“In order to find yourself, first you must lose yourself.“  I felt rather annoyed by the smug words written in the stupid book in front of me. A supposedly learned treatise on how to live life and feel better. What utter bullshit it was!  How dare they suggest that people should become dysfunctional or desperate, before somehow miraculously stumbling across some sort of supposed salvation. Much better to simply skip the bit about becoming lost and go straight to deliverance!

It was only 10.30 am but who cared? I ordered my English breakfast and a pint of Guinness - the ‘black stuff.’ They were the only things I was going to miss in my new life in Asia. Sure, I had family in England and I would miss some of them some of the time. But, owing to my acrimonious divorce the kids had shunned me. It hurt. My way of dealing with the hurt was to ignore it. It was packed away deep in my mind. There was no turning back and no time for regrets.

After she had been pulled off the bed, the woman lay supine and in horror on the hardwood floor. Her husband, very unsteady on his feet, stood over her body, feeling smug after his demonstration of spineless dominance. His clothes and breath reeked of smoke and alcohol, and a dense haze of delirium clouded his eyes. He slurred something that the woman couldn't fully understand. Having no idea how to respond, she kept quiet. She didn't dare to even breathe or blink. Like a fish out of water, she just lay there, submissive, on the floor, clearly still in shock from what had just transpired. The old bruise on her back began to ache again, pounding a steady rhythm with her racing heart. She wished—if butterfly she could be no more—to be a fish, hiding from the world deep down in an abyss of eternal darkness. She wanted to be anything but a woman who got less respect from her husband than a homeless, hapless beggar.

Nelson Mandela apparently said words to the effect of - 'There's nothing like going back to a place that's never changed in order to realise how much you have altered'

There were so many things to see to before I finally left England and flew back to Thailand. Most of them were connected with finances. It was clear to me that I would have to open a Thai bank account soon after my return. When I wasn’t attending to my finances then I was online connecting to the world.

On the balcony, the woman was busy trying to find a place for the orchids. Her vegetables and herbs were in plastic containers in sizes of rather on the large side, leaving not much room for anything else on the floor. So, for the time being, the woman decided to set the orchids on the concrete guard rail, thinking to hang them from a nail tomorrow when there was daylight.

Chinese customs seem to be going through a cultural change due to the huge generation gap between people who grew up in rural communities and their children who crave smartphones and other things their parents could never afford.

Learned  people inherently knew there were three channels to learn wisdom. The first method was by pondering and reflection, that supposedly was the most noble way. But this was for people smarter than me who sat cross-legged in caves all day and ate nothing but lettuce leaves.

As most of you already know, on China Love Match we pride ourselves on providing good service. However, recently we've had a few issues with members not receiving our emails even though they have verified their addresses with us, which means their own email providers should be accepting our messages into their Inboxes. But it seems that a number of email providers have now started taking it upon themselves to block messages even though the recipient has clearly indicated they wish to receive them.

This India adventure has been interesting. Four months as a Fulbright scholar has offered me the opportunity to interact with Indian college students, Uber drivers, and vegetable vendors; to walk in the footsteps of the Buddha, trace the journey of Rama, and float on the holy Ganges; to view Bollywood movies, Indian art shows, and the classical dance form of Bharatanatyam; to learn the difference among nan, roti, and paratha, as well as that among tabla, tampura, and sitar. In short, to experience first-hand—even if only in a limited and at an ultimately superficial level—India.