click! click! bang! bang!

Today a friend of mine asked to see a picture of mine from Paris, years ago. I suddenly remembered that the picture was online, along with most of my travel pictures, on this blog.

As I flip through it now, I remembered all the wonderful memories and I wondered why I stopped updating. I have not stopped traveling, and I have not stopped snapping away.

It's been almost three years. I'm no longer a student. Now I'm a full-fledged lawyer. Now adult life has caught up with me.

Who said adults can't have livejournals?

Updates to come. First up, Argentina!

The city of Amritsar is the most holy city of Sikhism, it is home to the Harmandir Sahib, or Golden Temple. Unfortunately no photos were allowed inside, however I can tell you that the feeling I got from the place was very positive. We felt completely welcomed, everyone was extremely friendly and eager to communicate with us about their faith. This contrast strongly with the distinct feeling you sometimes get at mosques that you are not welcome...

It's not all sunshine of course, damage to the temple caused during Operation Blue Star lead to the assassination of Indira Gandhi by her Sikh bodyguards... so to summarize... Sikhs, great people, don't fuck with them.

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Jaipur was a very different place than Delhi. Less dirt, less grit, more sun. Though the architectural style is still heavily influenced by the Mughal style, one can perceive the distinct influence of the local princes (maharajas). They still own most of these princely properties, having cooperated rather than fought the dominant forces that ran India during the ages.

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The Taj Mahal was built by Shah Jahan to mourn the death of his beloved wife, Mumtaz Mahal. In the man's own words:

Should guilty seek asylum here,
Like one pardoned, he becomes free from sin.
Should a sinner make his way to this mansion,
All his past sins are to be washed away.
The sight of this mansion creates sorrowing sighs;
And the sun and the moon shed tears from their eyes.
In this world this edifice has been made;
To display thereby the creator's glory.

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Living in China as I do, and traveling the world like I have, I feel like I have seen a lot. But I have never seen the likes of Delhi in a major city of millions. The chaos of it all, is at once totally shocking and also photographically brilliant. Unfortunately I am unable to fully bring the experience to you through the lens, as the smell of the whole thing is really an integral part. Never have I felt so many cows, monkeys, dogs, beggars, autorickshaws, and everything else just simply assault every sense at the same time. Yet even with the constant rain and through this chaos, there was something very unique and beautiful about this place; gateway to India.

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there's a chinese saying about guilin: '桂林山水甲天下'. the approximate meaning of this saying is that one can see everything under the heavens in guilin's mountains and waters. this is attributable to the diverse geographic landscape of the surrounding limestone hills, which often resemble various animals or other scenery, especially when reflected in the li river.

truly, these hills live up to the reputation

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Here's an entry that's late to the show, I completely forgot that I haven't posted pictures from my winter vacation to Vancouver. I know, I know, who goes to Canada on winter break, right? But just look at the beautiful snow! Actually it doesn't really snow much in van, but when I was there there were record storms. Just my luck?

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more focus on the details, less on the major landmarks (compared to 05 album)

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Suzhou is often known as the 'Venice of the east' (along with Amsterdam, 'Venice of the north') for it's charming cannels and picture perfect river scenes. Unlike Venice proper, the city is actually quiet the major urban center just to the east of Shanghai. I think the most remarkable thing about this city is the diversity of it's views, however, for the sake of my camera I have kept it mostly in keeping with what the post card Suzhou would look like ;)

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