TIM XU
idealist. intellectual. dreamer. thinker. creator.HELLO
I am, at heart, a dabbler. I'm an economics student at Yale University, and I'm fascinated by the world and its complexity. This is my life.RevivalOct 09
After over a year of not writing here, and after several weeks of procrastinating, I’ve finally gotten around to updating my blog. Now that I’m entering the twilight of a major period in my life and standing at the doorstep of the next great chapter, I feel it’s appropriate that I begin recording my thoughts and experiences again. I also made some minor cosmetic changes to the website and updated some of the pages.
As a college senior without too many extracurricular commitments, I’ve found myself thinking a lot about the future. It’s natural, of course, to think about my own future, but the state of the world these past few months has brought its future to the forefront of my mind. With the Arab revolutions, economic problems in Europe and at home, and the beginnings of popular uprisings here in the U.S., there’s a lot of uncertainty in the world.
And so I’ll be writing more often moving forward. I expect to write less about the happenings in my own life, and more about my musings regarding events that are tangential, or even unrelated, to me.
French CanadaAug 18
A mere couple of weeks after coming back from Hong Kong, I’m now on a family vacation to Canadia! These past two days we’ve visited the cradle of French civilization, Québec, and the former commercial capital of Canada, Montréal. I wasn’t anticipating just how French the place was (English isn’t even an official language in Québec!), but the first store we went to, a Subway for dinner, had no English at all. It was definitely quite the shock, but we got used to it and spent a day in the historical city of Québec, spending most of our time in the original city boundaries (Old Québec) and the government buildings outside the walls.
Our day in Québec city was an overcast, rainy day, although the rain always seemed to pour when we were inside, which was fortunate. It’s the only city north of Mexico with intact city walls, though after seeing the Xi’an city walls, these are pretty lame – no wonder Québec got taken by the British! Kidding aside, the Old City (Vieux Québec), was quaint but colorful. Narrow streets, open shops, stone-cobbled streets made it feel very much like a stereotypical European villa. It even kind of felt like a European city: most of the tourist attractions were churches. We did visit the Québec Parliament building, where the leaders of the “nation” of Québec – as they call themselves – govern. It also gave a glimpse into the curious history of French Canada, with its initial history under French rule, middle history under British rule, and now a very French region of the Canadian federation.
Parliament in Québec. Note how the renovations on the left side don’t interfere with your photography of the building. It’s not even see-through scaffolding; the image of Parliament is on the fabric itself. We saw this all over Montréal too!
Notre-Dame church in Québec, one of dozens in the city.
Afterwards, we walked around the beautiful narrow, winding streets of Vieux Québec and found our way to the Morrin Centre, now the home of the Québec Historical and Literary Society. However, the building, built in the early 1800s as the first jail in Québec. The building still has a basement room that is an unmodified, unrestored cell block from the original jail. It was a dank, dark place with scary stone walls and metal doors. I’m sure modern jails are any also stone walls and metal doors, but this just felt like a cave with chains. The building was then restored into a college for English speakers, and when the English-speaking population declined, converted into a library. Very cool place with a unique history.
The library inside the Morrin Centre. Hard to imagine this used to be a cell block in a jail.
Since everything in Québec seems to close around 4pm, we then headed out of town to the rural Île d’Orleans, a farm-heavy area primarily involved with fruit – vineyards, apple orchards, strawberry farms, etc. The pastoral scene didn’t seem like a huge contrast with the old stone walkways and old buildings in Québec city, and seemed like merely going into the countryside of an ancient European city. Quaint, but beautiful.
Montréal
The next day, we headed out to Montréal, which was, until Toronto’s rise in 1976, the commercial capital of Canada. I definitely didn’t get a favorable impression of this supposedly wondrous city. The problems started fairly early: the exit from the highway into the city advertised the visitor’s center, so we thought we could go there and grab a map to get a sense of where to go. Yet as soon as we got off the highway, there were no further signs for a couple kilometers. When a sign finally showed up, it said the center was about 9 kilometers away. We thought it’d be quick, so we just plowed ahead. Bad idea. Roadwork narrowed the street to only one lane, and there were traffic lights on every block. It took us about 30 minutes to travel 2 kilometers. We decided to turn around and go to the Botanical Gardens and not waste time sitting in traffic.
The gardens were actually pretty neat. They had plants and flowers from all over the world, including an area devoted to China, another for Japan’s banzai gardens, and more for areas like Russia and the Alps. Not a huge park, but definitely quite beautiful. No pictures for now, since I didn’t bring the USB cord for my other camera, but I’ll post them up later!
