KL Velvet pics

Me, Doji, Shuyi, Enid, Pixavonne




Eugene (Doji's friend who got us into Velvet for free), me and Shuyi

Labels: journeys, pleasures

worldsuponwords by avalon at 1:27 PM    [ 0 comment | ]

KL this weekend

With my two best girlfriends.

With the D man as our escort in KL.

With my dad chauffeuring us from Singapore to JB to the Bas Stesen in Larkin.

With my meds, with coffee, with prayers, with friends - I should be fine.

Labels: journeys

worldsuponwords by avalon at 10:15 AM    [ 0 comment | ]

we went to pulau rawa

Which is off the coast of Mersing, near Tioman, only less commercialised and more unknown. Which suits us sedentary types.





Le Club Rawa, the quaint beach-side hideout.







E and C happily suntanning.







Here I am looking at C...







Here is C half-asleep from the sun.







Before an afternoon rainstorm....






Same place, the next morning...






At the jetty, which overlooks the corals...







Shady beach!






Lovely water over the rocks.







Lovely rocks over the sand...






View from the top of Rawa







Obviously getting there wasn't that easy on E's fat thighs...






At the Le Club Rawa cafe.







Last evening of suntanning at Rawa.

Labels: journeys

worldsuponwords by avalon at 11:00 PM    [ 0 comment | ]

Award winning (Gold Medal) Myanmar Beer. Our friend there said it's good but we didn't get to try it nor buy it.


There were also other foodie-goodies: Huge mooncakes, beef floss, Indian fried rice. Yum.

Labels: journeys

worldsuponwords by avalon at 12:53 PM    [ 2 comment | ]

min ga la ba

We step out of the airport safe, and a transit van is about to ferry us to our hotel. At first sight, Yangon seems indifferent. There are no colours, no smells, and no noises. It is not entirely peaceful, but rather disquieting, and at first I could not place my finger on why, or what was this sense of indifference about. They say you know the people through their culture and their passion, but there was hardly much culture nor passion about. Passion overflows through beaming smiles and gay colours that no artist-photographer could refuse. I hardly took very many photographs, nor had I the urge to. The distinctive traits of the Burmese - the applied patches of tanaka cosmetic on their faces, and their sarongs and long skirts - were all that I could say were truly not indifferent. Afterwards, in days to come, we saw much more that cleared a bit of this uneasy quiet about me.









We found out why, in our own ways, later, why the suppressed laughter and semi-smiles. Freedom is not a given in every place of this world, and if we faced oppression after a long many decades, faith wanes in more ways than one. One feels stagnant without growth, and then we all decline soon after. Hence the brain drain, net building dilapidation, and the heavy sense that nothing is possible even if you try. There are many secrets hushed save behind closed doors, even then it is oppressed faith that comes about half-aloud, not like the way we are supposed to be, shouting to mountains and demons alike. We do take freedom for granted if we have it, and our Singaporean oppression is nothing.


I had a vision of the city as if being a hard core of igneous rock being buried by much time and sedimentary layers. Some mountains are formed this way - through patient erosion of the soil, the final release of pressure from the removal of the sediments causes the pressure within the core igneous rock to suddenly expand. That was the Yangon I saw. Decades of pressure into seeming indifference, but erosion will occur, and that will cause the majesty of a solid mountain to arise and revive the silent land.


The Christians in Yangon that we met were educated and intellectual. They became good friends soon after we met, as they served us and escorted us while smiling and opening their hearts and homes. Their faith was small, but they still did serve the community, and their work was impactful. After they met us, on the last day of our stay there, they decided that they shall also do the same as we did, to send a mission team out of their city. Their pastor said they were sleeping Christians, not daring to do much. She was convicted, and spoke to the church that they shall go into the interior of northern Myanmar away from the capital, to serve the people there too, instead of just giving money, which they easily had as city folk. For years they never did much save for a slum nearby, and now they were inspired for greater things despite the pressures they faced. Here in Singapore, we give so little save to feel better for ourselves, and do even less.










When we first prayed for the ministry in the slum, I cried. They were not slum-dwellers by choice, but were forced to move out of their forest homes, into legalised slum dwellings on rent, which were made of bamboo walls and zinc roofs for some, thatched roofs and canvas shades for others. The forests were due for development it seemed. The slum land was not arable land. The people, mostly Indian, were really homeless in actuality. "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." I felt their forced homelessness, and I wept before I went to see them. There is only one goverment hospital in a very huge area of organised dwellings. The inner streets were unpaved, and were wet with potholes, a pain during the rainy season. The Yangon folks had come to this slum some years ago, set up a place of worship for the believers there, and also a free clinic, where volunteer doctors would come to minister through medical care twice a week. They set up a school for kids, preschool and above. Many kids are street bound otherwise. There is a loneliness and resignation on many faces. Life was survival, and sickness abounded.


