Mood:  energetic

 Paat was his name, or at least what I’ve made of it. My first authentic Thai Muay Thai (MT) instructor. He had a chubby, jovial face, I almost wonder how he is capable of revealing a deadly and violent side when it matters in the ring.

He was surprised when I told him I’ve had 8 months worth of MT Training. He promptly lead me to the rear end of the large airy campus where the ‘intermediates’ train. Regardless, not long after he got me shadow boxing and a few rounds of pad work later, he started to doubt my experience in the area…

“You sure it is MY Training you have? Not Kickboxing?”

“Yes, yes. In our lessons there are many many people, instructor no time to adjust our moves.”

In the ring Paat rapidly lost his smile. Clearly I wasn’t performing up to his idea of ‘intermediate’. It wasn’t long before his patience starts to fray, when his cutesy face starts to morph into the constant grimace of a child in permanent tantrum.

“OK, 1, 2, left, right. Elbow… ELBOW! You not readee!! You must always be readee!!” He flings his fist and stamps his foot in annoyance, “Again, Elbow.. ELBOW! Forward! Harder, faster!!”

The truth is, I’m not a young, aspiring boxer who intends to one day fight in the ring. I merely want to train to be a good fighter, ready for self defence anytime but hopefully will never feel the taste of someone else’s knuckles on my teeth. With my red toe nail polish and newly coloured hair and with each reprimanding from Paat I burst into a giggle, which in turn further aggravates him and make me look more pathetic.

Paat is not without his endearing side though. During a break session he told me not to get upset with his reproaches as he doesn’t mean them personally, merely part of the Muay Thai culture. I was honestly impressed he could hold back his tongue and not scream in my face, “You retarded woman, I said the RIGHT LEG, the RIGHT BLOODY LEG, NOT THE LEFT!!”

Above all, Paat’s kick packs a serious kill in spite of his cuddly appearance. When teaching me how to kick, he would demonstrated by giving me a “mock kick”, what appears to be a gentle tap with his feet on my abdomen. Yet with each apparent gentle tap, I was stunned for a moment because it actually hurt much more than I’d expected. While it was obvious he’s held back most of his muscles, I can feel the chunk of his power withheld in that harmless tap. I cannot begin to imagine what a real kick from Paat can do to me.

The final blow, regardless, came from just before the closure of the lesson when Paat told me to knee the sandbag 50 times and kick it 100 times consecutively. I couldn’t believe my ears, “a hundred times, you say?”

“Yes,” he grinned triumphantly, “100 times”

And so he begins counting, “One, two…Eleven, twelve…Twenty…Thirty…Forty…fifty…sixty…fifty,” Wait, did he just say ‘fifty’ again? “Shit,” I thought to myself desperately, “I can’t take this anymore…” but I had no strength or breathe to protest. Fortunately, after the 2^nd ‘fifty’, he jumped straight through to ‘seventy’ and continued to 100, making it 110 consecutive kicks.

“You are a strong lady,” Was I hearing things? He was complimenting me! “Most ladies can’t do 100, they…” he drops his head sideways and stuck his tongue out like a pretend dead man, “So I say, you strong lady”

And with that, we clasped our hands the Thai style, bowed, thanked each other and bade farewell.

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=77172&l=19336&id=688552090

Posted by Ching Yin at 8:42 PM WST

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La pintura de la primavera

Un sueño de las estrellas

Felicidad sin sombras

Disfrutamos la música

Con pasión como fuego

Te seduzco

Posted by Ching Yin at 9:38 AM WST

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Mood:  sad

¡Adiós, mi corazón, mi ángel del cielo! Gracias por el breve momento de pureza que trajo a mi vida. Te recuerdo siempre.

Posted by Ching Yin at 12:47 PM WST

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¡Oye!

Un ángel del cielo

Tiene un corazón muy bueno

Aún no consciente de la tristeza de este mundo

Un chico tan inocentes

Una joven vida con mucho más anticipación

¿Puede comprender mi exasperación?

Beneath the anger, the spite and all the whinging ultimately it is but a disguise. After the partying, the gossiping and all the best entertainment in the world, eventually they are just distractions. The obsession with holidays, tours and travel, in the end the escape is always temporary. In the height of the night I face the darkness alone; the reality of it all confronts me and it hits hard it hits mercilessly.

When I met him he was 19 years old. He wasn’t exactly a soulful thinker that usually captures my imagination, but then again not many teenage backpackers are. As a result I reminisced a great deal of the time I was 19 and contemplated what had changed since. What I had to offer the world then was youth and potential; the world in turns offer excitement and hope. A decade had come and went; my youth is quickly evaporating and a resignation creeps in that the prospects are as good as it’ll ever get. While the world still excites me much of the thrill had ceased and the burden of responsibility had taken over.

