Two movies, two meals, and a longgggg sleep, I woke up in Cape Town. The weather is agreeable, the air sooOo fresh.

Friday night I checked in at a hostel called "African HeART Backpackers", one of the cheapest hostels in Cape Town at an astonishing rate of R90 (7.3 Rand = 1 CDN Dollar) per bed in a shared facility. Don't let the price fool you, it's a very nice and clean hostel. There were a few others here, mostly "one-nighters" ;) and some med-school students from England doing their internships at a hospital nearby. They've been here for 7 weeks already.

Today is Saturday, my adventure began by taking a mini taxi bus, as they call it here, to Cape Town (10 mins away). At Cape Town, I walked around the town square, the little streets, and going by the little shops to familiarize the city. I got a good idea of the price levels for things in local currency. My mission for the morning was to find a bank and exchange some currency, I had absolutely no rands at all. Sure it sounds like an easy objective in the city ready to host the World Cup, but things just have to become "interesting".

The local banks here don't do exchanges, I had to find exchange houses. Once I found one, they required me to have my passport, which I didn't carry with me. Without the passport, they can't do anything, not even to find their manager as I have requested. Furious, I went to find the Canadian Embassy to see if they could offer some help; good thing I memorized its address. However, once I found the place, the lobby security told me the Canadian Embassy has been relocated to another city. To shorten the story, I got back to exchange house just before it closed, and I charmed a local Cape Towner to exchange money for me. Minus the "transaction fee" and "commision rates" and "hidden charges", I ended up exchanging $40 CDN for R220 - a terrible, terrible, TERRIBLE deal. Where's an Ally Bank when I need you?

To give an update on my financial situation. Since I leave my project site on Friday afternoon and return Monday at dawn, for 30 days (3 days x 10 weeks), I have a total of $105CDN to spend on meals, transportation, tours, and whatever else I buy. So $3.5 per day, that's a lot higher than what average African lives on. As Lindsey puts it, T.I.A. This is Africa.

The afternoon adventure was a lot more exciting. I spent it in the South Africa National Arts Gallery. Although not as big as the Canadian or American one, it housed many interesting works! At around 5:00PM, when everything is about to close, I found my way to the train station, and bought a Third-class (lowest, cheapest) ticket back to Observatory, the part of city I stayed at. The train ride was quite memorable. I finally understood why in my information pamphlet from the Greenheart Travels it stated that "volunteers should NEVER take the train to get to places."

But, I'm still alive.

Once I got back, I went to pick up some "groceries" and cooked my first meal - instant noodle with spice and nothing more. To survive on $3.5 a day, starting now, I have to train my body to become more calorie-efficient. After dinner, I planned to visit the S.A. Observatory near by, but instead, I went to see a lame-version of hockey - field hockey - game. What a day for a first-day!

P.S. About my internet situation, I should be able to upload some logs once every week under normal circumstances. Pictures will have to wait, it takes seriously wayyyyyyyyy too much time to upload anything. The picture in this note took a good few minutes to show up.

Verse 2: Oh wow..Dubai.

The last 8 something hours have been absolutely insane! To break it down into three stages, they are: oh wow, oh wow..., and oh wow!

6:30PM local Dubai time, Flight 242 successfullyl naded at the Dubai International Airport, ground temperature: 35 degrees...Celsius. I was in my usual grey sweater, being cooked by the invisible sun called 'humidity'. The good thing about the Dubai airport is that it's located close to downtown. From the airport, I cleared immigration, followed some arrows, got lost a few times, asked for directions, followed some more arrows and found the 'Metro' station (yes, they call it the 'metro' station, how Montreal-like?). From there, I took a train to the Dubai Mall, a place I read about some time ago. Supposedly, it's a really fancy place to shop. Dubai trains are nice, very smooth and clean. It took half an hour to get to my destination. When I got out of the station, I saw people taking pictures of me, or something behind me, so I turned around. And there it was, Burj Khalifa, the tallest free-standing structure in the world - 828m, which overlooks CN tower by over 170m! So, out with my camera.

