire as bad as people may think was certainly better than the French, Portuguese, Spanish or Japanese. At the time I think empire building was inevitable given the serious advancements that Europeans had over the rest of the world. Had it not been Britain it would of been someone I'm sure. It is easy to look back in disgust but harder to look at the scenerio that presented people at the time. I think we gave independence pretty much at the right time (I know natives of these countries will disagree) but if you look at former British colonies with a couple exceptions they are leading the developing world; Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, NZ, Aus, Hong kong, Shanghai, India are all regional leaders.

Our history led us to be a leader in science, literature, construction and every major field. What
other country has Brunel (engineering), Faraday (electric motor), Blundell (Blood Transfusion), Berners-Lee (World wide web), Stevenson Brothers (railway steam engines), Whittle (jet engine), Swan (light bulb (with Edison), Sir Isaac Newton (gravity, ok he didn't invent it but discovered it), Charles Darwin, Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte and Co, Dicken, Orwell, Wordsworth, Kipling, Shakespeare, Ricardo , Keynes, as alumni (also Marx kind of). I can go on just in the last 50 or so years Stephen Hawkings, JK Rowlings, Beatles, Rolling Stones, Pink Floyd, Jonathon Ive (designer of Ipod) and David Beckham.

This perhaps is the major change in defining what English is. The majority are historical feats of world leadership or considered British accomplishments with the exception of Becks. I guess it is bringing us full circle to the position of underdog again as bigger countries are beginning to be the leaders in these fields. England though has not lost all its infleunce, go to any bar in the world and you will hear English music be it greats like pink floyd, rolling stones, beatles, the who or modern day indie. On the TV will be the English Premier League. I'm not being arrogant to say its the biggest domestic sporting competition in the world, in Asia, Africa or South America you don't watch the NFL, NBA or La Liga, Serie A you watch Rooney and co strutting themselves around the country. (I believe it is our greatest asset) who else in the world is better known than David Beckham (he got a loudest cheer of anyone in the olympics and he's not even an Olympian.

My point here is that England has contributed more than most to world and even though we have been blamed for many things we as English have taken it in our stride to the extent we have sacrificed our own culture to promote British culture. England will be the last colony of Britain empire and we're ok with that because to be English is to understand that we are gentleman to the last, polite, noble and will bow down with honour , we will sip our tea and curse at the European avalanche that is coming towards us and tut at the brats across the pond, safe in the knowledge that we once ruled the world and changed it in the end for better.

So if you are reading this and think that on this occasion i'm being arrogant sit back drink your tea, listen to the Beatles on your English designed iPod, on the English invented net, under your English light bulb reading this English language blog and think how your country would compare and how your life would be different without our inventions, our aid, our soldiers dying for your country, our culture and in your mind listen to my queens English ' yes I'm arrogant, yes I'm proud, I'm English I can afford to be, can you?'

(actually I'm half english and half Portuguese, so the arrogance has a power boost ala mourinho)

Phnom Penh

2008-11-16T01:54:00.002-01:00

Each country has a very unique culture, vibe and history. It is naive to class counties as Asian or European. This is not felt more than from the ultra laid back vibe in Laos to the hectic chaos that is phnom penh. Both show the french colonialism that you see in Vietnam and all have the brutal scars of war. The people may even look the same but they are so different. As their t shirts suggest 'same same, but different' that is Asia.
PP has had a tragic history of invasions. At the start of the Khmer Rouge devastating rule they forced a complete evacuation of the 2m citizens in just 3 days. Pol Pot may not provoke the same memories in the west that Hitler or Stalin does but he is just as evil. Forcing a Chinese style agrarian communism on the country and inflicting child labor and mass executions on a scale larger than Auschwitz.
The s21 prison (a former high school) is smack in the middle of the city and perhaps the most disturbing thing is the surrounding areas are still so undeveloped. Poverty is still a serious issue in Cambodia and children begging is something I've consistently had to deal with. The killing fields where the skulls of thousands that were executed are shown is eerie. It's not to the scale of Auschwitz but this because nobody lived here. People were hauled of trucks and killed on the spot. Every time I see things like this it brings me back to Stalin quote that we will say we've learned but we will continue to make the same mistakes.
I watched CNN this morning whilst eating breakfast and learned that Obama had been to the barbers, his daughters wore designer dresses and his mother in law from Chicago may move into the white house., The impeding civil war, famine and possible genocide in DR Congo made a brief caption on the subtitles under other news. Stalin couldn't of said it better.

Obama

2008-11-16T01:49:00.002-01:00

The first black male to win the biggest prize and at such a young age. Well done Lewis Hamilton, Britain's Formula 1 world champion and well deserved. Oh I guess the other bit of news was the outcome of some election across the pond.
I'm glad he won, I supported him from the outset and really he was easily the best choice out of a bunch of bad ones. I was disappointed Al Gore didn't give it a go or Pelosi. Ron Paul was someone I would of liked to see more off and was appalled by the media for not giving him a chance in several debates.
Even though I wanted Obama to win I think the world has gone crazy like this is some kind of second coming. I think a lot of people will be disappointed especially younger voters. What presidents say and what they are capable of doing is very different even with a democrat led congress.
I don't want to dampen spirits but how much change are we likely to see? Will the US now stop the building of a missile defense in Poland making the life of millions of EU citizens a target? Will they increase aid to the UN recommended 0.7% of GDP? Will they bring down agricultural tariffs? (yes i know Europeans can't talk on this issue) Will they stop providing arms to underdeveloped countries? Will they allow the world bank leader to be democratically elected by all members? Will he actually make policies concerning the economic crisis or continue the blahh Blahh we have been hearing.
The questions are endless and I hope the answer for some will be yes but i fear they will all be no. I'm sure obama will be a great leader but his international appeal will wain rapidly especially with the 'bringing the jobs back to the US' policy, it may be good for the US but tell that to the Asian worker who will now go hungry or Korean who suddenly finds that Hyundai can't sell as many cars (I do agree that it's Koreas own fault for not opening up there markets more).
Why has he been hyped so much? What has he achieved? Nothing yet, I think the media has a lot to do with it. They have sensationalized every aspect of these elections like never before. The media as with almost every country is biased and I was appalled when in one debate fox refused to let Ron Paul enter the debate even though he was the top republican funded and ahead of Guilliani.
A couple of tidbits also intrigued me during these elections especially the issue of funding, obama had so much more than Mccain that it was never going to a battle. The fact that few of the candidates actually have any experience Clinton, obama, romney and guilliani all have as much experience in high political jobs as bush has brain cells. Perhaps there is a good reason someone can enlighten me why there is no leader of the opposition, who controls the voice of the opposition.
I'm glad these election are over and sure it won't be long until the next ones start. I really hope he does a great job and sure he will if people lower there expectations.

Vientiane and 4000 islands

2008-11-16T01:47:00.001-01:00

Vientiane is not one of the worlds more famous capital cities and for good reason there isn't alot to do here. It sits on Mekong (continuing my theory that all great cities need a river) and provides a taste of the French colonialism found in Luang Prabang but with more political steer. Every aid organisation you can think of has a base. The famous golden temple although iconic for the nation doesn't take your breathe away. I did though visit the government funded national museum. Laos has had a very traumatic modern history, the Siamese, Vietnamese, French and Americans have all dealt there hand at bombing this place. The Russians though left the biggest footprint through Chinese imperialism, Laos is a communist country and seems to yearn the time of Russian communist dominance with soviet flags still around, notably on the entrance to the museum.
The museum starts with a well presented Dutch exhibition who are believed to be the first Europeans to make contact in Laos. I was disappointed about the coverage of the Vietnamese war. I was expecting a heavily biased anti American feel but it wasn't really covered. Only a few pictures and inserts in Lao. It talked a lot about the post communist female movement ( this has been a reoccurring theme in communist and former communist countries)
There a very good part on the post war bomb and mine removal projects that are vital for countries like this. The US dropped more bomb on eastern Laos than any other country has ever received. The results in acre upon acre of uncleared agricultural land. I was glad to see USAID was a major contributor but 30 years after the war should it still be an issue.
This is one of the issues I think obama will struggle to deal with, history that he can't change, it takes generations to forgive these things not 4 years. Overall the museum has so much potential but maybe we have wait for change there.

I left Vientiane for Don Det in the 4000 islands.

Don Det is one of the 4000 islands on the Mekong.it has a few generators, several guesthouses and not a lot else. It is perhaps one of the chilled out places on earth. I would tell you all about it but I spent two days straight lying in a hammock in my beach hit reading 'when broken glass floats' the true story of a Cambodian girl during the Khmer rouge regime.

I would advise anyone to go to Laos, it reminded me of Mongolia, the chilled out vibe where nature still has control.

Luang Prabang and Vang Vieng

2008-11-07T09:42:00.003-01:00

I'm falling behind on these blogs again and i have so much to write.

Ok, Luang Prabang, i wish wish and triple wish i could spend a couple of weeks here just to chill out and take in the french colonialness. It's a world heritage city and it's so easy to see why. There are cafes and french buildings mixed between Buddhist temples. I stayed with Sean and Maureen and stayed at SpicyLaos Hostel. It was an awesome place to stay and the owner Pong gave a talk about Buddhism which was really interesting. I've lived in Buddhist countries for a couple of years now and still didn't know much about it all. So it was go to hear from somebody that lived in a temple for 6 years and although still Buddhist has let his hair down (literally). Luang Prabang is one of those cities where all you need is a book and just chill at a cafe on the Mekong river. That's how i spent most my days. I didn't bother going to the waterfall there but instead chilled out. On my last day I got a bike and went for a ride for a few hours. Laos is like many countries in Asia, there is the extremes of rich and poor. However, unlike most countries I've visited the poor although having a meager lifestyle do seem to build a life for themselves and there is very little in the way of begging (perhaps this is more the communist influence). Wooden hats are the accommodation of choice and Beer Laos can be seen on every corner. There are numerous charities around promoting education mostly. There is also a lot of European donors. In one day i went past the Luxembourg - Laos Hospital, French Hospital, EU reconstruction office as well as dutch, Belgian, Spanish and Italian influences. I guess although politically this is a very communist country (curfew at 11;30) but economically it is moving through the capitalist steps.

We got a bus to Vang Vieng in the evening which was more than eventful, going over land slipped roads and being held up my gunmen carrying rifles wanting to get on our bus. The driver though was having none of it and with the assistance of our armed security guards we avoided a more dangerous situation. It was certainly a story to brag about. HEHE!!

Vang Vieng until a decade ago didn't really exist. It's a backpackers haven mostly due to the tubing there. Tubing is essentially getting a big inflatable tire and floating down the river to different bars and taking part in the slides and zip lines that send you hurtling into the water. It was an amazing day and would advice anyone to do it. I'm not a big swimmer but i did the 10m jumps and also the zip line. I badly bruised myself the first time but my camera man missed it so i had to do it again (video is coming when i get to a good computer) and still can't hear properly of one ear and got a bruised eye and to hefty knocks to my arm and leg. It's all gravy!! There is nothing Laos in this town but for the tubing alone i would come back.

