23-12-2008 (Tuesday)

1. China, Taiwan - two giant pandas have arrived in Taiwan from China, a gift from Beijing to a self-governing island it considers part of Chinese territory.

Xian -Day 2

I didn't mention this last time, but Xian - Day 1 actually ended with another mini-event. The hotel we were staying at not only put up a banner that welcomed us (forgot to mention this also, everywhere we went we were welcomed with a huge banner), but also provided some light snacks. Too bad I didn't get to hit any of that, I was going after the ladies dressed in some form of traditional clothing.



Sweet. Also forgot to mention that crossing roads in China's pretty different to most Western countries. Pedestrians don't have right of way in China, even at pedestrian crossings.



Can be a challenge getting places at times. Especially when you're crossing huge three laned roads (so six lanes in total, three going each way). Monica and I adopted the 'shadow' strategy. We wait at a pedestrian crossing. Spot a local. Follow them across the crossing. They go, we go. They stop, we stop. It works pretty well. Over time (read: a few days) you figure out when you can go and when you can't. Well, you'd better anyway.

Breakfast. Big buffet. Lots of Chinese food. A waitress in the same garb as last night hands you a plate and chopsticks. Coolios. I, being stupid, keep shoveling down fried noodles and other 'heavy' and 'oily' foods. Would come back to bite me in the ass.

Was also going commando today thanks to the bet I'd lost last night. Honestly it wasn't that bad. But enough said.

Xian tour guide tells us we're going to see the terracotta warriors today. Awesome. Only reason for being in Xian, I thought. Rock up and it's a pretty nice place. Looks a bit like a memorial. It kind of is, really.



Should probably mention now, before I forget, that we're holding Viennetta ice blocks (popsicles for the North Americans).

For those who don't know what I'm referring to. And they, like everything else in China, are so cheap. We bought these for five yuan (0.8AUD/USD). The cheapest we got them was like, 3 yuan (0.5AUD/USD) at the Summer Palace in Beijing. Point being - go to China, go get some Viennetta. Best loose change you'll ever spend.

But we don't get to see the warriors just yet. Head into some kind of museum where we spend an hour. Dark. Two chariots on display.



This one I think is a miniature re-construction of something found in the pits where the terracotta warriors were found. Not sure if this is like a fighting chariot or not.



I actually know what this is. I think this is another miniature re-construction of the emperor's comfort chariot. Large roof to block out the sun. Windows to allow air through. Left the museum shortly after.

Pit 1 is the biggest pit. I didn't even visit the other pits. But pit 1 is huge.



Look how small the people are on the far wall for reference. Honestly, not much to say about this place cause we pretty much walked the perimeter of the thing, and took photos along the way. Lots of other tours were there that day as well.




Look closely. You knew this, but none of them have the same faces. Kind of takes handmade to a whole new level. And towards the back, some terracotta warriors were being pieced together again.



So that was essentially my experience of the terracotta warriors. Oh, and one more thing. The guy who discovered them some thirty years ago is now old and a little cranky. He works at one of the museums at the site, and charges you 20 yuan if you want to take a photo with him. We actually saw a picture of him hung up in the souvenir store, but they don't even let you take a photo of that picture of him. The government should just pay him royalties for the rest of his life or something.

Before we left, we watched a short film in the souvenir store. They have a panoramic screen in there, so it's like, 360 degrees of action. Problem is it gets a bit tough spinning around to see what's happening at every point of reference at every point in time. Still pretty cool though.

The rest of the day was pretty lame. We visited the Shanxi historical museum which was a very good museum, but nothing compared to the terracotta warriors. They have the biggest stone lion I've ever seen.




Examples of what chinese writing used to look like.



And some ancient chinese money. Like, you've probably seen this in textbooks before. And it looks pretty damn similar in real life.



ext up was the most boring lecture I've ever sat through. Like I was literally gone as soon as I sat down.



Me in the back row with the head tilted back. Got woken up by Li Lei about halfway through. Apparently I was snoring lightly. But in my defence I wasn't the only one. The camera crew couldn't film the delegation listening to the lecturer cause too many of us had dozed off. Like Monica. Who got drawn on. Pictures needed cause I can't find it :).

I was sitting next to Subrina and Carrie that lecture. I should probably introduce them more fully. You might remember Carrie from Hong Kong - Day 2. The one who was walking around with Eva with that huge camera? Quiet? HA! Apparently not. Miss Hong Kong, as she likes people to refer to her, was voted the loudest in the group by the time CSP was over. Her partner in crime is Subrina, and together, they are my two clowns.

