Letter to her #5

Hey you:

Disclaimer: This letter, other than 2nd paragraph, is filled with an amazing amount of abstract idea from a person that can't publish a book (I.e. he sucked, and chained a lot of silly ideas together) So, I really don't mind if you pretend this email don't' exist ha!

Finally! An email! (albeit no beginning and ending titles :P) from you that's a lot more touristy! These are perfect for the back of the post cards, since well... other than offering you some random facts about the country you've been to I really can't express myself further from this email ha! (I.E. This is good 流水帳ha!)

So yeah, it's not suprising that the city, although being a Slovakia's Capital, doesn't have many distinct culture of it's own, since the country's population is separated as 42% German, 41% Hungarian and 15% Slovak population, guess that's why the building is a mixture of European cultures, but the most interesting fact is, only poor people move to Slovakia during that time, perhaps that's also why none of the buildings are as glamorous as it could've been. Another fun fact is that Vienna took the "Crown Jewel" (Crown of Jesus) in 1783 in an attempt to strengthen the union between Austria and Hungary. Also most of their buildings were demolished during the WW2 bombing by the allies. Yep, they speak a mixture of Hungarian, German and Slovaki however Hungarian is their official government language.

I would've thought it might remind you of 圓明園 in China? Both being destroyed, although 圓明園 probably had a lot more interesting "left overs" with burnt marks and of course, the culture background of ours, guess that would also ignite the passion for our own distinct culture being destroyed. (Yes yes I realize 圓明園 is also a mixture of Western/Eastern design.) For me, I would've felt less sympathy/interest in the ruins of Bratislava, simply because it's a lot more distant in terms of both history and culture.

Isn't it amazing how a 2 hour train could take you to a completely different world? It really puts the "Walk a few steps aside, and then 海闊天空" in context, a simple change in location brought about such subtle change to your traveling experience, and to put it in a more... abstract term, a simple change in how you look at things, from a different perspective, then your experiences would be totally different as well, and hopefully giving you more comfort in the things that happened/happening/will happen.

We really are lucky to have traveled to so many different places at such young age... only by comparing, could we ever realize how good/bad our lives really are at this moment, I am sure this traveling experience would help shape you into a different person, giving you more and more understanding of the world as a whole, rather than just a few countries. Of course, seeing everything with your eyes is way different than reading/watching it (Except Wikipedia! Ha!)

Reading about your appreciation for "destroyed beauty" really showed how subjective arts are, and pretty much everything that's an expression of human emotions... can't be measured in a true and fair way, we all get different type of epiphany while looking at a piece of art work. At the end, I am glad that you enjoyed the less glamorous part of this trip :), it really showed that travelling with you will always be fun. After all, like we talked about on MSN, everything is an experience right? Unless you are dragging me to eat TWnese while in Antarctica or something, then I would get angry!! I want to eat penguins.

Lastly (yes yes, you sighed a relief, I know, I don't know how I managed to write so much abstract craps from a "fact" letter from you ha!) we could only appreciate the beauty of a "whole" building if we've seen it blown apart. We only ever learn about appreciation after something had been taken away from us. So.... London and Budapest should be super pretty for you now, relatively!

Took a look at Budapest's riverside night-sight, really awesome! It's very similar to SH's one, will show you some pictures.

Looks like it's time for movie, so I am gonna stop here... I know I've typed too much already XD.

Long-windedly (This is not a real word)
Me

P.S. I got a feeling you are challenging me to see how long I could write based on what you sent me :P