wee wang wang

Soaking up the silence. Ambience was so tranquil. The silence echos and resonates deep inside my eardrums. Distraction was nowhere to be found. It felt like the world had paused just for me. Only the strong heartbeat reminds me I'm still alive.

-

On an unrelated incident which I had totally forgotten to post about, if you were to recall, my previous dinner trip to the palatial house of Fuoad wasn't a pleasant one in terms of food quality. Eventhough this might be relative but I'm fucking sure I've got the majority behind me on this. Much to my utter horror, I was baffled yet again when the cook managed to come out with the same exact concoction that makes my gag reflex to kick in. Truth to be told, I was holding that back forcefully. My throat felt like it was pelted and that made my eyes watery. I had even tried to mitigate the awful load by politely refusing those horrible dishes that the cook, for some reason, persistently wanted to pile on my plate. And by that, I guess I was singled out in the cook's mind like a stump on a field.

Soused

It is hidden and it is intended so. The more it is written, the less you know because a different picture is painted to taint your thoughts in such a way the author intended so.

-

I was about to wallow in despair. But I saw something and it made me go fuzzy and I am feeling ambivalent at the moment. It's funny and uncanny how this could transcend over to me. Often seen to be apathetic to the others but almost always, pensive is entrenched in me. I ponder the time that I can elude myself from this. This I call, solitude.

uncertainty and his sedentariness

He sat there looking at how life passes him by
anonymous children were chasing each other
and pause they did when the other child couldn't catch up
the children's anticipation of their parent's approval
and their excitement in rushing for their Tom & Jerry
brought much to his amusement and nostalgic moments

Petering out he felt at times
when he's lost like he's lost in the woods
his grip is slowly slipping
but he stood still and observes meticulously
for how he could save them
persistence he thought could be the key

His seek for equilibrium seems futile
thus he reasons this out meekly
with superficial answers he contends with
at least for the moment he thought
where does this malaise comes from
it's unknown and shall continually be sought

He figures that subconsciously he was being tenacious
he cannot see it succinctly though
whether it is a boon or a plight
at the end of the day
it's the consequences that counts

Like the hordes of others
he decides to let the days roll by
to keep walking and not knowing
because he knew doubts grow when he is not walking

Bahrain National Day, a kooky review

I learnt that if extensive walking is to take place, wear socks that at least covers the ankles.

I set foot my journey to Adliya with getting food as my objective. It was quite chilling then as the wind refuses to stop and bow down even after numerous curses thrown to it. It didn't help also that it has just rained and I wore only a Tshirt as top. Fortunately, after having my lunch, I didn't feel the cold anymore and the breeze became pleasant in fact. Throughout my journey on foot, I came to realise several distinct points yet they didn't come across my mind before. First of all, strangely but true, there aren't many pedestrians around here. Secondly, I don't quite understand why cars and busses that drives pass a pedestrian, which I'm refering to myself at the moment, will need to honk and watch in my direction in amazement. Yeah, I know I'm a Chinese and I'm different. But to me, I'm different because you all are the same. Anyway I finally saw 3 pedestrians at Bani Othman Avenue. They were caucassians and what seem to got me flabbergasted was that they were wearing thick clothes complete with windbreakers. Man, what were they thinking? *shrugs*



The junction of between Bani Othman Avenue and Al Fatih Highway was a mayhem due to the closure of the Al Fatih highway. It was around 3:40pm and the parade has not started yet.







