SAD IS SWEET, AND BEAUTIFUL TOO!

"Said the Gramophone" (http://www.saidthegramophone.com/) is a mp3blog started in 2003 providing a "daily sampler of really good songs...posted out of love" by 3 writers based in Canada. Do not expect the latest hits, the songs posted here are either obscure, unheard of or lost over the years. The sampler mp3's served to create or re-create awareness of the artists and the songs. I have followed it on and off for about 3 years now.

Today I happened to re-visit it through my list of URLs and bumped into another song by Nick Drake (1948~1974) - "Place to be" and I was totally stunned by the bare simplicity of this song.
(http://www.saidthegramophone.com/archives/where_dew_gathers.php)

The first Nick Drake song I came across was "Northern Sky" in the movie "Serendipity" starring Kate Beckinsale and John Cusack in a movie about testing fate and seeing if destiny could bring 2 people back together years after they separated. A very romantic movie that I could watch over and over again.

The (old) short excerpt (I've been a long time that I'm waiting....I've been a long time that I've wandered.....Through the people I have known) (previously) just below my Blog title came from Northern Sky. Nick Drake's lyrics can be very abstract, it could mean different things from different perspectives. That is the beauty of it, you read into it and draw your own interpretation. The music plays its part in the interpretation as well.

Nick Drake died of an overdose of anti-depressants aged 26 on 25 Nov 1974. His music gained prominence many years after his tragic death when many musicians quoted him as one of their musical influence. The Cure took their name from one of his song, "Time Has Told Me" from the first of his 3 albums - "Five Leafs Left"-- "A troubled cure for a troubled mind". The Dream Academy's first hit, "Life in a Northern Town" was about him.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nick_Drake#cite_note-Macaulay-47)

"Place to be" was from his final album, "Pink Moon". It is a hauntingly sad song that is sweet and beautiful all at the same time:

When I was young, younger than before
I never saw the truth hanging from the door
And now I’m older see it face to face
And now I’m older gotta get up, clean the place.

And I was green, greener than the hill
Where the flowers grew and the sun shone still
Now I’m darker than the deepest sea
Just hand me down, give me a place to be

And I was strong, strong in the sun
I thought I’d see when day is done
Now I’m weaker than the palest blue
Oh, so weak in this need for you

How could such a gem not be heard of and lost for such a long time,
But I am glad I bumped into thee in the nick of time,
Taking in the moments for a long long time to come.

Thank you, Nicholas Rodney Drake (http://www.brytermusic.com/)
and "Said the Gramophone"!

The actual truth whether his death was suicide will forever remain a mystery. Within "Place to be" you could sense that he probably knew his time was almost up as he sang about from young to old, from green and hills to dark and deepest seas, almost pleading for a "place to be". The last verse read from strong to weak and a yearning for someone or something dear. There is a sense of loss and regret in there as well.

Saying so much in so little words.............................pure genius!

Nick Drake's 2nd album was titled "Bryter Layter".
Only a true artist would "skew" the words to make them much more relevant and pronouced to the reader/audience. It is such art that I find in abundance in 2 of my favourite friendly bloggers:

Endless Love ┊ミ乖﹏兔☆BLOG

Clear Blue Sky 〢●`晴天

Both have immense innate talent that will take them very very far.

"Starlight, star bright, these stars I see before they rise to be seen."

周笔畅 BIBI CHOW (Zhou Bichang) - Who??

I was never a follower of Chinese pop music (Cantonese included). It happened many many years ago as most Chinese songs were mushy stuff that I could see no significant departure one song to the next. It was too commercialised that the creative side of things seemed to have been left out in the cold. No doubt there are always talented songwriters, singers and bands but the creative spirit was somewhat lacking.

Maybe I was old school, Sam Hui remains my favourite artist (the Bob Dylan of the east). The other artist I like was Sylvia Chang, who had very few music releases but each one had innate substance and quality. 2 others I like due to their "live" performance were Anita Mui and Ah Bee. Faye Wong is another whom I think got style in her.

