Letting Go

That person, with whom you have shared so much memory. Be it pain or bliss, regardless. 

Imagine him whispering songs into your ears in a cold winter. Imagine his warm arms and shoulders, his bear hugs from behind.  Do it for the last time. 

His hug was always firm and tight. That you can’t ever forget. And the wharf of warm air around his neck, how you loved to sniff around there, as if by doing so you can keep a part of him inside you, fusing your souls together through your nose.

You never want to let go, it’s taken you so long.

But now the memories are all that remain. Oh how it tortures you. It rips you apart and then leaves you breathing with one wretched heart and two burning eyes.  So this is how a break up is supposed to be, searing and painful.

But then you guess you are somehow used to it. So many times before you have cried and agonized, for reasons no one can ever remember now. 

After this you gather your feelings and poise yourself to move on, maybe to break down again at the sight of anything related to him. Then you fall back into that miserable, muddy pit. Then the process repeat itself. 

You stumble as you try to walk out of it, but keep going anyway. One day you'll make it. And all that will really remain will be beautiful memories.

With no pain:) 

How to Stay Sane with Social Media

I write this for myself. To remind myself because I tend to forget.

 In a time where one is connected to other people's life through many forms of social media, it's hard not to notice the differences in your life and that of others. They get shoved in front of our faces, pictures, words, all screaming "Hey look at me, my life is wonderful!" It seems to me that to live differently takes more courage. You would want what others have, it's hard to convince yourself you have enough, or you need not be like that.

But the truth is, we really need not be like everybody else- follow the mainstream, live in a way that is defined to be "successful"or "meaningful".

You live the way you want, and do the things you deem worthy. It's hard, but the following steps will help you as well as me fight this social media jealousy syndrome.

Three levels of Specialty 
I see everyone as having some specialties within them-- maybe I am better at seeing the good than the bad side. Some people invest big bucks in physical things to make themselves feel good, often in clothes or gadgets. But to me this is the lowest form of "specialty", and I will tell you why.I do it myself, but not to the extent of making it a specialty of me such that people will associate the idea with me. These things can be expensive yet they are extremely cheap: anyone with money can claim them theirs in seconds. That's why the idea of having a wardrobe full of designer clothing won't appeal as much as having read a shelf of books.

The next level that really earns my respect is possessing knowledge in a particular field. It can be anything: anime, culture of a small tribal society or even recipe on cooking a particular dish. These knowledge not only enriches the mind, but some even have practical value. Its worth also lies in the fact that it takes time and more effort to obtain- no one becomes an expert overnight, and you sure cannot get it with money. People with knowledge is also a pleasure to spend time with, they normally have wits, and make enjoyable conversations.

The highest level of specialty is being a master of a particular skills. It can be break-dancing, cooking, playing a certain instrument or speaking a foreign language. These take years and years of learning, refining and perfecting. Doing it like a pro is definitely not easy. Its worth as well as that of possessing knowledge lies in the fact that both are latent. No one sees you have it until you reveal them yourself, but even then, simply knowing you do empowers you.

Know Your Strength 
Thinking about my strength always helps me stay clear of unhealthy gravitation. We all oooh and aaah when we see others enjoying life, we want to do what they can, we want to have their specialty, sometimes we lose ourselves in jealousy, even envy, or impulse, and gravitate towards gaining those specialty. But, soon you'll find that it's so hard. What awaits us is probably a sense of defeat, because we are not as good as others in doing those things.

So before you gravitate towards those things, look at yourself. Think long and hard.

Ask yourself, what am I good at? What am I best at? That will probably help you steer clear and focus, more than any thing else.

I've always believed I'm good in languages. I picked up Mandarin literally within days when I was 6, having just arrived in China from Myanmar. When I went to Shanghai at 11, I spoke like a native soon after. Of course I wish I could stop being an idiot when it comes to understanding my econometric notes, but  I'm not disheartened for long. I'll think: "but that's not my strength, I know my strength!"

Know your strength, and work on it. Don't look back!

Mind is Eternal, Keep it Curious
The only thing that cannot be taken away from you, is not your wealth, your possession, but your mind and your skills. It does deteriorate with the passing of time- skills getting eroded and memory fading with time, but still, nothing other than time can take them away from you.

The overall idea of this piece of entry is that, invest in your brain, not your materialistic worth. The best way is to imitate the children - be curious.

Keep your mind keen, and curious, and you shall never be bored again!

Surround Yourself with the Right People 
Now you know how to classify specialties into categories, the next step would just be to surround yourself with people of higher level of strength. I'm not proposing that you should discriminate people based on what they can do, I'm just saying you should be aware of the benefits and drawbacks of having certain types of people around you.