Oh what I would give to be free again. Why oh why?

Posted by Ching Yin at 9:59 PM WST

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It’s Remembrance Day today. I spent 11am on the 11/11/2008 at Victoria market where they made an announcement for everyone to have a minute of silence.

There is an inexplicable sensation of ennui I am experiencing. Amongst many other feelings, I am excited, depressed, fed-up, happy and sad at the same time.

Yo entusiasmado porque hay un Sueco muy joven y guapo visitando me en dieciocho días.

Estoy desesperado y de harto porque mi negocios es muy mal aunque he intentado todos ideas posible.

Feliz porque verano es aquí, Melbourne es en cuanto más cálido, entonces todos son bueno.

Triste porque hasta hoy, sigo Ben perder muchísimo.

I need something radical. I yearn for something spectacular. Just give me that one good thing that can somehow outshine my despair then all will be well.

Posted by Ching Yin at 8:34 PM WST

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Mood:  not sure

There is but deadly silence looming in the shop today.

I am tired now because I hadn't slept well for days and I spent the entire morning unloading and unpacking furniture, displaying the merchandises and cleaning up the store room.

Last night a colleague from Malaysia rang me and enquired about the state of our business. It was nice of her to show concern but with the world economy scaring the shit out of everyone now all retail businesses are suffering. After a year of struggle I no longer feel a sense of guilt for running such a disastrous venture, nor do words of consolation ease my conscience. The current state of affairs simply is, and for better or for worse the only way to cope with it is to deal with it full frontal.

I am excited about the prospect of reuniting with a nice young boy I met on my return flight to Melbourne recently. There is a huge degree of naivety in my desire to see him again yet after years of complexity and jadedness, something innocent and pure is too appealing to resist at this point in time.

Posted by Ching Yin at 11:47 AM WST

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Mood:  celebratory

The escape started in Lukla, some 45 minutes flight time away from Kathmandu. As our flight touched down on the tiny runway, we leave behind a world of financial chaos. I was tired even before the challenge begins – after 2 weeks of unloading furniture containers and re-furnishing a 500 square metre showroom, I left for Nepal only moments after finishing work. While I had tried my best to work-out as much as I could months before the trek, I was filled with apprehension how the experience could break me.

One Thousand Two Thousand Three Thousand

Kathmandu, at 1,355m felt like a mix of Indian and Tibetan culture. We stayed in Thamel, the district for foreigners with a big supply of knock-off trekking goods, shisha bars, drinking holes and plenty of Nepalese knick knacks. I arrived on a Saturday and caught up with our tour group. We had 6 nationalities – English, Australia, South Africans, USA, New Zealand and Singapore. It was a good mix of age group, couples and singles, male and female.

Lukla was the starting point of an overwhelming majority of Base Camp expeditions. Tucked amongst several high peaks, the runway in Lukla must be one of the shortest in the world. A plane flying in from Kathmandu crashed, all its passengers killed ruthlessly just less than a week before our arrival. It was of little consolation that we were flying with that very same airline that now has one of its fleet lying in rumbles beneath the foggy peaks of Lukla. We applauded when the tiny aircraft landed without drama. We walked to Phakding at 2600 metres the same day.

Before long I fell into the routine of trekking. We would sleep at sundown and wake at sunrise. For most of the time I slept like a rock and regardless of how gruelling the trek was in the day, with a good night sleep, like a recharged battery I was all ready to take on the mountains the following morning. Our first acclimatisation day was at Namche Bazaar (3400 metres), one of the largest villages in the Sagarmatha National Park, where we had the first view of Mount Everest. Other than the breathlessness, I felt no effect of the altitude at that stage.

Four Thousand Five Thousand

My thirtieth birthday was spent 4530 metres above sea level at Dingboche. My group members surprised me with a chocolate cake, a lovely Nepalese scarf and an exquisite Prayer Wheel. In addition, I faithfully ate the packet of freeze dried Nasi Goreng – a birthday present from a friend who explained that the Nasi Goreng will taste bad in Melbourne but delicious when I’m in the mountains (she was right). That must have been the best birthday I’ve had.

It was at Luboche, 4900m when I felt the first headaches from the altitude. I woke up from a night of restless sleep and felt my head thumping against the yak wool beanie. I drank as much water as I could tolerate and walked as slowly as I could that day. The headache did subside only to return the same night. This continued for the next 4 days.

Everest Base Camp was situated amongst too many stony ridges at 5300 metres above sea level. After over 7 hours of trekking that day, every additional step was a struggle. I was a few hundred metres away from the base camp and the only thought on my mind was, “I just want this to be over!”

