New York, New York

Last June, when I was about to land in New York City, I looked down into Manhattan and I could not help thinking about the passengers aboard the two planes that on the fatidic morning of September 11, 2001, crashed into the World Trade Center.

The sadness of this moment marked me to the point of having nightmares, where I was in one of those flights and knew what was going to happen without having any say or control over the unavoidable tragic end.

It was only a nightmare but I felt uselessly desperate.
This nightmare unfortunately was real for so many innocent victims.

3 years after that tragic day, in spite of the great irreplaceable lost, Manhattan still stands with its glory and pride as ever:



Life goes on for those who remain here. Not even the grief that New Yorkers went through, knocked them down and today they stand firm even against those who claim that they are protecting them...


The planes are back in the air and the humanity keeps the hope that such horrific day will never be repeated again.

My tribute to all victims and families of 911 and all similar attacks caused by somebody or something who wronlgly believes that they can act in the name of God!

present takes over the past...

A double-deck bus over passes a tram on Queen’s Road, Central district, Hong Kong, where a few decades ago, this same tram was the main public transportation means of the island and ran parallel, to the now distant, waterfront.



"The double-decker Hong Kong Island tram, which skirted the water's edge a century ago but now runs through mid-town thanks to successive reclamation projects..."

wait and stand...

Clock Tower, Star Ferry Pier, Central,
Hong Kong - 2004

A discreet presence

Admiralty, Hong Kong - 2004

Photography...

...is about what you see...

Clock Tower - Tsim Tsa Tsui - Hong Kong, 2004

...how you see it...

Clock Tower - Tsim Tsa Tsui - Hong Kong, 2004

...and what you feel when you see it!

Cumple Anos Felices, Cedric!

Today, they say, it’s the Internet’s 35th anniversary, congratulations for this achievement.

It is also a very specialy person’s birthday, my brother Cedric.

Cedric is a person who does not just watch life passing by, he grabs it and lives it! A true brother in arms, a professional model with a very rich soul, who believes and shares with us messages like this one:

Se quanta que en el siglo pasado, un turista fue a Egipto con la finalidad de vistar a un famoso sabio.
El turista se sorprendo al ver que el sabio vivia en un cuartito muy simple, limpio y lleno de libros.
Las unicas piezas de mobiliarios eran una cama, una mesa y un banco.
“Donde estan sus muebles?” – pergunto el turista.
Y el sabio rapidamente tambien perguntou: “Y donde estan los suyos?”
“Los mios?” – se sorprendio el turista – “pero si yo estoy aqui solamente de paso!”
“Yo tambien…!” – comcluyo el sabio.
“La vida en la tierra es solamente temporal”

"Sin embargo, algunos viven como si fueran a quedarse aqui eternamente y se olividan de ser felicies.
El valor de las cosas no esta en el tiempo que duran, sino en la intensidad con que suceden.
Por eso existen momentos inolvidables, cosas inexplicables y personas incomparables!”

Cedric, una persona incomparable!
I wish you a very happy birthday with everything you wish for!

They are selling the past!

It was only 10 years ago when I first arrived in Hong Kong and was delighted to see rickshaws parked in front of the Star Ferry Pier, in Central district, with their drivers sitting on them, waiting for their clients.
Back in 1994, these rickshaw drivers (or show I say runners) were not transporting local people as they used to do back in a more remote past. These drivers were trying to catch the attention of tourists making money out of the photos they were posing for. Back then I felt the nostalgia of something that was reaching its end and was disappearing.

The profile of these rickshaw drivers were old Chinese men with gig golden smiles, dressed in traditional fisherman’s black suits. They could not speak English but they had their techniques in fishing in tourist into their rickshaws.
What they did was posing for the first picture and then volunteering to take a picture of you, sitting on the rickshaw. Considering the innocent and pleasant offer chances are that you would have accepted as in fact I did. As soon as I sat on the rickshaw, it was lifted and in fraction of seconds I see myself being pushed away on the rickshaw. I still remember that the driver was so amused and was laughing when I insisted several time to stop. He didn’t, he went around the block, which made me feel quite embarrassed as this man was certainly in his 80’s.

