tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28750211621857016082024-03-13T09:42:57.624-07:00THINGSEllenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.comBlogger189125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-53517164484095629942016-09-26T03:02:00.001-07:002016-09-26T03:02:32.520-07:00Gentle ConfrontationsWas really lucky and got to go back to Vancouver and Calgary for a couple of weeks each.<br />
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First, Van:</div>
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A walk with Jeff and Michelle's dog, Jing Jing.</div>
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It was so nice to walk in a dense forest and not die of humidity and sweat. </div>
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A little corner of Megan's place.</div>
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I experienced so much kindness and generosity on this trip that made me melt with gratefulness. This was one of those moments - a picnic with Will and Sarah.</div>
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The main event of the Vancouver trip, going away for the weekend to Gibsons with my most favorite people in the world.<br />
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I turned 29. Thank you again everyone for celebrating it with me :)<br />
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Then it was off to Calgary:<br />
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My parents had moved from Singapore back to Calgary (where my brother also lives). When planning my trip to Canada, I wanted to spend as much time as I could with them, so 2 weeks sounded about right. But when I was in Van, slight feelings of dread and anxiety came back to me when I began to think about it. I wondered if I gave too much time for it and if it was going to drive me nuts. It's a hard place for me, I either have a really good or awful time there. And whether it's one or the other is mostly due to the nature of my thoughts and what I do on each trip. Because of where my parents live (a bit of a drive from the center) and Calgary's sprawling nature, I have the tendency to just hide. And it's especially easy to do when you have amazing parents, a nice place to stay and don't know anyone in the city. But if I peel myself away from that, Calgary is good to me (I guess this attitude really applies to anything in life). I can't tell you enough how good it was this time. So much so that it has made me confront questions that I've been trying so hard to avoid and forget - ones revolving around the direction of my life. After putting these thoughts off for so long out of fear of what my answers would be, it was a relief to finally admit some things, and once I did, weights had been lifted. I've been using Bali as a base for the last couple of years and I've decided that as much as I've loved it (and still do), lately I have just been struggling to make it work and feel sustainable to me. I can't make it work. I don't want to either at this moment time. <br />
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And I am excited now for what the next possibilities could be.Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-20875825155140096362016-06-27T07:26:00.001-07:002016-06-27T07:26:34.593-07:00Another self.I was in Europe for a little over a month. I started off in Amsterdam, then went to Portugal, Paris, Stockholm, and back to Amsterdam again.
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It was odd, I've been to Europe a couple of times before, and I don't remember experiencing huge adjustment periods or culture shock in past visits (or for that matter in any of my past travels in other parts of the world), but this time around, I did. For the first time in a long time. Which is just so weird because like I said I have been to Europe before and I grew up in the west and even though I spend a lot of time in Bali, my mindset and how I go about my days is still pretty western.<br />
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I am going to chalk it up to that I had a very defined expectation for my Europe trip. That it was going to set some things straight. That it was going to give me things I wasn't getting in Bali. That it would make some tired things go away or become new again. That it would make some dull things interesting and inspired. That as per usual with me, it would be the easiest way to a brief moment of fulfillment. I came there with a set idea, one that I didn't think it would let me down in because this idea was formed from memories and lessons learned (both positive and negative) of past visits. I know this is all vague, but basically I was looking for Europe to be a place where I wouldn't have to think and that I would just enjoy. And that this would relax my mind so that I would feel and take on some new things again. I was looking for a certain type of perfection. A perfection that would put my mind with all its questions and doubts to rest in order to give me answers. And in that need for that perfection, I would get anxious because the day would have to be filled and flow in a certain way and order or it wouldn't feel right or at worst, like a waste. Once I recognized I was doing this and let it go, even the smallest (sometimes the most banal, bordering on dumb) moments made me so happy.<br />
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Enough of that.<br />
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Portugal:<br />
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My friends Tiia and Paavo had moved from Bali to Portugal recently. I had always wanted to go and to have nice friends living there, it felt like the right time to pay a visit. Everyone asked me before I went where I was staying in Portugal and I had absolutely no idea and would just answer, I think it's a half an hour away from Lisbon, there's surfing, and it starts with an 'S'.<br />
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Well where I stayed was kind of half an hour from Lisbon and it was called Ericeira (there's an 's' sound somewhere in there). It was incredibly quiet, calm and had some pretty spots.<br />
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We went to a friend's birthday in the neighbouring town, <span style="color: #bf9000;"><a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Sintra" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Sintra</span></a>.</span> Sintra is beautiful, but man the venue for the birthday was incredible:<br />
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Tiia and I went to Lisbon for a weekend. What a place:<br />
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Although this shot of food looks pretty, it was actually pretty terrible. But that is in no way an indication of the food in Portugal - I ate some incredible things (octopus salad! deep fried baby mackarels! tomato rice!) We actually stumbled upon <a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g189158-d1116634-Reviews-Cantinho_Do_Bem_Estar-Lisbon_Lisbon_District_Central_Portugal.html" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">this place</span></i></a> one night and had an incredible meal (re: delicious, reasonably priced, generous portions, cute, lively atmosphere). Also if you're looking for a cute store where you want to touch and admire every single thing, <i><span style="color: #bf9000;"><a href="http://www.avidaportuguesa.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">A Vida Portuguesa</span></a> </span></i>is the place.<br />
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Tiia. <br />
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A <i><a href="http://www.lerdevagar.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">beautiful book store</span></a></i> in a spot a little bit outside of Lisbon:<br />
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Tiia and I went to Sintra for another day and explored a castle:<br />
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Then it was off to Paris. Man. Okay so this is where my anxiety and the need for perfect situations came up insanely. A couple of days before I was leaving for Paris, I had read that France was experiencing crazy floods, to the point that the President was calling a state of emergency. The Seine in Paris had risen so high (and look liked it would continue to rise) that the Louvre and Musee d'Orsay were closing for a couple of days to move their artworks as a precaution to protect the work. On top of that there were strikes among the railways, airports, etc. The news just made Paris sound like it was an absolute mess. My mind went nuts and was wondering if I should cancel all my bookings to Paris while I still could and go somewhere else that was familiar and not on the verge of environmental disaster and disorder. But out of cheapness and rationality, I went.<br />
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And man, once I got there, I laughed and was so embarrassed over how much I freaked out in my head (but ha, obviously not embarrassed enough to be telling you this). Either the news completely blows things out of proportion or my mind just takes things way too far (this is probably the more likely answer), but things in Paris (at least for a tourist staying there for a little over a week) were completely fine (although definitely other parts of France, from what I read are in terrible states). I was so glad I followed through.<br />
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It instantly felt familiar and I don't care that this sounds cheesy - but I felt that magic and romance that I associate with Paris. It was grey and kind of miserable weather when I first arrived, but navigating the metro, hearing the sounds, seeing the signs, buildings, people, it instantly felt right.<br />
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Tiniest bathroom I've experienced in a long time (this place also had the most insane price for a cup of tea - 5 euros!)</div>
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I forgot about steak tartare. Hello friend, I didn't realize how much I missed you. I had it at <i><a href="https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187147-d805839-Reviews-Le_Petit_Fer_a_Cheval-Paris_Ile_de_France.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">this place</span></a>. </i>It's also a really nice spot in the Marais district to watch people going by. And ha! They serve a surprisingly good chai.<br />
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<a href="http://www.fondationlouisvuitton.fr/en.html" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">Fondation Louis Vuitton</span></i></a>. I don't know how I ended up here or what drove me to come here. Because initially the idea of a museum started by this brand made me cringe in that it seemed like it would just be indulgent, flat art that is trying to give another face to the brand rather than actually trying to cultivate and nurture art. It just seemed like a place for rich people to feel better about themselves. Especially when I saw that the main exhibition on at the time was Chinese artists from their collection - I couldn't help but feel that they were pandering to a market that has the most spending (and profit) potential.<br />
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Ha! I don't know if it's because I haven't been in a contemporary art space in a long time and am completely starved for art and am easily swayed. Or that I don't know anything about art (probably yes to all of these) - but I really enjoyed it here. Architecturally the space is beautiful (and I had no idea going into it that it was designed by Frank Gehry). The space was the perfect size, there was a good amount of work in there that you didn't feel inundated and that you could spend as much time as you needed with the ones you enjoyed.</div>
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I don't know how I could ever forget this about Paris, but I did - the parks. I forgot how nice it was that they are all over the city and it's a nice way to break up the day by just sitting there and watching people or reading.<br />
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This was outside of the <a href="https://www.centrepompidou.fr/en" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">Centre Pompidou</span></i></a>. These kids (with their missing baby teeth) were going absolutely nuts over this man's bubbles. They would jump, chase at them, scream, and laugh. It went on like this for 10 minutes or so and then one of the kids knocked down the bowl that was holding all the change the man was collecting for making these bubbles. It made a huge clattering noise that totally ruined the moment and signalled the end of the show. I think it's amazing/crazy that a man thought, I'll make money by making bubbles in front of a museum all day.<br />
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<a href="http://www.musee-orangerie.fr/en" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">Monet's Water Lillies</span></i></a><span style="color: #bf9000;">.<span style="font-family: "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span></div>
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Really into the bathroom mirrors <i><a href="http://www.telescopecafe.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">here</span></a></i><br />
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I have to say that even though when I came to Paris and instantly knew it was the right choice, what I completely forgot was how nervous I get when I have to speak in Paris because I know absolutely no French whatsoever. I am so used to being able to communicate and be understood fully (for the most part). It was paralyzing at the worst of times and mildly nerve-wracking the rest of the time. I was worried that everyone was silently judging me when I gave them a confused face and would say, "Parlez-vous anglais?" Which is weird because in every other foreign place that I've been where I don't speak the language, I don't get nearly as nervous. But this is the thing about Paris for me, I am fascinated by everything around me. It's one of the few places where I want to people-watch. Where I can sit and watch everything go around me and feel completely fulfilled. Once I let this curiosity take over, my insecurities and worries would be pushed aside and I didn't care so much if people thought it sucked that I didn't speak French and was staring at them. And then I realized they didn't care either.<br />
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Paris made me confront a lot of things in myself (nervousness, anxiety), and they aren't solved permanently, but for the time that I was there, they were put to rest. In addition to eating everything delicious, hanging out in parks, seeing art, walking around, going to <i><a href="http://seymourprojects.com/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">this place</span></a></i> really cleared things for me and if you're ever in Paris, I really recommend going there. Also, when researching what to do in Paris, as per usual <a href="http://www.davidlebovitz.com/paris/" target="_blank"><i><span style="color: #bf9000;">David Lebovitz</span></i></a> never led me astray. Nice leads<span style="color: #bf9000;"> </span><span style="color: #bf9000; font-style: italic;"><span style="color: #bf9000;"><a href="http://www.thetravellinglight.com/filter/paris" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">here</span></a>, <a href="http://www.lostincheeseland.com/my-paris-guide/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">here</span></a></span>, </span>and<span style="color: #bf9000; font-style: italic;"> <a href="http://apairandasparediy.com/2015/01/paris-travel-guide.html" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">here</span></a>.</span><br />
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Stockholm:<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bZwWevpoOzY/V2R00yz-7HI/AAAAAAAADO0/o_hL3EpJnhkONnl6c7NB0GXW-ysWZjO1ACLcB/s1600/IMG_9061.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="512" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-bZwWevpoOzY/V2R00yz-7HI/AAAAAAAADO0/o_hL3EpJnhkONnl6c7NB0GXW-ysWZjO1ACLcB/s640/IMG_9061.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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This was the main reason that I went to Stockholm and a big reason for me going to Europe - the <i><a href="http://www.modernamuseet.se/stockholm/en/exhibitions/yayoi-kusama/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">Yayoi Kusama retrospective at Moderna Museet</span></a></i><br />
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When anyone asked me why I was in Stockholm and I told them why, they were like, you came all the way to Stockholm for an exhibition?<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SnfPkndt3_w/V2Rj5nsk3WI/AAAAAAAADOg/qKNq3kGDOGMbIzHuyBCRBs5S0ilVA1YGQCLcB/s1600/IMG_9059.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SnfPkndt3_w/V2Rj5nsk3WI/AAAAAAAADOg/qKNq3kGDOGMbIzHuyBCRBs5S0ilVA1YGQCLcB/s640/IMG_9059.JPG" width="480" /></a><br />
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Yes.</div>
