Coatepec is a city near Xalapa, around 20 minutes away on a bus (MXN$10-11). 
It’s a magical town with nice buildings around. 
Very typical of the Diaz era. 
The main church (not a cathedral). 
I bought loads of stuff there. It’s totally obsessed with coffee. 
There’s also a tourist office even though I don’t think there are that many tourists. 
Typical colourful houses. 
The back of the main church. 
The tower at the top of a hill (around 20 minutes from the centre). 
Totally uneventful, but it’s on the same hill where you can see the city, so I guess it’s still worth going. (There’s also rubbish inside.)
culture
Beijing, China
The Great Wall of China, one of the New7Wonders and CANNOT be seen from space.
Beijing is very close to certain sections of the wall – around an hour and a half – and it’s easy and cheap to organize a private car tour.
Where the Tiananmen Massacre took place.
I have been to Beijing before, but I don’t have the pictures with it, so I figured I would just pop over to the Great Wall and snap a few shots. There are of course many other historical buildings, including the Forbidden City, within Beijing city.
Since this section is close to the capital, there are many tourists. And they are from all over the world.
I was very lucky as in the beginning, it was extremely foggy, but it got cleared up after around 15 minutes.
Varanasi, India
Varanasi is the holiest city in Hinduism and it sits on the sacred river The Ganga.
Hindus believe that it’s the best place to die, and many do bring the bodies to be burnt at one of these many ghats into the river.
The riverbank was largely peaceful, unlike the unclean and noisy streets behind them (Indians can’t seem to stop honking no matter what). The ghats all have their own unique designs.
Interestingly, despite the ghats looking so massive, there actually isn’t much inside (no space or anything), presumably because people burn the bodies on the bank for them to sink into the river.
It’s wonderful walking along the river doing nothing, listening to Alanis Morissette’s “Thank U”.
The water of the river is considered holy, despite the fact that it is in reality extremely polluted. Here you can see people drying their cloths.
Wi-Fi is prevalent in India, and everything is quite cheap.
In the suburb of Varanasi, is Sarnath, one of the holiest towns in Buddhism, as the place where Lord Buddha first preached, upon His enlightenment.
It’s a town packed with temples funded by foreign Buddhist countries.
The Chinese Temple.
A mosque.
One of the main activities is to go on a boat into the river, whether it’s to go upstream/downstream, or just to the other side (which has nothing but horses).
Hindus doing their laundry.
I’m not entirely what these stations are for, but I’m guess it does have something to do with the preparations for the funerals.
An archaeological site in Sarnath. Don’t remember what this was.
The famed burning ghat. Very smoky.
People “swimming” or rather soaking themselves in the sacred river.
The famous sunset of Varanasi.
The ghats were built only on one side of the river.
Not too far from the city, is a magnificent fort called Chunar Fort. I paid an auto rickshaw driver 1000 rupees to take me there, wait a while, and back. It’s not a big place but still decent and is a good place to visit for a morning.
Jaipur, India
On the way from Agra to Jaipur, I stopped by this place with a temple.
As well as a step well.
Jaipur was the capital of a powerful who maintained quasi-independence even during the British colonial era as the King made friends with them.
It’s known as the “pink city”, as when His Royal Highness Albert, the Prince Consort visited, they painted the entire city pink, after the wind palace here. Nowadays, the city isn’t that pink any more, and the King actually repainted the wind palace mostly yellow.
The Amber Fort is outside the city proper of Jaipur, and was the royal residence.
The floating palace. Now a governmental building.
The royal palace was heavily fortified with many random alleys. This is the centre of it, the dining place as well as the bathing areas for the queens.
The Scottish delicacy chicken tikka masala.
The observatory.
Even though the King was Hindu, the palace was built mostly in an Islamic style.
The wind palace, its main attraction.
On this trip, practically the only magnificent structures not built by Muslims.
Agra, India
Agra, an ancient capital of Muslim Indian Empire, as well as modern-day India’s biggest tourist draw.
