Sunday, December 23, 2007

i am back in singapore after spending 3 weeks in taipei. ok i been back 3 days already to be exact.

the last 3 days there i spent rather meaninglessly. just wondering around taipei myself. visited a few shopping locations like taipei underground station and xinmenting again. had a nice dinner organised by my dad's office here, to send him and the colleagues who were going home back.

on the 19th, i was priviledged enough to see my dad recieve a medal awarded by the taiwanese military to him for his efforts to bridge taiwanese and singaporean military forces. it was really a very special moment for him and for us. not everyone can receive such an award and it really made me quite proud.

at night, for the last time together with junming who happened to be in taiwan, went to miramar and shilin night market. for me, shilin is the heartbeat of taiwan. its something you really cannot get at home: rows and rows of stalls selling random items and the atmosphere is just buzzing. and for possibly the last time, ate the chicken and drank bubble tea. and then i looked back and said my goodbyes.

and so the 20th, i bid farewell to chengde road section 4 for the last time. i don't know when i will ever come back to taiwan again, if ever, but it was fun, at least on hindsight.

once i returned to singapore, it has been event after event. on 21st i went back to school to help hall one take pictures for the publicity sub comm, but sadly the softball team that was supposed to appear decided not too.... which made me rather upset for the wasted trip.

met pamy and her friends are passed her the stuff i got from taiwan for them after leaving school. after which, we went off for the blood donation at dhoby ghaut. it was my first blood donation ever actually. pamy couldn't donate (again) because of her low iron levels (again).

had to fill out a mandatory form to check if i was carrying any stds. after which a friendly doctor tests your blood pressure (mine is slightly low) and pricks your finger to test your blood iron levels. after that you are clear to donate blood.

they invite you to a nice chair to lean back and relax. when they bring the apparatus, i got a bit nervous. you know, i don't like pokey things enter my skin. things got pretty freaky when they inject the local anaesthesia, cause your skin balloons with white stuff when they inject it. of course, after it is injected, you feel nothing there... when they brought out the really really huge needle, i was like wtf, because it was really really huge (for a needle) but thankfully when they push it into your vein. it is completely painless. which thankfully made me less worried about my blood spraying into my own face.

according to the posters, 450ml of blood saves 3 lives. well, i guess i saved 3 lives this christmas. probably i don't mind doing it again... in the near future i guess. you never really know when something might happen to you and you blood you know.

22nd i went to meet the foc people to help them wash cars. some chap donated $200 to us for helping to wash his dog and his friends 2 cars. pretty loaded fella... hoho. must be the dog. and now, i just got back from the blue obsession party which was at mohammed sultan road area. it wasn't too fantastic..but the night rider trip back was.

as the bus passed through geylang, you could see the denizens of the night walking the streets. aside from the delicious food that geylang serves, it is of course a red light district. you see those women prowling the streets looking for potential customers. opportunists, probably the best in the world, the people in the world's oldest profession.

maybe i am not making sense anymore cause its 430 and i am blogging. but the underbelly of singapore is a side you don't see too often, in the squeaky clean state promoted image. gotta really open our eyes to see things we will never see.
--

the last time i will ever set my eyes on you again.

Labels: life in general, sojourn

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Tuesday, December 18, 2007

been shopping and moving around taipei the last few days.

taipei 101 is currently the world's tallest building. went up to the 91st story outdoor gallery of taipei 101, 386m above sea level via the world's fastest elevator moving at 1,010m per second. it moved so fast, my ears 'popped'. first impressions in the open? the city line: absolutely stunning. its like a glimmering array of technicolour structures dotting the landscape, seemingly so tiny and insignificant. cityscapes are always fascinating to me. osaka, kyoto, sapporo... and now taipei. its how the buildings man have built viewed from an elevated position that one can actually fully appreciate how much work had to be done to build so much.

moved about the streets of taipei today again. went to the underground mall in taipei main station and ximenting again. got 'conned' into buying face care products and got a few shirts. the retail therapy helped to mask a bit of 'the void'.

'the void': been have having this feeling of emptiness lately. this overwhelming crushing emptiness, vacuuming away at my insides. its a horrible horrible feeling. and this feeling is not new. i first felt it after i flunked my promos in the worst year of my life thus far (2003). probably was too distracted during my first year of national service trying to cope, world of warcraft distracted me in 2006. in 2007 till now, my internship kept me busy as well as school. but now... with nothing to occupy me.. its gripping.

its feeling of non achievement. its like i have not spent my time properly and thus i have no skills, no posts, no accomplishments to show for. its like everyone but me is doing something meaningful, something special, something earthshaking.... and i am not a part of it. and i would have probably felt worse.

but of all days, today strangely, i read the daily bread. and it made me feel better.

i guess even if i don't come to You, You still find ways eh.

thanks by the way.

but i still need to work things out a bit.

