Urban Study. Meeting New People...

More lectures...and more gift exchanges being made.

Trying out new places is always fun when it comes to food...and on one of the nights, we took the boat to cross over the river to have our dinner. It costs rm0.80 for a return trip.I paid a lil too much that nite. Never went there again..ahaha..
The group got merrier once we were joined by the NUS girls...

Early next morning marked the start of the next part in this joint programme..: the Urban Study Report.
10 of us in group D assigned to study the site within the suggested boundary of Site D.

To make things easier, we split ourselves up into User Demographics, History and Townscape Qualities. Pic taken while having breakfast with them. This particular stall sold air ular. Noone was daring enough to order it tho...*sigh* hahahaha.
Under the sweltering heat, it's always nice to rest under the shade of one of the stalls while ordering a cold drink....but ....it was burning a hole in our pockets! Food and drinks in Kuching are not that cheap....especially when u're constantly on the lookout for halal food. Imagine having to fork out Rm 1.80 minimum everytime u decide to sit down somewhere. Haha..i sound like such a cheapskate...but while in Kuching, i found myself spending more money on water than anything else!
the money spent was all worthwhile tho...when u get to see sights like these...
the mosque has undergone a few renovations and when i went there, was still undergoing construction.

Second day of urban study...
The four of us under townscape qualities actually studied our site together this time around. Unfortunately, something good doesnt last forever. We already knew the state the area we were studying was in....but we didn't think it had gotten that bad. As we walked around, with our big cameras (oops...make that MY big camera) and our sketch books, we received many glances in our direction. Everyone wanted to know what we were doing in that area. Some approached us in a friendly manner...but an incident actually left a bad mark on our stay in Kuching.

" You're not from Kuching. You don't belong here!"...that statement really saddened us. Especially since the old lady who yelled at us did not even consider that we had with us our singaporean counterpart.

"We are not government people"...we said that in our defence.

I guess i understand her worries..Kuching is ever changing and most people do not agree with the rate it is changing. For example , their market was to be demolished on the day we were to leave Kuching ( which is 14th of June) and their scenic waterfront will soon be obstructed by high class hotels....

How i loathe capitalism. How come we think more of profitting than for the benefit of the people? What's worse is that...they say they do it all for the people...

Well...we did meet a few nice people...like the chinese medicine uncle who din mind spending some time explaining the history of the place...and of course the taxi drivers who smiled and posed for my camera.....:D

Ok...i'm ranting too much...pictures pictures!
I think something bit my face in the dormitory...did i always look that chubby?!?!?! XDDDD
Wesley and his watercolour rendering of site D. i helped out a lil?;p
sometimes i pity the poor owner of Singgahsana...40 students (especially archi students) living under the same roof is never a good idea. We kinda trashed the place up what few days we were there. But reli...Singgahsana must be one of the most comfortable backpacker lodge ever! I won't be surprised if i find myself wanting to visit again...

Hitherto, it has been the stories of our urban study ...where we had crits every few nites after collecting data. Will continue soon on our outings and *gasp* MEASURED DRAWING!!!!!