The Taj from the palace.
Entrance to Taj Mahal.
The Taj isn’t just one building but a big complex of structures.
Leaving Agra, I also visited this gem.
Entering the Taj, the door frame acts as a photo frame.
The palace complex I passed by on the way to Jaipur.
Even though India as a whole seemed very dirty, chaotic, and underdeveloped, the Taj Mahal was truly magnificent, and when you’re far enough, you don’t even see the people in your photo.
Opposite to the Taj.
Ruins leading to the palace.
Agra Fort is another attraction in this city.
The Taj is accompanied by two of this, one a hall, one a mosque, but look the same from the outside.
Agra Fort was the palace for the Emperor and he built it so he could always look at the Taj, where his beloved wife was buried.
I didn’t go into this stopping point, but there are several open areas as well.
Entrance to the Agra Fort.
Where the Emperor spent the rest of his days when his son overthrew him.
The pool gives a reflection of the Taj and that’s why this platform is a very popular photo spot.
Into the paid area of Fatehpur Sikri.
New Delhi, India
The largest mosque in New Delhi. A ticket is needed for photographs inside the complex.
The tomb of a Muslim emperor.
The main attraction in Delhi.
New Delhi, or just Delhi, is the capital of India, and has been since the last British colonial days. Before that, the Islamic Empire also once set it as its capital.
In Hinduism, cows are holy animals, and they walk around everywhere in India. But the holy ones are the female ones, not the buffalos.
Red Fort.
Unlike in Hinduism, where people cremate corpses, Muslims bury their bodies and thus monuments such as these were built.
The India Gate, built by the British for the Indian lives lost in WWI.
Evidence that the complex used to be a Hindu temple.
A step well. A very deep well that has the area next to it dug in order for the dropping water to be obtained easily.
The metropolis is the second biggest in the heavily populated country. Perhaps because I have lived most of my lives in heavily populated cities, it didn’t seem to be particularly populated to me.
But it’s quite dirty and messy, and the air was absolutely awful. I developed a pretty bad cough from the very first day, and don’t forget I already live in Mexico City, one of the cities that’s known for their poor air quality.
Indian spices from the big spice market. I bought some tea leaves and powder for fish tikka.
The base on an unfinished tower.
Most of the impressive structures built in India today seemed to have been built by Muslims.
Very dirty water.
The Oxonian Experience (Part 2 of Oxford), England
The biggest benefit of living in Oxford – you get to meet Prof Richard Dawkins fairly often.
This is part 2 of Oxford city. The post will focus on the life of residing in Oxford, rather than just introducing the sights.
This is of course not going to be a comprehensive guide, and I don’t have the photos to demonstrate everything (some intentionally withheld as I don’t want to post photos where my friends’ faces are visible).
The typical applicant may start their Oxonian experience by going to an open day. Staff and current students work on the days as helpers and we get a free exclusive Oxford-branded t-shirt as a gift.
There are many different information sessions so you will need to do your research before getting there, as even walking through the city looking at the buildings would cost you the entire day.
Congratulations! You have been accepted and you have met your offer!
After your first week, you are expected to show up for matriculation, the official ceremony that makes you a member of the University. You have to do it in your first two terms or you’re sent down. If you are a graduate who has attended Cambridge, Trinity College Dublin, or Oxford as an undergraduate, you go for the aforementioned incorporation route instead. Basically, you don’t do anything and you get an instant degree just by living another day.
Us matriculants, with our gowns – either the commoner’s gown for undergrads or the advanced students’ gown for grads – wait our turn to sit in the Sheldonian Theatre. The latter gown is a full version of the former. You will need your gown for many events, such as certain dinners at your college, your graduation, your examinations (if you do one at the Examination Schools in person), your viva (if you’re a doctoral candidate), the honorary degree ceremony (if you manage to get a ticket), and if unfortunately you are being disciplined.
