I'll take you in my backpack

8/16/15 I got only 3 hours of sleep last night and had to wake up and be out the door to meet my driver at 5am to catch the sunrise at Angkor Wat. I was exhausted and my eyes would barely stay open! As you near Angkor Wat you see tons of tuk tuks with people doing the same thing, heading in for the sunrise. You can purchase a 1 day pass or a 3 day pass to the temple, I got one day and it was expensive (in my opinion) at $20, I have no idea what the 3 day pass costs. They take your picture as part of the pass/ticket. Not flattering. **update: this ticket gets you into all of the temples, much better deal! So don't lose the ticket or else you have to buy a new one!** When I finally settled in, on a slab of wall outside of Angkor, along the mote. I realized how worth it it was to wake up this early. It was peaceful. The sunrise was stunning. The backdrop was indescribable. Angkor Wat is a World Heritage site and rightfully so. They say that when you see the sunrise at Angko...

10/5/12 Happy Friday... Here's how the conversation with the Japanese car rental company went (I'll spare you the lack of Japanese on my part and the minimal English on theirs): Me: The tire to my rental is flat Them: Can you change it and put the spare on Me: No (granted I know I'm not in the US, but damn...there's a reason I pay for AAA...to ensure that I never EVER under no circumstances will be roadside changing a tire.) On hold for a while Them: Can you ask the hotel staff to change it for you (I should have prefaced this story by saying a coworker got a flat a few days ago and had to go through the EXACT same banter with them, and was denied by the hotel staff) Me: No On hold for a while Them: OK we will send someone out to change it. What I should also tell you is that two very small Japanese young women showed up and proceeded to change my tired in the garage (did this make me feel like less of a woman, hell no! I stick to my story...ne...

6/29/11 As I write this I should be snoozing somewhere on my way to Delhi. The fact that I'm in the armpit of America (you can all venture your own guesses about that locale as I ramble on about my adventures that put me here) rather than on a plane is starting to become humorous...slightly. Yesterday however, not so funny. It started off as a good travel day, running around with mom, the obligatory Costco stop, arriving ON TIME (this never happens when mom and Costco are involved!) to the airport (couple of hours early in fact), checked in, no problems. Great! I just happened to check my phone and my itinerary said canceled for my flight to Chicago (I HATE flying there. Always a problem). I refreshed and checked again and it said on time. I refreshed again. It said canceled. Finally I got up and checked the board. Canceled. I was told by the one and only American Airlines (hate them right now) agent that I would have to go back out through security to ticketing because she cou...

11/26/10 I've been meaning to take a picture and post this since, well, around the first month of being in Alaska. Finally got around to it today. Today's WTF Alaska is brought to you in the form of a photograph... WTF Alaska Pray for wings I have no words

11/7/10 So I finally took the plunge and made a big purchase for myself. You might be thinking house, car, etc...Native Handicrafts people! I have been eyeing the Athabascan hand beaded gloves since I arrived in Alaska, they are seriously amazing, and can't be fully appreciated until they are seen in person! Well today I finally rewarded my desires and made the big purchase...it is quite a big purchase I assure you (slightly less than a car or house, but pretty steep for a pair of gloves) none the less, these are some snazzy gloves, and a perfecto souvenir to take home from AK! Hefty investment-AK style I can't say enough about the native beadwork. I mean, seriously. This is all hand done, not shipped out to China and mass manufactured by under (or un) paid young children. The gloves also have fur around the beadwork (sorry PETA)...it's of the Beaver variety, which happens to be what most of their gloves/slippers are made of (that and seal).  After today my bank acco...

11/6/10 I promise this isn't about how I can see Russia from my house/hotel/corporate housing...Oh no this is far better. Earlier this week I had a conversation with my mom about how I wanted to go to Russia (she went there back in her hippie days...sorry mom I outed you for being a hippie!!) and how fantastic it would be. Fast forward a few days. Russian Lemon Cake I went to the UAF Women's Bazaar (I've never been to so many bazaars in such a short time frame) today. I don't know how many vendors there were, but none of that is important besides the one vendor that will be ensuring I leave Alaska at least 5 sizes larger and bursting out of my clothes. The Russian Baker. I remember seeing her in the summer (aka August) at the Farmer's Market and even purchased some apple bread from her there, but what I discovered today is beyond words. First is the Russian Lemon Cake, an amazing combination of lemon custard filling, powdered sugar top, and some sort of flake...

10/22/10 So it's been a while since my last post, but this one promises to be nothing short of entertaining! I apologize in advance for the mix of information that you are about to consume. I'll refer to this post as ambrosia...no one really knows what all the ingredients are, but there sure are a lot of them...kind of what this post will be like! On to my favorite ...I don't know if that's really the best choice of words but hey AFN (Alaska Federation of Natives) is in town for the annual conference/event/hoopla which means over 4000 Natives in from various villages throughout Alaska, most of whom happen to be staying where I am so things have been loud and rowdy at night...louder and rowdier. I went to the crafts portion of AFN last night and saw some really amazing things (most of which I couldn't afford and really had no purpose for)...this brings me to the "lovely ivory carving" that a man had proudly displayed on the front of his table with oth...

Pink accent lighting Ice scraper/snow brush Laquer and pink light 10/14/10 So today was the day that I had to switch my prized car in for an suv with 4wd. Or so I thought. It wouldn't be my life if something didn't go off course! What did I end up with? Oh let me tell you! I got a Ford Escape. It's gold, which is why I started calling it escape (pronounced with a spanish accent: escap-ay). The fun doesn't stop here though. To compliment the gold exterior  I have a lovely tan leather interior that is accented with black laquer. Would you have put something different with tan I think not! It also has a button in the center console that allows me to change the color of the accent lights (in the cup holder and the change holder (?)) there are several choices. I currently have it set on pink...which goes nicely with the tan and laquer. duh. So on to the kicker. This lovely suv, is not 4wd. its got none of that business so it's essentially a lifted...

10/7/10 Here is a small sampling of my day...yes this all happened in one day...in fact, less than 12 hours. I found a large bone in my tuna lunch kit from a bit name in the Tuna biz that I wont mention, probably one that kills dolphins which I'm hoping is not why I had a bone in my tuna lunch kit/meal When I opened Amazon's shopping page (on my lunch of course) it thought I was shopping from Canada I got stuck behind a backhoe. On the "express"way. On the way home from work. I use the term "backhoe" liberally because to me all of that "farming" equipment is the same. It had a big digger thing on the back and and a big bucket thing on the front. Oh yeah and it didn't go over 5mph. On the expressway Alas, things are looking up now though, I'm home. In a cozy pair of long underwear, with my snuggly Berkshire Blanket that Julie sent me, and a spicy black bean burger calling my name. All is well in Alaskanada

10/2/10 Here it is, the long awaited WTF Alaska listed. Ok so maybe only BRad has been waiting for it, just bear with me while I build suspense! Since arriving in the "frontier" I have seen some rather interesting, entertaining, special, and blog worthy things. I've been compiling a list appropriately titled "WTF Alaska" for a day like today...the big reveal... (these are not in order of special-ness, just in order of how they occurred) 1. A motorcycle with a side car, with two grown men respectively riding on and in 2. A man walking barefoot down the street in 37 degrees 3. A pickup truck with a gun rack that not only blocked his view through the back window, but also had a very extensive collection of guns in it 4. A girl with her mom (?) at the grocery store, sitting in the car in their parking lot (conveniently parked right next to mine) and the girl starts to take her clothes off 5. Man walking shirtless (he had no shirt in his possession so h...