as i fly

so how did 2011 treated me?

So how exactly 2011 treated me? after my job change, knowing people from all sorta industries, i felt that i’ve so much to learn besides just studying or playing. So much more in life i’ve to deal with. People. Money Woes. Work Issues. The prospects of a better future. The rat race begins. 

As i once said in the end of 2010, 2011 is somewhat a year of ‘less is more’, and i think i had that. Although my life is pretty simple already, i kept it even more basic, treat the people right and want nothing no more or less from them. Treat those you treasure well right and quietly discard those I felt uncomfortable with. 

Hence, 2012 is a year that I hope i can gain more wisdom in all aspect, be more mellow yet adventurous, see things in a wider perspective and seek happiness. 

‘Happiness is real when shared’, it is something i truly believe in and I’ll make it happen in action. As I seek the answer of ”happiness”, what it literally meant from the famous author, Paulo Coelho, where he mention, 

“So the meaning of life is work, the family, children who grow up and leave you, a wife or husband who will become more like a friend than a true love-mate. And one day the work will come to an end. What will you do when that happens?”  

It sounds negative in such a honest statement. Everyone seek happiness differently. As i attend my peers wedding, it’s a mixed feeling, as much as I felt truly happy for them, i can’t help to think all that constrain and obligation, one has. Happiness is different and one shall not worry too much. It comes. 

To a new year of 2012, cheers :) 

Land of :D

Bangkok was something unintentional and last-min, it was some promo on deal.com.sg where you can get like ‘huge’ discounts on free & easy tour to Bangkok. But to me, it’s just a marketing gimmick, making you to buy the deal fast. And yes, i was persuaded by friends whom i know since i was 13, we’ve been saying to go bkk since i was 18? But the crazy thai riots and unstable political situation always deter us going.The thing is both have been to Bangkok earlier this year, and they still wanting to go the second time? I guess it should be pretty good? 

This is the 3rd time to Thailand, the last 2 time was when i was young. For my friends, their main aim was shopping and it is something that i’m not really in love in. i prefer going to museum and sightseeing, the boring stuff. Hence, it was more like a girl-ly hang around trip for me, rather than knowing its culture and people.  

i wonder where was that? so i took a pic of it, intending to wiki it later. FYI, it is somewhere in South-East Africa. 

Chaos ^^

Vietnamese Wedding

And so i’m back. down with a flu. it’s was pretty eye opening, the fusion of Asian culture, both Chinese and French, and yet its wording system is based on Latin alphabets.

For the last 4 days, i had no chance to eat the most popular food, ‘pho’, due to one reason or another. But for the first time, i had attend a wedding banquet twice on different days, as they probably have many relatives and friends to announce their marriage. Because both come from well-to-do family background and are businessman. so i had to eat the same food twice on different days. It was pretty interesting. All that entertaining and obligation that they had to do.  

Vietnamese wedding felt very Chinese, in fact more Chinese-orientated than us Singaporean Chinese. We probably are more westernized. Like all Chinese wedding, the whole routine was groom picks bride, bride and groom goes somewhere, the dinner starts.

but everything was done in a more exaggerated and posh manner. In Singapore if you wanna show that you are rich enough to hold a grand wedding, we would then choose the top-notch hotel venue. However, in Vietnam, there is a need to tell to the whole Hanoi streets that you are getting married. 

 

that was just the picture of their engagement, and they had the entire row of rickshaw, oh yes, on their actual day of their wedding, it was cars, and they literally jammed up the already crazy Hanoi street. And we sat a chrysler, and roam around the streets in sequence. The people were literally staring at us. By the way, the bride’s hotel cum home was just 5 mins walk from the groom’s wedding venue cum future home of theirs.

that was the groom’s wedding hall/palace cum future home as they called it. And i have seen it for 3 times just maybe their different days and timing. But its all the same, all that lion dance, the ra-ra, confetti, lighting sparks.  

the old folk looks like he came from somewhere far. i guess it was quite hard on him to wear a white suit and ride a motobike just to attend the wedding. 

i really like the vibrant colors those old folks wear, i mean even for like CNY here in Singapore. You cant even see them wearing that, its so so cute. i love it. 

living in his own world, the kid and his leftover confetti.

i love this too. look so blissfully :) 

the place you put in the token of appreciation. Money. 

and so happily ever after <3. really feel happy for both. 

hello hanoi

finally i’m writing after 6 months, i know time flies like a space rocket. many other things happen not worth mentioning. 2 things, i’m flying again wohoo, to Hanoi, Vietnam, for 2 reasons, attending both uni friends wedding as well as sightseeing. I will be gone for 5 days, actually its only 3 days of having fun, 1 day of seeing how exactly Vietnam wedding is conducted. two, i need a job AGAIN! 

Anyways, i can’t wait. so excited. more for the wedding rather than sightseeing. 

My last post~ Inle Lake + Hike

hoohooo~ finally after quite a while, this will be my last post. 

