May 14th, 2008
13:27
Location: Windsor Airport, Air Canada Jazz terminal.

Wow! I'm going to be heading to my fifth country in two days! That's if you include airports of course. But still, its been a pretty exciting time for me. One, leaving Windsor, family and friends for a whole year. Two, packing for one whole year and living on my own in a foreign country. I had experienced living on my own for a few months before, but this is quite different.

I am sitting in the terminal of a little Windsor airport. First time here and wow, it is so much esier to check in from a little airport rather than the usual international check in. And guess what? I see the Mayor of Windsor, Eddie Francis! I'm gonna try to get a picture with him. I'll be right back!

14:16
Location: Just past London, ON.

Tiny planes make for interesting rides. For one, you can see the tires and the whole landing gear going up and down so youll know if there's a problem. The ride, as I speak is quite a bit bumpier than what I'm used to on a 747. Although overall, its pretty cool! I've got leather seats.

I didn't quite manage to get a picture with Mr. Eddie Francis because he was very busy on his phone, surrounded by men in black suits. In a word, I chickened out. No matter though, I got a picture of him sleeping in the plane.

As I sat down, I greeted my fellow passenger sitting beside me. She's a nurse and she travels to and from Toronto every other week, so she's quite familiar of this plane I also met an older guy in the terminal who, of all places, is also transferring from Toronto to go to Germany.

And another interesting thing that I noticed about this plane... on the wall of the cabin, there's a very large piece of duct tape seeming like its holding the cabin interior together. I'd rather not think much of it because hey, it's duct tape!

In about 30 minutes I'll be touching down in Toronto Pearson airport, getting ready to fly on Air Canada's Boeing 777-300ER. Its got a TV in every seat and its an 8 hour flight! I wonder how many movies I can fit in before I all asleep. Well, the breeze is starting the toss this little propeller plane around like a ping pong ball. I totally wish I could show you the motion sensor readings from my Macbook! It's going haywire! Gotta land!

15:31
Location: Toronto Pearson airport
Tiny propeller planes...yea. They're not very comfortable. It was THE most bumpy flight of my life and I walked off feeling rather dizzy. I'm so glad I asked for apple juice instead of sprite, or else...

My flight leaves at 17:30 from Pearson Terminal 1. It's quite a nice terminal if you ask me. Free wireless internet and easily accessible power plugs. Its also a pleasant view of the Toronto skyline.

One thing I noticed while walking in is the large amount of chinese-canadians working here. Most interesting...

16:35
We're just about to board the airplane and you know what's really amateur? Air Canada announced to all of us, "This is a Boeing 777 aircraft and it is completely full. Please pay attention to your seat numbers so we can board you quickly" I've been on 747's that are usually full and they never have these announcements.

But I guess if it helps us board quicker and more smoothly then I can't complain. Haha...and I just got into a picture by a mom taking a picture of her daughter sitting next to me. I should have smiled at the camera but...I don't think I was the focus.

18:10
Delayed. Yup. Apparently this state of the art plane has run into technical difficulties. And you know what's worse? There's this potty mouthed woman sitting behind me.
" I'm sitting in this F***ing plane waiting for this F***ing thing to take off. This is just plain Bull S***. Just let off so I can get a smoke"
I'm thinking to myself, Lady...just sit there, catch some sleep and try to be a nice passenger. Worst of all, she's got her seemingly-teenage daughter sitting right beside her. Like Mother like Daughter as they say. I just took a quick glance at them and uh, they fit the words coming out of the mom's mouth.

To be honest, I've had a few delayed flights but its not usually the airline that I place fault at. Its annoying but the irate passengers can surely make it a whole lot worse. Sure, they have a reason to be upset but sometimes things just happen. Be happy they find the problem on the ground!

LADY...STOP ASKING FOR A SMOKE BREAK!!! I pity the guy sitting next to her, he's the coach of the swim team.

00:24
Location: Over Europe or the Atlantic ocean.
You know, I totally thought that a flight lasting 7 hours with personal video screens would be a lot more entertaining. But I have to tell you, Northwest Airlines International flights to asia have a MUCH better selection. The only movie that I watched on here was 'The Golden Compass' which, as far as I can remember was pretty good. I fell asleep somewhere near the end then woke up in time to watch the credits roll.

For some reason I was really tired on this flight. I wouldn't at all be surprised if it had everything to do with the little propeller plane I rode earlier. Maybe its the fact that I am so tired that I'm not quite enjoying this flight as much as I can.

Inside, there's mood lighting that reflects the time of day. As of now, which is 5:31 AM Germany time, the lights are a light blue. When I stepped on the plane around 5:00 PM, the lights were a scarlet red. Its a very nice touch.

The seats are also quite comfortable and the TV screen is really nice. It's a high resolution touch screen. Cool for the first few seconds, but it quickly turns into just anther everyday appliance.

The selection of videos and movies is not only dismal, but if I want to watch some news or sports on their respective channels, I have to watch a set of commercials!! Commercials!! Hello, I'm not on this flight to watch commercials.

