missing my blog?

if you want to read about my life in colombia... it's not here.  this is my travel blog.  i don't consider living in colombia to be traveling, so i decided to start another blog.  check it out here.

test

just seeing if i should take up the blog again.  a couple of people have asked about it, but i may or may not.  and this may be weird, but i've always considered this my travel blog... and since i will be living and working in colombia, i don't consider it traveling.  so i feel like if i use this blog to talk about everyday life then it defeats the point of this blog.  but i do realize to everyone else that since i'll be out of the country... that's traveling.  but.... i don't know.  first world problems in a (soon to be) third world country.

anyway drop me a line when you see this (via email or fb or some other form of communication i may have) just to see if people are actually reading this.  maybe i develop a whole new blog (obnoxious? unnecessary?) to document my time of living and teaching in colombia.

best post i've ever read about reverse culture shock

http://bemusedbackpacker.com/2014/01/27/how-to-deal-with-reverse-culture-shock-after-your-gap-year/

i shared it on facebook and now i share it here, mainly because i don't ever want to lose the link.  everything in here is incredibly spot on.  i always say that i wish my thoughts could just be put into words... and well... someone else was able to figure this out.

getting reacquainted

always a hard part of the long term travel experience.  trying to sum up your amazing experience in a nutshell... trying to remember everything and everyone you met... and trying to articulate it to your friends back home.. and really... just trying to get use to being "back".

it's all just weird.  and it's no harm to my friends here at all... because they have been great and it's been great seeing them.  but it is just hard to readjust.

so just like returning from south america... there are some things i think of that i like about being back in boston....

- CHEESE... yes... cheese.  i didn't realize how much i missed cheese until i had nachos... and burgers... and even just a handful of gorgonzola crumbles.  yes... it was a handful... straight up... no salad or sandwich.  just... gorgonzola.  yum!

- beer... good beer.  a choice in beer.  even the best of the beer in southeast asia doesn't compare to good beer back here.  and the best in SEA i would personally consider are... dark beer lao, leo, and mandalay strong.

- fahrenheit... i can adjust from feet to meters and miles to kilometers but i find it so challenging to adjust to celsius, even though we are the only country in the world (i think?) which uses fahrenheit.  it's great to say that it's 50 out and people don't look at you strange.

- hot showers... and ALWAYS a hot shower if i want it to be.  and not to mention... great water pressure.

- western toilets... no need to master the squat anymore...

- spitting is not super popular here... so i no longer here the "wind up to the spit" (what i like to call it) which would make me cringe every single damn time i heard it.  i never got use to it while many of my travel friends had.

- set prices for things... although things are WAY more expensive here (i swear the price doubled since i left in september).. i don't need to negotiate any price... and there's no foreigner price.

- wifi connections... they are pretty good... stay connected for a while... and are generally fast.  and when they do disconnect.. good ol' 4G backs me up

those things are what come to mind... i'm sure there are others, but those are the first things right off the bat.

there are a lot of things i miss about SEA but i will save that for another blog... sometime.  in the meantime i'm trying to keep busy by job searching, reading, meeting up with language exchange partners, getting connected with the couchsurfing community here, researching volunteer opportunities, etc.

but one thing i def. miss about SEA... smiling and waving and saying hi to people without them thinking i'm crazy (like they would here).  i know i chatted with travel friends about this... but my goodness even making eye contact with people here is a challenge.  sigh... welcome back to the western world, i suppose.

ten days left

I really wish that I could blog while walking around.  That some little device was just taking my thoughts and putting them into a well written paragraph for me.  But unfortunately that is not how it works and you all have to deal with my choppy way of writing.  Deal with it.  But hey... I don't make you read this.  I'm just happy that you do.

