Have snow boots, will travel (Part 3)

Posted on April 3, 2013 by silverchimes

Aha! I still have a little bit more to go. The previous posts were all about places below the Arctic Circle. The night before we crossed the Arctic Circle we saw the Aurora Borealis for the first time. It was exciting, but it was just one small arc over the horizon.

We crossed the Circle early in the morning and on deck there was a “baptism” of sorts that consisted of ice-water down the back. We actually received a certificate! The crazy things we’ll do for a piece of paper!

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Officially in the Arctic Circle

The next night we had a spectacular display of the Aurora Borealis! I don’t think there are enough adjectives to explain, but it was just amazing. The photo quality is not great by any means. We were on a boat and the exposures are 30 seconds long, so some of the movement is apparent. Nevertheless, I think the photos are still kind of cool!

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In case you are wondering, it was extremely cold! It was even colder when we visited the North Cape, which is northernmost point of mainland Europe. There is a globe like sculpture where tourists usually take their photo, but it was so windy that you had to hang on to it for dear life. It didn’t make for a great photo.  I did meet a nice troll, though.

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At North Cape

The ship’s last stop was Kirkenes and we then caught a plane back to Oslo. We wanted to see a bit of Oslo so ended up spending $100 US each on public transportation just getting from the airport to the hotel and then to Oslo and back. Things can be shockingly expensive there. In Oslo, we went to Vigelandsparken Sculpture Park, but it was already dark, so a little difficult to appreciate. The photos from there didn’t turn out very well, so I’ll just leave you with one my favorites that my friend Ruth took from the ship.

Day 3 - Dec 12 - At Sea 022

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Have snow boots, will travel (Part 2)

Posted on April 2, 2013 by silverchimes

We stopped at Trondheim on the third day out. As I said in my last post, Trondheim was my favorite stop of the trip. Several things just came together to make our stay there nice. We arrived before sunrise, so was able to go to a hill above the city to see the dawn. It had just snowed, so everything looked quite beautiful and pristine.

Trondheim at dawn

Trondheim at dawn

We then went to Nidaros Cathedral, one of the city’s main attractions. The building is very impressive with some great history.

Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim Norway

Nidaros Cathedral in Trondheim Norway

Jenn and Ruth at Nidaros Cathedral

Jenn and Ruth at Nidaros Cathedral

Since the temperature was not painfully cold and the wind wasn’t blowing, we decided to walk around the city and then head back to the ship. We had a blast just wandering around and taking photos.

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While we were walking, we saw a young guy stop and look at something in the middle of a  foot bridge. He took a photo of it with his phone then placed the item on the railing of the bridge. It turned out to be a snow cleat that you can put on your boot. When we finally got back to the ship we bumped into to a couple just outside the entrance. The husband was telling us how his wife had lost her snow cleat somewhere in the city. It was kinda cool that we could tell him exactly where to look for it!

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Have snow boots, will travel (Part 1)

Posted on March 27, 2013 by silverchimes

OK, I know I’m a terrible blogger. Don’t know why I’ve become so lazy about typing a few words about things I’ve done or places I’ve gone.

So way back in December I set off for Norway. I flew on Aeroflot so I had a layover in Moscow. The flight was uneventful, but interestingly they don’t offer alcohol on the flight for “safety and comfort”or something like that. I guess there’s nothing worse than a bunch of drunk Russians going home from Thailand. My connecting flight from Moscow to Oslo was cancelled, so they put me on another airline with a flight from Moscow to Riga, Latvia and then to Oslo. At that time I couldn’t even tell you where Riga was located. This is when smartphones come in handy! I eventually made it to Oslo around 11 pm and took the flybus into the city where I met my friend from Austin.

In the morning we caught the train from Oslo to Bergen. The scenery was amazing!

ImageWe arrived in Bergen in the early afternoon so we checked in at Hurtigruten and then walked around the city for a couple of hours. I got a halfway decent shot of our ship “MS Richard With” with my iPhone

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Since Hurtigruten is a passenger and freight line, we stopped briefly at many towns, but stayed a few hours at the larger cities so we could get off the ship and see some sites. The first stop was Alesund which is famous for its art nouveau architecture.

The next stop was Trondheim, which turned out to be my favorite stop of the trip, so I’ll continue in the “Part 2” post.

Day 2 at sea

No, not cold at all!

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Checking In

Posted on December 4, 2012 by silverchimes

Hello everyone! It has been many a month since I’ve complained about my work hours posted about my life. A few cool things have happened and I feel that I’m getting my life back under control.

Back in the spring I was thinking seriously about moving back home.  I thought maybe after the new year I could give about three months notice and be out of Thailand by the beginning of April 2013. By the end of August that plan was out the window. It was a bit dramatic with a job offer out of the blue, business wheeling and dealing (not by me)  and me giving three weeks notice instead of three months.

My new job is still in Bangkok, but I had to cancel my old work permit, leave the country within 24 hours and then start the process for a new work permit. I stayed at my sister’s house for almost a month and had a wonderful time. While I was there I made a quick trip to New Orleans to get a business visa at the Thai Consulate there. I also spent time with my friends and went for extremely long walks on the levee. My last day there was my sister’s birthday so it was a great ending to the trip.

The new job is going well. There is a normal work week and, at the moment, hardly any stress. In the future there should be a some travel involved, but it’ll be cool. I’ve already made a quick trip to Seoul. Wish I could have brought some of the cool weather back to Bangkok.

Next week I will be heading to Norway, but not for work. I’ll be going to look for the aurora borealis! Hoping the weather is clear when we hit the arctic circle. I’ve been compiling some tunes to listen to while freezing and “hunting the light”. Any suggestions are welcome!

