Day 2: Up, Up, and Away (and SPLAT!!!)

That night when Natalie and Korwin arrived in Siem Reap, I don't know whether it was the "happy pizza" or the fact that both of them were OD'd on cold meds, but our tour operator did some voodoo magic and made it sound like a great idea to sign up for a "sunset" hot air balloon ride. I had no opinion on this matter, after all I had never flown on a hot air balloon before... we all had ZERO idea what this would entail, but boy were we in for a surprise...................................... o_o

We arrived at the launch field at around 4pm the next day (not a launch pad, I guess, though a rocket ship would have been much cooler haha). It turned out that no, it was not a "sunset" ride since the most ideal time slots for hot air balloon flying is at sunrise and right BEFORE sunset. Doh! The reason being that hot air balloons require very stable air conditions, which is determined by a change in temperature between the earth and the sky. What does this mean? Basically the earth is a huge heat sink during the daytime, and obviously the sun is... a hot ball of flaming gas. The earth is constantly spitting up blobs of heat (the correct term is "pockets", but I like the visual concept of "blobs" better), in which creates no-good turbulence for our corpulent floating friend. During sunrise, it is bright enough to fly a hot air balloon but the sun has not risen up enough to heat up the earth yet. During the 1-2 hours before sunset, it is also bright enough to fly a HAB but the earth has chilled out some to not spit heat blobs at us.

RAWR FEEEEEED MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE........

Now as it turned out, the three of us were the ONLY passengers on this HAB ride! I guess this was a relatively new operation (umm as we found out later on when we "landed") headed out by a Chinese guy. I should have been surprised to find him speaking 北京話, Chinese people are so enterprising (and invasive). Haha.

So this Beijing HAB operator's name is Liu Xiang, the same Liu Xiang (劉翔) as that famous hot Olympic hurdler. I was a little disappointed at the vast dissimilarity, even after Mr. Liu had proudly told us that if we Googled "Liu Xiang Chinese Hot Air Balloon" he'd pop up everywhere. Apparently he was one of the very first HAB flyers in China, and that most of the HAB pilots (are they pilots?) are his disciples. Welps, all I can say is... DON'T FLY IN A HOT AIR BALLOON IN CHINA. 

You can skip straight to 4:50 when I start freaking out, hahahahahahahahahaha

I'm too lazy to translate his Chinese, sorries! But it's mostly him trying to reassure us and me/Nat squealing. And Korwin being reticent. 

The HAB was HAF [hot as fuck]. Man, it all sounds really romantic and classy, but when you're underneath a fire spitting machine and your upper lip can't stop sweating, it ain't so sexy no mo. You believe it when they say that heat comes in waves, because you can really feel it lapping at your face.

And off we go, scaring villagers and domesticated animals alike.

It's difficult to tell the difference between screams of joy and fear when you're that high up. ;)

We were real popular with the kids, you can see them standing on top of the wall waving at us. That was fun. :)

Ah, so THIS is how it feels to be Prom Queen...!

My camera was hanging out of the basket for this shot, 300m above the ground. O_O

So we learned that it's actually very difficult to navigate a balloon. Because it's kind of like an elevator, all you can directly control is the up/down button (i.e. fire on/off), and catch the right "level" of wind direction. This was very cool, learning that the sky is composed of different air streams levels, and that you have to adjust your altitude to get on the right air stream. I imagine it being a Neapolitan Sky Cake of Automatic Walkways!

Welps, we kind of got on the wrong walkway, missing our first landing attempt and then a rough n' tumble touchdown in the middle of an abandoned field. HAHAHA. I remember as we were landing we swept past a house, and I made eyecontact with the family (they screamed). Then we rolled around a bit like a hamster ball. And all these people mysteriously appeared to investigate. I really don't know where they came from, because I swear there weren't that many people even as we were sweeping the countryside. Well, I had lots of fun. Can't say the same for Nat though. ;) 

WHAT, so you're saying I'm NOT a HAB Jedi Master?

[Me: No. Hellooooo, we come in peace!!!]