But those who met God had a different countenance, and we witnessed the change in some when they decided to put their defenses away to seek a God who loved them. Worry changed to peace, and fear into courage. Spiritual causes are noble, but life is the one thing worth rejoicing for.










Besides praying for them and ministering to them the word of God, we also did things for the many kids that spent their time in that home. We played games, we sang many songs with them, showed them a movie, and they beamed. I led the team in conducting an art class, and they were happy too. We gave the church workers crayons and paper to work with the kids on their own after we left, now that they knew what they could do, as well as writing materials to each child. The kids are very well-disciplined, and the church workers who lead the children's school are very admirable in their leadership. They love all the kids despite their dirty hair, torn clothes and distended bellies, no one treated more fairly than the other.


The feeling of indifference eased on me, and love descended. I miss Myanmar already.

Labels: journeys

worldsuponwords by avalon at 11:48 PM    [ 0 comment | ]

I'm back

Was home on Monday night, but still in physical rest state - sleepy most of the time, or sleeping. More soon.

Labels: journeys, state

worldsuponwords by avalon at 9:52 PM    [ 0 comment | ]

Thursday morning I leave for Myanmar.


a place completely cut off of mobile telecommunications
(no auto-roam)

will be busy before I go, so no WoW.

will obviously not be able to play while I am there.


I promise, I will write loads, and post them here when I come back. I will be back.

(very soon, Monday night I will return)

Labels: journeys, state

worldsuponwords by avalon at 12:42 AM    [ 0 comment | ]

here it is

Sydney by E and C,
highlights in a list:

15 June to 19 June 2006.

1. 15 June we arrive at Sydney's airport, at about 540am. Bloody Kingsford Sydney Transport service that was due to bring us to the hotel, finally got us going at 740am. It was 7 degrees c and as cold as is required to see your breath forming in the air as vapour clouds. The sunrise was fabulous, since we got to actually see the sky lighting up itself during the wait. Now I know that the winter sunrise has cool colours, even if to the common eye it is just blue and orange. It is beautiful. I never really liked sunrises, but I always love the sky, it tells you a lot you need to know about art, and God's brushstrokes.



Waiting on the shuttle bus at sunrise


2. One thing I realise, Sydney folks aren't as friendly as Brisbane's. No hollers of 'thank-you's to the bus drivers or whatever. But then again, it was a long cold wait, perhaps everyone was just being quietly pissed.


3. We finally reach the hotel, Swissotel at 68 Market Street. The hotel is great, they let us check in early, so we slept till past lunch, and I woke up having gastric pains. But thankfully, I had replenished my Omeprezole at the doctor's before the trip, for situations like this. We head out on to the street.



Our hotel room as we enter


4. Market Street is perpendicular to George Street, a main artery in the city. Turn right to Darling Harbour, left, a longer way, to Circular Quay where the Opera House and all that are. We head to Darling Harbour to try and find a late lunch (unsuccessfully, and no ice cream either, we couldn't find it Syl!) and take a ferry just for fun, to Circular Quay. The cold air is lovely and breezy. It is almost dark, almost 6pm.



Darling Harbour at sunset


Waiting for the ferry to Circular Quay


5. We are going to the Sydney Observatory, a place for l337 science geeks, which I planned because I know I have to appease C before we head to the art gallery the next day. And yes he loved it - a happy man makes a happy girl. We peered out of the Observatory's dome through really scientific looking telescope-thingummies. My favourite was the binary star called Alpha Centauri - two huge bright lights, so bright and lovely looking as they are seen next to each other. (Daffy you would have loved this place I think!)


6. After that we finally get to eat something. I had my favourite beer in the world - Hahn Premium dark, and yes you must try it - at a warm pub called Jacksons on George (I think) where we got ourselves fed before we took a walk back to the hotel.


7. I think we watched soccer, though I cannot be sure, we slept till past (our free hotel-) breakfast time the next day.
   


8. 16 June was our second day at The Rocks (Circular Quay) and we went to the Museum of Contemporary Art. The Sydney Biennale 2006 is on at this point, and the MCA is one of the venues. We had lunch al fresco by the harbour at the MCA's cafe, really good atas food, and superb coffee as it is usual in Australia's cafes.



At the Rocks


9. The Biennale was okay, there were just one or two exhibits I liked. They were mostly video installations, which I do not like very much to be honest. I feel that art should be art, and video installations are more informative, like video-documentaries. If they are arty, like those I can appreciate in clubs, together with music and sound, then yeah. But not like that. A bit of a disappointment. I still enjoy the Queensland Art Gallery a whole lot more. Another up to Brisbane there.
   


