PS: A fan of mine later sketched one of the pictures in this series and the physical drawing is now being sent to me via air mail as my birthday present! Isn't he sweet?
Monday, October 24, 2011
The whole package
As you know, I have been published in Thailand's Attitude magazine in August and in this short post, I will share with you guys the rest of the series. The article was titled "Whole Package" as quoted from one of my interview answers and though I think I do live up to that title, I hope you will feel the same way too with these offerings. Enjoy!
PS: A fan of mine later sketched one of the pictures in this series and the physical drawing is now being sent to me via air mail as my birthday present! Isn't he sweet?
PS: A fan of mine later sketched one of the pictures in this series and the physical drawing is now being sent to me via air mail as my birthday present! Isn't he sweet?
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Product on sale: The Nude Singer
Ever since I got the body I have today from slaving off in the gym, I have received a lot of compliments for it on gay dating sites (Fridae, Trevvy, Gaydar, Manhunt, Grindr, Scruff, BoyAhoy). You see, it all started with the need to search for a partner (hence the many platforms) which then slowly got me used to those compliments till today when I think I might develop withdrawal symptoms should that stream of nice words stop completely all of a sudden. I know I know, call me a narcissist or a slut or both, I really don’t give a hoot for I would rather be a narcissistic equal-opportunity lover than a self-hater who cannot see the beauty in every human being. By the way, I am also an exhibitionistic nudist if you still do not know.
I have always wanted to bring my modelling-as-a-hobby to another level since about a year ago and after a failed attempt at signing with a model agency (something which lasted for less than a month before the agent decided to change career direction), I thought it was time to set up my own Facebook fan page. Seeing how social networks permeate every stratum of today’s society, there is really no good reason to not have a website where people who love my body, my modelling work and music can congregate and have a chance to see and hear more of me. The Facebook page can also help put a masculine Asian image out there which I think the Western world needs more of, especially in countries like Australia. Of course the now more-targeted stream of compliments makes me feel even better about myself. It is a win-win-win situation.
So out of all this, The Nude Singer was born on 28th August 2011. With things like social networks, YouTube, blogs, as well as modelling profiles (of which I have 1, 2, 3) and web albums, it is necessary to hit a critical mass of followers and hits before you become a runaway viral phenomenon. Although I am still far, FAR from that, I am working on it and it is only when you start thinking of ways to thrust yourself into the scene that you begin to see how inept you are when it comes to selling yourself on these new media platforms. It is of no surprise at all that a new industry, countless jobs and websites have sprouted out of this need to maximise one’s reach using such burgeoning and oft-confusing and -conflicting avenues in the most effective and efficient manner. Making sense of it all by itself is a full-time job and I am doing this on the side so I should at least be given some credit for my “achievements” so far right?
A lot of people may wonder why I named my site “The Nude Singer”. You see, I actually have a talent that I am even more proud of than modelling and looking good in front of cameras—it is actually singing and song-writing. However I am acutely aware that singing in the nude is not really mass-marketable and we are not even talking about the flak Facebook is giving me because of the pictures I post (they COMPLETELY missed the meaning of the word “nudity” and that resulted in me having only one more strike before the page gets removed). I also understand that I do need real musical gigs and to sing live in front of an audience to be really recognised as a singer. Although being a foreigner trying to make it musically in Australia adds another whole new level of hardship, I must admit I am little lazy in the musical–promotion department and I should be smacked hard into some action.
But for now, let me worry about the modelling aspect of my skill set that I want to sell on Facebook. At the moment, instead of getting viral, I am hitting the wall of saturation (despite having only less than 150 “Likes”). One obvious thing to consider at this juncture is to evaluate whether Facebook is a good platform to begin with for doing the things I would like done. I am a no-holds-barred kind of guy who wears brutal-honesty and total-transparency as a badge and by continuing to stay on Facebook and heeding its warning to not post “objectionable” pictures, I am essentially compromising my identity, my expression and my art. I might as well walk back into my closet while I am at it.
So I have come to a conclusion that should I be banned by Facebook, I should take it in my stride, thank my fans for their support and get on with life knowing that Facebook is only good for a segment of the world population despite having more than 500 million users. Sometimes I feel so fortunate to not be a starving artist or photographer who needs such avenues to promote himself so as to land the next meal on his table. Because this facet of my life is still a hobby to me, I can hold on to my integrity and choose not to play by other people’s rules, especially when they are rules that I totally disagree with. You know, I still wonder if no one complains about my pictures since they are all fans who opted to subscribe to the page, does Facebook have enough resources to scour the entire world-wide-web for pictures to remove? A friend suggested that maybe the word “nude” points the search-bots in my direction and as a result I get much more scrutiny than others. Well it is too late to change the name now that I have more than 100 “Likes”—yet another idiotic Facebook rule. Oh, and this is not the first time I was plagued by Facebook woes, it has happened once before. That was one of the reasons why I wrote the song “Are You Looking at Me”.
However while I am still alive and kicking on Facebook, there remains a need to find a way to reach a wider audience and frankly I am at my wit’s end trying. To give you an idea of what I have been doing thus far in terms of self-promotion, I am directing most of the complimentary-messages I get from gay dating sites to my Facebook page and this blog (which sometimes irk people because of the act being too “impersonal” and “self-centred”) and posting my pictures on Trevvy’s “Hotbods” with directing links (which sometimes garner nasty comments). I guess they have yet to actually visit my page which has the following description, “This will be about me, raw and peeled in all its glory. There’ll be no holding back, no turning back and no apologies”. So I think being self-centred is kind of the thing. I have painstakingly re-invented myself from wretched beginnings of low self-esteem and self-hatred so I know I deserve my break and moment in the sun now.
At the end of the day, regardless of whether this whole endeavour actually leads to somewhere good, I will need to be comfortable with the fact that I might very well be not sufficiently-talented to make it big enough to quit my day job. As long as this remains as a hobby that generates enough chatter to distract me from the dreary life as a chemical engineer, I will be contented. And so I shall continue to safely-bask in the warmth created within this intimate circle of fans (some of which are extremely supportive—my hugs and kisses go out to them!).
But still I would like to ask—what do you think I should or can do to further promote myself given the direction that I have chosen? Is the lack-lustre performance of my site simply due to the fact that I did not invest enough time on it?
PS 1: I am in the process of putting together a gig at my friend’s upcoming birthday party at The Midnight Shift in an attempt to officially-whore myself out as The Nude Singer. The hardest part of this gig is figuring out the best way to sing sans clothes without coming across as a total weirdo or worse-still an ultimate cheese-ball.
PS 2: I have an interview and video shoot with ACON's (AIDS Council of New South Wales) Gay Asian Men Project today which are part of series of moves to reach out to more sections of the community. You can rest assured that I will plug The Nude Singer while I am at it.
I have always wanted to bring my modelling-as-a-hobby to another level since about a year ago and after a failed attempt at signing with a model agency (something which lasted for less than a month before the agent decided to change career direction), I thought it was time to set up my own Facebook fan page. Seeing how social networks permeate every stratum of today’s society, there is really no good reason to not have a website where people who love my body, my modelling work and music can congregate and have a chance to see and hear more of me. The Facebook page can also help put a masculine Asian image out there which I think the Western world needs more of, especially in countries like Australia. Of course the now more-targeted stream of compliments makes me feel even better about myself. It is a win-win-win situation.
So out of all this, The Nude Singer was born on 28th August 2011. With things like social networks, YouTube, blogs, as well as modelling profiles (of which I have 1, 2, 3) and web albums, it is necessary to hit a critical mass of followers and hits before you become a runaway viral phenomenon. Although I am still far, FAR from that, I am working on it and it is only when you start thinking of ways to thrust yourself into the scene that you begin to see how inept you are when it comes to selling yourself on these new media platforms. It is of no surprise at all that a new industry, countless jobs and websites have sprouted out of this need to maximise one’s reach using such burgeoning and oft-confusing and -conflicting avenues in the most effective and efficient manner. Making sense of it all by itself is a full-time job and I am doing this on the side so I should at least be given some credit for my “achievements” so far right?
A lot of people may wonder why I named my site “The Nude Singer”. You see, I actually have a talent that I am even more proud of than modelling and looking good in front of cameras—it is actually singing and song-writing. However I am acutely aware that singing in the nude is not really mass-marketable and we are not even talking about the flak Facebook is giving me because of the pictures I post (they COMPLETELY missed the meaning of the word “nudity” and that resulted in me having only one more strike before the page gets removed). I also understand that I do need real musical gigs and to sing live in front of an audience to be really recognised as a singer. Although being a foreigner trying to make it musically in Australia adds another whole new level of hardship, I must admit I am little lazy in the musical–promotion department and I should be smacked hard into some action.
But for now, let me worry about the modelling aspect of my skill set that I want to sell on Facebook. At the moment, instead of getting viral, I am hitting the wall of saturation (despite having only less than 150 “Likes”). One obvious thing to consider at this juncture is to evaluate whether Facebook is a good platform to begin with for doing the things I would like done. I am a no-holds-barred kind of guy who wears brutal-honesty and total-transparency as a badge and by continuing to stay on Facebook and heeding its warning to not post “objectionable” pictures, I am essentially compromising my identity, my expression and my art. I might as well walk back into my closet while I am at it.
So I have come to a conclusion that should I be banned by Facebook, I should take it in my stride, thank my fans for their support and get on with life knowing that Facebook is only good for a segment of the world population despite having more than 500 million users. Sometimes I feel so fortunate to not be a starving artist or photographer who needs such avenues to promote himself so as to land the next meal on his table. Because this facet of my life is still a hobby to me, I can hold on to my integrity and choose not to play by other people’s rules, especially when they are rules that I totally disagree with. You know, I still wonder if no one complains about my pictures since they are all fans who opted to subscribe to the page, does Facebook have enough resources to scour the entire world-wide-web for pictures to remove? A friend suggested that maybe the word “nude” points the search-bots in my direction and as a result I get much more scrutiny than others. Well it is too late to change the name now that I have more than 100 “Likes”—yet another idiotic Facebook rule. Oh, and this is not the first time I was plagued by Facebook woes, it has happened once before. That was one of the reasons why I wrote the song “Are You Looking at Me”.
