31 Jan

I had my first job 'interview' today and so

Next week I am going to start work!!!

I'll be in a cafe called On the table really near Pasir Panjang MRT and I'll be a waitress and I am very excited!!!

Also today I broke a hoover and fixed it, and had cheesecake and chocolate cake after deciding not to eat after ballet (self resolve please resolve yourself)

Also I got the worst blisters from wearing new shoes to the interview, and in order to heal them my Mum suggested spraying perfume on them which made me HOWL (only in my head though...one shouldn't disturb the neighbours) because it stung a LOT

Also I got another sort of job offer from Ben which is a camp in March which pays REALLY WELL and it's in SCGS and I really want to go!!! I think it'll be camp pandan all over again.

I also begun on Level 3 of the thirty day shred and I had to stop so much it wasn't even funny I felt like NOPE

Art Museum

Emily and I went to the Art Museum yesterday, a sort of last minute decision after we ate of sandwiches for lunch. I had peanut butter and she had jam and so we complement each other.

On the bus ride there, Emily sketched a typical uncle sitting in front of us, in his pin striped cotton shirt and his gelled hair in neat rows separated by the teeth of a comb i imagine was conveniently located in a back pocket somewhere.

The Art Museum reminded me of SCGS because it had tiles that were green ish and it had an aura of sophistication (because art.) I felt a little like an alien because I was wearing touristy clothes (Stripy pants and converse and A CAMERA SLUNG AROUND MY NECK) and also because I sometimes doubt my ability to appreciate art. But anyway, we ventured into the first gallery and saw the "Custos Cavum"

Once upon a time, there were two worlds. They were connected to each other through a number of small holes, as if the worlds were breathing through these holes. However, the holes had a tendency to close up, so there were guardians next to each one to keep them open. The guardians were called “Custos Cavum.” They took the form of seals and had large front teeth, which they used to gnaw the holes to prevent them from closing up.

This was probably my favourite exhibit...The creature was constructed of steel, it's bones looked harsh and forbidding and mechanical and motionless, but it was topped with delicate sort of wings which whirred softly and moved about (motorised) and created the illusion of life despite the death connoted by the seal skeleton. The feather things cast shadows on the walls that looked like the feathery plants in Burma, a natural image in stark contrast to the mechanised nature of the seal. I imagined that the confluence of opposites in this seal symbolised the two different worlds. One natural and alive, the other robotic and dying (or dead) 

-Insert conservationist message/stop global warming campaign here-

Anyway, it was the sort of creature Emily and I would imagine when we were small, and it reminded me of a story by Eva Ibbotson I read, about a train station that was a portal to another world where sweet seal like creatures existed and spun clouds from their breath. 

Talking about clouds, there was a very puzzling/scary exhibit called 'The cloud of unknowing' which had a series of neighbours in an HDB flat, one woman had a house full of grass, another man had curtains of light bulbs hanging from his ceiling, another man fell asleep in a bed that slowly seemed to swallow him, another man wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote and wrote, another man played the drums and crashed cymbals despite the falling rain, and another woman lived in a house full of sounds - white noises from in between radio stations, a tap left on, the buzz of flies over slowly rotting onions... and below all of them on the first floor lived a man in a room with no doors, the floor pooled in slimy sludgy water, which he used the wash himself dirty and transform into the cloud man. He was really repulsive, sapping the mud and slime and rubbing it into his pink flesh covered with hair like peach and just making himself dirtier and dirtier...and then as the cloud man (White hair, uncanny proclivity to cause clouds of smoke to form where ever he went) he haunted his neighbours, filling their own homes with smoke. This is the explanation for it all (http://www.guggenheim.org/new-york/collections/collection-online/artwork/31320) but it just made me think of what terribly degraded lives we all live, our obsessions, and how we are cloistered within ourselves and not brave enough to penetrate the lives of others... One surrounded by light, another by sound, another by nature, another by academia, another by release, and the last one so so trapped ( I actually thought the point of the piece was the trapped man taking his revenge on his selfish neighbours but apparently not)

Emily and I also had a lot of fun creating sentences from word magnets outside the medium-at-large room, sentences like "Where have you been all my life here with some velvet subjects" and  "Let down your soft red hair" and "Find time to break this piece of us"

There was also an interactive exhibit where you could construct your own HDB on a postcard wit stickers and put it onto a shelf with other postcards to make a block of flats, but I kept mine because I suppose I am house proud or maybe just because I wanted to use it as an actual post card to send to someone.

In the 'medium at large' exhibit room the place smelled like bread dough which set my senses A-TINGLING (Bread is love) and also there was a helpful and very bored museum staff person who walked around the near - empty halls singing in a very indie-alternative sort of lazy but intense voice. She explained an exhibit which used painting and video to create sort of a confusion of mediums, and also a huge painting (?) that looked like it was crawling off the wall.