People with low levels of specialty tend to spend a lot of  money into beautifying/ glorifying their lives with materialistic things. Unless you enjoy doing that yourselves you would hardly feel comfortable with them around. You don't want to have to deal with this "social media jealousy" every time you see he/she shares some new pair of designer jeans he/she bought on Facebook.

On the other hand, people with skills/knowledge are more likely to be interesting and down-to-earth. They are usually keen to learn in general, and are great companions in travelling and having conversations with, because they are not only resourceful but intelligent!

This New Babe in 72 Hours

As a follow-up to my camera hunt, a model that I wasn't considering popped in front of me. The newly released Canon Powershot G16. I've been doing research for a week or so now. Had my eyes on Sony RX100 but unfortunately John Lewis' offer is over and it's gotten back to the original price of 399. Without a good bargain, I have to reconsider my options.

Canon's G15 caught my eyes, after hours of research I decided that's more or less what I need: compact enough to travel around with, well-built with a chic look that I like. (As compared to the sleekness of RX100, I prefer that the G series has a tint of old-school feel to its build). ZJ helped in making that decision too, G15 for me that is. Unfortunately, or fortunately, not many stores in Singapore still carry the model, since its successor, the G16, has been released in Oct.

It looks like this:

One thing that really captured my attention is the star mode and other night modes that come in this little camera. The effects are stunning!(well, at least based on the videos I've seen). It produces this galaxy-like dreamy effect which I guess every girl would like to imagine or use as a backdrop. 

It can also shoots Timelapse in this mode, producing a rotating realm of stary stary sky. It's absolutely amazing! And seriously had I brought this little babe to the Christmas Dinner that night I would be sitting here admiring pretty photos already! 

Just look at these!! 

The right hand side photo was taken with a "star trail" mode, it captures trails of star that is otherwise invisible to the naked eyes!

I am by no means even a amateur. But I do want to take quality photos of my trips. I'm not a gadget person and have always relied on ZJ or Johnny to pick my devices. But I am quite sure this is the camera I am looking for. Cannot wait to take quality photos of scenery along our Europe trip!

72 hours to go! and 8 days to go for the trip! 

The End of the Term....Well, almost

I have been on a shopping spree recently, buying all the necessary (and non-essential tag-alongs) for the Europe-trip. From Amazon to Sportsdirect and Lightinthebox.com, I've spent 200 pounds plus on winter warmers and other clothing. Received my giant parcel from Sportsdirect, probably containing the most items at one go out of all the online shopping I've done. Very pleased with the quality of every single item, the fact that I got them all at a bargain is just awesome.

But then, it doesn't really make me happy, this shopping thing. Towards the end of this month, I've lost most of my concentration to various things. I like going to socials and dress up once in a while, I absolutely adore the idea of hosting dinner at home or going out for a movie night. All these I've been doing the past two weeks. Since ZJ's arriving in a week's time, and we gonna start our Europe trip next week, it's also hard not to fantasize about the near future, hence, losing grip of the present.

Looking back, October was probably the best of my prime time. I was very focused throughout the entire month. Kept pace with work and did a lot of reading. I want to regain that kind of concentration, and just hold it out till the official end of the semester. In times like this, blogging helps me to become more settled. Writing down my thoughts always makes me see things clearly. To comb through all the thoughts swirling around my little brain, sort them out into places, and take things one at a time.

These pictures are from last night's Christmas Ball. Again I like it because for 10 quids we had a lot of fun. Can't help it, I luuuurrrve bargains! I feel like the whole place was like a giant crystal ball, but with black background. and dinner was served under those millions of glittering stars! That reminded me of a youtuber, to use her youtube name here is very apt: Sprinkle of Glitter!

It's absolutely stunning to walk into a starry place!

So dinner was absolutely fantastic. The girls danced quite a bit and really enjoyed themselves. That's why I thought it was a good night (everyone was happy:)) The only downside is that my humble phone couldn't capture the beautiful things I saw. Well, many friends from the course were there too, all dressed up and looking extremely pretty. I didn't snap a single photo with them on my phone, well, didn't bother to after taking these pictures on arrival. The outcome was very disappointing. Like the picture below, the light was glaring  at some parts and really dim at others. Just not what I saw with my own eyes.

 That's why, I'm seriously thinking of getting a dedicated camera, to take good, quality photos.It'll also be a good investment to take photos when I'm travelling. Currently have my eyes on Sony DSC RX100, one f the best advanced compact around the market. Plus John Lewis is having an offer, I might grab it before the trip!

That's more shopping. My purse is bleeding....

What to Do if You Only Have a Day in Hallstatt.

I need to write about this urgently because very soon I will be going on another trip to Austria and Hallstatt is not part of the winter itinerary. Plus I would be writing so much about travel experience that this might just keep getting pushed aside.

For this blog entry, I will sort of mesh my travel experience with information about the place, and small tips on where to eat and how to plan a perfect trip. 

