Last Poem of 2022

This morning, I was jogging on the wet road around the neighborhood. The rains had stopped and the air was fresh but cold. I felt sad and lonely as they was no one on the street and unlike yesteryears, I wasn’t invited to any New Year’s Eve party. Neither did I want to throw one at my place.

1 路濕何有街上人 The road is wet and how could there be pedestrians?
2 清風獨步伴孤魂 Only the freshness of the wind strolls along with the lonely soul.
3 昨日榮華門客甚 With yesterday’s splendor and glory hangers-on aplenty,
4 權別無親今時辰 But now to power bade goodbye, nary a one an intimate at this hour.

2 清風 is short for 兩袖清風 – an upright and incorruptible official.

3 門客 are hangers-on for the rich and powerful where they were employed to give advice etc. for some personal gain. Even Confucius tried his hand but was unsuccessful most probably he lived in the wrong age when war and strife is rampant.

Saturday, December 31, 2022

The One and Only

Forcing myself to create a new poem before the year ends…

1 夕霞幾度胭脂紅 How many shades of red rouge are there in a sunset cloud?
2 羅帳殷勤侍春風 Silk curtains trying their best to serve the spring wind.
3 無情五更應鼓醒 Heartless is waking up in answering the call of the Fifth Hour drum,
4 上陽莫再長生逢 No longer would the Palace of the Supreme Sun meet the Hall of Eternal Life.

1 This line can also be interpreted as a statement – “the many shades of red rouge…” 霞 means “rose tinted clouds”.

2 At this point, the context of the poem is unclear until the last line.

3 A drum tower was used to announce the time in the night. A Chinese hour consists of two hours. The fifth hour is from 3 – 5am.

4 When An Lu Shan rebelled, Emperor Hsuan Tsung fled to Szechuan and Yang Guifei was killed before the army would proceed any further. With her gone, he soon abdicated and retired to the Palace of the Supreme Sun to live out the remaining days of his life. During the happier days before the rebellion, on one Seventh Night Festival, the emperor and Yang Gui Fei made a vow to remain faithful to each other. Now that the context is clear, the first line refers to the many shades of rogue represents the many past loves of the emperor. Line two alludes to the emperor peeping at the future Yang Guifei taking a bath at the Pool of Flower Purity to see if his daughter-in-law was beautiful enough for him to go through all that trouble to procure her for himself. The Tang Dynasty would have lasted longer if she had been less beautiful.

Wednesday, December 28, 2022

The Unchanging Mortal World

Another inspiration during my jog…

1 朝晨冷霧雲蓋天 Cold is the fog of early mornings and clouds covered sky,
2 獨入深山無鳥言 Alone deep into the hills where no bird twitters .
3 高峰縹緲凡塵察 High peaks faintly discernible, observing the mortal world,
4 糊塗瀰漫豈易變 That these pervading befuddlement could be easily changed?

2 Implying the hills are treeless.

Monday, December 26, 2022

Be Careful Of What You Wish For!

Forcing myself to have at least 121 poems for 2022.  The draft of the first stanza was done when I finished my jog.  The second one was done while I was practising with my brush.

1 無聊紈扇螢火撲 My silk fan catches fireflies in boredom,
2 蘭臺官高郎情薄 Lessened affections an imperial librarian he now is.
3 天有桂殿我燭淚 Heaven has its Osmanthus Hall but a candle of tears for me,
4 琵琶一曲是寂寞 This pipa tune I play is my loneliness.

5 勸君懇讀妾殷勤 Urged him in diligent study, tending to his every need ever so solicitously
6 貧寒二人比仙樂 We may be poor but in togetherness, happier than any immortal.
7 銀河雙星鵲橋會 Upon the magpie bridge, Twin Stars of the Silver River twain shall meet,
8 錦秀年華再不覺 But fond memories from those days of yore no longer felt.

