Recollection

To draw a conclusion to our expatriate experience,
Together, we visited more than 20 European cities in 37 days
before we returned to North America.

By trains, we moved from one city to another,
from border to border,
from inland to ocean,
from serenely tranquil lake to snow-capped mountain.

Together, we admired the well designed Benz Museum in Stuttgart.
Together, we made a pilgrimage to Notre Dame du Haut.
Together, we experienced Hadid's sculptural architecture
/architectural sculpture in Innsbruck.
Together, we learnt about l'art brut in Lausanne.
Together, we strolled around Cote d'Or in Burgundy.
Together, we savored the different regional wine and oyster in France.
Together, we hitch-hike on D704 to Sarlat-la-Caneda.
Together, we discovered the fashion stores of the Antwerp 6.
Together, we walked in the rain along the D-day Beaches.
Together, we dreamt about utopia after visiting the Dutch cities.
Together, we stood up close to the original photos
by Henri Cartier-Bresson in Paris.

Together, we dreamt.
Together, we made it real.

Goodbye London

09:00 waved goodbye to mum at T4
12:00 final cleaning of the flat
16:00 Mr. Reeve rang the bell and picked up one set of the keys
20:00 left some used clothes in front of the oxfam store.
02:00 last bag of garbage to the bin
02:20 final picture of the street corner
02:30 keys on the table and door closed

Farewell to our little flat above cafe Bohemia.

A Giant Squid

家的附近有一個market。
屬於露天，小型的那一種。
在這裡， 可找到生活上的基本需要：
麵包，蔬果，魚肉，或 雜貨。
每一個Saturday，每一次經過賣海鮮的檔口，
我們也會很自然地走到檔口前看看今天有什麼新鮮的。
就是這樣，我們的錢包也會很容易被破。
今次, 看中的是一條giant squid,
數量不多，但看似很新鮮。
魚檔老板，法國人，猜中我們的心思，
馬上從排列整齊的烏賊中挑選一條染滿墨汁的，
顯示到我們面前，他說：“This is the best.”
我們沒多想，點點頭，便接受了。
他把烏賊磅一磅，算一算，說：“8 pounds, okay?”
八鎊一條烏賊!! 我們交換一下眼神，笑一笑，便接受了。
反正是新年，也應該好好對待自己。
藉口，多易找。

A Piece of Cake

不需要多餘的奢侈
只需要
一分心思 +
一句祝福 +
一件蛋糕 。

Christmas Trip

Babylon, 090111

Babylon: Myth and Reality
British Museum, London
November 13, 2008 - March 15, 2009
Official Website: http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/all_current_exhibitions/babylon/exhibition_overview.aspx

The Revolution Continues, 090101

The Revolution Continues: New Chinese Art
The Saatchi Gallery, London
Official Website: http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/new_art_from-china.htm

Japan Car, 081213

Japan Car: designs for the crowded globe
Science Museum, London
November 29, 2008 -April 29, 2009
Official Website: http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/galleries/japan_car.aspx

La vie sur terre, 081207

"Life on Earth is one of the most searching and poetic meditations on Africa at the beginning of a new millennium. On the eve of the year 2000, Sissako returns to his father's village Sokolo - a few houses in teh heart of the Mali Savannah. The passage to the new century comes about without major changes in these places where time seems to have stood still." p.42, BFI Guide (December 2008)

Gomorrah, 081108

Official Website: http://gomorrahmovie.co.uk/


"Based on Roberto Saviono's acclaimed non-fiction book, this sprawling account of the Naples-based Camorra crime syndicate was one of the stand-outs of this year's Cannes. Interweaving four loosely connected strands, involving both the criminals and their victims, this is a resolutely unglamorous portrait of mob culture, rooted in a gritty portrait of some of Naples' most impoverished districts that mixes an unflinching sense of documentary realism with moments of striking visual strangeness. a gripping, harrowing movie." - p.50, BFI Guide (November 2008)

