Shifted!

It has been great here, but I am shifting this blog over to
www.theforeignbackpacker.com

:)
See you guys there!

Sneak Peek: Argentina / Patagonia

Date: 10th March 2012
Flight tickets purchased. Utterly broke now :)

Crew: Elijah & Myan

Singapore ----- 35 hours later ----- Buenos Aires ----- 3 hours ----- Patagonia

Craziest journey, ever.

"All journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware"

Trip Highlight:
Laguna de los tres
We are going to stay here for a night! Freeze balls.

Neuroscience!

Got accepted into the MSc Neuroscience a week ago.

Life is good! 

CHINA: Paradox

"Walking ten thousand miles of the world is better than reading ten thousand scrolls" - Chinese proverb

ENGLAND: Bath

The picture is not completed without some quarrelsome fellow, a thief caught in the act; or the man who loves the sound of his own voice in the bath - not to mention those who jump in with a tremendous splash ~ Seneca, Epistulae Morales, 56, 1st Centuary AD.

Sitting on 2000 year old Roman pavements beside the pool; the heart of the world heritage site. After the invasion, the Romans built a temple and a bathing complex. Given the passage of time, I am amazed by the fact that the extensive ruins are so impeccably preserved. Hot spring water at a temperature of 46c rises at an astonishing rate of 1,170,000 litres (240,000 gallons) every single day and it has been doing this for thousands of years. This phenomenon was beyond human understanding in the past, so it was believed to a result of divine work of the ancient gods. I was really tempted to actually drink/touch the water, but I'm glad I didn't. In 1979, a girl actually died 5 days after swimming in it from amoebic meningitis!

PARIS: Open Your Eyes

Roaming the streets of Paris with Snow Patrol in my ears. 

All this feels strange and untrue

And I won't waste a minute without you.

My bones ache, my skin feels cold

And I'm getting so tired and old.

PARIS: Good Morning

6AM. Paris: Chatelet.

There is a certain allure about waking up before the rose-pink light of dawn in a foreign country. I think a lot about a place can be learned from observing the ways in which it shrugs off its morning slumber. From the trickle of cars and cyclists that slowly gather momentum to the mosaic of colors and sounds. In Paris, time takes a backseat. It feels as if the alarm clocks have no authority here. Good Morning!

Edinburgh: The Night That Never Was

the following paragraph was written in my moleskine hours after the disappearance of my stuff.

22nd August 2011:

Catastrophe. Someone has stolen my black macbook. Stunned. Plunged immediately into a never ending abyss of despair. Could this really be happening? For Real? I found myself questioning my own mental state. Losing it. Badly. Thoughts running amok. What the fuck. I wanted to blame someone, anything. But in all honesty, I fucked up big time. I screwed myself over. All the memories. All the data. All the pictures and videos. Gone. Washed away in a single horrible act of theft.

PARIS: Louvre, Entrance

Like an excited child, I stepped into the courtyard of the Louvre museum on the 25th August 2011. It is simply astounding to conceive the fact that there are so many art pieces, all in one majestic place.

PARIS: Notre Dame