The journey so far...

Now I've been to a few more places, I've apparently been to 9% of the world! Not very impressive, hey? I'm still hoping to add a few more before London calls me back in the summer.

Word Cloud

Whatever will they think of next? Here is a 'word cloud', whatever that is... a clever computer scanned my blog and picked out some words to put in this 'cloud'. Funny how many of them refer to food... hmmm, getting hungry...

Geometric Diversion

When life is speeding past tired eyes as a car on the freeway at dusk, I find solace and peace in the simplest things, like browsing Marimekko fabrics on the web...

Lazy Sunday

I'm offically a lazy bum. It's 8pm on Sunday evening and I haven't left the house since arriving back from the airport at 4pm on Friday... that's a lot of hours! All I've achieved is:

• writing blog (highly productive and worthwhile activity)
• eating eggs
• doing two loads of washing (yawn...)
• drinking approximately 12 cups of tea
• learning to make a 13" x 13" party cake complete with icing (people pay money for that don't you know)
• eating pork and rice and spicy eggplant
• sneezing, a lot
• calling some friends and relatives (high point scoring)
• tidying room
• unpacking suitcase
• writing letter to friend
• drinking one glass of red wine (lush)
• eating small packet of crackers
• finishing Kafka on the Shore (disappointing ending).

Not bad for a weekend lazing around the house...

Zzz zzz zzz

I have just woken up after manufacturing zzz's for 19 hours! Can you believe it? That's almost three night's worth of sleep in one hit. I knew I was tired, but that's got to be a record? I didn't sleep much on the flights back from Almaty, partly due to being woken up to eat beef curry at 4am (what were they thinking?!), and being stuck next to a very wriggly Malaysian on the final stretch. My brain has had so much stimulation and so little rest for the past ten days, that I'm just exhausted... am going to blog for a bit then, hmm, let me see, might take a nap...

Almaty, Kazakhstan

Arriving at a place I'd never heard of until a few months back, in a country I knew little about, with a language I can only say four words in, I was struck by a feeling that is becoming more common with each month that passes outside the UK... I'm a stranger here. My visit to Almaty is a humbling experience. It seems to me that Central Asia, this stretch along the Silk Route, is somewhere that the world has forgotten about. Whenever the world map pops up in my heard, I'm ashamed to say that I seem to get to India a bit too quickly, without even seeing the huge expanse of countries between China and Russia. On this trip we met people from Uzebekistan, Tajikistan, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Afganistan, Turkmenistan... Places I hadn't given a second thought, until now.

I've never been to Russia, so was surprised at the intensity of the Russian language. To my British ear, the Russians sound as if they are cross, all the time! It was hard to get used to, especially when I would say something meaningful and hear the translator (to my ear) shouting it back in Russian!

Kazakhstan was part of the former USSR until 1990, when it gained independence. They are the lucky ones, the country has huge oil fields and oil money will pay for the country to build up its economy, as it's starting to do already. Immigration is up 30% as people from neighbouring countries come to find a better life.

The landscape is bleak, yet hauntingly beautiful - the city of Almaty is surrounded by snow-capped, fairytale mountains. Yet there are signs everywhere of the previous political system and the darkness behind the country's newfound economic wealth. Women in rags with pale children beg at the roadside, poverty affects the old and the infirm, young teenagers are affected by cancer and illness due to toxic water and earth contaminated by nuclear testing during communism. I met a 15 year old girl with breast cancer, stomach cancer and and a weeping tumour on her innocent face. These people are desperate for something, for change, and I believe that change is on its way in the form of hope and trust in God. Those we met were hungry for newness, for their faith to grow, for more of God. In a land where life is often hard, maybe it's easier for them to trust and have complete faith in the one above. In the West we trust ourselves, our own ability to look after our families, to plan out our own lives, but in doing so maybe we lose something - the reality that life is short, we're here for a purpose, even if things are tough.

This trip has changed me, and given me a heart for that region, for the people I had forgotten existed. I hope I'm never as ignorant again.

I'm starving, I could eat a...

How many times have I said that in my life? Hundreds probably...

Little did I know that it would come back to bite me one day! One of Kazakhstan's delicacies is horse meat, and we were presented with some on the first evening we arrived... Here's me eating a bit..

It tasted pretty good, better than I was expecting - like very salty beef. Two days later we were given horse and pasta for lunch, that was equally as good, apart from the 'horse milk' that accompaigned it. I'm ashamed to say that having eaten duck's brains, sheep stomach and all kinds of unappetising stuff, the adventurous part of my tongue switched off, and I refused it politely. Seeing everyone else's faces, it was the right choice...

Beijing on foot

Something you learn pretty quickly in China is that a zebra crossing doesn't mean ANYTHING. I can't understand why the government wasted money on white paint when the stripes that are painted so neatly across wide roads don't mean a thing! You pretty much have to pray and run across before a car or taxi runs you over.

