Perils of Cat Ownership

There is a worrying trend emerging - somehow there seem to be a predominance of cat-related entries in this blog. But what to do, there are so many cats around the garden that they tend to find their way into other areas as well - our conversations, my blog. They have also been trying to get into the house. There was also that embarassing moment on Christmas Eve when one of the male strays (Paddy) got into the house and sprayed a guest's handbag! Fortunately there were many people around. No one claimed the bag and so we hastily cleaned it up after chasing the naughty boy out of the house.

The major downside is that they have also started leaving their droppings around the place. The grass verge outside the house is a regular recipient, as is the bushier part of our little mini garden patch. Yes, in case you didn't get it, that is the part which is difficult to get to. The neighbours are also complaining that they are starting to get their share of "presents".

And so, we have decided to put the kittens up for adoption. I have sent in the notice to CWS and the kittens have been put on their adoption site. This has been a painful decision and the worst is yet to come, when one of them is actually taken away from the house. It is also a weighty responsibility to find a suitable adopter, who will take good care of our little ones, and, importantly, who can house train them. They are such trusting, affectionate little animals and really so adorable in the way they come rubbing themselves around my ankles asking for attention and affection.

I am reminded of how my dear aunt tried to sell off her Persian kittens. She managed to sell one - but it was such a painful and tearful experience that she could not sell another. Hopefully once all the cats are sterilised, I will be spared this painful task in future.

Where are my Prezzies!??!

Christmas-time - a time for friends, family and faith renewal. Well, at least that is what it is supposed to be. But it is also a stressful time. The art of present-giving is not an easy one. How does one find that gift which would a) demonstrate that you know the recipient's tastes and preferences b) look fairly expensive but not be too expensive and c) would be in line with what you would likely receive from the recipient.

As a child, one memory of Christmas was the gift giving from my uncles and aunts. We used to get individual presents from each of them. I still remember the floor all covered with wrapping paper. But then as the number of us cousins increased, the parents decided to take action. They decided to pool their resources together and buy one big gift per child. That reduced the stress of having to purchase and wrap numerous gifts and at the same time the kids could get those big-ticket items which they'd always wanted.

One of my cousins also had a fairly simple method, albeit the exact opposite of the "pooling" method described above. She would buy presents for everyone from the $1.99 Shop (this was before the chain folded) and give them out at her annual Christmas party. She proclaimed the source of her presents to everyone (with pride) and the gifts were generally quite good for a laugh. One year I decided I would out-do her in the buying of cheap gifts and gave her a free gift which I received when I made another purchase that year. Not sure if she has quite forgiven me for that - she has definitely not forgotten.

Over the years, my immediate family has evolved various systems to ensure that we get the presents we want. We provide gift lists to others, or even buy our own presents and pass them to others to wrap up. Then, there are the staple items - books, CDs, shirts and jewellery. Even so, there have been unfortunate duplications of gifts in the past, particularly books. That's why I like buying gifts whilst overseas over the year and putting them in a secret drawer until Christmas.

I have yet to encounter any good system for office-party gift exchanges. I personally like a system whereby people put down what they want to receive and so the giver knows exactly what to get. But I've been told that this lacks spontaneity and surprise. Ah well, what to do. I just think that the spirit of giving is somewhat thwarted if the recipient looks at your gift and thinks inside, hmmm. And I speak as one who has received comic-printed toilet paper as a gift. What was I supposed to do with that? Use it for the purpose intended? The more common practice appears to be, that you pull someone's name out of the jar and buy for that person. Now, this is pretty hazardous. There are people who are good at buying gifts and those who are not. There are people who are hard to buy for and those whose tastes are well known. There are people you just know better and those you don't know as well. So the problem is, how do you buy something for someone you may not know very much about? I just looked around the internet sites for some assistance on present-buying and this website: http://www.imagini.net/ seemed to offer some interesting solutions. I tried it out (on myself) and it did come up with unusual and imaginative gifts (as well as some pretty standard ones). Of course the downside is that it does require you to know something about the person you are buying the gift for.

Finally, heartfelt best wishes is something which is always acceptable, so I can only say:

Casey Wishes Everyone a Merry Christmas!

-----

Time to Smell the Orchids

Yesterday, I took my dear mother to the Singapore Garden Festival. And my, I have never seen so many aunties and uncles toting their cameras and happily taking photos of plants. (I also spotted my own dear auntie amongst the crowds). It was not just a garden festival but a sort of mega get-together of the plant- and gardening community.

I must admit that as a non-gardener (and owner of a new camera) my main interest was in taking photos, but even I got caught up in the arresting fantasy gardens, the appealing and inviting landscape gardens and the multitude of orchids of every shape, variety and hue, which were on display. My mother's favourite was the Chelsea Pensioner's Garden, which is a tropical version of a prize-winning garden exhibited at the Chelsea Flower Show. What makes this garden so exciting and interesting is the great variety of plants on offer - and how they have been able to introduce local plants and herbs, and even vegetables! I personally think that instead of a Chelsea Pensioner they could have made it a "Kampong Headman's Garden", to bring it closer to Asia. But, the crowd loved the two old soldiers in their bright red coats (my mother took her picture with one) and this was one of the most popular gardens in the whole festival. Another memorable garden aimed to present an "abstract expression" of Singapore. This was essentially a series of rectangles filled with neat rows of cacti with different coloured flowers on top. Whilst I am sure it must have been a challenge to find so many cacti flowering at the same time, it was the tongue-in-cheek nature of the display which amused me.

It was also pretty exciting to go around the orchid displays as this allowed me to get closer to the plants to practice macro shots. But with so many people with the same idea (those who did not bring their cameras with them were using their camera phones) there was not much time to linger over composing and focusing each shot. I must admit that I have never seen or even conceived that there could be such a variety of orchids - big, small, with large petals and with twistie-like petals, and of many different colours. I suppose this is the result of all the hybridisation which goes on. I also saw Annika Sorenson's orchid - she was apparently present on the opening day of the festival and was presented with her own special orchid. Well, we have certainly named orchids after stranger people

It was perhaps in the retail section that the avid gardeners find occasion to "express" themselves. There was everything that any gardener could want. My mother found her Neem tree products (apparently the Neem is an Indian wonder-tree which fertilises and repels pests all at the same time) and started signing up with various groups (like the Green Guides at the Singapore Environment Council booth).

So it looks like Singapore is going the right route in promoting ourselves as the City in a Garden (or whatever the NParks slogan is). Perhaps a little more inclusiveness in getting Singaporeans into the process would help? I remember that "neighbourhood" gardens in the US had come about when individuals started converting the eyesors at the corners of their streets into miniature gardens. Judging from the crowds at the festival, perhaps there are sufficient Singaporeans who would be happy to help beautify the areas around them (particularly, say, if the cost of materials etc was not borne by them but by their town council? Which then does not need to pay for landscaping and gardening services). Hmmm

Kittens at Play

I have just bought myself a new Canon G7 Camera and have been trying it out over the past few days. Photos above feature Casey, and three kittens - Inks, Binks and Winks - at play. There is a fourth kitten, Minks (or Minx) but she is terribly shy and has not taken up semi-permanent residence on our doorstep (as yet).

Trying to photograph Casey was pretty tough - she was in a jumpy, fidgety mood. Finally she spotted a dragonfly and from then on sat watching its every step - check out her unblinking stare. The three kittens, on the other hand, were very photogenic. Gave me an opportunity to try out the special setting in the camera for pet photography - didn't seem to do too much for me but maybe I'm still getting the hang of it. This is early days yet.

Have also found a website which helps make the mosaic - it is pretty easy to use, much better than my Photoshopping efforts. Downside is that everything must be from Flickr - and I don't want to put all my photos there.

Internal Transformation

The Old and the New (1)
Originally uploaded by Taking5.

I have been going around Singapore the past few days with some of my classmates. On Thursday, we went down the Singapore River from Boat Quay to the Esplanade. Then on Sunday, we visited the re-opened National Museum of Singapore. It is absolutely amazing to see how the museum has transformed itself from the old musty rooms of my schooldays to this modern museum which uses technology effectively to take the viewer through Singapore's history. It was well worth going to - and to my surprise, I could have stayed there for at least an hour or two more. More pictures of the new museum are here.