The mortarboard/cap is a controversial part of this. Many say you don’t wear it before you’ve graduated, but that’s just a myth. In reality, no-one cares when you’re outdoors, and traditionally, you’re only asked to take it off indoors (if you’re a man) before it’d be improper for a man to wear a hat indoors.
After the ceremony, you go to your college and take individual and group photos. And you eat.
You don’t just walk around with your gown, but with your sub-fusc. In Latin, it means dark brown; at Oxford, it means this – shirt with black trousers/skirts (with a suit if you’re a man), white or black bowtie, or black necktie (white bows are the traditional and most common one), or a black ribbon if like Shania Twain, you feel like a woman (you don’t have to actually be a woman to go for the traditionally feminine rendition of this). If you don’t want the cap, you wear a soft cap (feminine alternative) – but you can’t take it off if you choose that option. Very, very few people go for a soft cap.
If you don’t have the correct attire, you can actually be denied entry. Your college may ask you to buy something on the spot, or maybe someone will be able to lend you something.
A big part of student life is to go to the Oxford Union.
The Oxford Union is not the students’ union but a debating society. It has produced many prominent politicians such as some British prime ministers, the first female prime minister in the Islamic world, as well as other people like Secretary Boris Johnson, former mayor of London.
Many famous people, such as Shakira, Michael Jackson, Stephen Fry, Sir Ian McKellan, and President Dilma of Brazil have spoken at the Union.
If you’re very keen, you may participate in student politics here. If you’re active enough, you may get the title “union hack”.
I never really cared for the union but I was a representative for social sciences graduates at the Oxford University Student Union (used to be called OUSU, now Oxford SU). I sat on the University’s Social Sciences Board, Social Sciences Graduate Studies Committee, and Social Sciences Library Committee. It was an extremely interesting experience.
After that, you will probably start going into other colleges just to sightsee. This was from Hertford College.
Then you will also need to study. This was taken in the library of the OUP.
How about some sports? Not good at sports? Don’t worry!
There’s always quidditch. Yes, the one from Harry Potter. It’s for everyone.
Along with my other stuff, I volunteered a lot.
I was the coordinator and English tutor at St Gregory’s The Great Catholic School for the Schools Plus programme at Oxford Hub. I was a trainer and active listener at Oxford Nightline. I was a mentor at IntoUniversity.
As a member of Hong Kong Round Table, I joined Oxford Round Table as a guest member and helped them out with the annual Fawkes’s night bonfire and fieworks.
We had to build it up very tall.
Some people just like to watch the world burn.
You probably will join societies and attend events.
This was a talk with the Chancellor of the University, The Rt Hon Lord Patten, advisor to His Holiness The Pope, former chairman of the Conservative and Unionist Party, former Secretary of State, former European Commissioner, former chairman of the BBC Trust, and of course the last governor of Hong Kong.
That was an event organized by the Oxford University Conservative Association (OUCA). It was free to join during freshers’ week.
Inevitably, you will want to try punting. It’s quite physical and not that easy, but still fun.
Lots of ducks.
If you’re a graduate student, you may also do some graduate stuff like making an academic presentation.
I was presenting my research on Ed Ball’s Day.
If you’re lucky, you can see a day of snow!
Needless to say, there are many student parties but I’m not going to post any of those photos. They are called “bops”.
To make a tiny little bit of money, you can also volunteer at your college. This was me stealing a Master of Arts as a helper. We had a graduation ceremony that day.
I got a ticket to the encarnia, the honorary degree ceremony! Dame Hilary Mantel was honored there.
Towards the end of the year, you get to the balls’ season. (There are balls throughout the year but most of them are in May/June.)
I went to my college’s ball and pictured above was at Magd’s ball. Some balls are black tie, few are white. The white ones are more expensive and more formal. Different colleges do different things, but it’s basically a night of excessive drinking until 3am.
Gay pride. LGBT History month is a big thing at Oxford with many colleges flying the rainbow flag, even some of the religious PPHs.