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I had seen pictures of Kusama's exhibitions before and the works and spaces just seemed completely immersive and moving. And seeing them at certain points just stuck an idea in my head that experiencing her work firsthand would be healing in some way. It's a lot of pressure to put on the work and myself by coming all this way - and in some ways it was disappointing - I had asked one of the attendants at the gallery if there were more rooms to the Kusama exhibition then the ones I had seen - to which he said no, and then added that this was no small exhibition (couldn't I see that? Was the subtext underneath his words). But I am still really glad that I did because yes, there were moments where it was just, whoa. Like this:</div>
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The room is surprisingly small, but once you're in there it feels expansive. Stepping inside, I instantly felt calm.<br />
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Oh Sweden, I forgot about your beautiful open faced sandwiches and your insane prices (too insane). I had this pretty plate of food <i><a href="http://www.greenrabbit.se/" target="_blank"><span style="color: #bf9000;">here</span></a></i>.</div>
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Amsterdam:</div>
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I don't have much to show or to say about here because the weather was pretty miserable for the short period I was there. And I spent a lot of it inside trying to avoid the rain and dry my wet feet. </div>
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I didn't think I would, but I was ready to leave Europe when it was time to. Maybe it's because I am going to try my best to come back again soon, so I knew this wouldn't be the last time we'd see each other. </div>
Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-54803924550345794242015-09-21T05:16:00.000-07:002015-09-21T05:16:22.869-07:00Desert Drives: Mad Love<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I am back from a visit back to Vancouver. During my visit, I went on a road trip with Jane, Megan, and Michelle from Salt Lake City to Palm Springs. It was during this trip that it was confirmed, I am so absolutely in love with these girls. I'll gush more about them later, but here is what we saw and did:</div>
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<i><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral_Jetty" target="_blank">Spiral Jetty</a>.</i> I must have fallen asleep when this was talked about during art history, because I had no idea about its existence until we came here. We got super existential about its meaning and the artist, only to learn later that may not have been the case at all and was probably more straight-forward and a bit lighter than we thought.<br />
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<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antelope_Island" target="_blank"><i>Antelope island</i></a>. We saw no antelope but did see buffalo, ate philly cheesesteak sandwiches and drank root beer floats (which like many things on this trip, is more than we would consume in recent history and were total throwbacks).<br />
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Megan was the most adventurous out of all of us and as you can see based on me taking the picture, I was the laziest haha.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LS2QFOTx0-o/Vff8qqvVTqI/AAAAAAAADA0/tCTdtHaPOCU/s1600/2015-08-29%2B06.17.52%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LS2QFOTx0-o/Vff8qqvVTqI/AAAAAAAADA0/tCTdtHaPOCU/s640/2015-08-29%2B06.17.52%2B1.jpg" width="640" /></a><br />
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion_National_Park" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion_National_Park" target="_blank"><i>Zion National Park</i></a>. We camped there for a couple of nights, did some hikes. It is stunning and a completely different planet. But the heat was unreal. If I could have, I would have been doing this all the time:<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n9K_FwVOiCs/VfgAxZ9lTZI/AAAAAAAADB8/71dRVxNC1R8/s1600/IMG_3641.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-n9K_FwVOiCs/VfgAxZ9lTZI/AAAAAAAADB8/71dRVxNC1R8/s640/IMG_3641.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo by Megan Lau</td></tr>
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From Utah we drove to Las Vegas and had an <i><a href="http://www.cosmopolitanlasvegas.com/taste/restaurant-collection/wicked-spoon.aspx" target="_blank">obnoxious buffet</a> </i>(where we had promised to look out for each other and make sure that we paced ourselves, but that went out the window right away and I was so full after the first go round and suffering by the time we left).<span style="color: #666666; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, Palatino Linotype, Palatino, serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12px; line-height: 18px;"><i> </i></span></span>We played slots (where I made and lost 10 dollars) and went crazy at the outdoor selfie booths near our hotel.<br />
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After Las Vegas we went to <i><a href="http://www.acehotel.com/palmsprings" target="_blank">Palm Springs</a> </i>where Michelle won the ultimate bingo prize, watched the best rendition of 'Pony' by Ginuwine by this hipster white dude, drank the best pina coladas I've ever had (strong but tasted like delicious icey juice!), ate at a <i><a href="http://www.shermansdeli.com/" target="_blank">Jewish deli</a> </i>where the food looked like it was on steroids but was tasty as tasty could be, went and got some <i><a href="http://www.salvationmountain.us/" target="_blank">salvation</a> </i>(and by salvation, I really mean mind-numbing heat that gets you making promises in your head for some respite):<br />
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When we got back to Vancouver it was like, was that even real?<br />
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In a way I thought it was going to be scenery of Zion, the expanses of the desert, the vibrancy of Salvation Mountain and getting to do it with my closest friends that was going to move me and really make the trip, but it turned out it was them - Jane, Megan, and Michelle that completed me and made everything, well <i>everything</i> and all the other stuff became a (really) nice backdrop to that. </div>
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So many teenage girl dreams were fulfilled on this trip. But the most important one, the one that I most longed for when I was in junior high and high school was feeling that I was part of and really had my own group. I mean, I was always part of a group of girls and we would have good times, share meaningful things and all that, but I always felt like I was on the outside looking in. After this trip, I could see that back then I could never completely relate to them and feel as comfortable and unguarded as I do now with these girls. I would look at a couple or some of the girls in the group and see how close they were, how fulfilling that was for them, but just not quite feeling that and wanting it so badly. Without question, I felt it on this trip and I can't tell you enough how much it meant to me and to have these girls as my nearest and dearest. If you know them (which I'm sure a lot of the readers of this blog do), you'd know they tick all the boxes of ultimate girl pals (and then some): funny, smart, intelligent, kind.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Photo by Megan Lau</td></tr>
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I was so sad to leave them and I miss them so much right now, but it's a lot/enough to know that we (there's no other way to say this that isn't cheesy) have each other and that there's a lot to look forward to when we're together again, which I hope is real soon. xoxo.<br />
<br />Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-35956337546815589892015-06-09T05:15:00.000-07:002015-06-09T05:15:33.526-07:00Vietnam: Familiarities<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
After Siem Reap, I took a flight to Saigon and spent the next 3 weeks making my way from there to Hanoi.</div>
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Whenever I thought about Vietnam, it seemed like a place that would take a lot of planning and navigating of buses, trains, schedules, figuring out how to communicate with people, staying in shitty places, just generally being in different degrees of discomfort, but still seeing cool things and eating all the food. This thinking is basically why it took me forever to go, I just never felt like I was in the right head space to challenge myself to be constantly figuring things out and making myself comfortable in an uncomfortable situation and to do it alone. </div>
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I dunno if it's because I've been in South East Asia for over a year, but Vietnam is an incredibly easy place to travel. First off, getting a SIM card there is easy and cheap - $15 for unlimited 3G for a month! So that already made it really easy to figure out where things are (although for being so connected, Twitter is blocked). Getting from city to city is really easy, you can arrange it with wherever you're staying with very little notice. And there's so many ways to get from one place to another, with the prices range from reasonable to insanely cheap. The country sees so many tourists, with most of them generally taking the same path (Saigon to Hanoi, or vice versa) and so a lot of things are built so that it's really easy to find and get to where you want to go. </div>
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Where I sleep really affects whether or not a place sucks for me. And especially because it was unbearably hot in Vietnam when I was there (again, do yourself a favor and avoid Vietnam in May, otherwise you will know the true definition of heat and sweat), I spent a considerable amount of time in hotel rooms (AC!) I was worried that Vietnam would be full of places where I would have to convince myself that it was okay and that it was just for one night and to put aside my germaphobic tendencies for the sake of budget and experience, but mannn, Vietnam is full of the most clean, reasonably priced, value for money places I've been in.</div>
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Every time I told someone I was going to Vietnam, they kept saying that the people are quite hard and it takes a bit more time to really get friendly with them. I dunno who they were talking to, but everyone I met and interacted with were incredibly warm and kind. </div>
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Saigon is grimy, messy, chaotic, dense and I loved it. A lot of it felt instantly familiar. The garish signs in awful colors with some pretty terrible font choices reminded me of all the Vietnamese restaurants I went to growing up in Calgary. It was like, oh man, those aesthetic choices actually came from somewhere. Massive streets lined with trees reminiscent of Paris (this is another great thing about Vietnam - there are cheap, legit baguettes everywhere! If you get sick of rice or noodles or just Asian flavors, this is a welcome sight - also hilarious/interesting - there's these ladies on the sides of highways and roads with their motorbike just covered and stacked with baguettes). Insane motorbike traffic that not too long ago would have scared and stressed me out to no end, but was a nice exercise in death defying and felt like making your way through a sea of fish (you move slowly and they just go around you). Alleys and nooks packed tightly in together, hiding lives inside.<br />
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First ca phe in Vietnam. I love that they have these setups everywhere, just a small plastic table and chairs around it and you just chill and watch everything pass you by. </div>
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From Saigon I took a flight to Danang and then took a taxi to Hoi An.<br />
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The center of Hoi An is a UNESCO Heritage site and is known for being cute, that every other store is a place where you can get tailor made clothes (sounds a lot nicer than it is), is the home of an incredible banh mi, and being insanely romantic and swoon-y at night with all the colorful lanterns lighting up the streets. It's small so you're able to ride a bicycle around it and pretend that you're in some sort of quaint movie. That said though, it is insanely touristy and you see the same store selling the same thing over and over. I think that's one of the downsides of Vietnam, that you don't really see a lot of emerging designers or people doing different things like you do in Taipei, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Japan, Seoul, and even Bali. I found myself a bit hard pressed to find a store that sold things other than typical tourist things like rice hats and I can't even remember what else. But I guess who needs new shit when you got noodles and ca phe and scenery.<br />
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From Hoi An I took a bus to Hue and from there I took a bus to Phong Nha to see some caves there.<br />
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Hue:</div>
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I took a flight from Hue to Hanoi and then went on a tour from there to Halong and Bai Tu Long Bay:<br />
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Back to Hanoi:<br />
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By this point I didn't even bother trying to see museums and those sort of things in Hanoi. I had done enough of that in Saigon and I can say that, the museums are pretty terrible (although the buildings themselves are really cool) and I'd rather just eat and drink egg ca phe all day (what the lack in museum content they more than make up for food and drinks).<br />
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There was a moment where I was taking a taxi from my hotel back to the airport in Saigon - it was early morning and the light was pretty and gentle. We were passing by these parks and like many parks in Asia, you see bunches of people wearing bright (and not so bright) clothing doing exercises together (tai chi, dancing, or some other sort of thing), And then were these women who had these giant wooden bead necklaces (the beads were a little over half the size of a basketball) that they were swinging around their waists as a form of exercise and extreme blood circulation (I guess). Seeing all those things, with the morning light, and the days before that I had just spent exploring and taking everything in, I just swelled with nothing but love and awe for Vietnam. I was telling someone this, that there were these really nice small moments filled with visual idiosyncrasies that I loved so much and so inexplicably that it hurt. And he said that I went there and unexpectedly ended up finding something that I didn't realize I was even looking for.<br />
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Yes, totally. It swallowed me up, opened me and filled me with the best food, the nicest people, and sweet, warm moments.Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-24176117863950117942015-06-01T06:45:00.000-07:002015-06-01T06:45:19.209-07:00Cambodia: Fever in the Ruins Recently I went to Siem Reap, Cambodia. I had actually been meaning and wanting to go to Vietnam ever since I've been in South East Asia (for lol, the past year and a half), but figuring out the visa (it seemed complicated as hell, but in actuality was easy as pie) just threw me off every time (I mean if the visa was confusing, getting around the country seemed like an even more daunting task). Finally I was like, okay, going to make Vietnam happen and since I am in that part of Asia already, it's so close to Cambodia, that well, I am into UNESCO Heritage Sites (life goal: see all the UNESCO Heritage Sites) and there's a preeetttty <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angkor_Wat" target="_blank">famous one</a> in Cambodia, so how's about seeing that one too.<br />
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And so I did.<br />
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I only spent a few days in Siem Reap because I knew that I only really wanted to see Angkor Wat and then spend most of my time in Vietnam. I did little to no research prior (re: laziness) and didn't realize how small it was. So small (or at least the main center) that I was able to ride a bicycle around, and I can't tell you enough how good it felt to ride one in light traffic, weaving in and out and taking things in that way.<br />
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Anyways, Angkor Wat:<br />
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I went as early as I could manage, getting there at around 6am. The light and atmosphere was beautiful. It was hazy and...mystic. Even though there were already a lot of tourists there, there were still moments of quiet and grace.<br />
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It's just so incredible to me that human beings created these complex, intricate, and at times really pictorial/illustrative structures with crude materials and you know, way back when.<br />
