The Survivalist

Hello fellow truth seekers,

Again its been a few months since my last confession. Simply very busy.

I have been doing a few things though and here is one of them, a book that I wrote that is now published in paperback as well as a Kindle eBook. Here is the link so you can check it out. http://www.amazon.com/Survivalist-Alan-Brown/dp/9889993910/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1309084092&sr=8-1

More another day.

Until then, don't forget to wipe.

Alan

Febuary 2011 Update

Greetings Truth Seekers,

Its been an awfully long time since my last post so I thought I would write here today and update whats been happening.

In my last blog I mentioned that I had moved to Macau in 2009 as my work at the City of Dreams had been extended. I am still in Macau and we now have a new office here as well as in Singapore. My stars, how things happen when you don't expect them.

Our company has expanded to include a number of local casino's as clients and we have employed staff which is nice as I always like to see people develop and help to be a part of that.

In my private life a number of things have happened as well.

I am still in the same apartment that I moved in to mid-2009, have settled well, love the Asian culture, and have even bought an Audi A4 turbo to hoon around in.

I still attend 'those' meetings each week here in Macau that keep my life on track. If anyone is wondering what 'those' meetings are, they are not religious or a cult, just a bunch of like minded people coming together for a common purpose. All very wholesome and healthy. You can contact me separately if you would like to know more.

In early 2009 two of my short stories (I like creative writing) got published in a book called Hotel China. It is now available on Amazon from here http://www.amazon.com/Hotel-China-Hong-Writers-Circle/dp/9889836653/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1297575247&sr=8-3

I also had another novel published. Its called The Survivalist and was released in Hong Kong book shops in December 2010. My next novel Heavens Above is at the copywriters and is due to be released in May 2011. True to form, the novel that I really want to write, have started and keep procrastinating over is still being written but more about that another time.

Musically I keep practicing and playing, mainly solo acoustic these days due to lack of playing partners here in Macau.

With reference to travel I still go down to Australia every 3 -4 months to check in at the office and to see my daughter and my friends. I love being at my Melbourne house as there have been renovations to an old, dilapidated veranda and sitting area at the rear and now it has been opened up, provided with pitched roof and decking and is a delight to just sit and 'be'.

On one of my trips to Australia I was to attend a school reunion for ex-students and Mitcham High School in Victoria, Australia. It was something I will also never forget. I thought I would run into a lot of old friends of mine from school and renew old acquaintances. My expectations (I should never have them or I will be surely disappointed) were to be dashed when when only a few people I recognized were present. Some of those people resembled nothing like their former selves and appeared to have turned into someone else. Another group of people I recognized and joined soon made me feel uncomfortable and I was to learn that this group had all gone to school together, had grown up, married and had families all within a 4km radius of the school, and all hung out together since. A 'stranger' forming a 'keyhole in the circle' of their nice tidy lives obviously made them feel uncomfortable so I soon departed and went off to a music practice with a band I was playing in while in Melbourne that trip.

As well as trips to Australia, I also had the opportunity to spend some holiday time in Shanghai as well as Beijing on separate trips. Those places are fantastic and highly recommended.

In July 2010 I went to Italy. I had never been to Europe before since I left England as a two year old child going to Australia. I went to attend the wedding a close friend of mine Carmen Gerardi. I had met Carmen ('Chicca') around 12 or 13 years ago when my daughter had introduced me to a internet based chat programme called ICQ. At the time I still had phobia's regarding heights and flying and I though the best way to find out about people in other far away lands and other cultures would be to use something like ICQ. I me a few people online and usually those communication were pleasant, sometimes taking place over a week or two, and then I would not hear from those people again or would not contact them again as it appeared that the extent of our 'conversation' was ended. With Carmen though things were different. I dont remember exactly what happened but for some reason we stayed in contact over the years, graduating from ICQ to email where we would send a 6 or 12 monthly update from time to time over the 12 or so years.

Anyway, last year I got an invitation to her wedding to (I was to find out) a wonderful young gentleman called Dan. At the time I dismissed the invitation out of hand as I was busy in Macau, but as a few days passed I thought 'why not'. I have always been one of these people who try to follow 'the signals provided by the universe' about what I should be doing or the direction I should be heading so I decided to go.

