Oh! My first baby! 無啦啦，做布娃

I happened to borrow a book called “當偶們同在一起” about how to make hand-made soft toys from the library.
The dolls look cool and cute, and they dressed in style.
One day I got the sudden whim to try my hand at making one such cutie doll. It seemed quite easy.
I was impatient though. I just cut out the fabrics more or less similar to the pattern in the book without seriously making the pattern on paper.
I wondered if the doll would end up like a Frankenstein’s monster.
Besides stinging the finger now and then, I guess sewing is at least as good as meditation. It is relaxing, productive and creative. It made me think about the nature of creation. Women have been sewing it for centuries. And now I am doing it. Good.
Even with a little help from my mini-sewing machine, it took me much longer than expected. Starting from late afternoon, I only finished it after 2am after midnight.
No hope to make a living by selling hand-made dolls. With my slow production, it has to be sold at a few hundred dollars. But you could easily get a cute Made in China soft toy for just HKD10. Besides, my needlework is poor!
Because of my impatience, it is quite a failure. It’s hardly as cool as the book’s example.
I wanted to make a teddy bear but the poor needlework at the ears made it look more like a cat. The material used was not quite right too. The head ended up too heavy for the neck to bear, so its head is naturally drooping. It is such a pessimist!

The good thing is, it could do amazing contortion. And with long and thin legs it easily makes charming posture and is good for a super-mini model. But it wants a sibling to play with…

我的無聊與快樂

到底這些網上搜尋器是怎運作的﹖

前幾天，天真的我以為聰明，施個慳皮法，在99巴仙的英文網誌上打幾隻中文字，人們搜尋中文網誌也可以找到我的字仔。可我的詭計徹底失敗了。

我為什麼手痕加了幾隻中文字呢﹖因為該網誌講American Idol 7 的Jason Castro (冒着被友人恥笑的危險而寫的幼稚情書) 。我發覺似乎不少中文薄客不大喜歡他，便想用網誌踩進中文的虎穴投他微薄的一票。真自大，像我這個揾鬼睇唔知搏咩隱蔽blog，名字叫存在與虛無，找隻烏蠅來攪攪震都難，又怎會因為幾粒字在中文搜尋結果中現形﹖

也罷，網誌裏有名人的名字還真管用，Jason Castro一出，國際社會訪客量暴升起碼一千巴仙，只因之前是近乎天零零地零零。終於有幾個傻瓜探頭進來，似乎都上錯船，他們要尋的人都只是在網誌裏客串的閒角，卻沒有人因尋主角而來。原來，從前以為神通廣大的搜尋器是神經的老點器，唓﹗

偶然無聊墮落去八掛香港的外語音樂討論區，調查本地人對JC等AI人的看法，似乎厭惡和不怎喜歡他的人佔多數，Brooke White 和2D則較受歡迎。What a shame! 這麼可愛的一個人也不懂欣賞。但來來去去都只是那幾條粉腸在幫會裏發牙痕，會員包括有望繼承維園阿伯的寶座惡棍，和以為跟了紅就能憑偶像貴而發紫的羊羣粉絲，他們噴的口水和吠的噪音重要嗎？惡棍尤其不懂得愛，他們所謂的愛使他們的世界變得更細小。這些討論區很無聊，領此一嘢，但願終生免疫。

不過不喜歡JC的人也不無道理，他壓根兒是個Anti-American Idol。回想起來，他的Top 4表演實在好玩。另外那三個一本正經的喊破喉嚨乞票，他卻偏偏選了唱懶洋洋的 “I Shot the Sheriff”扮Bob Marley，同塲加映 “Mr. Tambourine Man” 那不可能的忘詞 — 特別耳熟能詳的一句。輕易令評判抓破頭皮，教監製滴汗，玩謝了老套的AI，Jason好嘢﹗抽離一下那比賽的懶緊張氣氛去看，實在很comical。如果他是故意的，我可更欣賞他了。如果不，我懷疑那也可能是潛意識作怪的吧。多年後，人們會記得他的Top 4表演，但沒有人會記得另外那三個。

比賽後期他的表演比較平淡，但不是厭他的人所說的悶，怎會呢﹖悶字很難和有趣的他扯上關係，就是他的一些表演比較差勁，也遠比其他表現好的悶蛋參賽者有趣好看。

Look, cutie!

Jason Castro-I Just Want To Be Your Everything

他的粉絲還不止尖叫少女，也有很多中年司拉阿叔，更有不少基哥。女孩想做他女友，媽媽想有個像他一樣可愛的兒子，基哥想帶他回家過夜。

不過作為一個腌尖的樂迷，連Radiodead 和Oldplay(Moz的笑語)之流我都懶理，如果我不知道他，有一天在唱片店裏聽了他的CD，我可能不會感到太大興趣。

夠了，我的狂迷日記。

If only I could forget Burma

No surprise, Aung Sang Suu Kyi's house arrest has been extended once again.