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People spend days in Angkor Wat (it occupies a pretty sizeable amount of space and each temple is spread across it and has so many aspects to look at and explore)...I could only manage to stay for 5 hours (when I got back to the place I was staying at, he was surprised that I saw everything in that amount of time). Do yourself a favor and avoid Cambodia in May, the heat is brutal. It's like walking through hot jello, the air is thick and humid and you can't think about anything else but the incredible amounts of sweat your body can produce.<br />
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I spent the rest of my time seeing some back roads.<br />
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Eating pate sandwiches and noodles and jackfruit shakes.<br />
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Getting massages (like I said it was hot! I'll gladly kill time by paying someone a pretty reasonable amount of money to get knots out of my body when it's 34 degrees outside with blaring sun). I had one where the guy cracked my back an insane amount of times and I laughed every time he did and at the end he said, "so nice". lol yah, so nice.<br />
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I also haven't travelled like this in awhile, going to a foreign place by myself where I know no one and very little about the place. It was a good change and a nice way to start this trip off with because of its size, the food, the warmth of the people and its contrasts, like the use of "lady" to acknowledge or get your attention if you're a foreign female. It's rude (especially how they say it) but I found it hilarious.<br />
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Things are a bit of a blur and I felt a bit delirious at times, partly because I fell slightly ill, partly from the heat, and partly/mostly from being in a new place and being so into what it had to offer and feeling like it was more than happy to show itself to me and have me take it all in.<br />
<br />Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-62684671202508816462015-03-30T08:03:00.000-07:002015-03-30T08:03:39.074-07:00To The Light: Takamatsu and Naoshima Island<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Just came back from a trip to Japan. This trip was especially nice in that I got to go to <a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Naoshima" target="_blank"><i>Naoshima Island</i></a> for a couple of days (an island that I learned of a few years ago that was described as "an art island" and "amazing"). What made it nicer was that I got to go with one of my closest friends, <a href="http://www.meganlau.com/" target="_blank">Megan</a>. </div>
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We actually stayed in <a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Takamatsu" target="_blank"><i>Takamatsu</i></a>, a city about a one hour ferry ride away from Naoshima (the ferry ride never felt very long - mostly due to me being passed out on it) and is known for udon, having a beautiful garden, and what has to be the sweetest family with the cutest kids ever:</div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><i>Photo: <a href="http://www.meganlau.com/">Megan Lau</a></i></td></tr>
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If you're going to go Naoshima - you should stay with this family. I found <a href="https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/3637657?checkin=03%2F13%2F2015&checkout=03%2F16%2F2015&guests=2&s=O4Zt" target="_blank"><i>the listing</i></a> on AirBnB and wanted to book it because of the pictures of the kids alone. The boys were hilarious and I so badly wanted to constantly impress and have them like me. They would do stuff like climb onto their dad at dinner and form a totem pole and pull at his face. Squeeze in between Megan and I, play Pokemon and point out who was who. Randomly scream and pretend they were dragons or some other animal or thing. Eat enormous pieces of sushi in one go and almost choking. </div>
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Megan and I ended up playing the trumpet for the family (after somehow saying that we had both played in junior high and they insisted that we play). We got a lot of happy clapping.</div>
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<a href="http://ritsuringarden.jp/en.Top/en.top.html" target="_blank"><i>Ritsurin Garden</i></a> (aka the garden that has what has to be the best souvenir shop I've encountered in awhile. I wanted to buy everything. And yes, it's pretty picturesque too):</div>
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Some cherry blossoms - we were a bit too early for the full blooms.</div>
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The garden has a teahouse. Totally into teahouses. </div>
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Megan and I went on a boat ride and they made us wear these rice hats. So silly, but Megan managed to make it look glamorous. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MIASKEm8yPc/VRVVS9H3cDI/AAAAAAAACv0/sCeYDSUsNf0/s1600/2015-03-13%2B06.42.38%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MIASKEm8yPc/VRVVS9H3cDI/AAAAAAAACv0/sCeYDSUsNf0/s1600/2015-03-13%2B06.42.38%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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The ride was brief but pretty. Where are the fairies. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d4XBKSZSmk8/VRVVaKOwOGI/AAAAAAAACv8/_DN-f6Fu3Xg/s1600/2015-03-13%2B06.43.21%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d4XBKSZSmk8/VRVVaKOwOGI/AAAAAAAACv8/_DN-f6Fu3Xg/s1600/2015-03-13%2B06.43.21%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iOxL6FoyctY/VRVVbSEVywI/AAAAAAAACwI/zV6XdjD-kIk/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.25.40%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iOxL6FoyctY/VRVVbSEVywI/AAAAAAAACwI/zV6XdjD-kIk/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.25.40%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Naoshima:</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UApwIm0mswo/VRVVna9l-SI/AAAAAAAACwY/AZ7WJv17I6E/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.26.05%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UApwIm0mswo/VRVVna9l-SI/AAAAAAAACwY/AZ7WJv17I6E/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.26.05%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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We rode bikes with screechy brakes and no gears around the island. It looked cute. But I was dying a lot (the island goes up and down frequently. I swear I'm not that lazy. As Megan said, our muscles are totally different). </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lh8ceUWhmxA/VRVVnFHU13I/AAAAAAAACwU/rNX3u9EXUrM/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.26.19%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-lh8ceUWhmxA/VRVVnFHU13I/AAAAAAAACwU/rNX3u9EXUrM/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.26.19%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Oh herro. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z3q48Gb-AvA/VRVVnz5HvHI/AAAAAAAACwc/DRFyLlerxbY/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.26.29%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z3q48Gb-AvA/VRVVnz5HvHI/AAAAAAAACwc/DRFyLlerxbY/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.26.29%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Herro too.</div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMCGol7AygI/VRVWMBGfcAI/AAAAAAAACxE/lYfzwM0FswA/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.27.10%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZMCGol7AygI/VRVWMBGfcAI/AAAAAAAACxE/lYfzwM0FswA/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.27.10%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Herrooooo. ^^</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--tM-4_tsYSk/VRVV1gQWRzI/AAAAAAAACws/OViJW7UAOQA/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.27.57%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/--tM-4_tsYSk/VRVV1gQWRzI/AAAAAAAACws/OViJW7UAOQA/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.27.57%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fRE0RDUbdW0/VRVWIvLqQWI/AAAAAAAACw8/DeRVP_Giz-g/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.28.07%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fRE0RDUbdW0/VRVWIvLqQWI/AAAAAAAACw8/DeRVP_Giz-g/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.28.07%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Herro! o_____0</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m77l9M99zk0/VRVWZqC--BI/AAAAAAAACxc/_-FpjtqtEcU/s1600/2015-03-15%2B05.00.27%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m77l9M99zk0/VRVWZqC--BI/AAAAAAAACxc/_-FpjtqtEcU/s1600/2015-03-15%2B05.00.27%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Tiny series I inadvertently ended up with - Megan's back against nice scenery (or possible Facebook cover photos for Megan's profile):</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aRiZSGkFEcU/VRVU3cHBrcI/AAAAAAAACu8/1ggcWdIHPhw/s1600/2015-03-13%2B06.41.34%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aRiZSGkFEcU/VRVU3cHBrcI/AAAAAAAACu8/1ggcWdIHPhw/s1600/2015-03-13%2B06.41.34%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UMUDL4G_wM8/VRVWNAAYuVI/AAAAAAAACxM/MiwKgLIgAYs/s1600/2015-03-15%2B04.59.33%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UMUDL4G_wM8/VRVWNAAYuVI/AAAAAAAACxM/MiwKgLIgAYs/s1600/2015-03-15%2B04.59.33%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-turq-7AJ9Dc/VRVWQa0NL9I/AAAAAAAACxU/ZloyQrgxOfU/s1600/2015-03-15%2B04.59.50%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-turq-7AJ9Dc/VRVWQa0NL9I/AAAAAAAACxU/ZloyQrgxOfU/s1600/2015-03-15%2B04.59.50%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gGAncHI8Ihk/VRVV9gbGbLI/AAAAAAAACw0/0QnXImi77Ao/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.28.20%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gGAncHI8Ihk/VRVV9gbGbLI/AAAAAAAACw0/0QnXImi77Ao/s1600/2015-03-14%2B09.28.20%2B1.jpg" height="426" width="640" /></a></div>
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The things that a lot of people come to Naoshima for - the art and all the forms it takes on the island - outdoor sculptures, a <a href="http://www.benesse-artsite.jp/en/chichu/" target="_blank"><i>museum </i></a>with natural lighting built underground so as to not disturb the landscape of the island, old houses converted into <a href="http://www.benesse-artsite.jp/en/arthouse/" target="_blank"><i>art spaces</i></a>, <a href="http://www.benesse-artsite.jp/en/naoshimasento/"><i>a bathhouse</i></a> also acting as a functioning art installation - were driven by <a href="http://www.benesse-artsite.jp/en/benessehouse/"><i>Benesse</i></a>, a company whose name means to live well. What you see on the island is their efforts in making their namesake real and for people to experience. There was a piece involving light on the island that reminded me about adjustments, that they take time and patience and putting aside doubts and eventually things are clear. Basically, hold tight, all will be well. </div>
Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-20964749920432330532015-03-03T00:31:00.000-08:002015-03-03T00:31:22.624-08:00Long overdue: It's been a real long time since I've painted something.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uMF_8V8X3b8/VPVwLDXLDBI/AAAAAAAACJc/MgE87T5ezXU/s1600/Happiness.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uMF_8V8X3b8/VPVwLDXLDBI/AAAAAAAACJc/MgE87T5ezXU/s1600/Happiness.jpg" height="640" width="494" /></a></div>
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Words are from <i><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2bRVGOweRw">this song</a></i>. </div>
Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-11123784586007876942015-01-29T05:29:00.000-08:002015-01-29T05:29:24.545-08:00A Brief Bit of Winter: Seoul<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Just went to Seoul recently:</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cc0_LXXkmzA/VMcEfP0eSpI/AAAAAAAACEY/OMicYnNdqCc/s1600/2015-01-18%2B05.43.56%2B1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cc0_LXXkmzA/VMcEfP0eSpI/AAAAAAAACEY/OMicYnNdqCc/s1600/2015-01-18%2B05.43.56%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a><a href="http://www.janekoo.com/" target="_blank">Jane</a> is/was there for a month doing <a href="http://www.janekoo.com/#/surfcode/">work</a> and I take any opportunity to see friends (especially best ones) if there anywhere in Asia and make them hang out with me (side note: say hi if you're around!) My mom (who watched Korean dramas quite avidly), came out halfway through the trip. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z2_jHYAkD5Y/VMcFWlS103I/AAAAAAAACGU/k3I184XXByM/s1600/2015-01-24%2B05.32.49%2B1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-z2_jHYAkD5Y/VMcFWlS103I/AAAAAAAACGU/k3I184XXByM/s1600/2015-01-24%2B05.32.49%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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I had been to Seoul before to visit Jane 7 years back. I went in the middle of summer and melted. And also didn't quite appreciate where I was (Jane and I had also gone to Japan in the middle of my visit and after that, Seoul just seemed to pale by comparison). </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4abC_TF9wMg/VMcFLYGiKFI/AAAAAAAACF8/2rz09BXirs0/s1600/2015-01-24%2B05.31.45%2B1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4abC_TF9wMg/VMcFLYGiKFI/AAAAAAAACF8/2rz09BXirs0/s1600/2015-01-24%2B05.31.45%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a> </div>
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This time around, it was freezing. For me at least. For everyone there it was nothing. It was the first bit of winter that I've felt at an appropriate winter time in awhile. It was nice to experience that again, to remember seasons and the feelings that come with them, the dreariness of winter (but all the coziness that comes with trying to keep warm), the relief of spring and the feeling of beginnings, the long days of hot summer heat, and the crispness of fall. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DmVnZtgGeRQ/VMcFO-ih9NI/AAAAAAAACGE/551ExoQT0Ew/s1600/2015-01-24%2B05.31.58%2B1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DmVnZtgGeRQ/VMcFO-ih9NI/AAAAAAAACGE/551ExoQT0Ew/s1600/2015-01-24%2B05.31.58%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Because it was so cold and because I am so lazy, I barely made a dent in what Seoul had to offer this time around. But what I did get to see and experience of it, it was great and I thought over and over what a thoughtful city it was (it seems to have something for everything!) Also that the socks, packaging, makeup, and stationary game is so out of control and that I wanted it all.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wPY4xbXcIYA/VMcFTTLiAFI/AAAAAAAACGM/QBLc8LYV9H4/s1600/2015-01-24%2B05.32.35%2B1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wPY4xbXcIYA/VMcFTTLiAFI/AAAAAAAACGM/QBLc8LYV9H4/s1600/2015-01-24%2B05.32.35%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a> </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eCLpwIKc-og/VMcEjbAlc9I/AAAAAAAACEg/8z_3Z4d5tN8/s1600/2015-01-19%2B09.55.50%2B1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-eCLpwIKc-og/VMcEjbAlc9I/AAAAAAAACEg/8z_3Z4d5tN8/s1600/2015-01-19%2B09.55.50%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HW8J5fQJXrQ/VMcEopwuF9I/AAAAAAAACEo/dkp1rQcGgCM/s1600/2015-01-19%2B09.55.57%2B1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HW8J5fQJXrQ/VMcEopwuF9I/AAAAAAAACEo/dkp1rQcGgCM/s1600/2015-01-19%2B09.55.57%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Me blending in really well. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F4t36_UTywU/VMcEtVr9yyI/AAAAAAAACEw/USapi_kNcTY/s1600/2015-01-19%2B09.56.06%2B1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F4t36_UTywU/VMcEtVr9yyI/AAAAAAAACEw/USapi_kNcTY/s1600/2015-01-19%2B09.56.06%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://en.stylenanda.com/Front/php/b/board_list.php?board_no=8">Style Nanda</a> flagship store in Hongdae.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VlFzVcECrzQ/VMcFfGEcH3I/AAAAAAAACGo/8ErVsJp8lB0/s1600/2015-01-24%2B05.34.14%2B1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-VlFzVcECrzQ/VMcFfGEcH3I/AAAAAAAACGo/8ErVsJp8lB0/s1600/2015-01-24%2B05.34.14%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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There's a photobooth at the store that is FREE and prints the photos as quick as you take them. When we discovered this, Jane and I went nuts. These are just half of the photos that we took. If you're going to go, go in the early afternoon on a Monday. No one is there (for obvious reasons haha) and you can hog the photobooth for as long as you like.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xF6HxEF13u0/VMcEEartorI/AAAAAAAACDY/Baw9E2B0K-E/s1600/2015-01-18%2B05.33.36%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xF6HxEF13u0/VMcEEartorI/AAAAAAAACDY/Baw9E2B0K-E/s1600/2015-01-18%2B05.33.36%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UK65UP-WDbc/VMcEN31HdDI/AAAAAAAACDw/wTPflPMCnsQ/s1600/2015-01-18%2B05.34.08%2B1.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-UK65UP-WDbc/VMcEN31HdDI/AAAAAAAACDw/wTPflPMCnsQ/s1600/2015-01-18%2B05.34.08%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