[Nat: My face...]

[Korwin: Churr.]

The kids were super excited seeing a HAB so up close and personal. Many of them wanted to hop in for a ride and were pulling at the gas tank tubes. That's when I started getting nervous... o_o

We waited at least 30 minutes for assistance to arrive since we landed in such an isolated location. 

You can see the Wicked Witch's feet if you look very very closely.... ;)

Being a sideshow and listening to Mr. Xiang spit out angry Beijingese at his crew for that long grew old quickly, but overall this was a pretty fun trip since it was a new experience. I wouldn't have liked it so much if we had to share this ride with strangers. Given all the manpower and trappings for $125 USD/pp I think that it was a decent deal. My advise? Hot air ballooning is fun! You don't need to do it in Cambodia though, there is not much to see from the landscape. And think twice if your pilot is Chinese. Haha.

The emperor wears no clothes....

After the first wave of anger, I never have enough fuel in me to actually etch these kinds of sentiment down in stone. What's the point anyway? If I really felt the need to say something, then I should have said it to your faces.

I was brushing my teeth tonight and suddenly memories of all your bullshit came rushing back. I thought about what I had written earlier, and realized even a well-intended reprimand from me would be considered generous. Liars are the worst type of fools, because they are the cause of their own demise.

Day 1: Khmer Recalibration

Once Upon a Time, there was a girl who traveled the world searching for treasure. This is her Cambodia story arc.

I spent a magical 10 days in Siem Reap, Cambodia... In sum, it was the best holiday of my life (at least so far ^_~), I learned something EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.... whether it was about the rich political history of the region, social and cultural dynamics, ancient architectural planning, religious beliefs and values... but most importantly I learned a lot about me myself and I. 

This was the first time where I spent time in a foreign country by myself. It was also the first time where I spent a major holiday alone. I wanted to do this to see how I'd feel about being put in a potentially difficult and lonely situation, and how I would deal with it. Would I embrace it? Would I totally freak out? Then I would understand more about my preferences and limitations. I'm weird, I know... but I think it's important to discover these things about yourself. If not now, then when??? :p

I took precautions to make this experience as safe as possible by staying in a family-run hostel Seven Candles where someone would keep tabs on me everyday. The owner of Seven Candles, Ponheary Ly, was named as a CNN Hero in 2010 for her work in promoting education for young children in Cambodia. I had the honor of both meeting Ponheary (and her terrific family), as well as volunteering in the Ponheary Ly Foundation (PLF) teaching 4th and 5th graders art and crafts classes in Knar Primary School. 

My first day at PLF was spent tagging along with the Lauter Family, whom I was taking over at Knar Primary School. It was a good idea to figure out the ropes because when I officially started teaching it was basically just me and my tuk-tuk driver as translator!!! 

The Lauter Family were a tough act to follow, you can see how much the kids loved interacting with them. :)

The video below perfectly encapsulates my experience with PLF... you can see exactly where I taught, and some of these faces were ones that I became very familiar with during this time. I highly highly highly encourage everyone to consider donating resources (whether it be your time, experience, or some money) to PLF's cause. These are beautiful children, and you would feel deeply fulfilled just watching their faces light up when you bring something new into their lives. They are easy to please, and very grateful. 

I will write more about teaching in later posts. :)

======================

So, I think the best way to go about recounting this trip is by chronological order. 

I left Shanghai for Siem Reap on December 19th, during the tail-end of a work situation that required several days of close follow-up even though I was technically on vacation. I don't even want to know how high my cell phone bills are, muahahaha! :p But it was fine, since the stuff I had to help out were actually important in many ways. And I don't have to pay for the phone bills. :)