In the end, you graduate.
I actually missed my own ceremony – we can delay for however long we want, but I didn’t want to wait, and I didn’t realize there were ceremonies during the summer as well, so I opted to graduate in absentia.
I went back this summer partly to take photos. Different degrees get different colours on the hood, and different levels of degree get different types of gown.
That’s Keble College. I thought it was absolutely beautiful from the inside, but back in the days, people hated it. St John’s College has/had this thing to steal one brick from Keble at a time until it collapses (it was built on John’s land).
If you have a bike, you will need to secure it. Oxford and Cambridge are the Top 2 cities in the nation for bike theft.
My department’s garden, As a graduate student, you get a mail box not just at your college (and wherever you’re living in), but also at your department. You also get two email addresses – one with your college’s name in it, one with your department like the one used by academics.
Inside of my college.
Exeter College.
Your thesis, if you have one, is forever stored in the Bodleian Libraries (even though it may be in the closed stack if it’s old). If you were awarded distinction, you get a sticker (pictured above).
As for the study experience, the undergrad and postgrad experiences are quite different, and different postgrads courses certainly vary depends on your discipline and specific course. But if you have a question, you’re welcome to ask me!
I did quite a lot during my year, actually. Apart from the above and the parties and normal socials and pulling and a student union representative (I even attended an NUS conference in London), I was a coordinating tutor at St Gregory’s The Great Catholic School on the Schools Plus programme at Oxford Hub, a mentor for IntoUniversity, and trainer at Oxford Nightline.
Beyond being an MSc, a member of Kellogg and the Education Department, I have several more connections to Oxford. I’m a life donor of the Bod, a “friend” of Exeter, and one of my exes went to Magdalen. I was, for two years, also a “country champion” at Oxford Education Society.
With my Oxford part concluding (for now), I’m planning to update this blog only periodically. I’m currently thinking of one update per week. We will see I guess!
London, England
Sun is in the sky oh why oh why do I wanna be anywhere else
The Tower Bridge, not London Bridge. Silly Fergie.
Many people think LDN is the best city in the world, and I did think that the first time I went to the capital of my “motherland”, but after going many, many times I changed my mind.
As far as big cities go, as far as historical buildings are concerned, the English metropolis is definitely up there. Whilst Rome, my favourite historical city, felt more impressive, London felt alive. The structures are all still fairly “imperial” but feel at the same time lively, as if the Empire is still going on (btw, counting all of UK’s actual possessions, the Sun still hasn’t set on the fallen empire).
Bridge opening!
But there are more than a few problems with the seat of Mother Theresa May – traffic is often quite horrid, public transportation is waaaay too costly, cars don’t stop for you at all, and people actually jump the queue. At least the air quality is now much better than what it used to be the first time I went, when I met The Queen of Pop Madonna (16 August 2006), possibly thanks to the American-born Secretary Johnson.
Many Brits will dispute my last complaint, but it’s really been my experience that Londoners don’t queue well at all. At one point, every time I popped over the London, someone cut in front of me. And I’m not talking queuing for buses, which Britons don’t do anyway. I’m talking about when a couple of people just walking past everyone into Heaven (and a girl saying “sorry” to us as if it meant anything), I’m talking about me waiting to get to the ATM and people just walked right in front of me.
I was honestly very frustrated cuz they weren’t even Chinese tourists or anything.
Also, all the loos charge. Whilst the rest of Britain doesn’t have the practice, the city somehow adopted what I assumed to be the continental convention of charging for a public convenience (except for the pop-up urinals, which I’ve never used). During the day, it’s not too bad – I could simply go into a museum for some free water and a free trip to the lavatory, but after 6pm or so it’s just upsetting.
Whitehall Palace, where the homosexual Scottish King James Stuart (of the King’s James’s Bible) used to live.
I think it’s supposed to be the largest palace complex in Europe of its time or something.
