I fear what I might find
what might find me
overwhelms fear.
The draw of mystery so strong
I refuse to just stand
on the brink
peering.

Plunging
seems a lot more alluring
against rationale ways
always, I take a plunge.

Sometimes I find the castle, and I delight
Sometimes I get caught in a tussle,
I get hurt
Yet every discovery, smiley or teary
an embroidery, every shred of what is humanity.

Yesterday, I caught up with two designer friends from Singapore, Lynnette and Dawn, after we didn’t manage to have a mini CNY gathering back home.  We chose Nepali Kitchen, after the initial choice (The Nest) fell through since I’d already brought another friend there just the night before.

THE ROMANCE: The HOT DRAGON KING and his FAIR BUNNY MAIDEN. While waiting to be served, I showed my friends my favorite (Kingston) USB thumbdrives - the Dragon that I'd just received from Taobao, and the Bunny I received as a gift last year from Chris of ACC's Marketing team.

The delicious mixed platter with cheese balls, chicken and ... I don't remember cuz the cheese balls are really what I'm after!

Delicious, of course. But I realized later that we should have ordered the other fish since I ordered this same fish on the previous outing.

(Top L-R clockwise) Cheese naan, pumpkin curry (rather unusual!), spinach, garlic naan. We cleared every single dish on the table, no problem.

Everest monster for dessert! Under the white foamy facade hides a cave of fruity and ice creamy jewels. The girls love it!

Love the colorful lamps in different shapes, shades and sizes.

Got inspired to throw in a quote from Haruki Murakami's "Kafka on the Shore", my favorite Murakami.

On the aforementioned previous outing, New Year’s Eve to be exact, I brought a couple of friends from Beijing – Open and Pan Yang – there for our final meal of the year 2011, before we headed out to Xintiandi for a totally miserable countdown. Haiz … luckily we had a super awesome dinner and then some fun girly times after the lousy countdown.

(left) Open highly recommends this restaurant, (center) Me, a very satisfied customer, (right) Pan Yang lost in her iPhone game.

Mutton ribs, excellent!

Tasty fried rice. We also ordered the mixed platter, naan and dhal soup. Totally filled up and ready for the countdown!

So, on Thursday  night, I met up with German couchsurfer, Michael, who is in town for a couple of weeks to audit a Chinese company preparing to list in Germany. I know, they’re so aggressive. Of course, my first choice was to show him this cozy hidden treasure of Shanghai, The Nest (窝), unaware that Dawn and Lynnette wanted to go to the very same place the day after … next time, girls, and soon!

The cozy and tastefully decorated interiors. The staff is super nice too.

Their two giant bunnies are real treats! Haha, sorry for the pun, I harbor no such 'feeding' thoughts

While waiting for Michael, I snapped at pretty things.

Light me up pretty.

Get a little poetic the Chinese way.

Get a little poetic the English way.

Dinner's served! Spicy giant prawn pasta.

And what's left of it. Yummy, as usual.

Yesterday after lunch, we saw a performance at the new mall at Changi Business Park. Today, I was lucky enough to choose to go to the bank at about 12.30 pm, and after I was done, decided to walk over to Compasspoint Mall’s atrium. It was written on the board that the performance would be at 12:30 pm so I thought I had missed it. But there was a crowd gathered around the ‘stage’ where pilars that the lions would be climbing on had been laid out. Sure enough, an announcement was broadcast shortly that the lion dance performance was starting, and the deafening drums began to sound.

Although from the same lion dance troupe, though not necessarily the same people, the routines performed today were simpler than the one we saw yesterday, which involved much swifter and complex moves. As if to make up for it, we had a pair of lions today instead of a lonely cat like yesterday.

Feeling their way up the poles ...

Jump! One of my favorite routines is this when the front of the lion piles onto the back

What's super cool about today's troupe is that the drummer and cymbalist are girls!

Flinging oranges into the crowd. The furthest the got? An amazing Level 3.

