This blog has glowed very, very dimly in past months!
I’ve been travelling around a bit – for pleasure, for family, and things in between. Here are a handful of highlights:
Mongolia:
Starting from Ulanbataar, my brother, two friends and I went on a ten day tour of the Gobi desert. It was great – the sand is fine, the weather is scorching, deep time is visible, the food is delicious. Our driver, Ulzii, and guide, Undraa, were fantastic companions.
Hong Kong
It was nice to be back – my third time in seven months. This time the weather was hot, hot, hot. As a public housing enjoyer, I enjoyed the Mei Ho House exhibit.
Bali
A short trip for my cousin’s wedding. Also visited the Mount Batur volcano and black lava pools, walked along some beautiful beaches, and plenty of nasi goreng. Yum!
Helsinki
Had a short stopover here with N en route to Portugal. It’s my second time back, but saw very different things – a peek at a market, Finnish prawn cocktail and the Karl Fazer cafe, and a look at the Darude – Sandstorm church of infamy.
Lisbon
Greeted at the airport by a contingent of singing & dancing Brazilians, we quickly realised that the Pope was in town. We stayed in a beautiful neighbourhood, Bairro Alto, and saw lots of the old town, a little of the suburbs. The Lisboa Africa walking tour was an intriguing experience- if incomplete, as four-hour long historical sessions inevitably are – at black communities in the city. Sintra to the West was beautiful, as was seeing the Westernmost point of Eurasia, the monasteries were awesome, and the bakeries so, so good. We stayed close to a sandwich place (for bifana and prego) which went on holiday a tantalising few days into the trip. A pity!
Porto
Part 2 of the Portugal trip took place in Porto. We stayed by the oldest church in the city, a short walk from the old city. The weather was blazing on our trip to the Douro Valley – just enough for a short cruise down the river, but anything more would have knocked us out. Perched in the second-highest row of the Estadio de Bessa, we saw Boavista score a crazy winner against Benfica 12 minutes into stoppage time.
Paris
Here I live for the next year in the 13th arrondisement. The neighbourhood is unParisian on the face of it – hypermodern architecture, right by the Asian Quarter (lit. le Quartier Asiatique), not too ‘historical’ in the sense of having medieval or even 19th century architecture. Yet I’m getting a sense of its historicity and the kind of lives lived here, be it through my landlandy’s fascinating stories or looking at the plaques and other physical markers that dot this neighbourhood (imagine what Jeanne d’Arc and her companions would think of how their names adorn these concretey apartment blocks today)!
School starts soon, and I’m excited. I’ll maintain this blog, of course, but I think weekly updates will be difficult. Expect highlights rather than a log!
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