1 Women of the upper classes usually lived in total boredom as their movements were curtailed extensively. Perhaps, once in their lifetime during the Lantern Festival would they be allowed to roam outside of their homes. Catching butterflies or fireflies with their silk fans was one of their few pastimes in life.

2 The Orchid Terrace houses the imperial collection of books during the Han and Tang Dynasties.

3 Another moniker for the moon. It can also mean “the imperial harem”. They all imply loneliness – the loneliness of the moon goddess Chang Er, the neglected women in the harem. Hence “heaven” can mean the imperial court. 殿is the imperial place of administration while 宮 is the imperial residence. The dripping wax is like a weeping candle.

5 君 honorific term for the husband and 妾is self-deprecating term used by the wife. It does not mean “concubine”!

7 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qixi_Festival

Friday, December 23, 2022

Spring Parting

 

Another brush writing practice inspiration.

1 寒盡今宵明日春 When tonight’s cold snaps, it will be spring of tomorrow,
2 初陽綠柳降露潾 Early morning dewdrops drip a pure from green willow leaves.
3 萬笑桃花醉東君 Myriad peach blossoms smile and intoxicate the Lord of the East,
4 千杯難辭再三巡 More bouts for the thousandth cup of fare-thee-well not yet bade.

2 “leaves” is not in the original wording.

3 This line does not indicate if there are many people smiling at the peach blossoms or that the peach blossoms are “smiling”. The Lord of the East could be the Chinese Apollo or Zephyr.

4 Could also mean that it is difficult to refuse the free flow of wine.  “Three” just means that there are many more rounds to go.

Wednesday, December 21, 2022

Trysts In The Shadows

While practising my calligraphy and updating a poem, this came into my mind…

1 又見東昇明月光 Once again I see the light of the full moon rising in the east,
2 重聚西沉黑林廣 So too are the wide stretches of the darkened western forest.
3 莫道銀河雙星淚 Speak not of the Silver River nor tears from the stars of twain,
4 暗聞花間細語藏 But listen in secret to hushed whispers hidden amongst the flowers.

2 沉 doesn’t mean sink but “gloomy”, "foreboding"...

3 Due to the brightness of the moon, Altair and Vega are not seen shedding their tears. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qixi_Festival

4 The other meaning of 聞, “to smell” also makes sense.

Tuesday, December 20, 2022

Just The Way Things Are

During my brush writing practice using the poem, Bamboo and Stone by the Ch'ing Dynasty scholar, Cheng Hsieh 鄭燮, courtesy name, Pan Chiao (板橋), the characters, when I came to the characters, 青山, I was inspired to write something of my own…

1 青山難免白雲見 Inevitably, white clouds will be seen over the green mountains.
2 碧海何無紫飛燕 Why then are there no dotting purple of swiftlets over the azure sea?
3 人間自會善惡報 Rewards and retributions will eventually catch up in the mortal world,
4 別聚更有夢中纒 Even in partings and reunions, there be entanglements in dreams!

2 紫燕 is the purple martin. Chinese do not distinguish martins, swallows and swifts. Swallows symbolize fidelity as they mate for life. Here, the “swallow” refers to the white nest swiftlet whose nests are made entirely from their saliva which the Chinese use to make bird nest soup. The species live in the cliffs of the Andaman Islands and some Indonesian islands. The purple refers to color of the birds from afar.

Sunday, December 18, 2022

竹石 Bamboo and Stone

1咬定青山不放鬆, Sinking tenaciously into the green mountains,
2 立根原在破巖中. In crevices of the cliffs from whence its roots had sprung.
3 千磨萬擊還堅勁, A thousand abrading, a myriad attacks, still in vigor,
4 任爾東西南北風 Matters not what winds sent forth from the north, south, east or west.

1 Literally, “biting”

4 爾 means “you”, referring to Mother Nature.

Yet Another Inspiration From Others

Li Xin, from Facebook’s Chinese Poetry group wrote the following poem and I lifted its essence to create a version of my own.