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Don’t You Step on my Blue Suede Shoes

Posted on February 17, 2012 by silverchimes
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On the bus this morning!

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Look who I met in Seattle!

Posted on January 23, 2012 by silverchimes

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Sailor Babo and Homebody took me around Capitola Hill yesterday. Everyday Music was as wonderful as I’d heard. Of course, when I got there I couldn’t remember any of the CDs I wanted to look for. I should have made a list. Still, I will be going back to Bangkok with a suitcase full of music.

We also went to Cupcake Royal where I had a red-velvet cupcake. I’m happy to say that this cupcake was about 1000 times better than the one I had in Bangkok.

I also got to meet Muki, Lila Bean and Ella – all beautiful black cats.

Loved my afternoon in Seattle. Many thanks to Homebody for showing me around.

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The year in review

Posted on January 3, 2012 by silverchimes

I’m usually a bit late in these kind of things. 2011 was definitely the year of work, work and more work. The job in Thailand has always had periods of long hours and no days off, but nothing that compares with this past year. Work overtook almost every aspect of my life for most of the year, so I really don’t have material to make any kind “best of” lists.

This year I didn’t read much or watch any movies. This was the year that I discovered Korean dramas and that turned out to be my primary source of entertainment. Korean pop music has always been popular in Thailand, but this year some of the lab staff started watching K-dramas and then discussing them at work. The Korean stories sounded better than the Thai lakorns, so I decided to give them a try. I guess my favorite this year was City Hunter. It wasn’t a perfect story, but I was glued to my computer screen every week. My favorite character, however, was not City Hunter. My favorites were the evil daddy Lee Jin Pyo and the stick-in-the-mud Prosecutor Kim Young Joo.

Prosecutor Kim Young Joo deserves his own video since he’s the only one that made me cry

In September I took a vacation to Italy and Switzerland. It was my first trip to Europe and I had an amazing time. During my time in Florence, I became oddly fascinated with Catherine de’ Medici. If you’re into biographies, her life was definitely interesting. Also, I have to say that the Swiss are an incredible fit people!

Jenn taking a photo on top of Neison Mountain

2011 was also the year that Bangkok (or parts of it, really) flooded. The area that I live in was spared, but I spent a couple of weeks wondering if I’d wake up with water in the house. This was the song in heavy rotation during that time:

I’m hoping that in 2012 I have a more manageable work load. I’ll be heading to a sister lab in Tacoma at the end of the week for a couple of weeks of training on new data processing software. Hope I don’t freeze while I’m there.

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No decluttering, just a bit of cleaning.

Posted on November 20, 2011 by silverchimes

I worked at the lab all day Saturday and half a day today (Sunday), so the first weekend of Declutter Weekend 2011 was a bit of a bomb for me. It didn’t feel quite right to do nothing, so I decided to clean the gate-door. There aren’t any open yards in Bangkok. A house (or group of houses) is surrounded by a wall with a gate for the car and a separate door for people. I’d noticed that the door was very dingy, but hadn’t done anything about it. Really, it was a moot point during the rainy season or when expecting flood waters. Anyway, cleaning this door turned out to be my first project even though it isn’t really decluttering. Maybe next weekend I can do something about the clutter in my office.

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Bangkok flooded and I didn’t even get wet

Posted on November 14, 2011 by silverchimes

OK, all of Bangkok isn’t flooded, just parts of it. My neighborhood was definitely prepared for it. There are sandbags everywhere. Kasikorn Bank on Phahonyothin Rd. has been ready for a flood of epic proportions.

K Bank was ready

I’ve been waiting for the flood for over three weeks. Thankfully, the closest it got was about 2 km from my neighborhood. I took a walk down to the water this weekend.

Near Chatuchak Market

I wonder if the motorcycle taxi charges extra to go through the water

I had shamelessly asked M—–l if he could come up with a flood mix tape. He actually humored me and came up with a great mix. It was kinda cool walking around taking photos of the flood while listening to flood songs. Here’s the tracklist of Troublesome Waters:

1. Monsoon – Eddy Duane

2. Feel the Rain Fall – Red House Painters

3. Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head – Mercury Rev

4. Five Feet High and Rising – Johnny Cash

5. A Flood on Our Hands – Joe Ely

6. Down in the Flood – Bob Dylan

7. Deep River Blues – Tim Easton

8. Get Down River – Bottle Rockets

9. High Water Blues – Jayhawks

10. Troublesome Waters – Richard Hawley

11. After the Flood – Lone Justice

Get Down River by the Bottle Rockets seems to be the song I find myself singing most often. It has one of my favorite lyrics, so far:

There ain’t nothing you can do to stop it

Just hope for the best and mop up the rest

Looks like I won’t have to mop up anything, but I do have to get all my furniture put back in the proper place. That’s the plan for this weekend along with the rest of those participating in Declutter Weekend 2011.

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My Problem with Tapioca

Posted on November 13, 2011 by silverchimes

I don’t have a problem with tapioca, per se. I just have a problem thinking of the word “tapioca”. When I think about tapioca my brain brings up the word “pistacio”. This has been happening for almost 15 years now. It doesn’t happen with other words. I can easily think of the Thai word for “tapioca”, just not the English word. There have been times when I’ve had to look in the Thai-English dictionary to get the English word. That’s weird, isn’t it? Does anyone else have this kind of word block?

I never really thought about tapioca before I moved to Bangkok, but there are some common Thai desserts that use tapioca pearls and coconut milk. The desserts are quite yummy, but the first time I saw one I thought it looked like tadpole eggs.

Thai dessert: tapioca pearls and corn

tadpole eggs

Maybe after typing tapioca so many times in this post, I won’t have a problem recalling the word anymore. At least I’ll know where to come look it up.

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