A Complex

Omg this street is gone now? I always knew the gov would clean it up one day, but it feels sad to see it myself. Something remarked my younger age went missing from this moment, some places I shared my entire 20s with my Beijingers. This is Beijing, a city under constant development with a super fast pace, where bridge gets rebuilt within 148 hrs, buildings come and go every a couple of years. All the streets I have lived now look completely different, people I hanged with had long ago disappeared in the crowd, having lived in Beijing for a decade, this was a real pain. The urban metabolism never stops a beat for individual, every few years the city replaces itself to a new Beijing. It feels like a life reboot every time, and every connection with the city, culture outcomes, friend circles, favourite places. The city provides no access to recover point whatsoever, except memories left behind, fading as age grows. There is no time - and no place, for us to look back. There have been other moments like this, reminisced the loneliness I have always felt while witnessing all the changes of Beijing, exactly the moments when I questioned: Is Beijing still my home? Or perhaps it has never been my home. But then, where is home?

Going home.

That summer afternoon. (at Nelson Bay, Port Stephens NSW)

I must be a fish in my last life. Grown up on mountains but water is my true love. Not to mention the amazing interactions I had with underwater creatures, but the silence when hovering above sandy bottom, colourful reef, and waving sea weeds, I love that moment for the ability to hear myself but nothing else, it’s the zen I found of my world. “You have to find a good reason to come back up to the surface, and I have a hard time finding one.” -The Big Blue.

Charm of Sydney, painted sky.

Salty texture. (at MANLY BEACH, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA)

Central, Sydney

Somewhere next to the Seine. #paris #eurovision #solotraveller #travelwithteddybear #travelbug #seineriver #lifeinparis #clown (at Paris, France)

Taken in Paris.#travelwithteddybear #travelbug #solotraveller #eurovision #paris #sculptures #lightandshadow (at Paris, France)

#czhechrepublic #eurovision #solotraveller #travelbug #travelwithteddybear (at Cesky Krumlov)

#lifeineurope #travelwithteddybear #travelbug #solotraveller #eurovision #czech

#europetrip #austria #eurovision #solotraveller #travelbug #travelwithteddybear #lifeineurope

I wish I could ride on the shadows of clouds That drift across the hill; Over the meadow and out of sight They sweep so smooth and still. Over the daisy field they passed, And not a daisy stirred; They moved like chariots grand and slow, But never a second was heard. I wish I could ride on the shadows of clouds, Could ride till, the joinery done, I'd find myself at the end of the world, Where the earth and the sky are one. -Clouds-shadows (1912) Lyrics by Katharine Pyle #poem #poetry #poet #shadowsofclouds #austria #europetrip #snowmountain #powder #skii #travelbug #travelwithteddybear #solotraveller

So back to travel stories from my trip in Austria. Graz had always been a small town in my memory for no reason, in fact, it's the second biggest city in Austria after Vienna, and the capital of Styria. Decided last minute, I jumped on bus from Vienna and arrived in dark. Perhaps it was the right season for rain, Graz welcomed me with heavy rain. Wet and dark, that's was my first impression. I Couchsurfed at Graz. My host was a young follow, same as most of other people I met in town, come from somewhere else to study in Graz. He cooked me his homemade schnitzel, guided me to sneak into the locked rooftop pool. Pool was heated, but not even one single light was on, floor was wet. We slipped down to bottom from the stairs, ouch that was painful, several weeks later after my trip I could still see the horrible bruise on my leg. #graz #travelbug #travelbuddy #travelwithteddybear #europetrip #austria #solotraveller #couchsurfer #travelwiththelocal #europe (at Graz, Austria)

Collingwood, Melbourne.

Only if Melbourne had Sydney's weather and harbour. #Melbourne #streetart #graffiti #citylife #lovemelbourne #travelbug #streetartinaustralia