Seoul is still a great source of Engrish. <br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3LhNt3GKQr0/VMcELvSPliI/AAAAAAAACDo/S6nN9pKpSmI/s1600/2015-01-18%2B05.33.59%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3LhNt3GKQr0/VMcELvSPliI/AAAAAAAACDo/S6nN9pKpSmI/s1600/2015-01-18%2B05.33.59%2B1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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The best pork belly Jane and I went to - crispy but still thick and fatty and juicy. Whewwwwwwww. <br />
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Dog adoption day.<br />
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Korean sushi pyramid power<br />
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Went to a dog cafe.<br />
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Tiny series "Things held in Ellen's hand in Seoul":<br />
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Banana milk. Drink of choice from convenience stores in Seoul. It actually kind of reminds me of when I was a kid and I had taken antibiotics that were banana flavored and it was actually really delicious. I have yet to have an antibiotic taste as good as that one. But luckily for me (and you!) there's a drink in Seoul (and I'm pretty sure in the rest of Asia as well, but there's something about having banana milk there) where I can taste that taste and not ingest antibiotics. </div>
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Even though it was cold, I'm still going to eat a cream cheese ice cream macaron sandwich. No regrets, it was great.</div>
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Blood bag pomegranate juice.</div>
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When I was researching things to do in Seoul, someone said you should get your tarot cards read there. I thought it was funny, but that I'd probably never get the opportunity to. But we were walking around in an <a href="http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=561382">area</a> (that was so cute and pretty that it made my heart hurt) and stumbled upon a tarot card reading place. It was cold out and we used it as an excuse to get warm. Or not actually, I want to know what is in my Korean tarot card future. Jane translated for me. I was feeling kind of nervous during the reading - but it ended up being pretty good. Who knows she could just be sugar coating it, but basically if I work harder, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szGomck3sZI">love harder</a>, and not let stress get to me (lol all really obvious and vague things, but whatever, it's good to be reminded of it), I totally got 2015 in the bag.</div>
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Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-29142117033721709212015-01-05T06:07:00.002-08:002015-01-05T06:07:42.424-08:00Is a Kind of MagicBali again for the last couple of months:<br />
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My dad came out for a day for his friend's wedding out in <a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Bukit_Peninsula" target="_blank">Uluwatu</a> (an area on the cliffs of Bali with a lot of surfing and real nice sunsets). It was an Indonesian Chinese Christian wedding. What does that look like? Like a normal one (I was hoping for something crazier). But with Indonesian food (which is crazy enough I guess in this case). And for some reason they had a pair of rabbits in a cage at the entrance:<br />
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Obviously I loved that.<br />
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We let off balloons at the end of the night. They asked my dad to say something at the wedding. He was totally unprepared and has clearly not seen enough rom coms, because what he said had to be the most hilariously whatever thing I've heard at a wedding, that it was like, is this even a wedding speech.<br />
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Some serious amount of selfies going on that night.<br />
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In Uluwatu there are all these cotton trees. You see the pods hanging from them, some in tact, others split open with the cotton bursting from them, looking funny, like crazy grandma wigs hanging.<br />
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A jackfruit tree. I really fell in love with jackfruit this time around. Back in Van, one of my absolute favorite things to have at <a href="http://www.urbanspoon.com/r/14/181389/restaurant/Chinatown/Phnom-Penh-Vancouver" target="_blank">Phnom Penh</a> was a jackfruit mooshake. That has nothing on the real thing. Have you ever had <a href="https://www.google.ca/search?q=fruit+by+the+foot&oq=fruit+by+&aqs=chrome.0.69i59j69i57j0l4.1517j0j7&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=91&ie=UTF-8" target="_blank">fruit by the foot</a>? The red one? To me that was the best thing you could possibly have at lunch in elementary school. If I could have existed on only those, I would have. In fact I felt like I could. Anyways - jackfruit, when it's at its best, tastes like that. So fulfillingly sweet and makes you super stoked on fruit.<br />
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On the drive over to taking this picture (I was on my motorbike), an Indonesian dude saw me, made a u turn, started following me and asked if I wanted him to be my gigolo. Uh no. There was also a storm coming. And I had to race home to beat the rain ("big rain"). I also felt like the gigolo dude was following me (not cool). The sky was so grey and made the colors so much more vibrant on the way home. It was also a Balinese holiday, so there were all these decorations and people running about. I can't tell you enough how good it felt to get home just before it started pouring and without a gigolo.<br />
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My neighbor's cat. Suzuki. I like that sometimes he stops by.<br />
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<br />Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-79718925982764665172014-11-05T23:31:00.000-08:002014-11-05T23:31:44.516-08:00Dry and Sprawling: Lombok Came back a few days ago from Lombok, an island off of Bali. In all the time that I've been in Bali (almost 6 months in total now) - I have not bothered to explore Indonesia at all. It's terrible and embarrassing! When I was in Mexico, I always wanted to see more and would be just kind of amazed when I would talk to people who would just go to the same place in Mexico over and over.<br />
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Bali, at least for me, right now, is this vortex where I don't really feel the need to leave. The island itself has a lot to explore that I have yet to see and even that feels like a whole big thing in itself.<br />
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Anyways. My neighbor has a non profit organization, <a href="http://www.hwb-nonprofit.org/" target="_blank">Hairdressers Without Borders</a>, where she goes to developing countries and teaches people there how to cut hair. She was going to Lombok and seeing an opportunity to finally see another part of Indonesia (although haha it's only half an hour away by plane - baby steps yah?) I asked if I could tag along (by helping her haha...take pictures) and she said yes.<br />
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I don't really have many pictures (that aren't of washing, combing and cutting hair) to show because we were working for most of the day and would just go out to dinner at the end of the night and pass out shortly thereafter.<br />
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But here are some snaps:<br />
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This is a tiny thing and might be completely wrong, but you can automatically see the difference in wealth between Lombok and Bali by this corn. In Bali, everywhere there is the option to have sate, grilled meat on a stick - but in Lombok, most of the time you just see this corn. Maybe it's not so much a matter of wealth but that they really like corn haha. Which isn't such a bad thing cause it's delicious. Especially with a coconut. And a nice sunset:<br />
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Lombok is known for being a less developed island and to have really beautiful scenery. I didn't get to see much of it, but I can tell you that what I did see, it was really dry at some part, and then lush and sprawling at others.<br />
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The actual volunteering. First off, you need to know that Lombok has a really strong Muslim religion. You hear several mosques all throughout the day, religion, religion, religion. Rather than seem like a spiritual thing - it seems more like a limiting thing that contains the people and island's potential. It made me finally see or at least feel the difference between religion and spirituality. I haven't really seen or experienced a lot of Bali's religious ceremonies so this is still probably somewhat ignorant, but from what I have glimpsed, there is something lighter to Bali and I feel like that it's cultivating a spirit, beliefs and a holistic approach rather than a set sort of rules that are just like, wait, where did these come from and why are we following them.<br />
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Hearing the mosque all the time and with the dry climate and undeveloped lands, Lombok just felt really heavy. The women get the shit end of the stick in everything.The typical wage is incredibly low and the job options are limited and are again, not increasing the potential of the people and the island.<br />
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So for these women to even want to show up (consistently, prepared, and on time) and to learn a new skill that could (and hopefully provide them with a new source of income or at the very least, instil more confidence and independence in them) - is big. Watching the students, the transformation was so fast, at the beginning of the week, they would be shy, really quiet, and kind of scared (some would shake while holding the scissors and tentatively touch people's heads)- but as the week progressed, they would open and you could see the confidence beginning to form and ideas and dreams materializing.<br />
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Us being there for a week is a small thing and who knows might not lead anywhere.<br />
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Or maybe everywhere.<br />
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I hope.<br />
<br />Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-37048579269675418402014-10-20T16:42:00.000-07:002014-10-20T16:42:20.908-07:00Vancouver: Gems. I just came back from being in Vancouver for a little over 2.5 weeks.<br />
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I had such a good time. I can't tell you enough how good it was.<br />
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Seeing this reminded me that oh yah, Vancouver likes to have some weird and slightly amusing highly manicured plants. And it's funny because this was also the first thing I noticed when I first came to Van back in 2005.<br />
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The easiest way to describe why my visit was great was that it was a novelty coming back. Things were familiar and new at the same time and there was just enough time to feel only this. Rain was refreshing instead of being a reminder that it was the start of a season that would last for what seemed like an endless amount of months. Grey skies were pleasant to wake up to (for the past year I have been sweating from just...existing). Riding around on bus and just watching everything and everyone instead of fiddling around on my phone because I had taken this way so many times before. Walking routes I used to take and seeing what has changed and been replaced or remained the same.<br />
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Got to stay with <a href="http://www.janekoo.com/" target="_blank">Jane</a> for a bit and have some good hangs with her and her endlessly loveable cat Dig Dug.<br />
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This used to be an ordinary sight to me. But there were many moments this year where I dreamed about this place and eating piles of this stuff...which I proceeded to do when I got the chance.<br />
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I forgot about areas. Places I walked several times but completely didn't remember until I returned. This is one of them, I loved this spot, it's lined with gardens (some bursting with vegetables and flowers) and if I ever felt shitty I would just walk along it to help me feel better. Or it was just a nice way to break from walking along houses and feeling like you were somewhere completely different.<br />
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Herein begins my unintended photoshoot with Jane haha:<br />
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Aw.<br />
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Happy cookies.<br />
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Some pretty dumpling shapes.<br />
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Jane, Megan and I were walking and all of the sudden started picking up acorns from the ground and got really into it. By the time we got home, a lot of them had fallen apart.<br />
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Oh look another picture of Dig Dug :)<br />
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Had so much delicious food. So many meals with friends. Thank you again to everyone who ate with me, it was really nice and I had such a good time spending time with you guys and hearing about what's been happening with your lives.<br />
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It was also nice to be able to cook meals. Hearty, cozy, and overindulgent ones. Like roast chicken. Risotto. Mussels. When I am travelling, even though I live in places for somewhat long stretches at a time, cooking is just not the same. Especially in a tropical climate. The kind of cooking that I really love is the ones where the dishes take awhile (haha and create steam and heat), where it's an excuse to hang out inside and take your time and watch lots of tv or a movie while things cook. Basically lazy delicious cooking.<br />
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Last meal.<br />
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I got to do all the things that I love and forgot that I loved. Before coming to Vancouver, I was feeling either slightly ambivalent or kind of scared. Because it brought up questions of what I was doing with my life, that one day I will have to come back and set more solid roots (either there or at least somewhere), basically just making me confront life and making some choices I don't want to and am not quite ready to make. And even though it was a brief amount of time that you only really experience the best and exciting parts of being in a familiar city - it reminded me of what people always say when you leave a place - you can always come back. </div>
Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-18537194983482964122014-09-14T05:07:00.000-07:002014-09-14T05:07:16.057-07:00Bali: Here for AwhileWent back to Bali for a couple of months. Snaps:<br />
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The most perfect orange.<br />
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Side of the road satay setup.<br />
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They love to burn things here.<br />
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This dog is adorable. I love how his ears just flop like that. He's an old one, always kind of in the way when I need to get out, moving at the slowest pace when he realizes he needs to move.<br />
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Insane low tide.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yNBSpWTShTw/VBU_G1A-X3I/AAAAAAAAB3E/u0JxagvbZoY/s1600/2014-08-20%2B06.55.14%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yNBSpWTShTw/VBU_G1A-X3I/AAAAAAAAB3E/u0JxagvbZoY/s1600/2014-08-20%2B06.55.14%2B2.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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My neighbor's cat, Suzuki. My neighbor was driving along a rode and saw two guys pulled over, looking at their car. He asked what was wrong and they said that they thought they heard a meowing coming from inside. They looked and there was this tiny kitten hidden in the engine. When my neighbor held up the tiny thing, he's like, "AH, SUZUKI!" (the car in which the kitten was found was a Suzuki). Really sweet cat. He does this thing where when he's super comfortable, he begins sucking his tail (you can kind of notice in this picture where at the end the tail isn't fluffy) - it is quite the thing to see.<br />
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Even though I was in Bali for a longer period of time, I don't have that much to show. I got into a routine, was trying to root myself a bit more. For the time being I have decided to base myself here and go back and forth to Singapore (where my parents are) and to other places I am curious about in Asia. It's odd. I never even planned on coming to Bali. And I never planned on staying past the initial month I came. And I'm not nearly as in love with it as other people who live here longterm, but here I am and if you're ever in Bali or Singapore, do say hello.<br />