There are two series of galleries in the museum - the Living Galleries and the History Galleries. The Living Galleries are entertaining - nostalgia, Singapore heritage etc. But the History Galleries are impressive. Starting with a film on how Sang Nila Utama named a certain island "Singapura", and a section on Sir Stamford Raffles, we walked through exhibits on 19th Century Singapore and then to the early 20th Century. I personally enjoyed this part of the museum most. Especially the room containing several paintings from William Farquhar's Natural History Collection - delicate watercolours of the flora and fauna in the region. Farquhar commissioned various Chinese painters to paint these water colours for him. He brought his collection back to Britain with him and gave the paintings to the Royal Asiatic Society. They were auctioned off in 1993 and sold to Mr G K Goh. GK Goh then loaned them to the National Museum (or is it donated?). May many follow this extremely rare example of philanthropy in the arts !

The History galleries then go on to World War II and the Japanese Occupation, the years up to and struggle for independence. The museum presents the story in two ways - the "personal path" and the "events path" and I chose to follow the "personal path" and follow the journey through the experiences of individual Singaporeans. For example, it was interesting to hear how the Khong Guan brothers worked on cultivating good employer-employee relations throughout the years of labour unrest - they never had a single strike throughout this period!

The galleries conclude with the early years of nation-building. Frankly, I skimmed through this portion but it was fascinating to hear how the two men who conducted the Macdonald house bombing were caught, by the man who apprehended them. With one giant step, the National Museum has really totally transformed the whole museum-going experience for me and surely for a cohort of national-education-doubting-school children.

Sterilising a Cat

We have decided to start sterilising the cats which come to our house for feeding. In addition to the six (6) I mentioned in an earlier post, the four (4) kittens in the next road are now being fed on site following complaints made by some obviously intolerant people that the cats were messing up their driveway.

So the ten (1o) cats are eating us out of house and home. Cat food is bought in large packets and (I believe) negotiations have been done with the retailer to get them at cheaper rates. One of the cats is vastly pregnant and there is another female of kitten-bearing age. We needed to do something. So my father arranged an appointment with the vet through the Cat Welfare Society for the sterilisation of two of the cats. On Monday night, we tried to trap the vastly pregnant female, Blackie. She was clearly unhappy inside her cage, making piteous mews. Her sibling, Sootie, and two half-grown kittens from her previous litter paced in front of the cage trying to make physical contact with her (awww.....). The next morning, before taking her to the vet, we gave a call. The receptionist hmmed and hawed when she heard that Blackie was vastly pregnant. Apparently cats in an advanced stage of pregnancy get very moody when they lose their kittens. She said that the risks of the operation were increased in such a case. So obviously we did not bring Blackie in. We made another appointment for Friday (today) to bring in the other female, Mollie.

Mollie must be psychic because last night she was nowhere in sight. So we trapped poor Sootie (see photo) in the cage. He was actually number 3 on our list after the two females. We don't want him growing up and getting into fights with Paddy or other tomcats. This morning, we found that the newspaper lining the floor of the cage had been delicately shredded. Either he was bored, or stressed. Maybe both. Paddy was also unhappy - the cage was his so what was this interloper doing in it. We transferred Sootie to a basket to take him to the vet and he started whimpering. This continued until we got to the vet where he was probably too terrified by the dogs barking to make a sound. Feeling slightly uneasy and guilty, we left him to his fate.

Sootie is now back here and his cage has been shifted to our back yard. Hope he has a quiet and comfortable night. He is sitting somewhat tenderly.

One down and many more to go.

Running the good race

Last year, I went to support my staff running in the Standard Chartered Marathon last year (2 people actually doing the full marathon, others the mini-marathon or half-marathon) and saw a few others I knew running past the finish line. This year I technically don't have any staff but I thought I'd support them anyway.

Many people see running a marathon as a milestone in their lives; an achievement to remember. Watching the runners come in, there is a wide range of people taking part, especially in the half-marathon and mini-marathon. Marathon runners are obviously super-fit types, but I did see a few older men come in. In the half and mini marathons, there are more older runners, and a wider range of female runners including many who have given up and are taking a leisurely stroll to the finish line at the end. But I still applaud them for trying - after all I didn't take part myself. See more marathon pictures.

I reached the finish line a little after 9am and found a colleague of mine stationed opposite the portable toilets in front of Supreme Court (not the best view surely?). He held his SLR with his superlong telephoto lens (I can't remember the length), I had my tiny little Canon IXUS in my bag. I need a new camera. We waited for some of our colleagues to come in after their 10 km run, and together we awaited the arrival of the sole half-marathoner of the group, to cheer him on the final stretch of his run. In the meantime, the kids'event was held and I spotted a friend of mine in the midst of all the kids, with his video recorder in hand. But where was his son? According to what he told me thereafter, he had jogged the last 3km of the half-marathon with a strained leg muscle (nonetheless he did it in about 2 hours, a good result) and just couldn't keep up with his son during the kids' event. He didn't hear me calling him and as a result I have only a photograph of the back of his head.

After the kids, the stragglers for the half-marathon were coming in and our young man was still nowhere in sight. I was complaining that he seemed to be pretty slow and someone told me I should be "more supportive". Finally we got an SMS from him - he had just woken up. Good thing I didn't waste my "supportive" energies.

Contemporary Music and Jazz, played by Russians

Yesterday night I went to a contemporary music and jazz performance organised as part of a mini-Russian festival here. The first (classical) half of the concert featured Tatiana Gridenko and Opus Posth and the jazz performance featured Vladimir Volkov and the Volkov Trio.

I enjoyed the classical performance more. I like chamber music and love strings. Favourite was the second piece by Vladimir Martynov, entitled "Autumn Ball of Elves". Gridenko introduces each piece before the ensemble plays it - I thought this excellent practice as it makes the piece more accessible to the audience, as compared to the rather "atas" expectation that the whole audience will understand what is going on through reading the programme notes. Martynov is a minimalist composer and he believed that the high point of music came in the 19th Century with pieces such as "Overture to a Midsummer Night's Dream"; everything else is in decline. His composition certainly did not bring to mind Titiana and Oberon. Rather, I was reminded more of the Elves in Middle Earth. The piece opens with a rather charming, minuet-like theme which is then interrupted by short spiccato passages played by one viola and one violin. This is repeated several times with the main theme getting shorter and shorter with each repetition. The middle portion is played mainly spiccato; it is very rhythmic and reminded me of Frodo racing away from the Black Riders and the river rising up to block their passage. The last section is variations on the theme which is really rather pretty and recalls Rivendell to me. It ends on a slightly melancholic note. The composer was in the audience and Gridenko (the leader of Opus Posth) called him up to the front of house, next to the stage. As he was dressed in a polo t-shirt I don't think he was quite prepared for this public appearance.

The third composition was by Iannis Xenakis and this is supposed to be an "avant garde" composition. It is supposed to be "destructive" and indeed it sounded terrible. But it was far more interesting to watch! Could really see the players working to deliver the strange and distorted sounds the composer required. As the piece progressed I could see the bows shedding horsehair. The cellist in particular had several strands hanging off the tip of his bow. After the end of the piece everyone had to re-tune their instruments. Talk about destructive!

The jazz section was quite interesting altho' I didn't enjoy it as much. What made it enjoyable was the way you could see the Slavic soul coming out. The double bass player (Volkov) stood throughout the performance and his whole body moved in time to the music as he played. The guitar player flung his hair about and did some head banging but you would expect that of a guitarist. This expressiveness was also apparent (but less so) in the classical performance. I suppose it is a Russian thing; we had a word with the organiser of the event post-performance and she said that when she worked with the German ensemble they held themselves more formally whilst playing.