When he came back to the beginning, I was a bit mad of what he did but gave him some money and kept a memory of something that will never happen.

Time flies and we are always to busy to pay attention to what we are loosing with that flight.
The other day I passed by again by the Star Ferry Pier and saw with sadness that the old men with the golden smiles, dressed in black fisherman’s suits were no longer there.
Only the rickshaws still remain, resting alone, waiting to be sold.


They are selling the past!

Living High in Hong Kong

Unless your are Li Kai Shing or some other Hong Kong tycoon, you can afford to live in a house in Hong Kong island.
Land prices get more expensive than gold itself.
Hong Kong island, is roughly in its natural status, a big rock that emerges from the sea. The existent flat land is usually artificially "created" by reclamation.
Every buildable spot gets easily occupied:


The developers usually utilize the land occupation to its maximum capacity. A little more than just 25 m2 can give space to 80 apartments:


Hong Kong is one of the cities in the world with the highest population density (for reference only: 247,501 people per square mile - 20 times higher than India's).

In 1998, with the move of the old Hong Kong Airport from the Kowloon Peninsula to Check Lap Kok, the building height restriction was relaxed, from 20 to >80 floors.
Today, aiming as usual to utilize the land, there are residential buildings being built with 80 floors or more, giving the impression that the 20 floor-buildings nearby are just tiny little house.

after typhoon mood

The typhoon is gone, but the wind is still blowing, the sky is still gray, the air is moist and hot and i am at work... what a weekend!

Which Of The Seven Deadly Sins Are You?

Suggested by Misha and Manela I decided in this bloody boooooooooring saturday afternoon at forced work, that i should test myself too, et voila' les resultats:


You are Lust!
Sexy!! But they say that theres such a thing as too
much of a good thing. You have sex on the
brain, and it doesn't stay just there for long.
Passionate, Fiery - and most certainly
confident. You're a fun loving, spontaneous
person who is always up for a laugh. People
however, have trouble keeping up with you.
You're sex crazy, and perhaps need to tone it
down a bit! learn a little self control!
But, Hey, Congratulations on being the Sexiest Red
Hot deadly sin out of all the 7...

ooops, and i thought it was all part of being alive!



?? Which Of The Seven Deadly Sins Are You ??
brought to you by Quizilla

Typhoon Aere blows Taiwan

It's the typhoon season and this year has been particularly bad for Taiwan. Typhoon Aere is the second typhoon this year (On July 2nd, typhoon Mindulle had a direct hit on the heart of the island, affecting many victims in the mountain's region) that hit hard on Taiwan, leaving devastation and victims as it brushes through the island.
This time it was the northern parts of Taiwan that suffered the most and being in Tainan (southern city) where the winds are still blowing very strong, I can just imagine how it might have felt in the north.
Aere is slowly approaching the north east cost of China, hopefully it won't be so catastrophic as the last one was.

Village missing after landslide
A landslide triggered by Typhoon Aere buried a mountain village in northern Taiwan yesterday, with the fate of at least 20 residents unknown.

PHOTO: TSAI MENG-HSIANG, TAIPEI TIMES
The Yihsing section of the No. 120 County Highway in Hsinchu, which has been virtually washed away by Typhoon Aere. The torrential rains brought by Aere, and the resultant flooding, damaged many roads in the Aboriginal townships of Chienshih and Wufeng in Hsinchu County.


PHOTO: CHANG HSUN-TENG, TAIPEI TIMES
The Houlung River roars under the damaged Kuishan Bridge in Miaoli City yesterday.


PHOTO: CHEN TSE-MING, TAIPEI TIMES
A park next to Hsintien River in Taipei County is inundated by rising water levels yesterday.

A fortune teller told me...

An excellent book by Tiziano Terzani that takes you into a trip around a spiritual dimension of South-East Asia!
Check out a summary here or here.

Another fortune teller told me, with quite accurate veracity, that I am:

How I Approach Life and How I Appear To Others:
Forward-looking and progressive, you are a person who supports change, innovation, and human advancement, and you are often strongly committed to a humanitarian cause or social improvement. You are extremely aware of the interconnection and interdependence of all people, and are always relating personal issues to some larger framework. You see the political or social ramifications of personal actions, and you wish to contribute something of value to the world, or at least to your community or group.

