At the very beginning, there was Ratopia. Then, there's ratology. In ratology, we observe whether psychotic and neurotic people could amount to something. Then came the spinal disc herniation and impingement, bringing forth the stage of physical disability. Could someone like me go anywhere or amount to anything is the question. After the official ending of the second psychotic episode lasted for five years, I am ready to move on to the next phase of Ratology- as the solutions unfold.
Recently, blogger pushed out this new function called "Stats."
Personally, I have no idea why it would have take such a long time for them to roll out this function... unless.... they were waiting for me to go to Korea and China? And, of course, it might have been me who did not pay it no mind.... 8-O lol
Personally, I don't quite believe the stats because it is highly likely that some people might be browsing through blogger blogs... clicking through without paying attention.
I have observed this kind of behavior many a time when conducting my dissertation research thousand years...
What I did was a usability study, which involves the tracking of people's information research behavior. I even cooked up some codes personally to log each every link people clicked through and the time they spent on the linked page.
The end result... I got a whole lot of data that were not too useful... for instance, a huge number of times, people stayed on the page for less than 1 second or two... unless them hundred something participants all were well versed in speed-reading... 8-O
I did take a look at what the stats blogger provides could offer....
So, I assume the data became available from May, 2010.
There are, in total, 493 visits to my Ratology Reloaded Blog and 768 visits to my Technologies in Ratology blog since May.
For all these years, I had thought that nobody ever reads my blog other than people in my imaginary world... Given these stats... even if only 1% of all visit is valid... gotta be at least one visitor who paid some mind to my reading in each of these blogs... I guess...
At the same time, it was not until much later did I discover the function called... "Don't track your own pageview."
What is the likelihood that all these valid visits were paid by the same person... called... me? 8-O lol
Thus, the number of visit or pageviews is not equivelent to the number of people visited your page.
say, you think of IP tracking... "Why not also track the IP address?"
Given that all computers has an IP address when they are on the Internet, if I track the IP address, wouldn't it tell me that it is the same person accessing my website?
Yet, what if the same person uses different computers or different people sharing the same computers?
This is, I guess, the reason why... the beauty of log-ins....
In any case, interestingly, between May and now, there are far more people visiting my Technologies in Ratology blog than Ratology Reloaded blog.
For the Technologies in Ratology blog, the topic five postings people visited are:
It seems like that most of the hits are associated with Windows 7 related issues... especially the problem associated with the "blocking of Sonic Solution DLA driver".
On the other hand, the top five postings people visited for Ratology Reloaded blog during the same time period are:
Apparently, I was not the only person getting this message on my answering machine telling me to call 8772476116. Many people might have also gotten that harassing call many a time and this is why so many people would land on that post.
It did sort of surprised me to see the posting "How do normal people think?" rank as #2... though only 25 visits recorded as per Blogger.
Apparently, many more people on this planet also have the same question? And, they must have been pretty disappointed when realizing all that I did was posting a question...
On a second thought, it does make sense why Technologies in Ratology, with only 94 postings, seems to have attracted far more traffic than Ratology Reloaded, with 1461 postings....
First of all, the nature of the content... Postings in Technologies in Ratology mostly have something to do with the "how-to" associated with a specific technical issue and the solution. The fact that What not to do when calling 8772476116 was one of the most visited posting could also be considered as the supporting evidence to this assumption.
However, as indicated by my writing in Ratology Reloaded, I have been reloading around like a dog chasing its own tail for the past few years... Still... I have no idea whether there will ever be a day when the solution will converge... 8-O 8-X
In other words, one blog is solution-oriented while the other takes on the process model...
Second, key words... most of the postings in Technologies in Ratology involves specific keywords in either the title or the content. For instance, yesterday, I resolved the recurring problem of "access connection cannot run on this platform" on this ThinkPad and the title of the posting was the error message itself... "access connection cannot run on this platform." When searching for a solution, I also googled the entire error message... and guess so will everyone else looking for a solution for the same problem?! (And, perhaps, this is how normal people think.... 8-O)
Ratology Reloaded, on the other hand, contains contents and key words mostly useless to ordinary people.... 8-O Think about this... the posting about progression... Unless I already know what the heck this blog is talking about, what the hell would I care about your progression in life? Also, why would I want to waste my time listening to you pondering about What is my style... 8-O lol
Anyways... waking up this morning, I decided to take a look at the feature of Stats of blogger... not quite sure what to do about it other than checking them numbers out... and... this is, now, what I've got... (Also, ratprincess, cut Ratology Reloaded some slack and please don't be so harsh... 8-O lol)
At the same time, for sure... numbers don't like... except for... it is all about your interpretation. 8-O lol
(This posting is cross-posted in Technologies in Ratology... Just in case you wonder... a note for my aging self...)
This bridge is 35.673 M or around 22.167 miles in length... It is now the longest trans-oceanic bridge and the second longest bridge in the world (with the Lake Pontchartrain Causeway in the United States still ranking number 1).
I found many pictures online... on fair-weather days... Unfortunately, it was as foggy as possible... the day I took my trip.
So what does it feel like to cross the longest trans-oceanic bridge in the world on a foggy day?
Experience for yourself.... 35.673 (oops... mistake.. not KM but M 8-O lol) at the average speed of, say, around 110 KM/HR... a trip of about 20 something minutes, perhaps...
The S-shape bridge...
One thing I found most interesting about the trip is that... at points, the bridge was so closed to the water that I can't stop worried about... what if... in the season of Typhoons?