I arrived in Rome on a Saturday morning after a 13 hour flight from Hong Kong and soon was in a wonderful bed and breakfast place near the Trevi Fountain. Did a lot of sightseeing and on Monday headed on the train down to Naples about an hour away. On the Wednesday hired a car and drove the 3.5 hours on the wrong side of the road (for me) to a beautiful seaside resort nestled amongst granite volcanic mountains (its near Vesuvius after all) called Maratea where the wedding was to be held. Thursday was the wedding and I eventually got to meet Chicca and Dan. Chicca and I laughed our heads off as we were thick as thieves close friends despite this being the first time we had ever met. It was just wonderful and their wedding was fantastic. The next day I drove back to Naples and caught the train to Rome where I stayed at the same B&B again before heading off to the airport and back to Hong Kong and Macau. It was a wonderful trip, one I will always remember, and followed my belief in don't not do anything now that you might regret later.

As a note, Chicca has a starring role in my novel The Survivalist, as do a number of other real people I know. As Chicca mentioned to me 'Tesoro ('treasure'), I will live forever!'.

Anyway, that's all for now.

Remember, there's only 3 groups of people in the world. Those that can count and those that can't.

Till next time. Don't forget to wipe.

Alan

Moving to Macau

Hello fellow truth speakers,

Thought I had better write something here as it's been a while once again since I have written about my tales of Asia.

As some of you will know, I have been living in Hong Kong for the past 3 1/2 years. I went there for a one-month holiday in December 2005 and I have ended up staying there having the time of my life. My experiences in Hong Kong as well as other parts of the world have been documented in this blog site since that time.

Around April this year and because of a world economic crisis I was thinking of packing up and moving back to Australia. One thing I don't like to do is just sit around idly feeling like I'm dying slowly. I much prefer to do something meaningful whether that is in the work environment or otherwise.

Anyway, in April I had a phone call from the about to be opened City of Dreams in Macau. I was invited to come over to COD in late May and stay for one month to assist in ‘critical security issues over the opening period’. Security consulting is a large part of my professional life and has been for many years. I felt honored to be asked to come and assist so I said yes.

I worked at COD for one-month and the work was intense getting some things finished and the other things put right. At first I stayed in the Venetian Casino which is across the road from COD and is very grand and lovely. Later, and although the client is paying, I moved over to the Rio hotel on Macau at my own suggestion as it was 70% cheaper than Venetian and all I was after was somewhere that was quiet and comfortable.

About halfway through the month of June, I was asked if I would consider extending my stay and to continue helping out on security issues and also to finish off security arrangements for the two Hyatt hotels as well as the theatre. As I already felt committed to finishing off the work that I had started I said yes and I was engaged to extend my original one-month engagement by an additional four months.

Having decided to stay in Macau and taking into account that I have a large three-bedroom and very expensive apartment in Hong Kong, I decided to move to Macau. My thinking was that I might as well have a nice apartment to live in while in Macau while having a small one in Hong Kong for when I go back there for my work and other social reasons. As a result, I will shortly be moving into a huge and brand-new three-bedroom apartment on the island of Taipa, and island immediately next to the main island of Macau.

I have been to Macau previously several times and do enjoy it here. I'm looking forward to having a Macau experience in the future.

Hopefully that brings you up to date as to my latest adventures. As always, stay safe, say your prayers at night time and don't forget to wipe.

Cheers

No # 1 Rule

Do what you said you would do,
when you said you would do it,
the way you said you would do it.

-Larry Winget

May Update

It three weeks since my last 'confession' here so I thought I'd better do the right thing and provide an update as to what's going on. I have also started writing a journal again. I had a long and lengthy journal that contained all my deepest darkest secrets on my Hewlett-Packard laptop but all that information was lost when the Hewlett-Packard the laptop decided to die last October. Worse than seeing the blue screen of death on the HP laptop was finding out later that the information that was supposed to have been backed up automatically by that laptop on a separate disk drive over the past months leading up to October was also completely destroyed.

