Indonesia

During the time I was in Jakarta, Indonesia, a friend of mine's father led us to this port in city centre. They were sending cement and wire meshes for building foundations to other islands, and the other islands would send wood back for selling.

These boats were traditional, I mean traditional, they were completely made of wood.

Logs and boats in full view, the workers move on thicker logs to get on and off the boats

The people who unload these boats, are paid 20-30 dollars total (USD) per one truck. That money is shared among the people loading/unloading the boat. It's not that much.

The worst part was that since it was Ramadan month, they were fasting during the day, no food, no water... moving wood logs under the hot sun. Plus, they have to feed themselves/their families.

Our tour guide of the boat. I could imagine being the tour guide, even for a few minutes, earns them a lot more than moving the logs.

The development of Jakarta is very segregated. The rich live the rich life. The poor live a completely different life. The average working office lady starts out at 1.5 million rupiah a month. For those that don't know the exchange rate, that's 1 USD to 10,000 rupiah. So, that runs down to 150 USD a month. Hence forth, food is relatively inexpensive, all the food I've taken pictures of that is on my FB did not exceed over 100,000 each.

This particular dish was 64,000 rupiah, the most expensive single dish I've had in Jakarta.

I had said this on my Weibo: In Singapore/North America, an iPhone is a third, or a quarter of a month's salary. In China, that would be a month or two's worth. Indonesians, on the other hand, have to save half a year's worth of salary to be able to afford an iPhone.

The difference is staggering.

龙年

家人, 团聚. 重要.

但是在这时候, 我想人了.

说好了, 不打扰, 不复杂.


新年大家快乐!

妈妈好多了, 手术很成功, 恢复当中. 我在身边, 她开心, 我也开心.

Airport

机场是一个很寂寞的地方.

相聚分散的地方, 就算人不在, 思念总是在空气中蔓延. 喝喝咖啡, 手机一人一个.

自己也一直飞来飞去, 可能是为什么我喜欢Up in the Air这部电影吧.

家是哪里我自己也不是分的很清楚了. They say "Home is where the heart is". They're probably right.

我和很多朋友都说我能什么时候回来, 定了个时间. 就到2天前还是这么在说, 但是, 现在的我不知道了. 妈妈这次很需要我, 有很多的考量.


说别的, 人总是在理性与感性之间徘徊. 这次我也是对号入座了, 我该说的和我想说的就在理性与感性之间徘徊. 有些事情, 不敢奢求.

Self-control还是很重要的.


是时候离开了, 这里有好多我留恋的人, 但是这次我也只能这样了.

就像我堂妹说的: Timing is everything.


Andy
多伦多Pearson国际机场

Quiet

There are times when you want to find peace and quiet but just can't find the place.

Now that I'm here, there isn't anything left for me to sit there and brood over.

I'm left with decisions I've made, decisions I can't change.


"有时候, 有时候, 我会相信一切有尽头, 相聚离开都有时候, 没有什么会永垂不朽."

"走吧, 走吧, 人总要学着自己长大, 走吧, 走吧, 人生难免经历苦痛挣扎."


呵呵, 最后还是回想起老歌...



我在这里 08/05/2010 Lake Louise. 天气晴.

Timezone 2

I woke with sleepy eyes.

It was 4:30. Not a normal time to wake up by any imagination.

I made my way through the train cars, people were still asleep, wrapping up their dreams. I crept pass them carefully. No way I was waking them up and let them realize what I was going to do.

It is dark when I got to the dome car. Storm clouds was looming over. I could see a little glimmer of red at the horizon, thankfully I was not late.

I was worried though, lightning was flashing quickly in the clouds... and then it began to rain.

Ugh, I woke up for nothing.


As quickly as the rain started it stopped. The clouds were moving faster than I thought.

That red turned into bright orange, bright yellow, the clouds were colored gold. As the sun rose on my right, I looked to my left, where darkness was beginning to fade. By now, the clouds was ruining someone else's morning

I could see water towers, houses, gas stations. We should be nearing Edmonton by now.


I yawned, 5:30 was the time. I couldn't take it anymore, as I made my way back, the sun had woken up some people, most of them elderly.


Muhaha, I thought to myself with an evil laugh, and went straight back to sleep.

Timezone 1

A full 24hrs later, we left one timezone for another.

I'm sitting in the dome, enjoying the sunset, and the peacefulness of it all.

Here there is nothing, no people, no towns, no cars, just trees, nature, lakes, blue skies and the sunset.
Ah yes the sunset...

Our train races forward on the track, moving ever so close to Winnipeg. As if it was racing backwards in time, trying to fight for the passengers, a little more time to view the sunset, just a little more before darkness envelopes us. But then again, it knows, darkness will come.


The sky darkens.

And the world... the world opens up.

Stars pop out. The moon says hi through the reflections off the water surface and plays hide and seek through the trees.

I wish I could capture all of this in a picture, but to no avail, be it the glass dome reflecting off the lights, or the not up to snuff photo sensitivity on my camera.

This moment, I wish I could be on the train for a long time, I'm not heading towards a vacation, I'm on it right now.