Saturday, September 16, 2006

well, it's been a long time. I should post more, or maybe I shouldn't. Anyway...

May- I went back to the nyc area for several weeks. It was a lot of fun.

June- I went to Taroko gorge, Taiwan's grand canyon. I went alone and it was beautiful. I saw a spider as big as my hand. I watched a world cup game in a crappy hotel room. Oh, and I won my office world cup pool (I bet on Italy, because England was already taken).

July - Nice and hot. I went down to the beach in Kenting and met up with my former coworker Danesh who was in Taiwan for a few weeks. I had a nice time sitting on the beach, reading my favorite japanese writer (Natsume Soseki) and relaxing in cafes.

August - I turned 35 this month. I have been running all summer in an attempt to stop myself from getting too fat. My boss told me he was leaving in september to go back to school. The 7-11's have been giving away Doraemon magnets - I currently have a full set - and selling Hoegarten beer, which I like. Other than my birthday, which was just ok, I had a nice august.

September - here I am. I have a new boss. A new office (good- fewer roaches, not rats and therefore no rat feces around the office bad - my workspace is even worse. I miss my old boss. The new office seems to encourage my crazy students to act even crazier.) Life is currently up in the air while I decide what my next move should be. I'm looking at visiting Charlie in London this November, and hopefully seeing my mom in france and maybe catching a soccer game while i'm in england.

I guess that's about it. I have an ipod now, but I'm afraid to take it outside because it's too damn pretty and expensive. I drink a lot of tea. I'm not currently going to chinese class, though I'm still working on my own and having a language exchange. and the cat is still driving me crazy.

Wednesday, April 12, 2006

anyway

So, that was fun. It was enjoyable to reminisce about my vacation, and it made me glad I kept a journal. So I got back in early January, worked for a few weeks, then came chinese new year. I went to Taichung to see my coworker Rodger (he showed me around), and went to a Burmese neighborhood with my boss Lyon (we ate delicious Mohinga, and more. I bought some mango chutney type things and spices. Lyon bought Beedhis.) I need to go back to that neighborhood sometime. February, nothing happened. March, I discovered a reasonably priced thai massage place nearby. I have enjoyed that, though they just raised their price so I can't go as often.

Right now, Sherry is taking care of something in the usa, so richard is watching her dog, shiao pang (little fatty). He is a big sweet black lab with a destructive tail and an interest in putting things in his mouth. Last night he came over and r's cat freaked. It started making deep moaning noises and steered clear. The dog was curious and would occasionally approach, scaring the cat. Finally, the cat started hissing and eventually swiped at the dog's nose, drawing blood. Dominance settled, the cat set about staring the dog down and basically being unpleasant. I know that it's a territorial thing, but seeing this annoying, unaffectionate cat stare down a sweet dog that just wants to please made me feel a little angry and more negatively towards the cat than I have ever felt. I wish we had a nice dog instead of a mean spirited cat living here.

Saturday, April 08, 2006

thailand journal entry

The landing in Bangkok was unpleasant - I experienced sharp shooting pain in my ear, like someone was jamming an ice pick into my head. Nice. I guess I'm getting sensitive to air pressure, just what I need. I felt pretty delirious when I arrived. I reserved a hotel and was ready to go when I realized I had forgotten to pick up my bags. I was really disoriented and had to get back in to the secure area, which took forever and was no fun, while a driver was already waiting for me. It took about an hour. I had already wasted time trying to get a visa that I didn't need. Note- travelling without a brain is not a good idea. That pain really wacked me. I stayed the night (or at least a few hours of it) in a hotel near the airport, then moved to a different, nicer hotel in the city. I spent the morning walking around the area, bought an arsenal cap, some dvds, and an amazing green papaya salad filled with all kinds of strange delicious things and fiery hot. The weather was sunny and beautiful in the 90's. It felt very good. In the evening I went to see Muay Thai and drank beer. I got back to the hotel, talked to Cindy and went to bed. Today I just hung out around the Siam center area looking at fancy malls, etc. and by the pool near my hotel. I will got home and get a massage and maybe some good food. (I ended up getting ok food at one of the seafood places where you pick the fish and they prepare it for you as you like.)