There were various other paintings but I don't think I am very good at art appreciation and also as Emily said "I am so sick of art" meaning abstract and modern art which you have to tease out the meaning of like a bobby pin in tangled hair which gets rather exhausting after a while (especially as there was another video with the cloud man and I thought they were connected and my head was in a complete muddle and then I realised after when i read the explanation outside that they were not linked which actually made me even more confused)

Because of the amazing bread smell Emily and I went to Baker and Cook where Emily bought that-round-loaf-Niki-got-me-for-my-birthday-which-I-ate-in-2-days and then we went to MK bakery and both of us got the banana chocolate loaf (which I finished THAT VERY NIGHT I am a pig indeed but it was ok because then I had salad for dinner)

After that, Emily and I had ballet practice, which was good because we got to sort out some steps in either variation ahead of today when Mrs Cheong made us do them in pairs and choose (Thankfully I am doing variation 2!!!!)

27 Jan

Interesting things seen:

1. Man fully clothed in office clothes doing Tai Chi in empty parking lot

2. Two women sitting and talking together (was one crying? I couldn't tell as I was running past)

3. Girl trying her hardest to complete her tenth crunch on the floor of her third set of Ben's ridiculous core workout, getting carpet burn in the mean time and sincerely wishing she were born with abs

4. Girl eating ice cream for breakfast (Forget about the abs)

5. Girl eating ice cream at lunch time (Forget about the abs)

6. Penitent girl eating cucumbers for dinner (Perhaps those abs will come back)

Arthur Beatrice

New band/Band of the week: Arthur Beatrice (as recommended by Jontotan)

Grand Union

More Scrapes

Midland

Late
Take Away Session

22 Jan

Woke up and decided (after a scrambled egg breakfast) to head over to MINDs. I stupidly decided to walk, because the adult bus fare is so ridiculously draining, but I gave up when I saw the bus pass me at the Queenstown library. The sun was out, and I was in my Nikes which always makes me feel confident, and the golden shower trees were shedding yellow petals in shoals along the pavement.

In MINDs, the place was busier than usual (At least 5 other people in the shop!) An old woman came in announcing "It is my birthday today!" and was returned with a chorus of "Happy birthday Carol!" from the (I suppose) regulars in the shop and the 2 grey haired cashiers. Soon after, Carol's daughter came in with her toddler-son Tom, who alternately shouted "Mama MAMA MAmA mamA MAma maMA MamA MAMa maMa", or wormed about on the floor, or pulled clothing and bric-a-brac from the shelves (I don't blame him...the clothes all have a lovely, worn in, warm, grandma sort of smell) . Soon he progressed from MAMAMAAMAMAMA to OUTOUTOUTOUTOUTOUTOUTOUT, soon after which they did.

On the way back, children from the Lee Kong Chian Gardens School were walking in to school. On young boy ambling along with his maid reached out and touched my arm as I passed, and I thought of Jesus and how people used to touch him and his coat or lie under his shadow as he walked through the world restoring Eden.

That night, I met Niki for dinner, who was glad to sit after 8 hours of working. She's saving up for New Zealand by working hours in a day under the scourge of repetitive  Chinese New Year music and standoffish customers, whilst I am saving up for Melbourne by making a Melbourne jar and giving tuition to TWO children only. (Oh yes, I didn't get the teaching job at ACJC) We talked about fine lines between healthy eating and obsession, between normal emotion and over mood swings. After a heavenly pear and cheese crumble for dessert at brunetti (and a conversation about cutlery), we walked along the darkening streets of Orchard road and in the still noisy white bright malls. For a rest, we sat on the steps of Ion and watched the cars speeding past, their headlights adding to the blaze from the building lights and the glow from the fair lights in the trees. /Beam/Blaze/Glow/  Niki noticed how time seemed to have slowed for us, that we were in some sort of limbo (which i suppose was sort of meta I suppose since we are in a limbo between school and school, schedule and schedule, routine and routine) Then we got into an interesting conversation about time and why we humans think we can name and own it when it just slips by anyway no matter what we do. (Why is an hour an hour? And why is it comprised of 60 minutes and each minute 60 seconds and can you keep breaking it down or is it somehow composed of immutable and distinct particles ala Democritus and his atom theory)

After Dad picked me up we went grocery shopping and we had a basket full of banans, blueberries, 15 apples, paul's yoghurt, soy milk and banan crunch cereal and spinach. A full basket of fruits makes me really really happy. (I like making lists in my head of how I'll eat them for breakfast...today (27/01) I'm having Banana nice cream for breakfast!!!!)

21 Jan

I walked to fellowship through a rain-whisked world, under a scraggly sky, envious trees dripping with little droplets of rain water and I wondered at how life could pass so fast. How rain could fall and I didn't notice. I think I'm passing through life through blissfully my writing is almost never sad or pained...do I feel too little? I told Andrew I worry that I am living too happily, and one day all the sadness I've pushed away will wash over me like a tidal wave.

Psalm 39 (the fellowship devo passage that night which I thought was wonderfully apt)
"...You have made my day a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you. Each man's life is but a breath..."