Brother-in-law went to Sogo to buy the DVD and CD of "原来是美男"... and gave me the poster that came with the package.
I was overjoyed and was going to put the poster up by my bed!
My sister could not understand...
"I have also watched a few episodes of it on and off... How can you be so addicted or obsessed with it?"
Mama came home later and I also told her about putting the poster up with the same response my sister had....
"How could you be doing this at this age?
So I replied...
"童年失歡... since I have never done anything like this in my younger years, might as well do it now I have a chance.... Just like, you never took me to McDonald's when I was young, gotta go there when I could to make up the lost happiness of childhood..." 8-O lol
(And, too be honest, there was no McDonald's in Taiwan when I was young anyway... Didn't come in until when I was in high school, I think.... )
Earlier tonight, out of nowhere, mama reminded me... "Aren't you going to put the posters up?"
So I showed her the poster of 張根碩....
So she said... "Is that a woman?"
"No! That is a very beautiful boy!"
After I put both posters up, at the only location allowed by my mom, I called her in to take a look....
So commented mama... "A girl and a boy?"
"No! Two beautiful boys!"
The whole thing reminds me of the following clip... with me the auntie in the storyline....
When I was in Korea, I was 100% illiterate... so illiterate that I didn't know how to order food...
So, I was at the Nan Dae Mum market when it was around the dinner time.
In case you don't know... one problem concerning illiteracy is... even though all dishes are shown in the menu, you still have no idea what these dishes really are...
As I was walking around, I walked into this street where the restaurants show you the samples... Unfortunately, even by looking at the samples themselves, you still can't quite tell what these dishes are... except for.. by the color of the dish, you know the majority of them have hot chilly sauce as one of the ingredients.
At some point, I chose one of these restaurants where there was AC.... ordering my food by finger pointing... while asking... "Is this Korean?"
My first dinner in Seoul
"Yes. Korean." So must have the shop-keeper responded.
To be honest, I can't quite tell you what this dish is... since... in order to forget something, you need to know what it is first. Since I had never really known what it was, it makes it impossible for me to forget it.. right? 8-O lol
All that I could recall is... there is kimchi, blood and intestine of some kind.
The dish also came with a bowl of rice and four side dishes.
From then on, this became my default shopping method regardless whether it is the watery yellow peaches or this sausage like snack ... finger-pointing plus "That... How much?" (Finger-pointing has never felt more legit.... 8-O lol)
What is stuffed inside of this sausage like traditional Korean snack might be sticky rice and some kind of blood... sort of like the Taiwanese 糯米大腸 minus blood... (I even took a trip to the night market to get some 糯米大腸 in order to show you what the Taiwanese sticky rice sausage looks like)
Korean sausage stuffed with sticky rice etc
Taiwanese sausage stuffed with sticky rice etc
So, after my short trip in Korea, I went to Shanghai... feeling such a relief because... come on... I grew up in Chinese!
Though, to be honest... I was only semi-literate...
So my brother-in-law dropped me at the Bund so that I could take a small walk on the boardwalk. We were supposed to meet up somewhere after I walked past the 百度橋 (Baidu Bridge)... When trying to locate my brother-in-law, I saw a armed guard and a sign like the one shown in the picture...
"卫兵神圣, 不可侵犯"...
Well, the word "兵" is the same in both the traditional and the simplified Chinese. That I recognized...
Yet, I couldn't recognize the word 卫... As a result, in my attempt to understand these four words, I replaced the word 卫 with the Mandarin Phonetic Symbols ㄗ...
Since this sign was located right next to an armed soldier or a police, the term "卫兵" must refer to some kind of soldier.
As for the second part of the phrase "神圣," the first word 神 is also the same in both traditional and simplified Chinese. Yet, the word "圣" looked almost like the word "經". Combining these two words together, we have the phrase "神經"... which, in English, would mean... "Neurotic."
In other words, this sign tells people that.... "The [some kind of] soldier is neurotic. Shouldn't be assaulted or offended." 8-O
怎麼會這樣? How could it be?
Doesn't quite make sense..... although... there is something true to it... you don't want to offend neurotic people... @#$&*@#$
Finally, I found my brother in law. As we were driving by the Russian embassy next to the Baidu bridge, I saw the guard and the sign again... and commented...
"Why do they tell people that the soldier is neurotic and should not be assaulted?"
Ended up, the word "圣" is not... "經"... rather it is the simplified version of "聖"... with these two words "神聖" together meaning... "sacred."
Thus... the reason why the guards shouldn't be assaulted or offended is not because they are neurotic but because they are... sacred... It is 衛兵神聖 rather than ㄗ兵神經... 8-O lol
(Aren't you so glad that I am not your Chinese teacher?! lol)
Guess this is the reason why... children of the world... wherever you are.... it is very important to develop your literacy skill... otherwise, not only would you have problem putting food on the dinner table, you might think of something sacred as neurotic. 8-O lol
I came across this commercial with Jang Keun Suk 張根碩 and Park Shin Hye in it...
As I was watching this commercial...
I thought... Garden 5?
Sounds familiar...
Then, the light ball went off... OMG... I was also in Garden 5 during my stay in Korea.... I might have been to the places they were showing in this commercial except for... it was not until after I left Korea did I came across this Korean drama and heard of the man 张根硕...
It apparently is a new shopping complex in Songpa, which just opened in June... According to some info from Wikipedia, it is now the largest shopping mall in Asia... (Don't know whether it is true or not...)