People often ask whether I get annoyed or pissed off when I'm obliged to work on "days off" (what does that mean to an entrepreneur anyway?), especially because since I've never gotten full radio silence since working in Shanghai. My answer is No, I honestly do not mind, all things considered. "All things considered" being that the task is so critical and time-urgent that it requires me to reprioritize. I do give a fair assessment of the situation, because there is no way that I will drop the ball. However, I am a practicioner of the "work smart, not work hard" school of thought... there's just so many things that I want to with my life that I get genuinely angry when my schedule is monopolized by ineffective tasks may not be added-value. I really do try to live my life to the fullest, from the moment I wake up to the moment I sleep. Sometimes it's micro steps, sometimes leaps and bounds, but never ceasing to move forward in some way... I know I must sound crazy or even neurotic. That's probably why I'm not really a creature of habit, there's just too much to experience and not enough time to do it all. ;)

[edit: Just came back from a work meeting on a Saturday afternoon, but I was more than happy to do so because I learned something important and we made progress on a project. See! Hahaha.]

Anyways, even on vacation I find myself always thinking several steps ahead to make the best arrangements. I'm flexible, but rarely unprepared... meaning if something doesn't work out I'm usually fine with it, but I'll know what the alternatives are already, haha. However, this time I was so busy leading up to Cambodia that I literally shoved a bunch of crumpled clothes into the luggage just an hour before leaving for the airport. It was a good thing that Natalie did some prep work, otherwise we would have scrambled for a temple tour during peak season... and that would have been awfully stressful. Thanks Nat! :)

To get to Siem Reap, I had to fly north to Korea and then down to Cambodia. Flying Korean Air was the cheapest and the fastest way from Shanghai, around $650 USD round trip. When I got to Siem Reap, it was already 1am December 20th... and I felt like a xiaolongbao (小籠包) in my puffy down jacket. O_O I remember being super excited stepping off the plane... YAY FINALLY A REAL HOLIDAYYY~~~~!!! The trip kicked off smoothly, with someone from Seven Candles picking me up (poor guy had to stay up so late), and I checked in with no trouble. For $20 USD a night, I had my own room with a queen-sized bed, and free wi-fi. It checked off all my boxes, I am a simple gal.

The first day was spent familiarizing myself with my new environment (like reading the info pamphlet that said DO NOT BRUSH YOUR TEETH WITH TAP WATER after I had already thoroughly gargled... instantly visualizing protozoa with cilia and flagella partying it up in my mouth, yechhh). I reported to Travis, PLF's Volunteer Coordinator, and he gave me the lowdown on how the teaching program would work. It was daunting that PLF would be giving me plenty of freedom on how to figure out what to do with the children 2 hours each day, and that I would be wholly responsible for the content and curriculum during that time. But I kinda kicked ass in Art when I was 9 years old, so that gave me the confidence that I could totally nail this. Okay no I was very nervous. O_O And I wanted to do a good job.

Natalie and Korwin would be arriving in Siem Reap afternoon of Dec 20th, so I had about half a day of free time. I really did not know what to do with myself at first, or where to start. Unsure of myself, I paced around the room to "organize" and then berated myself for procrastinating. Then I scoured the map and points of interest for an hour to plan out a detailed route -- OKAY NOW WE CAN GIVE IT A GO. Hahaha. :p

First I went next door to get a scalp-tingling hairwash for $2 USD, then ventured over across the creek to try "the best iced coffee in town", also stopping by a convenience store for travel-sized toiletries. Before meeting with my friends at their hotel though, I pampered myself with a well-deserved oil massage. :)

At the spa.

They fold lotus flowers like gift bows here, so beautiful! :)

While walking around I noticed that I was getting a lot of really obvious stares, like guys on scooters performing Exorcist Great Horned Owl head-turns... it was actually quite uncomfortable (like really, you're looking at ME?!??), and rather unsafe for traffic. :( I was wearing a loose tank top and shorts that were not very short, but I guess even with plenty of skin-baring tourists in Siem Reap, I don't get the White Person Pass. After that afternoon, I did not venture out alone in town in a tank top or shorts anymore.

Natalie and Korwin lived at La Residence Hotel, just a stone's throw away from Seven Candles but veryyyyy nice. Now, even though none of us had done much planning prior to our trip, there was ONE THING that was on Korwin's "must-do" list (no, not even Angkor Wat took precedence). This, my friends, is something called "happy pizza".

