Be like water

“Empty your mind, be formless. Shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.” – Bruce Lee

I can’t help but wonder if this quote was an echo of  the influence from his training in 詠春 (Wing Chun) (1) or from 老子 (Lao Tze)’s 道德经 (Dao De Jing) (2), or maybe both.

New Yorkers…

Fans of musicals…. take a look at this.

It has been confirmed… New York is a city where anything can happen! Brought to you by Improv Everywhere. (plus other interesting and insane Improvs also found on youtube.)

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On a different note, Yoga fans in New York, go visit Earth Yoga NYC.

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self inflicted torture- perils of contact lenses

Regardless of what anyone says, deliberately stuffing a piece of film onto the eyeballs is just not natural.

Yet I also cannot refute the fact that contact lenses do provide a lot more advantages over wearing a good ol’ pair of comfy glasses.

mini maple

ありがとうございます Satoe-san! I love the card! It is now sitting on my desk at work.

Maple leaves are my favourite!

a little bit of weird…

This morning while waiting for the bus to the train station, a little old lady came along and sat next to me.

fishy dinners

One of the things I missed most from my year in Newcastle was fish for dinner….

I had salmon at least once a week… in this particular photo, pan fried with herbs on top of a bed of salad and a generous squish of lemon.

秋意濃

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秋意濃
離人心上秋意濃
一杯酒
情緒萬種
離別多
葉落的季節離別多
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舞秋風
漫天回憶舞秋風
嘆一聲
黯然沉默
不能說
惹淚的話都不能說
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-’秋意濃’

reindeer and elk

“There is no sincerer love than the love of food.” – George Bernard Shaw

Nothing gold can stay

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Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

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-Robert Frost

千里共婵娟

明月几时有，把酒问清天，不知天上宫阙，今夕是何年？

我欲乘风归去，又恐琼楼玉宇，高处不胜寒。起舞弄清影，何似在人间。

转朱阁，低绮户，照无眠，不应有恨何事长向别时圆？

人有悲欢离合，月有阴晴圆缺，此事古难全，但愿人长久，千里共婵娟。

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Happy Mid Autumn Festival!

the impermanence of all things

祇園精舎の鐘の聲、
諸行無常の響あり。
娑羅雙樹の花の色、
盛者必衰のことわりをあらはす。

- opening lines of the Heike monogatari

a fantastic Sunday out

The weather was brilliant yesterday and lasted the entire time I was out at Regents Park for my Sunday weapons class till coming back to Borehamwood after meeting up with some good friends.

the original gastropub

Last night, I met up with a good friend from our Masters who’s in London for a bit of a holiday.

When in Britain, do as the Brits do…. so we went to a pub.

Our life in this world…

世の中は
何にたとへん
山彦の
こたふる聲の
空しきがごと

-良寛

getting lost might not always be a bad thing

Went out early-ish today  for a bit of a walkabout, weapons class (jodo) and some  shopping .

spring (and summer) has left the building

Nothing really symbolises the coming of autumn better than the chill in the air, red gold leaves on the pavement and…

good old animes

Been back from Malaysia for a week now and finally gotten over my jetlagged state of airheadedness…

Apart from stumbling through work/life in general these past few days and trying not to kill myself  (or someone else for that matter…) during Iaido class, I’ve been watching Yuyu Hakusho.

back in London

After a 3 week holiday back home in SEA, the days at work seem sooooooo looooooooooooooong. Being rather jetlagged doesn’t help any.

Will be posting photos of food travels in Malaysia and Phuket here soon.

I need sleep.

back in m’sia, part 2

These past 3 weeks were filled with flights, cars and not a lot of walking. That plus a huge amount of food = clothes feeling quite a bit tighter.

back in m’sia, part 1

Finally, 3 years (almost to the day!) since leaving Malaysia, I’m back in Kuala Lumpur (with all it’s humity, heat, haze and food!)

I’ll be leaving for Kota Kinabalu (Sabah, or Borneo for those wondering) in 2-3 hours time, leaving me a bit of time to do some blogging when I really should be sleeping since it’s 6am in the morning.

I’ve managed to borrow my brother’s DSLR (cannon d1000) for these 3 weeks in SEA, and am anticipating loads and loads of photo ops.

Anyway, back to foodie photos…

Unfortunately, I don’t have the photos of bak kut teh with me since that was yesternight and I was still a bit out of it and forgot my camera.

Tonight, however, armed with a dslr, I went to dinner at Old  Town cafe (based on the famous brand of Ipoh coffee, Old Town white coffee) well prepared.

Nasi lemak!!! (rice cooking in coconut oil, served with crunchy anchovies, peanuts, a spicy paste, cucumber and rice crisps… fried chicken may or may not be included)

and nasi pulut with belacan! A spicy sticky rice dish that was rather yummy, washed down with a nice cold cup of Ipoh hazelnut old town white coffee (not featured in these photos… )

An excellent start to a foodie trip back!