last day in shanghai today! I'm not quite done with it, and am finally getting the hang of it I think, but it's already tiring me out.. Not used to city travel i guess.. so, went to the jade buddha temple today, then to MoGanShan Road to see quite a big collection of art galleries, then back to people's square (all on public buses) to see a very tiny little bit of the national museum before they closed, and sat in the park after look at and taking too many photos of the doves.. walked around the neighbourhood south of the hostel then back here.. indoors at dusk. i don't know why either.

Shanghai is not a place I love, but I can imagine myself staying here longterm. Liveable, interesting, lots of things to do... but not somewhere I'm at peace in.. though there are many things I'm mightily impressed with here. They are really making an effort to improve the city and its citizens. Its one place where the police and traffic wardens really work and are seen everywhere (though sometimes its just in groups lounging around). Looking at their contemporary art, and at the bestsellers in bookshops, and from conversations with the locals, I find their concerns - about themselves, about the youth about the future - not very much different, if at all, from those in my own society.

So, off to Hangzhou tomorrow! hopefully a smaller place will mean I am better able to relax... and think..

heh, just want to gloat: you guys would have LOVED the ferragamo exhibition at the Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art! They even brought the craftsmen who make the bags n shoes in to sit there and work (and you can touch the shoes on the table), and there's an italian lady there to translate any questions. Someone picked up a scrap of leather and asked to keep it, and the old man making the shoes gave her a real insole w the logo and all, and plucked the scrap out of the hands =) now even I want ferragamo shoes. custom made =P

Also today: peoples's park on a sunday morning. the usual gambling crowds of old men, the lone taichi ppl in varo\ious corners, one wannabe chinese opera singer guy, and the new thing is the hordes of old/middle=aged peopl with handwritten posters looking for marriage or partners, stating stats and what they're looking for. not sure if it's for themselves or their children or what. Another smaller group of young pple practising english nd waylaying unsuspecting westerners.

Akso today: Putong. Very impressed by the huge mall at the mrt station. Huge, and wonderful layout that really makes the huge bulding work very well in bringing people ard, and visibity of shops, and orientation of the place, and making sense of such a huge place, and having different kinds of spatial experience within so ppl don't get tired visually or mentally. of course a mall of that size can only work in a city of shanghai's scale, in china...

less impressed w the rest of pudong, or the view of the bund. they eally should light up the place. also, very cold today.

shall not hog internet. ciao!

woke up late today! I guess being bundled up nice and warm with 3 layers of clothing and 1 thick duvet on a really cold night really does make one hibernate. I'm off to see the ferragamo exhibtion at MoMA today, then back here to collect and hang my laundry up, then down Nanjing West Road for a nice expat reccomended burger place, then to JingAn Temple, then training it east to Pudong and JinMao tower etc.

can't seem to get through online to check hostels in hangzhou (where I'm headed next) or even read my own blog, though obviously I can post to it just fine...

it's a rainy day! so instead of going temple and more art enclave hunting I swapped it for tomorrow's programme of the museum rounds near the hostel. Unfortunately the Ferragamo exhibition at MoMA only opens tomorrow, but the Shanghai Urban Planning Centre(?) had 5 levels of related models and stuff, and one level of temporary art exhibitions incl Rembrandt's copperplate engravings/etchings/sketches.

The attention to detail and the time it takes to painstakingly render that on paper.. is a skill few of us have the patience for today, yet is perhaps at the very heart of art (at least in his day): that of understanding the world around. How lights works, how nature and plants grow, how animals move. I've been looking at so much art, of various kinds and from different cultures and times, and I realise, one of the reasons I've been rather stuck creatively is that I haven't been sitting down and not just observing and thinking, but also understanding and recording.

Before I started out on this trip, I had wanted to use it to resume precisely that, and had brought along a couple of pencils and a few copic markers with the intention of sitting in some garden or park or riverside and just drawing and trying to get back in touch with that I love the most - the hands on kind of creating. But the camera is both my friend and my enemy.

