Egypt 9: Ensha-Allah, I will be in Masr Again

It was a wonderful, too-short, eye-opening, illuminating, refreshing and provoking 8 days in Egypt. What a place to fire the imagination, push the boundaries of my mind and lift the blinders from my eyes. Ensha-allah, I will most definitely be back again. Next time:

- Camping in the desert
- Alexandria, Mesra Matruh and the rest of the North Coast of Egypt on the Mediterranean
- Going on as far on the Exodus trail as my time will allow
- Go on a felucca in Aswan

Regardless of your religious leanings, political ideals, the multi-color fabric of Egyptian society is amazing to behold. For this I must thank my best friend for 13 years, Neveen. I love you, and I miss you very much. It's not the same without hanging out with you in Brooklyn and joshing about why we like nameless cute waiterboys.


Kamal: Fabulous host, impressive personality, truth and strength of character. My best wishes that you will find what you seek in life. Thank you for your company and your conversation.


Neveen's Aunts and Cousins: I don't have pictures of all of you, but I have all of you clearly in my mind. Your hospitality knows no bounds, and neither does my gratitude. I will see you soon.


Neveen's Cousin Adel: And your fantastic Jeep! It was lovely to meet you and laugh about stray cats on the Hill of Mo'Atem - thanks for being a fabulous driving guide and the next time we will definitely go camping in the desert.


Neveen's Uncle Samir: Although I couldn't undertand 90% of what you said, your humor and goodwill are infectious - not to mention phenomenal sand-driving skills! Thanks for driving all of us out to Al-Haram.


Egypt has been great to me – I didn’t get sun burnt or dehydrated, and my all-terrain Nike sandals performed remarkably well on sand, brick, mud, horse dung and millennia-old flagstone floors.

It would have been a much more sterile visit if it wasn’t for my new friends. They have gone above and beyond the duty of good hosts, and I dearly wish that one day they will be here in this side of the world for me to return even a tenth of the graciousness that they have shown me. Shukran gazeelan li kuula haega (thanks very much for everything).

For a full collection of photos, please go to http://photos.yahoo.com/patsianlow and click on any album that starts with the word “Egypt”.

East of Greenwich Mean Time

If you're one in a million, there are a thousand people just like you in China.

It's been over 3 weeks between Hong Kong, Singapore and Seoul, and I have to say - Asia has made me very welcome. After spending almost half my life in the US, my expectation of having to adjust to "culture shock" was just that - an expectation, not realized. How can it be a "shock" when the culture is what I was raised in, grew up in? What else could it be but a homecoming?

In Hong Kong, I worked hard and explored hard - this little city-state has more wonders than you can possibly imagine. From the posh estates in the Mid-levels, Happy Valley, the Peak, Repulse Bay and University Heights, to the grimy squalid back alley shophouses in Yau Ma Tei, North Point, Sai Ying Pun - the island pulses with diversity, emotion, passion, and LIFE.

People used to characterize life in Hong Kong as constant rat race, with a pack of ruthless, cold, and heartless moneybots. I saw something quite different - this is a place with so much history, Chinese tradition coupled with colonial gentility, Eastern piety with Western individualism, Confucian societal thinking colored by a very modern and American self-awareness and political savvy. As someone raised with Oriental values in a westernized society, all aspects of my life resonate strongly with everything I have seen in Hong Kong so far.

On occasion the reaction is one of disbelief - how can the women in Hong Kong possibly be so thin, and pale, living in this humid and warm city of incredible cuisine? Other times, it's one of awe, at how so much modernity can be built on so little space, in such a short span of time. Some times it's a sense of helplessness, of being swept by the human tide in an unknown direction, whether it's on a Saturday afternoon by a gleaming shopping mall, or on Monday morning along the main Financial Center thoroughfare.

I had felt an odd sense of nausea, when I see back alley shops in Kowloon selling dried insects in dirty jars as medicine. I felt admiration, for octogenarians still sitting at the same grimy corner, for over 60 years selling the same service that no one else seems to want to buy anymore. I felt incredible satisfaction when I ate some of the best ever won ton in my life. I felt adventurous when I got lost in the multitudes of dim sum restaurants in Causeway Bay - how do these people pick the "Best of the Best in Chinese Cuisine"? There is of course, the delicious comfort, of getting a true Chinese Qi-gong massage, finally. Ahhhhh sweet relief.

Hong Kong is a place of incredible wonder. Every day shows me something new - every additional street block I explore, shows me another facet of this Diamond in the Orient. I can't wait to see more.

Of course every now and then I am reminded that I actually have to work here - my colleagues have been wonderful, with the fair share of tapdancing and politicking, of course. Such is the big "C" word - corporate. It's nothing more than mind games, really.

My work took me to Singapore - won't spend too much time elaborating on it except to say my Grandfather turned 98, and he continues to be my inspiration and example, especially since he's still healthy, alert, sharp as a tack and has a few choice words in Teochew for Dubya Bush and his campaign on terror. Of course I had my fix of Singaporean food with good friends and family. What other way is there to enjoy Singaporean food. And added more people to my "kawan" network!

