Pic of the week - Sept 30 - Oct 6

I had this brilliant idea last night somewhat inspired by reading another travel blog (of which I can't remember the name, so sorry I cannot reference it).  I'm going to start a Pic of the Week.  Every week, I will post a photo from somewhere along the line of my travels.  I will talk about the emotions felt, the smells, the beauty, whatever is evoked and remembered from looking at the picture.  I'm hoping this will inspire and encourage people to get out an visit these places!

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The first Pic of the Week comes from my most favourite place I've visited: The Cliffs of Moher in Ireland.  This is one of the most beautiful, peaceful places I have ever been to.

The very first Pic of the Week!
The Cliffs of Moher in Ireland

 

To walk along the Cliffs is to feel the beauty of what this world can give you.  I remember sitting here thinking that if I could sit here for the rest of my life, I would die a happy little lady.  It's windy as fuck and to get to this particular spot, you have to cross a barrier that urges you not to cross (because of the danger of the wind blowing you over the side)...

Of course I crossed it.  Everybody crosses it.  What is this world without a little rebellion? ;-)

Many people come to the Cliffs of Moher to do themselves in, end their lives, commit suicide if you will.  I'm not suicidal in any way, but if I was, I'm about 100% sure that's where I'd go.  Not only is your last view going to be spectacular, but the fall will certainly kill you (and if by chance it doesn't, the icy cold Atlantic will). 

If you have seen Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince or The Princess Bride, you will have seen the Cliffs of Moher, although the Cliffs's beauty is not so nearly represented on film.  I urge you to visit the Cliffs of Moher in Ireland (not to kill yourself!).  It's not like looking at a picture and realizing their beauty, there are indescribable emotions felt walking along those cliffs that you can't experience by looking at a photograph.  And after you've had a nice afternoon of cliff walking in the chilly Irish air, you can warm yourself by the fire in an Irish pub, dance along to some live Irish music and drink a proper pint of Guinness, Black Gold if you will :)

Happy Trails,

LG

Does FEAR drive you?

I was thinking about fear the other day and how fear drives about 98% of the population's actions (more stupidly by electing George Dubbya Bush to a second term...he injected fear of terrorism into the public and convinced them he was the Superman to drive it away).  But politics aside...

Fear comes in a plethora of forms: being genuiely afraid of something (flying, spiders, creepy crawlies), having an irrational sense of consequences (if I move to a Third World country, I will get malaria), even attachment of material items (being afraid of losing something).  I can't lie and say I've never been afraid of anything, but for the most part, I laugh in the face of fear ha ha HAAA!!!

I fully admit that I was afraid to move to Southeast Asia, one of the stupid reasons it took so long for me to get here. 

When I first had the idea of learning to teach English abroad as a foreign language, I was nearing my late 20's.  Already I was feeling that if I went further abroad than England (where I currently was) for a year, I would be closer to 30 and therefore making it even harder to meet a dude, the old ball-and-chain if you like.  So I put off the teaching idea in hopes that something better would come along.  Nothing better ever came along.  The dude didn't either.

Then the fear of what life would be like in Thailand took over.  All I had ever seen on TV of Thailand were bamboo shacks crawling with cockroaches, leaky roofs, people who ate weird things, freaky natural disasters - tsunamis, earthquakes, bird flu (I know bird flu isn't a natural disaster)....I was so scared of living in a place that had roaches crawling around, mayhaps snuggling into my ears as I slept at night that I never made an acutal commitment to come here.

By the time I was more committed to coming here, I was even older - again increasing the difficulty of meeting said dude mentioned above.  At some point, I'm not sure when (maybe after my umpteenth rejection from the umpteenth dude I fancied), I gave up on the hopes of finding love.  I realized I really am fine by myself, sure it would be nice to have a companion, but I think I wanted it more to be 'normal' in the eyes of society (fuck you, society).  I just had to get over the fear of living in a place where roaches and spiders and creepy things may be hiding in dark corners. 

Thank goodness I did, seriously - you can't believe everything you see on TV.  I have no roaches in my apartment, but I do have a spider in my bathroom that I've named Charlotte (a-la Charlotte's Web!), I do get some annoying ants, but you get those everywhere, an occasional gecko will make his way into my room, but soon enough he makes his way back out.  I feel this makes my room sound dirty.  It's not.  It's acutally quite clean and comfortable for the most part.