It's a tool to keep myself from forgetting where I'd been, the images are my view and impression of a place, and can be used later on to be the basis for other creations, but it is too easy and does not require the kind of effort and contemplation and study that sketching does. It is hard and sometimes intimidating to try and draw though. When there are hordes of people and tourists, it is hard to find the space both mental and physical to sketch, and the thought that there will be countless curious passersby looking over my shoulder at my scratches makes the thought of just taking a moment to snap and think 'I'll just draw from the photo when i get back' so much more inviting. But one never goes through on that promise, of course.

I then caved in and went to Raffles City Mall and ate pasta and warm choc cake at Bakerzin. Felt good to eat good food, though it cost the price of almost 2 nights' accommodation. Tried to go to the national museum after that, but it being a weekend and the museum being free, there was a horrendous queue for tickets, and I decided to give up and head across the road to the Grand Theatre Gallery instead. On the way there discovered that there is an underground shopping centre just beneath the National Museum. The Grand Theatre Gallery looks forbidding, but turned out to be free, and had many lovely pieces.

The thing about the museums and exhibitions here is that while I can't fault the exhibits themselves or even the curator ship, the settings are really not up to par. The lighting is patchy and often obscures or casts lights, shadows and unwanted reflections on the artwork, and the walls themselves show obvious signs of yellowing and even more obvious signs of putty patching up ho;es from other displays. And there seems to be no prohibition against taking photos in the galleries (with the exception of the Grand Theatre Gallery). It is irritating, but I guess I still did enjoy myself, because really, the art is good...

For now, I'll take a break and play with the hostel's resident cat family, and maybe do laundry (though not a good day -it'll never dry in this damp), and see if I can muster uo the energy to go either Pudong or west Nanjing road later tonight.. ciao!

feeling much better today! getting the hang of dealing with the weathr i guess -stay out of the cold, stop walking around esp by the main roads, use the metro and buses instead of walking everywhere, wear more, use the scarf and the hood of my coat.. still don't have much of an appetite, not sure if it's cos i just don't like or haven't found local food to suit my taste or i'm a bit sick or it's just so cold i just want to bunker down and hibernate...

Today went walking around the French Concession area, saw the Sun Yat Sen Museum/former residence, the Taikang art centre enclave, Xin TianDi... It was a slow relaxing day.. and I like the places i visited a lot, esp Taikang road area - art galleries and little cafes. Can imagine chinnie opening a cafe or retial shop there =) love that its blended in with the old and still lived in neighbourhood. Wrote most of it out sitting at coffeebean and warming up just now though..

XinTianDi is a lot more developed and also smaller than I had imagined though. it was ok. gentrified upscale area. 'Nice'.

Stomach starting to complain. Guess I can't live on coffee after all. (and dang, I'm finding out just how much of a coffee addict I am on this trip... ) Too lazy to go out and search for dinner so I'll just make instant cup noodles tonight.

Hate this keyboard. and also hate that the person using the terminal beside mine is smoking away. Sigh. I'll nbever get used to the smoke.

tired! loved Yu Yuan, but the walking and traffic and air and the bloodly omnipresent cigarette smoke everywhere and the hordes of people around the gardens gave me a bloody headache by the middle of the afternoon. so I'm back. eating less. not very used to the city other than the parks and gardens. guess I'm most at home in the country after all. or maybe its just the usual fatigue i get 2 weeks into a trip.

I like the parks and gardens. and the flowers. personal hygiene here leaves something to be desired, esp after the extra careful citizens of hk. not really in the go and whack mood, just want to sit in park and rot. will prob go museums tml to break but weather is gg to be super good tml so don't want to waste it.

shall go get some coffee instead of dinner (i had 16 xiao long baos for late lunch/tea all by myself) and may instant noodle it later.

shanghai-ed!

Not really, sorry for the duh title.