I spent the next three hours wondering the Dubai Mall. Me, being a college student, first went tothe grocery store. Once I have the go-ahead from my tummy, the adventure begins! If you don't know about the Dubai Mall, you're probably thinking, what kinda of adventure could take place in a mall? True, I hate shopping, especially with girls. But this is the Dubai Mall, magnificent; not only is it the home of the top fashion designers brands, it contains a cinema, an aquarium, an underwater zoo, a skating rink, and an indoor water fall. I don't think I need to remind everyone the symbolic of water in a city built on Arabian dessert.

After some times of eye-opening in the Gold souk and the Fashion Avenue featuring LV, Gucci, Chanel, you name it, I've had enough of seeing things I don't need and can't afford, mostly don't need. As a lil aside: guys, do not take girls shopping here. Okay, so after some "asking around", I found out a bout a free bus tour that takes me from the mall to the luxury hotels in Dubai. For those who are unfamiliar, almost all hotels are rated out of 5 star, a few Dubai "luxury hotels" are rated 7 stars. I sat outside the mall in the waiting area and heard some people speaking "French" (the correct term is actually Quebecois). Moments later, a bus came, I hopped on. Not able to understand the driver, I put my name on the list, filled in a few boxes, and off I went. What happened next, I cannot tell. To make the long story short, I was on the wrong bus that took me to a place that doesn't exist. After a military interrogation, I was escorted back to Dubai... Oh wow...

Anyways, it was past midnight when I got back to the airport, where I was dropped off according to order. I still had 9 hours to kill, and clearly my biological clock won't let me sleep. So, this takes us to the third "oh wow" after I regained my confidence and sense of adventure after the latest incident ;)

Dubai mall and metro services terminate at midnight. To get around, there's some public buses and taxis. I took a shuttle from Terminal 3 to Terminal 1 to catch the last bus going downtown at 12:44AM. There, I saw the "miracle workers", they are the people working arounding the clock at low wages to turn Dubai from a dessert to a modern wonder. Many of whom don't understand English that I had to help them pressing the right buttons to buy bus tickets or refill their transport card (the equivalent of Montreal OPUS card)

Because of the large number of people taking the bus, I didn't get on. If I did, someone'd have to walk home in this heat. It is then an idea came; I could hire a taxi driver as my tour guide since they, too, are working to earn some extra dollars. I bargained from $100 American for 1 hour of tour to a $50 CDN for 2 hours; don't ask how I did it. For the next 2 hours, I saw the best and the worst of Dubai. From my guide, Mustafa, I learned a great deal about this place from the local perspective.

Mustafa has an interesting background. He came to Dubai 28 years ago from India and witnessed the miracle of the making of Dubai. Seeing these world-class skyscrapers just as they were in magazines, I convinced myself I was truly in Dubai, the magical magical Dubai. It's really hard to believe at first. One of the coolest places I went to tonight was the Atlantis Hotel, the world renowned underwater hotel. Although very poorly dressed, I charmed my way into the hotel and went around. There are rooms underwater with a glass wall to view the sea world and a night club pumping loud American music. According to Mustafa, people don't sleep in Dubai from Friday to Sunday. Having lived in Montreal the past 8 months, I know exactly what he means.

At 3AM, I'm back at the airport, writing this while watching the sun rise. Soon I'll be in Cape Town ;)

Verse 1: Walk, Run, Fly

Within the last 12 months, I've been on 8 different airplanes. Today I am flying Emirates for the first time, in an airbus A380, one of the largest airplanes ever made! There's no doubt that THIS is the beast; the French sure knows the meaning of comfort. As soon as I got on board, I started playing around with Emirates' one-of-a-kind ICE (Information Communication Entertainment) System.

Oh I have a lil story to tell you, the guy who sat beside me was playing his PSP and ran out of power. He plugged the power supply to the socket on the seat and it didn't work. Me, being a cold person that I always am, offered him my socket, and it worked. Then I saw that he was playing FIFA World Cup 2010, so I told him I was heading to Cape Town, possibly see a match or two. His eyes brightened; turned out he lives in Cape Town, travels back and forth to Sasketchewan (did I spell that right?) for work. We chatted about soccer a bit, about Cape Town, South Africa, his plans at Dubai. At the end of the flight, he gave me his contact information and a verbal dinner invitation at his home in Cape Town. "Dr. Mohamad Ally", try to picture what he looks like, you're probably close.

