On music...
It's interesting how music can affect your mood. Today I finished reading a book and decided to switch my iPod on while riding the MRT. I listened to the last half of Jay-Z's album, 3 Juanes songs and the first half of Jack Johnson's album. Heh, all start with J... I'm a lazy scroller. Anyway, the Jigga album made me introspective... his lyrics are deep and they made me think about life and reflect. Juanes made me feel sad, though I can understand most of the words in his songs, I struggle to understand the nuances and implications... I've heard his music is political and is full of underlying meanings, which I can't quite grasp in my poor Spanish... but his music is always passionate and either makes me feel very sad or very happy... Jack Johnson instantly relaxed me, his simple songs about simple things with a deep undercurrent, set against the backdrop of acoustic or slide guitar... very soothing... even when he's singing about Earth's downfall. Makes you think that life is always worth enduring with some curiosity.
Just now, in Starbucks... they were playing Hallelujah, one of my favourite songs... so majestic, so sad, so... ahhh love it.
On books...
I've recently finished two books. Ma Jian's
"Red Dust" which is about his own journey through China in the 80s and the things he learned about contemporary China. The book really gives an amazing insight into the many places where the system has completely failed, the entrepreneurial spirit of the Han Chinese and the different ways and marginalisations of the minorities in China.
Gabriel Garcia Marquez'
"Memories of my Melancholy Whores" was a book I originally intended to read in Spanish but even though I have it on my shelf at home, didn't get around to it yet. Heidi picked it up so I borrowed it and read it, an interesting book. Written in Garcia Marquez' unmistakeably archaic yet beautifully poetic style, it reads more like a long poem than a book. It's a meditation on old age, sexuality, love and beauty...
Recently I've been frequenting coffee chains (particularly Starbucks) due to the availability of free wireless there and me being eager to catch up on lost surfing time while I was laptop-less. I've bought a new laptop by the way, it's an Asus and... it's new and sleek, let's see how long it takes me to dirty it. Anyway, I'd like to recommend Starbucks at 1 Fullerton to anyone here on the island... the place is a typical Starbucks of course but it's right on the waterfront and for some reason, this water area doesn't get anywhere near the amount of tourists as the Clarke Quay, Boat Quay water areas... so hit it up for some relaxin and surfin by the water, that's what I do. Note: espresso coffee is terrible in Singapore, but at least readily available in the chain stores... at least they have manual machines and not automatic ones or, even worse, instant coffee *Shudder*.
AIESEC work has been picking up here. Attended an MC meeting to get instructions from
boss, presented at an
NTU LC Gathering, had a lengthy coaching chat with Alvin (LCP elect), modified the AI JD template, met with Jing Wen (VPPD) to get a further grasp on the direction of the portfolio here and have some more things lined up in the coming days. Woohoo! Work!
So it's adios from me for now, and should blog more often. HEH. Currently in the midst of finalising a Job Description for a short CEED in Thailand! Woo!
shaved to within an inch of my,,,
Recently had some cool experiences in Bangkok...
1. Thai massage - pretty awesome for only 130 baht (approx A$5, S$6, 13RM) at a whole hour! After being squeezed, kneaded, pushed, pulled, pressed and such... I walked out feeling a whole lot better. Thai massage seems to use the body's meridians in a yoga-type technique to push and pull one's limbs in different directions. Some things were painful of course but, no pain no gain!
2. Thai barber - not only did he cut my hair, he also cleaned my ears, trimmed my nose hair, washed and massaged my head and shaved parts of my face that I didn't even know had hair... amazing. Plus the shave he gave my cheeks + chin was the cleanest I've ever had ever ever. I think I look like I'm 15 right now... though the 'innocent' look is not really me (i prefer the mean look) but it's still cool to look a bit different. And I feel as smooth as a baby's bum when I run my hands over my cheeks. I'm just hoping I don't break out in a nasty beard rash because he shaved against the grain :S
Bidding adieu once again from the land of smiles... going out to Silom for thai coffee and souvenir shopping... note: Thais looooooove coffee and are very proud of their homegrown beans... as a result, Thailand has the best coffee I've ever tried in South East Asia.... places like Ban Rie coffee and Black Canyon (which they also have in Singapore) are awesome. Especially Ban Rie... the coffee is strong and one can choose between arabica and robusta blends, and the one in Ekamai is so nice... all wooden finish and open-plan.
Thats it from me though,
Ciao!
on Koh Chang...
Allo Allo,
I'm on a nice Thai island at the moment, it's in the Gulf of Thailand in the west of the country, very very close to the Cambodian border... 'Chang' means elephant in Thai and there are a few on this island... it's also the second largest island in Thailand...
Just arrived this evening, was on the ferry as the sun was setting over the ocean and it was beautiful... will post pics as soon as can get them off my phone, lol.
Apart from that... Thailand has been quite cool thus far. I've managed to navigate their public bus system, caught the sky train and a ferry down the river. I managed to lose my sunglasses in that river... but then bought new ones straight away at a road-side stall (cheap!)
I talked to a friendly monk who helped me board a ferry (there are no fake monks asking for money here... such a relief) and visited the amazing Royal Palace and Temple of the Emerald Buddha. The latter was particularly beautiful and just sitting inside it and reflecting felt so peaceful. Apart from that, the great amount of "stupid
farang"
here really annoys me... that's the word Thais use for foreigner and there are a lot of stupid ones. The worst are the old men with the young Thai girls... UGHUGHUGH me and Lucy have been so horrified by them.
And I have to agree with every other guidebook and foreigner who says this... but Thai people are lovely. They are so friendly, always smiling, clean, dignified and happy... the way they lead their lives with not a care in the world is often inspiring. Sure there are some unfriendly ones... like the stupid bitch at immigation who wouldn't let me through because I couldn't put an Bangkok address on the arrival card (I didnt know the address of the house I was staying... so I had to write the address of a random hotel in my guidebook and pretend I was staying there to get in, sheesh)
Well the conference is next weekend, faci bonding this Tuesday and faci prep on Wednesday... I can't wait to get back into some serious AIESEC work again! And I can't wait to go to the conference and hang out with the Thai delegates... the AIESECers I've met here are all fantastic, especially the MC team... Rina, Pui, Rob... super-CEEDer Lucy and minister mentor Weaw... love you guys!
in Bangkok
So I'm in Thailand... woohoo, new country, always exciting. Arrived last night and been hangin out with the Thai MC (AIESECers) and lovely Weaw (who I met in AP conference back in 2004 in Taiwan)... She took me to an awesome coffee shop last nite that had a very flavoursome robusta blend on offer... the coffee here is sooo much better than Singapore, best so far in Asia I would have to say...
Am having a capuccino now in a swanky internet cafe... the shelves are all covered in Design/Architecture books, they sell camera equipment, have a jazz-house DJ and the PCs all have massive 20+ inch LCD screens...
So yes, impressions of bangkok so far... well it's disorganised and chaotic in a similar way to Malaysia and very very dissimilar to Singapore. Now I see what people say when they talk about Singapore seeming more Western than Asian. You can see the chaos in some places but mostly it's all so clean and sterile there.
The chaos is great but the linguistic differences are really problematic. I don't think I've visited a country with this little English proficiency and surrounding since China. Not saying that's a bad thing but just difficult to get used to for me with no knowledge of the Thai language (too scared to try cos it's tonal and so hard to pronounce, scared I will sound STUPID)
The pollution is pretty bad but... the food is damn good! Weaw's mum cooked us breakfast today which was smashing... and the chicken rice I had last nite was way better than the ones I tried in Singapore, HA! Still craving good laksa though...
Aight, signing out... will update more later.