(P.S. I didn't go to a museum last week, nor did I bake...but I did go to a thrift shop)

On my list of things to do this week are:

1. Go to a flea market

2. Visit a Museum alone

3. Bake a cake in the spring form pan we bought ages ago and never used

hullo

This should be a secret handshake that goes

scissors

paper

stone

fist bump (i was so expecting it to end that way but distance)

EXPECT ME don't let my greeting go unanswered

(Have I ever told you I like it when people say hullo instead of hello)

Brill

I spent a large part of today sitting at a cafe in Cluny Court just writing. I ordered a fruit popsicle and grape juice to legitimise my occupation of the small white table for about 2 and a half hours. First I tried to continue my study of Immanuel Kant (who has the same personality of Shakespeare and me!!!) but soon I got tired, and so i turned to my diary instead. (For some reason nowadays it takes less for me to pour out words than to take them in - unless it's poetry. Speak to me in rhymes and verse...)  I finished writing about last Sunday and then wrote about this Sunday and my annoyance at my own confusion and confusion about whether I was justified to be confused (after finishing my written spiel I judged that I was)

It was very cathartic. I think I began to blend in with the furniture though, because a man came up to me and asked, " 'Scuse me, do you work here?"

After I said no, he went in and ordered a coffee and then sat outside reading magazines about architecture, with his bare feet propped up on a chair beside him.

More from the galaxy

My mother's poetry book 'A galaxy of poems new and old' is probably my favourite book at the moment.

It has my favourites like Wordsworth and Donne, and surprising other beauties.

I'm trying to remember 'A Hymn to God the Father' by the end of the week (in addition to daffodils, but that has a lilt and such vivid imagery that it's considerably easier)

A Hymn to God the Father

Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun,

         Which was my sin, though it were done before?

Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run,

         And do run still, though still I do deplore?

                When thou hast done, thou hast not done,

                        For I have more.

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won

         Others to sin, and made my sin their door?

Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun

         A year or two, but wallow'd in, a score?

                When thou hast done, thou hast not done,

                        For I have more.

I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun

         My last thread, I shall perish on the shore;

But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son

         Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;

                And, having done that, thou hast done;

                        I fear no more. 

Oh John Donne

ragret

(not my diary)

Sunday lunch/movie with my batch mates was an exercise in introspection, ironic since it should have been one of extroversion but i was in a poetic mood and also rather tired after executing Christy's birthday surprise with Emily.

During lunch, I sat with AgnesAaronMingkaiBethNathasha and had a rather good conversation - about parenting, trips (which devolved into a discussion about prostitution - MRSWARRENSPROFESSION was ringing in my ears "Oh, the injustice of it! the injustice! the injustice!") and our past selves and how we've changed. I partially partook in conversation, and partially scribbled down a fantastic Wordsworth poem i discovered in Mum's 'A galaxy of poems new and old' book (look at the reverse personification!!!)

The Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed--and gazed--but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils. 

After that Agnes and Aaron left, and I sort of did as well, though not physically. I think i feel rather detached/disengaged from the batch because they grew closer last year through Youth comm which I abruptly left, and through outings which I did not go for. And I suppose as they moved forward I was left behind (sort of an irony since in group movement I am usually too far ahead - the perks (?) of being a fast walker) Which is why one of my resolutions is to get to know them better.

After the movie I took the train home with Deborah Wee, another church community sojourner with perhaps more severe symptoms. It was really nice talking to her because I felt like I could share more of my regrets about church than usual - and she resonated. And she says she'll be coming to church more regularly hooray!

At home we played taboo.

Novelty.

Berkeley

Esse Est Percipi/to be perceived is to be

George Berkeley

I am reading 'Sophie's World', a novel about the history of philosophy, and came across George Berkeley, a remarkable philosopher (empiricist) who sort of echoes one of my thoughts about God. The basis of empiricism is that you only derive knowledge about who you are and the world around you from your senses. And this seems incompatible with religion because God is unseen, unheard, untouched in our normal lives where we see human glory and ruin, hear crass words and poetry, and touch hearts and lives, but not our omniscient God in a way we are humanly attuned to. Sometimes it seems so natural that we feel that to perceive something is to ascertain its existence, which is of course in line with empiricism.

Berkeley, however, extends the argument and questions how our own perceptions arose. If we know something is because we can perceive it, then by logical extension for us to be we must have been perceived by something, or someone, else. I cannot cause my own perceptions because sometimes these perceptions are entirely involuntary - i dream of people I am afraid of, or that I am ashamed of, and I can't stop it. Thus, the someone behind these perceptions must be someone who has access to my consciousness and who is systematic and complex in its perception. That is why Berkeley says God is 'intimately present in our consciousness causing to exist for us the profusion of ideas and perceptions that we are constantly subject to'. Because God perceived us, we are (creation), and that is why we can perceive. He is the source.