Whole Programme:

Philip Glass - The Company
Vladimir Martynov - Autumn Ball of Elves
Iannis Xenakis - Aroura
Pavel Karmanov - Green DNK (pronounced Denka - Green DNK is thus a play on Gridenko's name)

~ Interval ~

Jazz Improvisations

Kits, Cats, Sacks and Wives

I've just started taking my mother for walks down the East Coast Park. We will go for a short walk of about half an hour (vigorous for me, less so for her). On one of these outings, we found a whole colony of cats residing in the area. There must have been something like 8 cats, excluding the 6 little kittens which we saw together with their mother. However, there was one little kitten who appears to be less able to fight with her more robust brethen for access to food. That's why the photo shows only 5 kits. More pics of the cats on my flickr page.



There is a community of cat lovers/feeders across Singapore. One couple comes from Siglap to a road near my place to feed a group of cats. There is also a gentleman who cycles around the Marine Parade area to feed cats. My father has met him before; I think it was he whom I saw at the park feeding the cats. So the cats have food, and shelter. Poor kitten No.6 eats the food he brings, but it is adult cat food - no substitute for mother's milk.

But the large number of cats is a little worrying. Many people don't really like stray cats. The group of cats near my place got thinned out recently after a complaint from a resident led to a culling of the animals. The Cat Welfare Society recommends sterilisation but it is up to individual members to bring the cats for sterilisation and thereafter look after them whilst they recover. It is not an easy task to capture these strays. Many are suspicious of humans and of course bringing them to a cold white place where they get needles stuck into them will only reinforce their mistrust.

Massage Therapy

Somehow I can't relax during massages. I know the theory - that I am supposed to relax my muscles, etc etc. But somehow the law that "every action has an equal and opposite reaction" just comes into play the second the masseuse touches me.

Today I went with my friend to a spa down in Chinatown for a credit card- related promotion - price was ridiculously low so you can expect the little sales pitch at the end of the session. My inability to relax aside, I did think that it showed that we were not up to par where it came to service excellence. My therapist is probably Malaysian as she spoke mainly Teochew and some Mandarin. And she is perfectly pleasant and polite, but somehow she didn't really do the little things which enhance the visitor's experience. For example, I had to take off my shoes and put on a pair of slippers and go up the stairs with her. I was selecting my slippers and she was already at the top of the stairs. Then by the time I reached the top, she was nowhere to be seen- preparing the room. I thought she should accompany me up. And then there was no towelling robe for the customer to use whilst making the little walk between the shower stalls and the room, only a slightly inadequate towel. The room itself was rather small - I can accept that space is at a premium but the poor therapist was squeezing between the bed and the wall in order to get to my other side. But at $20 for a 1 hour massage, I can't really complain. On the other hand there must have been about 4-5 receptionists. No wonder our service productivity is crap.

After the massage we walked over to the "Pink Building" to check out prices for Macau (after all we did not go to Vegas or even Atlantic City whilst in the US). There I experienced a rather abrupt reception at the travel agency I went to. I went in, asked if there were any free & easy packages for Macau. The girl at the counter a) didn't look at me; b) said "no" and c) started talking on the phone. Ah well. I predict our score for service excellence will slip further, in this tight labour market.

We passed Lim Chee Guan on our way to and from Pink building and I am pleased to say I resisted the temptation to make a purchase, which would inevitably end up being consumed mainly by myself. I don't understand though why people would queue for hours in the run-up to Chinese New Year just for some boxes of bak kua when it is so easy to get it during the rest of the year without waiting at all! Must admit though that I didn't resist the temptation of the mango pomelo dessert in Temple Street. Cold, sweet with a slightly sourish edge and the bursts of citrus flavour every time you bite into the pulpy pomelo. Highly recommend it.

(p.s. I forgot to say - whilst I was noting service deficiencies, my friend was apparently having a fairly positive experience. She got a Thai masseuse, who wiped between her toes after she got back from her shower. Definitely no toe-wiping for me.)

New Blog Template

It's done! Whilst I was attempting to work out how to put the previous posts in, I found many many sites telling me how to do things in the new Blogger beta. So I decided to just bite the bullet and make the shift. And I must say that thus far, it looks quite nice. I have happily inserted a "Contents" page which lists all my posts thus far and not just the last 10.

Beta also has features which I think are pretty useful like the "older post" and "newer post" features when viewing a single post. Not to mention that this particular template actually stretches across the full screen and not just two-thirds of it.

Perhaps I will see how I can tweak this a little further so as to make use of all the new information I've gained.

Cat Invasion

So now I am back in Singapore and find that my garden has been invaded by six (6) cats. This is due to my dear parents feeding cats in the garden, in defiance of the cat books and exclude the four (4) kittens fed in the nearby road. They are Paddy, Martia, Mickey, Mollie, Blackie and Sootie. One morning, I opened the front door to take in the newspapers and there they were, all awaiting their breakfast. I closed the door and soon after heard some furry bodies pressing against it. Eventually I fed them. Oh yes, all six (6) of them. (Photo here only shows Mickey, Sootie and Blackie. All my cat photos here.) I suppose this means I've really acclimatised back to Singapore. Then I fed my dear little Casey.

I have just migrated to Blogger Beta and am a little annoyed because somehow the migration has buggered up the posts listing. It is ok when it comes to listing the 10 most recent posts, but if I want to find an earlier post (say 14 posts beforehand), it becomes necessary to go to the monthly archive and then go down the pages looking for it!

I went searching around the Blogger hacker sites and fora and somehow I can't quite find the solution I need. In the interim, I've managed to insert a new link (under Archive) saying "All my Posts" which covers all my posts thus far. Need to page down quite a bit to find earlier posts but that's the best I can do at this point.

Dominicans and Constable

I managed to have mass with the Washington D.C. Dominican community on my last day in the US. I just wanted to go for a nice, quiet Saturday morning mass (considering that I would be missing Sunday mass due to time lags and such). So I went to St Dominic's down the road from our hotel where there was supposed to be an 8am daily mass. However, the church was locked and this lady I bumped into told me mass would be at 8.15am in the chapel. When I got there, it was completely empty except for one robed figure in a corner who I took to be the priest and so I sat half-way down the chapel. Then, these elderly white-robed men started entering the chapel. No other lay people in sight. I started feeling quite uneasy. Was I in the right place? I contemplated making a run for it. Then I decided that what the heck, I had every right as a Catholic to be present. Never mind that in a group of white-robed Dominican priests, I was clearly the odd woman out.

Anyway we started mass with the psalmody. I had no idea where to find this and the Dominican across the aisle had to assist. Mass proceeded as per normal after that. It was the feast day of St Martin of Tours so the sermon referred to the story of how he gave half his cloak to a beggar, etc and what "we as Dominicans" can learn from St Martin. Apparently the Dominicans don't take a vow of poverty and Martin of Tours was famous for his hermitlike existence. The liturgy of the Eucharist took place next and all the priests started moving up towards the altar and took turns saying their lines. At some points (eg the consecration of the bread and wine) it was a chorus. I stayed put. I do know my place. At communion, of course there was only one (lay) recipient. Was not sure whether to go but the main celebrant gave me a little nod and up I went. I can't say I enjoyed mass, but I did appreciate the experience.

I didn't take any photos of the little priory chapel but here is the crucifix in the main church of St Dominic's. (I'd gone there for All Saints' Day when this photo was taken. What I did not expect was that I would be taking the wine up at Offertory. Someone asked me to do so at Offertory itself! I was not quite prepared for this and forgot to wait for the bread to be passed to the priest before returning to my seat. Ah well, it seems that I am not destined to have "ordinary" masses at St Dominic's.)

The previous day, we'd gone to the National Gallery of Art and since I'd spent time looking at American artists in Mexico, I went to see the special exhibition of John Constable's Six-Foot Paintings in the US! Constable started painting six-footers to attract attention at exhibitions and such. (Artists must always know what's commercial.) Constable started off by painting full-scale sketches of his work and then doing a polished version after that. It thus provides an idea of his thinking as he worked. The Six-Footers were done throughout Constable's career and therefore also show how his style progressed over time. One point which struck me was how the style in the final product began to look more and more like the more fluid and less polished style of his sketches, over time.

The National Gallery of Art is actually quite amazing. It was started off as a donation by Andrew Mellon to the nation in the hope that others would follow his example. And they did. Today, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet don't build museums/galleries. They look to improve public health around the world, and raise educational standards. Apparently the Gates Foundation is now one of the largest donors in the world, in the area of health, surpassing many countries' contributions. But they apply a private sector perspective on looking at effectiveness of aid, which perhaps state donors are less able to do. So income inequality in the US may be pretty stark but it is very difficult for anyone to resent Bill Gates' billions if he is helping to eradicate polio or whatever.