The Inner Me: My Real Motivation:
Proud and intensely individual, you really want to stand out, to be the very best you can be, and to be recognized and appreciated for your unique contributions. Doing something well and being respected for it is extremely important to you, and you cannot tolerate being in the background, taking orders from others, or being "just one of the team". You must put your personal stamp on whatever you do, and direct your own course in life. You need to have a place where you can shine, express yourself creatively, and be the one in charge.

It was 17 August 1965...

...a very hot afternoon in Madison County, Iowa...

Francesca sits on the front porch with some iced tea, trying to cool herself off. It is a scorcher. She is barefoot, her blouse hanging out of her jeans, her hair fastened up by a tortoise shell comb.
Camera begins a slow move into close-up, as she sips her tea and lets her mind wander.

“I never got lost. For some reason, I'm more at home everywhere than at one place. So I decided I'll think of myself as some kind of world citizen. I belong everywhere and nowhere. I'm kin to everyone, and no one in particular. See, once you get into the habit of not needing anyone, it's kind of hard to break.
I think I need everyone! I love people. I want to meet them all! I just think there are too many out there saying "This is mine." or "She's mine." Too many lines have been drawn. World's breaking apart because of man's weakness for some testosterone conquests over territory and power and people. He wants control over what deep down he knows he has no control over whatsoever and it scares him silly.”
“We're not even two separate people anymore. Some people search their whole lives for it and wind up alone -- most people don't even think it exists”

"-- going over and over in my mind every detail, every moment of our time together and I ask myself, "What happened to me in Madison County?" I struggle to put it together in a way that allows me to continue knowing we're on separate roads. But then I look through the lens of my camera, and you're there. I start to write an article and I find myself writing it to you. It's clear to me now we have been moving towards each other, towards those four days, all our lives -–"

He begins walking towards her. She prepares herself. Her life will change -- it has to. There's not turning back.
But the closer Robert gets, the clearer he can see that she is crying. And he stops.
Without any words, he realizes what taking her with him would mean. With just a glance, he sacrifices her. With their eyes locked in the middle of Main Street -- in front of the whole town -- they smile and say goodbye.

“Do what you have to, to be happy in this life. There is so much beauty, don’t miss it!"

Extracts from the movie script "The Bridges of Madison County" .

Happy Birthday Dear Madonna...

Chinese Taipei = Taiwan - Beijing?

Chinese Taipei, the designation of Taiwan in the Olympic games, in my opinion misrepresents this island.
Taiwan does contain Taipei as well as people whose ethnic background is Chinese, however Taiwan is much more than just Taipei (a county and city part of Taiwan) and does have other ethnic groups (there are 12 different tribes of aboriginal people in Taiwan).
Not all the athletes representing Taiwan come from Taipei and not all are ethnically Chinese.
Calling Taiwan, Chinese Taipei, would be like designating Brazil as Portuguese Brazilia or USA as English Washington.
It would not be correct, right?
So why Chinese Taipei and not Taiwan or perhaps Formosa?


PHOTO: LIN CHENG-KUNG, TAIPEI TIMES
Team Taiwan waves to spectators while holding the Chinese Taipei National Olympic Committee flag during the opening ceremony in Athens on Friday, 13/08/04.

The Road Home - to discover, to feel and to lose love

This movie is so beautiful for its simplicity, for the facial and body expression of the actress and for the landscape, a combination of all this with very little words, transmits to the spectator how is to discover, feel and lose LOVE....



