And Yet Another Trip

We are still trying to find a good hotel in Tokyo, and now I have another trip to think about.

I had a meeting with my agent and he seemed more frustrated at my lack of work than I am. He thinks I should be going on more auditions and getting more parts. I don't disagree with that, but I have a steady job, so I'm not so worried about it. I like my job and it pays the bills, but my agent had nothing to do with getting it, so he does not get a cut. As far as he's concerned, he has not really done enough for me. He has gotten me more auditions than I ever would have found on my own, and I'm satisfied with the job he's doing overall, but he is not.

So he went full thrusters and got me an audition for an actual motion picture in development at MGM. That sounds pretty good, but MGM is in Los Angeles, not in Hong Kong. That's where the other trip comes in. My agent wants me to go to Los Angeles in September to audition for this movie.

Ordinarily, I would have to think about it. Do I really want to fly to the other side of the world just for an audition? Getting an audition is a good thing, but most of the time they never actually lead to getting the part. Even if you get the part, a million things can happen that keep you out of it. Your scene can be cut, your part can be cut, they can recast with someone else, the movie can linger in development for years or never be finished at all. Even major international movie stars lose jobs in this business. A long time ago, some celebrity said it's never guaranteed until it's in the theaters. Even then, it can get pulled right away if it bombs.

The odds are always against you in the entertainment industry. You have to accept that and just roll with it if you want to survive. Since I have a steady gig, I'm luckier than most. A lot of people wait tables and work retail while waiting for something to happen. For most people, nothing will ever happen.

I already know all of this and I try to take it as it comes, but when I moved to Hong Kong, I assumed whatever work I got would be in Hong Kong. Flying out to Los Angeles for every audition would be insanely expensive, but my agent is either so confident or feels so guilty that he is going to pay for the trip.

I could hardly believe it when he told me that part. Hong Kong to Los Angeles is not a cheap flight. I had to ask him what he was thinking. That's when he told me that I will be going with three other girls. He set up auditions for all of us, though we are not all up for the same part, and he wants to send us all out there at the same time. That's certainly a less expensive way to do it, but how often can he afford such a thing? If he keeps sending his performers to the United States for auditions, he will go broke in no time.

Weekends in China

My latest book, Weekends in China, is ready to go. It is mostly about adapting to life in Hong Kong with a lot more information and details than this blog. There is also plenty about going back and forth between Hong Kong and Mainland China and how different they are from each other.

I have seen some of my books in the weirdest places and on websites that I have never heard of, but the main place to buy it is at Amazon.

Weekends in China in paperback
and e-book.

Tokyo Trip part 2

Finding a hotel is a bigger challenge than finding a flight. The flights are all about timing. With hotels, we have to think about price, location and what we want from the hotel.

Tokyo has thousands of hotels, from the most luxurious suites to tiny boxes the size of coffins. They have “capsule hotels” where a bunch of beds are lined up and stacked on top of each other. It's like you have a bunk bed with a hundred roommates, except there's a little bit of privacy in your own little coffin. You even get your own little TV. I don't know where the bathroom is. Each floor probably has one or two that everyone has to share.

Obviously we are not going to do that. Between the four of us, we can afford something a little better. We just have to decide what kind of hotel we want, and more importantly, where.

Tokyo is an enormous city. I think that rationally, the best thing would be to pick a neighborhood and just spend all of our time there. There's no way we are ever going to see even a fraction of everything Tokyo has to offer. You probably have to live there for years to see half of the city. It's never a good idea to try and cram too much into one trip. With a smaller city like Amsterdam, we could probably get to know the place very well in the amount of time we have. For a city the size of Tokyo, there's just no time.

Since none of us have ever been there, sticking to one neighborhood is not going to happen. We all have things that we want to see and do and everything seems to be in a different neighborhood. Tokyo is supposed to have a good MTR system, which I'm sure they call something else, and I know we will be using it often. Ideally, we should see one part of the city on this trip and other parts on subsequent trips, but if none of us have been there in all these years, how long will it be before any of us ever go back for a second trip?