So what do you do if one only has one day to visit Hallstatt?  

The tip is always to arrive there early. Hallstatt is around 1.5 hours away from Salzburg, and best time to visit is early morning when there are fewer tourists. To any tourist, the biggest drawback of a place of interest is always too many "other tourists". Hallstatt is a tiny place so very soon it will be overwhelmed, it's easy to get crowded there. So if you want to see some local folks going about their daily chores (some wearing traditional Dirndl/Lederhosen), arrive there early! 

I took a connecting bus from Salzburg HauptBahnhof to Bad Ischl, a small town between Salzburg and a cluster of other touristy villages. From Bad Ishl I took another bus which takes people to Hallstatt in two stretches. The scenery along the way is simply amazing. I saw many many guesthouses dotting the vast grass plains on the sides of the road, many of them adorned with colorful flowers. The advantage of taking train on the other hand, is that the last stretch of journey will be a ferry ride which takes people from Hallstatt train station to the town itself. So you get a stunning view of Hallstatt from its lake. Obviously I did not try this, and most other tourists appeared to have taken bus as well. In any case one can always hire a boat along the banks at 8 or 9 Euros per hour. 

the scenery is much nicer than this, but unfortunately I didn't take any except for this one which was us overlooking the Hallstatt lake.

Hallstatt is a tiny town, so one day really is enough. But you need to plan your day well. Once you reach, take a snapshot of the bus schedule posted on a little stand at the coach bay. Keep in mind the timings of the next buses so you can plan your trip accordingly. This is because there are some attractions you might want to visit that are located else where, and buses run at an interval of 1 hour or longer, so you don't want to miss it. For example, the famous Dachstein Ice Cave is only a 10-min-ride from Hallstatt, and last entry is at 4pm something. It's also a good idea to check up on the opening times of all attractions to help planning your trip. I missed the salt mine because I didn't plan my trip properly and couldn't make it to the last admission time. 

Besides these two places, there's also six or seven other small "attractions" to seek out. The more prominent ones include a Kirche (Church) wedged half way up the Hallstatt hill, and its little museum. The rest are drop-by places that you can just hang around and move on. Once you arrive, go to the visitor center and grab a town map with all places mapped out for you, including WIFI and toilets. 

Other than sight-seeing, some of the things you can do is:

(1) Send a postcard! There's no lack of souvenir stores and you can find a nice little postcard very easily. The post office is on your left if you walk from the coach bay towards market square. 

(2) Buy a scoop or two of ice cream! there's a nice little ice cream shop on the right side of the same road leading into town. When I was there they sell one scoop at 1 Euro. Freaking cheap and delicious ice cream. Texture was almost like gelato- elastic and slow to melt. 

(3) Visit the second hand shop and buy a thing or two! As I said there are many souvenir shops along the main road but those are exorbitant. If you just turn right into a shabby looking lane, you will find a garage-like shelter on your right, there you can pick up any thing from old book to rusty oil lamps. I picked up two Donald Duck cartoon books, in Deutsch, yes, in German to practice my tongue. 

(4) Walk all the way inwards till the end of the town. The layout of the town is elongated, like a banana curving around the hill. Many tourists hang around the first half of the town and their seldom venture beyond church and market square. But that's actually where you can get a different view of Hallstatt and its symbolic clock tower, which can only be seen from the coach bay or a boat on the lake. 

This is important as my favorite travel picture of all times was taken from that spot. There is a reward to walk a little more beyond the norm, folks!

Keep walking, all the way in and turn around and look back, Hallstatt's little surprise! 

This is less flattering, not only because of lack of filter but also at this angle, the clock tower can be seen, but is too far away to make a good shot!

(5) Just watch the local life go by.
Besides tourists there's not many people to watch. There were some people who appeared to be Austrians, at least they spoke Deutsch, but I was not sure if they are residents of Hallstatt. I was fortunate enough to see two local chefs roasting a pig. Having tried Schweinhaxe myself, I know how tasty that roasted pig must be. So I sat there watching them go about their business while munching on a kebab.

By the way, Schweinhaxe is pig's throttle, a typical Bayern delicacy:)

As a Year 2 in Uni

It is becoming very easy for me to slip into this endless wondering of the shortness of my time here in the UK. The happier I get, the more I tend to think about this. Because I want the happiness to last. It's always good when the realization hits me,because then I know I am having a good time. 

Sometimes you do need tell tale signs to reveal the meaning behind things. It's gonna be hard, without them, to judge if doing x or y is really worthwhile? 

Strangely, many people I've talked to expressed the same feeling that time is passing them by too quickly. I guess it didn't hit on us how quickly first year has passed until we came back from a long summer holiday and return to uni as second years. The usual comment is "I didn't do much last year!". And suddenly everyone is doing something, society work, volunteering, travelling or internship-related stuff. The biggest difference for me is I only did travelling and that's pretty much it for last year, but this year, I am taking on more responsibilities. Almost doing all of those aforementioned things.