"The Road Home" - Director Yimou Zhang
Este filme e’ uma historia simples que celebra a alegria inocente da descoberta do amor e a dor da tristeza da perca da pessoa amada. Aborda tambem realidades sociais e culturais da China de Mao, pobre e oprimida mas muito humana.
A natureza tem neste filme um papel principal, as paisagens e as estacoes do ano acentuam a alegria, o drama e a tristeza dos personagens.
A arte de representar da actriz Ziyi Zhang , e’ de uma beleza extraordinaria.
Nao e’ propriamente os dialogos que dao beleza e charme ao personagem interpretado por Ziyi Zhang , mas sim as expressoes faciais e corporais da atcriz que transmitem ao espectador um charme e serenidade contagiantes. As emocoes sao nos tranmitidas atraves dos seus olhares, que expressam de uma forma extremante bem conseguida, o amor, a alegria, a perca, a tristeza e a dor.

Para um resumo da historia click aqui.

Beauty...

I have the impression that I know Ziyi Zhang for a long time!

The Day After...

PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Crews work amid debris from several demolished buildings above the Kaohsiung MRT's Orange Line yesterday.

"The head of Kaohsiung's MRT system offered to resign yesterday to take responsibility for subsidence on Monday that led to the evacuation and condemning of surrounding buildings in the fourth construction mishap to hit the project in three months."

That would be too easy for you, "Mr. Head of Kaohsiung's MRT System", the captain does not abandon the ship when it has been severely damaged. The captain stays aboard finds out what caused the damage; repairs it and introduces preventive measures to avoid reoccurrence.
If you don't know this, "Mr. Head of Kaohsiung's MRT System", you probably should not have been in this position to start with!
I personally thing "Mr. Head of Kaohsiung's MRT System", should take the responsibility but still stay in the position until he has a full and detailed report of what went wrong and improve their management system accordingly aiming that this kind of oooops, will never happen.
Leaders are paid to make sure that businesses operate in safe conditions, they are not paid just to sit there and use and abuse of their title.
I remind you "Mr. Head of Kaohsiung's MRT System", that you should know this and ensure that your entire organization knows it and practices it:

“In the process of undertaking work within a tight programme there never seems to be sufficient time or money to ensure that the results are correct. However, on discovery of a major error or fault the resources to put it right are limitless.”

Something was not planned...

The Construction Industry involves high risky activities and therefore the adequate planning and implementation of controls, from design to completed construction stages, is crucial to avoid non-foreseen accidents.
In this case, the construction of the subway system in the southern city of Taiwan Kaohsiung, something went wrong either at design and/or construction stages.
Often the approach to Quality Management dictates the success of a construction site.
Fortunately, no fatalities were caused by this incident, but there are certainly great lessons to learn from it.
It is always good to remember this basic principal, particularly in activities that have risks associated with them:

“In the process of undertaking work within a tight programme there never seems to be sufficient time or money to ensure that the results are correct. However, on discovery of a major error or fault the resources to put it right are limitless.”


PHOTO: CHANG CHUNG-YI, TAIPEI TIMES
Underground work on the Shitzuwan station of Kaohsiung's MRT line caused subsidence that affected nearby buildings yesterday, causing them to sink by as much as one story. About 20 people fled their stores and homes as five three-story buildings on Linhai 2nd Road began to sink around 1:20pm. No one was hurt in the incident.

2004 Asian Cup Soccer Tournament - The Final

It is unfortunate that people cannot move on and leave the past where it belongs. Nobody should be blamed for the mistakes that their ancestors committed long time ago. The Japanese of the XXI century have no responsibility for what some Japanese of the early XX century, did.
To forgive and respect is the only way to move on in peace and harmony.
Congratulations to Japan for its victory.
Sorry to China, but Portugal lived the same sad moments: loosing a final at home and their reaction was an admirable one.
Sports are about wining and also about knowing how to loose.
All the best for next time!

Keiji Tamada scored in injury time Saturday to seal a 3-1 Asian Cup final victory for defending champion Japan over host China in a tense match overshadowed by nationalistic passions among Chinese and anti-Japanese violence.
Following the match, crowds chanting anti-Japanese insults broke bottles and exchanged kicks and punches with police outside the stadium. At least three men were seen being taken away by officers, but it wasn't clear if anyone was injured.


PHOTO: AP
A young Chinese soccer fan walks past a line of riot police on his way to see the Asian Cup final between China and Japan at Workers' Stadium in Beijing, Saturday. After being tied 1-1 in the first half, Japan defeated China 3-1 to win the cup for the third time.