Nowadays, tourists don’t get to see much other than its exteriors (can’t even see the door to No 10), but it’s got a fairly interesting little wartime museum with the actual wartime cabinet room and all that. That’s worth going. With the audio guide, there were way too many cables on my body though. It’s called the Churchill War Rooms.
The Imperial War Museum was another good one, wherever it was. Natural History Museum was at one point my favourite, especially with the dinosaur and beautiful architecture, and then I discovered the priceless Victoria and Albert Museum.
Sure, go to the British Museum too. But it literally smells because they have to restrict ventilation to keep Cleopatra immaculate or something.
The Palace of Westminster, better known as the Houses of Parliament. I know Arrested Development (great show) somehow claimed there to be three houses of parliament, but in reality, there are only two – the House of Commons and the House of Peers Lords. The former is elected entirely by the British and Commonwealth residents electorates based on an incredibly unrepresentative first-past-the-post system, whilst the latter is mostly former politicians or otherwise rich people appointed by Her Majesty’s governments with a significant number of “spiritual” peers, ie bishops and archbishops of The Church of England. The CofE officers are somehow the elected component of this House.
Contrary to popular belief, heredity peers can no longer sit in the Lords, and so even though those aristocratic families, such as the one both Diana, Princess of Wales and Sir Winston Churchill belonged to (despite their different surnames) are still ruling Great Britain after a millennium, Lord Spencer and The Duke of Westminster and William Cambridge aren’t the people you see voting and debating in the chamber.
Additionally, they can only really delay but not block many of the bills now. Something to do with Sir Winston threatening to create instant peers just to outvote the rest of the House.
Even though the Commons has been populated mostly by Tory and Labour MPs for quite some time, the Lib Dems are still a big force in the Lords (while the Greens, for example, have exactly one in each – The Rt Hon Baroness Jones and Dr The Hon Lucas) due to the historical significance of the Liberal Party (no relations to Tony Abbott’s).
If Oxford was an actual political party, it would be a big force in both houses.
The Globe Theatre – another Shakespeare spot.
I don’t remember what I saw actually…
The seats weren’t comfortable but I guess it was better than standing in the sun. The witches didn’t curse this one so I didn’t have to save the world while The Doctor was away.
Probs the most popular thing to do around Whitehall.
I literally got out of the tube not to go to Harrod’s but to take a photo of the not-TARDIS. Needless to say, the President of the World wasn’t in.
One thing I didn’t know and found out afterwards was that it was actually possible to do a parliamentary tour all year round.
Very few places were photography allowed and tbf the throne, which was not to be photographed so as to not to such Her Majesty’s royal aura out of it, was the main thing I wanted to document. Still learned quite a bit.
On the day of the pride parade, Scotland declares the UK’s two constituent countries to be Scotland and the gays.
The finish point. Love don’t live there anymore.
Can you see Hong Kong’s flag?
The parade was a bit odd, and reasonably there was a little protest as well – it was all barricaded and everyone was required to go with a group. A bit restrictive and more like a Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade with more product placements than in all of Katy Perry’s videos combined.
One must not visit London without also experiencing an alien invasion.
EXTERMINATE!
Seriously though, London was a great place for musicals and theatres. I saw The Book of Mormon and The Cursed Child this summer. I likewise paid a brief visit to the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, where I was elected a fellow two years ago but never actually been.
I’m a snake just like the Grammy winning who’s sitting at No 1 on iTunes. #keepthesecrets
The play was fine and I’m not going to write an actual review, but I was quite disappointed. I felt it was dragged on too long and lacked focus. It was probably intentionally but the real cursed child didn’t even show up until rather late. The narrative was just all over the place.
Stratford-upon-Avon, England
The biggest-selling writer of all-time’s hometown is very popular but only really just because of Shakespeare, who didn’t even develop his career there.
It’s by no means a horrid town to be in, and if anything it’s a good, possibly typical, small English town.
It’s a pretty river too. And this boy was so adorable.
This was Shakespeare’s home or something.
jagged little earth 