There is another movie which I actually do want to watch but for some reason...I'm just not in the mood. 'I am Legend' starring Will Smith. After a plague turns all of mankind into nocturnal zombies, a lone survivor struggles to find a cure. Oooo...Zombies

The dinner was decent. I asked for Chicken and got a boneless Chicken breast with a side of Red Beets, beans, and mashed potatoes. I say decent because it filled me halfway and didn't sour my tastes buds too bad.

You know what's weird about this flight? I'm actually not sure how much I slept because I think I was just half-sleeping. You know that sleep when you're aware of things around you...yet you have no idea what's going on? I'm really regretting not bringing along the eye-covers my Dad got for me.

05:41 Germany Local time
Location: still above Europe somewhere
For some reason my row of seats always gets served after the row in front and behind. I call it staggered serving.

I've just been served breakfast. In a very nice container. It contains fresh apples. And a Muffin. And some 'Immunity +' yogurt. That's a new one for me, I guess they want to make sure all of us on the plane don't catch a cold.

Oh look, the lights are now a light purple!

06:22
I'm going to be landing soon enough so now I'm gonna forget blogging an fall asleep again. Wow...talk about sleepy! See you in Germany ^_^

09:47
Location: Frankfurt Airport, Germany.
The German language is not as rough as I expected. From everything I heard in Canada, I've always know that Germans seem to yell at each other when they talk . That's just not the case! When they talk rather slow, its not that bad on the ears.

They're pretty friendly too. Though, the security check was interesting. I was passed through the magnetic scanner, setting it off. I was waved into a booth and the burly security guard waved his magical magnetic scanning wand around all parts of me. He Checked my belt 'Beep!' Checked my Watch "Beep!" Checked my shoes "Beep!' Checked my legs "beep beep" Um...I promise you I do not have metal imbedded in my legs.

Germans like their sandwiches. Yup, its fact. There's booths filled with nothing but expensive sandwiches. I'm just hoping the pattern of overpriced airport food applies here.

Germans like their cars. That's also fact. There's rows and rows of German car magazines, tuner magazines, all written in nothing but German.*sigh* At least they've got a few english mags.

Overall Germany seems promising. There's lots of things to like and a couple to loath, everything is in German. Oh well, that just makes me want to learn the language even more! I sure hope that I don't have to work tomorrow because at the moment, I have no idea what is going to wake me up. No alarm clock!

February 12th, 2008
07:09
Location: Beijing Airport, Beijing.
You know what just doesn't make any sense at all? If you're carrying an extra battery for a laptop, you're required to stuff it into a plastic bag. A plastic bag? No bag is gonna do Jack if your battery is going to explode. Unless of course its a fire-retardent, air-tight, kevlar bag. You can tell that law was passed by guys in black suits who think explosions can be stopped by plastic bags.

So here I am, waiting for my 8:55 flight to Tokyo. There's a foreigner in front of me with another Macbook, a business man with a Thinkpad R-series and a girl in a blue shirt that's always looking around.

Oh, I'm also listening to a song from a CD that my Japanese brother bought for me. He was visiting me in Beijing and he was great to have around the family as he had lived with us for one whole year in Windsor.

I'm not going to be back here for at least a year. I'll definitely miss my parents because I won't see them for a long while unless they visit me in Germany. And I can't fail to mention my special girl who I've been missing for the past few weeks. Well, I guess Its not that bad. I do get to travel to Germany for a year and drive on the autobahn, rent a car and race on the Nurburgring, visit Paris, watch a Live F1 race or two...

February 12, 2008,
14:48
Location: Narita Airport, Japan.
So I've just got off the plane and am getting ready to get onto the long haul flight across the Pacific ocean.

I've been trying to hunt for wi-fi internet. wi-fi is abundant but there is no way to access it for free.Ick.

Since I have a two hour stop-over I decided to walk around here a bit more than normal. Its a really nice airport but just a pity that I usually don' t have enough time to stick around. Today, I have lots of time but I feel like I would rather just update this travel blog.

I visited one washroom here which was a real surprise. Its an individual washroom that could easily house a whole family. Inside, there's a toilet, a sink, a daiper changing table, and a sink/basin which I have no idea what it does.

To get in, its not a swinging door that you have to lock. There's a button on the outside which you press. Once you do, the door will slide into the wall, allowing access to your own private area. Once inside, just press the red button on the inside and the door closes informing others of your occupation. Ah! It's 3:25 and my plane is boarding, now!

February 12, 2008
17:00
Location: Somewhere above the Pacific Ocean
I'm right now sitting in seat number 39D. A great seat because I have an empty seat beside me and, its an aisle seat. So basically, I can get out of my own seat whenever I want and never have to get out for anyone. I know some people just adore the window seat for the spectacular views but after flying so much, the convenience of an aisle seat just cannot be beat.

I took a little nap while the plane was taxiing on the runway. It was a nice nap because now I am fully energized to do some work on my laptop. I have to work efficiently because I don't want to run out of battery power when I just come up with something good to write.