PHOTO: AP
Japanese captain Tsuneyasu Miyamoto holds the Asian Cup as team members celebrate at Workers' Stadium in Beijing, Saturday.

Amar e' / To love is... part II

Life should not be a drama and people should not be martyrs and miuda did a good job in reminding me of that and complemented my thoughts about the concept of love:

"Entender o outro, é Amar!
É difícil... mas quando conseguido não pode, ou não deve, causar-nos dor!!!"
by miuda

"To understand the other one, is to love!
That's a difficult task... but when achieved it can't or it shouldn't cause pain!!!"
by miuda

2004 Asian Cup Soccer Tournament

After the Euro 2004, it seems that 2004 Asian Cup Soccer tournament does not have little media's interest.
But anyway, it is happening right now in China, as I poublish this post.
The final is tomorrow: China vs Japan and it promisses more than just a sport competition!!!

PHOTO: AFP
A Chinese paramilitary policeman watches whilst a fan enjoys herself at China's semifinal game against Iran during the 2004 Asian Cup Soccer tournament at the Workers Stadium in Beijing. Authorities said yesterday that they are taking no chances that the grudge Asian Cup final between China and Japan will turn nasty, drafting in more than 1,000 extra police to keep order.
From territorial claims, to war atrocities and outrage over sex orgies, tensions between China and Japan are never far from bubbling to the surface.
When China and Japan meet in the final of Asia's most prestigious football tournament in Beijing tomorrow, there will be more at stake than lifting the silverware -- national pride will be in play.

Amar e'... / To love is...

Amar e’ ficar contente com a felicidade da pessoa que se ama.
Mesmo que essa felicidade nos provoque dor!

To Love is to feel joy with the happiness of the loved one,
Even when that happiness causes us pain!

Taiwan's Aboriginals promote Tourism

PHOTO: CHANG TSUN-WEI, TAIPEI TIMES
Young people from a Tao Aboriginal dance group perform a traditional dance during a press conference in Taitung City (Taiwan) yesterday, called to promote tourism in their homeland, the island of Lanyu (Taiwan), southeast of Taitung City.

For those who don't know, there are 12 different tribes of aboriginal people in Taiwan. These tribes are the natives of this island.
Some 360,000 indigenous people, the original inhabitants of Taiwan, still live here; they can be distinguished into 12 different tribes, namely the Saisiyat, the Atayal, the Amis, the Bunun, the Puyuma, the Rukai, the Paiwan, the Tao, the Sao,the Taroko,the Kemalan and the Zou.
The mysterious customs and traditions of the aborigines, Taiwan's indigenous people, such as the Harvest Festival (Smatto), the Worship of Hunting (Mabuasu), spiritual rituals, totemism, and snake worship, give an extra dimension to Taiwan's culture. The aboriginal tribes of Taiwan form the most northern branch of the Austronesian language group, and ethnically belong to the Malay race.

Mini monks made in Japan

PHOTO: AP
Young children, their heads shaved, pose for a portrait just after they attended a ceremony to enter the Buddhist priesthood at Higashi Hongwanji temple in Kyoto, western Japan, yesterday. Seventy-one boys and girls, all aged 9, were issued black robes following the ceremony, conducted by head priest the Reverand Choken Otani.

Lost in Translation?

The other night I was browsing Tainan (a charming southern Taiwanese city), looking for a bar to cheer up my mood.
I bumped into this bar and wondered if it was the right place to go...


I wonder if this is another lost in translation case or if there are really people in this world that can associate fun with a cemetery.
Oh well, good to know that there is always something for everybody but this one is definitely not for me!

Dance not war

PHOTO: SEAN CHAO, TAIPEI TIMES
A dance troupe from Brazil performs a traditional war dance called Capoeria that integrates dance, martial arts and traditional instruments at a press conference in Taipei last 28/07/04, to introduce the 2004 Olympia Earth Games. The games, which started on 30/07/04 and will run until Aug. 8 in Puhsin, Taoyuan County, are jointly organized by the National Cultural Association and other groups.

É tão curto o amor, tão longo o esquecimento.

