Last month when I posted Photo of the Month, a friend asked if I had posted any Photos of the Month from Korea, and I realized I hadn't. Korea was interesting for me...I didn't really have the opportunity to explore the country as I normally would because of the FrankenAnkle fiasco. When I first arrived in Korea, I still had no idea that I had originally broken my ankle 10 months prior. After I found out that I needed surgery, I was in too much pain to really explore anything. Post-surgery, I was on crutches for six months, which made adventuring difficult. When my doc said I could finally ditch the crutches, my time in Seoul was coming to an end. I did get out some, but the amount of quality photos I have from Korea are few and far between than previous countries I've visited.
I've been reminiscing about my time in Seoul lately, with a visit from one of my best friends who still lives there, and thinking about my students - hoping they're doing well and feeling blessed to have (hopefully) had a positive impact on their lives, so I'll dedicate this Photo of the Month to Seoul.
The second my doc told me I could ditch my crutches, I was suffering from an extreme case of cabin fever. I begged my Korean co-teachers to come with me to Changgyeonggung Palace in Seoul...I had heard legends of its Secret Garden and I was dying to see it.
The Secret Garden of Changgyeonggung was so peaceful, in the middle of a bustling city. You have to join a tour group and pay an extra fee to go through the garden, but since I was relatively slow going, my friends and I were left in the back of the group, a plus since we could take photos without a large group of people in them, but we also were not able to hear what the guide was telling us about the area. The tour was a bit of a trek as well, quite hilly, which also slowed me down. But hey-ho, it was great to get out of my apartment and discover some culture that I had never really given a second thought to before moving to Korea! It was also just a lovely day spent with my co-workers...I can definitely say that day we spent exploring Changgyeonggung Palace was my favorite day in Korea.
창경궁
If you're ever in Seoul, a visit to the palaces is worth it, especially the Secret Garden of Changgyeonggung. You can check out my full photo blog post of Changgyeonggung here!
I didn't want to go to Cambodia. Well, let me re-phrase that: I never had a desire to visit Cambodia...it was just a country in Southeast Asia that I had never given a thought about. But my friend was coming to visit me in Thailand and suggested we take a four-day trip there. Meh, ok...it's next door to Thailand and cheap, so I'm in. And that was the end of life as I knew it.
Cambodia was what I thought Thailand was going to be: Real. Insanely friendly and accommodating locals with genuine smiles and curiosity. It was like stepping into the past. And maybe all of that would have worn off if, like Thailand, I lived there. Or maybe the Cambodians were more over-accommodating since I was travelling on a broken ankle. Or maybe it was really genuine. I don't know. All I know is that those four days in Siem Reap were enough to make me fall in love...and I've been dying of a broken heart, aching to go back to feel what I first felt when I laid my eyes upon Angkor Wat for the first time: Joy.
I was so overcome with emotion when I saw that spectacular silhouette that I started crying. To see, in person, this ancient civilization and feel the spirit of an ancient culture, every part of me was grateful and blessed to be there. Even while fighting the throngs of tourists.
All over the ruins of Angkor are children...running, chasing your tuk tuk, begging you to buy something from their basket of souvenirs - be it postcards, bracelets, candy - their big, sad eyes pulling at your heart strings. The worst part is knowing your money doesn't go to them, that it more than likely goes to their owner or whoever gives them a bed and food. Those kids broke my heart, and put into perspective the privilege, that even I growing up poor in the US still had more than they do.
When we entered Angkor Wat, I saw this little guy, minding his own business and eating his bag of fruit and rice. He was adorable. Dwarfed by the masonry that his ancestors built centuries before, it gives perspective at the enormity and beauty that Angkor is.
I'm looking forward to the day I travel back to Cambodia and feel their culture and kindness once again...all while enjoying a coconut shake and spicy noodles, of course!
This is very much a non-travel related post...I love baking (as you can tell by my pudgy mid-section!), and it's one of the things I dearly missed while living as an expat in countries where apartments don't come with ovens.
