Junie's monologues of travel adventures & daily humdrums



bontaniquely singapore

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picture left: a pseudo-artistic rendition of our botanical trip
fai who took this pic, reflected in the glass door on the right


the one thing i miss abt singapore, the tropical wet climate. Am i crazy? no am not. Let me explain why; singapore is home to some very natural tropical fauna and flora. The first thing i notice when i got home this time were the trees. The many many trees that each and every one of us singaporeans took for granted every day as we commute from place to place. There is really an incredulous amount of shady greens everywhere-i dont know about everyone else but im guilty as charged for taking it for granted when . Now that i live in dubai, i learnt that its not a common sight - that which we have in lush green singapore. i promised myself before i went back that i will do the nature thing in singapore- cycling , trekking, hug some trees. And i did. and i realized i miss it sooo much. The humid, mositure saturated air was good for the skin and hair too! Most other climates sap the moisture right out of your body and a moisturizer becomes, not a matter of vanity, but a necessity.So going back to singapore this time was in itself a natural spa retreat in itself. Rejuvenation baby!
On friday on the week that i was back, i went to sentosa, the ever changing recreational island with fai. fai's a dear buddy of mine. We were chums since 17, hanging out at void decks doing nature trekking explorations and other ridiculous spontaneous activities. So this time with this unnatural bruther of mine, we try to relive the good old hang-out days. Rented a bike and did the trail all around the island. Here were some pictures from the trip.
cycling in the jungle trail in sentosa

photographs i took of the beautiful orchids
we came across at the orchid gardens


more singapura's orchids
fai with cotton from a cotton tree we found

fai at the fish feed vending machine


... and this is what its for. a pond full of hungry cois!
I admit i was a little intimidated at first by the swarmming pool of suckling mouths all reaching out to me.
Water was splashing, coi lips were smacking. They were such terrors!
we managed to calm ourselves down, me, fai and the cois.
And we proceeded to do the feeding.




on another occasion another terror crossed my path in singapore. This time it visited us at home. Like all terrors /intruders to the ang home it suffered the terrors treatment. Sometime me and my sister proudly invented. The Ang sisters terror squad treatment.

and this is the terror that suffered the above treatment.
specimen : mr roach.



can u guess the apparatus? yep this was how it worked.


ghanian drums-jammin

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Was in accra the other day. Western africa.Like most african places, this one has poverty staring back at you at every corner. Though wealth wasnt present much in this place, but people were warm and nice. There is a general aura of warm souls in this place. yea yea im blabbering nonsense again what aura? But i really did feel the general niceness and hospitality of the common folks.
Life is simple at this place, as the bus passes through the mud tracks to our hotels we pass shops, zinc houses, wooden huts. Women carrying things on top of their heads, piling goods high on top of each other peddling them as they walked. On another street corner, children were hurdled together in one corner at the shop front, naked, giggly and ticklish, as their mother pour water over them during their evening bath. As the bus made another turn, there was a family gathering for dinner, there were tin pots of all sizes on the table filled with different dishes and one woman stood over the table with an air of pride for that which is presented with gingerly distributed the food to all who gathered around. All this were clearly in view as these accranians have a general culture of living totally in harmony with the surroundings. It felt a little like village life, it seems.
Anyhooo, we visited the craft village in accra and we were bombarded by shop owners eager to sell their wares. Wooden carvings of all shapes and sizes can be seen everywhere in the craft shops. There were masks, drums, paintings. Bought a mask in one shop with a nice guy, after that i was immediately distracted by the drummings at the shop opposite. so i par-take in the action. It was most magical! The guy who i bought the mask from joined in so all of us drummed to the beat. well at this moment, i thought ' music and rhythm IS the universal language of communication! our souls were connected for that brief moment in the beats and that to me was really the highlight of my trip.


So, this is the first ghanian friend i had. Shame on me i dont even know his name! He calls me by 'sista' and to him i say 'my 'brutha'! hahah we were siblings, children of mother earth! united in our drumming glory and craft dealership!

