Libraries

http://brightside.me/article/24-libraries-of-the-world-so-magnificent-theyll-take-your-breath-away-24105/

For future trips, I should squeeze libraries into the itinerary. Prague's, Vienna's, trinity college's are gorgeous...

Sibu, Sarawak 11-15 Dec 2015

I am not sure why I did not feel the least bit apprehensive about not knowing anyone on this trip. Neither did I ask anyone else if they were interested in coming along, which is something I usually do knowing how socially inept I am. I just signed up without telling anyone. I quite enjoyed the trip honestly even though most of the trippers were almost twice my age. I guess this was also one of the reasons why the schedule was quite lax with each day ending about 3pm. We visited two long houses and one ibanese church. I really liked the communal feel of the long houses although I am not sure if the ibanese do gather at the common area frequently or if they only do that on special occasions. The long houses are like Hdb flats built longitudinally, with modern sanitation like running taps, flushing indoor toilets, etc. I liked the longhouse (which held 51 units) we visited on the last day, which had a porch facing a large paddy field. It was enjoyable just sitting on the porch and having lunch, a simple fare using raw ingredients gathered from their surroundings, eg wild ferns, core from the trunk of a banana tree, bawang Assan, etc. We played games with the children, did a nativity play, taught some of the adults balloon sculpting, etc. What struck me most from the trip was the Christmas procession. I just felt so amazed that Christianity is celebrated so openly in a mainly Muslim country and also by the large throngs of Christians participating in the procession. It was a truly beautiful sight to behold.

Everything went smoothly for the entire trip except for the first and last day. On the first day my luggage lock died on me and I was so flustered, worried that u wouldn't be able to access my luggage during any security checks. But thankfully, the airport staff solved the problem easily. On the last day we almost missed our flight back to SG as the transit time was way too short for an international flight. We had only 40 min to collect the luggage, check it in, clear customs and get to the boarding gate. It should have been clear to me that this was a mission impossible yet I didn't think of it, and just rushed off wanting to get the luggage checked in. If we had not done that, then the two trippers wouldn't have been left behind. 

On the whole, I felt that I did not do anything really significant for this trip. I guess the purpose of this trip was to just lend a bit of encouragement to the ibanese Christians there and to establish some bonds, and not exactly to make any impactful changes. 

I thought what would be more useful to them would be medical care such as dental checks/ treatment and physiotherapy techniques for pain relief in the knees. But that would be another mission for another day. 

Dreams

Ah, the dog is living my dream. A cabin by the lake with a rowboat. Sometimes I wonder who plants our dreams. Why do I think a cabin in an isolated place is the perfect place to be? Would one truly feel at peace when we acquire all our dreams? 

The faithless one

A song was sang in church last Sunday and it went something like this,"I have faith in you". I almost teared at this because it just hit me how little faith I have and how much disbelief is still residing in my heart. I sometimes find myself not believing that God answers prayers. The head knows that He answers prayers in His own time and way and that what we ask for may not be the best options for us, and He will sometimes present us with things other than what we asked for. The head knows all these, yet the heart is always obstinate, not listening nor understanding, nor believing. How does one grow faith and not just knowledge? 

I know how the story goes 

We move on with our lives

And as the years go by

You may remember me someday.

The past may be broken 

But sometimes you may glimpse it once more,

If you take a careful look. 

We each form chapters of a book 

Woven together for a while 

then, a chapter closes

And we lose sight of each other.

As we lay down our pens 

You wrote that last phrase in the closing chapter

And I whispered to myself,

" we have come to the end of the line."

And it is done. 

You wish you have all the answers 

But there are secrets that you will never know.

What lies in your heart 

Are sometimes hidden from your eyes. 

We are sometimes blind, you see.

The truth is a blinding light 

And the untruth, well it is served on a silver platter,

And you devour it without a sliver of hesitation. 

Lang Leav

https://underthenightstarrysky.wordpress.com/tag/lang-leav/

Quite like some of lang leav poems although they aren't big on words...

