Chinese Experiences - Thots on London
Chinese Experiences, is quite a new Chinese restaurant located along Shaftesbury Avenue, next to the Beijing Tong Ren Tang. I heard it was a Malaysian owner or chef, and that the food was very good. And indeed the food was quite good. The rice came in nice little bamboo containers, the vegetarian dish was not too nicely tasted with crunch water chesnuts and an assortment of vegetable, the plum duck was quite well made in a somewhat briased fashion but dipped in a plum sauce which was neither too sweet or sour, and there was the Xiao Long Bao which were also very well made (although I think that the Hu Cui (Ngee Ann City - Singapore), or Royal China (London), maybe slightly better, but just slightly (one of the problems was that the skin tended to break so very easily, and the soup would leak out. Maybe the skin is too weak when hot, and yet when its colder, its hardens).
nonetheless, quite a nice place.
but despite the food, the highlight was the evening, was really the wonderful evening with GM, and we talked on and on and on about so many things. haha... from topics in Geography, to the changes in Geography syllabus, to the issues of scholars and the attitudes towards them, to the politics of Singapore students organisations, to the topic of mutual acquitances and frens, to the relevance of geography and singapore, our own current visions, and also about openings in the discipline itself. It was such a wonderful thing talking to him, such a wonderful thing. In a way, it was like talking to WJ not too long ago. sigh.. if only there was time... sigh...
maybe this is something that i don't get to do in Singapore... sitting with frens and talking, talking, talking. I don't know why, but its quite rare to do that in Singapore, not sure why. Looking at GM's chair at Starbucks yesterday, or with WJ at IOE nearly a month ago, it was sometimes, like what they call 'like-minded people'. Largely liberal (not left), generally quite practical, generally not yet disillusioned, and people who believe that a future with some differences can be a better one. Maybe that's what led us along this path, but at times, it is also the fixidity of this path, which makes us question the approaches that we should undertake to make good our visions. It has been great fun, all of these things, and all the wonderful people. I guess, that's certainly something that I will miss from London. While I have never been in London beyond the 1st week of June, it will not be long before I will return. Sometimes, people ask if I am excited about it, or how do I feel. I guess, mixed is a good word, but I guess if there is anything I tend to be good at, its generally moving on with what and where life takes me. I am excited by the challenges ahead, although I do and will miss the years spent here. But a new path, opens new possibilities, just like coming to LSE while closing certain doors, opened so many many others. Meeting great frens from Singapore and Internationally, coming to terms with a discipline which was so different from which I was before, and eventually a sense of recognition for what I have achieved over the years when Andy and Sharad suggested the PhD. One of my greatest fears when I first came to the LSE, was an inability to cope with the work, to not really learn anything, and to have taken too huge a leap into the unknown; but nearly four years on, and especially in the MSc Cities: Space and Society and my multiple trips around, I do realize that I have learnt a great deal, have widen my perspective on the world, and have become a quite different person. Looking back, I do think that this 4 years were well spent, and were extremely fruitful. Doubts and problems have arised from time to time, but destiny and much luck, has brought me through, coming out stronger and wiser. Perhaps, and I do hope it will be, that 6 years from now, I will be able to say a similar thing about the next big leap into the unknown, and to have overcame my fears and uncertainties, for which, I might then make the subsequent big leap. Hopefully.
nonetheless, quite a nice place.
but despite the food, the highlight was the evening, was really the wonderful evening with GM, and we talked on and on and on about so many things. haha... from topics in Geography, to the changes in Geography syllabus, to the issues of scholars and the attitudes towards them, to the politics of Singapore students organisations, to the topic of mutual acquitances and frens, to the relevance of geography and singapore, our own current visions, and also about openings in the discipline itself. It was such a wonderful thing talking to him, such a wonderful thing. In a way, it was like talking to WJ not too long ago. sigh.. if only there was time... sigh...
maybe this is something that i don't get to do in Singapore... sitting with frens and talking, talking, talking. I don't know why, but its quite rare to do that in Singapore, not sure why. Looking at GM's chair at Starbucks yesterday, or with WJ at IOE nearly a month ago, it was sometimes, like what they call 'like-minded people'. Largely liberal (not left), generally quite practical, generally not yet disillusioned, and people who believe that a future with some differences can be a better one. Maybe that's what led us along this path, but at times, it is also the fixidity of this path, which makes us question the approaches that we should undertake to make good our visions. It has been great fun, all of these things, and all the wonderful people. I guess, that's certainly something that I will miss from London. While I have never been in London beyond the 1st week of June, it will not be long before I will return. Sometimes, people ask if I am excited about it, or how do I feel. I guess, mixed is a good word, but I guess if there is anything I tend to be good at, its generally moving on with what and where life takes me. I am excited by the challenges ahead, although I do and will miss the years spent here. But a new path, opens new possibilities, just like coming to LSE while closing certain doors, opened so many many others. Meeting great frens from Singapore and Internationally, coming to terms with a discipline which was so different from which I was before, and eventually a sense of recognition for what I have achieved over the years when Andy and Sharad suggested the PhD. One of my greatest fears when I first came to the LSE, was an inability to cope with the work, to not really learn anything, and to have taken too huge a leap into the unknown; but nearly four years on, and especially in the MSc Cities: Space and Society and my multiple trips around, I do realize that I have learnt a great deal, have widen my perspective on the world, and have become a quite different person. Looking back, I do think that this 4 years were well spent, and were extremely fruitful. Doubts and problems have arised from time to time, but destiny and much luck, has brought me through, coming out stronger and wiser. Perhaps, and I do hope it will be, that 6 years from now, I will be able to say a similar thing about the next big leap into the unknown, and to have overcame my fears and uncertainties, for which, I might then make the subsequent big leap. Hopefully.
posted by city_walker at 6/02/2005 09:11:00 pm
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