Concerts were good. Kaiser Chiefs was mosh pit fun (got a spot right in the front of the stage!) nice nice nice – they are good in concert. Jumped, shoved, sang my brains out. Shoes totalled. Brilliant night. Turin Brakes was a more “mature” crowd so more karaoke session-ey.

Frost Festival was very good too. Best view just eating pie, (choc-covered) churros and mulled wine and looking at the river. Lots of little stalls, performances, stilt walkers, acrobats… Globe Theatre had an open day and that was fun too – actors running around everywhere overacting Shakespeare’s pieces.

Kew Gardens also had open night. Audience carolling, fun fair, carousel, snow dome (turned out to be foam) and Henry Moore sculptures. I lost a lot of feeling in my face, legs and toes that night.

Heliosphere at Covent Garden finally came out after 2 weekends of lousy weather. It’s an acrobatic performance involving a female acrobat attached to a big balloon and she flies around the square, occassionally touching people on the ground. Either thrilling or sappy, you decide.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cQLOfAO1Upg

It’s getting pretty painful to stand outside for hours like I’ve been doing all weekend. According to BBC’s average temperature, it is actually now 3 celsius colder than last year. Not that I would know, because I wasn’t there last year so I’ll keep on trying to freeze my toes off every night.

Everyone has started leaving London for the hols…my turn next Sunday! woo!

ho ho ho
Shi

nice that in london there is so much choice to do the conventional xmas stuff and the unconventional xmas

like:

shopping: John Lewis,Debenhams (conventional) v Spitalfield markets, Brick Lane flea markets (unconventional). Acryllic jewelley is all the rage atm, even Chanel & Tate Modern have gotten into it :p I wonder if Mexican wrestling masks might make good gifts…

xmas cookies: Design Museum where I made my own rainbow gingerbread men. Meet Selvi the Indian gingerbread woman and Frieda, the cross-dressing (at the same time) gingerbread transgender

There were also girl go-go dancers Actionettes – they were swingin!

St Martin in the Fields are having Christmas concerts. On Sat was audience carols & my favourite (ever!): Vivaldi’s 4 seasons! Divine to hear & see the fantastic skill of the lead violinist, I was in heaven.

Trafalgar’s square’s Xmas Tree & Menorah (Chanukka this Tuesday)

Company Xmas dinner last week. We had it at a middle-eastern restaurant, stand-up buffet with dj & free flow drinks afterwards. Can’t say it compares to a pirate xmas party, but by the end of the night you could have been a 6ft peg-legged parrot & no one would have noticed.

Lion King was both gorgeous (costumes, make up, props) and disappointing (plot line, lead’s singing, some set design).

Comedy Store (Picadilly Circus) improv Sunday night follows the same format as “whose line is it?” and I have learnt a new word to love and cherish: “Tosser!” I’m sure it must mean something good because they only said it 50 times during the show.

And they’ve got more xmas fairs set up in front of City Hall and Leicester Square.

Turin Brakes & Kaiser Chiefs this week. Looking forward to it. Woo!

It’s still been raining all week.

Hope all is well,
Shi

ps: yes, I know what tosser means so please don’t send me emails suggesting how I might integrate using it into my daily life…
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=A+-+Tosser

1. Jack the Ripper walk – very good, the guide (an actor by profession) did voices (horny wretches, toff, Cockney, fire truck (??)) , sang, danced – it was a good night. www.walks.com

2. Syon Park Enchanted Woodland Walk – very very pretty – they put up lights & effects in the park and it just turns into something else. It’s also the home of the Duke and Duchess of Northcumberland but unfortunately Their Graces are not part of the exhibit http://www.syonpark.co.uk/

3. Hyde Park Winter Wonderland. Ice rink is fully booked til Xmas (I’ve been told) but it’s more like a sandy watery rink..better to go to Somerset House. Excited kids, parents, couples, teens – everyone in London had turned up. Ferris wheel, tube slide, carousel, haunted house, rides, food, stalls for pressies, Santa

4. VIP shopping weekend – they closed parts of Oxford Street for shoppers – jugglers, entertainers etc. There’s this Argos ad on the telly now that has people sommersaulting over bollards, pushing, shoving…that was probably based on this event :p

5. Columbia Street Flower Market – oh the glorious smell of pine needles…mmm 25 pounds for a 5 ft xmas tree..sigh

6. East London Design Show – it was good. Didn’t find any xmas pressies tho

Oh yes in my previous email I said that it was Richard VIII – it should actually have been Henry VIII – my bad

Interestingly, Henry VIII was eaten by the estate dogs at Syon Park – considered divine judgement for turning Syon Abbey into Syon House.

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

Got soaked in the rain, it’s been raining all week. And the story behind that nice graffiti is here:

http://www.banksy.co.uk/outdoors/horizontal_1.htm

It’s located above the bus stop at the Old Street tube station and the story behind it is worth a read.