On my travels I've taken many different forms of transport; bus, train, boat, plane, bike, car, walked and now kayaked. We kayaked down from Vang Vieng to Vientiane with the aid of a tuk tuk. The rapids were awesome but my German driver wasn't so good. We sunk twice because of going into waves side ways. Half way down we stopped at a rock for an amazing barbecue that we ate of banana leafs. Was an nice moments. Then the slight stupidity came again. The Lao guide suggested that we can jump in the river from this rock. Some of us (all guys) walked up to a 15m high rock. Now the river is deep but has a strong strong current. Giving that my swimming is as good as a blind rabbit I really should of known better. Once it was my go i couldn't exactly stop so i jumped. Now normally you don't have time in the air to think about your stupidity but I had time to think IDIOT!!! and smacked the water full pelt. My the time i got to the surface i was 20-30 m now the river already and flapped my arms as quick as possible until i got to the rocks. Although I hated every second of it you do get an amazing adrenaline buzz and i don't regret it at all. We carried on down the river to the capital of Laos, Vientiane.

Laos

2008-11-03T22:35:00.005-01:00

Things dont get more random than sitting on an old Korean coach on a dirt track in Laos with a motorbike taking up the back section, a cute Lao toddler, a few randoms who think its funny that 3 foreigners are on the bus and very very loud lao music on the stereo. I can't stop smiling but Im only an hour and a half into a ten hour journey to luang prabang. I wish the Romans had invaded Laos, then maybe there would be some straight roads.
Actually things started to get pretty random as soon as we got to the border. The hut they call Thai immigration should of been a sign of things to come. From the hut we strolled to the dock (where mud meets water) and get on a 10 seat canoe shaped boat with every man and his dog carrying a large samsung TV. We get to the other side and have to search for Immigration, they pile 7 stamps into my passport (I will send them the invoice for a new passport). We got to the main high street to search for a way to make the 200km to luang prabang, the boat takes two days and bus 10-15 hours. We decided on the first bus in the morning, I feel things will only get more random.

The first hour was merely the start of it. 10 hours in it starts to get dark and party lights in the bus come on, followed shortly by Westlife on somebodies phone. 17 hours after departure we rock up to Luang Prabang tired but having seen some of the best countryside the world has to offer. It's one of the first places I've been too where I've felt nature has control over peoples life. The huts that people live in are scattered amongst fallen trees, avalanched hills and pristine beauty. The lack of concrete to the traveler is refreshing although to the local I'm sure they would give some of that up for facilities like electricity and proper roads. I can't wait to walk round Luang Prabang.

Chiang Mai

2008-11-03T22:34:00.002-01:00

I left the hustle bustle of Bangkok for the ancient city of Chiang Mai on the overnight train. The train station in Bangkok had so many train fumes I wasn't sure I'd wake up but sure enough I did and made it to Julies Guesthouse in time for breakfast.
Chiang Mai is the ancient capital of Thailand (previously Siam) and now a Mecca for temple fanatics and backpackers looking for a chilled out vibe. I visited two temples out of the 300 in the city. They were similar to ones in Bangkok with more elephants sculptures. I never realized elephants were so important in Thai culture, I guess I only think of African and Indian elephants. The national beer Chang means elephants.
The main reason for me coming to Chiang Mai is to do the Gibbon Experience (a zip lining roller coaster of fun) and trekking. The gibbons came first and 5 Israeli's and I made our way on the 3 hour drive to the Thai forest where we were met by instructors who wished to dish out pain to my thighs. The harnesses weren't coming of easily. The zip lines were immense and about 50-100ft off the ground. They would be about 10 seconds long (longer than it sounds) and weaved in and out of the forest. The problem with these kind of things is that it goes very quickly so is over before you know it. There weren't actually gibbons in the forest. I enjoyed the day but in hindsight it was a long way to go for a couple hours of fun.

The following two days I went trekking to the Lahu Hill tribe near the Thai-Burma border. Although they tried to fit 14 of us in a 8 man songthaew (like an army vechicle) we survived and drove the 3 hours to where we would start treking. I being the sensible one didn't really remember what we were doing for the couple of days so was slightly surprised to turn up at the elephant park. I got chatting to a nice Irish couple, Sean and Maureen who I would hijack for the next week. We got to ride the elephants in what we were assured was a good elephant farm (i have my doubts), the ride was good and reminded me of the camels in Mongolia. There were a couple of baby elephants that came along for the ride and had far too much fun in the water, splashing all of us.

The elephants were followed by what can only be described as a torturous trek up mountains for several hours. The views were amazing but the walk took its toll on the group. We got to the hill tribe (don't let me make sound like we were going into the unknown this was a well worn tourist path) and had the best curry I've ever had. 4 bowls of it later I was stuffed and we were 'treated' to the towns best guitar player who played covers of beatles , oasis and other most british music. However he wasn't too sure of the words and made them up as he went along. This kept the now sleepy group amused. By midnight we were all 'safely' tucked up in bed preparing to see the damage the mosquito's had done.

I was awoken by barking dogs and over a dozen bites around my legs. The mosquito nets had obviously been rubbish. After the hard boiled egg breakfast we headed down the hill which was actually harder than going up and after a brief stop at the waterfall went white water rafting. This was easily the highlight of the trip. We left the rafts for bamboo boats and floated the rest of the way down the river.

The trekking was an awesome experience although they play on the hill tribe notion a lot. This was more a tourist camp that had some immigrants from southern China and Burma in it. They did live far from the cities but had access to many facilities. When you quizzed the guides about them you would get slightly different stories from children attending schools in the city to a tribe that the government would expel from their borders. It all seemed a bit of a show but hey I enjoyed myself for the experience of the views and activities. I would do it again.

After all this tiring adventures I decided I had to leave Chiang Mai even though I could of stayed a life time.

Khao Yai National Park

2008-10-29T03:30:00.002-01:00

Andy and I decided for the weekend we would take the small trip to Khao Yai national park, located a couple of hours north east of Bangkok. We rushed there Friday night and stayed at the green leaf guesthouse. We left bright and early after a freezing cold shower to the park with 7 others and a local guide. We immediately hit a pack of monkeys sitting on the side of the road staring at us. Needless to say the sight of animals set the right mood for the day. We got up to our first stop and put on our leech socks on. It was amazing how many leeches there were and they climbed up our legs and into our shoes. Andy got bitten a couple of times but my plastic trainers kept them out.
The guide had eyes like hawks or so we thought. They spotted gibbons in the trees and a few hornbills. This was all exciting for us especially when looking through the telescope. We started out trekking in the forrest and spotted some lizards but essentially just got the scenery of the forrest. Until walking along a path I hear a brummy accent shout 'overhere', Andy had spotted a snake on the edge of the path. This was not just any snake it was a 6 meter python. Looking back on my steps i realised how close i had come to stepping on it. Merely half a meter and i would of got bitten. The guide were far more excited than the nervous group who took several steps back and scanning the floor for more. We all got our photos and the guide decided it would be a good idea to pull the tail (idiot!!!), the snake tried to escape to the river pulling the 2 guides with it. Andy being the sensible one chased after it to take a video. Not to help them but video them getting bitten. They let go of the snake and it scurried off down the lake. It was a real heart stopping few minutes. I've never seen anything like it in the wild and looking back it was frickin dangerous.
The rest of the tour struggled to match that moment, although the sight of a wild elephant on the road got the heart pumping again. The elephant blocked all the traffic and seemed a little scared. It would of had no issues with charging at us. That evening Andy and I had a few beers reliving the snake and showing everyone the video. We watched Hull win again, I can't believe it and chatted about politics, and the like. It's nice to meet up with people that can chat about those things. So many conversations I have recently are blah blah and some of the things i read and see are stupid. I find myself getting more and more frustrated with this, people are just so apathetic and clueless about important issues. For example I saw some news reporter accuse Joe Biden that Obama policies were marxist. Now anyone with any brain cells will know that Obama isn't Marxist (I think both would be insulted) but the way she went on about it I'm sure put peoples mind in doubt and created an unnecessary connection. I sometime joke with Roux that they shouldn't let dumb people vote and honestly I don't think I'm far off. Imagine for the next British election that to be able to vote you had to name the 3 leaders and 3 members of government. I don't think that should be too hard. I mean if you are choosing the leader of our country you should have at least some knowledge about it. The sad thing is a lot of people currently couldn't answer that without help.
Maybe I have too much free time on my hands. Next stop Chian Mai.

Bangkok

2008-10-24T04:30:00.003-01:00

Ok, it's happened. I've let the whole trip fail. I took a flight. There was no choice so I got a flight to Bangkok. Luckily Andy is living here in possibly the nicest apartment in the Asia. It has it's own Starbucks. Can you adam and eve it??? My view of Bangkok will forever be distorted. Due to my bad planning I stayed in Bangkok longer than I thought I would. (He reality I have it too easy at Andy's).

Now if Tokyo was the city of funky girls then Bangkok is the city of funky smells. I've smelt things I never knew existed and wished didn't exist. After climatising to the weather i spent my first sight seeing day going to Wat Pho (You will rapidly learn Wat means temple) and was pleaseantily surprised that the temple were really good. Very glitzy and unique compared to other north eastern asian temples. They have more colour to them and are large complexs rather than individual buildings. There is a lying buddha similar to the one in Vietnam. Wat Pho is next to the Grand Palace that hosts the most famous temple in Thailand Wat Phra Kaew. It was equally as impressive and served the purpose of showing me how important the Thai royal family is here. The king has alot of infleunce here, every evening (and apparently morning but i'm not up) the national anthem is played and everybody stands to attention, no matter where they are or what they are doing. It's kind of communist.

I spent most the week just wondering around the streets of Bangkok and taking advantage of Andy's hospitalitity. We went out to the tourist road and had a good night bar hopping from place to place. Things got a little bizaare when a baby elephant walked past me as i was sitting at the bar. I had to double check my eyes. Towards the end of the week Andy and I went to get suits. We were very corporate with shorts and t-shirts as we entered the tailor. We're expecting big things from a very reputable tailor. If it good enough for John Kerry it's good enough for us. Not name dropping or anything. We also decided to head of to Khao Yai national park in search of strange animals for the weekend.

What next?

2008-10-15T05:44:00.002-01:00

Well i stopped in Fukuoka on my way back to Korea and basically chilled. Met some cool people and had a couple of nights out. Currently I'm in Korea again chilling. I will be heading over to Thailand for a couple of months to tour SEA and then to Hong Kong at the end of Nov for the big wedding. I'll be back in SK on 1st Dec to study at Seoul National Univ until valentines day. I guess from there i will have to go home. BooWoo!!! Apparently at 25 i need to start thinking about working so unless i find a way round this I'll be home soon!!

