Fleeting images

Let's just say that I'm really glad I'm back home. Despite the hot, sticky, stifling weather. Although I'm being told that this is nothing compared to what it was like a week ago. So really, I'm quite glad I'm back :).

It was pretty touch and go in the end. Almost a repeat of that last crew change off the Trident. But we did make it. I ended up back on Malaysian soil after a long time. The only thing I do remember about Miri though, is that it was a lot bigger and brighter than I expected. But after 3 weeks in Singapore, this really didn't compare :).

KLIA looked much the same. I suppose the shops might have changed a little in six years, but not much else. I think I quite liked that.

Having not read one bit since the previous crew change, I decided to give The Rest of the Robots another shot. The page mark said I'd read a fair bit. My mind simply chose to disagree completely. So I started over. The introduction is quite entertaining anyway. I for one didn't know that Percy Bysshe's wife wrote Frankenstein!

I resented the running commentary a little. I really don't want to know what went behind the writing of the stories. I want to make that up myself! Still, Asimov is Asimov. But now that I'm done with that, I can finally get to A Short History of Nearly Everything.

The next week or so should be interesting. In quite possibly an unfortunate manner, seeing my general relationship with visas. But at least I should get to stay home a fair bit longer than the 5 days I originally had :).

Currently: sweating profusely :-<
Listening to: Mazzy Star - Into dust

A rush of blood to the head

I had this whole thing worked out in my head. Well, sort of. It was mostly just a 'My God does this really have to be this hard?' sort of thing. But hey, it's one and a wake-up. Unless of course the weather decides otherwise.

Yeah, haven't quite been my cheery self lately. Well, except in a slightly manic sort of way, when things begin to go just a little too far to the wrong side of sane.

But I figure, what the hell, one way or another this is going to be over soon enough. Just wasn't expecting this sort of an ending to my time on here.

Currently: trying to stay awake long enough to pack everything!
Listening to: Groove Armada - Hands of time

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

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

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