Cultural Learnings of America

On my last full day in the US, we went off to see Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan. It was strongly recommended by one of my classmates as being completely hilarious. And it was very funny, but I must say that I agree with the review which said that any movie billed as such always finds it difficult to live up to expectations. And after watching the movie, I wasn't really surprised to find out that Sacha Baron Cohen (the actor who plays Borat) is a British comedian. Borat is like a hugely exaggerated Mr Bean with a fake accent and moustache, and with a politically incorrect factor of x10. Borat is a Jew-hating sexist journalist from Kazakhstan making a documentary about the US to show in his home country. But he watches an episode of Baywatch and then gets the hots for Pamela Anderson. For her sake, he drives across America interviewing people along the way.

And this is where Mr Bean meets Reality TV. Many of the people interviewed were ordinary folk who were not aware that Borat was an invented character. He went to a humour coach, an etiquette coach, met feminists, car salesmen and attended a dinner party in the Deep South of the USA (where he brought a black prostitute as his date). Half of these people are now sueing Cohen for tricking them. Its incredible that more people didn't see through his strange behaviour.

There were also incredibly funny scenes which were staged -my favourite is where Borat and his producer engage in a nude wrestling match and run all over the hotel in the nude.

I am trying to work out exactly what makes it such a popular movie and have concluded that it lies in the deliberate way Borat sets out to offend every single last sensibility of politically correct America. Somehow Borat makes it politically correct to enjoy a crude, vulgar movie which helps them laugh at themselves.

Was quite surprised to see that Borat is opening in Singapore, 28 Dec. Well worth watching and it will be interesting to see Singaporeans' reactions.

Catrina, Posada and Diego Rivera

We spent most of our last day in Mexico wandering around the city, through the parks and the streets. The parks are great - cool shady oases in a bustling city. Not very busy too - we did see people walking their dogs in the park (Mexicans appear to be dog people) - but they were never overly crowded.

We also popped in on the Museo Mural Diego Rivera which is a museum with one main exhibit, a single mural by Diego Rivera which takes up a whole wall. It was originally in a hotel lobby- the hotel was destroyed in an earthquake but the mural managed to survive. Now, the mural was extremely controversial because Diego went and painted in a line which said "God does not exist". He was forced to paint it out but evidently God has a sense of humour, or else the mural would have been destroyed with the hotel!

Anyway, here is a small section of the famous mural. I took only one photo before being informed that I had to pay 5 pesos more for the pleasure of taking photos. So I stopped. At the very centre of the mural is El Calavera Catrina, arm in arm with her creator, Jose Guadalupe Posada. (For more on Posada and the creation of a cultural icon, here is a link.) The little boy holding Catrina's hand is Diego himself and reflects Diego's admiration for Posada. Behind them is Frida Kahlo, Diego's wife and a famous Mexican painter in her own right. I did not know until coming back and reading something about her that Frida was in a serious bus accident in her youth and she was essentially living in pain all her life. She painted many self portraits and a lot of it portrayed her pain, both physical and from her marriage to Diego. Diego had a habit of portraying his family members in his work - this mural featured his previous wife, his son (if I recall correctly), amongst others. He didn't have any children with Frida (the bus accident). The painting included politicians like Benito Juarez, and the Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz. It also featured some of his themes, eg, family being evicted from their home, repressed worker, wicked banker etc. I liked Diego's work - the colours, the folklorish style, the density and detail. Most of all I liked his (socialist?) view that art belongs to the masses and hence his interest in public art and large murals.

This post brings me to the end of our stay in Mexico. Most of the backpackers in our hostel are moving on to other parts of Mexico and even South America but sigh, we are not amongst them. The Canadian girl is going down to Central America (where she hopes to learn Spanish) for a total of 3 months, the British vegetarian couple and the tall German girl are all off to Oaxaca. It is apparently only us kiasu Singaporeans who read US travel advisories on the situation in Oaxaca. The only other person here for a short stay was probably Hernand, the Peruvian who went on some of the same tours as we were. Hernand speaks as much English as I do Spanish so our conversations were necessarily limited. But I did manage to convey that we were studying administration and to get that he would be leaving for Peru the night just before we returned to the US. Maybe I am getting the hang of Espanol after being mistaken so many times as a hispanic.

Adios!

Layers of the Past - Mexico Day 3

Today was yet another free tour to the National Museum of Anthropology (Museo Nacional de Antropologia). Let me just give a little buzz for Mexbus, the company which runs all these tours for the hostel. The guides are knowledgeable, well-informed and speak good English. Although yours truly went and opened her mouth and supplemented the guide’s vocabulary at some points.

The National Museum of Anthropology is a real treasure trove of the cultural history of Mexico and the people who have lived in this area of Mesoamerica for 3,000 years prior to the arrival of the Spanish. It starts, literally, in the Stone Age when Early Man lived their hunter-gatherer lives. We saw a mammoth skull with the remainder of a stone weapon lodged in it, indicating that human beings had killed that animal. From these early beginnings, we saw how Man started to settle down and establish little farming communities, before moving on to the later rooms where the artefacts from Teotihuacan and the early Aztec world were on display. We saw how the early civilizations lived, and buried their dead (together with the utensils they used in life). Our guide (Leo again) showed us this mask which displayed how these early people perceived their world. Half the mask was a skull, the other half a living face (quite an ugly one), symbolizing again the duality of life and death.

There was a similar mask at the Teotihuacan room, where the skull is surronded by the rays of the sun (note the similarity of the sun's rays to those emitting from the Lady of Guadalupe, see previous post). I mentioned earlier that we only saw a selection of artifacts found in the Pyramid of the Moon at the Teotihuacan complex. Others were here in the Museum of Anthropology. The museum has re-created the pyramid façade of the temple of Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc and painted it to show the original colouring. There is also a display of skeletons – probably of sacrificial victims. They are arranged the way they were found, some with necklaces of jaws around their necks. The display’s alarm system is pretty sensitive, as we found whenever anyone leaned forward to take a closer look.

The largest and most impressive room we went in was the Aztec (Mexica) Room. The first thing we saw was the Aztec “calendar”, hanging high up against the wall. Apparently it was not really a calendar – it was meant for some other purpose but a huge crack at the back of the “calendar” resulted in it remaining unfinished. But the Calendar shows how exact Aztec astronomy was. There were 18 months of 20 days each, i.e. a total of 360 days. There were also 5 “extra” days, which were supposed to be “bad” days where people generally stayed home and didn’t do much.

There was one rather stark exhibit – this huge stone circle which was carved around the sides with scenes depicting how many peoples/territories that particular Aztec king had conquered. The circle has a hole scooped out in the middle – this, we were told, was where the hearts of sacrificed victims were put. See the stone and other photos from the museum here.

We also saw in the room a family tree of the line of kings, including Montechzuma and Cuauhtemoc, the last king who died fighting the Spanish (his name means "the eagle has fallen" in the Aztec language). The story of how a few hundred men under Hernando Cortes managed to defeat the Aztec Empire is sad and tragic. The story is that the Aztec god, Quetzalcoatl, who was thought to be white-skinned, had left his people but promised to be back in a certain year. That year (our 1531) came and so did the Spanish. The Aztec mistook them for the returning God and treated them as such. But that was not enough for the Spanish. In the end, the Aztec were defeated by three factors: (i) new weapons (firearms) and animals (the horse), (ii) new diseases like syphilis and smallpox and (iii) their own harsh treatment of their conquered peoples – the Spanish found it easy enough to turn the native peoples against their Aztec rulers. The Spanish then proceeded to thoroughly destroy Aztec civilization. They pulled down pyramids and build churches; they took the altars of temples and put crosses on them to convert them to Christian altars; they even took the circular stones with the holes in the middle and turned them into baptismal fonts for use in the conversion of the natives! Some examples were in the museum. I also found on-line a rather nice little flash presentation on the conquest - click here.

