Bosphorus

Evening Shadows.

Traveling is not always about visiting the mega attractions. Sometimes, its about a peaceful moment on a roof terrace, its about turning your back on the Aya Sofya, its about the long evening shadows, faint hues of pink in the sky, the muffled cry of the minarets and the heartbeat of an ancient city, as it breathes together with you. I remember that moment.
What we once were before, we are now not anymore.

Belfast

Religion, will we never learn?

In the deserts of the heart
Let the healing fountain start,
In the prison of his days
Teach the free man how to praise.

~ W.H. Auden

结束

A new moon

我们到旧地重游
收拾那些感动
现在牵手处分手
让回忆变朋友
落叶会记得大树的执着
在离开以后

Reservations

She wants a cuppa Earl Grey
Even though its not a work day

Profile

A similar experience is not necessary for empathy

I enjoy reading local authors. I like the familiarity of their language that probably stems from being nurtured in a similar environment and sharing similar experiences. I've been a fan of novelist and photographer Colin Cheong ever since I read Sixteen back in secondary school. Looking back after all these years, I think what struck me about Sixteen was the simplicity of the language used to convey experiences which were at once familiar but at the same time difficult for me to frame with words. Last night, I picked up Tangerine and was transported back to my little sojourn in Vietnam. I particularly enjoyed how the book did not succumb into a travelogue but instead focused on the interaction between the protagonist and the people he met. Ultimately, it is the people that make all the difference in a travel.

Eternity

Sonnet 116

Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Admit impediments. Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! It is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wandering bark,
Whose worth's unknown, although his height be taken.
Love's not Time's fool, though rosy lips and cheeks
within his bending sickle's compass come;
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks,
But bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved,
I never writ, nor no man ever loved.

~ William Shakespeare

Assisi

Make me a channel of your peace.

O Master grant that I may never seek,
So much to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved as to love with all my soul.

Marvao

Castle in the Clouds

As you get closer to the Spanish border, the Portuguese landscape becomes more hilly with fort like castles crowning the hilltops. When we first arrived at Marvao, the whole place was covered in a dense fog. It was so thick that driving up the windy roads was really a hair raising experience. Not to mention the rain that made the small gravel roads rather slippery. But we made it to the top and after warming up over a nice piping hot seafood stew the weather cleared up and the fog blew over. More photos here.

Street

Where the streets have no name.

I don't really know the street names of the places that I'm heading to. I just know how to get there, by feeling. Landmarks, houses, even seemingly identical streetlamps are my guide. Someone once asked me if everything had to be so specific, so explicitly cast in words. I guess the answer is No, I suppose. After all, there are so many things beyond one's control. I've been down many one way streets before and when I hit a cross junction, I always head for the light; preferring to get lost than to hit a dead end.

Shawn

I love red bean.

有时候有时候
我会相信一切有尽头
相聚离开都有时候
没有什么会永垂不朽
可是我有时候
宁愿选择留恋不放手
等到风景都看透
也许你会陪我看细水长流

Travel Light

Illusion

So close yet so far.

This photo was taken in Conimbriga, the larest Roman ruins in Portugal where the fluffy white clouds looked so low you could almost touch them. And I did. I am a sucker for Roman ruins or maybe ruins in general. Ruins reminds us that nothing is permanent. Apart from Roman ruins, Portugal is also home to Tomar, the headquarters of the Knights Templars in the 12th century and contains some of the finest Templar monuments. Pity the Da Vinci code didn't make it there. On hindsight, that might have been a good thing as it leaves Tomar pretty untouristic and quaint. A hotel set in the middle of a leafy park and wonderful local cuisine makes Tomar an unforgetable stop.

Shadow

What once was.

The wonderful thing about driving holidays is that there is no fixed itinerary. Anywhere on the map is a possible destination. I love the feeling of hopping into a car and just driving off to the next random destination, leaving shadows of the past behind. More photos here.

Sintra

Room with a view.

