sojourns to the far east / day one / return to seoul

sweetness in the air. crisp and clear.

after coming back from shanghai the day before, i felt a sense of familiarity as the cold air of the city filled my lungs with invigorating doses of freshness and vitality. there is something beautifully refined about korea and her capital that i cant quite put my finger on, and the minute i arrived, i was soaking it all in.



this picture of a highly intricate and complex play of light and shadow formed from the streaming of sunlight through the mish-mash of a shell of perfect geometry above was the arrival and departure hall in which i would return to the heart of the city, and ultimately, back to my guesthouse. i was so taken aback by how arresting this dramatic manifestation of light within this space was in front of me, that i just had to take a moment to gaze at the awesomeness of it all, and take a shot for posterity.

the space almost felt sacred, like stepping into a futuristic cathedral, in the distant future.

and as i went down, waiting for my ride, i saw an advertisement of what seemed like a local boy-band, made me smirk a bit, and i thought i take the shot to remind that quirkiness is a quality found everywhere.



the trip back to seoul from shanghai was an uneventful affair, as expected, but at the immigration counter, the officer began to look at my passport with a magnifying glass. that's right, a magnifying glass and it was the kind sherlock holmes uses, when he and watson traverse the notorious, crime-ridden alleys of victorian london a couple of centuries ago. he found it difficult to identify me with my passport picture simply because i was clean shaven back then, but blessed with an imposing beard now. eventually, after asking me to speak in bahasa malaysia to verify my citizenship, i did get through.

did i really look all that different? apparently so.

anyway, after coming back to the hostel, resting in the deep cold for the night, i was back at jamsil stadium. i had shared my room last night with this norwegian guy ( who kinda reminded me of ryan reynolds .. you know the american actor who played green lantern in june 2010? ) who was friendly and fit, and whom i invited to tag along. gladly of course he did and we were off to the stadium. i had told him about the design fair and i said he could join me if he wanted to.

today however was special. another one of the lovely bunch of girls i met last year would be meeting me at grounds of the stadium. her name was jieun, and my heart beats with anticipation, and the weather, being sunny and cool was just perfect for the rendezvous.



we had arrived at the stadium earlier than the set appointment time cause i wanted to walk around and catch some of the other areas i missed when i was last here about a week before.



i had ran out of time previously and so this was my chance to make up for it. this time, my focus was the main tented areas on the field of the stadium and the other guy joined me. walking in the direction of those tents in the middle of the field, i had remember seeing these timber geodesic domes placed on seating areas within the stadium. they looked clearer and more prominent now, under the clarity that direct sunlight provided and i felt that somehow they resembled giant mechanical spider-like organisms walking down slowly and steadily.

my mind playing tricks on me, i guess ... either that or too much exposure to transformers.



as i entered the tents, i felt that the focus in these places seemed to be centered around collections of elegant home furnishings like this simple but gleaming teapot set above and the perfectly balanced stone and timber chair and table next to it. it was clear the concept was to make these plain everyday objects as refined as possible, almost looking like objects of art, and the results pretty much speak for themselves, and they carried a distinctly eastern flavour in their presentation.



absolutely lovely.



this richly detailed architectural model is a perfect replica of a gateway that would be found at the entrance of palaces. everything about it was proportional and scaled accordingly and a testament to the ingenuity of skillful wooden engineering, whether it was the model or the real thing.



it was almost surreal to see how well detailed this model was and i can only imagine how many pain staking hours it must have taken to have built this so precisely.



its brackets, its panels, its eaves, its columns, its posts, its tiles.
this kind of detailing is frightening, to say the least.



as i walked around i came across one eye-catching exhibit after another and this was an interesting interpretation of the concept of temporary shelters i thought, almost prehistoric in nature and raw to the touch. each individual member looked a colossal bone from a whale's corpse, forming a colonnade of arches for us to sit beneath.



and pieces of art were on display, birthed from actual rubbish, in a form that could only be described as cute, kawaii-style.



this tunnel of light, where animated graphics were playing in the dark on the floor, caught my attention next and i was pulled in, like moth to a flame. i walked in of course, entertained by the swimming of virtual gold koi fish, and taking a moment or two to appreciate the visual impact of these projections.



exiting, i then proceeded to the area where the latest in gadgets and gizmos were on display and one of the booths that i had visited had this striking mirror ceiling above it. it was time for a little play and i decided i wanted to take a shot in an unconventional manner.

can you spot me in the reflection above?



moving on, one of the most ludicrous things i saw however was this tv commercial playing on air of a bunch of rapping hamsters in hip-hop inspired outfits doing the break dance and riding an SUV tearing up the streets of the town.



