Turkey trip overview

  Our turkey trip is about to begin! In this Easter holiday, my wife and I will have a trip on turkey. We will first visit the great City, Istanbul, which was previously called Byzantine and Constantinople. It has been an important city for almost two millenniums of three great empires: Roman, Byzantium and Ottoman. Therefore there will be many historical scenes that we must not miss! We will have a cruise in Bosphorus. It is a strait divides Europe and Asia. We will locate at the boundary of two continents!

  After shipping through the Dardanelles strait, we will go to Canakkale and finally reach the ruined city,Troy. There was a war described by a Greek poet, Homer. The war started from the world most beautiful girl, wife of Sparta(a Greece city at the other side of Aegean sea) king were robbed by the Troy prince. And the war was ended by a whooping wooden horse, which hundreds of soldiers have hidden into. Then we will go to see the wooden horse! HaHa! It should be a fake one.

  The next station will be another ancient city Pergamon, we will ride cable tram up to the hill. Then we will reach Kusadasi. It lies in the Aegean coast and we will have a chance to live in a little resort to enjoy the sunshine and starry night in front of the Aegean sea.

  Then we will visit a great ruined city, Ephesus. My elder sister have visited before and exclaimed for the mysterious architecture of the ancient Roman. She felt herself insignificantly small in front of the long human race.

  After a 10-hours bus travel, we will reach Pamukkale which is also known as "cotton castle". The pools there were pale blue and I will touch the white sands and stones shown in the picture to see if they are softy. Hopefully I can immerse my foots into the fairy waterfall. Then we will reach another ancient city ,Hierapolis which was built on the plateau.

  The next unforgettable scene will be Cappadocia. There will be lots of wonderful rocks such as Fairy Chimney. Someone said the stones are very similar to the moon surface. It will be a great experience to fly on a balloon and see the whole scene. We are fear to have this kind of fly and may be we climb to a higher place and see it with my imagination.

  Then we will go to Goreme, it sounds like "Go with me" but it actually means "You cannot find me"! In Roman time, Christians went there to escape from the torture of Arabic governors. There are some secluded chapels inside the rocks and we will visit one of the cave churches.

  The tour is so kind that we will have a local airway flying to Istanbul avoiding another 11 hours bus travel. At Istanbul, it will be our last chance in Turkey, we will go all the sites as much as we can!  We wish to buy huge amounts of "Turkey delight" because we have tasted it from the souvenir of one of our friends. It was sort of softy and fruity sweets and we are delighted to sample it again!

  Happy Turkey Trip! We are coming now!

Magic of TVB drama

  I have started a new life with my wife since last year. We cooked and ate dinner at home almost every evening after work. During our supper, We watched drama in television. We have seen dramas of different themes during the recent half year. They were all attractive and once we started to see, we could not stop until the story finished.

  If we eat out and miss an episode, will we stop seeing that drama afterward because we cannot pick up the story? No. We found no problems every time. Even we missed two episodes, we found that we would soon take up the pace in 15 minutes. Is there any magic here? I discovered that the actors did revision on the story naturally in their dialogues. Therefore we can know every important scene happened in the episode we have missed. It is wise method to catch the audience!

  Last Friday evening, we have visited my older sister and her husband. We ate dinner together and my wife and I watched the last episode of a drama in television. When we concentrated on the drama, my brother-in-law smiled. He said the ending of most TVB drama were similar. First of all, there will be something breathtaking and let us feel anxious, for example gun fighting, car crashing. After the excitement, it will follow a warm and peaceful ending. The good guy in the drama have experienced a lots and have learned a lots. His life will then resume to normal and calm. We continued to watch the television and the story went exactly with that pattern. My brother-in-law was prophet of TVB drama! We laughed together.

  Someone says the TVB dramas are stupid. But they are attractive indeed! That's why there are so many audience blame the drama without stop seeing it. I remembered one day I saw a prominent movie with my wife, I was confused and felt difficult to understand the complex story. I dawned that my brain have been pampered by TVB dramas for long times! That movie was so strange and the story pattern is not the one I was familiar with. It went too fast and my brain was exhausted! I surrendered!

