Sleepless in Canton...

It has been a hectic week of work work work and sick sick sick.
*sigh* *grin*

Well, it is official - I have not really slept for the past 48 hours - except 3 hours of cough wrecked sleep on Saturday night and a turbulence filled 2.5 hours on the cramped seat of an airplane.

So right now I find myself unable to go to sleep - even in a quiet hotel room in off Guangzhou. My mind is just racing around, from matters at work, matters with colleagues, leftover matters from that especially time consuming last minute causing me not to be able to sleep project, matters of what the hell I am supposed to do for the next four days as I proceed to Shanghai for meetings and more meetings.

Traveling used to be fun - and it still is. The 1st look of an approaching city from the air, the tarmac of an airport I have never before ventured, the lines at immigration and customs silently praying I have not done or brought anything wrong. I love it all... However, I am starting to develop some disenchantment with traveling so much - especially for work.

I sometimes wish just to lie on my bed, book in hand with my mind in some faraway place - be it Midkemia, Arrakis, Middle Earth or Treasure Island. But I digress - probably due to my sleep deprived state.

For those who want to be in the know on my going-ons in life, I just have lunch and is currently waiting for a talk in the evening. Tonight we will be staying at the airport hotel ready to be whisked away to Shanghai 1st thing in the morning...

Oh Canton, Canton...
I hardly know you...
But for the whispers of your character...
from the elevated highway

Oh Canton, oh Canton
People now call you...
Guangzhou, jewel of the Pearl River...
as I depart from you by the jetway

On tomorrow's morn

Hong Kong Streets...

It was just recently that I have came back from HK - and whilst I was there for business (and not pleasure *sigh*) for just a day (and the night before) I managed to catch some pictures of the streetlife in this vibrant metropolis.

The following four pictures shows not the glittering towers of glass and steel but rather the gritty streets of the Kowloon area - where tradition and neon lights meet in equal measure...

A snapshop of a typical 'chinese medical hall' which can be found all along Nathan Road - in particular the near the Jordan MTR station.

Traditional Bamboo Scaffolding is still very much in use in the city centre - it is amazing how high these scaffoldings go!

Neon & Traffic along the busy Nathan Road - At night it is a riot of colours

A Bird's Nest store just across from our hotel...

Dubious Food?...

While slowly exploring the night scene along the Bund (Pudong side) in Shanghai in my recent trip - my eye caught what I would best describe as a 'dubious' food establishment...

In actual fact, according to my colleague, it is a famous HK dessert place - called Hui Lau Shan (or Xu Liu Shan in mandarin) - however the lack of maintenance on the sign makes it a much more sinister place.

I LAU SHAI??? OMG!!! (Hokkien for I am going to get the sh*ts)

Fear traverse down my spine, and a cold cold feeling crept up my back (which incidentally was a cold gust of wind...) Girding my heart, we trundled up the path to meet our destiny... Shakesphere comes to my head...

To Lau Shai or NOT to Lau Shai - that is the question...

*In actual fact, the food there was perfectly nice, perfectly hygienic & perfectly safe...* *grin*

Photograph taken at night, Pudong (South) Bund, Shanghai, China

Here I am to worship...

It has been ages since I have committed a post to worship. Worship can come in many forms - praise & worship (singing), prayer as well as the things we do daily. In that vein, Lord, please accept my humble worship in the pictures I took of your wonderful creation...

Sunset @ Damai Laut Resort, Lumut, Malaysia

Light of the World
You stepped down into darkness
Opened my eyes,
let me see
Beauty that made this heart adore You
Hope of life spent with You

The sun setting behind Thirasa from Imerovigli (on Santorini)

Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that You're my God
You're altogether lovely,
altogether worthy,
altogether wonderful to me

Late afternoon sun @ the 12 Apostles at Great Ocean Road, Victoria, Australia

King of all days,
oh so highly exalted
Glorious in heaven above,
humbly You came to the earth You created
All for love's sake became poor

Evening sky upon St. Mark's Square, Venice with the roof of the Basilica di San Marco a Venezia on the left and the Campanile on the right.

Here I am to worship
Here I am to bow down
Here I am to say that You're my God
You're altogether lovely,
altogether worthy,
altogether wonderful to me

Dawn clouds over Genting Highlands from Awana Resort

I'll never know how much it cost,
to see my sin upon that cross. (Rpt x5)

Evening sun over a chapel on the cliffside @ Skaros, Santorini

Call upon the name of The Lord and be saved... (Rpt x8...)

Sunset over Middle Island on Stingray Bay (Southern Ocean), Warrnambool, Victoria

All I can say is that Lord, you are indeed the light of the world - and your beauty and the beauty you sculpted is beyond words and descriptions...

...the lure of the sea

I must go down to the sea again,
to the lonely sea and the sky;
and all I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by.
-John Masefield

Photograph taken in Ayodya Resort, Bali, Indonesia

...Roses

What's in a name?

That which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet

- William Shakesphere, Romeo & Juliet

Photograph taken in Hotel G, Galway, Republic of Ireland

More travelling...

Greetings from Changi Airport - in transit on the way to Paris CDG... this time in a way for work (or rather babysitting) @_@

Hope I can put up pictures (as I always promise but fail to deliver)... *sigh* I don't know why but a sense of foreboding depression seems to have crept into my outlook as I look into the faceless mass of travellers in Changi...

