Happy but sad. Conflicting feelings. So cute but so far. Hope I can swim towards your shore and be on your side. As a friend of course. :-)
Xinjuejiang Night Market is a famous night market in Kaohsiung, known for its food and street wear. In short, Taiwan has a buzzling nightlife if one cares to seek it. Just when I think that Taiwan offers the best to any owl of a human being, Singapore is not faring too bad itself. I reckon there are thousands of bars and pubs in Singapore, considering that the small district of Ann Siang Hill and Neil Road combined already has so much to offer. Tanjong Pagar is a drinking haven. Along with Boat Quay and Clarke Quay, an evening in Singapore may not be as boring as it seems after all.
I am now tipsy but not drunk. Jacky has just returned from Medan and we met for a short round of drinks. I think word has spread that I have turned alcoholic and many friends are now inviting me to drink with them. I did not know that there is so much sorrow to be drown within my circle of friends, and some of them have been habitual drinkers very much on their own.
I realize that a Long Island Iced Tea is enough to get myself comfortably "high", without the loathsome effects of a hangover.
Another few weeks and it will be hard to meet up. There goes my dream and best friend into the sea of time. Just be happy yeah. :-)
We should leave friends the right to manage their own time and maintain their own social circles. Should we ever feel neglected by them, at least we should bear the conviction that they do not mean to do so. Thank You. I really mean it. :-)
I am not clinging on. But I really feel happy staying in good touch this way and will do whatever it takes for the person to be happy. So long as he/she is happy, whatever I do or can do is justified. :-) I can be the emcee for your big day!
I don't feel guilty of my drinking bouts. I need to drown my sorrows. My drinking buddies are puzzled to have found such a ready partner these days. God knows why.
This explains why it so shocks us whenever we hear news of usually docile elephants trampling on their trainers and audiences with merciless ferocity, resulting in instant death of the unaware victims.
To understand such peculiar elephant behaviour, a group of animal psychologists, neuroscientists and biologists embarked on a trip to the habitat of one of these "problematic" elephants, in a bid to analyze its breeding environment and investigate how it might lead to this behaviour. Additional notes that seem irrelevant were nevertheless made lest they became useful in some analyses.
The team of scientists found out that the elephant is an exceedingly intelligent species, displaying higher intellect than many of us would care to imagine. Elephants possess a wide variety of behaviours, including those associated with grief, making music, art, altruism, allomothering, play, use of tools, compassion and self-awareness. Herds of elephants bond together in a tribal system, and they possess "institutions" that can be understood by observing some of the rituals that they perform amongst themselves.
For instance, when an elephant dies, the other elephants in the herd, led by a dominant female, would drag the dead elephant to an open ground, encircle it, and move gently around it. Such a ritual is seldom caught on film, because the elephants are also smart enough not to allow it to be seen so easily.
When the scientists reached the actual site of capture of the killer elephant, they discovered a disturbing truth:
A ringmaster once ventured deep into the Indian forests, in search of nothing but a group of hunters and poachers whose acts must not be seen in the open. Upon his arrival at the poachers' campsite, he saw infant elephants being chained side by side with nails that pierced through the hide of their ankles. At a hefty fee in the eyes of the poachers, the ringmaster bought one of the elephants and trafficked it back to his circus troupe.
The infant elephant had trained well under the guidance of its human mentors, and had performed well for its audiences when it finally came of age. All along it had been a cute, obedient animal, or at least it knew how to conceal its feelings well. When the now-adult elephant went berserk in burning rage and fury, everyone was baffled and appalled. Why?
with me "teaching" them.
Beijing is a city of temples. We went to a Confucian shrine, a Taoist temple and a mosque on one particular day.
Dong Hao is also my good buddy, and he is seen together with me, Boon Boon and Denise. Denise had to wear a "sarong" for having failed to meet the mosque's requirements for decent attire.
The Stadium remained a fenced-off area in June, so we departed for the 798 Art Zone. For some reason, we became crazy nuts there:
So cute right:
I think this is the Supreme Court of Beijing. Just a guess:
Here is the Grand National Theater of Beijing, where Boon Boon and some others caught an expensive ballet performance a few weeks after. Oh yeah, Boon Boon failed to watch it. Late and lost on his way there. So sad right. :-( :
The professor and I decided to return to the hotel before nightfall with some of the students. The lake at Yiheyuan is very beautiful.
Speaking of lateness, our class was late for our welcome dinner hosted by the Peking University. So sad right. Wait bad impression then we can kiss future trips bye bye. I trust that the Chinese are magnanimous, but noble hearts and minds should not be taken for granted. We were late because our bus stalled on the expressway. And the air-con malfunctioned. What we could do was to alight and take a breather by the road shoulder. And this lasted for an hour before the bus was repaired and took off to the restaurant.
I lost count of the number of times I had seen this signboard:
Not to forget the beautiful Weiming (?) Lake within the campus:
I will update on the trip further, having covered only 2 days here.
I like to take photos, but I don't like seeing myself in them. It took me quite a while before I could find those with me in them. Here I will share 2 photos that my friends had taken in Beijing.
I choose this first one because it features the greatest number of people among the photos that I have. Sad to say (but expectedly), I don't have any class photo with me.
I like this second one because it was taken outside the Beijing Zoo and we were on our way to see the super-duper cute pandas.
As for the photos for Taiwan, I upload this because it captures an unforgettable gathering that my Taiwanese friends and I had in Taipei. Hope to see them again soon:
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I decide on this photo because it was taken at the very place where I had the best smelly beancurd in the world:+163.jpg)
I will update more on these trips as and when I feel like it. Stay tuned if you're interested!
Age is catching up on me. Amnesia and insomnia are now my best friends. Says who that counting sheep helps? Riding sheep may just do the trick. Haha.
友情满满，情义浓浓。
Spoke to Dunman High students a few weeks ago. Gave them a prep talk on what USP is about and my experiences in the Programme.
My last class for the semester. Sigh. The transience of time.
Time really flies. It is always time for us to say goodbye. Age is catching up on me. Before I know it, many things had happened and were over by the time I became conscious of them. My only adversary now is time. I hope I can stand the test of time.
Taiwan always brings a smile on my face.