Just look at how giddy Korwin is. You're totally shameless!

Did we get happy off this pizza? I don't know how many pies you gotta eat to get happy...

Then we got some REAL FOOD at Touiche Restaurant, which was down a dark alley along "boom-boom road". It was a rough and dusty tuk-tuk ride, but man I will never forget that red snapper dish.... diiiivine!!!

Concluded by many late-night rounds of Monopoly Deal, where our padawan Natalie learned how to outmaneuver the Jedi Masters! Doh.

(to be continued...)

Fancy Seeing You, 2013!

WOOT~ FIRST POST OF 2013! :D

The Peninsula Hotel // Jetset NYE Party // Black-tie // Shanghai, China

Tried to make these photos look like they were developed ol skool style. Kind of like High School prom photos... because those were real classy, hehe. :)

Woke up this morning at the hotel still incredibly drunk but feeling like a total champ. No hangover. #WINNING!!!

Ringing in the New Year with my girls Julez, Viv, Flora.

Yea, there were LOTS of (and all sorts of) love going around that night. ;)

Ty characteristically raging hard (above), but apparently not everyone is a fan (below). HAHA.

xo!

Lots of bromance, bet you couldn't tell that this was supposed to be a fancy affair, did you? Hahahaha.

Stumbling back to the Fairmont Peace Hotel (to pass out) in terrific spirits. :D

4am, January 1st 2013.

Special shout-out to Maybelline 24 Hour Lip Color -- thank you for not making me look like a hot sloppy mess at the end of the night. You make it easy to love rocking red lips!

Another New Year

I thought to myself "So THIS is how it feels like to live in a fairy tale...", as Angkor Wat slowly emerged from the dusky shadows into a soft gradient of light.

100% Ps untouched. Out of all the photographs I took, this is the one that I love the most.

It is befitting that I picked this beautiful sunrise to accompany my New Years post. This was my second Angkor Wat sunrise, and I had been hoping that this attempt would reward me with a really strong and powerful photograph (the 1st sunrise had a lot of cloud cover, was beautiful nonetheless). I imagined saturated hot colors dancing behind the temple, something similar to a fluttering Cambodian silk scarf. However, the temperature suddenly dropped overnight right before my 2nd scheduled sunrise trip, causing the earth to emanate rolls of misty vapor upwards into the sky. There were no clouds to refract the sunlight, but instead, the entire sky WAS the cloud, a watercolor curtain draped from Heaven to Earth.

At first I was a little disappointed because the sunrise was evolving the opposite way as I had envisioned. But us humans cannot control sunrises, it is what it is, we can only watch it unfold. Soon enough after settling into a nook in the Angkor wall, I accepted that God decided to show us a soft and mellow beauty today. When we open up our hearts we'll also open up our eyes and minds, and be able to appreciate things of different shapes and forms... and so that's what I did... and was rewarded with a strange and powerful connection to the world.

I loved drawing sunrises as a young child, although how exactly do you "draw" a sunrise if it's not exactly anything tangible? I shaded blank white sheets of paper with colored pencils with gentle and consistently pressured strokes, until all the colors blended into one another like a blended borderless prism. That morning, I saw my childhood come to life. It was a truly magical moment, realizing that dreams do come true. I cannot adequately describe the amazement churning inside me. And I felt peace. At the same time, I realized that Angkor Wat had encountered a million sunrises before, that perhaps only I thought that this sunrise was very special. Ultimately, my consciousness is what defines who I am and what my surroundings are. So at the end, I felt both very small and very big. Isn't this what Man has grappled with since the dawn of time?

Thus what is the meaning of another New Year? It is big because we make a milestone out of it, a measuring stick to track our achievements. But in truth, just like my colored pencil sunrise, there really is no definable border between adjacent periods of time. And that is why we must live and reach our goals IN THE PRESENT, because the present is the future and the future is the present.

Therefore, New Year's Resolutions are bullshit.

If you want to do something, don't wait. Just do it. 