A marvelous novel, The alchemist

  The alchemist is a book recommended by my older sister many years ago. I have finally read this book recently and was amazed by the marvelous imagination of the writer.

  The alchemist is a little book full of words of wisdom. The story started from a shepherd who loved a merchant's daughter. Love is a motif that always draws our interest. It leaded me to explore another important topic, destiny. When we were born, it was likely that everyone of us has a destiny given by God.

  Knowing my own destiny is the first important task I should tackle with in my life. As time passes, searching my own destiny becomes less important than doing jobs the society respects for. The shepherd loved to travel and therefore he became a shepherd despite of expectation from his parents of being a priest. But he was confused because he loved the merchant's daughter. A shepherd was unstable that a merchant will not let his daughter marry to. At the time he was about to give up, a King appeared and hinted the shepherd his destiny of searching treasure in pyramids in Egypt. Then the adventure started.

  I admit I have oversimplified the story here. When one is searching for his own destiny, knowing it and implementing it, he should struggle endlessly. He may first deny his destiny. If he finally choose to pursue, he knows he should first sacrifice what he now owns. During the trip of searching, some failures are devastating but success can also make him stop on the mid way, especially the afterward success of a big failure. The fear of losing again is so real and makes one perceive himself that he have already reached the goal. There are many reasons to retreat, for example, love. We may stop our dreams for lovers. But the writer reminded that a true love will not impede one to pursue his destiny. Don't let love and lover to be our excuse.

  This is a great book deserves to read several times. This should be a prominent novel for humans even after 100 years.

What I have learned from the tricky opportunity cost question

  The tricky opportunity cost question mentioned in the previous two articles let me learned a lot.

  The first thing reminds me is: Cost is ubiquitous, although we always focus on those measurable. For example, it is easy to say the opportunity cost of forfeiting the current job and start a business. Because you have already known the salary of your current job. What's about the opposite? What's the opportunity cost of keep doing the current job? Hard to tell. But a cost difficult to measure does not mean it doesn't exist! For every activity, there are hidden value and cost and I need to figure them out objectively.

  The second thing reminds me is : Selling price is not the real value. Selling price is value the seller claims. And I should responsible for my own life. I should know the real price in my mind and decide if the deal is worth. If I receive a free concert ticket, I may normally look at the selling price of the free ticket first. Yes. Selling price should be the clue but should not be the crucial factor. I should ask myself honestly if I really want to see that concert regardless of the selling price. Even though the selling price is high, I will not see if it is worth $0 for me. On the other hand, it is no harm to see it, as life needs adventure. If I finally decide to see because of the high selling price, I should bear in mind that I am starting an adventure instead of asking for repay.

A tricky opportunity cost question (the answer)

  This article is the answer of a tricky opportunity cost question in previous article. Read the previous article first if you have not read yet. What's the opportunity cost of attending the free John Lee concert(instead of buy ticket to see Mary Chan one)? As there are four options (a $0, b $10, c $40, d $50), if you pick the answer randomly, the probability of answer it correctly is 25%. The author let the university students who have studied economy to answer, only 7.4% of them correct. Then he asked the university students who have not studied economy, 17.2% of them correct. But it was still less than by chance! The author concluded that a little knowledge may be more dangerous than innocence. Let's see if you are the majority.

  If you attend the free concert, what you need to give up is Mary Chan concert which costs $40 but is worth $50 in your mind. Therefore what you can potentially "earn" in the Mary Chan concert is what you sacrifice for the free concert. Then the answer is $50(return) - $40(ticket price of Mary Chan concert) = $10. You may argue that you have not bought the Mary Chan concert yet, you pay no money and therefore no "cost" to attend the free concert. The word "cost" may confine our understanding in this situation. The meaning of cost is broader. It is not just the money you need to pay for. Giving up a glorious occasion is also a cost. This question is interesting because it quantifies something not measurable,i.e., seeing the Mary Chan concert is worth $50 in your mind, we never think like that when we buy concert ticket! It helps us to notice there are hidden costs and hidden values in our daily life.

