This morning I landed in SFO today after a 3-week stay in Asia. Compared to previous years, a lot has happened in the world while I was away from home (and a broadband connection to blog about it).
Firstly, the Taiwan diplomatic scandal broke news while I was in Taiwan for my 8-day tour. Every local news channel covered it in detail as fresh details were uncovered each day.
Then the news stations switched focus to the Myanmar cyclone disaster. When I first skimped the coverage, I didn’t think much of it because I was still busy enjoying my Taiwan vacation. I only realized the magnitude when I got back to Singapore and followed the news in detail.
I thought my 2008 vacation had already beaten my 2004 one during which a massive tsunami hit much of Asia. Unfortunately no. The world’s attention quickly shifted to China as the 8.0 earthquake hit Sichuan (四川). For the next few days in Singapore until I took off for airport, I followed the local news coverage of the quake and watched the death toll climb. I remembered seeing pictures of kids who survived but lost their family. I also remembered the story of a teacher who shielded 4 students with his body - the students survived but the teacher did not.
Now that I am back in Bay Area, I am disappointed that tonight’s TV news report only briefly covered Myanmar cyclone and Sichan earthquake. But then this is the US media.