They're coming out with snacks now, the usual salted pretzels. The only thing that i am sad about is the removal of peanuts from airplanes. I am guessing its for the better of the passengers, or at least the ones with deathly peanut allergies. I don't think anyone would be happy to have someone die on their plane. The Chinese will think Taboo, the Americans will think lawsuit and everyone else will just be plain freaked out. I know I would be...

17:08
They've just given me a Customs declaration card that I have to fill out every time I take this flight. But before I get into that....

I just got my snacks! I asked For apple juice and well...it tastes like apple juice. I have to mention it because the apple juice on this flight is considerably different in sight from my previous helping. The american brand apple juice is a dark yellow colour and the chinese branded apple juice was a light yellow that looked like pineapple juice. Don't ask me why, and don't even ask me why I am mentioning this...

Now onto the inflight movies. The one movie that I missed from the last flight is actually going to be on this flight! 'The Great Debaters' as I've heard was a really good movie. From what I've read about it, I tend to agree. Time to figure out if they're all true.

On my flight from Tokyo to Beijing I watched Half of 'Just my Luck' and another half of 'The Negotiator'. I watched only half of the Lindsay Lohan chick flick because I had seen the first half on my flight to Beijing. The Negotiator...wow.

Even though I had only seen half, I need to watch the other half. It stars a very famous actor(who I forgot the name) who's job is a police negotiator. In the start of the movie, his partner is murdered and 'Danny' the negotiator is framed for his murder. Its a really cool movie because Danny is the Police Force's best negotiator and knows all the ins and outs of police tactics. After talking hostage takers out of situations all his life, he becomes one himself and fights to win the minds of fellow Police officers who have estranged themselves from Danny.

17:23
Ho boy, I'm now down to my last pretzel and I've finished my juice. My battery is doing okay, with 3 hours left of juice. In no time, I'll be back in Windsor, only to leave for Germany one day later!

18:16
Interesting...the people who sat next to me actually from Hong Kong and they asked my how to spell 'Crystal Bracelet' and 'Necklace'. They also asked what you call a combination of a dress and the top that goes with it...

But guess what? Just after writing this line I figured it out! It's and Ensemble! I hope so at least...haha. So yea, they're both from Hong Kong which almost made me ask if she happened to know my Girlfriend. But no, I decided against it only because tons of people in China ask me if I know so-and-so in Canada. I usually say, "I don't think so...but I'll keep an eye out'

Airline food tastes like cardboard? Um...who ever came up with that notion. I bet it had to be the domestic flights within the US. I however can vouch for the high quality food coming from Northwest Airlines caterer in Japan. The menu says, "Korean Style chicken with mixed vegetables and steamed rice"

Sounds appetizing don't it? It sure was! Not only was the main dish good, it was served with a side of fresh salad, chocolate cake, a warm bun and best of all, Sashimi! Raw smoked salmon would be one of the least expected dishes to encounter on an airplane. The sad fact is, most people on this flight will just toss it away.

18:35
Wow...all the lights in the plane have just blacked out, as well as the sky outside the windows, which is normal. What is odd is the flight from Detroit to Tokyo is its never night outside, we basically follow the sun. This flight, we're basically running away from the sun in Tokyo and catching up with it again in Detroit. Pretty crazy eh?

Well, that's about all for now. I'm looking forward to the next meal, Japanese style Fried noodles!

22:43
Location: Flying over Alaska
The Great Debaters was an awesome movie!!!
Now that the movie was out of the way, I decided to go for a little stroll around the aircraft, taking advantage of my aisle seat. In the back of the plane I met a very friendly flight attendant who had been working with Northwest since 1971!

It was cool because he's travelled to a lot of different countries and we shared our experiences of beijing. The last time he was there was in 1996. Back in those days, there were many more bicycles and the Silk market that I have come to know and love was just an alleyway compared to the now modern shopping complex.

Its was really cool chatting with him because I've never been able to chat with a flight attendant before. Its neat how they go about things and he told me one time he went to 6 countries in 12 days. That's quite the trip. He's also told me of time he was on a plane when a tire exploded while taking off. The explosion was so huge that it made a huge dent in the wing and all the metal in the wheel well was mangled. Somehow, it was a perfect landing and they even rolled right up to the gate.

Also sitting in the back of the plane is a whole crew of students from a University Korea. I haven't talked to them yet but I really want to because they're all part of the Formula SAE team, flying over to compete in Michigan against my University of Windsor! Maybe i'll be able to get some inside tips.

February 13th, 2008
04:22
Location: Detroit, Michigan, United States.
I am back home! Now I'm just waiting for my brother in the lobby of the airport. The rest of the flight was okay, the seats were not the most comfortable but What can you expect? I never did talk to those Korean students because by the time I had any energy left in me it was time to land.

I am REALLY looking forward to going home and just sleeping on my comfortable bed, away from all the noise, the lights, and everything else. I better get rested up for tomorrow because its my only day that I have to pack m stuff for Germany!

Wow...its been a long time since I've blogged about... well, anything! You can tack the reasons onto the exam boards. I'm pretty sure I passed all my courses, which is a great thing because now I can fly off to Gemany knowing I don't have to wind back into a course that I would have totally forgotten how to do. I digress.