Getting there was really easy... if by subway, get off subway line 8 at the Jangji station (장지역, 長旨).
The first question that came to my mind when arriving at Garden 5 was... "There are only 4 buildings in total... Where is the 5th?"
My Korean friend had no idea either....
Since shopping has never been my kind of thing, Garden 5 would have been filtered out automatically... except for... my friend had some time that day and was going to take her son to Garden 5... and... since she asked, I followed. Thank about it... well... going to the department stores with Koreans... could be accounted as some pretty genuine Korean experience... as good as visiting places like Namsangol Hanok Village (남산골한옥마을 or 南山韓屋)... I guess... 8-O lol
After googling around for the entire afternoon, I still could not find much info about Garden 5 except for the following article written at the end of 2009... The Garden 5 development is slow to progress (Looking back... when walking around, we did still find a whole lot of empty spaces...)
One thing I would say is that... this could also be the shoe-lovers' paradise... following is a picture of the multi-floor shoe department...
You see the sign on the shelf with a telephone number?
Apparently, because there are not so many people around, the shop keeper has gone somewhere else. This posting tells people that... this is my cell number... give me a call if you need some help... (Never seen things like this before... 8-O lol)
Shoe department in Garden 5
An outdoor shop at Garden 5.. found a bag with NYPD on it
Met up with this old friend of mine.... must have been friends for over 20 years now...
Haven't seen her for at least 4-5 years and she is now somewhat of a big-time lawyer...
Since it ain't like I am gonna be big time in no nothing soon, I love hearing about how successful my friends are... and... try my best to convince them to work hard on getting a summer house in Hawaii.... 8-O lol
So we spoke about what we have been up to and, due to the lack of changes in my status in recent years, I guess... I talked about my trip... sick, disabled, and all the ordinary blah blah blah...
Later, I was talking to her on skype and also spoke with the husband... also my classmate in my undergrad year...
So he said... something like... "You sound pretty OK over skype. Just don't know how you are in reality..."
8-O
Afterwards, I had this moment of self-reflection....
Oops... was I a drama queen and over-dramatize the nothing-happen-ness in my life?
What I want to say is that... my life so far... so good...
For instance, despite of the minor aches here and pains there during the trip.... The trip seems to be really fruitful and "平安圓滿"... (other than my mama made me wear a mask at home yesterday when my nephews came to visit because of the bronchitis I brought back from the trip... 8-O lol)
If you don't believe, take a look at the picture below... the first picture shows you the fresh wound I got from 朱家角 on Aug. 22nd, and, it seems to be healing really well now... Comparing to the fall I took at Yale campus years back with this two friends of mine on the first day of our road trip, at least this would doesn't require stitches... some improvement, I guess.... 8-O lol
At the same time, I thought of this concept I came across from this Korean Drama 原來是美男(미남이시네요)... something like... 事故頻出地帶... sort of like.. strange event frequent area... Sometimes... I do wonder... maybe I am too dangerous for myself... 8-O lol
The first thing I did in 朱家角. I took a
good fall and got this wound. 8-O lol
Today, this wound seems to be healing
well. Except for.. don't ask me where
I got the scratches on the side. Got no
idea that they even exist until when
I was about to take this picture. 8-O lol
If there is anything that makes this trip of mine drastically different from any other trips I have done so far... it would be... avoiding stairs... And, as a result, taking detours....
Sometimes, such inconveviences do have their upside... for example, otherwise, I would not have the opportunity to release the lotus lantern the other day.... (and this is sort of like what you call... looking at the bright side of life... 8-O 8-X)
In terms of public transportation...
I love taking buses... as opposed to taking subway/metro....
Two reasons...
Although it is much faster, most of the times, to take subway, you get to see more of the city with buses.... slow and stop.... in New York, in Taipei, in Shanghai and in Seoul.... and even in airports... 8-O
With the buses, there are, most of the time, far fewer stairs you have to manage....
All of these cities I mentioned above have disability access....
However, the design is universally stupid at times.... leading me to the conclusion that... either them people doing the designs must not be physically disabled or this world is designed not for people with physical disability.... For instance, them escalators... a lot of cities have only escalators going up but not going down.... a real killer for people with knee problems...
In addition, there seems to be an assumption that all people with disability uses wheelchair... and only people in wheelchair could be disabled?!
I am not gonna make you believe that I can not do stairs at all....
I can force myself to do a few stairs but I have to do it slow... one stairs at a time... if necessary. However, the revenge of my body is very scary... if it feels that I overdo it....
The New York subway system just celebrated its 100th anniversary not too many years ago... I can understand why there are relatively fewer disability access... This is part of the reason why I used to use buses to go places....
However, with them newer subway systems in Taipei, Shanghai and, perhaps, Seoul.... I have a problem with disability inaccess kind of design...
For these cities, you might be able to find elevators to go down to the metro station in case all elevators you find only go up... except for... there is no guarantee that the elevators could be found.....
Worst of all, after all the detours you have taken, circling around like a dog chasing its tail, when you find that elevator of you life... it might be out of order.... and... you have to restart your search... all over again... Sometimes, you might as well walk to the next subway station.
At times, you come across situations within which... just when you are praising to yourself... "How wonderful! There are escalators going both up and down!" You find yourself in front of them stairs... and.. many many stairs... This is especially traumatizing on days when your body is in the piece-of-crap shape.... 8-O lol
The second day I got to Seoul, I was shipped me out to explore.... Seoul.
