tagged by alicia!

4 Jobs I have had in my life:

1. Hostess at Steak and Ale
2. Library Assistant for school district
3. Accounting Assistant at an IT company
4. Budget Analyst at Nasa
   

4 Movies I have watched more than once:

1. You've Got Mail
2. Kabhie Khushi Kabhi Gham
   
3. Die Another Day (and pretty much all the James Bond movies)
   
4. Fever Pitch
   

4 Places I have lived:

1. Land of the Lumberjacks! Axe 'em!
   
2. H-town
3. South Asia
4. um...does 2 months in Paris count? I don't have another place...
   

4 TV shows I watch/watched

1. Friends
2. Law and Order (all of them)
3. The Office
4. Naach Baliye 3!
   

4 Places I have been

1. The Himalayas
2. The Mae Kong River in Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar
   
3. the Persian Gulf
   
4. on safari in Tanzania
   

4 people who email me regularly

1. Sarah
2. the fam
3. Christi
4. my mom
   

4 of my favorite foods

1. Veg fajitas
   
2. Crab cakes
3. Baigan ka Bharta
4. Cheese lehsooni parantha
   

4 places I would like to visit

1. NYC
2. The East coast during fall foliage
3. Greece
4. Turkey
   

4 things I am looking forward to this year

1. Husband getting a job
2. Boogeying back to Texas
3. Hugging and cuddling my nephew and nieces
4. Going to Virginia

I have no clue who even reads this anymore, but I tag: Sarah, Deanna, Melanie, AQ, and Alison

what's so great about thailand?

In the last 2.5 years, we've been to Thailand 5 times, usually to the same city up in the hills. You would think it would get old, but it never does! We look forward to it every time, and I'm a little sad our last trip to Thailand is over for this term.

To me, it's like America but with Asian prices and services. Granted, my view of "nice" is a little skewed now. But I think anyone would find it nice! So just what is it that is so great about Thailand?

The markets! You can find house decorations, like table runners and lamps. Also clothes, shoes, jewelry, food, and so much more, all for super cheap prices if you bargain correctly.


The markets also have places to get foot rubs! I think that's my favorite part. You can sit, and watch the action, while paying $2 to get a 30 minute foot rub. We found a place on our last trip that did an hour foot, shoulder, and neck massage for $5. You can't beat that!


Fun foods, like banana roti! And also the fruits I posted about last summer, and other great places to eat.


The Thais seem to enjoy beauty, specifically in making the city aesthetically pleasing. There are flowers and plants all over the city, and there is even a blossom tree-lined moat through part of it. The weather is beautiful, too.


The beach! To be honest, we've only been to one of their beaches, and it's not their nicest or most family-friendly. But it's still a beach, and they bring around fried shrimp, chicken, ice cream, and funny enough, corn on the cob for you to eat while lounging. And even some ladies come by offering foot rubs!

2007 in pictures

My friend Kelley had a great idea of looking back on 2007 with her favorite photos. I decided to steal her idea. :) I've narrowed them down to my Top 10 favorite pictures of 2007, 5 anonymous for this blog, and the other 5 on the family blog.


5. This picture was taken in a J temple. It's in my top 5 because it sums up perfectly why we are here in South Asia.


4. This was taken on a beach in Thailand, and I like it because it makes me laugh. It seems auto rickshaws really are every where. :)


3. Jaya lighting candles around her home for the festival of lights. I love all the colors in this photo. It's hard for me to believe I only met her last year. She was definitely my most meaningful friendship in 2007.


2. It was hard to choose my favorite picture from Venice, because the city is picturesque from all angles. This is from the Grand Canal. Our European trip was our big vacation of 2007 (and probably our life!) so of course Venice had to have a special mention.


1. Paris is possibly my favorite city on the planet, so not only did it deserve to be on this list, it deserved the top slot. It was even harder to narrow down my favorite Parisian shot. I realized I can't go wrong with a classic, so I decided on this one, taken beautifully by my husband.

pics from the himalayan country

While we were in the Himalayan country, the city was very smoggy, so here's the best pic we got of the Himalayas surrounding the city:

Yeah not too picturesque, huh? Here are some more pics we took.


