South Africa pt 2 - Cape Town

So after our safari, we headed down to Cape Town for a few days. Although this was my 5th trip to South Africa, I had never been there before. One thing that was apparent immediately getting off the plane was the mix of cultures. The places I'd been before we're pretty much white and black but in Cape Town, there is a large population of what they call Malays, people who were brought over by the Dutch from places in South East Asia, like Indonesia and Malaysia, to work as cheap labor, some claim as slaves. So because of the origins of the Malays, the Muslim culture is also very prevalent here.

On our first day, we took a Cape Point tour. Which included a stop at the Cape of Good Hope. Now if you all remember your grade school geography this is the southern most point of the African continent.If you jump in the water and swim, you might make it to Antartica from here. It's also the point where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. The Cape is extremely beautiful terrain, with crazy rocky flat topped mountains to one side and the ocean at the other. A key feature of the Cape of Good Hope are the penguins. Thousands of them everywhere. I'm not really sure why they congregate here because it's not very cold but I guess if they want cooler weather they just take the swim to Antarctica. They are very cute but very smelly also.
There are also Baboons everywhere as well. An unlikely place for them to live but they seem to do well. They seem survive mostly by stealing food from the tourists. We were constantly warned not to carry anything edible on our bodies otherwise we might get jacked by one. Our guide had to chase after a baboon once who stole a woman's purse with her passport, credit cards and plane tickets inside.
On our second day, we did a cultural tour of Cape Town itself. Cape Town looks and feels like a combination of San Francisco(4 seasons in one day weather) and Barcelona( beach city)but it has a vastly different history than either. We checked out the Malay Quarter first, the colorful part of town that the Malays settled. .The amazing thing about Cape Town is that no matter where you are you can see the famous Table Mountain. Named because of it's flat top, the mountain looks different at all times of the day. Sometimes it is covered with a cascading blanket of fog, known as the table cloth, or sometimes it's totally clear. At sunset, it reflects the rays of the setting sun and it becomes this glowing orange color.
We also went to District Six, which was a Malay and Coloured part of town that got wiped out so the Whites could take over during the 60's, one of the most ruthless times of the Apartheid era. It was during the 60's that Cape Town was being developed as a major international city. Part of the city planning was to relocate all non-Whites outside of the city center. Although they were cleared out, the residents resisted in their own way by disrupting any attempt at the whites of redeveloping the area. So to to this day, District Six reamains a wasteland.This is Noos, he works at the District Six museum. He grew up in District Six and wrote this book about life there before it got destroyed.

Afterwards, we headed out to the townships. Most tourists don't usually go out here because these are the dangerous ghettos of South Africa but I felt it was necessary element to understanding this country. The townships are where poor Blacks who can't afford proper housing settle in their ramshackle wood and corrugated steel boxes, a stark contrast to the cosmopolitan atmosphere of the Cape Town City center itself. People with jobs in the city spend over 70% of their monthly income just traveling to and from work, making it impossible to save enough money to get out. Along with the poverty, comes violence as as drug running gangs and other criminals rule the streets. Although Apartheid was abolished in 1994. The effects of it still present a very real problem to the South Africans of today. Only now economics is the excuse used to explain the racial divide. Although life here in the townships is poor and impoverished, somehow there is a vibrance and vitality in the air despite . Cape Town is an amazing city. Beautiful and rich in it's history and culture. I will definitely look for a chance to go back!

