Taiwan photos

Cityscape from Taipei 101

Sun Moon Lake


Trees in the mist on Mt Cising

Rock formations at Yeliou, north coast

More here if you're keen:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=76025&l=f24e2&id=604040105

Cambodia

Now that I've surpassed Tony as having the most out of date blog on the planet, I thought I should write about Cambodia. Better late that never right?

Anyway, Jess, Desiree and I started off with a night in Singapore- we arrived late and then had the next morning to look around. Highlights included continental Asia's southernmost point on Sentosa Island, the 4D movie theatre, and Singapore's general clean and green-ness. I've heard people say it's sterile, but that wasn't my impression- although I was slightly paranoid that I'd accidentally spit in public and be fined $1000...


After our morning in Singapore, we caught a flight to Phnom Penh- Cambodia's biggest city and the seat of Pol Pot's infamous regime. We checked out various palaces, the national museum, and of course the killing fields- a sobering reminder of the nation's unfortunate past. Amidst all the culture and history, however, one moment stood out:


Yes, that's right- if you think your dog is a handful, try walking your elephant. And what's more, try pooper-scoopering the resulting deposits:


As well as chasing elephants, we got to check out a rather impressive royal palace and museum,
see some traditional Cambodian puppet theatre (along with an incredible gymnastic dance quartet who reminded me of the exhibition gymnastics at the Olympics), explore some interesting markets, and consume a lot of extremely pleasing western food and drink. Good western food is as rare as hen's teeth in Taiwan, so we took the chance to indulge in some home comforts. I even had the misfortune of watching the All Blacks' dreary world cup thrashing of Scotland (our hotel room had cable...)


After Phnom Penh, we caught a bus to Camodia's 3rd largest city, Battambang. Upon disembarkment, we were set upon by a vast horde of Cambodian hotel hawkers, most of whom seemed to be working for the same hotel. Completely overwhelmed and unable to think straight, we retreated to the bus company building, where the hawkers seemingly weren't allowed. Our eventual choice was a pretty good one, and we ended up spending a couple of days being shown around Battambang and surrounds on the back of motorcycles.


My driver, Wat, was quite the go-getter- besides tour guiding, he was taking a computer course every morning at 7am, which he hoped would eventually get him a good job in Siem Reap. He also owned a house by the river (cost: $250USD), and had a wife and child ("one is enough," he informed me- referring to the wife, not the child- in a statement that probably didn't seem quite as absurd to him as it did to me)
Aside from all this, Wat was a great guide and a very funny guy- we had a lot of laughs while tripping around the countryside. It was really encouraging too to see the opportunities that do exist in an economy that was completely destroyed not so long ago.

This incident probably bears mentioning:


Our final Cambodian destination was Siem Reap- Cambodia's 2nd largest city, it acts as the gateway to the incredible Angkor Wat and too many nearly-as-impressive temples to count. However, I won't bore you with too many photos of the Angkor Wat sunrise, or the Angkor Thom sunset, or the various intricate carvings and incredible medieval architecture, as there are plenty of those around.

We spent got a day pass for the temples, which meant getting up at about 4am to ensure we got to Angkor Wat in time for the famed sunrise. Getting up that early meant we were pretty much spent, and had seen all the main temples by about 11am- but there were plenty of other things to see in Siem Reap. These included, in no particular order- going to a very moving concert by Dr Beat Richner (staged to raise awareness of children's health issues in Cambodia), exploring more markets, sitting in our hotel pool drinking excellent coconut smoothies, drinking cocktails in upmarket bars (at $3 each, amazingly cheap), and getting bitten by an angry black dog. The latter meant a trip to the doctor for rabies and tetanus shots, but it didn't put a damper on what was a pretty awesome trip.