There were tons of cafes. Husband took this picture because he liked the guy's hat.


There is a radical communist presence in the country.


The view from our hotel room. I have a hard time believing that pool ever gets used.


There are a lot of hippie-types that spend time in this city. So in one market, men would come to us and offer us hash. They looked a lot like this guy, so I took his picture thinking it would make a cool story. Alas, he was merely selling lip balm.


We met this shopkeeper through an American friend. He was really cool and had the best accent. I bought this shirt for baby.


This is that guy's dad. He was a sweet, smiley guy. We sat with them and they insisted we have tea while we shopped.


The city's traffic is pretty bad. One fun thing about the city is that there are a lot of what I would call 'grand buildings' like the one ahead of all the cars.


Pronounced 'thirst-pee'. That pretty much sums it up, huh?

newborn love

Technically this post could go on the baby blog, but I'm putting it here because I find it more interesting as a tourist than a mother. And really, isn't that blog just a thinly veiled excuse to put up as many pics as possible of my baby?

We're still here in the Himalayan country - but fortunately we're leaving today! The visa process for baby actually took less than 12 hours! We found that very strange, considering in our current country, just to receive her visa to exit the country, it took 2 days, not including the 6 weeks of official documentation leading up to that. Actually, a funny side story to that, while baby and I were sitting at the overcrowded station of a visa agent, a South Asian-Canadian man began to yell at the neighboring agent about how ridiculous the whole process was. "I am proud to be a South Asian, but I hate coming to this country, because you harass the foreigners! In Canada it only took me one day to get my visa. Here, it is purely harassment!" All I could do was nod my head at the man's shouts because yes, that is very true. If you think I'm wordy now, you would hate to see a blogpost about the head-scratching process for baby's exit visa, but luckily for you, I'm not gonna even go there.

So we arrived at the Embassy around 11am, and noticed there was already a very long line to the visa desk. First of all, how cool that there was a line? It's been awhile since I've seen one of those! Husband asked an agent if this was where we should be, and when they saw we had a newborn, they told us to go to the front of the line. I was very relieved, seeing as it was really cold and the entire visa process takes place outdoors. However, I was very nervous at how all the people waiting in line would react. As an American, I'm used to people being very orderly, very first come, first serve, no matter what. And I can't disagree with that philosophy. But miracle of miracles, not one person grumbled! In fact, they looked at baby and smiled warmly. A French couple laughed at her all snuggled in my sling, and an Austrian couple came over to meet us and see the baby and ask how it was giving birth in a foreign country. (shameless plug sidenote: in Austria, like many, many countries, it costs absolutely nothing to have a baby. Yes, you heard that right - watch Sicko and you'll be just as shocked as we were) The visa agents even told all 3 of us to wait inside the office with them where there was a heater!

I've begun to realize what I've heard rumors of already - Asians and Europeans absolutely love babies! First the very kind people on the bus, and now this. Makes me a lot more at ease for more travel with baby.

bandh, bus, and baby

A 7 week old spices up life quite a bit! I know that's the truth for everyone, and I believe it's just as true for us tourists. Especially in Asia!

We took baby on her first flight and trip abroad yesterday, and arrived in the Himalayan country north of our current home. The purpose of this trip is to receive her visa so we can return, and our tickets are for this weekend. Baby was wonderful on the flight, which somehow gave us false hopes of a delightful and problem-free stay and a smooth governmental process all the while gazing at the Himalayas surrounding the valley city we're staying in. I don't know where that gazing thought came from, since we had to circle the airport for close to an hour waiting for visibility. I was a wee bit over-optimistic.