My fear of Thailand was completely irrational and only hindered me from seeing more of the world sooner than I would have liked.  I had heard the song Drive by Incubus hundreds of times, but it wasn't until about 2 years ago that I really listened to it and it helped and empowered me:

"Sometimes, I feel the fear of uncertainty stinging clear

And I can't help but ask myself how much I let the fear

Take the wheel and steer

It's driven me before

And it seems to have a vague, haunting mass appeal

But lately I'm beginning to find that I

Should be the one behind the wheel."

Thank you, Brandon Boyd for writing a beautiful, empowering song.



Don't let fear drive you, it's only holding you back from something that's probably pretty amazing.

Happy (fearless) Trails!
LG

Soundtrack for this blog: Drive by Incubus!

The food blog

I was going to dedicate this entire post to tacos.  In my humble opinion, there is no combination of food that is better than a taco.  I was googling images this afternoon for flashcards for a school project when an image of a taco in a sombrero came up in completely un-related search (I was looking for an image to describe 'hard' - get your mind out of the gutter, I mean 'hard' like "Papa bear's chair was too 'hard'") when this taco came up.  I haven't stopped thinking about tacos since.  It's a tasty looking taco!  In a sombrero!!  How many tacos wear sombreros I ask you?

Don't you just want to eat that taco?  I know I do!!

Anyways, that got me thinking about food.  A lot.  I'm a foodie for sure, and I've got the belly to prove it.  Walking through the markets in Chiang Mai, there is street food everywhere you turn.  If you want good, cheap food, come to Thailand!!  You can get an amazing meal for $1 - $2 if you eat Thai street food.  Spend $5 and you can get some amazing farang (white people) food in the bars and restaurants around town.

Along with the delicious street food you can find, there is also an admirable selection of bugs to paint your palate.  HOWEVER, I have never bore witness to a single Thai person ordering up a mixed baggie of maggots and crispy fried crickets to enjoy.  I think selling edible bugs at a market is all a ploy to see how many stupid foreigners take the bait.  Foreigners wanting to 'experience' the Thai way of life, bravely ordering those crispy fried crickets and cockroaches, tentively taking that first craaaaaazy bite, then proclaiming that they "taste just like chicken!".  I'm sure the Thai's freakin love it...they just sit back and watch the idiots eat bugs and secretly have a laugh and share a chuckle with one another while enjoying some chicken fried rice. 

Well Thai's, I'm on to you...I'm not taking the bait!  I'll stick to your delicious, bug-free curries, soups and noodles.

Be a Traveller

There are two kinds of people in this world: Travellers and Non-Travellers. 

I'm beginning to think I was switched at birth as I was a born Traveller.  I will do what it takes to live out the rest of my days seeing places the majority of people only dream of - even if it means never seeing my loved ones again (don't get me wrong - I love my fam dearly, but I know what they look like and I have never seen the glorious peaks of Machu Pichu).  My family, on the other hand, are pretty much content with the comforts and familiarity of home.  Yes, they'll go on vacations - comfortable vacations - but my mom and big sis only applied for their passports because of me, not because they wanted to see the world. 

A few years back while I was living in England, my mom, grams and sis came to visit me (which turned into one of the most horrible holidays ever, but that's another story).  On this holiday, we drove from London to York to the Lake District and back to London.  Much to my demise, my sister proclaimed her disappointment at not driving through suburbs rather than the beautiful British countryside...WTF?!

I've been trying to convince my sister to come to Thailand since before I left for Thailand.  For the most part, I'm pretty sure I'm just wasting my breath.  Coming to a humid country (God forbid her hair will frizz out to the point that it becomes the size of Amy Winehouse's beehive 'do) with cockroaches, dirty streets, food cooked on those dirty streets (albeit delicious!), giant spiders, noise of tuk tuks and motorbikes, constant cries for 'massaaaage', etc, just isn't who she is.  Where she would see discomfort, pests, and allover 'grossness', I see culture, diversity, excitement and adventure!

I am a Traveller and travellers sacrifice a lot for their passion - comfort, money, love, familiarity of the goodnesses of home.  There are times more often than not that I would love to curl up in a Lay-Z-Boy instead of chilling on my hard, plastic-covered, spring-poking bed.  Or times that I sit and wonder if I didn't spend my years living in and discovering new countries if I would be like everyone else - married, with a career, a mortgage, maybe a couple mini-me's running around.  However, in return for the sacrifice, I've discovered a wealth of knowledge, culture, self-assurance and adventure that makes the sacrifice well worth it, 100 times over. 