Subsequently work took me to Seoul, of the Han Country - Korea. Anyong ha seyoh - I have not heard "How Are You" spoken quite so lyrically before. Seoul is immense, the city sprawls on both sides of the Hangang River, unfortunately covered in smog so that the shiny towers and ornate temple roofs are hidden behind a haze of pollution. But people are organized, reserved, a little more tentative than what I expected - no outpouring of heartfelt emotions here, not unless you get some ShoJyu, that is.

Ah, shojyu. By day, the industrious Koreans work hard and keep the economic wonder that has provided us with innumerable mobile phones and little cars in good shape. By night, the true Seoul city life comes out of hiding.

Our colleagues in the Seoul office are fantastic hosts. Our meals were in true Korean hangouts, rarely visited by foreigners. As such there is the usual confusion when visitors like me realize that patent leather pumps with buckles are not conducive to sitting down on the floor to eat. But the meal inevitably becomes a smorgasboard of little dishes of appetizers, accompaniments, after-meals, and they all carry the unmistakable aroma of chili paste and garlic, present in almost all Korean dishes. Trying to remember what goes with which is always a fun game, and when you're confused, just raise your hand and call out "On-yee" and a helpful waitress will come by and forcibly add something from one little dish into your rice bowl while chattering away in lyrical Korean.

Lyrical Korean, of course, becomes loud and boisterous Korean when one imbibes shojyu. It can even be broken and butchered Korean pronunciation when shojyu is slugged down by foreign visitors como yo. To introduce shojyu, we have to start at a restaurant called 'Get Bull'.

'Get Bull' is a phonetic twist of a local joint's name that is meant to refer to a part of Seoul where there are many shoals and marshes... anyway it is a bit of a dive, but quite enjoyable, complete with terse waitresses and all. We sat in Get Bull and was served one of the most famous delicacies in Korea - fresh, REALLY FRESH OCTUPUS. So fresh it is ladled dripping from the water tank, still wriggling, expediently chopped up into little pieces, served with oil and sesame seeds, to us unsuspecting foreigners who have never seen sashimi actually MOVE before.

Yes, my dear friends. The little pieces of chopped up octupus still retain the neurological and muscular reaction, thanks to the speed of the guy in the back kitchen. They are still twitching and moving, suction cups from the tentacles grab on to the plate, chopsticks, soy sauce dish, refusing to let go. And if you finally get the piece into your mouth, and you weren't lucky enough to chew fast and swallow fast, you can feel the suction cups stuck on your tongue, down your throat. All incredibly fresh, tastes good, but a surreal experience. Our local colleagues had great fun showing us the many different ways you can actually pick up the piece with one suction cup alone. Takes some dexterity with the chopstick, but yes, dear friends, it can be done.

Is it any wonder, then, we went a little heavy on the shojyu? Traditionally home-made with fermented rice, or potatoes, or any other vegetable/fruit you would want to preserve, it is now sold in mass produced bottles and starts off tasting like Gin. The ones we had were about 40-proof, served cold in shot glasses and thrown back with a flourish. Hospitality dictates that no glass on the table should be left empty, and no one drinks alone, so in no time we'd polished off a beer-bottle's worth of shojyu each. At that point, what had begun tasting like gin started to taste like rubbing alcohol. But heck who cares at that point.

Live octupus, bottled moonshine, how else to end the evening but karaoke in another local joint? Yes, those who know me realize how drunk I must have been to actually SING into a MICROPHONE to the tune of CHICAGO's greatest hits, in front of PEOPLE. And I still knew all the words!

Not sure what time, but we finally toppled out of there into a beautiful moonlit clear night, stumbling around a city park and remarking, drunk yet incredibly aware, of what great lives we all have that we can be with good friends, having a good time, in a part of the world that still appreciates the basic concept of joie de vivre. As one of my colleagues would say, it was a "philosophical moment".

So hangover not withstanding, I'm now back in Hong Kong and resurrecting the college-trick of 2 pints of water and 2 aspirins (after a night of drinking, before going to bed... trust me it works), feeling a little disoriented that three and a half weeks could have possibly gone by so quickly. I have so much work to do, hours will be long, I'm sure. This will be a very challenging time, many things to be accomplished with limited resources but with incredibly committed colleagues and team-mates.

I hope the incredible vitality I have seen and felt and lived with so far will continue to be an inspiration and buoy me along, so I can fully grasp this opportunity and drink my life in Asia to the dregs.

What a way to start a new adventure.

Cheers

Remember the Wonder

I was talking to a friend today about what we would do with one year of “chill” time. What would be our true desire? None of us truly wanted to be bankers or lawyers the rest of our lives, right?

When did the wonders of the world as viewed through the eyes of a child, cease to be simply, wonderful? Remember our childish fascination with what adults did everyday, like write checks, drive cars, put on a tie, go to work. Looking back now with jaded and amused recollection, it’s remarkable how little it took to make a child wonder.

“Wonder” is the key ingredient, isn’t it. I suppose it’s human nature to continue to find different events, things, thoughts, and constantly make ourselves exercise our minds. For some it becomes a perpetual chase for the next career or financial challenge, for others it the physical challenge of building houses from the ground up in a third world country.

