Easy Nights, Difficult Days
Leaving tomorrow. All packed and ready to go. Departures come easy now. I wonder if London's changed and whether it misses me. Most of summer's grace has dissipated, leaving the more sombre notes of autumn in its place. The leaves will fall, slowly, almost unnoticeably; and I will be too busy with work to realize winter's ( Read more... )

A Better Life

I leave Singapore in a week. Part of me is rebelling against this idea, having settled far too comfortably back in the skin of being home. Also, there is [as usual] the hundred and one things to be done - moving into my new flat, retrieving my boxes from a friend's and so on. But the rest of me wants to be back - probably the same mix ( Read more... )

D90

I just bought a Nikon D90 with kit-lens [Nikkor 18-105mm VR] and so this is the start of a new era in photography. And no, I didn't buy it at Comex. My old Canon Powershot has been consigned to the trash heap; there were times when I simply cringed at the limitations of that camera. Like on Mt. Eden in Auckland, I couldn't get a proper night ( Read more... )

Singapore
Not happy being back in Singapore. Beyond family, there is little to do here. I wouldn't mind going back to London early but I have to spend Hari Raya here. I think this general ennui has to do with the end of my holiday programme this summer, when Laura, Ine, Henry and Dirk left.

After the rendezvous at Kuala Lumpur with the four of them ( Read more... )

Bukit Bintang
Our last night in Phuket was spent at Bangla Boxing Stadium in Patong Beach, where we saw Nicole knock out her Thai opponent by a left hook during the second round. Jake spent all five rounds with his Thai opponent, and won on points. Wasn't too pleased about leaving Phuket. It's barely been 2 weeks. Unlike those short holidays that ( Read more... )

Sinbi
It's almost a week since Siok and me left Singapore to train at Sinbi near Rawai Muang in Phuket. Today, on our first break since we started on Monday afternoon, I realized how much I relish the simple clarity of training twice a day, two-three hours at a time. The regimen is the same i.e. run, skipping, shadow-boxing, ring-side padwork,  et ( Read more... )

Australia and Aoteoroa
Travel invokes a powerful catharsis. In this context it has allowed me to banish the turmoil in the last few months of my second year at uni, where my days revolved around books and long hours in the library. The soul chafes at such stricture. And the only thing worse than that is that disease that destroys the psyche - ( Read more... )

Rainbows
We were driving from Sarah's North Shore campus back into Auckland city through the Harbour Bridge and we saw two huge rainbows arcing over the city landscape. It was a massively beautiful sight, complemented by the fact that the city is as photogenic as cities get.

Last night we arrived into the city late, from Sydney, and cooked simple ( Read more... )

A Long Road
Last night we arrived back in Sydney late, past midnight, after imputing the wrong coordinates into our satnav and ending up in a suburb of Sydney instead. We gobbled down some warm grub at a Korean, before parking the car in a nearby leafy suburb and sleeping in it til morning. We're now at the airport ready to depart for Auckland.

Past ( Read more... )

Sunday Mornings
I arrived back in Singapore yesterday morning. There is nothing special about arrivals and departures now, as I've thoroughly gotten used to leaving from and returning to my family. The car ride back home through the SLE/TPE route reminded me of how small this island is; having crossed the northern breadth of the island in barely 30 ( Read more... )