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

Cracks in red and orange

I knew when and where I was going, then I didn't. And then I did again. So if you were to look for the tangible remainder of the subtraction of certainty, and the subsequent addition of the same, there isn't much left. Except for that broken tail lamp. Which might have happened anyway...

I finally got around to watching the Hollywood remake of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. I have to say, I wasn't expecting to be impressed in the least. I mean, come on! How could anyone possibly expect to top Noomi Rapace's Lisbeth Salander? Right?! I also wasn't expecting this one to stay quite so close to the storyline, if anything, even more than the Swedish production!

One of the totally awesome things, IMO, was the accent :). I mean, it wasn't in Swedish, (which is a good thing I suppose, seeing how I don't understand it, and I hate subtitles) but at least it kinda sounded like Scandinavians speaking English! Technically it sounded like a Norwegian accent to me, but then I can never tell the difference anyway. So full points for coolness there.

And then there was Rooney Maara's Salander. Damn! Well, put it this way, I am now quite anxiously looking forward to the sequels, whenever they do come out.

Amongst the other newish stuff I watched, Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes sequel was, well, mostly okay I guess. I still rate the first one better. Although my judgement might be a bit compromised seeing how he killed off McAdams nice and early :(. (Oops, sorry in case folks haven't seen the movie yet.) Haywire on the other hand, despite all those big names, seemed a bit like all fizzle and no pop to me. The last time an action flick had that many stars, at least there was something of a bang (I mean The Expendables, of course :P).

Right, by the looks of it this will be the last I can afford to laze around all day for a bit. Let's see if I can actually catch the Shwedagon Pagoda in the daylight on my way through Yangon to the boat tomorrow!

Currently: packed, well, when am I not :|
Listening to: Chicane - Santanas

Of cloud castles and houses of cards

How is it that the darkest dark and brightest light can so easily cohabit the same frame? Oh, I know how. I just wish sometimes that they wouldn't, that's all.

It's been a rather strange couple of weeks. Nothing I can quite put a finger on, just this feeling that I might have misplaced something in this while. Some part of me that makes sense of things effortlessly. I think. 

Or it might just be the travelling, and the waiting. The hiding behind the edges of conversations I don't want to have, with people I don't really know. And people who, I suspect, despite their every claim to the contrary, don't really know me.

Once every so often, I have these flashes of unwanted lucidity. A distinct image of myself from some long gone moment, complete with all those hopes, wishes, worries even. Of late the contrast between then and now seems sharper. And I wonder, does it matter, that who we hope to one day become as a wide-eyed (or squinting, or glaring, or whatever) kid and who we do eventually end up growing into should be so at odds? Most days I shake off the thought by blaming the naivety of youth :).

Well, I did finally finish with Notes on a Small Island! But now I find there's not a single encompassing idea I have formed about it. Which is not surprising, seeing how I kept bouncing through other books in between, stopped reading for prolonged periods and otherwise butchered the experience :). Although, I must say, sometimes Bryson seems positively rude! No? He's always good for a few laughs though.

Also, Chicane rocks. More to the point, he continues to...

Currently: uncertain, again
Listening to: Chicane - Thousand mile stare