As i walked a few steps further i ran into a guy who attempted to sell me a drum. Impressed by the really nice drumming session i just had, i decided to buy it from him. What followed was a bargain session. we finally settled at 200,000 cedis. quite a sum but i went along with it.
It came up to around 15 USD? pretty alrite in most trade markets!
My 'brutha' came back and this time he tells me ,'hey wait here for me i will be back' as i was almost walking off he caught up with me and handed me something in my hand. This was what i was given. It was a fertility doll.
'
"for good luck" he said, "..my friend." It was the nicest thing. It was even more precious than anything i bought that day. This simple symbol fo goodwill and friendship from a new made ghanian 'brutha'.
It warms my heart greatly.
I know what some of you are thinking, but i dont think a simple gesture of goodwill contains any evil. And as i held it in my hands i feel a good vibe from it.
I will look for a chain to wear it ard my neck =)




As i walked to the other aisle of shops feeling happy with the warmess in my heart, i was greeted with more smiles more friendly shop owners. A guy in a nike jersey greeted me warmly. ' hey sista, come in and have a look at my shop'. ' no sorry im outta money, spent it all on my drum' i showed him the thing i was holding, he told me it was a nice drum. and He asked me if i will play it. I did a lame ass beat and he laughed. He demonstrated his ghanina drumming skills and
off course i was defeated! He said my name is T.G just call me fridays. I laughed. He was funny. As i bid farewell he asked to have a picture taken with me. ' will you send it to me ?' he said and he gave me his name card. He said i must go back again to the craft village to visit if im in accra once more. One more ghanian friend made.


looking back

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I was looking through my photo folders today and i found this picture of me when i first got here.Its a picture taken in the first weeks of our trainings before we don the uniforms. Pretty funny huh? with the poster in the back ground.

And there was the pre departure pictures of all my close friends and family at the airport.
I remember now the tearful scene at the airport. Me and the good friends and family. These are the people closest to my heart. waving goodbye and wondering how my new life will be. In my mind i picture a solitary independant life and adventures that i was setting out for. Not knowing when i will see the dear ones again i feel sad and lonesome in my heart. Fighting the worry and the tears i bid them farewell. At present, i feel more mobile than ever. i dont feel confined to one country , maybe its cuz i am in so many places in such a short time so easily. distance between one the the loved ones do count but its connectivity that matters. These days we can meet someone somewhere almost anytime- just send a quick email to set the time place and date. So more than ever we come to the importance of making the effort.
To keep in touch to send and email to check in on each other every now and then.
When pple get along, and find each other, they stay friends for a long time even if they are far apart. I hope i never lose the connectivity (in all sense of the word) with all those closest to me. Cause someday we will meet again. Some place, somehow. =)


Rome's ancient vibrations

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Where in the world will u find a modern city built ard archeological excavations of a buried past. In rome of course! With its rich ancient historical past, its no wonder that to this day, archeology is still an on-going activity in this enchanting city. (There are new finds and discoveries to this day as i was told!) As i went through the digital images i managed to capture on my camera, i find myself mesmerized still, by the memory of amazing sights of the city. I had less than a day's grace to explore the place,and it wasnt time enough of course. But hey, it was sufficient sneak preview to leave me wanting to go back for more. The city is populated with remains of it's great ancient civilization- temples, forums, tombs, columns.. The architectural prowess of the past is just awe-inspiring.

I have a penchant for historical objects, things made in the days of yore. Objects with a history or story never fail to intrigue me. For some reason, sometimes unknown to myself, i revel in the fact that someone who had lived in the past had touched and made the object i was holding or touching in the present. i try to imagine the events which the object had 'witnessed', its glorious past or its turbulent 'sufferings'. I went berserk in rome. Every gigantic column i see i go ga-ga & screamish, walking spell-bounded by its magnificance, i would linger around the object and place my hands on them carefully. ' ancient vibrations' i will whisper to sussana. i went mad, molesting every gate, coloumn, stone, statue, fountain. It was most embarassing for my dear guide and her lovely brother( who studies in rome.)
Sussana was a dear italian friend i met in my days of delft. We hung out, gossiped and cycled to school together. It was some years ago that we last saw each other, so when she heard in my email that i will be dropping by in rome she decided to make a trip to rome for a nice get-together.
It was unexpected for me though cause the email arrangement was informal and uncertain but when i called her on a pay-phone i am pleasantly surprised ( and very touched actually) that she is already waiting in the city for my call! =)
oh man i missed her, was so glad to see her by the stairs where we met.

pic on left: the past looking over the present, an ancient fountain overlooks the modern day carpark and a street brimming with tourists.

we started our walk-about by first visting the exterior of the tomb of the unknown soilder. we didnt really go in as i was more anxious about making it to the colosseum before it closes at five.

we chatted and walked and as we past the giant musei capitolini. ( second left pic from top) Susussna's brother was explaining to me that the locals have a disdain for this building. They think its hideous. looks totally glorious to me, i protested. To me its exotic, almost magical. hahah sussana says it will be the same for them if they go over to asia things that i might find hedious they would totally love.
interesting thought, maybe in all of us there is a curiousity for that which we are not familiar with. for me its the culture and rich history of europe at that instant.

