Colonial Traces

Just like my home town Penang(Malaysia), Popayan is a city of ex-colony. The common traits for all victims of Spanish conquistador era were slave trading and massive torturing, then leftover of some colonial buildings. I do not know if all of these happened in Popayan but I doubt it could escape the fate. That made me wonder if such madness happened in Penang as well when the Brits ruled the place.

There is lack of awareness from myself and my generation to understand the history and its influence on society. I tried and I failed. "Does it matter?" People generally think then shrug of the idea of learning about their past. In reflection on countries that cannot stop dwelling on what the colonist has done unto their countries, I'm glad my country has way moved on from that golden era and created an identity of its own. Despite the need, as long as the approach gives value to development ( money) and social identity (money), there goes the public opinion.

Anyway, in comparison to many other ex-colonial cities in Colombia, Popayan stood out to me as the most authentic one since the old colonial quarter has integrated to the civilian's daily life. Business activities took place here - commercial buildings in properly maintained old buildings, tonnes of universities in a small town, occasionally you would bump into eccentric looking hostel but they are not many ( surprisingly).

So no Cartagena, but Popayan.

Greatest attempt ever

My colleagues told me about the cycling path that connects one end of Netherlands all the way up north to Amsterdam and maybe further. So, this piece of information has inspired me to cycle ( not to Amsterdam of course ) to Noordwijk. I also found a good excuse to drive me completing this mission, by visiting a friend that stays there currently. However, due to the weather ( yes, weather dictates a lot of activities in m life these days ), I have been postponing this trip and also conveniently replacing it with the many parties, weekend activities, excursions, picnics, beach walks, lazing in the many parks in The Hague.

Finally, I had this great weekend where I really wanted to commit to this trip despite my slumping fitness from too much vacation. Also, a colleague's invitation almost seduced me off the track. Come on, to learn pottery ?? How interesting is that! Thanks to me strong will, I disregarded the weather forecast this time, and headed straight to Scheveningen, Wassenar, Katwijk then finally to Noordwijk.

Given that the destination "sounds" very close by, I had my muesli and headed off without food and water supply. Silly idea. As I started cycling, I couldn't stop cursing for not doing it sooner because it could have built my endurance for so many things else that I wanted to do in near future. Let's say, kite-surfing, surfing, marathon running and many other things in my list! My assumption about the cycle path was wrong - I initially thought that Netherlands, being Les Pays-Bas, should be flat and ... easy to cycle. In reality, there were a good mix of slopes and winding roads passing through the dunes.

When I hit Wassenar and almost lost my way at the many cross junctions in the woods, the situation motivated me to keep on going instead. Then I reached Katwijk, which was 70% of the journey. The part from Katwijk to Noordwijk was a struggle for me given that my energy was well spent without hydration and my endurance was just lacking. No, I neither saw God, nor the guiding light. I was just merely enraged that I swore to myself to finish the whole trip since so many others ( even elderly folks! ) could have done it. I was not going to give up because I only had a lousy city bike with single speed gear to get past the slopes in the dunes.

At the end of the day, the amazing scenery was the best payback I could ever ask for. Then, there were also discoveries in Noordwijk when I visited my friend - beautiful garden flea markets, tiny towns with lighthouse and churces, bungalows and the mansion belonging to Heineken's owner. You do know Heineken, the green label beer that tastes horrible? Not mentioning, I was even in a Swimming Camp for kids. How did I end up there? Until next post.






Information:
Route Details
About Noordwijk

Your Aussie camper-van experience awaits !

Australia is a country I have been there twice - Tasmania and some odd places on the east coast. However, I have not tried the real Aussie travel experience, which is town hopping on camper van. Anyway, it is one of the item in my bucket list which is rather low in ranking for the moment. Why so? Given that there are bungee jumping in New Zealand and spa experience in Blue Lagoon, Iceland that got bumped up the queue a while ago, I am just not looking at it right now.

