About Vivien: August 2009

Thursday, August 27, 2009

TRAVELINSPIRE: Last Chapter of London

Okay, maybe I am getting nostalgic. But this is the last entry from my two-month travel and I am restarting again on new grounds. My gut feel tells me that I will come back a different person after Borneo and India. I don't know, I don't want to have any preset notions, I want to learn, I want to be free.

Sometimes I think about our move to Australia by Christmas next year. Building that "ultimate home" that we call it, maybe having children, who knows, maybe a kick-ass career. I don't know what I will be doing. This past year had opened up so many opportunities for me, I dealt with so many possibilities, I saw so much, I felt so much.

You know when they say you cross the bridge when you come to it? I think I am truly starting to learn about what it means. I got 21km to cross early October. I want to set a new time. I've done a couple of half(s) but this one is personal. I want to push myself to a new horizon.

Will write about it when it happens.

Promise.

Other than that, London was awesome. It was the perfect full stop to what had been a perfect two months. I learned a lot about myself. My weakness, my strength, and most of all, what I was capable of doing beyond what I used to believe myself to be.

TRAVELINSPIRE: The Unsung Quiet

It can be the quietest moment of the day. Staying awake even though you really want sleep. The early hours of the day, especially in the wee morning hours, make you more retrospective of life. You think clearer, you listen better, well, you even dare to dream a bit more audaciously.

You look through things you've done in the couple of months, and you realise that you've actually trekked a fair bit. You look up on old times, and you reflect on new beginnings.

Life sometimes is weird. You seem to hear better when there is no sound. Except that comforting message coming from a long known friend who shares a failure to just get a few winks at night.

Here's to the sleepless at night. Let us keep dreaming, in the wake of another restless night.

TRAVELINSPIRE: 1:42 am At Night

The kind of fun you have when you don't restrict yourself. Strasbourg, then Munich. It was crazy. I just got back from a late dinner and drinks. We just got invited to take a couple of days out in Phuket on a 80 feet yacht.

The pain in head? You got to book those flight tickets to get to Phuket. After that, everything is sorted out. Including those dudes taking care of you while you laze like a suckling pig onboard. Days. Nights.

Ten years of work. Ain't sound so bad!

You know you're having a good time when:

(1) You get through two carafe of red with some great company

(2) You realise how much ten years achieve

(3) You realise (again) that real mates are made when you go through a "I am so going to F23king fire you!" and then they respect you

(4) You realise that you got to take on that offer on a 80 feet yacht in Phuket

(5) That kids do change you

(6) That 31 is still a lot of time

(7) That Munich is heck of a good time to have (without kids)

(8) That you never say never

(9) That going down to Singapore to meet a mate is all worth it

(10) It doesn't matter when you're still up after two carafe of red!

Wednesday, August 26, 2009

TRAVELINSPIRE: Marseilles

Ah, what can I say about the Bad Boy of France? Real attitude to boot and it got the moves to prove it! When we spilled out from the cool cocoon of the Gare, the sizzling pungent aroma in the air pierced through our noses. Oh my dear ears, they rang with the hyper beats reminiscent of a thousand Arabian nights... except we were there on an early evening, with plenty of sun to go about, thanks to extended daylight hours in summer!

This was so unlike anywhere we had been in France. It definitely had an air of heaviness, not due to anything overbearing, but more of going out on a blind date with a WWF champion. You know you won't know what to expect, yet it will be one heck of a ride. You want pretty streets, unencumbered, quiet sidewalk coffee tables? Get out of here!

A diverse melting pot of Middle Eastern and African influences permeated as far as the scene carried and we began hunting down a place to crash for the night. Lucky for us, the only room available was by the port. This, being an old fishing town, heavily tugging on the remnant tail-ends of a Mediterranean culture, was one madame that burst into life at night. Music, bustle, beat, food, waiters, the salt in the air... all only serving as teasers to explore beyond the front blocks. And explore you should. Within the confines of the front blocks of shops and cafe, you will find an extrapolation of eateries and fountains, people, young and old, foreign and otherwise... all tugging into the day's cool respite, conversations were loud, only to dip momentarily with a secret conspiring sharing of secret. The odd serenade happened, a boy tried to sell you a rose.

The next morning, Marseilles threw away her night frock and unveiled a display of the male "machismo". Ladies, stand alone, and be prepared to be courted by a friendly, leathered and tanned fisherman who will try to convince you to leave your husband and run away with him to live on a boat. Of course, the polite decline will result in a man insisting on asking you for a reason that you have chosen to jilt him. Wedding vows? Pah! Just remember, keep smiling graciously while you basked further in the adoration of his fellow mates nearby.

You won't leave this town unscathed, unhonked (if that's a word), not harassed but it'll all be in good jest and you will live to remember it... with a smile in many years to come.