Venice and Trains

Hi Guys, 

sorry for the lag. If you're following me on instagram, I am now in Germany but I have so many things to say from my past locations hence the late post! Travelling and blogging isn't the easiest thing because sometimes you get so lazy by the time you get back home and all you want to do is soak in a tub with lavenders and listen to Agnes Obel and exfoliate... not open your laptop and type. But thats what I'm doing today because I don't have a tub right now, and coincidentally I also ran out of bath bombs. 

anyway lets talk about the train ride from Florence to Venice. Ok, scrape that. Lets talk about Trains. I love trains, especially high speed trains. They make my ears go fuzzy when it travels, and I LOVE that. I learnt a few things whilst travelling around Italy by train (Rome --> Florence --> Bologna--> Venice) so I will share it in hopes that it might benefit someone reading! :) 

"How do I pre-buy my tickets? Do I need to pre buy my tickets? omg?? help??" 

These were the questions I got really stressed up about before I left for Italy. I get stressed very easily btw, like omg I haven't done this, why haven't I heard from this person, is it going to rain, oh shit my period is here etc etc etc. But anyway, I decided that I'll just deal with the tickets when I got there. So lets say you just got to Rome and you want to go to Venice next week, get your tickets from Termini Station (Rome) at least one day in advance. You can even get tickets on the day itself but it depends on what time you want to reach your destination. Tickets get sold out pretty quickly. But take note that these are for trains that goes out of the city only.

"Everyone is asking me if I need help!" 

Its true. I've never heard so many people ask me if I needed help in a day. Do I always look perpetually lost? But no, if random people come up to you and say "hi do you need help locating your train", first check if they have a station id tag, if not...even if you do need help, just kindly say no and move on. No one told me about this! The first time this happened to me was in Rome, I wanted to buy my tickets to Florence and I was observing how people bought tickets when suddenly this hippie girl with dreadlocks and all jumped in front of me and said "hey there! where are you going? do you know how to buy your tickets?" and I was like "errrr no." but my guard was down because I saw a lot of girls helping people buy their tickets so I thought in Italy its cool to wear your own clothes to work just as long as you wear a tag. So I let her lead me to a ticket booth and she punched in the numbers and proceeded to help me buy my tickets. But then after that she asked me to pay her a Service Fee. Like...what? And she was really taunty about it when I kept declining. 

The second time it happened to me was when I was looking for my train. Honestly, there are so many trains and they have so many destinations, I couldn't find my train. This plump lady with a weird accent approached me again to offer help, but my guard was up now. I told her no its ok, but she offered very kindly to point me in the right direction, so I thought...oh maybe she's a kind person who's just being helpful. But nooooo, she kept following me around and asking me for service money. Thankfully a (hot) italian officer came by to ask if she was bothering me and told her sternly to leave me alone. He then proceeded to say in his thick and crisp italian accent when the wind was blowing his curly brown hair and that moment felt like a movie where he saves the damsel in distress and I am about to faint and he says... "for your own safety, please don't talk to anyone who doesn't have this id staff tag. for your own safety ok?" and he winked at me and smiled and my heart stopped. And he never sees the damsel in distress again because she leaves for another city. The end.

Here are some Venice photos, I shall leave you to enjoy the scenic beauty of Venezia (and occasional photos of me being weird).

I'll talk to you soon!  Be safe when you take trains!! And talk to hot police officers and cute birds on the street!! And have a nice day!! Guten tag! x

old things and being burnt

I love love love old things. Like...REALLY old things. So when I was at the Foro Romano (roman forum) questions that ran through my mind would be like :

1) what happened here.

2) what did people do here.

3) who touched/built this exact spot.

I don't have all the answers, but I bought books at the museum because I really want thorough answers, I'll let you know when I have the answers. 

but anyway can you imagine, many many many many years ago when these structures and buildings were built, they used to be completely functional home towns, and entertainment for people like you and me...and now they're all broken. If walls have ears (or eyes), can you imagine if I plugged in a thumb drive into the crack of the wall and transfer all that it has seen and heard all these many years...what kind of things would I hear and see. I am imagining EVERYTHING! Maybe I'll see someone being stabbed to death with a fork, or maybe I'll overhear love being spoken in a different language. i mean, lets imagine this together...what would have the wall seen or heard? If the wall is a hard disk, it would have stored so much memories and stories and this is completely fascinating to me.