I decided to go to Seoul Station because something told me that it is where I could find the tourist information booth to get a tourist map...
Seoul Subway Route Map
All that I had... a Subway map in Korean, a language I had no idea about, and the only thing I knew... when I get back, I have to get off at the Sunae station and I have to transfer from the yellow line to the orange line at the Suseo station.
Arriving at the Suseo station, I saw escalators and I was overjoyed... So I followed the sign trying to get to the orange line... except for... at some point... I found myself circling around as if I walked into... 鬼打牆....
"Where is the elevator? There is the sign saying this is how I get to disability access... but how come all I see are the stairs?"
Seoul Subway Wheelchair disability access
So I spent the next 5-10 minutes looking until I came to the conclusion... the devise shown in the following picture is THE disability access... and there was no other disability access...
Ended up, there are many of these kind of disability access all over town...
Since I spoke no word of Korean and many Korean don't speak English, provided I am not on wheelchair, I had never used this... wouldn't be difficult to explain to the station worker my condition anyways...
So, I climbed up... one step at a time... like everyone else... I guess.... 8-O lol sigh...
While trying to drag my big fat butts up them stairs, the thought that I might have to climb all those stairs for the next few days started to form a nightmare... one as scary as the nightmare on Elm street...
"It can't be... that's gotta be a different way around..."
Ended up, since one could also transfer between the yellow and the orange line in Dogok, after I eventually got to the orange line, I got off at Dogok.... in search of more accessible disability access... It took me a whole lot of sign following and walking around and around... till... voila... I finally found it... the escalators of my dream... which run both up and down.... (speaking of... I have a dream.... 8-O lol)
It was not until a bit later did I realize that... inside of each every station, there is a map outlining the blueprint of the station... It shows you where you are, where the stairs, escalators and elevators are... sometimes even toilets... The only problem I had was... this map is only available when you are inside of the station but not on the ground level.
Subway station Map
I find this map extremely useful. The only recommendation I have is to make it available is to also make this map available at the ground level entrance. This is so that people with disability knows what to expect once they set off with their stair climbing mission whether going up or not.
In addition, one scary thing about them stairs towards the metro is that, first, they are huge stairs, second, the subway could be as deep as something like 6 floors below the ground level, and, at some locations, the exits/entrances are not connected. As a result, if you enter the station through an entrance without disability access, you are doomed....
One night, due to circumstances, I took the "non-disability-accessible" entrance after a long day... The problem was... there were only two options... Keeping going down or try to see whether I could walk back up.... By the time I got to the subway, my body was already in the kind of shape I was when I just got injured. I was so in pain and I could barely move. You see, if the station map was available, this could have been avoided...
Since I started feeling something was coming down the second day, sometimes I wonder whether my sickness later might have something to do with the fact that the entire body, from neck down, was inflamed. If I knew for sure that the elevator going down was only a block away... I might not have to go through my entire Shanghai trip later sick like a dog.... Just an hypothesis, though....
Since I was such a determined traveler and since I did not have much more time in Korea, despite the severe pain and physical condition, I was out and about again the day after partially because I had totally ran out of Korean currency and needed to go into town to exchange more money... Though I moved even slower and with a cane. I kept on moving forward.... 8-O lol
Somewhere over the Internet, I learned that the "black market" kinda money exchange places in Ming-dong area give you the best deal. Since I hadn't had the chance to check out Ming-dong (明洞), I decided to go to there that day....
When I got off from the dark blue line at the Ming-dong station, I went to check out the station map to see which direction might have disability access. Unfortunately, I did not find any sign of elevators or escalators going to the ground level.
Without hesitation, I hopped onto the next train to get off at Nam Dae Mun (南大門), thinking... that... what is the likelihood that they would haveno disability access to the ground two stations in a roll...
So I took the escalator all the way up and I exited the subway gate. After I circled around like a doggie for a while, I came up with the conclusion that... oops.... on a day when I could hardly walk on flat land, I landed on a station without any disability access to the ground level.
I went to speak with this ticket agent, who told me that... "This is an old station. No. We don't have elevators going to the ground level. However, it is not too far. Only one floor."
I looked up... and pondered to myself...
"Should I get back and take the subway all the way to the next stop Seoul Station or should I try to climb up since I am already in a piece of shit kind of state anyways?"
Well, following the rationale that I was already in pain and already in the piece of shit state, I decided to start bringing myself up with both arms and, of course, both legs... one step at a time... painfully...
Many subways must have come and go... because I can't quite tell you how many bunches of people had past me by...
Some look at me with curiously...
Others wanted to offer help except for... I was not even sure how they could help me.
At some point, the ticket agent appeared next to me... and I wonder whether it was because some passersby might have told him about the apparent struggle of this strange creature....
"I didn't know that the stairs are so difficult for you! Let me help you!!"
Before I could respond, I found him pushing me up from the bottom up... all that I had to do was to move my legs up... It felt as if we flew all the way up them stairs.... In no time, we were up on the ground level inside of the Nam Dae Mun Market.
I thanked him, thanked him and I could not have thanked him enough.
To this day, when I thought of that ticket agent and the strange scenario, I remain to be thankful and will always be.
After all these time, to be honest, I don't even recall what it might have felt like when I could do stairs with so much ease.... until that day.
At one of the entrance of Nam Dai Mun Market, I thanked this life-saver of mine, I rested my body a bit. And, I kept walking on... backwards to Ming-dong after the interesting detour.
