The I got to Manila airport 2 hours early edition:

• Harry cracks me up.
• How and why Wanchai's sex trade remains strong.
• Hong Kong's property addiciton and the lies told in its name.
• ESWN discusses income inequality in China. He echoes my point: The trickle-down theory will work as long as everyone is doing better, even if some people do better than others. The big bomb will come on the day when some people do a lot of better while others do a lot worse. China's Premier is very aware of the rural problem, but what are they doing about it?
• The Triads of Hong Kong.
• Look what Tom Cruise has done to his latest Scientology convert.
• Western media exposure of Chinese websites has lead to their closure. Not all publicity is good publicity after all.
• Privatising China's railways the fall of one of the last pillars of Maoism.
• A sneak peak at George W.'s inbox (via Manuel Quezon)
• Has Bank of America flushed US$3 billion down the great China banking hole? Meanwhile Japan's banks are finally crawling out of their black hole.
• Making pirated software legal in Indonesia in one easy step. Is this a precursor for Microsoft in China, too?
• The get-ready-for-bird-flu checklist.
• Tips for jay-walking in China.
• Howard French's NYT article on the baby-steps of democracy in Chinese villages. As the on-going debate with Pundita attests, to me democracy is far more than giving people a vote. But it's a start.
• Giving phone sex a whole new meaning (don't worry, it's a work safe link).
• Police have made arrests after those farmer riots the WaPo caught on video last week in a dispute over land ownership. Meanwhile riots in Yangshou. It's not just that these riots happen, but that they get reported.
• China makes a delivery of military equipment to Nepal.
• The year of Japan-Korea friendship isn't going so well. But the Japan-Korea hate year is.
• Hell O'Kitty Angels.
• Oi veh, Yiddish in Taiwan.
• Fabian looks at what Malaysia's banknotes say about the country.
• A look at Japan's aid to China over the years. Doesn't seem like they got much value for the mutual understanding assistance.
• Creating artificial differences in the discussion of Asian and Western values.
• On spitting and staring.
• I'm going to come back to this one: Richard notes and sides with the rise of China's new left. It seems Communism didn't work, but whereas capitalism has lead to hundreds of millions experiencing rising living standards and leaving poverty behind, some Chinese intellectuals are lamenting a reversion to 19th Century laissez-faire style capitalism and plead for "a third way". There is so much wrong with this it will have to be a new post some time later this week.
• (16:00) Lesson for budding Chinese restaurateurs: check if the customer can repay to bill within 36 years (thanks MM)
• Daniel Starr congratulates the CCP...he says China has condemned millions of Americans to die from bird flu.
• Tom Collins has the story behind US-Vietnam security issues...and naturally it revolves around oil and trade.
• Howard French has links to the incredible reports by George Weller from just after the bombing of Nagasaki in 1945.
• Teaching advanced international journalism in China. It's quite simple, really.
• Beware the button fly.