I slept well that night (after I watched a soccer game - they are constantly playing in Thailand) and left for Taiwan the next morning. It was nice to be back, but kind of sad too. Colder. But I enjoyed speaking Mandarin again. I had a melancholy afternoon unpacking, cleaning, and reminiscing.

india journal entry 5

(this entry was written in a starbucks in Bangkok. All of the others were written in the beach house in Puri, except for the first one which was written in the Bangkok airport on the way out, and this next little part which I'm remembering now)

The time in Puri was quite nice. The weather was wonderful and we strolled on the beautiful beach. I think Kevin swam, though I never went further than wading my feet in. This because the fishing village to the left used the beach as a bathroom, so the sand was littered with feces. And if you walked far enough to the right, you discovered the stream leading from the sewer to the water. A little too much poo for my taste. Still, the sand was nice, it was exciting to see the fishing boats, and I love sleeping near the sea. There were some nice, semi wild dogs around with lots of cute puppies, but of course they added to the poo quotient. The house had stairs leading directly to the beach, and a nice lush garden on the opposite side. Our cook made eggs and toast for us every morning but one, and I was smart enough to ask for the onion and chili eggs, which were delicious. For our final meal, we had coconut shrimp with lots of naan and daal. Yum. Before we left, a pearl salesman came and Shastine bought some beautiful pearls, including dark bluish ones that I have never seen before) for the jewelry she makes.

Day in Konarch

We went to the sun temple in the evening, which was a lot of fun. Erotic art, ruins, many locals asking to take photos with us, etc. Our tour guide was quite old, but helpful if a little hard to understand sometimes. We saw some aggressive monkeys as we left stealing food and generally looking dangerous. The sun was setting on the temple, which was nice, but the mosquitoes were also coming out in greater numbers. Afterwards, we met Jamie and Matt and went for beers at their hotel. I should mention that we had a personal driver arranged by the house which felt very Raj to me. He played Michael Jackson's greatest hits over and over.

The next day, I woke up early and had an Ayurvedic massage. It was ok, but it was in a hut and it was still cool in the morning, so it wasn't as relaxing as it could have been. I liked the stinky ayurvedic oils though. On the way out of Orissa we stopped and bought the cheap colorful lanterns that are everywhere here. Our driver had changed to Indian music at the request of Nora and Shastine, which was a nice change to be honest. The Orissan countryside was very beautiful, filled with palm trees, tropical fields, farmers, temples, etc. and the weather was sunny and warm. When we got to Bubaneshwar, we ate some mediocre overpriced food and visited the misnamed peace pagoda. This pagoda had been built by some japanese in the 70's. Forceful monks dragged us to various locations and blessed us in all sorts of ways, marking foreheads, giving leaves to eat, chanting, etc. and then hitting us up for money. No chance of peace here! Nice view of the area, though, as it was built on a hill.

Outside of Bubaneshwar, we visited the meditation caves used by Jain ascetics and we were completely swarmed by mosquitoes. You have to hand it to those jains, being able to meditate while millions of mosquitoes attacked. Shastine bought some food to give to monkeys from one of the hawkers who swarmed the car when we got out, but there was nary a monkey to be seen other then some disinterested guys hanging out on a fairly distant rooftop. The caves weren't that great, though I did enjoy imagining what it was like to be there meditating for years in a tiny cave. graffiti on the walls now, of course.

For the train back to Kolkata, the girls had first class tickets while Kevin and I shared a cabin with a family of serious snorers. Kevin slept deeply, I slept just ok and felt tired when I arrived in the city. When we did arrive, we took a taxi to Ruichi's (Shriya's mom) to drop off our bags. It was still very early, and noone was answering the door, so Kevin and I went for a walk and chat around the neighborhood while the girls waited to be let in. When we came back, they were inside and asleep. We chilled and I took a nap after they woke up. A shawl salesman with gorgeous hand embroidered cashmere and other shawls showed up and I was impressed with how beautiful and ornate they are. We ate delicious biryani and papadam with lots of lime pickle that Ruichi had prepared by her cook. We went out and did errands and walked. I bought spices and hung out with Kevin. We took the Kolkata subway until I said goodbye and got off to return to Ruichi's and pick up my bag. I had a quick tea there, then took a rickety cab to the very mosquitoey airport. After a long wait, I was off to Bangkok.

