Carcassonne: The arrival

hey mei agian,

so i read your email about lies and living a fake life. well you will love this one.

Day 14 - Get a load of this ;)
wanted to stay for another day at la rochelle but the hostel was fully booked. so i tot great. go to toulouse then. but the chick at the reception said, no u cant, the hostel was recently burnt down. urgh.

so i said fine, "how about tours ?"
she called the place, "sorry fully booked for the day but u can go to blois ?"
i was like i m trying to avoid someone who lives there even though the thought of
making a call, putting up a front to just to get a free night's accommodation ? nah i am not that low.

finally i decided, what the hell, lets go to carcassonne then.

being smart:-
so i thought who the fuck pays for public toilets. i was at the train station. there was these cubicles where u have to slot in 0.30 euros. so i thought. i'll be smart. i will wait for someone to come out and when some old lady did, i held the door open for her and she kindly said "merci" and i went in before the door shut. genius. as i began to pee, the whole cubicle began to clean itself and suddenly i was being splashed all over! fucking hell. so much that. come on who the fuck pays to use the loo !!!

the train ride was interesting. took me 5 hours to get there plus had to change trains twice.


(dark clouds following the train)

being smarter:-
i settled into my seat. there were these 2 chicks sitting on the other side. i noticed they were wearing name tags with blah blah blah jesus christ blah blah blah written on it. after establishing a couple of eye contacts and smiles, they couldnt resist me any longer (hey i cant even resist me) the came to talk to me. i was like great. some one to chat to. they spoke pretty good english.
they were like "hi we are missionaries .. " yeah and all that introduction shit.
so i was being friendly and i just played along. trying to avoid the big Q.
it was all find we talked about france and traveling etc etc. and then came the big Q !
"do you believe in god ?"
i looked at them, "yes. i believe in many gods"
"huh what do u mean ?"
"i believe there are many gods, u know god of thunder, goddess of love, medicine god etc..?
"huh ?"
i looked at them and whispered, "are you a god ?"
they looked at each other and shook their heads. so i said, "look that that guy sitting there looking at us. he could be a god spying on us !"
"i have never heard this before can u explain some more ?"
"well, i believe gods are everywhere, they watch and help us. and they bring balance and harmony to our lives. but sometime they bring us may surprises."
and i went on and on about the ying and yang and then about the goddess of love for instant, she can hit you when you least expect it. i went on to tell them about my lesbian lover who has licked more cunts then they have ever said "amen" and how she sucks me off only to ... in her own words "swallow some holy water to cleanse her soul". and how she is off making some porn film with 50 other chicks in italy and before i could continue to tell them about the dungeon i own in sydney, the train arrived at my terminal.
i got up and say goodbye and left. i didn't even had time to tell them its rude in australia to stare at people with their mouth wide opened.

i got off the train, it rained on me. suddenly my after life dont seem so bright.


(random city shots)

i walked into the old city, i saw the castle walls, i told myself, i had to stay one more night. so i checked in for 2 nights.

xxx. j.

La Rochelle : yacht land

Hey team chatswood (ric, jeff, liz, matt, andrew, basil, mark, murray, karina, mathieu, zahar, catharina, dodie and any new team members

so, you people did it. i knew you people can do it. after all i did almost everything before i left. hahaha. well, i m having a great break for all of you.

Day 13 - Time out
Moon was right. la rochelle is really nice. rich man's town. never seen so many yacht in my life.


(the arrival)


(view to the fortress town)

the fort that surrounds the old town looks stunning. i thought the old town is one of the nicest old town i have seen in this trip. love the big shutter windows everywhere. the tourist crowded around the town center, as usual, and i walked every empty streets, such a good vibe.

anyway decided to take it easy today and try to rest my cough away. it feels as if its getting worse now. see how it goes.


(ok love them shoes. should i get them ?)


(love the shutter windows)

counting to the days....

excitement:
paris : 10
NYC: 15
barcelona: 28
sydney: 650 ???

the past:
left sydney: 22
in europe: 14
cough: 18

the valuable:
lost : 1 item
found: sanity

ok. if anyone do leave any comments, dont forget to leave your name too so i know you are not some crazy ugly stalker.

xxx. j.

Nantes: Not "like a bullshit yea ?" but le corbusier.

Eric,

so, i am crazy but u must me so proud of me. i went out of my way to see an architecture piece and not just any architect's work but Le Corbusier ! Yes. i walked 1 hr 30 minutes looking for the Maison Radieuse. its actually not in nantes but in another suburb called reze. and yes i walked all the way there. which i m glad i did because i saw lots of other interesting things long the way. boy, i am impressed !

Day 12 - casual encounters

so i thought i stay one more day here and i m determined to go look for le corbusier's building. from the map i got it didn't look too far but i didnt realize the map was scaled at 1:1000. fucking hell !