Now who is this 周笔畅? I have never heard or came across her before until I heard 一周年 on the QQ Zone of ┊ミ乖﹏兔☆BLOG . At first, judging by the name I thought it was a male singer and her voice indeed is truly in between the two genders, unique nonetheless. One thing leads to the next, I happened to hear her "live" cover of Faye Wong's 闷（my No.1 Faye's song!). Anyone who could cover that song "live" will always had my utmost respect as it was a difficult song to deliver "live", even Faye did it badly in one of her concert DVD. This Bibi is something else, she delivered it with much more panache than Faye could ever muster and it was probably because Bibi is more rock 'n roll than Faye will ever be. And that is the primary reason why I was immediately endeared towards Bibi. She really can ROCK!

Her Olympic song, 梦想在望 is my current favourite and a true gem of a classic which is on my Harmonic Convergence list already!

She is a really BIG SUPERstar in China! Consecutive Best Female Artist awards no less!

http://ent.sina.com.cn/y/m/2008-04-16/11131989573.shtml

More information on her:

http://ent.sina.com.cn/s/m/f/bibi/

http://wwwcn.myspace.cn/1303765104

http://www.bibisky.com/

You can also find a Wiki on her too!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou_Bichang

She is so cute and pretty in the pictures above, especially the centerpiece! (Hey! I want one of those QQ penguin too!!).

She will be HK in early May 2008 for the Olympic torch thingy, am seriously contemplating of popping over there to catch her "live", should be an absolute experience.

She is also from Changsha, Hunan Province (the same as┊ミ乖﹏兔☆BLOG)!!!

Both so sweet, charming and so kool!! WOW!

What a place!

Am dreaming now.........................

LOST FOR WORDS......................................

Flipping through the back pages of the newspaper on 16 April, came across this obituary and I'm truly lost for words....................................................."Age: 6 weeks".

The truth really hits home...................life is that FRAGILE.

Whatever stage of life you are in now, whatever situation you may be in, good or bad, think about it for a moment. You at least have much more time and chances in this world than this little baby boy!

BE THANKFUL FOR WHAT YOU HAVE! 知足常乐。

Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today

Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace

Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world

You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one

-- John Lennon

----------------------------------------------------------------------
I remember back in the 90's during a trip to Almaty & Bishkek, I met an Afghani who had tragically lost his elder son (17 or 18 years old) a year earlier. It must be very painful losing someone so dear, the mention of it brought unstoppable tears to his eyes. At that point in time I was also lost for words, unsure of how to console him............eventually I use these words:

" ................he went home to be with GOD!"

In truth no words will ever be enough, the loss was too much to bear and I am sure that even 'till today he will still be thinking of him.

For the families of the baby boy in the obituary, they will forever remember him in their hearts even though he was in their lives for a mere 6 weeks!
Perhaps the best way to remember him would be that

................he went home to be with GOD!

God Bless!

5 MARCH 2008: Shenzhen

Day 2: 5 March 2008

Iterinary: Air-ticketing at Shenzhen Airport; A visit to Windows of The World; Huaqiangbei electronics market; Shenzhen metro system; Shenzhen Airport for flight to Chengdu.

The plan for the day was quite straightforward. Vienna Hotel runs half-hourly shuttle buses to the Airport, I took one to the airport at about 8.30 am, grabbed a quick breakfast at the Airport (there are quite a number of eating places there) and then went about doing the rest of my air-ticketing. First stop, the Sichuan Airlines counter to pickup my prebooked ticketing voucher hard copy. Then went through the list of possible flights which was prepared beforehand and checked with the various airline and agent counters. One key thing I learnt was that you will not get the pricing stated on the respective airlines website purchasing them through the airport counters. The fares could go either way depending on supply and demand each day. I got the Air China return flight from Lhasa to Chengdu at 30% off full rate (七折). I was having trouble deciding where to fly back from to Shenzhen as I could not get in touch with the Chengdu travel agent, the roaming did not seem to work, I could not even answer incoming calls! After some deliberation, I jumped at the rare opportunity of an 80% (两折) off ticket from Wuhan to Shenzhen and decided to go with the Three Gorges cruise option which will end in Yichang. The flight timing was appropriate too! On paper it looked quite straightforward to get to Wuhan from Yichang by coach and I could also visit the Yellow Crane Tower in Wuhan. So the Wuhan-Shenzhen flight seemed a good and logical choice. The worse that could happen if there were no slots for the cruise, I could just buy another ticket from Chengdu back to Shenzhen.