Hiroshima

2008-10-15T05:13:00.002-01:00

After leaving the heavy lights of Tokyo I started my trip back to SK stopping off at Hiroshima. I didn't know too much about Hiroshima before arriving apart from what happened on the sad day of August 6th 1945. More about that later, i decided to first visit Miyajima a small island just off Hiroshima that has the Itsukushima Shrine, one of the three most photographed objects in Japan and I can see why. I have at least 20 photos of it myself. Basically it's a shrine in the water and at certain times during the day it looks as if it was floating. I met 3 english guys that went to Sussex Uni and hanged out with them around the isalnd. It was nice to meet some people and just walk around talking about normal things. Before leaving the island we sat to see the sunset and put our only map on the ground next to us, and can you believe it a couple of deers came up and ate it. Literally ate it all. Darn deers. Bambi had more respect!!
The second day I went to the memorial park which is as emotional a place as you'll ever go to. The damage inflicted on that day is unimaginable, there is one building that remained and you can see all the iron mangled and destroyed. It was a sad place to visit and embarrassing at the same time. There are hundred of school kids that go there every day to learn about what happened that sad day. You start to feel consensus that it was your country that inflicted this. I walked around the museum reading about the manhattan project that was set up by UK, Canada and US and the money spent on it. It showed the build up to the day and asks if the bombing was justified and why it had happened. I think the Japanese there have been calm in their reaction to the bombings. There were and still are arguments about the morality behind the bombings. Some say that it saved lives because it stopped the war. I can see the logic of this but i completely completely disagree and think it's one the most dispictable events in modern history. 140,000 women, child and men died on that day and as much as 60,000 more died because of the radiation in the decades since. The destruction cause is more horrific than anything that the earth has seen before. The only lives it save was US soldiers lives. There is a big difference between the events at pearl harbour than those at Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Pearl Harbour was a naval post and the attacks were aimed at the ships not innocent people. Even after the Hiroshima bombing lives should of been saved in Nagasaki but the US with the support of the UK and Canada choose to continue the genocide. Genocide is a strong word but had this been any other country thats what we would of been using. People will argue about japan not surrending but i don't agree it warranted this level of destruction. To put it in perspective, 3000 people died on the tragic events of 9/11, 20,000 Korean immigrants died in Hiroshima that day. Yet the reaction could not of been more different. The fact that no American, British or Canadian politician have faced war crime tribunals is absolutely farcical. I dare any person to spend the day at that memorial park and not feel the same. I don't want to say more about it apart from leave this quote my Leo Szilard which is written as you leave the museum and was himself part of the research team on the Manhattan Project;

"Let me say only this much to the moral issue involved: Suppose Germany had developed two bombs before we had any bombs. And suppose Germany had dropped one bomb, say, on Rochester and the other on Buffalo, and then having run out of bombs she would have lost the war. Can anyone doubt that we would then have defined the dropping of atomic bombs on cities as a war crime, and that we would have sentenced the Germans who were guilty of this crime to death at Nuremberg and hanged them?"

Tokyo

2008-10-14T03:20:00.002-01:00

There are some cities in the world that are just immense in every way. In style, size, economics, development and everything you can think of. I would say there are 3 of these cities in the world New York, London and Tokyo. Between them they are the hub of almost every business in the world. Tokyo is the last of these 3 for me to visit.
One thing Tokyo doesn't lack is people, especially in rush hour. So when should i arrive, yes in the middle of rush hour. I hadn't booked anywhere for my first night but was told i could drop my bags off atthe hostel i would be staying at for the rest of my stay. My hostel was in Asakusa and pretty easy to find. Planning your trip round Tokyo is daunting there is just so many districts that are must see!! So i started with a night out in ShinJuKu and met some foreign business men who work there. They took me to some famous of the beaten track bars. In Japan, there are a ton of bars, literally hundreds on every street nad 7 or 8 in every building. Most of these have only 1 or 2 people in so it was fortunate i had some semi guides to help me along the way. I ended up again in an internet cafe for the night (they are just such good value for money). The next morning i felt pretty out of it so went to the Imperial Palace. I was kind of disappointed by it. The parks are nice and you can chill pretty comfortably there but there is a lack of splendor that a palace should have. Also you can't actually go to the good parts.
After the palace i ventured to see FC Tokyo. The game was pretty poor in standard but FC Tokyo lost 5-1 and all the goals were really good. The J-League is certainly better in quality than the K- League but that doesn't say much to be honest. The fans are the same though. They want to be passionate but it just comes across as predictable pre meditated chants that have no relation to what is actually happening on the pitch. Fair play though they didn't shut up for the whole game. I was also given a little key ring of a mascot so JingJing (Beijing Mascot) has a boyfriend. I have named him Toki. I think Jing Jing and Toki will be very happy together on my bag.
The next few days i visited the HaraJuKu girls (Gwen Stefani japanese entourage and where the japanese goths hang out). I don't know why but i love japanese goth music. The image is really cool and kind of like animation. Shinbuya, Asakusa, Akihabara, Ueno and a ton more to that. I spent far too long in the Sony Building playing with all the gadgets they had displayed. They were even showing in their theatre a kabuki show for free. Only men are allowed to perform and i thought they played old women a bit too well. It's concerning me still!! I could write and write about tokyo sights but the best thing in Tokyo is the people. There is such variety and a strangeness about the people here. I could sit and watch them for hours. I was sad to leave there in the end. I need to go back because in 4 days i only scratched the surface of what it had to offer.

Osaka and Kyoto

2008-10-05T11:21:00.003-01:00

After my adventures with Alec I headed to the Kansai Perfecture and the second largest city in Japan, Osaka. Osaka is the business captial of Japan and not famed for it's culture or scenery but more for it's business and bars. I spent my first day going round malls entertainment centers. I love just watching people go about their business and the fashions they wear. The Japanese youth make a big effort into their appearance and it's amazing seeing the combinations they wear. Perhaps if they were in a foreign country it would look gerish but because they are all the same it looks funky. Funky is a word i use alot when talking about young Japanese people.I ventured round the electronics district of Den Den Town, which is a hot bed of gadgets and anime book stores. One in particular got famous this week because it burnt down killing 15 people. I was near there. I think i was far too naive with them, i walked in to many think cool some comics, i'll go look at them. 1 minute later i'm looking round and realising I'm in the middle of the hentai section with porn all round. Every store is the same. There is so much porn everywhere and litle cubicles where you can read. I don't need to explain further. The whole of Asia is so seedy, i don't know where western guys get a bad image from. In Korea, Japan and China there is so much porn, love motels, scantely dressed women (it's not all bad). I did enjoy Osaka though, it's real life. It's people who work long hours and take the small enjoyments when they come.
I visited the Suntory Museum which was designed by Tadao Ando (famour miminalist architect, see i do know some things) and went round a 'Russian Avant Garde' exhibition, which was way to sophisticated for me, so I went to the Imax theathre with about 100 primary school kids in yellow hats and saw a marine film. I've never been to an Imax theatre before and jumped out of my life when a 3D shark went over my head. It was so cool!!!. I also did the whole Osaka castel thing and left pretty unimpressed.
From Osaka I went to the other end of the spectrum to Kyoto. The center of culture, history and geisha's. I rocked up not knowing to much other than there is a famous gold temple, a ton of other temples and Gion, the home of the Geisha. I also always under the impresion that a geisha is just a high class prostiture (similar to Kisaeng's in Korea) and although I was corrected on many occasions i'm still in doubt. They are essentially pretty women who are skilled musicians and conversationalists who 'entertain' their male clients. Now call me naive but entertaining rich men in private usually involves some kind of sexual pleasure otherwise why woould they go and pay alot of money for a pretty lady to play music. Anyway, I walked around and saw a few, they stand out and I felt some compassion for them as they didn't look overly comfortable with tourists sticking there camaras in their faces. I know that feeling and it's not nice. So I refrained, if i want photos i can go on the net to get them. The temples and there were alot are getting tiresome and really once you've been to a few you know what you're getting. I did over go to Fushimi-Inari which is a shrine made up of 30,000 red gates up the side of a mountain. This was truely amazing to walk through and actaully felt quite spiritual, a rarity in temple full of camara hugging tourists. As I strolled along on my own I came to an opening and walked straight into a geisha with her little helpers. I sat down and one of the helpers asked me to join them (on the command of Ms Geisha) and asked some questions that follow the normal line, Where you from?, name, What you doing? etc.. It was kind of interesting but i chickedned out the question Are you a high class prostitute? as i thought this might not of been taken so well. Perhaps a wise choice. I left Kyoto full in the knowledge that I've seen too many temples, still unsure what a geisha really does and that Japanese culture is really interesting once you get past peoples camaras. Nex stop Tokyo!!!

Japan Part 1

2008-09-29T13:13:00.002-01:00

Well after several years of trying I've finally got to Japan. My first stop was to Fukuoka on the southern island of Kyushu. I was amazed by the size of the city that is considered very highly in living standards. The city itself is famous for a special type of beef ramen and a shopping center that has a canal running through it. Being my first Japanese city I wondered around the parks and to the shrines. Ohori Park was particularly relazing and i spent a couple of hours there reading my book (currently Obama biography). In the evening i went to a Yantai which is basically a food stall and tried the ramen. I love Korean ramen which is very spicy, but japanese ramen has no chilli in it at all. It was really nice though and filling. I'm coming back to Fukuoka at the end of my trip so I wasn't too concerned about seeing everything, but it was certainly a shopping mecca.
Japan is famous for it's bullet train that in testing has reached 435km/h, i got to try this when i headed up to Alecs place. Alec lives in Tokushima on Shikoku Island. He was a great host putting me up for 3 nights although the first night doesn't count because we stayed out partying until 6am. I learnt alot about Japanese girls relative to Korean girls. Japanese have more funk and express themselves far better than Korean, there is also more variety in fashions, but (there is always a but) they are far more conservative and not willing to chat with anyone. From people i've spoken to here they all say how Japanese don't try to talk to foreigners and almost fear them. This is very different from Korea where everyone comes to chat with you. Mostly talking rubbish but still talking.
Tokushima is a surprisingly big city and Alec lives in the suburbs in a scenic residence. He lives opposite his school and train for baseball in a big way!!! In the morning!!!! We ventured to an International cuisine night in the middle of the island and i ate like a beast. It was so good!!! I'm still licking my lips. On my last day hijacking Alecs house we climber a mountain and went to a sushi restaurant. I've had sushi many times in Korea but never with a conveyer belt. It's a highlight.
I'm in Osaka now and will write about it later.

Busan

2008-09-23T10:30:00.002-01:00

Day 9

I did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Busan!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Getting to Busan was pretty easy but trying to get to the city center was hell on earth but i made it. I think it was about 600km so bearing in mind i had a couple of rest days i did pretty well. I'm staying in a hostel in Busan which is super cheap!!

I'm surprised by Busan it's the last city for me to go to in Korea and it's probably one of the best. It has a few beaches and a beach atmosphere. The sun is shining, people are playing beach sports. There is even a Museum of Modern Art, take that NYC. On the beach is a lot of modern art work like a giant flower pot. I've never really understood all this fancy art but it seems pretty cool. I just love the beaches and walking round in sandles not caring what day it is. Life doesn't get better! In my guesthouse was a nice brazilian guy who i hanged out with for a while. It's nice to meet travellers again and talk about different adventures and get advice.

My trip to Japan is almost sorted now. I have my rail pass and boat ticket. Japan is so expensive and i haven't even got there but apart from Brazil it's the country i want to visit more than any other. I don't know why but i've never heard a negative thing about it. Well now the cycling is over i can write interesting stuff again. Maybe!