However while I am still alive and kicking on Facebook, there remains a need to find a way to reach a wider audience and frankly I am at my wit’s end trying. To give you an idea of what I have been doing thus far in terms of self-promotion, I am directing most of the complimentary-messages I get from gay dating sites to my Facebook page and this blog (which sometimes irk people because of the act being too “impersonal” and “self-centred”) and posting my pictures on Trevvy’s “Hotbods” with directing links (which sometimes garner nasty comments). I guess they have yet to actually visit my page which has the following description, “This will be about me, raw and peeled in all its glory. There’ll be no holding back, no turning back and no apologies”. So I think being self-centred is kind of the thing. I have painstakingly re-invented myself from wretched beginnings of low self-esteem and self-hatred so I know I deserve my break and moment in the sun now.
At the end of the day, regardless of whether this whole endeavour actually leads to somewhere good, I will need to be comfortable with the fact that I might very well be not sufficiently-talented to make it big enough to quit my day job. As long as this remains as a hobby that generates enough chatter to distract me from the dreary life as a chemical engineer, I will be contented. And so I shall continue to safely-bask in the warmth created within this intimate circle of fans (some of which are extremely supportive—my hugs and kisses go out to them!).
But still I would like to ask—what do you think I should or can do to further promote myself given the direction that I have chosen? Is the lack-lustre performance of my site simply due to the fact that I did not invest enough time on it?
PS 1: I am in the process of putting together a gig at my friend’s upcoming birthday party at The Midnight Shift in an attempt to officially-whore myself out as The Nude Singer. The hardest part of this gig is figuring out the best way to sing sans clothes without coming across as a total weirdo or worse-still an ultimate cheese-ball.
PS 2: I have an interview and video shoot with ACON's (AIDS Council of New South Wales) Gay Asian Men Project today which are part of series of moves to reach out to more sections of the community. You can rest assured that I will plug The Nude Singer while I am at it.
Saturday, October 8, 2011
Musical journey (18)
When someone mentions the word “relationship”, a romantic one is usually the first thing that pops into mind. However we are involved in many more non-romantic relationships throughout our lives. So if we exclude procreation from the equation, why do romantic relationships (spouses, long-term partners, flings, affairs, and what have you) take precedence in today’s society? The Valentine's Day industry (Hallmark, Tiffany's, etc), senseless-yet-taken-seriously Hollywood rom-coms as well as the growing isolation in the world (with the advent of Internet) are just a few examples. We have romanticised this interpretation of relationship to such an extent that we sometimes forget that friends, parents, siblings and even pets also form a substantial part of “relationships”. I for one was guilty of that many years ago when I set “finding a partner” as the only goal in my life.
It was then when I wrote a song about the “end” of my relationships with several friends at the precise time when they started pairing up with partners. This phenomenon is an inevitable fact of life and yet another manifestation of the problem of over-emphasising the importance of romantic relationships. The irony is that in the song, friendship was portrayed just like romantic relationships with concepts like betrayal, commitment, heartache and loneliness common to losing a lover. If we expect the same level of fidelity, honesty and respect as we would expect from a lover, will we make the over-romanticising problem even worse? If not, how should we justify treating friends and lovers as equally-important in our lives? Let’s listen to this song as we ponder…
[If]
/ 词 / 曲 ： 锦泉 /
If 时间发了疯
If 恶梦过了钟
If 朋友个个消失无影踪
双双对对做快乐的梦
If 笑声不再有
If 泪不能一起流
If 朋友个个已不如昨
越想留 他们越要走
If you 选择要分手
请你说出口
我会让你走
冥冥已经注定
我会一个人走
为何还不能接受
If you 开始言不由衷
开始找借口
我会让你走
我要你快乐
就算会寂寞
虽然我们已各分西东
但愿你会永远记得我
[If]
If time got crazy on overdrive
If the nightmare went past its end-time
If friends vanished one by one without a trace
Off in pairs to make happy dreams
If there were no more laughter
If tears could not be shed together
If friends were no longer themselves
The more you wish for them to stay
The more they want to leave
If you choose to break up
Please just say so
I will let you go
Since it has been written in my destiny to walk alone
Why can I still not accept it
If you start to not mean what you say
And begin to find excuses
I will let you go
For I only want you to be happy
Even if it will land me in loneliness
Though we have gone our separate ways
I hope you will remember me forever
Pondering time over. My conclusion (with mathematical simplicity and precision)—friendship is a subset of romantic relationships, period. Since one can do everything one does with a friend with a lover but not vice versa, if push comes to shove, there can only be one logical choice.
PS: I really love how the video highlights the strength-out-of-despair message of the song.
It was then when I wrote a song about the “end” of my relationships with several friends at the precise time when they started pairing up with partners. This phenomenon is an inevitable fact of life and yet another manifestation of the problem of over-emphasising the importance of romantic relationships. The irony is that in the song, friendship was portrayed just like romantic relationships with concepts like betrayal, commitment, heartache and loneliness common to losing a lover. If we expect the same level of fidelity, honesty and respect as we would expect from a lover, will we make the over-romanticising problem even worse? If not, how should we justify treating friends and lovers as equally-important in our lives? Let’s listen to this song as we ponder…
[If]
/ 词 / 曲 ： 锦泉 /
If 时间发了疯
If 恶梦过了钟
If 朋友个个消失无影踪
双双对对做快乐的梦
If 笑声不再有
If 泪不能一起流
If 朋友个个已不如昨
越想留 他们越要走
If you 选择要分手
请你说出口
我会让你走
冥冥已经注定
我会一个人走
为何还不能接受
If you 开始言不由衷
开始找借口
我会让你走
我要你快乐
就算会寂寞
虽然我们已各分西东
但愿你会永远记得我
[If]
If time got crazy on overdrive
If the nightmare went past its end-time
If friends vanished one by one without a trace
Off in pairs to make happy dreams
If there were no more laughter
If tears could not be shed together
If friends were no longer themselves
The more you wish for them to stay
The more they want to leave
If you choose to break up
Please just say so
I will let you go
Since it has been written in my destiny to walk alone
Why can I still not accept it
If you start to not mean what you say
And begin to find excuses
I will let you go
For I only want you to be happy
Even if it will land me in loneliness
Though we have gone our separate ways
I hope you will remember me forever
Pondering time over. My conclusion (with mathematical simplicity and precision)—friendship is a subset of romantic relationships, period. Since one can do everything one does with a friend with a lover but not vice versa, if push comes to shove, there can only be one logical choice.
PS: I really love how the video highlights the strength-out-of-despair message of the song.
Saturday, September 24, 2011
The article (Attitude)
As you know, I had quite a few shoots when I was in Bangkok. I liked all of them but one in particular landed me a feature in last month's Thai version of Attitude magazine (with the original edition from the UK). Well it is a gay lifestyle magazine which has been toned down to suit the more conservative Asian market but that doesn't mean it has compromised on dishing out pictures of hot guys (*ahem*). When I organised the shoot I was not aware of the photographer's strong affiliation with the magazine but on hindsight I was glad to have contacted him (one of Bangkok's top photographers in this genre).
The column in which I was featured is called "Real Life"and I guessed it was dedicated more to non-models ie. real-life people (no offence to professional models, hehe). It came with an interview which I will be sharing with you guys here. The strange thing is that it was translated from English to Thai and now I want it translated back to English to see how much of the interview was "lost in translation", censored and put together into a coherent story out of discrete questions and answers. Not being a native Thai speaker, I think I will never really know even when it has been translated back to English (unless done by a good translator). I think I shall just let this rest for the time being and let you have a read of the Q & A (the phrasing of the questions have been reproduced verbatim).
==============================================
Q: Could you please introduce your self: name, surname, age, occupation, etc.?
A: My name is Kim. I am 32 years old working as a chemical engineer in a consultancy firm here in Sydney Australia.
Q. As you were born in Singapore, can you tell us how did your parents bring you up, and how was your childhood?
A: My father passed away from cancer when I was eight and I have felt that something was missing in my life ever since. I became very close to my mum but our family was not well-to-do so everyone had to work long hours and I was always left on my own in my growing up years. Somehow without much supervision from my mum, I grew up even more disciplined and always scored straight A’s in exams. Perhaps being gay, I felt that there was something wrong with me and tried to over-compensate for that in terms of academic results, which was not an easy thing to do in a competitive country like Singapore. There is not much I can remember from my childhood except loneliness and lots and lots of studying.
Many people tend to attribute their faults to their upbringing and childhood but I think we should be cautious not to push the blame onto the past too much. Instead we should bear the responsibility and take action to improve ourselves today for a better future. I like to look forward nowadays and not dwell on the past—it is much more productive to make plans for tomorrow and work towards those goals.
Q: When did you know that you actually like men and how did you feel?
A: My earliest memory of having same-sex fascination (there wasn’t really attraction per se at that time) was when I was four. I remember watching my father taking a shower and looking at him kind of differently. When I was twelve, I would play a game with a male friend at school in which we climbed over the wall of the toilet stall to look at each other take a piss. As I had my puberty rather late compared to others, I was always envious of guys who had started theirs and over time, that developed to a desire for their more-developed genitals and then a sexual attraction for the male form as a whole. I did not feel that that was anything wrong or weird then as I thought everybody had that in them. This went on till I was eighteen when a gay army friend finally enlightened me by linking my same-sex attraction to the word “homosexuality” and told me that was normal. He also urged me to try gay sex to see if I liked it.
My first sexual encounter wasn’t all that great as there was a fair bit of pain but my friend nudged me to try it again with another better partner. Things were right the second time round and I felt the love and affection from another man that I wanted all my life. Although I was devastated when I had to let him go, that encounter with him started a permanent change in me as I slowly identified myself as a homosexual person. That was when I came out to my mum.
Q: Do your parents and friends know about your coming out? Are you open to them?
A: The funny thing is that I came out to my mum before I came out to my friends. I just felt that there was something so special about my first loving sexual encounter that I had to share that with my mum, someone I love dearly—I didn’t even think of what repercussions there could be in my coming out to her. She was a wreck initially as the news adversely affected her health. She lost all appetite for a few months and kept blaming herself and wanted me to change. She even quarantined me from the rest of the family for fear that I had HIV (I blame the lack of HIV-education in Singapore at that time).
