KK and Indy

Okay, so that was a rather disrespectful way to name Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia and Jakarta, Indonesia but I thought it was more catchy and it made me smile. (Are you noticing I do a lot of things merely because they make me smile? Good) Anyways, both ports were small so they fit on the same blog.
My first impression of Kota Kinabalu was the dirty water. To my memory I have never seen so much stuff floating in the water as I did entering KK. However, the welcoming party was nice. They danced for us in native regalia and then dragged some of us into the dance(I was carefully in the back of my group).
The day we arrived I really didn't want to go out. It had been a long week and I hadn't gotten much sleep. I told my friend days before that my plan was to relax/sleep in the afternoon and then find someone to go out with for supper and that was it for the first day. She tells me when we were allowed to leave to be ready in a half hour. Wait, What? Basically if I didn't go out with her shopping in the afternoon immediately she'd get stuck all afternoon with Doc (his name, not job) that no one liked because he was taking her/us to Clash of the Titans later. Grumble, grumble, grumble. I was ready 45 minutes later and didn't really perk up until the movie late that night. (Awesome movie and the only time I have ever said anything nice (or willingly) to Doc since he paid the three dollar ticket) Anyways, we went shopping and I got some dvds that had rather bad quality. (I picked up Race to Witch Mountain on Blue Ray and put it in my laptop. It skipped some but was easy enough to follow, until two chapters from the end when it stopped. grr. Oh well, it was cheap.) We also ate supper at an outdoor restaraunt that was pretty good. I ate what looked like Klingon golash (but dead) but tasted rather good and had some watermelon juice. (think the watermelon equivalant of fresh orange juice and you have a heavenly drink I always look for.) Well, that was that day.
The next day was more fun because I had helped plan it and knew it was coming. We got on the bus early in order to hit the markets but for some reason I wasn't in the mood to buy anything. We saw plenty of sparkly jewelry but I don't wear that type of sparkle, I like the subtle stuff that enhances, not out shines. Maybe it was just that stuff or the bright sun that day but I wasn't in the mood for that jewelry. I did buy a small "jade" round pendant I may play with and a sparkly green bracelet I'll likely take apart and use the pieces in a more subtle piece or two. I also picked up two bracelets of magnetized pearls. Yes, you read correctly: magnatized pearls. At that price I rather doubt that they were real and the magnetic clasp made the whole bracelet stick together but I found the idea amusing and decided to pick up two. (It made me smile. :D ) I made a video of the market which I'll try to get online. Basically the market we hit sold everything from religious stuff to bunnies, rats, kittens, puppies, pet birds, and turtles to purses and scarves as well as food and readymade jewelry.
Next up on the agenda was a massage. I like those. I'd gotten a neck and shoulder one the day before as we waited for the bus and liked that so I let my friend talk me into getting a foot massage and full body massage with her. Um, yeah. The foot massage was okay although it was odd as I'm not big on people touching my feet. She later said that the foot massage was rather odd for her as well, who loves that massage, and not to judge by that one. Lovely. Next came the full body massage. Hm, I'm basically naked and I had a man masseuse. Lovely way to start a massage. Anyway, I tried to relax and when he was working on my back he suggested something. I didnt hear him well but I heard something about a candle. um, no. A few minutes later, my friend, who was next to me getting her massage (by a girl grrr) asked me if I wanted it too, said the lady had suggested a lotion that was good for the back. Um, okay, my back could always use help, it's always tense. Nope, turns out we agreed to what is called cupping. basically they light a tiny tiny canble, put it on my skin, and put a glass cup on top of it. the candle quickly burns out, but it creates a suction that pulls the skin under the lip of the cup up. I think it's supposed to releave deep knots but it was uncomfortable, especailly on both shoulder blades where he did it wrong so it pinched. Needless to say, I was unable to wear anything with any type of open back for a week or so. grr. Well, that basically ruined our day but we still wanted to get to some islands nearby that had tropical forests on them and other cool stuff to do. We never figured out how to get there but we walked through the most smelly fresh market I've ever gone through. The smell of meat and possibly not so fresh fruit and vegetables permeated the air we tried hard not to notice in a market by the water I doubt got cleaned much. Yep, we were in such good moods when we decuded to eat at McDonalds and head back for the night.
The next night I went out for supper with a friend. The supper was okay, not quite amazing, the sunse was lovely but not as awesome as they claim to be famous for, and the night market was a disappointment. Oh well, the company was good and I got a few trinkets but have no real desire to go there again unless it's as part of a tour. There were plenty of things for tourists to do, including lovely resorts but not so much for people who want to walk around and do things themselves.
And now for Jakarta. We needed a large group in order to get off the ship so it wound up with me, my work buddy, Doc :( , and a few other people from work. Hm, two girls, three or four guys, and a massive mall of expensive fashionable clothes I doubt I'd ever wear. Sounds like a recipe for a lovely day. Yeah, I rarely speak around Doc because my momma taught me not to say anything if I have nothing nice to say. (Granted, sarcasm is my main language but it's usually said in joke. With Doc it would have been said out of spite and that just isn't right so my mouth stayed shut.) Doc decided he wanted to find a coffee called Kopi Luwak that is the most expensive drink in the world, or should be. An ounce of it in the US is about a hundred dollars, I think. If you remember Bucket List, it's the drink the rich man always drank. It's created by a type of cat eating the seed, then when it comes out the other end changed by their digestive juices, it's picked up, rinsed off, and shipped out to be ground and fed to people. Sounds appetizing, huh? It's said to be the best coffee anywhere and only comes from Indonesia. I had a sip from my friend's cup, it tasted like coffee which I can't stand but I can now say I tried. I ordered a delighful blueberry shake a laughed as they added sugar to their Kopi Luwak. We spent a few hours in that mall, much to my delight, :( and I got a Crispy Kreme, had a kind spicy supper folowed by a mint ice cream from Baskin Robbins, and found and bought a beading magizine in English. All in all, the trip picked up near the end but I was glad it was over.
And now I must go for lunch so this is Li'l B signing off and wishing you all a lovely day.