This is about what I've been doing since my last blog post; the review of my new camera, the Panasonic TZ5 which by the way has served me very very well so far.

First up on my list was my last week with my girlfriend before she headed off to Hong Kong. Bittersweet, for those of you who knows what its like to have a loved one fly across the world. Before I let her go though, we took a bike ride all the way to the Windsor riverside to watch the sunrise.

Yes, it was very early, and because it was April, yes it was cold in the morning. No matter, we had a sunrise to catch! We woke up around 4:45 and left the house at 5:45 ish to catch the sunrise which according to online sources, would rise at 6:31 AM. On my road rocket, I can bike from my house to the river in 30 minutes. With both of us on Mountain bikes, it would be slightly longer...

I didn't know exaclty how long, but 46 minutes was the EXACT time we needed. As we were biking down the riverside to get a better view, the flaming sun pierced the horizon directly in front of us. It was Kodak moment.

It was a perfectly clear day and honestly, I never knew the Windsor sunrise could look so beautiful. It was our first time seeing a sunset and it was moment that will be etched in my mind forever. My girlfriend and I standing there together, gazing into the rising sun...

Everything else that happened that week seems dull, but dull is a relative word just because my girlfriend makes everyday so much more awesome!

We had planned to go to the US to do some shopping and get an oil change at the local Toyota dealer as well. Little did I know, we'd be treated to a bit more than an oil change. In Troy, Michigan, there is a whole whack of car dealerships. You've got your requisite american dealers such as Ford, GM and Chrysler. Then on the side you've got Toyota, Honda and Mazda. If you looked a little bit farther you'll notice a small 'Aston Martin' sign. Then you've got a HUGE Hummer dealer (no less) and stuffed into a small dark alley is Rolls Royce, Bentley, Lamborghini and Maserati.

Feeling no shame, I walked into the Rolls Royce dealer donning jeans and a shirt. Armed in my right hand was my trusty TZ5 ready to snap pictures of the one car hiding behind the glass...a Bugatti Veyron 16.4.

AHHHH!!!! IT'S A BUGATTI VEYRON!!!

1001 hp
253 MPH
4 turbos
$1,100,000 (euros)

Slap me silly and splash me with water. It was a Veyron! the Hyper car of Hyper cars. I wasted no time in snapping as many pictures as possible and inspecting every inch of the car that I read about.
Those huge disc brakes? Yea, they're bigger than the wheels on my Matrix.
The Magnesium turn signal levers? Very pretty.
The 253 mph tires specially designed my Michelin? They've got little Michelin men all over!

The carbon fiber work on the car is just simply amazing. Who would've thought that you would see carbon fiber lining the wheel wells? There's no cosmetic carbon. If you see it, its there for a reason. Heck, most of the carbon is hidden.

They Veyron certainly brightened my day, but you could also say that the addition of a few Lamborghini's and Maserati's added to the equation. Oh, did I mention that I found my dream car at the Acura Dealership? It was a pristine condition NSX. Its my dream car because not only is it an exotic with Ferrari beating performance, its becoming quite affordable.

Off to Beijing
After a few hours of packing, I was whisked away with my mom and brother to the airport for our trip to Beijing, China. Flying an airplane would be a casual experience for me because I've done quite a bit of flying in my time. From all my trips, there's a couple things I can tell you:

- Airline food is not THAT bad. it does not tastes like cardboard and the fruits are actually fresh

- in-flight movies are not THAT old. I hate to say it, but I actually missed the one movie I was looking forward to seeing.

- Turbulence IS bad...but if you fall asleep before it hits then you're fine.

It was a rather uneventful flight across the atlantic. The view was pretty, but only if you could keep your eyes open long enough. After adjusting to the darkness of the cabin, opening the shade to glance outside allows the sun to attack your eyes until it leaves white spots...I do not recommend doing it for long periods of time.

Once we arrived in Beijing, I was greeted by none other than my former Japanese exchange student who had lived with us for a year waaay back in 2000. It was a really nice sight to see both him and my Dad, my Dad, who I haven't seen in a year and my exchange student who I haven't seen in four.

Xi'an
I was promptly informed that we would be travelling to Xi'an the next day, home of the 8th wonder of the world; the Terra Cotta Solders. We took an overnight train from Beijing and arrived in Xi'an in a timely fashion to be greeted by high winds, blowing sand and gray skies.

Our hotel was the 5-star Mei Hua 'International' hotel. I don't understand what it means when all these chinese hotels stick 'International' into their name. I guess it makes it sound better than all the others but in the end, there's really no difference. There is no 'International' in the hotel. Just Chinese people running things the Chinese way. The rooms were really nice and big though the janitors could learn a thing or two about cleaning. Thankfully, the sheets were clean.

The one really annoying thing about the service is when they make a mistake, they expect us to cover it up with a little extra cash. Hello??? Haven't they ever heard the slogan, 'The customer is always right?' In this case, we were totally right and they were awfully wrong. Our stay was booked online and it stated that Breakfast was included for a price of 30 yuan. Instead, they charged us 48 yuan because get this, we didn't inform them that we were going to eat there. Who ever informs the hotel they're going to eat at their buffet breakfast? Their excuses were really sad, trying to tell us that they wouldn't know if we were guests at their hotel or not.