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We can eat $3 lunches, laugh at getting candy as change, marvel (in both awe and amusement) at the amount of ceremonies there are (from a baby turning 3 months old, to blessing surfboards, motorbikes, and kitchen utensils), get real sweaty and tanned, ride through rice fields on a motorbike to the beach, say hello to the nice guys who run the surfboard rental at the beach and make silly jokes that only they really find funny, surf waves early in the morning (and watch all the surf schools scream at their students, "PADDLEPADDLEPADDLEPADDLE, UUUUUUUUUUUUP!" and then they proceed to scream and laugh some more), drink coconuts, see a Bali healer (with the surname 'Circus') who has the one weird eye and makes lewd jokes (and proceeds to profusely say, just kidding, just kidding) but does somehow manage to fix that one spot without even asking, hang out with many dogs and cats, hang out with my very sweet neighbors (who feel like the true definition of the word in all the best ways) and on and on and on.Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-9552908715841341052014-07-15T05:33:00.000-07:002014-07-15T05:33:07.466-07:00Forever Friends: Hong Kong After Taipei, my mom and I stopped in Hong Kong for a few days for my cousin's wedding banquet.<br />
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I've been to Hong Kong a good handful of times now. Even though the buildings are just as run down and grimy in Taipei and the air is also hot and humid, and the consumerism and amount of people is dizzying, it felt good to be there, feeling so familiar and new. I guess cause I went to Hong Kong when I was young and each time I went, it was the bomb. Back then I was in love with Sailor Moon and there was Sailor Moon stuff everywhere (I got a Sailor Moon denim jacket that I hope is still buried away at my parent's house somewhere). I remember also meeting and playing with a collie for the first time and it was the best thing ever (I was young okay!) Also riding my grandma's bike in, I don't really know how to describe it, backyard is a stretch, but this tiny bit of concrete that surrounded her little house. I pretended I was a delivery person (that somehow really appealed to me). Eating instant noodles with sliced hot dogs for the first time and those flavors completely blowing my mind. Drinking cream soda with milk. Finding out I had relatives and that they were so nice to be around. Watching Titanic before it came out in Canada on an illegal cd! That stuff made me fall in love with Hong Kong and I am forever its loyal friend.<br />
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Anyways, not much to show, but here's some funny things:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1oDBTIdyM50/U7q003vPT_I/AAAAAAAAB0c/3Fk6b9KW7vU/s1600/2014-07-01+06.55.20+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1oDBTIdyM50/U7q003vPT_I/AAAAAAAAB0c/3Fk6b9KW7vU/s1600/2014-07-01+06.55.20+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/awesomer/brother-cream-is-hong-kongs-most-famous-and-most-adorable-ca" target="_blank">This cat</a> was the most pleasant surprise ever. I had no idea he existed and he was so close to our hotel (so we got to see him everyday twice a day). </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mc5whfCnkD0/U7q1VfDhftI/AAAAAAAAB0w/ge_z-Zc6SnQ/s1600/2014-07-01+06.58.42+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mc5whfCnkD0/U7q1VfDhftI/AAAAAAAAB0w/ge_z-Zc6SnQ/s1600/2014-07-01+06.58.42+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a><br />
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His woman companion.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vNGQSEeEK1o/U7q1OIQeI8I/AAAAAAAAB0k/9oVN2YTP6qA/s1600/2014-07-01+06.55.36+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vNGQSEeEK1o/U7q1OIQeI8I/AAAAAAAAB0k/9oVN2YTP6qA/s1600/2014-07-01+06.55.36+1.jpg" height="640" width="360" /></a></div>
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Droopy ice cream from what had to be the most unimpressed and bored ice cream man ever with the cutest ice cream truck.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-57lgLYHQBLw/U7q1UvN297I/AAAAAAAAB0s/b96HrKp4-nw/s1600/2014-07-07+10.50.54+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-57lgLYHQBLw/U7q1UvN297I/AAAAAAAAB0s/b96HrKp4-nw/s1600/2014-07-07+10.50.54+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Food at my cousin's wedding banquet. Mannnnn traditional Chinese wedding banquets are quite the sight to see. </div>
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Until next time Hong Kong! xo! </div>
Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-31212204633749415072014-07-08T05:54:00.000-07:002014-07-08T05:54:29.937-07:00Wet Hot Taiwan SummerWent to Taipei with my mom for 10 days:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D4Y8lSA05Aw/U7KZX_KoSJI/AAAAAAAABv0/X5qNNjIQQVk/s1600/2014-06-19+11.09.35+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-D4Y8lSA05Aw/U7KZX_KoSJI/AAAAAAAABv0/X5qNNjIQQVk/s1600/2014-06-19+11.09.35+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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While I was in Chiang Mai back in February, I had finally read Eddie Huang's <i><a _target="_blank" href="http://www.amazon.ca/Fresh-Off-Boat-A-Memoir/dp/0679644881">Fresh Off The Boat</a>. </i>I totally fux with that book. He made Taipei sound so awesome that I was like, gotta go to Taipei. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-af1UBSOjdo4/U7KZdYiX3eI/AAAAAAAABv8/T4q7AN5MnEc/s1600/2014-06-19+11.10.18+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-af1UBSOjdo4/U7KZdYiX3eI/AAAAAAAABv8/T4q7AN5MnEc/s1600/2014-06-19+11.10.18+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Made a day trip out to <a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Wulai" target="_blank">Wulai</a>, a town that is "famous for its hot springs and aboriginal culture". It was way too hot to try out the hot springs, so we just explored a spot where there was a waterfall up in a mountain nearby. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YWFcLGnlomw/U7KZeIk0IyI/AAAAAAAABwE/ym3qKNFOWr4/s1600/2014-06-24+11.36.47+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YWFcLGnlomw/U7KZeIk0IyI/AAAAAAAABwE/ym3qKNFOWr4/s1600/2014-06-24+11.36.47+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Spiderweb.</div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k3jVV9anHZs/U7KZhK2pgkI/AAAAAAAABwM/8F-gi1OyIW4/s1600/2014-06-24+11.36.59+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k3jVV9anHZs/U7KZhK2pgkI/AAAAAAAABwM/8F-gi1OyIW4/s1600/2014-06-24+11.36.59+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Loved the pattern on this light. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2g7VIjc6r9Y/U7KaKNfg65I/AAAAAAAABwc/Uv3Kmm11vs4/s1600/2014-06-24+11.37.13+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-2g7VIjc6r9Y/U7KaKNfg65I/AAAAAAAABwc/Uv3Kmm11vs4/s1600/2014-06-24+11.37.13+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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The park around the waterfall had all these weird/awesome statues. We went there on a weekday and I think normally it's packed with tourists, but with it being rainy and not a weekend, there was barely anyone there. It was kind of surreal, not everything was open in the park (there's rides, some cafes, a performance stage, a semi-extreme games course, the list goes on) and it was as if time stopped and the place was abandoned in the middle of something and you were seeing the aftermath of that. Or aliens invaded. Or I was on the set of the Hunger Games. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DZAcLWt9m7c/U7KaFcs1cUI/AAAAAAAABwU/YaV5DdYlewM/s1600/2014-06-24+11.38.10+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DZAcLWt9m7c/U7KaFcs1cUI/AAAAAAAABwU/YaV5DdYlewM/s1600/2014-06-24+11.38.10+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5KVLduz8T3c/U7KaUbrqDkI/AAAAAAAABwk/o6EFtQVJcOY/s1600/2014-06-24+11.39.28+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5KVLduz8T3c/U7KaUbrqDkI/AAAAAAAABwk/o6EFtQVJcOY/s1600/2014-06-24+11.39.28+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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I have no idea what this animal is supposed to be. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W3DOUGjJzMM/U7Kat2XMOcI/AAAAAAAABws/1bAUVwcCcOU/s1600/2014-06-24+11.39.49+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-W3DOUGjJzMM/U7Kat2XMOcI/AAAAAAAABws/1bAUVwcCcOU/s1600/2014-06-24+11.39.49+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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I was kind of disappointed with this town because I was really looking forward to seeing Taiwanese Aboriginal culture. (You're about to learn how ignorant I am) - I had no idea there was even an Aboriginal culture in Taiwan. I loved all the patterns that I saw around town, but it was obvious that what actual Aboriginal culture there was left wasn't going to be seen and all that there was was something to just please and appeal to tourists. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7MWI94Ae5aY/U7Kau6Y9VhI/AAAAAAAABw0/MrBNceA2Fp8/s1600/2014-06-24+11.41.07+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-7MWI94Ae5aY/U7Kau6Y9VhI/AAAAAAAABw0/MrBNceA2Fp8/s1600/2014-06-24+11.41.07+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://www.ylgeopark.org.tw/ENG/info/YlIntroduction_en.aspx" target="_blank">Yehliu</a>. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b4FF0id7w_8/U7Ka2eMImmI/AAAAAAAABw8/LIcg-TYfgzQ/s1600/2014-06-24+11.41.36+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-b4FF0id7w_8/U7Ka2eMImmI/AAAAAAAABw8/LIcg-TYfgzQ/s1600/2014-06-24+11.41.36+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Although this place was slammed with tourists, I still loved it here. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EGgJpK2kPWw/U7KbSF62upI/AAAAAAAABxI/TQ_GpQmW3hI/s1600/2014-06-24+11.42.11+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EGgJpK2kPWw/U7KbSF62upI/AAAAAAAABxI/TQ_GpQmW3hI/s1600/2014-06-24+11.42.11+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2JaQY-Q0Hoc/U7KbZ0DaL5I/AAAAAAAABxU/E3YGsB-7xl0/s1600/2014-06-24+11.44.05+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2JaQY-Q0Hoc/U7KbZ0DaL5I/AAAAAAAABxU/E3YGsB-7xl0/s1600/2014-06-24+11.44.05+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Xiao Long Bao at <a href="http://www.dintaifung.com.tw/en/default.htm" target="_blank">Din Tai Fung</a>. It was cute, they put this creepy crawler crab thing to indicate that you are having the crab xiao long bao. I really noticed the service at Din Tai Fung, which is the first in a long time. It was really good and it didn't make me uncomfortable. HA! A lot of the times when I experience attentive service at a restaurant, I get really self-conscious and say thank you too much and smile a lot to feel less awkward, but then I think my attempt to seem really grateful just makes it more awkward. Or not. Anyways, with Din Tai Fung, I think the difference was that I felt like the servers were really proud of their jobs, that they were part of an institution in Taiwan that locals and foreigners really love. I liked that they explained how their dumplings should be eaten and that if you look at your receipt, there's notes indicating when to start cooking the dishes so that the meal is timed right. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bUIY_HKHo-A/U7Kb1hHWG_I/AAAAAAAABxc/rDWWKyI0gWo/s1600/2014-06-26+08.17.40+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bUIY_HKHo-A/U7Kb1hHWG_I/AAAAAAAABxc/rDWWKyI0gWo/s1600/2014-06-26+08.17.40+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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When I saw these on this woman's table I went nuts. LOOK AT THEIR TINY LITTLE HANDS HOLDING PIECES OF SHRIMP AND RICE! We asked the woman what they were "they're from Australia" (doesn't really answer my question), how old they were "3 to 4 years old", why is the front one so fat (couldn't get him in the picture) "I dunno but he's fully grown like the others". For someone with such cute animals she didn't seem very happy or into answering our questions. Yes to be fair we shouldn't have interrupted her meal. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CC8M8BL-EPQ/U7Kb2Z8VsSI/AAAAAAAABxg/ARKAQttsj1c/s1600/2014-06-26+08.18.58+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CC8M8BL-EPQ/U7Kb2Z8VsSI/AAAAAAAABxg/ARKAQttsj1c/s1600/2014-06-26+08.18.58+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a blank="" href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Jiufen" target="">Jiufen</a>:</div>
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A town with a teahouse that inspired the bath house in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spirited_Away" target="_blank">Spirited Away</a>. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SqekMdJMd0c/U7Kb4MuZ74I/AAAAAAAABxs/Zs3ziG9Lb18/s1600/2014-06-26+08.19.37+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SqekMdJMd0c/U7Kb4MuZ74I/AAAAAAAABxs/Zs3ziG9Lb18/s1600/2014-06-26+08.19.37+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D_-DBOFJ-T0/U7KcdDet6XI/AAAAAAAAByA/S148aW2Mr2Q/s1600/2014-06-26+08.19.51+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D_-DBOFJ-T0/U7KcdDet6XI/AAAAAAAAByA/S148aW2Mr2Q/s1600/2014-06-26+08.19.51+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-402qmz-ivaw/U7KuHzBIuGI/AAAAAAAAByk/VhtWZC_cAiU/s1600/2014-06-26+08.20.32+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-402qmz-ivaw/U7KuHzBIuGI/AAAAAAAAByk/VhtWZC_cAiU/s1600/2014-06-26+08.20.32+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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In case you wanted to see a large non real cat on a roof.</div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0ysDeAQqNqA/U7Kcc9S3vxI/AAAAAAAABx8/LExDwefC-9Q/s1600/2014-06-26+08.20.42+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0ysDeAQqNqA/U7Kcc9S3vxI/AAAAAAAABx8/LExDwefC-9Q/s1600/2014-06-26+08.20.42+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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Went to so many night markets. </div>
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zUYqQWCoDUE/U7KccDN-ehI/AAAAAAAABx0/BgnE5HbQAUk/s1600/2014-06-26+08.20.48+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zUYqQWCoDUE/U7KccDN-ehI/AAAAAAAABx0/BgnE5HbQAUk/s1600/2014-06-26+08.20.48+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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And ate way too many things. This is the one bite sausage. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CG14jSuA-hw/U7KcuXdkRRI/AAAAAAAAByM/TjWIXjwd5Wg/s1600/2014-06-26+08.20.57+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CG14jSuA-hw/U7KcuXdkRRI/AAAAAAAAByM/TjWIXjwd5Wg/s1600/2014-06-26+08.20.57+1.jpg" height="360" width="640" /></a></div>
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A deep fried sandwich. I...wouldn't get it again haha. The bun is deep fried and slightly sweet and then there is meat, tomato, cucumber, hardboiled egg and its slathered with this sweetish mayo. The English name of the stall was "Nutritious Sandwich". I dunno if the owners were trying to be funny or it's just Engrish, because the women running it didn't really look like they joked around much. </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CMtlj1XQ_F0/U7Kc2V8ZjGI/AAAAAAAAByU/HT2kzYxADKk/s1600/2014-07-01+06.54.43+1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CMtlj1XQ_F0/U7Kc2V8ZjGI/AAAAAAAAByU/HT2kzYxADKk/s1600/2014-07-01+06.54.43+1.jpg" height="640" width="360" /></a></div>
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I was so excited for Taipei. In my research on what to do and eat there, everyone had nothing but good things to say. I dunno if it was my mood (which was a weird, overly-contemplative one), or that it was constantly grey and threatening to rain (and then would), or that it was so hot and humid that the air was thick and a bit of a slog to move through, or that maybe we stayed a bit too long, or that the buildings were a lot more grimier and rundown than I thought (when I imagined Taipei every time I read about it, I thought of giant streets with giant buildings and bright lights and packed with people). But I didn't like Taipei as much as I thought I would. I so, so wanted to. I mean a place that comes up with beef noodles, xiao long bao, bubble tea, night markets galore, has friendly people, how could it not be the best? I dunno! But I'm not going to let that stop me from thinking that it was still nice and that I would like to go back and maybe I'll see you there and we'll be eating xiao long baos and you'll tell me what a fool I am. </div>
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It was nice travelling with my mom again. Eating lots of lychees at the end of every night. Ordering and eating way too much food. Melting in the Taiwan heat and laughing at how delicate we are. So delicate. </div>
Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-36859211561125134102014-07-04T06:44:00.000-07:002014-07-04T06:44:23.355-07:00It Existed and It Was Nice: Bali Again. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Starting from the middle of May, I was in Bali for a month again. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kFAYi-3FHZw/U7adAfhS88I/AAAAAAAAB0I/U1ReInpD8g4/s1600/IMG-20140704-WA0000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kFAYi-3FHZw/U7adAfhS88I/AAAAAAAAB0I/U1ReInpD8g4/s1600/IMG-20140704-WA0000.jpg" height="480" width="640" /></a></div>