Of course, there is the sort of loose end - who perceived God. But I suppose there is the presupposition that something cannot come from nothing, and therefore God (the source) must always have existed. In the novel, Sophie concludes the chapter saying that her world seems to be 'like a bad dream'. God seems to be playwright, and we as his characters have no choice but to follow our lines, unconscious or conscious of our position as figments of a divine imagination. I used to get bothered about this too - hearing about the doctrine of election and the concept of God's sovereign and immutable will - I felt like a helpless pawn in God's chess game. I felt used, cheated, helpless, helpless.

But Berkeley's philosophy opens up another dimension. Because we are 'figments of God's consciouness', we too have been given our own consciousness, God has gifted us with choice - he has imagined the ability to choose into us in a way. He has given us the sense to perceive the wonderful world around us, the intellect to consider his ways, the choice to follow him. I am not a pawn in a chess game, I am more like a child, created, perceived, and now growing under a benevolent gaze as i struggle to look into the eyes of my Maker.

Today's Man: Sir Walter Raleigh

I was reading a poem today, and came to the end and saw that the poet was Sir Walter Raleigh - the man who led the English in victory against the Spanish Armada, and was awarded a medal that said "God breathed and they were scattered". He wrote the following poem whilst in the Tower of London awaiting execution, and it reminded me of Paul and Bonhoeffer's calm even in their imprisoned days.


THE PASSIONATE MAN'S PILGRIMAGE
  
GIVE me my scallop-shell of quiet,
My staff of faith to walk upon,
My scrip of joy, immortal diet,
My bottle of salvation,
My gown of glory, hope’s true gage;      
And thus I’ll take my pilgrimage.

Blood must be my body’s balmer;
No other balm will there be given;
Whilst my soul, like quiet palmer,
Travelleth towards the land of heaven;        
Over the silver mountains,
Where spring the nectar fountains:
There will I kiss
The bowl of bliss;
And drink mine everlasting fill         
Upon every milken hill.
My soul will be a-dry before;
But after, it will thirst no more.

Then by that happy blissful day,
More peaceful pilgrims I shall see,        
That have cast off their rags of clay,
And walk apparelled fresh like me.
I’ll take them first
To quench their thirst
And taste of nectar suckets,      
At those clear wells
Where sweetness dwells,
Drawn up by saints in crystal buckets.

And when our bottles and all we
Are filled with immortality,       
Then the blessed paths we’ll travel,
Strowed with rubies thick as gravel;
Ceilings of diamonds, sapphire floors,
High walls of coral and pearly bowers.
From thence to heaven’s bribeless hall,       
Where no corrupted voices brawl;
No conscience molten into gold,
No forged accuser bought or sold,
No cause deferred, no vain-spent journey,
For there Christ is the king’s Attorney,     
Who pleads for all without degrees,
And He hath angels, but no fees.
And when the grand twelve-million jury
Of our sins, with direful fury,
Against our souls black verdicts give,       
Christ pleads His death, and then we live.

Be Thou my speaker, taintless pleader,
Unblotted lawyer, true proceeder!
Thou givest salvation even for alms;
Not with a bribed lawyer’s palms.       
And this is mine eternal plea
To Him that made heaven, earth, and sea,
That, since my flesh must die so soon,
And want a head to dine next noon,
Just at the stroke, when my veins start and spread,     
Set on my soul an everlasting head!
Then am I ready, like a palmer fit,
To tread those blest paths which before I writ.

    Of death and judgment, heaven and hell,
    Who oft doth think, must needs die well.

looking forward to heaven

If we find in ourselves a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.

- C.S Lewis

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea...And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” 

...

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 

Revelation 21

Like I can

Why are you looking down all the wrong roads?

When mine is the heart and the salt of the soul

There may be lovers who hold out their hands

But they'll never love you like I can, can, can

-Sam Smith, Like I can 

I think almost all of our life is spent looking for love - self love, love from our parents, tutors, professors, friends, love from our apparent lovers, past present and future. But most doesn't satisfy completely, inexhaustibly. everlastingly. Except we have a Saviour who loves us completely and utterly and unselfishly and forever.

Ollie talked about the story of Hosea and Gomer once. (https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Hosea%201-3) I often feel like Gomer . I feel stained by sin, looking for cheap replacements for God's love, which leave me more broken than before until I return to God's embrace and becomes healed, whole.

Long ago the LORD said to Israel: "I have loved you, my people, with an everlasting love. With unfailing love I have drawn you to myself.

Jeremiah 31:3 

Yesterday I wrote down on a scrap of paper 'I am you are we' - this is what I feel love should BE like, someone who is so completely myself and who I am so completely and who without I wouldn't be me. And of course I haven't yet experienced that, but I know that when I see Jesus in heaven I will realise with groundbreaking clarity that finally He is Me is We.