The museum has also interesting "live" exhibits. We saw a performance by the flyers of Papantla, or the Voladores de Papantla. Four men are tied to a maypole, they gradually lower themselves down whilst rotating from the pole. There is a fifth man standing on top of the maypole playing flute music. See video link of the flyers at my Multiply page (see link on left).

After the tour ended, we continued wandering around the museum on our own. There are other interesting rooms there – the room of the Oaxaca people, and the huge Maya room where there is a re-creation of a temple and the tomb of a Mayan king (Pacal) with the king himself interred there. I wish we had time to go to Chichen Itza! (But apparently whilst the pyramids there are shorter than those at Teotihuacan, they are steeper so the climb would have been even more painful).

All in all, it was fascinating. As I said before, the quality of the museums in Mexico City is excellent. In this museum, there are even some English language posters up and this really helped me to understand the exhibits, even without a guide. More than that, I thought that it really showed the layer upon layer of history which each group of people laid down in this area of Mesoamerica. From the early Pleioscene to the Teotihuacan people, and the Aztecs of Tenochtitlan, each group has left its mark in the area. But they were not the only ones – the Mayans, and the Oaxacan people, and the people along the Gulf of Mexico also had their own separate cultures and traditions. These people traded with each other, and traveled from place to place – creating a whole rich and separate civilization which is truly very different from any other I have encountered on my travels.

In the Streets of Mexico City

With 24 million people, Mexico City is one of the largest cities in the world. It is also one of the most ancient in the North America (founded in 1325, well before Columbus). But when we first arrived, about 10pm in the evening, the street outside our hostel was dark and deserted. Little did I know that the next morning, it would transform itself to part of one of the largest street markets that I have seen.

Around 8am each morning, people start to set up their stalls. Some have stands or tables on which they display their wares; others just put a tarpulin on the road. Anything and everything is for sale - accessories, clothes, bags, CDs/VCDs/DVDs, down to extension cords, towels, Christmas ornaments, lawn and house decorations and so on. We tried finding the borders of the market, but could not find the eastern border. There's a tremendous amount of buzz. People are calling out to customers, shouting at others to get out of the way and so on. And the traffic is trying to get through. Yes, traffic. What I'm still not clear about is whether there are any rules as to which streets are closed to vehicles when the market starts. There were traffic lights, but there was plainly no way for any vehicle to make its way through the stalls and human traffic. Then there was the occasion when this chap who had set up shop in the middle of the street had to move when a truck came down. Somehow, the market had made its own rules.

A different set of rules applies to the hawkers outside the Catedral. Whilst the large street market seemed to cater to locals, the hawkers outside the catedral catered to tourists - craft items, t-shirts, little sombreros, etc etc. There were shoeshine booths and also a little bird which picks your fortune out from a box. They do a busy trade but every now and then, someone raises an alarm and the hawkers, in the blink of an eye, pack up their wares or throw a blanket over them. Then we see a policeman walking down the street. So evidently, it is not legal to peddle goods outside the catedral area. But it is all a wayang. As long as the policeman doesn't see the actual goods, or an actual sale taking place, then he ignores the bags of goods and the covered items. Once the policeman walks off, it all starts again.

In front of the Catedral is a huge square - the Zocalo. This used to be the ancient ceremonial centre of the Aztecs but it has now been turned into a large square, or the Zocalo. Performing groups in the square draw the crowds - such as this group of Aztec dancers here. There are also folk dances performed on a stage in a corner of the square. It turns out that this is a "soft sell" of the people in Oaxaca to win sympathy for their cause - turfing out the unpopular governor of the province. So whilst you're watching the dancers twirl around, someone thrusts a flier in your hand.

The protesters are everywhere. They have camped outside major national monuments such as the National Art Museum (mentioned earlier) and in the Alameda Central (a park). There was one group which occupies the pedestrian crossing once the traffic stops and only marches off once the green man turns red. Apparently, the protests go beyond Oaxaca province. The Presidential Election (in July) was won only very narrowly and the people are disputing the result. Now that I'm safely back in Singapore it is also time to reveal that some bombs went off the first day we were there. But these were in the dead of the night so no one was injured and they were at very specific targets. So we were really quite safe :-) Oh yes- forgot to add that that the protesters also apparently invaded the Catedral and disrupted a mass the Sunday I was there! (Not the mass I went to though. Not sure whether that was good or bad).

So that's what the streets of Mexico City are like. Full of people, full of action. More stray dogs than I've seen anywhere else. Men making cloth flowers on one side of the Catedral. Beggars, shoeshine booths, protesters, performers. Lots of hawkers and the occasional policeman. And of course us tourists. (Incidentally, I was taken for a local quite frequently until I said my favourite phrase, "no hablo espanol" which of course means I can't speak the language!).

The Place where the Gods Began - Mexico, Day 2 Part 2

We visited two pre-Hispanic sites during our one-day tour.

Our first stop, Tlatelolco ruins or what they now call the Plaza of the Three Cultures. There are the ruins of Tlatelolco, the Spanish church of Santiago Tlatelolco which stands next to it and finally the buildings of modern Mexico around the place. As mentioned before, Tlatelolco was a twin city to Tenochtitlan and was the commercial centre of the Aztec empire. Traders from all over would come to Tlatelolco bearing products from the Oaxaca area, the Mayan area and so on. However, much of it is probably covered up by modern Mexico today. The ruins we saw were again temple ruins, very similar to those of Templo Mayor in Mexico City. I guess the biggest buildings around were the temples themselves, and it was hard to get rid of them completely whilst the stone from smaller buildings could be easily carted away. We again saw how the pyramid builders operated - building a larger pyramid over a smaller one in order to enlarge the size of their temple. Our guide showed us one altar and told us that when it was excavated, there were about 170 skulls found with a hole punched through the cranium. They were probably strung together at that point for display. The last battles between the Aztec and the Spanish were fought at Tlatelolco, and it was here the Spanish empire came to an end. The plaza was also the place where a massacre of students took place in 1968. They were protesting (Mexicans love protests, I find) against the conditions of the day (whatever they were). The government did not want disturbances just before the Olympic Games took place and so they shot the students! Bizarre logic.

After Tlatelolco we went to the Guadalupe shrine (see last post) and then to a handicraft factory outlet. This was quite fun because we got to try the local tequila and try out corn bread with cactus (sans the spikes) and cheese topping. Aztec food?

We then went on for our pyramid climbing expedition. Now, the Aztecs did not actually build the Teotihuacan complex. It had been built many many years earlier by a people now unknown. The Aztecs found the complex and found it so impressive, that they thought it must have been made by the Gods. So they called it “Teotihuacan”, or “the Place of the Gods”. It is a huge complex, with three pyramid structures and several temples all linked by this long “Avenue of the Dead” (apparently the Aztecs thought the buildings alongside were tombs). Just as was the case for Templo Mayor and Tlatelco, the pyramids were built in layers one on top of the other. And this meant that they covered up a lot of other things as well. So the starting point for the tour is a small museum displaying what archaeologists dug up out of interior of the Pyramid of the Moon. Other artefacts are displayed at the National Museum of Anthropology (where we went on Day 3). We visited the museum and after that started pyramid climbing.

The first pyramid was the pyramid of Quetzalcoatl and Tlaloc. Quetzalcoatl is the feathered serpent, thus symbolising the union between earth and sky. In the Aztec mythology, he taught the Aztecs about growing corn, about pottery and astronomy (their calendar). Tlaloc is the rain God, i.e. symbolising water. Apparently they are paired together in many representations. Aztecs believe in the duality of all things - fire and water, rain and earth, sun and moon. See video here for approach to the pyramid.

We then walked down the Avenue of the Dead to the Pyramids of the Sun and Moon. Now, in case anyone is labouring under any illusion that this is a nice, pleasant stroll, the Avenue of the Dead is not a straight road per se. There are a series of raised quadrangles which we have to climb up and down. I tried walking around one side only to see our guide lead us to the other side where she showed us some Jaguar heads.

