CUNGILERBABIROCKSIAL

Often, when I take leave off work, I’m always at home. Wasn’t much of a traveler then, I suppose. Jakarta was last August, my first of the three holidays last year since 12 years ago. It was a destination long due; and for good reason. Someday I’ll write about that. Meanwhile, all was not lost as I fell for Jakarta / got to know my kid brother a little better / learned to take photos with my phone / made friends with my new wonderful color people  /  danced to the Lisztomania /  unwittingly, said goodbye.

More photos here.

I was looking at the pictures taken from my sister’s camera when we were in China last year and was delighted to see a few snapshots of myself going click click click with the SLR, point-and shoot and mobile phone camera. All of which I love because they produce very different results. Well, it certainly was interesting seeing two photographs taken within a single moment from two different perspectives.

CMYK Lovers; Twenty seven years today and close to a year ago next month before we landed back on RGB.
Stay tough and happy birthday.

-_-

PS: Can’t say I miss you, but I do pray you’re okay.

I want you to be honest to yourself.
I want you to learn from this.

If you’re not, then you deserve what’s coming.
Make peace, think hard and take care.

The thing I enjoy most about traveling is when I feel like an absolute nobody and forced to interact with strangers. The language barriers, the conversations and series of stories exchanged which lead us into this part of the world which now gives us the privilege to calling each other on a first name basis.

I’ve been told by some (not just you, no offense) how being a speck of dust in this universe depresses them. I know how that feels but I think its very depressing to feel that way about ourselves. I know I’m all but a speck of dust so what I plan is to make full use of that and honestly, meeting these new beautiful strangers helps. What I realize is, my life isn’t as hard or important as the few I’m met here in Xi’an.

On my first day here, I met Damien, a Irish banker living in the Czech republic who is now walking the earth for the past several months actually, beginning his journey from Europe passing Russia, Mongolia and now China. He’s expected to arrive in Kuala Lumpur in March.

Tony, was on his way from England stopping by Xi’an on route to India. That was five years ago. He now runs the first soup kitchen for the homeless in China. Last night I was at the local church with him distributing food to the homeless. He does this three times a week. He also showed me photos of his new home, a small cottage in the mountains approximately 3 hours from the city of Xi’an.

Francoisi is a french nurse studying Chinese medicine. She was with Doctors Without Borders in Southern America back in the mid 80s. That was where she first met her future husband briefly but the love affair only sparked years later when the two nurses were stationed and met again at a small village in Switzerland. In between these times, she hitchhiked from South America making her way into Canada working with a fake ID as a waitress. She lived in Canada for a few years till she was caught, and deported. She now has 2 sons, aged 19 and 21 and separated from her husband.

There’s a few more beautiful specks of dusts; Peter Mak, a local who tried to pick me up for a drink. “Are you Muslim? Very nice to meet you. You very special. I want to take you for drink. Maybe coffee or beer?” he said. Hilarious. 3 Belgian childhood friends making their way from Europe to New Zealand. Sonja, a Mandarin speaking lawyer from the United States. She recently passed the bar exam, will start practicing next month when she gets home.  She’s been ill so I haven’t seen her in a while, but Fran is taking care of her so I’m sure she’ll be just fine.

I’m probably going to rewrite this again because I’m rushing and leaving Xi’an in a few hours. Catching a train back to Beijing for my flight to Kuala Lumpur tomorrow. It has been a good trip.

PS: You told me to travel for the drama rather than living it, and you were right. Thank you.

We’ve arrived at the small province of Xi’an from a 12 hour overnight train from Beijing. Very tired. We had to check out from the hotel in Beijing yesterday and decided to go straight to the train station. A 7 hour wait before the train arrives. Anyways, comparing Beijing with Xi’an is like comparing KL with Ipoh. But apparently this place is said to be the first metropolis in the history of mankind and where all the terracottas were discovered. So I’m pretty sure this is gonna get pretty exciting.

By the way, I’m am liking the hostel we checked into very, very much. These are mostly pictures of the hostel’s open air courtyards. Our rooms are all in between the courtyards. Like those old school shop houses you find in Ipoh and Malacca. Charming sangat.

The hostel’s cat named, er… Hostel.

The hostel is opposite The Great Wall. Right across the street. Pretty surreal considering its the same damn building I saw and left in Beijing, 12 hours ago.

PS: Remind me to post up pictures of the Beijing train station. Its about the size of KLCC.

Its really frustrating to take pictures here.

For one, China is a fast moving country. Everyone and everything is on the move. It doesn’t help either that the people here aren’t very welcoming when it comes to having their photos taken. A couple of day ago I tried taking pictures of a bicycle and someone literally came running down the street screaming telling me to ‘ah ching ah chong ah ching ah chong’. Whatever.

I’m also a newcomer when it comes to using SLRs. So the pictures turns out blurry, underexposed or overexposed or whatever. Take your pick. An absolute mess, menggelabah semacam. The shots semua busuk tahap tak pakai tissue after doing the number two. Whatever.

I’m much better off taking pictures from my phone. Bleh.

I was at
Hooters today.

Twice.

Finally, some
Beijing skin.

The food was alright. Kinda like the ones at Chili’s back home. But its the only place I’ve been here that was service oriented. The workers were friendly and seemed happy working there. Unlike the rest elsewhere. Muka macam kena kahwin paksa.

PS: Jonathan overheard the Hooters girls talking about us being quite good looking. My initial thoughts to that were of the local advertising industry here. Kalau muka aku laku di Beijing, why not work here kan? Heh. *sleaze mode*