Venice 081115-18

Click here for Photos of Venice Biennale 2008

Conegliano, Italy 081116

I remember It was a Sunday. A beautiful Sunday. No cloud but only blue sky. Slowly, the train pulled to the station, Conegliano. There, we stayed for two hours before our next train arrived. We got out of stazione, walked under the archway of Scalinata degli Alpini and reached an open piazza of Teatro Accademia. Beside it was a winding footpath, we followed the sign and reached the top of a hill. There was an umbrella pine, bending low in a car park in front of the church. Not far away from it was a bell tower, stood tall in the sky. We strolled around and descended the same footpath back to the piazza of Teatro Academia, the place where families gathered after Sunday church. In a newspaper store nearby, we bought a Casabella and a Domus and chilled out in a cafe. We ordered some snacks and two chocolata, a thick and rich cocoa drink. We flipped through the magazines but not long after we were distracted by a familiar aroma. A man, from the grocery right next to the cafe, was roasting chestnuts outside the cafe. We were both very excited and rushed out to see. We couldn't resist and bought a full bag of chestnut.

* * *
It was a pleasant 2-hour train ride from Conegliano to Belluno with a rewarding view of the mountain. I pushed down the upper window, rest my head and arms on it, and imagined I was flying in the wind.

Belluno, Italy 081116

We did not expect a winter fair. It was a bonus to our trip. All the main streets and piazzas were filled with people, music, and colours from the market stalls selling candies, honey, coffee, handmade clothes, meat, anything you could possibly find in any Sunday market. All the local people must have left their casa and gathered on the streets. We followed the crowd, walked in one single direction and stopped by some stalls to check out the local specialties. We bought ourselves malt wine and two porchetta (roasted pork) panino to satisfy our appetite. What a perfect combination, especially in the cold. But, what interested us the most were the honey from the mountain and the coffee. Without hesitation, we decided to carry a bag of freshly ground coffee back home; but the honey, we could only keep its sweetness in our memories.

Waltz with Bashir_081123

http://waltzwithbashir.com/

Like many teenagers at his time, he joined the army when he was 17. What he fought for he did not understand. At the battlefields, he and his comrades shot aimlessly as self-defence in fear and confusion. At the moment when he pulled his first trigger, all the heroic fantasies he once had of himself shattered into fragments and reduced to a single wish to survive. With luck, he kept alive among the death of many others, from bloodsheds and countless innocent killings. Day after day, the war came to an end. After such a traumatic experience of his youth, in order to move on in life, he became selectively amnestic. Amnesia - a perfect self-defence mechanism. There was one particular memory that he and his surviving comrades tried to forget, and they did. But they couldn't totally escape from their forgotten memories. A recurring dream kept on reminding them of what had happened few years ago in Lebanon when he was 17. He began to get confused of what was real and what was not real. In the wake of amnesia, he pursued the quest to find out what the dream was all about.

What is war?

A vulnerable fantasy created by the authorities
For "meaningful" killings?
(Meaningful to one side but meaningless to the others)
or just
For an act of collective amnesia?

Sadly, fire has never been ceased.
Let's stop history of war to repeat again, again and again.

A Disappearing Number - 081101

A Disappearing Number, an award winning play written by Simon McBurney, presents an alternate view towards mathematics. It leads the audiences to imagine and to think beyond our conventional understanding of mathematics. It is not just about arithmetic, but also a philosophy of life. What is ? There is no gap in infinity, so as time. There is no gap between Past-Present-Future. Partition (in mathematical term) can be infinite. Past-Present-Future are interrelated and interwoven, to form a complex pattern of time and memories, which we tend to simplify it as a linear line.

Mathematics is something more than numbers.

A brilliant play.

Exhibition - 081101

For Immediate Release - Ai weiwei
@ albion gallery

16 October - 17 November, 2008
Mon. to Fri 9am-5:30pm
Sat. 10am - 3pm

Exhibition - 081026

This Is War! Robert Capa at Work
Gerda Taro
On the Subject of War

Barbican Art Gallery reflects on conflict and its visual representation.