A nagging questions begs to be answered...

Everytime I came into an airport the feeling is different - as well as the outlook, the opinions and the state of mind. The last time I transited Changi - it was almost 1+1/2 years ago on the way to Frankfurt. I realised that since my dreams have been amended, my prose of life have been edited... my outlook irrevocably changed, my heart have shifted...

The only thing that seems the same - is that I have yet to find the purpose of my life...

Man, I am bloody depressing...

:P

...Through Heathrow in different eyes

The bane of all travellers...
A zone of paranoid security,
A locale of smug, petty power hungry more British than the British immigrant officers,
A mad disorganised chaotic nightmare...
Heathrow Airport

But this time I travel through this place via different eyes...

On the way back from my brief (although not altogether happy) respite in the Mediterrainean - swinging through the most 'stoic' and classical of cities - Athens, then the raw volcanic beauty tempered by romantic quaintness that is Santorini, ending with the bustling Renaissance city of Venice... I finally got what I wanted...
The claiming of points for an upgrade to Business Class...

And it make hell a lot of difference...
Check-in in less than 15 minutes (instead of the usual 1 hour)
Whizzing thru security in 10 minutes (instead of the usual 30 minutes)
Now having internet access from the lounge...
(This is despite the fact I landed into London at 2pm plus and having so little time (even to enter London to visit favourite haunts and friends - waited for check-in for 4 hours)
For once, I actually enjoy going through Heathrow...

But it is with a rather depressed attitude and mood that I am flying directly into a storm brewing in Malaysia - @ work, @ home and personally...

But nevertheless - I am going to savour all I can from these 14 hours... *grin*

Greetings from Santa Irini

*grin*
Am writing from a cybercafe in Santorini - am here because the taxi stand has a major argument - or rather a major jam...

it appears that some people were jumping queue and the cab driver go prissie *grin*

Will be in Venice tomorrow... hope to write then - promising pictures of Athens and Santorini over the week (I hope)

Shutterbug 02: In a house of god...

Notre Dame de Paris...

A great brooding edifice stands upon the end of the island,
its haughty towers looks upon the throng below...
Craning their necks to catch a glimpse
of the fabled creatures of legend...

Creatures of horror, Chimeras
Looking upon the mortals below...

A view of Paris facing Montmartre (and the Sacred Heart) from the Gallery of Chimeras atop Notre Dame. The journey up involves a 400+ step spiral staircase.

Cool and dark.
The 1st impressions of Notre Dame's cavenous interior.
It seems almost forbidding...

Flicker. Flicker.
A sea of waving flames, caressed by the draught of people entering.
Peace... & Awe

An altar with a cross... with an embossed INRI at the head of the cross...
IESVS NAZARENVS REX IVDAEORVM
Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.

Hwa lights a candle... and we prayed...

Notre Dame de Paris has one of the world's oldest surviving stained glass windows (in its original context)


The stained glass windows were removed during WWII to prevent German bombing and replaced after the war...

This is all for now... once again if you are after more piccies - go visit the RSD site! *grin*

Cheers!

Shutterbug 01: Footprints in Paris...

As I am finally back in Malaysia *grin* It is time for me to share with you all my escapades in Europe. A series of 'shutterbug' pictures will slowly make its appearance on this blog as time progresses...

Let me introduce some photos taken in Paris this time...

Paris was, as envisioned, a wonderful city with character - and I feel priveleged to be able to walk through its narrow streets with my ever beautiful Hwa beside me. We walked around the feet of the Eiffel, climbed the steep steps of Montmartre, gazed under the vaulted ceilings beneath Notre Dame de Paris and walked in the footsteps of art lovers at the Louvre...

So here are 3 pictures for your consumption.

The onion domes of the Sacred Heart with the Montmartre Art district in the foreground. Near here is the Salvador Dali Museum (of which Hwa adores and I look around in confusion), Le Chad Noir (the Black Cat) and the Paris street painters.

The 'Vaults of Heaven' within the Cathedral of Notre Dame de Paris. The details of the windows are amazing, together with the frieze surrounding the choir and the statues of French saints and tombs of people of note.

On the pathway to the Louvre Museum... The Louvre was the royal seat of the French kings from the medieval period (this was the site of a chateau or castle) right up until Louis the XIV, Le Roi Soleil, who moved it to Versailles. It was given to the French people as a Museum and now houses works like Da Vinci's Mona Lisa and artifacts like the Winged Victory of Samothrace from the Greek ruins in the Mediterrainean.

That is all for now... I will put up more pictures really soon.

Still waters....

Ok - this is my first picture post from my trip in Europe - I decided to go backwards - This is from the last weekend I was there in Ireland @ the lakes of Killarney (Cill Arnie in Gaelic)...

This is the middle lake of Killarney - with Hwa trying to look cute at the corner (and succeeding mind you - I think she knows of this blog already...)
Another view of the middle lake - behind it is part of the highest mountain range in Ireland.

It was winter but on that day we managed to have clear skies - although the temperature is about 5-10 degrees only.

A break in the clouds along the ring of Kerry road - touted as the most beautiful albeit dangerous tourist road in Ireland (it is on the southwest coast - abutting 2 bays and the Atlantic)

The lakes are actually remnants of a glacier in the region during the ice age...

More pictures are in line but blogger is refusing to work...