I remember standing on the little balcony, with my hands on the cold iron rails, feeling the warm morning sun on my face and the fresh hilltop air nourishing my body. I remember thinking to myself how temporal it all felt... There is something enchanting about Sintra. Set amidst rolling hills are quaint little towns, crumbling ruins, pleasure palaces and a magic that lingers in the air. More photos here.

Moon

Look. The moon.

A stairway to the stars on a night with none in sight. I have always been enthralled by stars; alluring but always beyond my reach. Of late I have been re-reading my poetry books, largely inspired by Anne Fadiman and her work on re-reading, and have discovered new meanings in words that I once thought were puzzling or conclusive.

Looking up at the stars, I know quite well
That, for all they care, I can go to hell,
But on earth indifference is the least
We have to dread from man or beast.

How should we like it were stars to burn
With a passion for us we could not return?
If equal affection cannot be,
Let the more loving one be me.

Admirer as I think I am
Of stars that do not give a damn,
I cannot, now I see them, say
I missed one terribly all day.

Were all stars to disappear or die,
I should learn to look at an empty sky
And feel its total dark sublime,
Though this might take me a little time.

~W.H. Auden.

'If equal affection cannot be, Let the more loving one be me' is something I never really expected Auden to say, especially for someone who was very familiar with the pains of unrequited love. That was my first impression when I read this poem many moons ago. Reading it again, it dawned upon me that maybe it is the pain of unrequited love that makes him pen that very line. After all, I would not want the pain of unrequited love afflicted on someone that I care for. Especially not when I find that pain unbearable. I like how the anguish in this line contrasts the indifference in the language used to describe the stars. We know stars are so far removed that they are incapable of expressing any kind of emotion towards us, in spite of our constant adoration. Let us not forget that stars are especially beautiful because they are distanced from us. Most of us want to love and be loved in return. I don't think that wanting to be loved in return stems from a quid pro quo mentality. Rather, I think it stems from a very strong desire to avoid the pain associated with unrequited love or not being loved in return. Cast in such a light, it appears to be more akin to self-preservation than selfishness. And this must be true because love always involves a certain selflessness; a willingness to sacrifice, to feel vulnerable or to place oneself on the line. Absent this and we can nary say 'Let the more loving one be me'.

Stars

看当时的月亮
曾经代表谁的心
结果都一样

Time

Here but not quite

The concept of time and space is so deeply embedded in our lives, consciously or subconsciously, that it is very difficult to imagine a state where time and space does not exist. But it does not mean that such a state cannot exists simply because we are unable to imagine or describe it. Often, I wonder if we are able to use the same reasoning that we use to describe darkness for imagining a state where there is no time and space. We can describe darkness because we have seen light. Do we see anything in darkness? We may not be completely capable of describing the darkness but we know that it is the antithesis of light. We only make discoveries by challenging the conventions and that which is placed before us. Therefore, even if we are unable to completely imagine and describe a state where time and space does not exist, the very attempt in and of itself would be a new discovery. Conventional wisdom holds that photography is the capturing of a moment; an instant. Yet photography also possess the ability to stretch a moment, to the point where it borders on two instances. Perhaps instead of making a leap into the realm of the opposite, we can start by slowly stretching the very conventions and concepts that have been ingrained in us, time and time again.

Direction

Follow the sign or head for the light?

There is an old Persian saying "When it is dark enough, you can see the stars". Tonight, I followed a star home. I was drawn to it like a moth to the flame.

But, she answered at last, and her light came along the dark passage like a star.

Aswan

I recall, a cafe with red walls. Existence.

You were sitting on the coffee table
where you’re reading Kierkegaard
Minutes later, you proceeded to say
something that almost broke my heart

You said, “Darling, I am tired of livin’ my routined life.
There’s so much in the world that i’d like
to soak up with my eyes.”
Well, baby I never did stop you from going out to explore
We can do it all together from the colds of the poles
to the tropics of Borneo

Sunday

Early Sunday Morning

I miss the calm of an early Sunday morning.
A day of rest.