5 Days!

See you soon MN!

Last Videos from Myanmar

Here are my last few videos from my trip to Myanamr:

Lunch in Nyuang Shwe (Cut Short by my Limited Camera Memory)

Nyuang Shew A.K.A. The Wild West

A Burmese Train

Goodbye Inle Lake

Goodbye Burma

As a side note, about half way through me trip I thought to myselft, "Wow, I haven't gotten sick yet, this is amazing!" Not I wanted to say something about it on my blog but I didn't want to jinx myself. In fact I never said anything about it out loud at all in efforts not to jinx myself. Either way, I got sick. My last day in Myanmar I felt very sick and on the flight back to Singapore I thought I was going to puke. Now I didn't, but throughout the entire night I had multiple episodes of the scoots. I stayed home from work yesterday to recover. It was the worst sick I have had been throughout SEA so that wasn't too bad. Either way, I am better now. Towards the end of my time in Myanmar all I could think about was how I wanted to move there, or a place similar, but when you aren't feeling well you are very happy to have a nice, first world country to go home to.

Okay, that's all for now.

Best!

Videos from Inle Lake Tour

Good Evening Everyeone!

Today I took a boat tour of Inle Lake. I took many photos, but because of the speed of the internet here in Myanmar have spent too much time uploading the videos and do not have any more energy to upload photos as well. Below are the links for my many videos from today.

And here is one photo I just have to share:

You learn about the Kayan people in school, but who could imagine they would ever see them in real life? Not me! But there they were at one of the stops on my boat trip, weaving scarfs. I picked up two - one for myself and one for my mother. I really do not like the idea of people as tourist attractions, it feels to me like a zoo, but with humans in it. But I just could not resist taking a photo to prove that I actually saw the ladies with the long knecks in real life! Anyways, that is all on that. Enjoy the videos below!

Goodbye Bagan

Good Morning Inle Lake

Panoramic of Inle Lake

Fisherman on Inle Lake

The View from the Boat

Heading into a Town on Inle Lake

Fisherman's Village

Metalworkers Inle Lake

Journey through the Lake Passages

Best!

Bagan (Myanmar Days 3 and 4)

I am currently uploading my videos from the last few days and will spend this time waiting writing a bit about my time here in Bagan. As you can tell, I have switched mostly to a video blog but as I don't capture everything on video I will write a few scentences as well about what I've been up to.

As you likely do not know, Bagan is the ancient city here in Myanmar. There are over 3,000 pagodas and it is absolutely breathtaking. They are literally everywhere (just along the road in many places) and all are accesable. You can walk right up to them, climb all over them, they are in the middle of people's farm land, on hotel property, everywhere. And they are for the most part in very good condition. If I had to compare Bagan to Angkor in Siem Reap, Cambodia (as many people do) I would rank this much higher. Not only are there almost no tourists here (I am here in the off season), it is not nearly as commercial and popular (yet) as Angkor. Everything is more accessible, more real, and many times you go places people still find a lot of uniqueness in your being white - which is cool.

A few cool things to note that were not captured in any of the videos so far:

- I saw an old man tilling his field this morning with a wooden till pulled by two oxen. I sat and watched him awhile. He controlled them almost totally by vocal commands and he had to manuver the oxen around the thousand year old pagodas in the middle of his farm field. It was like I was looking back a few centuries in time. Amazing!

- I have spent many hours the last two days watching TV in the local restaurants. Both yesterday and today in the afternoon (around 4) I found myself at the same restaurant/cafe in Nyaung U watching Burmese soap operas (or maybe movies). Either way, they were so dramatic I could understand them without problem even though I obvisouly do not speak Burmese. Yesterday I enjoyed this time by myself where as today I was accompanied by a very nice Italian, Andrea, who I had dinner with last night and spent the afternoon and evening with today.

- Tonight, after dinner, Andrea and I went to a cafe in our town (New Bagan). This is the same cafe my "First Meal in Bagan" video was filmed at. We spent two hours there tonight enjoying a tea and bottled water while we watched Rise of the Plante of the Apes with about 30 Burmese men. It is a great set-up here in Burma. All the local cafes have nice HD TVs and they play whatever they want. As a patron you watch whatever is being played (can be a soap opera, the football game, a movie, the home shopping network, etc...) while you drink your coffee. Tonight, I was the only female (as I appear to be mostly when I go to these cafes - I'm not sure where the ladies hang out), we were the only 2 non-Burmese people, and we had a fabulous time! I know this will be something I likely will not forget.

- Not sure if I wrote about this yet or not, but when I was still in Yangon I saw a very young child (still learning to support his own weight as he was leaning on a shelving unit when I saw him standing up) playing with a butchers knife. The child was using one hand to support his weight on a shelving unit and simultaneously holding a cucumber slice against the surface (with the same hand). In the other hand, the child was holding a butcher's knife that he was using to pretend chop at the cucumber slice. I'm not sure how sharp the knife was, but I hope he didn't drop it on his foot. How crazy! I would have taken a photo, but I didn't want to ruin the moment.

- I ran into a Dutch girl I spent Christmas with in Penang, Malaysia last evening here in Bagan. Crazy small world, isn't it?

- We have regular power outages here in Myanmar. I experienced one in Yangon and they have them twice daily here in Bagan - once in the morning around 9:30 (lasted until maybe 11?) and one in the evening at 7:30.