The dude that inspires me to keep on travellin' (and gave me the momemtum I needed to see through this current expidition) said "Adventure rewrites the routine of our lives and wakes us sharply from the comforts of the familiar.  It allows us to see how vast the expanse of our experiences can actually be.  Our ability to grow is no longer linear but becomes unrestricted to any direction we wish to run."  Josh Gates knows what he's talking about.  Other Travellers knows what Josh Gates is talking about.  I have not, and will never, let comfort and familiarity restrict me.  This in and of itself sets me apart from my family. 

I urge anyone reading this to break out of your comfort zone!  Be a Traveller!  You never know what you will find waiting for you around the bend :)

Happy Trails,
LG

What Thailand has taught me (so far...)

The following is a post I made in facebook from March...I add to it as I live my days in Chiang Mai.

1. Every day, I walk down Tha Pae Road in Chiang Mai to meet my friend for dinner.  Every day I pass the same shop.  Today, I noticed a banner above the shop that read: "CAN'T GET LOST if you don't care where U are".  That is SO true on so many levels.  Trying to find a different restaurant to eat at tonight, my friend and I essentially 'got lost' on some of the side roads and alleys in Chiang Mai.  We had no idea where we were, but we didn't care...we just kept walking along until we happened upon a quaint little Italian restaurant.  Nobody was there, just my friend and I (and a sweet little gecko on the wall).  The food was absolutely delicious and the waitress was the nicest, most attentive waitress I think I've ever come across.  It was a splendid evening, and, being on the sidestreets, it felt like we were miles away from the hustle and bustle of smelly (but lovely!) Chiang Mai.  Lesson learned: Get lost and don't care.  Chances are there will be something remarkable just waiting for you around the corner.

2. Cold showers are a million times more refreshing at night than in the morning.  Especially after walking around in 100 degree heat all day.

3. Although they're still absolutely revoltingly disgusting, I find I can tolerate cockroaches more so here than anywhere else.  Come to think of it, the only other time I've seen a roach was in Australia the week before I arrived in Thailand.  Thailand and roaches just seem to go together...gross.

4. Thai's are deathly afraid of ghosts.  So much so that each and every building here has a 'Spirit House'.  Spirit houses are little miniature houses - around the size of a doll house - and the Thai's give offerings to the Spirit houses.  It's sweet, and funny at how frightened they are of ghosts :)

5a. To cross a road, you literally have to take a leap of faith.  Cars, trucks and motorbikes are not going to stop if you're waiting on the side of the road to cross.  But they will slow down if you walk infront of them.  I think it's only because they don't want to reduce their 'merit' (good they do to reach Nirvana).

5b. Red lights are just a suggestion.

6. Ladyboys are more lady-like than most ladies I know - myself definitely included on that one.

UPDATED - sometime in March.
7. The Thai's don't pronounce the letter 'R' if it falls in the middle of the word.  Therefore, when they say the word 'crazy', they pronounce it 'casey'...as in 'Kaycee'.  When a Thai asks my name, every . single . time . they say, and I quote: 'Oh! Kaycee, like CRASY!!'  Yep.  Like crazy. :)

UPDATED April 7 2012
8a. Playing on that last "crazy" entry, Thai's are dreadfully honest.  I went to a Monk Chat back in February - a Monk chat is just that, you have the opportunity to chat with Monks about whatever you want.  Normally you're not allowed to talk to the monks, especially women.  My friend and I were chatting with a monk about Buddhism, it was all very interesting (I didn't have time to ask him about his Zombie Apocolypse plan, but I'm sure he doesn't have one as he did say they don't believe in the end of the world).  Anyways...when we were leaving, he asked us our names.  I got the typical response, "Kaycee?  Like crazy!!"  Yep, like crazy.  Then he proceeded to say "But you don't look like a crazy woman, you look like a lazy woman.  hahaha, Just kidding."  No monk, I don't think you are kidding.

8b. I was at one of my favourite places to eat (Kafe) the other day waiting for my friend.  The guy who I assume is the owner is always kind and was engaging me in conversation while I waited.  He told me that I reminded him of his friend by the way I talk, my mannerisms, etc.  He then said his friend's name is Stuart.  What?!  I said "You think I look like a guy?!"  He replied, "No, not really."  Not really.  Thanks for the 'honest' compliment?

