Simplicity

Need I say more about the precision in angles Ikebana requires?

Recent reads

A Year in Tibet (from a Chinese BBC TV producer's perspective)
Last Seen in Lhasa (from an English woman's perspective on her friendship with a Tibetan nun)
Lonely Planet : Tibet


Some interesting Tibetan practices that I have learnt:

• Sky burial. Feeding the dead to vultures. (To overcome limited land for burial)
• Polyandry. A woman marries all the men in a household. So one can be wedded to 3 husbands! (To prevent further spilt in small land plots)
• Religiosity. Tibetians worship a number of Gurus and dieties! Am undecided if this is superstition or devotedness...

Nonetheless, I am looking forward to my trip! and I am sure I will learn more... =)

And I shall be bringing along my new Fisheye2 camera! HY, this is my quick fix for no-money-to-blow-on-new-lense!

Surprises!

I surprise...

I's birthday party was on last weekend at the Screening Room. I recalled he had a wishlist 3 years ago but he wanted to be surprised this time round... and I did surprise him:

I was surprised...

by a phone call from my flatmate from nottingham! OY is in town this week! What a surprise!

The last time we met was 3 years ago... Am excited to meet her tonight!

A different perspective

I learnt to view thorns as something asthetic in its own right =) So I have chosen to post 2 snapshots of different parts of this week's arrangement instead...

Angkor dreams

I remember reading about Angkor Wat or 吴哥窟 in a secondary school chinese textbook and dreamed of visiting the place one day. This dream was realised recently when I visited Siem Reap with R.

We went to Angkor Wat, Bayon, Ta Prohm and Bantaey Srei and each temple left a different impression on me. Angkor Wat is extremely majestic but the crowds drove us nuts... Bayon exudes an extremely zen feeling whereas Ta Prohm is like an enchanted forest... Bantaey Srei has the most amazing carvings and it is definitely worth a visit despite a 30 min drive away from the main temple grounds.

I have included selected pictures of my trip in the form of a slideshow below (in all honesty, starting this blog has allowed/ forced me to learn new technology). Enjoy! =)

G.I. Joe

I did not remember watching the cartoon growing up but G was always chanting about "Joe Joe GI Joe" when he knew he got tickets from his counterparty. My initial take on the movie was that it would not be better than "UP" (4.5 stars by my scale) but watching it in Gold Class meant that I could sleep better (if the show turned out to be dead boring...). In the end, I have to admit that I liked the jam-packed movie and would give it a rating of 3.5 stars.

p.s.: GI actually stands for Government Issue. What a bore... this is one of those things I wish I didn't bother to find out...

Bridal bouquet

I like this new creation. The mere association with wedding makes me happy as I go about shaping it. I am looking forward to 4 upcoming weddings in Sep =)

Raspberry dreams

My new GT2140! It was christened Raspberry during its round in the office and this was taken at Bukit Timah Hill by G:

44 cents

On our way home, we were caught in a jam along redhill road. G joked that LKY is out and about his constituency, hence causing the jam (if only!). We later realised that the jam was caused by drivers queuing into the Shell station. Apparently the promotion is from 4 to 5 pm only and we passed by at 4.06pm! There was also another line of vehicles from the opposite direction so I guess Singaporeans are highly willing to go the extra mile (literally!) for cheaper petrol...