I struggled with my sexual identity for quite a long time as both my mum and I grappled with the same problem from totally different angles. After about five patient years of telling her that it was impossible for me to change and that being myself was the best and only way for me, she eventually altered her perception of my sexual identity and gradually started to not resist it. It was a slow and hard journey because it took a while to convince even myself that continuing being gay and not trying to change was going to be the only path ahead of me. Before I settled down with my current partner, she constantly nagged me to not be promiscuous but now that she has seen my partner many times (she lived with us when she last visited me in Sydney), the nagging has stopped and I daresay there is finally full acceptance of my sexual identity and my relationship with my partner.
Q: How’s the gay community in Singapore? Do Singaporean gays have freedom to express what they want to do?
A: The first thing you need to know is that anal sex between males is still illegal in Singapore—that just sets the stage for how the gay community and gay life in Singapore is. Singapore is quite a conflicted country trying very hard to open up and liberalize to the tune of globalization for the sake of boosting the economy while at the same time being quite oppressive with regards to human right issues ranging from capital punishment to gay rights. On the one hand we can do a lot of things freely like visiting the many gay saunas and clubs, taking part in gay social activities and even organizing large-scale events like Pink Dot. On the other hand, the country can smack you with the gay-sex law that still remains in the books so that the government can use it as and when they like. Although they keep saying that the law is not actively enforced, it is not always the case.
As a gay person living in Singapore, I felt my freedoms were constantly under threat and my expressions routinely censored. In that climate, I simply could not flourish. However many gays in Singapore are still happy with that and are contented enough with whatever the government does (many of those people remain in the closet). I am sure they would want the same rights as the heterosexuals but a lot of people are not willing to stand up and fight for them. This is the main reason why I left Singapore for Sydney—I just couldn’t take the hypocrisy of the government anymore. So if you ask me do gays have the freedom to do what they want to do? My answer would be yes and no, depending on how much you want to do. I want to get married to my partner—good luck waiting for that to be legalized in Singapore.
Q: How did you move to Sydney? What are you doing in Sydney?
A: I have done a 6-month exchange programme in Sydney when I was doing my undergraduate studies and had always loved the city. When I met my partner and decided to relocate to Sydney to start a new life and be with him, it all became apparent that I must get my permanent residency quickly. I applied for it online under the “Skilled Migration” scheme as someone with chemical engineering skills—one of the many that Australian citizens at that time didn’t have enough of. I got my permanent residency within 7 months in April 2008 (I am very proud of that achievement) and I moved to Sydney 2 months later. I now work as a chemical engineer for a consultancy firm based in an oil refinery.
Of course that is only what I do as a profession. What I do in Sydney is so much more—song-writing, modelling, involving in gay activism like marching in same-sex marriage rallies, as well as attending the many gay social activities Sydney has to offer eg. nudist retreats, gay Asian men discussion groups, parties and so on. I live a busy and fulfilled life in Sydney.
Q: What’s the difference between the gay community in Singapore and the gay community in Sydney?
A: A core difference that is seen across the entire population is that Singaporeans are more close-minded. People might think that Singaporeans are more reserved because Asians tend to be conservative whilst Westerners are more liberal and open-minded—that is only true to a small extent. I feel that in the past generation, Singaporeans had been brought up in a very spoon-fed, regimented and artificially-constructed society which stunted their development to think critically. As a result when compared to Australians, Singaporeans do not think outside the box as much since they have not really been given a chance to experience life outside the box. Of course Singapore has a very fast-paced life and things are very different and definitely more relaxed here in Australia. This gives people here more time to be themselves and do things they want to do and not because they are forced to do them.
All of the above translates to the gay community as well and so in Sydney, gay life is more individualistic, vibrant and not so underground. For one, gay sex is not illegal here and in fact, gay de-facto relationships here have the same rights as heterosexual marriages. The gay community in Sydney is more engaged in fighting for their own rights simply because it is allowed here. In this open and free-for-all environment, you can really see the diversity in the gay community ranging from the bear and leather groups to the nudists and drag queens. People here are less afraid to come out and shine as themselves (though I think they can certainly drink less which will consequently lead to less alcohol-related social problems). In Singapore, the gay community has been moulded by society to be more one-dimensional and now that I have seen Singapore from outside the box, that single dimensionality is rather boring.
Q: Singapore and Sydney, which one do you prefer?
A: I shall answer this by creating a simple pros-and-cons list:
Pros of Singapore: great food, lower cost of living, my family and close friends are all back in Singapore.
Cons of Singapore: gay sex is illegal, I can never see gay marriage legalized in my lifetime, the weather sucks, and people are close-minded.
Pros of Sydney: excellent weather, more vibrant gay community, a more relaxed pace of living, my partner is here, and I think we will be able to marry in at most 5 years’ time.
Cons of Sydney: one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in, racism is pretty strong, and I miss home occasionally.
So like all things in life, there is a good and a bad side to everything but if you want me to make a strict choice, I think I would still prefer to live in Sydney at this point. Life has also showed me the fluid nature of things so ask me in 2 years’ time and I might give you a different answer.
Q: Have you been to Thailand and experienced the Thai gay community? How do you feel?
A: I have been to Bangkok many times and the reason why I keep visiting is Thailand’s good food, cheap shopping, professional massages and friendly people. The gay community in Thailand (especially Bangkok) is very active and gay culture is accepted and can be seen everywhere but ultimately Thailand is still a conservative country. This throws up a unique combination that seems to clash at first in people’s minds but Thailand could somehow make it work. There are plenty of discos and saunas to meet both locals and international visitors and I love all of them.
In my last trip (when I had the photo shoot with Airry), I encountered a situation in the gay saunas that frustrated me a little bit. In both Babylon and Chakran, hot Thai boys went straight for the Caucasians regardless of whether they are just of average or even below-average standards and totally ignored the other more attractive Asians around. I guess this was because Caucasians are much rarer in Thailand and so they tend to be more “exotic”. After living in Sydney for 3 years, my taste in Caucasian men is now quite sophisticated (you see, they are really a lot of cute and hunky white guys here) and so it was harder for me to accept why the Caucasians were more highly-desired than me in the Bangkok saunas. Well that was not a big issue and it certainly did not ruin my trip and my very good impression of the Land of Smiles.
Q: We saw that you created your own blog, what are you writing about and how many people frequent your blog?
A: I created my blog (http://kim-thenextphase.blogspot.com) straight after I relocated to Sydney because I wanted to use it as an avenue to keep all my friends and family back home abreast of what’s been happening to me in this other continent. I cover all sorts of topics on my blog ranging from interesting things I have done, my observations and opinions on current global affairs to my latest shoot pictures and songs that I have written. I think it is a combination of down-to-earth honest sharing of my life, nice music and of course a sexy body that attracts people to my blog. I do not have a huge following like many other bloggers but I do have a faithful bunch of people who would visit now and again. You can be sure that I will post this article on the blog for all to read (I need to find someone to translate it to English first). I am quite proud of myself for being published in a gay magazine for a second time (the first one being Australia’s DNA magazine).
Q: We heard that you had done loads of nude photo shoots, what made you to do that?
A: I am someone who embraces his body to the fullest and who is very proud of it. I am also a nudist. I have blogged about the reasons behind my being a nudist and they are all related to my frank and totally-transparent nature. Only when we are not restricted and hidden behind clothes will our guard, inhibitions, dishonesty and hypocrisy be torn down. It is only then can people truly communicate with one another on a real level. Many people are very insecure with their bodies and have things they dislike about them and to me, that is the reason why there aren’t more nudists in the world. People plagued with body issues are generally rather unhappy in their lives and this in turn affects the people around them.
All this explains why I am a nudist but obviously not all nudists do photo shoots like me. But let me not be humble for a second—there are not a lot of nudists with a rocking solid body like mine too. With this powerful coupling of a hot body and a nudist spirit comes an almost therapeutic sense of security which exudes in everything I do and that includes nude photo shoots. I love it when people like my pictures and give me positive comments. I cannot deny the fact that I like the attention my body gives me, which is another reason why I do those shoots. Between you and me, I will let you in on a secret—it makes me feel all hot and horny when I know that there are people who jerk off to my pictures!
Q: What’s the favourite part of your body? Which part of your body do you think is attractive and seductive?
A: To be honest, I think my favourite would be my brain. I am a person who thinks in an extremely logical and analytical manner yet I also have a sensitive and artistic side as evidenced by my music and photo shoots. This balance can only be achieved by the brain that I have now so naturally that is the favourite part of my body and I love it to death.
As for an external body part, I think it would be my abs for they are very cut and defined (after countless hours of hard work—there is no doubt about that!). I think nice abs makes a person look more muscular than he really is. I have gotten most compliments for my abs as well as my arms and to a lesser extent my ass—different people are just drawn to different things. Frankly I sometimes even get turned on by myself (am I narcissistic or what)! Ultimately without a personality that pulls everything together, a beautiful body is nothing but a beautiful body and I can honestly say that I have the whole package—inside and out!
==============================================
I am glad they liked the "whole package" bit and made that the title of the piece. Other notable albeit discrete English words and phrases include "DNA", "Pink Dot", "Skilled Migration" as well as the full address of my blog—I expect lots of traffic with this article (hehe). Hopefully with this increased traffic, some kind soul out there would drop by and help me translate the entire article. In my next post I will be sharing the rest of the pictures from this photo shoot so keep your eyes peeled for them!
The column in which I was featured is called "Real Life"and I guessed it was dedicated more to non-models ie. real-life people (no offence to professional models, hehe). It came with an interview which I will be sharing with you guys here. The strange thing is that it was translated from English to Thai and now I want it translated back to English to see how much of the interview was "lost in translation", censored and put together into a coherent story out of discrete questions and answers. Not being a native Thai speaker, I think I will never really know even when it has been translated back to English (unless done by a good translator). I think I shall just let this rest for the time being and let you have a read of the Q & A (the phrasing of the questions have been reproduced verbatim).
