Eastern Promise

If you don’t watch tele, then you won’t get this title, even if you do watch tele, you may not… obviously it’s the heat.

Chiang Mai is nice! Like Tainan is to Taipei and Kyoto is to Tokyo. Chiang Mai is calmer, smaller, quieter, greener, more village-like but unfortunately not cooler than Bangkok.

It was a full red moon the past couple of nights, and so we think in celebration there has been a local pop concert with local singers and pop dancers (neon clostumes, cheesy dancing – perfect)… entertaining and good night market-style food.

We Have been here 3 days and 3 nights now. The first morning we went out looking at Massage schools. There was basically 2 that fit into our dates which we both visited. ITM (International Thai Massage) school was recommended by the Thai Tourist Assocaition and seemed really nice with a nice teacher and lots of students. It teaches Northern style massage and set in a nice district, but the courses don’t run all weeka and if I did the subjects I wanted, I wouldn’t have been able to see much of Thailand after the course before I go home. So in the end we went for the Classical Wat Po style, Chiang Mai branch. It seems a little more hardcore, having more accupressure than the more stretching-based Norhtern style.

Read the rest of this entry »

So we’re here, well we were there and now we are in Chiang Mai, but I’ll go back a couple of days…

Landed in good time at the airport (Kuwait City was nice by the way, well, the cafe chairs were comfy as we never made it out the airport and spent hours playing UNO and eating complimentary snack voucher “cheese” sandwiches), and got a coach in to the city to our hostel. All fine there. And even though a bit tired, we headed out again. Oooh I have turned right back into a Sweat Betty again. There is air-con in a lot of places which helps but as soon as I hit the street, I am dripping once again.

We were on a mission to get to Wat Po temple where the famed massage school is and check it out before enrolling in the Chiang Mai branch, with the idea of getting a sample massage. It turned out that Bangkok is actaully quite a big city. Massive in fact and we exhausted ourselves even more walking across it. Either the map or we were rubbish and we spent ages trying to find it – when we did the school was closed. Not much luck that night, school closed, tourist info closed and chosen restaurant closed!

Thought we’d pop into the temple to have a brief look. Stunning! With the largest housed Buddha in Thailand if not the world at a twinkling, golden 20 metre (ish, I need to look that one up) long.

At first glance, and from limited expereice Thailand seems to be a little bit of a cross between Taiwan and India with its heat/humidity, food culture, tropical vegetation and elaborate temples. Thailand has a distinctive flavour of its own though and this can be seen in its temples for example. The exhuberant detail, and intricate form and decoration. The Buddhas are beautiful and the all-in-orange, monks that look after them are just as magnificent.

We decided to head straight up to Chaing Mai, a quieter and calmer city in the north where we will study Thai Traditional Massage, and get to grips with the capital on the way back.

Early the next day we went by impressive Sky Train, and complicated city bus to the Northern Bus Station and took a nothing-less-than 1st Class coach bound for Chiang Mai. Reclining chairs that reclined like I have never seen before, TV and cakes brought to your chair, plus irredescent pink upholstery to boot! All at only 7 pounds 50 for the 10 hour voyage! Marvellous.

At the airport… nothing gone wrong yet…. unlike last time… is that a good sign or not? I didn’t come on here just to write this – just getting directions to the hostel in Bangkok… I mean it’s not like it’s the only thing I have to do… there’s perfume, cigars and booze to buy! Kuwait – here we come!

9 months later: bought myself a new camera and guide book, dropped about 100kg in luggage, and this time I got myself a travel buddy!

What am I doing this again for?!… Highly unprepeared, all going to be last minute but we’ll just have to make it up as we go along.

My dear freind Pauline and I are off to Thailand for adventures and by the end of it we will hopefully become proper Thai Yoga Massage practitioners!!

As always, watch this space for high quality travel writing and expert snap shots of on-the-edge Eastern Promise Action!!

… over and out….

Where am I now? What am I doing? Who am I?

