#9 Dream

Feeling a little melancholy tonight as I mourn on the death anniversary of a great musician. John Winston Lennon was shot 4 times on his back and shoulder on this day in 1980. As the bullets burst his aorta, the dreams of love and peace of many were broken. It is doubtful that the world would become more peaceful and that there would be less war if he had lived, but we certainly have been deprived of greater works and ingenuity from this man.

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怀旧

我承认，我是一个喜欢怀旧的人。经常会因为想起一些陈年往事而情绪受波动。可恶的是，随着年龄增长，记忆力越来越差，时间太久远的人和事已经忘去了一大半。

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All I want for X'mas is a Blue Raincoat

I have been crazy about boots lately, perhaps partly influenced by my recent trip to Japan (where boots are essential for autumn/winter) but mostly I think is due to an advertisment banner I saw at the shopping mall. A young lady with slender legs wearing knee high cherry red boots... that is style!

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情歌

词：陈没
曲：伍冠谚
编曲：陈建骐

时光是琥珀 泪一滴滴被反锁
情书再不朽 也磨成沙漏
青春的上游 白云飞走苍狗与海鸥
闪过的念头 潺潺的溜走
命运好幽默 让爱的人都沉默
一整个宇宙 换一颗红豆
回忆如困兽 寂寞太久而渐渐温柔
放开了拳头 反而更自由
慢动作 缱绻胶卷 重播默片 定格一瞬间
我们在 告别的演唱会 说好不再见
你写给我 我的第一首歌
你和我 十指紧扣 默写前奏
可是那然后呢
还好我有 我这一首情歌
轻轻的 轻轻哼着 哭着笑着
我的 天长地久
长镜头 越拉越远 越来越远 事隔好几年
我们在 怀念的演唱会 礼貌的吻别
陪我唱歌 清唱你的情歌
舍不得 短短副歌 心还热着
也该告一段落
还好我有 我下一首情歌
生命宛如 静静的 相拥的河
永远 天长地久

Tokyo shopping

I guess I felt I have suffered enough hardship on the trip so far, I took a "day off" (so did my SLR) and went shopping today.


At Shinjuku Station.

In any case, it has been raining in Tokyo for 2 days since my arrival. The miserable cold and wet weather dampens all my enthusiasm for sightseeing. It is the best time to enjoy some warmth and comfort provided by Takashimaya in courtesy.


Takashimaya Square.

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Mt Fuji finally!

No wonder people say that the best chances of seeing Mt Fuji is during the colder seasons. After 6 times in Japan, I finally saw the peak of Mt Fuji today. Though it was quite cloudy/hazy this evening, the mountain was still magnificent!


Mt Fuji's mysterious and misty look at dusk from Kawaguchiko.

Because of an error in logistics, I am staying far away from the better spots to see Mt Fuji from Lake Kawaguchi. Therefore, tomorrow morning, I will have to brave the cold at 5am to walk 1.5km for a sunrise view of the mountain. Wish me luck!

Osaka fast forward -->

Haven't been updating much about my trip. Most of the time I was too tired after a long day of walking to stay up all night to blog. Then, when I finally felt awake, I had no internet connection. Yesterday for example, I was staying at a temple in Mt Koya (near Osaka) where there were absolutely no activities after 7pm. Of course, neither was there www.

This is the first time I have come to Japan purely for touristic purposes. The other times that I was here were for businesses other than fun. I have very much enjoyed being a tourist in the last few days. See some photos from the trip so far.


This is at Nara, an hour away from Osaka by train. Lots of deers roaming the parks and streets. Visitors can feed them with special biscults on sale every where along the streets for Yen 150. This nice lady from the deer protection organisation is coaxing little Bambi to leave the biscults alone.


Ha another nice lady trying to feed the deers and ensuring each one gets its fair share.


Maple leaves turning red... a beautiful sight.


The great Todaiji Temple in Nara. Every part of it is made of wood. Rather impressive.