- Today I was ushered out of my hotel quickly by the owner because the government was coming and I couldn't be here. I had come back from some sighseeing around 2pm and dropped off my electric bike for charging downstairs. I told them I would leave at 4 pm. At 3:30 the owner came to my room and told me I eithere had to leave at 3:30 (so immediately) or wait until 4:30 to leave, I could not leave at 4 pm like I had wanted to. She said the government was coming to check the hotel so I either had to go then or stay in my room. I told here I needed to shower and could not leave for at least 5 mintues. I finally got her to agree to this plan. I showered quickly, tucked away my valuables, and headed downstairs. (As a law here in Singapore, foreigners can only stay at registered guest houses. I suspect the guest house is not registered and that is why she was concerned about me being here. I did not check, but assumed it was registered since there were so many reviews online from foreigners. To note, this is only a suspicion. I never found out why they needed me to leave). Anyways, because of my suspicion, I was careful as I walked to the main door in case the government was here. They were not, but as I walked down the stairs they ushered my quickly out the door so "the governement" would not see me there. This country is such an experience!

- (I keep thinking of more things to write about....) I took the overnight bus from Yangon to Bagan. The bus, a VIP bus, was amazing. At one point, about 1 hour into our 10 hour ride, we pulled over on the side of the motorway, one of the "bus hostesses" (as I've named them) got a large item from under the bus, brough it up the front steps, and there in the aisle next to me appeared one of the push carts the air hostesses use on the airplanes. They did one round of snacks and around of refreshments for us. It was amazing! Plus we each got our own blankets, after our dinner stop they passed out little digestion tables (not sure what they really were and they weren't exactly to my liking...), and we had free water bottles. All for only USD$20! If travleing in Myanmar, use JJ Express and take the bus, it is a great experience!

Okay, I think most everything else can be seen in the videos below.

Enjoy! (If you don't watch all of them, at least watch the last two videos from Day 2. They are the best show of what life is like here in Myanmar!)

Videos Day 1 in Bagan:

Windy First Video from Bagan

First Meal in Bagan, Great Little Cafe in New Bagan Town

Inside a Pagoda In Bagan

Out Back of a Beautiful Pagoda

A Refreshing 7-Up in Nyaung U

Videos Day 2 in Bagan:

The Streets of Nyaung U

The Streets of Nyaung U Part II

Nyaung U Local Market

How the Locals Live in Bagan

Okay, I'm off to bed now as I have an early morning flight to Inle Lake tomorrow. I will be leaving the 105* temperatures here for 75* in Inle Lake. Not sure I've packed appropriately....

Best!

Yangon Day 2

So today is my second and last day in Yangon. I spent the morning eating breakfast with a German American, Elisabeth, who lives in Michigan and teaches at a community college. Every summer, a week after school lets out, she packs her bag and heads out to see the world, one country at a time. She is here in Myanmar for 6 weeks - what a life! I then went into town and just wandered around, eating street food, drinking smoothies and coffees and juices, and soaking in the sights and sounds of Yangon. I am now back at my guesthouse for a shower and a quick rest before I take the overnight bus to Bagan. Here's one video from today. When I watch it the quality is really bad but I think that may be due to my internet connection here. Hope it isn't so bad for you guys.

I'll try to get photos up in the next few days.

Best!

Yangon Day 1

So I am lying in bed right now writing this post and I am extremely tired. But, I just want to make sure I get a few videos up before I totally pass out for the evening.

I have not sletp much - just a couple of hours on my flight and another 2 at my hotel. I have been out sightseeing all day and then ended up out to dinner with 2 people who work for the UN and then for after dinner drinks with one of them and his local Subcontinent friends. (Subcontient apparently refers to India and Pakistan - I just learned this tonight.) I am super, super tired now but to sum up the day: AMAZING! I really just do not know how I could be so lucky that my life has led me to this point. I am here, in Myanmar, on holiday and it is totally fabulous. It really has been occuring to me recently how amazing my life is and I'm just trying to soak it all in. I know that it is due to a my hard work, decisions, and courage, but there must be some bit of luck in there as well and man, I am lucky! 

Okay, enough of that. Here's the video's from today:

Yangon Market Part 1

Yangon Market Part 2

First Meal in Myanmar

Elizabeth, Where Are You?

Shwe Dagon Pagoda Yangon

And just as I am now thinking of going to sleep there is a baby (well at least I think it's a human baby, could be some baby animal) crying outside of my room, somewhere in the street, very loudly. Weird! I'm so tired, however, I'm sure I will still get to sleep just fine.

Night!

On My Way to Myanmar

I am currently sitting at Changi airport in Singapore waiting for my flight to Myanmar. As I've been sitting here waiting I just booking my flight to go back to HK in June for 3 nights this time and I'm going to make a day trip to Macau. Already looking forward to it!

So to give you a bit of insight into my life these days, it consists of three things: working, planning my next vacation, and going on vacatoin. I have just the most fabulous life. (If you want to hear me talk more about how fabulous my life is, feel free to watch the video here.) I cannot believe how lucky I am to be living here, in Singapore, in the middle of Asia, at a job I enjoy most of the time, and with the time and resources to go on holidays on a regular basis. Hong Kong last week. Myanmar today. Back to Hong Kong (and also Macau) in just a few weeks. In July I am going to try to get another three days in a row to go to Taiwan. When I am not traveling, I am running here in there preparing (the money changer, getting laundy done, buying whatever I need, processing visas) or spending my time on-line doing research on what to do or where to go or whatnot. I think I am going to get addicted to this sort of life - high intensity, coming, going, here, there, everywhere! I love the thrill of having an idea, doing the resarch, seeing what I can find, planning, researching, deciding, researching, planning, over and over again, booking the flights, booking the hotels, not knowing what is ever really going to happen, and then seeing it through! It's just great.