=
17/12/07 Daily Bread

Wall Street Journal columnist Jonathan Clements offered his readers “Nine Tips for Investing in Happiness.” Interestingly, one of his suggestions was precisely the same as that given in the favorite old hymn by Johnson C. Oatman, “Count Your Many Blessings.” Clements urges us not to brood over the riches of our neighbors but to focus on the many blessings we actually do possess. That’s wise counsel, provided that we realize our spiritual wealth in Jesus is immeasurably more valuable than any material possessions.

God didn’t give us the Bible as a guidebook for happiness. Yet it tells us how we can be eternally joyful and how we can experience joy on our way to that eternal happiness. So it’s enlightening to compare biblical truth with common-sense advice.

“Godliness with contentment is great gain,” Paul wrote to Timothy (1 Tim. 6:6). The apostle wanted his protégé to understand that being grateful for the basics of life would help keep him from the trap of covetousness.

So let’s focus on the wonders of God’s grace, training ourselves to make a spirit of gratitude pervade our lives. That’s the way to experience joy today and to be forever joyful.
=
--

he cut out his heart, put it in a chest, and hid it away from the world.
and everything was a consequence of that fateful day.

Labels: life in general, sojourn

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Saturday, December 15, 2007

(there are no spoilers.)

i am legend opened in taiwan today, 11 days ahead of the christmas day opening in singapore. seeing the great hype and excellent trailer, i headed to the cinema with high expectations. we went to tianmu, the local expat area, where the cinemas have soundproof walls, unlike the usual taiwanese ones.

i am legend lives up to its billing, at least for half the movie, after which its collapses spectacularly into a heap of cliches. will smith plays the last surviving man on earth. what really comes through is his performance, it is hard to act when you are the only character on screen. but he brings out the solitude of robert neville, putting in a brilliant performance for the duration of the movie that is not crap. how he copes with his solitude and maintains his sanity is quite artfully portrayed acutally. the mental dams holding in his sanity are also underlined in the movie.

the movie's most thrilling parts consist of absolutely no visuals, just the effect of sound. and it is used to chilling effect. its amazing what the sense of hearing can do that the sense of sight can't.

however, sadly, the screenwriters for some unexplicable reason turned this great potential of a story into crap in the last half of the movie. i left the cinema will a bad taste in my mouth actually, which is a pity, because i thought will smith had put in a another stellar performance.

what if you were the last man on earth. what would you do? me? i would probably go to hugo boss and get myself a suit that i couldn't have done in my lifetime.

--

please if anyone can hear me...anyone.

Labels: life in general, sojourn

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Thursday, December 13, 2007

here is a random interesting fact for you. there hasn't been a blonde dude i have met in osaka or taiwan till today, where i saw a blonde dude for the first time overseas in 2 weeks. i was expecting more blondes in japan but surprisingly i saw none!

today, headed to the hairstylist. i always visit this hairstylist in taiwan. the store is called villa hair and it is located at hualing street. the owner is called jason. while he is not the best hair stylist in the world, he provides cheap, well at least cheaper then singapore, rates and good service. the service industry in taiwan really is good because they take care of their customers.

went to xinmenting yesterday night. i have visited xinmenting so many times in the day, but this is the first time that i actually visited xinmenting at night. xinmenting is like the young hip area in taipei but the shops really ought to be better there. it was actually quite the letdown. i prefer shilin anytime.

the good thing about living near jiantan mrt is that it is a 5 min walk from shilin night market. i walked there for the 3rd time today. i don't know what is it that makes shilin so attractive to me. perhaps its the cheap clothes and lack of brands in this night market. maybe its the variety of food. maybe its the people.

for all the places your grandparents/great grand parents could have chosen to go, they decided to come to singapore. they could have very well stayed in china, moved to taiwan, hong kong. how different would your life be now? i could very well be at shilin night market selling t-shirts. its also probably notable that if i closed my eyes in the streets of taipei, i could very well could have mistaken that i was in singapore. so how different are we actually from our chinese brethren all over the world?

so with that thought and some pictures.. i will leave you today.


--
anywhere else could have been our fate.