As cavemen we couldn’t resist the wonder of fire, and challenged ourselves to control it. As modern homosapiens, we can’t resist the wonder of the next mental or physical stimulation. Not only can’t we resist it, we want to conquer it, master it, and pronounce ourselves the proudest intelligent being, bar none.

This inherent drive to improve, and even better, to excel – it must be a unique feature of humans. All other beings in the animal kingdom are quite content to just “be” – I suppose the homo sapien has to pay the price of ambition (and self-doubt) for the gift of intelligence.

Perhaps that’s why it is difficult for most people to just stop their daily humdrum for a while, and just “be”. To just take a deep breath and remember what the air smells like. What the sidewalk feels like when you step on it with a little bounce because you’re happy, and alive, and have two healthy legs and pretty sturdy feet. What the wind feels like when it rushes into your face as you turn the corner onto Madison Avenue. What simple pleasure it is to just be an observer of a scene, and yet be a participant in the larger stage of life.

That was what I felt Monday night. Always rushing, always gunning for the next thing. The next big project, the next stupid person at work I want to put in his/her place, the next guy in Kung Fu class I want to beat, the next route I want to work on in the climbing gym. Always looking to climb one step higher, do everything one level better. I had forgotten how much fun my life was already, just by standing still and letting everyone else’s everyday flow around me, opening up all my senses and truly seeing, what my world is like.

Perhaps it’s because I am leaving New York soon, there is a warning bell reminding me that there is not that much time left to drink New York’s cup of life to its very dregs. So tonight, I decided to walk, and not stride with insane speed like I usually do. But stroll, and smile, and enjoy a balmy evening in the Manhattan. The slightly fishy garbage-like smell of New York air, the uneven sidewalk and bits of dried dog poop, the little Hispanic guy that sells flowers outside the ubiquitous Korean deli, the unique harmony that is New York.

As I stroll, the melody of New York life becomes clearer, first to my ears, then to my head, and reaches an echo in my heart. The bump and hiss of MTA buses provide a syncopated beat to the flowing swish of yellow cabs, punctuated by the occasional honk. In the background, always people. Humanity weaving in and out of the bars of traffic music, sometimes so much in the foreground I have to swerve and avoid them, other times a throbbing background presence that reminds me I am witnessing the stuff of life.

I’ll miss you, New York. But I’m sure I’ll find the music of life, maybe with slightly different instruments this time, played to a different beat, in Hong Kong. I have to remember to actually take the time to listen, and maybe even play an accompaniment of my own.

Goodbye New York

"Why, then the world's mine oyster,/Which I with sword will open." -- Shakespeare (from The Merry Wives of Windsor)

In August of 1991, when I left Singapore to go to college in sunny Binghamton (all you Bingos, stop laughing), I remember stepping past the immigration officers at Changi Airport with barely a backward glance - I was so excited and full of energy, I almost didn't have to move my feet because the drive to start a new phase in life easily propelled me on.

13 long years have since passed. For those that don't already know, I am relocating to Hong Kong. I am leaving in less than 3 weeks for the Fragrant Harbor, now part of the Middle Kingdom. Although tremendously excited to be heading to a place of lyrical poetic names, unlike 13 years ago I am now old enough to actually look backwards at the airport. Behind me I see a period of dramatic change -- personally, professionally, and globally. The various milestones in my life have left indelible marks, all of which I wouldn't have changed for the world. New York has been generous yet harsh, providing me with the best and worst of experiences. Such polarity is, after all, what makes this city the wonder that it is.

Most importantly, I am grateful for making the human connection in New York. Every single person I have connected with has in his/her own way inspired in me the full spectrum of emotions. But each of you has taught me something, and I thank you for that. My experience in New York would have been nothing more than that of a tourist, if it wasn't for my great luck to have met all of you.

Of course it is further augmented with friends and colleagues I've met all over the world, who should not expect me to be a stranger as it is still my goal to visit three new places every year! I'll be seeing all of you soon enough.

I can't find the right words to describe how I feel. I am heading to XXXXXXX's Hong Kong office to join their XXXXXXXXXX Group, heck of a mouthful. But really, quite simply, it is another phase of my life that I am looking forward to beginning. I thank New York for growing me into the person that I am today -- someone that can truly appreciate the opportunity, remember the past with fondness and cherish the lessons learned.

I expect to be departing New York on July 15. Before then, there will be the normal flurry of relocation errands, with a few client visits thrown in. I would love to have the chance to see all, if not most, of you before I leave -- if you're free for any one of the time slots below, please email or call me XXX XXX XXXX:

* THE BIG ONE* July 11 - picnic on The Great Lawn at Central Park, approx. 3 pm

Other times:
July 3 - evening
July 10 - evening

If you can't make any of the above, call me anyway so I can say a proper goodbye. :)

I won't be a stranger, and I certainly don't expect that any of you will be. I will be back for frequent visits, and I look forward to seeing each and every one of you at some point on my side of the hemisphere! Here are the contact details:
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As always, CHEERS!