Tokyo Trip

Finding flights from Hong Kong to Tokyo is pretty easy. All the Japanese airlines go to Hong Kong. Most of the Chinese airlines go to Japan. A lot of other airlines go to both on their way back and forth to other places. Even a couple of American airlines go through both on their way to Seattle or San Francisco.

Our only challenge is that Ryan is in Fuzhou, not Hong Kong. We either need a flight that leaves late enough in the day for him to get here in time or he needs to come to Hong Kong the day before and spend the night. If he comes to Hong Kong the day before, that takes a day away from our trip. He can only take so many days off work. It’s a lot better for the rest of us if he comes to Hong Kong in the morning and we take an afternoon flight to Tokyo. That’s not so good for Ryan since it means he has to actually wake up before noon. The later he gets into Hong Kong, the later we get into Tokyo.

Typhoon Matmo

It's typhoon season once again. Japan got hit by a big one earlier this month. It weakened just before it hit Japan, so it was not as bad as everyone thought it would be.

Right after that, Typhoon Rammasun slammed into the Philippines. They will probably see a dozen more large typhoons before the year is over.

Now we have Typhoon Matmo crashing through Taiwan and heading straight to Fuzhou. Since it went through Taiwan, it's not supposed to be as big when it hits Fuzhou, but they will have plenty of rain and wind. Ryan has been hit by more typhoons in Fuzhou than we will ever see here in Hong Kong.

A lot of people died in Taiwan, but that was because of a plane crash. I don't know why anyone would fly a plane in the middle of a typhoon. You would think the people in charge would never let that happen. Taiwan must have some version of the FAA. They seriously dropped the ball.

A lot of people are criticizing Malaysia Airlines for flying over war zones, but flying in a typhoon has to be a million times worse. Flying 30,000 feet over a conflict is potentially dangerous, but the odds are, nothing will ever touch your plane. Someone has to really want to shoot your plane down. Flying in a typhoon is like putting a loaded gun to your head and pulling the trigger.

Vacation to Somewhere part 9

We finally decided where to go. I'm very glad we did since we are supposed to leave in three weeks. We have known about this trip for four months, but only just figured out where to go. Instead of having four months to find a great hotel and hopefully get a good deal on plane tickets, we now have three weeks.

Since we could not find any common ground between all of our choices, Lily suggested we go somewhere else entirely. The idea was that if we picked a completely different place, no one would have to give up their first choice at the expense of someone else's first choice.

Kevin immediately suggested Tokyo. His company always sends people there on business trips and he has always wanted to go, but they never send him. A vacation is a lot better than a business trip since you can spend the day seeing and doing things rather than sitting in some meeting.

Ryan & I thought about Tokyo when we went to Bali, but we wanted something more private and relaxing. Since this is a trip with four people, it's not going to be as private as the Bali trip anyway. We really don't need a tropical island. A big city will work.

None of us have ever been to Tokyo, but Japan is one of those places that most of us want to see. We live very close, but none of us have ever bothered to go there. When I told Ryan that Lily, Kevin and I all thought Tokyo would be a good idea, he was not especially excited about it. When he goes on vacation, he wants to get as far from Chinese culture as he can. I tried to convince him that China and Japan are very different, but since I have never been to Japan, I'm just assuming it's nothing like China the way he's assuming it's just like China.

It took some convincing, and a promise that Ryan and Kevin would have some time to themselves while Lily & I go off and do things they are not interested in doing. Eventually, Ryan was on board with Tokyo.

Now we just have to plan everything.

Vacation to Somewhere part 8

It does not look like we are going to find a place that all of us can agree on. We might just have to draw straws or play rock paper scissors, which is called scissors paper stone in Chinese.

At the top of my list is Amsterdam. Ryan & I went there three years ago, but the main part of that trip was Rome. Amsterdam was just something extra we added because our flights went through Amsterdam's airport. I liked Amsterdam a lot more than I expected and I would love to see more of it and spend more time there.

At the top of Lily's list is Bali. She's looked at a lot of villas online and likes the idea of a private swimming pool as much as I do. Ryan & I have been there also, but we only saw a fraction of the island. August is the dry season in Bali and it would be nice to walk around with a little less humidity than what we experienced in the middle of the rainy season.