Labels: sojourn

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Tuesday, December 11, 2007

jiu zhu wen hua chun was a place that i had visited 3 years ago, before i entered national service. it is meant to showcase the nine aboriginal tribes of taiwan and it has some theme rides to entertain the younger audience. sadly, the amusement rides are the main draw. its inaccessibility and remoteness makes it an unideal location of visit. confusing roadsigns, narrow roads leading to the place hamper its attractiveness. furthermore, its rides since 3 years ago have not been updated. the park today was particularly empty, perhaps yet another sad testament to its lack of appeal. why we still visit this place? i really don't know. i didn't plan the trip.

my visit there today was an unmemorable one. all the rides that i had sat in 3 years ago were still there. but this time, since it would be my last time visiting the place, i decided to sit the cockscrew rollercoaster. you know, the one that you go upside down? but the ride didn't thrill me as much as i had expected. while i was on it, the sky never seemed bluer and the ride gave me a sudden release from the constraints of the world; the feeling of weightlessness. but i know that it wouldn't last. it was like a temporary release, but once you got back on ground, the troubles of the world weighed down again.

we did a speed run through the park rather fast. after we cleared all the rides in 2 hrs (due to the lack of traffic), we decided to leave. tells you really how attractive this park is...

puli was more interesting. it is a wine making town in taiwan. and they really make wine. and other random stuff out of it as well. wine biscuits, wine bread, wine cake, fermented rice, wine jelly, wine chocolate..etc. its really crazy. and really amusing.you should really try the wine jelly. ahah.

retired back to the hotel beside the lake again. was feeling nauseous due the intensity of riding the rides (i sat the rollercoaster twice in a roll, the high speed descent thing once, space mountain once, viking once, carousel once and a motion stimulator once in rapid time) and the dangerous winding mountainous roads. in the evening, we just strolled along the lake.

everytime i see orion's belt in the sky, it reminds me of the 4th day of field camp, where me and my section mates had a break at night and we lay in the grass gazing at the night sky. in tekong, there are no city lights and the night sky shines through. similarly, here at nantou, there aren't many city lights.

but i need the city. i can't imagine living in a small town like nantou in taiwan or wakayama in japan, where the highest building is six stories. but if they can live like this, why can't we? we have seen too much, enjoyed too much perhaps, to let go what we have.

back to the city tomorrow, leaving behind the quiet towns for the hustle and bustle of the civilization.
--

there is an evident lack of light tonight.

Labels: sojourn

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Monday, December 10, 2007

hello, from nan tou. i am staying in a hotel beside the sun-moon lake. its been a tiring road trip over the last 2 days or so. we set off from taipei yesterday. made our way back down to chiayi again to visit somewhere else. i think it has been like... 450 km? i can't exactly put the place i visited here nor can i post pictures on it. but it was a fascinating experience. it really once in a life time you get to do something like this if you are not in the line. the hospitality is great too! ask me about it and i will share.

thereafter, today morning, we took the car back up towards nan tou and sun-moon lake. you know taiwan is famous for those betel nut sellers by the highways? you know 3 years ago when i was here, i remembered more of those sellers by the streets. those suggestively clad women in glass panel cubicles by the side of the roads trying to attract truckers to buy their betel nuts. but this year, 3 years after, there doesn't seem to be so many of them already. maybe a clean up of the streets?

there are lot confusing roadsigns in taiwan. and their driving is reckless to say the least. they really dun care about road safety, they don't give way. they can be either be considered the most dangerous drivers in the world, or the best. depends on how you look at it.

as for the program tomorrow, we heading off to the jiu zhu wen hua chun (nine tribes cultural village). i am not in my room typing this by the way... its the business centre in the hotel. i think i will head up soon to sleep.

here is the sun-moon lake for you guys for today.


--

rethink.

Labels: sojourn

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Sunday, December 09, 2007

came back down from alishan today. alishan is a forested area, said to named after one of the chiefs. it is more beautiful in the spring, where the sakuras bloom, but in winter it is still charming. we had taken a rail train up the mountain, which is a rarity, for most trains do not actually climb mountains. for our trip back to taipei, we took a bullet train, which was really really comfortable. it almost felt like a very nice aeroplane that doesn't give air sickness.
actually, taiwan's rail service is pretty good. it is on time and efficient and comfortable. thats one good thing about taiwan.

tomorrow i am travelling (again), this time to nantao, which is in central taipei. all this travelling making me tired man. here are some pictures.

Labels: sojourn

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Friday, December 07, 2007

i am in a crappy hotel now, but since it has WIRELESS its great! i realise i can't live without the internet. zz... the internet is trippy though. i am auto disconnecting and connecting.

came back from osaka on the 5th evening. today, the 7th of december, woke up at 6am to catch the trs (taipei rail service) to taipei main station, where they have rail trains as well. the crush in the morning rush hour is crazy, just like back home. we just barely squeezed into the train.

we took 2 trains in total, totalling 6hrs. the first train ride was a normal rail one. but the second can be considered a engineering marvel. its tracks are built around alishan. it was originally built by the japs to get logs from alishan mountain. of course, logging is now banned and alishan has now turned into a tourist attraction.

tomorrow morning, we will be touring alishan area. its too late now to see anything. its going to be back to back touring. after i go back taipei tomorrow, i be leaving the next day again for nan tou. gonna be really tiring yet exciting.
--

we cannot control. we can only bide.