Poema de Pablo Nerura, emprestado do Resistente Existencial:

Posso escrever os versos mais tristes esta noite.
Escrever, por exemplo: "A noite está estrelada,
e tiritam, azuis, os astros lá ao longe".
O vento da noite gira no céu e canta.

Posso escrever os versos mais tristes esta noite.
Eu amei-a e por vezes ela também me amou.
Em noites como esta tive-a em meus braços.
Beijei-a tantas vezes sob o céu infinito.

Ela amou-me, por vezes eu também a amava.
Como não ter amado os seus grandes olhos fixos.
Posso escrever os versos mais tristes esta noite.
Pensar que não a tenho. Sentir que já a perdi.

Ouvir a noite imensa, mais imensa sem ela.
E o verso cai na alma como no pasto o orvalho.
Importa lá que o meu amor não pudesse guardá-la.
A noite está estrelada e ela não está comigo.

Isso é tudo. Ao longe alguém canta. Ao longe.
A minha alma não se contenta com havê-la perdido.
Como para chegá-la a mim o meu olhar procura-a.
O meu coração procura-a, ela não está comigo.

A mesma noite que faz branquejar as mesmas árvores.
Nós dois, os de então, já não somos os mesmos.
Já não a amo, é verdade, mas tanto que a amei.
Esta voz buscava o vento para tocar-lhe o ouvido.

De outro. Será de outro. Como antes dos meus beijos.
A voz, o corpo claro. Os seus olhos infinitos.
Já não a amo, é verdade, mas talvez a ame ainda.
É tão curto o amor, tão longo o esquecimento.

Porque em noites como esta tive-a em meus braços,
a minha alma não se contenta por havê-la perdido.
Embora seja a última dor que ela me causa,
e estes sejam os últimos versos que lhe escrevo.

Pablo Neruda


free translation of Pablo Neruda's poem:

I can write the saddest poems tonight
Write, for example: “The night is bright with stars,
And far away, the blue asteroids twinkles”.
The night wind spins in the sky and sings.

I can write the saddest poems tonight,
I loved her and sometimes she also loved me.
In nights like this one, I had her in my arms.
I kissed her so many times under the infinite sky.

She loved me, sometimes I also loved her.
How could I not have loved her big motionless eyes.
I can write the saddest poems tonight,
Thinking that I don’t have her. Feeling that I already lost her.

Listening to the immense night, even more immense without her.
And the verse falls in the soul as the moist on the ground.
Who cares if my love couldn’t kept her,
The night is bright with stars and she is not with me.

That’s all. Far away somebody sings. Far away.
My soul doesn’t rest, how could I have lost her.
Like to reach for her, my sights seeks for her
My heart looks for her, she is not with me.

The same night whitenings the same trees,
Both of two, the ones from before, are no longer the same.
I no longer love her, it’s true, but I loved her immensely
This voice used the wind to call her attention.

Somebody else’s. It will be somebody else’s. The kisses as before they were mine.
The voice, the body of course. Her infinitive eyes.
I no longer love her, it’s true, but maybe I still love her.
Love is so short and forgetting it takes so long.

Because, in nights like this one, I had her in my arms,
My soul does not rest for loosing her.
Even if this is the last time she hurts me
And these are the last verses that I write her.

Sometimes...

... I feel lost…


... but I believe if I look around and pay attention to the signs, I will see the way and something will redirect me.

Is it the ducks that are showing me the way in a steady pace, trespassing the door to other side?


Or is it the red dragon that flies free in the sky?
Or perhaps, it's his shadow, down to earth, showing me the path ahead to turn into a new corner of this life's road?


I don't yet, but i will end up finding the answer!