After a (very) late lunch, we decided to try to find that visitor’s center. Eventually, though, the signs became so scarce that we got completely lost in downtown Montréal. GPS is great, but only if you know where you’re going. The only place we knew was our hotel, so we gave up on the visitor’s center and ran head-on into Montréal’s strange road signs. At one point, the GPS told us to turn left, so we turned left. Suddenly, a pedestrian about to cross waved at us and pointed at a road sign. It was a green circle with an arrow pointing forward and another pointing to the right (example here) with text beneath it that said “7hrs á 22hrs”. I figured immediately that it was the equivalent of the American no-left-turn sign (a left arrow with a cross on it) but I couldn’t figure out why they just didn’t put that on the sign. It was hardly intuitive to tell someone you can turn right and go forward and not say anything about the possibility of left turns. I’m not sure what they were thinking when designing the sign, but it was frustrating because the GPS kept telling us to turn left, yet we couldn’t. And after we got out of the city, we hit rush hour traffic.
Later on, we went to visit the rest of the city, ending up in Chinatown and Old Montréal. Unfortunately, many of the sites (including the square in front of their Notre-Dame) were under heavy renovation, perhaps explaining the dearth of tourists in the city. My overall impression of downtown Montréal: poorly lit, low population, many homeless, and fairly creepy. The only vibrant, bright area in Old Montréal was one block. The rest was dark and shady. Not the best impression at all!
Notre-Dame in Montréal. Material and architecture looks kind of familiar…
In any case, we only planned one day in Montréal. Tomorrow is Toronto for two days, then Niagara Falls!
Blog postcrastinationJul 26
Blog postcrastination (n.) – The counterproductive deferment of writing a blog post to a later time due to laziness. Compounds particularly harshly with passing time, as each significant event in the life of the blog post writer adds to the impending task of writing the blog post, thus increasing the likelihood of blog postcrastination.
I have suffered greatly from this psychological anxiety for the last month, hence the emptiness of this space for that time. But I will attempt to recap the highlights from the past month (mostly in pictures because of blog postcrastination).
The Peak
Hong Kong island is essentially a mountain island with a bunch of buildings built at the shore, so the peak of that mountain offers a beautiful view of those buildings and the surrounding areas. It’s not terribly high up, only about 500 meters, but the view of central, the harbor, and Kowloon is spectacular. It’s obviously geared for tourists, with a legitimate mall built up there, but it was quite classy and didn’t distract from the beauty.
I went with David, David’s friend Paulina, and a few of her co-workers, and we walked around a trail that led us all the way around the mountain peak and offered views of every side of Hong Kong island.
The view of Hong Kong from the peak during the day and at night
The Movie
I meant to talk about Toy Story 3 here, but I really don’t know how without saying what’s been said before. It was a fantastic movie: funny, sad, heart-wartming, silly, exhilarating…very Pixar. It was an intimate reminder of the nostalgia all of us harbor for childhood and a wonderfully silly story of a group of toys all at once. Far from just a kids’ movie, I think it’s poignant for anyone who’s ever grown up.
Pixar is known for the quality of their films, but Toy Story 3 really upped the ante in that regard. The fine detail in their presentation, the quality of the voice acting, the narrative, the high unique and compelling characters, the score – all top notch. Some highlights: Spanish Buzz and his scenes with Jessie (especially the credits!), the Return of the Jedi homage with Lotso and the Baby, the A New Hope homage in the trash compactor, Night & Day, the Return of the King homage in the fire and the claw saving the day, Ken and Barbie, and the ending with Betty and Andy.
The Boat
The Yale Club of Hong Kong was kind enough to plan a junk boat trip for the interns and some alumni. We sailed around Hong Kong island in rough waters – or at least what seemed like rough waters due to the small boat and heavy rocking – to a beautiful bay in the south. It was a great day in the sun (well, before the sunburn…) and highly relaxing. After spending 10 hours in a office 5.5 days a week, it was a nice change to be out in the sun with no stress or worries for an entire day.
Views from (and on) the boat
Dialogue in the DarkJun 28
Hong Kong has an exhibition called “Dialogues in the Dark,” and it’s a 75 minute journey in the pitch dark led by an actual blind person. They gave us sticks to make sure we didn’t trip, and took us through several simulated parts of Hong Kong, including a park (Kowloon Park), a ferry crossing, a market, crossing the street, and ordering a drink/drinking it at a café, all in absolute darkness.