A bit tired from the 20h train trip here from hk so didn't do much today. Just walked east through people's park and various streets till I got to the Bund then walked back along Nanjing road. I like what I see so far. Train trip was good, the locals I met on board and in the rooms here are all very friendly and helpful. Also, I am better at reading chinese than i thought, have no problems getting around. They say my putonghua is good too, haha, maybe they're just being polite. But I cannot catch shanghainese. Should be going to YuYuan Gardens and the Old town tml.

The hostel is very nice, looks like a boutique hotel and they have real coffee, but food sucks.
It's 1 min walk from nanjing road and people's park and all the museums so for 55Y a dorm bed it's very good. doesn't seem much use for all the 1or 5 jiao notes so far. Books here are very cheap and good. and bookshops are really big. perfect weather in afternoon but gets more cold at night - i'm wearing t-shirt and 2 sweaters tonight.

The chanel exhibition on the last day in hk was good though. really good. Nice quotable lines, nice individual installations, good translations from point to point, thought-provoking, fantastic cntianer - alien organic landscapes!, fantastic voiceover - wonder if it's coco chanel's voice or zaha hadid's. really impressed.

oh! I had so much on my mind but somehow it all slips away..

Train trip: like taking a walk through the different industries. nice farmland and rivers, brick making factory with bricks laid out in the courtyard and the brick furnace looming over it all. science-fi like buildings in the middle of nowhere. A whole town with dutch styled houses that would not look out of places if you stick any of them in the middle of amsterdam. flowers. Guangzhou the big city. Super interesting architecture of the in-between. The fringe of the railway tracks. The way the railway officials' uniforms gett from immaculate in hk to messy in guangzhou to neat again in shanghai. Talking to different people on the train. eavesdropping on dissucssions on the train, trying to tune out shanghainese dialect on the train.

what else.. mind's a mess. nut at least I'm getting closer to getting my land legs back - things are not swaying so badly when i sit or slow down anymore. headache's better, or at least numbed by the cool air. Wished I could have gone along with the group os students/fresh grads from hubei/hebei but when i met them I was still carrying all my stuff trying to find the hostel. sigh.

okie, got people waiting, and the light here's not good for typring. ciao till tml =)

It's my last morning here, and I'm finally getting a proper cup of coffee. The ka fei here leaves a great deal to be desired. Even at Pacific Coffee, my cafe mocha tasted like milo. Thank you Krispy Kreme for decent coffee and great donuts =)

In a short while I'll be heading to meet e1 for the chanel mobile art exhibition, passing by the post office on the way to send some postcards home (btw, anyone who wants postcards from Shanghai, Suzhou, Hangzhou, Beijing, etc can email me their address, and I'll do my best - it's always fun to send postcards and even more fun to recieve them, no?). On the way back the egg tarts shop should be open and I will get some buns and egg tarts for the long train journey ahead.

Will be getting on the T100 at 1515h to Shanghai, arriving about 11am tomorrow morning. i have yet to read up on Shanghai or plan my itininery there, but then I'll have 20 hours on the train to do that.. on an open bunk hard sleeper (but I've kind of been training up for the hard sleeper I guess -sleeping on the floor on a thick blanket this past week =P)

As anyone can tell by now, I really like HK. It's a one-sided view, to be sure, but I've seen enough to think I can live here. Granted also, I've liked most places I've travelled to, except a few of those that were seen in a hurry (and no country or place really deserves to be experienced in a hurry. Places, like people, take time to warm up to and let you in). Perhaps it is the relative amonomility and hence freedom I can enjoy in a foreign country that is so enticing and not HK itself. It's hard to tell.

Running out of time. I'm still wondering why my backpack is so huge (by my usual standards) and how I can lighten or just downsize it despite my fear of cold weather ahead. I so should write more about HK but my mind is already moving on to Shanghai =P

I'm not sure I know how to tell time anymore.