I'm currently in a little town in Myanmar called Pyin Oo Lwin.  It is where the British would come for their vacations from Mandalay during their settlement.  A lot of colonial buildings which seems a bit out of place in Myanmar.  Nice here though.  And much like the rest of Myanmar, not super touristy.  I'm sharing a room with a girl from France who was looking for a room.  I was in the lobby and when the receptionist said the place was full I told her I wouldn't mind sharing.  There are two beds here so why not?  So instead of $17/night it will be just $8.50.  :)  Cheap by western standards, expensive by southeast Asian standards.

I love that about traveling.  A complete stranger... yet I'm willing to share a room with her.  Don't know a thing about her but she seemed okay.  And she is a nice girl.  We're both feeling lazy today but planning on biking to the botanical gardens later.  Then the train to Hsipaw tomorrow.  It is suppose to be really nice.

Myanmar is a great place and I'm glad to have decided to come here.  It's super dry and hot 100F/38C but somehow an open window and fan are fine for the nighttime.  I guess lack of humidity does take a factor in it all.  The people are really nice and helpful here.  They are honest and not trying to scam you (at least they really don't seem that way).  And a lot just like the opportunity to practice their English.  I met a motorbike driver in Mandalay who I sat and had tea with.  He pointed out things on my map and told me which towns are nice and how to get there, etc.  Everyone was looking at us and smiling.  A simple "mingaloba" (hello) gave me a smile and a wave.  They are curious people and may stare at first but once you smile, they smile back.  And using any sort of Burmese.... they really appreciate.  So far I know how to say, hello, goodbye, thank you, what is your name?, and my name is.  And the kids here are beyond adorable.  All of them.

I decided to go with that same motorbike driver to three towns outside of Mandalay.  Yet another thing I wouldn't do back home, just trust this guy to tour me around and bring me back to my hotel safely.  But it was completely fine and I really enjoyed spending the day with him.  He said he started learning English three years ago and watches American movies which he said a lot of times they say "shut up", "fucking", and "don't move".  He may be watching a certain genre of movies but not exactly the best vocabulary to learn.  He also knew random sayings like "shake a leg" and "well done is better than well said".  It was fun to help him practice his English and for him to teach me some Burmese.  He also explained a bit about the culture and although I'm not sure he understood all my questions he answered as much as he could.  It was a great day overall.  The same day of the dirty feet photo.  :)

My English has become so simplified between talking to locals and other travelers.  What once was "is that a good book you're reading?" Is now a point and "good book?" Sometimes accompanied by an okay sign which I attribute to diving.  I also am speaking a lot slower which I guess is a good thing.

Reverse culture shock is looming.  It was SO HARD to go back to Boston after south America and I'm assuming it will be similar this time around.  It's not even the expense I'm worried about... It's the going back to "real life" which honestly is just so foreign to me.  Like, stability just doesn't make sense right now in my life.  And trying to articulate this amazing experience to friends and family back home is nearly impossible.  But.... I have ten days left... So still time to enjoy life on the road.

And the Malaysia air flight is still missing.  Scary yet really fascinating story.  There is still some bit of hope in my heart that the plane landed safely in some remote area.  I know that is nearly impossible but I am holding on to it until they can prove that didn't happen.  I can't imagine what the family befriends of the passengers and crew must be going through.  I really hope they get their answers soon.  Whatever that may be.  They deserve to move on...

Okay... that's it for me.  This was much better written than I thought it would be.  Hope you enjoy!

Malaysia air flight

I can't seem to peel myself away from this story.  I'm so deeply saddened by it... more than any other plane crash or disappearance story.  Maybe because I'm traveling now or maybe because I'm here.... and left from that same airport the very next morning on Malaysia air?  I don't know.

And the fact that there are still not any answers three days later... just scary.  Honestly. .. what could have happened?  It really makes me wonder.  I'm hoping that the two people flying on stolen passports just wanted to flee the country and not an act of terrorism.  Being from the states, of course that was my initial reaction.  Or maybe it is terrorism, they somehow turned off the radar and landed the plane in a remote area and holding everyone hostage for some reason.  Although not wanted, at least people would still have their lives.

