Entries about ambrish

“Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going.” – Paul Theroux

The subsequent days were getting better.
Like going outfield and all new things, its all abut getting used to it.
Ironically, from wanting to leave the Far, we now cant bear leaving and are thinking if we should change our plans to stay longer or continue or tour....
Xavier and Lisa are extremely nice people, they give us so much and take extra care to ensure we have everthing we need.
The food has been simple, but really fresh !!! At least half or more is usually freshly harvested before the meal haha,
I have been eating alot of cheese, carrots, salads, beans, bread, potatoes, and random stuff. i think my diet is at its healthiest
The work has been quite fun at times, especially harvesting !
We pluck red Spinach leaves, pull carrots from the ground...
The one thing that we cannot stand ( literally) is weeding, haha you squat on the ground the whole time ( which is really tiring) beant over pulling out weeds with your bare hands. This gets worse when you are weeding plants to help the specific plant grow and that specific plant looks like weed ! ( like beetroot)
Another thing we have been helping with is the set up of the new greenhouse.
Its quite a big job as the greenhouse is big and we have to carry the plastic sheets, measure and cut them, carry it to the top, spread it out, stretch it, dig and cover the base with soil and adjust again ! Not easy man.
After the first hour, i said to Jason, this is totally not a 5 men job.
Haha, another thing that is crazy is the temperature variation, at night its mega cold, even with 2 blankets you would still feel cold. In the day its gets so hot, i take of my shirt to work ( i dont wanna sweat )

While walking the giant container for a shower, i saw jason peeling potatoes with a small little girl. I went into the shower and thought to myself who is that little girl, maybe its Lisa's nice she talked about....
After i came out, she said hi in probably the best english since we left england. I asked her what she was studying, and she said she stopped studying a long time ago.
Hmmm, does she want to be a farmer too ?
She than explained she finish uni long time ago.
Than i couldnt stand it and asj her, How old are u this year ?
She replied 29...
I fell off the chair, remember the electric shock in Switzerland, this was like same intensity but in my face haha
I thought she was 14 !!! Serious Its like if a fountain of everlasting youth ever existed, she drank from it everyyday...
Ok, never mind...
She stayed and studied in London for 9 years ( v good english) and off course v good french
She was a very nice girl and we had a nice tme chatting over dinner.
We soon found out she earns 9 Euro(x1.8 to Sgd) an hour and she gets accommodation and food also !!!!
I xas just thinking, maybe she is more experienced than us but still her productivity cannot be 9:0 right !!!
Oh well, for now, The delicious apple pie and Rhubarb cake are our wages
I asked her about so French habits and she admitted that she was not a typical french, haha
We had nice chats the next few days while working, and i liked her alot, but i guess i ll never see her again. Oh well, we could have been good friends.

Saturday-
We went to the market today !
There was only two avenues of sales for Xavier and lisa, one was to their regular customers on thursdays, the other was the saturday market in the nearby village Crest.
It was very exciting, as some of the products being sold were hand plucked by us !!! we had plucked and bundled carrots ( 40 bundles of 12-15 carrots) and some other random vegetables.
Also, Xavier suggested for us to cycle to the market, instead of driving there so we could see the country side better.
It was a pleasant but very tiring journey haha ! Jason and i were very happy at the market, jason because of the pastry and me beacuse i could finally get to see the authentic french market ive been looking for !
Haha, there was cheese; jam, honey, bread, eggs, vegetables.... many local produce being sold.
I was looking to buy something back home, but everything was either way too expensive, too bulky ( glasses of jam and honey, super nice), too silly ( bars of handmade soap) or couldnt last the journey ( cheese, bread, pottery...)
Everything that i mentioned was very nicely presented, and i was quite sure tasted nice.
I bought a crispy croissant for 80cents euro and a fruit cake for us to share at 4.50 euros ( ouch) While Jason bought some pastry for 2 Euros and a Chocolate croissant for 2 Euros. They were all very nice ( finally i had a crispy croissant haha)
We packed up and went back for a nice lunch of é eggs ( yes finally !!!!), more vegetables, brie cheese and off course cakes ! weeee !
haha.
It was a lazy saturday afternoon....
Oh ya, remember the carrots we plucked ?
All sold out !!!

After the great time we had at Richard's house it was time to move on and head to chiswick park where Iain was waiting for us, but first a stop at my favourite shop the 99p store !!!
It was epic, After 8 chocolates, big packets of Haribo Sweets and many many more all for 99p each ! However when i paid for them goods i didnt check the change and i lost 4 pounds so instead of saving money i spent even more ! Crap ! Also, i noticed many people shoplifting, (elephant and castle is a poor area) but there was this guy with a 4.6k pounds racer bike who did the same !

