Day 1: 1st June 08, Sunday
Singgahsana lodge has a homelike atmosphere, carpets, lounge chairs and the no-shoes policy which I simply love. bed was the oh-so-familiar ikea silver metal-frame bunkbed. With a familiar set of blankets. The public corridors and lounge spaces would be home to all 40 students, where working and lying on the floor till wee-hours of the morning would be common over the next 2 weeks.
Dinner/supper at khatulistiwa café till early in the morning 1 or 2am. a long wait for the food. The first look at Sarawak river.
Day 2: 2nd June 08, Monday
The first feel of the shophouses around the area. The vibrancy of the life in kuching. Lectures about kuching and the shophouses. Trapdoors, timber frames, rafters, louvered windows and clay tile roofs. The modified, the new and the old. The government-institutions- and the people-shophouses. Appreciate: the beauty of the river, the mountains and the vegetation. Getting to know: the richness of the area.
煮炒Dinner @ taman kereta. Food for 50 people takes a long time to come. Starting to understand the pace of the place.
Day 3: 3rd June 08, Tuesday
Say hi to the market! The vibrancy of the place can never be forgotten. The start of the urban study that will teach us that nothing is messy, only vibrant. Getting to know almost a whole new group of people. Pandas and artists and technical specialists, people with their own take on things and the study. Understanding different cultures and the language barrier. First sight of the fish market left me captivated by its architecture and the everyday processes going on in and around the building.
Gambier street, india street, the South Indian mosque, lorong yang sempit (a narrow lane that cuts from gambier street to india street), lorong kaijoo and associated streets deeper from the river. To be inseparable for the next 4 weeks.
Day 4: 4th June 08, Wednesday
Falling for the friendliness of the people. Conversation became easy. Finally got to involve myself in 1st hand experiences with the locals, asking and sharing, in the course of architecture. Which is what I feel it should be about. Learning the stories of the area or the back streets overshadowed by the market and india street. An area that we could have touched on more in the urban study. Former coffin street and etc. appreciating the journey through these streets, the variety of experiences formed by the buildings and the ‘organic growth’ (to quote). Learning: that everything is there for a practical reason.
Day 5: 5th June 08, Thursday
Getting in touch with the market itself. Understanding the reluctance to move to Stutong market and their resignation to their fate. Learning and appreciating the layers of history marked and recorded in the building. Seeing everyday life played out. Appreciating every process that goes on in the market. Maybe it’s because I’m a kid from the city. Seeing the layers of activities and how they are all interconnected and dependent on each other.
Day 6: 6th June 08, Friday
Butter papers, notebooks full of interview information, laptops filled with pictures strewn all over the tables, floors, chairs of singgahsana lodge. Legs, arms everywhere. Maps, sketches. All rushing for the presentation.
Another presentation on Monday doesn’t sound appetizing.
Labels: architecture, kuching, reflections
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