The Sun pyramid is the highest of the 3 and it had rather steep stairs to clamber up. Anyway, I am pleased to say I did it! Panted a lot but that was probably the altitude, yah? The Pyramid of the Sun is shorter than the pyramid of Cheops in Egypt but has the same base and is apparently the third highest in the world. The view from the top is great except that it takes a lot to get there. I didn't climb up the Pyramid of the Moon. Felt that I had proved myself :-) And you don't get the best view of the pyramid on the pyramid itself, right? Not all in our group climbed up either - there were these Brit girls who happily sat at the bottom of the pyramid admiring the view too.

Also, spent some time wandering around the Temple of Quetzalpapalotl, or the temple of the plumed butterfly. It is a well preserved (at least I hope it is well preserved) little temple with beautifully carved columns. It was quiet and peaceful especially with the sun slanting in. Also visited this Palace of the Jaguars, where there are some beautifully preserved murals.

There are also many, many souvenir sellers around the Teotihuacan complex hawking little obsidian statues, silver jewellery, handwoven cloth etc etc - essentially the same stuff as at the handicraft museum but at a fraction of the price. Hmmmm...... I did buy something so as to average down my costs but when I compared it to the stuff in the little shops near the exit to the site, it seemed fairly comparable. Guess I didn't get a great bargain but at least I didn't get ripped off.

All in all, I find the story of Teotihuacan fascinating - how this people came so long ago to build these pyramids that lasted so long that those who came after them marvelled at their splendour. Sometimes the works of men do persist, after all.

See my Multiply page (link on left) for more panoramic views of Teotihuacan. The link to Flickr photos is here.

Our Lady of Guadalupe - Mexico, Day 2 Pt 1

Today we went on a 1-day tour to the ruins of Tlatelolco, the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe and to the pyramids of Teotihuacan. It was the high point of our trip to Mexico, both literally and figuratively. Oh yes, it also featured a shot of tequila and a handicraft factory outlet so there were indeed many different types of 'highs'. I'm going to alter the chronological flow of events now, so that I can talk about the Aztec stuff separately from the Catholic stuff, and go straight to our visit at the shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

I must say I was more than a little excited at the prospect of visiting the shrine. The story is that Our Lady appeared to an Aztec peasant, Juan Diego. This was some 10 years after the Spanish conquest. He went to a priest and told him the story but of course the priest didn't believe him. Juan Diego asked our Lady for a sign and she told him to pick some roses which had miraculously appeared on a bush. He picked the roses, put them in his poncho and then went to the priest. He shook the roses out to show the priest and lo and behold, there on the poncho was an image of the apparition he had seen:

(FYI, I did photoshop this but it still isn't too good. Other photos can be found here.)

Mary appears with the rays of the sun about her, the moon beneath her feet and stars on her cloak. This was interpreted very positively by the Aztecs - the duality of sun and moon, day and night is important to them culturally - and apparently this played a big part in their acceptance of Catholicism (with Aztec characteristics). That the hill she made her appearance on was already sacred to the Aztecs helped too.

This tradition of special reverence for our Lady of Guadalupe is still very much present in Mexico today. On the way to the shrine, we saw a procession of pilgrims walking to the basilica. (We would later see them entering the church - see photo.) We got to the shrine itself soon after. It is a really huge complex, with a gigantic square with the new basilica at one end, and the old basilica along the adjacent side. The old basilica was in danger of falling over, so they built the new one and took some some remedial action on the old building.

The new Basilica is large - it seats some 8,000 people and holds masses every hour of the day. Of course, being on a conducted tour I could not go to mass so had to say a short prayer instead. On the outer wall of the basilica, there is a special altar which overlooks the square. This is used when mass is said in the square on special occasions - which includes Pope John Paul II's masses when he visted Mexico City. (There is a statue of the Pope in one corner of the Square, together with his Mobile Van.) Pilgrims (and tourists) were walking into the Basilica but there were a few who were going in on their knees - ow. The square is made partly of nice smooth stones (I think granite) but a lot of it is just rather rough looking paving stones.

Going into the Basilica, the poncho with the image of Our Lady is hung behind the altar. But, (and I think this is quite ingenious) there is a pathway which goes below the image and from here, looking up, the image is quite clearly visible. Of course, close scrutiny is not possible, especially as there are a few short travelators just at that point to keep the flow of people going, or so they can concentrate on their prayers. I was too busy trying to take photos on the travelator to do anything else.

We then visited the old Basilica (where I saw the Day of the Dead display). The columns have all been reinforced, and there is a lot of metal strutting inside the building. We then went to the gardens around the basilica, and our guide pointed out where the original apparitions to Juan Diego were supposed to have taken place. It is really a peaceful, quiet area. She then gave us about 20 minutes or so free time which I spent trying to find nice souvenirs to bring back so I can share the whole experience with others. Not so easy as it seems - the place has a lot of rather cheap looking stuff. So this is the sacrifice which I had personally to make - go shopping instead of taking the opportunity to spend in quiet prayer (and I do mean this, for all the doubters out there) ! But I felt quite happy after our visit and hopefully that was God's grace at work rather than the feeling of satisfaction at being able to get something halfway decent :-)

In the Historic Centre - Mexico, Day 1

Did I mention previously that our hostel has a tie-up with Mexbus, a tour company? So today we went on a free tour of the Historical Centre of Mexico, i.e. our neighbourhood. We started off in front of this huge map of the area in the pre-Hispanic times. There were two major cities in the area, Tenochtitlan and Tlatelolco. Tenochtitlan was the political and military centre of the Aztec world and Tlatelolco the economic centre. The two cities were on an island in the middle of a lake. After the Spanish conquered the Aztec, they started filling in the lake and Mexico City expanded on this reclaimed land. The Spanish also pulled down all the Aztec temples and used the stones to build churches next to the temple. But the churches are so heavy that they are now sinking into the earth... requiring a lot of conservation effort. Divine retribution?

The Aztecs too had problems with their temples sinking into the earth. But they had a simple solution for that. Just build another temple over it. Remember, they were pyramid builders. So what you see on top is just the outermost layer, on top of a much older structure. There is a huge excavation site just next to the Catedral, of the Aztec Templo Mayor (Great Temple). The inner walls of the older pyramids are exposed to view here. We visited the site and the accompanying museum after the tour. There is this a macabre altar with human skulls all around it. That would have been the altar of the God of War.


Our next stop was the National Palace, where we were introduced to the murals of the famous Mexican painter, Diego Rivera. He has a series of murals up one staircase and down one wall of one of the palace courtyards. He was a communist and definitely anti-Spanish, anti-Catholic, so the Aztecs look like poor victimised people and Cortes and the Catholic church like murdering conquerors, making conversions by the sword. Truth to tell, the behaviour of the Spanish was also horribly cruel but they must have felt that anything was better than a religion that cut out the hearts of its adherents. Talk about relative moralities! Our guide (Leo) took us through the paintings in detail - Diego's prejudices aside, they also presented a lot of information about the pre-Hispanic world. There was a picture showing some of the religious rituals - playing a ball game called pelota; the Voladores de Paplanta or the Paplanta flyers. None of the more grisly rituals like cutting out hearts, although Leo told us that sometimes the victors of the ball games got the knife. Sacrificing the lives of some people, would ensure the survival and prosperity of the rest. Or, as someone in our group said, "life, for life." In one corner of the National Palace was a little display from the Day of the Dead celebrations. In one way, the culture of the Aztecs is still alive and well. Day of the Dead displays feature skeletons (or Katrinas) dressed up in fancy outfits, shrines and altars feature more skulls (we were to see a fine example at the old basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe the following day). Its got this very tribalistic feel to it.

We next stopped over at the Catedral. I was amazed at the number of masses. There must have been about 8-9 altogether, 4-5 in the morning and another 4 in the evening. I went to the 5pm mass later that day. The Catedral itself is ornate. The first thing we saw was a huge chapel just inside the catedral, all covered in gold leaf. The main alter itself has tall gold-leaf covered columns on each side. I suppose this is after the Spanish style, with Mexican overtones. There were two large pipe organs. One is from Spain, the other Mexican-made. The Mexicans also have an interesting custom. There was a picture of our Lady on one of the walls with all these medals, and little photos stuck around the frame. Apparently, if someone has survived a brush with death, or recovered from a serious illness, the practice is to put up one of these little medallions or trinkets on the frame as a form of thanksgiving.