I've been busy

2008-09-19T07:39:00.003-01:00

Day 6

Well i got my arse in gear again today and made it all the way to the East Sea. It's quite a momentous occasion to get across Korea. I feel fit enough now to do 100km plus a day. I did get sunburnt though. I stayed in a little beach resort of Jangsa about 70km north of Gyeongju. It's right on the beach and nice. I love the sea air and it reminded me of aber. I think i want to live near the sea for the rest of my life.

Day 7

What in theory would be a long day now is just a breeze. I got to Gyeongju by 12. The ride was nice and flat and i could really clock up the miles. My legs no longer hurt and i'm waking up naturally at 7 in the morning. I must be sick. Well Gyeongju was the one city on the way i wanted to visit so i will stay here a couple of days. It was the old capital of Korea and now the cultural center of Korea.

Day 8

I cultured up and visited the museum. Gyeongju was the capital of Korea during the Silla period (a long time ago) and most of the exhibits were quite old pottery and the like. I got escorted round by a high school student whose teacher sent there students to the museum on a saturday afternoon to speak to foreigners. Damn to gooder teachers!!! Should be shot!. Anyway the kid was nice enough and kept me company. I visited the tombs around Gyeongju that are nice parks with mounds of grass in them. Gyeongju is a really chilled out ancient city and the scenery can only make you appreciate the history that it once had. I was all prepared though for the last leg of my journey.

Getting there

2008-09-17T08:44:00.002-01:00

Day 4

Today was supposed to be my day of rest but the costs are building up so i decided on a 'gentle' over woraksan mountain and chungju lake before arriving in Suanbo. The ride is why i cycle. The view of the lake from the mountains is one of the best on the planet. Truely spectular!!
Suanbo is a resort town and looked really nice. I would advise going though when the cherry blossoms are out because there are a ton of trees along the side of the roads.

Day 5
I came, I saw, I'm conquering!!! I did over 100km today through the mountains all the way to Andong. I feel fudged now but think i'm over half way. I decided to alter my course a bit and head for the coast and go down the coastal road. The weather is just too hot inland. This little diary is boring i know but i'm too tired to care. See the photos.

Another stupid idea

2008-09-15T08:05:00.003-01:00

I've had a few in my time but this one is up there with the best. I decided it would be a 'fun' and 'cultural' experience to travel from Seoul to Busan by bike. I don't know what made me come up with this idea but it seemed good at the time. So off i go on the net searching for info and a map. I found one!!

http://user.chollian.net/~boonstra/korea/sebu.htm

Looking more into the possibility of doing it I found out that it's 500km. It sounds alot but if you break it down that's 50km for 10 days. Doesn't sound so bad, so my next task is to find a bike. Off i went to Tesco's (called Samsung Homeplus here) and found a speed demon for only 45 pounds. What could possibly go wrong with a 45 pound bike! Once I went to the bike shop and got gloves, a chain and a basket I had spent about 60 pounds. Bargain!!!. I named it the Hana Express (Hana is Dylans dog)

Day 1

I thought that realising i wasn't at my peak of fittest i would put a long journey of around 80km on the first day. From Uijeongbu to Yangpyeong. It started out so well. The cycle path to seoul and along the Han river is really calm and enjoyable but most of all flat. Once i got near Hanam City it all started to go a bit pear shaped. I took the wrong road (The signs misguided me) and then the unbelievable happened my chain snapped. Never in 15years of cycling have i ever had my chain snap. Never!!! (re read the end of the 2nd paragraph) Worse of all was that i was in the middle of nowhere. So i spent the next 2 hours walking to Hanam City in search of a bike store on Korea's biggest national holiday. I had some success and got a new chain and was back on my way. The scenery was immense, the mountains in the distance and along the river. I had hit a great idea at last. I stayed in a seedy motel (they're all seedy in Korea) and prepared for the second day.

Day 2

I planned to do less on the second day and the ride to Yeoju went pretty smoothly. However, those mountains in the distance were getting closer and closer. Now in England we don't have mountains. We have hills. So, the possibility of climbing a 11% gradient for 7km hadn't really hit me. Three-quarters of the way up it hit me. I have 5-6 days of solid mountains. What idiot got this idea in my mind. Anyway i hit Yeoju about 12 and decided i needed to rest.

Day 3

Mountains!#!$&%$#

I don't want to say more.

Back to my other home!

2008-09-09T03:22:00.002-01:00

I have no fear in saying i feel really at home back in korea, maybe it's seeing good friends again or eating great food or even just the fact i know my way around but every time i come back here i feel relaxed. From the outside you may wonder why, Korea is no paradise by a long stretch and certain aspects of Korean society frustrate me but i keep coming back.
While i've been here a few question have come straight to my mind and need to be answered. Most importantly what to do now. Part of me feels i should get a job and get my career moving. i am 25 after all. Another part wants to study more, maybe a PHD or Language course but this would be at the expense of some travelling. Alternatively i can take the romantic idea of keep travelling but also this comes at expense. I need to win the lottery and become 21 again. The only way to answer these questions is to be honest with one self and do what makes you happiest. So I think i will continue my voyage around asia until december and then do a Korean Language course over the winter months and in Febuary start the search for a job whilst still travelling either to Australia or South America. Opinion are more than welcome!!!! as are donations. The latter is prefered. HEHE!
I went back to my school today and it feels a bit like a circus, the students are still just as crazy. It was nice meeting up with teachers and eating with them. I think mainly because i'm no longer a teacher i don't have to worry about what i say at all.
For now i'm planning to cycle to Busan. It's about 500km and will take me 2-3 weeks. After this i think it will be fair to say i have travelled Korea extensively. I'm looking forward to seeing the mountains and countryside that are so far from life in Seoul. From there i will visit Japan before deciding what to do next.
Anyway i have more food to eat so i'll stop writing.

Qingdao and leaving China

2008-09-03T06:33:00.002-01:00

It was fair to say I was tired when I got to Qingdao, the former german colony. As soon as I put my head down I was out cold waking about 16 hours later. I did manager to go round this city famous for Tsingdao beer and European churches (you're seeing the german link now). It also has a pier which the guidebook says is like Brighton. I'll let you judge that from the photos.Qingdao is very different feel and does have more of a coastal European feel to it. I think I belong near the coast. I also there is a great opportunity for anyone wanting to open a hostel here because there is only one in this big city.I've now spent a month in china and enjoyed it far more than my first visit, the olympics were amazing as was Xian and the Yangtze. Most of all though I have enjoyed spending time with young Chinese students who were helpful, kind and super curious. Obviously there are still some things that china has to improve such as social habits. The transport has been super cheap and on time, the hostel offer far more than European equivalents for a quarter of the price. The problem comes at meal time. Asian food is designed for groups not individuals so i missed out on many treats. My time here was when I felt rather proud to be British, the British team and fans were received extremely well here and many tv have said that we brought the games to life. Our cycle team is well known here and adverts of Hoy alongside bolt and phelps. Everywhere I went the mere mention of London and England sparked people into life. Trust me this does'nt happen in many places.I decided to leave china via boat. I was expecting an old ricity Chinese boat but have found myself on a semi cruise ship with awesome beds, a sauna, a movie theatre and even a GS25. I watched 'i am legend' and the theatre was full considering i'm the only one who could understand. One complaint though, if i don't like being stared at then you're going to know my opinion on Asian communal baths, ive never been so self aware in my life with guy staring at me.Watch out Korea I'm coming!!

Yangzte River Cruise

2008-09-03T06:33:00.001-01:00

My first ever cruise, well that's the liberal use of the word for the boat taking me from Chongqing to Yichang on the third largest river in the world. I spent the hard bucks and went third class which consists of a dorm like room with 6 beds and en-suite. My room mates consist of a mother daughter who can't speak a word of English, a male student who I've tagged onto for translation and lastly a guy of 40ish and a girl in her early twenties who are father and daughter or his bit on the side. The rest of the room can't decide. He's a movie director for CCTV 6 and she's a wannabe actress.We spent the first evening musing about my lack of Chinese and the fact that I'm one of five foreigners on this ship. Our first port of call was Fengdu, one of cities to be semi flooded by the three gorges dam. Fengdu is named the ghost city and positions itself as the gateway to hell. It is full of temples dipicting cruel deaths and torture. At the top of the mountain there were some large temples and of course Buddha statues.On the third day we had another super early start to visit an ancient city, but this was merely a taster of what was to come. We entered a small boat up the lesser three gorges which was spectacular. It was I imagine going through the grand canyon is like but on water. We saw monkeys and caves. We even had a chance to go on a tiny traditional long boat and float down stream.When we got back to the larger vessel we stopped the night at a city and my room went for dinner together and I finally got the worldfamous sichaun Chongqing hot pot and it was awesome. It was nice going out with them and really hassle free for me. We saw a show and then the movie guy and his gf took me for a beer where we chatted about Kung fu. To be honest after half a beer he was pretty tipsy and we headed for our room. The last day was marred by the awful weather and we hardly saw the three gorges. I was helped though on my journey to Qingdao.My room mates were really nice and we exchanged contact details and it affirmed my believe that people no matter they are from they are same kind people.
My train to Qingdao was almost an epic adventure, it started well getting the daily train to Zhengzhou which I thought was a 5 hour trip but turned out to be a packed solid 9 hour trip over night and I had just a standing ticket.Now imagine the tube at rush hour standing, do this for 9 hours. As it happens its the day the students go back to uno. I got talking to a group of students and we rotated the standing shifts. We spoke about uni life and they were very interested in what I had seen, it was the first time any of them had spoken to a foreigner and had some strange questions. One girl Dani was particularly amazed and yet spoke amazing English. Chinese students seem to live a very diferent experience from home and are far less mature. Staying in highly segtegated dorms and having classes everyday, certainly was'nt aber.The train situation has gone a pear shaped, I got off at 4am and went to get my nice sleeper ticket for the 5:40 train. 'Sold out' she said with such a softness. Next train 21:11 and only standing ticket left. So not only I have not slept all night but I'm in some industrial city with a 17hr wait' to stand on a sold train for another 14hr train. It was only 10 pound though, got to look at the bright side.

Freakonomics

2008-09-03T06:31:00.001-01:00

I advise everyone to read Freakonomics, its very eye opening. In particular read about the section about abortion. I wont say more than that.