一首詩

很多年以前
我曾讀到過一首詩
它深深地吸引了我
直到今天
我仍然覺得
它憂美无比
只是, 現在

我已經再也記不清
它的每一个字句了。

立
2014/10/6 改

1 曾經一首古韻閱, Once I read an old poem,
2 妙句橫掃天下絕. Its sweeping words of wonder are one of its kind in the world.
3 可惜流光莫留人, Alas time does waits for no one,
4 老時矇矓追憶缺. Besetting in old age haziness, my memory slacks.

Saturday, December 17, 2022

Midnight Rain

I was awakened by the rain in the wee hours of the night. Had a difficult time falling back to sleep. So, I tried to come up with a line in my head and before I knew it, I was adrift back into slumberland.

1 雨滴驚醒半夜夢 Midnight dreams startled awake from raindrops a dripping,
2 窗前月無見雲空 Moonless and cloudless is the sky before the window.
3 寂寞寒聲水音冷 Lonely are the frosty winds and cold is the water a drip,
4 宵盡難寢豈重逢 Slumber still difficult, night is ending, how can we meet again?

3 聲 refers to sounds from the sky and 音 are those from the earth. 寒 - the inherent state of things while 冷 is the lack of heat.  For example, 寒宮 and 冷宮are different things even both has the concept of “cold palace”.  寒宮 refers to the name of the lunar palace as the moon is inherently cold.  Technically 冷宮 should be translated as “palace of neglect”.  The Forbidden City has no such particular place designated as one.  It can be anywhere.  It just that the emperor no longer visits there.

Monday, December 12, 2022

Autumn Leaves

This was inspired by the first line of “Autumn Leaves” as sung by Titania Eva Marie, “Autumn Leaves drifting by the Window…” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ZRgUInsPk,

1 窗前金風葉催散 Urged by the golden wind, leaves outside the window are departing,
2 庭後玉露花落殘 Falling are the blossoms withering upon the jade dew in the backyard.
3 朱雀早別晚來急 The Red Bird had left early and nights come in haste,
4 玄英無情雪飛蠻 Merciless are the unbridled snowstorms of the Mysterious Warrior.

1 金風 means metal wind and refers to autumn as metal is its element. However, “golden” sounds better.

2 玉露 – another attribute of autumn because nights are cooled enough for dew to form.

3 “朱雀”, one of the four mythical creatures that represents the cardinal south. Here it refers to summer. Days are shorter in colder months.

4 玄英 is another name for winter, most probably derived from 玄武 representing the cardinal north. 玄also means black or dark. The east is represented by the green dragon, 青龍 and west by 白虎, the white tiger. Given the orthogonality of the other creatures, it should be called the “black tortoise”, 黑龜 but for cultural connotation and elegance sake, the “dark warrior”. Actually, the Deity of the North is served by two warriors, a tortoise and a snake.

Friday, December 9, 2022

At Least Autumn Cometh

Woke up around 4am and couldn’t go back to sleep. A line came into my head,

星落池塘月當空

However, I could not go further. Then my thinking got sidetracked to,

銀河雙星一年渡
鵲橋萬情七夕訴

Went back sleep and the next morning…

1 銀河雙星一年數 Twin stars of the Milky Way counting the days of the year,
2 鵲橋萬世七夕渡 Forever more, they cross the magpie bridge on the Night of Seventh.
3 總有金風玉露時 At least the time of golden winds and jade dew will come,
4 廣寒長寞向誰訴 But to whom can the eternal loneliness of the Great Cold complained to?

1 The Cowherd and Weaver Maid stars. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Qixi_Festival

2 On the Seventh Night, magpies would fly to the sky and made themselves into a bridge so that the lovers can cross to meet each other.

3  "golden winds and jade dew" refers to autumn which the Seventh Night occurs in. Originally, this line was 流光瞬目去何處 but 處 rhymes with all the other final characters in Mandarin and so I had it changed. Thus, affecting line 4’s 落在天涯向誰訴 as well.