I have just signed the Voices for Burma petition at the US Campain for Burma Website after learning about it in the newspaper today. http://uscampaignforburma.org/

I have also uploaded a picture on the Don't Forget Burma site:

In the picture I've put a shoulder bag and a flip-flop that I bought from my 2001 Burma trip. These are souvenirs of what Burmese people had on them everyday. And the three baby dolls are decorations I have on my desk to represent my three little baby nieces. I wanted to make the babies holding up the words of "don't", "forget" and "Burma" like demonstrators. I even wanted to put little longyis, the fabrics that most Burmese men wear, on the dolls. But I was too lazy.

I am not even activism people.

Let me be a fool for a while - desparately seeking Jason

就是喜歡Jason Castro.

Thank God American Idol season 7 is over!

It's the first time I've ever watched AI, since it has been showing on the ATV World channel (despite its 3 weeks’ time gap).

Since early on my favorites were Brooke White and Jason Castro. They were like the opposite sex versions of each other - unique voice, heartfelt singing, and good-looking. Carly Smithson and Micheal Johns were all right. Again, like Brooke and Jason, they were a pair – charismatic, great vocal skills, rock. But they sounded rather old-fashioned and overly mainstream. I don't care much if they were out later in the contest. As for the rest, they were mostly boring! Most were just about showing off their vocal range and big voice. I couldn’t care less.

I also quite liked the failed contestant Josiah Leming, who may be the most talented contestant in the whole show.

Before, I just kinda liked Jason, but no big deal. Guess what? I often watched AI while using the computer. I just couldn't be too devoted to watching it. But since Jason got voted off, I had watched many of his interviews, they always brought me smiles and I just loved him more. And only in recent weeks did I come to realize how gorgeous he had been.

He was particularly beautiful when he sang solo (was it because of the lighting and the make-up?). With such great looks and passionate singing, some of his performances were verging on revelations (Hallelujah, Over the Rainbow). It's timeless. I bet watching his performance videos in 50 years, people will still be amazed by his beauty. I was charmed by his beautiful clear blue eyes and his perfect profile. I like his cute (is it an appropriate word?) hair styles in dreadlocks and the way he dressed. Yet on the other hand in interviews he was funny, sweet, and genuine. I was inspired by his laid-back personality. Perhaps it's this combination of his radiant stage presence and his pleasant personality that amazed me so much.

Jason Castro-Somewhere Over The Rainbow

Why do people have to emphasize that they love him for his singing rather than his looks just to avoid being mistaken as teenyboppers? It’s the whole package, stupid! If he looks like the other contestant David Hernandez (?), I doubt I would like him as much. But could someone looks like DH ever sing like Jason?

These few days I am particularly crazy. I spent lots of time searching for him on the Internet. I even downloaded his photos (and I have not even downloaded one photo of my idol Jude Law ever!). I replaced the lovely wallpaper of myself with my lovely friend with his picture on my laptop. How corny! Well, so many stupid guys were naïve enough to put wallpapers of seemingly naïve girl pop stars on their computer. Now it's my turn!

It's almost like I am in love. How horrible! I don't even bother about the Sichuan earthquake news these days. That is to say, I am more overwhelmed by Jason's beauty then the tragic national disaster.

(In fact, I haven't donated ten cents so far, and I probably won’t. Call me heartless. But I am poor money-wise. Let the rich people who have ripped us off pay their dues and feel good about themselves. Indeed I am pretty numb. After tragic events HK people had been through all these years, people just won't learn. Soon they will forget about the lessons in life they thought they've learnt. When the nightmare is over, real life creeps in and people just continue to live blindly. They will commemorate the 1st, the 5th and the 10the anniversary of the disaster, but it would only be reduced to some media events that have nothing to do with people’s life. There may be big changes in the life of victims and even the aid workers, but hardly any for the spectators. Just wait for the next tragedy to happen.)

But I am somewhat doubtful about Jason's musical taste. The music of his musical heroes sounded rather trite to me. I am doubtful if this banal AI machine, a far cry from my lovely musical taste, could churn out anything good. Kelly Clarkson is a very good singer, yet her music was just OK for me, and I won’t even bother to buy a cheap pirate CD of hers. And the rest are just simply forgettable. Could Jason make a really good album? Judging from his performances, yes. Judging from his musical heroes, not sure. But then there are good music coming out of not-so-great influence, and loads of mediocre music out of great music influence. I'll just keep my fingers crossed.

Because of Jason's rendition, I had searched and heard versions of Hallelujah. People would argue which version they liked better. Weird, people could not love a lot. Leonard Cohen, Jeff Buckley, Rufus Wainwright, and…Jason, I like them all.

Watching AI had probably ruined my health by greatly reducing the quality of my sleep in recent months. Overexcited, I usually could not sleep well the night after the late-at-night show.

I began watching AI due to my impossible curiosty. Soon I fell into the trap. Though I was glad to find the gem of Jason there. I vow that I would not watch AI again, just like I won't fall into the trap of watching this year's Olympic Games. What a waste of time! (It's like, every time when I happened to read an entertainment magazine, in the end I would throw it on the floor and grumble out "what a waste of time!")

Already I am afraid my love is short-lived. Will I still love you next summer?

Well, I am already content to have enjoyed the beautiful experience he brought me this season. Thanks thanks thanks thanks JC!

I can be laid-back too.