If anyone's thinking of traveling, I'd totally recommend Cambodia- its developed enough that you don't need to step too far out of your comfort zone, yet not so much so that you can't get off the beaten track, or that you can't climb the temples. (DOC would have a field day putting up 'DANGER- DO NOT PROCEED BEYOND THIS POINT' signs if Angkor fell under their jurisdiction.) Furthermore, everything is DIRT cheap.
Following the wildlife theme of this post, I'll leave you with this: (although the beetle- which had been buzzing around the boy's head attached to a string- wasn't displaying too many signs of life by this point)

Cambodia

In leiu of a proper update- which I haven't had time for yet- you can check out my Cambodia photos here:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=58699&l=e5e45&id=604040105

Taiwan update

Apologies for my slackness with updating this thing- I'll try and do better in future!

Anyway, here we go. Since my last post, I've had to do a fair bit of work but I've managed to get in quite a lot of exploring too. There's lots of waterfalls and forested areas right near the apartment- its surprisingly easy to get away from it all considering Taiwan packs 23 million people into an area smaller than Canterbury! One scooter trip took us through a beautiful bush-covered pass that reminded me of Motueka; to a quintessential Taiwanese village called Pingxi, which despite its tourist savvy, felt pretty authentic.



The people are extremely friendly and helpful - its not unusual to have a veritable flock of locals pooling their knowledge in an attempt to decipher our rantings when we ask one of them for help. I say we, but Jess and Des can actually communicate pretty well using basic Chinese- mine currently extends to 'thank you', 'excuse me' and a few numbers. I do intend to learn though.

We've also spent a bit of time exploring Taipei- its pretty impressive. Taipei 101- all of half a kilometre high- is still the worlds tallest completed building (the as-yet unfinished Burj Dubai has just overtaken it) and there is plenty of other architectural bling- the Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall is also a sight to behold.



The weather has been fairly mild so far- I am spoilt by an air-conditioned apartment- however before I came the air-conditioned temperature was hovering around 30 degrees which wouldn't have been so good!

Having said that, we are currently catching the edge of the typhoon that's threatening Shanghai- it's raining and there's strong winds- just like Wellington really. Everyone is off work though and apparently we can't go outside in case we get maimed by a falling air-conditioner!

We're heading to Cambodia (via Singapore) tomorrow for 10 days, so there's going to be another long gap between posts... but I should have plenty of interesting stories to tell by then!

Check out more photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=53553&l=cdd3c&id=604040105

Travel update - Wollongong / Taipei

For those who weren't aware, I'm currently in Taiwan and will be travelling for the next 6 months, so this blog is going to morph into something of a travel diary- at least that's the plan. Posts should show up on facebook too for those that way inclined. Feel free to write abusive comments if I'm slack with updates...

Anyway, I left warm, sunny Christchurch on Sunday for Wollongong, where I experienced the very best of Australian weather (rain and biting cold southerlies) and hospitality (from Alana and various other New Zealanders). Good times all around. After a few days chilling out in the 'Gong, I flew out of Sydney for Taipei.

Jess met me at the airport, and I have never been so stoked to see anyone in my life! So now I'm at her and Desiree's apartment in Hsi Chih city. It's right next to a mountain with waterfalls and a great cafe with amazing views of Taipei (including Taipei 101, the recently deposed former tallest building in the world). I've already experienced an earthquake, met Tom Cruise (the apartment security guard), consumed more tofu in 2 days than the previous 25 years, and eaten who knows what on several occasions.

We also had a bizarre encounter with a stray dog who firstly insisted on walking in front of us to the waterfall (which was thoughtful of him- presumably he was checking for snakes!) but then stole Jess's camera from right beside us when we weren't looking, before dropping it a few hundred metres up the path. There's strays all over the place here, but they all look well looked after.

Romans 8:28

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

When this verse was first brought to my attention, I was going through some strife. It wasn't a life changing disaster though- and my interpretation of the verse was along the lines that no matter what happens in your life, it has good as its ultimate purpose.

Recently, I've revised my thinking. Now, I'd say the verse means that no matter what happens in your life, good can come from it. That might not seem too different, but really its a fundamental shift- where before I'd say bad things are really good things that seem bad at the time, now I'd say that bad things just happen, and they're exactly that- bad; perhaps catastrophic in some cases. The message I'd take from the verse is that no matter how bad your circumstances, you can find some good in it somewhere- so take heart, and look for the good.

