Kev Lax is back!
Dear Johnny,
Wake up.
Spend some of your NT$20,000 a month Taipei Times salary on a trip to China and see what’s going on.
Problems, yes, but heading in the right direction, unlike Taiwan, which missed a chance to lead China’s economic miracle and in 10 years will be poorer than Anhui.
I don’t expect you will have much more chance to offer us your bollocks, so to speak, as I’m sure that the Taipei Times is on its last legs.
Kev Lax
Shanghai
Johnny replies: Kev, it’s really fantastic to get your letter and I’m so pleased that you have made it back to Asia after a period of recuperation.
I should direct readers to Mr Lax’ previous correspondence (Johnny Neihu’s Mailbag, June 16, 2007, page 8). The great news is that Kev seems to have taken my advice and undergone a course of Rogerian therapy after the trauma of being thrown out of Taiwan.
My only concern for you now, Kev, is that you might be overreaching a little from your translating expertise into economics.
That is to say: Hey, dude, have you actually been to Anhui Province?
Anyway, Kev, thanks for writing, take care and all the best. (By the way, don’t tell your girlfriends in Shanghai that there are direct flights to Taiwan now or they might disappear — and end up selling betel nut under a freeway overpass in Hsinchu County.)
India calling
Dear Johnny,
I am based in Mumbai, India, and just stumbled upon your latest piece. It’s absolutely terrific. Keep it up.
Debashis Basu
Editor and publisher
MoneyLIFE Magazine
Johnny replies: Well, it’s not often I get praise from the subcontinent. Many thanks for your kind words, Debashis.
After receiving your letter I did some thinking. Why not pack my bags and head off to India for a while? I could write a provocative column for MoneyLIFE Magazine.
But then I thought some more, and figured that if I made smutty jokes about India-Pakistan relations, the caste system, ethnic minorities, poverty and wealth, cricket madness and Bollywood I would probably end up being sent to Kashmir — permanently, if you know what I mean.
Still, it could have been a ripper of a column.
All I would have to have done is change my name to “Johnny Nehru.”
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