But before all that happened, we enjoyed a very fun time checking out the Terra Cotta soldiers and all the surrounding tourist areas. We had bought a tour package with an english guide. The nice thing was the size of our tour group. We had a total of 7 people; A shy Japanese guy who always wandered off on his own, a cool Brazillian who studied in the Netherlands our tour guide and the four Wongs.

Our tour guide was really cool. She spoke pretty good english and also knew lots about the places we visited. The Terra cotta soldiers was really the highlight because you read an see so much about them, and now you finally see it. Here's some interesting facts that you may not know:

- The Chinese emperor of the time started the construction of the terra cotta soldiers just after he came into power and they were completed just before his death (what a coincidence...). The Chinese believed that when the died, all these soldiers (and chariots and horses and servants as well) would join him in the afterlife

- All the soldiers were painstakingly detailed and painted. Each craftsman would have to write their name on every soldier they made. If the quality wasn't up to scratch, the soldier would be smashed and the craftsman would be killed. Talk about quality control!

- After examining the weapons of the soldiers, they found that every weapon had a layer of chomium surrounding the metal. That means the chinese invented Chroming about 2000 years before it was discovered by the Germans.

Ah yes, if China hadn't run into so many roadblocks in its history, who knows what they might have created. Along with the terra cotta army, we visited the hot springs where the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty had had recreation time, enjoying it with his lover, Lady Yang.

Beijing
12 hours later on a night train and we were all back in Beijing. Not to let us go without an interesting travel experience, the Chinese tossed a very stubborn woman in our way. When we got off the train we had to line up for taxi's if you thought lineups for amusement parks were long...you should visit china. There was an endless supply of people, with a seemingly endless supply of taxis. I am really glad that most people were law abiding citizens. But oh man...

We were near the final part of the line when all of a sudden a little snitch wedged herself into line right ahead of us. We saw it. The people behind us saw it, and the poeple in front saw it too. My dad yelled at her and all she did was look away, looking up and down the line as it she was looking for someone important. We kept yelling at her, shoving her out of our way but she stayed in line. But you know what's totally wrong?

I thought that maybe the security guards would do something, they are security after all. But NOOOOO. We informed them of our little pest problem and you know what they did? The youngians looked at us, looked at her, and kept walking. I already wanted to land a punch into this little lady, but now I wanted to take out that officer! To top it all off, we reached the end of the line and we informed the line master about the buzzard who had now been shuffled behind us. He took a quick glance at both of us, then pleasantly told us we could call a number in the case of someone cutting the line.
.....................................
'Nuff said.

After walking for three straight days, I was ready for a rest at home. And I tell you, there's nothing better than sitting down and doing nothing after a crazy holiday. Its even better when you open up your e-mail and find a message from your girlfriend, telling me how she's doing

Bargaining Madness in Beijing
Enough with the sitting, it was time to go shopping. The thing about shopping is that you need a purpose, a sense of direction. It is very satisfying when you can go into a shopping mall and know exactly what you want. I had a couple of things. First was a saddle bag ( a Jack Bauer bag as I like to call it) a new piece of luggage, some jeans, a shirt or two, and that's about it.

To get my bags I visited our trusty mall, the Silk Market. For the most part, the shop owners are very friendly, especially when they find out you're foreigners. Of course, opening prices are outrageous and you have to bargain down or they'll really gouge you of money. My saddle bag for example started at 580 yuan. that's about 80-90 CDN. A short time later (after my brother had told his life story to a very interested store lady) I walked away only 80 Yuan poorer.

I find one of the best ways to bargain is to put a smile on your face, set your price, and maybe give them a little bit more than you were expecting to pay. It makes you happy, it makes them happy, and hey, its a win-win situation. No hard feelings. For example, I was bargaining for a little gift for my girlfriend. I put on a smile, had a few jokes, and bargained totally in Chinese. Through the bargaining, they did mention how my chinese was not fluent, so they asked where I was from. They first guessed Japan (and quite a few others have greeted me in Korean too) but I happily informed them I was a chinese guy from Canada.

After my bargaining was at an end, they gave me an offer I just couldn't say no to. In addition to my main gift, they would give me a set of six Beijing Olympics keychains for only 10 yuan (that's about $1.20 CDN).
I could only surmise two reasons why they would throw in something else for so cheap,

a) They really liked me because I was so friendly to them and maybe they like Canadians or
b) I paid too much for my first item so they wanted to grab just a little more money from me.

They were pretty friendly, so I would rather think it was the former reason.

While at the Silk Market I was rather happy to run into a couple of Canadians from Vancouver. They were trying to buy an SD card and I noticed that they were having a bit of a hard time getting the thing to work in their camera. The store owners insisted that it would work but they tried two, and they didn't work. I decided to step in.