Hong Kong Day 2 and 3

So day two wound up just being me and my friend, I'll call her B2. She was also the person who took us around the day before and took us to Modern Toilet, but I didn't give her a name there. Anyways, it was just the two of us all day and calling her B2 makes me smile. :)
Anyways... We started out walking through town taking more pictures and going where she was leading. We did wind up meeting a most likely fake monk. (We had been warned before leaving our ship that there was a tendency in Hong Kong for people to walk around in Buddhist monk clothing and ask for money but there is no real charity.) I did what I always do with pesky street vendors. (I did it often in Vietnam and whenever people walk near me asking for money or to sell stuff.) I looked straight ahead and kept walking. B2 wasn't as smart, she wound up "buying" some small bookmark or something from him before he walked on. Finally we got to the trolley up to Victoria's Peak, which I expected to be a lovely viewpoint. Turned out to be a lovely terrace... on top of an expensive mall. Oh well, we went into a wax museum and I got pictures of me posing with Nicole Kidman at the Oscars and me fawning over Elvis and editing Shakespeare's writing over his shoulder as well as a number of other fun stuff before we headed up to the terrace to get pictures over Hong Kong and Victoria's Harbor. Lovely pictures, too many people and a place set up to pose you for a price. Sorry, but that is why you bring a friend. Why pay to have the original on someone else's camera when you can have someone take it on yours for free? After the lo-o-ong line for the trolley down, we headed toward what was called a craft market to look for stuff for my beading. Nope, craft there means sewing. However, they had a rather large variety of Halloween costumes for the beginning of spring. I'll have to remember that next time I come and plan my Halloween ahead of time.... :) After the caft market we headed through a fresh food market and B2 found a butcher stall that had animal hearts hanging outside and she got pictures of them.
The next place we stopped was called something like The Golden Chicken and it was pretty good. I would definitely recommend it. I had a seafood fried rice dish and B2 had a fried pork over rice dish that she had been craving so we both left happy and headed to the fabric store that was rather the main part of our trip. Turns out the fabric store/market is a level of a store dedicated to stores brimming with fabric of all types and prices. I decided to buy a black fabric whith red flowers on it to practice stitching with beads. (Hmm, still haven't started that...) After that we headed for Temple Street Night market that seemed to sell everything but the clothes I was looking for or jewelry I might actually wear. Oh well, plenty of electronics and no reason to spend money. Not bad all in all and I returned to the ship happy.
The next day I went out with two different friends and we headed for Lady's Market. First on my friend's agenda was a massage, that lasted nearly two hours and the short shoulder massage I got was painful and left me uncomfortable for that day and the next. Maybe I should look into taking care of my posture so massages don't hurt as much... Anyways, Lady's Market had clothes and lots and lots of sparklies of all types from jewelry to sparkly shirts to cute gem animals that turned out to be boxes. They also had clothes and I bought a lovely Chinese style light blue dress with a peacock on it. No clue when or where I'll wear it but it was gorgeous. We wound up having supper at Pizza Hut and I had a noodle dish and helped them eat their pizzas before we went back to shopping and ended for the day.
Hmm, it was a good trip and I cannot wait to go back but there are other places to visit and other things to see, so until next time, this is Li'l B signing off and wishing you all the best.

