Bonjour Bundi!

in Bundi now! 3rd location after Delhi and Agra. Feeling a little peeved because I was transferring files in an internet cafe, blue screen appeared, they directed me to another much better and faster comp, but 1 thrid of my files are still on the other computer and I've already deleted them from my memory card... and now someone else is using that comp and when I asked to switch she just said very shortly they she's e done very fast. Like real! how fast is fast? an hour? checking hotel websites can take forever...

anyway, Bundi looks good even though all I've done so far is walk down the street to this internet place - relatively quiet after the madness of Agra and Delhi, and crafts men working on the side of the road stopping and sayiong hello or namaste... narrow streets old houses.. I've staying in a for real haveli/paying guest house where the family is still living, so I had to walk all the way in and through their living areas to get to my room. Lovely, and it's great to get into one of them and see how the interior spaces are like. Cool, lots of sitting areas all topped by nice pieces of fabric, super old black and white family or personal portraits on the walls (the sort you usu see in museums).

Overnight sleeper here from Agra. Took a while to get used to. there were women around me but they didn't seem the friendly sort. Very noisy, chatting and loud music etc. Once I had figured out the way to sleep, where to position my bags etc, I managed to get some sleep despite the noise, though I kept waking up at major stations, once at midnight to find it quite and lights off and esp Kota at 5plus, when almost everyone got off and were replaced by a trainload of men who all seemed to gather around my berth, all sitting on the seats below so that I felt trapped above. After a while one of them, who had boarded first and had spoken to me before the whole gang came on, saw me looking and asked the guys to move for me, so that I could actually look out of the window and see the sunrise over the beautiful indian countryside. Really really beautiful. Not dirty. I think they only get dirty when 'civilisation' encroaches!

Agra yesterday with hc and pk - gorgeous and awe-inspiring. really beautiful and ethereal. Got more crowded as the morning wore on and the tour groups appeared. The local tourists seem to be there as much to see foreigners as to see the Taj! Quite funny, as long as they don't get too carried away or too handsy. Agra fort - nice as well, very fairytale fortress/stronghold, lovely stories, come to think ofit, attached to each spot. 'Baby Taj' -beautiful, and I met a lovely family who wanted me to take photos of them. Unfortunately the lady's balck scarf didn't stand out on my head =( Red Fort in Delhi, also nice, though seen in a bit of a hurry so can't remember much at the moment. Must look at photos later...

Gah! I don't think she's done yet! I don't want to spend the best part of the day in an internet cafe!! But the photos in there are my Taj ones... =(

Off to India!

I'm off to India tomorrow!

Hope to be able to have some time for reflection and blogging, unlike the Myanmar trip last year, which was great and lovely and fun in its own way too, and I'm glad I experienced that way (and volume!) of interaction but...

I'm been longing to have the space and freedom of solo travel again I suppose. Just to be able to be what I feel like being at that moment. To be able to make decisions and act on them on the spur of the moment. No fixed plans, no one to answer to, no one to take care of but myself. To be friendly or not. To sit or wander or get lost and take as much or as little time about it as I want without feeling guilty or like I'm missing out. To be able to think. To exercise and at the same time relax my mind. To make my own wrong decisions and suffer the consequences myself, no guilt or blame on me or anyone else. To have people see me for me, whatever I am at that moment, and I'm always someone I like better when I'm travelling alone. My own person. More free and open to what is around me perhaps because I'm more in control of how I can react. I suppose part of the challenge is to just be like that in my daily life, but well, it's a struggle. People call me out or make fun of me when I don't act according to their pre-conceived notions of how I'm supposed to act, or when I actually show what I'm feeling, and it's easier, less tiring and hurts less at least in the short run to just go with it. It's not an incorrect image. In fact it might be my default -the quiet, reserved, nothing-much-to-say, dour, pessimistic, sarcastic, slightly mean, not-life-of-the-party me, but it is just one side of me.

I do realise that perhaps my first foray into incredible India might not be the place for a return to solo travel though. But then, I was scared the first time I ventured out on my own too, even if it was just to Thailand (which was in the safe stable prosperous Thaksin years at that time), and for less than a month. I doubt Rajasthan will be as 'easy' as Thailand proved to be. Right after booking my air ticket, I started searching online for re-assurance but did not come away feeling any more settled than when I started. If anything, the litany of horror stories made me seriously reconsider not joining my 'travel companions'. It has to be said, though, that many generations of women have braved India alone, and loved it despite all the harassment that being a woman alone (foreign or not) in India apparently brings, so it is very do-able, albeit with a large dose of common sense and some bravado. Tell that to my parents though. (Oh wait, don't, 'cos I didn't. Tell them about the possibly going it alone at some parts of the trip part of the plan, that is.)

