Month: December 2005

It was great to see all my great friends and family for so long in Canada… it is quite amazing how many people I still know and/or just run into when I am there… and it always seems whenever I am in Vancouver, I manage to be very busy and always have something/somewhere I am going to…

BUT, enough is enough. For all the reasons I have commented on in my blog in the past, I just am not that happy in Canada anymore. I am not even sure exactly all the reasons, all I know is, I’m not. I was even offered an opportunity to stay in Canada and have a lot of fun and likely make some good money etc, and I just couldn’t even consider it.

I hopped on a plane to Taipei, Taiwan yesterday. I was very tired from two days of going out late with a lot of my friends in Vancouver but managed to get 4 hours sleep on the plane thanks to Siu Yin giving me some sleeping pills! That made the 13 hour flight much more manageable.

When I got here I was so exhausted, I went straight to the first hotel I could find that looked decent… Great little hotel, quite cheap (about $45 US/night), good location, nice, clean with highspeed internet… all I ever ask for in a hotel (its name is Wan Tai Hotel (http://www.asiatravel.com/taiwan/wan_tai/ if you are ever here).

My room wasn’t quite ready and they asked if I could wait 10 minutes while they prepared it, so I went for a brief walk and got some street noodles. I don’t know if it is me… or Asia… or what exactly it is.. but I felt SO good to be here. I can’t explain all the reasons, but I definitely just feel like Asia is my place to be, for now.

I’m sure part of it is the girls… even the girl at the front desk at my hotel… for example… so beautiful, medium length dark hair, with deep dark eyes and great style… actually that is one thing I have already noticed here in Taipei, the girls in general seem to have a really, really great style. But I think my happiness in Asia goes well beyond just the girls… I love how people here just eat at all these little street restaurants… everyone seems so happy… its kinda like one big family sorta feeling… rather than the canamerica (my new name to describe canada and US, since they are both very similar in some ways) sort of cold, keep to yourself and/or your group vibe.

I think there is also something in me that REALLY enjoys being alone… and just going to places I have never been and figuring them out. I think that is definitely part of the happiness I am already feeling here… there is definitely part of me that is like a wolf… if I am somewhere too long with too many familiar faces, I grow more and more irritable… I need to roam… I realize this is quite the opposite from the majority of people who feel very unhappy when they are not with all their friends/family all the time…

I just happened to run into numerous people in the last few days in Vancouver who are friends of mine who have spent a lot of time in Taipei and they told me I will love it here… I have really only seen 10 minutes of it so far and have sensed that I think they may be correct… My initial thoughts was just to stay here for a couple days and then go to the Philippines for a bit, where it is warmer and supposed to be a lot of fun… but I really am in no rush at the moment… I have no where I need to be really for the foreseable future, so may just hang out in Taipei until I really don’t want to anymore (so that could be a while!).

This is the first time in my travels that I don’t have much of a deadline… when I was in Europe I had to be in Asia by end of September, so that kept me moving… and then when I was in Asia I knew I had to be in Van/NYC by late November, so that also kept me moving… but for the moment I have no place I need to be by a certain time… although that may soon change, I think I am going to make a proposal to the Chinese movie studio people for me to come there and help them build that company in the new year… plus I have recently heard about a Russian mining show which should be very good in February I believe, so may go there too…

Anyway, it is 4:30am and am up typing this because I just got up and am back to being jetlagged! Oh well… at least I am happy and jetlagged!

I bought the best phone in the world, btw… the thing is friggin cool.. called I-mate K-jam (worst part of the phone is the name!). But it does everything… I may eventually get a prepaid sim if I ever decide to be in a country longer than a few days, but in the meantime I use it for all its other functions… including a decent camera that does stills and videos… so I will likely be putting up a lot more pics and vids over the coming months as I likely will be exploring much of South East asia, which will hopefully include Philippines, Indonesia, Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and hopefully even places like India.

Man, this blog has come to a screeching halt over the past few weeks as I have been in Canaduh… while it has been nice to see my family, I have only reaffirmed every instinct I have had that this is really one of the worst countries in the world for me at this point in my life.

