Wither

Mr. Bell was on

Remember that brilliant scrawny kid on Billy Elliot? He's all grown up! First there was King Kong, then there's Jumper. It reminds me of how years have passed without me noticing...and I had to watch child stars grow up. Painful!

Afternoon light and love of travel

I love afternoon light. It's always shining the brightest before the sun finally disappears into darkness, and the intensity of the heat lends a very different feel, almost otherworldly. It makes me think about life. It makes me realize I should be grateful of the life I have. There's a saying in Chinese, 夕陽無限好，只是近黃昏。Although the sun's beauty is limitless, it's nearing dusk. The more optimistic version and the one I like is 雖然近黃昏，夕陽無限好。Although the sun's nearing dusk and disappearing, its beauty is still limitless. Tomorrow, the sun will rise again, ever more beautiful, ever more bright.

I went to the movies yesterday. I came back more impressed with an ad I saw while waiting for it to start than by the movie. It's almost perfect until I see that it's from Louis Vuitton. Well, nothing against the brand, I just didn't expect that. I love the images, I especially love the music! So here:

1950s

I am starting to have some fun

This is the part of a place where I pretty much walk by most of the days and yet I never see it. The guys look very busy indeed. Singapore is raining pretty much every day. Storm, grey, blue, cloud, fog, blind. I feel the ground is vibrating with each heartbeat.

Steely determination is a quality for all ages

I achieved a new milestone today! It feels good to get rid of your shadow sometimes.

When it turns red

Selflessness

Is it really possible?

Sometimes when I think of people who are selfless and what they would do for me or for the others, I cringe. I cringe because I would always come to my own self-reflection. Other people's actions reflect on our own inactions. I don't know how to live a life that is selfless.

Different times

First structure of its kind.

A journal, the first three days

I dreaded it. But I was looking forward to it. I haven't had much luck with transportation for the past few trips overseas. And so when the text message came telling me the airport was closed, I just wished I could make it after all. Jakarta is one humongous city, and the pace of development just so far exceeded the available infrastructure over the years. Highways were flooded. People's houses were flooded during the Lunar New Year season. I arrived in the capital in the dead of the early morning, relieved I actually made it there. A few hours later, I had my first great meal, a simple Indonesian breakfast of rice and a few dishes I grew up with. It was a great feeling to be tasting your old memories and still find the experience is as good as your memories. You know the times when you had the chance to relive your greatest memories and find them not as good as the original? This isn't one of those times. It's not quite the same, but it's enough to make a happy morning.

Killing my time in a mall, I made the spontaneous decision to have a haircut then. Customer service here in the country is as great as I had always expected. It is way better than any other place I have been. You feel the sincerity. Now I may be biased, but I think people are friendly, courteous, generous with their smiles and they don't give the customers any 'looks'. Take the lady at the reception, she got up, smiled, said "Selamat pagi" as soon as she saw me, gave good answers to my questions and showed me to my seat. It's very simple, and it only lasted a couple minutes. But here I am, writing a paragraph out of this. Not many in the customer service business get this simple thing right. Getting the basics right is what we overlook the most in pursuit of a fancy finish.

Tired as hell, I took the 2-hour car ride to the city of Bandung. I had my share of fortunate and unfortunate transportation-related experiences during this trip, but the car ride was my first fortunate one. Locals know what to expect of the notorious traffic in and out of Jakarta. Yet my ride was smooth and I was pretty grateful for that. So, there I was, in Bandung. The city is the most artistic city in the country. You can feel the creative vibe almost everywhere and the cafe scene simply tops the list. From durian ice cream, wickedly delicious Sundanese food enjoyed within a "kampung"-like (village) stretch of land, to the ubiquitous factory outlets and elite education institute, Bandung is the city that almost had it all, had it not its high-altitude mountain-locked location and for its giant neighbor Jakarta. Jakartans show up here during weekends, pack the streets and the very nice cafes and restaurants. Maybe people think if they are going to spend two hours being held up in the traffic in Jakarta, they might as well spend that time in Bandung.

The city used to be nicknamed Parijs van Java for its European style hotels, boutiques, restaurants, and buildings. Well, I didn't see much of these structures but this time around, I actually visited 'Paris van Java', a much talked-about compound of hip cafes, boutiques, and stores. True enough, I can see why the young likes to frequent this place. It's hip, alright. In just 5 minutes, I walked past about 10 cafes that made me want to go inside and order something each time. Good thing I resisted, I still had some shopping to do.

Factory outlet is a huge business here as Bandung is the center of the garment import-export business in Indonesia. Certain streets in the city such as Jalan Riau, Jalan Dago or Jalan Setiabudi are lined with factory outlets of different shapes and structures (some museum-like, some with a huge A-shaped entrance) to lure you in. The stuff weren't actually very cheap or particularly nice, but if you look long enough, you might find some good quality bargains.