Isn't life funny? You can run but you can't hide. I took a deliberate effort to get off at a different subway station. Yet, them stairs..... I still can not escape.
It sort of reminds me of that story.... This servant saw death in the market, with a strange look on his face. The servant went home and asked the master for one of the fastest horse so that he could go as far as he could to avoid death. Later that day, the master bumped into death and complained...
"Why did you do that to my servant?"
Death replied with something like... "I was just surprised to see him here because I shall catch him tonight in the far-away land!!!"
At the same time, shall I have not taken the detour to Nam Dae Mun, I would not have had the chance to encounter that wonderful man and the experiences of flying up to the ground! 8-O lol
I did not really get to take the local buses in Korea this time.... mostly having to do with the fact that I don't know the language and the city. One of my greatest regrets, I guess, in my trip to Korea.
In Shanghai, it was much easier for me to learn to use the bus system... mostly having to do with the fact that.... though I am not very good with simplified Chinese and I also don't know the city, at least, I am half-literate... and it makes it much easier for me to navigate all around town.
Another reason why I decided to take it to busing is that...
Although there surely are elevators available to go down to the subway stations, the apparently visible elevators are not really all that easily accessible.
The day I got to Shanghai, I transfered to the subway after getting off the maglev. After asking around, the officers at the security check told me that I would need to ask one of the transit people to take me down to the elevator because these elevators were locked.
I had to swipe the card at the entrance first before going back out to take the elevator.
I had thought it was because that was a special station.... because that's where people taking maglev would get off...
When I went out another day, I asked some volunteers whether there are elevators available because I have physical disability and I have problems with stairs.
While one of the ladies told me... "No," this guy from a distance somehow overheard our conversation and replied...
"Yes. You see that elevator over there... that is the elevator going down to the subway."
So, happily, I got to the elevator, I pressed the down button and waited for the elevator to arrive like a good girl.... under the Shanghai heat...
I waited a bit and a little longer but did not really hear any movement...
This is when I saw this red button.... Apparently, you have to press the red button to contact the workers of the station.
After pressing the button, someone spoke to me over the speaker phone.
"Hi, there, sorry... I have problems with stairs and need to use the elevator."
"Wait a minute and someone will come and get you." So the person replied.
Someone eventually came up with the elevator.
Inside of the elevator, I asked the lady who came to get me... "Do I need to trouble someone to come to get me every time?"
Apparently... yes...
Since I am very vain and I don't really like to trouble others because I am "handicapped."
From that day on, I decided to take it to the bus instead...
Well, I might have gotten lost a time or two... essentially... thinking I was walking north... ended up I was walking towards the west.... but, by the time I left Shanghai, I was already able to get to specific destinations by bus.
One of my proudest achievement this trip, I guess..... 8-O lol
Well, if the purpose of locking the elevators down is to deter people from using elevators, I guess... the purpose is served.
At the same time, how on earth would could one spend all these times and using all these words talking about subway elevators/escalators? On a second thought... well... at least I am not talking about the disability access to toilets, right? Or... maybe I should consider it..... 8-O lol
When we think of security check, we might think of the security check we have to go through when boarding airplanes or going into some specific location such as the Whitehouse... 8-O
Yet, nowadays, you even need to go through security checks when taking the metro/subway in Shanghai... might have something to do with the World expo...
Although I did not take a picture myself, found a picture online to share with you...
Subway security check
Moreover, due to the expo, nowadays, if you get out of Shanghai city and want to get back, the officers with a really serious look would stop your vehicle to check your ID... Absolutely reminding me of going through the boarder between Canada and the US by automobiles....
The other day, when I was coming back from Hangzhou, after the toll, there was another gate where drivers have to stop the car and everyone in the car needs to produce a form of ID such as passport etc.
Funny enough... some people living in Shanghai don't even know about this policy..... 8-O
I had wanted to take a picture except for I was afraid that they might thought I were a terrorist...
Well... leave the scene to your imagination... and remember to bring your ID such as passports with you if you need to reenter Shanghai even though all that you do is travelling to a different province but within the country.
"사랑해요 | 我愛你 | I love you" was what the first Korean man I came across in Korea trying to teach me.... as we spent the night together along for the first time... and ever... whom I spent my first 85,000 won (Korean currency) on....
8-O
Sounds almost like I am going into the direction of the American gigolo scenario... and ratprincess finally got laid once for a change... 8-O lol
That strange Korean man I am talking about is a gypsy cab driver who drives a black van... even got the metering kind of machine inside of the car... although my Korean friend and her friend had no idea about this kind of cabs at all...
So, when I arrived at the Incheon airport, it was about midnight and all public transportations had already stopped running....
I found these three kids from the US, possibly teaching English in Taiwan and Korea now... Although I had no idea where I was going, I decided to split the cab with them going into town from the airport.... thinking... maybe I would be able to find a cheap hotel to spend the night instead of going to my friend's place at this hour...
On our way to Seoul, I got a hold of my friend and she apparently checked out the hotels all around town... The taxi driver also made a few phone calls to hotels...
Both came back with the same conclusion....
All hotels were fully booked.... (yet, I guess, if I were feeling up to paying 500 or 1000 US dollar a night, I might be able to find a room... 8-O lol)
It was not until the day after did I come to the realization that the situation might have something to do with the fact that.... it was Saturday and the second day was this Korean national holiday called "Liberation Day".... celebrating the liberation from the Japanese.
Before the ride, the driver told us that he would charge 2000 won for each person since it would be a 80000 won trip into town.