I have been in Edmonton and have been a homebody all week (it is -20c outside, so staying inside is a very attractive option), but it was Saturday night last night so I ventured out… I looked on the net and looks like the main place to go here now is Whyte Ave… so I mentioned that to my dad… he said, “be careful… lots of fights there”… i was just like, “huh? what are they fighting about??”… then i get in the cab and the taxi driver goes, “be careful, lots of fights there”… again I was just confused… no where else in the world, other than Canada, is there “fights” all the time… must be something to do with hockey…

So then I get to Whyte Ave… every place is lined up and it is -20c+ with a brisk wind… after waiting in line for 5 minutes I finally got in… they treated me kinda like crap, then i was in another lineup which was semi-outside and just as cold for the priviledge of paying to get in and checking my jacket… they again treated me like crap and then once I had finally paid, they told me I couldn’t go into the busy part of the bar, I could only go upstairs, where there was no people… At this point I am starting to see why everyone is fighting here…

I later bribed the doorman $10 to get into the busy part… I was nice to some asian girl who later gave me the “pssshhhhh” look of “I am way to good for you… I work at the mall and I live in Edmonton”… I couldn’t do anything but just laugh at the irony… I kept getting grabbed by other girls… mostly indian girls… some were really cute.. but it was quite obvious they had come out to just grab a few guys and then go home alone… so after a few hours of this I was really understanding the whole fighting thing…

Then some guy tried to pick a fight with me… I guess I had talked to his girlfriend… he received my usual response of… “…… and?”… I don’t talk about fighting… if you would like to fight me, please just begin… I get very bored talking about it… he was fairly smart though as he sensed this was not going to go well for him and walked away…

Then, at the end of the night, the entire place erupted into a giant brawl… I just stood there, pretty much in disbelief as chaos ensued… I left soon after…

Have you noticed how exactly opposite all of my experiences in North America are to all of my experiences outside of North America? I am sure Canada is an okay place to live if you are retired and/or just want to have a stable job, get taxed a lot, watch hockey, eat dinner at 5:30 and go to sleep around 10pm… or if you just wanna go hiking/skiing etc and just spend time in the outdoors… but if you are me, this is the worst place in the world… seriously… if you gave me the option of here or Iraq for the next 5 years, I would unquestionably choose Iraq… even as bad as it is there right now cuz of Dubbyah the worlds biggest idiot.

The really, really funny part is that everyone who lives in Canada thinks this is the best place in the world… in some ways it is, but in many ways it completely is not.

Lets hope for your sake and mine, and my blog, that I get outta here soon so I get back to some good, interesting stories, and not these stories of sadness!

Talk about hitting a brick wall! Going from Thailand to Edmonton involves G forces F1 car drivers and astronauts have likely never encountered as I go from 1,000 miles per hour to 0, overnight!

From sunny warm climates, beaches, beautiful women, and fun exciting places to the cold barren prairies, wind howling, -25c, dark, snowy, desolate plains of Alberta… it has been difficult to switch gears! But it is probably good for me… it is always good to test yourself and your ability to adapt to changing venues.

It’s funny how a lot of people ask, “isn’t it hard to not live anywhere and just have to wake up every day and figure out where you are and what is going on in a foreign place?”… but to me, that is natural… the hard part would be having to live in a place like Edmonton for my whole life… or even for a few months!

To be fair, the summer here is a LOT better… still nothing that excites me too much, but I don’t mind spending a few days here in the summer… it is actually nice… beautiful outdoor grass field football stadium here, and the people in general are quite fun and nice in the summer (they have to be after being huddled up in their homes for the other 10 months of the year).

However, I am obviously not here because I like being in Edmonton in the winter… I am here to visit my family who I haven’t seen in quite a while. I saw my mom briefly in the spring but otherwise haven’t seen her much at all in the past 15 years so thought since I was close to Edmonton (in Vancouver) I should come out and spend a few days here… as well, I haven’t seen my Dad and Grandpa for a long time… I think the last time I saw my Dad was in LA almost 2 years ago… and approximately the same amount of time with my Grandpa.

The change of pace has been good for me though… I have been getting lots of sleep, working out, and eating healthy…

It is Saturday night here tonight and I have been basically huddled up inside my mom’s house all week, mostly doing work and working on my/her computer, so I may actually go out tonight just to get out… I don’t have big expectations… I just hope I don’t freeze to death… hows that for low expectations. 😛

I am back in Vancouver on Monday for a few days and then expect to be taking off back to Asia soon after if things go as I hope!