I'm a self-proclaimed cookie connoisseur, and (humble brag) make some savage chocolate chip cookies. My friends keep asking me for the recipe, so to make life easier on myself, I'm just going to post it here.
I think I found this recipe on the HuffPost and made some adjustments to suit high altitude baking, because: SCIENCE!
These cookies are seriously yummy, and addicting A-F. They're chewy, chocolate-y, and super rich. I always prefer them the next day, but they're still just as good fresh from the oven.
Ingredients:
The magic.
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3.5 oz Instant vanilla pudding
Pinch salt
1 1/2 stick softened butter
3/4 cup of brown sugar (I use dark brown, the original recipe called for light brown)
1/4 cup granulate sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
12 oz bag chocolate chips
*******************************************
In a bowl, combine the flour, powder, soda, pudding, and salt....set aside.
In a large mixing bowl (or stand-alone mixer if you have one), cream the butter, sugars, egg and vanilla until well creamed - at least 3 or 4 minutes.
Cream the shit out of that...
Slowly add the dry mix, I usually add half and mix until combined, then add the other half.
Add the dry...
If the mixture is crumbly, add 1 tablespoon of cream and mix....keep adding 1 tablespoon of cream at a time until the dough sticks together (mine at high altitude takes 2-3 tablespoons). You can also use water if you don't have cream.
Crumbly bumbly...
What your mixture should look like after adding the cream
Add the chocolate chips and mix.
Try not to eat the dough....even though you want to....the end game is worth it.
Use your 1/4 measuring cup to measure out the dough, roll into balls and slightly flatten. It makes roughly 18 cookies - depending on how much cookie dough you ate along the way.
Now...here's the important step: Refrigerate the dough AT LEAST 2 hours, this is standard for all bomb ass cookie recipes...you need to give the butter time to harden again so your cookies don't flatten out when they bake.
REFRIGERATE THOSE BALLS!!
Bake @ 350 degrees - you'll have to adjust your time accordingly, the original recipe advises 11 minutes, but I bake mine for 17 at high altitude. You want to slightly underbake them because they'll continue to bake when you pull them out of the oven.
Let the drooling commence...
Let 'em cool and enjoy the savageness of the best chocolate chip cookies everrrrrrrr!!
Happy Baking Trails...
I promise a bomb ass travel blog next time!
I'm itching for an adventure. A solo one, because I'm pretty much over humans at this point. You know how I know when I need to get away? I start acting like a crotchety old lady...and I've been crotchety and moody for months now. I want to go somewhere off the grid, but not entirely. Just off the grid enough that my phone doesn't work so that the people who only text me when they want something can't get a hold of me. Somewhere that I can talk to someone in broken English and learn something new about their culture. Somewhere that also serves a delicious spicy bowl of noodles and a mango-something desert.
Y'all...I can't even begin to describe how fed up I am. It's a culmination of little things that add up over time and take small hits on my overly empathetic heart. My last blog entry, I wrote about how my life has turned on itself: where there was once a semblance to my social life but my work life sucked, now my job is great but my social life? What's that? You try to make friends, make yourself vulnerable to dudes that you fancy --- which in and of itself is hard enough...it took me DAYS to send a text telling Dude that I was interested...only to get a "maybe" response. Well, in the words of Jack Johnson, "It seems to me that 'maybe' pretty much always means 'no'". And what have I heard from him on this subject since? A big. fat. nothing. So, to the dudes of the world I say, if a chick tells you she likes you, it probably took a LOT for her to say something, to take that risk...grow a pair and give her an answer, even if it's one you know she's not going to like, she'll respect you a lot more for that. I'm just sayin.
So this is where I'm at. Chillin' on my own, hiking on my weekends in the great Colorado Rockies, and counting down the days until my September vay-cay. Unfortunately, this year is a no-go for international travel, since British BFF is coming to visit. So, Photo of the Month's get me reminiscing and dreaming of past adventures, yummy noodles, and broken English conversations while standing in awe at the base of ancient temples.