Trip to Greece finale video - Meteora

My trip to Meteora, an amazing rock forest with medieval monasteries atop its extraordinary rock pinnacles. It's the last stop of my 2003 journey to Greece, before I went on to Italy.

The opening music I used for my Trip to Greece clips is Yann Tiersen’s "deja loin". I wanted to use it in the last episode of the series. I thought there might be a "Leaving" episode to end the series, yet I had not made enough footage for that. So Meteora was to be the last episode, and it happened that the piece of music suited the clip quite well.

Based in the nearby town of Kalambaka, I listened to the good advice from fellow Taiwanese travellers and took the bus to get to Meteora. It took less than 15 minutes for the bus to get up on the massive rocks but perhaps more than an hour to climb up there. And judging from the way I walked down the path back to Kalambaka, it wouldn't be a very easy climb.

Visiting on a Tuesday, the best-known monastery Moni Megalou Meteorou (Grand Meteora) was closed. I could only sigh and took a long good look at the outside.

Fortunately the monastery Moni Varlaam I visited was interesting enough to soothe my frustration.

I took the path near Moni Agias Triados to get back down to the worldly Kalambaka. It's a very enjoyable and charming path to walk. The tranquil mountain landscape reminded me of the traditional Chinese landscape painting. I imagined I was the solitary poet in such otherworldly scenery, only that my state of mind was not blissfully serene. For more than half an hour, I was walking all alone with no soul in sight (and thank God no thief neither) throughout the meandering and narrow path, and some parts of which were shaded and hidden by trees. God only knows when and if I could get back to the open space in the village. Slightly worried, my pace was a little hurried. But I comforted myself that it's a holy place and some higher grace up there would look after me, even though I was not a religious person. As usual, in times of ominous danger, one becomes more religious than ever.

Meteora was not as miraculous as I imagined though. Before getting there, I naively envisaged that it's exactly like a forest with individual rock pillars sprung up from the plain like some colossal trees. And the small me would be standing below in awe of these handsome old trees, oozing some mystical-prehistorical air. But the reality was that most of the rocks were virtually linked by roads. Either you were down there seeing a mountain-range-like landscape, or up on the hills walking with ease on big roads. Up there, the panoramic views overlooking the towns are captivating. Despite its interesting rocks and characteristic monasteries, Meteora was more cheerfully scenic than mystically awe-inspiring.

At some point I moaned that I didn't know how to work on this clip. Now and then it's the similar images of these unique rock pillars. They seemed repetitive, yet were somewhat different. It's really hard to decide what footage to edit out. But somehow I managed to finish it and turned the crappy mess of images into something I liked. And soon I became addicted to my new clip, like last time when I did the Delphi clips. Quite absurd indeed.

Watch my video:

Trip to Greece videos - Delphi Part 1 & Part 2

My trip to Delphi during my 2003 journey to Greece.

I found it hard to separate the Delphi clip into 2 parts. Depicting Delphi with only either of modern Delphi or ancient Delphi could hardly be Delphi at all. The two seemed inseparable. Separated, "modern Delphi" would lose the essence of Delphi, while "ancient Delphi" on its own might be too monotonous. Together, the clip would be too long. So now in the modern Delphi clip, I've added some images of ancient Delphi.

Trip to Greece - Delphi Part 1 - Modern Delphi

If you could read my videos, then you'll know I was happiest when I was at Delphi during the whole journey in Greece.

At first, I didn't expect much of the place, as I had got quite tired of visiting ancient sites. But Delphi was different. Soon as I got there, I was captivated by the majestic mountain scenery all along the main road.

And the small hotel room offered charming mountain views from the balcony. It's spiritually refreshing and inspiring. How could I not be happy?

Next to ancient Delphi, modern Delphi was a small village that you could walk through in little time. Quiet, relaxing and superbly located, it could be an excellent place for relaxing and reflections.

The small-apple tree outside a village house was my favorite bit. It fascinated me just to watch the little apples falling down as the breeze caressed the tree. Perhaps, feeling dumb throughout the trip, I secretly wished to gain some small wisdom from the small fallen apples, if not to be seduced by some small guilty pleasure. Little apples of wisdom, little apples of desire, you didn't make me a little wiser. Yet, you seemed to me symbolic of the secret spirituality of Delphi, of which the essence and soul was the sites of Ancient Delphi. I was so delighted that I almost felt like enlightened.

I had made a lot of footage of the mountains. It's really hard to edit the clip. Now and then there were these similar images of the mountain scenery. Mountains, mountains and more mountains, it just dazzled me. Of course, the mountains in the video retained little of its charm.

To bring out the spiritual wonder of the place, I have used ethereal music by Love Spiral Downwards and Shelleyan Orphan.

Watch my video:

Trip to Greece - Delphi Part 2 - Ancient Delphi

Ancient Delphi here shows the World Heritage listed ancient sites, mostly the Sanctuary of Apollo, along with some images of the Sanctuary of Athena.

To respect the sanctity of the ancient sites, I did not put music to the clip, except in footages outside of the site. I thought it's best to taste the place quietly. Perhaps there's already a musical quality in the architecture and the relics itself, so it would not be too boring to watch it quietly, if you are not boring, that is.

