sailing

So, I wanted to craft an excellent new post, full of wit and charm about my trip to the Virgin Islands. Instead, it has been a month since I've returned, and I've yet to write that post. I figure it's time to cut my losses. Instead, I'll just let you see the pictures and judge for yourself.





See the full set of non-people ones on Flickr. The rest are linked from Facebook.

I went to the British Virgin Islands with a program from school to build leadership skills. We learned how to sail in teams of 6. For four days straight, we lived on the 50 foot sailboats. Eat, sleep, sail. :) Each day they gave us challenges to complete, and it often involved racing the other boats. I can honestly say I now know how to sail a sailboat. Within BVI we went to the islands of Tortola, Anegada, and the Bitter End at Virgin Gorda.

Afterwards, a few friends and I decided to finish out Spring Break by vacationing a few days in the US Virgin Islands. We stayed in St. Thomas and got to enjoy the shops and beaches there and in St. Johns.

It is a very beautiful part of the world, and I've discovered that if it wasn't such an expensive hobby, I'd want to go sailing much more often!

Most confusing thing about the islands? Both USVI and BVI use the American Dollar. But they drive on the left hand side of the road. But the steering wheel is on the left side of the car. But the locals speak British English. Augh! Too much confusion. :)

photography

I got a new camera! :) But of course, I forgot to take a picture of it before returning my parents' camera to them. So you'll just have to drool over the amazon picture, and trust that I have one. It seems fabulous, but I haven't really had that many chances to take pictures yet. I'll have to give you a better update once I do.

As for earlier promised pictures, they're up! Took me a long time, but they're there. Click on any of the ones below to go the whole set on Flickr.



The link to pictures with people in it is posted on Facebook, email me if you want a link to that.

And last, but certainly not least, a few videos from a Ladyboys show that I attended are posted at youtube. Here's just one sample that blew me away. These are Thai men, dancing and singing to a very popular Hindi tune...

2007

Happy Belated New Year!

And thus begins my year o' travel.

As my last post indicated, I needed a new camera and I needed one fast. For those wanting a quick update: I couldn't find the 700IS in stores anywhere in time, so I tried out the Canon 630. Fell in love with the 3inch display but really wanted to hold out for IS, so I returned that and borrowed my parents' Sony for my trip. As lovely as it was, it just reminded me how much I enjoy Canons. Now that I'm back in the States, I found a good deal on a the Canon 800IS and am eagerly awaiting its arrival to my apartment. :)

Which begs the question, where did I just return from and why did I need a camera so fast? Well, I've just returned from three weeks spent in Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia. Similar to my Argentina and Brazil trip from last year, I visited these countries with a trip from school, part vacation part education. The trip was fantastic, save for the painful leg injury I got on the 2nd day of the trip (Thailand gutter system - not the most sophisticated) (healing nicely now, thanks). Visiting the three countries at once was pretty eye opening, to see how different the three were in terms of technological advancements, cultures, and governments.

I've gotten a lot of questions about which was my favorite. It's a tough quesiton to answer, because each one stands out for a different reason:

Malaysia was probably the one I was least prepared for. This being my first time in an Islamic nation, I wasn't expecting the religion and culture to pervade the everyday life as much as it did. My American beliefs kept doing belly flops as I realized that the separation of church and state was not a popular concept here.

Singapore is an extremely westernized (everyone speaks perfect English), nearly utopian place. Utopian in every sense of the word. The streets are beautifully clean, every last detail is managed efficiently by technology, it seems an idyllic land. And then there's things like the fact that it's unlawful to sell or even chew gum. Yup.

Thailand was the country that I had the most fun in. I felt completely comfortable, and yet there were so many cultural aspects that reminded me that I was in a locale far far away from home.

I've come home with lots of good memories, photographs, trinkets, an unwanted tan, and hopefully no long term diseases. I'll be uploading some of my better non-people pictures on Flickr. The people shots will likely end up on Shutterfly, and the link to that will be posted on my Facebook profile. Email me if you don't do Facebook but still want to see pictures.

