Randomness

The library in beauty and the beast is to die for. Curved grand staircases, ladders, thousands of books. Last check on library thing- 300 books in my trove. Paltry.

That itch for a camper van trip is still there... arghh. Totally undo-able for this year and the next...

Haven't been writing much. The journal remains quite empty. Somehow I'm just not sure what's best to put onto paper.

Still considering whether to get a typewriter. But I'm starting to get a little tired of clutter and things. Yet on the other hand, I like to collect things and start new hobbies. Looos like I can never declutter my life and live the minimalist way.

Travel journals

Tried to journal the Nepal trip and I did but it's all rather mundane and straight to the point, as I was too tired to give it much thought. Felt extremely blue when Monday rolled around and I had to go back to work. The two environments were just so vastly different that I needed time, I guess, to adapt back to life here, which is kinda hilarious given that i'd only been gone for two weeks. 

There's again this strange feeling that I do not belong here and I began reminiscing the time spent in the villages, where there was absolutely nothing to do (no tv, no wifi, only a small lightbulb in the room). I'd slept at 8-9pm there and woke up at 6am. With all the distractions in Sg, I could never do that. 

I also wonder if I have overly romanticized the village life. There was one time where I felt a little claustrophobic in the mountains, that dreadful "trapped" feeling because you know there's no way you can get out of the mountains anytime you want. I guess I have a love-hate relationship with the mountains but here I am missing that life and wishing myself back there again. 

For the past few days, I've been thinking whether comfort is really what we are always striving to attain. Is comfort really that important? Or is life more exciting with a little discomfort? Is this why we put ourselves in difficult places, just so to feel alive. In a lot of situations, we tend to take the easy way out, even in love sometimes, we seek an easy, comfortable companionship because we hate discomfort right? 

But I'm beginning to feel that comfort isn't really all that matters. Good to have sometimes but not all the time. 

Anyway, back to Nepal. I do think it's a photographer's heaven. The sights are incredible and it's not just about the mountain range but the people, the streets, everything. Kathmandu is practically covered in dust but I thought it lent this foggy, dreamlike feel to the city. In a rather "brown" city, the blue doors of shops, the brightly-colored clothes of the people, the multi-colored prayer flags and powder street vendors sold, made them interesting subjects to photograph.

I think it's really awesome to be able to let others see things through your eyes with a photograph, and yet, there's so much more the viewer is missing out on- the smells, the sounds, the feel, the vibe, which kinda nullify the idea of an armchair traveller. 

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...

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.... 

Travel list

My travel list from 2010. Actually some dated way back....
And I realized I've only crossed 2 places off the list,Venice and Taiwan and strangely for both places I went with the sis.
We were contemplating on tackling Greece next. And maybe Ireland thereafter.

Greece
Maldives
Alaska/ any other place with Aurora
Venice, Italy
Ireland
England (Cotswold and the likes)
Nepal
Egypt
Angkor Wat, Cambodia
Taiwan