鄧紹斌《我要安樂死》

剛購買了一本新書《我要安樂死》，有待開始閱讀。http://www.jointpublishing.com/bunchai/

Bad Lands: A Tourist on the Axis of Evil by Tony Wheeler

Just bought this new book and started to read. I wish I can follow Tony's trail and visited all these countries: Afghanistan, Albania, Burma, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Saudi Arabia.

Burma: To go or not to go?

After reading Lonely Planet's comment at http://www.lonelyplanet.com/worldguide/destinations/asia/myanmar and responsible tourism, I chose to go in April 2007 for 10 days. I have a wonderful stay there. I met many many friendly locals, cheerful children and monks. I can't forget the hospitable people there. If u choose to go, like me, follow the suggestions made by LP.

May God bless the Burmese people.

Syria and Jordan

I visited Syria and Jordan during Christmas and New Year and have a wonderful experience in Syria. Every person I encountered in Syria was so nice. No matter they speak English or not! The archaeological sites are far much better than Jordan. Perhaps because of the poor weather and duststorm in Petra, I was not so impressed. What I miss much was the sunrise at Palmyra (though temperature was below 5 deg in that morning)!

Vietnam Itinerary (Southern Part)

I did the following trip during this Chinese New Year (29 January - 4 February 2006). This was my third visit to Vietnam.

D1: Night flight: HKG --> HCMC
D2: Saigon -- join local tour to Tay Ninh (Cai Dao temple) + Cu chi tunnel
D3: Saigon -- join local tour to Mekong Delta, NIGHT BUS to Nha Trang (450 km from SGN)
D4: Nha Trang sightseeing
D5: Day bus (from 0800 hrs to 1430 hrs) to Dalat, which is 220 km from Nha Trang. Rush rush sightseeing around Dalat. I took a train tour at Dalat train station. Visited Dalat market in the evening.
D6: Day bus (from 0800 hrs to 1700 hrs for 300km ride) back to Saigon. Wandered in the city centre and enjoyed the last nite in Vietnam. Went back to guesthouse and had several hrs sleep. Then got up at 0300 hrs in the early early morning to catch the flight at 0600 hrs!
D7: Home again!

《極地跨越》

Jarded Diamond的Collapse尚未讀畢，該書已被譯成中文，名為《大崩壞》。

在書展發現了一套新書，名為《極地跨越》，該書記錄了中央電視台攝製該記錄片(由南極點出發至北極，穿越美洲大陸)的所見所聞。除了Michael Palin的Pole to Pole，《極地跨越》亦是另一出色之作。

Turkey Itinerary

I visited Turkey in the summer of 2005 (30 June to 17 July 2005). My itinerary is as follows:

D1: Hong Kong-->Istanbul (By Turkish Airline)
D2: Quick sightseeing in Istanbul and overnight bus to Goreme, Cappadocia
D3: Self trekking in Rose Valley and Sword Valley of Goreme.
D4: Joining local tour to open air museum and scenic spots around Goreme.
D5-7: Joining local tour to Mt. Nemrut and Urfa.
D8: Joining local tour to underground cities and Ihlara valley (overnight bus to pamukkale).
D9: Visiting Pamukkale/Hierapolis. Taking public bus to Denzil in the evening and getting change there to Marmaris.
D10:Taking jet boat to Rhodes Island, Greece. Having day-visit there and returning Marmaris in the evening.
D11: Taking local bus to Selcuk and touring around.
D12: Visiting Ephesus and spending one full day there. Taking evening bus to Bregama
D13: Touring Pergamum.
D14: Taking bus to Bursa.
D15: Visiting mosque in Bursa.
D16: Taking bus back to Istanbul and visiting Grand Bazzars
D17: Visiting the Palace and taking flight back to Hong Kong at night.
D18: Returning home.

Collapse: How societies choose to fail or survive by Jared Diamond

剛剛買了另一本新書，Jared Diamond的Collapse: How societies choose to fail or survive

書描述了許多昔日強大的社會collapse的原因皆是由於人類對eco-system造成的破壞，執政者雖然知道問題，但置之不理，最終走上滅亡的道路(例如maya，angkor等)。但現代的社會，不懂借鑑歷史，仍重蹈覆轍 書中亦探討了現代社會的問題，如盧旺達種族屠殺等。