Burma2014

(Note before starting: Apparently Burma is the right way to call this complex country, because the name Myanmar was given to the country by the junta without their consent)

(Another note: All these bits are excerpts from my diary, but not the full story, which took 25 pages, three receipts and two paper scraps to partially complete)

Day 1:

There was confusion over visas and immigration tickets, but finally finally we stumbled through and arrived in Myanmar.Walking along the streets, we passed stores with bags and t shirts of Aung San Suu kyi, batik bagstrousersdresses, holographic pictures and printed posters (including one that said 'Food not to eat together'; one combination was vomit and watermelon, which I thought obviously no one would try anyway), as well as all manner of fermenting things and fruit. The fruit here is incredible: avocados as big as my outstretched hand, and bananas that are engorged and convex, almost mango shaped. We didn't buy anything, but kept-going, battling through the near 40 degree heat, past a shop selling little puppies -tiny balls of fur crammed into 3 cages, as well as numerous betel leaf shops - a kind of drug the locals chew comprising of betel nut, spices, limestone paste and nicotine, which stains their teeth red and leaves a blood coloured stain wherever it is (frequently) spat out.

The puppies

Dinner was Shan Noodles - Hannah and Mum's favourite meal of the whole Holiday

Interesting things today:

-Croissant Ice Cream (!!!???) for dessert
-Name games with the family - Tim concocted ridiculous names like Xevacitzy and Yorikoky, who apparently originate from the planet Camarotz. When asked where Camarotz was in space, he cleverly said: It's moving!!!
- Everyone wears this thing called Thanaka, a clay coloured paste made from tree bark that protects them from the sun
-Most of the men wear a Longyi: a circular sarong that they tie in a knot at their belly and frequently untie and retie during the day

Day 2:

Power cut in Yangon (Apparently they are very frequent), but the hotel had its own generator which meant warm water was still available for the morning shower. The rest of the day was a long bus ride (filled mostly with sleep and Lord of the Rings) to Mandalay.

Interesting things today:

-deep fried crickets as road sides snacks

You can see our disgust at the BUGS

-our bus company (JJ Express) has the motto 'The way the truth the life'

John 14:6

-The Hotel staff in Yangon use plastic bags to catch flies and release them outside, because Buddhism prevents cruelty to animals

Day 3:

Breakfast was a veritable FEAST served by Nambui and her girls - pancakes with syrup, toast and home made Jam, Bananas, Omelette, Apples and Watermelon and Hot chocolate. The girl who served our table was so gentle and said "My pleasuah" whenever we thanked her.

We were to take a taxi around Mandalay today, and our first stop was a Gold pounding workshop. It was spectacular, a real traditional business. First they use a machine to transform a gold ingot into gold ribbons, which they then POUND AND POUND AND POUND for about 90 hours. The man pounding the gold was very camera oriented when we went to see his work - he asked his friend to move out of the camera frame so that his labour could be well captured. They measure time in a peculiar way - they float a coconut shell with a tiny hole in it in a basin of water, and when the coconut shell sinks completes 20 minutes has passed. After 3 sinkings they change man so that the previous pounder can get some well - needed rest. Our guide was called Nguyen, which means climber, and she ground up some Thanaka and put it on the faces of Mum, Dad and I.

Thanaka-ed

After that, we went to the Mahamudin Temple. a buddhist temple where the main attraction was supposed to be the huge gold statue of Buddha, with men (Not women), allowed to paste gold leaves onto his figure, although I was most enamored with the gongs in the courtyard which i rang and caused discordance. In the courtyard, sparrows played hide and seek in the carvings and pigeons swooped through the prayer hall, irreverent to the mass of devotees murmuring prayers.

Mahamudin Temple

After that, we went to the jade market, and watched shopkeepers grind and polish small fragments of jade stone on furiously spinning wheels run by fast pedalling. They seemed really excited to see us: either it was my sunglasses or Hannah's scarf...

Can you see the judgement in his eyes at my obvious touristy-ness

Last stop before lunch was Shwenandaw Monastery, a monastery made entirely of teak wood. (reminded me of Shenandoah - a river which we sang about in the SC choir) Apart from a curious cat, the highlight of the visit was an accidental conversation with a monk (Who had participated in the saffron revolution!!!) who told us that his precepts ordered him to suppress anger, which was the secret to his youthful looks. According to him we were 'in heaven' because the monastery was built with 6 levels, and ours was heaven.

Welcome to heaven 

After lunch, we headed to Mandalay's royal palace. It was cool and fun ambling around the red wooden buildings (with corrugated irons roofs) making faces with Hannah. There was a big sign at the gate saying "Tatmadaw (the military) and the people cooperate and crush all those harming the union" which was slightly depressing, especially after the monk we spoke to said he read in the Myanmar Times that the government spends just ten dollars per person annually - a pittance! Considering the need of the people, juxtaposed to the ostentatious housing complexes of the military, you wonder if the political military nexus does not subjugate the very people they are supposed to be cooperating with.