The horses couldn't hold it any longer I think and they happily took a dump whenever they get to pause from the short progress of parade walk. I took these pics using my phone. And there was this Indian who saw me doing that commented about, I presume the parade, "very nice, nice nice". Beside the horses, there are police in bikes, a few groups of childrens and scouts randomly shouting (Okay, they are chanting some arabic phrases which I do not comprehend) and some of those fancy trucks. The whole parade was led by a group of teenagers that were drumming all along. The tune was rather simple. "Tung Duung Tak Dung Tak". Just repeat that until you feel silly doing so. I continue my walk along the Al Fatih and weave my way through the hordes of citizens, mainly local women in abaya. After a while, I realised that I was up the creek without a paddle. In estimation, I guess I will need to walk a 5 km distance to get back. Hence, I might as well walk until the Diplomatic area which is where our local office are, to get a ride back. My colleagues and I went back at around 6:30 pm and the fireworks is still commencing near the bridge connecting to Muharraq. The crowd started to disperse after that I suppose. The aftermath wasn't a pretty one as the traffic can be described as madness. The bottleneck culprit was at the junction of the bridges heading towards Muharraq.

A Sheikhy Mission

I accompanied an officer to see a Sheikh today. Our task is to get his fingerprints and photo. His position as explained to me by the officer, is a so called FBI Head. I was wondering why there are so many guards in there and forwarded my query to the officer. I was then told that it was because that area is akin to the headquarters of the guards. No wonder, even the tealady arabic-coffee-man wears a uniform. We were waiting for quite some time and were served with this arabic coffee I believe. I learnt that to ask for a refill, you just extend your arm to the coffeeman. To convey "I've had enough, please take my cup", just shake the cup gently in a rocking motion and hand it over.

The Sheikh finally came and before that, one of his subordinates came barging in while exclaiming "Sheikh, Sheikh, Sheikh !" in a hurried, concerned and nervous motion. He opened the door and stood in a very pole straight posture. Ahah! I see. It was the cue. Such tension for them eih? I can't accept it though that the local men greet each other by hugs and kisses on the nose. Ewwww. Downright disgusting! isn't it? On second thoughts, it was the first time I witnessed such occurrence. Could it be only applicable to greet someone with super ranks or something? *Shrugs*

Just another small jot of an amusing sight. Before the Sheikh placed his finger on the fingerprint scanner, he said a prayer or something. I can vaguely hear him saying "Bismillah ..." before attempting to put his finger on it. Is that necessary? *Shrugs again*

What has been achieved

I was busy rushing to prepare two systems along with a developer that is going to be handed over to the government today. I took a glimpse at the TV and the Iranian President was giving a speech. A quote of his struck me and left me pondering for a while.

What has been achieved is not an accident.

The shack beside the Newspaper factory

There seems to be a pattern over our lunch habit now, specifically the venue for lunch really. We'll walk over from the government building to a nearby dingy cold store cum cafeteria which is known as 'Al Ayam'. I believe it translates literally to "The Day". There, they have this so called menu of the day which actually comprises of either fish/chicken briyani, fried fish with dhal and rice, curry chicken with rice and I guess that's about it. Price for a plate is 500 Fils and the amount is exhorbitant for the first time I saw it. Soon, I have had adapted to the volume.

Being a patron there on a daily basis, I begin to notice the very few same faces of the other customers. Their cliques are usually the same and also their choices of food and tables. Occasionally, there will be some sort of Mafia type meeting at one of the tables. And one of the notorious members will persistently try to sell Rolex and perfumes to you using a sales pitch that only consist of one word. "Gift? Gift! Gift?"

Besides the obvious convenience and economical factor, the food is actually quite good which also contributes to what that make us regulars. Currently, I would rate their briyani being the best so far even beating few other major popular restaurants in Manama.

Besides the Mazda 323, I've been driving a Peugeot 206 here. It's somehow strange that all cars here do not have alarm or remote controls to unlock and lock the car. And as for this Peugeot, another downside is that it doesn't have central locking which is a nuisance because I need to manually lock and unlock each and every doors for the passengers. However, I have had fun with this car. I like the handling and the ease of driving at 5-6k RPM especially when I turn on the 'S' button for sports mode and tweaking with the radio control piece located just behind the steering wheel. Still a lot way back from a turbo's performance but it's pretty fulfilling for here considering the amount of traffic lights in this city.