HK i'll see you soon xxxx

this was from a very quick trip to Hong Kong to chill with my most familial friends - like all rushed affairs it started out very well and ended up with me being stuck all alone at the airport with a delayed flight

didn't have time to do a lot, but eating and shopping and rolling with my homies was so blissful i didn't care.

Life and Times of

don't worry, if it was that serious you know i wouldn't post this

Tigers and Strawberries

Just read this on thisisnaive:

From Open to Desire by Mark Epstein,

There is a famous story from Japan that expresses the peculiar delight with which desire is held in the Buddhist tradition. A young woman, it is told, is walking through a field when she encounters a tiger that eyes her hungrily. She runs and the tiger pursues her. She comes to a cliff, takes hold of the root of a wild vine and, in a single motion, swings herself over the precipice. Dangling there, clutching the vine, she sees the tiger sniffing the ground above her. Trembling, she looks down. It is a long way to the bottom, and she feels momentarily dizzy. Then she sees something else. There is another tiger below, presumably a hungry one, who has also noticed her plight. The tigers prowl, one above and one below, waiting for their feast. She clings to the vine. Suddenly, two mice appear at the edge of the cliff and start to gnaw at the roots that hold her. The woman notices a wild strawberry growing nearby on the side of the hill. She reaches with one hand to pluck the strawberry, still clutching the vine with the other, and places the fruit in her mouth. She takes one bite. Ahhhh! How sweet it tastes.

This is the end of the story. We never learn what happens – or, rather, we are told exactly what we need to hear. The story, as I understand it, is about desire. As a Buddhist teaching story, it is obviously about other things as well. It is about being in the moment and the fragility of everyday life and doing one thing at a time, but it also seems to be a metaphor for desire. The woman encounters her desire and it appears as a tiger. In psychoanalysis, the tiger would be called a projection. Fierce, wild, devouring. A beast. Just as with desire, there seems to be only two options: to flee or to surrender to it.

Our protagonist runs from the beast, only to encounter a second tiger. There is no escape. Cornered, she hangs on for dear life. But desire continues to torment her. It changes form, multiplies, threatens her as she struggles to avoid it. Even in the form of the mice it is dangerous. How can she escape? The solution lies in the strawberry. What does she do? She tastes it and it is good. She takes one bite, not even knowing if she will have a second one, not knowing if there will be a next moment at all. With complete attention, she savors the flavor of the fruit. Desire is the tiger and the mouse, but it is also the strawberry. When the young woman stops running and gives up the fear of being devoured, she can finally taste it. The flavour of desire is good.

taipei #3 ambience

Any way i would really recommend Ambience Hotel to anybody who is going to Taipei. The service is excellent, they have a free breakfast + afternoon tea every day, bathrobes, nice toiletries, etc. They even have a hair dryer under the sink. Everything is very clean and sleek, and the staff are very attentive, helpful and pleasant. It is probably way under-priced due to the location(pretty long walk from the underground station but that doesn't matter if you just take taxis!!). It's probably the nicest hotel I have stayed in for a long time but admittedly I probably only feel that way because I'm still haunted by Paris' overpriced and tiny hotel rooms.

Also the hotel was featured in the NYtimes Taipei Guide and you can find more photos of their designer furniture and interiors online.

taipei #2 moving waters and mountains

taroko gorge