Encounter #1
This woman came up to me and went "blah blah blah blah".
jxe, went "huh ? english ?"
woman "oh" took out a poster showing god and destruction.
"do you believe that god and he brings destruction to the world" (along that lines but broken english)
jxe shook his head
woman, "how u explain that ?"
jxe removed his sunnies, looked into her eyes and responded, "bad karma !" and put his sunnies back on.
woman laughs profusely and responded, "maybe haha!"
jxe walkes away.

along the way i saw some really interesting buildings, warehouses, structures and cranes. one that i was most impressed was the Palais de Justice.

Encounter #2
i was taking pictures, this guy came up to me and went "blah blah blah blah".
jxe, went "huh ? english ?"
he went, " no blah blah blah blah ..."
jxe just noded and noded and smiled and noded ...
more, "blah blah blah" and then we shook hands and we walked away.


(Palais de Justice)


(Maison Radieuse - in sight)

when the Maison Radieuse was in sight, i got very excited because with my lousy sense of direction, i was actually heading the right direction. the booklet said i should call and make a booking for a guide and pay 5 euros. though fuck this shit i'd just turn up and look for the guide. when i arrived, i was really impressed by the building. i was surprised that its a residential apartment and people live there. really run down building. went to the reception but no one was there and everything was written in french. so i thought fuck it. i m here i may as well give myself a tour and go up the elevator.


(Maison Radieuse - ground level)

people were all staring at me and all going blah blah blah. i just ignore them and went to every level. its just literally a corridor leading to the individual units. so i saw nothing.

Encounter #3
she saw me lost and all clueless. "blah blah blah, tourist ?"
jxe, noded, "yes, english ?"
woman, "a little, blah blah blah, come come, blah blah blah"
jxe followed.

anyway, she took me to her pad, unit no 633. she had a little 4 year old kid. could tell she didnt have much, living very modestly. yet she was really proud that she is living in a designer building. to my surprised, she took out a folder filled with information about le corbusier and the building and started explaining to me about the building. the pad is a duplex and give me a tour around the pad. she was explaining the desgn concept of the pad to me, the balcony, the kitchen, the arched doors to the toilets and baths, the colors, the floor materials etc. i could only understand 1/4 of what she said but enough to put the pieces together. she even had a 3D section of her pad. i was so impressed with the spacial planning of the pad. i tot it was abit inappropriate to take any photos, so i took pictures with my mind. its such an experience. love it.


(Maison Radieuse - roof top: kindergarten)


(me and Maison Radieuse and more)

when i left, it rained, so i had my packed lunch under the building.

head back to the city and it rained some more. i ran to a shelter.

Encounter #4
this guy started talking to me in what he later claimed to be japanese.
jxe, "errr english ?"
guy, "oh i love speaking in english, i love expressing myself in english"
jxe, what the fuck ?
anyway he went on about shit and more shit, to world piece and how he just found out he is a jewish and there are jewish out there who dont even know they are jewish.
jxe rolled his eyes.
he asked me what i did today and i said i went to the Maison Radieuse.
guy, "no way. i live there !" he took out his wallet and showed me his address and then went on and on again.
the rained stopped. jxe smiled. we parted.

what a day.

back at the hostel at night, got abit upset that i couldnt book anything for bordeaux tomorrow.

Encounter #5
this korean guy saw me feeling disturb and asked me whats wrong. i told him why and he said, "no problem, go to la rochelle, very nice."
so i said, "really? ok!" and chatted to him and his wife all night.
coincident ? its the moon cake festival tonight and mr korean is called Moon !

i love this city. this is by far the best city i have been. love to live here for a couple of years. if only i could speak french ... and what a day !

xxx. j.

Nantes: it gets better and better

Hey Brooke,

so found me on facebook and we are friends again. haha. hows everything ? like i said i have so much questions to ask but i m sure u will soon write me a long email telling me all about it from japan to now in canada. i bet you had a great time and now is my time. glad u found your way to this post and u are loving it.

Day 11 - second impression
ok. i had to catch a train and a bus to get here. it took me 4 hours to get here. my first impression of this city is em. boring.

additional notes from me journal:
ok i walked into a park after arrival and i saw a couple in their 80s french kissing. boy i was scarred !!!

but as i walked around it grew on me. i dont know what it is but maybe just the vibe. people are quite friendly here. they all give me the friendly smile. but hey, i'd do the same to me.


(streetscape)


(some castle)

a cross between a old and new city works very well. lots of industrial looking buildings. i wondered to this place called, la galarie des machine. the structure looks amazing with the giant mechanical elephant looks so in place.