Before and After with Adelaide Ferreira

Before:
Adelaide Ferreira - Dava Tudo

After:
Adelaide Ferreira - Papel Principal

"The Main Role" by Adelaide Ferreira
The night is over
The game is over
For me here
You will be out of my mind
When I wake up

The movie is over
The drama is over
The pain is gone
You have always been
A bad actor

You played the hero
In the main role
But you acted and lied so badly

The one who lost
Was you and only you, never me
At the end
Today the main role is mine and only mine


"Papel Principal" de Adelaide Ferreira
A noite acabou
O jogo acabou
Para mim aqui
Quando acordar
Já te esqueci

O filme acabou
O drama acabou
Acabou-se a dor
Tu sempre foste
Um mau actor

Fizeste de herói
No papel principal
Mas representaste e mentiste tão mal

Quem perdeu
Foste tu só tu e nunca eu
Afinal
Hoje o papel principal é meu e só meu

Quem perdeu
Foste tu só tu e nunca eu
Afinal
Hoje o papel principal é meu

Move on...

Who is controlling this space?

Got this test from puta de vida and was happy to know that I am controlling the Trip and not controlled by Tripping!

12.5 %

My weblog owns 12.5 % of me.
Does your weblog own you?

1 Year and 1 Week of tripping out of my space

On Monday, July 21, 2003 I started this blog with this statement:

Tripping is living...
When you travel to the unknown your senses seem to become sharper, ready to capture the novelty.
Tripping out of my Space is a space where I will be sharing with all of you my thoughts and opinions generated during travels in mind and space.

A year has passed by and I forgot to mention Tripping's 1st anniversary.
It's ok, it wont be mad at me, it totally accepts whatever comes from me, as if it was me!

It has been a year and a week that I wrote the above and I still believe on it, however there is more in life than just novelty, there is the load that you accumulate and are not able to discharge to replace it with the new.
Some loads stays forever even if it has left you.
Now I am learning how to let it go when in fact I would give everything to have it back again... life contradictions or maybe life addictions!

I know if I succeed, I will be rewarded and the new load will erase the pain of loosing and bring the joy of discovery again!
I am trying and I will get there.

Always tripping, always living!

RAV4 - I would luv to go for a ride

Relax, you just arrived!

Flying from Hong Kong to San Francisco may seem an eternity, around 12 hours sitting in a confined and crowded area but one thing is amazing, believe it or not, you arrive before leaving!
Even so, while you are racing against time, you risk to get bored by the view, no matter how blue the sky may look:
 
 
All of the sudden, a slight move outside excites you, something has changed the view, there is some action out there:

 
And yes, finally you can see land and the local clocks indicate one hour before you left, 11 hours ago!
 
 
There is a lot of action outside now, and the so steady wings are now moving like crazy, no more reasons to be bored and soon you’ll be out here for the grands vacances! 
 
 
Of course I forgot the fact that I was arriving in the USA and I should have counted to spent the next 3 or 4 hours in a more boredom of controls that the flight itself, facts of life, welcome to the secured zone of this great nation!
After 4 hours of observing behaviors in the American customs that made me think that they were freshly transferred from Guatanamo or Irak, I was finally cleared and released to go.
God was I ready to release tensions, party and have some fun!
Here we go California:
Let’s go for a nice meal in a nice restaurant, was my plans until I saw the warning posted in this upper class restaurant:
 

What? They are telling me that they sell food that may cause cancer?
Oh don’t worry – clarified the waiter – it is just a general public advise, imposed by the Californian law in order to protect the restaurant in case some wako customer sues us for that reason. Any way everybody body knows that most of the food now contains some kind of chemicals that might be harmful to health….
Oh my god, talking about defending yourself against the American legal system… scary! 
 
Ok the, lets put that meal on hold and lets go for a drink, I really need to relax and get into the holiday mood. As we sit at the counter of this bar, my attention was diverted to this sign, posted right on my face:
 
 
Oh no, this is really too much, I just want relax and have a drink now, seriously, can we have some fun here?!
I better have a smoke and try to relax, I really just landed…
Oh no this is a bar and guess what:
 

Oh well, at least I gave to admit that this is a good decision!
Matter as well go out and relax and have that smoke, I am sorry but this is too much and I really need it!
I get out of the bar and finally was going to lit up when I looked closer to the wall next to me:
 
 
Oh my God, is the big brother after me!
Give me a break
 
Luckily all this stress only happened at the beginning; afterwards I found my own means to avoid it.
Welcome to California, it is much more than this!