Life As We Know It

<Becoming monks> . It's the season for families to send their boys to monasteries coz it's the school holiday season.. . For families who send their boys to monastery for the first time, they tend to make it big. They will have a parade around the Shwedagon Pagoda, in which the boys-to-be-monks dress like a prince, to pray for blessings.. . Later they will go to the monastery to shave their hair and change into ropes, bid farewell to their family and start their religious practice (修行）. . "Usually, parents will send their boys to the monastery at the age of 9 or 10 when they can take care of themselves, like showering, wearing cloths. Exceptions when a little kid is accompanied by older brother who can take care of him." . . " It almost sounds like a rite of passage. Why do you send them to monastery ?" I asked. . . "To hope for a better future for him. He does the good deeds in return for the blessings from the Buddha. " . . " More importantly it's to hope that he becomes a better person with a kinder heart. You know, monks are not allowed to eat after 12 noon. They have to carry the bowl with them to beg for food and donation. They get to know the sufferings of people in person and learn the generosity from people more. Therefore, they can learn to be kind to others.". . "Usually parents will send their boys to monastery every year till they reach 20. Days ranging from 3 days to months. They are reminded of the humility of living every year. " . (at ေရႊတိဂံုေစတီ Shwedagon Pagoda)

#latergram Making my flight journey productive while writing things down. 😎. . Sanon Training Restaurant is a social enterprise based in Bagan. The food is charged at a relatively higher price than local restaurants. But the premium is used to help marginalised youths in Myanmar.. . Richard, a retired British guy is the project director of the restaurant, "We started last year, it has been 8 months now.". . They focus on helping the disadvantaged youth aged between 16 and 22 in Myanmar to acquire skills to work in hospitality , F&B sectors.. . Students will spend 2 hours everyday to learn English. The English teacher is a semi-retired Burmese teacher. Then they spend the rest of their days in the kitchen & bar to learn the skill sets- which requires year. Later they are sent to hotels / restaurants in networks to intern for 1 month before graduation.. . Sanon has helped 30 students so far. They are looking to expand the service.. . Asking how he got involved in the project, Richard chuckled, " that's a very good question. It all started with a small talk in a bar nearby. ". . . " I used to be a trainer in the army, a certified chef as well. This guy invited me to be an English teacher in the institution he was working in. He got me Visa, everything sorted out. When I relocated, he resigned. The institute was going through lots of changes. Then there was another guy. After knowing my background in training & cooking, he asked me to be in charge of the project. So here I am. Any more questions, journalists ? ". . We all laughed. If you ever visit Bagan, try this restaurant. (at Sanon)

Good morning sunshine ☀️ (at Bu Lel Thi Pogada)

<Quite a guide > When we visited the dala town in yongon, we had a very sharing guide with us.. . "We have to perform monk services at least two times in life. One when you are aged below 20, the other when you are aged over 20. I did both of them.. . When I first did my monk service, I enjoyed it. We were teenagers, you have lots of friends to hangout , to play.. . I didn't enjoy the second time although I was there only for one week. You know, no cigarettes, no drinks & no ladies.. . Burmese like bananas & coconuts. I used to like coconuts but now I hate it.. . . In 2008, there was a devastating cyclone. It destroyed our villages and crop fields. Many people died too. There was only one monastery remained intact. We went there for shelter. The only food available was coconut. We drank it, we ate the coconut skin for 2 months. After that, I don't like coconuts anymore.." . He accompanied us for almost a whole day, he asked for 3000 Burmese (HK$17), in the end, we gave him 20,000. (Hk $113) . . #whenihearastory

早晨充滿動力的感覺很好！. . . . . . . #discoverhongkong #hongkong #morning #roads #traffic #cars #bestboomerang #shotoniphone6 (at Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong)

Spring has officially been registered. Blurry images become an art. 🌿🌱☘️🌳🍀 . . . . . . #discoverhongkong #hongkong #spring #greenleaf #treelovers #shotoniphone6 #capturehongkong (at Sai Ying Pun, Hong Kong)

I like Wilson Shieh's architecture series a lot! It offers femininity to the city skyline, unexpectedly sensual & lovely, and the sense of humour entails. (at M+ Pavilion)

In the age of alternative facts, We all live in filtered bubbles. Yet this filtered art bubble is a guilty pleasure ! Well-curated & thought-provoking.. . 哥哥的那雙紅色的Malono Blahnik , 羅文的孔雀舞衣，妹姐的舞女衣裳，當世界叫你循規蹈矩，你應知道有別的選擇。when more people join the convo, it becomes the norm.. . You're only given a little spark of madness. You mustn't lose it. Robin Williams (at M+ Pavilion)

Google Trend training at Google - how search data can tell amazing stories.. . Sometimes , we are more honest with google then to our family & friends.. . Ex1 : < Googling in Africa: Work or Play>, use 3 key words “Job”, “Mathematics” & “Video Games” and did the data visualisation, the results are amusingly informative:. . "Those In Francophone nations, it turned out , are more likely to search for video game. Anglophones are more likely to Google for jobs or pornography. African countries once ruled by Portugal are more interested in themes related to Children, such as school subjects & bullying.". . Ex 2: How to quantify a relationship? Perhaps through gifting ? Key in “ Gifts for girlfriend” & “ Gifts for Boyfriend” - well, boyfriends tend to get spoiled & pampered.. . What about for those married couples ? Key in “Gifts for husband” & “ Gifts for Wife” - The result is the opposite, husbands want to spoil their wife more.

