Waiting Around in Mykonos

The famous wooden windmills at Fabrika in Mykonos

Tourism is a big part of Greece's economy, as everyone who caters to tourists speak various languages like English, Italian and Spanish, offer a variety of services, particularly food and transport to make the visitors' time in the country more enjoyable.

We are currently in Mykonos, an island over three hours' ferry ride from Athens. It is completely dependent on tourists who are there to soak up the sun, frolic in the clear blue waters, party the night away and eat lots of souvlaki and drink alcohol. Visitors are mainly French, Italian, Spanish and American.

There are "boutique hotels" everywhere and stretching resources, particularly electricity and the internet. Last night when we were going out for dinner we could see sparks flying out of the power poles and we even had a blackout in our hotel at 5am! Internet is spotty which is why it's hard for me to upload pictures...

The monastery in Ano Mera

Today we ventured out to visit what we were told is a small traditional Greek Town, Ana Mera where there is a well-known monastery. But to get there from Ornos, where we are staying, we had to get a bus to Fabrika, and from there another bus to Ano Mera.

The bus costs 1.80 euros one way, or we could have ordered transport for about 30 euros an hour. Of course we tried the latter.

We were armed with the bus schedule and the next bus to Fabrika was supposed to be 10.10am. We waited and waited in the sun (and the moved to the shade) but no bus came. It wasn't until 10.40am did the bus come and we jumped on.

Half an hour later we arrived at Fabrika, another bay area where we saw three cruise ships anchored there. We walked to the famed wooden windmills, though one was in repair, making it not as picturesque. Many of the cruise ship passengers were hanging out here taking pictures or have lunch along the coastline which is packed with restaurants next to each other.

We had to walk past all these places to get to the Old Port to catch our next bus to Ano Mera. After securing our tickets we got on the bus. I need add these buses are not what one would think are public transit buses -- they are basically tour coaches that ferry mostly tourists but also some locals around.

The small church is very ornate inside

As a result, the bus does not have a proper announcement system to say which stop is coming next or even a microphone for the driver to tell passengers what the stop is clearly. As a result we missed our stop. The bus driver was annoyed with us, but let us stay on the bus as he was going back and would pass by Ano Mera again.

A few minutes later we were dropped off in what looked like the middle of nowhere. Across the street we could see a church with a special flag and guessed it was the monastery. It was a small church but inside was packed full of details, religious iconography, a mural of Jesus Christ on the ceiling of the dome and intricate wooden carvings, and lots of silver and gold.

Upstairs was a small museum that had more embroidered vestments, jewellery and other religious objects in precious metals and stones.

A chubby boy about nine or 10 years old sat at the entrance taking 1 euro suggested donation from each visitor who came in. Why wasn't he in school? Nevertheless, he was polite though and said thank you to each person who paid. He also liked petting the cats who hung out in the churchyard.

Following our visit to the church we got some lunch and I tried grilled sardines that were delicious with a lemon sauce. I find the food here in general is under seasoned which is unusual, but better than too salty.

We went back to the bus stop to wait for the bus. At first we got the time wrong and had to wait 30 minutes for the 3pm bus. It did not come. While we were waiting, other tourists inquired about the bus and we had to explain the bus was supposed to be there at 3pm but it still hadn't arrived. While buses came our way, but then passed right by us because they were tour buses. At one point we wondered if we would ever get onto our bus.

Grilled fresh sardines for lunch!

It wasn't until 3.30pm (when the next bus was supposed to arrive) did the bus come. It was frustrating to have to wait for buses to come when they didn't follow the schedule...

Then we had to wander from the Old Town back to Fabrika and had to navigate our way through the maze of streets filled with shops selling souvenirs and cafes to finally make our way back to the bus station.

When we finally made it back we rewarded ourselves with a trip to our hotel pool after a long day of walking around and using public transport. Oh and yes a lot of waiting around...

China's Overwhelming Online Numbers

Some 829 million people use the internet in China

China's 1.3 billion population is mind-boggling large, so what about the numbers of people using the internet in the Middle Kingdom?

Here are some interesting statistics from China's Internet Network Information Centre:

- Since the end of December there were 829 million users;

Half of China's population makes online purchases

- There are 648 million who watch short videos, which is 78.2 percent of China's total internet users:

- The national internet availability rate is 59.6 percent, with 26.7 percent of internet users of 222 million living in rural areas;

- People in China spent on average 27.6 hours per week online;

- 601 million people shop online, 592 million of whom use mobile phones to make their purchases;

- 610 million people make online payments.