Frustration:
Have just uploaded the new video of part 2 of my trip to Delphi - Ancient Delphi on YouTube. The video quality is much poorer than the original clip, like some other videos of mine - missing details, awful colors...Sighhhhhhhh!!

I've tried to uploaded the video on MySpace, and the video seems better there:
Trip to Greece - Delphi Pt 2/2 Ancient Delphi

Add to My Profile More Videos

I liked Brad Renfro too

Got the video from his fans' MySpace site:


The music is crap (turn off the sound!), but I like the photos.
Let it be? No, it's so wrong.
Many beautiful and talented people love to hurt themselves. They are so fragile and they tend to die easily (as my unscientific but rather accurate research on the relationship between longetivity and attractiveness shows).
What's wrong?
Every time when a young hopeful like him disappears, people say more or less the same thing - love him so much, will always remember him, he's so wonderful.
It seems that all this love is quite powerless. (Fans, don't overrate your love!)
And the mystery remains, and then again another beautiful boy would disappear, and another, and another...

There's no consolation.

Reality is crap. History is crap.
(Well, sometimes...)

Notes to the 2-stars video killer and other sensible viewers

What the hell!

A certain mean people has just rated my formerly unrated "Iraklio" video 2 stars (quite a failure, right?) only! Yes, my video was not Pro. But I thought it would worth 3 stars. (Yes, I am quite a humble person!)

Why? Envy, envy, envy! Perhaps because it's lucky enough to be listed near the bottom of the first page when you searched "Iraklio".

I fear that no one would watch it anymore, all because of a certain viewer of either extremely refined taste or extraordinarily awful taste. Then again, he may either be a great lover or great hater of the city of Iraklio. And what if he is simply an utter nutter and a professional 1-star or 2-stars video killer of unrated videos? Woe is me!

Most YouTubers rate videos generously. As a debutante amateur video maker, I thought getting 3 or 4 stars was good enough, and I was overjoyed when viewers generously gave some of my videos 5 stars. 2 stars? It's not fair, especially when many travel videos on YouTube which were more mediocre than mine easily got a few 5 stars. Compared to some professionals and talented video makers, I felt like a primary school student. But at least I did my homework well and with sincere efforts. And it's not those sloppy video clips shot with a mobile phone (and usually less than 1 minute long) without editing.

2-stars video killer, perhaps you are looking for travel videos like these:
a) Long-windedly narrated by someone, pretty or ugly, pleasantly dressed or distastefully dressed, showing themselves or not. They would show you a red apple and tell you that it's a red apple, or something like that.
b) Sights and places indicated with subtitles, and labouriously introduced by these subtitles or in the video description (perhaps mostly copied from guidebooks or the Netpedia).
c) Made up of a series of pretty enough photos, but usually linked up by a variety of tasteless and naïve transitions.
d) Accompanied by some corny music that often does not match the video throughout. And all the city sounds and noises are muted.
Sorry, my videos are not your cup of tea. I am not working for the tourist office or travel agency. And I am no teacher of geography or history. I just want to share some of my impressions and convey some aspects about the place, which I happened to capture during my travels.

2-stars video killer, you have succeeded with your scheme, soon my video has dropped out of the first page of the "Iraklio" search.

In fact, this "Iraklio" video is my favourite among my earlier videos. The elements are rich and varied, so are the sounds of the city. And some scenes were even tastefully edited. In a word, it's quite interesting to watch, if not informative or practical enough for the middle-of-the-road music lovers.

Earlier, it was rarely viewed. Then recently the viewing grows faster than other videos of mine, despite their common low view counts, perhaps because it's listed on the first page of the search. Now it's murdered, (as the Chinese saying goes -- snatch rice to eat from the begging bowl!) and I am trying hard to revive it.

So if you happen to watch it, and if you have some sense and perhaps a great deal of generosity, please give it at least 3 stars.

RIP, my lovely "Iraklio" video!

P.S. - Ha Ha! My video has been revived! Forget about the hopeless killer!

Trip to Greece video - Naxos Part 2 Tragaea

Part 2 of my trip to the delightful Greek Island of Naxos in my 2003 journey to Greece. It's a pleasant excursion in the Tragaea region, with its unspoilt villages, lovely roads, olive gloves and various fruit trees.

It's an enjoyable day… and a fruitful one.

At first I got lost. I got to a small square nearby some olive groves. No one was around. It's all so quiet. Nonetheless, the sun blistering, it was good to sit in the tree shades and relax. There I had some blissful moments admiring beautiful trees swinging and singing in gentle breeze.

I wanted to walk to the small village of Damarionas. After walking alone on the quiet road for a while, a young man riding on a scooter passed by and offered me a lift. I boldly left my fate to the Greek gods and fortunately he did carry me safely to Damarionas. The popular ghost of the serial killer hovering in my head was immediately replaced by a heavenly miracle.

Walking on the road to Halki from Damarionas was a great joy. It was not wide (of perfect human scale), with olive groves and orchards on both sides. What's more, there weren't fierce dogs. Neither were there other people. It's quiet and serene, not creepy.

My secondary task of the excursion was to pick samples of all kinds of fruits on the road. My partial success included two fig fruits, a small green orange, a small pear and an olive, but I failed miserably to get a bunch of grapes and a pomegranate. Here and there I tried hard but failed to pick grapes, which were bountiful but always just about one inch away from my reach.