It both feels and doesn't feel like it's been 11 days since I arrived in Hong Kong. I'm both still excited by and tired of the city. It's so comfortingly familiar a place, the idea of which has been planted in my mind all through my life: in countless movies, music, magazines, television drama serials, and of course through my own very Cantonese family's speech, conversation, history, cuisine, habits and our way of life. And yet, because of the direction my life has taken back in Singapore, I have drifted away from my heritage and Hong Kong is to me, still foreign in a way. I would dare say I fit in better than the other 2, but I am still glaringly a gwai lau, at least once I open my mouth to say more than a few words.

Today was spent wandering around SoHo (again) with the ETs and taking photos. Memories for e1, of her days here. A nice relaxed walk. There's a cafe here named Antique, but unfortunately the staff were female, not at all like the manga, though the decor was every bit as fancy(?) I would have anticipated. We went to the ManMo temple down the road. It's good to end my trip here as I started it - with a visit to a temple. Then to Cat Street. I would love to have a place here to decorate. All the knick knacks and junk and old toys and furniture and paraphernalia I could collect!

I like walking along the streets, watching the character of each neighbourhood changing and blending into the next, the little narrow streets, sometimes empty, sometimes packed and fully utilised by floral shops and all, the way the shops used very opportunity to advertise - ads on the awning at the back alley facing the mid-levels escalator. I love seeing the decor and interior design of the houses and boutiques and clubs in the area. There seems to be not much space for spatial manipulation, but I think the treatment of surfaces and facades is really varied and exciting and really, one could do years of studies and documentation on just that.

What else do I love...

The escalators and linkway systems, the exquisitely landscaped little parks and sitting areas and playground areas everywhere, the flowers and trees. As much as Singapore makes so much hoo-ha about being a 'garden city' and all, it feels like Hong Kong does it better. Granted, they have the advantage of climate, but their parks seem to me to be more restful, and do a better job of providing breathing spaces for people in the city.

Yesterday e2 and I took the escalator all the way up, then walked to the HK zoo, then to HK park, then to Victoria Park to meet e1 for the HK Flower Show.

But e1 just finished cooking a supper of noodles for me, so I'll ciao first. Next update will be from Shanghai!

Today (sat) was nice, in spite of the weather.

It started with Appleseed: Ex-machina. Produced by John Woo, a few costume designs by Prada. Could tell the john woo influence in the opening sequence already, and I wished they hadn't done that, because sigh, it's so cliche and in a way unbecoming of an otherwise cutting edge film. I loved everything else about it though. I also like the audiences at the screenings. They're by and large very polite and appreciative, waiting for the credits to finish rolling before leaving the theatre and clapping after every show. It's a respect for filmmakers I wish I could see more of at SIFF.

Stepping out from the Hong Kong Cultural Centre (I wish I had taken a trip here to see their spaces for art and film events before doing my thesis project -the grandeur and glamour and pomp and circumstance that the spaces inspire!) onto the Tsim Sha Tsui coast/broadwalk/viewing platform I realised that it had rained and there was still a light drizzle, which meant that the public spaces were all really really empty for a weekend and I could get some nice aki shots, albeit in a rather flat light.

Had wanted to spent the afternoon lazing in Kowloon Park but the rain made that impossible so I just wandered from Tsim Sha Tsui to Mongkok, stopping by a Pacific Coffee outlet for an hour or so when the rain got really heavy.

Back at 6pm to the HKCC for the next movie: A Land without Baseball. All I can say is: yum. heh. but i would like to note one thing the producer said at the QnA after; that clothes, like masks, are something you put on. I also like that they don't really seem to feel the need to justify or provide anlysis for any of their art. After all, isn;t that for critics and historians to do? Artists should just do what they feel is right for them: in a way, trying to fulfil the roles of both artists and critic (though I admit some art is criticism) somehow pollutes the purity of art (and here i go opening up a whole can of worms - I'm not an academic, just spewing my thoughts, pls don't bash me =P)

Took a walk along the coast, lots of phototaking of the night skyline, ferry back to central, walk and more phototaking up to midlevels and dinner and home-for-the-moment. All in all, a good day, people were nice, tried to make conversation with cleaner aunties and stall helper aunties though rather limited by my dismal command of cantonese. happy.