I don’t know the answer to these questions. It seems I have come to the end of this episode of travel and adventure. I have been here at my parents’ for about a week, catching up, spending time, doing yoga, teaching yoga, eating, cooking, laughing, decorating, ploughing the vegetable patch, riding work horses bare-back, being bitten by all manner of different insects – more so that anywhere else I have been in the last 6months!, swelling up with puss, preparing myself for the next move and catching my breath. Tomorrow I leave for London and start the march into no-man’s land, into the unknown. The unpredictablility of auditions and dance. I have new tools, a new wardrobe (shock horror! new to me that is, not new form the shops!), clean underwear (thanks for that Mum!) and a clearer idea of the direction I am heading. It is hard to define but it will find me and I trust it to do so. I don’t have to search too much any more: I’ll let it, whatever that be, come to me.

My Auntie wrote me an email on my Birthday last week… She said, “Now is precious.” What wisdom! This ‘now’ is something I want to treasure. I have no plans as such. Nothing defined, nothing pre-determined that I have laid down for myslef in a possible future that I am trying to control. When I left Laban I think I was scared of this time when nothing was set… I have only Fate and Destiny to be my guides. This all sounds very hippy-traveller-when-did-you-role-off-the-boat-from-the-purple-haze?-talk, but this is where I stand. I am more open to trust myself in letting things happen.

I have some photos awaiting me in London, so that should give me the inspiration to finish off the Taiwan-fun-fun category and all the others I have been meaning to get around to finish….

And what happens to this blog spot when I finally finish things off? Well, I guess it hangs around in cyber-space until it’s nibbled by super-highway poachers and virsuses. I’ll have to see what happens. I have an audition on Monday… perhaps this will be an on-the-road dance-tour superstar travel blog (highly unlikely – flea-bitten-dancing-in-the-doll-queue-blog more like!)… I’ll get back to you on that one.

Take care and thanks to all who read, wrote and inspired this blog.

Updates to follow! Deadline: unknown. But they will come – I promise!

x

I arrived to Hong Kong today. I leave for Paris tomorrow and arrive on Saturday morning. The end is drawing near, it’s all almost over!

I know I haven’t written a lot on Taiwan, but will post an udate on that leg when I get home. We were super busy! 

Actually, I ‘lost’ my camera the day before I left Tapei to head south for Tainan. I think it was pinched but can’t be entirely sure. Luckily I saved most of my pictures onto CD… phew! So I haven’t got many photos from Taiwan, but I have some from Pei-jen’s mum’s camera that I’ll put on the next post.

Taiwan was really great and I am so glad that I went. Many thanks to Pei-jen, Kuei, their families, all the students I had the fortune to teach, and all the other people I met that showed me the warmest of hospitality. Taiwan is a very friendly and generous place.

It’s Pei-jen’s birthday today, Happy Birthday Pei-jen!

I’m going for my last vegetarian meal in Asia now and then a hunt for my last smelly fruit fix before I leave. It’s very smelly, but tastes amazing!

Will catch up soon

Take care….

Jhonshan Junior High school is where Pei-jen and Kuei (who stayed with before PJ arrived) both went to school. It’s a regular high school but with a special dance department.

Every time Pei-jen comes back to Taiwan she gets hunted down and asked to do some teaching there. And this time as she had a laowai with her, her old teacher was even more insistant in her coming. So… we were drafted in on a tight schedule.

The all-giggling-girls school is from 11-14 yrs over 3 years of study. Pei-jen was asked to choreograph a piece for the 2nd years for next March and I was to be technique teacher and assistant (PJ to translate of course!).

These kids work hard, long hours and very committed. Not all the pupils do dance, only about 20 in each year. They are committed. Even in on weekends to practise and rehearse as well as keeping up their other extra-curriclular activities they all do.

Over the next 10 days or so it was so nice to spend time with these young ladies. They were all such characters and very talented, and very, very bendy! On one of the last days I made a deal with the 1st years that I would show them one of my kung fu forms if they showed me some of theirs. They we great, and legs up to their ears. Very impressive, I almost chickened-out of showing my stick form… not as bendy but I did shout a bit which they seemed to like.

They took well to my floor work, which is quite different to their balletic training. I soon had them running across the studio like monkeys!

We worked really hard and by the end made a really nice peice,  the only problem is they perform it in March – 8 months away!! I hope they remember it!!