Halki was somewhat disappointing then. Its run-down Venetian houses seemed dull rather than charming. It's hardly photogenic, and perhaps that's why I had hardly made any video there.

I walked back to Filoti from Halki, the starting point of the excursion. There I had waited for quite a long time for the bus. You really have to learn to wait in Greece.

The video is accompanied with beautiful songs by Tim Buckley and Guy Chadwick.

Watch my video:

Trip to Greece video - Naxos Part 1 Hora

From Santorini, I went on to the delightful Greek Island of Naxos in my 2003 journey to Greece. Part 1 is about Hora, the island's port and capital.

Hora's sunset views were charming, and they were everywhere around the waterfront and northern shore of Grotta. You hardly had to really look for it. (Really can’t stand the digitalized sun of a square shape in my video.)

Lovely small hotels in Naxos' Hora were abundant, their whitewash walls decorated with blue color details. Most came with a small balcony, and many were equipped with a small kitchen.
The splashing waves were dramatic around the area of the temple of Apollo, from the causeway to the islet of Palatia, as well as the Grotta.

Kastro, the Venetian Catholic old quarter, was the most intriguing part of the city, and naturally the highlight of the video. It's also the most enigmatic and challenging labyrinth in Greece I'd been to. With its endlessly meandering alleyways and passageways, I could hardly fathom out this labyrinth, even after losing and finding my way there for a few hours.

Further up into the Kastro, Tourists were rare. It's interesting to wander around, hearing the chatters of its dwellers coming out of their houses, looking at interesting details of the houses, walking through archways low and not that low… In the uppermost parts, near the museum and the cathedral, the derelict houses emanate a mysterious air that enchanted.

I wanted to accompany my Kastro adventure with music that felt mysterious and joyful but not gloomy. But most music that sounded mysterious I had were pretty gloomy. I happened to find Primal Scream’s "Higher Than the Sun" right for my clip. This is the kind of songs that always remind me how brilliant a song could be, with my ears constantly dulled by the overload of fine but not really impressive music of today.

A little away from the town center, it could be very quiet. Hardly anyone in sight, walking on the road could feel like being in a ghost town. Mind you, it could be a challenge to find a toilet. An area crowded with hotels reminded me of the surrealist paintings of Giorgio de Chirico, as if time was at a standstill. Rather playfully, I've added the overused music of Ry Cooder to exaggerate the barren feeling.

Watch my video:

Trip to Greece video - Santorini trilogy Part 3 Santorini Pastoral

Part 3 of my Trip to Santorini in my 2003 journey to Greece. I took a morning walk trying to get to a certain beach, kind of getting lost in some tranquil country roads.

Most of the video is accompanied with the song Summer Rain by the Primitives. The song fits my video very well. It was summer, I walked alone on the road, and for a while there was drizzle. I tried hard to make DV, clumsily holding an umbrella against the wind and rain.

I wanted to take a walk towards a beach from nearby the guesthouse. No one was on the road except me and a few passing vehicles. So I was overjoyed to see a lovely little dog, which seemed to be a godsend from heaven (but was perhaps the dog from a store of the town). I imagined that I was Tin Tin and called it my Milou. And so it had escorted me on the road for a while. Thanks to my little angel, at the crossroads I followed it when in doubt about which road to take. And Milou was right. It guided me to the right direction.

Yet, no road was really wrong there. It's always fine to get lost in any roads among the fields. In fact, in the beginning I meant to go to beach A, but earlier on I had already taken the road to beach B by mistake. It's a happy mistake though. Much farther away, it's just impossible to reach beach A.

And like a heavenly creature, Milou had mysteriously disappeared while I was wondering about the road to take.

(Milou's story: I was enjoying my usual walk every day to find some good snacks. Strangely this morning there's a fool on MY road walking slowly alone. How dare you! That's rare. Usually clever people would speed through the roads with some gigantic and sturdy monsters. This uncivilized trespasser could not speak Greek. Now and then it mumbled something to me in some barbarian tongue that I could not understand. Yet it seemed to call me by the name of "Milooh" repeatedly. At first I was cautious, as it pointed at me with two weapons in its hands. Fortunately it's harmless, perhaps due to its imbecility. Ah, then I smelled a great snack in the field. Ooh, yummy! Soon I got rid of it, thank God! And I remained the KING of the road.)

Ironically, while I was not fond of beaches I was often attracted to beaches. They seemed like good excuses for a little exploration. Finally when I got to see the beach on the cliff, the waves roared, the wind howled, no one was there, the beach looked gloomy -- it's not for swimming, or sunbathing, not even walking.

For a city dweller like me, it's particularly pleasant to walk on these quiet country roads. Though the scenery was not spectacular, it was delightfully tranquil and scenic. There for the first time I saw scarecrows which really looked like scarecrows (of my childhood impressions).

Though this quasi-MV is so far one of the most unpopular video of my hopelessly unpopular (but lovely) channel, I am very fond of this video. It includes some favourite elements of mine -- walking alone, getting lost, pastoral scenery, lovely stranger (the dog), summer rain, as well as my favourite Primitives song "Summer Rain". I could enjoy watching it over and over, narcissistically.