All that said, Myanmar is going to be the biggest adventure of my trip so far. I have no idea what to expect. I have booked all my internal transportation and accomodations, but I don't really have any idea what I'm getting myself into. I don't know what I am going to be doing during the day, what the food is like, what the country is like at all. This is the most "out-there" trip I have gone in yet to date in my life. And I'm excited to see what happens. Now, I must be off to get ready for my flight and get to my gate. Wish me luck, and I'll post as many videos as possible while I'm away - depending on Internet speeds - and whatever else when I get back to Singapore next week.

Later!

Hong Kong Day 2

Here's my Videos from Day 2 in Hong Kong in order of filming. Hope you enjoy!

Argyle & Nathan Street Corner - Hong Kong

Tim Ho Wan Mong Kok - Hong Kong 

Star Ferry Kowloon to Central - Hong Kong

View of Hong Kong Island from Star Ferry - Hong Kong

View from the Top  - The Peak, Hong Kong 

Burger Circus - Hong Kong

Best!

Hong Kong Day 1 Videos

Here's a few videos from today:

Hong Kong - First Moments

Hong Kong Yuen Po Street Bird Market

Hong Kong Day 1 Review Over BBQ Pork Steam Buns

Hope you enjoy them as much as I'm enjoying HK!

Best!

Hong Kong, I'm On My Way!

Waiting at the airport for my flight to HK! Can't wait.

Made a short little video for you all to enjoy.

Best!

Being Private about my Private Life

So it is Wednesday night here in Singapore and I am sitting outside a burger bar, Fatboy’s, waiting for them to bring my burger with onion rings and blue cheese dressing. This is my only night off this week, it is raining (I was hoping it would rain), and I am just relaxing by myself, trying to take the day to just enjoy my free time.

I am not sure what I said I would write about in my next post but I’m sure it was something like what I’m up to in Singapore, talk about my upcoming vacations, etc….

Today I spent my lunch hour with Pawan (pronounced Paven), the Pakistani customer who’s wedding I will be attending next year. We went for lunch ad then coffee, spending almost 4 hours chatting and enjoying the food and drinks of Singapore – and visiting a few of my old haunts from when I used to stay with Richard. After I showed Pawan the way back to her hotel I went to the local bookstore to try and find at least one of the three books recently recommended to me by a customer – none of which they had. I then spent at least 30 minutes trying to find a different book I could get instead.

Finding this book was a truly Singaporean experience. I had asked the sales clerk for advice on a book. The advice he gave was not that helpful, but in an effort to be helpful he stood next to me for the entire time I browsed the shelves. This would have driven me crazy 4 months ago (and I still tried to dismiss him a few times by telling him I was happy to just browse) but now I know this is just how they are in Asia and I didn’t let it bother me. How strange to notice, in the moment, how not bothered I was by this situation. I am starting to really acclimate to my new culture.

After getting home I was very tired and was going to take a rest but ended up on an almost 2 hour Skype conversation with Chris, a German customer from the bar who I happen to be going to Myanmar with. Well, I shouldn’t really say I happen to be going with him, I mean we did plan it rather intentionally, but I haven’t told any of you that yet.

(Side note, I ran into someone from Edina last night. I was running a payment for a table in my co-worker’s section when I noticed it was an American credit card (Delta Skymiles). I checked the name on the card, as I always do so I can present the card to the customer by name, and the last name was Buchok. This can’t possibly be a common name and I went to elementary school with a Buchok so I figured I’d ask. First I asked about Minnesota and then about Edina. Turns out it is the older brother of my old classmate. What a totally small world!).

Okay, back to Chris… So as I’m sure you have all realized I don’t talk much about my personal life on my blog. Well, it might seem like I do, but what I mean by personal life is my romantic life. That is for 2 reasons. 1) I don’t really have one and 2) I don’t always feel like putting it all over the Internet. But here goes. Chris came into my bar in maybe my second week of work with a few colleagues/friends. They all had one drink together and then his friends went home. We then got into a conversation about something – I’m not sure how it started – and we ended up trading contact information. I invited him for lunch the following day, he took me up on my offer, and we had a great time. Chris then met me after work that evening, we went out for a few drinks and again had a great time. The following day (two days after we first met) he flew back to Germany where he was from and that was that.

Chris, however, is much more interesting than most of the people I have met here in Singapore and I have thought about him from time to time. I was recently telling one of my friends about Chris’s plan to quit his job, move to Australia, work for a while until he has enough money to buy a boat, and then sail around the world. After telling my friend this I though I should send him an e-mail and see how he was doing. A few days later, and a few e-mail exchanges later, we ended up on Skype and he suggested we go on holiday together. I asked for a week off from work (assuming they wouldn’t give it to me since they had only days before approved my one month holiday home) and when they approved it I started looking at tickets. Finally, two nights ago, we got back on Skype and bought out tickets. We are going to Myanmar together for 7 days at the end of May. And I can’t wait!

