Chiang Mai Jan 2018 - Reflections

The world is getting smaller.

Morning I am in Chiang Mai, afternoon I would be back in Singapore.

Back at work yesterday, it felt as if I've not left Singapore Monday to Friday...

My first time in Chiang Mai.

I've always been curious why so many Westerners like to "retire" there.

Now I know - from first hand verification for myself.

5 days 4 nights is too short, but first impression is still first impression.

You know what?

I prefer Bangkok.

LOL!

Its another confirmation I'm a cityboy. 

And not just any city...

My favourite city outside of Singapore is Hong Kong. 

Shanghai and Tokyo would come pretty close next.

Yup, I do prefer cosmopolitan cities!

Modern, crowded, and expensive.

Short term stays at laidback villages or 2nd tier cities could be interesting... You know, to relax and recalibrate. 

However, if you asked me to stay for more than 1 month, then it would no longer feel like holiday... More like banishment or exile!?

Oh well... 

Its good to know in advance. 

Although I have a citizen of the world mindset, the idea of me arbitraging on the lower cost of living standards between Singapore and other cities would be pretty slim...

All things being equal, I would probably have to pay more if and when I relocate!

Chiang Mai Jan 2018 - My Favourite Pic

Taking candid shots of people involve both skill and luck.

Got skill, no luck - no candid shots.

Got luck, no skill - the moment would pass as you fumble with the technical aspects...

This is my favourite shot for the trip!

There's a technique called "bracketing" in photography.

Veteran traders out there will know what I mean. Wink.

Chiang Mai Jan 2018 - Colours and Patterns

Since I paint with light, here's a sample of my catch so far:

Chiang Mai Jan 2018 - This what big daddy don't want in Singapore

I feel for the common folk who wanted to buy an economical Honda cub in Singapore for work... I mean the COE as a percentage of the total cost is ridiculous!

The irony is the professional who buys a Harley for aspirational reasons just looks at the COE price tag with a shrug.

Once you have visited Taipei, Ho Chin Minh City, and most South East Asian cities, you would understand why.

I have no complaints here.


For the sake of consistency, I don't know about you, but I do hope we don't let the idiot rental bikes get out of hand in Singapore... I mean its such an eyesore with all that indiscriminate parking. 

Talking about rental bikes, I was so surprised to see them here in Chiang Mai!

Don't worry. They are a completely failure here when we can rent a scooter for a song!  

And just when I was going to write that I've yet to see anyone riding the above bikes, I just saw 2 Mainland Chinese girls riding them...  

Want to make a bet where you think these 2 girls will leave the bikes?

Thankfully for the residents of Chiang Mai, these 2 Mainland Chinese girls are the outliers.

Chiang Mai Jan 2018 - Roadside Eating

Arrived at Chiang Mai, Thailand last evening around 5:00 pm.

Staying at this hostel near the old Southern City gate:

Yes, I got a bunk bed in a 12 people room. In case you were wondering, 300 baht is around SGD12.00 per night. 

The "bosses" are all so young!? This one is the elder brother who runs the restaurant outside the hostel. The younger brother is handling the hostel check-in, check-out.

Must be a family business thingy.

I staying on the 2nd level. 

Went out for a stroll and to dinner.

Raise hand how many of you young enough to remember Singapore had telephone wires above ground just outside your HDB flats like the picture above?

We take it from granted. I was amazed advanced cities like Taipei and Tokyo still have these wires all over some of their residence areas...

What luck! Stumbled onto a night market selling roadside food!

Its been ages since I've eaten by the roadside. Of course at night can't see the car fumes so easier to pretend and forget. The locals come in their scooters to "da bao" and zoomed away. 

Nice colours of dusk. I pretend its a phoenix; not a man that farts jet fumes out of his....

I do miss roadside eating in Singapore. Last time young did that a lot in Chinatown before it was "sanitised".

Now I can only think of two roadside eating places in Singapore:

1) Satay club at the Lau Pa Sat. Have not eaten there though...

2) The artificial eating street at Chinatown that's aimed at tourists? How many locals you find eating there? Who ate there before? 

I have a standing joke with my elder sibling. We noticed at the old Chinatown roadside eating places, the pushcart hawkers only have 2 wash basins to wash the dirty dishes - one for lather and the other filled with clear water to wash away the suds.

Eh...

Don't ask, don't see, don't think about it.

LOL!