Shadowfeet

When the world has fallen out from under me
I'll be found in you, still standing
When the sky rolls up and mountains fall on their knees
I'll be found in you

When the world has fallen out from under me
I'll be found in you, still standing
Every fear and accusation under my feet
When time and space are through
I'll be found in you

Blue Like Jazz

Donald Miller with an insightful observation on intellectual faith struggles:

"I don't really do that anymore. Sooner or later you just figure out that there are some guys who don't believe in God and they can prove He doesn't exist, and some other guys who do believe in God and they can prove He does exist, and the argument stopped being about God a long time ago and now its about who is smarter, and honestly I don't care."

I'm about halfway through Blue Like Jazz, and I'm finding it pretty good- quite thought provoking, but his writing style irks me sometimes. All in all, its doing a reasonable job of living up to the hype...

1 Corinthians 14:22-25

Reading 1 Corinthians a while back, I noticed what seemed to be a direct contradiction within successive verses.

1 Corinthians 14:22

Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers.

1 Corinthians 14:23-25

So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"

Basically, the first one appears to be saying that tongues are for unbelievers- ie that openly 'speaking in tongues' is a good way to encourage people to become christians. The second passage, by contrast, clearly spells out that if those unfamiliar with the practice hear you speaking in tongues, they're likely to think you're nuts.

This perplexed me for a while, not least because I couldn't seem to find anyone else who'd noticed the same paradox. The only websites I could find that touched it were of the how-dare-you-insinuate-that-the-bible-contains-errors variety, and had laughable explanations- like that Paul was referring to two different types of tongues and prophecy (in the context of one paragraph, without differentiating the two)

Happily, there's a quite reasonable explanation- you just have to read the preceding verses!

Here it is again, in context:

1 Corinthians 14:20-25

20Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults. 21In the Law it is written:

"Through men of strange tongues
and through the lips of foreigners
I will speak to this people,
but even then they will not listen to me," says the Lord.

22Tongues, then, are a sign, not for believers but for unbelievers; prophecy, however, is for believers, not for unbelievers. 23So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? 24But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, 25and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"

In verse 22, Paul is suggesting that the quoted passage (from Isaiah) could be interpreted as meaning that the 'speaking of tongues' should be used as an evangelistic tool- however, he goes on to debunk this (obviously false) assertion in verses 23-25.

Interestingly, the Greek word translated as 'tongues' in the passage from Isaiah is heteroglossos (Strong's G2084)- which literally means someone who speaks a foreign language; whereas the word translated as 'tongues' elsewhere is glossa (Strong's G1100), which means an unnaturally acquired language. So verse 21 would perhaps be more accurately translated as:

In the Law it is written: "Through men who speak foreign languages and through the lips of foreigners I will speak to this people, listen to me," says the Lord.

Which makes it fairly obvious as to why the interpretation given in verse 22 is incorrect.

The first part of the passage states

"Brothers, stop thinking like children... in your thinking be adults."

I believe Paul's purpose in writing this passage was to encourage the Corinthian believers to exercise their brains when interpreting scripture- not to take one verse out of context and use it to justify a particular action, but to attempt to gain a holistic understanding of what message the writer was trying to convey, and how it applied to their situation.

I love this passage, partly because I think the point is a crucial one, but also because the very lesson Paul was attempting to teach the Corinthians 2 millenia ago, using the ancient writings of the time, has been taught to me through Paul's own writings. There's a nice symmetry to it...

My weekend in crusty cellphone pics

Here's a bit of a photo-log of my weekend's adventure to Kaiteriteri... pictures were all taken with a cheap Nokia cellphone, but most of them came out pretty well though I thought.


The crew by Maruia falls


Chilling by Lake Rotoiti


Some ridiculously cute ducklings


Aforementioned ducklings taking a nap


One of the above having had its nap rudely interrupted...


