Ｓｏ ｄｏｅｓ ｔｈｉｓ ｂｕｉｌｄｉｎｇ ｌｏｏｋ ｌｉｋｅ ａ Ｄｕｒｉａｎ ｏｒ ｗｈａｔ？
Ｔｏｇｅｔｈｅｒ ｔｈｅ ｋｉｎｇ ａｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｑｕｅｅｎ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｆｒｕｉｔ ｉｎ Ｍａｌａｙｓｉａ．．．． ａｓ ｙｏｕ ｃａｎ ｔｅｌｌ ｂｙ ｔｈｅ ｓｋｉｎ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ Ｄｕｒｉａｎ， ｉｔ ｈａｓ ｆａｃｅｄ ａ ｔｏｕｇｈ ｌｉｆｅ
Ｍａｎｙ ｔｏｕｒｉｓｔｓ ｃａｎ ｎｏｔ ｈａｎｄｌｅ ｔｈｉｓ ｆｒｕｉｔ （ｔｈｅ ｋｉｎｇ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ｆｒｕｉｔｓ ｉｎ Ｍａｌａｙｓｉａ）Ｔｈｅｙ ｓａｙ ｉｔｓ ｌｉｋｅ ｓｍｅｌｌｙ ｆｅｅｔ ａｎｄ ｔｈｅ ｔａｓｔｅ ｉｓ ｂａｄ．． ｓｏｍｅ ｈｏｔｅｌｓ ｄｏｎｔ ｅｖｅｎ ａｌｌｏｗ ｔｈｉｓ ｆｒｕｉｔ ｉｎｓｉｄｅ．．．．
ｗｈｈａａａ ｂｉｇ ｂｕｌｌ－ｓｈｉｔ．Ｆｏｒ ｔｈｅ ｓｍｅｌｌ， ｎｏｔ ｔｏ ｂａｄ ａｎｄ ｆｏｒ ｔｈｅ ＬＯＶＥ ＩＴ！！Ｉｔｓ ａ ｂｉｔ ｏｆ ａ ｍｅｎｇｌｅ ｂｅｔｗｅｅｎ ａｖｏｃａｄｏ ａｎｄ ｍａｎｇｏ． Ｄｏ ｙｏｕ ｂｅｌｉｅｖｅ ｍｅ ｈａｈａｈａ？
You might not exactly be able to tell from this picture but I'm out hunting an inosent slipper with this massive blowpipe......
This might be the bigger gun, still after 11 hours of harvesting another 4 hours of selecting should follow......
The small leaf of the tea has the highest quality in a blend..... for some blends only these small ones are being selected. (Due to climate change the size of the leaves is changing anyhow wich will eventualy effect the quality of tea aswell.....)
Another side of the Batu caves.... walking the 272 steps this was as big a tourist atraction as the actual caves..... although the huge golden men (see next picture) made me look twice as well.
(Little India /Singapore)
Melaka (Malaysia...... yes thats where I am) old traders city with lots of Dutch buildings.
Like a tissue..... a veeeeeery sweet one. But I like to say its alienshit........ like an alien who dropped something from space. (ooooh in case you missed it: yes, so this is food)
Get ready to buy... its easy to take a quick look to see whats on the market today...when you are realy interested this is easy to hide and you will have at least twenty sellers all over you.
Hoi An, city of 200 tailors is the place to play designer for a day........ this is my five minute project haha
It has been made in one day and touched by ten hands...
The impressive interior of Halong bay cave.
Mountain village
Xinxiang: as I am unfolding my-self trying to get out of an indeed charming and cosy minivan (ones flexibility must increase when allowed this much space in vehicles...)
my eyes start wandering the streets. They stroll into the taxis where they immediately notice the security cage the driver sits in: against crashes. It looks more like they expect the passengers to behave like dogs... or maybe the drivers themselves might do so...
Two days ago I arrived in Shijazhuang, the place where New Times is settled. New Times is the organisation that helps me to find a (volunteer) teaching job.
Accompanied by Jenny (from New Times) all the way in the minivan experience, we now are waiting for a car to pick me up and bring me to the mountain village school where I will be teaching the next 3 weeks.
As promised there comes the car and when opening its doors 4 man come out! Jennys services stop right here and I am delivered to these 4 man, 3 of them appear to be english teachers, but they whisper something like "sorry, my english is poor"...
After 10 minutes the car stops in front of some giant shopping mall where I am guided through by mister Li (one of the 4) . I will need some stuff here for in the mountain village and that is why mister Li as personal coach now is guiding me through the process of grocery shopping....hilarious. But I felt not realy at ease.
When the shopping fun is over, I enjoy the senery. I sit next to the driver with all the english teachers silently sleeping and mumbeling in the back and wonder what 3 weeks of silence will be like......
As soon as we arrive at the school my luggage is taken out of the car and carried away. We all follow my luggage and walk into the office of the headmaster who gives me a warm welcome in Chinese. Than a new face walks into the room, another english teacher.... a girl, she translates the headmasters speech and tells me she will stay with me, the 3 weeks in this school, cause apparently I need someone to take care of me.....
2 of these weeks have passed by now. The english teacher: miss Zhang, has been looking after me day and night, but she has not been the only one......
Also......the whispers of the man in the car, became louder and more frequent and soon they where proper conversations......the man where just shy.
Just like these man most of the people I meet here pass this phase of being shy and mumbling.
And just like miss Zhang people take care of me and overwhelm me with their hospitality.
I made friends with a lot of teachers and have been invited to their houses, met their kids, had dinners, gifts and all kinds of food brought to me... Apples are a real common and populair Chinese gift, so imagine by now I can start an apple store.
You are never allowed to refuse any gift or food as that will make them feel realy embarrassed.
From the look in their eyes, their warm heart seems never ending. Their honesty and simple way of expressing seem so pure. It still touches me the same way everyday and is one of the only things I am not "used to".
I even received free stuff from shop owners in the village; have been, individualy, welcomed by 3000(!) students (that took me 2 weeks...yesterday I had the last new class...the 38th); and invited over to their houses.
I have sung in all 38th classes; danced in some; I have been asked to model for countless pictures: cellphones, cameras I even did some proper shoots with students, entire classes, teachers and families.....
Cambodia
Traveling has always made it easy for me to write.The use of traffic somehow creates "wordbombs" in my head that explode uncontrolled.
Floating on the wide brown Mekong, yet again my brain is 3 steps ahead, making it hard for my pencil to follow.....
Cambodia. It has been about a week and the country has lived in me day and night. In bed I still see the faces, feel the traffic crossing with its motos; hear the voices of children selling books (mostly coppied lonely planets); people begging; tuk-tuk drivers pushing you to take their ride.
Now heading to the border with Vietnam, by boat, staring at the brown water that doesn't reveal anything, I realise that Cambodia is still as big a secret to me as this surrounding water I'm floating through right now. I only heard the fist tones of the song that makes this country. But missing most of the concert the impression is not less. Having seen capital: Phnom Pen and the massive Angkor I've seen masterpieces. I pitty they were touristic places that didn't give me that much of a feel for the people.... you can tell things by their faces, yet you don't know the stories behind their stare.