When we finally arrived at downtown Seoul, he suddenly raised the price to 25000 won... saying that all cabs would raise the fare by 10% after midnight and he also had to cover the fees for the tolls.
Ended up, we all paid an extra 5000 won (the equivalence of 5-6 US dollars) for the trip between the airport and downtown Seoul... and... to be honest, I found that driver to be really stupid... Unless he had never done it before... why didn't he simply charge 25,000 won in the beginning? In that case, we didn't even have go through the experience of feeling being cheated....
You see, there is something strange about human psychology... if, inevitably, I have to be cheated, I'd rather be unaware of it... 8-O lol
Since even my friend can not find me any hotel room in town, it might not be any safer or cheaper for me to take one of them ordinary cabs and my friend already has this guy's cell phone number, I decided to take his taxi to go all the way to Bun-dang...
It was during the ride going to Bun-dang did this man started beginning to act... how do you describe it... frisky...
So he asked whether I am single...
So he asked what I think of Korean man?
And, he wanted to be my boy friend.... 8-O lol
Also, he tried to touch my hand... @#$%&*$%#
Since it was already 1:00 or 2:00 o'clock early in the morning in a country I have never been to and, its language, I had no idea about, provided that we were on the highway, I had to go on leisurely conversing with him for fear that.... damn... this guy could really drop me right off there this hour in the night....
Concerning his request to be my boyfriend and since he would not decrease the additional fare rate from 60000 to 50000, my only response...
"No 50000, no girlfriend."
He also tried to teach me Korean....
"사랑해요 (I love you)..."
"사랑해요 (I love you)..."
"사랑해요 (I love you)..."
Mister even came up with this proposal... "You go home with me... 0 dollars!" (Man... he really underestimated my worth... 8-O lol)
And, wow.. man... didn't know that Korean men are so forth-coming and straight-forward.... 8-O
Well... in my much younger years... I had imagined foreign love affair like...
羅馬假期 or Roman Holidays...
東京假期 or Seven Nights in Japan...
OMG... 好悲情ㄚ and so romantic as well!
Except for... man... I am also somewhat royal since I am the Ratprincess... How come my experiences are so much different these other royal pals? (Perhaps, having something to do with the rat part of my title... 8-O lol)
Yet, looking at the bright, in the ratological version of 韓國假期 or Korean Holidays, at least, I sort have someone serenading me incessantly and tried to make me say to him... 사랑해요... 사랑해요... 사랑해요.... (I love you... I love you... I love you....) though nothing comparing to the following.... 8-O lol
What happened then?
He finally took me to my friend's place and I paid him the 60000 won for the trip between Seoul and Bun-dang.
And, one might wonder... what might I have done to make him acting so?
I swear to God... all that I did was trying to negotiate with this guy about the cab fare... That's all.
I guess... this man might have a thing with women who haggle? And, whenever I hear 사랑해요 (I love you), I thought of the cab driver, Mr. 사랑해요..... 8-O 8-X lol
So, in addition to bronchitis, I also came back to Taipei with this disorder called Fensi syndrome (Fans syndrome)...
For days, I applied the flooding technique to myself...
Listening to 어떡하죠 如何是好 What should I do thousands of times a day... staring at my husband's picture millions of times.... until... now... finally... less feverish.... 8-O lol
The following song.. Good Bye by 张根硕
어떡하죠 바라만 보네요 我该怎么做 只能注视着你
짧은 인사조차 건낼수가 없네요 甚至不能简短问候
시리도록 차가운 내손잡아 주지마 别握我冰冷的双手
이제는 그만 보내야하죠 现在我必须要让你走
어떡하죠 멀어져 가네요 我该怎么做 你已经越走越远
가슴가득 눈물만 차오네요 我满腹泪水
애써 감춰 봐도 멈출수가 없어요 就算努力隐藏 还是无法停止
끝내 잡지 못한 이맘을 어떡하나요 无法停止的爱 我该怎么做
사랑했던 그 기억은 놓지 말아요 请别忘记我们曾经那样相爱
다시 웃게 해줄 다른 사람 만나도 就算遇到另外一个能令你展开笑颜的人
아픈 이별까지도 그대라 다행이죠 离别是痛苦的 但我很高兴能与你相遇
슬픈 눈물 모아서 안녕 收起悲伤的泪水 说再见
아무것도 해준게 없네요 我没有为你做过什么
못나게도 상처만 남겼네요 却只留下伤痛与你相伴
변해간 맘조차 감싸안아준 사람 你是那个无条件接受我任何感受的人
이젠 보내야할 그대를 어떡하나요 如今必须让你走 我该怎么做
숨이 멎을 만큼 아파와 눈물흘러도 即使这痛会让我停止呼吸 泪水横流
행복했던 그 기억은 놓지 말아요 请别忘记我们曾经那样幸福
닿지 못한 내사랑 이제 보내야 하죠 如今我必须将再不能让你感受的爱送走
오직 나를 웃게 할 사람 그대뿐인걸 你 是唯一的那个 可以让我微笑的人
사랑이 깊어져 마음이 아파와도 爱你越深 痛也越深
슬픈 눈물 모아서 내가 할수 있는일 收起悲伤的泪水 我唯一能做的事 就是说...
안 ~~~ 녕~~~~ 再见......
I was supposed to arrived in Incheon airport at 8:30 PM the first day of my trip this time.
The matter of the fact... everybody on the flight was getting all ready for landing when the pilot announced something like...