Wooden structure in Todaiji. More about that at a later time.

I also spent some time at the Osaka Aquarium panning stingrays and sardines. Before that, I deliberated whether to go there or not because of the forbidding entrance ticket which cost Yen 2,000 (tell the Japs Yen 2,000 is expensive they will all laugh at me). Now I have to say it is worth every penny.


"Flying" sea turtle.


A panning shot of stingray.


Jelly fish looks great under special lighting.

Not forgetting the landmarks of Osaka.


Glico man in Dotoburi.


Friends, cheers!

Glutton in Osaka

A major highlight of this trip is FOOD!

If you think you can find takoyaki everywhere in Osaka, yes you are right! One of the cheap eats in Osaka, though I am not sure if the locals are really crazy about them as I see mostly tourists buying and eating them.


So many shops selling takoyaki. This one particularly well decorated!


Different prices at different stalls. This one selling at Yen 400 for 6. The one above at Yen 480. I think taste is somewhat positively co-related with price.

Also, not to be missed in Osaka is "Omuraisu" or Omelette Rice. It is said that the dish originated from this part of Japan.


The shop which "created" omuraisu in the 1920s, Hokkyokusei (北极星). Let's just call it Polaris.


A dish inspired by a regular guest of Polaris in the 20s, who used to place order for "omelette to be served with rice". That's my dinner: omelette rice with fried shrimps. A set like this cost Yen 1,060, including miso soup.


Yummy... egg skin is soft and every grain of rice is well flavoured.

And of course... OKONOMIYAKI! I would blame myself if I didn't have one this time.


Okonomiyaki, Kansai (Osaka) style. Cabbage and meat combined with batter made of flour, grated yam, egg and topped with Japanese dark sauce, mayonnaise and loads of bonito flakes. They are very good!


Yakisoba... so delicious! The best I have ever had!

I can "smell" the salad and meal supplement waiting for me back home.

Osaka (Day 1)

Too tired, can't blog. But I made it to Osaka.


Takoyaki

Viva la liberté!

In the name of freedom,
We sent young men to their graves;
We buried their souls if not their bodies,
Kept the names but not the memories.
What does it matter though?
When we have new to replace the old.

In the name of justice,
We let bullets and shells fly;
Murdered innocence settled beneath dust,
Blood flowed like an endless spring.
And then be awarded a prize for peace;
What was that Nobel had in mind?
Perhaps the smell of antiseptic was intoxicating.

May we all live on long enough to see,
A justification or the hollow truth of it.
Viva la liberté!

败了

有时候我也会被打败。
一个手掌抓不住想要珍惜的；
从我指缝间流逝的何止有无邪、青春、爱情。。。
反正我守不住的岂止一两样而已。

每一个人都有必须前往的目的地。
也许路途太漫长，
肩膀上负荷不了的就一点一滴的抛弃。
然后呢？
勉强走到了终点，我已经不再是我。
那又有什么关系？

说梦想的人是在放屁；
面对现实才是真理。
叫我声“弱者”，
我甘心。

Relativity

Relativity is a strange concept.

There is good and there is bad.

You can be happy and you can be sad.

But I feel small in front of the tallest building;

And I still feel small on top of the tallest building.

That can only mean, I am absolutely small.

At the BBQ

The sky was overcast. There was light rain all morning and in the early afternoon. But that did not dampen my spirits. It was the day for the long awaited BBQ.

I knew it would be a busy Saturday but I gladly toiled and fussed over it. All my friends were coming; their kids too... a welcoming break from the peace and quiet which I usually prefer.

Fortunately, the weather held up. These days, the weather is irratic. But today, I was glad that the weather has temperaments of a woman.

The kids had fun at the pool. So did I.


Ethan attempting murder! He pushed Uncle Mike's head into the water.


Malcolm learning to count. How deep is the pool? 0.5m (counting his fingers).


Splish splash!


