Life's coincidences

I was about to get ready for bed when I decided to tidy up my bookshelf a bit. My old Thai exercise book dropped out of the shelf and out of nostalgia, I decided to give it a flip. On the back page was a list of classmates' names that I had scribbled down, possibly because I was dead bored in class. This was almost six years ago, mind you. Studying Thai in Bangkok was possibly one of the better times of my life.

One of the names stood out because the person actually scribbled down her address in Bangkok. Her name was Amy Brenneman and the last I heard, she designed clothes and had her own clothing line. So life was good for her. I recalled that Amy was very cool and she was always keen to know more about Singapore.

Out of curiousity, I googled her name and the following page comes up.
http://www.sjsratline.com/iWeb/www.sjsratline.com/Blog/FC657418-09F6-4869-8600-906819093F20.html

The appeal was in March 2008. Amy and her husband and daughter were in an elevator in a Thai apartment when the cable snapped. Yeah, the cable snapped and the elevator dropped five stories before crashing. And my friend was five months pregnant. The baby was safe although from the sound of it, Amy pretty much broke every bone in her body. She was smiling in the pictures though, so I guess she was some tough lady.

From the sound of it, she needed some financial help. Her clothing line has stopped. So I am probably going to email her sister to see whether I could get in contact with Amy again.

Times like this make me glad I wasn't staying in some broken down apartment in Thailand.

Watchmen and Pics of Indian Village

Isn't this a cool poster? Taken off Scifimoviepage.com. I need to get one of these posters to hang it up in my office.

Watchmen is hands-down, the best movie in 2009. Ok, so I am stretching it a bit since we are only in March. But given that Transformers 2 is going to be the worst movie in human memory (remember you hear it first here) and G I Joe looks like it is just a typical action movie, there does not look like any movie in 2009 that could better Watchmen. Unless they can come up with Rambo V in 2009 which involves John Rambo solving the global financial crisis by killing all the bankers, property and insurance agents in Wall Street and Shenton Way (OMG, I totally reserve all intellectual property rights on this storyline), there is no better movie than the Watchmen 2009. Visually stunning, wonderfully-developed characters and an intriguing storyline and finale, the Watchmen is second to none, first among equals. The movie shall usher in an epoch of creative movie-making, love and world peace. Ok, stretching a little.

Speaking of world peace, I passed by a typical Indian village in Bodh Gaya. I am not sure which is worse-off; a Lao village or an Indian village. Both have buffalos walking lazing around (hey, I wonder how is Daisy doing outside my house in Laos) and poor villagers either sleeping or doing their chores slowly.

This is like so typical of a village. Buffalos sleeping in close proximity to the villages.

Dirt path going into the village.


People can actually sleep outdoor in the heat.


Indian woman in saree wondering what I was doing.

Small shops selling things nobody is buying. Typical.

Ala Cabonara

I just had the worst carbonara in the Universe. Supreme proof that shit food can be served in the poshiest of environments. The carbonara was hard and clumpy like some failed experiment from a blind man's kitchen. The wine was also suitably cheap and nasty. The place was packed with rich people who seemed to be enjoying themselves on bad wine and lousier food. Conclusion: a person's taste seems to be inversely proportionate to his wealth. One of those rare times that I am glad that I am not rich.

After I came home, I surf the net immediately to verify what ala carbonara i supposed to look like. Yeah, I wasn't wrong. Ala Carbonara is supposed to be creamy, not clumpy with hard bacon hidden somewhere. Here's one from weightwatcher website.

Dreadfully wrong / Mahabodhi Temple

Not for the first time, I think there is something dreadfully wrong with me. I am hungry all the time and I couldn't stop eating. My friends joked that I had a Lao worm setting up camp in my stomach. I can imagine the worm now - sitting in a high back IKEA chair, drinking tea and reading a book. Just to give an example: I just had half a herbal chicken and rice for dinner at Harbour Front Centre, and then got hungry after 5 minutes. I then walked over to Vivocity Food Republic to eat a plate of roast duck rice. Then for good measure, I ate two baos on the way out. And I am still hungry. I am chewing bananas now just to stave the hunger pangs.

As with all things, I shall blame it on her.

And to make it worse, my personal laptop gave up on me. Great. I can't really complain because (a) I got the laptop for free and (b) i hated the laptop since day one. But still, another 1K+ going down the drain. Money that I could have saved.

The spate of bad luck follows after my visit to Bodh Gaya and the Mahabodhi Temple. Which is funny really since all evil spirits and bad luck are supposed to be vanquished at Mahabodhi temple which is the most holy of Buddhist grounds.

First, to the region of Bodh Gaya.


If I didn't specify this is India, you would think it is Laos. Basically, I have been to enough 3rd world countries to know that the landscapes all look roughly the same.

But of course, the place is much messier and crowded than Laos.

The straw "hut" on the right is really not a hut. But it is in fact harvested straws all stacked economically into a "hut" shape.

Another typical "house" in Bihar, poorest state in India. Just some poor quality concrete stacked with some straws/rattans for roof. And a door that doesn't really fit.

Landscape shot.

Mahabodhi temple at night. It is famous for the holy Bodhi tree. According to Buddhist religious teachings, in 530 BC, Buddha when he was wondering around, reached this spot and sat in meditation under a tree. He reached enlightenment after 3 days and nights.

See this guy putting up his tent. There are many tents filled with praying monks around the stupa and the holy tree.

You may have to tilt the screen a bit to see the outline of the holy tree. There is a tent in front of it.

Some guy sitting back against the wall meditating.

A tent that is awashed with blue light infront of the Bodhi tree.

I should have brought back a leaf from the Holiest of trees back from good karma.