it's thaipusam

this was somewhat of an interesting day. walking to the subway this morning I couldn't help but notice a parade of Indians, their bodies pierced with hooks and rods either supporting giant metal shrines around them or pulling carted shrines attached with hooks to their backs- and then the occasional one with about 30 limes attached to his back with hooks like some twisted citrus christmas tree. each surrounded by an entourage chanting and giving support hoping the human pincushions would materialize their enthusiasm by dancing and spinning in circles while continuing down the parade route. Though this seems like a strange seen, i was unphased, realizing it's just the Thaipusam festival and the parade route just happens to pass just down the street from my place. There is bound to be some significant religious reasoning for this holiday but the details have been lost on me since the first time i ever saw it three years ago (that's what wikipedia is for anyway). The only reason I was shocked today was that one year had passed so quickly since the last one and I didn't realize the festival was today at all.

After work I headed down to the festival and met a few friends, watched some of the parade and had dinner in little india. Since my camera is broken and I don't have a new one yet I'm posting some images from last year and also from 3 years ago when I first saw the festival.

back in the SGP

I made it back safely to Singapore today after the domestic Indonesian flight yesterday and ferry ride into Singapore this morning. The good news is I found out my camera still works and it was just the LCD screen that has cracked. I still need to sort through them all and post them.
The field across the street from the hotel at sunset in Ubud. Bali is really nice!


The product: it doesn't look like much... and it's not but there a a few nice ones. I think I did much better than I thought I would for not having done anything really for just over a year. It took a couple days to get the feel for the glass again but by the end of the trip I felt really good and made some nice cups.

update II

I broke my camera last Sunday and the LCD screen doesn't work. I think it still takes pictures though. I'll find out later once I get back home.

The last few days have been fun. Went on a bike ride down from the top of the volcano here on the island then the next day we went on a white water rafting ride.. which was pretty fun too- they were only class 2 rapids but it was fun and the water felt nice and cool.

The trips starting to wrap up and they're are only a few days left- my flight's on Monday.

crickets everywhere

Bali is still good and the glass blowing is still fun. Mostly.. Last night it seemed like there was a plague of crickets coming through the shop all night which made working with hot glass interesting. It always felt like they were hopping on my head and back while I was working making it hard to concentrate. Sometimes they'd hop onto the hot glass and cook themselves.

Other interesting things moving around the shop are wasps, frogs, and of course geckos all over the walls.

Bali Upate

Bali is nice. We've started working in the studio a few days ago and have had 3 nights working so far. It's going pretty well. Bali is really nice. We're staying in the town of Ubud which is pretty small and quite.

There is a microbrewery on the island which pretty good beers. I still need to find where it's located check out the brewery.

Today we're taking a break from glass and going to a sailing boat trip off the island.

Transit to Bali

Last Sunday I started the trip to Bali and arrived on Monday (New Years Eve). Because the direct flights form Singapore were either full or very expensive at the last minute I decided to take a ferry across to Batam Indonesia and get on a domestic flight to Bali. There was no direct flight so I stopped over in Jakarta. I took Lion Air and despite all the scarry stories about Indonesian Airlines the trip seemed pretty normal. From what I could see I was the only white person on either of the flights to Jakarta and then on to Bali. The airports were confusing but easy enough to find my way though.

I got into Ubub, Bali after ~1 hour car ride on New Years eve. it was alredy late and my friends from San Diego weren't arriving until the next day so I went out and had dinner and drinks for New Years. The town was really quite. Kind of an anticlimatic and relaxed way to end this year. It was pouring rain as well so I got completely soaked walking back to my room.

Yesterday I met up with the others from San Diego and the guy running the glass studio we'll be renting for the next two weeks. We're going to be working from 4 to 10pm which is really good since it will be a little cooler and it will also let us see the island by day. We'll start at the studio today.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year! this year has really flown by and now it's already 2008! I've been lucky enough survive this year and travel around a lot and get settled down in Singapore. Hopefully this coming year will be even better!