I know it is super spontaneous, and we barely know each other and can only hope we can get along for 1 week, but life is short and you just need to give everything your best. Chris was forward enough to ask me to go on holiday after only spending a few hours together, and I have always liked people who can be spontaneous and adventurous and confident so I would only be doing myself a disservice if I turned down his offer. And now I’m busy planning a holiday with a guy I barely know to a foreign country and I couldn’t be more excited! And I’m pretty sure Chris feels the same way. (By the way, Chris I hope you don’t mind that I’m writing all this about you…. Chris reads my blog as well. This is probably a good time to warn everyone, if you end up in my life you will likely end up in my blog, especially if I like you. If I don’t like and only have negative things to say I don’t write about you.)

So that is how my trip to Myanmar came about. And I also have a trip to Hong Kong coming up in like 3 weeks and I have done nothing to plan for that. I meant to do that today but I just didn’t do it. There’s always tomorrow!

I am now halfway done with my dinner, it is delicious, and my keyboard is all covered in little greasy fingerprints from my eating the fries with my hands.

Now… what else? So the book I bought today is all about vulnerability and how to make yourself more vulnerable. I also think that I do a good job of this in all parts of my life except in my love life. As you may or may not know it has been almost 3 years since I have had a boyfriend. This is for a variety of reasons – including the fact that I never seem to find any good candidates – but I recognize how good I am at protecting myself from getting hurt and thus at even the first hint of something not going well I put up large emotional barriers and won’t let myself get attached.

Elizabeth and I had a very interesting conversation about this in Vietnam – how do you make yourself vulnerable without becoming too reliant on someone? How do you become dependent on someone when you can do everything for yourself? Where do you draw the line? How do you let someone in and allow them to add to your happiness without your happiness becoming dependent upon that person? Why would you even want to when your emotional life seems more stable when you are single (at least mine does!)?

Being single, I am fully responsible for myself – which I have shown myself I can clearly handle being that I had a made a life from nothing for myself in two foreign countries now – and I can be in complete control. When I’m happy it is me, when I’m sad it is me, and I need to keep my self in check – emotionally, financially, with everything. I do not need anyone and I know that is true.

But it would be so nice to have someone to share my experiences with. I get very tired of having to completely start over, totally from scratch in every country. All of my co-workers here in Singapore (well, almost all of them) came to Singapore with their boyfriend or girlfriend of many years and how nice that would be. They have someone to share these new experiences with, they have someone to go home to at night, they have someone to laugh with, complain to, go to dinner with etc….

And I think this adds to why I don’t feel settled anywhere. I feel that at any given moment I could get up and leave, I have nothing keeping me in Singapore except a paycheck and if I could get one somewhere else I would go there.

I want to have someone to share everything with (Elizabeth, come back, will you?!) but with that comes so much risk. At any moment they could just leave and why would you want to open yourself up to that possibility? It is so much easier to keep yourself emotionally and/or physically distant from this possibility because it is just so much easier.

Now I know I don’t want to live my life like this – who would? – but doing what needs to be done to get into a relationship just sounds so scary. So I am hoping that maybe this book I picked up today can maybe give me even one small hint that might help me here. How I can be more vulnerable and open up my chances to finding someone to be with. (Plus, I think my parents are starting to worry about me so I really need to start trying.)

And it really is strange, isn’t it? How I can post my entire life (well, almost) on the Internet yet I won’t make myself vulnerable enough to another person to get into a relationship.

Now, on the other hand, I don’t want to take all the blame. I have met a handful of very interesting guys since I have left the states – and with many of them it was just bad timing or for some other reason it didn’t work out – but I also just am not willing to be with someone who can’t be what I need them to be – confident, spontaneous, adventurous, outgoing, interesting. I can’t be with someone who is going to detract from my life and my plans and I can’t be with someone who can’t handle me (since I am sure it is a bit of a task – Elizabeth and my parents can probably comment best on this one!).

Anyways, this is how I got to purchase the new book I now own and I will keep you up to date on what I learn from it and hopefully the positive impact it has on my life.

What else…? Nothing really right now. I have nothing more to say that seems to be itching to come out so I’m not going to force anything else at this time. Oh, one thought, I was walking through the self-help book section at the book store today and I kept picking up books that talked about things like happiness, or travel, or success of something and many of them I looked at I realized I had learned at least some of the lessons in all of the books during the time since I left that states. All of the things I have figure out about myself, about the world, about happiness and success maybe I should write one of these books!

Okay, that is all now.

Hope you are all staying warm back in MN, or cool if you happen to be here in Asia. Have a good night and chat soon!

Best!

And Myanmar!

Just booked my ticket to Myanmar as well! I have a whirlwind month of work and travel ahead of me. So excited!

And I have the day off tomorrow so I will try to fill you in a bit more on what is going on in my life, my upcoming travel plans, my updates from work, updates from life, etc.....

Best!

Hong Kong Here I Come!

Just booked my ticket to Hong Kong for May 17-19. Can't wait! Now I need to start planning my itinerary as I have very little time while I'm there and want to make sure I make good use of it.

Long Time, No Blog

So it has been quite a while since I have done a big blog post and I am going to try and type something out now. I woke up very early this morning (7am) and thus have ample time to write something and plan to do just that. I realize I probably haven’t written very much at all about my life in Singapore since I haven’t written much since I’ve really moved to Singapore.