==============================================
Q: Could you please introduce your self: name, surname, age, occupation, etc.?
A: My name is Kim. I am 32 years old working as a chemical engineer in a consultancy firm here in Sydney Australia.
Q. As you were born in Singapore, can you tell us how did your parents bring you up, and how was your childhood?
A: My father passed away from cancer when I was eight and I have felt that something was missing in my life ever since. I became very close to my mum but our family was not well-to-do so everyone had to work long hours and I was always left on my own in my growing up years. Somehow without much supervision from my mum, I grew up even more disciplined and always scored straight A’s in exams. Perhaps being gay, I felt that there was something wrong with me and tried to over-compensate for that in terms of academic results, which was not an easy thing to do in a competitive country like Singapore. There is not much I can remember from my childhood except loneliness and lots and lots of studying.
Many people tend to attribute their faults to their upbringing and childhood but I think we should be cautious not to push the blame onto the past too much. Instead we should bear the responsibility and take action to improve ourselves today for a better future. I like to look forward nowadays and not dwell on the past—it is much more productive to make plans for tomorrow and work towards those goals.
Q: When did you know that you actually like men and how did you feel?
A: My earliest memory of having same-sex fascination (there wasn’t really attraction per se at that time) was when I was four. I remember watching my father taking a shower and looking at him kind of differently. When I was twelve, I would play a game with a male friend at school in which we climbed over the wall of the toilet stall to look at each other take a piss. As I had my puberty rather late compared to others, I was always envious of guys who had started theirs and over time, that developed to a desire for their more-developed genitals and then a sexual attraction for the male form as a whole. I did not feel that that was anything wrong or weird then as I thought everybody had that in them. This went on till I was eighteen when a gay army friend finally enlightened me by linking my same-sex attraction to the word “homosexuality” and told me that was normal. He also urged me to try gay sex to see if I liked it.
My first sexual encounter wasn’t all that great as there was a fair bit of pain but my friend nudged me to try it again with another better partner. Things were right the second time round and I felt the love and affection from another man that I wanted all my life. Although I was devastated when I had to let him go, that encounter with him started a permanent change in me as I slowly identified myself as a homosexual person. That was when I came out to my mum.
Q: Do your parents and friends know about your coming out? Are you open to them?
A: The funny thing is that I came out to my mum before I came out to my friends. I just felt that there was something so special about my first loving sexual encounter that I had to share that with my mum, someone I love dearly—I didn’t even think of what repercussions there could be in my coming out to her. She was a wreck initially as the news adversely affected her health. She lost all appetite for a few months and kept blaming herself and wanted me to change. She even quarantined me from the rest of the family for fear that I had HIV (I blame the lack of HIV-education in Singapore at that time).
I struggled with my sexual identity for quite a long time as both my mum and I grappled with the same problem from totally different angles. After about five patient years of telling her that it was impossible for me to change and that being myself was the best and only way for me, she eventually altered her perception of my sexual identity and gradually started to not resist it. It was a slow and hard journey because it took a while to convince even myself that continuing being gay and not trying to change was going to be the only path ahead of me. Before I settled down with my current partner, she constantly nagged me to not be promiscuous but now that she has seen my partner many times (she lived with us when she last visited me in Sydney), the nagging has stopped and I daresay there is finally full acceptance of my sexual identity and my relationship with my partner.
Q: How’s the gay community in Singapore? Do Singaporean gays have freedom to express what they want to do?
A: The first thing you need to know is that anal sex between males is still illegal in Singapore—that just sets the stage for how the gay community and gay life in Singapore is. Singapore is quite a conflicted country trying very hard to open up and liberalize to the tune of globalization for the sake of boosting the economy while at the same time being quite oppressive with regards to human right issues ranging from capital punishment to gay rights. On the one hand we can do a lot of things freely like visiting the many gay saunas and clubs, taking part in gay social activities and even organizing large-scale events like Pink Dot. On the other hand, the country can smack you with the gay-sex law that still remains in the books so that the government can use it as and when they like. Although they keep saying that the law is not actively enforced, it is not always the case.
As a gay person living in Singapore, I felt my freedoms were constantly under threat and my expressions routinely censored. In that climate, I simply could not flourish. However many gays in Singapore are still happy with that and are contented enough with whatever the government does (many of those people remain in the closet). I am sure they would want the same rights as the heterosexuals but a lot of people are not willing to stand up and fight for them. This is the main reason why I left Singapore for Sydney—I just couldn’t take the hypocrisy of the government anymore. So if you ask me do gays have the freedom to do what they want to do? My answer would be yes and no, depending on how much you want to do. I want to get married to my partner—good luck waiting for that to be legalized in Singapore.
Q: How did you move to Sydney? What are you doing in Sydney?
A: I have done a 6-month exchange programme in Sydney when I was doing my undergraduate studies and had always loved the city. When I met my partner and decided to relocate to Sydney to start a new life and be with him, it all became apparent that I must get my permanent residency quickly. I applied for it online under the “Skilled Migration” scheme as someone with chemical engineering skills—one of the many that Australian citizens at that time didn’t have enough of. I got my permanent residency within 7 months in April 2008 (I am very proud of that achievement) and I moved to Sydney 2 months later. I now work as a chemical engineer for a consultancy firm based in an oil refinery.
Of course that is only what I do as a profession. What I do in Sydney is so much more—song-writing, modelling, involving in gay activism like marching in same-sex marriage rallies, as well as attending the many gay social activities Sydney has to offer eg. nudist retreats, gay Asian men discussion groups, parties and so on. I live a busy and fulfilled life in Sydney.
Q: What’s the difference between the gay community in Singapore and the gay community in Sydney?
A: A core difference that is seen across the entire population is that Singaporeans are more close-minded. People might think that Singaporeans are more reserved because Asians tend to be conservative whilst Westerners are more liberal and open-minded—that is only true to a small extent. I feel that in the past generation, Singaporeans had been brought up in a very spoon-fed, regimented and artificially-constructed society which stunted their development to think critically. As a result when compared to Australians, Singaporeans do not think outside the box as much since they have not really been given a chance to experience life outside the box. Of course Singapore has a very fast-paced life and things are very different and definitely more relaxed here in Australia. This gives people here more time to be themselves and do things they want to do and not because they are forced to do them.
All of the above translates to the gay community as well and so in Sydney, gay life is more individualistic, vibrant and not so underground. For one, gay sex is not illegal here and in fact, gay de-facto relationships here have the same rights as heterosexual marriages. The gay community in Sydney is more engaged in fighting for their own rights simply because it is allowed here. In this open and free-for-all environment, you can really see the diversity in the gay community ranging from the bear and leather groups to the nudists and drag queens. People here are less afraid to come out and shine as themselves (though I think they can certainly drink less which will consequently lead to less alcohol-related social problems). In Singapore, the gay community has been moulded by society to be more one-dimensional and now that I have seen Singapore from outside the box, that single dimensionality is rather boring.
Q: Singapore and Sydney, which one do you prefer?
A: I shall answer this by creating a simple pros-and-cons list:
Pros of Singapore: great food, lower cost of living, my family and close friends are all back in Singapore.
Cons of Singapore: gay sex is illegal, I can never see gay marriage legalized in my lifetime, the weather sucks, and people are close-minded.
Pros of Sydney: excellent weather, more vibrant gay community, a more relaxed pace of living, my partner is here, and I think we will be able to marry in at most 5 years’ time.
Cons of Sydney: one of the most expensive cities in the world to live in, racism is pretty strong, and I miss home occasionally.
So like all things in life, there is a good and a bad side to everything but if you want me to make a strict choice, I think I would still prefer to live in Sydney at this point. Life has also showed me the fluid nature of things so ask me in 2 years’ time and I might give you a different answer.
Q: Have you been to Thailand and experienced the Thai gay community? How do you feel?
A: I have been to Bangkok many times and the reason why I keep visiting is Thailand’s good food, cheap shopping, professional massages and friendly people. The gay community in Thailand (especially Bangkok) is very active and gay culture is accepted and can be seen everywhere but ultimately Thailand is still a conservative country. This throws up a unique combination that seems to clash at first in people’s minds but Thailand could somehow make it work. There are plenty of discos and saunas to meet both locals and international visitors and I love all of them.
In my last trip (when I had the photo shoot with Airry), I encountered a situation in the gay saunas that frustrated me a little bit. In both Babylon and Chakran, hot Thai boys went straight for the Caucasians regardless of whether they are just of average or even below-average standards and totally ignored the other more attractive Asians around. I guess this was because Caucasians are much rarer in Thailand and so they tend to be more “exotic”. After living in Sydney for 3 years, my taste in Caucasian men is now quite sophisticated (you see, they are really a lot of cute and hunky white guys here) and so it was harder for me to accept why the Caucasians were more highly-desired than me in the Bangkok saunas. Well that was not a big issue and it certainly did not ruin my trip and my very good impression of the Land of Smiles.
Q: We saw that you created your own blog, what are you writing about and how many people frequent your blog?
A: I created my blog (http://kim-thenextphase.blogspot.com) straight after I relocated to Sydney because I wanted to use it as an avenue to keep all my friends and family back home abreast of what’s been happening to me in this other continent. I cover all sorts of topics on my blog ranging from interesting things I have done, my observations and opinions on current global affairs to my latest shoot pictures and songs that I have written. I think it is a combination of down-to-earth honest sharing of my life, nice music and of course a sexy body that attracts people to my blog. I do not have a huge following like many other bloggers but I do have a faithful bunch of people who would visit now and again. You can be sure that I will post this article on the blog for all to read (I need to find someone to translate it to English first). I am quite proud of myself for being published in a gay magazine for a second time (the first one being Australia’s DNA magazine).
Q: We heard that you had done loads of nude photo shoots, what made you to do that?
A: I am someone who embraces his body to the fullest and who is very proud of it. I am also a nudist. I have blogged about the reasons behind my being a nudist and they are all related to my frank and totally-transparent nature. Only when we are not restricted and hidden behind clothes will our guard, inhibitions, dishonesty and hypocrisy be torn down. It is only then can people truly communicate with one another on a real level. Many people are very insecure with their bodies and have things they dislike about them and to me, that is the reason why there aren’t more nudists in the world. People plagued with body issues are generally rather unhappy in their lives and this in turn affects the people around them.
