glibberish.

Merry Christmas!

I meant to post this after I came back from Singapore, but haven’t had found the time. I’ve thought more about that particular trip, and while it’s nothing near life changing – why would it be anyway? – it still ended up a great one.

The best thing, I think, is my living around Little India. Indian food is fantastic, I could eat it everyday, forever. (And actually I did eat Indian food for days at a time!) It was a bit disorienting at first, being in Little India: apart from tourists, everyone is of Indian origin! (Well, obviously.) But I found that they are nice people, as nice as Hongkongers in general and such. A few days and I felt right at home. The places itself is great – really narrow streets lined up with small houses and buildings that are inherently exotic. Really love that place.

Apparently I spoke too soon about my impressions of SIGGRAPH. Since my last blog I was able to see the Arts Gallery and Emerging Technologies Exhibit, a small place where I spent a huge amount of time in, and the Electronic Theater where they show some of the best works (shorts, commercials) in computer graphics for the year. I would say that these two things alone are almost worth the entire SIGGRAPH experience.

Almost? you say. This is where the student volunteer thing comes in. I have met new friends and have been keeping in touch with some of them (thanks, Facebook!). The next SIGGRAPH Asia is in Yokohama, Japan – near Tokyo where the Ghibli Museum is. I am hoping I could get accepted next year as a volunteer – yes, it’s Japan, but I am mostly looking forward to seeing my new acquaintances again.

Another great thing about Singapore is the coffee shops. There’s one along Orchard Road, and the name escapes me but it is a very popular place. This shop sells different types of coffee from different places in the world. (It has Jamaican Blue Mountain!) I would have been ready to try it out if not for the lousy wifi, something I needed to have at that time. The Mint Museum of Toys has a cafe/restaurant at the ground floor, a nice place to hang out. I stayed at the cafe for a bit as I used their wifi, which is not really for the public but the staff were kind enough to let me access it.

Anddd… the Singapore Public Library. Enough said!

So… oh okay, I miss Singapore.

****

So I thought about travelling. I’ve come across the realization that there are just so much awesome things to see in the world, and until recently I have not been doing anything to witness at least some of them. I will from now on start to plan plans to go places, and I have embedded the idea of travelling into my conscious. I will strive for different experiences, of seeing natural wonders and new cultures alike… I should, I should.

China is a good target, but that is being vague. It is so huge that seeing everything there might not be enough for one person’s lifetime. For now I am content with visiting a city, such as Beijing, but most of all I want to see more nature stuff. Chinese friends have recommended Guilin and the Yunnan Province (it itself is large that I have yet to find out which places are good for exploration). These are two places that are in the south of China – easily accessible from where I am.

But also, first things first. I haven’t even seen most of the great places in the Philippines! Such shame. But that I can redeem easy enough. Philippines is going to be my primary objective – conquer it and I get the certificate to conquer others.

In 2009, I expect a lot of Seeing Stuff. Looking forward to it!

****

Happy New Year!

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 25th, 2008 at 4:54 pm and is filed under Journal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.