The view from the tower in the Mandalay Royal Palace

The view from the tower in the Mandalay Royal Palace

The highlight of my day was the sunset... we climbed Mandalay Hill and saw a rainbow sunset over the dust cloud covered city. Heading down, we encountered a friendly cabbie as we waited for ours to arrive. He asked where we were from (the standard Burmese introductory question) and then said "Can I ask you one questoin? Why not are you so beautiful?" He mean why ARE you so beautiful (or did he) but the malapropism was hilarious, and we had a very nice conversation after that, about his past occupations (Shirt painter, car body maker, cabbie) which he'd engaged in since 13  years old (When he quit school) He was so earnest about making a living and improving his English, and so humble in asking 'Did I say right?'.

After that we headed to a pagoda which housed the 'largest book in the world'. Walking in, a little girl with 2 side buns ran up breathlessly to Hannah and I and asked if we wanted to buy flowers for Buddha. After declining, she tagged along, giggling and pointing to my wrist. I realised she was looking at my bracelets/friendship bands, so I slipped one off and gave it to her. So now I have a friend in Burma. (This same little girl later came back when my mum was bargaining for post cards and helped us get a lower price, a true friend indeed!)

Day 4:

After breakfast, we began our new day's adventure with our trusty taxi driver Zaw. He told us about his car - it cos US$8000 down from $16000 in 2008 under governemtn tax. SIM cards used to cost US$250, and now after deregulation they are about $2. So despite the gripes we had heard from other Burmese people it seems they are at least doing something for the material living standards of the people. He also told us that his previous job as a supermarket worker, a 9 to 9 job, earned hima free lunch and a grand total day's wage of less that a dollar, although after a year of working there one's pay could rise to more respectable levels. Degree holders that (commonly) work in supermarkets earn about $2 a day in the first year, His wife, a LAW degree holder, worked in an electronics shops after graduating, and stopped working two years later because of her child. Underemployment is rife here - many degree holders hod aspirations of professional or technical jobs but end up as farmers.

Driving out of Mandalay, we enter more pastoral landscapes - bullock carts amble pass and a goatherd gathers his flock, protecting them from traffic. Another thing Zaw told us was that of the three telecom companies here, orendoo is shunned because it is Muslim owned...

Our first stop was Sagaing Hill, a steep climb and a fun gallop down (!!!). A top the hill was another pagoda and 45 subtly different Buddha statues. After lunch we took a boat over to Inwa, and got two horse carts to take us round the pagodas there. The horse cart ride was bumpyyyy one literally levitated off one's seat a couple of times I loved it. We passed by gorgeous paddy fields and tall palm trees...every thing was surreally postcard-ish. Honestly all the pagodas began to look the same after a while, but their beautiful architecture got me thinking about ho wonderful a legacy Burma had, and yet how unfortunate that it's present paled in comparison to its past...where have all her golden days gone? We also saw two peekaboo children who got into a fistfight among the stupas, ending with the smaller lollipop-clutching boy crying while the victor (Presumably his older brother) leap frogged over the crumbling stones laughing. Our betel-stained toothy driver also let us drive the horse cart for a while, which we attempted to with much less deft skill than he possessed.

Our final stop for the day was U Bein Bridge, the longest teak bridge in the world,  to catch a sunset.

Interesting things today:

-Burmese singing 'Just give me a Reason'(Pink) and 'Steal my girl' (OneDirection) spotted
-Dinner at a steamboat restaurant (you'll find out why this is interesting later on...)
-Typical conversation with a Burmese bracelet seller

'You want bracelet? Bangle?'
'No, thank you."
'Very cheap very beautiful, beautiful bracelet for you.'
'No thanks.'
'Make me happy,'
'But it will make me unhappy.'
'You remember me?"
'No.'
'I remember you.'
(HELP!!!)

Day 5:

I had food poisoning all last night, with three tear streaked, painful trips to the toilet to throw up all the steamboat dinner oh joy. So i stayed at the guesthouse with Mum while Hannah, Tim and Dad went to PyinOoLwin. I was really glad of the day to just lie in bed and rest actually. Mum was a lovely nurse , putting socks on my cold feet and holding my hair as a threw up again and telling me stories of her childhood. Her stories lulled me to sleep, my general state for most of the day. I woke up halfway out of a dream about spaghetti and told Mum I could still eat the spaghetti, leading Mum to think I was delirious and delusional and ask me if I knew who she was and where we were and who I was even. I was still sane though.  Nam Bui lovingly made some rice porridge for my lunch and Mum made me drink lots of re hydrating salts, and I feel very loved. But I don't know how on earth I will go on a 9 hour boat ride to Bagan tomorrow - I'll be the sea-sickest person ever and I really don't want to throw up again.

Day 6:

We did go on the boat to Bagan and I felt so much better, the river air probably cured me even more! On the boat, at a brief bank side stop, women waded through the water to sell bananas to us, first at 200 kyat, then 1500 kyat, then 500 kyat, the price getting lower and lower as the boat pulled away from the shore, until one woman threw a free bunch on deck, laughing.