Watch my video:

Trip to Greece video - Santorini trilogy Part 2 Road to Oia

Part 2 of my trip to Santorini in my 2003 journey to Greece. From Fira, through the cliff-top villages of Firostefani and Imerovigli, I walked all the way to Oia for its famous sunset.

It's a much longer walk than I thought. The island was small and Oia, at the tip of the island, didn't seem that far away. But as I walked on and on, the tip in sight was always STILL somewhere far away.

A DV camera in my right hand and a snapshot camera in my left hand, it did not make me an action-hero, but rather I made a fool of myself. I was too busy making DV and then taking pictures and then making DV and then... With this 3-in-1 role to play, I had hardly a third of the time to really see with my eyes. As in elsewhere, at times I asked myself, "What the hell am I doing here?" -- I wondered if I had looked at things with my own eyes at all. Rather, I just greedily recorded the scenes with gadgets. And then I had to get to Oia before sunset, so I couldn't take my time to walk leisurely as I usually did, though it's hardly a hurried walk compared to that of package tours.

For my inexperience, the camera movement of my videos was often too fast. As well as the sunset deadline, with the limited number of DV tapes available then, I tried to take it all in with as little time as possible. Unfortunately I had mistaken it for a powerful scanner. The truth is, you just get less -- and nowhere-fast -- if you move too fast with your camera, perhaps not unlike the truth about the pace of travel.

In fact, like most other journeys, I regret I didn't have enough time to see the country. I wish to travel around at a more leisurely pace, even though my pace was already snail-slow compared to others.

It took longer time than I thought to get to Oia, partly because of my self-imposed multiple duties, partly because of the illusory nearness of the tip of the island in sight, and partly because of my stupid curiosity. On the road I saw restaurants flaunting their cactus dishes and I was curious. Spotting some cactuses with their red flowers on the mountain roads, I was stupid enough to touch one such innocent-looking flower. Instead of being greeted by a spirit who would grant me three wishes, soon I felt my fingers burning -- stung by the finest possible stings of the flower, which could only be seen when the fingers had been stung all over with! So I'd spent quite some time trying to pick out the tiny tiny stings, worrying that I might die of their secret poison within 24 hours. In the end it's impossible to pick them all out, and the group of German walkers, whom I took as my temporary guardian angels, accompanying me on the lonely mountain roads, had gone out of sight, and I was left alone in the whole wide mountain area. As for the leftover stings, they miraculously disappeared the next morning. And I survived.

The path was harder to walk than I thought. After the easy walk through the cliff-top villages of Firostefani and Imerovigli, a few parts of the path at first sight seemed almost impossible to walk. They were very slanted and slippery footpaths. What I thought at the beginning as no more difficult than strolling around town turned out to be a hiking trip at the countryside. I was not prepared for it. At first I didn't even expect walking all the way from Fira to Oia. It's just that as I walked on and on through the villages, Oia seemed not so far away and I thought why not walking on to get there. With my cheap pair of sandals not made for hiking, I simply ended up with bleeding toes.

While I was in Santorini, often it was quite cloudy and at times there were drizzles. So it was hopeless for me to take photos of the white white houses against the blue blue sea in charming contrast and to boast them to friends afterwards. Worst, there was no famous sunset of Oia to see, and after all the efforts of the long march, the ending was not glorified. Welcome, the good old consolation of "the process is more important than the outcome".

The walk was nevertheless fruitful. At least I had learnt about two edible plants. The bad guy was the cactus (and its malicious flower). The good guy was the fig fruit, which could be seen on many roads in Greece. The best thing was that you could easily pick them and eat them. Isn't that sweet?

Watch my video:

Trip to Greece video - Santorini trilogy Part 1

Overwhelmed by the dramatic beauty of Santorini, I had made too much DV of the Greek island. My own private cut was more than 50 minutes long, and I easily fell asleep midway watching it. It's hard to condense it to less then 10 minutes to put it on YouTube, so I've cut it into 3 parts.

Part 1 begins with the boat trip from Iraklio to Santorini, and ends neatly with the boat leaving Santorini. If you are patient enough to watch till the end, or impatient enough to jump to the end (as I often do when watching videos of others), you will be rewarded with a nice song by Whistler. Strangely, for me, sometimes the most moving moment is to see the ending credits accompanied by songs that I like – the end, unimportant as it may seem, could be the true end of the whole video.

My cynicism about the pictorial beauty of Santorini evaporated soon as I got to the island. Those banal pictures and postcards of the beauty of the island were not lying. The real Santorini was only more captivating, not just with its cliff-top villages but also its endless pastoral scenery.

When the boat arrived at Santorini, I was slightly bewildered by the hubbub at the pier. Never had I seen a port as noisy as this (Yes, I haven't yet been to Tangier), let alone imagining seeing it at Santorini, which is often associated with the rather tranquil and heavenly images of white houses against blue sea. Yet, like other hubbub scenes, I was more enchanted by the drama then repelled by the chaos.

