+ A Piece of Heaven +

you're my song

some dreams live on in time forever
those dreams,you want with all your heart
and i will do whatever it takes
follow through with the promise i made
put it all on the line
what i hoped for at last would be mine

if i could reach,higher
just for one moment touch the sky
from that one moment in my life
i am gonna be stronger
know that i have tried my very best
i would put my spirit to the test
if i could reach

some days are meant to be remembered
those days we rise above the stars
so i will go the distance this time
seeing more the higher i climb
that the more i believe
all the more that this dream would be mine

"reach" by gloria estefan & diane warren

hitting the highnotes

"among my most prized possessions are the words that i have never spoken." ~ orson rega card

a simple girl in a big big world

Seldom,very seldom does complete truth belong to any human disclosure; seldom can it happen that something is not a little disguised,or a little mistaken.

- Jane Austen, Emma

Talking much about oneself can also be a means to conceal oneself.

- Friedrich Nietzsche

sounding the rhythmof life

"there are moments when i wish i could roll back the clock and take all the sadness away, but i have a feeling that if i did, the joy would be gone as well." ~ nicholas sparks

Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Caught Star Wars today. Woohoo,about time too since almost everyone has watched it. Gotta kidnapped Alice to watch with me haha. The show was good yeah. And once again they have actually managed to make Yoda look cute >.<" Dialogue doesn’t quite count in Star Wars when Lucas places his sole attention on lightsabres,x-wings and tie fighters. Can everyone don’t laugh at the Wookies please? Yup and so the saga is completed. Maybe what we should take away from it is to learn how to let go. The more you expect, the more ambitious you become. The more you own, the more you fear to lose what you have,such that you end up losing yourself and all that counts in your life. And in real life you don’t even get to own a cool black armour suit in the end.

My own travel saga continues here with key highlights.

Day 2: This day involved us traveling real long and far to Hualien, which is the smallest city in Taiwan. We visited Chuifen, this place situated high above ground level that became famous after director Hou Hsiao Hsien filmed the movie City of Sadness there. The route to Chuifen was pretty dangerous with bending mountain roads that were quite narrow. A Hong Kong coach had earlier crashed into the ravine below,killing all aboard. What struck me most about the place was how it seemed isolated from the rest of the world. It’s almost like a world of its own. While other parts of Taiwan may be well-developed, here people seem to lead simple albeit rather difficult village lives.

Next,we went to watch tribal performances by the A-mi tribe. If you’ve seen my online album, there were underaged boys involved in the dances. And the weirdest thing is they actually look damn bashful when they were dancing. Okay,so they haven’t got much clothes on but hello,surely it isn’t your maiden dance to tourists right? Which could only mean they were pretending to be bashful? Omg. We know it is culture but at the same time it was hilarious. Then worse,we were dragged down to dance and practically taken hostage to snap a picture which we gotta purchase at about S$20. So EX.

Day 3: Visited the Taroko Gorge today. It was a grand sight,not to be compared with China’s Guilin as we were reminded by our guide cuz each have their own beauty. I thought the natural scenery was beautiful but what hit home was how Chiang had proposed digging tunnels through the mountains to create a East-West route across Taiwan. It was a marvel to see how man challenged nature just to literally create a better path for tomorrow. Many men had perished in the digging and a shrine was built at the gorge in memory of them.

Around this time, we also started our frequent visits to specialty shops. You know,those shops licensed by the government to sell ‘national treasures’ to tourists AKA the hard sell shops. Lets see,we went to the lingzhi and deer foetus shop, the royal jelly shop, the pearl cum pearl powder shop and the Tian Lu shop. Yup,all these are Taiwan’s ‘national treasures’. They all cost like hundreds of dollars. I wonder what are Singapore’s?? Anyway,this deer foetus thingy,when pounded into powder is supposedly a guaranteed cure for asthma and nasal problems. So the Taiwanese were saying Teresa Teng should have given Chinese medicine a shot then maybe she wouldn’t have died.

The most memorable one was the Tian Lu shop. Tian Lu is this lucky creature that looks like a monster dragon without a butt. Therefore it is said that the Tian Lu takes in wealth and keeps it within. Businessmen would place the statue outside their shops or a small figurine at the cash register to bring in profits. Of course,you can place at home or even wear a pendant around your neck. One of our tour members said the key objective of her trip was to invite a Tian Lu home. Yup, you gotta invite it. Big shot creature,I shan’t be too disrespectful here. Anyway, from this shop, we learnt several things about luck and how it affects us. A bit like fengshui. For those born in the year of the dog,our lucky direction is facing the East. Then our element is Tu, earth. We were asked to write our Chinese characters and they counted the strokes. Both Meiyi and I had 24 strokes in our names. The person told Meiyi that she has very good fortune and would enjoy good luck in all things that she do. A lot of Gui Ren will help her along the way. So good right hehe. Then I was told that I would achieve a lot too but I have to do it by myself. So it is like a harder way cuz no Gui Ren. Then the lady went on to say what a good person I was, kind, selfless, thoughtful, sincere, blah blah blah. Say until I can qualify for sainthood already, even I wanted to cringe then and there. Ya, anyway we took in all this stuff with a pinch of salt and quickly tried to dodge as usual. These shops ah,can’t they tell we are so young and penniless. Hard sell also must aim correct target but they just like to pester and bug us. Can’t stand it!! Luckily for our group,there was a lady who traveled with her daughter and the duo would surely get something from each of these shops. Wah. Okay, make that a double WAH.

The night highlight was staying at a hot springs hotel. The hot spring was in the open,overlooking the road and all. Thank goodness the sulphuric content of the hot spring wasn’t too high here. I hate the smell of sulphur,almost suffocated in Japan by the strong rotten egg stench. And unlike the Japanese ones that I’ve been to before, you don’t have to strip naked for Taiwan’s hot spring. Teeheee,good or bad? You decide. :p

To be continued……

Time to sleep. Goodnight boys and girls.

indulging my senses|11:22 PM 0 comments

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