When we arrived yesterday, we were supposed to have a bus waiting to take us to the hotel. This was when we found out that the city transport workers are all striking against gas prices. Absolutely no transportation was available, and people were burning tires in the roads, which kept even private transportation to a minimum. Since there were no taxis or buses available for anyone at the airport to reach their hotels, a police bus had to take all the tourists to their respective hotels. It was complete chaos. Men carried suitcases on the bus, under the bus, out of the bus, as people tried to push their way on as well. Luckily, the passengers were very sympathetic as soon as they saw us with baby in the Snugli. A Frenchman immediately jumped up from his seat and offered for me to sit. I took it gratefully, and James was offered the seat next to me as well. Baby began to get fussy because she was hungry. A local man laughed and said, "He is hungry. Feed him." (I've begun to notice South Asians just refer to strangers' babies as 'he') Nearby passengers also laughed, and I relaxed. Husband and I were both so grateful these people understood that yes, babies do fuss sometimes. She did quiet down when I "fed him."

On the crowded bus, I was reminded of our year in the Himalayas, and pretty glad we didn't have to travel that way anymore. Well, present week excluded.

Apparently, the strike (bandh) is still going on, and worse today since not even residents can drive anywhere, so we are stranded in our hotel for the time being. This means we also won't be returning this weekend. Oh the joys of being a tourist in South Asia! At least our room has a view and we can imagine the Himalayas beyond the fog.

tour of northern thailand

A couple of weeks ago we took a day trip through some touristy spots in Northern Thailand, Laos, and Myanmar (Burma). It was lots and lots of riding around in a van (we were gone 13 hours!) but we did get to stop and do some interesting things. And as I mentioned on the baby blog, our baby is a well traveled fetus, having been "carried" into 6 different countries now. :)

On our tour we saw many, many buddhas, one of which cost about $3 million to build; took a boatride over to Laos where we had 45 minutes to shop (we bought a wooden vase that had "Laos" carved into it) and mail off a few post cards; we rode that same boat past a Burmese casino that wouldn't even let you in unless you could show them you had in cash 20,000 thai bhat (almost $700); ate a buffet Thai lunch and tried to engage our fellow travelers into conversations to no avail; drove to the northernmost province of Thailand; the two of us had to walk over to Myanmar, get our passport stamped and pay for a Burmese visa, then turn around and walk back to Thailand to get our new updated Thai visa, all fast enough so that our fellow travelers wouldn't get bored while waiting on us; drove to a Hill Tribe village to look around and walk up and down very steep hills; husband took the hike over to the Long Neck Village (seriously that's the name) while I sat waiting for the group because they felt that someone as pregnant as I am should not be hiking (?); my "so pregnant" self sat and watched some of the villagers interact and felt very sad to realize that these long neck women only wore the rings on their necks because of tourists like us, and I vowed to research things better next time; drove back to Chiang Mai, making a nice pitstop at a 7-11 along the way.

Headed to Laos, home of Khan Souphanousinphone!


Snake and Scorpion Whiskey in Laos


Million Dollar Buddha


Province of northern Thailand


Hill Tribe Village


Long Neck Girls. The guide told husband that historically they wore the rings to protect their necks from tigers.


View of Long Neck Village from Hill Tribe Village

thailand food, not to be confused with thai food

We always get really excited about coming to Thailand because of the food! We're not fanatics of Thai food, we actually rarely eat it while here. Instead, we eat all the American/Western food we can get. I know, I know, that sounds horribly ethnocentric, but we only get Burger King, Starbucks, Steaks, Fried Shrimp, ribs, hot dogs, pork, etc, biannually, so you better believe that's what we eat. And it helps that I'm not a huge fan of Thai food anyway.

BUT...Thailand has awesome fruit! I can't believe I'm admitting this, but before moving to South Asia, I never knew the wolrd had more varieties of fruit and vegetables than what we could get in the States. So, in honor of my ignorance, I decided to put pics of just some of the fruit we eat here in Thailand. And yes, I realize this is pretty dorky. The one famous Asian fruit I don't have a picture of is the durian. It has the most horrific smell and is even banned from most hotels. I think my camera, myself, and the entire internet would smell permanently if I got close enough to a durian to take a picture, so I declined.