10. We took a walk around the harbour after that, avoiding the cute fat flying gulls like mad (C's coat got shat on on the first day at Darling Harbour, damn gulls).
    


11. Again, nice cold winds, icy looking grass in the gardens, Opera House and all that.






















12. We then had dinner at Pancakes on the Rocks. Affirmed by many friends that we have to eat there. They are right. I am still lingering for another chomp on those chocolate pancakes.
    





13. After our fabulous dinner we walked back to the Opera House to catch a dance performance - The Director's Cut by the Sydney Dance Company. I now affirm that I am not a dance person either. The parts I enjoy most about the dance were the music and the set design, which were brilliant. C and I nearly fell asleep the first part of the performance. How irreverent we are.
    


14. After that we met Estee and Nelson for a beer at Lowenbrau. Nice!



Estee and Nelson



E and C and yummy German beer


15. We head back in Nelson's car, and probably watched soccer again!


16. 17 June we missed the free hotel breakfast again, and also we never made it to the other art gallery I wanted to go. We nearly missed Paddington's markets too, save for 15 minutes of it before closing time. We had a late lunch somewhere enroute to the markets, along Oxford Street, at a coffee parlour called Aristotle's. Yeah we actually walked to the Paddington's markets, through the lovely Hyde Park and along Oxford Street, which actually houses a lot of nice female-friendly shops. We did some shopping on our way back (I bought a pair of pants for A$19.95 and a couple of gifts) after the markets closed, and also had a coffee/tea and toilet break in a cafe along the way.
    






Hyde Park


17. Back at the city, we explored it at night, and had dinner at a Japanese place, and then (at C's suggestion of course) watched a movie at George Street cinemas- too fast too furious tokyo drift. Was expensive but fun anyway. The movie was horrible - inane conversation with no storyline. Like porn but only it's about cars. Oh but I had waffles with our hot chocolates before the movie started at The Dish, a cafe inside the cinema, and they were good.
    


18. 18 June was Bondi Beach day! And we finally ate our free hotel breakfast before we went, half an hour before breakfast time closed, the staff were shocked unawares to see us coming in at 10am.
    


19. We took a bus 380 to the beach, (2 adults cost A$5.60) and we got to the market at Bondi, which was really fun. We had lunch at a beautiful restaurant along the beach called Nick's, which had the loveliest oysters, C says the best he has ever had. Then we walked along the (sidewalk on the) beach, watching the surfers, shivering in the cold wind and taking pictures. There was nice graffiti art, and the waves were really lovely. Everwhere around us was the horizon. We then took a bus back.




E and C at Bondi Beach





E (running amok) at the Bondi Markets




Lunch at Nick's on Bondi Beach






C's lovely meaty lunch





Bondi's graffiti art





20. Went to Abbey's bookstore, at Kelvin's advice. C bought something from their Galaxy bookstore - their sci-fi books wing.
    


21. We caught the Sydney Film Festival too, that night at the same cinemas on George Street. Not very good, but entertaining all the same. And before that, ice cream just opposite, Gelatissimo, how unoriginal we are. The Singaporean girl at the ice-cream shop gave us a card so we could get more (free, but don't say that) ice-cream when we came back to Singapore.
    


22. Watched soccer again, at our hotel room though, though it was really swinging at Circular Quay that night. The Socceroos lost to Brazil of course, but it was such a good match to watch (Cahill is cute!). Unfortunately I fell asleep during half time and missed the first goal during the start of the second half.
    


23. 19 June and we are due to go back home already. Had lunch really quick at a cafe in Queen Victoria Building just near our hotel. QVB is like Ngee Ann City type of shopping, very atas and posh. It is our last day and C and I had our first and only argument for the trip, but it was all okay soon enough. C is a lovely boy. We never quarrel for long. Soon we are on our way to the airport.


24. I forget I am not in Singapore and do the typical Singaporean women thing, that is, wonder aloud why the check-in lines at the airport take so long. It looks like POSB at lunchtime, and just as slow too. I guess I wasn't prepared for the slow service because I wasn't in JB but in a cosmopolitan city. But then C shuts me up and we finally check in with only about an hour to go before our flight.
    


25. We do some more touristy airport shopping while waiting, but soon enough, we get onto the plane. Horrible flight, as mentioned. But the good thing was that the seats were not purple on this part of the plane we took back (I hate purple, it distresses me). And I could continue watching I Not Stupid Too, which I only caught half of on the plane to Sydney. Movies On Demand are the best thing about SIA. To and from Sydney I watched Failure To Launch, 13 Going On 30, I Not Stupid Too, and Shrek 2. After all that, we took a taxi home. Good to be back!
    