These were built by people so many years ago, whilst they were building this...did they think or expect that many years later, a completely random 25 year old asian girl from Singapore would come by Rome and touch (and occasionally hug) these exact walls that they've built? This is why sometimes I like to speak to old walls, you know, like in Interstellar...the scene where the father was behind the library in another dimension. I would go up to these old walls and speak to them in a small whisper "hello....??.......... are you there??.... tell me what to do......... I will do it. What?? move right?? you want me to move right? Im blocking someone taking a photo? oh okok *moves right* hello...?........ are you still there??" 

In Between Two Walls. "tell me what to do.....helloo????" 

Behind the scenes of embroidering the Foro Romano. 

This piece was fun. 

I mean, all my pieces are fun, but for this piece I had such a comfortable "table" overlooking this magnificent view with a nice cool wind carrying the scent of a ripe banana blowing occasionally. Whilst working on this piece, I imagined that this place was restored to its former glory and I was a servant girl looking out of her window. I saw children running around laughing, I saw men pulling their cows and bulls. I saw a former Rome and I imagined so many stories of people who used to live and hang out here in the past. An example of a short story I would think of : My servant girl name is Selena and as I'm looking out of the window I see my master casually walking and talking with a smart man next to him. He looks up at me and waves. We are secretly in love. I have his baby, and the town people found out about this and burned me to death. The end

And before I knew it, I was already done with my piece! 

and now I can take this piece of Rome back with me. :D 

How are you? I hope all is well with you from whatever time and space you are reading this from, even if you're reading this from inside a wall. But remember, whatever you're going through...at least you're not like Selena, being burned to death for having a baby with her Master. And speaking of burning, I'm completely burnt from the sun in Italy, and prior to writing this, I set the bath running with a nice golden glitter bath bomb so before I get into trouble for allowing the water to overflow, I should go check on the bath now.

x

All roads lead to Rome

Dear Friends,

I am in Rome, I can barely believe it but here I am. The flight here was really horrible, I couldn't get any sleep at all because of my back pain and also because I don't earn enough to upgrade to first class where I might have been able to get better sleep, but still....its okay. Instead, because of my lack of sleep, I watched lots of movies instead, so heres a mini film review of films I watched. (i'll put mini stars to indicate how good they are upon 5) 

FILMS I WATCHED:

1) Amelie *****

2) Big Eyes ****

3) Miss Meadows ***

4) Mordecai *

5) A Good Marriage **

so still! Rome! So much soul, culture, and history everywhere. But really, I'm not going to list down places to visit and which restaurant to eat at because truly I can't run a travel blog. I am terrible at that and also because there are better alternatives like Lonely Planet and Trip Advisor. But instead, I want to share some thoughts and observations with you starting with this: when travelling, don't fuss about the small things. And by this I mean, if things don't go your way... laugh first, shrug your shoulders, then figure it out later. If you get lost, don't fuss, just laugh ( a small giggle will do), and cheerfully ask for directions. I'm saying this because I noticed a lot of people asking for directions with a frown. Like *frowns* do you know where the metro is *frowns* Maybe frowning emphasises the fact that one is lost, I don't know... but don't do that...  Always always take things lightly. If things don't go to plan, like, it starts raining and your day plan is ruined...go with it! I know of people who get terribly upset when things like that happen. Don't fuss about the small things, taking things more lightly and I hate to use this word but, YOLOish, makes life so much easier and lighter rather than getting anxious and panicking and getting angry don't you think? 

ok also, 

Enjoy the sounds. By that I mean, listen to people talk. Listen to the local radio playing in shops. Listen to conversations . When I am walking along the streets of Rome, I like to repeat to myself the words that I hear. So I'll walk around and I'll hear someone say "Grazie!" and I'll repeat it exactly with the same intonation immediately (softly to myself of course). Italians are extremely friendly. Every morning as I walk down the street they will be smiling and waving "Buongiorno!". But anyway, I try to listen out for as many new italian words everyday to increase my vocabulary, and today I learnt that Matita means Pencil. 