All this explains why I am a nudist but obviously not all nudists do photo shoots like me. But let me not be humble for a second—there are not a lot of nudists with a rocking solid body like mine too. With this powerful coupling of a hot body and a nudist spirit comes an almost therapeutic sense of security which exudes in everything I do and that includes nude photo shoots. I love it when people like my pictures and give me positive comments. I cannot deny the fact that I like the attention my body gives me, which is another reason why I do those shoots. Between you and me, I will let you in on a secret—it makes me feel all hot and horny when I know that there are people who jerk off to my pictures!
Q: What’s the favourite part of your body? Which part of your body do you think is attractive and seductive?
A: To be honest, I think my favourite would be my brain. I am a person who thinks in an extremely logical and analytical manner yet I also have a sensitive and artistic side as evidenced by my music and photo shoots. This balance can only be achieved by the brain that I have now so naturally that is the favourite part of my body and I love it to death.
As for an external body part, I think it would be my abs for they are very cut and defined (after countless hours of hard work—there is no doubt about that!). I think nice abs makes a person look more muscular than he really is. I have gotten most compliments for my abs as well as my arms and to a lesser extent my ass—different people are just drawn to different things. Frankly I sometimes even get turned on by myself (am I narcissistic or what)! Ultimately without a personality that pulls everything together, a beautiful body is nothing but a beautiful body and I can honestly say that I have the whole package—inside and out!
==============================================
I am glad they liked the "whole package" bit and made that the title of the piece. Other notable albeit discrete English words and phrases include "DNA", "Pink Dot", "Skilled Migration" as well as the full address of my blog—I expect lots of traffic with this article (hehe). Hopefully with this increased traffic, some kind soul out there would drop by and help me translate the entire article. In my next post I will be sharing the rest of the pictures from this photo shoot so keep your eyes peeled for them!
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Musical journey (17)
Occasionally, I will feel like opening my song-writing toolbox and sharpening my tools. This is when I go online, randomly choose an instrumental piece with a nice rhythm and then fill in the tune and words. When I write songs this way, the words are usually written after I come up with the tune (for me, it is harder to do it the other way round using this method). At times, I would try a never-before-attempted genre and challenge myself. When I start writing, I become obsessed for the next few hours up to the next few days depending on how much inspiration I have at that time—I would not rest until I finish writing, recording and making the video.
In this month’s musical journey, I will share a song I have just written out of this tool-sharpening process. The genre I have chosen this time round is hip-hop and having so many free-to-use backing tracks online, it was not difficult to get started on the creative process. If you don’t personally write (or have song-writing as your breadwinning job), it will be hard to understand that energy surging from within you pushing you forward as well as the immense satisfaction you get when you listen to the finished product over and over again (of course it doesn’t hurt to love your own voice and find it comforting. Hehe). Perhaps the greatest perk of writing your own songs (or poems, novels and what have you) is being able to call it your very own and to assert without any doubt that it is completely original and that you can never hear it anywhere else. It might not be very good but it will always be wholly yours.
So here is a take on hip-hop with my newest song about a jilted lover being played by the game of love and eventually turning the tables around to play love as a game.
[游戏]
/ 词 / 曲 ： 锦泉 /
喂, 为什么要放弃
爱就爱何必去找任何原因
喂, 为什么你逃避
错就错在你没有什么决心
话我说了, 你只回了四个字 “ 我都晓得 ”
静下来了, 手机你关上了
说它没电池了, 叫我怎相信呢？
没, 没什么大问题
只不过有些人把爱当游戏
没, 没有什么关系
到最后自讨没趣的不是你
花不送了, 等不到你那一句 “ 我心领了 ”
聚散离合, 愿望一半实现了
已经看开了, 我没什么选择
我, 悔不悔, 累不累, 谁负谁, 没所谓
如今只求一晚安睡
黑吃黑, 美不美, 对不对
我问心无愧, 连你都不得罪
我 , 给都给, 亏都亏了, 追啊追, 又何为
代价不比教诲昂贵
退的退, 碎的碎, 醉的醉
不是我不对, 是你真的不配
OK, 怎么走下步旗
爱情这游戏原来我玩得起
OK, 网络上再继续
陌生的脸总有个会变熟悉
喂, 为什么我该放弃
我想爱就爱何必浪费时间天花乱坠找个原因
喂, 为什么你偏偏选择逃避
你错就错在由始至终没什么决心
没没没, 没什么太大的问题
只不过有些人脑筋太灵活把爱当成竞技游戏
没什么关系到你
只因为故事的最后自讨没趣的不是你
[Game]
Hey, why does one give up?
Why must one find a reason to love?
Hey, why must you escape?
Your lack of perseverance is what’s wrong with you
I have told you how I felt and you simply replied “I know”
Then everything quietened down
As you turned off your phone and blamed it on a dead battery
How can I believe anything you say?
No, it’s not a big problem
If you don’t include the fact that people treat love as a game
No, it doesn’t matter
Because you are not the one wasting time in the end
I will no longer send you flowers after receiving no sign of acceptance
People split up and come together all the time
And since I have realised half of that
I have decided to let go for I have no other choice
Do I regret it? Am I sick of it? Who betrayed whom?
It doesn’t matter anymore
For now I only need a night of restful sleep
Exacting revenge on one another—is that a pretty sight? Is that a right thing to do?
I act with no guilt for I have chosen to not offend anyone, not even you
I have given and I have lost so there really isn’t any point to continue pursuing
The price I have paid is far less than the value of the lesson learnt
Your withdrawal and my heartbreak swirling in my drunken mind
I am not wrong, it is only you who are wrong for me
OK, how should I make my next chess-move?
I now have the strength to play love as a game
OK, let the search continue online
I know one of these strange faces will become familiar one day
In this month’s musical journey, I will share a song I have just written out of this tool-sharpening process. The genre I have chosen this time round is hip-hop and having so many free-to-use backing tracks online, it was not difficult to get started on the creative process. If you don’t personally write (or have song-writing as your breadwinning job), it will be hard to understand that energy surging from within you pushing you forward as well as the immense satisfaction you get when you listen to the finished product over and over again (of course it doesn’t hurt to love your own voice and find it comforting. Hehe). Perhaps the greatest perk of writing your own songs (or poems, novels and what have you) is being able to call it your very own and to assert without any doubt that it is completely original and that you can never hear it anywhere else. It might not be very good but it will always be wholly yours.
So here is a take on hip-hop with my newest song about a jilted lover being played by the game of love and eventually turning the tables around to play love as a game.
[游戏]
/ 词 / 曲 ： 锦泉 /
喂, 为什么要放弃
爱就爱何必去找任何原因
喂, 为什么你逃避
错就错在你没有什么决心
话我说了, 你只回了四个字 “ 我都晓得 ”
静下来了, 手机你关上了
说它没电池了, 叫我怎相信呢？
没, 没什么大问题
只不过有些人把爱当游戏
没, 没有什么关系
到最后自讨没趣的不是你
花不送了, 等不到你那一句 “ 我心领了 ”
聚散离合, 愿望一半实现了
已经看开了, 我没什么选择
我, 悔不悔, 累不累, 谁负谁, 没所谓
如今只求一晚安睡
黑吃黑, 美不美, 对不对
我问心无愧, 连你都不得罪
我 , 给都给, 亏都亏了, 追啊追, 又何为
代价不比教诲昂贵
退的退, 碎的碎, 醉的醉
不是我不对, 是你真的不配
OK, 怎么走下步旗
爱情这游戏原来我玩得起
OK, 网络上再继续
陌生的脸总有个会变熟悉
喂, 为什么我该放弃
我想爱就爱何必浪费时间天花乱坠找个原因
喂, 为什么你偏偏选择逃避
你错就错在由始至终没什么决心
没没没, 没什么太大的问题
只不过有些人脑筋太灵活把爱当成竞技游戏
没什么关系到你
只因为故事的最后自讨没趣的不是你
[Game]
Hey, why does one give up?
Why must one find a reason to love?
Hey, why must you escape?
Your lack of perseverance is what’s wrong with you
I have told you how I felt and you simply replied “I know”
Then everything quietened down
As you turned off your phone and blamed it on a dead battery
How can I believe anything you say?
No, it’s not a big problem
If you don’t include the fact that people treat love as a game
No, it doesn’t matter
Because you are not the one wasting time in the end
I will no longer send you flowers after receiving no sign of acceptance
People split up and come together all the time
And since I have realised half of that
I have decided to let go for I have no other choice
Do I regret it? Am I sick of it? Who betrayed whom?
It doesn’t matter anymore
For now I only need a night of restful sleep
Exacting revenge on one another—is that a pretty sight? Is that a right thing to do?
I act with no guilt for I have chosen to not offend anyone, not even you
I have given and I have lost so there really isn’t any point to continue pursuing
The price I have paid is far less than the value of the lesson learnt
Your withdrawal and my heartbreak swirling in my drunken mind
I am not wrong, it is only you who are wrong for me
OK, how should I make my next chess-move?
I now have the strength to play love as a game
OK, let the search continue online
I know one of these strange faces will become familiar one day
Saturday, August 27, 2011
The month away (part 9)
In this last post of my month away in pictures, I will be sharing photos from one of the hottest shoots I have done so far. Satisfying my exhibitionistic desires to the fullest, this daring topless shoot right in the middle of Bangkok's popular shopping district gave me an experience of the city in a totally different light.
The shoot began very well from about dusk albeit the attention it was attracting (something which I LOVED). We were always looking out for authorities trying to stop us from proceeding further since Thailand is still ultimately a conservative country. About twenty minutes into the shoot when the photographer was trying to set up his tripod in the middle of a steady stream of human traffic, he was stopped by a security guard who told him that that would cause too much disruption. Without being able to set up the tripod, the long-exposure shot we were after was impossible and we had to adjourn elsewhere.