Hong Kong Day 1

"Where East meets West", that is the motto of Hong Kong and it describes it pretty well. One of my lifelong goals was to visit China so I was pretty excited to learn I'd be visiting Hong Kong this trip, although I'm not sure it actually counts as being in China...
My first view of Hong Kong was at night and there were so many lights that it looked like one long haze as far as I could see along the island. The next morning I saw why. The island contains over 7700 skyscrapers of varying sizes, shapes, and colors to form a multicolored collage under a red sun that morning. Gorgeous welcome to the tiny island city.
Okay, my first day out I went with a not so amature photographer and one just getting into the hobby full time. Basically they kept stopping every few minutes to get another picture or another angle and occasionally I'd take a picture too. (I have at least one set of them taking a picture at the same time and then comparing the pictures. It made me laugh.) Eventually we ate at a lovely French place that wasn't as good as the girl had remembered. (It tasted good but the servings were small and were rather like air.) From there we caught the subway to an island on the outskirts of the main island to see the giant Buddha. Once we left the train station, we stood in the long line for the tram up there. (If we decided to take the Trail of Wisdom or something like that up, we would not have wanted to see anything as it would have taken all day just to get to the shops. I may like hiking, but only when the hiking is the trip, not a long and tiring way to a destination. So we got in the tram and set out. Now by "tram" you may be thinking something on ground that would take us beside the trail. Nope, this tram was a sky tram, like one I was on at the Minnesota State Fair last time I was home that took me over the Fair. This one took the three of us over the trail after it had taken us over a lake. The tram we got I could see all the way around and got some amazing pictures of tree formations, the ocean and islands beyond the trees, the trail below is and the gentle Buddha sitting on top of the island as we approached the hill it sat on. Amazing trip. Well, once we got there we started walking up to the Buddha. Of course, one of them had to stop and buy the massive "sugar floss" as they called it (otherwise known as a two or three foot mass of cotton candy, diameter wise). I took pictures while they devoured it. Unfortunately I took them all on their cameras (before keeping them all while I ate mine. Fewer blackmail/goofy pictures that way... :) ) When we finally got to the Buddha, I must admit it was massive. Unfortunately, it was built as a tourist attraction, not a sanctuary. The museum inside the Buddha had some cultural/religious paintings one of my partners was able to explain about and the focus of the museum was a winding staircase up to a room housing a bone part of one of the Buddhas, another relic I wasn't fascinated by. Anyways, we got done with the museum and got some pictures next to massive statues of people and lotuses and awesome views over trees before heading down the two floor long outdoor steps and heading to the temple. As much as I love the type of art they have out here, this temple was more of a showcase of color than a sanctuary for me, although I now know what a real lotus plant looks like. I also had a bite of some sort of lotus cake that felt like I was eating silicone, you know that jiggly rubber that has a weird texture when you bite it? (Okay, so I don't eat silicone but that was what I told my friends when I set it down.) Those things done, we hit the shops as we headed down to wait in the long line for the tram down. Here I should explain something about the people in Hong Kong. They have no concept of personal space. It makes sense when you think about how many people live on the small island that make up Hong Kong, but it was really annoying to literally have a lady's front rubbing my back while in the line down. Literally. I could feel the chest and stomach of the lady behind me and she had no problem standing like that for a few minutes until I could step away. Was I ever happy to get in that tram.
We took the tram back down to the train station and headed to a restaurant my friend had seen advertised called The Modern Toilet. It was rather cool. We sat on empty toilets not bolted to the floor and our table was a sink with a glass pane over it. Our cold drinks came in small urinals and the ice cream came in a small tub on top of ice shaving flavored like chocolate, the hot drinks were served in "toilets". The room we were sitting in had shower heads of various types tastefully lining the walls and my friend said each section had different wall decorations. The food was also very good so we had a good time.
However, that was the end of that day as the night had come and our curfew was drawing near. )Yes, I'm twenty-one years old and my job has me on a curfew. we grumble all the time.)
And now I must sign off for to day and wish you all a lovely day until tomorrow.