We then went on to view various buildings in the historic part of Mexico - the building in which the Spanish Inquisition was held (they brought it over from Spain), the Post Office building, the Opera House and the National Art Museum. The tour ended after that and we then went off on our own. We went back to the Art Museum, and had to enter by the back entrance because the front was being blocked by the group of Oaxacan protesters who were camping in the square just outside the museum. The museum itself (and this is true for all the Mexican museums we visited) was excellent. Of course some English explanations of the works would have been nice but this is a Spanish speaking country, after all.

We ended off our day with a tour around the ruins of Templo Mayor (as mentioned earlier). It is really an absorbing archaeological site and it is incredible to think that this was just one small part - and around and below me lie far more of the ancient city of Tenochtitlan.

Photos from Mexico Day 1 here! Day 2- will feature visit to Teotihuacan (and more pyramids).

Hola! Mexico!

So, here I am in Mexico City. Flew in from Washington D.C. on Saturday evening. It was quite a tiring flight. First of all, the bus rode to Dulles airport from near our hotel took half an hour longer than expected - the bus driver hadn't a clue what he was doing and got lost repeatedly! I was napping happily and so didn't realise what was going on but at some point the passengers started yelling, "you're going the wrong way!" and "some of us have jobs we could lose because of this!". He finally got us to the terminal and these angry passengers stormed off threatening to complain. Did a self-check in at departure - the check-in staff just make sure our baggage isn't overweight and counts the number of bags we have. We then have to lug our baggage to the screening station where the chappie hauling bags told me "go to the other end and watch your bag drop down the chute, then you can go off." Not very reassuring. Finally of course at the security clearance, we find we have been randomly assigned for more thorough screening! Wonderful. Anyway the journey and checkin process took 2.5 hours in all so it was fortunate we gave a lot of time.

Arrived at Mexico City at about 10.30pm DC time and 9.30pm Mexico time. Finally checked in and found that our Hostal Moneda is indeed a true backpacker hostel... strictly no toiletries, not even a tumbler for my toothbrush and towels like sackcloth (good thing I brought my own) and worst of all no hairdryer.

Having said that, the hostel grows on one. There is breakfast and dinner provided (but this is a sort of risky business, yesterday was fine but tonight's food is somewhat scanty - good thing I have a spare banana) and there are tours going out from the hostel. There is also of course free internet access. I'm typing in this blog from one of the terminals. Meals are served on the roof of the Hostal.

It has a great view of the Catedral Metropolitan. The Catedral is lit up at night and I can see it every time I turn my head to the right. There is an open bar so I have a nice bottle of Corona beer next to me and some Mexican music in the background. As I said, it grows on one.

The patrons of this place are mainly European - not sure why. There are a number of Brits, Germans, etc. Not sure about the rest. We meet each other on the conducted tours and then at meals. We don't exchange names, it is really the backpacker life indeed.

Washington, D.C. - The Nation's Capital

In DC, it's all government, museums and memorials. We stayed in the middle of all these federal departments which is not much fun after the sun has set (and also not too safe, according to my sources). Apparently its because Residence Inn is the only one with kitchens and dinner provided. Well, at least the dinner was better than that in Residence Inn Cambridge. But I'd rather be a little nearer the centre of action rather than next to the Trade Commission.

Our programme in DC focused on visits largely to various federal departments, one aide to a Senator and visits to the World Bank and an NGO (with links to KSG). We also had dinner with Amb Chan and met Derwin Pereira of ST (I learnt that he had studied at the LSE and graduated one year after me). But the meetings were not particularly memorable. The folks we met were relatively senior (at the Asst Secretary level) but some didn't spout anything but the party line, particularly the political appointees. The professional diplomats at the State Department were more willing to be open and frank by comparison and didn't treat us as though we were schoolchildren. It was interesting to get a sense of the type of people there and to see how they perceived us as a group (clearly not that important).

But there were plus points too. One memorable moment was our visit to the Pentagon. The official hosting our visit told us that he had been sitting in the very room we were in when the airplane hit. No one knew what had happened but they evacuated the room and left the building. Only then did his group realise what had happened. We also visited the memorial at the portion of the Pentagon which was hit. It is a small quiet room with panels listing the victims and a book with a page for each victim - both in the Pentagon and in the plane which hit the building. There is a small chapel next to it as well. The Pentagon itself is a huge complex. There is a courtyard in the centre of the complex and a building right in the centre of the courtyard. The rumour (so our guide told us) was that in the midst of the Cold War, the Soviets were very suspicious as to why there were so many people entering and leaving the building and so trained one of their missiles to hit the structure - which was, of course, the hotdog stand.

We also met one of John Kerry's aides. It was a good session - I thought he handled our questions well eg he threw back questions for us to respond to besides just answering what we asked him. But later that day Kerry made a rather tactless statement to some schoolchildren that if they didn't learn their lessons well they would end up in Iraq. Kerry had to apologise and say he didn't mean to insult US troops in Iraq, and that the original script had a line saying, "just ask President Bush", which he had omitted. But why? Hmm. After making such a statement apparently some candidates told Kerry not to campaign with them any more. Not that they had to worry too much, the Democrats were hot this time round. Other than this chap, we didn't meet anyone else from the legislative side of the US government. Apparently it was because of the elections - everyone is campaigning. I am not sure what alternatives there could have been - perhaps we could have met journalists, and people from other think tanks? Anyway, I didn't really mind too much that we didn't have a packed program. I spent the first three days spending my spare time finishing my last assignment (rather disappointed with it even so) so any extra time was beneficial to me.

But DC in general is really the US in glorified, institutional terms. We visited the executive, legislature and (for some of us) even the judiciary (saw all 9 Supreme Court Judges in action!). Also the National Archives where the Declaration of Independence and the US Constitution are kept. Their state buildings are pretty grand and imposing (all that marble!), in very classical architectural styles. It reflects the great pride Americans have in their institutions, and the famous check-and-balance system of government. I frankly think that there could be a few less checks to achieve the same level of balance but well, apparently the Americans like it that way.

We also got a chance to observe the US in the run-up to the congressional elections (held on Nov 6, the week after we were in DC). Massachussets is such a Democrat stronghold that most of the Republican campaigning is perfunctory in nature - there was only a rather vicious and nasty campaign over the Governor job. In DC, on the other hand, numerous TV ads, for Senator/Governor in both Virginia and Maryland flooded our TV screens. And instead of reading the rather parochial Boston Globe, we got the Washington Post which has far more analysis and reported more broadly on the elections as a whole rather than on a single race.

The DC field trip marked the end of our official stay in the US. In a sense it has been interesting living in closer proximity to my classmates and I certainly know a few of them a little better than before.

Just another Sunday mass

Yesterday evening we went for mass at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. I rather enjoyed the sermon which talked about how we all like keeping things private - including our faith. Why do Catholics do that? Is it because we don't know enough about our faith, or we do not exactly what we believe or whether we believe it? Or do we lack courage? Courage needs to be practiced. If we say something once, it is easier to say it again and again later on. If we believe in our faith, we will want to shout it out for all to hear.

Some of my Indian classmates went to mass. Now one of them is a dapper Indian gentleman who is slightly dimensionally challenged (read a little short and plump). He sat in between the two Filipino ladies and was very happy when they hugged him at the sign of peace. I had to restrain him from going to communion though.

After mass, we visited the shrine itself under the basilica, and the crypt church. The crypt church is a massive underground complex in itself. It is heavily vaulted (supposed to be reminiscent of the catacombs of the early church) and around the edges are many individual chapels and shrines to Mary as she has manifested herself around the world, eg Our Lady of Health, Mary at Lavang, Vietnam, and so on. Each shrine is decorated and presented in different styles. Here is the Mary of Lavang, which I took to show my Vietnamese classmate:

Following mass, we went for dinner at my Filipina classmate's colleague's home. It was nice to be in someone's home after so long in an impersonal hotel room. When we left, our hostess gave us each a hug - which made it 3 in one day for my dear classmate :-)

Lincoln Memorial

We just spent our first full day in Washington, District of Columbia. The Nation’s Capital. And it has been quite interesting. We visited the US Trade Representative’s Office, and the State Department.