The flights arrangements were done, next was to find my way to Windows of The World. I checked with the airport staff and was told there was a direct bus to Windows from the airport, lucky me! Headed straight to the bus stop but was a wee too late as a bus was just leaving, had to wait for the next one leaving in another 5 mins. The fare was only 5 RMB and it took about 40 mins to reach Windows. Luckily I boarded from the starting point and managed to have a seat througout the bus journey, it got more crowded with each stop and eventually the bus was packed! The funny thing was the way the ticketing was done. It was so stressful for the lady bus conductor to ticket those who boarded the bus along the way, I mean there were so many people that the poor lady must have a hard time keeping up who did or did not purchase a ticket. Along the way I noticed quite a number of persons managed to ride for free as they disembarked before the lady could reach them. There were even a couple of persons who simply stood there as if they had already purchased a ticket when they have not, There was no way the lady conductor could tell.

A big difference between the public buses in Shenzhen and Singapore (and other cities) was that there was a pre-recorded announcement of each stop and the next, so you will definitely know when to get off and more importantly get yourself prepared one stop earlier to get off.

The Singapore government like to boast about Singapore having a world class transport system, having experienced my first ride on a public bus in China, it just re-affirmed my long-held belief that the Singapore government are deluding themselves & its citizens by their incessant pronouncing that we have a world class transport system, FIRST WORLD my ass!

N.B.: My next ride on the Shenzhen metro further confirmed this as a matter of facts and first-hand experience!

世界之窗

This is a fairly big park divided into sections according to different continents of the world. You could catch a glimpse of the various landmarks of the world in miniature form.
Be warned that some replicas are simply not up to scratch and some are in bad conditions. Also if you had seen the real thing, then these miniature replicas may mean nothing at all and insignificant.
The plus point is that you could actually frame these replica landmarks in full picture at a much shorter range than the real thing. Pick those better replicas and take photos with them, remembering that you could not do it with the real thing. I guess that is THE best way to enjoy this place. Following are some of the better scenes:




The Shenzhen Metro (Subway) had LED signalling system on each route map located above each door. This is very useful to keep the passengers notified on the train stops in addition to the pre-recorded annoucement of each stop and the next stop.

Now why can't the Singapore MRT have such a system, I just don't understand. On most MRT trains, especially the older ones, the route map could hardly be seen depending where you are in each train cabin. The positioning of such route map should be made available and visible irregardless of where you stand, it is all about planning and taking in the perspective of the passengers, apparently the Singapore MRT seem to miss the point. Worse still I had come across on several occasions that the annoucement of the next stop was totally wrong! WORLD CLASS?? Better think again or better still, just shut up until you are up to scratch and stop embarrassing yourself!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
There is a Metro station right in front of Windows of The World and it was a straightforward ride to the electronics market at Huaqiangbei where I got the batteries for my Compaq. From there to the airport the fastest way would be to take the Metro to next stop where the Express Coach to the Airport departs from Hua Lian Building.

This picture was taken at the Shenzhen Airport. Couldn't quite understand it. Is there an "Un-civilised" airport?? Or was it supposed to be a "Civil" airport (as compared to a "Military" airport)? I would go for the latter meaning because I could not imagine an airport that is "un-civilised".