That was the usual tout scene at the port. I guess I was picked up by one of the touts. But it's not that bad, after all I had failed to make a reservation of accommodation, and had been worrying about where to stay. Though the guesthouse was 20 minutes' walk away from Fira and had no swimming pool, the room was lovely and comfortable, and I got free rides from the owner to and from the port. Most importantly, it's cheap. (Although I was envious when hearing fellow travellers staying in characteristic cave-like rooms at hotels at the cliff, without spending much more than I did.)

And what's more, there's a lovely bakery nearby, which is my favorite bit of the video. The mainstay of the bakery was a simple loaf of bread that was fresh and tasty. Outside the shop there were two lovely bakery frescoes, and inside it's decorated with some charming pictures. Many villagers went there to get their daily bread. I followed everyone to buy bread there. It made me feel like I was one of the villagers and I liked that.

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Trip to Greece video - Lakki, Crete

Unable to get to the Samaria Gorge, I consoled myself with a bus ride to Lakki, a mountain village in the middle of the road from Hania to the Samaria Gorge, which the guidebook said was a spectacular route on Crete.

It was an enjoyable little excursion. I started out to take the bus very early in the morning. First getting there, I had a coffee (accompanied with a glass of tap water) at the modest village coffee house. It's interesting to see them make the simple coffee with traditional bronze-colored wares. The village was pretty quiet and I seemed to be the only tourist to visit there that morning. The few village women came across me on the road greeted me kalimera (good morning). I was overjoyed, 'cos so far in my trip it was the first time I was greeted kalimera by Greeks or Cretans outside guesthouses.

On village roads villagers were rare but sheep galore. As I walked on, I inadvertently frightened flocks after flocks of sheep. They just suddenly all stop chewing grass and gazed at a monster intently, as if in a freeze-frame. As I mostly counted sheep and rarely saw sheep, I was curious and enjoyed watching them close to me.

Most of the time I was alone on the village roads. Actually, as I went on with my journey, I often found myself alone on the road, with no one else in sight for quite some time. It could be pretty scary if I had thought too much. But then, I believed superstitiously that gods were everywhere to protect the curious (and lovely) travellers in Greece, and I would be safe, or at least be saved, at the end of the day.

I am always curious about countryside villages and love to walk into them and explore a little, if only there were no hypersensitive dogs, which lack the faculty to differentiate the good from the bad. Yes, I hate dogs…most of the time. They were often in my way and hence my enemies, not to mention their bad shitting habits, or their human counterparts.

I vaguely remember I just stayed there for an hour or so, for I had to catch the very infrequent bus back to Hania. At the bus stop a few old men were sitting and enjoying a cup of coffee or a glass of seemingly alcoholic drink. They told me it would take quite a few hours before the bus would come. It worried me that the bus waiting game of Cape Sounion would repeat. Fortunately, the bus did stop by at a reasonable time. Even better, it was amazing, as I was the only passenger on the bus throughout the bus trip back to Hania, which made me feel like a sudden VIP, and the extremely cheap fare for the private bus simply thrilled me with hardly-guilty pleasure.

Back to the guesthouse, it was still before checkout time. It was Sunday; while the others were still sleeping, I had already been there enjoying a morning excursion and back from it. I was blessed with two Sundays in one day.

Watch my video:

Trip to Greece video - Hania, Crete

After the capital Iraklio, I got to Hania, Crete's second city and former capital, in my 2003 journey to Greece.

With great expectation of a charming Venetian town, when first entering the town, the usual nondescript concrete houses at the outer part of towns seemed disappointing. It's not until I got to the Venetian old town that it proved the guidebook right. It's a joy to wander in the labyrinth of alleys and cobblestoned streets. There were plenty of colourful old houses, charming small hotels and restaurants, delightful shops selling interesting gifts, as well as the usual boring tourist souvenirs.

But like any other labyrinths, as soon as I had conquered it, the second time when I went there and walked about, the enchantment already vanished.

My pleasure was somewhat spoilt by the endless honeymoon couples. Single travellers were few, and how could I alone fight against the tides of package-toured honeymooners? So far in my trip Greece had been a great place for honeymooners, and it was most obviously so at Hania. At times It made me wonder if I had chosen the wrong destination for my trip.

A bizarre bread incident happened to me, the parochial fool. Reading it in my good old travelogue always made me laugh:
午餐時把吃剩的魚打包起來，這種粗劣的魚宜用來做三文治。到三文治店買芝士三文治，店員似乎覺得我的簡單要求太古怪。等了幾分鐘，奇怪為什麼要弄那麼久，怕麵包給烤燶了。待店員把"三文治"遞給我時，驚覺豐盈的一個好好麵包被烤成纖巧型多士，像餅乾多些，我的香魚芝士三文治晚餐夢幻滅了，而且承惠1.4€； 希臘人(或是克特島人)又一次示範他們的不可理喻、出人意表。回旅館去，邊拿着塊異形"三文治"邊喃喃地駡 — 明明說要三文治，怎麼變了超級多士﹖想像力太豐富，但想像力卻不飽肚。To make a sandwich with the leftover fish of my lunch, I asked for a cheese sandwich at a sandwich shop. Watching the shop assistant nonchalantly toasting the bread for a few minutes, I was worried that it would be badly burnt. I was horrified when finally I was handed the finished product of the "sandwich". The lovely fatty bread had been turned into an unhealthily slim and dry biscuit. Imagine the difference between a handsome living being and a mummy. Immediately my sweet dream of a tasty dinner with fish and cheese sandwich was brutally broken.