4 The Palace of Boundless Cold is where the moon Goddess, Chang’E lives.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e

Wednesday, December 7, 2022

3 Westin, Langkawi

Back

23 Aug – 25 Aug - 2 Nights

This was my first time here in Langkawi. I heard of the place in newspapers where it was some destination for international governmental meetings. Since I was going to Bangkok, might as well drop by here instead of Penang which I had been twice before, one time in my childhood and another time a few years back.

The only Westin I can consciously compare to this place with is the Rapunzel-like modern tower in the bustling city of Singapore. Imagine to my surprise when the view of the hotel came into being. It is a low building with side wings that spreads out like a phoenix towards the tropical sky very unlike the sky reaching structures in large cities.

Very spacious and elegant looking.  It would be a nice area for me to write and veg out the day if I have the time.

If only the weather is Mediterranean and not tropical.  It would be so nice to sit out in the open.

This is the next wow factor.  The ocean view is amazing and the pools look so inviting.  As a matter of fact, a dip after checking in!

The surrounding is rustic and yet a touch of  modernity. 

A welcoming gift.

The room is more spacious and luxurious than the ones I had stayed in Singapore for the past 9 days in Singapore.  The floor is teak and not carpeted.  This is old world luxury, 

The beds are comfortable, firm and the pillows are soft. More importantly, the air conditioning is quiet.

A nice frosted glass to the bathroom instead of a massive solid blank wall. 

Perhaps it is because of the tile colors that the bathroom looks dated.  This is OK since I am not spending my entire time in there to luxuriate myself in the bathtub.  I leave it for Cleopatra to have her milk bath!

It's definitely the color of the tiles that make the bathroom looking old and dated.  The glass doors don't match in color and style.  I am sure they were installed at different times.

Best window view of any hotel I had stayed during this Asia trip.  I would like to complain about the heat and humidity but I did not for there were occasional showers now and then.  After all, just a three day trip before Bangkok.

These warnings are adorable until one’s belongings are swiped by the critters.  It shows that the hotel surrounding is in midst of the forest wilderness.  

Personally I did not see any but my two friends espied them congregating in the next morning, in the veranda across our room.

This place has the most beautiful pools because of its sea view and the neighboring islands.  The crystal clear blue water is so inviting.

So enjoyable that I did not get out of it until darkness descended.

It was nice laying on top of here to get a body massage.

By now, it was time for us to leave and get ready for dinner. There are always two sides to the same coin. On the flip side to tranquility in the remote area, one becomes the captive audience to the hotel. Transport is extremely inconvenient in the day and at night, next to impossible especially getting back to the hotel at night when this is my first time here in Langkawi. The hotel has no incentive when money is to be splurged

 elsewhere.  

Their anchor restaurant is called Tide, a semi open air restaurant. I am sure they are trying to save some air conditioning costs. Looking at the menu, I was not surprised that the food is expensive and nothing seemed interesting enough for me.

The three of us each had a complimentary smidgen of an appetizer. A small piece of fried chicken on top of a salad.  Wasn’t too bad since it was free.

.

I had a Cesar’s salad with a soft shell crab because other items have something in them that I didn’t like. Didn’t want to risk on anything strange and ruin my night.

French onion soup for a friend.  It wasn't as salty as the usual ones which was good.  However, it wasn't the best either.

His main entree was this pasta cooked in squid's ink.  I am not enough to try to have a taste of it as the moment I saw the color, I lost my appetite.

Another had this pan fried fish which the taste was so-so but to me feels too dry.  And as for the fries... They were as limp as a grandfather's...

Needless to say, we were the only patrons in the restaurant.  They should be thankful that I didn't complain as I was getting tired.

After last night's experience with Western food, I am not even going to try these.  Anyway, I am impressed by their wide menu selection of both "international" and local offerings.  It should be impressive after all, the buffet is not free.  If I were not impressed, then it must be terrible to begin with.