Pretty little girl (neighbour's kid) playing with bubbles.


Not out of focus. Auntie Ring just got distracted... I was bio-ing the hunks (on the deck chairs in the background)!


As Louise said it, 青梅竹马. Ashley and Ethan.

Sometimes, I admire my friends for the carefree ways they are bringing up their kids. The children were allowed to play on their own with minimal supervision. While the adults were busy preparing food or catching up with friends, the children were in a world of their own: running, chasing, bursting their balloons, hogging the playground slide, falling into swimming pool... But I think there is nothing wrong with this manner of upbringing. It cultivates free spirits in these children, which is essentially good because it makes them brave and prepares them for setbacks that they are bound to encounter later on in life.

The BBQ team worked hard for the night. Not forgetting to oblige to my requests to pose for photos for the blog!


Not an easy request. Pretending to be busy while keeping themselves stationery to accomodate the camera's slow shutter speed.


Food was carefully QC. Mr Heng smelling the sausage, as if he could figure out its "life story" through his nose.


Loads of food. There we have our favourite Johnny's secret recipe wings on the grill.


Food's delicious! Auntie Daphy would agree.

We also took this opportunity to celebrate 3 birthdays. However, Ethan insisted that he is only 4, not 5. There is nothing to be afraid of being 5; it's not like becoming 35!


The "Magic Mystical" birthday celebration.

Next time, I will remember to stock up Asahi dry for the alcoholics!


"Bring me a bottle of your best White". For the time being, it will be MILK for you Nevan.

Song (歌)

Lovely, lovely poem and beautifully translated by 徐志摩. I could weep everytime I read it.

Song by Christina Georgina Rossetti When I am dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree. Be the green grass above me With showers and dewdrops wet; And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget. I shall not see the shadows, I shall not feel the rain; I shall not hear the nightingale Sing on as if in pain. And dreaming through the twilight That doth not rise nor set, Haply I may remember, And haply may forget.

歌 徐志摩译 我死了的时候，亲爱的 别为我唱悲伤的歌 我坟上不必安插蔷薇 也无需浓荫的柏树 让盖着我的青青的草 霖着雨，也沾着露珠 假如你愿意，请记着我 要是你甘心，忘了我 我再不见地面的青荫　 觉不到雨露的甜蜜　 再听不到夜莺的歌喉　 在黑夜里倾吐悲啼　 在悠久的昏暮中迷惘 阳光不升起也不消翳 我也许，也许我记得你 我也许，我也许忘记

Or listen to it.

没有月亮的中秋节

这是个适合孤独的晚上。
人月两团圆，落单的身影更容易让人遗忘。
寂寞也比平常强烈十倍。
喜欢的人能尽情享受彻底的孤独；
不喜欢的人却会因此变得凄凉。

可惜今晚没有月光，乌云覆盖了整片天空。
本来美好的月圆夜，现在只看见月的残缺。
那仿佛是老天爷在哀悼人类的悲惨。
他叹息着说，今晚，有太多的人回不了家。

有些人深陷地低下，等待神赐于他们生存的机会；
有些人徘徊在陆地上，喝着毒药将自己毁灭。
远方，厌倦了繁华的人，要世界将他淡忘；
他说，会抛弃一切开始流浪。
远方，有活在敌人枪口下的年轻士兵，
手握着报纸向全世界证明自己还存在着；
他说，好想回家但始终无法如愿以偿。

这么看来，世上没有绝对的快乐或悲伤，
聚散离合也没有固定的意义。
人类那样的矛盾造成了悲惨。
所以今晚很适合孤独，
因为中秋节没有月亮，
连老天也在为我们悲伤。

掩饰

掩饰是人与生俱来的天赋，
还是经岁月累积的成就？
每一个成年人似乎都能将它发挥得淋漓尽致。

掩饰不见得是谎言，
倒像是人们严格遵从的一种纪律。
在适当的时候做适当的事，
在不适当的时候不做不适当的事，
真正的想法若有偏差就加以掩饰。
我们必须服从这样的规则，
才可以被这样的世界接受。

