I'm Apte (with an e)

Because my health insurance is provided by the government, they have a vested interest in keeping me healthy. As such, they require me to pay them a visit every 6 months or so for a check up. I was summoned last week.

In France the average person "costs" about half of what the average American "costs" for healthcare. In the US these costs are split pretty evenly between the government (medicare, medicaid) and private payments (like health insurance and personal out of pocket expenses). In France the government pays for about 80% of it. Despite spending less than half of what the US spends of health care, people in France somehow live longer and healthier. Lifestyle certainly has a lot to do with this, but I also think that the french approach to healthcare is better than the US approach.

You often hear that prevention is better than reaction. It is much cheaper to keep people healthy than to wait until they become unhealthy and then try to fix them. This seems like common sense to most people, but despite how obvious this seems, I have never had a health care plan in the US that required, or incentivized in any way, regular doctor's visits and checkups. I am just as busy and lazy as the next American, so of course I never took my own initiative and scheduled my own regular checkups, and I cannot even remember the last time I went to a doctor for a non-emergency.

In France these regular checkups are required. And they are free. They check your eyes, make you pee in a cup, check your blood pressure, check your weight, ask about your diet, your work, any aches or pains, etc. Pretty routine and the goal is just to catch the bad things before they become too bad. As long as everything is good, they give you a piece of paper that says Apte and let you go on your way. If things are bad, you get something else, and are maybe required to visit other doctors or prevented from returning to work (with full pay, of course :-). I got an apte, and a big pat on the back for getting my blood pressure down from the first visit I had when I first got to France. The only negative was that I cannot remember the last time I had a round of vaccinations (polio, tetanus, diphtheria), so the doc gave me an address to get my vaccinations updated. Also free, of course.

I wonder what impact something like this would have on the average healthiness of the US. If these regular checkups detect problems, they send you to a specialist for consultation. If the doc thinks you might be carrying a few extra pounds, they send you to a nutritionist to help you get your diet right. If you are suffering from any work related illnesses, they can give you the time off to recoup.

I know I certainly tend to ignore problems until they become too difficult to ignore, so hopefully this will keep me informed on my current health.

Ma Lau Shan (馬騮山)

When most people thing of Hong Kong, they think of this:


Which is, of course, Hong Kong. Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated places in the world. Thousands of skyscrapers stacked 10 feet apart and half the streets are filled with street vendors. It sometimes seems that every single inch of the city is taken up by people or buildings. But Hong Kong is also extremely mountainous, so only about 25% of Hong Kong is actually developed, and nearly 50% is protected reserve or park. It was to this undeveloped wilderness that we ventured to the (in)famous Ma Lau Shan (monkey mountain).



That sign basically says "Don't feed the monkeys or they will kill you", or something like that (my chinese is a little rusty). There is a $10,000 fine for even thinking about feeding them. All of the people hiking here were traveling in big groups and carrying sticks or golf clubs or something to defend themselves from the horrible monkeys. Everyone was warning me against bringing food, anything that smells like food, anything that looks like it might contain food, and generally any shopping sacks or plastic bags of any kind, or the monkeys will murder me and take it. Some people were quite frightened, and George was scared the entire time we were there.

I'm sure this monkey murdered someone for that bottle of tea.

In reality the monkeys didn't seem all that dangerous. They mostly just did monkey things like swinging in the trees or lounging on the pathway eating bugs off each other. One of them stalked us for a bit, and made George nervous, but most of them just ignored us and went about their monkey ways. Maybe they recognized my beastly manliness and figured they better just leave us alone, but whatever their reasons, they didn't seem the brutal killing machines they had been hyped up to be.

Monkeys doing their monkey thing

Surprisingly the monkeys seem to stay on their monkey mountain and don't venture into the city to terrorize people. As mentioned above, Hong Kong is full of street stalls selling all kinds of yummy things, and it seems like all the outdoor markets would be easy pickings for these little agile killer monkeys. In fact they rarely even cross the road. There are no fences to keep them in and there is a large pedestrian overpass to protect them from getting squashed on Kong Kong's dangerous roads. I don't know, maybe they know that people in Hong Kong will eat just about anything, and if they start stealing food from the locals, the locals might turn them into food.

Monkeys are native to Hong Kong, by the way, but they are a smaller, less aggressive species, and they have mostly been displaced by habitat destruction and the introduction of the killer macaques mentioned above. Turns out that after the locals built a reservoir here back in 1913 they noticed that the area was home to a toxic species of plant that was contaminating the waters (probably something you should figure out before you build a reservoir). Macaques like to eat this toxic plant, so a few families were introduced to clean out the bad plants and keep the water clean. As monkeys tend to do, these guys were very successful at reproducing, and now there are thousands of them swinging in the trees near the water supply.