This looks good enough to try...  But in the end, it wasn't as good as it looked.  The flavor was lacking.

These were freshly made and so I was in roti prata heaven.  Indeed, they were fluffy and most satisfying.

It was worth the wait...

The dipping sauce for the roti prata.  Unfortunately, they skimmed on the meat and hence the flavor was plain,  However, mixing it some some other curry sauce with cooked meats did the trick.

Again, looks were misleading...

At least these potato and onions tastes good if you add a bit more salt or curry to them.  I also mixed them with the sunny side ups.

I am sure all the baked beans come from the same source.  Not even want to try them.  How could they go wrong. I can always have them in LA and if not, I would be terribly disappointed and less room for my stomach.

Having salad in a buffet is just a waste of your hard earned cash.

Condiments for Chinese porridge.  They look good and would have some porridge if there are no better alternatives.  A good bowl of porridge in the morning always perk me up like the proverbial cup of coffee.

In the end, I had a bowl and I would have gone for another one if I didn't see there was something coming up...

The sunny side up looks interesting and I was craving for some eggs which I had not had for a few days now.  The texture from the crispy bottom made the enjoyment of the eggs better when I mixed in with the potato and onion offering.

Bread pudding with butter and berries.  

Ayam (chicken) Goreng Berempah.  Very delicious.

Malaysian style Char Kuay Teow.  It's mainly Chinese flat noodles cooked in a black sweet soya sauce with dried shrimp, fried onions, Chinese sausage, shrimp and in the old days, with cockles.  Looks good but I prefer the Singapore style as the color is blacker.  I miss the pork lard that was used to stir fry them.  Now, for health, vegetable oil is used. 

All these different kinds of curry were very tasty.  I wish I have a larger stomach.

Sambal anchovies (ikan bilis) cooked in sambal style.  This is the first time in my life, that I found out that I had been eating anchovies all along!

The spring rolls tempted me and also to prove to myself that if they were not freshly brought out, they are not going to be crispy and I was proven right.

All these Malaysian desserts are so colorful looking and I would have been tempted if I were a dessert person. Have to save stomach room. Of course there will be exceptions.

 

I am always partial to bacon that are thick and meaty looking and not too crispy. So I had two small pieces just to satisfy my craving.

As one can see from my plate, the sunnyside ups were a hit with me.

From past experience, not going to touch them if they are not freshly put out.

I was going to wait for these pancakes but then my eye espied something even better...

Not these ordinary looking sandwiches which I can make them myself at home! It would be very stupid to even try them unless there is nothing else on the table and one is famished.

Or these... What I saw was on someone's plate...

Neither were these but what the guy was making at the end of the table...

This is my childhood favorite.  I know it was "longevity cake" 萬壽糕.  It is Apom Balik in Malay.  The filling is usually peanut or coconut and is only tasty when it is piping hot and fresh out from the pan.  When it becomes cold, the crust becomes limp and the texture becomes gooey soft.  It is quite rare to find them these days as most of the younger locals opted for the sweeter western type of desserts.  I find Western dessert, especially American ones too sickly sweet.

I don't seem to get enough of them and whatever stomach space I had, were filled with them.  I even had one for takeout!

All in all, my experience in Langkawi can be summed by, "One time is more than enough" unless one likes to have a two days of getaway from civilization and is willing to spend the time at the hotel.   Because of its remote beauty, it is also extremely inconvenient to go anywhere.  Transport to say the least is a hassle, especially trying to get a ride back to the hotel.  I do not believe the hotel is willing to make things convenient for the tourist if money is spent at other places. 

Except for the breakfast buffet food elsewhere is not that great as well.  The old town we visited may have its old charm but definitely not the restaurant food.  I did not have the time to try the open air night market street food because by the time I was ready to eat, I was caught in a torrential storm.  I was more antsy trying to get back to the hotel because darkness had befallen and I did not know the way to walk back.  In the end, I was lucky enough to get a van to drop us back when I saw some passengers alighted from it.

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