然而，当感情无法明明白白释放出来，
又无法完全舍弃的时候，
好多的，压抑着的，
只好让它们慢慢死亡。
心中逐渐堆满了埋葬千万种死去感情的坟墓。

所以不要再劝谁或谁要更冷静了。
因为最冷静的那个就拥有最多的掩饰。
然后那个冷静的谁变冷漠了，
你又无法了解他为什么总是无动于衷了。

Wise Men In Their Bad Hours

Robinson Jeffers

Wise men in their bad hours have envied
The little people making merry like grasshoppers
In spots of sunlight, hardly thinking
Backward but never forward, and if they somehow
Take hold upon the future they do it
Half asleep, with the tools of generation
Foolishly reduplicating
Folly in thirty-year periods; they eat and laugh too,
Groan against labors, wars and partings,
Dance, talk, dress and undress; wise men have pretended
The summer insects enviable;
One must indulge the wise in moments of mockery.
Strength and desire possess the future,
The breed of the grasshopper shrills, "What does the future
Matter, we shall be dead?" Ah, grasshoppers,
Death's a fierce meadowlark: but to die having made
Something more equal to the centuries
Than muscle and bone, is mostly to shed weakness.
The mountains are dead stone, the people
Admire or hate their stature, their insolent quietness,
The mountains are not softened nor troubled
And a few dead men's thoughts have the same temper.

* * * *

Are we fools by the way we live?
Not for the past, the future only the present.
Like the wise men in their bad hours.
Leaving behind not a dead stone,
More like dust and ashes.

F1 Grand Prix

Feeling like an F1 driver! At 61km? Not quite...

At least I got this shot sharp and clear.

Raffles

He stood solemnly amidst the competing skyscrappers. He observed the changes and awed at how much the city has grown.


The shadows of the past still linger on; as if those from the yester years, like himself, too have found a foothold in the present.


But the once bustling quay side is now without a single soul. The bumboats have long departed, leaving behind a quiet serenity... so clear and still like a mirror, reflecting the past and the present concurrently.


Could he have imagined a city sophisticated by day and stunning by night?


He would have loved an intoxicating evening enwrapped by arts and music, no doubt about that.


These changes, welcoming or not, are inevitable. The process is continuous, like a flow of lights without a destination. Time and tide wait for no man.


Yet the colonial past will never be fully erased. It has injected uniqueness into this place, blended in with modernity to perfection.


And we will rise further, shine brighter. It is what this place is about, where the creation of a new life never stops...

Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix

Song from the opera, Samson and Delilah, known in English as "Softly awakes my heart".

Literally translated as "My heart opens itself to your voice". If only I can hear your voice once again...

Original French Mon cœur s'ouvre à ta voix, comme s'ouvrent les fleurs Aux baiser de l'aurore! Mais, ô mon bienaimé, pour mieux sécher mes pleurs Que ta voix parle encore! Dis-moi qu'à Dalila tu reviens pour jamais, Redis à ma tendresse Les serments d'autrefois, ces serments que j'aimais! Ah! réponds à ma tendresse! Verse-moi,verse-moi l'ivresse! Ainsi qu'on voit des blés les épis onduler Sous la brise légère, Ainsi frémit mon coeur, prêt à se consoler, A ta voix qui m'est chère! La flèche est moins rapide à porter le trépas, Que ne l'est ton amante à voler dans tes bras! Ah! réponds à ma tendresse! Verse-moi,verse-moi l'ivresse!

English Translation My heart opens itself to your voice like the flowers open To the kisses of the dawn! But, o my beloved, To dry my tears the best, Let your voice speak again! Tell me that to Dalila You will return forever, Repeat to my tenderness The oaths of other times, the oaths that I loved! Ah! respond to my tenderness! Pour out to me the drunkenness! Like one sees the wheat the blades undulate Under the light breeze, So trembles my heart, ready to be consoled, by your voice which is dear to me! The arrow is less quick to carry death, Than is your love to fly into thy arms! Ah! respond to my tenderness! Pour out to me the drunkenness!