4 MARCH 2008: Departure.....Arrival.....and the in-betweens

Day: 4 March 08
Itinerary: Depart Singapore, Arrive Shenzhen

Not sure if I was careless, plain stupid or trying to be smart. Did not bother to take a closer look at the e-ticket about the departure time. When I arrive at the BT (budget terminal), the ticketing counter for Shenzhen was nowhere to be found! I thought I was done for this time, missing the flight and screwing up the rest of the arrangements. The counter was already closed but luckily............only just. The lady was still consolidating all the paperwork at the counter although the counter did not show any flight destination anymore. The Tiger Airways lady was kind enough to checked me in as the last pax. Everything was done and dusted in less than 3 minutes! Talk about efficiency, I think this would have to be the fastest check-in done anywhere!
How can so fast one with a checked baggage? Can lah! Take any seat available and take the tagged baggage with you to the boarding area and pass the baggage and the the other half of the baggage tag to the ground staff at the boarding area, Voila! You're done! With a couple of minutes to spare I even managed to get a souvenir item from the duty free area!!
Cutting it this close might not be such a bad thing as the customs channel would be clear by then but bear in mind this applied to the BT only. Don't ever attempt or try this at T1,T2 & T3 with checked baggage!!
And so I board the plane for probably the best journey I have made so far. Managing to get on board was a miracle no less and subconsciously I was pretty sure this trip will be a great one and it sure did not disappoint!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This was the 2nd time I took a budget flight, the first was also Tiger Airways, but a much shorter one to Bangkok. An over 3-hours budget flight was something else altogether, passengers got restless and gather together and talk like in a busy marketplace! I think it depends very much on the crowd you get on each flight. This flight there were too many groups of people travelling together. Lesson learnt -- I had already made up my mind on how to tackle the return flight.
There was one man in his late forties or early fifties, he was acting funny and a lot of people got worried. It was as if he was in fits. The flight attendants came over to check on him and he told them he was practising Qigong!! It would seem that his Qi is getting all over the place and on the verge of losing control!! Wonder where he learnt his Qigong from, better avoid the place at all costs!
Seated on the same row as me was a young lady (from Qingdao) who came to Singapore for a job but was told to go as her English was below the expected level for the job. She had paid a lot of money to the agent in China for this job and was in the job for less than 2 months! She will only get a partial refund on the fees paid. The sad thing about this was that she was actually interviewed in China by the Singapore agent and I wonder how both the China and Singapore agents, knowing the specific requirements for this job, took the easy way out to make their money with no regards whatsoever for the time and money spent by this young lady (only 19!) for making this futile long trip to Singapore. In the conversation with her, I came to know the low salary she was paid and how expensive it was to share a room and also the high cost of eating out for her in Singapore. The sums just do not add up, it is quite impossible to survive on that low salary. I guess the persons who profited from all these were the agents only!
She was unfamiliar with Shenzhen as it was her first time there. Hey! likewise for me too! I had no idea where I was going to put up for the night upon arrival, it was either to take the airport coach to Luohu and get into the nearest hotel or to instead stay at the hotels near the airport.

A Shenzhen lady who was sitting in the row in front of us mentioned something about the proliferation of pickpockets in Shenzhen and told us to be very careful with our belongings as she overheard we were both first timers in Shenzhen. Hey! Such words coming from a native of Shenzhen, everyone must heed!

On arrival at Shenzhen airport it was already close to 11:30pm. I decided to check into one of the hotels opposite the Airport as it would be more convenient tomorrow to sort out the rest of the air-ticketing, as well as getting to Windows of The World (世界之窗) and Huaqiangbei (electronics market) and back to catch the flight to Chengdu. I checked into Vienna Hotel opposite the Airport.

THE JOURNEY BEGINS..............