On the last day with the 2nd years, PJ and I took them and their teacher out for bubble tea. They are all really bright with great senses of humour. On the photo moving clockwise from me, is: XiaoTse (Little Kindness), Elephant, Teacher Sky-Honesty/ Innocent (HA!), Smelly fruit Durian, Shrek, Pear, Pig and back to me. Their names are all Chinese translations, nicknames or part of their names. Whacky! ^o^

It is Thursday 15th June 2006, And Myself, Pei-jen and Tsai Mama (Pei-jen’s Mum that is) set off from Tainan – destination Green Island AKA Ludao.

Train from Tainai to Taitung skirting round quite a lot of coastline to get to the East coast of Taiwan. Taiwan’s centre is very mountainous and so most routes go round instead of through.

The ferry left from a small port town where we stopped for a fresh lunch. Then to the ferry. Far-removed from the Channel Crossing we know… and… love?, where there is always space to walk around, go on deck etc. This was a smaller affair, no deck to go on and everyone in comfy reclining seats… bad idea – with no deck to go on, where do all those land-lubbers go to watch the horizon to steady their stomachs? Oh dear. What a ‘hurly-burly’ crossing that was. Amazing! Read the rest of this entry »

I am here…

To be honest, I haven’t got my head around Taipei yet. It seems to be a right mixture – a bit like Japan, a bit of Hong Kong, quite a bit of China, and a hint of India. Japan because it wasn’t that long ago that Taiwan had a 50 year occupation by Japan. Hong Kong because it’s been more open to the West and it’s influences and has a certain freedom to it. China, well because most of the peope here are essentially Chinese in origin and the main langauge is quite Mandarin. And India, a little bit because it is hot, tropical, you can see the similar fauna and you can get bitten by mosquitos all day long!!!

I know, you’ll say – well it is a different place, another country. I know, I know. I haven’t quite got my bearings I think, because I am missing Japan. Because it’s another new place after so many and I am on my own again, travelling alone. Also because I am one stop away from home, almost there.

I have got stuck in though and gone to see some sights. The hostel (which leaves a lot to be desired! Cockroach!!) is not far from the station, so I walked from there to Taipei 101, the tallest building at present in the world, standing 508m! That was a bit of a mistake as a few kilometres in China or Japan is not the same as in Taiwan. The heat, or should I say humidity makes it a lot further. I was guzzling water down and getting tired pretty quick, and I realised that I have to take it a bit slower here to start with. Read the rest of this entry »

Well, I said some sad goodbyes in Tokyo. I am not sure when I will see anyone again. Saya and Dom – good luck with the weddings… yes it’s not a typo – did mean weddings… there are more than one… Well it’s a cross-cultural union – you have to include everybody!

And to Minami – Good luck with everything, and thanks for everything too…

I seem to find myself here in Shanghai… The crossing was fine and quite smooth. Not so much fun without Craig and Victoria though or the team of identically shell-suit clad, Chinese team of some sort of sport (one thing is for sure they weren’t the national table-tennis team – they were terrible at it!). If you guys are reading… I missed you!

It’s still an entertaining voyage though: Mr Bean showing after 9.45pm, the table tennis table at reception, the Japanese-style bath and 2nd-class sleeping arrangements, the free breakfast, the haunting sound of the staff’s after-hours karaoke in the bar, and the feeling even 4 days after you get off that you are still on board! Woah… there I go again. Hope it didn’t last too long for Craig and Victoria – it took me about 4 days to get my land-legs last time!

I can feel China in my lungs again… splutter, splutter. I had a pleasant walk round today to a park near HuiHai… lots of people seem to be in their pijamas today, it must be a Shanghai Sunday thing. There was lots going on in the park: singing and playing music, fitness machines put to good use, ear-piercing and Chinese chess.

I also saw 6 people from the boat today by chance, 4 of which are in the same hostel as me… It’s a small world after-all…. And I met up with the girl I shared a room with when I was last in Shanghai… well she didn’t leave here at all… she was job searching then, and found a job and apartment searching now.

I leave for Hong Kong on an overnight train tomorrow morning, one night there and then I fly to Taipei… I’ll update this entry when I get further on. Will get some last photos of Japan on too. I’ll also make an entry for one of the main reasons I was in Tokyo… Hino Sensei’s Martial Arts classes!! ooh they were good!!

Over for now…

As promised, here are some last moments from Japan…

 For the zooligists… turn away Granny

Catch me up in Taipei.