Look at people. Imagine their stories, imagine their life. What do you think they do for a living? Look at their clothes, what is their favourite colour? This is my favourite activity to do. It's free too. 

Todays thoughts and observations: 

>The sun rises at 530am and sets at 9pm. This makes me feel extremely productive. I wake up early, and I go to sleep late, I feel like I can do more in the day. Strange feeling, but I like it so much better compared to winter days. 

>If I opened a restaurant here and nobody knows about it, I have to go out on the streets to tell people about my restaurant just like they do here, but that might seem overly desperate too.

>Sitting next to a well dressed 40 something year old italian man, he is invading my space....but its okay, strange connection...human to human. I will mentally let him know it's ok. Daijobu~

>Sometimes I wish I am the ultimate pick pocketer. Like I come here and I look weak and vulnerable so thieves prey on me. But actually BAM, I end up stealing all their stolen stuff and when they realise it....the look on their faces....haha I live for that moment. But sadly, I am just an ordinary 25 year old. 

>Maybe if I touch that ancient roman rock there, it will trigger something in my DNA that will make me glow. 

So anyway, I'll leave you with some photos and words...

"ok where am I"

"I don't know where this is"

"oh wells, whatever"

I died at this sight. 

Evenly spaced people

Man talking to hidden monkey who refuses to come down from the roof of his truck. 

Roses from last night to wipe your car. 

Aimless walking 

She wants the dress at the window, she walked past it 3 times. But she does not buy it. 

Is the balcony optional? Can the owners add it and also decide on the length of it? 

What if my soulmate is in this photo at this given time. 

Words I recognize: Tutti, Pane, Olive, Pizza, Superofferta, Acqua.

All roads lead to Rome

oh also, when people give you flowers on the street with a charmyyyyy smile, don't accept them. It usually comes with a price, and I was also kidding about the monkey on the man's roof.  Ciao! Notte~~~

Mt Kota Kinabalu, Fairies and Taylor Swift.

I'd never imagine myself climbing a mountain ever...EVER. I'm completely not sporty at all, I'm adventurous at times but not to the level of wanting or desiring to fly out of singapore to climb a freakin mountain. But thats what I did... and I have LOTS  to say about this like many weeks before this I was trying to train for this trip but I ended up falling sick and how I was completely freaking out about what shoes to wear because what if I wore the wrong pair and I ended up breaking my ankles or slipping off the mountain completely. And really, WHAT do people wear to climb a mountain? These questions NEVER crossed my mind before. I was completely anxious the night before. It was so intense I felt like I was going for an exam that I didn't prepare for. 

But before that, lets take a deep breath and look at some cloud photos. 

Beautiful isn't it. 

I was completely at peace with everything and everyone at that point of time because when you're faced with such a beautiful sight, nothing really matters. Not even the China lady that shoved her elbow into your face on the plane, not even the due date for the project that I haven't even started, NOTHING mattered. Not even the fact that I was wearing Crocs and my socks were soggy and my hair was in a mess and I have a huge pimple on my lip, nothing mattered.  

This was my spot, at 6am in the morning, just shivering and breathing in all this high mountain air and embroidering this sight, being fully present (and with no wifi) But first, I think I should explain the Crocs: I absolutely had no choice. These were house slippers provided by the lodge, and can I add that they're SO comfortable and the grip is SO good, I was like a ninja in crocs, leaping off rocks and tree roots, jumping across puddles of water just to get from the lodge to this serene spot to watch the sunrise. 

2 hours later, I'm done with Cloud piece. I was freezing. and for some scientific nature reason, the clouds were loosing its fluffiness bit by bit (see right side of photo), so I had to quickly stitch as fast as I could so I could snap a photo with the fluffiness. I was so happy being alone, sitting at the edge listening to Taylor Swift because it was the only thing on my iTunes on my phone because I bought the album when she took it off Spotify, but anyway... happiest moment of my life. 