Traditionally, members of the troupe are very young boys (and girls) from dialect clans (like Hokkien Huay Kuan), and even before that, they were from Chinese secret societies. As Singapore and Malaysia modernize, and parents prevent their children from joining these clans or participating in activities that pose bodily harm to the kids, will lion dance performances eventually disappear from Chinese New Year celebrations? I hope not! If my kids want to, I’ll say yes. This is good workout and who know cuts and bruises are part of growing up, aren’t they.

The teenagers who delighted us with their smooth moves.

1) My hearing was impaired – kept hearing the wrong things or not hearing at all. Cindy had to repeat a few times to get the message across. A poor Citibank telemarketer had to repeat his a few times before I could finally grasp what he was saying.

2) My comprehension was messed – when Liren asked when I would be coming back to Singapore after the CNY, I said the 20th, before she quickly corrected me that the CNY had not even started on the 20th. I really meant “on Tuesday”.

3) Feeling hot and cold at the same time.  I finally wore the fleece sweater Fauzie gave me last year, and out in the afternoon sun, without feeling especially hot. Yet, my skin and breath were burning up, and I was float-walking (or it felt like it).

As usual, I took bus 27 home. That must be the longest ride ever. Yes, there was some traffic jam but it would have been nothing had I been well. But having to stand in the crowded bus with the heavy laptop weighing down my shoulders, and one hand carrying four containers of CNY cookies, and oh so sick, I felt like collapsing.

I finally made it home, sent a message to my sister to bring me some soupy food when she came back, and then took a nap. Yup, the one redeeming factor of being sick at home was at least there’re people looking out for you.

I landed at 6 am. By the time I got home, it was already seven and daylight was breaking. Still, I slept. For 3 hours till ten or so. After a nice warm shower (what a treat after weeks of lukewarm showers in Shanghai!), I took a leisurely walk to the eatery for my coffee – kopi gao (thick coffee in Hokkien) – which I brought home in a plastic bag. The coffee and I spent a couple of lazy hours in front of the computer before I was due to head out to meet a 1:30 pm appointment with my wonderful masseuse, Ivy.

Ivy gave me chocolate-flavored body scrub. When she was finished, I felt like I could eat myself! I smelt heavenly After an equally delicious bone-breaking and muscle-tearing massage (haha, kidding!), I was ready to leave for my skin-stretching and pore-pinching facial appointment. I was feeling hungry, so I headed to Bugis Junction to grab my favorite Old Chang Kee curry puff. And I found these! Three pairs for SGD13.

I wanted the panda one, but it was for kids These are super cute anyway, so no problem! Btw, the cute graphics are supposed to be anti-friction!

The 2-hour facial was totally decadent too, stuffing my face with all the nutrients that I’ve been depriving it with my poor eating and lotion application habits. Then, I was off to Chapter 2 to make my hair short and cute, and of course, somewhat healthier via hair root treatment. Again, to compensate for my poor diet and general (other than washing) hair care habits.

It was already past 8 PM when I left the salon. I decided to head out to Albert Center to grab some Chinese New Year goodies and also some dinner. I was delighted to find the super crowded store this time of year had a queue system in place this year so that in spite of the ever-growing crowd, I was not stressed out trying to out-fight the aunties to place my orders. I walked away happily with bags of shrimp and pork floss snacks as well as some pistachios (开心果 – happy nut, a must-have for a Happy Chinese New Year!).

My dinner turned out to be this – the famous Singapore Rojak! Really, it’s highly recommended on TV.

I asked the uncle to put more chili, and he really was a generous man. Super spicy, just the way I like it

With the heavy bags, I decided to take bus 80 home, where I could park my bum on a seat (no chance on the for-sure-crowded MRT).

Homeward-bound, I walked past the elderly couple who sold ice-cream sandwich under the overhead bridge. They were wrapping up, but cut a piece of the cubish ice-cream to share between them. How sweet! Such simple enjoyment with one’s beloved beats all the riches in the world.

Uniquely Singapore/Malaysia.

And the soundtrack to all this happiness?