Meanwhile, I'll leave you with a picture I took out of the plane in mid-Dec on the way to San Francisco.



It's good to be back!

interim

What I did on my summer vacation
by sangeet


As of the last post, I had just quit my job. For a few glorious days I just reveled in the freedom. No need to go to bed, no need to wake up in the morning, no need to do much of... anything. That freedom quickly turned into panic as I realized I needed to actually pack for my upcoming move, yet somehow I managed to spend time hanging out with friends rathen than packing. Jadam and I needed to watch more episdoes of 24 together, there was karaoke to be sung at the local gay bar, my roomate and I needed to have one more just girls night and on and on. The packing fairies would just come and take care of things, right?

Despite my state of nonpackedness (it's a word NOW), my best friend and I set off for Seattle on Friday morning. Leaving behind the stickiness that was DC, we arrived in sunny, breezy, Seattle midday to 0% humidity. My skin didn't even know what to make of this. We stayed with our gracious host Iriwn (Thanks again!!) and met up with George as well as other friends who don't have blogs and therefore shall remain nameless. Suffice to say, it was truly a great vacation, much thanks to our local friends who were wonderful tour guides. If you haven't been to Seattle, GO. Apparently, this is the time of year to go -- there was no rain, just gorgeous clear skies, delightful breezes, and a beautiful city to explore. Need more convincing? Did I mention we made it out to a place called Agua Verde for some kayaking (my first time), and then ate at the restaurant above, which overlooks the water? Live music, harp, violin, some sort of conga like drums, did I mention the yummy margaritas? Thanks Rachel Ray. :)

I came back fully recharged and met my folks for a quick trip to Atlantic City. We didn't come back any richer, nevertheless, it was some quality time as a family, and hey, they paid for my gambling ;)

Whoops, whaddya know, we're at my last weekend in DC. The girls and their men threw me a nice little going away party that Friday night. Unfortunately the festivities were cut short due to an ill-timed fire alarm, but it was probably for the best as I still had packing to finish up. The next day was inajamaica's wedding (such a wonderful, unique event, truly fitting), my last chance to hang out with some work friends. The following day was set to be moving day, but due to a snafu with UHAUL (raise your hand if you're surprised) things didn't start moving till many hours later than scheduled. Regardless, truly appreciated friends including pandabear came over to help load the truck. 11pm that night, I finally drove away from my apartment. Yeah, like I said... it was a LATE start.

Undaunted, we stopped driving at around 3AM, got a few hours of shuteye, and were ready to go the next morning. Got to my new complex JUST as the leasing office was closing, but in time to get my new keys. Woohoo!

I truly believe unpacking is more fun than packing. It's like opening a present with every box! Plus there's all sorts of new surroundings to be excited about. But the real excitement was on Tuesday. My brand new washer and dryer were delivered. I've never before had the luxury of having my own laundry facilities. The ability to leave my wet underthings in the washer an extra hour without fear of them being stolen, or worse taken out and put on top for all to see? Priceless.

Wednesday brought more unpacking, and then Thursday was a trip to my parents house. Friday, on my drive back, as that familiar and comforting skyline came into view, a funny feeling settled in my stomach. I had a new home. I felt a sharp pang of longing for DC.

And yet, it's good to be here. I got to have lunch with m@ber on Saturday, when was the last time I could do that?! That evening I attended a non official business school party, and I must say, I will have to work on my tolerance level. And that brings me to Sunday, the start of school. Don't ask me why, they decided to kick things off with a reception Sunday afternoon. This morning was my first full day of orientation, and I've gotta say, I'm excited. The overall enthusiasm that everyone has is simply infectious. I'm sure it's something that will fade with time, but it's a great way to kick off a return to homework, lectures, group projects and finals.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to have dinner with Scott and another friend, after another full day of orientation. The rest of the week holds further promise, who knows what's around the corner. :)

I once told Taylor I hated long posts, and here I've just broken my own rule. So if you've made it thus far, you're caught up on my summer "break", it's time for Fall!