Top 12 albums in no order
The Verve - Urban Hymns
The Cardigans - Gran Turismo
Ryan Adams - Heartbreaker
Jesse Malin - Fine art of selfdestruction
Greenday - Nimrod
Red Hot Chilli Peppers - Californication
Idlewild - The remote port
Damien Rice - O
AFI - Art of Drowning
Rodrigo Y Gabriella - Rodrigo Y Gabriella
Stereophonics - Word get around
Subways - young for eternity

Chengdu

2008-08-28T21:59:00.001-01:00

Unfortunately I did'nt spend much time here so apart from a pretty water display in front of the Mao (did you know mao means evil in portuguese, irony) statue there is not much to say. Instead I'll blabber for a while.
Of all the places in the world where you really shouldn't be Baghdad, Kabul, Tehran, Kashmir, Burma and Sichaun province probably feature on your list, well being in the earthquake torn latter hasn't been that bad until a couple of hours ago. My train was an hour late today and not really understanding the announcer, I quietly ( and patiently it should be noted) wait. Then a young guy next to me says in broken English 'train late because earthquake shake train so have to wait' I hope he meant tremors!
So far so good.
When you go abroad you really see your own cultural differences. China certainly isn't lacking people and train stations are chaos, thousands of people (literally, I worked out there are 17 carriages to this train and holds about 700 people, 15 trains leave every hour so about 10000 people) with more luggage than seems possible, I have one bag and struggle. We all go to our respective waiting room and in the UK we que. I mean its what we're good at right and you'd think with this many people it would make more sense. Helll no!! Pushing and jumping the que is the order of the day. I must look an idiot queing properly. Well I had enough and I will export this gift to society. So Chengdu station became my testing ground. I'm not tall or big to western standards but in china I have some muscle and when you include a 20 kg backpack then I'm audley Harrison but with some energy. I stood in this narrow passage with Two young petite Chinese girls and then with the ringing of the bell the gates opened. I had to move quick to position my self, nobody or no thing was getting past me today. Then one guy in his thirties tried his luck and deciding the girls were a soft target went for them, but he was expecting this great British export to stop him. With one twist I turned and smacked him with the edge of my bag so hard he was raffled. He looked angry at me until I turned round and he saw a was a young western guy twice the size he was and gave him a look of 'your not getting past'. The girls found this highly amusing and thanked me. Of course now the que moved along quicker than before and I had taught one guy the value of queing. Only 1.3bn people to go, and then I can enforce bradders of giving everyone who spits a smack. Now I know why all Asians say English man is gentleman. Let's hope they never actually visit England.

On a side note I read Scotland want to be in the olympics on their own. I'm all in favor of seeing how pathetic they are. England would of finished fifth on there own without these principalities holding us back, while we're at it do the same to Wales! Let's see how cocky they are when they are under Eritrea, North Korea, Zimbabwe and Ethopia. (all this is said tongue in cheek).

Xian

2008-08-28T21:58:00.002-01:00

Well its time for another train trip, after four days in Xian I'm off to Chengdu. I really enjoyed Xian, its a great city and I stayed in a great hostel where I met plenty of people. I also ticked off a couple of big dreams, the pandas and the terracotta warriors.
The pandas are awesome, all they do is sleep and eat bamboo. They are über cute and seriously strong. We visited them in a rescue center. Some of them came from the earthquake hit zone, they have twelve in total including a two month old panda. Unfortunately I couldn't see it because they are hidden for the first few months. I fed jingjing bamboo and he wouldn't let go, they are super strong. We also got to see the red pandas that have tales and a strange ugly but adorable face. Its hard to explain.
The following day I visited the terracotta warriors and our tour guide JiaJia enthusiatically told us about the first emperor which was quite interesting. Qin Shi Huang became the emperor at thirteen years old and in the next thirty six years he unified China, unified currency and standardized written Chinese and measurements. He built all the roads and rightly goes into history as a leading figure in Chinese history. He was though like all great minds a bit crazy and apart from some serious bruatality (he buried alive 460 scholars who criticized him) and enslavery remains a popular figure. He died ironically from mercury poisoning believing it would give him eternal life. One of his grander ideas was to build a mass terracotta army alongside his tomb, the result is immpressive and the eighth wonder of the world. I walked around with Chiago, a friendly' Brazilian guy who was reeling from brazil defeat by argentina. The warriors are a real spectacle and still being excavated.
I spent the rest of time walking around Xian that has an amazing Muslim quarter and chatting with Eva ( a Chinese student from shanghai) who enjoyed sleeping alot and a bad infleunce and Daisy (Chinese receptionist) who kept me company. I also managed to learn a few Chinese charachters from an Aussie girl who studies Chinese in Nanjing. Overall a throughly enjoyable experience, I would like to go again.
Oh I learnt my lesson and got a bed this time.

Reflection

2008-08-28T21:58:00.001-01:00

I wrote my last entry in a bit of a hurry so I wanted to reflect a bit more on the olympics. Currently I'm on the night train to Xian. It's dirt cheap but I'm in the hard seats with 4 girls who seem to giggle all the time ( I feel at the token foreigners expense) and a guy the size of an NBA player, needless to say I'm opposite him.
So the olympics, well done team GB. We're making news here and I'm well impressed. This games been all about Phelps and if he is the greatest Olympian ever. The answer is a resounding no and for various reasons. You can't deny his achievement 7 world records and 8 gold, but to be a great you have to past the test of time. Phelps is still quite young and in the middle of his. Also he is lucky that swimming has so many events, no athelete could enter 8 events, add to this his main competitor Ian Thorpe retired so young and would surely have got two or three golds.
The term legend is given out far to easily and there have been a few in our generation, Tiger Woods, Micheal Schumacher, Pete Sampras and jermaine beckford. Ok I'll let the latter off. There have been some great performances though, I won't forget Usain Bolt easily. He was just too good! Chris Hoy should be made king!
I also feel a little for the Chinese atheletes (when they aren't being arrogant) because they are under immense local pressure and expected to always win. The poor atheletes aren't the best and yet gold is expected. The 110m hurdler went out injured this morning and the country is in mourning. He is on every other advert and was supposed to single handedly end the USA sprint dominance (lucky the jamaician men and women are doing the job) I dont think he knew whether to cry or be angry when he limped out.
One last thing, there may of been empty seats in the 'sold out' olympics, but there is not an inch available in this train.

One world, One dream in theory.

2008-08-16T09:17:00.006-01:00

This is a major landmark in our travels. The 29th Olympiad in Beijing. Straight from the off we can see this is a massive a event in Chinese history and they certainly aren't lacking people. There are China flags on every corner of every street and on everyones faces. It's very different from Euro 2008. There isn't an international feel to this event and it really is China's games.
Firstly the touristy stuff, Tiananmen square is big, the photo of mao is disturbing. The summer palace is an oasis of beauty that you couldn't even imagine. The main palace has far to many temples. The great wall is long very long. Enough touristy stuff.
Now although there are alot of people here, you'd be amazed how small a world this is, there we were strolling through the temple of heaven only for me to walk straight into a good friend from Uni in Manchester, Carlos. We went to the great wall together and out for some awesome food with him, his gf and another Manchester alumni. Small world.
The food here is really nice and so cheap. We thought being the olympics that the prices would be high but if they are we haven't noticed. For example the subway is 16p for a ride.
Now the olympics, there are some positives and negatives. The positives, the stadium and whole complex is truely amazing and puts most stadiums i've been to to shame. The birds nest is one of those stadiums that looks just perfect and whereever you sit inside it you have an amazing view. The aquatic centre looks a little strange but the closer you get the more special is looks. The subway built is as good as any in the world and makes the tube and NY metro look awful. From all accounts the airport is awesome too. I know alot of people have complained about the cost and knocking down of the hutongs there but what they have replaced it with is as good as anything in the world. I'd be delighted if London 2012 turned out that well.
The negatives, the ticket allocation is dreadful, most of the stadiums have been empty if there is no chinese doing well, even though there are loads of people outside wanting tickets. The touts are ridicolous and quite ashamedly there are as many english touts as chinese. They're charging $500 plus for a $10 ticket. Also there is no international feel here, there are few foreigners and you hardly seen anything other than a chinese flag. I hope London learns from this.
The actual competition is all about the China V USA medal count and is the main news item here. The chinese sportsmen now have an arrogance about them that was once reserved for the US atheletes. (saying this nothing beats the US basketball team for arrogance) The chinese male badminton players in particular. I think China will win the medal count for a couple of reasons. The US are not having a good games take away the gold machine Phelps they would be below Germany. Also the Jamaicans are dominating the sprints. If you have not seen it watch the 100m final. Truely amazing. I'm just in shock and awe of Bolt. I'll allow his arrogance, this time!!!

As for Britain, again we showed that we have talent in cycling, sailing and rowing. We're making strides in Swimming but the atheltics team is going now where fast.

I've enjoyed beijing and would advise anyone to come here get a bike and cycle for a week around. Truely one of the better cities i've been too. I know alot of complaints can be thrown about the politics of china but most of it is hype i feel. The pollution has not been as bad a made out and there haven't been hardly any protests. I think we paint a bad picture of china to make us look bettter but in reality neither china or the west are angels.

Inner Mongolia

2008-08-16T09:14:00.003-01:00

We went to Huhhot from UlanBaatar. We did this because of timetabling of the trains to Beijing. It was a good stepping stone into China.
Now i've seen lots of Pagodas and trust me, you've seen a couple you've pretty much seen them all. However, Huhhot has a 5 temple pagoda of Indian style. This is pretty new to me and probably the best thing in the city. Although nice there wasn't alot to do there. Enough said really.

Mongolia

2008-08-16T08:58:00.002-01:00

Pack your bags, head to nearest airport and get a flight to UlaanBaatar. You won't regret it!Imagine making France three times bigger then put the entire population of Northern Ireland in it, you get one of most sparsely populated counties in the world. I'm not going to claim UB is a beautiful city because it's not. It's grey with Korean shops and a handful of post communist relics, saying all this it has a weird charm about it. There are a handful of bars and the women wear bright summer dresses that give it an uplifting feel. It also has the only monastry that survied soviet occupation. It has a massive standing Buddha that deserves a somewhat more spectacular surroundings. It holds over a hundred barrels that are to be turned to send their prays.
We booked a 6 day tour of the Gobi desert. For this we got a driver called Jager. A man in his forties who knew everyone, a veteran of the road with 21 years of driving behind him, he turned up with the Russian beast of a van. We set off and merely 2 hours in the beast we discovered was more prey than a bird of prey. We had overheated but this did'nt worry Jager, ten minutes and we were off again only to burst a tire. Jager had obviously done this before. We conitued through the wilderness watching eagles and farm animals mosey around. Our first night was in a ger camp (a kind of semi permanent tent) with a young family, having read all the cultural dos and don'ts, we instantly forgot them all and went about our business the British way. The family had two children the 4 year old Chinks (far too cute) and her 11 year old sister Gurlaa. Gurlaa had surprisingly good English that easily would put my old students to shame. Add to this her nearest neighbour was at least 30km away. We played football and helped (or slowed down) the process of putting the baby goats to bed. Being the kind guys we are we drove them to the nearest city the next day. We must of been in a very giving mood because later that evening we toed a stranded family nearly 150km over rough terrain. There are no roads outside UB, only a series of dirt tracks that belong more to a rally course than a countries infrastructure.
We stayed in a variety of Ger Camps for the rest of the days and met so many locals, the gobi is big. We would drive 7 or 8 hours a day and just seen endless wilderness with a scattering of camels and yaks to keep you amused. We stopped one day to do some camel riding, after going over the sanddunes for an hour we stepped off with the greatest John Wayne impressions ever. Although, i think it cost me the chance of ever having a family. Soon as we got off we were 'treated' to some camel milt, i think the treat was all theres. I would be interested to see what a girl says it tastes like because we had certainly had a nasty image in our minds.
Life in the Gobi is tough, but after speaking to the families they all prefferred their life to the city people. I mean they have to walk 20 min to get water everyday, eat mutton almost every day and the school kids rode by horse to school for an hour every morning. However, they have the ultimate privacy and i have never seen so many stars in the sky as i did that week.
We were glad to get back to civilisation but happy to lived a nomad existence for just a while.