But how did I get up here? 

Its one journey that I'll NEVER forget. As much as I was dreading the climb, the night before I was quite excited because I mean, how difficult can it get? Children and old ladies have climbed this. It might be a stroll in a park, a LONG stroll with friends with happy camping food right? NO. Hell no. It was mental training, it needs physical strength and also lots and lots of determination. 10mins after we started, I was like "hmm yeah this feels nice, using leg muscles whoohoo, no sweat" 20mins later I was like "OMG CAN I PLEASE CLIMB DOWN NOW, I CANT DO THIS". Honestly, I really wanted to give up...I saw an old man climbing down and I was like "hey where are you going? Are you giving up? its too crazy right!?!? Can I join you, I'll go down with you!" And he's like "oh no, I climbed up all the way yesterday so now i'm just making my way back down" and my heart just sunk to a whole new level.

I realised that theres no other way, I JUST have to do it. Step by step. Groan by groan. I was complaining the WHOLE way, muttering under my breath like "argh omg, i can't do this, my soul is leaving my body, i'll die here, thats it, i can feel my life slipping away, friends....goodbye." but my friends were so supportive they fed me granola bars and apples and they kept cheering me on. 

Anyway heres a list of things I noticed and thought about on my hike up and down:

1) Before the trip, as I was fussing about what shoes to wear...whilst climbing I realised that it really doesn't matter. You can even climb this mountain in Converse or even crocs for that matter. Theres no need to get really good mountain boots or shoes. I hiked up with my friend's army military boots which helped A LOT, but there were lots of people in normal sneakers and they were much faster and agile than I was .

2) "Winners never quit and Quitters never win". Keep chanting this and you'll reach the peak in no time.

3) There was a point of time when I was SO tired and I thought it was impossible to complete the rest of the hike up, but after that plunge of energy...there was this sudden renewed adrenaline that surged through me and allowed me to zoom up the rest of the mountain. I didnt even know where this extra strength came from. I was talking to the trees and the rocks on the way up, maybe they realised that I was their ally. 

4) Be one with Nature. 

5) Crazy things happen when you're on Survivor Mode.  Never underestimate yourself. 

6) I swear theres an elevator somewhere in the mountain that takes you all the way up. I kept tapping on rocks and odd looking stones, maybe if I had the right sequence like *tap tap tap...tap tap* the magical rock will open up and two fairies will fly next to me and say "welcome chosen one" and take me into the rocks and lead me all the way up to the summit where I'll be sipping tea and having cookies whilst I wait for my friends to make their way up. 

But of course that didn't happen. But it didn't stop me from talking and tapping the rocks and making friends with strange leaves because what if they're fairies. 

7) Imagine this: you're tired, its raining, your socks are soaked, your thighs are aching, you just want to make your way down back to civilisation and wifi, but you seem to be going round and round in circles, seeing the same tree, the same curve, the same plant the same route again and again. You're stuck in Mystical Forest. That was what happened exactly, except that I am exaggerating a little. 

The climb down was SO monotonous, everything was the same, the scenery was the same, the trees were the same. We felt like we were going round and round and round in circles with the same taylor swift song going on and on. It was raining so hard that the rain drops actually hurt my skin. But just imagine that you're really stuck in the forest, what would you do? That really scared me. 

8) But before I forget, there were old men and young boys as young as 16 carrying 30kg of load up the mountain at TOP SPEED. I found it extremely amazing. Where do they get so much strength from!? And wow, that determination. Its crazy...in a completely good way. 

(just btw, bragging rights, my friend Pea and I were the first to make it to the lodge) 

feel like I've reached a new level, I mean...I've never experienced whats it like to be drenched in sweat AND rain water and the kind of smell it produces as it dries on your skin and the kind of sticky and grimy feeling it leaves. To have a group of friends whom you can be completely comfortable being smelly and natural with, to snore and look completely unglamorous and know its ok. 

This piece is for you guys : Pea, Sherry, Nick, Mabel, Tim, Amanda and Giff.