A tree in Bosnia
In this dream I am in Bosnia. In real life I've never thougt of going there, and actually know very little of the country except that there was a war there when I was in high school in the 90s.
My high school friend Susie and I are in a small town in Bosnia, high up in the mountains. There's something about mountain towns - the sunshine seems to be extra bright and the air is fresh with a whiff of the soil. The streets are narrow and cobblestoned, like in many small European towns. The vendors at the market had just a few goods displayed carefully on wooden carts. We could have been anywhere, but I knew we were in Bosnia.
We were looking for the right kind of sweet pastries. There was a row of vendors selling different types - some looked like French style laminated pastries and others were more like the condensed Middle Eastern style baklava. We were looking for the perfect pastry. We stopped to talk to one of the pastry sellers but we could not understand each other due to the language barrier. We decided to buy some of his pastries, and I reached into my bag to get some money.
I realise with a start that I'm not carrying a handbag or backpack like I normally would be in these sorts of travel situations. Instead I am carrying a thin and flimsy black garbage bag, like those large bin liners. Inside were bundles and bundles of cash, some of it neatly packaged and other bills just scattered about. There was no way for me to tell how much there was or even what currency it was - I didn't want to draw attention to myself in the busy marketplace.
I hastily gave the pastry man a few notes and we moved onto the next stand where the man sold shoes. These were not normal shoes and the display was haphazard, in complete contrast to the food displays. On closer inspection they were all shoes that were worn to within an inch of its life - some of the soles were peeling and many had holes. Susie said we should buy some shoes and try to fix them. The shoe seller asked us in broken English where we were from, and we tried to have a conversation with much difficulty.
While Susie was rifling through the shoes, he took out an old map, like those hand drawn ones in Lord of the Rings, and showed us a few things. We were in the north of Bosnia, just north of the capital (which was not Sarajevo in the dream). He pointed to a few places of interest, and pictures flashed up of those places. When he pointed to a road southwest of the capital that led to the neighbouring country, I realised that this road went from Bosnia to Macedonia. Along the way, he pointed out a place of interest and the picture that flashed up was that of a giant tree.
In the picture, the tree was so huge its dimensions could not be determined. One could not see the complete width of the roots and the top of the tree was nowhere near the top of the picture. The belly of the tree seemed to have been bust open and inside it was a cave. The light streamed into the cave, seemingly swallowed up in its depths. I knew immediately that I had to go there. I looked back at the map and it said the town nearby was "Gun Locks".
I was suddenly aware of the large bag of money... what am I supposed to do with this huge amount of money, in rural Bosnia of all places? How do I get to the tree? Then I woke up.
Lost in Shanghai
In this dream, I was going to Shanghai Bo Ai Hospital (where I did my medical school elective in 2005). In real life I used to take the bus from my aunt's place to subway line 1 and 7 stops later I would be at the nearest stop, and then it was a 10 minute walk. All up the commute would take me about an hour.
In the dream, I was staying with a different family. I'm not sure exactly who they were, maybe some family friends. It was an older couple with a daughter around 30, very thin with long straight hair and glasses. She looked very introverted and barely spoke. The mother told me that I should take her with me so she could also see the way to the hospital. We started walking to the subway, but once we left the apartment building I realised I had no idea where we were.
I asked the girl if she knew where the subway station was and she said she had no idea. I asked her if she knew which line subway it was and she said she had no idea as well. I asked her her home address and she said she didn't know! I looked at my phone but of course Google maps doesn't work in China. We were on a busy street with plenty of cars and bikes passing, but strangely no pedestrians. I thought we could walk along the street and eventually we would see something that would give a suggestion to where we were.
We kept walking till we came to a collection of shops around a square. It looked quite modern with several luxury item shops and coffee shops. I decided to look for someone to ask for directions, and that was when I realised my right sandal was broken. What was I thinking, wearing sandals to the hospital? I asked myself in the dream. Never mind, I'll pick something up somewhere.