I think my fluent english caught them off guard a bit, after all who hears a chinese guy in China speaking fluent english without a chinese accent? I know I haven't. It didn't take much to convince them that maybe buying an SD card from China is not their best bet. I let them know that if they really value their pictures than maybe they should buy their SD cards somewhere else. They thanked me and off they went, no SD card, singing O' Canada.

Roads and their counterparts
Audi, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Ferrari. Of course, if you're in Beijing you have to have your car in black. Black Audi's are as common on the Beijing roads as Honda Civic's are in Canada. Actually, combine that with Toyota Corolla's and Ford Focus's. No Joke.

If you've heard in the news about a new car just released, chances are you'll find them already on the Beijing roads. In any other country I would be ecstatic to see so many nice cars but in Beijing, It makes me cringe.

The roads are horrible, traffic is horrible and the drivers are not exactly the Michael Schumacher's of the world, though they always like to think they are. They weave in and out of traffic, cut you off, squeeze themselves into the tiniest places and force you to give way. If you give anyone just a car length of space, they'll squeeze in. The worst is when its at night. And raining. And having to dodge cyclists and pedestrians who expect you to get out of their way.

Yes, they cross the street when they want and cyclists swerve to avoid puddles, not even caring if there's a car speeding past him. Plus, the bikes don't have reflectors or lights.

When traffic gets jammed, it means traffic doesn't move. Taxi drivers turn off their car then go out for a walk. Sometimes its really weird why traffic just crawls to a stop, there is no apparent reason. But then again, the drivers don't have any common sense. Take for example one Truck driver (big semi) who missed his exit on the highway and thought it would be okay to reverse back to get to his exit. Its a wonder how there's not more accidents in Beijing. The way I see it, all the drivers here just expect people to get out of their own way but also don't mind giving way when the time comes.

So from all the things you've just read about Beijing's roads, why in the world would you want to drive a nice car when you know its only a matter of time before someone crumples your fender?

You see, my Dad lives in the 'Palm Springs International Apartments' (note 'international'). Its a very high class residence with loads of Ferrari's and Porsches, Merc's, Beamers...name it and its there. Even Bentley and Rolls Royce.

You could host an auto show down there. But you know what? Most of these cars have a thick layer of dust on them and barely move from their parking spaces. I can understand why they don't drive them, but then why buy them in the first place if you're not going to use it for what its for? In Beijing, you just cannot drive fast. 120 km/h is rare on the highway because the traffic is just so dense. On-ramps are no more than gaps in the dividers so that's a definite slow zone. The only car that makes sense to me is an SUV because on the roads here, size matters. In a big car, you have authority. That's why the buses drive like madmen.

My goodness, just sell your car and buy Gran Turismo 5!

The Olympic Stadium and the new Beijing Airport

Everything they've said about the Bird's nest and the Aquatic center is true. They're just massive structures of amazing complexity and uniqueness. The Aquatic center can only be appreciated when you're up close. Its truly an amazing structure.

Somehow, the birds nest manages to look natural without being too 'mechanical'. The aquatic center is a perfect complement thanks to its plain-at-first-glance design. Inside, the structure is actually modeled after the molecular structure of water. Its so strong that you could actually tilt the building onto its side and it would not collapse.

To get a sense of purely huge, I visited what is now the worlds largest building, the Beijing International Airport's Terminal 3. The underground parking is huge and the entrance connecting the parking garage to the main terminal is as big as a football stadium. Its just amazing how one can build such a monster structure...

In just a few days I'll be heading back to Canada then off to Germany! But for now, I'm gonna go watch my solar powered plant flap its leaves

Upon finding out I was going to be in Germany for a year, I promptly began my hunt for the perfect digital camera. A couple years back, my parents had bought a Canon Digital IXUS 430. It took really great pictures and followed me throughout my travels to China, Japan, and of course all those candid moments in between. My basic requirement was simple. A high optical zoom for shots of cars running around racetracks in Germany, and a shutter fast enough to capture them. Image quality had to be top notch as well as the video mode to record my own adventures of bombing down the autobahn at 200km/h. Finally, I had to be able to carry it around without fear of it being swiped by some street bandits.

The Casio EX-V7 filled the optical zoom requirement but after playing around with it, the pictures didn’t look that great and just the overall feel of it didn’t suit me. Sealing the fate of the camera though, was that my friend had just bought it. Totally uncool.

The Canon S3IS and S5IS were on my list. I found a smashing good deal on a used S3 through craigslist that almost made me buy it. I liked all the features, and the high zoom, but it was just too bulky for a traveller.

Then it all came down to the Panasonic TZ5 and the Canon SX100. Before even looking into the cameras, the Canon was a better camera because well, it was a Canon. My first digicam sold me on the brand and the image quality held up that notion. But I guess all good things come to an end and I was really disappointed. It was big, felt cheap with its plastic body, and just didn’t feel like what a Canon should feel like.

If you’re reading this, you probably know what Type of features the TZ5 has but the four features that won me over were:
- 10x optical zoom
- 720P video recording, with zoom!
- Mega O.I.S. Optical image stabilization
- Leica lens

I never got to see one in person but after fiddling around with its predecessor, the TZ3, I was sold.