Labels: journeys

worldsuponwords by avalon at 5:34 PM    [ 1 comment | ]

welcome home, welcome humidity again

(good to be home; I thank God I came home to a safe and unviolated house).



I just got off the plane a while ago, off a horrible flight, so much so that I am still whoozy, and had to take some Panadol to rid myself of a still-present and very terrible headache. The flight was about the worst thing I had to take on my short trip to Sydney - longer than what a usual Asian-destination traveller is used to, and so choppy, think boat ride to Rawa ten years ago, think noob pilots or terrible weather or both.



So I will write more later, to report on my trip.



Update: I ended up taking two tablets of Novomin (travel sickness medicine) to ease the horrible nausea (worse than a hangover). I fell asleep without knowing so, with lights all on in the study and in my bed room. Awoke in the afternoon, and still having a headache.

Labels: journeys

worldsuponwords by avalon at 11:21 PM    [ 0 comment | ]

create your own visited country map
or write about it on the open travel guide

Labels: journeys

worldsuponwords by avalon at 10:48 PM    [ 0 comment | ]

For those who love to read, read on reading geeks!

Emily Dickinson (1830–86)

Part One: Life

XXI

HE ate and drank the precious words,
His spirit grew robust;
He knew no more that he was poor,
Nor that his frame was dust.
He danced along the dingy days,
And this bequest of wings
Was but a book. What liberty
A loosened spirit brings!

Labels: journeys

worldsuponwords by avalon at 9:33 PM    [ 0 comment | ]

my khmer journey continued

Last year when I went to Cambodia, it was in August. The land was dry, and it was yet due the rainy season. We walked around sticky with sweat everyday, and the land was covered in wind-eroded dust. Everyday we saw the Khmer people living among ruins left behind from their heavy past and a lack of hope and of a future.


There was a marked difference between Thailand and Cambodia. Passing the Thai and Cambodian border towns of Aranpathet and Poi Pet on the roads, we saw how the Khmer land was covered with rubble, roads never mended, never made, everyone brown and dry with lack of hope hung on their faces.


This year, we went after the rains.


The house ponds were filled to their brim with water. The rains were over, and instead of brown dying grass, we were invited into the country with fresh new-start greenery. Meet the horizon of sky and rice-fields.


"It is harvest time.


Cambodia is more beautiful now than I remembered from the last time."









It is harvest time.


First in the flesh, then in the spirit.


When I came here last year, it pained me that it was already so hard to help just one person in Singapore, let alone so many, who needed so much more, in one entire nation that lived in her past everyday. The first thing we did last year, was to commit ourselves to helping the care-giver - the church, for she also, at that time, hung her head low in tears and held on to nothing but God himself. Just as Ezekiel did, we prophesied over the valley of dry bones, that it rattled together into a mighty army once again in its awe and splendour at victory.


Have you ever seen Jesus feed the five thousand? Can you feel what it is like to have the Lord add daily to the numbers? It may be a small thing in Singapore with elaborate amphitheatres, seats and logistics management, but in a village, a transposition of any of those scenes would equate to a miracle taking place.


It was truly, a harvest of people. Jesus wasn't kidding when he said we would be fishers of men.


I haven't yet taught sixty children art at a go before, but now I have. These children might never have held crayons or glue before, but they make their art with more faith and confidence than their Singaporean equivalents do.


By the third night, we had close to two hundred children in a church that has usually only ten kids.


We protected the abused, collected the kids from the streets, fed and entertained them with movies and songs, gave them clothes,toys and stationery. And most of all, left them in the hands of the Youvawai church, who would bring these children into the safe haven as often as possible, because in Cambodia, the most fertile ground of self-worth, are the children and teenagers.


The teenagers speak of ambitions. To learn English, hence they enjoyed speaking to us. To go to Bible school and return to help their village. To believe that God will change their abusive fathers, and that He did and we witnessed so while we were there. To listen to the word of God and gain faith and wisdom, to believe they will indeed rise to be someone greater than themselves.


The more we protect, the less are turned towards vices. There are so many street kids we cannot protect now, but if we touch a handful, they will impact their generation.


to be continued...

Labels: journeys

worldsuponwords by avalon at 12:08 AM    [ 0 comment | ]

leaving tomorrow

I will be a good creative pensive committed literary educated introspective inspired writer, and write during my trip. I may or may not publish anything directly from the journal I am bringing along, when I am back on Monday. But nonetheless, I will write on a journal I will bring, and that which is given by Clyda, hand-made by her kind creative self and a birthday gift no less.


Meanwhile, the heavens are changing as we speak. Legions of angels are hording at the town we are going on a mission to.


I saw Satan fall like lightning from heaven.

Labels: journeys

worldsuponwords by avalon at 12:23 AM    [ 1 comment | ]