So for a bit about my daily life… at my current job I work 6 days a week. I start every day at 3:30 and we end anywhere from a very early 12:30 am to as late as 3 am – depending on how busy we are. I work as a waitress at a roof top bar that looks out over the fabulous skyline of Singapore, the iconic Marina Bay Sands hotel, and many of the historic and government buildings here in the CBD. Many customers tell me the view from our roof top is the best in Singapore. I would guess it probably is a top contender, but since I am almost always working I have no time to go and check out the other rooftop bars. Plus, I don’t always care to spend my time off at a bar since I already spend 65 hours a week at a bar. Plus, I feel more and more all the time that drinking is just not my idea of an ideal use of my free time. After a long day at work, me and my coworkers (specifically Joseba (Spanish), Jufri (Singaporean), and Nadia (Singaporean)) usually go out for dinner at a local café/bar just down the street from where we work called Lucky 69. We go there almost every night of the week, we order almost the same thing every night (I think they have the best Chicken Wings in all of Singapore – maybe all of SE Asia) and have gotten to know all the people who work there (Mary runs the bar, Melanie runs the café, Ya Shi is the newest Chinese employee, Ken and Jong are the Philippine brothers who deliver all the take away food on their pedal bikes). Last week we had Joseba’s birthday party there and they took such good care of us. Probably because most of us eat there twice a day, first on our break around 5pm or 6pm, and then again after work at 2 am.

In the mornings, which I always have free, I usually try to get up with enough time to head into the city or one of the nice neighborhood directly surrounding the CBD for my breakfast/lunch meal before work. I almost never cook for myself, the fanciest thing I make at home being scrambled eggs on toast. This is for many reasons including the fact that if you are savy you can eat very cheap here in Singapore, I enjoy being served by someone else since I spend my entire life serving others, and because the apartment I live in is not the most aesthetically pleasing place so I’d much rather sit at a sidewalk café where I can enjoy a nice ambiance or a hawker center where I really feel like I’m in Asia.

On my days off I never really know what to do since I always seem to have a day off when no one else is off (or I’m out of the country) so there isn’t much to note there. But, being that I have very little time off from work – or at least very little time off that “normal” people have off (evenings and weekends) I have really started being picky about who I spend my time with. I have very little free time and if I deem you are not worthy of it I will not spend it with you. This might be harsh, but I have to do what I want, it is my life, I will only live it once, and I’m still young and unattached so I can still be selfish in this respect. And although working 65 hours a week is not necessarily what I want to do for life, I am happy to fill my time now with a job as I don’t really have much for friends here in Singapore (outside of work) and don’t have any idea what I would do with 25 more hours a week of free time.

Now I think this leads nicely into some of the new “revelations” I have come to recently about my life – most of which I came to after spending so much time with Elizabeth, some I can talk to about things more important than work or what I did on my day off. And one of them has to do with work. I don’t really mind working long hours, or getting up early or staying up later for work, but I need to have a flexible job – especially when it comes to vacation time. Recently, my workplace has been immensely accommodating of all the holiday time I have requested (both paid and unpaid), and this is something I would require of any job going forward. I need ample time for any holiday I choose to take back to America, when that happens, and I also want time off (paid and unpaid) to travel to other locations as well. Here in Singapore the standard vacation time package is 2 weeks plus holidays-in-lieu which would leave me with just about 4 weeks a year (considering I work every holiday and thus get them all in-lieu). That is just not enough holiday time for me. I know to Americans this may sound demanding, but most of the world has at least this much holiday or more. They work for flexible companies that will give additional time off unpaid and this is what I’m pretty sure I will require for my entire life to stay happy. Thus, I will probably end up working for myself at some point. That way I can holiday when I want and when I’m not on holiday I can work as hard and long as I want to get done what needs to get done.

Another thing I have decided recently is that I’m not sure I’m ever going to find a place that I call home. I have found that almost every place we have been to I could see myself living (except Kuala Lumpur) and have enjoyed my time there because I was with my friends or the people were really nice. I think that my home will be where I have a life, but that is mobile and I’m not sure I will ever feel a huge attachment to a place. I was speaking to Elizabeth about this and she agreed. While Elizabeth was growing up she lived in 6 different countries always moving with her family as her father’s job moved around the world. Although her physical home changed she always felt at home because she was with her family. I think this is how I will feel as well.

Which leads nicely into revelation #3 for today – I would really like to find someone to share my life with. Now this won’t be easy for me as I have very little time to hang out with people as I work so much, and my standards are very high, but I just feel so unsettled sometimes and it is very much that way because I don’t really have anyone tying me down to any place. I have no reason to stay anywhere and thus whenever I go on holiday I can envision myself staying there because there is nothing pulling me back to my temporary home (NZ or Singapore or wherever) except a pay check. And being that I find myself to be rather easily employable that is not something that will ever keep me in a place over the chance to be with the people I want to be with.

Now talking about work leads into another great revelation – money. Many of the ex-pats who are living here in Singapore are making a lot of money, probably $10,000 + per month and likely much more. I am paid only a fraction of this. Many of these ex-pats are constantly telling me how expensive life is here in Singapore and many of them cannot comprehend that I can afford to live here with a job in a bar (and they don’t even know how little I make). Many of them spend $1,000+/weekend going out – I spend $1,200/month on all my expenses outside of rent and I am very happy with that. I currently have myself on a budget of $300/week (which I only budget at the weekly level, allowing myself to spend it any way I want within that) and find that I really enjoy everything I do. Sure, sometimes I get stressed out about money, but I enjoy every purchase I make and I make them smartly. And I do this so I can save a good portion of my income and then have the freedom to go on holiday or buy nice things when I deem it appropriate. I enjoy living like this and am pretty sure I will keep on this budget even when I get a raise because I enjoy the challenge of trying to make it work and the financial freedom I have to do fun things or change my life direction at a moment’s notice because I have money in the bank and the financial security to make those decisions.

