a photoblog about life, the universe and everything
thanks to american cartoons, i was one of many aussie kids who thought that if i tunneled through the earth, i’d come out at china. well, i know that’s not true now … thanks to this useful map tunneling tool. i actually discovered that australia would fit in the north atlantic ocean … and we wouldn’t touch any other nations.
kooky!
australia’s socceroos, despite losing to china in the weekend’s dead rubber, have progressed to the round robin groups which will be announced this friday. china was already eliminated from the world cup when they traveled down under to face the group leaders. however the socceroos fielded a much weakened side, made up of olypmic under 23 players, to give them some experience on the pitch.
china scored after the 12th minute, pouncing on a weak clearance. they had a chance to double the lead when awarded a penalty. in a strange turn of events, the striker scored the penalty, but was ordered to retake it by the referee, after other players were deemed to have encroached upon the area. the penalty was taken again and this time the striker missed the target completely.
australia too had chances, but we weren’t able to make the most of them. despite the loss, we finished on top of the group (thanks to goal difference).
the final 10 nations are decided: australia, qatar, japan, bahrain, south korea, north korea, saudi arabia, uzbekistan, iran and uae. the most notable losers are china and iraq (asia cup winners). i’m happy that china is out, considering the retarded nationalism coming out of that country at the moment.
although the socceroos progress, we’re going to have to pick up our game. the top 4 teams will get entry into the world cup, the 5th will play off for entry. australia finished with 10 points in the group, which was the lowest total amongst all groups. we lost 2 games and scored the fewest goals of any group leader. in our defense, the socceroos were in the most difficult group, but we’re still going to have to work a lot harder to ensure progress to the world cup.
well, my plans have been thrown into complete disarray, with the realisation that i’d made a mistake regarding the cost of my masters course in china. initially, i thought that the course would only cost me a few thousand dollars. this is actually true, for uk citizens. for me, the course will cost $12k. that’s a huge difference … and it’s an amount i’m not willing to pay.
as a result, my two year plan has undergone a crucial change. instead of study then travel, i plan to begin my travels immediately after leaving korea. so, come march next year, i’ll pack my bag and hit the road with the intention of circumnavigating the globe for 12-18 months.
this has put me in a bit of a panic. i thought that i’d have 20 months to prepare for the trip … now i only have 9 months. i’ve already done most of my basic planning, but there’s still a lot to be done. as well, the new plan has changed my spending habits. i wont need any of the things i thought i would have to buy for china (work clothes, new shoes, etc). instead, i’ll be buying things i need for the road; backpack, hiking shoes, and stuff.
i have a few ideas, but with only 9 months to put them together, the ideas may not pan out … so it looks like i’ll just be traveling alone and taking photos along the way. i’m still going to send out a few emails to see if any of my ideas can come into fruition, but i don’t expect it.
aussieabroad.org is going to become the new home for my travel diary. i’m looking at setting up a site which i can use for my travels. hopefully it’ll include a small forum where people can contact me or post ideas on where to travel, or if they’re willing to offer accomodation along the way.
details aside, i’ve got to get off my arse and start organising myself … without china to cushion my plans, i have to really put this together quickly.
get your zen on with the ultimate buddhist accessory - the buddhist phone. recently announced, this heavily modified nokia N70 seems to only be available in china, but it wouldn’t suprise me to see the phone finding its way further abroad. the phone is gold plated, has gems on the important buttons, contains buddhist chants as ring tones, has buddhist scriptures and buddhist images, and is even endorsed by a supposedly important buddhist who is probably unknown outside china.
well, i can’t exactly say that this is really in the spirit of buddhism … but it’s definitely in the spirit of chinese consumerism. and it does have a certain ’shock and awe’ factor … the phone has only been recently released, so i couldn’t find any details about it’s cost. i’m sure it’s expensive though.
but don’t worry … there are also muslim phones and jewish wrist watches out there … it seems though, on the technology front, that christians are a little slow on the uptake. there’s no christian phone … yet!
for more details, check out the translated page of the phone’s rundown on a chinese forum.
another reason to hate the olympics:
The relay of the flame from Greece to the site of the modern games had no ancient precedent and was introduced by Carl Diem, with the support of Adolf Hitler, at the controversial Berlin Olympics as a means to promote Nazi ideology.
why did the icc agree to give this country an olympics???