Humans have a consistently bad habit of releasing foreign species of plants or animals into an ecosystem to try and clear out undesirable species. This almost always results in the new species proliferating beyond control since there generally isn't a local predator for a totally foreign species. So far most of Hong Kong is okay with the monkeys, but the stories of monkey attacks and food stealing I mentioned above are not made up (just slightly exaggerated).

Monkey guarding the sign that tells you how to defend yourself against them. They do not want you to know their weaknesses.

Anyway, on your next trip to Hong Kong get out of the urban craziness for a bit. Take a trip out to the wilderness and see some monkeys. Take a hike up to the giant buddha on lantau island. Hop a short bus ride out to one of the sleepy fishing villages like Tai O, or even catch a boat out to one of the less populated smaller islands and escape the rat-race. There is more than just shopping, eating, and skyscraper browsing.

Long time no blog

I don't like to travel with my computer. I travel light, and don't like the additional weight (physical and mental) of dragging a computer around with me, so it's been a couple weeks since I have had a chance to update my blog.

One of the best things about living in France is that you are so close to the rest of Europe, so many exotic (to an American) and famous world cities are just a train or short plane ride away. So for my first real vacation since moving here I went to Hong Kong!



Yeah, that Hong Kong. The one just about on the other side of the planet from me. The one that is about a 13 hour flight from Paris. My sister-in-law got married last week, so I dusted off my old suit (which I bought in Hong Kong for a previous wedding, and haven't worn since) and George put on her brand new fake converse (see picture below) and we took off for Hong Kong.



Hong Kong is a great city. George grew up there, and most of her family is there, so we go there quite a bit. I always eat too much, buy too much junk, and take thousands of crappy pictures of all the cool buildings. This trip was very family focused though so I mostly just ate too much, only bought a little bit of junk, and really didn't take that many pictures, although most are still crappy.

Hong Kong seems much greener than the last time I went. But maybe it is just because I was coming from one of the greenest cities on the planet, Seattle, and now I am coming from Lyon which prefers brown gravel and concrete to grass? Every road seems to have a nice green median with palm trees and tropical plants, every street is newly lined with trees. And there seems to be more parks.

Hong Kong seemed much cleaner too. The air and water quality still needs a lot of attention, but the streets were a lot cleaner, and there was less graffiti than I remember. There are also recycle bins all over the city now!

Hong Kong is cheap! An extra value meal at McDs in Lyon is about 6.5 Euros, an extra value meal in Hong Kong is about 2.5 Euros (too bad I don't like McDonalds :-(). The first night George and I stayed in Hong Kong we ate dinner at a small street vendor for less than 3 Euros--for two people! Basic electronics are really cheap too. I got a VGA cable to connect my notebook to my TV for 1.5 euros. They cost about 15 euros at the local FNAC. Rent will cost you about 3 times more than in Lyon, but as a tourist not worrying about things like rent, your money goes a long way.

Hong Kong is hot. It is still technically winter in Hong Kong, but it was about 25 degrees (nearly 80 degrees fahrenheit) on average every day we were there. It was 0 when my return flight landed in Lyon (32 degrees fahrenheit).

Not quite so crowded? Hong Kong is one of the most densely populated cities on the planet. Seattle, not so much so, but Lyon is quite dense too. On previous trips I always felt a bit cramped because of the crazy amount of people everywhere in Hong Kong, but now that I am used to the number of people in Lyon it doesn't seem quite so bad. It is still crazy crowded though.



Hong Kong is open late. In Lyon most stores close at 8. Bars and restaurants stay open later, and shops in the tourist area, but most things close early. In Hong Kong everything is open late, and many things are open 24 hours. I don't really need 24 hour shops anymore, but if the Carrefour or Casino by my house could stay open until 10 I would be ecstatic.

People in Hong Kong work a lot. The economic crisis has hit Hong Kong pretty hard too, and many people have been laid off and the ones that managed to keep their jobs are working extra to make up for it. Many of my relatives were working late nights and Saturdays, and most were not getting paid extra for it. "Just be happy you have a job" seems to be motivation enough, because unlike France Hong Kong has no unemployment benefits and no universal health care, so you are pretty much on your own when bad economic times make life a little tough.

All in all in was a great trip. It was really interesting to get a different prespective now that I am living in France.

Yummy, yummy mexican food

I was born in Texas, grew up mostly in Texas, went to college in Texas, and most of my family still lives in Texas.

I have spent the last 9 years of my life, however, outside of Texas--mostly in Seattle, Los Angeles, and now France. In general, I didn't miss much of Texas. The mountains and all the snow (snowboarding), the ocean (surfing), the rain-forest (hiking), the lakes and rivers (kayaking)--the west had a lot to offer, and I had already spent about 20 years in Texas, so I was happy exploring and experiencing all the "new".