Then I realised that all the shops were sealed up because of Covid and there was no way to enter any of them, even though I could see people inside. After walking around for a while, I spotted a Citibank branch with a security guard outside. I half walked, half ran towards him with my broken sandal and clueless girl in tow. The security guard was very kindly and gave us detailed instructions on how to get to the subway station. I thought both the presence of Citibank and the friendliness of the guard meant we could not be in Shanghai anymore?
We walked around the corner and made another few turns as the security guard had suggested, finally arriving at "TK Square". I looked for the characteristic signs of Shanghai metro but there were only shops (also sealed up) all around. Finally we found an escalator going underground, and a bunch of symbols on the sign that I didn't understand. I thought once we get underground it must be easier to find the subway, so I dragged the girl onto the escalator, though she looked reluctant.
At the bottom of the very long escalator was a wet market. Full of vegetables and fruit, but lacking that vibrancy of a normal market. It was fairly dim underground, the air terribly stale as if things had been rotting there for some time. There were no people around, and all the little piles of produce looked sad and forgotten. I dragged the girl through the aisles of vegetables until we saw a group of 6 or 7 people gathered around what looked like the fish stand.
"Go away!" A man shouted at us when we were still about 20m away
"Excuse me, we are trying to find the subway station." I shouted back.
"Can't you see we are filming the next episode of Masterchef here?" He shouted back angrily.
We got closer and all the contestants were holding various parts of fish that I had never seen before. It must have been fantastical fish from another universe. What were they?
Everyone ignored us while we stood watching them clean and slice the fish parts. The girl tugged at my sleeve and asked if we could go. I was transfixed by the cooking show and I just needed to know what the mystery ingredients were.
"All right, everyone ready?" The head producer man called out.
The cameras started rolling. "Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the next challenge." He said brightly, totally in a different character to the terribly angry man he had been towards us.
"Today's mystery ingredient is..." A drum roll sounded and contestants held up whatever part they were slicing.
".... Fish penis!" He announced triumphantly.
"But fish are not reproductive mammals, they don't have penises!" I blurted out before I realised I would also be on TV. Or do they? I thought, then I woke up.
In this dream I am in Bosnia. In real life I've never thougt of going there, and actually know very little of the country except that there was a war there when I was in high school in the 90s.
My high school friend Susie and I are in a small town in Bosnia, high up in the mountains. There's something about mountain towns - the sunshine seems to be extra bright and the air is fresh with a whiff of the soil. The streets are narrow and cobblestoned, like in many small European towns. The vendors at the market had just a few goods displayed carefully on wooden carts. We could have been anywhere, but I knew we were in Bosnia.
We were looking for the right kind of sweet pastries. There was a row of vendors selling different types - some looked like French style laminated pastries and others were more like the condensed Middle Eastern style baklava. We were looking for the perfect pastry. We stopped to talk to one of the pastry sellers but we could not understand each other due to the language barrier. We decided to buy some of his pastries, and I reached into my bag to get some money.
I realise with a start that I'm not carrying a handbag or backpack like I normally would be in these sorts of travel situations. Instead I am carrying a thin and flimsy black garbage bag, like those large bin liners. Inside were bundles and bundles of cash, some of it neatly packaged and other bills just scattered about. There was no way for me to tell how much there was or even what currency it was - I didn't want to draw attention to myself in the busy marketplace.
I hastily gave the pastry man a few notes and we moved onto the next stand where the man sold shoes. These were not normal shoes and the display was haphazard, in complete contrast to the food displays. On closer inspection they were all shoes that were worn to within an inch of its life - some of the soles were peeling and many had holes. Susie said we should buy some shoes and try to fix them. The shoe seller asked us in broken English where we were from, and we tried to have a conversation with much difficulty.
While Susie was rifling through the shoes, he took out an old map, like those hand drawn ones in Lord of the Rings, and showed us a few things. We were in the north of Bosnia, just north of the capital (which was not Sarajevo in the dream). He pointed to a few places of interest, and pictures flashed up of those places. When he pointed to a road southwest of the capital that led to the neighbouring country, I realised that this road went from Bosnia to Macedonia. Along the way, he pointed out a place of interest and the picture that flashed up was that of a giant tree.