Today, my memories take me to Cambodia. Because I didn't have a desire to visit Cambodia...ever...but I fell 110% in love. So right now in my mind, I'm in a tuk-tuk, following the throngs of tourists swarming to the Bayon, one of the many temples on the grounds of Angkor - a seriously magical place. One that brought me to tears the moment I glimpsed it. And I'm happy.
Entrance to an ancient civilization
Now, if I could get a damn bowl of spicy noodles and a coconut shake, I'd be feeling pretty grand :)
I was having a conversation with one of my fellow non-small town transplant coworkers the other day. We're both from the city and both moved to this small town for work. And we're both lonely AF. We both have to do things on our own because neither of us have proper friends up here, lots of friendly acquaintances yes, but nothing more than that. We can't exactly do anything together because of the demands of our schedule don't allow us days off together. It's funny...I'm closer to people who live 15,000 miles away than I am with people I see on a daily basis...the irony, right?
While in the midst of our conversation, another coworker basically told us it's good for us to learn how to be independent.
Uh....what did you just say to me?
I know this guy quite well and know he said this in jest, but I still felt compelled to point out to him that I've moved country five times, SOLO, twice to non-English speaking countries. I was involved in a life-altering accident in one of those non-English speaking country's and had major surgery in the other. All alone. I had a few friends who would pop around every now-and-then to help, but mostly during that traumatic shit, I was on my own. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining because it made me who I am today, but don't tell me I need to learn to be independent. I'm independent AF. So forgive me, if, after 13 years of traveling solo, I'd like to have someone to share shit with.
Life seems to have this funny way of flipping itself. I used to have some semblance of an introvert's social life, and that part of my life is pretty much non-existent now. While the part that used to suck (work), is now amazing and frankly the only thing keeping me around. (Seriously though, the only thing I've ever felt as much passion for as I do about my current job is travelling and experiencing new cultures). But then there's that other part of my life that has NEVER gone accordingly: relationships - it's never actually existed...me trying to land a boyfriend is like trying to capture Bigfoot, or a Yeti, or the Loch Ness Monster, or a chupacabbra (which is basically a dog with mange). I do believe they exist, but capturing them...well let's just say that would be easier than me meeting a dude. All I'm asking for a is Norse God Viking of a man, not much, right? All I'm saying here is, it would be nice if everything went well, if just once...everything in life worked in perfect harmony. But apparently that shit only happens in movies.
I don't know...maybe I just need a vacation to cure this funk I've been in (of course that's what I need...vacations cure all sorts of things, even if you pick up malaria along the way, funks are still cured with vacations). Or I just need a good friend to hang out with.
So if you're lonely, too...give ya girl a holla, I'll be out adventuring and shit because I'm still not waiting around for you :)
"No matter what sort of difficulties, how painful experience is, if we lose our hope, that is the real disaster" - Dalai Lama
The epitome of loneliness, crutching your way around Angkor Wat through a sea of tourists
Two months, two photos...Maybe this Photo of the Month thing is finally going to stick?
I love London. For only about a day or two. Any more than that, it just wears me out - more mentally than anything...as introverted as I am, I can only take so much of crowds, especially the tourist crowds. And London is all crowds and all tourists. But it always draws me back. It's so iconically British: The Tower of London, Buckingham Palace, Oxford Circus, Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, the London Eye, Tower Bridge, fueling up with a plate of fish and chips and a pint of lager...it's all British and it's everything I think about when I'm dreaming of London.
One thing I learned when I lived in England was to look up. On the ground, it's store front after high street store front: Marks & Spencer's, Boots, Top Shop, Dorothy Perkins, NEXT, Costa Coffee and Starbucks, Greggs and Pret-A-Manger...all typical store fronts that are found all across the country. But when you look up? That's where the magic is. England is old. And the architecture is beautiful and for the most part, unchanged and preserved.