Now my computer is starting to run low on battery (I’m currently only at 4%) so I am going to sign off for now. Hope you’ve enjoyed reading.

Best!

Nice to Hear from You!

I want to start out by saying thank you to those of you who I hear from from time to time. I don't always make the best effort myself to stay in touch, as it is always a constant battle between staying a part of my old life back in America and the life I am constantly trying to build for myself again and again where ever I happen to find myself. When I do hear from people from home (or from others who stumble upon my blog and/or youtube videos) it always makes me very happy. Thank you!

Now, onto more important things. I have been meaning to write a bit more on my blog this past week but ended up so tired and busy after my return from Vietnam. They, yesterday, I told myself I would get up early this morning and "be productive" and answer e-mails from home and do a blog post. But, last night we were out drinking heavily until almost 6 am so that previous plan obvioucly didn't pan out. Instead I spent my morning in bed trying not to move too much or throw up. I accomplished both of those goals and had a good night at work. And, I decdied this morning how thankful I am at time for having a life where I don't have many commitment outside of work. The fact that I totally wasted my morning being hungover had no impact on the rest of my life what-so-ever. Nice!

Now I have a lot to say but am tired so I am just quickly going to share my future travel plans with you. I will go to Hong Kong for 2 days in mid-May and then to Myanmar for 7 days at the end of May. And then, tonight at work I had a couple of customers invite me to Pakistan next year to attend their wedding. Now I don't know if this will pan out or not but if I receive an invite I will be on the next flight to Islamabad. How freaking amazing would that be?!?!

That's all for right now, more to come soon!

Best!

Videos from Vietnam

I want to get my Vietnam videos up so everyone can see them! I am simply going to list them all here in the order they were taken. Click into them and watch as you want. Hope you enjoy :)

First Video in Hanoi

Breakfast in Vietnam

Breakfast Wine

Here Comes the Bride

Wedding Party #1

Wedding Party #2

Wedding Party #2 Part 2

Wedding Morning Confusion

Here Comes the Groom

Wedding Reflections

Hanoi Coffee Shop Reflections

Vietnam Reflections

Oahn's Mom's Restaurant

That's all the videos from Vietnam. I will try to get photos up soon. I'm off to bed now as it is almost 5 am. Best!

Heading for Vietnam!

I am sitting in the Changi airport right now in Singapore waiting to board my flight to Hanoi. I have made a very short video here, so you can watch it and know I'm still alive. I have charged up all my camera batteries for this trip and so will try to make as many videos as possible and will be posting them either while I'm there or once I'm back in Singapore, depending on how much time I have.

To watch the short and boring video I just made click here.

Best!

I'm coming home to visit!

Last night I purchased my ticket to come home for one month this summer and visit. I will be flying home August 19th and flying back to Singapore September 16th. As it gets closer I'll start making plans to see everyone. Looking forward to catching up!

Best! 

A Love-Hate Relationship with Singapore on a Love-ly Day

So I am having a love-hate relationship with Singapore, some days I'm very happy to be here, others I am quite homesick, a lot of the time I feel both ways at once. But right now I am in a "love" phase of this relationship and am quite enjoying it. I am really starting to like Asia and I am starting to realize how hard it is going to be to leave here when the time comes.

I am currently really enjoying Asia because it opens your eyes to so many more lifestyles than you are ever introduced to growing up in the mid-west. This is something I did not like so much right when I got here, but I have now learned to appreciate this.

When Elizabeth and I first arrived in Singapore we were quite put off by how many couples we saw in these "relationships" that just didn't seem real - older (usual well off) white men with these young asian girls. We saw this everywhere we went and were quite dicouraged by the prospect of living in a country were it seemed if you weren't young and asian and beautiful it would be nearly impossible to find a partner. (Side note, I now know this is very much not the case. Although I haven't found a boyfriend yet I do not feel like this would be too difficult if I put in some effort.) I just couldn't see what these couples had in common besides the man wanting a young beautiful woman around and the woman wanting his money. I just really didn't like how it all seemed so fake.

I now see this in a very different light. I appreciate the fact that so many people here do not live under the pretence that you will find one person, fall in love, get married and be together faithfully for the rest of your life. I like that many people here look at relationships with, what appears to me to be, a more business like attitude - "what can you give me? what can I give you? can we come to a multually benefical arrangment?". I like that the expectations around relationships are not so black and white here (or at least not in all parts of society, although some are still very traditional).

Now don't freak out, I am not saying I want a life like this for myself, but I am growing to appreciate the openmindedness you must have here in Asia regarding relationships/lifestyle choices. It takes all the presure off. If you judged everyone here on their partner choices or the fact that they have girlfriends/boyfriends on the side or cheat on their spouse regularily you would have trouble building a large social network. Here in Asia (and in some places even more so than Singapore - Hong Kong, Bangkok) you just must accept people for who they are regardless of who they are in a relationship with or how many relationships they are in at the same time.