Anyway, if you're keen for 6 weeks' amazing time of bumping into backpackers on their gap years, holidaymakers, and stoners, you might be interested with this:



The point is, are you Van-Tastic enough for a Aussie road trip ? Shot a video, justify it, and pray that you get picked. The deadline is 28th February 2010. So, there's ample time for you to put together a wacky video and sit tight for your flight ticket to head to Australia. Make sure you're really wacky :)

Let me know if you're in the running for the lucky one. I'll vote, I promise.

The Destination List

If I get to stay in Europe, here's the places I would want to go. Typical destinations I would say.

1. Barcelona, Spain. Perhaps for the gothic culture.
2. Southern France. aix-en-Provence & cote d'azur! Marie, bring me to d'Alps!
3. Prague, Czech Republic. Hello, my bohemian friends.
4. Vienna, Australia. Eh, neighbour?
5. Hamburg, Germany. A visit to my stony friend to get more stonned!

Ok, London too, although I'm not quite keen with Brits. I would shop in H&M and not Oxford street.

Abandonalia

Abandonalia is a blog collecting some amazing photographs of abandoned sites. I'm not sure if the photographs are taken by the blog owner or it's a collection of random finds/posts.

Regardless, the textures and colors abound in these site full of stories seemed to be very captivating. Perhaps a certain post-processing of HDR is involved, but still the air of solitude remains.

You be the judge.

Flickr + Blog

Take the unbeaten path to a cemetry today. No joking.

On my way back from Sugardough Panificio e Patisserie, G asked me to drop by Melbourne General Cemetery which she claimed to be...I can't recall how she recommended the place. But, with my courage as immense as roaring lions, I just jumped off the tram at the tram stop across the road and then off visiting my long lost friends.

The cemetery was separated into sections based on religion streams. There was also a separate section for child's cemetery, which was quite upsetting. Somehow, when you actually stepped on the vicinity, the serenity just calmed you down and you just blended into the silence of the place. I believe that's the major difference from the creepy Chinese cemetery that I see for myself or from movies. Death should be a relief from vanity and materialism, however, in certain religion or culture, the living will be conceptualized to have fear and respect for the dead so that the dead will bring them good and no harm.

Anyway, it's been a interesting experience, especially a text message came in from a friend abroad as below:
" HEY YOU, R U ALIVE? How is Aus?........"

Right. I was so alive but everything just felt surreal that I just left the place not long after a couple of young lovers came out from no where.

Anyway, I did not bump into Sir Redmond Barry, the Acting Chief Justice who sentenced Ned Kelly to hang; or famous Australian explorers, Burke & Wills. Everything was great, and you should drop by the place some time.

Here's how you can go there:

Idea

Some friends have been giving me thoughts to start a travel blog. I wonder if my perseverance and endurance will sustain the completion of the story on whole journey.
What do you think?

Till then.

Signing off,
Melbourne.

Solitude

Taken at White Sand Dunes, Muine, Vietnam

Some people commented that the pictures I took at this sand dunes look great. Sometimes, it's the place being so beautiful that, no matter how you press the shutter, the saturation of the sky will always be so perfect in the end. Margie concluded this when she stayed in Europe. I couldn't agree more.

Muine has a stretch of 6km shoreline which gives way to the blooming of development projects for resorts and restaurants. Naturally, tourism will rise to be the major source of income for locals - be it the kids or adults. Fortunately, right after the 6km coastline, all I could see was still the normal fishing village life and stinky fish market. For now, the children are still naive, playful and fun to "hang out with" since they did not request for money after each game we played together or each photograph I took, which was very likely to happen at other parts of Vietnam.

The point is - white sand dunes area is far from other attractions hence is also less desired by the throng of tourist buses. I'm glad this allowed me to take my shots that day, and also ignoring the teases from those that will not comprehend why I rather walk further to explore the possibility of good shots than sledding sand. Even though I could only venture as far as 2 hours' of time could allow me, or the dunes were not in the shape I dreamed of, still, the moment of you standing on top of the dune, looking afar to stretch of monotone is magnificent. Solitude, it is.


I hope the scene will stay how it is for another 10 years. Maybe less.