Tim unfortunately is now down with a funny tummy, but that didn't stop him from giving us the quote of the day (and probably the holiday) "Socialism...the way we socialise."

Day 7:

We headed out to temple hop again, also on horse cart. The first temple we went to I call the SHOE STEALER temple. As we went in, a few women rushed up to us, pinned brightly coloured butterfly brooches onto our t shirts and chattered to us as we walked through an alley of stalls. After walking through the pagoda (you take your shoes off before going into any pagoda or monastery), we came back to find our shoes neatly parked in front of individual stalls, whose owners literally pulled you down to look at their wares. As we were leaving that temple, a man on a motorcycle tried selling aladdin pants to us, speaking at first in Chinese, then English (Versatility!) as he offered us 5000 kyat and then 3000 kyat. When he realised we weren't buying, he said sadly "Good think you don't buy from me, I sell very expensive. You buy from me very expensive, other pagoda you buy 1000 kyat." When asked why he told us that, he grinned and said he wanted to "Make big money." Alas, at the other temples we could not find any Aladdin pants for 1000 kyat...

At another temple owned by UNESCO, we (finally) had a guide who explained to us that the damage done to the murals on the walls of the temple was because of a 1975 earthquake in Burma which caused Buddha's face to fall down at one part (reminding me about the bible story about Dagon), as well as  because during world war II, civilians would take refuge in the temples, and cook in them causing smoke stains, as well as vandalise the walls (we saw some interesting graffiti!)

He also told us there are 13 different Buddha poses (which we later mercilessly copied in another temple, as well as did grande jetes...boredom breeds irreverence). We also climbed to the top of the temple, and got to see the breath taking view of  the vast Bagan plains - with temples and pagodas dotting them as far as the eye could see (apparently there are about 2000 pagodas/temples, and there were more than 4000 before the 1975 earthquake!!!)

werk

In another pagoda, we talked to a shopkeeper about her three children and let her put thanaka on our faces.

At yet another pagoda, my day was made when I spotted three adorable babies. They were playing at thanaka and hair cutting by daubing the dusty sand from the ground onto each other's faces, and using finger scissors to roughly chop at each other's feathery wisps of hair. I took a few pictures of them, and as I crawled closer to get a better shot, one of them toddled up to me and sat in my lap, and I was in heaven.

HULLO!!!!!!!!! (He took the selfie himself)

Gah

Lunch was at BEKINDTOANIMALS the moon, a vegetarina restaurant which had a lovely vibe - birds flying to and fro from nests hanging from the ceiling, kind waiters (including a Justin Beiber lookalike!!!), colourful umbrellas and a roof of foliage shading us from the hot midday sun... Oh and the food was great too!

I realise I forgot to tell you about our driver, Chien Chien. His parents originate from India, and so he is darker than most of the Burmese we've seen so far. He chews betel nut too, and has ghastly red gums. His family has 9 children including him. His reply when asked why he isn't married was 'No money no honey' (!!!). His horse is called Minnie (he has 2 others - Gemma and Romeo), she eats peanuts and grass and wears a red flower in her hair. A really nice guy.

We ended the day a top a monastery watching the sunset - I love how every day here ends with a sun set. In Singapore somehow you glance up from your computer and the sky has become dark already.

Help we have succumbed to technology

Or not

Interesting thing today:

-We saw a German Man who had also stayed at YoeYoeLay, who has completely tanned nut brown from the Burmese sun EXCEPT for blinding white feet

Day 8:

Not such a great day. We climbed the monkey-poop covered steps up Mt Popa (barefoot!!!! because there was a pagoda a top the hill) to encounter a not so spectacular view... On the way up, we were stopped by a girl who showed us some beautiful views and chattered to us about nothing in particular - we bought a Mt Popa stone from her (a stone that makes a rattling sound when you shake it) and a shard of petrified wood. The highlight of the day was supposed to be seeing a huge tamarind tree from the 11th Century, but I was so tired and heat-drained that I couldn't fully appreicate it... Still I had my favorite dish this holiday today - a completely delicious cucumber salad!!!!

Mt Popa girl

The tree.

Day 9:

A bone shattering night bus journey (not JJ express this time, but YY).  My head was flung every which way by the lumps and bumps in the windy mountain roads. But I got to see more stars than I have every seen in my life (Light pollution...) and I was amazed and I put Coldplay's 'A sky full of stars' on to complete the mood. We arrived at Inle Lake at about 5 in the morning - it was very cold, about 8 degrees, and the waiting cabbies all had thick blankets slung over their shoulder...We wished we could have been so lucky! Unprepared for the cold weather after the 30 degree roasting heat in Bagan we had worn normal clothes and thus had a very shivery taxi ride to Joy Hotel. Once there, all five of use collapsed into one double bed and slept late into the morning.  

