this S*it's hard!

Kuddos to the fancy bloggers out there who alays seem to have the perfect post with the perfect pictures.  It's hard work trying to think up topics that you think might actually interest people and keep them coming back.  Im working on it, I just dont want people to think I am the world's most boring person. 

Although if you meet me in person, my track record for falling in public places does tend to keep you entertained.  Today I fell getting off an escalator in a crowded high end shopping mall.  Because walking in Gucci and not being able to afford anything isnt embarassing enough, I had to face plant in front of the store.  Yup, that's me!  Sorry no pictures of that either. Im sure you can picture it.

Back in Bangkok

Hello Bangkok! After meetings this week I have a weekend of shopping ahead of me.  Singapore is way to expensive and my apartment is in serious need of decoration, and silverware, and laundry detergent.  Well, I pretty much need everything, but I'll start here.  Just 3 more days till the weekend market.  What should I do to pass the time.  1 hour $10 massage, YES PLEASE!!

My favortie massage place in town.  A garden in the middle of the city.  AKA: Heaven

I promise I will get better at this blogging thing.  I am finally somewhat settled into the apartment in Singapore and getting a routine.  So maybe I will get up the courage to polish up all the half written posts I have saved up.  Exciting trips to come soon, sister is coming from Texas next month and mom and I are celebrating her big 60 b-day in a resort area in China.  So far life is good on this side of the world.  I'm home... finally.

I'm an awful insensitive tourist at times too

My pictures arent downloading so i have nothing pretty to show yet but I haven’t had a whole lot of time to get out and see the sights this trip to Thailand. It has been non-stop since I hit the ground in Singapore and then again in Thailand. However, since I thought a few folks might come over from Love Stitched today I thought I would leave you with a little story.
There once was a girl named Lisbeth. She thought she was the funniest person in the world and always laughed at her own jokes. She also decided to ignore all her instincts regarding cross cultural sensitivity and thought it would be really funny to ask the Pad Thai vendor on Khao San road if he had any pad thai ma (Pad Thai with dog). She laughed and laughed and he looked at her like she was crazy (and was totally insulted because Thai people don’t eat dog, which is why she thought it was funny) then he did not serve her food. (I still don’t even know why I thought it was funny). At this point she should have been highly ashamed and sworn to herself never to tell the joke again. But she wasn’t, Lisbeth still thought she was hilarious (no idea why) and decided to try it one more time… ON HER CLIENT! (seriously, what was I thinking). This had the potential for disaster written all over it. So at lunch when she ordered the offensive meal in jest she waited for one of two responses. To her delight the client laughed and said she should order pad thai chang instead (pad thai with elephant). I should point out that the elephant sacred in thailand. The fact that this client not only laughed at the joke that was obviously in poor taste and the retorted with another equally offensive remark means that Lisbeth and her client will live happily ever after in culturally insensitive business bliss. The end
To all of you who are new to this blog: I really don’t ever take myself seriously, I frequently offend people, and I almost always make a fool of myself. I also apparently get really lucky with having clients with a good sense of humor. I joke out of love and never to hurt anyone or any culture but we all have our slip ups. That’s what gives us good stories. Looking back this joke was not actually even funny but flying 24 hours then trying to find a new home in a foreign country in less than 24 hours and then hopping on another plane can sometimes impair judgment. If you continue to read this blog I will try to give you tips on how not to act like an idiot like myself. I am writing this after having spent the entire day looking at oilfield equipment in the blistering heat. Take all that into consideration before you decide to never read anything I write ever again.

If I were a good travel blog I would make this title something fancy in another language!

This is what a heavily used passport wallet looks like. (yes, that is a straw wrapper in there; apparently it decided to come home with me from the Dubai airport. Actually I just checked and it is from Chick-fil-a, so it crept into my purse post international trip in January.)

Anyway, Welcome to my new blog about travel and whatever else I feel like rambling about. Mostly about travel stuff though. Since I moved overseas at 14, I have travelled as much as I possibly could. I spent high school in boarding school in Malaysia and Singapore, interned in Brazil, backpacked through Australia and Europe, and visited about 28 or 29 countries here and there. saying I LOVE to travel would be a major understatement.

Me with a Tiger in Thailand in 2009

I started this blog because in my past blog I had a hard time finding my voice and what I wanted to speak about. I knew I wanted to talk about trying new things and changing my life but I couldn't really pinpoint how to direct my writing to the point I was trying to make. Since then however, I have been travelling a lot for work and expanding our business overseas. Mainly Southeast Asia. I had this crazy idea to pitch to my company that they should send me over to Singapore to open up our division in the region. By some miracle they actually agreed! So in about a month I will be relocating with just a few suitcases back to the tropics. I LOVE this part of the world and it is truly going to feel like I am going home.

(10 points if you can spot Singapore)

OK, so I still am not making my point very clear. The reason I wanted to start this new blog is because I truly believe that if I can do this so can anyone. If I can scrounge the money together to go on cool trips and not live like a bum while doing it so can ANYONE! I mean ANYONE! This time around I have my company paying but that hasn't always been the case. I am full of great tips for travelling on budget and having a ton of fun. I think everyone can get out of their rut and try something new (I don't eat bugs though). I think that if your dream is to experience the world and travel then I can help you. So I will be sharing those tips and travel tricks with you! Such as: compression socks for 24 hours of flying make you look like a crazy person while on the plane, however, you avoid looking like a person with elephantitis in their ankles when you are off the plane (and mine are pink and purple like barbie so I look really cool when I walk past everyone to go to the bathroom).

Thank you to anyone hopping over hear from Unstuck Rut. Sorry I sucked at keeping up with that one, but keep an eye out over here because I think we are going to have some fun. I leave to house hunt in Singapore this Wednesday and then have meetings in Thailand all next week so I am CERTAIN I will make a fool of myself and have good stories to tell. (if you are nice I might even go back in time and tell some of my good college backpacking stories like when I got a little tipsy in Australia and thought it would be fun to wade in the ocean in a tiger shark breeding ground, I'm so smart)