So after I got woken up, and while Walter and Jacqie are trying to fill in periodic table, Subrina grabs my left hand and tells me to let it hang loose, palm facing down. She then flips it over, palm up. The two clowns look at it and squeal. Carrie says she has a friend who can read palms, and apparently the curvature of your thumbpad (like the bit of flesh below your thumb which forms part of your palm) is an indication of...something. I'll leave that up to you to figure out. Oh, and it's definitely not G-rated.

Tonight was the night we got for 'free time' in Xian. Get dropped off by the buses somewhere in the city and we're told we need to find somewhere to have dinner. We have a few CSP alumni with us, so they suggest we take a taxi to this restaurant. Li Lei flags one down and hop in. Pretty old thing, with a huge metal grill separating the backseat from the front seat. It's so hot that we open the window, but the air pollution is so bad it makes us want to close it. Stream through the traffic of Xian. Other cars, buses, bikes, scooters. Oh, and a common disregard for road rules. Arrive safely at the restaurant. The fare? About 11 yuan (1.5 AUD/USD) as I recall. I was astounded. Flagfall in Australia is at least twice that amount. And it wasn't a particularly short trip, maybe 10-15 minutes? I heart taxis in China.

So dinner was in this kungfu themed place. All the food was given special names as per the theme. Or so I'm told, cause I can't read menus. It was a very humble place, but the staff there will bend backwards for you. They somehow managed to fit all thirty or so of us in the restaurant and pretty much re-did their back room to fit us on two big tables. Food and alcohol came quickly. It was a huge dinner. Highlights (not always good) included:
Camel (someone told me it was, the size of the bone doesn't suggest otherwise)



Pig's trotter. (GROSS, would've rather had river worms instead of this)




Beer. (The weakest beer ever, it was literally water).




And of course, when it comes to drinking with Chinese people, you must shout 'GAN BEI!'



But the night was not yet over.

Another ridiculously cheap taxi ride took us to a night market in Xian. We spotted a McDonald's there. Sirui, the generous gentleman, shouted everyone sundaes. Someone remind me how much they were? Again, the relative cheapness of everything in China astounds.

We hit the night market and it is a loud, colourful place. Lots of vendors with some pretty interesting wares. Inflatable t-shirts. Light emitting spin tops. Amazingly accurate cariactures. Crickets in a cage, a la Mulan. Lots of food to buy and food to try.



I don't know what they're making here.



Cars, scooters and modernised rickshaws (scooters with a backseat attached to them) keep you on your toes.



So Carrie and Subrina buy some 'nian gao' (年糕) from a hawker on the street, I think. Tastes ok. The CSP organisers tell us not to try any hawker food. I feel all right. About ten minutes later I've got a runny nose. So I think. Glistening red. Oh dear. Get Monica to grab some tissues out of my bag. Dripping blood everywhere. Gino rushes me into a restaurant and asks if we can use their toilet. Didn't think they were gonna say no. Clean myself up and head back out. Carrie and Subrina propose another reason for my nose bleed. Clowns. The rest of the night was pretty uneventful. We discover Kenny's ability to work the ladies when it comes to bargaining. A few of us buy some qi pao's.



Kenny buys a Beijing 2008 shirt. Another useless souvenir which he doesn't need.

Decided to pull off something I'd learnt in Australia.

Whoops!

Hong Kong- Day 1

Woke in the morning, something's on my mind...no, no more Mika until later in the trip. I don't actually remember what I did earlier that day. Anyway, that bit's not really important. At around four in the afternoon, I took a bus with my friends to the Baptist University in Hong Kong, nothing special. Found my way to the residence halls of the BU, saw the massive CSP logo, and knew this was it. Time to begin. But first, to say goodbye to HK city.

Stepped into the registration room, collected my name badge (swanky), keycard (so I could get into my room at the BU), and programme/delegate book. Walked to the residence building, got into the lift, got out of the lift and walked to my room. My room buddy was already there. Well, he wasn't, but his stuff was. He'd already gone down to get his CSP polo shirts and his CSP jacket (which I now affectionately refer to as the pimpsuit). But yea, he was really neat. CSP jacket hung up. CSP polos neatly folded. Hoped he wasn't a tightarse (he's actually the chillest guy I know).

I broke out the CSP delegate book, and started scanning names. Yes, I book-stalked. Kristina Ooi - Cambridge. Tina Liu - Harvard. Err...what I am doing here? They weren't joking when they labelled this a program for 'oustanding youth'. Notice a guy in my door way.

'Hey, how're you doing?' American? Nah, doesn't sound like an American.
'Not bad, yourself?'
'I'm pretty good. I'm Walter.'
'You're not American are you?'
'No, I'm Canadian.'
'Figures, if you're not American you have to be Canadian.'
I've forgotten the rest of this conversation so I'm just gonna skip to the end.
'I'll see you later.'
'See ya.'

