Julian @ Empedocles

This dude rules. Bling bling anew in the 21st century city. More power to him.

In fact I believe the future belongs to places like Dubai, Hong Kong (if it can escape the Middle Correct-Thinking Kingdom’s embrace), and Singapore: city states, no time for shite like religion and such, come as you please, stay if you can, tradition-be-damned-let’s-just-build-another-skyscraper. The US is so 20th century. Europe is 19.

And by the way: that is so funny. “Time to correct those misperceptions”. Or you will be hit with the Little Red Book Analects over the head until you are correctly re-educated. I’ve always found mainlanders just plain weird; my fave Chinese are Taiwanese. (sigh, drool here for 雅惠 李).

But of course, China is so much more than the mainland. It’s Taiwan too. It’s Singapore. It’s Hong Kong. Here is an interesting discussion of the merits of each.

Totally unrelated. Bali vs Phuket. In both places you find misguided Westerners dropping out or retiring in style or …; in the former, they are looking for enlightenment; I mean, you are more likely to find the Behavioral (insider reference) types talking about auras and chakras. In the latter, they are looking for (perhaps) a bit of bonkitty-bonk; the talk is definitely not of chakras.

However. Bali is just plain weird in my opinion. It’s totally postmodern. It’s like the map is bigger than the geography; you go to Taman Mini Indonesia Indah and you see a, well, Balinese village. Then you go to Bali and it’s the same, only it has more tourists. It’s genuine. And spiritual. But touristy and on sale.

I’ll take Phuket’s simple pleasures.