After moving to a more isolated spot, we did some shots on a bench and continued to garner lots of gawking. Then we moved to the side of a busy street where we did the rest of the shots that required me to keep perfectly still to achieve the desired effects. All in all it was a hot night (for more reasons than one). I love to work with this no-nonsense photographer who knew exactly what he wanted (I had another shoot with him showing Bangkok from another angle). He told me that I have given him one of his all-time favourites, which is on sale here.
So the documentation of my month away concludes here. It has been great sharing part of my life with you and an even greater opportunity to continue showcasing the fruits of my modelling projects.
Sizzling Silom
The shoot began very well from about dusk albeit the attention it was attracting (something which I LOVED). We were always looking out for authorities trying to stop us from proceeding further since Thailand is still ultimately a conservative country. About twenty minutes into the shoot when the photographer was trying to set up his tripod in the middle of a steady stream of human traffic, he was stopped by a security guard who told him that that would cause too much disruption. Without being able to set up the tripod, the long-exposure shot we were after was impossible and we had to adjourn elsewhere.
After moving to a more isolated spot, we did some shots on a bench and continued to garner lots of gawking. Then we moved to the side of a busy street where we did the rest of the shots that required me to keep perfectly still to achieve the desired effects. All in all it was a hot night (for more reasons than one). I love to work with this no-nonsense photographer who knew exactly what he wanted (I had another shoot with him showing Bangkok from another angle). He told me that I have given him one of his all-time favourites, which is on sale here.
So the documentation of my month away concludes here. It has been great sharing part of my life with you and an even greater opportunity to continue showcasing the fruits of my modelling projects.
Sizzling Silom
Monday, August 22, 2011
Musical journey (16)
Airports have always had an effect on me in the sense that instead of experiencing the joy of reunions, I feel the sadness of departures. I attribute that to my almost-seven-year long-distance relationship before I met Ision. The pain and sorrow of leaving a loved one at the airport never failed to get to me even after that relationship.
This time round at the airport when I was returning from my month-long vacation, I no longer went through that depression, not even slightly. This of course came as a no-brainer seeing that I do not have the need to cling on to that emotion anymore with a stable long-term relationship. The habitual and almost instinctive invocation of melancholy associated with airports has completely dissipated.
That is not to say I felt nothing during the one-year long-distance phase of my relationship with Ision. In fact whenever I was down like this in airports, I whipped out my trusty pen and notebook and started writing songs. This expression outlet not only calmed me down but kept me occupied throughout the long flights (as I always made sure I finished the words and tune by the end of the flight). During that year of inter-continental flights between Singapore and Sydney, I have written several songs documenting my state of mind when I had to leave Ision and this was one of them.
[Worth]
The sun has just revealed its face
Against the clock I start to race
The hardest thing that I can ever do
Is leaving home when I'm in your embrace
A step I took onto the train
Below my eyes I feel rain
Why does pain hit me again so soon
But I know these tears do not fall in vain cos'
Baby there is no one
There's no one worth crying for
But you are that someone and I'm willing to give it all
Just to have you touch me just once more
Baby just once more
You're worth all this and more
A step I took onto the plane
And then there is sun again
I close my eyes so I can see you
And the pain was left in the wind with its chains
I pray for the day in May
For it to come with haste
So I can be
So I can be whole again
Baby there is no one
There's no one worth dying for
But you are that someone and I'm willing to give it all
Just to let me kiss you just once more
Baby just once more
You're worth all this and more
Well that is enough negative energy for the time being. Look out for my next post (the last one on my month-long trip) for there will be some amazing pictures.... of me!
This time round at the airport when I was returning from my month-long vacation, I no longer went through that depression, not even slightly. This of course came as a no-brainer seeing that I do not have the need to cling on to that emotion anymore with a stable long-term relationship. The habitual and almost instinctive invocation of melancholy associated with airports has completely dissipated.
That is not to say I felt nothing during the one-year long-distance phase of my relationship with Ision. In fact whenever I was down like this in airports, I whipped out my trusty pen and notebook and started writing songs. This expression outlet not only calmed me down but kept me occupied throughout the long flights (as I always made sure I finished the words and tune by the end of the flight). During that year of inter-continental flights between Singapore and Sydney, I have written several songs documenting my state of mind when I had to leave Ision and this was one of them.
[Worth]
The sun has just revealed its face
Against the clock I start to race
The hardest thing that I can ever do
Is leaving home when I'm in your embrace
A step I took onto the train
Below my eyes I feel rain
Why does pain hit me again so soon
But I know these tears do not fall in vain cos'
Baby there is no one
There's no one worth crying for
But you are that someone and I'm willing to give it all
Just to have you touch me just once more
Baby just once more
You're worth all this and more
A step I took onto the plane
And then there is sun again
I close my eyes so I can see you
And the pain was left in the wind with its chains
I pray for the day in May
For it to come with haste
So I can be
So I can be whole again
Baby there is no one
There's no one worth dying for
But you are that someone and I'm willing to give it all
Just to let me kiss you just once more
Baby just once more
You're worth all this and more
Well that is enough negative energy for the time being. Look out for my next post (the last one on my month-long trip) for there will be some amazing pictures.... of me!
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
The month away (part 8)
There is a lot of Asian food here in Sydney but a lot of it is not really authentic which is totally understandable because restaurateurs need to cater to the local palate. Another thing I will never get in Australia is home-cooked food by my mum and that is something I will never stop missing. In this penultimate vacation-post, you will be able to sample a cross-section of the food I got to savour during these 31 days away. Credit goes to my trusty spreadsheet for the names of some of these dishes (and all credit for the spreadsheet goes to me!).
Gastronomical Delights
Home-cooked wanton spinach noodles. The translucence of the wanton skin showing the gentle tint of pink from the shrimps inside invites you to bite into them all the more. Coupled with the simple yet flavourful sauce, this dish is comfort food taken to exquisite levels.
Another sampling of mum-cooked fare. From top left going clockwise, we see steamed minced pork topped with salted fish and sliced ginger, shrimp omelette with a generous dose of onions (my favourite), and vermicelli stir-fried with cucumber and dried shrimps. These are some of the must-have dishes that I ask my mum to prepare during my going-home trips.
Steamed broccoli with oyster sauce with huge fresh scallops, stewed sea cucumber, and squid stir-fried with a vegetable medley—seafood offerings from the recipes plucked right of my mum’s head.
Talking about sea cucumbers, here is a tale of extreme rip-off at a Singaporean restaurant. In the top left, we see the sea cucumber dish as shown in the menu and the bottom left shows how it looked like untouched when it was served (the standard-sized Chinese tea cup beside the dish gives a good measure of the tininess of the pieces). For this miserable dish we were charged S$20! Rip-off to the n-th degree!!! The biggest picture shows from left to right a good piece of dried sea cucumber, then how it looks like when soaked in water (the standard 500ml drink bottle shows how large the soaked pieces are). This is how quality (and expensive) sea cucumber should look like. Name-and-shame time—the restaurant is “宝香绑线肉骨茶” or “Pao Xiang Bak Ku Teh” at Nex in Serangoon Central. Seeing how sky-high their prices were, mark my words—I think that rip-off joint will go out of business soon (if it has not already).
More on sea cucumbers—they can cost up to a few hundred bucks a kilo. A lot of foreigners cannot appreciate its taste and texture but my family sure can and do! In this preparation, mum wrapped marinated chicken thigh pieces along with hair-like seaweed and dried scallops in a whole large sea cucumber and stewed it for hours in low heat till the chewiness of the sea cucumber became just right—that was also when its flavour seeped into the chicken and vice versa. This dish has a very delicate and sophisticated quality to it and I am sure it can sell for at least a hundred dollars if served in a restaurant.
Culinary genius at work. You don’t need to be a master chef to know how to cook well—years and years of experience, experimenting and most importantly the genuine love of cooking and providing for the family can easily out-trump the oft-esoteric characteristic of the cooking techniques and skills of top chefs. These four pictures (clockwise from top left) show how mum's deep-fried pork balls with century egg and salted egg yolk centres were prepared. This is yet another of those must-have dishes that my mum would make for me.
The sea cucumber and pork balls were part of my farewell home-cooked dinner. Also shown in this picture are a stir-fried squid-and-cuttlefish combo with vegetables, stewed large dried shitake mushrooms as well as chicken and vegetable soup flavoured with dried anchovies. Yum factor to the max!
One of my favourite things to do with mum is a relaxing dinner-then-movie excursion. Before we watched “Priest” on this night, we dined at a Japanese restaurant called “Shin Kushiya” at a new mall near where we lived. Not too fancy yet refined enough to resemble fine-dining, we had a wonderful meal sampling the more unique dishes the eatery had to offer. From top left going clockwise: tako (cuttlefish) wasabi, pumpkin croquettes, grilled goose liver with caramelised green apple, grilled lady fingers wrapped with thinly-sliced pork and in the centre: ika kimchi (charcoal-grilled squid stuffed with kimuchi).
Continuation of the meal we had that night. From top left going clockwise: yaki onigiri & katsuoboshi (charcoal-grilled rice ball with eel), garlic rice, shisamo maki (deep-fried capelin fish topped with bacon in a sushi roll), okura mentaiko (tempura of ladies' fingers with codfish roe) and in the centre: umeshu (plum wine) tiramisu. The total bill was under S$100—not-too-bad at all!
Turtle soup. The last time I had this was eons ago when my father was still around and so I had totally forgotten how it tastes like. Well, the soup was rather heavily-spiced with Chinese medicinal herbs so I couldn’t really get to the basal taste of turtle. The most-coveted part is the skin and its texture is just like sea cucumber except that it is more collagenic and hence sticky. As for the meat, I know it is a cliché but it does taste like chicken but only chewier.
This was the breakfast I had in Taling Chan Floating Market in Bangkok. From top down: spiced minced fish with coconut milk (commonly known as “otah” in Singapore), chrysanthemum tea and palm juice, grilled giant prawns, sponge cake topped with caramelised coconut, spicy mango salad with dried fish and peanut. I also had deep-fried breaded shrimp cakes (not shown here). Feast like a king for only 235 baht (AUS$7.30—cheap as!) and we are not even including in that cost the enjoyment I got from dining amongst the friendly locals, great Chao Phraya scenery, sights and sounds wrapped in that authentic Thai flavour.