After Bagan, we took a flight to somewhere~ i have no idea what is it called.. hmm, anyways, it was like a stop-over to do the 1 day hike to Inle. I can’t really remember much besides the fact that it is darn COLD~ haha.. it was freezing laa.. around 3-4 degrees i guess~ and nope i didnt bring anything thick. so i just put on all the clothes i had. haha~

The Hike starts~ we had this guide who LOVE to drink~ the only time that he will ever talk more than 3 sentences is probably when he have a beer on his hand~ anyways, he was not the best guide we had. when we have to rush the walk. Nevertheless, the scenery is still breathtaking. It’s like you are in another world, when time really stops and only then you will see its beauty of life. 

we had to stay a night in the monastery. And because of its limited infrastructure, it was worst night ever. One, it is darn cold. Two, can’t bathe. Three, the toilet was CRAP. Well, sleeping with the other 20 odd hikers who snore in the hall. Is very very bad. For me to pee in 3am is no joke. i gotta walk like 200m to pee in the cold. Seriously, i never knew that going to toilet in the night was such a chore. haha~ And at 5am, the kid monks started chanting. Oh man, i practically didn’t sleep much at all. Oh well, its experience laa~ hahaa..

we took a speed boat to Inle Lake yoo~ finally. dead tired. i couldn’t do anything much for the rest of that entire day besides sleeping~ 

 

i have to admit the pic quality sux laa~ some setting i got it wrong. Plus i’m shagged. 

and yes, making of candles is even more tedious than you think~

random pic of me hugging the twin tower, KL, Malaysia. Perfectly~ after tons of shots.

to all who’s reading this. i wont be posting anything in near future yea~ so stop reading also~ Life and reality comes in place. Gotta start of work life pretty soon when i HAVE a job. still looking for the perfect one. haha~ 

I find that people around me, be it random strangers or close friends i knew for decades, each have a story to tell. They make me aware that we ought to do things that you wanna do. Ultimately, no one is accountable for your life besides your own self. Me don’t wanna be in my 60s saying why i didn’t do that in my 20s. lolx~ Anyways, fightinggg~ <3

chaos ^^

  

Bagan~

Insomnia attack~ haha.. i’m kinna busy with all the catching up with all my kakis, plus CNY is coming~ whoppee ^^.. hence i haven post anything yet. 

Bagan, the first city we arrived at Burma, i swear that the number of pagodas in this superb ancient city is crazy. It’s like in Korea, there’s a BBQ restaurant in every single street and in Singapore, there’s a shopping mall in every subway station. Thats how many pagodas there are in this city~ it’s like every 50m, you will see one. The number of pagoda in Bagan was about 3,000. 

all the pointed thingy you saw, is all pagodas~ i know. Anyways, we hired a guide and a driver to bring us around in Began for the first 2 days. Because all you see is just sandy road and pagodas, there’s no way we could walk our way thru~ 

Burma aka Myanmar used to be the richest country in Southeast Asia in the 20th century. well, at least it can be well-evident in the amount of pagodas we see there. The guide who was AWESOME, did a great job in explaining everything about Bagan. So what makes them what they are today~ well, go figure~

Anyways, the reason being that why there are so much pagodas in Bagan is because they are darn rich, plus total devotion to their religion, which is Buddhism. Hence, every family at that time that were rich are able to afford to built a pagoda. It was said that even a widow was able to afford to construct one. haha~ i think that was their ‘in’ thing at that time, to built a pagoda. Today, people who are darn rich would just buy a Mulberry bag. lolx~ Anyways, the pagodas were built in the period between 11th to 17th century.

Long story short~ pics say everything more than a thousand words.

this is one of the non-reddish pagoda i saw~ usually they are like mud-reddish color~

 

this is the same Buddha statue, but its face would change its mood from happy to stern-looking face depending on the distance you stand from it~ So from HAPPY…. 

….to stern and serious face~ pretty cool yea~

alot of them i actually posted in fb. the ones you see now are not there~

besides the countless pagoda, they have amazing sunsets~ so we would usually climb up to the pagoda and say good bye to sun~~~ ^^

okay~ i try to finish up with Inle and maybe a CNY post and i’ll not be posting anything until i travel AGAIN~

chaos. nitex ^^

love, peace, grace

This trip makes me realize things that I never felt. I felt sorry and pity however to them it is the norm. Living their life with laugher and that light-heartedness and nonchalance.

What Yangon was: Teenage boys working in teashop while the boss just sat and collect money, boy selling newspaper at noon during weekdays, toddlers begging on streets with their mom. The dirt that seems the norm, the piles of stinking garbage waiting to be cleared one day, the run-down old-school buildings waiting for its glory restoration. It’s crazy that people like that exist. When all they want was just a proper meal or just to get by. Living.

So contrasting to mine. Living in the world of comfort, simple things just come for granted. Indeed I should be thankful and felt blessed with all I have. These people again make me feel that the notion of humanity. The wide difference one has just because the different country we are born.

There was this guy we met in the inn we stayed in Inle. Tun, 20, friendly and impatiently waiting to practice his English with us and he always had that silly smile of his. Having dreams bigger than mine, he wanted to go out of his country for a better life and being an English teacher. Born with parents who are just farmers, they could do little for him. So he had to come to the city for a better life. He said he will work hard and save money come Singapore and find me. Of course, I would welcome him. His sheer determination and passion of life make me realize the life I have. I never had to worry about anything in life besides studying and passing all my exams. For others, they had a longer and tougher path to finishing their studies or getting their dream job. But I believe that those who work hard will ultimately get what he wants.

I used to have a negative perspective of how people change. The thin line of fragility, how relationship are built and crumpled upon. That perspective of humanity and relationship changes in Burma for the good and better.

i love sunset~ because its short and sweet. the transaction of transforming day into sheer abyss of darkness. 

chaos ^^