(la galarie des machine)


(me and la galarie des machine)

after spending half a day exploring, i have decided to stay another day coz i m loving this city. also i feel its more economical to stay more than one day at a place. another great traveling tip from jxe !

got chatty with this french dude who was doing fashion design. he is specializing in designing clothes for kids. i managed to talk him into designing for dogs too coz i said there's a big market in australia. haha. i dont even like dogs but it made me look intelligent. hell i am intelligent. haha.

xxx. j.

Mont Saint Michel: AWESOME

hey basil,

so i took your advise and i made it to mont st michel. glad i did. its really amazing. theres a road heading up there now. so you dont have to check the tides anymore. its great but i think it would have been nicer with the tides and all.

Day - 10: eye + Z
met a japanese chick and an aussie bloke at the bus stop to mont saint michel. clicked straight away. meet ai and trent.



(ok meet ai and trent)


(i m in the lord of the rings set)


(looking up ...)


(from a distance ..)


(we left out mark ... eye t z)


being inside the mont st michel, the street up towards the abbey feels like a scene out of "the lord of the rings" its great. i was ready to draw "my gigantic sword" and hit everyone on the head. haha. being in this place is something one has to experience for themselves. i cant seems to put it onto words. i'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

xxx. j.

additional notes from me journal:
so ai and me was saying we are craving for rice. so for dinner we went to this pizza place. we ordered pizza (of coz) and i randomly ordered salad nova without understanding what it was. it was literally rice with a bit of leaves, corn, green apple and mayo. damn french ! fuck its hard to type with a european keyboard !

Saint-malo: its no bondi

hey mark,

so you are still my good friend. i need more friends like you. u know. some good karma will do me good. anyway, how's size management going ? em. i meant chatswood going ?

Day 9 - house keeping.

my first impression when i saw the beach was eeeuuwww. people actually swim in there ? fuck look at them rashes growing ! hah !

anyway. didnt get to much today. the train ride took almost 6 hours. also i had to get organized. need to do my laundry. finally the smell of clean fresh underwear. mmm. get information on how to get to mont saint michele etc.

good karma:
oh yeah, almost had my second loss today - my diesel sunnies. i left it at the reception whist checking in. the guy came chasing after me ! how kind.

visit the old town. thought nothing much of it. the sunset save the beach though.



(the so called beach. look at the stairs to the beach ! - scary)


(the old town)


(sunset at the beach)


bad karma:
ok i had to share a room with this MEGA HUGE french guy. he is some 400 pounds and he had problem breathing. went i went to bed i wondered why would anyone make coffee at 11.30 pm ? then i tough no maybe some on is vacuuming, after 20 minutes or so i worked out that it was FATS who was snoring. fucking hell. he kept me up all night. no wonder my cough is not healing. i had my ipod on to max volume and i could still hear him. i took 2 sleeping pills and i could still hear him. fuck fuck fuck. he woke up at 7am and left. suddenly thought i went deaf. yes it was that bad.
humph ! not happy.

xxx. j.

Lille: French Gateway

hey gloria and wenmin.

so, how are the girls going ? hope all is well with your studies and painting. keep me in the look ok ?

day 8 - my first loss

so, i had to go through immigration at the train station to get into france. the whole security check and x-ray scan of the bags. which is all fine. i almost forgot my rainbow umbrella. the security guard came after me to give it back to me. got up the train, 30 minutes to lille. was so excited to get into france BUT i left the umbrella on the train !!!! fucking hell. just dont tell susanne ok ! susanne u r not reading this are you ?


(random shots of ME !)


(lille streetscape)

Ok i am finaly in france and i am loving it. the thoughts and the feeling compliments.

Loving it:
1. the smell of fresh bread from bakeries
2. sitting at a cafe by the streets, having a croissant and cappuccino, sketching and watching beautiful people walking by
3. no buses with a groups of people wearing the same hat with a guide holding a banner or some sort.



(never seen before food - edible ?)


(window art)

4. no insipid tourist. i am a tourist but i have taste. i avoided the crowd and went exploring. i found a street where artist hangs their painting out on the windows. the whole street seems like a out door gallery and the best part ... its free !


(ok whats with europe?)

ok can somebody tell me if H&M the equivalent to giodarno in hong kong ? they are everywhere in europe. cheap and nasty ?

talking about cheap and nasty ? they've got bata here ? i'd always thought that bata is a malaysian brand. its so cheap and nasty we literally call it Buy And Throw Away. haha. i guess its a french thing too.



(Pl. de la Republique)



(my name is ...)

really love the square. could just sit here for hours. its for everyone, people come together to play drums, skate board, practice street performances, hang out, and ... art. some one was pasting posters of people holding a piece of paper saying "my name is ... " so cool. love it.


hating it:
1. my loss - the rainbow umbralla.

xxx. j.