Life is beautiful! \(^_^)/

I remember accompanying my friend back to her ancestral hometown in rural Fujian one time during the 2003 春节 (Spring Festival, which is essentially the Chinese New Year) and the ambience was fantastic. The fireworks were brilliant and firecrackers loud.

Anyway, you know the Chinese New Year celebrations are near when you start hearing those hair-raising but catchy “dong dong chang” songs in the mall. Then, every screen you turn to is playing a video like this:

Or this, a nice old skool “God of Fortune” Cantonese version.

Thanks to Loi who sent some of those videos, there is some CNY mood these couple of days before I actually head home later. Can’t wait.

So … Happy Friday the 13th!

The next ones in April and July. Be prepared

Sweet baby, fear me not. I am but a kid.

Hahaha! Beijing's cold is nothing like the glint of warm sunshine off my pretty calf.

And I dance, and I dance, in the captivity of freedom.

We get hung up on the liberty of limitations!

First, Sam who was staying at a guesthouse called Utopia on the beach of Sihanoukville, Cambodia told me that a fellow dorm mate fell off her top bunk. Despite being covered in blood and repeated pleas from Sam and two other Swedish girls to the hostel’s staff to send her to the clinic, nothing was done. The other backpackers would not lift their fingers as well, choosing to ignore the girl’s painful cries. In the end, the trio managed to get her on the tuk tuk to a clinic where she received something like 20 stitches.

The lack of human compassion was appalling, I simply could not comprehend how people could just dismiss it as “since she can make it to the bathroom, she can sleep it off”, when clearly, she was in so much pain and the gash was bloody and glaring.

Sometime during the night, I received a message from my would-be surfer, a Korean girl from San Francisco that she had missed her flight due to a couple of accidents on the freeway. She then messaged me again to say that she’s coming down with a serious flu and hence, was forced to change her plans from staying with me to solitary confinement in some hotel room. Hope she gets well soon and we get to hang out sometime.

Fortunately, Monday was not all bleak. We had a mini celebration in the office for babies born in the first quarter of the year. Whoever came up with this idea, I don’t know, but I for sure am not too delighted with this arrangement. It’s far too impersonal, almost like a business transaction that “oh we need to celebrate birthdays, let’s do it in the most convenient and efficient way”. When have birthdays become a commodity that can be industrialized/mechanized? It didn’t help that seven out of the thirteen in our team were born in the first quarter of the year.

Our delicious chestnut cake.

It was Jan 9, also Kate Middleton’s 30th birthday. So, Happy Birthday, princess. Many dream to be like you.

"Someday my prince will come."

Many others just want to be free in the captivity of freedom v(^_^)v

On a slow Sunday night, dreading Monday, the mind wanders.

Moving on with good memories.

While waiting for Chongbei and Hanzhong, Zhang Ai and I wandered around the luxurious IFC Mall. The movie was to be at the Cinema Palace where I’ve always wanted to go ever since I saw it featured on Wallpaper magazine. The marble walls were quite amazing with some intricate design details and the seats spacious and comfortable, but other than that, well, it’s just another theater. Maybe I wasn’t paying too much attention to the details.

We discovered the roof garden on the fifth floor. Although pretty low, it offered some solitude in the hustle bustle of Shanghai’s premium financial district. With Christmas barely behind us and the Chinese New Year coming up really soon, the lights were beautiful on this mild winter night. Alas, I wanted to travel light, hence I left my camera at home and had to contend with the camera on my iPod.

view from the roof - Apple Store and The Pearl sparkle brightly amidst the festive lights

View from the roof - Apple Store in a field of blue Christmas lights

This quiet rooftop gives a perfectly clear view, and shot, of The Pearl.

Well, in spite of it being the slowest moving of all three stories, I found “The Follower” to be the most impressionable, perhaps my favorite of em all. Imagine having little aim of your own, simply following the one person you admire who doesn’t really give you a damn. Imagine wanting to connect yet this massive gulf keeps growing between you. There is immense loneliness, sadness and loss that is so piercing you curse at the prick that is the source of this, only to realize it is not him that beckons the protagonist to follow. He does it out of his own freewill, and then the reader gets washed over by a fresh bout of intense loneliness, sadness and loss. Oh how familiar, we exclaim!