Now as I'm typing this I am realizing I may see this a bit more than the average person (or maybe not as it might be as prevelant as it appears to me) because I work at a bar. And because my job is in customer service I must treat everyone with respect and I cannot be openly judgemental about my customers. I must be nice and pleasant and have fun with people who live all sorts of lives. I cannot be rude to couples when the male half of the relationship is more than twice the age of the young female half of the relationship. Everyone has things they want and if they find someone else who is willing to give them that in exchange for something they want, then it is great that they have found eachother.

I feel this way today, and this is something I feel I will struggle with back and forth for a while since this is so different from the world I grew up in, but the freedom that society gives you here to do as you please with your relationships is so nice to be around.

Okay, just a few thoughts for now. Who knows, I may feel completely opposite from this in another week. I may hate this very aspect of Asian culture and want to come back to America but for right now I'm really appreciating living here.

Best!

Happy Chinese New Year!

Two days of fireworks here in Singapore. And being that I work at a rooftop bar near the harbour I got to see them both nights.

Photos are hard to take on an iPod but here's what I've got for you.

The shorter bright buildling in the forground of every photo is The Fullerton Hotel, a historic building here in Singapore. The tall building just to the right of the fireworks is the Marina Bay Sands, the most iconic building here in Singapore. It's a hotel/mall/casino/event center combo. Also where I went for my birthday - all the way up at the top.

Happy New Year!

I can't believe I'm living in Singapore

At least once a day for the last few days, especially since Elizabeth left, I have had moments where in walking down the street, or have a free moment at work, or, like right now, enjoying a coffee outside here in Singapore and cannot believe that in actually here. Singapore as a destination only popped onto my radar about a year ago, and at that time only as a stop over between Auckland and Bangalore, and now I'm living and working here. This is something I really never could have imagined. From growing up in the Midwest to living in one of the most forward thinking and moving countries in Asia. 2 months ago I knew almost behind about Singapore at all and now I live here. It's just crazy! Every day I'm learning more about the country, it's customs, it's people, making more connections with people who live all around the world. It is just very hard to believe and I'm trying to appreciate every moment. Even being at work here is like being at work in NZ - I'm working with people from all over the world together here in Singapore. I don't think any of us ever could have imagined this! And isn't that just what is so great about life? You can't even begin to imagine all the amazing places you will end up. You just have to trust that it will work out as it is supposed to. And I am learning this lesson again and again every day. I am also learning to have more patience with myself as with every new situation I have to deal with all sorts of new and unfamiliar circumstances. And every time I just need to be patient with the situation, and myself, and trust that it is all going to be okay. Man, have I learned just so much in these last 15 months that I have been away from the states. What else am I going to learn about life in the years to come? 

Side note - the morning of the day Elizabeth left we had coffee with a guy who grew up in Orono. Yes, Orono, MN. And we had coffee here in Singapore. The man, Don, graduated high school in 1974 and has been traveling and living around the world since the early 1980s in places such as Saudi Arabi, Nigeria, Colombia, Indonesia, and India. He was definitely one of the most interesting people we've met so far. He was also one of the most inspiring as well in the sense of how he approaches the world and the people he meets in it. Don had such a calm outlook on life - that what will be will be, you must accept what life had so you and make the best of it, that you should out your best effort in but life will go its course anyways, and to always be open to new experiences. He also believes that "networking" (as the business world calls it) is not a matter of meeting people to see what they can later do for you, but as a way to make friends that you can help out later down the road. He is maybe the only person I have ever heard describe networking as a way of helping others and expanding our friend group, not as a way of helping yourself and expanding the network of people you can call on when you need something. I hope that one day, when I have the ability to help others, that I will have an attitude like his. And lastly, and this is siem thing Elizabeth picked up on, Don recognized and acknowledged how different travel can be for a woman vs. a man on this world and how refreshing to hear that from a man. Being alone in a foreign country can be very scary for anyone, but the fact that he recognized the added issues women face was really nice. He never once challenges us because we said we didn't feel safe somewhere. That was so nice to hear. We really enjoyed meeting Don ad spending our morning with him. And how cool that he's from Orono, right?! 

Okay, now I must run. What was supposed to be a short blog post that I was writing on my phone has turned much longer. And since im typing on my phone has taken quite a while and I'm are is full of mistakes - please excuse them. I'm off to do some shopping now, a quick workout, a Skype call to Elizabeth back in Holland, and then work. Have a great day and a happy Chinese New Year! Best! 

Me

The view from chair.

The essentials. Note the book, it's fabulous. Pick it up and read it ASAP! 

Cambodia - Day 1 - Silk Farm

My first day in Cambodia, in my first hour in Cambodia, I went and visited a silk farm just outside Siem Reap. The place, Angkor Silk Farm, not only produces silk, but trains people from around Cambodia in making silk, empowering them to later return to their communities and start their own silk comapies in their respective villages. The place was amazing!

I had a personal tour guide, Roath, who took me around the farm for an hour and patienty answered my overwhelming number of questions about every detail of the silk farm. I took notes during my tour and will now share all of my new found knowledge with you! Here goes:

The Angkor Silk Farm was orignally started in 1992 by the government as a way of training it's citizens in a new trade and helping the Cambodian silk industry. It has historically received funding from the EU and UN as well, but no longer received financial support from any of these places. Since it's inception in 1992 it has trained over 400 people in the silk industry. The orgnaization used to train both men and women in the trade but now only accepts female apprentices for it's programs as they are more likely to succeed in the industry.