But the highlight of the day was our visit to the Lincoln Memorial at the end of the day. It was a solemn and awe-inspiring experience. We got there just before sunset (daylight savings is over so it gets dark at about 5.30pm or so now). The Memorial is a simple Grecian building. The huge statue of Lincoln looks out down a long reflecting pool to the Washington Monument, which is reflected in the waters. The statue shows Lincoln’s great height – his legs look rather lanky. The face is sad, but shows Lincoln’s determination to persevere despite the odds. On each side of the statue are two of his famous speeches – the Gettysburg Address and the Second Inaugural Address – which highlight his moral vision and purpose. Here’s the Gettysburg address and extract of the Second Inaugural address:

Gettysburg:

"Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this. But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract.

The world will little note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."

Second Inaugural Address:

"...Neither party expected for the war, the magnitude, or the duration, which it has already attained. Neither anticipated that the cause of the conflict might cease with, or even before, the conflict itself should cease. Each looked for an easier triumph, and a result less fundamental and astounding. Both read the same Bible, and pray to the same God; and each invokes His aid against the other. It may seem strange that any men should dare to ask a just God's assistance in wringing their bread from the sweat of other men's faces; but let us judge not that we be not judged. The prayers of both could not be answered; that of neither has been answered fully. The Almighty has his own purposes. "Woe unto the world because of offences! for it must needs be that offences come; but woe to that man by whom the offence cometh!" If we shall suppose that American Slavery is one of those offences which, in the providence of God, must needs come, but which, having continued through His appointed time, He now wills to remove, and that He gives to both North and South, this terrible war, as the woe due to those by whom the offence came, shall we discern therein any departure from those divine attributes which the believers in a Living God always ascribe to Him? Fondly do we hope--fervently do we pray--that this mighty scourge of war may speedily pass away. Yet, if God wills that it continue, until all the wealth piled by the bond-man's two hundred and fifty years of unrequited toil shall be sunk, and until every drop of blood drawn with the lash, shall be paid by another drawn with the sword, as was said three thousand years ago, so still it must be said "the judgments of the Lord, are true and righteous altogether".

With malice toward none; with charity for all; with firmness in the right, as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds; to care for him who shall have borne the battle, and for his widow, and his orphan--to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace, among ourselves, and with all nations."

2nd Last Night in Boston

I started off this week with 3 assignments due end of this week, got a take-home exam due mid next week. I finished off one assignment on Thursday, a second one on Friday and am now 25% through the third one.

Earlier tonight we had our farewell dinner at the Harvard Faculty Club. It was a pleasant event and we received our certificates of attendance at the end. I'd been griping about the assignments all day and so one of my Indian classmates sidled up to me on the way back and asked me, "Why are you worried about outputs when you have the outcome in your hands"? Meaning, that with a certificate of attendance why did I want to bother with assignments? He then started pulling aside his shirt to show me his own certificate which he had tucked beneath. Not only was he keeping it close, it was keeping him warm as well!

Anyway, enough of procrastinating. Back to typing.

New Hampshire

This is a busy week for us. We have to finish our final assignments and get ready to go to Washington DC next week! So I will probably defer my posts on my weekend in New Hampshire for a while. In the meantime, do look at my Flickr pages for some photos and commentary. There are also some videos and photos on Multiply.

In the meantime, here is a little preview of what we saw in New Hampshire:

If you are thinking it looks cold, the answer is yes, it was cold!

The Kancamagus Highway

We drove back from North Conway to Lake Winniesepaukee (and I hope I spelt that right) via the Kancamagus Highway, which is touted as the most scenic drive in New Hampshire. It is actually quite a high altitude drive reaching almost 3,000 metres at its height.

The scenery along the way was quite spectacular with waterfalls and rapids, and scenic lookout points. We had to take a little walk to see first the Rocky Gorge, and the Sabaday Falls (photos of each in order mentioned).

There are typically little signs at each stop telling the visitor about it. For example, Rocky Gorge had a story of a girl who fell in the swirling waters of the Gorge. Apparently, there is a huge sinkhole in the gorge which was caused through erosion and the waters create a mini whirlpool at that point. The girl fell into the whirlpool, and her rescuers feared she had been drowned. But then someone saw a hand sticking up - he grabbed it and got a shock when the hand grabbed back! They pulled her out, managed to revive her and she lived happily ever after. And how did the Sabbaday falls get its name? The story is that long ago a work crew cutting a road nearby finished their work on a Saturday and named the waterfall after the next day, the Sabbath. Over time the name got corrupted to Sabbaday.

Continuing our drive, we would stop at the many beautiful scenic spots. Unfortunately for us, the foliage was a little after its peak. Nonetheless, we managed to view beautiful panoramas of mountains, valleys, and bright blue skies.
As we continued driving higher and higher, the temperatures again went lower and lower. Snowdrifts began to appear on the sides of the road. We finally hit 32 degrees Farenheit! Zero degrees Celcius! When we finally got to the peak, it was nearing the end of the day. Bear in mind that at this time of year, the days are shortening and it is getting dark earlier and earlier. So in a sense we were racing against time to get down from the highway before dark. This photo was taken at the highest point of the Highway, just before we started our descent again:




I suppose it is also timely to disclose that I had been stalked this entire day, from the time we reached Mount Washington till now. One of my dear classmates, who had evidently had a childhood deprived of any snowball fights, had taken every opportunity to make snowballs. And I am sorry to say that his primary target was yours truly. One would have thought that a grown man (and supposedly a gentleman at that) would never have dreamt of hitting a lady with a snowball. He contended that he deliberately missed the first 2 times. But he definitely scored a hit with the last one (by the way, he threw it as I turned my back!). What especially riled me is that some of my other dear classmates saw it as no more than a photo opp! Or a video opp! Sigh. But I want to emphasise that I definitely turned the other cheek and did not engage in a snow fight with him.

Mount Washington - 2 Seasons in 1 Day

We decided to go on another driving weekend before we had to leave the country. The plan was to take the Kancamagus Highway, spend the night in North Conway, and then go up to Mount Washington the next day. We would end off at the Lakes the next day.

Unfortunately, it rained throughout the first day. The Kancamagus Highway was covered with clouds and mist. In such bad weather, there was not a thing to see. So we had no choice. We had to go shopping. So we went first to Tanger, and then to the North Conway outlets. Now I realise why North Conway is considered a shopping destination. It is full of outlets! But by the time we got there it was almost 5pm. Dark, dreary and rainy too. We did some shopping at the outlet and then found our hotel - Comfort Inn (again). In the dark, I did not realise that we were next to a pirate-themed mini-golf course. I suppose kids have to do something whilst parents shop.

That night, I checked the weather report. It was not good. It was snowing on Mount Washington and at Bretton Woods. And there were strong winds on the mountain - over 100 km/h. Undeterred, we set off the next morning. Soon, the scenery around us turned white in colour - from the mountain-tops down.

By the time we reached the Bretton Woods resort, all was white. A snow plough must have cleared the roads early but there were still snowdrifts on the side of the roads and the trees were covered with snow. Even the signs were covered with snow - completely useless!

We drove carefully to the cog railway, only to find out that it was only travelling one-third of the way up the mountain because of bad weather (the winds were still blowing) and we would have to pay half the price. And, that the mist and fog enshrouding the mountain meant that we would not be able to see anything anyway. Unsurprisingly we decided to give it a miss. So we drove back down to North Conway.

It was a beautiful drive, past snow-covered trees, mountains, and a waterfall or two. Truly, a winter wonderland of water, snow and ice. But it was cold too! We were watching the temperature gauge in the car and it was pretty much 32 degrees Farenheit also known as Zero degrees celcius outside. And there we were walking out in (essentially) fall clothing.

But by the time we got back to Intervale (between Bretton Woods and North Conway) it had turned back to fall. The bright blue sky, the greens and reds of the trees made the snow and ice seem very far away. We had a quick lunch at a burger joint in Intervale and proceeded to retrace our route through the Kancamagus Highway in the hope that this time round, we could catch a glimpse of the beautiful scenery.