Mud diving (the original plan was just to play touch; however the mud proved rather too alluring for some)


Sea kayaking in the Abel Tasman national park (thanks Gloria!)


Chilling on the beach near Split Apple Rock (which our guide informed us is in fact a Taniwha egg)


The boys (we ended up rafting together and hoisting a sail to maximise the tail wind...)


The girls

A book you should all read

Recently I was given 'Velvet Elvis' by Rob Bell as a birthday present from my sister- I'd already heard good things about it but I wasn't expecting it to be this good!
The guy pretty much sums up my beliefs but in a way that makes sense, and that I don't feel guilty about... it's encouraging to know that a guy who's the pastor of a massive church thinks similarly to me!

Here's an excerpt:



Now before various people start calling Rob and I heathens for denying the virgin birth- we're not. He's simply saying that the virgin birth- along with literal 6 day creation, the factual accuracy of the book of Jonah, and various other doctrines- is not the central point of his faith. Instead his faith is centred around the person of Jesus Christ- learning from his words, emulating his actions, and making the most of life here and now. How exactly Christ came into the world is pretty irrelevant when the impact he can have on a person's life is so massive.
Personally, I think the man is onto something... what do you think?



Excuse the image quality- Google Book Search is quite clever at preventing standard Ctrl+C, but they can't do anything about the 'Print Screen' button!

Note to Google & Rob Bell's publishers- since I'm actually promoting the book, how about overlooking the old copyright laws just this once? ;)

An amusing email exchange...

Not 12 hours after I set up a myspace homepage for mine and Jeremy's embyonic bluegrass project, I recieved the following email from some band in the uk:

Hello,

it seems your using our band name...

We registered the band name 'Paper Tigers' with the international band registry in 2003. This is a legal and binding claim to the name and exclusive use of it. Authentication of this is posted in World Wide Band and Artist Directory' Annual Trade Publication as well as on a global scale on the online registry & worldwide database of band and artist name activity. Our registration of the name is also lodged with the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. and the British Reference Library in London in the Annual Artist & Band Directory.

If you require any further information on this please go to

www.bandname.com and search for us or contact Crystal @ bandname

Please cease using the name immediatley to avoid legal action being taken against you. This is a polite but official warning on behalf of us and our record company.

Thankyou

pAPeR TigERs

Being by nature a pigheaded individual, I responded:

Er... when your far-reaching fame extends to Christchurch, NZ, or our plans for world conquest come to fruition, we'll think about it.

Cheers,
Greg

To which our new friends rather got their knickers in a knot:

Seems like a a perfectly flawed plan....why start out using a name that you know your going to have to change? hey why not call yourselves the rolling stones...that's a cool name too!.....great sense of seeing the bigger picture, and thinking about changing your name just doesn't cut it, you are falsely advertising your band & causing damage to us in the process ...anyway, we tried to be polite but that obviously has no affect.

Our first full international E.P is scheduled for release in Australia / NZ in December 2006.
We'll be passing this matter on to our label / management and lawyers. I hope you've got deep pockets

cheers

pAPeR TigERs

So I thought I'd ask a couple of questions just to see exactly what we were up against:

What exactly do you mean, 'release'? That it'll be available here via your site, or actually in the record stores? In other words, just how big are you guys? Be honest please...
I have no intention of getting into any strife, legally or otherwise- but if we're just playing around Christchurch and you're puddling away in Wolverhampton, I think we can stay out of each other's hair, no?

Cheers,
Greg

They came back a little more amicably, but no less emphatically:

Unfortunately 'release' means, in record stores, on itunes & via other authorised internet stores. The fact that you are using our name causes problem for our record sales and as such means you are liable to prosecution...merely search on myspace for paper tigers and the fact you come up is a problem to us.

we are a signed band, contracted to Broken Bottle Music, a UK independent label - soon to be part of the Polydor group....yes we are from Wolverhampton UK, but that is far from the point...I'm sorry about this Greg, its a real pain for you cus it's such a good name and you obviously have great taste in choosing it, but you just can't use it...regardless of whether you are in NZ or not....we have already had legal wranglings with a US artist signed to a major US label who was trying to use the name....and we won...its a black and white case for us...the crazy thing is you can call yourself 'Christchurch Paper Tigers' and that's fine....just not 'paper Tigers'....