This is what you could get from Bangkok street-stalls—simple food heavy on taste and light on cost. Hot and sour shrimp and vegetable soup (not tom yum), BBQ chicken skewers and seafood fried rice for only 180 baht (AUS$5.60). Now when I look at these pictures again, I feel like planning for my next Bangkok trip already!
This is steamed frog legs doused in Brand’s Essence of Chicken which my mum and I had in a hawker centre in Johore Bahru called “Pusat Buah-Buahan Taman Sri Tebran”. It was very fresh and succulent—you should try it if you haven’t.
One of my quests in Vietnam was to have some authentic pho and I had that twice (one of which was at that chain Bill Clinton once visited). The other quintessentially-Vietnamese food item that was part of my quest was fresh rice paper rolls, which I had quite a bit of during the trip. Frankly I think the Vietnamese food in Sydney is better—it is much cleaner in taste perhaps because higher-quality ingredients and meats are used in Australia (with more sanitary food-preparation techniques I bet).
For one dinner, my friend and I decided to go to one of the most up-market restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City just for the fun of it. We originally wanted to go to a French one but it was too out of the way so instead we picked this Chinese restaurant called “Mandarine”, which boasted Condoleezaa Rice as one of its patrons. Top: spicy and sour seafood soup in coconut. Bottom: "Mandarine"-style spring roll with shrimp and pork.
The dishes at “Mandarine” were all very well-decorated and the clientele was mostly rich businessmen. The ambience was great as well with live Chinese music being played and polite and attentive service. Top: grilled fish wrapped with rice pancake. Bottom: steamed king prawn with garlic.
There is an impressive VIP room with a very well-stocked cellar on the first floor of this restaurant. I must say this was the best meal we had in Vietnam—no surprise given its total cost (2,323,000 Vietnamese dong or AUD$104). That being said, this meal will definitely cost at least twice more in Sydney. Too bad I had a toothache from the second course onwards and couldn’t even take a bite into the ice-cream dessert. Top: steamed rice in lotus leaf. Bottom: grilled chicken with cinnamon and foer dessert, fresh mango flambe with rum.
After having an abundance of cheap and good food for a month, I came back to Sydney and was greeted with this bit of irony. What bitter irony!
Gastronomical Delights
Home-cooked wanton spinach noodles. The translucence of the wanton skin showing the gentle tint of pink from the shrimps inside invites you to bite into them all the more. Coupled with the simple yet flavourful sauce, this dish is comfort food taken to exquisite levels.
Another sampling of mum-cooked fare. From top left going clockwise, we see steamed minced pork topped with salted fish and sliced ginger, shrimp omelette with a generous dose of onions (my favourite), and vermicelli stir-fried with cucumber and dried shrimps. These are some of the must-have dishes that I ask my mum to prepare during my going-home trips.
Steamed broccoli with oyster sauce with huge fresh scallops, stewed sea cucumber, and squid stir-fried with a vegetable medley—seafood offerings from the recipes plucked right of my mum’s head.
Talking about sea cucumbers, here is a tale of extreme rip-off at a Singaporean restaurant. In the top left, we see the sea cucumber dish as shown in the menu and the bottom left shows how it looked like untouched when it was served (the standard-sized Chinese tea cup beside the dish gives a good measure of the tininess of the pieces). For this miserable dish we were charged S$20! Rip-off to the n-th degree!!! The biggest picture shows from left to right a good piece of dried sea cucumber, then how it looks like when soaked in water (the standard 500ml drink bottle shows how large the soaked pieces are). This is how quality (and expensive) sea cucumber should look like. Name-and-shame time—the restaurant is “宝香绑线肉骨茶” or “Pao Xiang Bak Ku Teh” at Nex in Serangoon Central. Seeing how sky-high their prices were, mark my words—I think that rip-off joint will go out of business soon (if it has not already).
More on sea cucumbers—they can cost up to a few hundred bucks a kilo. A lot of foreigners cannot appreciate its taste and texture but my family sure can and do! In this preparation, mum wrapped marinated chicken thigh pieces along with hair-like seaweed and dried scallops in a whole large sea cucumber and stewed it for hours in low heat till the chewiness of the sea cucumber became just right—that was also when its flavour seeped into the chicken and vice versa. This dish has a very delicate and sophisticated quality to it and I am sure it can sell for at least a hundred dollars if served in a restaurant.
Culinary genius at work. You don’t need to be a master chef to know how to cook well—years and years of experience, experimenting and most importantly the genuine love of cooking and providing for the family can easily out-trump the oft-esoteric characteristic of the cooking techniques and skills of top chefs. These four pictures (clockwise from top left) show how mum's deep-fried pork balls with century egg and salted egg yolk centres were prepared. This is yet another of those must-have dishes that my mum would make for me.
The sea cucumber and pork balls were part of my farewell home-cooked dinner. Also shown in this picture are a stir-fried squid-and-cuttlefish combo with vegetables, stewed large dried shitake mushrooms as well as chicken and vegetable soup flavoured with dried anchovies. Yum factor to the max!
One of my favourite things to do with mum is a relaxing dinner-then-movie excursion. Before we watched “Priest” on this night, we dined at a Japanese restaurant called “Shin Kushiya” at a new mall near where we lived. Not too fancy yet refined enough to resemble fine-dining, we had a wonderful meal sampling the more unique dishes the eatery had to offer. From top left going clockwise: tako (cuttlefish) wasabi, pumpkin croquettes, grilled goose liver with caramelised green apple, grilled lady fingers wrapped with thinly-sliced pork and in the centre: ika kimchi (charcoal-grilled squid stuffed with kimuchi).
Continuation of the meal we had that night. From top left going clockwise: yaki onigiri & katsuoboshi (charcoal-grilled rice ball with eel), garlic rice, shisamo maki (deep-fried capelin fish topped with bacon in a sushi roll), okura mentaiko (tempura of ladies' fingers with codfish roe) and in the centre: umeshu (plum wine) tiramisu. The total bill was under S$100—not-too-bad at all!
Turtle soup. The last time I had this was eons ago when my father was still around and so I had totally forgotten how it tastes like. Well, the soup was rather heavily-spiced with Chinese medicinal herbs so I couldn’t really get to the basal taste of turtle. The most-coveted part is the skin and its texture is just like sea cucumber except that it is more collagenic and hence sticky. As for the meat, I know it is a cliché but it does taste like chicken but only chewier.
This was the breakfast I had in Taling Chan Floating Market in Bangkok. From top down: spiced minced fish with coconut milk (commonly known as “otah” in Singapore), chrysanthemum tea and palm juice, grilled giant prawns, sponge cake topped with caramelised coconut, spicy mango salad with dried fish and peanut. I also had deep-fried breaded shrimp cakes (not shown here). Feast like a king for only 235 baht (AUS$7.30—cheap as!) and we are not even including in that cost the enjoyment I got from dining amongst the friendly locals, great Chao Phraya scenery, sights and sounds wrapped in that authentic Thai flavour.
This is what you could get from Bangkok street-stalls—simple food heavy on taste and light on cost. Hot and sour shrimp and vegetable soup (not tom yum), BBQ chicken skewers and seafood fried rice for only 180 baht (AUS$5.60). Now when I look at these pictures again, I feel like planning for my next Bangkok trip already!
This is steamed frog legs doused in Brand’s Essence of Chicken which my mum and I had in a hawker centre in Johore Bahru called “Pusat Buah-Buahan Taman Sri Tebran”. It was very fresh and succulent—you should try it if you haven’t.
One of my quests in Vietnam was to have some authentic pho and I had that twice (one of which was at that chain Bill Clinton once visited). The other quintessentially-Vietnamese food item that was part of my quest was fresh rice paper rolls, which I had quite a bit of during the trip. Frankly I think the Vietnamese food in Sydney is better—it is much cleaner in taste perhaps because higher-quality ingredients and meats are used in Australia (with more sanitary food-preparation techniques I bet).
For one dinner, my friend and I decided to go to one of the most up-market restaurants in Ho Chi Minh City just for the fun of it. We originally wanted to go to a French one but it was too out of the way so instead we picked this Chinese restaurant called “Mandarine”, which boasted Condoleezaa Rice as one of its patrons. Top: spicy and sour seafood soup in coconut. Bottom: "Mandarine"-style spring roll with shrimp and pork.
The dishes at “Mandarine” were all very well-decorated and the clientele was mostly rich businessmen. The ambience was great as well with live Chinese music being played and polite and attentive service. Top: grilled fish wrapped with rice pancake. Bottom: steamed king prawn with garlic.
There is an impressive VIP room with a very well-stocked cellar on the first floor of this restaurant. I must say this was the best meal we had in Vietnam—no surprise given its total cost (2,323,000 Vietnamese dong or AUD$104). That being said, this meal will definitely cost at least twice more in Sydney. Too bad I had a toothache from the second course onwards and couldn’t even take a bite into the ice-cream dessert. Top: steamed rice in lotus leaf. Bottom: grilled chicken with cinnamon and foer dessert, fresh mango flambe with rum.
After having an abundance of cheap and good food for a month, I came back to Sydney and was greeted with this bit of irony. What bitter irony! Friday, August 12, 2011
The month away (part 7)
Here is the final part of my Vietnam travel pictures, I hope you are enjoying them so far.
Goodbye Vietnam!
You must be quite sick of me whingeing about the high costs (with close to everything charged in US dollars) of Ho Chi Minh City but this is the last you’ll hear from me regarding this. A funny thing though—I saw a Standard & Chartered ad in the local newspapers offering an online account with a 12% p.a. interest rate! That kind of intrigued me for a while (even after reading the fine print). Should I or shouldn’t I?
Typical street scenes of the chaotic city. The only way to navigate the mayhem without worrying that you might lose your life is to get to your destination (regardless of how near it is away from your origin) in a cab. In a four-wheeled enclosed vehicle, we seriously felt like we were in an impenetrable fortress and every single one of those pesky motorbikes and scooters had to give way to the king (and they did). Just make sure you get into the right cab.