Do you know the names of any of these?




Husband calls these "Jewish mangoes":
I think these are the most stylish of fruits, with their hot pink, white and black colors:
The "hairy strawberries":










And these aren't fruit, but they are my new favorite candy. I don't even know what they're called or what they're made out of, but I love them. Most have the same flavor despite their different colors, kinda like a coconut, with other flavors like peanuts or something mixed in.

the thai boathouse

I guess I can retire Jaya's reminder post now. But don't stop thinking about her and her family!

So we're about halfway through our stay here in Thailand. It's been quite eventful so far, but will be slowing down a lot starting next week when husband's schooling starts. I'm pretty sure my remaining days here will be filled with scrapbooking, swimming, and Starbucks. After our 10 days of meetings, we went on a really cool weekend getaway with some of our friends from Capital - another young couple and a family. We stayed in a boathouse on a lake that we never learned the name of. After the entrance fee incident, we loaded our bags on a long tail boat and sailed the waters to our humble abode. Soon we understood why they told us the boat ride to the house was about $5 a person, but a car ride there would be free. I'm sure that's quite the running joke at the national park.

Our rooms were simple - we had no electricity, save for the generator that ran from 6pm to 5am so we could have a fan on while we slept. It also turned on for about 20 minutes right after breakfast so we could fill up our barrel of water for the day. Yep, no running water either. And I couldn't begin to list the amount of items that dropped into the lake never to be seen again. But we had beautiful scenery, a lake to swim in, high dives to jump off of, inner-tubes to float around in, a little rickety rowboat, 3 tasty meals cooked for us, and so on. All we were missing was my dad and his boat, pulling us on skis, kneeboards, and tubes all day. It was a lot of fun, and we would definitely do it again. Although this time we'd bring a battery operated fan with us.

I'll blog again real soon about our day tour of the Golden Triangle.

Top 10 of Paris and Venice

It is so hard to figure out how to summarize an incredible 12 night vacation into a few words and pics. That's why it has taken me forever to blog about our vacation. I figured out I could do a top 10. Anytime I don't have a good picture of the listed item, I'll put one of our many shots of the Eiffel Tower, because they are just too beautiful to pass up. These are in no particular order:

10. Ste. Chappelle Cathedral - the best new thing I saw this trip. There are over 1100 stories from the Book depicted in the huge stained-glass windows, and we just sat and stared and tried to pick out stories we recognized.

9. The Eiffel Tower - the most visited place this trip. I went twice, husband went four times! It was just as beautiful as I remembered. Husband and I had one night to ourselves before my family arrived, and he chose the Eiffel Tower as the place to go. We sat there at sunset and watched the twinkling lights come on, then as it grew dark, the full lights came on, making it look golden. We vowed the next time to bring a blanket, some bread and cheese, but of course forgot. Something to go back for, right?

8. Alex and Maribel - best guides in Venice. They owned the B&B where we stayed, and helped us "conquer Venezia" in only 60 hours. Alex had the best Italian accent ever, spoke wildly with his hands, tried to convince me that I could drink wine while pregnant, and everything he recommended was perfect. He sat husband down every morning after breakfast and would go over our itinerary for the day. He pointed us to the places the Venetians ate, and used the best expressions. One place, for instance, had the best fried calamari. "The owner he fries everything even his mustache."

7. San Marco Piazza - best free entertainment. According to Alex, we shouldn't do St. Mark's Square during the day, so we checked it out first at night. We had already eaten dinner (at the aforementioned mustache man's place) so we just strolled around the square, enjoying the atmosphere. Live string quartets played at several outside restaurants, and we could stand and listen to them. Many people around us would break out in dancing, and then when the song was over, we'd walk around and listen to the next quartet. Husband wanted to find where Indiana Jones came out of a manhole, but unfortunately, we couldn't see it.