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I'm surprised this hasn't happened earlier, but I dropped my phone in the ocean. It didn't even feel real! I picked it out as fast as I dropped it and it all happened so fast that it didn't feel like it happened at all. Oh but it did happen. This all happened in the middle of my stay in Bali and I decided to fix my phone back in Singapore (it would take a month or more to fix in Bali because apparently everyone's dropping or ruining their phones and there is a backlog of work). In the meantime I got a phone that I forgot existed. You know what else I forgot? Having to press a key whatever number of times to get to the letter that you want. Remember that?! Or having to press "1" several times to get to the punctuation mark you want? It was so frustrating to not be able to type my thoughts as they came and I had to reduce what I wanted to say down to the bare minimum because it was just annoying to text anything longer than 5 words. I can understand where the use of "r" for "are" and "u" for "you" came from. </div>
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When I got back to Singapore, my dad let me use one of his <a href="http://www.mi.com/en/mi3" target="_blank">phones</a>. So massive! I was telling my mom that you know how back in the 80s people had those massive cellphones? How come we're returning to something so huge again? I'll tell you why, cause big screens are awesome. After using this phone for a couple of weeks, I really loved seeing everything so big. Of course it is awkward to hold and you do feel like a bit of a noob holding something so ginormous that it sometimes requires the use of 2 hands (or always does), like how much bigger do you need it? But hurrah, Singaporeans are awesome, were able to fix my stupid mistake and now I have my iPhone again. And it feels so weirdly small. </div>
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Anyways, enough of my thoughts/experiences with phones, here are some pictures from that month in Bali: </div>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MO7hkGllfbc/U7abKd4ab6I/AAAAAAAABy0/N7HLNmCKoJk/s1600/IMG_7375.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MO7hkGllfbc/U7abKd4ab6I/AAAAAAAABy0/N7HLNmCKoJk/s1600/IMG_7375.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></div>
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There was this celebration happening called <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galungan" target="_blank">Galungan</a> (which people could only really explain to me in vague terms, but from what I understand and Wikipedia tells me, it's where the Balinese people go to several different temples, making offerings and praying to their ancestors). These (penjors) were everywhere, lining streets, swaying in the wind. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XSU025vmAGM/U7abTP4YCyI/AAAAAAAABy8/CKjehIDUNIU/s1600/IMG_7376.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XSU025vmAGM/U7abTP4YCyI/AAAAAAAABy8/CKjehIDUNIU/s1600/IMG_7376.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></div>
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I asked people to explain them to me and all I really got was "it's like your Christmas tree". </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W2bznP8rVdU/U7abqlj_ytI/AAAAAAAABz0/2EPy3PN5n6I/s1600/IMG_7384.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-W2bznP8rVdU/U7abqlj_ytI/AAAAAAAABz0/2EPy3PN5n6I/s1600/IMG_7384.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></div>
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Misha. A Czech-speaking Balinese dog. She was found in a really bad state in a rice field as a puppy by the owners (Czech and super nice) who rented out the place I was staying in. Isn't she pretty? And aren't you glad she's alive?!</div>
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Neighbors. Chickens in a fancy cage. </div>
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Monkeys at Uluwatu temple. So all the yellow bobs you see are cobs of corn and it was a funny sight to come upon, just a bunch of monkeys sitting around eating cobs of corn. Who gives them the corn? Why corn? At Ubud they get yams. Why yams? Who decided monkeys like corn and yams?</div>
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It was a peaceful spot that overlooks the ocean and I wanted to hang out there for a bit. So I did. And all of the sudden I feel something on top of me. It was a monkey! I was starting to freak out because unlike a lot of people who come to see these guys, I don't want them on me so that I can take a picture. I heard that these monkeys are more aggressive then the ones you find in Ubud. I was told to just stay calm and eventually the monkey would get disinterested in me and just climb off. I tried to stay still but the monkey just seemed to like me more and more, picking at my hair, starting to groom me. And then another monkey came onto me and the first monkey was starting to dig into me with its teeth and I just couldn't take it anymore and got up and freaked out a bit and thankfully they got off of me without breaking my skin or hurting me. I looked back quickly and they were hissing at me with their teeth. It was terrifying. </div>
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Sooooo...don't hangout with the monkeys unless you're cool with them climbing all over you.</div>
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Me camouflaging really well into a spot called 'Honeymoon'. lol seriously, where's my face. </div>
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The last photo I took before I dropped my phone in the water.</div>
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I saw so much more of Bali after my phone died and I wish I could have shown you. More lush scenes. Waterfalls. A dead pig being cleaned in the middle of the street early in the morning with this gigantic torch. Flower petals in different colors scattered on the surface of dark water where locals were bathing and being blessed by the water. Local kids finding a snake in a soccer field and taunting each other with it and then playing soccer and chasing each other with their motorbikes. lol, things that I ate (which seemed to mostly be satay). Feeding cows long stalks of grass. Ricefields. Dogs. But you and I have to just trust that it existed and I saw it and that it was nice. </div>
Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-89166281207597599662014-06-19T08:04:00.000-07:002014-06-23T06:29:31.160-07:00Bali Paintings Some paintings that I did while I was in Bali:<br />
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Was influenced by all the ornate, lively and vibrant patterns in Bali. Also all the leaves and foliage. </div>
Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-17162757641171824652014-05-14T07:48:00.000-07:002014-06-23T06:30:01.743-07:00Japan: What Felt Like SpringI went to Japan for a little over a week with my mom. We stayed in Osaka and made day trips to Kobe, Nara, Kanazawa and Kyoto.
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Cat cafe! Yewwww!</div>
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This is the cat that hung out with us the most. He was huge and so insanely cute. </div>
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Nara:</div>
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Whoa blind deer. </div>
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Nara is kinda magical with all the deer running around, but most of the time they're just doing this: flocking to you the instant they see you have food and then dropping you like you're nothing once they've eaten it all. </div>
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We ate so much ice cream.</div>
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Kanazawa:</div>
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Found this on the ground. </div>
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Main <a href="http://www.kanazawa21.jp/en/" target="_blank">reason</a> for going to Kanazawa.</div>
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Laughing at my mom.</div>
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Kyoto. So lovely and fell in love with it:</div>
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Bamboo Forest. </div>
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Mom. </div>
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I had been to Japan before with <a href="https://twitter.com/janekoo" target="_blank">Jane</a> over a few years back and we had such and fun and hilarious time. It was nice coming back to Japan with my mom, to be reminded of toilets that do everything for you, eating oodles of noodles, having inanimate objects talk to you, navigating complex subway systems and stations, seeing such beautiful and intricate objects and crafts, consuming copious amounts of green tea everything, seeing such cute stuff that it hurts, seeing inexplicably odd stuff that you can only describe as 'Japanese', getting to wear pants and experience the tail end of a spring season, and of course, seeing and experiencing all this with my mom. xoxo. </div>
Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-16041073549740526042014-05-05T06:10:00.000-07:002014-07-04T07:03:56.213-07:00Bali, Indonesia: Waves. I was in Bali, Indonesia for a month. Snaps:<br />
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Piece of shit Ronald McDonald watch I bought. Note to self: never buy a watch in Bali ever again. </div>
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<a href="http://www.monkeyforestubud.com/" target="_blank">This place</a> is one of the most touristy things to go to in Bali, but it's totally worth going to. I have been here before, years ago when I was a kid with my family. I remember my brother had a package of peanuts and the monkey just snatched it right out of his hands and it shocked and terrified him. I didn't expect for it to feel so new and interesting to be in the park again. It's so crazy and hilarious to be so close to so many monkeys. </div>
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<a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Tanah_Lot" target="_blank">Tanah Lot</a>. </div>
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Went to Bali mainly to surf. </div>
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Puppy spot. </div>
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Paths going I don't know where but oh I'd like to know. </div>
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This was the view during this meal: </div>
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Like I mentioned earlier, I had been to Bali before when I was a kid with my parents. I don't remember much of it and I don't think we did much either when we were there, just stayed at a resort and were as lazy as humanely possible. So I was interested in revisiting it (lol and not living a resort lifestyle) and seeing how I'd feel about it now (tough life, I know).</div>
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There were times where I loved Bali - the surfing (catching better waves and moving to shorter boards, hooray!), the incredibly nice, warm and hilarious people, what little untouched nature I did see was beautiful, the ornate architecture and aesthetics, the spirituality running through so much of everyday living. And there were times where I was so frustrated with it. So many people, so many cars creating these paralyzing traffic jams (what should be a 15 minute ride turns into an hour), hotels and villas everywhere, everyone trying to sell me something (a massage, motorbike rental, sarong, bracelets, taxi ride), being asked where I am from and if they could come with me ("No? I miss you already"), the huge gap between rich and poor, the pollution. But I know that there is more to Bali then what I saw and I want to see it. To know it. And I will be there again soon and I hope I get a bit closer to doing that. </div>
Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-3267254066530656632014-04-11T06:51:00.000-07:002014-06-23T06:30:44.534-07:00Coron, Philippines: Friendship Love Letter After Siargao, I met up with <a href="http://www.maggiechok.com/" target="_blank">Maggie</a> and we went to a town in the Palawan province in the Philippines called <a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Coron" target="_blank">Coron</a>.<br />
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It was great. Get ready for a whole lot of pictures of Maggie's back against some stunning spots.<br />
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Although this looks kind of nice, this was actually a crummy beach. Coron isn't known for having great beaches in the town. But what it is known for is being close to some really amazing ones (white sand, clear waters), you just have to take a boat out there. If you can, I wouldn't even really bother going to the beaches in town. </div>
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Maquinit Hot Springs. Here's Maggie with a bag of pseudo pork rinds in a delicious flavor (can't quite remember it, but if you're in the Philippines, get the red bag) and a beer in a giant pool of hot spring water. This is a real nice spot. </div>
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:) Us on a boat tour. The company that ran the tour was disconcertingly called, "Cheap Travels". Good tour though! </div>
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On the boat tour they take you to several different spots. This is one of them. I feel like this spot was solely for people to take jumping photos (which the tour guides are excellent at taking at as you can see). </div>
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Maggie's hilarious sarong. </div>
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Apparently this is the most photographed spot in Coron. You can see why right? Beauty. </div>
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Our hostel was in the middle of a bunch of locals' housing. So many kids milling about asking "What's your name, what's your name?"</div>
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If you're going to ride a motorbike, ride it real slow. I didn't and I looked like I got mauled by a bear and hurt my knee pretty bad. It was fun up until that point! After that everyone looked at my face with a horrified expression and asked what happened to me. Idiocy is what happened to me. </div>
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I like his legs and how they're splayed out. Perfect dog rug.</div>
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Maggie and I would go nuts at the barbeque stands. They sell skewers of barbequed meat and then there are two big jars of dipping sauce for you to dip the skewers in, one sweet, the other some sort of vinegar thing (ps - everyone dips in this jar. I love stuff like this, things that would never ever fly in North America). What was awesome about these skewers is for the pork one, they always end the skewer on a massive piece of fat. Even more awesome, the skewers were only like 30 cents or something. </div>
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We would also get these watermelon slushies to drink it with that were so cheap and good. Also whenever we were at the market, I just went nuts and tried anything that looked mildly appealing. I would have the weirdest combinations of snacks. But man it was good. </div>
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Maggie asking for something at a drug store. I liked their setup. So well organized and colorful and the total opposite of Shoppers Drug Mart or something like that. </div>
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Maggie walking past Mormons. </div>
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Hanging out to dry.</div>
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I was saying to Maggie how glad I was she was here with me in Coron because as beautiful as the things were that we saw, it would have been not nearly as nice and meaningful to see it alone. Also it be boring. And also it's always cool to be in some random foreign place with a really good friend doing random things. Maggie is my only friend that I have hung out with in person since the holidays. It was nice to catch up with her and have (many) full conversations in English where I didn't have to say my ideas in a limited or simple way. Where someone got my jokes without me having to explain them. And where I could say what was on mind and have a meaningful response (partly because I am finally articulating myself fully, but also because it's Maggie and Maggie gives meaningful responses). </div>
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Maggie is currently in New York and then off to Amsterdam indefinitely. Our friendship has gone through periods of large physical distances and months where we don't say anything to each other at all, but when we see or talk to each other, those distances and time don't exist. </div>
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And I am thankful for that too and wish her all the best until I see and talk to her again. </div>
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xo Maggie and Coron, was real nice. </div>