17 October 2008 - 25 January 2009
Barbican Art Gallery

一種味道

沒有什麽比餐後一件甜點更容易令人感到滿足。

無意間在Islington Antique Market附近
找到Ottolenghi Pastries,

便帶回家：
Passion fruit meringue tart +
Raspberry cheesecake +
Caramelized fig and pear on sponge cake。

一口蛋糕裏，
有濃郁的雞蛋香和奶香
混在一起，
那一種味道，
留不住，
但吸引。

十月 。 朋友

(Photo Courtesy of HC)

同樣是，
你，我，他 跟 他 和 她，
一年後，
在倫敦相聚。
雖然地點已改變,
但當聚在一起，
時間便會倒流
到十多年前，
你，我，他 跟 他 和 她，
在校園無聊地說笑話。
那份無聊令人懷念。

因爲
今天再不容許
我們
無聊地過每一天。

九月 。 朋友

（Photo Courtesy of A+J）

London 是他們旅程的第一站。
昨天跟他們在這城市相聚數小時。
艱得的是, 雖然跟他們不經常見面，
但感覺相當舒服。下次見面不知道會是何時。

祝願他們沿途旅程愉快！

回家

熟悉的聲音,
熟悉的地方,
熟悉的味道,

回家的感覺真好。
一天的團聚足已令我

回味
一整個星期。

Mid-Autumn Feast

There was rare sunshine this morning. We decided to go to the Marylebone Farmer’s Market to pick some fresh ingredients for our “mid-autumn feast”: mixed French beans, Roman cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, new potatoes, tomatoes, red beets, sweet corns, free range chicken, free range eggs, squid, organic beef, just to name a few.

週日的下午

她: 為什麼不選擇1865年的拿玻里?
(他, 不作聲。)
她: 將來有一天, 她不是會被埋蓋在火山灰燼中嘛？
他: 對。
她: 這樣不是更有價值嘛？
他: 可能 。
她：那為什麼…
他: 不知道…可能是因為attachment。 (她, 不作聲。) 更何況，在這裡，沒有人比我們更有理由去擁有它。

A Day in the Jungfrau Region - Photos

Click here for our travel journey in Road to Caravanserai

A Day in the Jungfrau Region - Hiking Route from Gimmelwald to Stechelberg via Oberhoresee

Click on the image above for a full version of Our Hiking Route from Gimmelwald to Stechelberg via Oberhoresee, Switzerland. (Notes: The base map was taken from "Swiss National Map 1:25 000, no. 1248 Murren, Federal Office of Topography swisstopo, 2007." This is the map that we used for our journey.)

Swiss Chocolate

從瑞士帶來的巧克力, 剩餘最後的兩颗。因為不捨得，所以拍下照片。這是我嚐過最好的巧克力。也因為它曾經帶給我美好的回憶，這盒巧克力也是我最喜歡的。

Battersea Power Station

Real Estate Opportunities has recently invited architect Rafael Viñoly to draw a new plan for the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station and its surrounding area. A presentation suite was set up on the site and visitors were encouraged to take a self-guided walk/tour around this London icon.

White Cliff

Yesterday, we decided to go to the White Cliff walking along the scenic trail from the Seven Sisters to Eastbourne. It took us about an hour to get to Brighton from London Victoria by Southern Express train. At Brighton, we took bus 12 at Churchill Square to Exceat (about 45-minute ride), where the trail began.

We followed the sign, South Downs Way Trail, and walked uphill to the top of the Seven Sisters, which gave us spectacular views of the white cliff and the borderless sea. We then walked eastward on the undulating landscape and arrived at Birling Gap. There, we descended a wooden staircase to get to the foot of the cliff and rested on a stony beach. After a 30-minute break, we walked uphill again to our next destination, the Beachy Head - the highest chalk sea cliff in Britain. That’s also where the toughest part of our journey began. By the time I got to the Beachy Head, my energy level had been dropping low; but we had not reached our final destination, the Eastbourne Pier. That would be another 2 hours walk. Anyhow, we kept on walking; and I kept on reminding myself that I would get to taste the best fish and chips there. That was how I made it to the end.

To me, the 5-hour trail, going uphill and downhill, was physically demanding. It reminded me of the trail walk I had on the Great Wall from Jinshanling to Simatai; but this time the path was wider and had less crumbled stones. After the walk, my leg muscles were tight and aching. I had to take Tylenol to soothe the pain. Nonetheless, I still found the journey rewarding.

Here are some of the photos of the white cliff along the trail:

White Cliff - I

Seven Sisters

White Cliff - II

Birling Gap