Ryan and Kevin both want to go to Thailand, but not the same place. Ryan wants to go back to Bangkok, where we spent a couple of days at the end of our big cruise last year. I would love to see more of Bangkok since we saw so little, but I think I would rather go back to Amsterdam. There are also some political issues in Bangkok right now, but I'm sure that would not affect us.

Kevin wants to go to Chiang Mai. I like that none of us have ever been there before, but I'm not crazy about the fact that August is the rainy season. In fact, it rains more in August than any other month. A little rain here and there is no big deal, but constant downpours can really put a dent in your trip. August is also the rainy season in Bangkok, but September is supposed to be the worst month by a mile.

We could always spend half the time in Bangkok and half in Chiang Mai, but that's really not my favorite way to do things. You have to pack your junk in the middle of the trip, take a plane or train to the other city and then check in and unpack at a new hotel or villa. That eats up a lot of time, especially if an airport is involved. I would rather just spend the entire trip in one place. No matter where we go, we are going to have to deal with enough waiting around at airports anyway. I don't really want to waste even more time playing hurry up and wait.

It almost looks like we will be going to Thailand since it has two votes. Since we have all been living in Hong Kong for a few years, we know what it's like to be somewhere when it's raining every single day. One of the benefits of getting out of Hong Kong is getting away from the rain and constant humidity. Going to Thailand in August might not be the best idea. As far as the weather is concerned, we should head north. Like Amsterdam, for example.

Vacation to Somewhere, Anywhere

The big Fourth of July party was very nice. Everyone had a good time. It did not rain and it was not especially cloudy, so we could go outdoors and enjoy that wonderful pool deck. Most importantly, no one got hurt.

We still have a big vacation coming up next month and we have no idea where we are all going. I always thought taking a trip with four people would be easier since we could get a bigger hotel suite or villa, but it's a lot harder since we all have to decide where to go. Going somewhere with just Ryan is pretty easy. He has a few places he does not want to go, but most of the time I can talk him into going where I want to go. Lily & Kevin are a lot harder.

7/4/14

Fourth of July 2014

Sometimes nothing works out the way you want it to no matter how hard you try. Sometimes everything just falls into place and all the stars align when you’re not even trying.

Life has a funny way of sneaking up on you
When you think everything’s ok
And everything’s going right
Life has a funny way of helping you out
When you think everything’s gone wrong
And everything blows up in your face.
Every year, usually during the summer, Kevin's boss goes out of town and Kevin looks after his house at Clear Water Bay. While Kevin lives there, Lily and I tag along. Mainly because it's a really nice house. This tradition started back when we lived in a tiny little 1 bedroom apartment, so sleeping in a large 4 bedroom house was a nice way to spend the summer. The big house has a lot of things that our old apartment never had, like more than enough bedrooms, a private bathroom for everybody, a real kitchen, a swimming pool and hot tub, a large outdoor pool deck and plenty of space.

Now we have a much larger apartment and we are not nearly as crowded as we were in the old apartment. We are still all staying at the big house, though. The new apartment has plenty of bedrooms, bathrooms, a nice kitchen and far more space than the old apartment. But it does not have a private pool or that beautiful pool deck. It also does not have amazing views of the ocean. The new apartment would be a great place to take a vacation from the old apartment, but the big house is still a great place to vacation from everywhere else.

Not only do we have the big house, but we have it during Fourth of July. That means a big party. This is a great house for a party and from that pool deck, we can watch fireworks over the bay. Hong Kong does not celebrate Fourth of July, of course, but the last time we were at the big house during this time of year, we saw fireworks for some reason. We are not facing the harbour, so it's not the Symphony of Lights fireworks.

As if all of that was not enough, Ryan will be in town. So I get to spend Fourth of July with my boyfriend at the big house. You can't ask for much more. There's nothing wrong with spending Fourth of July with Lily & Kevin, but they are Canadian, so it's not the same. They understand what it's all about, of course, but national holidays are always better spent with people who grew up celebrating them and have all those memories. My Chinese friends like having me around during Chinese New Year, but it all means a lot more to their Chinese friends.

This looks to be the best Fourth of July in a long time.