Labels: sojourn

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Thursday, December 06, 2007

pictures as promised. no writing today. enjoy them. in no particular order.

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Tuesday, December 04, 2007

i am really shagged. so this will be ultra brief.

woohoo!!!! osaka universal studios rocks!

stay tuned for pictures.

--
can you tell me how to get, how to get to sesame street...

Labels: sojourn

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Monday, December 03, 2007

so, i am online in osaka. to be exact, i am in the hotel lobby typing this, so this will be brief.

bascially, there is no internet in the room. been to kobe, kyoto and osaka over the last few days. and the bridge in kobe was what impressed me the most. the shinto shrines were packed to the brim so i didn`t really enjoy them. there was a very nice train ride, pass crevices and creeks; most enjoyable.

i can`t upload pics here... and the screen is straining my eyes.

but.... tomorrow i am going universal studios osaka. woohoo!!!!!!

ok. enough for today. till tomorrow... maybe...

--
for the sake of sake.

Labels: sojourn

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Saturday, December 01, 2007

there is internet in this hotel in japan. don't know if there will be internet in the other 2 hotels though. so i will just be thankful for this one.

so, i am actually blogging from japan. to be exact; wakayama, kansai prefecture. i am in wakayama prefecture city, royal pines hotel at the moment. tomorrow we are moving to kyoto. its 2100 (+9 hrs) at the moment.

on my eva air flight to kansai international, there was plenty of space on the plane. so much so that everyone moved to a window seat and sat with their legs on the other 2 chairs.

its funny. japan doesn't feel any different, other then the fact that everyone speaks japanese. it doesn't feel like i am visiting a foreign country. it almost feels like i arrived at taipei again. maybe its just me.

we visited a castle after touchdown which was beautiful. its amazing how they built it on such high ground nearly 400 years ago. it has a beautiful garden and lake around it. you can imagine the samurai storming the castle, battles being fought there. suits of armour in glass cases, swords stacked up nicely.

headed to a shopping centre in japan thereafter. its... like taka back home. i really want to go to those underground shopping centres though, the ones that sell more brandless items.

it gets dark faster in taipei and japan. it got really dark by 5pm, it being winter, japan being in the north and all. we had dinner at this south garden like place, which has hotplate but not steamboat. it also served free for all meat, icecream, crepes, sushi, teppanyaki etc etc. but there is a time limit of 90 minutes so it was eat and run.

our driver got lost and we arrived at the hotel a bit late. but here we are here, alive. and well... well. once again, some pictures from my handphone. and its time to sleep.

Labels: sojourn

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on the way to osaka, kansai international. thought i like to say hi before heading into br 2132, eva airline in 10 minutes. currently in taoyuan international airport, taipei.

lets see if there is internet and tokyo bananas there.

--

departo for nihon.

Labels: sojourn

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Friday, November 30, 2007

so, its day 2 in taipei. tomorrow i am heading off to japan for 5 days. chances of me blogging there? depends really. on whether the hotel has wireless ya.

anyway, today, i woke up early had mee sua for breakfast and headed to the local theatre to catch lust caution. its more expensive here by just a bit, you can hear the opposite screens movie sometimes, but its interesting ya.

for me... lust caution was more of a tragic love story rather then a ww2 spy story. after being in cs for 1 sem, my mind turned immediately to national cinema when the plot was unrevelling, but it seems thats not the case. in my opinion, its how love and hate, loyalty and betrayal all are intrinsically connected. i won't spoil it for you, but tis true in some aspects. when u are in love, you forget everything, let your guard down. everyone knows whats happening but you. but i wouldn't know.

in taipei, they enjoy steamboat a lot. think of seoul garden sans the hotplate. the meat is put in the water as well. the trains are efficent too, if not better than the mrt in singapore. and guess what, they have dunkin donuts here. haha.

not much has changed in the past year. the 24 hr spectacle shop (don't ask me why) has finally closed down. a few new shops have springed up.

i will leave you now with the choice pictures. acutally, not choice. they are just the only pictures i took. with my handphone.

Labels: sojourn

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hey guys. i am in taipei now. its 3am now and i have a headache trying to figure out what is going on with my stars. so i will leave u with a few shots of taipei.

by the way, blogger is in chinese, google is in chinese and its crazy. the traffic doesn't care about you and will try to ram you down. the air smoky, the temperature 14 degrees and the people uncouth. but i guess, there is always shilin.

Labels: sojourn

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