I decided to be brave though, and took a walk from my hotel along one of the main roads across the city. Walking west on a Sunny Sunday afternoon I took in some of the sights.

After about ten minutes, the sky was full of kites! Their bright colours stood out against the cornflower blue sky:

They were attached to their owners standing in this park, more like a sculpture garden:

Later this little vehicle caught my eye... it's a disabled person's way of getting around the city.

Life in grey

Life can be quiet and leave me alone sometimes, not much happens and much of the day is lost in my own thoughts. Not so in China though! Since arriving a few days ago (feels like forever), every minute has been full to bursting with newness. It's my first visit to China, and my first experience of doing business with the Chinese, so it shouldn't have come as a surprise, but I'm still astounded at this sprawling city.

The city is shrouded in grey. A sandstorm from Mongolia brought a fine covering of grey-white powder across the buildings and cars, and the sky was full of clouds (or pollution), pretty depressing.

I was up early to check out of my gorgeous Western-style business hotel and move two miles down the road to a cheaper place. It's nice but feels much darker. My room is shrouded in dark wood and I feel like Miss Marple tapping away at the desk.

I'd hoped to get to the Great Wall or the Forbidden City while I'm here, but time is running short and we have to work on Saturday, so the precious sights will have to save for another time. I'm lucky to be here, so I shouldn't complain, and I've seen a side of China most tourists probably wouldn't ever see. My Chinese is non-existent, so even though I can read some kanji from learning Japanese all those years ago, most of the time I feel like such an outsider. There's a whole world out there that I don't understand, I haven't even scratched at the surface.

At dinner today I sat next to a man who was the first ever Chinese allowed to marry a foreigner. He met his wife in the seventies when China and the US had a cultural exchange - children of American diplomats and senators were sent to China for the first time. He fell in love with an American, but was refused permission to marry her until the Premier gave his approval... a symbol of a crack opening up in China's consciousness to shine its light to the outside world.

Ok, it's getting weirder!

Yesterday had to be up there in the most bizarre days of my entire life... After some pretty straightforward meetings in the morning and tasty Beijing beef noodles for lunch, my colleague and I got a call to say another meeting had been set up for us with publishing house. We didn't know anything about it, but decided to go with the flow and jump in the taxi...

An hour later we arrived at a pretty unexciting office - ten desks, ten phones, ten computers, ten minutes looking around, not quite sure what we were looking at! We then got back in the taxi and drove an hour back into town to the head office, where were greeted enthusiastically by four Chinese men who proceeded to tell us how great their company was... My mind was ticking and reality began to hit - they wanted to publish and distribute our stuff. We were then taken out to an expensive Sezchuan restaurant. I've recently developed an ability to eat things that actually make me wretch, it's been pretty useful on this trip! The only strange food I ate at this meal was pig's liver - I wouldn't have touched it but it was already on my plate and I was kind of committed!

The Chinese do business late into the night, over dinner and lots of drinking... I luckily managed to make my quarter glass of 52% proof rice-wine last all evening, but some weren't so lucky. Almost at the end of the meal, the guy next to me, who'd been knocking back the stuff, proceeded to vomit right onto the dinner table! It was awful! That brought the meal to an abrupt end and half an hour later I feel into bed, exhausted, head spinning with the craziness of the day, and my mind shouting 'Enough! No more stimulation! Please!' Let's see what tomorrow brings...

The weirdest city, ever

This few months is providing a milliard of firsts... this week, my first visit to China. I'm writing this blog from Beijing, in a hotel which could be anywhere in the world, so generic is the interior. Step outside, however, and I'm in a place foreign to my English eyes. Having arrived last night, I was suddenly rendered illiterate - unable to even read a road sign, let alone pronounce it correctly! Maybe that experience is good for me and can remind me of what it's like to be in a foreign place. My impressions so far of this huge city are mixed... I'm here for work, and I've met the kindest most open people, yet there's an oppressive atmosphere here... I can't explain it, but the smog that covers the city, even on this sunny, crisp Spring day, seems to penetrate my skin and makes me feel uneasy. There's lots to love and explore though, the food is fantastic, soft dim sum for breakfast and a Chinese banquet for dinner - you can't do better than that! I'm hoping to get to the Great Wall of China at the weekend. Though the myth that it can be seen from space has been dispelled, I'm still excited about walking along one of the Great Wonders of the World. It's times like these, alone late at night in an unfamiliar hotel room, when I'm reminded how lucky I am, that this world we live in is full of newness and the kindness of strangers, if we just get out of our comfort zone to look for it.