One thing I always missed though, was food. In particular mexican food, or at least the variety of mexican food we call Tex-Mex. Texas has awesome mexican food! Seattle had decent mexican food, Los Angeles had pretty good mexican food, and Lyon has a few restaurants with spanish words in their names that serve food with the same name as some of the mexican food you might be familiar with.

The kebab place across the street from my work has tacos. I was very excited when I first saw their menu on the storefront that advertised "Tacos: 4 Euros", so in I went to order me a taco. They asked me which kind of meat I wanted, kofke, kebab, escalope, steak, poulet. I knew poulet meant chicken, and I was pretty sure steak meant steak, but I didn't even know what the other meats were.
"Chicken" I said.
"What sauce?"
"Taco sauce" I replied.
Well, taco sauce wasn't an option, so they listed my choices. Burger, tartar, bbq, ketchup, mayonnaise--Mayonnaise! I was pretty sure after they said mayonnaise that whatever I ended up ordering would not be a taco. And to confirm that suspicion, they proceeded to stuff french fries in with the chicken, bbq sauce, lettuce and tomatoes they had rolled up in a tortilla, and stuffed it into a George Foreman grill for a couple minutes.

Strike one for mexican food in Lyon.

The shopping mall I walk by, or generally thru, on my way to work everyday has a restaurant named Suelta Verde that bills itself as a Tex-Mex restaurant. Yeah, I know mall food? But hey, it's supposed to be Tex-Mex. The quesadillas aren't bad, although they are made with french cheeses, so they are a bit strong, and quite a bit not quesadilla-tasting, but I actually enjoy them from time to time. Everything else in the restaurant is bad! The veggie burritos are basically ratatouille wrapped in a tortilla, the other burritos just add some type of meat, and even the tortilla chips were bad. And the restaurant didn't even have beans.

Strike two for mexican food in Lyon.

So time to ask for advice from the locals. Many people recommended a place near Place des Terreaux called El Sombrero. The restaurant looks okay from the outside, has branches in multiple French cities, and even has a website with pictures and animations and stuff (but no menu), so it could be promising. George and I were ready to give it a shot, when my co-worker Komi told me that Mexico Lindo in old Lyon was the best mexican place in Lyon. Komi lived in Austin for a while, so he might actually know what mexican food is supposed to taste like. El Sombrero will have to wait.

We rolled up to Mexico Lindo around 6:30, and the place was empty, no lights turned on, and no menu or even open hours on the door. hmmm... not looking good. We returned at 7, and now there was one light on, and a menu on the door, but we still had no idea when it opened. We returned at 7:30 and... the place was packed, and with no reservation, we had no shot at dinner.

Reservations are almost always needed at Mexico Lindo.

So we made our reservation and returned a week later and it was awesome. They had a good selection of dishes, and the dishes not only tasted like mexican food, they tasted like good mexican food. Some typical mexican ingredients are a bit hard to find in Lyon, so on some things they had to improvise but the result was good (refried beans don't exist here, so they had to make their own from red beans). In typical mexican restaurant fashion, the portion sizes are big enough to feed three people, and in typical french fashion, they do not have to-go boxes, so plan accordingly (skip lunch). I had a quesadilla appetizer that was big enough for a main meal (and the best quesadilla I have had in quite some time), and George had some grilled onions and mushrooms with tortillas, that was quite large too. Our main dishes were also big, and yummy, and came with the typical mexican sides of refried beans and rice. Overall it was quite delicious, and to top it off, they had pecan pie for dessert. Pecan Pie!

Turns out the guy that runs the restaurant is actually from Texas (born in Nuevo Loredo, but grew up in south Texas). That explains the pecan pie. If he could just get some Dr. Pepper, he'd have the best restaurant in all of France.

So if you need to satisfy your mexican food cravings in Lyon, head over to Mexico Lindo in old Lyon.

Vieux Lyon

Vieux Lyon (Old Lyon) is one of the coolest parts of the city. It's the old (duh) part of the city sandwiched between the hill with the old roman ampitheatre and the Basilica Notre-Dame de Fourvière (The big church on the hill in one of the images below) and the Saône river. It is mostly cobblestone streets, plazas, really old buildings, and the occasional cool statue or fountain. It is also home to some of the best bars and restaurants in Lyon, and one of the few places where things are actually open on Sundays. When George and I start looking for a new apartment, we will look here.



I really like the architecture and style of old Lyon. The buildings are old, and occasionally in need of some repairs, but that is part of the charm I guess. Although there are actually roads running thru this part of the city, there are few cars on them, and the streets are very walkable and generally lined with small vendors.