Safari

So I've finally had some time to go through the photos I took from this South Africa trip. There are a lot so I'm gonna have to break this blog about my trip into three parts. This is the Safari part and will probably be the most interesting to animal lovers, Discovery Channel freaks and carnivores(you'll see why in a sec).
So the first stop on the trip was the Tanda Tula Lodge in the Timba Vate private game reserve on the edge of Krueger National Park. I have been on Safari before but this time I wanted to get the real bush experience. Tanda Tula puts all of their guests in tenets rather than an actual lodge. This way you are right in the bush with all the sites sounds and smells right there all around you. Animals can literally walk right up to your tent if you're lucky enough. We were taken on two game drives a day, one at 6 am and another at 4pm. These are optimal animal viewing times because they hide away from the heat of the day.
What surprises most first time safari goers is actually how close you can actually get to the animals, especially the predatory animals. My Mom almost crapped herself a couple times as Lions and Elephants passed within feet of the jeep. The rangers' explanation is they see the large topless jeep as one large and harmless entity so they do not feel threatened by them. Also these animals have grown accustomed to these jeeps following them around. That said, if you step out of the jeep,you're looking to become mince meat.
I guess the goal of every safari trip is to see the big five. The big five are Elephant, Rhino, Buffalo, Leopard and Lion. My last safari I didn't see the Leopard but I did see a kill, which was a pride of Lionesses catching and killing a large Kudu, which is like a big deer. I filmed this but haven't had time to put it on the site. It was gruesome but fascinating at the same time. I'll post it when I get a chance. Here's a Lion we saw the first evening eating a buffalo. The buffalo must have been dead for a couple days because the stench of rotten meat was horrible. This photo was taken from about 20 feet away and in low light thus the blurriness.
Last time we missed the Leopard but this time we saw one the first day. He was sleeping on the edge of a dry river bank. When we came back the next morning, he was eating this gazelle breakfast.His spots were so amazing and I was lucky to get some nice golden sunlight to enhance the photo.
Elephants are amazing creatures. Usually you only see them in the Zoo or shackled down for tourists to take a ride on. But when you see them in the wild in their natural environment eating, playing and bathing, you really get to see them as the graceful animals that they are. Especially this cute little baby.
But even these guys can become fierce. This Moma got protective of her clan and made a charge for us because my Dad was talking too loud. Luckily our tracker Phillip banged on the hood of the car and stopped the charge about 2 feet from the car. When elephants stick their ears out like that, it means they're pissed off.
Rhinos are really cool too. They really look prehistoric from head to toe. On this trip, the Rhino was proving to be elusive. We spent most of our last morning trying to find one to complete the big five sighting. We had to do some serious off-roading through the bush to catch up to this one.

Also on the last morning we followed a pride of Lions that was being tracked down by this male Lion. This beautiful male was waiting for the right opportunity to attack and fight the adolescent male of the pride to kick him out and take over.
You might think this is cruel and unfair but the adolescent male of this pride is also the brother of these lionesses so he needs to go, otherwise inbreeding occurs.
Incest is not best. This pic kinda reminds me of Lust Caution.
We waited for over an hour but no fight but the tension was thick!
If you ever get a chance to go on Safari, do it. It might change your life and it definitely will change the way you look at the world and maybe even inspire you to take some measures to take better care of this planet so beautiful creatures like these can continue on living in freedom.

South Africa!!!!

I'm back in South Africa again for the fourth time or is it fifth? Anyway, this time I'm here to show my parents the land I think is one of the most beautiful in the world and it seems they are enjoying it. We were on Safari for three days in the Timbavale private game reserve, a one hour flight from Johannesburg. We had an amazing time checking out out the animals at literally an arms distance away. The photo above is a fresh lion print left in the sand.

Our guide Eric and tracker Philip found tons of lions for us amongst many other animals which I'll post when I get back to HK. Check out how close we were to this lioness. The blue thing in the bottom right corner is my Mom's shoulder. I think she almost shit herself as did I a couple times.
Now we're in Cape Town. It's my first time here and I must say it's nice. Kinda like San Francisco and Barcelona combined. This time I learned a bit more about aparteid which again I will blog more about when I get back. Next stop Lisa will join us and we'll head out to her secret spot where we like "to get away from it all". If you've seen The Heavenly Kings, it shows up in one of the last scenes in the film and is actually where I wrote the script for the flick.

Culture Club

Went out last night to find some culture in this town. First went to the Mobile Art container by Chanel in Central a top the old Star Ferry Car Park. The capsule/building is designed by one of my favorite architects, Zaha Hadid.It's amazing to see how her conceptual work, done back when I was an architecture student, can be a reality today because of new technologies and materials.

Lisa throwing up her gangster affiliation.

The art inside was ok but the capsule itself was amazing, the crazy shapes and the even crazier spaces it created looked cool juxtaposed against the ol' Hong Kong skyline.


That's Leo from Chanel. Darth Vader was there too but I was too scared to papparazzi him. I saw what he did to the admiral.

Afterwards Simon Birch and I headed over the Eddie's house for a meal with the boys from 24. I had been hearing how good a chef Eddie was but I wasn't expecting this level of culinary skills. Look at that spread. It's a seriously professional set up, Jamie Oliver's got nothing on Eddie!

Seafood Bouillabaise!