The numbers are staggering, particularly half of the population shopping online and using their smartphones to buy goods and services.

Almost 600 million use their mobiles to make payments

It just goes to show foreign companies are still desperate to penetrate the Chinese market, believing that if you just sell something to them for US$1 each, you'll be a multimillionaire in no time...

Jack's a Party Member

Jack Ma is a card-carrying member of the Chinese Communist Party

Well what do you know! Jack Ma Yun is a Communist Party member!

He was outed yesterday in the People's Daily as one of 100 Chinese people who have made extraordinary contributions to the country's development in the past 40 years.

Ma along with Tencent Holdings CEO Pony Ma, Baidu CEO Robin Li, basketball star Yao Ming and volleyball coach Lang Ping were on the list.

Pony Ma of Tencent is on the 100 list, but not a Party member

It is unclear when Ma joined the party and how much money in dues he pays each year.

Interestingly this made huge headlines today, but one should expect that someone as successful as Ma is to have some kind of affiliation with the Party. How else could he succeed?

But he has said before that it's not a good idea to be too close to the Party. In media interviews he would say, "Fall in love with the government, but don't get married."

However, with President Xi Jinping wanting to have greater control over everything, everyone else has to comply, and Ma seems to be one of them.

"We're seeing an increasingly close relationship between China's leading internet companies and government because government sees them as one of the most effective ways to realize its policy initiatives," says Mark Natkin, managing director of Beijing-based Marbridge Consulting.

Xi Jinping visits the cave in Yan'an he spent during his teens

"Being a party member is essentially tipping your hat to the legitimacy of the party and it doesn't necessarily denote any particularly high level of political activity."

Nevertheless, some entrepreneurs are going a step further to demonstrate their loyalty to the Party.

In 2015 Jack Ma visited Yan'an, the city often considered the birthplace of the Chinese Communist Revolution. Pony Ma -- who is not a Party member -- also went to Yan'an this year and even wore a Red Army uniform. Yan'an is also where President Xi spent much of his teenage years.

Ah the symbolism! And the song and dance people need to do to keep in the government's good books...

Google's Censored Return to China

Google is going to return to China in the form of an Android app

 Google decided not to make its search engine available in China in 2010 when it knew its search results would be censored.

We applauded it for this brave move, much to the dismay of fans in the mainland. But Google did this to make a statement -- if you are searching for something on the World Wide Web, you should be able to find all the answers you need, not just what the government thinks you should see.

Fans mourned the search engine when it exited China in 2010

However, eight years later, the behemoth wants to come back -- and is willing to be censored.

According to the investigative website The Intercept, Google plans to launch a censored version of its search engine in the form of an Android app. So if you use it on the mainland, the Chinese search app will automatically identify and filter websites blocked by the Great Firewall; certain banned words and phrases will have a "no results shown" page; the app has already been demonstrated to the Chinese government; and the final version could be launched within the next six to nine months.

Back in 2010 Google was adamant about leaving China because one of the co-founders Sergey Brin was born and raised behind the iron curtain in the then Soviet Union and felt the need to take a stand against censorship. However these days he is less hands-on in the company and the leadership at Google has changed.

Sergey Brin is not as involved in Google these days

The company also specifically chose Android, as 95 percent of the 750 million internet users have mobile devices, 80 percent of which use Android. So it made sense for Google to target this massive audience through an Android app.

Nevertheless it's going to be an uphill battle for Google to get young people to use its search engine as everyone is so used to Baidu the domestic one. And how can Google differentiate itself from Baidu when its search results will be as heavily censored as the local version?

Not everyone at Google is happy with this latest development. According to the New York Times, some employees who were asked to work on the project declined and requested to be transferred elsewhere in the company. Some said the move to be censored went against Google's previous statements about its stance on censorship, and that technology should not be used to contravene human rights.

Amnesty International has said it would be a "dark day for internet freedom" and would constitute "a gross attack on freedom of information and internet freedom if Google accepted China's censorship terms.

The Android app will help Google reach millions of users

On Chinese social media, some were excited about Google's return, while others questioned the point of having a "neutered Google". "We don't need a second Baidu," said one internet user.

It's disappointing to see Google sacrifice its own ethics to satiate its desire to enter the mainland Chinese market. It only gives China even more power, so it can say, "Look, even Google is willing to bend to our demands."

Alas, the allure of China is too great for even internet giant Google...

China 1, Google 0.