Lake Baikal

2008-08-16T08:56:00.001-01:00

You know when you're getting close to Asia because everything becomes slightly more chaotic. We arrived in Irkutsk after a sleepless night on the train. Irkutsk is an industrial city similar to Birmingham or Sheffield and not the prettiest, nevertheless we made it to our hostel in desperate need of a shower and a shave, only to discover their cold water had been switched off, what are the chances. We did what we could and made plans for our trip to Olkhon Island where this regions beauty lies. We got a minibus there which should fit 12 but had16 of us crammed in. Welcome to Asia.
The island is like something from the Victorian times, a lack of electricity, only 2 phones both by satelite, cows roaming the streets and not a brick or patch of Tarmac in sight. The lake glistened and with the backdrop of mountains it made you naturally calm. We stayed in a newly built wood house and wasted our days there mountain biking and hiking. The views were jawdropping everywhere we went. You are so far from civilisation that the pace of life and peacefulness within is how life should be. The sunsets couldn't help you think of anything less than paradise. Anyone who has seen Forrest gump will remember when jenny is dying and forrest talks about his travels and says he saw landscapes where he did'nt know where land ended and the sky began. You only have to view some of our photos to know exactly what he meant.I dont really want to give advice in this blog but if you are leaving russia to Mongolia prepare to wait a long time, a very long time.

Trans-Siberian

2008-08-16T08:51:00.002-01:00

They say it's not the destination that is important but the journey there that creates value. Never has this rang true for me more the trans-Siberian railway, the 5000km trek from Moscow to Irkutsk in Russia is by far the largest single journey that I have ever and ever likely to take. The 76 hour journey changes you in a strange way, its hard to describe. We're in the platzkart (3rd class) and its essentially rows of beds in a carriage 2 high with no privacy. However it becomes like a community almost instantly, people who have never set eyes on eachother are suddenly sharing food, beer and obviously vodka. Being the only foreigners in our carriage has led to some curiousity and at times unwanted attention but also very humbling that people have taken us in without the slightest knowledge of who we are. We have been lucky that in our mini dorm there was a young guy called Ivan who is learning English and more than happy to translate. On our first day we had this karate instructor make us all these 'special' teas. After a few we felt quite drousy and the cabin was a little more spaced out, I never did find out was herb was in that pack he had. The following day Ivan taught us a Russian card game that led to the introduction of Alexander. Alexander is a former military officer of about 60ish years old who at first supplied us with fruit tea and brought out a jar (more like a big glass bottle) of strawberry jam stuff for the tea. It was awesome but this is when it started to get a bit hectic and he gave us the jar as a present. Bradders and I looked at each with the same 'what the frick are we going to do with 5kg of strawberries'. Stupidly I thought getting the vodka out was a good idea until he brings out pickles, fish and a tin of army meat (I say meat because I'm not sure which) he then procedes to teach us the art of vodka, being a little naive I pour myself just over a shot and pass the bottle to him, he pours half a glass which he downs straight away and eats a pickle, I did the same but I felt it hit me more considering the mother of 2 young girls in our mini cabin gave me bread and salami with the suggestion that it will soak it up. It's 3am now and I'm still awake so not sure what the bread actually did.We also saw perhaps the funniest moment of my life, a 40ish year old man was eating some food from a plastic plate and looked round to realize his train was pulling out the station at getting faster, so 'obviously' he runs after it jumps on a step on the outside of the train and hangs on for dear life whilst spilling half his meal and stuffing the rest in his pocket. This train wasn't stopping for anyone so he tries to open the window and open the door from the inside, he succeeds with this train picking up full pace.
We still have one day left but this journey us taken us from our home of Europe to the distant lands of Asia and taught us that regular people when in similar circumstances will help each other out no matter who you are.On our final day we were sad to see Ivan go but not without him giving us a 9 inch knife as a present. What do you say? Thanks for this killing machine, at least it wasn't an AK47. We're still waiting on that. Our old officer friend came to our sarcastic delight with another lock knife as a present. Maybe bradders and I give off a persona unknown to us. The family in the cabin with us consisted of a mum with 2 daughters, ilena aged11 and jana aged 7, these two were like chimps climbing everything and when forced spoke a bit of English, clearly making their mum proud. The drunk officer persisted to get us drunk for the rest of the journey but we held strong leaving us with great memories and 5kg of strawberry jam.

The beautiful game

2008-08-16T08:49:00.001-01:00

Whatever you may call it, whatever you may think of it, the beautiful game is unique. No sport is as global, no people are more idolized and no activity creates such a variety of emotion. The famous Liverpool manager Bill Shankley said 'Football isn't about life or death, it's more important than that', maybe I wouldn't go that far but it's certainly close.Euro 2008 maybe hasn't been exciting as some but what has for me confirmed the importance of football has been the fans we have seen. It's there chance to show patriotism and passion which was once reserved only for war time. It crosses barriers and brings even a non believer to extremes of emotion. Love, fear, anger, passion, dedication, tears, heartbreak, honour, pride and hope are merely a few emotions that can be felt in 90 minutes. It crosses borders and national tensions.You may laugh and consider it just a sport, but where else does the wealth of your country, the size of your population , a teams strength be so nullified. I think it was Christmas day in a field in France when two forces at war ceased battle to play a game in the snow.Football certainly is not just a game, in many aspects its a realease mechanism where we let 11 men fight for their country, who would want to guess what would happen otherwise.People will argue that music crosses borders but does it create such mixed emotion and drama. I'm always amazed that wherever I have been in the world the mere mention that I'm from Europe or England sparks discussion of memories and hopes and the gods of our time. From Korea in 02 to Eusebio, Puskas, Pele, Maradona, Platini and becks. The list is endless and ever growing.We may not have agreement in our gods or harmony in religions but we have football.

Russia

2008-08-16T08:46:00.002-01:00

After our war tour we had grown fond of the baltic states and almost felt we were betraying them by going to Russia.We took the bus from Talinn to the big red machine expecting a mass of ultra productive industry, how wrong we can be! Immigration was a shambles, but was heaven compared to the 'motorway' we were going 5mph down. Mud tracks would of been better, we arrived in the less scenic area of St Petersburg and made our way to our hostel. The center of the city was much better and we got a flavor of the cultural capital of Russia. We visited Peter and Paul fortress and the intercity beach. We spent one day at the hermitage, which after the louvre is supposed to be the most famous art gallery in the world. I'm no art expert but it certainly was big and if I recognize pictures then they must be good, we saw Da Vinci, Picasso, Van Gogh, Monet and hundreds more. Ironically my favorite part was some local exhibtion using geometric shapes and light. Even though he won't admit it even bradders learnt something from here, however I'm not sure it was worth the 3 hour que to get in.We made our way by train to Moscow and got stung by the train fare, its a sore point. We arrived in Moscow still in search of how this country has become so powerful. The Kremlin and St Basils cathedral were certainly big highlights of our trip and true kodak moments. Going to Lenin's dead body was certainly surreal and we were not convinced that its actually him. Walking through the city you can tell this is a huge city but I can't really equate it to the power of Russia, although there is immense wealth and influence here these cities are not flurishing like they once were, there is no awe or jealously here not even a communist superpower awe. I'm reading Anna Karenina at the moment and perhaps this has given me a distorted view of Russia big two cities. We now head to sibieria in hope of realizing russia immense size.

Baltics

2008-07-14T18:22:00.001-01:00

After leaving Poland we headed for our war tour. The baltics although very individual have had pretty much the same history, conquered then liberated, then reconquered only to be found they were bad liberators and gained independence a couple of generations later on the same though. All subtly blame the west for not interfering earlier.
90 years in one paragraph, impressive eh!!
Take all that aside these were 3 beautiful countries with old town from medieval ideals within them. We met a nice girl from Seven Oaks who got lumbered with us in Vilnius. We went to a really nice bar on the side of a hill looking down on to the river.
From Lithuania we headed to Riga in Latvia which is soon to be a drunk brits heaven. There were so many party goers which somewhat ruined the ambiance. However the cathedrals held themselves apart from this.
Alice came to visit us in Estonia, i really liked the few days i had apart and enjoyed Talinn, it had the right balance of culture and party atmosphere. I met loads of people in my hippy hostel. We tried to go swimming but were kicked out after not realising you can't have swim shorts only trunks. What a let down? Instead we went to the empty beach and saw a nice monastry.
Throughout our baltic tour we ate some amazing dumplings which i'm missing already. Lucky asia does them too..

Sorry i kept this short. I have 4 more blogs to post but just waiting for a wifi connection to do it.

Poland

2008-07-12T16:48:00.001-01:00

Every so often in life you go to a place that is completely sealed in history and shows some of the failings of people. Auschwitz is one of those places. Whilst staying in Krakow we visited the site of these extermination camps which are so chilling. Just thinking of over a million people being killed is very tough and puts some of the more modern day tragedies into some context. In the museum you experience the passage people took and witness alot that tries to put the figures into mind. You see all the shoes and womens hair that was collected. It sends a bit of a chill down your spine. For me see the wall where people were excuted by gun shot was particularly moving. The second site at Birkenal is shown in Schindlers List and is massive. You can't comprehend the size unless you see it. The rail that leads into the camp must of been manic during the ocupation. Needless to say after our day here we felt pretty mellow. The next day we decided to cheer ourselfs up and went 135ft under ground to see the Wieliska Salt Mine. Our guide was really funny in a John Cleese kind of way. It's really spectular what you can do if a used mine. Suggestions perhaps for some of our mines. There is a big underground cathederal and many staircases. Krakow itself was a nice little town that is becoming overrun with tourists and drinkers. I'm sure it will get worse there.

Unplanned we headed to Warsaw through the overnight bus. It kind of wrecked our next day because we were so tired, but the old town was surprisingly good and quiet. We visited the war museum that is chiotic but very visual. It started somewhat of a war tour before we headed to the baltics. When we study about the war we really don't focus on these countries and the liberation/occupation of both nazi germany and communist russia. Most of the second world war was on the eastern front and the legacy it left was devasting. You really can't compare it to the rebuilt London or Paris. However i would say that Britain got a bit of unfair image by many of the museum who seemed to suggest that we weren't involved in the war, i would never say we suffered as much and we didn't and in most likely realistically couldn't physically put troops in Poland to help them, but we suffered and made a substantial effort on the western front.

We enjoyed Poland even though it can leave you slightly depressed, i think it's a coountry that has great potential as well as great women. I would like to visit it again and go to more youthful and less touristy places. The hostel though were both amazing.