Later, I waltzed (yes, I waltz) down to get my polo shirts and pimpsuit. Ladies distributing out the uniforms ask me for my size. XXL. They look at my information slip. It says XXL. 'At 10pm, come back here if you need to switch sizes.' I wasn't there at 10pm.

So at around 5.30pm we were separated into our groups. We each step into the circle and say something about ourselves. 'Hi, my name's ... I'm from ... so I won't be talkin' like any of you.' Smooth. Someone says we need a group name. Why do we need a group name? 'How about Fantastic Four?' says someone. Ok, it'll do. 'FANTASTIC FOUR!!!' we shout.

File into a huge lecture hall. Clara Lee, one of the leading organizers of this trip tells us about the rigours of the trip. Her first words. 'You took fifteen minutes to get into this lecture hall. That is not outstanding.' Gold.

We march up to an empty classroom. 'We have too much time,' says Connie, our co-cordinator. 'What should we do?'. I stand up. 'There's this game called Two Lies and a Truth. So I'll go first...'. Unfortunately, we never went around the entire room.

Dinnertime was an interesting affair. Met this girl called Eva.
'So you're a pro-gamer?'
'Yea, I play DotA for PMS.'
If anyone wants her msn, let me know. (Jokes jokes)
I sat across from this part African girl who kept tilting her head to the left (my left, her right). I heard a British accent somewhere nearby. I turn to the girl next to me.
'So where are you from?'
'Mear-yi-land'.
'Where's that?'
'It's close to D.C.'
Interesting bunch.


The rest of the night was pretty boring/lame depending on how tired you were. Watching Kenny and Jacqie trying to advertise a packet of tissues (somehow they made a tissue bikini set) was pretty funny.



The first day ended pretty uneventfully for me. Some of our group went out clubbing. I was gone.

CSP-Introduction

This is a retrospective weblog on the amazing seventeen days I had on The 9th China Synergy Programme for Outstanding Youth - I will never forget the experience. To my friends from all corners of the globe: I can't wait to sing with you all again; these memories are for you.

21-12-2008(Sunday)

1. China offers Taiwan economic aid

China and Taiwan are already closely linked economically.

China's economic growth has slowed in recent months, but its leaders still see an opportunity to be grasped.

The pledge to do more came at a meeting of politicians, academics and business leaders from the two sides of the Taiwan Strait called to discuss ways to co-operate in the financial and service industries.

2. US- Seatle
A winter storm is continuing to sweep across large swathes of the US, with heavy snow and strong winds disrupting transport and power.

Las Vegas- Las Vegas hit by rare snowfall, race december snow has fallen on Las Vegas and southern California.

Buses hang over highway, wintry driving conditions caused two commuter buses to veer to the brink of a busy US highway.

20-12-2008 (Saturday)

1.Macau - 9th Anniversary of Macao and Republic of China, where Macau return to China.

2. Taiwan - Taiwan spread H5N2 disease.

3. US- Multi-billion dollar aid package for US carmarkers. The US government is to provide 17.4bn in loans to help General Motors and Chrysler survive.
The US government will use part of the $700bn originally pledged to rescue US banks to aid the car industry. It has set a deadline of 31 March for the firms to become viable.

General Motors will get $9.4bn and Chrysler $4bn before the end of the year. A further $4bn will be provided later to GM.

Ford has said it hopes to get by without government help.

Bush said "in the mist of financial crisis and the recession, allowing the US car marker industry orderly to collapse is not the responsible cause of action"

Obama said "the car industry must bring all the stakeholders together, including labors, dealers, creditors and suppliers, to make the hard choices necessary to achieve long-term viability."


The US government will use part of the $700bn originally pledged to rescue US banks to aid the car industry. It has set a deadline of 31 March for the firms to become viable.

19-12-2008 (friday)

1. US- 3 big car manufacturing companies in US waiting for US government rescue plan, but white house plan to let these 3 companies scheduling bankrupt.
finance director said that he will avoid these companies bankrupt, if there is no other alternatives, will let them scheduling bankrupt. "If the right outcome is reorganization or bankruptcy, and is better to get there through the orderly process or every afford to make to avoided, and if cannot be avoided, everyone prepare for it."

Some researcher said that if US car manufacturing companies bankrupt, Japan and China will make their step in to US market.

3. US- Las Vages having the strongest storm in 30 years time. Airport close due to heavy storm.

15-12-2008 (Monday)

1. China-Taiwan- China and Taiwan have launched direct flights, cargo shipping and mailing the first time in nearly 60 years that such direct transport links been allowed.