When you first start the tour you are brought to a field of mulberry trees, the main food for the silk worms. Although silk worms can eat many other things, mulberry trees provide the best food for creating the best quality silk. Although the trees can get very large in the wild, they are kept quite small on the farm as the leaves are picked off and fed to the worms and keeping the trees smaller makes it easier for collecting the leaves. In nature, the worms would live on the trees, but the threat form predators is quite high so they are kept in houses at the silk farm where they are safe from birds and other hungry animals.

Mulberry Tree.

Each worm produces 400 meters of silk in it's lifetime. After hatching from it's egg (up to 90% of the eggs hatch in captivity - much higher, I am sure, than in the wild), the silk worm feeds for 24 days in cycles of 3 days eating, one day resting. After 24 days of eating and resting, the worm them creates it's cocoon which is made of silk. If the worms were allowed to live past this stage - as some are for reproduction purposes - they would then turn into a moth. To keep the silk usable, however, the worm must be killed while it is still in it's cocoon. This is done by placing the silk worm cocoons out in the sun to dry/bake/die. In the wet season 20% of the worms are allowed to live into moth-hood, in the dry season 15% (as there isn't as much food to feed them), to reproduc and lay enough eggs to sustain the population.

Silk moths on the papers where they lay their eggs. The tiny little black worms are the newly hatched wilk worms.

Silk moths, their eggs, and then small silk worms in the background on mulberry tree leaves.

Hatching silk worm eggs.

Silk worms eating.

Unhatched silk worm eggs. Each moth lays around 200 eggs and 80-90% hatch when kept at the correct temperature using the aircon. 

The cocoon that the silk worm makes is made up of two types of silk - raw silk and fine silk. The raw silk is the silk on the outisde of the cocoon (the lighter colored silk) and this is about 100 meters of the total 400 meters of silk thread. The other 300 meters is made up of the fine silk, which is a rich yellow color. The color is different in different countries, depending on the worms and their diets, the soil, etc.... In some countries the raw silk is very valuable, in others it is the fine silk. In Cambodia, the fine silk is much more valuable than the raw silk.

Silk worm cocoons.

A close up. The brighter yellow is the fine silk, the lighter yellow is the raw silk. 

Silk worm cocoons that have hatched. The darker areas are the holes were the moth emerged from the cocoon. This silk is now unusable becuase the worm hatched out as a moth.

Silk worm cocoons drying in the sun to kill the worm and allow the silk to be used.

After the worms die, the cocoons are then processed to seperate the raw and fine silks from eachother, and to start the thread making processes. First the raw silk is removed from the outside of the fine silk and then the fine silk is unwound. This is done by floating the cocoons in hot water and slowly grabbing at the silk thread to ply it away from the ball it is wound into and then slowly and carefully unwinding the entire cocoon. One the raw and fine silk has been unwound, only the silk worm is left. In some countries, like Korea, the silk worms are eaten.

Seperating the raw silk from the ouside of the cocoon.

Look towards the top of the photo and you can see all the silk threads being wound together.

Cocoons of fine silk. If you look closely in the water you can see a few silk worms floating. 

The silk threads that are unwound from the cocoons are then combined with any number of other threads to create the desired thickness. They are cleaned and died (usuing natural dies) and then wound onto large spools for use in the weaving process.

Silk thread next to resin which creates a the nice color.

Curry used to create the orange color of the silk.

Resin covered silk at it's natural color. This silk was very coarse, like horse hair.

Lots of spools of thread being combined to create silker thread.

And a close-up of the process.

The ladies at work!

And the finished product - very, very long silk threads.

One the thread is ready to go, it is then prepared for the dying and weaving process. For silk pieces wtih complicated patterns, it can take up to 5 days to prepare and dye the silk to create the correct pattern. To make the pattern, the silk is tied off with small pieces of plastic and then dyed. What is covered with the plastic does not change color, what is not covered does. Then they continue to dye one color over the other, having to cover and recover each section they do not want to change color with each new dye process. If a mistake is made, the entire silk piece is then dyed black and used for a fully black piece. This prevents waste but also decreases the profitabiliy of the piece. Because of this, it is very important that the weavers are very carefully while they work. If a mistake is made at the end of the dying process, up to five days of hard work can be wasted.

Tying off the silk pattern for the first round of dying.

Now tying off the pattern for the second color.

The finished pattern.

Once the silk is dyed, it is then prepared for the weaving process. Once ready for the weaving process, it can take up to another 5 days to weave a complicated pattern. The weavers were absolutely amazing! The pace with which they worked, managing so many different spools of died thread with various patterns was incredible. I cannot imagine ever, even after a year of training, being able to keep all of that straight. Just amazing!

Unwinding the dyed silk threads so they can be prepared for the weaving process.

A weaver hard at work.

And another. You can see all the different threads she had right in front of her. They are all a different pattern and she has to keep them all straight. Amazing!

A weaver's work station. On the piece of paper in front of her is the pattern - very complicated!

And amazingly complicated weaved pattern. 

Then, once the weaving process is finished, they are ready to be sold. The most complicated of scarf patterns were being sold for USD $119. I'm not sure how pricey that is compared to a nice silk scarf back in the states, but being able to see people working on it, knowing that is all hand done, and knowing that you are contributing to the advancement of an industry is really neat. And, you can special order any color or pattern you would like. Great gift for yourself or someone else. If you ever go to Siem Reap, plan this one hour activity into your trip!