Southeast Asia & China 2008-09

As predicted, I ended up abandoning this blog. Now that I have settled into a routine, perhaps I will post more regularly. One would hope so anyway.

While I am enjoying my time back in Canada and getting the opportunity to spend time with friends and family, life is a bit mundane compared to what I was up to last year. The itch to travel is getting more and more persistent, something I'm trying to suppress as I attempt to be a Grown Up. I have visions of working on an organic farm in France, taking cooking lessons in the countryside of Italy or travelling through India on its rickety train network. Of course, I would be eating my way through these countries because aside from sightseeing, the best part of travelling is gorging on delicious food.

Instead of succumbing to my urges, I've been looking through my travel photos of Southeast and East Asia. I skimmed through the pictures when I first arrived home but haven't touched them since. It's an awful habit of mine - I take a crapload of pictures and then discard them to the side afterwards.

Here is a small sample of some of my favourite places that I visited.

Sapa, Vietnam

Sapa is located north of Hanoi, above sea level and surrounded by beautiful mountains. There is a large ethnic minority population and I did a two day trek with several ladies from a Black H'mong village. I can't even describe how breathtaking it was to walk through the terraced rice field - a green so vibrant it's almost blinding.

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Eigo no hito kitta!

The posting-once-a-week plan has gone into array because my life was taken over by the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics in the past two weeks. Instead, I am posting something I wrote a little over a year ago on February 11, 2009:

This weekend, I visited the Saki no Yu onsen, which is in the next town over. An onsen is a hot spring (aka heaven) and Japan has thousands of them scattered all over the country. Onsens are kind of awkward because you're naked with a bunch of strangers, but it's so amazing that you're willing to overlook the nakedness.

Saki no Yu is one of the more famous onsens because it is situated right beside the Pacific Ocean. The onsens I've been to so far have been really nice, where they had an indoor change room and shower stations with soap and shampoo to wash yourself with before you submerge yourself into the actual onsen (as per onsen etiquette). Saki no Yu, however, was literally just an outdoor shack with a couple of lockers to store your stuff. The onsen, however, was fantastic. The view was beyond incredible and to hear the Pacific Ocean splashing against the rocks as you're soaking in the water is the epitome of relaxation. Think taking a bath while listening to a cd with ocean waves, but a gazillion times better.


On the other side of the rocks to the left are three onsen baths. I wasn't kidding when I said it was right by the ocean.

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Feb. 09: 12 of 12

When I first arrived in Japan, I took my camera with me everywhere. I remember exploring my neighbourhood and taking pictures of the houses because they were SO Japanese and my goodness, I haven't seen anything like it! Of course, the novelty wore out a month in and I was no longer taking pictures of mundane things. Fast forward six months when I realized that time seems to run 10x faster in Japan and before I knew it, I would be leaving the country. Last year on this day, in attempt to capture a day of my life in Japan, I did the 12 of 12.



A kerosene heater to warm up the teacher's room because central heating does not exist in Japan. There's usually a kettle or a bowl of water on top of it to humidify the room. (At least that's what I think it's for.)

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Welcome!

A little bit about myself and what to expect. I am a:

+ World Traveller. I recently spent 16 months teaching English in Japan and traipsing through South East & East Asia. I regret not having a blog to capture the moments as it happened so I will be doing it retroactively as I reminisce through my pictures.

+ Food Lover. I am currently unemployed and to entertain myself, I cook, bake and eat my way out of boredom. Expect food entries.

+ Amateur Photographer. I purchased a DSLR for Christmas and will be posting pictures as I learn how to use my camera. It will mostly be food photography though.

I'm hoping to post at least once a week. I'm setting this goal because I am a procrastinator and will most likely abandon this blog if I don't set a goal. Plus, I have way too much free time on my hand to not be able to post once a week.

Enjoy the journey.