Thursday 31 May 2012

Of weary days and hazy nights


 
Three weeks. More accurately, three weeks and four days. That's how long we ended up staying in Singapore. This was my fourth visit, and thus far the longest. And I don't just mean that by way of actual time elapsed :(. But now we are on our way out again, and while I'm not exactly breathing a deep sigh of relief, there is a little pause in the onslaught. A calm before yet another storm breaks.

 
Yeah, it's been that kind of a trip. But let's give the work related insanity a break. In between all that, I managed to do something that I haven't before. Gain some measure of familiarity with the place. City, country, whatever.


I never managed the time to do all those proper 'I've been to Singapore' sort of things. I did manage to get a bit of a look around. Walked a little. Found some places I liked, some things that I thought were interesting.


But it was as if all of it was through a veil of weariness. I did manage a day off. Slept like a log for the most part :). It was more than I could have hoped for. And when I could stay awake long enough, even managed to catch a half decent screening of The Avengers! Which was hilarious, I thought :).




Now, almost all of a sudden there's less than a week to go till the end of the trip. And the end of my time here on the Spirit. Like I said, just passing through. So this is what it's usually like. I guess I'd had a bit of a sheltered life :).



Currently: tired
Listening to: David Guetta - Titanium feat. Sia

Tuesday 15 May 2012

Fish out of water - II

Some days leave you drained, streaked and aching. When that happens enough times in a row to where the days start blending together, I suppose in most situations people would go looking for a break. Right now, this is not even half-way through a very, very long trip...

Currently: drained, streaked... aching.
Listening to: AIR - Talisman

Saturday 5 May 2012

Yangon redux!

Six years ago, if someone had told me that I would be granted another go at exploring one of the more awe-inspiring places I've ever stumbled upon, I would have been rather sceptical. Not least because the place in question is Yangon's immense Shwedagon Pagoda. Not exactly your average frequent seismic destination.


Of that first visit, a shamefully hurried and brief affair, I don't really remember a whole lot. (On top of that, what few photos I have seem mostly kinda blurry :(.) But the highlights that persisted compelled me to make amends when on this latest crew change I got the better part of a day in town and on top of that got put up in a hotel quite close to the pagoda!

Somehow the city seemed a lot less forbidding this time around. I suppose daylight might have had something to do with it. And the map that we'd armed ourselves with :). As for the pagoda, we decided on a proper look around, guide and everything!



All things considered, it was a day well spent :). Memory can be a fickle thing, but the splendour I remember was in no way an exaggeration of reality! If anything, I think last time I'd not quite grasped the sheer number of spires and halls surrounding the main pagoda. Not to mention the Buddha statues :).


But that was a week ago, and it already feels like a lot longer :(. The trip so far has been, shall we say, on the rather insane side of busy. We've left Myanmar waters a long way behind and are closing in on Singapore, and yet another docking. I figured I'd put this one up before the boat goes high and dry and life gets really hectic :|.


Currently: trying hard to find things to look forward to in the immediate future
Listening to: Chicane - MoJavé