When we first went into the dark, it was actually pretty frightening. I don’t think I’ve ever experience such absolute darkness before. Normally, at night, you can at least see faint outlines of objects; here, we couldn’t see anything. We had to rely on voices, sounds, touching the person in front of us to keep from getting lost. Especially in the beginning, we shuffled around slowly with lots of *tap tap* “Who’s this?” “It’s David.” “Oh who’s behind me?” “Frank.” *tap tap* “Ow that’s my leg.” “Stop hitting me with your stick!” “THAT’S WHAT SHE SAID!” *tap tap* “Where’s Frank? I haven’t felt him all day?” (That last one was David…).
We felt trees, leaves, and the changing texture of the ground from rocks to grass to wood chips, the rocking of a small bridge, heard the chirps of birds, the distant roar of a waterfall…all this in just the first part! Having to rely on touch, sound, and each other really made me realize how much I had taken my sight for granted. When we got to the ferry part and we walked up the ramp and felt the life jackets on the wall, and when we “crossed” the harbor and felt the wind and the rocking of the boat, I could almost see the boat, the harbor, the fading Kowloon skyline and the growing Hong Kong skyline. I realized very quickly how much my sense of hearing and touch contribute and enrich what I see.
There’s so much more to experience based on all our senses beyond basic vision. We were born with five senses, and those of us fortunate enough to retain our use of all five ought to appreciate and fully utilize each one. What’s life, after all, if we don’t notice it in all dimensions?
Also, FIFA needs new referees. It’s getting kind of silly.
ClassJun 14
I’ve noticed that a lot of our social activities here in Hong Kong have been quite classy, especially this weekend’s events. High-end bars, Australian restaurants, the Hong Kong Jockey Club… this isn’t quite Hong Kong to most of her citizens. Most of these major events were organized by Yale alumni, who are, no doubt, upper class members of Hong Kong society. That said, these experiences are indeed fantastic and I’m enjoying myself a great deal, but it did get me thinking about our expectations and how they play into our quality of life. It occurred to me that this summer, and, to a degree, the entire Yale experience is rapidly preparing me for just that kind of life: cocktail parties, fancy dinners, and watching horses run around in circles.
However, having just finished my second year at Yale, my future as a member of that society is far from guaranteed. Every year, hundreds of Yale graduates leave to pursue work in inner cities, developing countries, and other environments where wants give way to needs. Yet this summer is building a set of expectations and behavioral assumptions in which image rises above wants and needs, and that image is one of class and status. And I suspect that even those Yalies working in inner cities and developing countries still expect a level of high class in their own projection of themselves.
To be sure, there isn’t anything measurably wrong with the upper class and their social mode. Yale, like it’s ivied cousins, has a level of prestige to uphold, a level of grace and history that its name demands. These most recent experiences, however, have made me far more aware that very recently, Yale’s student body was almost entirely children of wealth and status. While this is fortunately no longer true, it is still very much the image of Yale, and the Ivy League, that prevails. With names like Yale and Harvard and Princeton come a sense of privilege that is often begrudged by the rest of the world.
Maybe this is why I hesitate to tell newly-acquainted strangers where I go to school: not because I’m ashamed of my school – quite the contrary – but because I fear that their image of me will be incorrigibly colored by prestige and status, that they will immediately regard me as inaccessible and elite. Perhaps I hesitate because I want and need to prove to them (and myself?) that I am no different, that just because I go to Yale does not mean that I live a life of entitlement and prestige, that just because I was given these expectations by a singing bulldog does not take away my upbringing in a family built by hard work and sacrifice.
And yet, here I am in Hong Kong, where alumni after alumni shows me what the world looks like on the other side, and all I can see are high heels and twenty dollar cocktails.
A City of Lights and TreesJun 08
This past weekend was quite eventful. On Friday after work, all the Bulldogs in Hong Kong met with the alumni at a super fancy (and super expensive!) restaurant for drinks. We met a few recent and not-so-recent graduates doing a variety of interesting work in Hong Kong. Afterwards, we went to check out Lan Kwai Fong, the local partying district. It was very crowded and full of foreigners, but still lively. We didn’t stay long, since we were tired, but we definitely plan on making a return trip!