Our team reached Everest Base Camp around 3.30pm on Sunday the 21^st October 2008. There were some shouts of jubilation, but no one was celebrating. There was still a 2 hour 30 minutes trek back to the nearest lodge and it was a race against sundown. By 5.30pm my hand was freezing in spite of ski gloves. I collapsed onto a chair at 6.30pm at Sunrise lodge in Gorak Shep and tried to hide my tears from everyone else.

Happy Holidays

We descended over a thousand metres following the night of Everest Base Camp. It was the first time I had a decent sleep for 5 days. Once again I was recharged and in good spirits. It was time to enjoy the last few days of the trek.

We had a big night of celebration at Namche Bazaar with our porters and guides. Everyone was drunk and merry and we had a great time. Suddenly 3400 metres felt like a walk through the park.

At 1-2000 metres above sea level, the land was lush with farms, plantations and trees. Between 3-4000 metres there were pretty flowers and small bushes. Past 4500 metres hardly anything survives. Over 5000 metres there is but rocks.

In conclusion I felt that the expedition I chose was certainly not overly challenging. We had porters to carry our main packs and while the lodges we stayed in were basic at least we had our dinners cooked for us and we got to sleep in beds each time. There were many who trekked carrying all their belongings and there were those who slept in tents. The only day that broke me was long day of getting to Everest Base Camp, but other than that, I am proud to say that I endured the entire trek with no drugs, no walking sticks, no drama and I drunk 100% au-natural untreated water. I had a fantastic time being miles away from my regular life, living life with minimal possessions and enjoying the marvels of the Himalayas.

Pictures: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=59078&l=e3ca1&id=688552090

Posted by Ching Yin at 11:38 AM JST

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Esto ha sido cuatro días desde devolver de  Cairns. Mi vida regresaba a normal. Trabajar fue muy loco la semana pasado. Afortunado las ventas de la tienda es mejorar.

Siento un poco triste porque el próximo viaje será mucho tiempo más. Creo estoy acostumbrado un vida con mucho viajes, ahora yo se seré alojarse en Melbourne por tres meses, siento un poco extraño.

Posted by Ching Yin at 8:38 PM JST

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Mood:  a-ok

Visiting North Queensland felt like a trip to a different country. It was a very good getaway from the chills of Melbourne winter, and being in the humid tropics often give me a sense of déjà vu and a touch of home sickness.

I spent 2 days on a boat on the outer reefs of the Great Barrier Reef. Boat life was very interesting apart from the many moments when I was sea sick. Most passengers on my boat were young Americans and I spent my days huddling up with several lone travellers. I dived mostly with Sebastian and Stefan from Germany and Matt from Minnesota, USA. Matt was the first passenger I met and I was fairly fond of him. He was a 22 year old lad – I’d imaged boys like him are still inclined to be driven by testosterone rather than intelligence, yet on the boat whilst he was surrounded by pretty young things but he chose to hang around with a rotund old auntie like myself. He did, nevertheless occasionally let loose his real opinion of me, ‘Did you intentionally chose a suit one size too small?’ he asked dryly when he watch me battling the zip of my wetsuit with great amusement. Sebastian was a young German gap year student and he would always emerge from the water with his face and lips purple, but two times more oxygen left in his tank than everyone else. We wondered if he had some magical system in his body to turn off oxygen supply to his face while diving, but we also suspect that he was stealing air from our backup regulator when we’re not watching. Bes from the Netherlands was one of the dive crew and he had tattooed on his right shin the words “cˆ?cˆ??? ??Š”. “It means ‘Love, Father, Mother, Respect’ doesn’t it?” he asked excitedly. I agreed diplomatically – I did not have the heart to tell him that the grammar is completely off the charts and no self-respecting Chinese would ever inscribe the four words in the order in which now permanently adorned his leg.

While I had been long excited about the prospect of diving in this world famous natural wonder, it grieves me deeply to note that the reef appears to be in a fairly poor condition. The influx of thoughtless tourists who are more concerned having a good time and not too bothered about getting a grip on their buoyancy is taking a severe toll on the health of marine life form. I saw this elderly stout American dude struggling to balance himself, and while he did not intentionally crash into the corals I do wish he’ll polish his diving skills before endangering the surroundings. I felt my heart break as I watch this flabby tub of human flesh kick his clumsy flippers into the fragile reef causing a huge piece of coral to fracture, sinking sombrely into the depth of the ocean.