Some people like to collect stamps, coins, and such, whilst some like to collect words and verses.... 

Sometimes you find yourself crying 

But then you do not know the reason why.

You think you have all the answers 

But then you realize you do not know the questions after all. 

Why does one's heart ache 

When you know it is already long dead?

Why does one hope

When you already know you have come to the end of road?

It's a show

It's a front

It's easy if you know

How to hide behind the jokes.

It's easy if you know

How to hide behind the laughter.

The truth, it hides, it sits,

Sometimes unsettlingly in the heart.

I can laugh with you,

But I would rather weep on my own.

The reason why,

Is what one will never understand,

One would always rather believe a lie,

And pretend everything is fine.

Because it is easier that way,

Because sugar-coated lies

Are all we need for a happy life.

Personality test

http://brightside.me/article/this-test-will-show-you-how-your-interpretation-of-the-world-influences-your-character-17755/

I've always been skeptical of personality tests after learning of the Barnum effect. But I think this is rather accurate, mainly the curiosity part. Something has been bugging me for a long time? Quite true but I wonder which part of the test shows that... 

Food memories

Recently saw someone posted something on Barcelona. The first thing that came to my mind was not the la sagrada familia but El Xampanyet. El Xampanyet is a small little tapas bar near Picasso museum in Barcelona with just a few tables and seats. It gets crowded fast and most of the time, customers have to stand and share the small bar tables scattered around the tiny floor space. But the ambience, the homemade cava, and the tapas are the bomb. I love the pepper bombs to death, the fried potatoes with chorizo, almost everything except the canned food. The popularity of canned food (which can be really costly) in the tapas bars in Spain puzzle me. I tried some mussels and sardines and did not find them remotely palatable. Anyhow it is funny how food plays such an important role during our travels and how it sometimes surpasses the memories/ ecstatics of seeing architectural marvels, sculptures, etc. Perhaps it is because food engages almost all our senses- smell, sight, taste, and I would think touch too, when we feel the texture of a food with our tongue. All these plus the bliss we feel when we taste something good, make food a vital part of our travel experience. 

I think my most loved places for food for now are Thailand and Spain. 

Food that I find myself reminiscing and longing for are the supions (grilled baby octopus) in southern france, the buffalo cheese with basil and tomatoes in Cicheti in the Arab street area in Singapore (they are so creamy and smooth), beef and duck kwayteow from the street stalls in Bangkok, sai grog(grilled fermented pork sausage) outside the Big C opp centralworld in Bangkok, som tam (papaya salad) from perpetually any street stalls in Thailand, grilled squid with olive oil at one of the smaller markets in Barcelona (not la boqueria but I have forgotten the name of the market), fried jalapeños at one of the tapas bar at carrer commercial district in Barcelona, oyster mee suan from Ah zhong in ximengding in Taipei, spicy hotpot at dingwang franchise in Taiwan, beef tongue at the now defunct Japanese restaurant in takashimaya, parkway mini steamboat, specifically the vegetarian fish slice, thinly sliced pork and the chilli dip( I've patronized the place for 25 years but sad to say standard has dropped over the years), bachormee from 85 market in bedok, Mookata at tomyum kungfu at boat quay, chirashi don at one of the small shops (they have only 3 tables!) at tsukiji market in Tokyo (ultimate freshness!). It's funny how france is like the food capital of the world but I don't find the food particularly memorable except for that one supion, which is more Mediterranean than traditional french. The food in Italy was good and cheap too yet vaguely memorable as well. I did like the bistecca florentina though and the gelato but it just doesn't create that kind of longing that I have for the other food listed in this post. Sadly there's no food memorable from the US except for Hawaii (the ahi poke in a popular rest in Haleiwa(I think) was so good- pan seared tuna with a burnt crust of sesame seeds and ?nuts with the tuna still tenderly raw with sesame dressing) and the mahi mahi, and salad with papaya seed dressing. Good food memories....