Anyway, what's been going on in May? In summary, I had to apply for an extension of my Hong Kong Visa and that took some time. Had some nice relaxing times going up to Shenzhen on the mainland on weekends for nice food, shopping, tailoring and the fantastic 3 hour massages. Simply bliss. In addition, there were a couple of prestige jobs that I needed to get organised. One is for the opening of a new casino on Macau and it appears that I will be going over there this week and staying for one month.

Last Friday night I went to the ballet in the Cultural Centre at Tsim Sha Tsui in Hong Kong. The event was billed as a gala night of the stars with dancers from all over the world including England, Europe, and America alongside the Hong Kong Ballet company.

It was a really fantastic night and some of those international ballet dancers are just wonderful. In particular Steve McRae from the Royal Ballet is going to be a superstar. I thought it was nice that he is actually an Australian like me.

I also found it amusing how the " American superstars" were made up of a Chinese lady and an Australian man. Doesn't America have any ballet dancers of note?

Anyway, The night was simply fantastic and I'm looking forward to going to the Ballet next time.

Other than that it's been life as usual. That's all for now. until next time, don't forget to wipe.......

You Tube Video's

Getting brave now. Here is a clip of me performing a song. Check out my other videos at http://www.youtube.com/Sushinoodleguy





My Television Book Review

Here is a video interview that I did a while ago for Hong Kong television on behalf of my friend Jennifer Li at the book Attic in Wanchai for Hong Kong television.

Cantonese Opera

On Monday, 27 April 2009 I went to the Cantonese Opera at Kwai Chung with Delia, Janet, Anastasia and Peggy. It was the first time I have been to a Cantonese opera.

Janet’s mum, whose name I cannot remember at the moment, is a famous Hong Kong Cantonese opera star. I have met her previously a couple of times at her home where she seems just a very normal person with a lovely bubbly personality. I was interested to see what she would be like as a famous star and thought that my friends had been joking with me a little bit and that she was just some opera singer in the local theatre company. How incorrect was my thinking…..

Arriving at Kwai Chung just before the performance started, the group of girls immediately diverted me towards the nearest local Chinese restaurant for dinner. When I enquired as to why we weren’t going straight into the theatre for the start of the Opera, they replied ‘ because we don’t want to get there early, we only want to get there before Janet’s mum goes on, and besides, nothing is more important than eating!’.

After dinner we proceeded to the theatre. I had been to that theatre before one year ago during the Hong Kong Arts Festival where I saw a famous arts Troupe from France doing a musical play that in English translates to “Land’s End”. You can read about that experience in my past Web post on this website. At the time, that play consisted of a number of people in long overcoats and hats with their faces painted blue thrashing around in some huge plastic rubbish bin bags, all to the sound of music, all in the name of art. Like the intent of the plastic bags, I remember thinking it was just garbage.

Anyway, I was back at the same theatre again and we proceeded into the dressing rooms to see Janet’s mum. Janet’s mum is a wonderful person, always happy and cheerful and so welcoming. She was exactly the same that night and welcomed us into her dressing room. She looked extremely beautiful and regal in her costume that I was to learn later was just her costume for before her performance, she changed and wore another one for her performance. We proceeded to have a number of photos taken by a professional photographer and then made our way to our seats that had been arranged for us by the Opera troupe. At that point I realized that this was serious opera as the place was full with about 4000 people in attendance.

I must admit that, as a westerner, my appreciation of Cantonese opera might be somewhat confused so it takes me a little while to appreciate the beauty of what is going on. At the start, what I observed were two people standing at microphones towards the front of the stage and singing from what appeared to be church hymnbooks. One of the people sings in a deeper voice than the other and this is the person taking the ‘male’ role. The other person then sings their part in a very pronounced ‘ female’ role. Until you get used to it, you could be forgiven that the female role is trying to sound like a cat with its tail freshly cut off. The vocals are quite high, screeching and pronounced. Still, it’s all part of the plan.

Similarly, often a woman can sing the male role. It makes no difference in Cantonese opera.