Xi's Internet Vision

Xi Jinping gives the keynote address calling for a system of cybersecurity

The World Internet Conference has started in Wuzhen, Zhejiang province, and it seems there are double standards when it comes to foreign reporters and local ones covering the event.

Turns out all overseas guests and tech tycoons were given a Mi Note LTE by Xiaomi, for not only making calls but also using wifi.

All these smartphones were pre-installed with an app offering helpful information about the conference agenda, and was theirs to keep after the conference.

The coveted Xiaomi phone to jump the firewall

Also -- the guests reported being given special access to websites that are usually blocked on the mainland, such as Facebook, Twitter and Google.

One Hong Kong reporter was put in a hotel near the conference site and was given an individual account and password for his in-room wifi.

There he was able to access the normally blocked sites. But if he switched off the account and tried to use the regular internet, he was unable to access the same sites.

Local media not only did not get the Xiaomi phone, nor special access to the blocked sites. Even worse, they had to stay in hotels further away from the conference venue.

Meanwhile Chinese President Xi Jinping gave a 30-minute speech, spelling out his vision for a new system of cybersecurity governance to prevent cyberterrorism, and that each country had its right to set its own rules.

"There should be no internet hegemony. No interference in another country's internal affairs. No engagement in tolerating or supporting internet activities that damage another country's national security," Xi said. "We should respect other countries' rights to peaceful involvement in international cyberspace governance, including their choices of internet development, regulation and public policies."

Not having access to the internet is counterproductive

Ah, that favourite word -- hegemony. Only China uses it liberally to jab at countries like the United States for its supposed control over the world.

But really, no one "owns" the internet. While it is understandable that it needs to be regulated for things like violent pornography, racism, holocaust deniers and so on, the internet should be accessible to everyone who wants access to information.

We are living in an age where being able to access this information is so crucial to one's education, job and well-being that to deny it to people by claiming the need to regulate for "national security" is not the way to help a country develop its citizens and economy.

It seems like the Chinese government wants its people to remain in the dark -- one of the last few ways it can control its citizens through the information they receive.

It's quite ironic China is hosting this internet conference and trying to persuade others of its case for each country controlling its own internet and not to interfere in other countries' affairs.

Sound familiar?

Quote of the Day: Don't get Involved in "Sextortion"

The number of cases of Hong Kong men threatened with blackmail after having online sex chats with women has increased significantly this year compared to last year.

Police figures show 506 local reports of "sextortion" in the first six months of this year, more than eight times the reported 60 cases in 2012; there were 477 cases in 2013, and last year 638.

Could it also be that more men are willing to come forward about their extracurricular activities because they don't have the money to pay up?

The amount victims also paid went up as well, according to police statistics. In the first six months of this year HK$1.6 million was paid out, compared to HK$100,000 in 2012. Meanwhile HK$1.7 million was swindled in 2013, and HK$2.3 million last year.

Yesterday three cases were reported by men ranging in ages 20 to 61, and none of them paid the amounts demanded of them, though they were threatened with lurid photos or videos of them would be released online. Interestingly they all reported the incidents in the morning until around lunchtime.

The police are treating these cases as blackmail, and one veteran police officer said such online scams were carried out by Asian women who demanded the money be paid into Western Union accounts registered in the women's home countries, like the Philippines.

Word of advice from the police? "Do not take your clothes off and perform indecent acts in front of a webcam."

It makes sense, but the sage words maybe harder to remember for those who get caught up in the heat of the moment...

Chinese Hi-tech Firms Highly Sexist

Adult film star Sola Aoi was cited in Alibaba's recruitment ad

China likes to say that "women hold up half the sky", back in Mao Zedong's days, and even then that wasn't true either.

Seems like the country has hardly moved ahead when it comes to gender equality, but perhaps these days criticism may finally get things going in the right direction.

JD.com's ad for International Nurses Day last month drew ire

Nasdaq-listed online marketplace JD.com promoted International Nurses Day with images of health workers in lingerie-like uniforms.

"I will never buy things from JD again. What disgusting behaviour!" one woman wrote.

The firm quickly yanked the ad and apologized.

Meanwhile on e-commerce giant Alibaba's official recruitment website, its ad said the company was looking for support staff for computer programmers, mentioning porn star Sola Aoi.

"You can be like 'Teacher Aoi' whose virtue and skills comprise a doubly strong and pervasive fragrance, the world in her breast," the ad read.