Chilled Crab with a vinnegrette dressing!


Baked Chicken with a pesto dressing. Perfection.


The food was so good it turned us all stupid. Look at Conroy and Phat.

In the end it came down to a vote and the crab one best dish of the night. Very impressive Eddie! I will have to return for another sample of your skills1

The Donger

I actually liked "Long Duk Dong" when I saw 16 Candles as a kid because he sort of epitomized all the Chinese foreign exchange students that my parents sponsored to come to America back in the 80's and 90's. I didn't really hate him because I was never made fun of by being called Donger. Maybe I went to really liberal schools. I did however come to realize much later the impact a stereotyped character like "the Donger" could have on an entire race and generation and to some degree is still perpetuated today with John Cho's nerd in Harlod and Kumar and the annoying geek(some say adorable) that Masa Oki plays in Heroes. Somebody needs to change that.
Check out this study on the NPR here. (Notice how they introduce Martin Wong as Eric Nakamura)

Race in America

I am not trying to turn my blog into a political thing. You all know I'm pro-Obama anyway, but I finally had time to sit down and listen to this speech. It is brilliant because it underlies the true problem with America that no one had the balls nor the clout to speak about before. Obama handled it brilliantly speaking straight from the heart, honest and pure, which further confirmed my support for him. You can argue that Obama's too much of an idealist, focusing on generalities rather than specifics but in this speech he nails his point on race in America as the key to fixing most of our problems. (And at least he's not lying about being shot at by snippers to prove he understands international policy like Clinton just did. What a strange way to embellish a story.) You can watch this incredible speech here.
Oh yes, and if you are an American Ex-pat working or living overseas get your absentee ballot here.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today was my Dad's 79th birthday. He looks great for 79. I hope my skin is that smooth when I'm that age...if I even live that long.
He was actually born on the March 24th, 1929 of the lunar calender. When he immigrated to America and they asked him what his birthday was, he just gave the immigration guy his Chinese birthday and never bothered to correct it. Kind of cool, I think. I'm not really sure how to calculate that far back but does anyone know what day March 24th on the Western calendar was in 1929?
That's my brother in law Andrew and my sister Greta. We had a nice little dinner in Berkeley, then we came home so I could pack. Heading back to HK tomorrow. This was an awesome trip. Went to the film fest, met up with old friends, met very nice and interesting new people, ate good food and found peace in myself. What more could I ask for?

High School Musical

Gave a talk at my high school, Head-Royce, last week. My old English and Japanese lit teacher Barry Barankin somehow found me through the SF Asian American Film Festival people and invited to me to talk about how I got where I am today. It was cool seeing all my teachers from way back when( I graduated class of '92) and to see they were still inspiring students and still looked pretty much the same. The talk was fun and the students had a lot of great questions. There were a lot more Asian kids than when I was there and some of the students even did wushu. When I was in high school, I was the only one who did any martial arts!
From left: Jeff Key my art teacher, Johnny Wang my classmate and buddy, My Mom, Me and Barry Barakin. Jeff and Barry took me and several students to Japan for a summer class trip back in 1990. It was my first time to Japan and I loved it, which is probably why I went back to study in college and have been back dozens of times since, When I was working on Shinjuku Incident, I couldn't help but think of the great times we had 18 years ago! Teachers are important people in this world and these guys definitely influenced me heavily.

Wild Turkeys!

For some reason there are wild turkeys living in the community that my parents live. You often hear them gobbling super loud but are usually hidden in the bushes or somewhere out of sight. The other day while I was cleaning out the garage I spotted some. Too bad there is no zoom on my camera but you get the picture. They are big and actually quite beautiful. Definitely something you don't see in Hong Kong. You'd be hard pressed to find frozen turkey.

GR Baby #1

Still catching up on blogs here. Since Martin doesn't want his blog to turn into a baby blog. I'll brag about little baby Eloise for him. It was awesome to be in LA and get a chance to see the first Giant Ronot baby. So cute and she has gray eyes. I wonder when they will turn brown?

Here's a pic of Martin breast feeding. He says his nipples are getting really raw. I suggested he rub some chapstick on them.

Later that night I came back and snuck Martin out of the house for a quick run to Glendora and the Donut Man. I'd been reading and hearing about the donut man for way too long not to try one on this trip to LA.
Maybe Martin got scolded when he got back but it was worth it.