That’s it for now..I’m absolutely knackered.

zzzz
shi

My goldfish bowl (london) is getting colder!

The new St. Pancreas train station opened few weeks ago and they had a performance/circus act/parade on Friday night called Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA). We started from a street off the main road near the station and followed this parade of lanterns and bands to a “secret spot” where there were 3-4 stages set up with tv screens, “wheel of death”, tight ropes with people abseiling in, acrobats, orchestra, breakdancing, rappers, singers, beatboxer, bollywood dancers…it was awesome!

Of course we couldn’t feel our feet or fingers afterwards but it was so worth it.

Checked out Somerset House (lots of bling bling), the ice rink there, hayward gallery, more London Jazz Week.

Today went to Hampton Court Palace where I got really excited in anticipation about getting lost in the garden maze! I didn’t get lost, but I tried my best and was very disappointed when I found the centre. Good fun though. The ticket guy suggested that I should walk through with my eyes closed next time. And there were a lot of excited children racing through with their disgruntled parents leading the rear.

Hampton Court Palace is best known for Richard VIII & his many wives. I’ve heard about him (not educated in Britain, thank you very much!) but still feels like a harsh way to break up with someone. He should have just converted to Islam that permits 4 wives at a time. Very plush interiors, but very spooky when it gets dark (sun starts setting at 330pm now).

Anyway on more important matters… Bel & Cheryl’s bro Nat supported a peaceful political demonstration in Kuala Lumpur city 2 weeks ago that resulted in them being tear gassed several times. It’s illegal to have mass gatherings or criticising the Malaysian government. Nat walked to support the rights of the economically disprivelledged Indians in Malaysia and how they are being ignored by the government. Financial & economic assistance from the government in Malaysia is racially legislated when it should be based on actual needs rather than racial terms.

Participation estimated to be up to 30,000 people. Nasty way that the government dealt with it : tear gas & riot soldiers.

Pics of the incident & Nat’s personal experience are at his webpage:

http://jelas.info/

Al Jazeera footage (1 1/2 mins long)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Q6558tY58E&feature=related

Kinda shocking for anyone who’s visited/lived in KL because it’s always been peaceful. Malaysian controlled media is doing a fine blanket job on the issue..

Life still goes on in KL I imagine. I was pretty surprised that John Howard’s finally going… Gordon Brown is doing ok so far. And England lost against Croatia?

Hope your part of the world or your gold fish bowl.. is good

Shi

hi

merry xmas! Got back from the turkey/greece trip & drove to east coast for surf the day after… It was good because scored some great swell, but I paid for it the next day because I did not get enough sleep/jetlag/not eating anything…

Turkey & greece were interesting. I’ve also discovered the meaning of “It’s all greek to me” – I’ve been driving on the opposite side of the road, with road signs that have gamma, sigma, rho…

Our conversations were like this:

Me: ok, so what street do I turn?
Brother: uhmmm…ok at the..Y..gamma…pie…O with a dash…ermmm..oh, I think we just missed it.

Greece had a lot of stones…and temples…mostly stones lying on the ground. The description would read ” There used to be a 30m high gold temple in 1000bc” and I would stare at the boulders on the ground & try to visualize it….

Sigh.

anyway in greece I liked these 2 places:

Delphi – cool temple in the mountain, gorgeous views (not that I got to see any, I was designated driver, the roads were mountainous and the greek drivers all had little mazda roadsters & tendencies to overtake at the sharpest steepest bends) Epidavros Ampitheater: 200m diameter & 5 storeys high – but we could still hear each other speaking normally from the other side (200m away)…great acoustics…

Istanbul was good. The rest of turkey..uhmmm…well if you’re in turkey you should just stay in Istanbul. Blue Mosque & Hagia Sophia was good…the palace was a bit of a letdown, except for the holy relics including a foot print of prophet mohammed & his teeth & the severed hand of a 500AD christian saint.

Most of turkey seemed to be enveloped in clouds of smoke from the wood/coal fires….everyone in turkey seems to drive around in little hyundais, travel by car ferry, and have NEVER SEEN AN ASIAN PERSON. We got stared at every place we went to, and entire classrooms of kids on school trips would bombard us with “Hello!” “Konnichiwa!” and ask to take pics with us.

Also a lot of stuff about turkey trying to join the EU & greece stopping them, ha ha. Oh yeah, Brad Pitt’s troy horse is actually sitting in Troy – and it looks more authentic than the 3 storey rocking horse they charge ppl 8Euros to see.

So after arriving 3pm saturday in KL , & with no sleep for the previous 36 hrs, I was driving to the surf at 3am to make it there by 7am. Mozzie bites, crushed finger, washed over the rocks (I provided
that afternoon’s drama entertainment), bruises, blinding rain that physically hurts you & the best trashing I’ve had in a while… I was elated

Came back into KL yesterday to meet my sis who’s come in from syd, mate who’s come in from qatar, buy final xmas gifts & bake xmas cookies! I’m forwarding a pic of some friends surfing last sunday…obviously there are prettier pics of msian surf here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bryannys

http://www.scaryreef.fotopages.com

Tomorrow I’m heading bk to the east coast for the xmas weekend…not starting work til jan so if it’s still good I’ll be there surfing into the new year’s…hmmmm

GREAT STUFF….

merry xmas & happy new year to all!

xoxox
shi.