Annnnnnnyways. Emirates is a nice airline I find. The stewarts are super friendly, or perhaps I am charmed by their British accent. My flight to Dubai is almost 13 hours long; 3 movies, 2 meals, 1 Coldplay album made it seem like nothing. Before I know it, I was getting weary from thinking about the last lil while...

Departure is never an easy thing. I was only home for a week before being called away, had to say Good Bye to my family so soon. Trips like this one could be a lil selfish. My parents were in a huge dilema; one hand, they know the risks involved, but on the other, they respect my decision to live my life and experience the world. After all, what's like without some risks?

There's an ancient Chinese proverb that says "Reading tens of thousands of books isn't as good as journeying a thousand miles on the road" (Damn English, turns something so poetic in Chinese into cheese). A girl recently reminded me of this proverb; I feel its validity. Traveling alone certainly makes me feel mature, or perhaps it's because the way people address me as "Sir". We'll see what 10 weeks will do.

P.S. Today I watched "Juno" for the first time, and I just realized something that I should've known 2 years ago.

Introduction:

Hello readers,

Last winter, I took you to 'la belle France' where you were given an inside look into the daily life on the French countryside. The journey began on the west coast and ended in Paris. In the summer of the same year, I took you on a trip around China; it was well over 3000KM of traveling through Shanghai, Hangzhou, Putian (where I grew up), Beijing, and Xi'an, plus many small "towns" in between.

This winter, I wrote a mini-log on my travels to Cuba. There wasn't a lot of writing because I was on vacation! Summer of 2010, starting tomorrow, I'll spend majority of it in South Africa. Here I will explain my trip.

May 12: Dubai, United Arab Emirates

I'll spend a night here, no, not in that hotel. Hope to take some good pictures there. Most of it will be night scene, so I dont know how they'll turn out.

May 15: Cape Town, South Africa


Cape Town is rated one of the most beautiful places in the world. I'm there to volunteer on an eco-construction project on the outskirts of Cape Town. Not really a civil engineer, but I do hope to contribute my creativity and problem solving skills. I work 5 days a week, with weekends off to spend in the city.

During the week, I'll be staying at a volunteer guest house with other international volunteers. As stated in the information package I received, there is no internet access there for volunteers. My ToSHITba laptop is still under repair; I won't have it for this trip. I'll be logging throughout my trip, but as to when they will be uploaded is uncertain.

World Cups of Soccer will take place during my stay; I hope to catch a game or two if I find some money on the ground or be a bit conservative with my spending. One of the ideas I'm chewing on is to go to the Ellis Park in Johannesburg. Invictus anyone?

The themes of this travel log will be the 'usual', consisting a bit of everything (like the France version). I do, however, feel that this one is going to have a bit more emphasis on work, economy, government, African traditions...)

Hopefully you liked my previous photography. For its size and portability, on this trip, I'll be using my Olympus point-n-shoot'er. Its quality will be lower than the Nikon D60 (used in China, Cuba), but I'm going to make the best of it.

On the way back, I'll once again go through Dubai, then to New York (which.....), then to Toronto.

Alrighty, good bye Canada! See you in 10 weeks!
Feel free to email/facebook message me for gift request or simply to say 'hi' ;)

P.S. Verse 1 will be written on the airplane. I have 12h50m to write it.

Fragile, handle with care...maybe not too much ;)

This thing called life can be pretty fragile.

A week ago I was moving heaven and earth to pack my life into a few boxes, but this week, I have trouble putting on a t-shirt each morning ever since I torn my shoulder ligament from a little accident.

In a few days, I'll be waking up in South Africa, a place so foreign, on a continent so far away. Being the country with highest population with HIV and Tuberculosis certainly doesn't make my doctor letting me off to my summer adventure that easily. Her pre-departure preparation for me includes 5 vaccine shot and pages and pages of "Do's and Don'ts".

At an age when I feel invincible, I am never used to calculate the risks I'm taking. But something about this trip worries me a little bit. When I was making my summer plans, I made it in a way that I will volunteer during the weekdays with weekends off on to wander the alleys of Cape Town and surrounding areas (obviously sounds like a plan I'd make) Something about these 'weekends' concern me; I don't know whether it's the deadly diseases, or the high crime-rate, or the fact that I don't know anyone there or all of these combined. 10 weeks will go by quickly, or too quickly, or not quickly enough, and then I will be on a flight that flies from UAE to New York, and then from New York to Toronto. All these little things are discouraging from going on this journey. But look on the bright side, the recent terrorist attack involving airplane failed miserably ;)

I think I'm starting to sound paranoid, maybe I am.
But I bet it's this shoulder injury! It's making me feel vulnerable because I can't physically defend myself!