Also, I don't think that New Year's Resolutions should include goals that we should reach anyway. Because for goals that are good for us, it really starts with the very next decision that we make. For example, if our resolution is to eat healthier, start with the very next thing we put into our mouths. So my goals to succeed professionally, to continue traveling, to build meaningful relationships... these are not resolutions since I can work these goals relatively easily with my current resources. 

I think that resolutions should be reasonable dreams. These are dreams because you do not possess the skills or background to achieve this easily. They should be self-challenging, self-improving, and a self-indulgent. :) So for 2013, I have just 2 resolutions.

1) To be able to speak conversational French or Spanish.

2) To be able to sing well.

Those are my 2013 sunrise clouds, adding a little spice to an otherwise already incredibly beautiful spectrum.

Blitzen'd

A few weeks ago around mid-December, the always lovely, always sassy Ailin threw a marvelous house party so all of us friends could celebrate Christmas together before we officially scattered for the holidays. Dress code: White. Beverage code: Alcohol. Behavior code: Irreverent. 

Ailin has a pimp-ass apartment with REAL FURNITURE and REAL KITCHEN STUFF, objects that I dream of acquiring in the near future as Shanghai becomes more and more "home". This is particularly resonant as I peck away on my laptop, precariously perched on my collapsible/collapsing Ikea table tray. Gah... I am also drinking Chianti out of a coffee mug at this very moment. Hahahaha. :p

Le sigh, perhaps my home one day will come with a gilded Baroque picture frame too.

Non-stick ladle (and sexy lady accessory)... included?

Somehow we managed to convince the guys to stage an "Evolution of Man" pose... and Kun ended up as the advanced homo sapien. Clutching a bottle of wine, ofc.

Boys doth protest taking photos, but we know deep down you love the attention. ;)

Oh, I guess cradling bottles of wine WAS the theme of the party.

Ms. Julie, partner-in-crime.

3 Js! Love you girls.

If you're looking for reindeer movers, look no further.

We played White Elephant, which turned out to be an awesome fiasco. 

Min as the Dungeonmaster, laying down the law. Those who wish to steal a present must take ONE HALF-CUP OF VODKA.

Taotao was so shocked that she dropped her red wine at a White party. O_O

But she ended up taking that uber shot for a gold digital Casio watch (that I bought!). I like you, you have good taste, Viv.

That half-cup of vodka means nothing for Ty.

If Ty looks at you while holding a bottle, that next shot has your name on it. RUN.

But deceptively, sometimes it wasn't just Ty. These pictures document how Jon and Ian cornered me (I tried SO hard to escape) to have a "mouth cocktail"... which is essentially a big gulp of hard liquor followed by juice that "you're supposed to swish in your mouth to mix". 

Don't plan on patenting this idea, boys!

Playing reindeer games!

Prance prance prance.

Our Shanghai Fram-ily. :)

Tina's Grown-up Tea Party

I'M BACK FROM CAMBODIA! :) 

Ok now to systematically clean out my flash card... there's been so much content since mid-December, it's probably best to keep things short and sweet to prevent blogging fatigue.

December was crazy. Really crazy. Well, before you expect to be regaled with wild naughty stories, anti-climatically it was only crazy with WORK. And with tons of work comes a lot of cancelled plans, lethargic hibernation time at home, tight schedules, lack of sleep... which all adds up to a very... cranky... Miffy. Is there an emotimonster with fangs? ("'\(;_;)/'") That could be venomous fangs or big old teardrops, either works hahaha.

BUT between this madness I managed to plan Tina's 30th Birthday Dinner Party (with Yumi's help!) at ElEfante, an El Willy concept. The theme was "Alice in Wonderland", with Tina as the female protagonist of course! I bought bunny ears, top hats, fascinators, party favors, decorations... hopefully that day turned out very special for a special friend. :)

This is for YOU! :D

Cheers, from the friends who love you the mostest.

Greeting another year with Grace.

Jess, Annie, Tina, Karen.

Hm... I don't think we're Playboy material, haha. :p

If only we could all see Through the Looking Glass...