A friend of mine brought me this book from Taipei early this year. I was eager to read it in a leisurely manner, for I know Murakami’s travel essays are still very good. The Chinese version of What is there in Laos? was translated by Mingzhu Lai. For me, it is a great pleasure to read Traditional Chinese arranged vertically from right to left. Although it is a Japanese-styled expression, I often find refuge in Japanese- and Murakami-styled Chinese-language written by Lai.
According to Murakami Haruki, Laos is a country where everybody slows down everything. Even dogs have a lot of free time for a siesta in temples. Travellers who wish to save money enjoy their time a lot in Laos, whose cuisines fall between Thai and Vietnamese dishes in terms of taste. And the price is cheap. Continue reading “你說,寮國到底有什麼?What is there in Laos? (Republishing July 2017 Piece)”
Poet rocker Wu Bai is known for his music career with his band China Blue comprises dummer Dean “Dino” Zavolta, keyboardist Yu Ta-hao (nicknamed Big Cat) and bassist Chu Chien-hui.
The reason he picked up a camera to start shooting around – as he wrote on this book Wu Bai Story (《伍佰.故事》), was that he wanted to get himself a background on his computer. And he started with colour photos, only switching to black and white films, when he travelled in Angkor Wat, the Cambodian city where only black and white films are sold.
Apart from music and occassional acting opportunities, Wu Bai also travels extensively. In this book – as he put it, he went to Tokyo to take photos of Japanese office workers. From his perspective, he was curious if these office workers feel tired for their lifestyle – everybody follows the conformity of the society, puts on the same suits, walking in the same direction, eating at eateries after work. And he put it very bluntly – don’t they feel stupid? Continue reading “Wu Bai – the rocker cum traveller (Republishing Sep 2017 Piece)”
I make time to follow quality programmes, including Sharon Cheung’s programme. Malaysian and Taiwanese friends might not be familiar with Sharon Cheung. She was a journalist when Hongkongers were unhappy about the performance of their first Chief Executive Tung Chee-hwa. She asked the then chairman of PRC Jiang Zemin if he was to appoint Tung for a second-term. Mr Jiang could not hold back his anger and described her as ‘too simple, sometimes naive’. Which then becomes the name of her YouTube channel. Continue reading “每時每刻都是逆境球 It is all about moving forward in life”
身為伍佰樂迷,第一個細讀的藝人故事當然就是他。馬宜中細數以前幫伍佰拍〈煞到你〉、〈返去故鄉〉的故事,我才發現原來伍佰真的在乎要保護家人的隱私。話說馬宜中與攝影團隊跟著伍佰 and China Blue 在嘉義走透透拍MTV,好像是伍佰老家附近的樣子,然後有個記者死纏爛打就是要拍照又怎樣的,原本答應拍照之後不會公開,結果還是在那記者服務的報紙上登了出來。 Continue reading “馬宜中筆下的第一滴淚 (Republishing Oct 2017 Piece)”
Singapore was the first country to have received Pfizer vaccines. This is a good news for the island nation, and the influence of the positive development is going to spill over to other parts of Asia, as the transport minister Ong Ye Kung said he was confident that Singapore could become the centre to distribute the vaccines.
This is no easy feast. Other than Singapore Airlines Cargo’s effort to rehearse the process of transporting the vaccines from Belgium to Singapore just one week earlier, it also takes herculean efforts from DHL, UPS, FedEx as well as SATS Coolport to make this possible. SATS facilities are able to produce four tonnes of dry ice each day to facilitate the transportation of Pfizer vaccines which require -70 degree Celsius storage. Continue reading “亞洲第一批輝瑞疫苗 First Pfizer vaccines in Asia”