My sister and her colleagues cancelled their Taiwan holiday plans. They were supposed to have gone the friday b4 last but they decided to ax it. My writing assignment in Cambodia was also postponed indefinitely cos Mekong Airlines suspended all flights between Phnom Penh and Singapore.

This is the travellator used in Wong kar Wai's Chungking Express.

On the left was the kopi tiam used in Days Of Being Wild but has since become a famous restaurant. On the right is the pub used in Chungking Express.

In 1995, My Hong Kong colleague Sylvian Fung brought me to several locations where they shot Wong's films. We first met in Taipei during a regional meeting. Both of us click well sharing same frequency in movies and music. I left the company and later he did too. We lost touch for a while. Eventually we did meet up a year or two later. That was the last time I saw him. As I flip the papers and watch the news this past few weeks, I hope Sylvian is ok. Well and fine. I wish the same for my other ex colleagues/ friends in Hong Kong too.

After Noel left Suchness to pursue his studies overseas, he came out with a batch of songs that to say the least are 'damn best'. Edna was one of the first that he wrote and became my favorite. Recently he bought a guitar. I'm sure he's gonna write more.

My interest in Chinese music and cinema developed in the years following the Tiananmen Massacre. The first few that blew up in my face were Clara Law's film Farewell China and Cui Jian's album Nothing To My Name. Later films were to be Tsui Hark's Kings Of Chess and watching earlier ones like Ann Hui's Boat People and Stanley Kwan's Rouge. But most of all it was Wong Kar Wai's Days Of Being Wild that blew me away. For music, I was listening back to Cui Jian's earlier works. He Yong was an explosive punkrocker. Zhang Zhu was probably the Chinese Dylan-Morrissey while Tang Dynasty made lyrical heavy metal. Most of these works study anger, hurt and loss. The same feelings that hit me when I read the headlines on the morning of June 5th 1989.

Working for a Taiwanese company a few years after that brought me closer to my Hokkien roots. As I was making frequent trips to Taipei, likeminded colleagues there introduced and shared with me a world I came from but didn't know. I got turned on to the indierock of Lin Qiang, the urban folk of Chen Hsiao Xia, the rural tunes of Chen Ming Zhang and Wu Bai's common men take on street blues rock. In films, Hou Hsiao Hsien (City Of Sadness, The Puppet Master (including their excellent soundtracks)) led the light. And particularly Wu Nien Zhen's (Hou's regular screenplay writer) debut feature A Borrowed Life carries special meaning for me. The discovery curve became steeper and with it, the Hokkien language showed itself to me to be as textured and beautiful as any language- it is definitely unlike the diluted form we only know here.

At one point working trips to Taipei always felt like "coming home". Its sprawling urbanscape, unregulated back alleys and perpetual grey winter sky were welcoming. Pacinkos palors, sleazy pubs and raunchy underground discos in a city that never sleeps littered my nights there with keen buzz. After knowing Taipei better, I ventured out, spending more than 2 weeks travelling around other cities and towns. It wasn't enough. I must have been to Taiwan more than a dozen times over those 4 years in the mid '90s. Somewhere along the line I even thought I could live there and nearly did.
This was on the way to Jiu Fen, a small picturesque coastal town where City Of Sadness was filmed.

This is fist-punching in the air time- Livonia's version of Don't You Forget About Me. Not a quality boot but good enough to capture the good vibes on the nite of 11th Nov '98 at Moods.

Two sundays ago fever struck but 4 panadols later it died off. Last thurs, an attack of runny nose, muscle ache and mild fever forced me to see a doctor who gave me an all clear... and a $26 bill. Being a hired gun i dun get medical cover so normally i would self medicate. However this time I want to be cleared by a doc and be sure it isn't that dreaded thing floating around. Chong sms to ask whether the doc, nurses were pretty? I wouldn't know. They were all masked up.

My dental is due. I have to make an appt soon. I always had rather good teeth so it was only middle of last year that i went to a dentist for the first time in 12 years. The dentist gasp in mock horror when I "ahhhh", revealing tartar buildup the size of the Persian Army facing the Spartan defenders at Thermopylae. In the background the aunty nurse second it with grating "tsk" "tsk" noises. Despite that, everything was in perfect order. There wasn't a trace of decay and she assured me my wisdom hasn't gone crooked.

As far as i can remember, i had only two major dental episodes. Both were when i was in primary school. Once was due to heatiness and my gums were so swollen it was bleeding. Grandma asked me to "ahhhhhhh", held my jaw wif one hand, while she dabbed a fingerful of salt on the open wound. I'm sure I ARGGGGGHHHHHed. This was repeated a few times the same day. The second episode involves a loose tooth. It was the string-tie-to-a-doorknob-yank-it-out technique. Watching my grandfolks tie one end of the string to the knob, and the other around my tooth seems like a meticulous operation they had done countless times. The wait was excruciating. The countdown was even more nerve wrecking. At zero-second, the pain was acute with a split second blackout when the eyelids spasmodically blinked. Some blood and a wash of relief followed. The stubborn aching sore was gone. Next came the ritual...

I was told to stand at the back door. Hold my yanked-out-tooth in my right hand, stand straight, count to 3 and throw my tooth out onto the grass patch behind Blk 26. According to my grandma, this is to "return the tooth back". Standing straight= "so when the tooth grows back, it won't grow crooked". Its probably why till today I don't have much dental headaches. This is my Ah Mah. Blessed her heart.

Joon signed my GB asking for HOak stuff. Im beginning to feel like a hotel lounge band. Here's Susie from their Mojo Sessions demo release in '91. It almost sounds like a throwaway acoustic rock n roll jam number but its not. The guys r having their Velvet Underground moment letting the music loose and float a bit.