The bus ride to chiswick park was a long one, when we finally arrived, the houses that surronded us were epic big, similar to the landed area in Singapore, and we started getting excited as we walked towards his house. When the door opened all excitment and anticipation was immediately swaped into disbelief and surprise, haha ! the big epic house we imagined was split into 12 different rooms by the owner and rented out, and Iain was staying in one of them. The entire house was just a room and a kitchen ! haha (

We than proceeded with a long chat with Iain about life and he asked us countless questions about Singapore which i found hard to answer, " So tell me, what do Singaporeans eat" ..." What time do Singaporeans normally eat"..."what happens if you Pee on a tree in Sinapore"..."Are there dinosaurs in Singapore, a Singaporeans once brought Dinousaur soup in a can here"
Ok the last one was made up But Iain was a really interesting person, when he first sat down he emptied his pockets of about 6pounds of coins(which is what i usually do as well) than he proceeded to say " thats all the money i have till the end of the week" (my mind : oh no he should be staying with us instead). He explained how he did not believe in amassing money and everything he ever owed could be thrown away and he would still be perfectly fine(sad off course but perfectly fine)
Iain than made us an epic soup, it was really nice, one of the nicest i ever had He had an amazing movie collection, alot like Victor's but slightly more specialised. He let us listen to an album he was working on and i was totally blown away ! Really great music, im sure Jenn, Eddie and David would love to meet him.
The Second day we went to Arsenal Stadium as jason was dying to see his favourite team. 15 Pounds for a tour of the stadium, we ll have pictures posted so u can decide if it was worth the money, haha.
We stayed for two nights in his house and than had to leave for Daniel's place in Cambridge.
As there was no internet connection at his house, reality suddenly dawned upon us when he said " so how are you guys getting to cambridge"
..."we're going to try to hitchhike " "how are u doing it ?" * silly smiles appearing*... " oh man, you boys dont know what you are doing eh, interesting " * silly smiles appears on Iain's face also....

Richard, Kenni, Jason and i went for the evening Choral service in Westminster Abbey, sure photography was not allowed but i couldnt stop my camera from having a sneak peak at such an bone chilling place.

Warning, this entry only reflects my thoughts and experiences at the 2 churches and is no way doing justice to the majesty of them.

Westminster Abbey

As i sit awestruck during the service, my head couldnt help turining aroung * im usually very attentive during service I was going dizzy ! Everything was so detailed, from the roof which was uniquely shaped (some sections were painted and tiled * i believe by hand) to the floor which was covered in inscriptions. The entire church was splattered with Sculptures of different people ( the one im sitting beside dates 1752, Holy smokes ! ) The chandeliers were stunning, reflecting light in a slightly different way each time you look at it. The pillars were another thing altogether, each pillar was carved in such a way that it resembled many smaller pillars fused together to become a bigger one, with all these being said, no single thing was similar or duplicated, each pillar was different from the one beside it * amazing right !
Lastly what really took my breath away were the stained glass that covered the sides of the buildings, absolutely surreal.
A wave of emotions and peace sweap through me as i gaze admiringly at it. They were just beautiful and no Art piece i had ever encountered could ever hold a candle to it. Maybe this is what defines Art, It hits you, leaving you stunned and amazed in awe, and after allows you a moment of serenity and calmness as you enjoy it beauty.
Very Similar to God;s amazing Love and Grace, it hits you, and you think how can something like this ever exist, but when you finally enjoy it and experience it, you are left with a sense of fulfilment and contentment. Off course Westminster Abbey cannot compare with God's Love but thats just an illustration

St Paul's Cahedral

After seeing Westminster abbey, a friend josh said St Paul's was bigger and better, i was sceptical thinking, how can any thing be any better. Oh well... Jason and i walked to St Paul's from Elephant and castle the next day ( if u google it, its quite a walk )
When we arrived....duh duh duh, yes we were blown away again, especially Jason haha, who couldnt stop taking picture of it !
My description of it can never be appropriate to what you will experience when you see it for yourself, so if u are thinking " should i go see St Paul's cathedral ? "... " YES ! YES ! YES "
We again went for the evening Choral service, as the entrance fee to have a look around was 14 pounds ! money we never had
Its Epic la, my vocab is running out, glorious majestic....indescribable. Except this time instead of the Stained glass in Westminster, St Paul's had an absolutely amazing ceiling, which i believed was hand painted and woah, u could just stare at it for hours, this time though the choir and sermon was more audible and a preacher from australia was preaching. He was preaching about God leaving the 99 sheep to find the 1 lost sheep and it was a really good sermon, but what brought tears to my eyes were what he said in the closing " Do you believe that you, as a mere mortal... a Sinner can change heaven... yes, the bible tells us that heaven rejoices when a sinner repents...when u choose to repent...God rejoices ! Entire heaven rejoices ! " He than went to quote Luke 15:7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Blessings and bye bye
Wish u were here !