First Impressions:
This is what a camera should feel like. It was solid, and the outer finish was akin to extremely fine sandpaper, something you only notice while holding the camera. It brought back memories of my first experience with the slippery-smooth iPhone. I didn’t drop it but I was sure nervous about smashing it on my first touch! The TZ5 is very comfortable to hold. With a rough plastic strip on the hand hold, it makes for a sure feel. The play and record buttons are all well placed, although I would prefer the menu buttons to be higher up. The zoom is located where it should be, rotating around the shutter.

The on-off button is also quite well placed except for the fact that when you slide it into you case, you can quite easily turn it on. I haven’t done it myself but I can see it happening. Maybe if they changed the switch direction from right to left (instead of left to right) they could avoid the problem.

Thankfully, the battery came half-charged, so I didn’t have to wait 120 minutes to charge it. The menu system was really nice to navigate. It was intuitive, and being the tech-savvy person I am, I didn’t even need the manual to figure out how things work. The 3” screen’s beauty cannot be described in words. At 460,000 pixels It rivals my 24” LCD and certainly beats my Macbook’s screen for clarity. Going back to my canon’s 1” screen makes me cry, even other competitors 3” low resolution screens pale in comparison.

Snapping the pictures
The first thing I find annoying is the fact that when you’re trying to take pictures, the image on the screen is patchy and fuzzy, like someone cranked the ISO to 1600. It is something you can’t change and you certainly can’t judge how the picture will turn out without first taking a shot. I was worried at first but once you snap it, all is well and the 2sec adjustable review of the picture brings it into perfect clarity.

Now on to the good stuff. The Image stabilization is an amazing piece of technology. Using only one shaky hand, I zoomed in to max, snapped a picture and it was crystal clear. Okay well, maybe my hand wasn’t THAT shaky, but think about my second test.

It was a very scientific experiment meant to break the tech and show its flaws. Lucky for me, I was going to be joining my fellowship later in the night for an Iron chef style cook-off. On my drive, I whipped out my camera and was able to snap clear shots of traffic signs at 10x optical zoom. Here’s the breaker; I was moving over bumps and potholes in the road at 50km/h, holding the camera in one hand and…turning the steering wheel with the other. At 1x zoom, looking at the screen while pointing the camera in front of feels like you’re in a videogame. Not all the shots came out crystal clear but the fact that I could even take one shot with near-perfect clarity is amazing. This is NOT something you should run home and try out with your camera. I even got the attention of one local who opened their car door at a stoplight and stared right at me because she thought I was snapping pictures of her!

While using the zoom, there is a button right beside the shutter called, ‘e.zoom’. Press it and the zoom will automatically extend to 10x. Press it again, and it will return to 1x. If you turn on digital zoom, the second press will extend it to 16x zoom, then returning back down the steps with every successive press.

The cook-off allowed me to test out the many scene modes of the camera in particular, the ‘food’ and ‘portrait’ mode. Overall, I was quite impressed by the photos, being able to take many shots with no flash, so as not to blind the chefs while chopping their onions. Most of the shots were one handed-quickies with not thought at all about the settings. Almost all the shots were shot with the iA (intelligent auto) mode. With the image stabilization, the shots were mostly clear, except when the chef was moving and everything on the table was not. When you’re in iron chef, standing still means you’re probably going to lose.

Face tracking on this camera will certainly appeal to the geeks within us. As you take pictures of groups of people, a box will appear around each face, up to 15 faces. Apparently, this will allow the flash to compensate and the Venus Engine IV will do its magic making sure that all faces are evenly lit. My pictures seemed to do justice to that theory too. But forget about the pictures for one second…this tracks people’s faces in real-time!! The only other time I saw this was while in my school principal’s office looking at a CCTV display. It was meant to track kids doing bad things, but instead locked itself onto an innocent looking garbage can.

After a whole day of shooting, video recording and playing back, the fully charged battery was exhausted. For extended video sessions, I would recommend getting another battery.

The (food)Menu
As with any menu, be it in a restaurant, a BMW iDrive, or in this case, a camera, if a menu needs explaining, you’ve got problems. I find that with many SLR’s there’s so many settings and when I just want to take a picture, I forget about all the fluff and stick it into automatic mode. Humans are lazy! That’s why we now have speed-dial on our phones and that’s also why man invented the automatic transmission. I loved my canon for its simple menu and adore the TZ5 for its user-friendliness. One thing that’s a problem for many cameras is the mix of cryptic icons that don’t mean a thing to me unless I read the manual. With the TZ5, you have an icon at the top and at the bottom, it tells you what you’re fiddling with. A simple, but very important feature.