Happy New Year (a few days late for Christmas) (~_~)

Was back to Tokyo recently for some work stuff. Quite full-on, would work till past midnight then back to the hotel to work til about 4am. The whole thing wrapped up on the 24 th so instead of heading back to warm Malaysia I extended a couple of days…so yes! My first Xmas eve and Xmas day in Tokyo! Just arrived back in KL a couple of hours ago so forgiveness if my email sounds slightly incoherent and the image I sent lacks a linear visual theme – blame it on the jetlag heehee. I really wish I could write a long email about everything in Tokyo but this week is going to be crazy busy!

So let me sum it up in few sentences:

In Tokyo Christmas is the season for shopping, dating and christmas lights (but not trees or ornaments, just lights)

Very nice Xmas cakes because it’s more a Japanese tradition to give cakes than turkeys.

The Harajuku freaks can’t show obscene amounts of cleavage, fish net stockings and Gothic lolita french maid costumes because it’s too cold.

Besides looking like a tourist with digital camera, I blended in perfectly with the 1000s of other Tokyo-ites taking photos with their cameras and keitai.

Very yummy getsu-ramen at Shibuya for Xmas eve dinner and….

Very yummy French crepes on Omotesando for Xmas brunch (thank you Denise!)

Asahi beer.

And I was very happy to be back in warm Malaysia after all that.

Happy New Year and Best Wishes for 2006,

Shi.

I thought that I wanted to take a photo of myself paddling out in a Santa hat and send it as a Christmas email – but then the photos of the surf in Malaysia turned out to be so grey and depressing (and tiny uninspiring looking waves) that don’t photograph well…so I canned that idea.

Turns out that I got to go to Dubai for a few days. Nothing too exciting, a lot of meetings and a presentation. Before you read on, here is the disclaimer: This is not an insightful and in-depth look into the social, political and state of economic affairs in Middle Eastern countries. What it is, is an email intended for the reading pleasure and procrastination activities of cubicle dwellers on Monday morning. Now read on…

Dubai is one of the most westernized of all Middle Eastern countries. It used to be a major hub for international flights between Asia and Europe before dodgy airlines like Malaysia Airlines decided to fly direct. However with a far-sightedness uncommon in most royal families owning oil-rich lands (Brunei royalty being well-known for their need for gold-plated toilets and chocolate rooms in their summer houses), Dubai is determined to become an international cosmopolis before the oil supply runs out – hence the super-rapid development – most of the skyscrapers have been built in the last 3 years.Which is probably where people like me in the construction industry come in.

Dubai is not just Sheikhs in long white robes and full length black burkhas – I was told this a few times during my trip that Dubai is the world’s biggest market for….G-strings. If you’ve ever wondered what the ladies wear under that black coverall, its sexy lingerie. And those loose robes and leather sandals that the men wear to the office? Infinitely more comfortable than that noose they call a Versace necktie. And the young ladies not in burkhas looked like Shakira with flowing blond tresses, exotic features and skin-tight tops and figure-hugging jeans.

Dubai is also apart from desert, super-modern skyscraper, sprawling acres of Sheikh’s personal villas, wonders like a full ski ramp & snowboarding park and the famous 7-star hotel the Al-Burj. And the food – oh the food. Food is brought in from the other countries surrounding Dubai. Prawns, mussels, seafood so big and luscious, juicy apples, oranges, the best pineapple flown in this morning from the Philipines…imagine what you could do if your country were the international hub for flights between Asia and Europe AND had all the financial resources of an oil-rich nation. Oh yeah baby.

The only downside was the horrendous traffic. Rapid development and everyone wanting to get their own Porsche 4WD means gridlock – roughly 1 hour to get from place to place. Heat is not too bad since it’s winter now, it’s a cool 24 C at the moment but it gets to 50 C in the summer.

Dubai blows the mind. Different from Tokyo, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore…anywhere. Kind of a jaw-dropping astonishment at how all of this could spring up from the desert. Most cities have a kind of organic growth that takes place over decades or a century but all of this is all so new and decadent. Inflation is increasing 30% every 3 months and the Dubai property columnists predict that the bubble will burst soon.

I guess that if fancy shopping malls and flash cars aren’t your thing then Dubai wouldn’t suit you at all. Maybe it wouldn’t be for me after a while. But as a stopover on your way to Asia or Europe – it is definitely worth booking yourself into a nice 5-star hotel and taking a look around. I didn’t get to check out the Wild Wadi Waterpark with it’s standing wave machine but that’s for the next trip…

Till the next email…Merry Christmas!

Soooo not in a burkha,

Shi.