These are the thoughts going through my head.  Maybe I'm crazy.  I mean, I know I am, but... this whole thing just seems bizarre.

Kuala Lumpur international airport was fairly calm the next day.  Strange, but good.  No need to cause any more disruptions.  It was like any other day.  On my flight from KL to Yangon there were two people who checked in but didn't fly on the plane so we needed to wait while the airline got their bags off.  My thoughts during that mention of information?  What if this plane was meant to be part of another mystery plane and the two people also were flying on stolen passports.

Paranoid much?

But that's how my mind has worked with this story.  It's all just weird to me.  I mean... three days and no trace of the plane.  Yes air France took five days but the oceans are way deeper there.  Perhaps the areas they are checking.g aren't wide enough.  They said about 7.5 hours of fuel left at the time of the last radar point.  To me, that means that plane could be anywhere in that circle..... not just on that path.  I'm sure they're looking all around but how can they not find anything?

If I'm thinking about it this much I can't even begin to imagine what the families are going through.

three weeks left!

Woah!  I can't believe only three weeks left!  Granted I was suppose to be back already... But wow.. three weeks.  Sometimes I forget how long I've been out here... then I look at photos, or read my journal(so proud of continuing to keep up with it), or remember back to something from this trip thinking that it MUST be from south america only because it was so long ago.  It's been a great ride so far.  :)

I'm in Malaysia right now.  Whoever thought I'd be back here?  I sure as hell didn't.  But I'm on the Borneo side.  And I met up with a friend I made in Thailand.  So it's been good to hang out again.  It is always super when you can meet up with people again.  Always.  I'm sure I've said that before.... But it's great.  :)

So I went diving here again!  I get a bit anxious before going in but once I'm down there I think to myself... "why haven't I done this in so long?"  I decided to get my advanced open water.  Yay!  So now I can dive down to 30meters.  (Sorry friends back home, I don't know what that means in feet).  We did a nightdive too but since the dive shop had ZERO corrective lenses masks I didn't see too much. But the rest of the group saw seahorses and squid and other things.  Oh well... I guess that means I'll just have to do another one... with corrective lenses.  I'm still amazed they had zero.  Even -2 is better than 0. But whatever... I passed.

And not only that but I was fortunate enough to dive in sipadan which is one of the top diving destinations in the world.  How lucky am I?  This all wouldn't have happened if I didn't meet a guy in my hostel at sandakan.  I was walking with Denice here singing Justin Timberlake.  And then Andi was behind me and said "you're still singing?"  Clearly he has no idea who I am.  Anyway... he managed to find a shop that had permits for diving in Sipadan for March 6.  Normally these book out weeks in advance.  He asked if I was interested and of course I said yes.  It was expensive... But worth it.  Three dives in the beautiful waters here... including baracuda point which was just stunning.  We saw sharks, turtles... huge turtles, a giant school of baracudas, unicorn fish, scorpion fish, gorgeous coral and so much more!  Just really great.  I always say this world is beautiful and that includes the world below.  :)  one bummer though was that I got a bad earache so I swam closer to the surface than I would have liked.  But I'm getting better (saw a doctor... got eardrops and antibiotics for only USD7.50.... SO CHEAP).  I fly tomorrow to Myanmar and the doctor said I should be fine but there may be some discomfort.  I hope he's right!   Even if there is discomfort the diving was worth it!  I've really been spoiled during these dives.  I only have done 15 dives but I've seen so much!  Very very lucky!

And so yeah... Myanmar tomorrow with a ridiculously long layover in Kuala Lumpur.  I hope I can leave the airport and get a decent sleep.  If not... I hope the seats in KLIA are comfortable!  I'm excited about Myanmar.  Everyone who I've met who went there has said incredible things.  Several were solo female travelers.  :)  And all the photos I've seen have been gorgeous.  Exciting!

Okay... I'm going to write in my journal now.  :)  I'm so surprised that I've kept it this long.  South America I think I ditched the idea in a month.  Anyway... peace out!