The next day found me on the top of Mount Tangkuban Perahu, almost blown away and into the crater with exposed belly by the massive wind. It wasn't a good sight! But it was fun. I learned about how the mountain was formed back in school a long time ago, so when you actually visited a place you've heard or known in the back of your mind so many times, it's sort of a good moment. Legend has it that the "Upturned Boat" mountain was the product of Sangkuriang's wrath after finding out he missed the deadline to build a large boat before sunrise so he could marry his own mother, Dayang Sumbi. Of course, one would think this tale of almost-incest disaster could be prevented with Dayang Sumbi telling her son that he is not supposed to marry his own mother. One can also argue how good a story will be if truth comes out so easily?

From Tangkuban Perahu, you have a panoramic view of the city and the valleys surrounding you. The fog hangs atop the crater all the while we were there, so the only option left is for us to seek out a seemingly Thai-influenced (seemingly, because I can't be sure) vihara on the way down Lembang. Next stop is The Peak, a restaurant among a complex of villas overlooking the valleys and mountains surrounding Bandung. I imagined myself waking up in the morning and looking out vast greeneries and villages when we drove past one of the beautiful villas. The view is almost worth the price! Food-wise, we decided the Peak may be too plain and so headed down to "Sapu Lidi" (broom of split coconut midrib)! The restaurant has a slogan: "Makan di tengah sawah" (Eat in the middle of paddy field). Truth is, there's no paddy fields. Instead, I sat down in a thatched roof hut, cross-legged on the floor, ate like a peasant and had the best meal! This concept of restaurant "tables" that are actually a compound of huts has now caught up, and it's working out pretty well.

Oh, I had a real good time in Bandung!

More pictures:

Baryshnikov in White Nights 1985

Wow! This is the most powerful modern dance I've seen for a long long time. And listen to that beautiful music!! I first saw Baryshnikov in Sex and the City and he's one heck of a sexy Russian then. To see him of 23 years ago actually dancing on stage, is something else entirely.

Bravo. Such perfection, such power, such intensity, such passion, and such ease.

Do look at his Don Quixote and other classical ballet performances. No wonder he is one of the greatest dancers of our century.

The big sway

This happens every 28 years I heard!!

Life is food!

Food seems to be the topic these days.

In and Out

Penny Black

Walking with your eyes closed

Have you tried walking 30 steps with your eyes closed? The moment your eyes close, your most important sense shut down. You "see" with the other four senses. You hear, you smell, you touch, you feel your surroundings. And you start to walk. You feel a little fear, but that's alright. Now it's time for the first step. Your leg takes the first swing, light, your body's momentum shift to your airy feet, it came down as soon as your other leg lifts up. Okay, you thought to yourself, this is not so bad. Second step, third step, you think to yourself you will hit something right then and there. You took a few more steps, uncertainties grew. One more step, you feel almost helpless now. Fear of hitting something makes you slow down tremendously. You pause. And again. You ponder hard, whether to carry on. You are strong, so you continue to take slower and shorter steps. You pause each time. Cautious. You felt the urge to open your eyes, but you can't. You have to do this. Okay, three more, two more, and one more step. It's over. You open your eyes.

Walking with your eyes closed is like living through life with one thing you think you can't live without. But life is life, it continues with or without you. At the end of your run, hopefully you gain something in return of the thing you lost. But that's okay.

Coulda Woulda Shoulda

Chingay 2008

A dad said to his daughter, "Today, it's Chingay Parade, it is the Chinese New Year parade. It's held every year. We didn't see it last week, so today they are bringing Chingay Parade here!" I have never seen Chingay Parade. To think that I have been in Singapore for quite some time, I haven't seen or done a lot of things in Singapore. Shame!

From Wiki:

The Chingay Parade (Chinese: 妆艺大游行; pinyin: Zhuāngyì Dàyóuxíng) is an annual street parade held in Singapore as part of Chinese New Year festivities. The term Chingay itself originated in Southeast Asia, particularly in Penang, Malaysia, which is a phonetic equivalent of the Chinese words "妆艺", which means "a decorated miniature stage" or float. Today, the parade has evolved into a massive multi-cultural and international event telecast live on television every year.

People started lining up on the streets half an hour before the start of the event, not just streets, but also open air car park building across the street. Parents brought their kids, their parents, their brothers and sisters, photographers walked around with huge long serious-looking cameras that's everywhere these days, and me with my unawareness of the parade everybody seemed to love. I don't have expectations, I guess this is the exciting part.

So it started with a couple of dances, then a few technical glitch (the songs stopped in the middle of the dances), and a minister and his wife who shook my hand came out to say a few words. Then it's the parade. The Merlion head. The Japanese ladies. The futuristic looking but incomprehensible float. The ship. My alma mater float. I remember each house of residence in my old school always had amazing float and dances each year. It's pretty short, and it's great. The boy with the comic book didn't seem to care much. He's too absorbed in his book.

I saw a cool kid

I saw a cool kid today. She must be around 5 or 6 years old. She was wearing an army cap, cool red snickers, sleeveless polo, slinging a Billabong bag, and listening to her iPod. And I thought, "Wow! This kid is cool!". Immediately I turned to see who's with her, her mom must be cool too to dress a kid like that and give her iPod at such a young age. She's okay. My mind brought me back to the image of myself when I was 5 or 6, so not that cool kid. So, I saw a cool kid today. It makes me smile.

Here she is.

Being compassionate

For some, it's just part of them, naturally. Others take years to develop. Have a good weekend.