There is no darkness like ignorance

Thanks to TWK for sending me the link on International Literacy Day. It was just 2 days ago.

I was making fun of myself how I have felt "illiterate" in countries like Japan. You must have felt that way too sometimes. Can you imagine:

- trying to find your way to somewhere but can’t read street names;
- trying to order food while at a restaurant but can’t read the menu;
- trying to keep up with current affairs but can’t read newspapers.

I sure can. I have experienced illiteracy first hand.

5 months ago I was in Ethiopia visiting a World Vision development project. We visited one of the local school and I had my first "real" contact with the African children. At the school, when our arrival was officially announced, the children ran into the classroom with such enthusiam. They were active, curious and eager. We will never find such zeal amongst the students in our schools back home.


Fittal Primary School



There were many of them packed onto one bench. The children were of all ages, some clearly overaged for primary school. They were chatting, murmuring; most were smiling. Their excitement of meeting with their foreign friends were obvious and perhaps, they even felt somewhat privileged. Really, the privilege was mine.

The kids were so happy that we were coming and they arrived in the school compound early that day to wait. They brought all their books, even though some had no classes for the day. I flipped through a torned and tattered notebook from one of the boys, careful not to damage it any further, to see what kind of stuff he is being taught in school. Algebra, arithmetics... not bad. Even I am still struggling with those.



The school is doing a great job, especially when operating in a difficult environment like this and with limited resources. Teaching materials have to be shared by all the classes in turns. They are painstakingly prepared and painted by the teachers. Such commitment to their profession deserves our uptmost respect. The most impressive part is that the school's curriculum is very comprehensive: English, Mathematics, Geography, History, Biology are some of the subjects covered.


Teaching materials

Literacy is the basic product of an education. There are a thousand and one reasons why parents do not send their children to school, even if education is available to them for free. Cultural differences, gender discrimination, poor health, distances are some of the likely reasons. But more so, the competing requirements in their daily lives are the biggest hindrance.

In the village of Yaya Gulale which I travelled to in Ethiopia, most of the parents are farmers. Their children help out in the fields as soon as they are strong enough to do so; usually at the age when they should be entering school. Between subsistence and an education, the choice is clear. One needs to fill one's stomach, as well as those of the family's.

If they are not working out in the fields, the children are responsible for the daily water supply. They trek in the wilderness, walking long distances only to fetch water from dirty streams. They are lucky the water did not make them sick. Even if so, one trip to and fro may take hours. Who has time for school?

To increase the chances of these children receiving an education, we first have to relieve them from their burdens of subsistence. A new water point closer to home, for example, will save the children half a day’s walk each day. They can now use the time they have to attend school instead. Providing tools and training to the farmers in agriculture techniques increase their efficiency as well as yields. With that, the children will have to suffer less hours of toil in the fields.


Kuchu Tengego Water Point

Education and literacy rates are intertwined with basic livelihood matters. I did not know there are so many indirect ways we can help to shape the future of a child differently. In Yaya, I finally understood it. Although education is no solution to all of life’s problems, it is the means towards having a better future, at least to be presented with opportunities. It helps one to live with dignity too. I recall an account of a Cambodian boy who is a HIV carrier. He told stories of how he used to be discriminated by his school mates because he is “different”. However, he is passionate about learning and despite his frequent headaches (side effects from his HIV medication), he persisted in his studies. Now, he has top the class and won the admiration and acceptance of his peers.



Presenting prizes to top students of the school. A school bag, a book and a pen bought with some of the money my friends have contributed before I set off for the trip. Thanks!

I will now share a quote written on the wall of Fittal Primary School in Ethiopia: "There is no darkness like ignorance".