Alvin's spiel
a Singapore Mac user & non-practicising biologist on life in Beijing, current affairs, dogs, nature and history. and the answer to life, the universe and everything is still 42!
Sunday, July 30, 2006
Sunday, July 23, 2006
wandering in a mosque in China
more of other photos here.
entering the mosque we were greeted by one of the uncle caretakers. when told that we are from Singapore, he started talking to us in pidgin Malay. I countered with my own half-past six Malay as well. He had received many Muslim tour groups from Singapore, Malaysia and Indonesia. It was again quite surreal, speaking Malay inside an eighth century AD mosque in the historical heart of China.
Tuesday, July 18, 2006
hairdo & pubbing
Saturday, July 15, 2006
road sightings
spotted on Beijing's road. a guy riding on an electric bicycle with his legs crossed. very ya-ya! hope he does not crash and burn! but he was quite stable and serene. I was too stunned to snap a pic. anyway, he was zipping away too fast...
Monday, July 10, 2006
horses and grassland
in the evening, we had a camp fire and the extended herdsmen family took turns to sing, dance and play the horse-head fiddle for us. they are a shy people and seemed slightly embarrassed by our incessant questions. but they were very hepful towards Robina and helped her to choose a very obedient horse. our guide told us that the herdsmen would become more relaxed after they drink or if they were with friends and family.
photos are posted here!
RTU from Mongolia
just reached home from mongolia (inner not outer). after one night of no showers and using the latrine (we actually prefer a clump of bushes in the grassland), a hot shower and flush toilet seemed like an luxury.
Robina enjoyed the riding a lot especially after the herdsmen gave her a really responsive horse. she rounded off two days of riding with an assisted gallop. my horse was raring to go so that I had to fight him all the way, reining back. my left arm was trembling when I got off the horse.
the weather was wonky on the first evening pn the grassland with gusty winds and slight drizzles. it rained heavily at night, but we were sound asleep in the yurt.
we wandered around gawking at the horses, cows, sheep and dogs like a bunch of city slickers that we are. I observed a herdsmen uncle slaughter a sheep, together with a bunch of Danes in our group. mongolian-style butchering was quite different from muslim way of slitting the animal's throat (more graphic pics later).
Robina helped the mongolian lady shear and "plucked" a sheep. she also held a baby billy goat (cute little bugger!). we befriended the local dogs, a bunch of push overs that we bought over with food offerings.
Friday, July 07, 2006
mongolia beckons
heading to Inner Mongolia in a few hours, after 2 yrs in China!
hope to see wide vistas, clear blue sky and green grassland steppes. will be staying in herdsman yurts. so no showers and proper toilets. hey, as NS boys know the whole grassland is yr toilet!
looking forward to milk tea, mare's milk liquor and roast mutton etc
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