Behind the two singers is the orchestra. There is a full complement of musicians and I would suggest that they are all very professional as they play things like erhu, ‘paypar’ (although probably spelt incorrectly, Chinese people will know what this means if they pronounce it), and other folk instruments. Of particular note was a young percussionist who played a number of parts and instruments all with professional dexterity and aplomb.

I was also to learn that each ‘ act’ or pair of singers actually only seen one song even though that song may seem to go for 30 or 40 minutes. Each song may have 10 parts so it all makes sense to Chinese people but to this poor Westerner it was a little bit confusing.

When it was Janet’s mums time to come out on stage, she arrived to tumultuous applause, far in excess of the applause that any of the other Cantonese opera stars had received. I could tell that she was quite famous and much loved by the Chinese opera goers. This thinking was also reinforced at the end of her performance when members of the audience went to the front of the stage and presented her with gifts, far more than all of the other singers combined had received. I was one of those audience members at the front of the stage at the end of her performance as it was my job to hand her a big bouquet of flowers. We both had a good laugh at the time because it was impossible to hold the flowers due to all the other gifts she was holding in her arms. Her male singing companion had to carry the flowers for her.

With reference to her performance, I can’t really say anything. She seemed to sing the role well, similar to the other female parts sung previously although there was something slightly different in her singing and maybe this is what adds the value.

For me though, the whole thing is about the experience as well as the music. My Chinese friends were very worried before we went, during the performance, as well as afterwards because they worried that I might get bored and not enjoy the show. What I tried to explain to them that I am not sure that they understood was that I loved the experience of going to Cantonese opera, loved the experience of seeing Janet’s otherwise ‘normal’ mum as a superstar, loved sitting and listening to the Cantonese operatic music, and loved being out with my friends. Even though I didn’t understand much of what was going on at the actual opera, that all didn’t matter because I had an absolutely wonderful time.

After the opera was finished, we went and saw Janet’s mum in the dressing rooms gain and all had a good laugh about the Westerner (me) in the audience. It seems I was a focus of attention for the other opera goers as well as for some of the other singers on the stage.

Would I go again? You bet I would, for all the same reasons outlined n the paragraph above.

As the Janet’s mum and her superstar status, I also forgot to mention that she is a very normal and humble person. Were all going to her house on Saturday night as she wants to cook dinner for us all. How good is that? Simply fantastic in my view.

Until next time, don’t forget to wipe.

Pretzel Logic

Last week I went to a well known travel agency here in Hong Kong to arrange for a new China Visa as mine had just expired. The staff of the travel agency are very helpful and I use their services often when arranging overseas travel as well as renewal of my China Visa.

When I went to give them my Australian passport and my Hong Kong ID card so that they could arrange the Visa, I asked them to apply for a 12 month multiple entry visa. This will allow me to go into China as many times as I wanted for the next year. Quite useful as I have been into mainland China more than 30 times in the past three years. This type of Visa is similar to the 3 month; 6 month or 12 month ones that I have had in the past and so I didn’t think there would be any problem.

There was an issue however and I was told that I could not apply for a 12 month China Visa because my Hong Kong work visa expires on 11 June 2009, a little over one month from now and that a 12 month Visa would be after the expiry date for my work visa. I was told that an application for a 12 month China Visa would be rejected.

I suggested that it shouldn’t make any difference whether I applied for a 3 month, 6 month or 12 month China Visa as it was going to be attached to my Australian passport and had nothing to do with my Hong Kong ID card situation or my work situation here in Hong Kong. I gave the staff and examples that, if I was in Australia and wanted a 12 month multiple entry China Visa for my Australian passport, then it wouldn’t matter whether I have a Hong Kong ID card or not.

I think this simple logic was just too much for the poor staff in the travel agency and they looked at me as if I was an insect in a jar wondering what I was talking about. They then proceeded to tell me that they could apply for a 6 month or a 3 month China Visa and that that application was likely to be successful.

I pointed out to them that a 6 month or a 3 month China Visa would also take the expiry date of that Visa out past 11 June 2009 and asked them how it was possible to get a 6 month or a 3 month Visa that exceeded 11 June, but it was impossible to get a 12 month Visa that also exceeded 11 June date.