Korea part 2

Sorry about this. It's been so long since I was at Korea that I really can't think of anything amazing that happened there. I found an awesome cream soda called Milkis that I think is actually made of some type of carbonated milk. It was good, just be sure to drink it shortly after opening it as it goes sorta sour. I also got to the international market which was huge. Apparently indoor stores are over rated there as all the local stores(from appliances to linens to jewelry to clothes) were small stores that spilled out into the streets to sell their wares. I was happy to find a beading store I will definitely keep in mind. (I got a strand of pearls for $9US. Not sure they're real, but they look nice. Now I just have to string them and find an outfit to wear them with.) I also picked up some jewelry, which is rare, but made me smile. While, that's all for now, this is Li'l B wishing you all the best and signing off.

Korea, part 1

Well, my first trip into the lovely country of Korea was a day trip to Osan. That was a good four hour drive, which put me in a lovely mood since I couldn't sleep and wasn't in the mood to read. However, the scenery was amazing. I'm a midwestern girl so I grew up mostly on flat ground. Rolling hills in the distance misted with faint fog or high green hills nearby breaking up the monotomy of the faintly colored towns would have held me in awe had I been in a better mood. As it was I enjoyed the views but not as well as I should have and I didn't take pictures either. (There was more to my annoyance than just a four hour bus ride. We were told last minute we needed some stuff some of us didn't have so we had to run around figuring that out and I hate running around last minute because someone else screwed up. So fun.) Needless to say, by the time we got there, I was not in a good mood and I had skipped breakfast to get on the bus so I was also hungry. Finally after one in the afternoon I'd had enough and basically yelled at my buddy that we were going to eat NOW. For those of you who know me, having me in a mood where I basically yell at a person takes a lot and quite shocked her. However, we walked straight into McDonalds and ate. (She was surprised but not really upset that I'd snapped at her as she gets the same way over food, just more often.) I had a shrimp patty sandwich that was surprisingly good. I'd ordered it because I was in a different country and wasn't in the mood to eat the usual American fast food. However, the food quickly disappeared and we continued shopping. One of the big things to get in Osan are mink blankets. I originally thought they were the animal pellets but when we got there I found out they looked like fleece with all their dyed patterns of animals or scenes. I remember my friend was debating getting a Dora the Explorer blanket or a Disney Princess one for her daughter. She decided instead to pick up two blankets with different colored small dragon patterns for her aunts. Next door there was a store that sold Korean paper art so I walked around in there looking at the origami set up in delightful frames showing typical Korean scenes such as little girls in fancy dress and kids playing around or couples looking lovingly at each other. It was quite lovely. Anyways, my friend got her blankets for under a hundred dollars together and we continued. I was still hungry so I stopped at a street stall and picked up _____ mando. (I forget the first word) It was basically an egg roll but instead of being rolled in a tube, it's put on one side of a circle of dough and the other side is pressed on to it before it is fried on order and handed to the buyer super hot. Hmm... that was good although not a smart buy right after McDonalds. I could only eat about half of it before I was too full to stuff more in. However, for $4 it wasn't bad. of course that was before everyone told me to absolutely never buy food from a street vender, which sucks. Half the fun of visiting these countries is the food and it's easiest to get multipul types of food from the venders instead of from the restarauntes that only sell one type of food. (spicy, Korean BBQ (which I still have not gotten :( ), noodles, Chinese...)
Well, that was all for that trip. Korea had awesome shopping, I also picked up a large suitcase to put all my trinkets in for this trip for under 50 dollars. not bad.
Well, this is Li'l B signing off and wishing you all a lovely Holy Week and Happy Easter.

