Making up for lost time

Didn't get a chance to post pix when i was behind the friggin GFW so here are some of the highlights from 2009, or posterity's sake.

i've been thinking about switching blogs but i'm kinda attached to this one since i started my travelling in 2006 and have had 130+ posts to date. Nyeah. i'll be loyal.

Longmen Grottoes, south of Luoyang city, Henan province. Awe-inspiring collection of statues carved 1500 years ago.

There you go.. i took the plunge.

Sunset in Uluwatu, Bali

Just went for a late-night swim. The pool is empty and quiet since its "technically closed" @ 10pm.


The water is crystal clear after 2 days of heavy downpour. Never seen so much rain in the month of June. This morning's thunderstorm was so heavy it sounded like i was standing at the edge of a waterfall and hearing its roar.



I realise that i haven't enjoyed this sort of peacefulness for a long time. I'm thoroughly sick of the crowds, the congestion, pollution, and noise in a so-called "developed city". And i'm questioning how much longer i can stay there without compromising certain things that are important in my life. i miss spending time with my family, friends, and the healthier lifestyle i can have here, running, swimming, etc.

Yet i know that if i live here i'll be stir-crazy sooner or later and crave escape too. not sure exactly what i want, or where i can find it. Ugh. guess people are never satisfied with what they have.

I feel increasingly like a tourist each time i'm back. gawking at the new malls that have sprouted up, old places that have disappeared, my favourite haunts that are now sadly, very disappointing and not worth going to anymore. some things are still amazing though, like the incredible 50m pool right in front of my bedroom ;-)





should i stay or should i go? Or more appropriately, should i come back or should i stay there?

Imprints

It takes leaving the country for awhile and then returning to see things in a different light. You take things for granted when you live in the same place for too long. I've never found old shophouses interesting until now. I felt like a tourist wandering around these new-old buildings - everything looks different and yet vaguely familiar. I notice the intricate designs on the mosaic tiles, the panelled double-doors of the entrances, and delicate, narrow spiral-staircases at the back of the buildings. Maybe i'm afraid that when i come back again to Singapore again, they might be gone, or simply fade away from my memories again.

Crowds at Chinatown shopping for new-year goodies

Word pun on the phrase "扭(牛）转乾坤" in the year of the Ox - which means "to have immense power to change nature or the established order of a country" (Hey, i checked the dictionary!) The oxen sculptures of the Sri Mariamman temple conveniently sit beside this banner.

Old buildings - i seem to get nostalgic about them lately.

Old shophouses reincarnated as offices

Porthole window




Perpetual state of construction and deconstruction

It's great to be home ...

I get to :

--Spend time with my family and friends. My brother is back from Australia so we get to catch up, take walks together and stuff. He gets to annoy me just like the good old days.

--It's nice and warm! the birds are chirping, the sun is shining and i'm surrounded by lush greenery. And, I don't have to dress in multiple layers of clothes and look/ feel like the michelin-man. Those short winter up north do get a bit dreary.

--Eat all the local food i've missed out on - "i have a list, and i'm checking it twice" and conscientiously ticking them off everyday.

--Swim (do the hamster equivalent of just laps and laps around the pool - its something i really enjoy and it clears my head out because i'm just concentrating on making every kick and stroke right. I've swam only once in the whole time i've been in China.

Oh, and i don't get zapped by static electricity here, EVER!! its made me so wary of opening door handles, or touching anything with my bare hands. i resorted to closing taxi doors by poking the window with one finger when i was in beijing...

So, the poor inflight entertainment on my way back gave me a chance to do some reflection and take stock of the year that's just past, and the one coming up.

2008 recap:

Jan - i started the year with a hike with 2 close friends in Hangzhou. Shivered through the rest of the month. 2 of my schoolfriends (whom i've known since we were 15) gave birth to healthy little babies and i was really happy for them.

Feb - Massive snowfall in HZ and I almost couldn't get home for chinese new year. When i returned to HZ, a few of us hashers went on an epic hike, where we circumnavigated HZ's hills in 11 hrs - by the time we finished at wushan square, it was 8pm and we were ready to collapse, but with an immense sense of satisfaction.