On the 3^rd day in North Queensland I spontaneously hired a car to check out the surrounding regions of Cairns. I visited the lovely Port Douglas, disappointing Mereeba, beautiful Barron falls, cute little Kuranda Village and had dinner at a cosy family restaurant on a remote beach north of the airport before heading back to Melbourne. The day went fairly fine and dandy but I did have a pretty noteworthy episode on my drive out of Cairns in the morning. 30 minutes on the road and I was eager for a lookout point to stretch my legs and rest my eyes. I was driving up this curvy mountain road and saw the entrance to ‘Rex’s Lookout’ and quickly signalled and turned sharply to my left. A colourful minivan was following closely behind my shiny Toyota Camry, shortly after the turn-off I swerved into the only lot left in the small parking bay. I didn’t think the driver of the minivan was too impressed with my impetuous moves but as long as he’s cursing under his breath and not in my face, I was happy to live with the guilt of being a reckless driver.

“That was some fast driving there!” Greg said as he saw me skipping down the grassy knoll of the lookout. I had done more than my fair share of bad driving but this is the first time I have to face the victim of my deed. “You think really fast don’t you,” I think he was being really tactful, “you think and you react straight away – a sign of good driving I’d say!”

“You really mean to say, a sure sign of bad driving, don’t you,” I apologised meekly.

It turned out that Greg was a hang gliding guru; he was there to sweep a young lady off her feet and into the abyss of infinity. Since I was such a ‘good’ driver Greg asked if I’ve ever attempted hang gliding before. I told him I did try earlier this year in Byron Bay but it didn’t happen due to unsuitable wind conditions. Greg said he was from Byron Bay and there were only 4 people who hang glided there – Neil, Ashley, Brian and a 4^th person. I said it was Neil that I’ve met and Greg said they know each other and he’s worked with Neil before. Small world – it’s kind of scary. I impulsively rented a car to hastily stop at a lookout then unexpectedly met someone who actually knew a person from a not-too-distant past.

Life had been rough on me lately and while I am trying hard to appreciate the fact that being alive and healthy is one of the biggest blessing I can asked for right now, getting away from routine was great fun and meeting new people certainly helped widen perspective. The best part of this getaway was the time I spent on the boat when the sea was calm and I stared into the ocean spellbound by the waves thinking of all possibilities in life. The worst part of the getaway was the time I spent on the boat when the sea was rough and I stared into the plastic sheet that feebly separates me from the raging waves, mesmerised by the sea foam at the same time my stomach threatening mutiny and my glorious life flashes by before my eyes.

Posted by Ching Yin at 10:29 PM JST

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Things are slipping out of my hands and I hate it that I have no control over the imminent loss, just as majority of events that were meaningful to me in my life. I reckon the splendour of such an existence is its unpredictability and fragility. I wish for a bigger hand, a stronger grip, I wish that the things that mattered weren’t as slippery as they were.

Posted by Ching Yin at 2:15 PM JST

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Mood:  a-ok

¡El primero fin de semana sin trabajar desde cinco semanas pasada! En realidad, desde regrese de mi vacaciones. De repente, no sé que mi debería hacer con el tiempo.

La ciudad en un fin de semana es muy diferente de durante la semana. Hay más personas en todas partes, todas tiendas abrir más tarde, todas cosas mover más despacio.

Ayer, fui al mercado Victoria. Compre muchas verduras y pescados para comida. En la tarde, con Sheirly mi amiga, fuimos vino saboreando en el sur de Melbourne. También, tuvimos un café con un poco pastel. Estuvo un poco divertirse.

Posted by Ching Yin at 10:43 AM JST

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Mood:  down

Con frecuencia creo que vida es muy difícil. Hoy es uno de esos día.

Estoy muy triste ahora. Mi trabajar es crecimiento estimulante. Siento cansado con mucha frecuencia, se extraño Ben, y me odio para eso.

Cada día pasado, deseo mi suerte posible mejorar. Pero yo se la vida es usualmente imprevisible. La mañana, posible se mejorar, posible se empeorar.

Posted by Ching Yin at 9:20 PM JST

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Mood:  a-ok

El servicio estuvo bien. Estará con optimismo seguir bien por mucho tiempo.

Estuve todo el día en Victoria Garden. Por lo menos yo reserve las boleras para nuestro  acontecimiento la próxima semana. También, compre un poco pan, un par de vela rojas de Ikea para bueno Feng Shui. Estuvo divertirse.

El masaje tuve estuvo bueno, gracias dio. Hubo estaba un poco mal por mucho tiempo.

Posted by Ching Yin at 9:09 PM JST

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Mood:  a-ok

Un día normal, trabajar todo el día, clase de español en la noche.

La mañana, estaré traer mi carro a centro de servicio. Estoy un poco nervioso porque el carro no tiene algún servicio por mucho tiempo – demasiado mucho tiempo.

Cuando esperando para el servicio de mi carro, iré natación, comprando un poco cosas para mi casa, quizás tener un masaje.

Ahora tengo hambre otra vez. No hice mucho hoy pero mi apetito es aumentando.

Posted by Ching Yin at 9:06 PM JST

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