Saturday was spent balling with some locals with David, Hanqing, Kevin (from Boston College) and Liang (YC ’08). They were good and we lost pretty much every game, but it felt good to exercise after sitting on my butt for a whole week. In the evening, we had a bro session and watched “I Love You, Man” and also discovered a sad dog made of shadows and silhouettes in a window across the street. It was freaky. I’m surprised I didn’t have nightmares about it afterwards.
Sunday was spent hiking in the hills above Hong Kong Island with Nelson, one of the older alums. We spent around 4 hours in the mountain, but the roads were paved and the weather was absolutely beautiful. I love that Hong Kong has such an abundance of natural habitats and greenery. There were butterflies, caterpillars, birds, plants…it reminded me of hiking in the Smoky Mountains and Hawaii. It was too easy to forget that just a mile to the north lay a scattered grid of towering high-rises and one of the densest cities in the world. There was such a feeling of peace and quiet that stood at stark contrast to the noise and bustle of the busy city. Hong Kong is often criticized for being a cold, serious metropolis, but the fact that you can walk 10 minutes and be lost in a sea of green adds an unique dimension to the experience. For a city hailed as one of the financial centers of Asia, it really is amazing.
The reservoir within the park. It’s literally right in the middle of Hong Kong Island.
Monday, a few of us went to the piers on Kowloon side to see the daily light show. The relatively short show is synchronized with music and played on the buildings of the Hong Kong skyline, along with lasers and spotlights arranged along the shore. The skyline itself is beautiful, especially when seen from the docks across the harbor. The skyline seems to grow out of the water itself, and the distant shade of mountains creates a majestic backdrop. Click on for a few more pictures from the weekend! More »
Real WorldJun 02
I have a cubicle. It’s a little bit fantastic. It’s like The Office, except with a competent boss and less jokes and scripted sequences. It’s also longer than 23 minutes a week and involves a commute that’s 45 minutes each way. I’m doing marketing for a real estate conglomerate here in Hong Kong, working with their Hotels group and the various promotions and events they’re putting on in the coming weeks. I’ve also got a few other responsibilities, so I should be pretty busy.
The last few days have been quite eventful. I’ll let the pictures/captions do the talking, because jet lag is trying to kill me.
On Monday night, the girls made dinner for themselves. Not to be outdone, the boys decided to do the same. Two hours and some Yelin-magic later, here we are, about to enjoy a fine dinner. Scrumptious stuff, really. We’ve also been preparing our own breakfast these days, making toast (if it can be called that…) without a toaster and scrambled eggs. Add that to some “milk beverage – made from fresh milk” and it’s breakfast.
Earlier Monday afternoon, Yelin and Frank and I went to Causeway Bay, a famous shopping area, for lunch and then wandered afterwards. There was literally a mall at every street corner, and often more on the streets themselves. One particular one had one of Yelin’s favorite clothing stores, UNI QLO, so we checked it out. This is us trying on some vests from the store. Hot, right?
And finally, from that same trip: the World Trade Centre. With our famous mango drinks. And the fob signs. Sorry, we had to do it…
Living the Real LifeMay 30
Today, I felt like a real adult for the first time in my life. After brunch, we went grocery shopping. We bought almost $100 USD worth of food and ingredients, including rice, scallions, fruit, oil, pepper, ham, milk – the things you need for everyday life. The apartment came stocked with silverware and cooking utensils, so we’re prepared fix ourselves some meals. The problem: we can’t really…cook. So it looks like a steady diet of scrambled eggs, cereal, instant noodle, and fried rice, mixed with a copious serving of eating out. One thing I did notice was the pricing of groceries and even restaurants in the immediate area around our apartment. It was definitely abnormally high for China standards, and were quite comparable to American prices. While they are cheaper, it’s not as cheap as I expected. The grocery prices were certainly on par with those of cheaper American groceries (ie: Chinatown). I’m not sure if that’s the case for all of Hong Kong or just our immediate vicinity.
I also spent a good amount of the day just chatting with some of the other kids in the Bulldogs program here, and just getting to know them. I can already tell that we’re going to have a good summer together. Everyone is chill, fun, and easy to get along with. I’m pretty excited for the shenanigans that await us as soon as we get over our jet lag.
Starting work on Tuesday! I’m surprisingly fairly excited/anxious for it. I guess the unknown is alluring.
The remains of our first dinner out as a group. Definitely better than Chinese food in America. Makes sense.
Hong Kong ArrivalMay 29
I left my house at around 7am on Friday, May 28. I arrived in my apartment in Hong Kong at around 4pm on Saturday, May 29. In total, I spent 21 hours in various modes of transportation, from cars to planes to trains to walking. It was a relatively smooth, albeit long, journey.