There is one contemplative paragraph that I find exceptionally poignant, because it is true in describing every journey, traveler and the trail we leave behind. In spite of modern contraptions that enable us to immortalize every (un) forgettable moment, we are in the end, this:

“A journey is a gesture inscribed in space, it vanishes even as it’s made. You go from one place to another place, and on to somewhere else again, and already behind you there is no trace that you were ever there. The roads you went down yesterday are full of different people now, none of them knows who you are. In the room you slept in last night a stranger lies in the bed. Dust covers over your footprints, the marks of your fingers are wiped off the door, from the floor and table the bits and pieces of evidence that you might have dropped are swept up and thrown away and they never come back again. The very air closes behind you like water and soon your presence, which felt so weighty and permanent, has completely gone. Things happen once only, and are never repeated, never return. Except in memory.”

On my last trip home end of November, my two best friends, Pauline and Fauzie, gave me the first gifts I would receive for this season.

Pauline's very, very lovely reindeer necklace housed in an exquisite "Girl With A Pearl Earring" box, all hand-made.

Fauzie is my e-book supplier. So when she couldn't find this book that I was requesting for, she went out and bought a hard copy for Christmas. For me. I'm so very touched by the thoughtfulness.

I was browsing at Kinokuniya myself when this book caught my attention. It’s not a conventional guide book, but one that records personal experiences of celebrities when travelling in the beautiful country of Japan along with their favorite places to go. I bought not one, but two copies, one for me and one for Daniel who would head there with his family for the first time during the Christmas holidays.

Note the little bookmark that says 2012. This book will definitely come in handy for me this year. Without a doubt.

My very intelligent surfer (as a matter of fact he is, being a master candidate at SAIS Johns Hopkins), Sam gave me this book about journeys, rootlessness and loneliness for Christmas, partly because he had written my contact information in full detail at the back of the book. Haha! To plant a home address in a book about rootlessness is quite the irony. I’m going to give you a present for you to find yourself, he said. I haven’t lost myself yet, so how can I find it. To which he replied, not everything needs to be lost to be found.

Some parts of the stories in this book eerily resonate with my own experience, and I would think the same for every other traveler, Sam included. So I thank Sam for gifting this to me.

“Do you know what’s worth fighting for?”

I have one single goal – happiness. I want to achieve this selfish goal by channeling happiness through other people. Kids.

In 2007, on my first close encounter with China, I saw so much happiness in the innocent faces of children at rural Jiuzhaigou, a popular tourist destination. How much good the tourist dollars have done this place, I have no idea, but they should not strip these children of their innocent bliss.

Happy smiles in spite of their spartan rural lifestyle

On the same trip, at 萝卜村 (Luobocun) in Maoxian, I saw a class in session in a room which would be flattened in about a year on 5.12 in the worst earthquake to hit China in decades. Children were running about the dusty grounds, peeping behind doors at the strange tourists, a little apprehensive, a lot of curiosity. There is so much vibrance, so much potential, yet how far these children can continue to thrive in a sparse educational climate is in doubt.

School's out! I wonder what happened to these kids after the 5.12 quake

I came to know of of the 3 yuan a day initiative that has gone viral online started by a group of journalists to help provide free lunch for hundreds of kids in the most rural parts of China so that they can at least take to their pens with full stomachs. So little effort, so much happiness.

3 yuan subsidies so kids could go to school, healthy

Can I put my know-how to good use? Can good design bring happiness to these people and to myself?

In my honest opinion, these are the very people good design should provide for – the ones with (stealing from Sam) “a billion untold stories locked away behind the bamboo curtain”, not those who want another iPad after they just got one. Some professionals call it Social Innovation. Be it that or not, I am sure this Social Innovation will be the only necessary thing that meaningful design will be built on in a materialistic future. It’s gonna be something I want to pursue with vehemence.