  The question is difficult but is still quite generous by not mentioning the original price of the free ticket. If the question also mentions the price of free ticket, says $20, I will be further confused and my brain will explode. Actually, the original price of the free ticket contributes no meaning on the opportunity cost of attending John Lee free concert and even Mary Chan concert! It has no meanings on both choices!

  What's the meaning behind $10? It helps you to make rational decision. If you think the John Lee free concert is worth more than $10 in your mind, go for the John Lee one. Otherwise, proceed to buy Mary Chan concert ticket.

  I have also learned a lot from this tricky opportunity cost question. May be I talk about this next time.

A tricky opportunity cost question

  I have recently listened an introductory section of the audio version of a book "The Economic Naturalist: Why Economics Explains Almost Everything". The author talked about "opportunity cost", which is a term we are all familiar with. The first time I heard this term was coming with an easy example. If a man wants to start a business, he should forfeit his current job. If the salary of his current job is $15000, then the opportunity cost to start a business will be $15000. Opportunity cost is the value one should give up in order to pursue an activity.

  I have not studied any economy courses in my school days but I still think the concept of opportunity cost is not difficult to comprehend. Then the author gave a far more tricky example. I was confused and finally took half an hour to contemplate. I say with my own wordings here but the concept behind is the same.

  You have just received a free concert ticket of singer John Lee. You cannot resell it. Before getting this free ticket, you originally wanted to buy a ticket of Mary Chan concert which will perform at the same night of John Lee concert. Mary Chan concert ticket is sold at $40 dollars. And in your mind, Mary Chan concert ticket is worth $50. The question is: What is the opportunity cost of going the John Lee concert? The options are: a $0, b $10, c $40, d $50

  This question is quite weird. Firstly, you do not know the ticket price of John Lee concert. Secondly, you have not bought the ticket of Mary Chan concert yet. Thirdly, the selling price of Mary Chan ticket is different from the price you give in your mind. The third point is quite funny for me. When we buy something, we consider not only the selling price, but also the price in our mind. I will buy a product which selling at $10 dollars and I think it is worth $15 dollars. If I think it is worth just $6, I will not buy despite $10 seems cheap. I will see the singer I love because a ticket selling at $100 is worth $200 for me. If I hate that singer, a $100 ticket is worth $0 for me and even negative(as I need to waste my time). Then, what is the opportunity cost of going the John Lee concert? Are the hints enough for you? Let me give the answer in the next post.

A funny audio book - Les Miserable

Last week, I started to listen an audio story book of a famous novels, Les Miserable. I am surely not capable of listening the original full version which is too difficult for me and takes 59 hours, I listened a simplified one instead. The story was narrated by a pleasant, clear voice. She spoke native English and the voice was so sweet as if I was hearing a catchy song.

One day when my wife and I was at bus, I introduced this audio book by sharing one side of my earphones to her. After listening the first chapter, she was attracted by the story and the voice too. The story started with a traveler called Jean Valjean. He was released from prison and wanna find an inn to have supper. He was refused rudely by all inns and finally accepted by a bishop in church. He stole a silver plate at the dinning table at night and have been discovered by the police. The bishop forgave him and rescued his heart......

My wife and I listen the audio book every night before bed. We discussed the story after each chapter. My wife thought that Fantine was miserable but also ridiculous. The little girl, Cosette was looked after by a cruel couple who always swindled Cosette's mother, Fantine. Fantine believed them and coughed out money recklessly. She finally lost her teeth and became a prostitute and died from bullying of a soldier.

The audio narration was so lovely that we sometime imitated for fun. The native audio linked up every English words neatly just like a flow of river. This reminded us the old days of learning English in primary school. When the teacher taught us a new word, says "evening", the kids would then record the pronunciation with Chinese characters "依,訓,玲", which sounds like "e-fum-ling" neglecting the rhythm. Although it was a bad method, this childhood episode made us laughed and was funny indeed.

The audio book also reminded us the sweet trip. We have seen the Les Miserable Opera in the England trip two years ago. But I failed to enjoy it because my English was poor. I hope I can enjoy this opera one day.