As it turns out, after a lot of vacillating, my itinerary will largely match that of my friends' so I may end up inadvertently travelling with them again, except for a detour to Bundi while they head to Jaipur, and the last couple of days after they've flown home and I linger to experience the festival of Holi.

Wish me luck! And sorry about the rant at the start... I'm sure India will be beautiful - I just hope Delhi belly doesn't hit me too hard!

home!

v v quick note to say I'm back in Singapore. Safe, in one piece and nowhere near the Chengdu quake.

hey! my 100th post!

Unfortunately it's not about anything very eventful. I went to the Summer Palaces yesterday. Maybe I've done too much sightseeing, or maybe I've already seen the best, but I wasn't very impressed.. it was nice enough, but not 'wow'.

Old Summer Palace:
Ruins in a big park. Almost all the pictures I took were of the wild flowers growing by the path, or of the sunset.. ruins wise, it's nothing compared to Rome, which it was like in a way.. 1700s stone structures in pseudo European style. Perhaps fascinating to the Chinese, but there was nothing there to interest me.

New Summer Palace:
ok. big lake. the usu style of buildings. the marble boat that cixi built. But I was still meh... I guess seeing 西湖，网师园， 黄山，紫禁城，天坛公园， 洪村 all in one trip has spoiled me for pretty much everything else... was not really impressed by much else, baring the usual beauty of nature kind of thing...

Today I will attempt to go wander ard in hutong, and, if time permits (prob not, knowing me, and pending when the cleaning aunty can come in), also go to the 798 galleries again. Both areas seem to have nice cafes I can just sit in for hours... and try not to shop.

I dropped off the dreadfully packed and slow and jerky and super long bus journey yesterday coming back from the summer palaces early - I think I would have puked if I had stay on. Ended up on a street with all the music shops. Some selling both erhu and trombone. People practising with their instruments on the sidewalk, a lao-wai on an erhu being instructed by an old man... it was not far from XiDan, one of the main shopping areas, where I popped into a mall to use the loo, which turned out to be a dressing room.. very nice. Better than sg hotel loos =P

Made the mistake of looking ard the neighbouring mall as it looked like an interesting bldg from the outside, and had a great lighting system over the entire façade. Nice on the inside too. Malls here can really be done very well. Walked into Uniqio. Damm. Lots of things I wanted to get, at prices I wouldn't have blinked at back home.. my debit card couldn't be accepted though. Phew? but being an upscale shopping mall, there was a stanchart atm for foreign cards only (and yes, i felt a bit atas while using it, because the locals before and after me couldn't get anything out of it )... but I managed to tear myself away w only a nice plain black tee =P v tempted to go back though. it's all v comfy, good quality material, fits me well, is classic yet fashionable... >.< I should just have stuck to the far east plaza kind of teenagers' mall across the road... though uniqio and muji are def more me style-wise...

I've seen some nice bldgs here, many of them from the bus or cab so I have no idea where they are, what they are, or who built them.. some nice ideas, some just done well, some just attention grabbing...

ok, i'd better go. my last full day in beijing!

yesterday: great wall = great!

We went to a relatively quiet stretch of the wall. Great scenery, nice dinner, was brought to a fantastic dvd shop and some high quality but still cheap fake goods shop, nice bar for strong drinks after. Good day.

Also, today has almost gone and I'm still in the house! had to hang ard to deal w electrician fixing the wiring (if not, no dvd nights or internet...)

so, that all for now!

I did not see the summer palace yesterday as planned. Went instead to the new National Theatre to try for tickets to Red Giselle by the St Petersburg Elfman Ballet, which yes, I have seen before (at the dans fest in sg last year) but would like to see again, and it's of a standard I think my wonderful host lw would like. Unfortunately only 400 and 800rmb tickets were left, I did not have enough cash on me, and forgot to bring the card out. Touts at the counter had apparently bought all the 100/200rmb tickets, and were pushing them, but I just think it's such a bad practice which should not be encouraged, that I refused to even listen to them... they are probably real seats, but it's just so wrong. Sigh. It takes time, I guess. and I can't fault them for trying to make a few bucks - it's in their blood? but it still gets on my nerves.

Then I went to Beihai Park and JingShan Park. They would have been pleasant places to sit or stroll or picnic. if not for the incredible wind and hence chill. That said, it's been getting warmer every day, so I'm feeling much better =) anyway, both places are nice as parks, to see the locals (usu older folk) dancing, singing, taichi-ing, gambling, etc... bldgs not so impressive or especially thought-provoking, but still nice. I think I've just seen too much already...