But then again, if im in beijing i will be intrigued by the great
wall and the palaces too..but THEN AGAIN im born and
bred in sunny singapore, a young modern nation with little heritage. no wonder i get hysterically awe-stricken in places with a long historical tale.
pic on right: sussanna and bro watcing my ga-ga cukooness.

pic left:
me in roma!









Having no time to lose we made our pilgramage to the colossuem. The place where gladiators fought and lose battles.

The site where ancient audiences get to decide if the loser of the battle
lives or dies. ( if the crowd wants the losing gladiator to be killed, they wave their hankerchiefs or they put their thumb i their fists) And these gruelling form of entertainment went for free in the past for anyone who has the stomach to watch them. well many had! The gladiators are usually slaves trained to fight each other. They sometimes fight animals sometimes they fight each other. Ancient roma is a great civilization but it was great because of its conquests, because of its invasions & battles. Some theories speculated that the fall of the roman empire is due to its lack of more wealth to acquire since there were not many more areas to conquer. Others sited bad economical management of its ruling system as a reason. And serfdom, how cruel.

pic right: me with a panlini in front of the great colosseum.




pic right: the colosseum swarming with eager
tourists.

imagine the magnificent structure in the picture without the ugly iron fences sticking out like alien sore thumbs and no annoying colorful tourists. Imagine chariots zoomming towards this site , horns going off in the background to warn everyone that a game is about to start. just.. breath-taking.

The queue to the colosseum was simply crazy, well everyone will like to have a peak inside. I would have loved to go in there but there was simply not enough time. so the idea was abandoned for practical reasons. sorry to dissapoint you readers, but the next time i'll try again.

As we proceeded to the palantine and the forum, we
chanced upon a street artist doing side profile cuttings in black paper. in the picture on the left he was doing the cutting for sussana. What do you think? does it look a tad bit like her? pretty good i will say.

I had a go at it too.
the speed at which he completed his art was amazing.
the end result was this..

pic bottom right:
me in cut out. i really like the hair*
yup and so it is.
it was a lot of fun.
we continued our walk about the ancient ruins. Sussana's brother finds it appalling that sussana and me will call them ruins, so i corrected myself to say 'relics' instead. its too bad he didnt really undestand the word relics otherwise im sure he will be more pleased =)

pic left:
an ancient door.
door to where?
*shrug*






pic right:

roman coloumns dating a longer wayback then the church theybuilt within it.gorgeous pictures.
Need to get a guide book to rome need to get a guide book to rome.
oh i do learn. i managed to get a travel adapter and solved the problem of dead battries ( its not to put em in the camera after its fully charged)
gotta love em roman columns. It is said that the proportions used to build roman colums are carefully devised and designed to be harmonious . Andrea palladio (1508-1580) an architect who believed that the principals of beauty is simple. formulating a set of ideal proportions to govern the aspect of buildings. he said builders made use of musical ratios.
the height of the coloumn, is nine times its diameter,the capital at the top of each column should bt equal in height the diameter of the column . the archittrave whichb reara on top of the columns should be one fifth of the column's heights. distance between the columns should be twice the diameter of each coloumn.this will ensure that the rows of columns have the immediate rightness and ease of a musical harmony. theory of beauty.
we'll see how true that is.
pic right:
beautiful columns.







































the panteon concluded my vist to rome in april.
i hope to go back again for more.
for those of you with the fortune to travel- you lucky bastards! i am very envious.
there are just so mnay more cities in italy which are amazing. pompeii, capri, to name a couple.
there are just so many places on the planet and so little time. Soooo much to learn.

next on the agenda, birmingham and accra.







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  • Travel blog of Junie
  • A design-lover who also loves to create, I blog about inspirations and beauty that i come across in my daily life.
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