"You can be like Song Hye-kyo, from a respectable family, a heavenly beauty, who makes fish sink and birds alight, who obscures the moon and makes flowers blush," it said, referring to a mainstream South Korean actress.

Nothing mentioned about what office-related skills they should have or language ability...

It turns out Chinese technology companies have a history of inviting Japanese adult film stars to events. While the authorities ban online content they deem pornographic, illegal downloads have allowed adult film actresses to have huge followings in China.

Rola Takizawa on stage at an event hosted by Qihoo

In 2013, NetEase invited Anri Okita to its offices, where she ate lunch and took pictures with male staff. Shanghai-based gaming company Dream invited Yui Hatano to its annual company party last year, and internet security company Qihoo 360 hosted Rola Takizawa.

One wonders what the female staff at these companies thought of the company fueling their male colleague's carnal desires in the workplace... or they just shook their heads and continued working...

"In mainstream [Chinese] society, there is objectification of women and gender inequality," said Wang Ping of the Zhejiang Academy of Social Sciences. "It might be more serious in technology companies."

For now, though it seems Alibaba has learned its lesson. Following criticism, it removed the ad and apologized.

It was "intended to be an attempt at humorous marketing to recruit IT talent," the company said. "We apologize to anyone offended... Alibaba is committed to providing equal opportunity and fair treatment to all employees on the basis of merit, without discrimination."

Until attitudes seriously change from the top, sexism will continue to be rampant in China's companies... which means with men in charge, it probably won't change anytime soon...

Youth on his Side

Yu Jiawen boldly challenges conventional China

Yu Jiawen is 24 years old and brash. But he can be because he's one of China's youngest internet tycoons.

He created a mobile social networking app called Super Curriculum two years ago which attracted more than 10 million mainland university students.

Last month the Guangdong native sparked an uproar last month when he appeared on CCTV's Voice of Youth where he encouraged his peers to rebel from society's expectations and embrace the internet.

He said the web offered opportunities to those who were brave and creative. But what really got viewers' attention was his boast of thinking of handing out 100 million yuan in bonuses to his staff next year.

Needless to say reaction online was swift. "Why is this little kid so arrogant?" one person wrote on Yu's microblog. "A 100 million yuan bonus for employees? That can only be a lie."

But the young entrepreneur is unrepentant. "I spoke on the show because I wanted to encourage Chinese people my age who do not have rich or powerful parents. I wanted to share my story, to let them know that we too can succeed without a strong family background," he said. "We just have to be creative and brave to catch the trend of the era."

On the show Yu explained he was born into a poor family in Chaozhou, Guandong in 1990. His parents were pork sellers, but he wasn't interested in following them and at 14 set up his first enterprise, an online social platform for local students. Two years later he sold the website for an undisclosed sum.

Then in 2012, while studying in third year software development at the South China Institute of Software Engineering, he launched Super Curriculum.

The app allows students from more than 3,000 universities in China to connect and share information about their courses, notes and other study materials. It was the first of its kind in the country and became an instant hit, drawing 10 million users. The app is now ranked fourth place of free apps in China's Apple Store.

Some venture capitalist firms have invested, including Alibaba Group; he wouldn't say exactly how much, but said it was less than $30 million.

Yu calls himself a "wild child" and demands that his employees be like him and channel their boldness to beat their rivals. He said few companies could do this because their leaders lacked audacity.

While some appreciate his confidence, others are skeptical, wondering if Yu can really be as good as his boasts.

But Yu doesn't regret what he's said. "If I had to do it again, I would repeat my speech without changing a word... Society and adults impose too many shackles on the post-90s generation. We have to have a decent job, an expensive apartment and follow various social rules. We must break free of these shackles. Only then can we be young and fearless, to have more freedom to do what we really want to do.

"The true value of Super Curriculum lies in our [potential] users -- tens of millions of college students across the country. There are millions of freshmen each year, many of whom will use our app," he said. "Our success lies in the fact that my team and I are all young and creative people and we know what kinds of apps and services the young really need. Young people will look for friends and job opportunities, pay loans and spend money through our app."

There are many post-90s young people who talk big like Yu or think they have every right to push their agenda or think they know everything.

But they are not like Yu, who backs up his audacious words with an actual service millions of students enjoy using across the country. He is entitled to say what he wants and adults should be listening to him.

However like every other person though, he too will age and it will be interesting to see how he can continue to make himself relevant in the next 10, 20 years.

Nevertheless, for now he deserves his moment in the spotlight because young people in China need someone like him to look up to and see it's really possible to be successful without guanxi. How refreshing.