Say What?

I've been really getting into Kung Fu lately...Kung Fu movies that is!  Living in Asia has made the genre much more accessible, and there are endless movies to see.  Only trouble is, the subtitles are a little funky.  It is almost always a direct translation so following the dialogue is a little rough! 

Ah well, it's all worth it in the end.  I can still follow the stories pretty well.  A general rule is whoever gets punched in the head the most is the evil guy! 

Weekly Flowers

Being a big fan of fresh flowers and plants, I was excited to find out that they are very affordable here in Malaysia.  This weeks arrangement is the Molucella plant, also known as Bells of Ireland. Very nice contemporary look. 

Back in Thailand!

About a year ago David and I couldn't wait to get married. One more month until a life time of marriage bliss, but also a long awaited trip to Thailand.  We had two weeks to visit the ancient temples of Bangkok, the mountainous terrain of Northern Thailand as well as the pristine beaches of Southern Thailand. We accomplished 2/3 of our itinerary, but due to lack of time we realized we had to skip one part, which ended up being Northern Thailand.  So no elephant ride for me! 

A year later, here we are, in Southeast Asia and only a two hour flight to Chiang Mai, Thailand!  With a three day weekend we accomplished exactly what we were not able to do last year and some more!  The fun thing about returning to Thailand is the fact that we had been there once before. With so many places to visit, so many things to see and do we usually skip from one country to the other.  This time we got both, a new place but same old Thailand.  There's a warmth amongst the people, a slower pace of things. There is comfort in that. 

On Saturday we arrived around noon, and got picked up by a tour company and headed 30 km north to visit an elephant camp where we got to ride on top of an elephant!  It was not as exciting as we thought it would be, but now we can say that we rode an elephant!  Ha!  After a bumpy ox-cart ride and a quick float down the river on a bamboo raft we headed back to the hotel.  On the way back we dropped by Tiger Kingdom to pet the tigers.  You know how I look so comfortable in the picture?  Well, I'm scared sh#$less that this animal is going to turn around an bite my hand off!  I don't know what I was expecting, but hey!  now I can say I pet a tiger!  We end our night with a wonderful dinner which included three different curry dishes, one of them being frog legs! EEWW!!  But tastes like chicken.  Opposite the restaurant was a night market where we watched a fire dancer almost burn his face off and taste tested all sorts of foods at the hawker stalls.  

Sunday morning I wake up early and ask David in good spirits, "are you ready for some breakfast? We've got a long bike ride today!"  David replies with, "umm, I'm kind of still full from last nights food binge.."  I should've called the downhill mountain biking company right then and there to tell them we were not able to go, because there has to be something wrong with David if he says he doesn't want to eat!  And yes, I am right!  There is something wrong with him, because David ate the wrong thing last night.  It must have been the sausage! Urggh, food poisoning. I experienced that in Borneo!

Being tough Dave, we continue our mission to ride down the tallest mountain 5700 ft in Thailand, and it was a continuous struggle.  Imagine while extremely sick, exercising for 5 hours straight!  One hill after the other.. Thank goodness we arrived safely at the bottom of the mountain and David gets an award for pushing himself so much.  Personally, besides worrying that David was going to pass out on me, I thought it was a wonderful and exciting ride!  The views were spectacular.  At parts we had to pick up our bikes and hop from rock to rock in order to cross a creek.  Finally at the bottom we rode (very fast) through small towns and crop fields, and watched the local people hard at work.  Nice stuff.  I would love to go back and do it all over again!  Next time David only gets to eat bread and water beforehand. He! He!

Posted on Flickr are more pictures of our weekend

D(free) Day!

Today is a great day. It's "D(free) Day"!!!! I made the final payment on my student loans! We are now 100%, unequivocally, undoubtedly, unconditionally free from any sort of monetary obligation to a bank, credit card company or other lending organization. Free...free to do whatever we please. I can change careers, go back to school, bum around Europe...whatever. If I all of the sudden feel like I can best apply myself flipping burgers, I can do that because I don't owe anybody any money! Ahhhhh...

This morning I woke up, dressed up, asked Kim to grab a camera and meet by at the computer to take a photo of the momentous occasion! In five minutes I zeroed out a balance I have been working to diminish for 5 years.

So what to do in a world without debt? All of the sudden the money I make will stay in my bank account! So for starters I can take advantage of the economic downturn and invest more aggressively. Also, there is a house to think about down the road; I'll need a down payment for that. There is even a plan for a hike somewhere in or across the U.S. that needs funding to become a reality.