these hamsters were of course 3D virtual characters but they seemed some believably real, that you could be forgiven for thinking they were, and the things they were doing instantly dropped my jaw in astonishment, and i just coulnt stop myself from laughing out loud.



they truly were hilarious!

and soon after watching dancing gangsta hamsters with attitude, the much - awaited call came.

jieun was here, waiting outside and i was going to greet her at the main entrance of the stadium. immediately when she saw me she reached out her hand and shook mine. expressing surprise at my appearance she nonetheless welcomed me with open arms and the next thing on the agenda was a cup of coffee, starbucks style.



it was so good to see her again. so good.

of course the inevitable happened and we started catching up on old times and bringing ourselves up to date on how things have been since we last met a year ago. she had been working in samsung now this past year or so, and i could see how demanding it was to be a part of that team. she had told me the projects she had been working on for the company and said that her project was actually on display here. i said great and we'll definitely have a look at it. i had told her that her english had improved considerably, and she was flattered, but i think she was a bit unconvinced.



now just outside where we were having coffee, the fields were abuzz with festive activity. it seemed only natural that we would go out to explore and breathe in the fresh air as we walked around. it may seem hot and sunny, but the air was chilly and it was delightfully breezy.



two guys, a girl and a sports place.



just around the corner, something peculiar was about to take flight.

jieun told me that this was actually a haechi, which was a mythical lion that was the country's national symbol, and his image is popular everywhere, especially with children. i had told her that it looks like a character from the simpsons, and she couldn't stop laughing. so i guess homer, marge, bart, lisa and maggie and the rest of springfield are loved here too!



and soon he takes flight!



way, way up in the vastness of the blue yonder. wild and free.



time for another shot. again, two guys, a girl and a sports place.



we walked along for a while, observing all the merriment around us. children playing in the fields carelessly, guarded by their parents watchful gaze, surrounded by playthings stationed all around the field.



once we were done on the fields outside, we walked in the halls of the exhibitions inside the stadium and we kept on talking about our lives as we observed all around us. several interesting exhibits on design and technology were on display here and each piece of design truly was a work of art, functionally and aesthetically. even everyday objects as ubiquitous as the humble bicycle were given a complete makeover and redefined into something new and exciting.



after spending a couple of hours, she told me she had to leave soon, cause she had personal things she needed to attend to later at night with her family. and once we were at the end of this hall at about 6pm, it pretty much signaled the end of the day at the fair, and it was time to leave.

for all three of us.

i told her id be in korea for the next 6 days or so and if possible, we should try to meet again soon. smiling, she said she will try.

lets hope so. goodbye jieun, see you soon.

now, earlier on in the day, i had also made plans to see my malaysian counterpart in seoul and we had planned to meet for dinner once the evening was done. she, yw, would be calling another friend as well, mj-kim ( whose company i absolutely adore ) to join us tonight. well, of course i was looking forward to our encounter, wholeheartedly knowing it would be in a completely relaxed, laid-back manner, care - free all the way.



and so we arrived here. the thing is, i cant quite remember where "here" was. oh well, that didnt really matter i guess.



the night was wonderful, irregardless.

as i spent time chatting withe these two lovely ladies and relieving memories while having coffee and ice-cream, i was entertained by various sweet anecdotes of how both of them were living it up here in seoul and it was a joy to listen to every word.

humorous bits and pieces of their social lives peppered the conversations we were having, and i juts couldn't help but smile every time i heard something warm and heart-tugging.

i wish the night would have lasted much longer, but unfortunatley, they both had responsibilities in the morning and needed to head back home soon. MJ-kim, especially, lived quite a distance away and needed to get back before it got too late, and of course, i understood. the night soon came to end, and we said our heartfelt goodbyes.

of course i had hoped we would be able to catch up one last time before i leave seoul in a few days, but i realised even if we didn't, this was one pleasant evening i would remember for a long, long time.

goodnight sweethearts! see you soon!

sojourns to the far east / day five / shanghai

what would it feel like to travel on the fastest train on the planet?

when i got up on saturday morning, that was the question that flashed in my mind. this was my last day in this fabulous city and once i was ready to leave, i was soon going to get an answer. it was a pretty straightforward departure, without any hint of fanfare, and as soon as i was ready, i made my way to the subway station.

au revoir, shanghai.
you've been incomparable. truly incomparable.

and after feeling a sense that i truly had accomplished almost everything i wanted to in this metropolis, i started walking from the hotel to the station in a relatively brief period of time. and now, here i am, at the entrance of one of the major nexus points of the city's sophisticated public transportation network, waiting to head up and board my ride back to seoul.



thoroughly modern in appearance, it had a sleek and louvered, aerodynamic skeleton attached to its main structure and immediately the language of its design conveys the notion of lightlessness and velocity. looking like the side of a bullet train in motion, stripped of its exterior skin leaving behind only its serpentine - like bone structure, i could really feel that the station highlights the concept of direction and rapidity.



speed, baby. its all about speed!



and as i walk up, and waited at the main platform, its interior spaces clearly defined its primary direction and a feeling of unrestricted continuity from where we were to where we gonna go.



and like clockwork, the train arrives. we board. we sit. we depart.



but the question now remains, just how fast are we really gonna go here? whats the target we're gonna achieve? how quickly are we gonna move from the heart of the city to the heart of the airport?