9. After 31 years, I finally learned how to use chopsticks.  Mission complete.

UPDATED September 18, 2012
10a. The real-life game of Frogger pretty much sucks when it's Frogger: Game Over. (See #5a)

10b. Thailand is a very unforgiving place when you have to walk on crutches.  The pavements and sidewalks are uneven and full of obstacles that make it difficult to walk on two good feet.  I'm clumsy enough as it is without the added help of tripping hazards...

A new adventure on the horizon?

I was talking with a friend from the secondary branch of the school I'm teaching at Thursday night (I finally made it to the UN Irish Bar's weekly pub quiz - something I've been trying to get to since February) and discussing how shitty our salary is - even by Thai standards.  He was telling me of a friend who had taught in Korea for a year.  Korea, apparently, pays English teachers a shit ton of money (compared with the cheap cost of living), including paying for accomodation and round-trip flights.  My friend's friend was able to save so much money that she's been in Thailand since January and hasn't had to work. Sweeeeeeet.

I've never had a desire to visit Korea, but this might be a great possibility.  I'm getting that ball of excitement that forms in the pit of my stomach at the prospect of a new adventure...that's big news considering I'm getting a root canal in 4 hours.

Maybe I should get to the Irish Bar's pub quiz more often...

Hello Korea, goodbye debt?  Stay tuned!

Happy Trails,
LG

The Lonely Girl's first post with a catchy title.

This is my first attempt at blogging, so bare with me.

I've been living in Thailand for nearly 9 months now, I've had my fair share of ups and downs (I'll try to back track on some things later on) and more recently, there have been a shit ton more 'downs' than 'ups'.  Which has brought on this idea to start a blog. 

Flashback to July 8, 2012:
I was having a glorious Sunday, having taken a long walk - as I love doing - and discovered a sweet little cafe somewhere in the Old City of Chiang Mai.  The cafe is called Good Morning, Chiang Mai.  It's in the heart of the city, but makes you feel like you're miles from nowhere.  Great food, good service...I sat there for about 3 hours reading a book (Game of Thrones book 2, if you were wondering ;) , drinking a few glorious coffees and killing time until I was to meet my friend at the cinema for a little Spiderman viewage. 

Deciding I wanted to increase my fruit intake for the day, I left to find my favourite smoothie maker in the city, Anne.  On my way to have Anne make me a delicious pineapple and yogurt smoothie, I found out I was not the Superhero I thought I was.  I was crossing the street, when much to my demise, three 15 year old girls on a motorbike slammed into me.  After 6 months, it was finally Frogger: Game Over for this little frog.  With some serious pain in my left ankle, I was taken to the emergency room and found out I had a torn ligament in my ankle.  Suuuuuck.  Lying in that ER, in a country where I don't speak the language only reinforced my lonliness here.  Living in a country of 60 million people, I've never been or felt more alone.

Flashforward to 2 days ago:
I've been having a minor tooth ache since May.  It was minor until two days ago.  I kept putting off going to the dentist "until next month".  Well, "next month" turned into an emergency visit and that "putting it off" has lead me to needing a root canal. FML (or "Som-nom-naa" as they say in Thailand, which means "serves you fucking right for putting off going to the dentist"). 

Still not quite as mobile as I'd like to be from my accident (and still in pain), I now have to have someone poke, prod, drill, grind, grind, drill, and do fucking whatever else they need to do to kill this pain in my tooth.  The feeling that I have for this has only increased the lonliness.  Don't get me wrong, I'm as fucking independent as they come...single for 31 years and always kept an emotional (and physical) distance from my family, but sometimes, a girl just needs a good friend (in the flesh - not the cyber kind) to chill out with when times are tough, and maybe get a few sympathetic hugs.  I like hugs.  Who doesn't?  Can a Lonely Girl just get a damn hug in Thailand?! 

All of this in mind, last night The Lonely Girl's Guide to the World was born in my mind.  It's an experiment.  I don't know if I'll blog anything useful (and I'd be shocked if you're still reading this right now), but maybe something genius will come from this mind and inspire others to go out in the world and be lonely (it's not *all* bad...it's usually, well - always - pretty great!!).  I'm also hoping that this will dubb as my journal since I'm absolutely shit at writing in mine.

'til next time, Happy Trails!
LG