the last 2 posts were written a couple of days ago, cos blogger didn't like me... sigh.. and still unable to get the pics onto this comp.

today was good, but its getting late and I think the other 2 want to use the comp, so ciao, updates later!

sigh. we always get less done than i planned. yesterday was just to lantau buddha and the very short walk around it to the PoLin temple and the wisdom path. So many many tempting hiking routes! Im already thinking that I'll come back to HK someday and do all the things I wanted to do, at my own pace... getting more stressed and mentally stretched thinner everyday.. i need time, and not just a couple of hours in the morning or an afternoon alone. out of the frying pan into the fire. sigh. will go to lamma island today.

bleh. this laptop doesn't like my photo storage harddisk after the first time they got together. sigh. no photos for today. so. Monday and yesterday. After a very nice brunch of beef brisket noodles, Monday was spent wandering around Soho and sightly west.. we had though it would be e2's last day here so we didn't want to stray too far. It was like Chinatown back home x 100 the number of any one kind of shop. There were whole streets of shops selling birds nest. another street selling dried goods. yet another selling ginseng/medicinal herbs. A line of shops selling joss paper and other paper goods (paper LV ballet flats or top -of-the-line multimedia hi-fi systems, anyone?) There was jade street with small touristy stalls where i bought a 'silver' butterfly ring. As expected of the world's main jade carving centre, the quality and artistry of some of the pieces were a marvel. I liked the name 'chop street': doesn't it just conjure up images of people all in the row waving choppers or even better, chopping? in synchrony? (ok, I just watched sweeny todd on Sunday night). or a gang fight! (go get this gang! but chopping is only to be done on chop street!) It turned out even cuter actually. It was chops as in stamps. or as in your red name seal kind of chop. This is also an area of art galleries, but I find them a bit intimidating at the moment =P I'm not so keen on the antique shops - too many issues about authenticity and the morality/legality of bring those artifacts out of their origin country... though i suppose there's no harm done, as e2 does, to stand at the window and exclaim over them (esp since its equal opportunity - she also exclaims over birds, cats, clocks, jade, jewellery, stuffed toys..). i also love how easy it is to navigate despite the sometimes overwhelmingly tall and cramped buildings. mountain to the back, water to the front and you're set! and somehow there is a sort of balance on the mess, enough so that I can still breathe... there is also a level of civic consciousness here that I wish there was more of back home. In a way, it's more sheep like, but I think its what makes it possible to live here and not explode.. Also also, I like the mtr station designs. Many of them use mosaic tiles. and how at diamond hill its back tiles but with a few silver sparkling ones set around the station name. <3 mosaic is used quite often here, and somehow they've managed to find a million and one ways to make it hip and modern and so full of character and variety. We had macs for lunch, walked around ultra hip IFC mall, then headed back to pack and rest. Ended up on the comp checking prices of air ticket for a week or more later. Later that evening I managed to meet pH (dinner for her, dessert for me) which was really nice for me, hee. ok, I'd better go now so i can see more alone! ciao! Tuesday's thoughts and updates maybe later tonight or tomorrow morning.

while e2 is showering and I'm waiting for the laundry to be done...

we have flowers in the apartment and groceries in the fridge (e2 was inspired after watching nigella lawson on tv last night)...

I'm stressed and tired physically and mentally...

Will have to try waking up earlier to wander around the city alone... and maybe go out at night after dinner on a few nights....

Today.. we went to the Tin Hau Temple, browsed in the Central Library, had a leisurely stroll around Victoria Park (except for the foot reflexology part =P and we're saving the Flower Exhibition for the long weekend and e1), walked through Causeway Bay and Wan Chai, took in the view from the HK Exhibition and Convention Centre, dropped by the HK Arts Centre, then it was back to Soho to get groceries and dinner and do the laundry.

I tried to buy HK film fest tickets. I'm Not There is sold out but I manged to get seats for Appleseed: Ex-Machina and City without Baseball. Should have just booked tickets online the day I found out about it. Sigh. Anyways, go see the entries for the appleseed trailer remix contest.