Am I living in a bird cage too?

Tung Choi Street Gold Fish Market, HK

Yuen Po Street Bird Garden, HK

Public Housing Project at Fangling, New Territories, HK

Condominium at Lantau Island, HK

Public Housing at Shekou, China

It does not matter whether we live in humble public housing board flats or upmarket condominiums, aren't we living like the fishes in plastic bags and birds in tiny cages too?

I guess that's the "price" to pay for being "average" city folks. 

The last pic at Shekou breaks my heart. It's a unique housing phenomenon found only in the Guangzhou area. It speaks volumes on the security situation there...

Talk about self-imposed "prisons"!

Hey! I remember Singapore HDB flats in the 70s and 80s were "caged" up too... Thank goodness for upgrading, now less and less HDB flats have iron grills to wall ourselves in. Or maybe Singaporeans feel more secure now? I not so sure...

When I returned backed to Singapore, I begin to appreciate my small HDB flat even more. Although it's tiny like a bird cage, it's not a prison - I can come and go as I please. 

Freedom is not about physical restraints; it's a state of mind.


 
 

Look straight at life head-on

Picture taken near the Western Market, HK. May 2013

Rest if you must.

For the road ahead can be weary and long.

But do not wither or give up!

Keep looking straight at where you are going. 




I took this interesting photo during my recent trip to Hong Kong.

The defiant and proud body language of the elderly man in the middle was a strong contrast to the statue and others sitting around him.

It's an inspiration to me.


 

Hong Kong Hong Kong

I'll be flying off to Hong Kong this Monday for 10 days of free and easy walk walk see see.

When my Mainland Chinese friends ask me which is my favourite Chinese city, I always replied Hong Kong! (You should see their expressions. LOL!)

Besides Shanghai, Hong Kong is a city that I know very well.

I've been to Hong Kong many times. But the most memorable trip is still my first trip there in 1997. It's a business trip extention where I spent 5 wide-eyed days totally amazed at the contrasting sights and sounds.

Hong Kong is definitely the place to seek your fortune/career if you find the working pace of Singapore too slow for you.

Just stand at Mongkok. If you have entrepreneur blood in you, you will salivate at the opportunities staring right back at you.  

I'm a city walker. I've always loved getting lost in big cities.

10 days in Hong Kong? 

You may wonder what's there to do? Precisely! 

I'm not there to do anything. It would be just like being in Singapore: hungry, eat; tired, rest; curious, explore.

I've only made one plan for this trip - I'll take a day drip back the Shekou via ferry. I've not been back for 5 years now... 

Shekou was my first overseas posting. I was there for 5 months before "ah kong" (company) transferred me to Shanghai.


The rest I'll play by ear when I'm there.

Shanghai Nov 2012 - Old Town and Bureaucrats

I've always loved cities. Especially the old ones.

Not so much a nature trekker I guess. 

It's a bit of a paradox, but I do enjoy the slight tinge of solitude walking amongst the teaming mass of strangers. Of disappearing and losing myself in a crowd. I become invisible.


Old cities provide me 2 of my favourite interests:

People watching - Why is he wearing a frown? They looked like they have fought? Ah! Love birds! She looks so happy. Is he going for an interview? Bad hair day? She is talking; he is not listening.

Buildings - I like functional sculptures that reflect a society's culture (or lack of), their shared memories, and the inspirations of where they want to be in the future.


If you would like to visit the authentic old town of Shanghai, and you are not on a package tour, you may want to stopping at this LaoXiMen (老西门站) metro station instead of the Yuyuan Garden (豫园) metro station.

All package tours will bring you to Yuyuan Garden. It's the near equivalent to our Chinatown - just as sanitized, just as touristized. Don't get me wrong! Do pay to visit the Yuyuan gardern. It's a good representation of Jiangnang style architecture and garden landscaping. 

Remember, go INSIDE the garden! 

Many tour guides just bring their flock to the shopping and eating places OUTSIDE the garden (where they got cover commissions) and skip the main attraction. 

Or I could be wrong. Most tourists prefer shopping and eating. Who wants to learn about Chinese architectural styles and garden landscaping anyway?


By alighting at LaoXiMen, and I am assuming you have a map, you will have the opportunity to walk through the real and authentic old town of Shanghai. It will probably take you around 40 minutes or an hour - depending on how adventurous you are weaving in and out of the maze like alleyways. 