Had always dreamt of going on a solo backpacking trip all my life, no more suit cases and roller bags trips (i.e. business trips). Finally got to do it with a trip to China in March 2008.
During the January trip to New Delhi, there was no opportunity to make a detour to Darjeeling, a place I was INSPIRED to visit after following HORN OK PLEASE! blog. A pity really!
I have always been enchanted by the beauty of Jiuzhaigou and so my mind was made up to go there instead. No big plans, Jiuzhaigou would be the main focal point and if conditions permit, a visit to Huang Long as well. The other place which I have always wanted to go was Tibet. And so the route planning began.
I hunt around a fair bit for the budget airlines flights to China -- Jetstar and Tiger Airways. The objective was to enter China via Shenzhen, I need a stopover at Shenzhen to get the batteries for my Compaq notebook. The thing about these budgies (i.e. budget airlines) was that the promotion changes almost every week, so there was a need to always be on the lookout which promos each one is doing week in week out. The possibilities were to either fly direct to Shenzhen (via Tiger) or through either Macau (Tiger or Jetstar) or Hongkong (Jetstar) then to Shenzhen. Whichever the combination I wouldn't mind spending a day or two in either Macau and/or Hongkong. After much deliberations, I took the Tiger 88% promo and booked the flight direct to Shenzhen. The departure date from Singapore was on 4 March and the return date from Shenzhen was 17 March.
Prior to the departure on 4 March, I finalised only the following through the internet apart from the 2-way SIN-SZX flights:
(1) Book the 4-day Jiuzhaigou bus trip through an agency (Dreams Travel) in Chengdu. (Period: 6 March to 9 March).
(2) Arrange for the Tibet entry permit through the same agency in Chengdu. This had to include the flight ticket into Lhasa. Fixed the period to be in Lasa: 10 March (IN) to 12 March (OUT).
(3) Inland air ticket from Shenzhen to Chengdu on 5 March.
(4) Hotel bookings for Chengdu.

There were still alot missing in the iterinary:
(a) The air ticket Lhasa back to Chengdu on 12 March.
(b) The hotel in Lhasa.
(c) The Lhasa iterinary.
(d) What to do after arriving back to Chengdu on 12 March, there was still 5 days to the flight back to Singapore from Shenzhen.
(e) How to get back to Shenzhen on 17 March to catch the flight back to Singapore and from WHERE?

As I could not book any air tickets online, I decided to do it in Shenzhen having tied down all the possible flights to book.
As it was not peak season in Lhasa, hotels should not be a problem I guess. Anyway there were plenty of options there so I was not too worried. Also nailed down a couple of possible budget places to stay through the internet so there were no worries on this issue.

For the 13 to 17 March gap, I shortlisted 2 options:

(i) do the Three Gorges cruise (4-days) ending in Yichang
or
(ii) do Leshan and Emeishan (both of which could be easily reached via Chengdu, daytrip or 2~3 day trips)

Both the above could be arranged by the agency in Chengdu, so I was well covered. My preference was the Three Gorges cruise but it was expensive for a single pax as I would be paying for a 2-person cabin for those locally operated ships. The other option was to go for the luxury class ships (operated by foreign companies) which allow sharing of cabin for single pax. As I had time on hand to decide, there was no hurry. Depending on the cabin availability, I should still be able to decide during the period in Lhasa.
So everything was more or less set for the journey to begin......................

THE MUMMERS' DANCE - Loreena McKennitt

I first heard this song in, of all places, Tehran back in late 90's. It was at a home dinner with business associates. It was the first time I tasted homemade red wine and Persian sturgeon, it was the first time I realise you could actually dance to just about any song! During that trip I learnt how universal music was! Listening to the Mummers' Dance then Persian music then Turkish music, there is simply no boundaries and truly, music is indeed a universal language. Words and language becomes irrelevant, you just immerse yourself in the harmonic convergence! Magic!
I was lucky enough to dine at a Persian restaurant (courtesy of my Persian friends) where a male Turkish musician played "live" and I was mesmerised by his performance! I do not know his name nor the name of the restaurant but does it really matter? That moment was all about the HERE and NOW!