Saigon

dirty, but not dangerous,
the city breathes dust with
soups of smoke and talk and smiles
steeping on the sidewalk
unnoticed by the busy foreigners
bustling in bunches
towards somewhere
or else nowhere
blinkers in hand.
we all have the same map now.
pulsing with life,
Saigon dreams,
but does not sleep;
old sighs coloured by fresh fancies
- or is it the other way around? -
infect and inspire the
creaky criss-cross alleys
brimming with light
and dark
and light.
shiny marble built upon crumbling brick,
Saigon's casual neglect
deigned not to segregate
the toffs from the toughs;
maestros from merchants
the bankers from builders
nor lawyers from sawyers
all share the city's sweet
swooning, sighing heart.
on any streetcorner, cracked plastic stools
perched barely above the warm concrete
straddle perhaps a red carpet -
idiosyncratic, but not unwelcome;
immaculate suits clothe
immaculate girls who
haggle over prices of phở  -
the vendor flashes them
a well-trained smile
as he heaps ladels of glistening soup
into the crockery.
they always leave a tip, of course.
the poor abound,
yet poverty does not;
a universal truth amongst all
seems to be shared, unsaid, that
charity is something to be given
- not received.
this morning, I thought of England,
and wondered at what 
offense She had committed to be
shunned by Solar for so long.
But the sun has not forgotten sweet Saigon,
and the city thrives, 
blooming in the glow,
expanding in the heat,
with white light,
and a heat also from within,
and always, always with a smile.

buzz buzz

hey hey hey

i've been super mega hyper ultra wopper busy, and as such, dropped off the map a bit. and i even actually got worried messages from couple of people - aww, shucks guys! i've not had enough time to get up to no good here, so all worries are unfounded for now.

where to begin? izz and i went to yulin lychee and dog meat festival to lead the revolution and save some dogs from dire dissection and a destiny for the dinner dish. alas:

1 - we were way, way too late

2 - it took us 6 hours to get there thanks to some spectacular misadventure

3 - we were actually supposed to be meeting up in Guangzhou (about 381km off target).

i of course found this hilarious... i'm sure izz was doing everything in her power not to hit me for spending the whole weekend laughing.

i could recount the entire heroic journey in full here, but i think it's much more fun to just drop in some trivia of the adventure so far.

did you know? #1

(south) chinese people are addicted to their phones. i mean, i know basically everyone is a little bit dependent on checking their screens, but these guys are always plugged in. driving a motorbike? you can use a phone too! changing your babies nappy? selfie time! traffic collision? paparazzi time! my personal favourite is when you see a whole family squashed onto a motorbike, and the husband who's driving, the mama who's holding the kids, and both their kids are all on their phones each - 10/10

******* it's photo time! ********

real life army tanks,  2k17!

did you know?  episode 2

(south) chinese people don't use earphones. ever. everything is always on loudspeaker, always at maximum volume -  nowhere is sacred; nowhere is silent. old men are the worst for this - day 1 seeing citizens of 80+ using smartphones was cute as a novelty on day 1, but they are usually watching really bad action movies or chinese soap operas (=shouting and screaming matches that don't end). this is tolerable if you're in a good mood, but when we were on the train back from guilin some degenerate decided to watch an action movie - with explosions and everything - at full volume at 3am when most people were trying to sleep. i hope his next birthday is a monday.

so much more has happened, but it'll have to wait until next time.

this week i'm flying to hanoi, viet nam. i'm super ultra stoked for all the real viet food i'm gonna eat, but izz insists that we can't just spend five days eating and we'll actually have to sightsee. ohhhh, how she underestimates me..........

jk - can't wait for the cultural overload. there's so much of asia to see and so little time to see it!

thanks for everyone who's sending me messages; sorry to everyone i haven't replied to yet.

stay shiny!

j xo

P.S. china is gonna be shutting down vpn's forever, which means i won't be able to communicate apart from whatsapp or email. i won't even be able to blog here. yay. i'm sure i'll find a way around it, but if i do actually disappear, it's just the great firewall of china

woof woof

hey hey hey

izzy and i are heading off to yulin dog-meat festival to rescue some dogsgies in distress. hopefully we can save rex and fido before they get the chop!

so much has happened but i never have time to post anything. i'm happy and getting fit and learning lots about the world and myself.

wish us luck!

j xo

oops

contact lens broke. got an eye infection. nearly lost sight in my eye permanently.

spent the last two weeks lying down in the dark listening to music and audiobooks.

nearly went insane with cabin fever.

i now super mega hyper ultra respect my eyes.

they're nearly fully healed (huzzah)

oh, and it's dragon boat festival here. i don't know what that means and i'm crazy behind on my work, so i guess i'll tell you about it next year when i get to take part.

so uhh, apart from mind-numbing boredom, inexorable insanity due to isolation and having to walk around like a pirate for the past few days, i'd say nothing much has happened.

it's sports day soon though, so hopefully i'll return victorious and not make a complete fool of myself.

hopefully.

anyway, three cheers for not going blind.

protect your eyes

they're super cool

stay fresh,

J xo