It really doesn't matter. What matters is that we have fought to (a) pay down debt and (b) not get deeper into debt, and today we won! Who cares what we spend the money on, it is about having the freedom to spend it on whatever you like!

The Big Visit

Today we had a visit from the Chief People Officer (HR equivalent to CFO), Karen Wood.  We have had a long list of senior managers to come visit us, check progress and meet the new team members...but never at this level.  In fact, in my 3+ years with the company I have only met one other manager at this level, and that was by chance in an elevator in Melbourne.  

As you can imagine the place was jumpin'!  Everybody really wanted everything to be in tip top shape for the big visit.  Then in a morning meeting yesterday, the finance team was asked to create a presentation!  Oh shikes!

We built our presentation yesterday afternoon, and even videotaped the thing so we could critique it.  Today dragged on and on, and the tension grew and grew.  Everybody read their bits over and over...it just had to be perfect!  

When we finally presented, I was really happy to see everybody come into their own and not only present their assigned material, but really put their best work into showcasing our team.  It was the first piece of work that we have put together as a team and we did it very well.  

After the dust settled, we all went to get a drink to wash away the jitters.  It was still 4pm so coffee or tea had to do the trick!  It was a good decompression though.  

I guess to me this is a milestone.  Mike, Tania and myself came over here to "set up financial services," but didn't really know what that meant.  There were never any real finite milestones along the way, just about a trillion minute tasks that have moved us to the presentation today.  We spent months discussing theoretically what we wanted to create here, and watching the team today I can vouch that we have hit the mark and then some.

In light of this wonderful realization, I left work early!  ha!

Batik Attempt No. 1

Now, look at this.  This is my very first completed Batik painting and I can honestly say it doesn't look half bad!  The background is my favorite part! What to do next. What to do next.

*Little side note* After starting this painting I found out that the hibiscus flower is the National flower of Malaysia. PUUURRTTYYY

Moped Ride Home

With my arms tightly around David and feeling the cool night breeze, I re-collect my thoughts on today's happenings.  We just spent our night at Bangsar Village, where we sat outside on a patio and smoked the hookah. I had a few glasses of the house red wine, while David drank Tiger beer. We talked politics, class systems, and future travel plans. Possibly an elephant ride in Chiang Mai? 

All along we notice the number of police cars driving by and realize that they probably have a check-point set up just outside of Bangsar Village. Right before our move to K.L we read about these check-points.  They set them up around public holidays when alcohol consumption is high, or in popular expat areas.  i.e. Bangsar Village.  Similar to our friends "south of the border" (i.e. Mexico), Malaysia's finest have a subtle on the spot fine system where you can trade all the cash in your wallet for your freedom.  This makes checkpoints scary because one can only wonder if they are out there to collect on trumped up charges.

After a quick stop at the DVD shop and the grocery store we're back on the road.  I see some blue flashing lights up ahead.  I realize that this is the all to famous check-point and tell David, "you better behave!"  We smoothly drive past a police car on our right and two police officers standing next to their mopeds, smoking cigarette's. "Phew! We're safe!"  

We continue on our journey home and stop at a stop sign, take a left on Jalan Ara, and then another right on Jalan Penaga. I continue to day dream about elephant rides in Chiang Mai, when I hear someone on a moped behind us say, "Hey boss!"  We look behind us.  There are the cigarette smoking, moped riding, police officers pointing at the shoulder.  David pulls over on the side of the road.  I notice how young these guys are.  They must be in their early twenties. They ask David, "where you..go?" David says, "Oh, we just went to the grocery store." silence.. I told David, "I think they meant, where do we live." "Ahh... We live at the condominium just up ahead!  You can see it from here. Look!" He doesn't care. The police officer asks for David's I.D. He pulls it out and shows him his Texas Drivers License, and insurance.  The man looks at it and says, "where's passport?  Where's visa?"  This is when David turns on his act as the clueless foreigner.  It always works, wherever you are! "Umm.. it's at home." "Why you not have it?" "I didn't know you were supposed to have it on you. I just live just down the street. I can get it for you!"  They nod their heads, disappointment, and finally look at me, and ask, "passport? Visa?" "Sorry, it's at home..I didn't know" I'm wondering, are we supposed to give them money now so they will leave us alone? I think our clueless act worked though. They said something to each other in Malay, and said, "OK, next time. you go." And on our way we went! 

Lesson learned. Don't forget your passport at home in a foreign country, and when in doubt, always play stupid!