There was no traffic on the way to JFK International, so I got there with plenty of time and boarded Cathay Pacific flight CX841 fairly early. I got a window seat, which was great, but a few minutes after I sat down, a six-year-old kid plopped down next to me. I figured his (very) Asian mom would hold him in check, so he wouldn’t be a nuisance. I was wrong. He made high-pitched whee!s non-stop while playing asteroids. When he went to sleep, his feet found their way onto my lap and laptop. Even when he was awake, he still ended up kicking me. Fortunately, it wasn’t so frequent as to make the sixteen-hour flight a nightmare, but it was annoying.
The little kid aside, the flight wasn’t bad. Cathay had a HUGE selection of movies/TV shows, so I watched bits of Avatar, Hitch, Dodgeball, and all of Couples Retreat. Then, about 4 hours into the flight, I realized that the green glowing light behind my tray was, in fact, an AC port. The laptop got pulled out, and I rewatched (500) Days of Summer along with about 13 episodes of Two and a Half Men. That, along with about 2-3 hours of sleep, 4-5 Sudoku puzzles, and 2 halfway decent meals, took me to Hong Kong. The Cathay seats were comfortable, but I didn’t really like the recline. Instead of actually reclining the back of your chair, it shifts the padding on the chair downward to create the reclined position with some cushion. It was comfortable, but did limit legspace, which was already being invaded by a certain six-year-old. Altogether, though, the flight was better than most trans-Pacific flights. Cathay is definitely a fantastic airline.
Customs and baggage claim was surprisingly swift. The baggage barely went around once before I got both of my bags. Then I took the (super cool!) Airport Express to Hong Kong Island, and then the regular metro rail to my apartment. The metro stations were clean, unlike New York City’s, and the subway cars themselves were breezy and somewhat odorless, again unlike New York City’s. It was just one ride, but so far I’m impressed.
My apartment is pretty sweet. It’s a pseudo-hotel, so we get our sheets/towels/carpets/whatnot cleaned twice a week. Two bedrooms, a full bath, a full kitchen, and a rather large living room–I’m satisfied. Frank and David (my roommates for the summer) aren’t here yet, so it’s kind of cold and lonely here. I’m going to go explore the shopping mall and see if I can get a phone.
Real Life Cheat CodesMay 26
I saw this on reddit, and I wanted to share! Some of these are actually pretty nifty.
* Stop: Stop: Play. Skip advertisements in movies and go strait to the movie.
• Peel a banana from the bottom (I KNEW IT!). See this video for a visual guide.
• If your credit card magnetic stripe starts to get worn from use and being in your wallet, and doesn’t always read in the card reader, you can use the plastic bag trick. Put the card in a plastic grocery bag and then swipe it. Not sure why it works, but it does.Taking it further though, you can simply apply a piece of quality cellophane tape over the mag stripe for a “permanent” plastic bag trick.
• At the end of your shower turn the water really (or all the way) cold. This will wake you up and get blood flowing. It also closes your pores to allow for less dirt and bacteria to get in to help reduce acne problems.
• When you have forgotten someones name, simply say : “I’m sorry, but what was your name one more time.” They may act offended, but when they give you there first name you simply reply “No, I meant your last name.” (more socially acceptable to forget). Bingo. First and last names.
• Gently work an orange in your hands to loosen the peel from the fruit. This makes it easy enough to get the whole peel in one shot.
• Can’t find your car in a parking lot? hitting the lock button trying to get it to beep? Extend the distance of key-less entry by putting the key under your chin. The signal will resonate in your skull increasing the range dramatically. I swear to god this works, and I’m told it’s safe because the radiation is non-ionizing.
• Most tinfoil and saran wrap boxes have little push-in tabs on the sides. If you push them in, the roll won’t fall out when you try to rip out a sheet of it.
• Whenever you spill any liquid that will stain on your carpet (red wine, juice, etc), pour some salt on it. Work it into the carpet – just rub it in with your hands. Leave it there for a few hours (for serious stains, up to a day) and vacuum it out. Voila, stain gone.
• 4,2,3,1 — Vending machine cheat code (as in, the vertical buttons machines, like this http://www.enterprisevending.com/Images/vending.jpg) that will grant access to vending machine’s diagnostic menu. Most times the fun features are disabled, but i’ve gotten a free powerade and a couple cokes in the past.