<Unleash The Inner Geek in Me>. . How technology brings social good, how storytelling connects people and starts off the rippling effect, how an small act can be turned into a movement - New knowledge, new encounters challenge, inspire & refine me - in which I derive pleasure and satisfaction from.. . In the realm of tech, I am still very much of a newbie, needless to say how to use tech to bring social good, but as the protagonist featured in < How I Created My Dream Job That Didn’t Exist > by Fast Company pointed out:. . “I think that when we’re in our early 20s, we have such lofty ideas of what we’re supposed to be doing.” She admits that it can be terrifying to realize that you’re not meeting those lofty ideals. “But that’s okay, you have the rest of your life to get there.” (at Google HK Office)

The artwork

<Zaha Hadid : There Should Be No End To Experimentation > . . Each of her design is a piece art. As a laymen, how the sketch can be visualised into actual building is both fascinating & perplexing, until I saw the photos of architecture designed by Zaha Hadid. Each of them is literally a piece of art! Such imagination & actualisation is simply awe-inspiring.. . An architect friend told me once, architect is the language murmured by the city. It defines visitors’ first impression. As seen from the photos, Zaha’s designs always stand out among the rest of the conventional & conforming cityscape, coneys a sense of quirkiness, magical realism, adds layers of characters to the city.. . P.S. I love the AR session to experience Zaha’s works. It almost feels like a lost-in-the-galaxy type of cinematic experience. (at Artistree)

This series of ceramic bowl arts makes me happy ! How lovely when you eat with art ? #artweek #artbasel #artbaselhk (at Art Basel)

Josephine Meckseper - <Ten Minutes Older > 十分鐘年華老去. . A pair of bleached jeans put on the frame wood with the same Pantone color.. . “ It’s funny to match it with the title.”. . “ Yep, the artist spent 10 mins to finish the art piece, so she grew 10 mins older. We have spent 2.5 hours in Art Basel, so we are 2.5 hours older.”. . Spot On, attending art events with a cynical art lover is a pure pleasure ! #artbaselhk #artbasel #artweek #discoverhongkong (at Art Basel)

The day when Carrie Lam was elected as the Chief Executive of Hong Kong SAR with 777 votes, the piece of art tells the story. (at Art Basel)

Colored Vases - By Ai Wei Wei. . All the seemingly same vases painted with vicarious colours & patterns are unique Qing Dynasty Urns.. . Ai just vandalised the ancient art. It’s sad. What about the systematic destruction towards history, arts & culture from the State? . . The art is Ai Wei Wei's larger critique of the Chinese state’s cultural and historical vandalism because Ever since the Chinese Revolution began in the early 20th century, political and economic ruptures have cut off China in particular from its ancient culture. #artbasel #artbaselhk #artworks #aiweiwei #artlover #artnerd #artofvisuals (at Art Basel)

《記憶的力量 》 Couch Host 帶我去達卡大學參觀。 當中有石碑寫著一個個孟加拉獨立戰爭中殉難的教職員及他們的家人名字、職位、年齡。. . 達卡大學的師生在孟加拉的獨立上扮演了重要角色。他們積極倡議「獨立」，當中達卡學生自組 「孟加拉獨立學生運動議會」（Independent Bangladesh Students Movement Council） 並發起 「不合作運動」（The Non-co-operation movement ）。. . 1971年三月， 巴基斯坦軍官 Yahya Khan 及政客Zulfikar Ali Bhutto 成立「探照燈行動」(Operation Searchlight) ，以鎮壓當時名為東巴基斯坦 （孟加拉）的獨立運動，首當其衝便是知識份子。 同年三月廿五日，他們便對達卡大學進行武力鎮壓，肆意屠殺殺生，其中在Jahrul Hoque 宿舍，便至少有200名學生遭殺害。. . 獨立戰爭持續至同年12月16日，巴基斯坦深知大勢已去，他們在大學訓練了一群反獨立的學生，在12月14日時，選擇性地殺死不少的教授。. . 「他們殺死了孟加拉最優秀的人才，以至孟加拉的法制、經濟發展停滯。巴基斯坦軍隊離開時，還強姦了很多孟加拉女人（數據指至少400,000 人），他們的理據是，『你們要獨立，沒關係，我們要你們的女人懷著巴基斯坦的血肉，我們的血脈繼續流傳下去。』」Couch host 解釋當中的歷史。 . . 記憶是一種力量，就算戰爭的正義還未伸張，只要有人記著，受壓的人、死去的人，他們以另一種狀態活著。 #libertinetravelogue #travelbangladesh #discoverbangladesh #孟加拉 #達卡大學 #歷史 #travelgram #history #traveldeeper (at University of Dhaka)