2. Thailand - Thailand's opposition leader, Abhist Vejjajiva, has been confirmed as the country's new prime minister after winning a special vote in parliament. He is the youngest PM in Thailand history.

3. HK- some foods (sushi) contains the amount of bacteria is overdose. Doctors advice elderly people and children should not consume too much of these kind of food.

4. HK - There is an organization where several small-medium enterprise sign a contract that they wouldn't cause employee resignation.

14-12-2008 (Sunday)

1. HK- HK chief executive Donald Tsang visit the accident place in Kwanloon HK for the case of "acid" bottles being throw into the busiest street last saturday causing nearly 40 people injured. His representative said Chief Executive very concern on this case.

2. Oil price in HK reduce by HKD 1.

3. Taiwan - Taiwan ex-president involved in corruption, including his son wedding dinner.

4. China, Taiwan - Staring tomorrow, the direct flight from Shanghai Pudong to Taiwan will start first flight. This including direct postal services and shipping service. They said that this measurement taken not only boost the economic, but also recycle environmental friendly.

5. HK - Due to global financial crisis, the emotional patients in HK increases.

6. Thailand - Parliament is voting on Monday for a new PM to succeed his brother-in-law (Somchai). Mr Soomchai was forced to resign by a court ruling earlier this months. Thailand;s ousted PM Thaksin has called for an end to interference in Thai politics.
An estimated of 40,000 people filled the stadium on Saturday afternoon.

The protest culminated in a week-long occupation of Bangkok's main international airport that left 300,000 foreign tourists stranded.

7. Miss World 2008 was held in Johannesburg, South Africa. Initially the pageant was held in Ukraine, but changes due to the crisis and security purpose. Miss Russia was crowned as Miss World 2008 by former Miss World 2007 winner, China, Zhang Zilin.

12-12-2008 (Friday)

1. HK- HK government plan to increase the welfare from HKD9,000 to HKD 10,000 for a family of 4 members. Some said that it shouldnt be added at this moment where global financial crisis.

2. Share price in HK drop due to US Senate fail to approve the plan to rescue US three carmarker.
"and this vote, the Yea are 52, the Nay are 35." Thus the plan is not approved.
Some members said that "the boil to the country confident, and capabilities is beyond the economic terms. and i pray to see this not going to happened. "

13-12-2008 (Saturday)

1. HK - Two "acid" bottles were throw from a high-rise building into a busy street (Tong Choi Gai) in HK causing forty-six people were injured. Police searched the building, but no arrests were made following incident late on Saturday.

2. China, Japan, South Korea - The leader of three of Asia's biggest economies have vowed to work closely together during a meeting in Japan to reduce the damaged caused by the global financial crisis. Mr Wen, Japanese PM Taro Aso, South Korean Presiden Lee Myung-bak in southern city of Fukouka.

The countries planned to increase amount of money to swapped between them.
It is a move which benefit South Korea especially, as the won has lost a third of its value since the start of the year.

3. Taiwan - former president of Taiwan, Chen Sui-bian is released from jail. Ex-president and his wife were charges include forgery and money laundering. Chen was jail since 12 november while prosecutors probed his affairs, was later released on bail.
He denied any wrongdoing, and he said that his is being persecuted by his successors for his anti-China stance.

4.US - The White House says it is considering using money earmarked to rescue the US banking industry to bail out the country's struggling carmakers.

president-elect barack obama said he was disappointed that the Senate failed to act. millions of jobs rely directly or indirectly on a viable auto industry.

The big three -Chrysler, General Motors, Ford, employ more than 250,000 people directly and many more indirectly, in companies making auto parts and car dealerships.

Shares fell sharply around the world after the bail-out was rejected - with carmakers among the hardest hit.

the three US auto companies need to be seriously restructured in order to survive.

11-12-2008 (Thursday)

1. HK- HK government plan to ask China to give more border to China tourist to come to HK starting next year in order to boost up HK economy.

10-12-2008 (Wednesday)

1. HK- The authorities in Hong Kong say they have found the deadly H5N1 strain of the bird flu virus on a chicken farm. It is the first outbreak in GK in more than 5 years.

2. China- China has reported a fall for the first time in 7 years times. China's trade surplus rose despite decline both in export and imports.

3. US- Barack Obama has called on Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich to resign following his arrest on charges that he tried to "sell" Mr Obama's Senate seat.

03-12-2008 (Wednesday)

1. Thailand - Bangkok airport resume working.

2. US- 3 car manufacturing companies request US government for help due to financial crisis.