Valentine's Day in Japan

Yes, I know this is very out of date and I apologize. I have been feeling lazy lately and computers have been full whenever I did get in the mood to write in the past three weeks.
Now for those of you in the States, you may not know about the Japanese (I think the started it although I saw it in Korea as well) tradition of V-Day and White day. Valentine's day is the day that women give the guys stuff, often chocolate, and White Day is the day men are supposed to give the women a gift three times as expensive. One "tradition" I found amusing when I learned of White Day was that daughters often spent a lot on their dads in hopes of getting jewelry or an expensive handbag. Another thing is that men supposedly aren't big on chocolate. Wives present the chocolate to husbands and then eat it all "secretly". Anyways, White Day was March 14th for those curious and I wasn't in Japan then so this is more about how I spent V-day, (or as my brother called it once: Gimme-chocolate-or-be-in-the-doghouse-for-weeks Day, or something like that.)
One of the aspects of Valentine's Day gifts in Japan is that handmade gifts mean stronger emotions. I was excited to discover that the idea included handmade chocolates. For those of you who know my family, you probably know my mom is what is called a "chocolatier" (I think that's spelled right). That means she makes her own chocolate candies, usually by hand. (I don't know if people who use machines to help make their chocolates still count as chocolatiers, which is where the "usually" came in. My mom always makes her candies by hand.) She's done her candies every year since before I was born, or so it seems, and every year I was home I used to watch her or help her make them. My help usually consisted of moving trays and keeping her company (or watching tv until she needed a tray moved). This year I spent all Christmas away from home and missed the typical mess (and candy) that accompanied the process. (yes, they sent me some of the product from the annual batch but I realized I missed the process itself.) So I went to the mall and picked up three different types of milk chocolate and two accompanying types of dark chocolate as well as some candies to nibble on as I worked and some glass bowls to work with and utensils to play with in the chocolate. Then I went to the grocery store for some things to dip before heading to my friend's hotel room to use her stove. On V-Day I made dipped banana slices, the ones already dried, and dipped dried apricots as well as dipped raisens and peanuts, even a few small molds. The milk chocolate I used that day was a little too sour for my taste, thinking back it either had more cacao than I prefer or was baking chocolate. Either way they were liked. I tried to make barks but the chocolate didn't want to set so it ended up weird. Oh well, the point of the attempts was to play with the chocolate, not to make something to give anyone specail. I wound up bringing the candies into work to find out most of my coworkers are on perpetual diets. Yay. Three pleople eating a few dozen small pieces of chocolate dipped fruit was why I brought the box in. I love people who look fine but want to be perfect forever. Well, enough of that rant, the next weekend I tried a type of chocolate called Ghana that made exellent dipped candies and we ate it all up. Well, that was my Valentine's Day and I need to run for food now so I'll tell you about Korea another time. Stay tuned. :)
This is Li'l B wishing you all a fun day and signing off.

