Singapore Trip

When the airplane was invented, the world became smaller and the time it took to get from one place to another grew shorter. I am always amazed that I can be in LA during the daytime, then later on be in Hong Kong, then the next day Beijing, and the next day Singapore.

This time I went to Singapore for two reasons. First, I wanted to see a possible site for a Jackie Chan’s Café. You smart readers will remember that I have many new projects and one of them is to open Jackie Chan Cafés. Actually, I had no intention to enter into the coffee business and am quite surprised that so many people want to open the JC Cafés in places like Singapore. The Singapore investors said they had good locations where they wanted me to open a café, so I went to take a look.

Some people ask my why I get involved in so many different business projects. Honestly, so many people ask me to cooperate with them on different businesses and since they are willing to do all the prep work, why shouldn’t I get involved? Although I am very busy with my films, I am still learning about business.

After seeing the Singapore site I felt satisfied that it would be a good location for a Jackie Chan Café in Singapore. We were accompanied by one of my Malay friends who thinks that Malaysia would also be a good place for the cafés. This friend is a very rich and successful businessman but he still came to Singapore to see the possible site and it makes me think that to be successful in business, you should not ignore any detail.

After we left the site we had dinner and then went back to the hotel.

The next day I had a meeting at 8:00 and then I had to attend the JC Sport California Fitness opening ceremony. Last year the first JC Sport opened in Singapore and now this year the second will open. The Singapore government is trying to promote a healthier lifestyle because so many local children have such poor nutrition and are becoming obese. The government is promoting sports clubs and that has helped my JC Sport club to be so popular. We are planning to open a third next year and since Singapore only has a population of 3-4 million, that is really amazing!

I went to visit the original sports club and after that I went to see the new one. I saw a lot of new equipment. In the past, when you thought about a fitness center, you thought about treadmills and weights. Today everything is different; there are so many different kinds of equipment for cross-training. I saw some people boxing and took a few swings. I really wanted to stay for a while and try more of the exercise machines, but time was short and soon I had to leave.

Back to Hong Kong

I went to the airport at 4 o’clock and took the plane to Hong Kong, arriving at 9:00. I met with Teddy Chan and X-Lee. Teddy has a good idea for a story, but I don’t think I’ll have a chance to work on it until probably 2009. Sometimes I think that planning two years ahead is unreasonable, but then I remember how fast time flies by and having time to prepare for things is good. X-Lee (Xavier Lee is Jackie’s personal videographer) and I talked about a documentary and when we finished it was almost 5:30 in the morning. By the time they left it was 6:00 and I wanted to go to bed right then, but I thought about my dogs and how I’ve come home several times and not spent enough time with them or taken any photos with them.

Jackie, Jones, and JJ at 6:30 AM.

Going to Dunhuang

When I opened my eyes it was 10:00 and I cleaned up and rushed right off to the airport. On the plane I asked for three newspapers and eight magazines plus some rice soup. However, I immediately fell asleep and when I opened my eyes we were in Shanghai. I hadn’t read any of the papers or magazines and all my food remained untouched. Ha ha ha!

Someone picked us up and then we were to go to the Hongqiao Airport, but there was a four hour wait between flights. We planned on finding a restaurant where I could have a scrīpt meeting with Frankie and Ricky, and I also wanted to talk to Mr. Wong about purple wood but unluckily there was a big traffic jam because it was the beginning of the Chinese labor day holiday. On the highway I could see the long line of cars and I thought that it looked more like a parking lot than a road.

We were trapped in traffic for two hours and that’s why we never were able to go to a restaurant; only directly to the airport. In the car I explained to the directors why the movie that I will direct is going to be delayed. There are so many big scenes and more time is needed, so after I finish The Forbidden Kingdom, I will make another movie and then I will direct my own movie.

Arriving at Hongqiao Airport

I finally had time to talk to Mr. Wong about the purple wood. In the past, purple wood (in Chinese it’s called “zitan” and is one of the most prized and expensive woods in the world) cost about $20,000 a ton but now it’s about $60,000 a ton. There is such a shortage of this wood that you can only find old purple wood; no more new wood. I used all I had saved to make furniture for my house. Someday I will finish making the furniture and I will take photos to show you.

At last we got on the plane and headed toward Lanzhou. I was so tired because of lack of sleep, so I put on my sunglasses, draped a scarf around my face, and fell asleep.

The plane arrived in Lanzhou at 9:00 to refuel and I realized that I was very hungry. I hadn’t eaten all day!

While we were waiting I looked through a book about Lanzhou. There are many towns that are so ancient and beautiful, set amid the Lanshan Mountains. These towns and cities have been around through many dynasties and had so many ups and downs. They’ve accumulated so much culture and that’s one of the things that makes Lanzhou famous. Later, if I have time, I will scan the photos and show you.

I had nothing much to do on the plane but try to look out at the Gobi Desert. However, since it was night time I couldn’t see much and as I was looking out the window I saw two lights coming straight at us and I was very startled and scared. I didn’t know that we were landing and I was seeing the lights of the airport!! When we arrived there weren’t many people in the airport since it was 11:30 at night. The crew came to pick us up and take us to the hotel. This is a new hotel; ten years ago in this part of the Gobi Desert, there was nothing but now there are a lot of facilities, although you still can’t compare it to a big city.

Outside my hotel I found this meteorite. The sign says "Gua Zhou's rock from the sky" and on the rock, the characters mean "verve."

Today I got up at 10:30 and heard sounds coming from outside my window. I looked down and saw over 60 people unloading and arranging camera equipment! This is the first time we’ve worked here in Gobi and we brought 60 people – 30 from China and 30 from Hong Kong. They worked non-stop unloading all the equipment. I think that they’ll still be unloading tomorrow!

After I showered I went out for a walk to say hello to the crew. I walked three times around the grounds for exercise and then I began reading the new dialogue. After an hour and a half of that, I went to work out and then I had nothing to do so I looked at the desert. The weather was good during the day and cold at night.

Here is one view of the Gobi Desert. JC Stunt Team member Wu Gang took two photos and we pieced them together so you can see a better view. Click on it to enlarge.

Here is another view of the Gobi Desert. (Click to enlarge.) This is pieced together from three of Wu Gang's photos. Thanks Wu Gang!

Now I am just sitting at the window recording my diary. I think when I finish filming in the desert and go to Wu Yi Mountain, I won’t have time to record. If not, I will call Fibe and dictate it directly to her.

Being here, I feel good. I feel happy. I can concentrate on work, there is no need to attend functions or worry about business. I can put all that in the back of my mind. What I will do is concentrate on making this movie. Sometimes I think that the only time I can lead a normal, healthy life is when I’m making a movie!

Text and photos ©2007 The JC Group. All Rights Reserved.

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