There are two menus in the TZ5. A main menu to change every setting you want and a quick menu for one-touch access. The quick menu is accessible via a small button beside the screen. Just press it and everything you want pops up without blocking the whole screen. The ‘intelligent auto’ settings can all be turned on or off at your will. There’s intelligent iso, intelligent exposure, and the fully automatic iA picture mode. In the iA mode, the only settings you can change are:
- Burst mode
- Aspect ratio
- Picture size
- Colour Mode (Vivid, standard, natural, B/W, Sepia)
- Stabilizer

Image Quality
As you will notice by looking at some of the photos, there does seem to be a lot of ‘iso fuzz’ in the badly lit pictures. To some people, you’ll look at the picture and say, “Hey, that photo is crap!” To others, they’ll see the overall setting and say, “Nice Picture.” Plain and simple, for point and shoot cameras, this is hard to beat. The intelligent auto setting is extremely good for well-lit pictures (indoor or outdoor), but for badly lit settings, it will certainly require some tweaking. Take into account that almost all the pictures did not use a flash and were taken with usually one hand in a very hectic kitchen with lots of stuff going on.

Video Quality
Many of you are probably reading this because you want to know what the much touted 720P video is like. When you leave the default settings on, you may be disappointed. While recording, the camera is constantly trying to find something to focus on, even if its stationary. I was disappointed at first, thinking why in the world Panasonic would release a feature that was so flawed. But after tweaking a few things, I cracked it. It’s really a simple idea that many people haven’t figured out. Before you start recording, turn off continuous AF, and zoom in 10x on a distant object and focus the camera. Once you’ve done that, hit record, and all will be good. When you return back to 1x while recording, it will be just as clear as ever.

If you don’t feel like zooming much, the picture will stay focussed up to about 3x. For the average photographer, recording in HD is an awesome feature and considering that not many point and shoot cameras can record in HD, let alone zoom, I wouldn’t consider the focusing issues below average because well, there is no average. Nothing else in this market can compare.

The video quality really is astounding, At full 1280x720 resolution, it fills my Macbook’s screen and its perfectly smooth. Some of the colors don’t’ seem to be as vibrant as in the pictures, but this is motion video. Even at lower resolutions its still quite clear. One note, to record in HD, you need an SD card with a minimum write speed of 10mb/s.
Bad thing? The File sizes are obscenely large. A 4min 15sec VGA (640x480) video at 30fps will eat 344 mb. At this rate, it will finish off an 8GB SD card in 1 hour, 30 min. Recording in full 720P HD will devour the same SD card in 33min 50sec.In case you were wondering, though you can only record up to 2GB in one session, you can always start recording again right after it stops. 2GB in HD equates to a measly 8min 20sec.

One other knock off I have to mention is the really poor quality of the microphone. It seems unable to record good highs and has a constant hiss. I’m sure you can tweak it in Adobe Premiere. It reminds me of 64kbps mp3’s I used to download from Napster way back when. At least voices are distinctly different from bass drums. My solution? If you’re really into HD video recording, just buy a separate voice recorder and sync it up with the TZ5’s video in Adobe Premier. And if you’re REALLY into HD video recording, just buy an HD camcorder and stop poking fun at the TZ5.

The Perfect SD Card?
To store all your pictures and videos you’ll need an SD card that’s up to the task. I’ve read horror stories of people going on vacations and having all their pictures corrupted. Since I would be travelling quite a lot, I ponied up for the 8GB Sandisk Extreme III. Not only is it tested to withstand extreme conditions, its extremely fast and comes with a very handy micromate reader and case.

I also needed it to be fast to record HD video and the little Sandisk has speed in spades with its ESP technology. Don’t ask me what it means, but as long as it makes things fast, I’m happy with it. At least I know that ESP in cars does good things.
It transferred about 7.2 GB in less than 8 minutes. I don’t think anyone will ever need anything more.

Conclusion:
Overall, I am very happy with the TZ5. Although some pictures still turned out fuzzy (motion or iso fuzz), most of the pictures were top-notch. If you’re looking for AMAZING picture quality that will bug out your eyes on first glance, this camera may not be for you. But if you’re looking for a camera that will take great pictures, able of snapping them in tough situations, then you may want to consider the Panasonic TZ5. The addition of 10x optical zoom and HD video recording doesn’t hurt either!

And just a tip, pick up the camera on Amazon, they’re probably one of the cheapest out there and for the past few days, the price has been steadily going downhill, almost matching the TZ4!

Cameralabs.com did a pretty good video review:

So this year's Formula One season is turning out to be one heck of a start. The reigning world champion Kimi Raikkonnen had a fuel problem and can only start from 16 on the grid. Robert Kubica of BMW grabbed a surprise 2nd on the starting grid after one heck of a high speed fumble, though this isn't the first time that I've seen him drift an F1 car.

 I was able to catch the qualifying live with my friend, but the problem now is that I can't find a place to watch the actual race! According to my calculations, it should have started just a few minutes ago

I don't have Cable TV in my house and the only way I can watch it is:
a) Wait a few days until a download pops up on the internet, all the while avoiding the news
b) Wait one day so I can borrow a DVD from my friend who recorded the race.
c) raid someone's house right now and demand to watch the race
d) Wait until tomorrow afternoon and bug my girlfriend to watch it in her house.

 I have to say, choice c) sounds interesting, but choice d) sounds the most promising. Oh well, I guess I'll just have to hope for the best and eventually watch the first Formula One race of the season! Go Ferrari!