more scary shit coming out of china thanks to a documentary about the effects of the one child policy. apparently it’s illegal to register the birth of a child if the parents are unwed. that means couples who have a baby out of wedlock are forced to bribe an official, pay a massive fine, or sell the child on the black market.
it just gets worse and worse … and there’s nothing being done about it.
the full story is here … people are buying and selling babies to try and get a boy, who would guarantee a better life for the parents … and the demand for babies is so high, that 70 000 children go missing every year, as black market trading steal babies from their homes to meet demand.
in my opinion, china is one of the most evil countries in our time. not only do they harbour militant states like north korea and burma, but they annexed tibet, were responsible for the north/south korea split, and the list of human rights atrocities are endless …
and how do we reward them??? 2008 beijing olympics … what kind of fucked up world is this?
would you believe that! apparently, my website (as well as millions of others i assume) are blocked in mainland china. how did i find out? i went to www.greatfirewallofchina.org and tested my site … my understanding of how this works is that the chinese government uses filters … so, for some reason, my site doesn’t pass the filters.
i’m not sure if this is really true … as the disclaimer says, some sites may be rejected for technical reasons, not because the site is blocked at all. but it’s interesting, none the less.
a small online movement called free-burma.org got my attention this week. and they’re proclaiming october 4th as ‘international bloggers’ day for burma’. so, why am i posting a photograph of an amnesty international ad against china? well, i see this as an issue with many points. all of the atrocities in burma are being ignored by the global community just as much as they were 19 years ago when students rose up against the burmese government. the junta has been in control of burma for too long and nobody’s doing anything about it.
america has claimed more sanctions, but american companies like chevron are still making millions. france deplores the violence, but refuse to move their own petrolium companies from burma. the uk has also been vocal and are the second largest investor in burma. japan? asked for a mere apology, which they got, after a japanese citizen was killed. thailand? singapore? nothing …
burma still holds seats in asean and the un. neither of these seats have been taken away or threatened.
what about india? the home of ghandi and the refuge of the dalai lama … well, india is an embarrassing representation of a ‘democratic’ nation. and they’ve even been supplying burma’s military with weapons and training.
so, that leaves china. a country which i’m growing increasingly hateful towards. the chinese are brazen about their attitudes in international politics. their annexation of tibet barely registered in the global community. china also harbours north korea and burma’s military governments, defending them against criticism or retribution by america or the united nations.
china is a horribly hypocritical nation. they’re claiming to do so many wonderful things … and they’re claiming to clean up their country ahead of the olympics. while on the other hand, china continues to oppress freedoms and support the bullshit in nations like burma.
if the icc stepped in tomorrow and threatened to cancel the beijing olympics … or if a dozen powerful nations (america, england, france, germany, australia, canada and a few others) threatened to boycott the olympics, china would toss north korea and burma out into the cold. china only has china’s own interests at heart … and they continue to support despotic regimes while it suits them to do so.
if china was as civilised as they’re pretending to be, burma would be a free and democratic nation today.
support a free burma by visiting free-burma.org …
i spoke to a student of mine yesterday and she told me all about her travels in asia during the summer break.
she flew to thailand and from bangkok she took busses all the way down to pipi and krabi, then crossed the boarder by bus and went into kuala lumpur. from there, another bus took her to singapore. she stayed in singapore and then flew to vietnam. starting in the south in ho chi minh city, she bussed in stages all the way north to hanoi.
she told me that the busses in vietnam cost her a total of around $50. she could also go by train. it was more comfortable but 3 times as expensive.
however, she confirmed my belief that that it’s possible to get all the way from beijing down to singapore by land. followinging the coast to shanghai, then hong kong, i can cross into northern vietnam and bus or train down to ho chi minh city. from there, i can bus across to phnom penh and then into bangkok. i can follow her trail down past phuket, into malaysia and singapore.
that means i can return the same way, or catch a short flight into myanmar, whichever is the cheapest.
it’ll be an interesting journey. with the exception of north korea (if i go there), the first flight i’ll need to take is into and out of myanmar. once i get out of myanmar, i might not need another flight until i get into the middle east or africa.
it seems that i will be able to bus and train almost everywhere, and have an amazing journey while i’m doing it … it will also include trains into tibet and a train across russia into tibet at the end of my journey.
what a great way to travel.