I was hanging around the Westminster area of London on this particular day and glanced up, I was treated with just the tip of Big Ben peaking out over the chimney covered rooftops. I stood there, in that moment, taking in where I was, the aches and pains in my ankle and back just disappeared. I was expecting to see Mary Poppins blowing by under her umbrella and was waiting for Bert to pop up out of a chimney with his chimney sweep and break into a song and dance. My reverie didn't last long, my screaming feet reminded me that standing in one spot too long is not good when you've been walking on them for miles over the last few days.
Jolly doomy, gloomy London Town!
Next time you're in London, or England (or even Europe for that matter), take a moment and glance upward. Enjoy the craft in the architecture that was built centuries before. Then find a quaint tea shop and British the shit out of your afternoon with a cup of tea and scones with clotted cream!
Another attempt at Photo of the Week, but let's be honest, I know my habits and know I'm not going to stick to a weekly photo...so let's try Photo of the Month ;)
Iceland.
Glorious Iceland. Since, let's say...2011, I was becoming more and more interested in visiting that tiny island to find myself a Viking of a man to bring home as a souvenir. A good friend had gone and told me how amazing it was, which initially peaked my interests. Then, it seemed that posts on Iceland started popping up more frequently, with gorgeous photos of irresistible landscapes that I couldn't take my eyes off of. Bands like Of Monsters And Men, Kaleo, and Asgeir entered my life - and if you know me and my obsession with music, it's a pretty damn good selling point to get me to go somewhere. Finally, when I was laid up from ankle surgery, I spent time watching film after film. One of those films (now a definite favorite) was The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. I was sold. I had this overwhelming need to visit Iceland: a dream I realized this past September.
Iceland is everything and more of what I could ever ask for in a country. Not too touristy (yet), great food, kind and cheerful locals, and most of all breathtaking landscapes - a photographer's dream destination. The land of fire and ice. On my second day, I was already planning my next trip back.
I suppose my five days in Iceland, I considered my "taster", dip my toes into that country and get a feel for what it is, so I can adventure the hell out of it next time around. So, I kept my base in Reykjavik, and joined various bus tours to visit the places I ultimately needed to see.
Bus tours. Ugh...I was reminded why I stopped doing them. They're great for meeting people, and as a solo chick, that's cool (if you're not as introverted as me), and they're also great for learning about the regions from your local guide. But damn, they suck for photographers and adventurers! There were SO many places I wanted to stop, get out an explore but instead I was limited to taking pictures from the inside of a bus and relishing in a 10 second drive by. Iceland is like waterfall after waterfall after gloriously beautiful waterfall...you don't need to go chasing waterfalls in Iceland, they chase you! And when the bus does finally stop, the guide gives you a mere 20 minutes to cram as many pictures and selfies you can on your camera. I'm the kind of person that likes to take everything in...really experience a place: the sounds, smells, the taste of the air, views...then snap some pictures to refresh my memory of how that place made me feel deep down in my soul. You can't do that in 20 minutes.
That brings me to this month's photo: Skogafoss. Surprisingly, I was never that impressed with photos I had seen of Skogafoss...it just looked like a waterfall. And it was merely a stop on the way to the Jokusarlon Glacier Lagoon. Holy. Shit. Skogafoss was just fantastic, and damn those 20 minutes for making me fall in love with a place, then tearing me from it, not even offering to buy me dinner, or a drink, first.
Skogafoss.
When time allows, you can hike up to the top of the falls...which is absolutely on the itinerary for next time. Skogafoss is massive, so much bigger in person than I could've imagined. And the spray, well considering the water comes from a glacier it was ice cold and incredibly refreshing after sitting for hours on a stuffy bus. The rainbows bursting from the base, the cry of the seagulls, shivering and trying to quickly wipe the spray from the camera lens, running back to the bus dripping wet and freezing cold - I can't wait to go back to Skogafoss and truly enjoy its splendor!
Next time, bus tours are off the table. It'll be me, a car, and the Ring Road...camping, stopping where I want to stop, exploring where I want to explore. My dream vacay.
Happy Trails!
So many theme songs to choose for this blog...but I'm going with Of Monsters And Men because they're Icelandic I adore them :)
