Bhutan and its treasure-chest tourism can go ta hell. This is definitely going down on the travel-destination list. As usual, one can always rely on southeastasian guru Sarip to sniff out these magical mystery hideaways. Ah, I can picture it already in my mind’s eye: golden sunshine sifting through the palm-trees… turquoise waters lapping at [...]
Entries Tagged as ‘Travel’
July 17, 2008
Hello, Goodbye
Yeah I’m back and sadly wife-less still, since the other half is due to return only this Saturday.
If you have to ask, Hong Kong is an overt mix of cultural colours splat-fixed on an oriental palette. I can barely feel my feet after the million miles I’ve walked all along markets and malls, taking [...]
April 7, 2008
On the 3rd Day in Saigon
On the morning of the 3rd day, we breakfasted on the frayed ends of a terrible history, comprehensively-documented and poorly-preserved by the Vietnamese government. The War Remnants Museum at District 3 (Metropolitan Ho Chi Minh City is divided into 19 administrative districts, by the way) is an informative and cleverly-run operation that simultaneously fattens the [...]
March 31, 2008
On the 2nd Day in Saigon
Vietnam is about an hour behind us. So rising at 8am wasn’t too bad, since it was actually 9am in my biological sundial. Thus began the 22nd of March, the 2nd day of the trip.
The morning was bright and warm, and after an average breakfast at the hotel cafe, we scuttled off, excited and unaware [...]
March 28, 2008
On the 1st Day in Saigon
And now, a vivid account of the Saigon trip from 21 – 24 March. I recall promising a comprehensive and lengthy account, and though I’m spirit-willing to keep to the deal, the flesh is mighty weak due to my aggravating back-injury and raging fever. But anyway, here goes:
Day 1
Set off for Saigon from Terminal 1. [...]
March 24, 2008
The Circus Returns
Now that all the jacks are in their boxes, and the clowns have all gone to bed, Le Cirque de Voyages has returned. Sadly, the trip concluded in a bleak finale.
Lost items, a missing driver, overpriced Bacardi and a paranormal waiter.
Tomorrow, with a potent brew of weasel-crap-in-your-cup coffee, I will commence writing a plump and [...]
March 18, 2008
The Unreadiness Is All
3 days from the pinpoint now, Le Cirque de Voyages is scheduled to appear in sunny Saigon. Unsurprisingly, the bags aren’t packed and the itinerary hasn’t been fixed.
We shall take the air in a tobacco trance.
The online weather analysis of Saigon as of now is: 91 °F / 33 °C Scattered Clouds. Whatever that’s [...]
March 14, 2008
Cu Huy Can
Been mucking and digging about to find some translations of the works by the great Vietnamese poet Cu Huy Can, and I fortunately managed to stumble upon one. Entitled “Sorrowful”, the poem languishes in its own brilliance, and is undeniably a southeast asian answer to Yeats and Neruda. Finger’s crossed on a Ho Chi Minh bookshop that carries his collected works.
Sorrowful
As the late sun [...]
March 7, 2008
Uncle Ho
Known to many as the rather humble Uncle Ho (blame it on the bush jacket and cheap sandals), the great revolutionary and his band of tattered fighters were the first to kick against the pressures of french colonist revival and the nixonites. Strangely, French and American forces assumed weakness of its enemy; while Ho Chi [...]
March 2, 2008
Le Cirque de Voyages
I’m so tired, my mind is on the brink. But this post deserves to be written, nevertheless. I can’t go on, I’ll go on.
In about 3 weeks from now, our traveling circus* will land upon the bosomy earth of Saigon. Tat-taa! Taka-thun! And for 4 days, I will be granted a rare opportunity to immerse [...]
March 1, 2008
Malaccan Melodies
Although it’s been almost a month now, Malacca continues to sustain in my memory like a thick fog.
Quite frankly, I cannot comprehend my belated interest in the recent trip, and having been to the historical city more than a dozen times, makes it even stranger. But what startles me most is this inane [...]
February 28, 2008
Paint It Black
Vietnam is only just around the wicked corner.
Only just a page away on my desk calendar (why count when you can flip?). But first I must brave the onslaught of to-do’s that relentlessly rape my rest and free-time. Meetings, workshops, retreats… all on my prized don’tspeaktomeaboutwork Saturdays. Shouldn’t one have a choice in these matters? [...]