Otaru and Sapporo

For those of you who were expecting this yesterday, my apologies. I had it all typed up in Word and was ready to copy and paste it when I was called away for work so I locked the computer. An hour later I returned to find someone else on my computer. He had walked in and gone straight to the locked computer since it was by the phone. Seeing I had locked the computer, he merely restarted the computer so he could use it. He didn't even bother to check if the next computer, the one next to the phone that worked but people didn't use, was open (which it was), he just worked on automatic, his mind on calling his girlfriend, not on the fact that I usually didn't lock a computer. He just assumed I was gone and didn't need what was on that computer. Basically his thoughtlessness cost me the work I'd spent all morning and half the afternoon working on intermitantly. Yeah, just another puzzle piece on a horrible day wher5e nothing went like it was supposed to.
Anyway, my first day on the Northern island of Hokkiado I went out with my friend S, who was also from the Midwest, although she hails from Michigan. We got off the bus and frolicked in the snow (a mini snowball fight, more laughter than snow flying) before ducking into the mall with big smiles to warm up. I'd forgotten how much fun snow was, I hadn't seen it since Christmas 2008 and niether had S. Needless to say we had fun. We got through the mall, stopping at a crepe store for a strawberry custard crepe, before getting on the train to Sapporro. Crepes seem to be really popular in Japan, I find them in most food courts, which is just fine by me. :)
We got to Sapporro after dark so we saw the Snow Festival with all lights. Our first stop was on Otari street where snow figures about 45 feet tall are lit up each year. I got pictures of one ice castle lit in an array of pastel lights and massive busts of the Disney characters in snow in another statue. The other huge snow sculpture was of different animal scenes at different heights. One of the parts I recall is a small part that showed King Kong tied up as he was at the theater. The depiction showed him about human height.
The next thing we did was eat. It was 5:30, we were cold and hungry so we decided to skip the rest of that site and get food. We walked down the main street and found an Indian restaurant that served some very good curry. Now thawed out, we again braved the cold for the snow sculptures at the Susukino site where there should have been about a hundred sculptures but we got there at the very beginning of the festival when they were still making most of the sculptures. I did get a number of pictures.
I'm sorry, I really don't feel poetic like I did yesterday. This was much more detailed yesterday.
The next day I spent shopping with D, or I should have. I told her I wanted us to leave late morning, she didn't wake up until after 2 in the afternoon. When we were finally on the bus she made a comment that she wanted a picture "before the transfermation". She didn't realize all night how that upset me. Why is it that most of my friends get all excited about "transforming" me or "making me over"? I realize I'm basically a blank slate compared to them who spend hours getting their hair perfect or an hour layering on makeup and an hour or so picking out their clothes. I like being able to be ready in a half hour in jeans and a shirt, little or no makeup and maybe ten minutes on my hair. I like being comfortable. I agree that I'm an adult and need some older looking clothes, some stuff to dress up in, but that doesn't mean I'm going to miraclously change and spend an hour on myself just to go to the grocery store.
Anyways, add to that the fact that clothes shopping is not my usual choice of passtime. I'm very picky with what I wear and have a hard time picking out things to buy in Japan. Clothes that most Japanese girls have no problem mixing and matching are a little to funky or frilly for me. They have no trouble mixing patterns while I generally go for solids with a few accents. Any patterns I have are carefully picked and well liked. Also, she brought a guy along without asking me. I'd already told her that I'm uncomfortable around new people, especailly the guys I don't know, ones I've never spoken to. Needless to say I didn't exactly have a good time shopping. I did find some stuff to buy, spending more than planned that also added to my happy disposition. The only real highlight of my night was "texting" (the Japanese phones make it more like emailing than texting) with a friend. It was nice to talk to someone who hadn't annoyed me that night.
Yeah, so that was the perfect set up to the day I was forced to stay at work and everything went wrong. This morning I stayed in bed until after one and woke up civil and am now going to watch a good action movie. Hopefully I will be in a good mood tomorrow when everyone comes back to work.
Well, this is Li'l B wishing you all a nice week and signing off for now.