Once again I was scrutinized like an insect in a jar as they studied me with a look on their faces that suggested ‘ who is this idiot?’ And then proceeded to give me the unbeatable answer. They said ‘ because this is Hong Kong’. I understood immediately, because I have been through many situations like this in Hong Kong that make absolutely no sense whatsoever to common sense and a reason. However, that does not matter because, this is Hong Kong and that’s the way things are.

I picked up my new China Visa today. It’s a 6 month one that expires on 16 October 2009, 4 months after the time I’m supposed to be able to use it. When I picked it up I simply thanked the staff for their help and assistance in getting the new China Visa for me. One of them said to me ‘ no, thank you for your help’. As I type this I’m still wondering what she meant, perhaps it’s in reference to last week’s biology lesson where I played the subject in insect study.

Until next time, this is Tales of Asia signing off.

April Update

Greetings truth seekers,

Once again it has been a long time since I have written here and my only reason is because I like to use dictation software rather than typing. Up until last October I was using a Windows-based laptop and Dragon NaturallySpeaking VoiceType software so it was easy for me to leave posts here. When my laptop broke down in October I purchased an Apple Macintosh and only recently bought MacSpeech Dictate to use on it, so here I am again.

Life here in Hong Kong has been reasonably interesting over past months. The world economic crisis has certainly had an effect in many of the places that I have visited. It also has had a negative effect on some of the projects that I was about to start around the Christmas period. All of them were either postponed or cancelled at that time, and some of them are only beginning to restart now. So, it’s been a bit of a frustrating time.

Looking at how our business is performing, it is going fantastically in Australia but slow in Asia although I am hoping that will change soon.

Musically, I am still enjoying playing and putting the occasional song on my You Tube site for people to have a laugh at.

Creatively, I submitted to pieces of writing for assessment for publication in a short story book here in Hong Kong. This is the first time I have ever submitted my work to the public arena. Nobody could have been more surprised than me when I found that one of my stories had come equal sixth, and the other story ninth in the top 10. The book is due to be published here in Hong Kong in June.

In a volunteer sense, I have been enjoying mentoring some guys here although, that can have mixed rewards. Most of the guys that I try to help appreciated for just that, help. I enjoy giving my help if it is asked for and I want nothing in return but to see that person develop into a better person. If I can be part of that process than that’s fantastic. One guy however had a change of heart and after asking for my help on a daily basis for the past six months, he suddenly had a change of heart and decided that he wanted no more of my help. Instead of detaching from me with care and respect, as I would normally think might be the appropriate way, this gentleman decided to attack my character and me. Now, I might be a reasonably accommodating type of person, but I don’t take kindly when people attack my good nature. This guy’s last lesson therefore was on how to treat people with care and respect, not to take them for granted, nor to expect that they would be really available at any time of the day when the other person called. The lesson I also learnt from myself was to be a little bit more selective when agreeing to help people who ask me for assistance.

Travel wise, I haven’t been too many places since Christmas except to Shenzhen in southern China and also to Macau a number of times. The travel bug is hitting me again and I am currently attempting to plan a quick trip to Taiwan, Korea, Shanghai, Beijing, Xian and back to Hong Kong all in a short period of time. Stay tuned for more on that.

Culturally, I still continue to practice my extremely bad Cantonese but I still try.

Health wise, I had an interesting experience lately. I started becoming dizzy and falling over, losing my hearing, and experiencing a sensation of being seasick even when sitting still. I went to the doctor’s and found out I had something called Meniere’s Syndrome that is an inner ear infection that has symptoms as I described above. I was prescribed appropriate medication to clear up the inner ear infection and all is well now. It was an interesting experience albeit inconvenient at the time.

I am not sure what the universe has in store for me in the future. I can feel the pull and push forces at work, sometimes telling me that my experience in Asia is over and it’s time to move back to Australia. At other times, I feel that the universe is telling me that I need to stay in Hong Kong but simply to move from the apartment I currently live in. I will wait and see what develops.

Anyway, that’s it for now, a reasonably quick post just to stay in contact. I hope your life is going well and that the universe is presenting you with something good each day.

Until next time, don’t forget to wipe…….

Cheers.