Budapest, Vienna and Prague

2008-07-06T07:32:00.002-01:00

Ok, I've fallen behind on this recently and need to catch up. It's rare that i get much computer time. It's also fitting because these 3 cities have a lot in common. I would call them the new europe. When you walk around they have museums, galleries and cafes but still young cities. Perhaps how Paris, Madrid and Rome once were. Although they are tourist centers there is still a bit originality there. In budapest, we visited the medicinal baths and laid in the sun watching the scenery. The baths were around 30 degrees and made your tummy a bit dicky after a while. There were about 20 different pools in this building that looked like a british lido from the 1800's. I surprised how globalised Hungary was, around every corner there is a McDonalds or Burger King and Turkish food rules the high streets. The Hero's square is a magnificant monument and you walk up to it like being in paris.
We were in Vienna for the final of euro 2008. The atmosphere was simply amazing. Germans and Spaniards raising the roof around every square in the city. The neutrals were all supporting Spain which i think annoyed some of the German fans. Vienna is another city that has so many museums and galleries it would take a lifetime to visit them all. The game it self wasn't a classic bt a Torres inspired first half and a Senna controlled second half saw them through. They did grudgingly deserve to win, as i think this was a poor german side. More on the tournament later.
The last of our 3 city mini tour was Prague that was packed full of tourists. We did however visit the main attraction and in addition the museum of communism which was one of the most interesting museums we have been too. We spoke about how the red army saved the city from nazi rule only to take control itself. It had statues of Stalin and Marx and showed how life was during those times, like in school and shops. There was a very famous quote that i've known for a while and always comes back to haunt me. Stalin said 'One death is a tragedy, one million deaths is a statistic' this was particularly pointant considering the amount of people who died in these wars. They tend to be forgotten people. Also interesting was the propaganda posters used by the red army against america. Poster after poster dipicting greedy fatcats coming to europe with big dollar signs. When you look at them there is a element of truth. Alot of posters also dipict Czech as big strong agricultural men and use men for most their propaganda, however there is one poster about north korea that shows a courageous woman with a young boy underneath. I found that particularly interesting because Korean men don't strike you as powerful men and i have longed thought that there is a slight role reversal in Korea with women being much higher regarded from the outside. This image of a women fighting for her country whilst caring for the child (particularly important in NK where children hold a high status) was extremely clever by communist propaganda machine because it is a section of society that is hard to fight against because of the preceived weakness that a mother has. To fight them would be praying on the poor and needy.
Ok more to come soon.

Bosnia

2008-07-04T07:03:00.002-01:00

Luckily i've never had to experience war and although seen it many times on the TV can't really appreciate the damaging effects that it has. Mostar and Sarajevo has been really the first time that the consequences of war has shown itself to me. Our first stop was Mostar which had the Croat/Bosnian ethnic conflict. It has a really famous bridge that i'm sure many of you will recognise if you saw it. It was also the first islamic country that we have visited and the mosques looked amazing. We stayed in a private hostel and the owner picked us up at the station even though we didn't tell her when we were coming. That's service! She was a refugee sent to Sweden during the war in the early nighties. It's talking to people of her age that you realise wars aren't the 2 or 3 years of fighting, it's the generations afterwards that have to rebuild lives, cities and relationships. WW2 finished over 60 years ago but some of the tensions still exist, i think we forget how far reaching war can be. From Mostar we went to Sarajevo that was under seige for 4 years from Serbian forces. The place was still being rebuilt and you could walk past buildings with bullet and mortar holes. We visited the tunnel in which Bosnians used to try and get resources into the country. The owner of our hostel explained how everytime people went to the shops they didn't know if they were coming back. Can you imagine that? 11,000 people died in this war which was so close and recent. I wonder if we will ever learn the cost of war. I fear not.
Apart from all this Bosnia is flurishing into a traveller mecca and is beautiful with prices and women to match.

Croatia

2008-06-27T12:35:00.001-01:00

The night bus seemed like a good idea, to be fair it was worth it. The costal roads were stunning and at every stop we were met by merry croatian fans who had been watching the football (Croatia had just beat Poland with there reserves). We arrived in Split at 6am and was taken aback by the shear beauty that only a costal town can give, the promedade along the edge of port was fresh in brilliant white and the sun seemed to reflect of every surface. Split is Croatia's second city and as it's center piece in the UNESCO heritige site that is a large roman walls in which an authentic town lies.
Our accommodation was in a private home where we met the most amazing Croat to date, imagine Frank from 'some mothers do have em', he spoke at a rate of knots and was amazingly nice. Our room was like a mini apartment under the main house. We wondered around Split for several hours and was pleasantry surprised at its beauty. It evoked images of Spain but with a more authentic historical touch.
On our last day we went for a day trip to Hvar Island and finally got to get in the water. After some preparation bradders got in as well. The islands are obviously tourist havens but they hold a very roman feel, so much so we are pizzaed out. After Split we took another ferry to Korcula even though we were sad to say goodbye to frank. Korcula is smaller than the other island and is yet another UNESCO castle. I'm thinking that the Vienticians wanted to defend the coast. We stayed at a somewhat party hostel but had to wait several hours to check in so went on a bike ride around the island, the roads are not flat but being the strong guys we are survived the course. It was refreshing to get out and stretch the legs because sometimes you get caught up with all the site seeing and planning that you forget to just get out. We also have had to deal with the extreme heat. Sadly we had to watch the Croats lose to Turkey and they did'nt take it so well apparently smashing the town up. We do have a conplaint about Croatia though the beer commercials most of which involve Croatia scoring against England and taking the piss out of us, we will forgive this once because we're knock them out the world cup. Well try at least and some players maybe not even that. Our last stop was the pearl of the adriantic, Dubrovnik. This is now one of the coolest places in the world and entertains enough Russian billionaires to end world debt. You'll be surprised to hear it's a UNESCO site and has the feel of grandeur and wealth the beaches like most of Croatia are rocky but the water is just how you imagine in your dreams, its clear and that bluish green that you can't describe matched with the heat its the most inviting water I've ever seen and I even swam out to see a bit. I know I'm a brave cookie.
Overall we're a bit sad to leave Croatia and will certainly return. Steve you would love it here.

Mystical Slovenia

2008-06-26T18:48:00.002-01:00

After leaving the amazing train journey from Austria, we hit the drizzly town of Bled in Slovenia. Being the cheap skates we are we walked the 3km from the station and saw an amazing bird of prey. You've never seen bradders so excited!!!
Our hostel was above a nice pub and we went on our way to tour the town. The town is situated around a beautiful lake that has a church in the center. On the hillside there is a castle looking over the lake. The view is awesome and you feel like you're in a fairytale as you pace up the castle to save the princess, unfortunately for us there was no princess just a security man guarding the artifacts in the museum.
We discovered how the town has been used by princes, kings and the upper class of eastern Europe. Today the town is more a mecca to adventurers looking to do rafting and the like in nearby Bohinj. The Castle hostel in which we were staying had a pub where we watched the football and got drunk with the locals. After talking to many we were slightly surprised they reminisced about the delights of the former Yugoslavia and how times were better then, this was a reoccurring theme in Slovenia and parts of Croatia. It reminded me how in Portugal Salazar was voted the number one Portuguese in history. I guess to a certain extent people focus on improving their lifestyles rather than how that lifestyle has come about.

We left Bled towards the capital Ljubljana having enjoyed it. Ljubljana is another of these up and coming cafe culture city that Europe does so well., like any good city it has a river sprawling through it with extraordinary building littered through it. From the castle the city is washed with bright orange tiles for as far as the eye can see. If you ever go eat the ice cream, it's the type that is creamy and comes in amazing flavours like whiskey and cookie, needless to say we have put on a couple of pounds. We decided to save on accommodation and got the night bus to Split in Croatia.

Innsbruck

2008-06-15T18:44:00.003-01:00

We entered Innsbruck looking forward to chilling out and spend some time in the same place. Innsbruck has held the winter olympics twice and apart from that we didn't know too much about it. We stayed in a fan camp which was essentially a gymnasium where you choose a corner. The place was crawling with Spaniards waiting for their match with Russia. They were certainly the loudest fans we met. The old village in Innsbruck is a series of little paths and lanes and features the supposedly famous golden roof (ironically its made of copper tiles). The old town is just as you would imagine an old European city. We sat in a tiny little cafe and found the creme de la creme of deserts, strudel. I love strudel and they had a wide range from savory to sweet, we choose the ricotta and fruit one with our awesome coffees, needless to say it didn't stay on the plate long.
It was nice staying in the same place for a while because you don't have to worry about luggage or times or anything to that matter. Tough life
We spent every evening in a big tent watching the football with each countries fans. Seeing Croatia beat Germany was certainly a highlight. During the day we visited various sights including the Ski jump.
We even ventured about half hour outside of Innsbruck to Wattens to go to the Swarovski Crystal museum. It holds the largest cut diamond in the world and i think it was most girls dream. There were diamonds everywhere and even a diamond dome. Most of the museum is like a arty gallery with works from Andy Warhol and the like. It took a bit of thinking to understand the abstract thinking behind the works but between bradders and i we were smart cookies.

We got the train from Innsbruck to Bled in Slovenia and saw amazing mountain views that were taken straight from Lord of the Rings. We also met an old couple from Croatia who were very interested in us. They spoke German so we managed to get by and the lady was very excited about us visiting her country, a bit too excited actually. Hopefully the rain will stop soon.

Zurich

2008-06-15T12:51:00.001-01:00

Zurich was very similar to Geneva and we felt more comfortable with our german than our French. Our hostel was about an hour walk from the city center so we got to see plenty of the city. In the station they erected a massive huddle of players from various countries, it was so realistic even down to the studs, which were each were about the size of heads. There isn't a great deal to see in Zurich but still has a cool laid back vibe and plenty of class. The train ride to Innsbruck was spectuclar swirling through the mountains and lakes. We saw Leichenstein was pretty random as we entered our second country.Austria !

The big off

2008-06-15T12:50:00.000-01:00

Well finally the time has come for bradders and I leave to leave the motherland and go in search of adventure. After a brief stay with an hospitable host (yes that's you Ryan) we left London Waterloo for Geneva with time for a coffee in Paris. We even got to test our French out and bradders was a demon with the subway.On arriving in geneva we were met by Portuguese flags and Euro 2008 fever. All the planning was worth it!!!Geneva has the second highest standard of living in the world behind Zurich. You can see why, there is an air of international cosmopolitism that I've never seen before. The boutiques and cafes have a sense of class. The buildings look like they were designed 100 years ago but are still in immaculate condition. Of course with all this came a cost and you need to be wealthy to really enjoy this city. We walked around the city and along the lake during the light drizzle. We ventured to the UN building that has a very symbolic chair outside with a missing leg. The red cross museum is close by and after some clever chatting between bradders and I we blagged a discount. The red cross came about through a businessman who was dismayed by the treatment of fellow humans in wartime that gathered some senior officials to lay out what would become the Geneva convention, the red cross still holds a much underared position in the global eye compared to some more trendy organizations like Oxfam or Greenpeace.After our cultural experiences we headed towards the fanzone for the big game, Portugal V Turkey. It felt like a home match for Portugal and of course they did'nt let down winning 2-0.Being the hardcore souls that bradders and I am we stayed in the fans nightclub until the first train to Zurich, on a heavy dose of coca cola by 5am the coke effect had warn off.We really enjoyed Geneva and I'd have no problem living there for a while.