Tomorrow morning I will head to the railway station to get my ticket to Shanghai. Should be getting the hard sleeper as the extended stay here and a bit of shopping has left me rather short on HKD =( I should have a bit of time after that to walk around tsim sha tsui before my movie (about a permanent part-timer in Tokyo, haha) at 1230 at the science museum. By then e2 should be up and done with her 'stocking' and hopefully she can find her way to meet me for lunch then we can go see the art and history museums (free on Wednesdays!) till evening, then have dinner and view the skyline and maybe that light show thingy YL mentioned before taking a ferry back to hk island.

I have to say I still do like the place, just have to find the right state of mind... Will try to expand on the what-i-did-today paragraph when I have more time on the comp... now to download/upload the photos and collect laundry!

in HK!!

I've been here for 2 days already and I'm liking it! It helps that E1 lives in a really nice apartment in Soho *grin* hmm.. where to start...

For one, I like hearing Cantonese, even if I'm not very good at understanding it and even worse at speaking it. It's just a very comforting language from childhood.. And the food!! It's a place I could easily grow fat in =P I also love both the very well designed parts of the city, the attention to detail in the MTR trains and stations, as well as the unplanned but so organically beautiful parts of the city... I supposed I have yet to experience the full crush of Hk crowds or fast paced life or even really spoken to any locals at length, but so far, I love the place.


quick rundown of the past 2 days:


We arrived Thursday night, then had dinner and planned our itinerary for the next few days. On the airport express to the HK island I saw an advert for the Chanel mobile art exhibition, container by Zaha Hadid, which as it turns out E1 had also wanted to go to, so on Friday morning we walked over. Unfortunately you had to pre-book slots to see it, and the earliest available ones were on the 25th. So that's when we'll be going, and that's probably when I'll be leaving Hk as well.


After that we went to Wong Tai Sim where I had my face/palm/fortune read. Very good prognosis overall. In fact, it was too good. Though I was quite impressed with the accuracy of some of his observations.


Another place I love is ChiLin Nunnery which we went to next. The zen calmness of the Buddhist complex was a good contrast to the Taoist temple earlier. It's a place to linger in...


Dim Sum this morning with e1's friend. yum. CKH joined us for dinner and drinks.


Also, I found out just before I left Singapore that HK Architecture Biennale was on till today, so E2 and I hopped over this afternoon. It was a much bigger exhibtion than I expected, and I found myself inspired and excited by architecture in a way I haven't been for a few years... I only wish I had had the chance to visit both yesterday AND today so i could see and digest all the exhibits properly. It was also nice to see some of the exhibits from the local school of architecture and recognise some of the student exercises as similar to what we had to go through in our first year and compare the different approaches they took as compared to us.


HK film fest starts next monday, so I should be able to catch a few shows! yay! They're showing appleseed ex-machina! and I'm not there! I hope tickets are still available...

Have not had much time to sit and reflect and write and blog and upload photos. Prob will be able to do that after monday... g'night!

I will try to upload a few more photos here when i can

out in two

*glances at archives on right* Looks like been quite a while since I've done any travelling! Once a year weekend trips to either KL or Cameron Highlands in Malaysia don't count, by the way.

Fortunately, I'll finally be on the move again in 2 days. First, to Hong Kong for a week or so, then up north to Shanghai and the Suzhou/Hangzhou/Nanjing areas as well as, hopefully, HuangShan. Then its north again to Beijing for a while. It should take at least a month, depending on how fast my budget runs out or how much I like or dislike the places.

This was supposed to be a go there and look for work kind of trip, but it looks like I've procrastinated too much (as usual) and may not be ready for that. What I am ready for is a real, much needed holiday. So, here I am.

Blogger, as well as my photo-taking equipment, has improved much over the past couple of years, so I should be posting photos as I go along, and I hope this test post works =)

photo above: Sungei Buloh Wetlands Reserve.
photo below: East Coast Park.