Don't worry about about getting lost. Just smile and ask the residents where is Yuyuan garden?  
 

 

 

 

If you are lucky, you may find middle-aged aunties carrying spittoon in the streets towards the public toilets.

When I first came to Shanghai, I thought it's quite quaint that Shanghai have public baths. I thought the Shanghainese are like the Japs. 

Then I realise the really old Shanghai houses in this part of town have no baths and WC facilities in their homes. 

And spittoons are used not just for spit. Just look at the picture above. Remember, it's year 2012 now.

    

And the wash basin is outside the house. 

Is the door used for preventing people from outside getting in; or is it to prevent people from inside getting out?

   

Why do we have windows? To let in sun and air?

Quick! Take a look at your own windows. 

Are they closed and the curtains drawn? 

Makes you wonder... No?

 

    

Better be quick if you want to visit the real old part of Shanghai. It's getting enbloc soon.

Bureaucrats are the same everywhere. These buildings and the people living there are an "embarrassment" if your KPI is to develop Shanghai into a 21st century cosmopolitan city to rival Hong Kong, London, and New York!

Slash and burn.

It's a pity we have destroyed the character and soul of our own Chinatown...

Lucky Little India is still alive and kicking! Budget hostels, pubs, eateries, expansion of Mustafa do not distract from the charm of Little India. In fact I find them complementary.

Especially if they are bottom-up grassroot endeavours by entrepreneurs. The local community should be the best judge which developments should fail, which should thrive. 

Be very afraid of heavy top-down broad strokes from bureaucrats who find the sanitized and touristized Chinatown a success - just because we can get X numbers of tourists visiting it per year.

It about numbers again.

But there is hope. The Ministry of Education has stop publishing the top student rankings for PSLE. That's one baby step in the right direction.

 

  

Shanghai Autumn 2012 - Out with the old; enbloc here, there, everywhere!

This time in Shanghai, I stayed at a hostel that's near the Zhong Shan Gong Yuan and Yan An Xi Lu metro stations.

Near this hostel, there's a neighbourhood of very old Shanghai houses that's being demolished as we speak.

There's an open air street market that exemplifies the indomitable human spirit - to survive and thrive under the most inhospitable conditions.

  

  
  

 

I kid you not! The caterpillar crews were just having their morning coffee break as I took this picture. Moments before, everyone were blithely going about their marketing despite dust and debris flying all over as the old buildings were being tore down. 

If it weren't for the coffee break by the demolition crew, I wouldn't dare go so near... Typical kiasi (scared to die) Singaporean me!

I guess personal safety has another meaning in China. When you NEED to work to SURVIVE, you become BOLD.

What catalysts made my ancestors courageously sail from China to the Southern Seas 189 odd years ago? It cannot be the comfort of home I guess... (Or maybe not, he was a clerk, not a coolie. Even better! He left despite the comforts of home?)

 

 

Now this is interesting! I guess the Shanghai local government has learned from the past scuffles 4 years back. The propaganda machinery is now better oiled. How to say no if they appeal to your patriotic zeal?

In the past, there were street protests and sit-ins with placards outside the Shanghai town councils. In China, when you protest, there is a real possibility of ending up in a cold dark place.  So the grievances must have been serious and real; not the frivolous kind where you put a brown paper bag over your head and rant in cyberspace.

What will replace this old neighbourhood? Do you see the condos and towering office block in the background?

I don't think the displaced residents will be staying in them though.

When I bought my HDB 3 room flat 10 years ago at 35, I deliberately chose one of the oldest and ugliest neighbourhood as thought it would have a higher enbloc potential in the future. 


Funny how 10 years of mellowing has changed me. Now I won't be pleased if an enbloc is announced at my block... I can't explain it. I've gone from liking all things new and shiny to fondly embracing all things old and retro?

And caring less about numbers and dollar signs. I guess once you've reached a certain threshold, anything more is either a surplus or excess. It's like the naughty joke explaining the difference between surplus and excess using the tits of a woman as reference. 


This trip to Shanghai had me retracing the steps I've taken in the past. 

Despite the big changes in Shanghai after 4 years, I discovered I've changed more.

Or maybe I've never changed at all!?

Perhaps its me not believing the little lies I tell myself anymore? 

Or perhaps after removing the makeup and masks, I am starting to recognise the real me?


Travelling is fun!

Some travel to check places of interests off a list. 


I travel to discover myself.