A mislead youth

2008-06-02T22:22:00.000-01:00

As a kid you're always told to 'listen to your elder', 'take that advice' and 'remember words of wisdom'. Well as a geeky kind of kid i did and have, but today bradders and i have learned a lesson. Don't listen to elders, advice or wisdom. You mus all remember the Baz Luhrman song 'Wear Sunscreen', it offers good advice you'd think!!! but no it doesn't take into account you have to actually buy this overpriced, over manufactured and over promoted product called Sunscreen. We went to Brighton happy in the knowledge we are going on this exciting adventure with the goal of buying a few toiletries. £60 and an hour later we left boots bemused at what we had just witnessed. Sun Cream at £10 (and it was on offer). What has the world come too??? We don't even have sun in England. How can it possibly be this expensive??!!! For that price i expect it to come with some blond Swedish model to rub it on.
To get over our dismay we came home and started searching for Insurance ( Yes, I know we have left it late) only to be hit with another financial shock. Personally paying for something that might or might not happen seems frustrating and i don't need the lecture of 'if you don't get it, something might happen'. Needless to say we now have insurance so anybody who wants to steal my stuff is more than welcome to it.

Joke!!! just in case somebody gets any ideas. Other highlights was getting our phrase books so that bradders can do all the talking whilst i start reading Anna Karenina.
We had our leaving party on friday and was truly amazed how many people were there (even though i didn't know every one). I'll leave you with one photo which was a surprise because we're never in the same place that often.

Awwww!!!

2008-06-02T22:20:00.002-01:00

Awwww!!!, originally uploaded by blueatjustchill.

34 days to go

2008-05-02T16:58:00.002-01:00

Not that i'm counting down or anything but 34 days to go. It's been a while so i thought i'd update. I've been working for a bank with a big black horse in their ops center, it's ok but my mind is always elsewhere.
The planning is going pretty well. Our accom is now booked in Geneva, Zurich, Innsbruck and Vienna. After that we're a bit clueless.
One word though has made my life hell, that word is 'visas'. They are truly a nightmare and a sign of how far the world still has to go. Russia and China are the two main devils in the story i'm living. It hasn't helped having the champions league final there.
I'm not in a writing mood so i'll update soon.

The trip starts here

2008-03-26T01:55:00.000-01:00

It's about to begin, a lifetime of dreaming has led finally to the trip of a lifetime. Bradders and I are to set of sometime in the beginning on June. So now my blog will show our planning and progress of the trip. It should be an aventure.
We have a rough route sorted which i have attempted to put on the maps below. There is about 6 or 7 main sections at the moment, but with more to be added.
The start is Euro 2008 in Switzerland and Austria, even though England have failed us and not qualified this is probably the most competitive international tournament in the world, I would argue even more so than the world cup. After the group stages I hope we can go down to Slovenia, Croatia and Hungary before heading back to Vienna for the final. After the final we head towards North Eastern Europe through Poland, Latvia and Estonia before arriving in St Petersburg.
The second part of the journey is from Moscow on the Trans-Siberian railway to Lake Baikal and Mongolia. We finish the epic train journey in Beijing for a personal highlight the 2008 Olympic Games.

After the games we travel round China and the Yangtse river to Shanghai and a boat to Korea, which i know all to well. We get a bit of rest bite there and carry on to Japan and the boat from Osaka to Beijing. If we still have energy after that we head to Hong Kong and through to South East Asia where we experience the delights of Vietnam, Loas, Cambodia, Thailand and Malaysia on our way to Aus. From there who knows, I certainly don't. Maybe the america's but one step at a time.

Well thats our initial route but anyone who knows Bradders and I we could end up anywhere at anytime.

Yankees Stadium

2008-03-26T00:18:00.002-01:00

Yankees Stadium, originally uploaded by blueatjustchill.

The house that Ruth built

UN Security Council

2008-03-26T00:16:00.002-01:00

UN Security Council, originally uploaded by blueatjustchill.

One of the most famous and important sights in the world

Brighton Beach, NY

2008-03-26T00:15:00.002-01:00

Brighton Beach, NY, originally uploaded by blueatjustchill.

I'm no photographer but i think this is pretty good of Brighton Beach, New York

Brooklyn Bridge

2008-03-26T00:14:00.002-01:00

Brooklyn Bridge, originally uploaded by blueatjustchill.

It's a marvel to look at and feels so familiar.

St Patricks Parade

2008-03-26T00:12:00.002-01:00

IMG_2563.JPG, originally uploaded by blueatjustchill.

I wonder what is under their kilts.

The house that ruth built and the city that immigrants made

2008-03-20T13:08:00.000-01:00

The thoughts that come into ones mind when they think of new york city
can range from the sumblime to quite frankly the ridiculous. During
the last couple of weeks I've seen both sides from the prestige of the
Yankees stadium to a psycho guy with a pitball on the subway .
There are many sporting Meccas on this earth the Nou Camp, Wembly, MCG
and so on but one of the most recognizable sporting icons has to be
the Yankees stadium. The logo and pinstriped shirts not only embody a
team but a city. The current stadium is due to be knocked down to make
way for a more 'commercially friendly' stadium. In all fairness the
current stadium needs an uplift but walking around it gives even a non-
baseball fan like me a sense of history. You get to see the babe ruth
memorial and sit in the dug out and get a sense of the 'real' new York
before the hype and commercialism came to town.
Its a weird feeling for me to come to nyc after Korea. Although I am
foreign to both the feelings are in stark contrast I've gone from
standing out and being somewhat a novelty to being the norm in a place
I dont really know. Its somewhat of a kickback to the anti-American
brigade NYC is probably along with london the most multicultural place
on earth. Euna and I could choose a different countries cuisiene to
eat every night and still get the authentic flavour, so what better
place to have the 'world government' than here. The UN building
perched on the edge of manhattan is a leading symbol of what can be
achieved when people talk and although not perfect (just sit in the
security council chamber to understand how imperialistic the world
still is) is still the best the world has to offer. Walking around
manhattan offers such an array of familiar surroundings that you will
feel like you have been here before, the architecture is actually
extremely underrated and remains beautifully dated. Nothing more so
than the Brooklyn bridge which I advise to walk across with a warm
coat. I must of walked every block in manhattan and constantly felt I
was in a movie.
This time last year I was in hyewha watching the st patricks parade
and this year it was ny turn, watching the bagpipes was amusing as was
the electric shocks everytime I kissed euna.
You know when you know something is going to happen that must happen
but still makes to feel sad to the core well I'm having one of those
days and its not nice. I'm on an air India flight as I write this and
why do I always pick the turblent flights where flight attendants
check the door while youre in the air and stop serving food the row
before you because the plane drops five feet.
I guess that's just life at the moment but in three hours a chapter of
my life ends and a new one begins. Let's hope I land safely, who said
airports were places of change.
Edit: why is it when you open milk sachets they spray everywhere. Damn!
Edit again; I've landed and on the bus to gatwick nineteen quid, can
you believe that? I must be home!

Goodbye Korea!!

2008-03-06T05:50:00.001-01:00

Airports are funny places, i think 'Love Actually' explains it best, i think they are places that change your outlook, you see smiles and tears, you come with enjoyment and leave with sadness. I started this blog leaving Manchester and I said i hated goodbyes and i tell you the older i get the less i like them. The last two weeks have been a series of goodbyes to students, teachers, friends and places. I didn't really enjoy one moment of it. Looking back one month ago i really wanted to leave korea and maybe in one months time i'll be happy that i left, but at the moment i'm sad to be leaving. Looking from the outside Korea is nothing that special. Pocheon is just a regular town that you could find anywhere in the world, but i guess anyone who spends time in one place will grow attached to it. I'll always be able to say I lived in Korea for a year and a half and accomplished a lot of things i never thought i would get the chance to do. I've met some amazing people here including a very special girl!!!. I've even got Korean parents who have done so much for me that no gift would be able to repay.
Before leaving Korea I had only really met one Korean in my life and I must been very lucky to find one of the kindness guys I'm ever likely to meet. I should mention Dylan because he makes my life super duper easy and has never asked for anything in return.
During my travels I have confirmed my feeling that no matter where you go in the world, no mater how poor or how rich, no matter how different their culture may seem, people are generally good natured and the more you put into them the more you get out.
As i walked through the immigration at Incheon in the 'morning calm' of Korea I've realised it was the last goodbye to Korea and now that i'm in transit to the 'rising sun' of Tokyo I can start to look forward. New York is the next stop and what a stop. I've been a couple times now but this time will be a little bit more special. By dinner tonight I'll truly feel like i'm in the 'big apple' maybe Korea will be in the back of my mind but certainly not forgotten.

Graduation

2008-02-25T22:55:00.000-01:00

My kids have graduated. I'm so proud and slightly amazed. I never knew you could graduate Middle School, it seems a bit easy. When asked if the students could actually fail I was rewarded with a resounding 'No!!!'. Anyways because my school isn't the largest in the world we had a mini ceremony with a high tech broadcast of the show. One class were lucky enough to receive the full works whilst the others viewed the ceremony on their TV's. I graced them in my neatest attire.
It was sad to see the students go but they'll move on and maybe one of them will be rich and give me some of their fortune.
Anyway here are some pics that have missing from my blog in recent times.

Namssun and I

2008-02-25T22:49:00.005-01:00

Namssun and I, originally uploaded by blueatjustchill.

She was one of my students in winter camp.

My students

2008-02-25T22:49:00.004-01:00

My students, originally uploaded by blueatjustchill.

More winter camp students

The head girl at graduation

2008-02-25T22:48:00.001-01:00

The head girl at graduation, originally uploaded by blueatjustchill.

Sould I go to the Beijing olympics?

2008-02-20T23:55:00.002-01:00

Well it's booked and I can't wait for it. The 29th Olympiad will be in the city of Beijing, the hostel is booked and i will living it up in the birds nest. However, I've been asked many time that 'we should be boycotting these games, why are you going?'. I've had it so many times it's getting boring. I just wanted to highlight a few things that seemed to have been missed out in this debate.
The problem I have with a lot of the debate is not the facts of China committing human rights problems or supplying arms but the way the west is trying to take some moral high ground.
A little fact ' China has $0.5bn arms exports, compare this with the $14bn from the US, $4.6bn from the UK and $3.4bn from France' I wish the media would report this a bit more in perspective.
I find irony in the way we criticize how China commit offenses to Tibetans and this is deplorable but I fear Native Americans and Aboriginals will be wishing they had similar coverage while they were being abused.
I'm not trying to defend China here or make the argument the West did it so China can too. I just want people to stop trying to take this moral high ground when in democratic countries we reelect presidents who commit similar offenses. Many of which are not highlighted by our own media.
I ask merely one question, 'If we can't hold the Olympics in China, where can we hold it?, Greenland maybe?'
For me I'm going to chilling back in the birds nest with a beer in one hand and a camera in the other. It's a tough life.