8 minutes. 300 km/h.

yup, that's what i was told. 8 freaking minutes from downtown shanghai to the airport. it took me about 1 hour or so to get from the airport to my hotel and here, the return trip takes me less than 10 minutes.

now that's fast.
and yet another example of china's mad dash to modernity. literally.

ultimately you see, this was no ordinary train that transverses as swiftly as it could. this was the famed, ultra sophisticated MAG-LEV train. traveling at almost the speed of sound itself, this futuristic piece of public transport effortlessly levitates a few inches off its meandering iron tracks across the landscape of the country, and it was powered by the seemingly sci-fi notion of harnessing magnetism as its energy source.

and it was a dream to ride this ballistic slice of technology.

we were going so unbelievably quickly, that i couldn't even take proper shots of the landscape outside, without trees looking blurry, vehicles looking unfocussed and people looking fuzzy on my touchscreen panel.

it was a dream, set far in the future, to be on this train, and that's how it felt. a dream.



and that's the proof. for the world to see.



and as i departed, i felt the need to take a shot of the train from the station itself. although the train appears as if it was moving, it was actually still and stationary at the time, but even resting for a moment, the train still looks like it was in high motion exemplified by its steel skin, resembling liquid metal in action.



everything about this machine was sleek.
its speed, its technology, its design. this truly was movement personified, in every sense of the word.



and soon after, i checked in and simply waited to board the plane back to seoul.



i walked around for a bit looking at both at the inside and the outside, but taking notice of the ceiling of the airport more than anything else. annoyingly prominent white tubes, acting as miniature solar pipes, seemed to be jutting out of the high blue ceiling at the intersection of every square feet and visually, it felt a bit too much.



and it was everywhere. and i do mean everywhere.



and the last thing i remember was the hearing of a murmured announcement that the plane was ready and all us passengers were summoned to board. this was the last shot at the departure hall, and soon i'd leave shanghai. just before i left i thought to myself that this trip just couldn't have been more amazing, and i relish the next time i get to visit this high powered megalopolis.

till we meet again. and we will.

sojourns to the far east / night four / shanghai

well, im all dressed to the nines.
the night belongs to me, and i relish the moment.

tonight was my final night here in shanghai, and its cause for a celebration. a befitting end to an amazing journey here in the financial heart of red china, with a group of people i enjoyed great camaraderie with. the american expedition of delegates, as i like to call them.

and tonight we celebrate each others company for the last time before we make our separate ways back home, over a invitingly sumptuous chinese dinner in an opulent and distinctively oriental ambiance. we had planned months before to have dinner at one of the more famous eating establishments in the city, and everything was confirmed, all i needed to do was show up.

looking as debonair as possible. and i did, by the way.
( im allowed to indulge in a little self gloating every once in a while on my own blog, i figure )



and as i took a taxi to my destination, i pass by a heart warming reminder why i was here to begin with. a lot of memories to cherish, visually ignited by a flashing glance.



and this was the spot.



an grandiose oriental palace of curving dark grey roofs, of solid deep red walls, of intricate black and white embellishments, and luminous linings of gold, streaking across the entire pompous complex.



this was the eminent yu yuan restaurant in the older part of shanghai surrounded by rows of old shoplots. a mixture of both the colonial and the local, and as soon as i entered, i felt i had walked back into the past of a more decadent and lavish but bygone era.



i figured this was how the shanghai of the roaring twenties and thirties must have appeared to be, with rows of glaring street lights lit up as far as the eye can see, where people seemed to be rushing at every turn, where trade and commerce never stops even for a breather and where the traffic was insane and incessant with maddening sounds from every corner.

no exaggeration there, i assure you.



i walked in, and i realise, i was late, but fashionably so. the crowd didn't mind though, and i had arrived right at the moment dinner was being served. the dishes were brough in one by one, customarily so, and each morsel was tastier than the last. we had polite dinner conversations of warm glasses of chinese tea, served traditionally as well, as expected, and we each took turns to regale the audience on how we felt about the whole excursion.

of course, telling your side of the story and how enjoyable it was, was a matter of being gracious, and i had begun my story by saying of course it had been a fantastic experience from the time we met at the hotel lobby, till throughout the 2 days at the expo and of course, culminating till this moment. i had ended by asking everyone on whether they had seen the movie "the joy luck club" and immediately the response was, "we're not that old!". everyone giggled ( though i'm not sure why ) but i stressed after that comment, that this gathering felt like a scene from that movie, and i think they kinda understood where i was coming from.

and just so you know, this was what the movie was about, and it was excellent, poignant viewing. highly recommended.