Pie, oh Pie, what is the life of Pie without the risks and adventures?!
As soon as my shoulder heals, I'll be back doing the wild things ;)
's gonna be awesome, mark my words ;)

High School, College, a Year Later

I was told by my teachers "high school is the best time of your life"; if that is so, then teachers must be living their "best time", after all, they're still in high school ;)

Clearly from my experience as a college Freshman, people who think "high school" is the best time of your life never went to college. Here, I'm going to reveal to you the differences.

Academics
High school academics is a joke. Look at the limited number of courses you have, especially if you went to a non-private Ontario high school. In high school, I took almost every course there is to take, and still didn't learn much. Remember getting 98 and 99s on your report card? That's because your classmates are dumb (on average) and you are smarter...or your teacher likes you. Obviously you decide to go to college to have a better future, harder academic is expected.

Teachers
Unless you had a super tough, awesome, cool teacher, whatever you learned from him/her, you'll unlearn, and re-learn in college, except this time, you learn it the right way from Professors who really know what they're talking about. Ever had one of those dumb teachers who's not as smart as you? Doesn't happen in college (or very very very VERY rarely).


Homework
Ya gotta do them homeworks in high school yo! What-a-lie! I remember getting away with a 98 without doing much homework...and that when I was in Gr. 10! Then...Calculus II came, and blew everyone out of the cold water. Homework homework homework, not only you have to do them, sometimes you gotta do them twice. Remember the essay extension you had in English class? You're lucky if the Professor accepts your paper 2-hours after the deadline (you usually will get lucky). However, the machine is much colder, senseless. One time I submitted my Physics assignment 2 minutes late, I got a zero.

Projects/Labs
Bigger, funner, more dangerous than whatever you did in high school. You may now blow up stuff in chem labs. Your TA will laugh and high-five you instead of giving you the "OMG, you are a duchebag, report to the principal's office immediately" look... ya know what I'm talkin' a-boot.

Campus
High schools are just ugly compared to university, especially a pretty one like McGill, but Waterloo or U of G on the other hand..... Instead of having a bell to tell you when to go to classes, there's a silent alarm clock in college. Lectures end on a high-note; when you are on the edge of your seat to find out what the professor is going to say next, Professor dismisses the class, never will you EVER have to hold your binders and wait at the door for the bell to ring.

P.S. I love walking around on campus, I get to be outside and enjoy the brief outdoor. Bonus point if your campus is pretty. I remember walking in the high school hall ways; people walk WAYYYYYYY TOOOOOO SLOWWWWW. Whatever, that is not a problem anymore.

Friendship
Can you even make many real friends in high school? Probably a few real ones. It is after college, an only recently, I realized who my real friends were in high school. Most of the time high schoolers "hang-out" in a clique. You may not like everyone in your clique, but for social purposes, you gotta be there and pretend you like them. You have different dreams and passion, but still you hang out together because you're in the same group. In college, no one has to "fake" it. There are too many awesome people to hang around, if you dont like someone, exclude him/her out of your life. Because of the diversity and population, you'll find many people who you truly like to spend time with.

Parties
I laugh at those high school parties. Somehow, high schoolers find it "so cool!" to have a picture taken with a beer in hand. If you think high school parties are good....wait 'till college. And if you think college parties are good....wait 'till you go to a McGill Party - it makes college parties, and subsequently, high school parties look like your five year-old cousin's half-birthday party ;)

Nightlife
Nightlife doesn't exist in high school, and therefore will not be discussed here.

Relationship
Most of high school relationships, much like friendship, are for social purposes only. Real relationships take place in college (excluding long-distance, because that's just a 5D engagement). Unlike in high school, one has a lot more freedom to keep a healthy loving relationship.

Love
It is not so naive as it is in high school, but still with its dreams and "what if's". It makes us to crazy things, illogical, unexplainable. It gives us emotions and feelings that occupy much of the spaces in the mind and the heart - it wonders yonder, and grows fonder.