Later I found in the guidebook that it was the local specialty food of the Everbest brand. Back home when I talked with friends about my trip, one mentioned a few things of her own Greece trip and this was one of the few she could easily remembered, and she called it interesting.

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Trip to Greece video - Knossos, Crete

Trip to Greece - Knossos

My 2003 trip to Greece continued with a visit to the ruins of Knossos, the capital of Minoan Crete.

Without much descriptions of the ruins at the site, I could hardly comprehend much looking around. I was only sure that I enjoyed a great deal looking at a myriad of beautiful trees, as well as the free show of the imperial peacocks struting around.

Before I went there, I vaguely imagined with joy that I would see beautiful frescoes on some ancient walls, like those enigmatic images I'd seen in a certain film (of Pasolini or Fellini?). But it turned out to be slightly disappointing, the reconstructions gave an artificial air to the site, as in many historical sites in other parts of the world. It felt somewhat like going to a theme park. There were not as many frescoes available to see as I wished. Beautiful as they were, some had to be neatly cased behind glass frames, and thereby vanished the ancient aura.

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Trip to Greece extra - The Loneliness of the Restaurant Waiter

While saving the video clips to files and listening to Maria Callas, I found that her music could elegantly bring out a tragic-comic sadness in the slowed reality of the originally kinda harmlessly funny clips I made of a restaurant waiter who relentlessly tried to persuade in vain the passing tourists to eat in his restaurant.

Every time I watched it I laughed so violently that my mum was horrified by my insanity. It was made tragic by the music and so it was ten times more comical then it was in reality.

I was a bit doubtful whether I should put it on YouTube (where most of my neighbouring videos embarrassed me) though. It made me wonder if I was not doing the same thing as that notorious Bus Uxxxx video - infringing others' privacy, and it felt like betrayal because I took advantages of others for my own selfish purpose. Yet, highly amateurish I might be, the image quality of my video was much better than that of the cheapie peeping Bus Uxxxx video, which showed an unattractive stupid guy ranting without shame. It's not new, for such weirdos are not uncommon in HK, especially when those emotionally unstable freaks stationed at offices are counted. Oh no! I shouldn't mention that Bus Uxxxx, 'cos I am elegant and I don't want to have anything to do with it.

But I liked my video so much, partly because it made me enjoy and admire the singing of Callas like never before. I consoled myself that, after all, I had already exposed a great deal of strangers' images in my other videos before. And since my victim didn't stop me nor stare at me when I filmed him then, I brashly took it as a non-disaproval from him (though he might not be aware of the serious consequence it would entail at that time).

The commentator: Well, few people would watch your videos, so why bother, you fool?

Watch my video:

Trip to Greece video - Iraklio, Crete

Continuing my old and old trip to Greece in 2003, here I got to Crete's capital Iraklio. I'm afraid the video is a bit too long. I thought it would be 6:59 but it ended up 7:00! Just because of the extra 1 second, I feared that the audience, if there's any at all, would be turned away from it, just like that the smart housewives would only care to buy something with a price that ends with 99 cents.

The old harbour area was dramatically windy. At times I could hardly stand still and hence there are the super-shaky scenes with unbearable noises.

My favourite bits: the open-air string quartet concert at the atmospheric site nearby Kazantzaki's tomb; the opening of a small supermarket where anyone could get into and had a good deal of free munchies. I was glad to sample local confectionery without having to count my notes carefully. What an accidental blessing for a poor and hungry ghost like me, just when I was wondering what snacks to buy for the bus trip to Hania the next day! Finally I could love Iraklio!

Do I talk too much? Yes, but if everyone can talk too much nonsense in good conscience, so can I.

Nikos Kazantzakis: "I hope for nothing, I fear nothing, I am free."

Watch my video:

Trip to Greece video - Boat to Crete

This was my first boat trip in Greece, a night boat to Iraklio from the Piraeus Port in Athens. That night happened to be the Mid-Autumn Festival. The moon was round, and perhaps rounder than that one in HK, which I didn't really miss at all.

Earlier that day I took a day trip to Cape Sounion, as shown in my last video. And the bus back to Athens that I intended to take had mysteriously made a no-show. Worried to death, I had waited for an hour or two for the next bus back to Athens, for I would have little time left for packing my baggages and getting to Port Piraeus in time to board on the boat to Iraklio, not to mention having a decent dinner. Fortunately, it turned out that the departure time of the boat was later than what's shown in the LP guidebook, which had so often misinformed me that I had discarded it soon after the trip.

Lesson learnt: Do not take a day trip on the day when you have to depart for another city.

Watch my video:

Trip to Greece video - Cape Sounion

The second video of my Trip to Greece series is now showing on my YouTube channel. It's an excursion from Athens to Cape Sounion, where I looked for the traces of Byron at the Temple of Poiseidon in vain. The video was too quiet, so I'd added some beautiful Greek music to it.

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My first video on YouTube - Athens

Check out my first video on my new YouTube channel! It's cool!

Trip to Greece - Athens