<br />Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-70510376787487097802014-03-30T18:28:00.000-07:002014-06-23T06:31:19.755-07:00Siargao, Philippines: Young, Wild, and Free. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I went to an island in the Philippines called Siargao for a few weeks:</div>
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I had no expectations going into the Philippines. It was kind of random, when I was going out of my mind in Bangkok, I was looking at <a href="http://adioso.com/wanderlist/surf-camps" target="_blank">this</a> and was like oh the Philippines could be cool. And a <a href="http://adventureisland2.tumblr.com/tagged/Philippines" target="_blank">really good friend</a> had loved the Philippines too. I also went to this island right after Thailand, so there was really no time to process (aka over-think and build-up expectations about) where I was going. </div>
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I had no idea how beautiful it was there. </div>
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I've never seen such vibrant clear water that comes in so many shades of blues and greens. </div>
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I chose to go to this island mainly to surf. It's all reef breaks here. I had no idea what that meant. The first day I went out, I went with an instructor - a 20 year old boy nicknamed Doy Doy, who was endearing with his big eyes and bird-like sounds calling me (he would continue to be my instructor for the rest of time I was there, he was my babysitter of the sea). It was a 45 minute motorbike ride to the water, then a 10 minute boat ride out to the middle of the water. We were out in the middle of what felt like nowhere (the spot funnily enough is called Salvacion) and the waves (after not surfing for a few months) were massive and terrifying. A guy that was with us that day described it well, "I would kind of catch a wave, nearly drown, get washed out, nearly drown again, and maybe catch a wave."</div>
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But man it's pretty. You always take a boat out to the waves and that was one of my favorite parts about surfing there. </div>
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I had so many nice meals. People would just get fresh fish from the market, eggplants, and they would all be grilled and served with rice and we would eat it with our hands off of banana leaves. </div>
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A 300 peso chicken for a cock fight. </div>
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What's an Ellen travel blog entry without pictures of dogs:</div>
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This guy was the best. A lot of the dogs just start following you, and I couldn't shake this one. I found him cute, the person I was with did not because our fine bulldog friend kept trying to hump him. </div>
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I tried to take a selfie with this dog (but wasn't very successful):</div>
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I love his expression and thought you should see it. Cool guy.</div>
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The apple of everyone's eye at the place I was staying at. She is the daughter of the owners of the place and whenever she enters a room, people immediately flock to her. You can see why right? So cute. </div>
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Cock fight. This chicken didn't win. It was surreal to watch a cock fight, it takes what feels like forever between cockfights. Once they finally do have one, the fight is over pretty fast and you don't quite see what happens, sometimes it just takes one jab and all of the sudden the chicken is dead. And then you wait a long time again and then another fight comes and goes and it goes on and on until there's no more chickens left to fight. </div>
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Balong - one of the funniest guys I met on the island. He had the best one liners (or not even lines, he could say two words and it be hilarious) and he would say it in the most perfect accent. Here he is with his chicken for a cock fight. This chicken didn't win. </div>
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The island is incredibly laid back. The days revolved around the waves. Every time I asked people what they were doing that day, the answer was: surfing, take a nap, maybe watch some TV and maybe go out at night and sing some songs. Not said but should have been said: make babies. Lots of babies. The families there were massive! The husband that owns the place I stayed at comes from a family of 9. I'm told there's families on the island with 14 kids! WHAT! </div>
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Someone was describing a surfer on the island as "young, wild, and free" and I keep thinking this over and over when I think about the island. It's still pretty untouched with not a lot of people and you see stuff like pigs, water buffalo, and chickens tied to trees. Dogs sleeping on streets while motorbikes speed by. Kids running from trees, waving hello to you. Driving through thick mud and puddles in palm tree ridden forests. And waves, so blue and clear, coming at you so huge. </div>
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I was absolutely gutted when I left Mexico. I didn't think I'd find another place that would make me feel so much and feel so at place like it did. I had such a great time on this island and it showed me that I could feel what I felt in Mexico again (which was a relief). </div>
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xo, Siargao, twas sweet. </div>
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Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-73646388307002303672014-03-01T18:43:00.000-08:002014-06-23T06:31:40.822-07:00Koh Phayam Paintings I got some painting done while I was in Koh Phayam. Here was my setup:
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What I painted:</div>
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Got kind of obsessed with the foliage that was surrounding me.</div>
Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-30302731218394152012014-02-27T05:18:00.000-08:002014-06-23T06:31:55.066-07:00Koh Phayam: Nothing, Nothing At All. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I went to an island in Thailand called <a href="http://wikitravel.org/en/Ko_Phayam" target="_blank">Koh Phayam</a> for a little under a month. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGLr9rydF-c/Uw8dKxA6DVI/AAAAAAAABYw/Gj6W75lB5ls/s1600/IMG_5963.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZGLr9rydF-c/Uw8dKxA6DVI/AAAAAAAABYw/Gj6W75lB5ls/s1600/IMG_5963.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a><br />
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I knew Thailand had some really beautiful beaches and islands and also that some of them were teeming with douchebags who wanted nothing more than to party their faces off. So I looked at a list of which islands you could surf in and Thailand and chose the least douche-baggey sounding one on the list. </div>
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And it was a good choice. The beaches are beautiful, wide stretches with few people on them (although people who have been coming to the island regularly are complaining that this is changing rapidly), clear water that gradates into a blueish green. Only downside of the water (what?!) is that there are jellyfish tentacles kicking around, so you'll be happily floating along and then all of the sudden feel that sudden prickly jolt for a few minutes. </div>
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The island produces rubber, so you'd see lots of trees like this.<br />
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And cashew nuts. </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yzb1F5JjS2M/Uw8Vc3aO5tI/AAAAAAAABWU/1ovREu7dD5E/s1600/IMG_5787.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Yzb1F5JjS2M/Uw8Vc3aO5tI/AAAAAAAABWU/1ovREu7dD5E/s1600/IMG_5787.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></div>
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Mangroves on the island too. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bmq9tr2njF8/Uw8WkXMUpHI/AAAAAAAABW0/wMkW5QsBib0/s1600/IMG_5795.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Bmq9tr2njF8/Uw8WkXMUpHI/AAAAAAAABW0/wMkW5QsBib0/s1600/IMG_5795.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></div>
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The water recedes like crazy on one of the beaches. It was hilarious/embarrassing: one day I decided, I am going to kayak on this beach. The instant I got in the kayak I was like, wait, do I even know how to kayak? I had only been once before and it was with someone else and I remembered it being fairly easy. And the concept of kayaking is pretty straightforward too, just stick the paddles in and you move. But I was already kind of hungry, the sun was blaring down, and I had pretty much no upper arm strength and I was so awkward at first. Eventually I got pretty far out (when I asked where I could kayak, the man renting it out to me just waved at the ocean and said vaguely, 'there') and I decided I needed to go back and I guess I was pretty weak at this point because I would paddle for 5 minutes and not have moved an inch. I was beginning to panic. And so I paddled as hard as I could and finally began to move slowly to the shore. Eventually a man in a speedboat came by and asked me if I was okay, and at the time I was and I had said yes, and when he left, I was like, man why didn't I say I needed his help? As I was getting close to the shore, I also was like, wait, where on the shore did I leave from? I couldn't remember that either. But as you can see, I made it. And I told someone about my kayak struggle and they're like, you know when the tide is low in the afternoon you can just walk to where you kayaked out to?</div>
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Ugh, for real?</div>
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This was the first time I had seen this - little crabs making these sand balls on the beach. It kind of weirded me out - it was like crop circles for beaches. </div>
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Pretty shells everywhere. </div>
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Beach dogs. </div>
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Here is this guy sleeping in a couple of ways:</div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RtfUgV5IpcU/Uw8U1oy_KOI/AAAAAAAABWE/gtbmhlYQCuM/s1600/IMG_5784.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RtfUgV5IpcU/Uw8U1oy_KOI/AAAAAAAABWE/gtbmhlYQCuM/s1600/IMG_5784.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></div>
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And then him kissing/getting unwillingly licked by another dog:</div>
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Kids on the island:</div>
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This fell on me one day and I thought it was nice:</div>
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It should rain flowers on people more. </div>
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I was such a noob in a lot of ways before I came to the island. I had never manually flushed a toilet before (I now completely understand the word 'flushing' now), had electricity for limited amounts of time (makes me realize how much I took it for granted and never really gave it much thought), taken cold showers straight, burned my own garbage (this can't be good), etc. I wasn't prepared for that stuff at all, and it's funny because back in Vancouver, I remember trying to seek out places on the islands where it was more simple living where you didn't have electricity 24/7, have to shower outdoors, etc, etc. I romanticized simple living so much and when I had to actually do it, I kind of railed against it at first and was like, man I only want these things in a certain perfect way that isn't real. But a lot of people that moved themselves to the island from developed places like Bangkok, it seemed like one of the reasons why they liked the island so much was that they had to work for those functional aspects of a day. That they earned their existence there and made it themselves. </div>
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haha the inside of the motorbike I rented while I was on the island. It was hard to take this thing seriously at first. After being in Chiang Mai, all of the sudden I just wanted to learn how to ride a motorbike. This island was the perfect place to do it because there's not many people driving around and when you do, they're going at like 30, 40 km at the most. Before we think that I am kind of cool (and if you didn't, that's cool too) - I rode an automatic motorbike - and really there is not much to learn except to just turn it on and sit there and sometimes accelerate and brake. Although because I was completely new to riding on one, when I first got it, I didn't even know how to turn it on and the guy I was renting it from was like, are you for real? And then I awkwardly hobbled off with the bike and the man was just like, whoooooo did I just rent this to and am I going to get this thing back in one piece.</div>
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But once you get the hang of it, zooming along the island was one of the best parts of the trip. You're just surrounded by lush trees and tropical plants and the wind is blowing against you and man you feel so great and don't want it to end. </div>
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I had come to the island to surf but being the doofus that I am, I came at the wrong month (I figured that there might not be great waves all the time, but there's gotta be some waves for the month that I am there) and it was completely flat the entire time. I had no idea what to do on the island then and I began asking people, "So...what do you do here?" and most of them replied, "Nothing."</div>
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And it was hard to let go and to not do much and not feel guilty about it. To not feel that you were wasting time. But at the same time getting mad at yourself for thinking you're wasting time because here you are on this beautiful island, thinking it's a waste to do nothing and this is a nice and lucky thing to be here and the last thing you should do is complain about it or think it's dumb to just be there.</div>
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But eventually I allowed nothingness to take over as much as I could. I would wake up, read (I read more books in that month that I had in probably a year - <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/The-Goldfinch-Donna-Tartt/dp/0316055433" target="_blank">this</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_the_Great_World_Spin" target="_blank">this</a> were particularly good), maybe paint, go find a place to eat lunch, hang out on the beach for a few hours, read some more, make dinner, and watch some shows or a movie on my laptop. I would also perfect my candle setup in my place at night (because it had this awful depressing fluorescent lighting) - but I think in the process I just actually ended up perfecting the perfect setup for a mayfly infestation. Man that was gross. </div>
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The island also made me like Thailand even more, almost love it really. Which is funny cause I felt ambivalent towards it at first and at times, hated it. The nothingness gave me space, to let me see how good everything is so far and thank you thank you thank you.<br />
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<br />Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-40823235826780946282014-02-01T22:57:00.000-08:002014-06-23T06:32:09.666-07:00Chiang Mai: A Beauty. Needing to get the heck out of Bangkok, I went to Chiang Mai for a week:
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Almost everyone when I said that I was going to Thailand, either asked if I was going or told me to go to Chiang Mai. In my head I was like, yah okay. But, after only being there for a week and looking at these pictures again, I'd say yes, you should go to Chiang Mai when in Thailand. </div>
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Temples are everywhere and they're beauties. </div>
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When researching what to do in Chiang Mai, I read about this <a href="http://8milesfromhome.com/post/29042252230/temple-in-chiang-mai-wat-pha-lat" target="_BLANK">temple</a> that seemed like it was a nice thing to do, you just go to the end of a road and do a leisurely hike up through a picturesque forest (and you know you're in the correct forest if you see bits of monks robes tied to trees) and boom you're at a temple that no one goes to and it's really peaceful and pretty. </div>
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In order to get to the forest, I was like, oh I can walk there (Chiang Mai is a pretty walkable place if you feel like it). But after looking at Google Maps and seeing that it was half an hour (and then you have to hike 45 minutes in the forest to get to temple) then I was like okay, maybe I should bike there. And so I rented a bike and it was nice because before I had seen people biking around and wished I could do the same but just never did because...I dunno, ha. </div>