Please make your desicion quickly as I am on the phone to our management company as we speak, and need to clarify if you wish to carry on using the name and face the consequences of that action.

cheers

All this talk of management, lawyers and labels from a band with only 400-odd myspace friends- not to mention the fact that they apparently considered themselves in the same league as the Rolling Stones- had me smelling a rat (or at least a bluff) and so I responded:

Dear Wolverhampton Paper Tigers,

Having consulted my lawyer, I would like to invite you to consider the following points.

1) In order for one legal entity to prevent another from using their name, it needs to be proven that the prior has obtained 'good will' with the public and that that the latter is unfairly profiting from that good will. Given the respective status and popularity of our respective bands, I do not believe this to be the case.

2) It's also possible to get off if the secondary party can prove that they came up with the name independently, with no knowledge of prior's existence. Again given the above point, I think this is a reasonable claim. We actually got the name from a Thrice song (as, I suspect, did you) but that's beside the point.

3) We, as a legal entity, do not in fact exist outside of Myspace. Notwithstanding the now blurry line between social networking sites and reality, this poses a slight problem for you and your litigious intentions... who exactly are you going to sue? Tom?


Given these points, I can only conclude that your blusterous threats of legal action are nothing but an ambitious bluff; a 'Paper Tiger', if you will. With that in mind we have decided to continue using the name 'Paper Tigers' until such time as we can think of something better. If this still rankles your panties, we would respectfully invite you to change YOUR band name, as suggested above.

Furthermore, I see that our Myspace Friend Count now exceeds yours by a factor of some 80,000 to 1. Dare you argue with figures like that?

Warm regards and best wishes,
Paper Tigers

... to which I'm yet to recieve a reply. Watch this space!

Microsoft: Very Stupid

To reinforce the point made by brehaut I thought I'd share this gem... why on earth would the status of archaic and nearly obsolete browser that I haven't used in months prevent me from using another app? Also, what the heck does '81000362' mean?

And now for something a little more light-hearted...

Pointers to pointers to printf()-like functions;
Unary minus and nested conjunctions;
Integers, booleans, characters, strings;
These are a few of my favourite things;

Standards compliance and css layouts;
Tableless tables and javascript fadeouts;
Drop shadowed boxes and other such bling;
These are a few of my favourite things;

SQL queries on multiple tables;
Linux, Apache, mod_rewrite enabled;
Robust web servers that rapidly ping;
These are a few of my favourite things;

When a bug strikes;
Fatal errors bite;
When my coding's bad;
I simply remember my favourite things;
And then I don't feel so mad;




(I didn't write the first verse)

Another rant

So the other day, I went to tearfund.co.nz and signed up to sponsor a child. As I was setting up my AP, I was struck by the sheer ridiculousness of it all- here I was, feeling pretty good about the fact that I was signing up to give... er, $10 per week. $10?? I often spend that much on lunch! Now, I understand that for some people- students and the like- $10 is quite a lot. My flatmate told me a few years ago that he had a 'frivolous expenditure' budget of $5 per week- so not everyone is in a position to give even that much. But for someone like me, with a decent job, no loan, and no dependents, $10 is a pittance.

So little.... yet so much.

Kids these days...

When I was 13, I was pretty carefree. In fact, the most pressing concerns on my mind usually involved food- by which I mean food for me, not for starving Africans or anything like that.
For most 13 year old kids, managing their finances means seeing how many CDs/burgers/sugary treats they can buy with their weekly pocket money- so I was somewhat surprised at church this morning when a 13 year old girl by the name of Lizzie got up to share on the topic of financial freedom. Ten minutes later, I understood. This girl had, since the age of 9, been saving her money and collecting funds from her family and friends to send to a missionary organisation called Freeset that takes prostitutes off the streets of Calcutta and employs them in a factory making jute bags. For $300, they can take a girl of the street and set her up with a job.
She spoke so articulately about how God had placed this particular part of Calcutta on her heart and given her the opportunity to make a difference there that you would have thought she was 30, not 13.
It was without a doubt the most inspiring thing I've ever heard in a church.