People carried all sorts of cargo on these 2-wheelers, including 2 wheels! I found a photo book capturing the amazing things people transport on the back of scooters in Vietnam and I must say it was an eye-opener.
In a city where there is one scooter for every two inhabitants, you can imagine the demand there must be for helmets (I am surprised at the level of adherence to traffic rules in this regard). With high demand comes great supply and an advanced evolution of fashionable designs. Shops selling nothing but helmets were a commonplace and the top picture shows helmets sold in a place as unlikely as a supermarket.
In the top picture, you can see some unique Vietnamese infrastructure. From the left to right, there is accommodation for larger motor vehicles, smaller motorbikes and scooters and then for pedestrians. It was not uncommon to see users of the middle lane switch over to the either sides as if they were the sole users of the roads and pavements. In the bottom picture you will find one of the VERY rare sights of Ho Chi Minh City—a traffic light!
This shot was taken atop the highest floor of the Reunification Palace. The long road that stretched to the horizon was the infamous route the tanks took as they tore down the gate and charged into the premise (the then presidential palace) heralding the end of the Vietnam War.
You would think that as an armoured infantry section commander in the army who sometimes drove these things, I would be so sick of tanks right? Yes I am but I also like photo ops (especially illegal ones where you were not allowed to climb onto display vehicles. Hehe). It has been such a LONG time since I had to go back to the army now that I live overseas so I think my abhorrence of these armoured monstrosities has dropped somewhat. Being at the War Remnants Museum where I got a taste of military technology and strategies circa 1960 - 1970, I finally got the proof I have lacked for many years that the Singapore army is still using (and very proud of) the same technology ie. one that is way past its prime. Singapore does try to develop its own armoured vehicles though so I should at least give them some credit.
Compare the second item and the last item in this beverage menu.
When you travel in a tour group, you will have to accept the fact that you will be brought to tourist traps against your will. However I did not regret visiting this one where victims of the Vietnam War (including those in the generation after the War due to the mutagenic effects of Agent Orange—see the bottom left picture) worked in an assembly line of sorts (crushing, fitting, cutting, washing, polishing, etc) creating works of art from crushed shells of eggs and shellfish (of seriously-minute sizes). The very detailed and meticulous effort put into the intricate pieces amidst the harsh working conditions really impressed me.
Me at the Mekong Delta having one of the many boat rides (ranging from rowing- to motor-types). As for the traditional hats that scream Vietnamese, I finally understood their significance—you got to have them in this heat!
The torture techniques used during the Vietnam War—gruesome and graphic. The War Remnants Museum was originally named Museum of American War Crimes but was changed so as not to hurt American tourists’ sensibilities. Well for what they have done, I think we are kind of comparing apples with elephants. WARNING: the next picture might be a little too much for some.
Together with the captions, you will very quickly get past the self-righteous, sugar-coated warm-and-fuzzy messages warmongers inevitably spew trying to rationalise what they are doing and be overcome with the actual severity of war, the collateral damage then, now and in the future. There can never be a justification for this. Never, period. It was a solemn time in the war crime exhibit in the War Remnants Museum—everyone was engrossed with what they were looking at which first filled them with repugnance and then sadness. This was the first time ever that I have read every single caption of every single item being displayed in a museum.
The biggest atrocity of the Vietnam War was the use of the defoliant called Agent Orange in order to destroy the canopies and vegetation hiding the Viet Cong guerrillas. No one knew exactly at that time how far down the human life cycle the adverse effects would linger but they deployed the chemical anyhow. If Americans could unleash such hell with 1960-technology, do you seriously think that they have not already created monster agents of chemical- and biological-warfare with the technology of this century? It sends a shudder down my spine to think that a repeat of this episode is allowed today and can indeed happen again.
During the boat ride at the Mekong Delta shown in the clip below, I was given the oar by the boatman I guess to allow me to fully-immerse myself in the tourist attraction. I did feel that the other reason could be to spare him some of the paddling effort (it was a very tough job—I did row for a while only to give up about a minute into it).
The video below sums up my trip—“pandemonium at its best”. I couldn’t understand how without any traffic lights could the vehicles from four directions co-ordinate their timings. That being said, there were many junctions where four directions go off all at the same time! Also on the bottom right you could see something reminiscent of a zebra crossing—they might as well save the money painting and maintaining them because they were practically treated as invisible by motorists (in this regard they will actually do more harm than good if pedestrians (especially tourists) think that they are supposed to work)!
Well, there you have it—Ho Chi Minh City in a series of pictures. To be honest, this city is not one I will visit for a long time or maybe ever again. But like all things in life, we need to try them at least once before making a judgement. My friends told me Hanoi is much better but I don’t think I will take that chance anytime soon.
This is not the end of my vacation-blogging, stay tuned for a little bit more.
Goodbye Vietnam!
You must be quite sick of me whingeing about the high costs (with close to everything charged in US dollars) of Ho Chi Minh City but this is the last you’ll hear from me regarding this. A funny thing though—I saw a Standard & Chartered ad in the local newspapers offering an online account with a 12% p.a. interest rate! That kind of intrigued me for a while (even after reading the fine print). Should I or shouldn’t I?
Typical street scenes of the chaotic city. The only way to navigate the mayhem without worrying that you might lose your life is to get to your destination (regardless of how near it is away from your origin) in a cab. In a four-wheeled enclosed vehicle, we seriously felt like we were in an impenetrable fortress and every single one of those pesky motorbikes and scooters had to give way to the king (and they did). Just make sure you get into the right cab.
People carried all sorts of cargo on these 2-wheelers, including 2 wheels! I found a photo book capturing the amazing things people transport on the back of scooters in Vietnam and I must say it was an eye-opener.
In a city where there is one scooter for every two inhabitants, you can imagine the demand there must be for helmets (I am surprised at the level of adherence to traffic rules in this regard). With high demand comes great supply and an advanced evolution of fashionable designs. Shops selling nothing but helmets were a commonplace and the top picture shows helmets sold in a place as unlikely as a supermarket.
In the top picture, you can see some unique Vietnamese infrastructure. From the left to right, there is accommodation for larger motor vehicles, smaller motorbikes and scooters and then for pedestrians. It was not uncommon to see users of the middle lane switch over to the either sides as if they were the sole users of the roads and pavements. In the bottom picture you will find one of the VERY rare sights of Ho Chi Minh City—a traffic light!
This shot was taken atop the highest floor of the Reunification Palace. The long road that stretched to the horizon was the infamous route the tanks took as they tore down the gate and charged into the premise (the then presidential palace) heralding the end of the Vietnam War.
You would think that as an armoured infantry section commander in the army who sometimes drove these things, I would be so sick of tanks right? Yes I am but I also like photo ops (especially illegal ones where you were not allowed to climb onto display vehicles. Hehe). It has been such a LONG time since I had to go back to the army now that I live overseas so I think my abhorrence of these armoured monstrosities has dropped somewhat. Being at the War Remnants Museum where I got a taste of military technology and strategies circa 1960 - 1970, I finally got the proof I have lacked for many years that the Singapore army is still using (and very proud of) the same technology ie. one that is way past its prime. Singapore does try to develop its own armoured vehicles though so I should at least give them some credit.
Compare the second item and the last item in this beverage menu.
When you travel in a tour group, you will have to accept the fact that you will be brought to tourist traps against your will. However I did not regret visiting this one where victims of the Vietnam War (including those in the generation after the War due to the mutagenic effects of Agent Orange—see the bottom left picture) worked in an assembly line of sorts (crushing, fitting, cutting, washing, polishing, etc) creating works of art from crushed shells of eggs and shellfish (of seriously-minute sizes). The very detailed and meticulous effort put into the intricate pieces amidst the harsh working conditions really impressed me.
Me at the Mekong Delta having one of the many boat rides (ranging from rowing- to motor-types). As for the traditional hats that scream Vietnamese, I finally understood their significance—you got to have them in this heat!
The torture techniques used during the Vietnam War—gruesome and graphic. The War Remnants Museum was originally named Museum of American War Crimes but was changed so as not to hurt American tourists’ sensibilities. Well for what they have done, I think we are kind of comparing apples with elephants. WARNING: the next picture might be a little too much for some.
Together with the captions, you will very quickly get past the self-righteous, sugar-coated warm-and-fuzzy messages warmongers inevitably spew trying to rationalise what they are doing and be overcome with the actual severity of war, the collateral damage then, now and in the future. There can never be a justification for this. Never, period. It was a solemn time in the war crime exhibit in the War Remnants Museum—everyone was engrossed with what they were looking at which first filled them with repugnance and then sadness. This was the first time ever that I have read every single caption of every single item being displayed in a museum.
The biggest atrocity of the Vietnam War was the use of the defoliant called Agent Orange in order to destroy the canopies and vegetation hiding the Viet Cong guerrillas. No one knew exactly at that time how far down the human life cycle the adverse effects would linger but they deployed the chemical anyhow. If Americans could unleash such hell with 1960-technology, do you seriously think that they have not already created monster agents of chemical- and biological-warfare with the technology of this century? It sends a shudder down my spine to think that a repeat of this episode is allowed today and can indeed happen again.
During the boat ride at the Mekong Delta shown in the clip below, I was given the oar by the boatman I guess to allow me to fully-immerse myself in the tourist attraction. I did feel that the other reason could be to spare him some of the paddling effort (it was a very tough job—I did row for a while only to give up about a minute into it).
The video below sums up my trip—“pandemonium at its best”. I couldn’t understand how without any traffic lights could the vehicles from four directions co-ordinate their timings. That being said, there were many junctions where four directions go off all at the same time! Also on the bottom right you could see something reminiscent of a zebra crossing—they might as well save the money painting and maintaining them because they were practically treated as invisible by motorists (in this regard they will actually do more harm than good if pedestrians (especially tourists) think that they are supposed to work)!
Well, there you have it—Ho Chi Minh City in a series of pictures. To be honest, this city is not one I will visit for a long time or maybe ever again. But like all things in life, we need to try them at least once before making a judgement. My friends told me Hanoi is much better but I don’t think I will take that chance anytime soon.
This is not the end of my vacation-blogging, stay tuned for a little bit more.
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