(The Joy Luck Club, published by G. P. Putnam's Sons in 1989, presents the stories of four Chinese-immigrant women and their American-born daughters. Each of the four Chinese women has her own view of the world based on her experiences in China and wants to share that vision with her daughter. The daughters try to understand and appreciate their mothers' pasts, adapt to the American way of life, and win their mothers' acceptance)



after dinner was over, we decided the night wouldn't have been complete without a group shot of everyone and so we took turns to take a few photographs before proceeding to the second part of the evening.at this point i thought that the dinner was over, and it was time to leave soon, but a surprise was just around the corner. literally.



it seems there was a cabaret style performance tonight to be mesmerized by, and we all needed to go upstairs to attend the show as part of the agenda of the night. so lets see ... i get to see a bunch of shanghai lovelies, decked in feathers and sequined sprinkled traditional outfits in a burlesque style song and dance routine, looking seductively resplendent on stage?

sure!




and as i proceed to the hall, i pass by a verandah on my way up and admire the stupefying views of the night that catch my eye instantly. how spectacular the skyline of modern shanghai looks at night, and even more impressive to be here in the older part of the city looking literally at the future.



and once i arrived at the hall, this was where it got exciting!

these were the dancers who go around in groups talking and taking shots with the audience members before any show begins.their PR skills were put to full use, thats for sure. one of the ladies in my expedition asked me on whether i'd like to take a shot with these beautiful girls, and i said, without any hesitation whatsoever, "oh God, yes!"



and the show goes on!



once everything was over, and it was time to say goodbye, we took a few last shots and bid each other safe journey. i was headed back to seoul in the morning and these guys were probably going to stay on for another day or two before heading back to the US. before going back to the hotel, i decided to walk around for a while to take as many shots as i could of the complex and its surrounding areas, specifically of the building and marketplace itself. other than a restaurant, this complex also contained a prominent marketplace, selling things and trinkets that mostly tourists would appreciate to take back home. i did my fair share of window shopping too. it was still early at the time, about 10pm, so i decided to spend the last few hours simply walking around to look at much as i could and take as many shots as i could for posterity.

it was after all a beautiful collection of buildings lovingly restored and lighted up like colossal paper lanterns, drawing the eye to every conceivable wall, roof, door and window, and everything else in between, and it seemed like a good way to end the festivities of the evening, to be in my own company, walking aimlessly in nameless alleys indulging in one of my favourite ways to spend time, admiring architectural splendour.

as you can see, it was time well spent.



the area truly was very well preserved and glorified for the benefit of the tourist dollar undoubtedly, but it was a joy to walk around and trying to observe the many wonderful bits and pieces this publicly displayed and highlighted piece of history had to offer ...



like this illuminated piece of neon art showing a traditional landscape with temples and clouds ...



or this solid bronze tortoise, with a beautiful shell on its back and oddly, with a dragon-like head ...



or this poor run - down stone lion, sadly neglected and seemingly desperate to be noticed.



and this was my last shot for the night, before proceeding to get back to the hotel.



and i approach one of the city's numerous urban arteries, taking me from the older part of the city to the new, back to the five star establishment i had been slumbering in luxury these past five days.



the views were striking, as i crossed the link.



and i enter the shimmering halls of the main entrance of the hotel.



welcomed by glows of seductive golden light.



making my way on the impeccably polished floors of the lobby.
yup, i was back, and pretty soon too.



it was close to midnight at the time, when i was informing the receptionists at the hotel lobby that i would be leaving the following morning and i wondered on whether they would be kind enough to take a shot with me just for the fun of it. of course, they obliged, and with that last shot, ladies and gentleman, my time in this illustrious metropolis had come a memorable end. the very reason this journey to the east took place to visit the world expo had come to its fulfillment, and it was time to head back to seoul.

these five days in shanghai, from the city to the world expo, have been nothing less than incomparably spectacular, and i felt truly blessed to have experienced these past few days with some of the kindest people i have ever had the privilege of meeting. i can only hope i would be blessed with similar circumstances in the future especially at the next world expo in yeosu, korea in 2012.

for now however, good night, shanghai. tomorrow, seoul beckons.
sweet, sweet seoul.