"We will be landing in Incheon airport within 20 minutes and we are actually ahead of the scheduled time."
So we all sat there like good boys and girls with seat-belt fastened.... waiting... waiting... and waiting to land....
All of a sudden, the plane was going up and down as if I were riding on a roller-coaster.
"Some bad turbulence..." I thought to myself...
I, like the rest of the people, remained seated waiting to land in less than 20 minutes...
And, we kept on waiting.... till... must be 30-40 minutes later...
We heard the pilot broadcasting again....
"Due to weather condition, the pilot has decided to land in Jeju."
Jeju? Where is Jeju?
I vaguely remember the name of Jeju, especially when I was looking up plausible trips before I booked the tickets for this one. Yet, I was not quite sure whether what I thought as Jeju was that Jeju the pilot was referring to.
At some point, I asked this American guy from Boston next to me....
"Where exactly is Jeju?"
"It is a small island down south. To be honest, the only place that really needs air-traveling to get to in Korea." So he said.
"Wonder whether this happen a lot?"
So he replied, "Nope. I have been taking this route many times. It has always been a smooth and straight forward flight."
Not until I came on board... I guess... 8-O lol
In my mind, I vaguely remember reading about other airports in Korean...
"Are there other airports in Korea than the one in Seoul and the one in Jeju?"
Apparently, yes... except for... we never found out why the pilot chose the farthest airport to go.....
So we eventually landed at the Jeju airport... around 10 o'clock.... or you might say that Jeju was the first stop for my trip in Korea... with the following two the first two pictures I took of Korea....
When we finally landed and as everyone was making phone call on their to tell their friends about the detour. Unfortunately, yours truly is one of the last person on this planet without a cell-phone.
In the original plane, upon arrival at the Incheon airport, I would take this airport express bus to Bun-dang where my friend would come pick me up at 10:30.
Since it was already after 10 when I arrived in Jeju, I was very concerned that my friend might be outside waiting for hours in vain.
I spoke with the flight attendant about the possibility of getting off the plane to make a phone call... Unfortunately, no-can-do... especially since it was an international flight and there were immigration issues involved...
Ended up, the wonderful flight attendant of the China Estern airline lent me her cell phone to make the call.... (This is the point when I have to tell you that... there are nice people everywhere.... Amazing world....)
The view of Jeju airport
Interesting bright lights over the water by Jeju island.
Somewhere along this trip... I thought of money...
You see, mama had suggested that I bought some Korean money when we were at the Airport in Taipei except for I thought... why not wait till I arrive in Korean to do since since I would be using US dollar anyways?
Since this guy sitting next to me came from the States, I was wonder whether I could buy some Korean money from him except for... all that he had... a coin or two...
Sitting there... on the airplane in Jeju... not knowing when exactly the airplane would take off... I thought of the trip to Bremem I took almost two decades back...
I took off earlier that day from a small town called...something like... Lorelei am Rhine...
The ferry on the Rhine was delayed... so were the local trains and ICE (express train)....
In the original plan, by 8:00 PM, Friday night, I was supposed to have changed to a local train in Bremen in order to get to this small town where the family I was going to stay with lives...
Except for... by the time I was about to get to Bremen, it was going to be around or later than 10 o'clock... The family told me that they won't be able to pick me up.
This is a city I have never been before... only know that it was a big city... a sea port...
In my head, I ran through all different scenarios...
Maybe I will sleep in the train station? Apparently, many people have done that before..
Or, since I have this unlimited Europass... I might as well change to a train going down south, switch to another train going north somewhere in the middle of the night and call it a night....
Of course, always the option of staying at an hotel except for... gotta know where to stay first and God know how much it would cost.... only if I knew where the youth hostel might be....
In addition, what was worst off... I totally ran out of Germany Mark. I was so busy trying to catch the delayed trains and ferries during the day that I didn't have any chance at all to go to the money exchange place to get some cash.... By the time I got to Bremen, the money exchange place would have closed and nothing would be open during the weekend...
I will be along in Bremen for the first time, without German currency, not knowing where to stay..... 18 or 19 years old...
Well, don't worry. Am I not here typing these words out today? lol
Ended up, this guy who had been taking the same trains the entire day heard of my strange planes, called his wife and took me home. They let me stay in their daughter's room over night. Second day, he bought my US dollars based on the currency rates reported on the newspaper.
(Guess this is part of the reason why... for me, if people need a roof and they don't mind my small room, they get the roof. And, yes, sometimes I do wonder how I could live up to this age.... 8-O lol)
Back to Jeju...
Decades later... I found myself in similar situation... I've got only US dollars.... even if the plane took off soon, it might be mid night when I arrived in the airport already....
OMG... all that I've got US dollars only.... 8-X
The plane did take off and I did arrive at Incheon airport... and, thank God, the currency exchange places were still open....
It was not until thereafter did I came to the realization that... after certain hour, especially it was already after midnight.... there were no more public transportation available... no more buses, no more subways, and, of course, no M60 or supershuttle.... other than the Gypsy cabs that would cost me over 100 US dollars to get to where I was supposed to go....
Ok.. for you well-to-do people or people with steady income, only 100 dollars, so what?
Yet, yes, babe, for yours truly... ouch... that is some money... Ok?! 8-O lol
If my life were a drama, this is the point when the song "어떡하죠 | 如何是好 | What should I do" playing in the background with the camera gradually zooming in to my brave face to show my traumatic expression... or... zooming out further and further away to show how minute, helpless and along yours truly felt....