1 Timothy 4:12:
Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.

Long time no blog

Hi folks. If you thought this blog had been put out to pasture, think again... it was simply on an extended hiatus due its owner's growing disdain for all things computer related, which in turn stemmed from the increasing repetiveness and frustration factor of said owner's job. Today however, said owner has decided to expend some work time on the blog, which has the twofold benefit of 1) enabling owner to create a new post without extra time spent in front of computer, and 2) helping owner avoid work. (Note to boss: just kidding, I'm on a break)

Right, that's enough rambling descant in the 3rd person for one post. So what have I been up to? Here's a brief overview:

- I'm in the process of forming a band, currently entitled 'Paper Tigers' with Jeremy, Dru, Kris and a guy called Tane whom I don't know but who is, by all accounts, a fantastic musician. We're playing at the Canterbury Uni battle of the bands this friday night at Bentley's in the UCSA if you feel like coming along.

- Last Saturday I went to Auckland for the wedding of my friends Chris and Nicole, which was a wonderful celebration of life, love, family, etc- until some moron cut from Brooke Fraser's sultry 'Without You' to a hardcore Mumsdollar song while all the oldies were slow dancing. It was my first, and most likely last, experience as a wedding reception DJ. At least it wasn't the first dance...

- I have finally invested in the guitar amp of my dreams, well... not exactly... but something close to it. Note the minimalist front panel- I'm now a firm believer in the maxim that tonal quality is inversely proportional to number of knobs. mmmmm...

Ahhhhhh....

There's nothing better than a chilled Monteiths, especially when you've earned it by running from Sydenham to Cracroft reserve (on the Port Hills) and back.

That is all.

My currently somewhat unfulfilling existence

For those that don't know, I've just left Luminous. No fall outs, no animosity, I just decided it was time to move on. So now I'm back in Christchurch for the year- and for the first time in 3 or 4 years, I'm not in a band. This whole turn of events leaves me with a few dilemmas.

I already have a great job, so that's one problem solved. I have plenty of people to play music with too, so there's another one down. The remaining problem, however, stems from the very nature of my job. I mean, its fun, and challenging, but at the end of the day, what am I achieving for the greater good? Building websites is clearly not a bad thing, and may even be considered an admirable pursuit- depending on the nature of the site I suppose- but are the starving children of Africa and the oppressed women of Iran, and their ilk, recieving any benefit? I somehow don't think so, and neither are the needy right here in Christchurch- in fact, it often seems the main purpose of my work is to help people sell stuff.

So here I am, lubricating the cogs of capitalism, while the world around me continues to go down the tubes. What can I do? What should I do? Any ideas?

Band updates

Our NZ tour is over! We capped it off with an interesting weekend, playing at the Jetset Lounge on Saturday night (a bar in central Christchurch) and then Avonhead Baptist Church on Sunday evening. For 3/5 of the band, Saturday was the first time playing outside of a church setting or school, so there were a few nerves and a fair bit of apprehension beforehand. In the end though we just rocked out and had a great time.

Earlier the night had been kicked off in riotous fashion by an Alternative and Experimental Rock Band called Tragedy of the Commons (dig that minimalist website design). With Tony and Matt W laying down a tight-as groove, Matt B ripping the fat lead breaks, and Jeremy doing his best to brain Matt and Tony with the headstock of his guitar, these guys went off. Great songs, great stage presence- definitely a band to watch.

Sunday night was a great way to end the tour, with about 150 people packing out Avonhead Baptist. Given that the ABC sound system can barely be heard over a dripping tap, we got our friend Shane to bring in his (several thousand watt) system- which meant we could really go for it. We finished the night with a really cool worship time and I think lots of people were moved and encouraged.

Thanks to everyone who came to one or both of the gigs, you all rock!