Nishi put it just right. As a freshie you are excited but nevertheless have your reservations. We did bits of this and that but nothing grand. As a second year you claim ownership to your uni life, both academically and in terms of knowing the physical environment, and you sort of feel comfortable perching on more important positions. 

In the past month alone, I've spent my weekends to the following cities doing the following things:

1) Norwich 
Spent the whole weekend there and sorted out a few things before Uncle left for Shanghai

2) York
Spent a day touring around the pretty city. Nishi and I went to the Shambles, River Ouse, Museum Garden and Clifford Tower. Of couse it's a worthwhile trip, having photos taken in a beautiful place is a bonus plus the weather was on our side.

3) London
Woke up at 4 am in the freaking morning, caught a train to London and came home feeling totally exhausted. But all was worthwhile as the Singapore Seminar I went for was by far the most engaging and stimuating seminar I've ever been to!

4) Warwick
Another conference day with speakers. Topic was the Emerging Market, with a few sub topics being energy, breaking into the emerging markets and growth.

I have not been terribly busy but the time I spent was all fruitful. Among other things we celebrated Nishi's and Stefie's birthdays:) went to watch the Bonfire on Guy Fawkes Night. Fireworks were so beautiful!!  I have been putting off writing this new entry but knowing that I will only get busier in the upcoming weeks with the training for Inspiring mentor and monetary presentation, I have to wrap up the experiences over the past month properly before moving on. 

To end it nicely here's a good news :

My application and interview for Inspire Mentoring progamme has been successful! I do look forward to working with young people in the local area:)

Giant Teddy Bear we saw along the Shambles in York

Sitting along the bank of River Ouse

On top of Clifford Tower. We paid 3 pounds plus to get up here but it's worth it as the view was scenic!

Very happy to have caught his smile! Many street artists I have seen but he is one of the most creative ones so far! 

Basking under the sun along River Ouse

Pictures don't tell a thousand words here. Only a video can do justice to the beautiful fireworks but sadly I have neither the skills nor the internet speed to upload one ;) 

Tonight I miss Munchen

Tonight I miss Munchen.

The month I spent alone, away from everything I was familiar with. Strangely I felt no way out of place. Guess over the last few years I've grown used to living life on the move, out of a suitcase. 

When I tell people I spent a month in Munchen, they thought I was there for the Oktoberfest. They wonder why I would stay put in one city for a month without going anywhere. So much travel, so little time. But isn’t it good to soak yourself up in the charm of a city? Focus on just one place at a time.

I remember Munchen not only for the good times, the Oktoberfest, the drinking and fun, but also many other of its beautiful aspects.I can never in my life forget how when I came out of Universitat and laid my eyes on Ludwigskirche for the first time, was totally awestruck. I remember the surfers in Englisher Garten, riding on currents on a bright sunny day. I remember Munchen and its many Kirche, dotting the city and telling its Bayern stories. I remember being totally immersed in the Alte Pinakothek, and amusing over many of its treasures holing up in the Residenz.

But there's also a special place for the little things that happened. I am missing cooking dinner alone in my Kieferngarten Wohnung, organizing my Bayern experience in a little apartment.  I remember walking via “Arvenweg” to reach the U Bahn station.  I remember Alex and his child-like gestures, talking in ear-pleasing Deutsch, his mother language. I remember heading to Mensa, my group of friends divided over walking or taking train. There are too many things to remember about Munchen. 

And of course, the invaluable friendships I have made there. 

The people are the jewels. Everyone was friendly in a down-to-earth and straight forward manner. The Germans cut the frills. The pretentious “how are you”s. They go straight to the point, their friendliness just cannot be mistaken to mean otherwise.

Funny sprachkurs mitnehmer: Mao, Julia and Vivek

Sorting out the many handouts I've accumulated thanks to Alex just now, I fell into deep nostalgia.

Karlplatz is very Munchen to me. Fountains, people shopping, sitting, sun-bathing. Sometimes one or more are done with beer in one hand!

Painting the road with chalks on the Kunstareal day withJulia and Ellie

One of my favorite picture from Munich.Of the loveliest classmates brain storming on ideas for a class debate. Picture is nto candid as it seems :D

The aforementioned Ludwigskirche. That first sight was a killer.

Kieferngarten. Taken on the last day in Munich. I thought I would miss you, the most ordinary place I've been in Munich. wasn't sure I would. But I am now!

Munich and its fountains.Too many to show, so here's my favorite. 

The usual way to school. How it looks in the morning.

What the typical "Muncheners" on a Sunday. 

People relaxing along the Isar River, the soul of the city.