Except for... my life ain't no soap opera and I am no leading character in no freaking idol drama... (Good way to exercise my over-active imagination, at least, I guess... 8-O lol)
Ended up, the first thing I did in Korea was to spend the majority of the first 100 US dollar worth of Korean money on cab fare... the kind of the cabs even the Korean locals had not seen before. 8-O lol
At the same time, still can't quite understand why other people's first impression with Jeju might be something like this... while, not my Jeju.... 8-O lol
PS. From now on, I will always have some local currency available wherever I travel... if possible...
When I called up the office the other day, I could not wait showing people the picture of the love of my life... my painfully beautiful boy (never heard of cougar? 8-O lol)
One response... "You are old enough to be his mom!" (Come on... not yet so old... 8-X)
Another response...
"What is THAT?" So I was asked.
"My husband."
"Where did you find THAT?"
"I googled it." 8-O lol
At the same time, old lady like me still doing this kinda stuff...
The day after the World Expo, I rested for the entire day to recuperate... Did only one thing... gotten up to the tallest building in Shanghai now... the Shanghai World Financial Center (SWFC).... 5-10 minute's walk from where I was staying at.
As a matter of fact, looking at the speed at which buildings are getting built up in Shanghai today, you might have to speed up getting to the 100th floor of SWFC soon before it becomes the next Jinmao Tower-- the formerly known as the tallest building in Shanghai... 8-O lol
My sister had told me that you can get a 10% discount if you show them your World Expo ticket. I didn't get to use this discount though...
At the same time, if you don't quite care about getting all the way up to the 100th floor to see the ground from right underneath your feet... I was told that you could actually get up to the upper levels through the hotel part of the building.
Following are some pictures I took either inside of the SWFC or SWFC pictures I took from different angles or locations.
The waiting area before you enter the room for video introduction
In this room, you will be given an introduction about the building.
This picture was taken on the 100th floor.... The yellow lights you see there are actually street lights etc on the ground... 100 floors below. Unfortunately, I was there too late to see the view in day light... So far as I am concerning, the main reason to spend all that money to come all the way up here is to be standing on these clear glass floor and see the ground 100 floors below....
I think this is the view of Jinmao Tower and SWFC from the "Riverside Park" 河濱公園" in Pu-doing
This picture was taken by 豫園/城隍廟
The view of the skyscrapers, including SWFC, from the overpass near the Oriental Pearl and the Lujiazu metro station.
The SWFC is designed in a strange fashion. From certain angle, you would think that the topic of the building is pointed in shape and can't even see the hollow part below the 100th floor.
I took the bus to Keelung to see my uncle, a physician, who has been treating me since I was a kid...
On my way back to Taipei, I took route different from the usual... I decided to take the boardwalk by the water...
Coincidentally, today, there is this "Lotus lantern (蓮花燈)" lighting function as part of the ghost festival.
So I went and got a lantern, too, and released it off to the sea... It was not until later did I know that... the lamp I was given randomly was yellow in color... associated with "平安圓滿"-- meaning safe and sound without problems and satisfactory outcome.. Sounds good... I like it...
Although I did not have a camera with me, I did find a video clip to show you what happens during the process of lantern release...
Also, you can check out more pictures of this event such as the following at this blog I found online...
Originally, I had wanted to go to Keelung for the lantern release thing this year... except for I missed the 中元節 or the mid-month of the ghost month for the trip to Seoul and Shanghai. I had thought that there was no way this wish could come true... coincidentally, today, I had to go see my doctor, decided to take an alternative route and found myself releasing the yellow lantern.... Speaking of... all roads lead Rome in its mysterious way? 8-O lol
I had taken the 上海市磁浮列車 or Shanghai Maglev to and from the airport this time... although subway #2 also go directly both to the Pu-Dong airport and Lujiazui (陆家嘴) where I stayed.
On my way to the airport, it took less than 8 minutes for the 上海市磁浮列車 or Shanghai Maglev to go something like 30 KM... with the highest speed as 431 KM/HR. Apparently, it is even faster than the French TGV....
The regular price for the Maglev running between the airport and the city is 50 yuan (RMB). However, discount tickets are also available.... As a traveler, you can get 20% off and pay one 40 yuan (RMB) if you show the ticket agent your same-day flight ticket. Otherwise, paying fare using 'Jiaotong' card (sort of like the NYC metrocard except for there is a 20 yuan (RMB) deposit fee for the card).
For first-time travelers to Shanghai, especially budget travelers like me, if you intend to use the metro or the buses as your major means for transportation, I would recommend you to purchase the Jiaotong card.
You could actually purchase the card directly from the Maglev ticket counter and have them add the money to the card.
Whit
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Whit sounds like wit and according to dictionary.com, it means
a particle; bit; jot (used especially in negative phrases).
I have changed not a whit. I do...
A dream: Backpacking
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On my way back from NYC to Taipei in April, I managed to get myself an
extended layover (over 2 weeks) in Japan, landing at and exiting from the
Narita Air...
Ratprincess in Technology not lost?
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Given my sick-in-the-headness, sometimes it's hard to trust my LTM. Did
Ratprincess in Technology really exist or was it my false memory?
As I was marv...
Traces of the past
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A link I found that has been live online from the Down with Meds age.
Apparently, the past has always been there whether I knew it or not.
Recently, blogger pushed out this new function called "Stats."
At the same time, it was not until much later did I discover the function called... "Don't track your own pageview."
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