The hills behind old Lyon are mostly park and green spaces, which is cool too. Lyon is a pretty dense, urban area, and is definitely lacking in grass and general greenery in my opinion. Although I do currently live just across the street from the largest park in Lyon (Parc Tête D'Or), my daily walk to work is mostly concrete.



Old Lyon is also home to some odd, and cool, and somewhat scary old pathways and traboules, that are quite fun to explore and photograph (and extremely crowded on the weekends). Many of these passages cut thru the buildings to allow you easy, and covered, access from one street to the next, and views into the awesome cool courtyards some of these builds have.



This weekend George and I will dine at Mexico Lindo in Old Lyon, and I have been assured by many that this is the best Mexican restaurant in all of France (or at least Lyon). I'll let you know how it goes.

I'm not the best rock band drummer in France

The 2 best rock band drummers in France.

Arkane hosted an industry wide Rock band contest this week, with each team picking a song they want to play, and every team having to play their song and every other team's song. The team that scores the most points across all songs wins.

We had a pretty good team, but we didn't really practice or plan that much. If we really wanted to get the best score possible, we would analyze the songs, and find the best times to use star power, and blah blah blah. We just planned to go in to the competition and rock it, and let the points fall however they fall. Besides, we are awesome, and awesome people don't need to practice.

We played second. The first team did pretty good, but we knew we could do better, so we stepped up and played Give It Away by the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Not that hardest song in Rock Band, but if played right, it is one of the top 5 for point scoring. We rocked a solid 1.5 million points, and I got 99% on the drums. Good start.

The next band up played Almost Easy by Avenged Seven Fold, prolly the hardest song of the night. They killed it. There drummer rocked an awesome 99%, and I think he missed like 3 notes. On our turn to play this song, I only scored a measly 96%.

Well that's okay. I mean they picked this song, so surely they are good at it. Let's see how he does on the next one. Surprise, Suprise--99%. This guy scored 99% on every song they played, prolly could have gotten 100% if the crappy toy drum set didn't miss a few notes here and there. This guy was a robot. He apparently played drums in a band or something, I don't know, I didn't even get his name.

The rest of his group was pretty good too, of course, and even though this was a group contest, I was competing against him. And getting my butt kicked.

We did outscore them on Give It Away (by less than 2,000 points, or just about 1/10th of a percent), and we beat them on one other song, but they scored the highest on the other 4 songs, and overall it wasn't that close.

So, turns out I am not the best Rock Band Drummer in France. Here's to you mystery drummer from Wide Screen Games.

Super Long Bowl

American TV has way too many commercials! Especially sports.

I always hated the commercial interruptions on American TV, but thanks to Tivo (or other DVRs), I only really had to deal with commercials when watching sports, because sports have to be watched live. It's not really the commercials that I hate, it's the interruptions in the action.

French TV has very little commercials, and what commercials they do have are generally only between programs, not during them. We get 3 episodes of Friends in a row on one of the channels here with no commercials except for a channel identification between them. In fact, France has laws regulating when commercials can be shown, and starting this year commercials are not allowed on public TV at all during prime-time.

With the commercials cut out, all programs are obviously shorter. Sports programs are less than half their US broadcast time. Most of the NBA games shown here are shown tape-delayed, and are edited to remove all the commercials, timeouts, and halftime. This makes your average basketball game about an hour from start to finish.

Football, however usually comes on live, and of course really important games, like the Super Bowl, are shown live. I am a HUGE football fan (football, not soccer), so I had to watch the Super Bowl live. However, the 6:30 PM EST kick off time is 12:30 AM Lyon time, so the game didn't end until 4:30 AM (and I get up for work at 8:00 AM).

The late start, and end, didn't bother me much though. I knew it was coming, so I napped most of Sunday, and wasn't too tired at work the next day. What bothered me was just how little of the 4 hours was spent watching football. And because of the above mentioned law about commercials on public TV, I didn't even get funny, over-priced commercials. Instead, I had (not very good) commentary in French during most of the breaks (or maybe the commentary was awesome and my crappy french was not very good).

American football has a ridiculous amount of commercial breaks, especially in a game with lots of changes of possession (like in the first half). Each change of possession, most time-outs and challenges, between quarters, the 2-minute warning, after every score, half time, another set of challenges and time-outs, another 2-minute warning, booth reviews, injuries--it's ridiculous. Football is four 15 minute quarters, yet the average game is three and a half hours minimum.

I think this is one of the big reasons football isn't catching on here. The popular sports here have almost no commercial breaks, or any stoppage of play. Soccer, hand-ball, tennis, motor sports--except for breaks for half-time or between matches, none of these sports stop, and most have no, or little time-outs.

Of course, to raise money without commercials, you have to paint your players up like NASCAR.