finally, pictures! touristy stuff 2

to continue from my last post...


candice and i finally got to see one of beijing's famous "hutongs", or alleyways, that are disappearing slowly to give way to modernisation. we stumbled on this one in the center of beijing while searching for a tourist attraction called the "underground city".

this hutong was basically a little neighbourhood of small crumbling houses that has been blocked from view by a large perimeter wall. people there lead simple lives: we saw a family playing badminton, a lady selling fruit, and many other people sitting around, a stark contrast to fast-paced modern beijing.


we found that the "underground city" tourist attraction had been closed because it was unsafe (the picture above is the entrance). but it was really nice to walk down the hutong talking to people and taking videos. it's like i'm storing the last memories of a place that may disappear very soon.


next we took a walk to the temple of heaven! the place is actually a collection of temples surrounded by a very large park where locals love to hang out. approaching the complex, you begin to see kites flying very high up in the air. there were a bunch of old men playing chinese instruments at the main gate, and man were they good! the audience (mainly local) looked totally enthralled.

going further into the gate you can see middle-aged ladies playing chantek (they are VERY good) and various other people walking around happily. deeper in the park i heard strains of beautiful music from some chinese wind instrument, and saw an old man playing a flute-like thing with two friends watching over. the whole place is like a totally different world.


we didn't get to enter to temples themselves because they were closed, but we walked down a large open-air corridor that linked two of the temples. it was gorgeous! there were many locals there lying down on picnic mats, or flying kites, or just walking around. we even got a mini kite-making lesson from a middle-aged lady who was flying a lizard-shaped kite (basically, "it's hard to get the shape of the kite right"). i've never seen such amazing kites. they come in all shapes and colours, and people here fly them so high you wonder how many kg of rope they brought.

i think for all the impression of rushing and money-making china can give, many people here are still contented and peaceful. their philosophy seems to be to take the modernisation in stride and enjoy the little things. maybe singaporeans should learn from them.

China experience: day 60 of 70

finally, pictures! touristy stuff 1

So with two weeks left on our china experience, Candice and I decided to spend last weekend doing touristy stuff!


First up, the best Beijing duck restaurant in China! They sound a gong and roll out your duck when it's ready, and they roast it in such a way that all that's left is juicy fleshy and thick crispy skin. Not to mention all the stuff they give you to wrap the duck with. Shiok.

on saturday we visited tiananmen square and the forbidden city for real! i was totally awed by the forbidden city. firstly it's HUGE. you can walk and walk and walk through various gigantic gates and still be at the fringes of the place. they mean it when they call it a city; there are several whole palaces built inside the place.

and secondly it's like a totally different world: there are 800+ rooms, many of them full of ancient treasure, surrounding courtyards or orchards or flower patches. and many rooms have been repainted to look as close to the original as possible. really amazing stuff.

the next day we visited langfang! the scale of the university project there is huge. it's something like ten times the size of NUS. and the large amount of greenery and wide roads remind you of singapore :D

ok that's all for now! i'll write about beijing's "hutongs" and the temple of heaven another day :) night night!

China experience: day 59 of 70

Sine Qua Non

Without which nothing.

There are things in each of our lives, without which our lives have no value. To you, it could be as simple as the friends you have made over the decades, or as complex as the company you spent your whole life building. These are the things we identify with and define ourselves by; these are the things we measure our lives by and therefore the things that make life worth living.

We tend to grasp on to something, perhaps anything, that keep us alive. An old, friendless lady who finds some small sorrow-tinged joy as she watches the sun set from the porch of her nursing home, or a young teenager who slits her wrist to get attention, and, she hopes, concern: we search for things that matter to us, and like proverbial straws they are sometimes too insubstantial to lift us; but we still try.

My condicio has always been close friends and memories. These are the things that define me, because my close friends are the people I am walking through life with today, and the past is how I came to be here. I still have the full set of journals I ever wrote, from the time I was six, and almost all the photos, digital or otherwise that have ever mattered to me.

What is your condicio? Do you know why you are something? Dubito ergo cogito ergo sum, but existence is not value. If you value yourself, you will treasure, and maybe even fight to be, yourself. That is what makes us human beings; it is why we live in houses, wear clothes, have quarrels, worship, get married, and go to funerals. It is why some people can say that yes, life has meaning.

Condicio sine qua non: a condition, wihout which there is nothing. Do you have one?