6. My family - best family ever! It was so good to see them, laugh with them, talk with them, and explore Paris with them. And I think they even went away liking Paris, so I was happy. We didn't eat nearly enough pastries, nor did we make it to all the sights, finish Khabhi Khushi Khabhie Gham (oh yes I most certainly did), or play any games, but we enjoyed just being together again. The twins gave us lots of entertainment, especially with how excited they got for the choo-choo train (the subway and also the train that drove around Montmartre) and how they would say, "Bonjour!" when prompted. They were very good travelers, especially when Mimi or their strollers were in sight.

5. The Lido - best island in Venice. We stayed off the main area of Venice on the island of Lido, where they actually had cars instead of boats, and streets instead of canals. But somehow, they still managed to have that great Venice feel, with sidewalk cafes, and smaller canals, and colorful buildings. Husband remarked that towns in the US are paying big money to achieve what the Lido had.

4. The Louvre - best comeback. I am not an art museum person at all. So I only went to the Louvre because husband and my family wanted to go. I wasn't expecting much, so I was very surprised to enjoy the museum more this time around, especially seeing the architecture. And also the Royal Apartments were beautiful, too. This was husband's favorite thing he did in Paris. You can't take pics inside the Louvre (much, anyway) so here is an outside shot of the former largest palace in the world, now most famous museum.

3. Bike Riding - best way to see a city or an island. Husband, my dad and brother went on a bike tour of Paris one day. They said it was a lot of fun, and husband got a peek at sights that he went back and saw further, like Musee d'Orsay or the Rodin House. In Venice, our B&B had free bikes, so one morning/afternoon we cruised around the Lido, checking out the Mediterranean Sea. We found my favorite place that we ate at (those Italians really know how to do lasagna! :) and we took a break on the beach and walked in the Mediterranean.

2. Relaxing in Venice - best place to go after the action of Paris. There's not a lot to do in Venice except stare at the surrounding beauty, eat gelato, and relax. And so that's what we did. Since the first trimester has been demanding sleep of me, one afternoon we just went to San Elena island, spread out a blanket, and took a nap in the park. We weren't alone; there were many locals napping around us as well. We spent most of our time just wandering the streets and alleys, and unwinding after a fun-packed week in Paris.

1. Being in the West - best moments for reverse culture shock. Husband and I could hold hands in public. We also did the unthinkable - we drank from the faucet and ate fruits and veggies without poisoning them first. Let me tell you how wrong that felt. Speaking of fruits and veggies, have tomatoes, oranges, and bananas always been that big? Oh, the yogurt selection! And the cheese and meat! And pre-made foods and sauces, along with cartoned milk, lots of cereal, Haagen-Dazs ice cream, kolaches, and breads galore! Cars didn't honk, there were lines with no cutting allowed, and we blended in. We really didn't know what to think of all of it.

silly American

I'm a sucker for anything remotely American, especially patriotic songs. In 2004, our home office had the Imperials come for 4th of July, and when they sang Lee Greenwood's biggest hit, I cried the whole way through it. At our last baseball game before leaving the country, I cried during the national anthem. Actually, there's usually a 50% chance I'll cry during any rendition of The Star-Spangled Banner, leaving the country or not. And when an American Olympiad wins a gold medal, that percentage jumps to about 90%. I'm an emotional cheesefest when it comes to America.

So I shouldn't have been surprised at my actions in the Dubai airport, but oh, I was. Before leaving South Asia, we had changed our local currency into US$. During our layover in Dubai on our way to Tanzania, I saw that they had a Starbucks. (that word is always followed by a choir of angels in my head) Not having a single Starbucks in our country, I of course had to get some, and realized to my dismay that we only had dollars, not dirhams. "No problem, we take US$," the cashier told me. I laid the $20 on the counter (they've changed since we've been gone!), and something came over me. I hadn't even looked at American money in a year, not to mention bought anything with it. So as I looked at Andrew Jackson, my eyes filled up with tears. I am not exaggerating, I started crying over a stinking piece of currency!

I think I've taken patriotism to a new level.