Brunch (we slept past breakfast) was some very yummy pan-crepes at a pancake house, whose owner had gotten the recipe from a helpful Australian tourist. After that, we headed to the hot springs near the lake, where Hannah Dad and I soaked for about 2 hours in divine peace and warm - hot waters while Mum and Tim climbed the neighboring hill with 2 old British ladies we met on the way there.

 Day 10:

We are on a boat trip around Inle lake itself today. Our boat is long and low, like a sampan, but with a (very loud ) motor attached as well so that we could fly through the lake water with ease.  The spray from either side and the back of the boat made rainbows with the early morning sun. The lake is peaceful, its vast blue waters disturbed only by patches of floating hyacinth or little grass islands. On either side are marshy grass wetlands that are startlingly green. Eagles soar on wind drifts overhead, while less majestic seagulls perch on poles in the lake, float like little white boats on the lake or fly above - one swooped less than a metre above me!

In the distance the Shan mountains can be seen, and above them a sky brilliantly blue. Feathery plants tower along the banks, as well as houses on stilts, whose friendly occupants wave as we pass.

Our boater is the brother of the Joy Hotel receptionist. He speaks little English, but grins generously, revealing betel stained teeth! He is as brown as a nut from all the boating he does, and has become so very deft at his craft, using both his arm and leg to paddle and navigate.

He brought us first to see a lake fisherman, who proudly did acrobatics with his fishing net and paddle, and then dipped the net in the water and came up with...nothing! But, undeterred, he promptly grabbed a fish from the hull of his boat, popped it into the net, and grinned at us brandishing the 'successful' catch.

After that we went to the floating gardens, aptly described by the guide book as 'bucolic'. We saw gourds as long as my calf, peas, tomatoes, flowers... I thought of Niki and her farming life ideal...she should move to Inle! We continued boating, passing through more populated straits. I saw littel children on boats with their parents, mimicking rowing with little sticks which they slapped and sliced the water with.

 After that, we saw three handiccraft indistries: lotus and silk weaving, metal shaping (They hung a tea kettle over the black smith's fire!!! I knocked down a pole here but thankfully it was not broken... 3 people used different sized hammers to pound at the hot metall, creating a rhythmic cacophony of different percussion pitches) and silver smithing.

After lunch, we visited the Paduing women - the long necked women. I felt uncomfortable, like we were viewing zoo animals, as the women explained how they began at 9 with 13 rings weighing 4 kg, and ad rings until they are 25 when in total they wear 8 kg of rings!!! I felt less uneasy when the women asked us to take a picture with them, and talked and laughed with us, telling us about how they could run and move easily with the rings...but they cannot swim because the weight of the rings would drown them. On the boat after that, Dad bought Mum a bunch of lilies and she smiled

As we go along, I realise that the silhouettes of the river boats with their paddlers resemble the ducks/gulls that sometimes bob along the water...

Our boat driver gave us a special treat then, he brought us back to his floating village (lin kin village). We got to see his family and paddle around with them while he had a rest in his house. We saw the village, which had a shop and lots of houses with their inhabitants sometimes bathing at their doorstep as we passed. We also saw a floating monastery, with a few novice monks frolicking in the water. After paddling round the village once with his niece and his little son, we stopped in his house for some tea and chips, while they explained their complicated family tree (i think 3 families live under one roof!) and laughed when Dad asked embarrassing questions like What happens when someone needs to give birth? (Apparently they boat to the nearest hospital in a nearby city)

His niece

His Son - a complete rascal

The family!

Day 11: 

I woke up today at 5.0 am (Oh! The ungodly hour!) to see the morning market. Stupidly, I decided to wear a dress that showed my legs, forgetting that the early morning in Inle is c-c-c-old, and also that legs are a rare sight in Burma (Especially female legs! Oh! Uncultured tourist!) As a result i got both goosebumps and lots of stares, although the former was temporarily assuaged when Dad and I gathered with a group of locals around one of the fires they temporarily construct by the road side. We got the the morning market just as it was being set up - fruit, dried goods, CDs and DVDs, flowers, clothes, electronics, everything you could possibly imagine was sold there. I saw a saffron robed monk buying a bunch of flowers (a kodak moment)

Dad Hannah and I went for a cycle after that, through fields of towering feathery plants. I wondered if there was ever a time when humans were small and all of nature towered over us - ant, flowers, blades of grass were mountains...

We stopped at a winery where we tasted 4 kinds of wine - and I broke a wineglass. We also stopped by a school, where the children crowded to the gate and said "An nyoung ha seh yo" (Korena for hello) We cycled on very bumpy roads ( not even roads actually, more like collections of rocks) nad by the time we reached the lake, tired out, we decided to take a boat home. Our boater was called Echo (spelled differently but pronounced that way)  and he wants to study Economics in University.

I spent that last boat ride lying down and seeing the sky speeding past, before i remembered that this was possibly the last time ever I would see Inle Lake and I sat up and took in the world again.

 The next day we flew home.

 Good bye Burma, I miss your lake, your sunsets and your people most of all.