Mar - Dad visited Hangzhou. I went for a bad haircut and ended up with a really dorky fringe.

Apr - Arrival of spring. Picnics, boat rides, tea-drinking, tulip festival - all in all a happy month.

May - Flew home to attend one of my best friend's wedding in Singapore - one of the nicer, intimate weddings i've attended, but the after-party was a different story. Then the 8.0 earthquake struck.

June - Suzhou and shanghai with Dad. Preparations as well as the actual Hash 50th run -complete blast. Climbed up Taishan single and came down engaged - the boyfriend's proposal on bended knee at the summit took me by complete surprise.

July, Aug, Sept - hot and sweaty summer, the Olympics, oh and i turned 29.

Oct - meet the parents session in beijing and qingdao (great success!), mountain race relay in hangzhou, and left my job!

Nov - ran a 21k race

Dec - Offically relocated to beijing. Then, promptly went on a 10day trip to Sichuan. Ended the year with my wallet picked in freezing Harbin. [This whole wallet business happens annually (this is the 4th year running) and i almost made it to 365 days without losing it.. until 31 Dec 2008 6pm that is] I'm convinced it is a curse so this time, i've chosen to maintain some stoicism. But, the boyfriend said to count my blessings - my passport was intact so i made it home. And my driving licence wasn't stolen this time (because it was lost in last year's wallet incident, i made a new one and had yet to collect it!)

my new year resolutions (drumroll..... )

** Not sure if i should fight this curse but i really don't want to lose my wallet AGAIN.

** Keep up my fitness and health - running, biking, outdoor sports and all.

** Learn to conquer my fear of falling on a ski-slope (so i don't continue to ski like a wimp)

**Be more green/ eco-friendly (like, more recycling, eat less meat, use less resources etc.)

**Be more budget conscious. guess i'm used to earning and spending on whatever i want, but i really should save money for rainy days, or for that matter, snow, hailstones and all.

and then there's the usual ones on every year's list - do more travelling, do more good, count my blessings and be thankful for everything i have!

happy new year everyone !

You know you've been out of the country for too long when...

*your long-lost friends greet your phonecall with "You're alive!!!"

* Malays, Indians, and Angmohs all look foreign to you.

* You're taken aback when someone addresses you in English

* you go misty-eyed at the sight of hummus, avocados and REAL wholemeal bread at Cold Storage. and OMG - Carrot Cake! with egg & chilli!!

* people drive on the "wrong side" of the road, and guess what, they actually DO give way to pedestrians!

* You forget how good the sun feels on your dry, pasty-white skin and wonder why whiny singaporeans complain "so hot! need air-con!"

*you scream in shock at your receipt when you realise that GST has risen to 7%

*you forget to tap your EZ-link card before you get off the bus and that cost you 10RMB - you can buy a big bowl of noodles in china with that!

*a waitress from mainland China is amazed you can actually order food in fluent, perfect mandarin.

Here, there, everywhere... they must have followed me home...

p.s. Thanks for the memories everyone.

In exactly 7 hours i'm going to be on the plane, bound for Hangzhou again. Can't describe how that feeling is just thinking about it. Anxiety, excitement... mostly a sense of dread and loss.

I probably won't be back in singapore for a long time and HZ is going to be my new "home" for now.

I took a drive out alone tonight, just around my neighbourhood. My favourite radio station blasting out, the familiar roads and seemingly permanent roadworks, that comfortable feeling of knowing exactly where everything is, how things work and how i know i have to start all over again while i'm in China.

I wonder how everything and everyone will change a year from now. I wonder how I will change a year from now. Will i miss Hangzhou and feel like an "alien" back in singapore when its time to come back? Where will i go next? Everybody is moving on. Friends have found new jobs, some about to get hitched and others having kids. I won't be here for my granddad -a sweet but grumpy old man who is getting older and seemingly more fragile by the day. I won't be here for my pals to hear about their joys, sorrows or just indulge in some good old bitchin and whining. I won't be here to teach my mum how to use MS Excel.

Some of my closest friends are scattered all over the world and i was lucky to meet one back here this time. I'm going to quote her words because i can't find anything more apt.

is home where your family is? where your friends are? or just somewhere you feel comfortable in? maybe i'll feel the best in the air. like im supposed to be there. supposed to be heading somewhere. where? should i come or should i go?