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The bike ride started off nicely and it was nice to zip through the city. Then it started getting a bit hilly and it was a slog to get up the hill (the bike was a coasting bike) and I hadn't eaten and felt like I was going to pass out and was thanking myself that I at least rented a bike and man, when is this hill ever going to end. </div>
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But once you're at the top, this is what you see:</div>
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You overlook the city and it was a nice spot to just sit and not really do much of anything except hang out with this dog (and others) and watch the few people that come and go.</div>
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The center of Chiang Mai is pretty walkable, making it nice to explore and you chance upon pretty things like this. </div>
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Chiang Mai is known for its food and there's all these food carts everywhere and I was constantly like, "WHAT'S THIS I WANT THIS." The response most of the time was: coconut. </div>
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This is a dish that is specific to Chiang Mai, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khao_soi" target="_blank">Khao Soi</a>. When I read about it, I was like, man not for me. I don't really like savory coconut based dishes (too heavy after awhile). But I felt pressured by the travel world to try it and it was as everyone promised...the bomb. The coconut soup base wasn't heavy at all and was so good with the deep fried egg noodles on top. What I learned from this dish: I don't know my taste at all haha. </div>
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A lot of the food I ate in Chiang Mai made me cry from its spiciness. This is one of them. I always thought I could handle spice. But after being in Thailand, no, no I can't. At least not Thailand levels.</div>
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I dunno why but I was fascinated by the eggs in Chiang Mai. They were all so pretty looking.</div>
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When I photographed this, the lady selling these peanuts was so bored and then saw me do it and came to life and nudged her daughter and pointed at me excitedly for taking the picture (I think).</div>
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This was at a very small section of a large walking market that happens every Sunday in Chiang Mai. They shut down one of the main streets and then it's lined with vendors selling goods and food. What's really interesting is that around 6pm or so, they start playing the King's anthem, and everyone (the street is packed with people) stops and observes the song. It was like someone paused a movie. Everything was just suddenly so eerily still. And then after the song is done, the street becomes bustling and moving again. It's incredible. I forgot to mention in my Bangkok post that when you see a movie in Thailand, they play the King's anthem before the movie and it is accompanied by a slideshow of the King in all his glory. I found it odd, almost unnerving, but I guess it was more interesting to me to see the relationship between the people of Thailand and the King and how intertwined and devoted it is.</div>
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I dunno why but I for some reason took so many pictures of all the dogs I saw in Chiang Mai. </div>
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The instant I took this picture this dog freaked out. I guess I would too if I was as silly looking. </div>
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One of the big things to do in Chiang Mai is to go see elephants. </div>
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I went to this elephant park that rescues elephants and also rescues dogs and water buffalo. A park of misfits. On the way to the park, they played a video that explained the park and some of the elephants' stories, and man were they ever sad. Things like the elephants being blinded by their owners when they refused to move, just really terrible stuff that had everyone in the van sad and horrified. </div>
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It was surreal being around the elephants. They're just there. Walking around. Like it's no big deal. You could touch most of them too. And feed them and bathe them. It was so amazing and moving that you almost forgot how amazing it was and it just became your new reality, that oh, I'm hanging out with elephants, cool. </div>
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Our guide was this hilarious tiny Thai woman who had the most perfect jokes (that have obviously been fine tuned through being repeated so many times) - things like when the elephant peed, that that was Chang Beer (Chang Beer is one of the big beer brands in Thailand and Chang means elephant in Thai) or there was this male elephant that didn't have any tusks and whenever he played with this other male elephant, he always lost and so was nicknamed "Ladyboy". What made the jokes even funnier was that she laughed at them every time. </div>
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Not pictured: the hilarious amount of massages that I did in Chiang Mai. I literally went almost every night to this one place. For 10 dollars for an hour, how could you not? I didn't do this on purpose, but I got the same lady every time and she laughed at the number of times I came. She was also the tiniest, skinniest woman ever, but was surprisingly strong. </div>
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I am glad I went to Chiang Mai because it showed me another side of Thailand that made me appreciate it so much more and showed me the depth of the country. I wish I could have been there longer to just explore more of the food and the city. There's so much there and it's so easy to accidentally chance upon a serene and calm spot and then end up in a place brimming with life and action. </div>
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Till next time Chiang Mai, I hope you keep well. </div>
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Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-77811264328731268402014-01-25T00:18:00.000-08:002014-06-23T06:32:27.454-07:00Bangkok: A FeverA little over a couple of weeks ago I was in Bangkok. Here's a bit of what I saw:<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xz4VPEDUMKY/UuNhEr05A4I/AAAAAAAABOE/FAjaNgHzk8c/s1600/IMG_5311.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Xz4VPEDUMKY/UuNhEr05A4I/AAAAAAAABOE/FAjaNgHzk8c/s1600/IMG_5311.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></div>
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Like its aesthetic, I'd describe Bangkok as pointy and ornate. </div>
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Do you like how crooked this picture is? It's this <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Arun" target="_blank">place</a>. I dunno if you can tell, but it was terrifying to go up these stairs. It was pretty vertical and steep and once I got up it, I was silently freaking out about how to get down. </div>
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<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wat_Pho" target="_blank">10 big golden toes.</a> It was funny, my airbnb host hadn't been here and had googled it and was like, this place isn't for me (the place is completely overrun by tourists and is one of the main things to visit in Bangkok). Once I got there, I was like, this place is totally for me. The people watching was so great and funny. There was a dude with a stick attached to his gopro so that he could take perfect selfies of himself. I love stuff like that.</div>
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I've never really been attracted to Thai food. I kinda blanked on what to eat in Bangkok. Pad Thai? God. But then I remembered when Jane and I went to <a href="http://www.pokpokpdx.com/" target="_blank">Pok Pok</a> in Portland and there was this dish that I absolutely loved there that was this crepe with mussels and bean sprouts. AND I COULD GET IT EVERYWHERE IN BANGKOK! And for so cheap too! And then all of the sudden I wanted to try everything that I saw. Also had so much Thai Tea. I have decided that it's the king of all milk teas. It's because it's so smooth. With Hong Kong milk tea and milk tea in Singapore, there's this sharp pull after each sip that gets to be a bit much after awhile. But man, Thai tea, even though it's that freakish orange color, it goes down so good.<br />
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One of the things where I was like, WHAT'S THIS, I WANT THIS (it looked so cool). They're skinny popsicles for like 50 cents and they come in all these bright colors. Once I put it in my mouth, I was like, man what did I just eat. It was strange, all the flavor had gone down to the bottom of the popsicle so it was super intense and salty. But then it got better.<br />
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This was awesome - coconut ice cream in a coconut shell and then there's a little buffet of toppings (unlimited) to put on. When you finish the ice cream, there's also some coconut meat scraped out for you to eat.<br />
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There's definitely a lot of cool art and design in Bangkok. What's happening here is this guy is holding a screen, and you hold it up in front of this projector, and sentences from Le Petit Prince come into focus as you move it in the right spot. </div>
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One of my favorite things was riding the bus from where I was staying to the skytrain station. I had no idea what was going on on them. You just flag them and then jump on and then this person comes around to collect your fare. A person! And that person shouts out the names of the stops and then you go to the door to press the bell to indicate you want to get off. I just really liked sitting by the window and the air blowing so hard against my face as we went down these massive roads filled with cars and motorbikes winding in and out. </div>
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Bus tickets. I was riding with this French man and he's like, "They're so simple yes?" </div>
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Being in Bangkok, it was hard for me. It was like a fever. The city is big, busy, chaotic, messy, and overwhelming. I become delirious and disoriented and at a loss with all the choices and surroundings and then there would be these sudden moments of peace and calm and I'd feel okay. I was supposed to be in Bangkok for 3 weeks but ended up staying only for one. The city brought out extreme emotions in me where I wanted to jump on the next plane and get out as soon as possible, or I wanted to stay and explore all its nooks and crannies and questioned why I was freaking out in the first place. To be honest, I think Singapore spoiled me. If you ever wanted to go to an easy, clean, efficient city in Southeast Asia, Singapore is the place for you. It also didn't help that I was in Bangkok at the beginning of the protests that are happening right now to take down the Prime Minister. The protests (when I saw them) were peaceful, but I just wasn't feeling Bangkok that any little (or big) thing would make me think of all the possibilities and ways that I could get out of Bangkok as soon as possible. </div>
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With Bangkok, you have to work more at making the city and your experiences in it yours. Or you have to be into letting it swallow you up. You had to let go and be open to its complexities and I was totally not ready and prepared for that. My head was still stuck in Mexico, I kept comparing everything to my experience there and just wanted it to be so much like that and just couldn't allow Bangkok to be what it is. A complex vibrant city with intricacies that are an experience to explore. And I would like to give it another chance again. But someone come with me next time, yah? </div>
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Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2875021162185701608.post-60744677882750399622014-01-12T08:53:00.000-08:002014-06-23T06:32:38.004-07:00Singapore Revisited I was in Singapore from December 15 to January 7 to spend the holidays with my parents and brother. Some snaps:
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I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I had come in while the <a href="http://www.singaporebiennale.org/" target="_blank">Singapore Biennale</a> was going on. This room was terrifying actually, it was glass and mirrors with these projections of traditional Japanese dancers and there was music blaring and you had no idea what was what. </div>
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Totally forgot about how readily available cheap (and incredibly good) food is in Singapore. And that you could walk into a food court and choose from so many different cuisines (Singaporean, Chinese, Malaysian, Indonesian, Thai, Japanese, Korean, Western, etc, etc). I couldn't stay away from the juicy dumplings. Or the milk tea. Almost every afternoon I'd have this as a snack, or I'd get double the amount and just eat that for lunch. I'm becoming a dumpling. Ugh.</div>
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Christmas present from my brother. Can't tell you enough how much it made me love him and happy that he is my brother and only he could have given me this gift (well I guess other people could have too, but it wouldn't have been as funny or meaningful). </div>
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Also a nice reminder/thing: getting my hair braided by my mom. I love when my mom braids my hair, super asian mom, makes it so tight. </div>
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Hung out with <a href="https://twitter.com/SeetohLang" target="_blank">David Lang</a>. One night we tried to go to as many rooftop bars as we could (lol but managed 2). This is one of them. </div>
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Oh brother. Also forgot (how could I) how funny he is and it was nice being around him. And of course it was nice being around my parents and having all of us together. </div>
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Ugh this thing was so amazing. It's this pan fried flat dumpling thing with chives and egg. There's an insane amount of chive in it, but it's not overwhelming at all. And you also don't miss meat at all when eating this. And it's so good that you don't care about your chive-y (aka not pleasant) breath after. </div>
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I know this animal is probably so bummed out and hating its life, but god it was cute and I needed everyone to see this. </div>
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I also noticed more of the architecture in Singapore. There's a lot of really interesting buildings and structures. Cool. Although a lot of them are shopping malls. Not as cool. </div>
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I was quite ambivalent about going to Singapore. I've been a couple of times before and even though there are a lot of different ethnicities there, it just felt like a somewhat non-descript city in Asia with a lot of shopping, eating, drinking, and singing. And it still is. I think it has a lot to do with how the country is run with all its infamous rules (although I don't really feel like they're as strict anymore) and it creates a somewhat sterile society (although of course there are some really really awesome things about Singapore that are specific to it and I am slowly discovering them) that is such a rat race. Admittedly, after going to other cities in Asia, the efficiency, cleanliness and how overall dialed-in Singapore is is appreciated and easy to get used to (ha!) Although there are some weird disconnects that kind of negate what the country was trying to do in the first place. </div>
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The amount of consumption that goes on there (it's mall upon mall crammed with stuff and people) - it was a bit disconcerting and even though all the cheap shopping and food is amazing at first and you're in this happy delirious state from all the choices, the novelty wears off and you get a bit ill thinking of how this is all adding up.</div>
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All that said though, I was able to find a nice routine there (which really just involved eating noodles, swimming in my parent's pool, walking around, taking naps, and catching up on tv - god that sounds gross and who doesn't like that). I don't feel quite so whatever to the place anymore. Like everything that I don't like at first (for no good reason really), it needed time, space, revisitations. Basically it needed more of a better chance then I initially gave it. </div>
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And now I kind of like it.</div>
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A lot actually.</div>
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Ellenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01689365508853497084noreply@blogger.com0