Kismis Green

The road where I'm staying in Singapore is called 'Kismis Green'. I like to think of it as 'Kiss-mis', far more romantic. It was only when the cab driver who took me home the other day said that all the Kismis roads here are so called because the person who named them couldn't spell 'Christmas'! Kinda cute :-)

Wibble wobble

It’s been a funny week so far… after a little wobble at the weekend (probably brought on by not enough sleep or getting out of bed on the wrong side), which had me thinking ‘why am I here in Singapore? What am I doing? Why don’t I go back to London?’, I’m now loving it again. Every week that passes by I see more of this country and experience the kindness of the people. Because everyone speaks English, well, Singlish to be precise, lah, it’s easy to ignore the cultural differences and expect things to be as they are at home. But Asia is Asia, and I’m only just beginning to understand the Chinese culture. Living with a Chinese family is probably the best thing I’ve done in my whole adult life, just being with them and chatting about their experiences, views on the world etc has opened up my mind to a whole other world. Lucy, who’s the same age as my mum and just as lovely, is teaching me to cook Chinese food. So far I can make Hainese Chicken Rice, Char Siew (Chinese Roast pork), Roti Jalu (India lacy pancakes) and dumplings! Legend. When I’m back I promise to have you all round for a feast…

Ooo it's warm out here!

I've been meaning to write something about the weather for ages, but have procrastinated as I didn't want to appear like I was bragging or anything. It's been between 28 and 34 degrees since I arrived and it's now hotting up even more. The thing is, the heat doesn't bother me in itself, in fact it's quite nice to be wearing flip flops all the time, but couple that with the damp humidity and you're in a whole world of trouble! I hadn't really experienced humidity like it until coming here, I suppose it is a tropical climate though! I've adopted various tactics from the locals to aclimatise to the stickiness:

• Wearing two layers rather than one, the bottom one absorbs all the sweat, even though you do get a bit hotter
• Putting something called a 'thirsty hippo' into my wardrobe. This hippo absorbs the moisture from the air and stops my clothes going mouldy
• Putting a damp cloth on the floor in my room before I go to bed so that I don't wake up like a shrivelled orange from the air con
• Moth balls ... hmmm. All my clothes smell of them, but better than being holey
• Don't walk anywhere, ever, if you can help it. Not even to the end of the road

If you're reading this wearing four layers and a hat to keep the draught from coming in then I apologise. I would change places with you tomorrow.... ummm, can you hear the insincerity in my tone?

Japanese wisdom...

"Anyone who falls in love is searching for the missing pieces of themselves. So anyone who's in love gets sad when they think of their lover. It's like stepping back inside a room you have fond memories of, one you haven't seen in a long time."

Haruki Murakami, Kafka on the Shore

Ballet

I finally made it to ballet this week! I just couldn't live without it, my legs were turning into jelly and my back was getting all lazy and rounded. So, with anticipation and a nervous excitement I ventured to Tanjong Pagar to be the new girl in the elementry class at a performing arts school. I love ballet, I can't explain it in words, but something in me is addicted to the combination of beauty and structure that it entails. I'm rubbish, and I'll never be a ballerina, but in pointed feet and graceful arms I've found a home, something to calm and soothe and warm my heart. There were only seven of us in the calm, white studio, an attentive teacher encouraging and faithful to the art that has captured these few girls in a hot city. I'm about 100% happier now, I must be easily pleased :-)

Frothy tea anyone?

Starbucks really are missing out on one mother of a marketing opportunity… Haven’t they heard of a tea-chino or a milo-chino, or a horlicks-chino for that matter? Obviously not. Well I think they’re missing out. Today I tentatively stuck my neck out and tried a ‘tea-chino’ in my local Muslim Indian seafood restaurant. For starters, I caused a bit of a stir by virtue of being a Caucasian woman dining alone, but once I’d managed to establish that I knew what to order and how to pronounce ‘roti prata’ in just the right accent, the over-attentive waiter with bad moustache left me alone. A few seconds after ordering (better service than Starbucks), a beer mug of frothy tea, with a head that deserved the glass, appeared in front of Jules’ eager eyes. I’ve never fancied frothy tea, assuming it was caused by lime scale and unidentifiable bits in the kettle, but this was lush… sweet with an illusion of ginger somewhere in there… The ladies at work think I’m really adventurous, maybe I’ll show them just how adventurous I am and order a ‘horlicks dinosaur’* next time…

* that’s a little mystery for you all… answers on a comment and dinner to anyone who can guess what it is. (Singaporeans not allowed to answer!)

Clementi, Thursday, 8.53pm

Ebony sky
Five stars, seven
Palm trees,
A slither of moon, silver
I see,
From my water vantage.

Splish, splash, my ears tickle,
Hands pull through cool treacle.

Alone in my paradise,
I marvel,
At cool water,
And a bikini
In February.