Then rushed to meet lw, jh and some other uni coursemates here on holiday for dinner, in a little restuarant in the hutong area the american landscape architect working here whom I meet in Suzhou had told me I must go. Really nice neighbourhood. I'll probably have found a hostel in this area if I hadn't already had somewhere to stay... there's a wonderful, gregarious owner who really made the place that bit more special in addition to the good food...

today. brunch, then to the 798 galleries. i def have to spend another day just wandering ard the galleries. so that's my 3 remaining weekdays (before may1/2 and my flight south) taken care of: summer palace, hutongs, and art galleries. After the galleries, we headed for the mandatary Peking roast duck dinner, then the Philip Stark designed lan club (not that fantastic except for the big comfy private toilets), then another club, then back to the aptm. The clubs here are def much more interesting than back home.. more varied, more character, stronger drinks.. =P

Tml, great wall w the group.

still alive!

yesterday: Forbidden City. Huge. Spaces. Hierarchy. Procession.

Many of the important buildings were totally out of bounds and wrapped in scaffolding and green netting as they get spruced up. I can see why they want to do that. Most of the place is looking kind of scuffed, and though that is the look I prefer - weathered and aged and full of history and stories - it's probably not quite the image they want to portray in such an important symbol of the city/country. But I guess the magnificence of the place lies in its spatial, or processional, qualities. Not just the huge ceremonial squares and architecture, but also in the smaller palaces/compounds behind and around, and in the long relatively dark corridors of the various gates; places that, as in the Suzhou gardens, constrict before expanding into the vast square, so that you truly feel the awed, overwhelmed and relieved by the open space, and by association, greatness of the emperor/empire . The hierarchy within the Forbidden city, and within each of its components... everything has its place and reason...

I barely saw the exhibits, I barely had time to see the spaces, to linger, to understand the place and imagine its rituals.

Of course, I know that much of what I imagine to be life there is very much inspired by that HK drama series from 2(?) years back about the concubines..

shit, it's 11am, and the Summer Palace, which I want to see today, is huge, so I really should get moving!

written yesterday but had problems w connection so here it is now:

I am.. not really in the mood to write... I can't seem to get myself out of the house before noon (when lunch beckons and tummy starts to whine), but I also realise that each of the city's sights are so huge and my pace of seeing things is so slow that I will need an entire day from early morning till closing time (at about 5-6pm for most sights) to get my fill of a place.. and I still need to run errands today.. sigh..

But yesterday was good. Clear blue skies. Lovely sunset at the Temple of Heaven. A little cold, but beautiful. The sheer scale of the public ceremonial spaces and the ordered approaches to each sight.. truly a masterpiece in experiential orchestration, inspiring awe and respect.. I feel many things when I look at it.. in a way, it's a huge part of where I came from. My people and culture. Things I've been far removed from and have, at times, ridiculed and felt embarrassed about, but now have trying to repossess and understand, as I try to find my place in the world, and to understand who I am and what will make me happy...

I'm liking Beijing much better than Shanghai already. People seem nicer and more polite and less frantic, there's a bit more space (though still not very walkable as things are very spread out).. not to mention that by now the weather is not as bitterly cold as when I was in Shanghai, though still far from balmy by my standards. It's big, and takes a while to get to know, though the basics of the city layout are easy enough to understand.

In a way, I'm really tired from the past 40(!) days so I'm thinking I should to take it easy, esp considering I have almost 2 weeks here before I leave for Shantou. Also, a bit sick of touristy sights, so I will just see the must-sees (Forbidden City, Summer Palace, Temple of Heaven, Tiannanmen Square, a less developed stretch of the Great Wall, maybe the Ming Tombs? and a couple of museums), then spend the rest of the time walking ard hutongs and going to art galleries...

also, I desperately need to get new shoes (the current pair did not stand up well to the constant rain and scruffs, and walking around the whole day in pointy spiky heels is not fun for the feet) and a haircut (now that it's getting warmer and I no longer need to go around looking like a Neanderthal in order to keep myself a fraction of a degree warmer =P). So far, I have not been to the cheap(er) places and while I don't want to scrimp on shoes, 990RMB is too much to pay for simple ballet flats (and those were the only ones I saw that I sort of like..). Sigh.. I think I am already looking forward to a higher standard of living than I have been experiencing for the past month...

went to walk in Tiannanmen Square yesterday evening, but got there too late to go into any place other than the shopping malls nearby =P It's been raining the past 2 days so I have not really experienced the famed pollution, though the city is now one big construction site (but all must be finished/stopped by July). It's also very convenient to have someone who knows the hutongs and how to find a nice bar or restaurant in the middle of all the dark alleys =)

Arrived in Beijing. Tired and sleepy because the train was not a sleeper and the guy beside me snored. It's not as cold as expected (phew!). Sky is overcast and featureless, but at least it's not raining... lw's apartment is very nice and big, if a bit difficult to find and not exactly in city centre... the best thing is, I have a room all to myself =)

but I really need to go get some sleep first...