This week in Singapore

After 2 months of cavorting around Europe, I returned home to find more changes in Singapore. What can i say, except "same same, but different".

Fresh from the glow and publicity of being the host-city for the recent IMF talks, the Tourism Board is hardly resting on its laurels. This quarter, they are proudly promoting the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic aspect of Singapore. Yes, its that time of the year again for gorging ourselves (ok myself) on mooncakes because the Mid-autumn festival is here! And, what's more, we are celebrating Deepavali (Festival of lights) and Hari Raya Puasa(Aidil Fitri) too. Haven't had a chance to make a trip down to Little India or Geylang serai yet though. I have been too busy gawking in Orchard road..

Orchard road has been decorated again (is it Christmas already?!), AND they have chopped off the lovely old trees next to the MRT station to make way for some new buildings. There goes the Sunday picnic shade for our foreign workers. As most locals would recall, that was also the dumping ground for a corpse in a grisly murder last year. They'd all just have to find some place new.

Balls-up in Orchard road...

What better way to distract lingering IMF delegates, tourists and would-be protesters/terrorists than with gift-wrapped trees along our shopping district?

Salvador Dali sculptures in town

The brilliantly eccentric Spanish artist famously said,

"... There is only one difference between a madman and me - The madman thinks he is sane - I know I am mad ... "

and,

"When I paint, the sea roars. The others splash about in the bath. "

Definitely known more for his talent than his modesty.

Protesting about protestors never gets you anywhere - except a broken torso and some spiders.

Domestic travel

Barely 3 days at home and i'm getting withdrawal symptoms from being a tourist so i took my camera for a walk/train ride to get my fix of photo-taking :-)

Back in the land of glass, steel and concrete...

and airconditioned underground walkways.. So cool, so shiny, so clean, you can eat your dinner off the floor.

Team-building dinner at a Japanese restaurant - oh wait a minute, i'm not in the team anymore...

Ok, so here's one just of my erstwhile colleagues .. Ryann, Lili and Grace. Now that i'm unemployed, they treated me to dinner!

I had to run some errands in the business district this afternoon. While i was strolling along leisurely (as one would when you are jobless), just taking in all the changes that have taken place in the past 2 months, i couldn't help but notice the relentless pace of life in Singapore. Laos must be on a different planet - Nobody peddling leisurely on bicycles, or hawking noodles/fruits/petrol/everything else on little push-carts on the streets (or chipping ice for that matter :-) )

Manicured ladies in smart suits and clad in leather shoes and matching handbags, men with their expensive ties and MontBlanc pens peeking out (its very discreet, mind you) of their shirt pockets were walking briskly and jabbering away or furiously punching text messages into their mobile phones.

People were in a hurry ALL the time. Rush hour was worse. A sea of tired, gloomy faces greeted me all around - all their energy sapped away from a hard day at work -Ugh!! Everybody tries to makes a run to squeeze into packed trains before the doors shut. It makes me wonder if i used to be like this when i had a job and all i cared about was getting from point A to B in the minimum amount of time, and multi-tasking on 5 different things along the way.

Oh boy, i can't wait to get back to the real world...

Home!

Mum and dad - look pleased to see me! I think they were relieved to find i'm still alive and kicking. Just a little thinner and more tanned but apparently none the worse :-)

I'm back home for a few days to get organised before leaving for London - can't wait to see my friends again!

Packing & Paranoia - 1 Day before my flight to Hanoi

Um, did i mention i'm going away for 2 months.. ?

Ok - i think i'm almost all set to go. Except that i'm paranoid that i've left out something.

So i've gone through all the items again. Somehow i've ended up with an entire list of snail mail addresses - some people have DEMANDED postcards - you know who you are ;-)

And i'm also paranoid about overpacking and walking around with too heavy a rucksack. Ugh!!

So i hope this is the start of a very fun and exciting 6 months for me travelling around Asia and Europe. I'll keep everyone updated regularly through this blog - and if it ain't exciting, i'll just have to make something up to keep you all tuned.