Thursday, April 06, 2006

india journal entry 4

1/2

We walked around the area of our chateau after that, did some shopping, etc. Came back and slept, which felt great - I was still very tired. Woke up, drank beer, and played dominoes (Shastine beat the crap out of me). Kevin woke up and we went out for a huge dinner and drank a bit more beer. Came home and took a shower (the bathrooms were a bit dicey - lots of bugs and problems with hot water. But the shower felt wonderful. ) Went to bed and slept soundly. This morning we ate breakfast at a hotel next door to our villa with Matt and Jamie.

Will's wedding

was very interesting. Lots of chanting, throwing offerings (ghee, mostly) into the sacred fire, etc. Delicious food, as usual. I hung out with Leslie which was fun. Before the wedding, Will rode in on a horse while a great Indian marching band played and all of Will's friends and familly (including me) danced in front. It was hot, and I was wearing the same korta I had danced in the night before, so things may have been getting a little funky, but it was fun. While Will's bro was distracted from his role as protector, Shriya's sisters stole Will's shoes. It's traditional for him to then bribe them to get them back. Negotiation went on for most of the day as various items from both sides were stolen (Jack showed particular skill and enthusiasm) until Will caved and gave all the money he had. In the evening we went to the second oldest golf club in the world (from back in the raj days) and had more excellent food. Finally we went to a bar/club at a hotel which was expensive but fun.

Dance Party

The day before the wedding, there was a day party where all of the women got their mehti (the henna/hand design thing). Everyone hung out and chatted and helped the women (who couldn't move their hands for a couple hours) eat lunch and drink water. Later, we came back to the same place for an Indian dance demonstration, Will,Jack, and Matt's capoeira demo, and finally a dj and dancing on the stage. This was the first stage in the funkifying of my korta.

india journal entry 3

1/1

Took the train for Puri from Calcutta last night. I was so exhausted I could barely stay upright long enough to get into the train. We (Kevin, Shastine, Norah, and I) sat in the busy Calcutta train station and ate some snacks I got while we waited. I got about 9 hours of sleep in the rugged sleeper car. It was cold and loud, but I was knocked out. I felt much better after having got about 20 minutes of sleep the night before. There was some challenge involved in finding our driver and getting to the guest house when we arrived in Puri, and of course we were besieged by taxi drivers and hotel buskers while we waited. We finally made it here and it's really nice - an old, charming building on the beach with high ceilings and a friendly staff who wait on us and make us delicious meals. We just got back from a walk and we saw the big local temple that we are not allowed to enter. We gave a guy 50 rupees to take us to the top of a roof so we could see the temple a little bit better. Lots of monkeys involved.

india journal entry 2

12/29

Calcutta is the dirtiest place in the world. The air is unbelievable - just stepping outside makes me feel filthy. I''m already over my intestinal problems, which is nice. I'm surrounded by amazing food, none of which I can eat. I'm sharing a room with Josh - Will's cousin who I knew in high school - which is fine, though it's a bit more expensive than I would have expected. Yesterday I walked all over through filthy streets crowded with people. I bought a korta, shirts, sheets, a blanket, pillow cases, a bag, etc. All very cheap. Today people are getting hennaed and I'm going to try to find a phone to make an international call. I need to take more photos. My pants got very dirty yesterday, so I need to buy more today and get some laundry done. (those pants - chinos - were ruined with an oil stain as I brushed up against some kind of exposed machinery on an unbelievably crowded street. They're teaching pants now.)

Sunday, April 02, 2006

india journal entry 1

well, here are the entries i made in my journal when i was in india back in january. perhaps not as fascinating as they should be, considering how great india was.

thoughts on thai airways:

Marketing possibilities-
1. Market to aviation history buffs who want to fly in an antique plane.

2. Market to contortionists looking for new challenges.

The airport in bangkok offers excellent simultaneous foot and shoulder massages for 600 baht.
But, the room I was given to crash for a few hours kicked me out 2 hours before my plane started boarding for Kolkata. It was a miserable, dingy room, but i really appreciated having it. The thai food in the airport, overpriced and small portions, was still the best thai food I had had in years!

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

i'm back!

sorry it's been so long! I've got a lot of catching up to do, and i will start with India. I was there over New Years and I have some stuff that I wrote in a journal that I plan to put up. I will do it soon, but now just rest assured that I am still alive and still thinking of you, my adoring public.