In the picture, the tree was so huge its dimensions could not be determined. One could not see the complete width of the roots and the top of the tree was nowhere near the top of the picture. The belly of the tree seemed to have been bust open and inside it was a cave. The light streamed into the cave, seemingly swallowed up in its depths. I knew immediately that I had to go there. I looked back at the map and it said the town nearby was "Gun Locks".
I was suddenly aware of the large bag of money... what am I supposed to do with this huge amount of money, in rural Bosnia of all places? How do I get to the tree? Then I woke up.
Lost in Shanghai
In this dream, I was going to Shanghai Bo Ai Hospital (where I did my medical school elective in 2005). In real life I used to take the bus from my aunt's place to subway line 1 and 7 stops later I would be at the nearest stop, and then it was a 10 minute walk. All up the commute would take me about an hour.
In the dream, I was staying with a different family. I'm not sure exactly who they were, maybe some family friends. It was an older couple with a daughter around 30, very thin with long straight hair and glasses. She looked very introverted and barely spoke. The mother told me that I should take her with me so she could also see the way to the hospital. We started walking to the subway, but once we left the apartment building I realised I had no idea where we were.
I asked the girl if she knew where the subway station was and she said she had no idea. I asked her if she knew which line subway it was and she said she had no idea as well. I asked her her home address and she said she didn't know! I looked at my phone but of course Google maps doesn't work in China. We were on a busy street with plenty of cars and bikes passing, but strangely no pedestrians. I thought we could walk along the street and eventually we would see something that would give a suggestion to where we were.
We kept walking till we came to a collection of shops around a square. It looked quite modern with several luxury item shops and coffee shops. I decided to look for someone to ask for directions, and that was when I realised my right sandal was broken. What was I thinking, wearing sandals to the hospital? I asked myself in the dream. Never mind, I'll pick something up somewhere.
Then I realised that all the shops were sealed up because of Covid and there was no way to enter any of them, even though I could see people inside. After walking around for a while, I spotted a Citibank branch with a security guard outside. I half walked, half ran towards him with my broken sandal and clueless girl in tow. The security guard was very kindly and gave us detailed instructions on how to get to the subway station. I thought both the presence of Citibank and the friendliness of the guard meant we could not be in Shanghai anymore?
We walked around the corner and made another few turns as the security guard had suggested, finally arriving at "TK Square". I looked for the characteristic signs of Shanghai metro but there were only shops (also sealed up) all around. Finally we found an escalator going underground, and a bunch of symbols on the sign that I didn't understand. I thought once we get underground it must be easier to find the subway, so I dragged the girl onto the escalator, though she looked reluctant.
At the bottom of the very long escalator was a wet market. Full of vegetables and fruit, but lacking that vibrancy of a normal market. It was fairly dim underground, the air terribly stale as if things had been rotting there for some time. There were no people around, and all the little piles of produce looked sad and forgotten. I dragged the girl through the aisles of vegetables until we saw a group of 6 or 7 people gathered around what looked like the fish stand.
"Go away!" A man shouted at us when we were still about 20m away
"Excuse me, we are trying to find the subway station." I shouted back.
"Can't you see we are filming the next episode of Masterchef here?" He shouted back angrily.
We got closer and all the contestants were holding various parts of fish that I had never seen before. It must have been fantastical fish from another universe. What were they?
Everyone ignored us while we stood watching them clean and slice the fish parts. The girl tugged at my sleeve and asked if we could go. I was transfixed by the cooking show and I just needed to know what the mystery ingredients were.
"All right, everyone ready?" The head producer man called out.
The cameras started rolling. "Ladies and gentleman, welcome to the next challenge." He said brightly, totally in a different character to the terribly angry man he had been towards us.
"Today's mystery ingredient is..." A drum roll sounded and contestants held up whatever part they were slicing.
".... Fish penis!" He announced triumphantly.
"But fish are not reproductive mammals, they don't have penises!" I blurted out before I realised I would also be on TV. Or do they? I thought, then I woke up.
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