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news:
Pursuing costly
hobbies
By Chris Ledermuller
On-line Forty-Niner
Civil engineering
freshman Chaffee Yiu may be thousands of miles away from his
native Hong Kong, but he has a hobby that he happily fulfills
while living in Long Beach. It allows him to brush up on his
photography skills and travel all over Southern California.
Yiu is a fierce
bus enthusiast.
He boasted that
he has over 700 bus photographs in his collection. He updates
his World Wide Web site weekly with a wealth of images, sounds
and information that he has gathered during his numerous weekend
journeys. He also explores Southern California's bus and train
lines with fellow bus enthusiasts he met via the Internet.
His habit is certainly
not cheap.
"Last month
I spent $150 on photos alone," Yiu said.
Yiu, who lives
in the International House dormitory and works in the University
Library shelving books, has lived in Southern California for
two years. He first came to the area during a summer vacation
in 1998. He liked what he saw, and wanted to come back.
Yiu returned one
year later, but he made his stay permanent. He enrolled in
Arcadia High School in 1999 for his senior year. After graduating,
he began attending Cal State Long Beach, pursuing a civil
engineering degree.
The transition
from Hong Kong to Southern California was initially difficult
for Yiu. While he learned to speak both English and Cantonese
in Hong Kong, the languages were spoken at different times.
"We use English
textbooks and tests at school, but we speak Cantonese with
each other," he said.
Yiu recalled his
difficulty adjusting to English when he ate at an In &
Out Burger.
"I remembered
trying to ask for ketchup, but I didn't know how to say it
in English," he said. "In Hong Kong, we ordered
in Cantonese. Here, when I wanted ketchup, I could only point
to it."
Since that time,
Yiu said he learned to improve his English and adjusted to
life in the United States.
Interest began abroad
Yiu said his enthusiasm
for buses began in Hong Kong in 1997, growing out of mere
curiosity.
"The reason
I was interested because I had to take the bus to school,
and I began noticing the differences," he said. "One
bus was old, one was new. One had air conditioning, another
did not. All the buses were owned by different companies."
Ever since his
father gave him a professional-grade Ricoh camera for his
18th birthday, Yiu has put that camera to good use. He has
pictures of buses from almost every transit system in Los
Angeles, San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and San Diego counties.
Most of Yiu's bus
photographs can be found on his Web site, www.chaffeeyiu.com,
written in English and Cantonese. His site has a photo gallery
with hundreds of buses from Southern California, Hawaii and
Hong Kong, as well as tables listing engine and transmission
configurations for MTA, Long Beach Transit, Foothill Transit
and Greyhound fleets. His Web site even has Long Beach Transit
schedules, something non-enthusiasts would find very handy.
Yiu's interest
in buses is so strong that he even bases his major around
it.
"Civil engineering
is related to buses," he said. "Most jobs at MTA
or OCTA require a civil engineering degree."
Yiu hopes to become
a transportation planner at either of the two agencies.
"If I have
a chance to stay here, I'll stay here," he said. "I
like it better here because it is not very hot and not very
cold like Hong Kong."
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