Category: Say Cheese!

Photos, and only photos.

សូមអរគុណអ្នក, សៀមរាប!

Tina Leave a comment

I realized that I never finished writing about the Cambodia leg of our trip that we had until I saw that it’s been almost a year since this happened. (Almost, because this time last year was the Bangkok leg of the trip.) Then I saw this in my drafts, and I thought – why not post it on the anniversary?

Massive photo dump. And I may not remember the order of the places we went to. But even so, that Siem Reap trip was a good one. I think I kind of fell in like with Cambodia after that, and now I smile every time a photo of the Angkor Wat or Ta Phrom or any of the temples appear on my feed.

So here’s a very, very late recap, because  I kind of want to reminisce. :)

—

I am no stranger to crossing borders in trains, I realized, as I was thinking of how to start this post. I realized that I had done that several times when I was in Europe – when I rode the train from Switzerland to Paris, then Vienna back to Switzerland. Somehow, this border crossing from Thailand to Cambodia felt different, perhaps because of the company, and the fact that the Asian experience was different from the European one.

So early morning on the third day in Bangkok, we headed over to the train station at Hua Lamphong to ride a train to Aranyaprathet. I didn’t have high expectations for the train, based on the blogs I’ve read, and I was glad that I didn’t, because the it was a third class train, very much unlike the ones I rode in Europe. Nevertheless, I was in good company, so it was all right.

Bye, Bangkok!
Bye, Bangkok!

siemreap01

siemreap02

It was a long, long train ride, though. We arrived at Aranyaprathet about an hour later than expected, and it was hot and we were tired, but we must press on! We rode a tuktuk, had lunch, had a money changing experience, and then we made our way to the border.

And then we were in Cambodia! But there was a bus ride, and then a long van ride, and we almost got lost in Siem Reap. Thank goodness our hotel owner was nice.

siemreap04

Then, hello, Siem Reap!

Read More

ありがとう日本!

Tina 1 Comment

When I was a kid, I fell in love with the Sailormoon series. I loved it so much that everyone in school associated it with me, and I even cried several times when I missed it, or when I watched a particular episode where they all died and such. It was my first introduction to anime, and I thought that because I loved Sailormoon, I would probably like other anime, too. Eventually, I watched some, and then because I was such an otaku (or so I thought), I found this how to speak Japanese booklet at home and started trying to learn it, because I thought it was cool and all that.

Then I just lost interest, and never really looked back. (Except when I catch some Sailormoon episodes that they air here every now and then.)

Here’s the thing: I never had Japan in my bucket list. I have friends who love everything Japan and Japanese – from music to food to TV shows and all that, and every time they talk about it, I just nod politely and listen. It’s not that I didn’t want to go – I just didn’t have it in my list of places I wanted to go to. I wasn’t as fascinated with Japan as I was with New York City, or Europe.

Then late last year, a friend called me and asked if I wanted to go to Osaka because there was a seat sale and they were about to book a flight. Being a Yes-girl to a lot of travel stuff like that (which is how I got to go to Jakarta last year in the first place), I said yes, and then ta-da! I had a ticket to Japan!

I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t do much research until a few weeks before the trip when we were working out our itinerary. We had five days there – less, because we arrive in the evening on our first day – and there was just so much that everyone in our group of 9 wanted to do. In the end, after we got our visas, we decided to go crazy over it: Osaka – Tokyo – Kyoto. All in five days.

Let me tell you: it was ambitious and achievable, but prepare for aching feet, long rides, and very quick stops. Because friends, three cities in five days = crazy. Even more so, Japan in five days = NOT. ENOUGH.

Time to let the pictures speak for themselves! (Photo dump!)

大阪

40
It was raining on our first night, and we got lost on our way to the hotel. :D
37
First group selfie at the hotel! :D
01
The next morning, near the Osaka Castle. :)

Read More

#100happydays

Tina 4 Comments

I heard about the 100 Happy Days project from a friend on Facebook.

Let me tell you: I’m a sucker for these things. To be more specific, I’m a sucker for anything that has to do with something that I “owned” for myself. Case in point, last year, Arriane of Wanderrgirl had a blog challenge with a theme of courage, my word of the year. Of course I had to participate!

So when I heard about 100 Happy Days, I knew it was something I had to do, because of my 2014 word. Like I said, I’m a sucker for these things. I decided to start it on February 1, 2014, and as of May 11, 2014 (yesterday), I have reached my 100th happy day.

*confetti*

I know a lot of people who participated in this challenge, and I also know a lot of people who scoffed at it, made fun of it, and even really hated the entire idea. What’s the big deal, right? Why are you bragging about your happiness on social media? Are you even truly happy?

But I don’t have answers or rebuttals to that. Different strokes for different folks, as I say. (Also, walang basagan ng trip. :P) What I have, instead, are the things I learned while doing this challenge:

  1. You are not going to be happy everyday for 100 days. That is a fact. I don’t mean to be a downer. That’s just reality. There are good days and there are bad days, and on those bad days, you will not want to post anything at all because it’s hard to see or find something that made you happy. I had several days like that – especially early into the challenge – and I had no idea what to post.
  2. Honesty is really the best policy. Cliche, but I’m finding there’s so much truth in this thing. When your day didn’t go swimmingly, then admit it! No one is happy 100% of the time (see #1). But…
  3. Sometimes you have  to seek happiness on purpose. Happy things don’t just happen all the time. Sometimes, there are days when there’s really absolutely nothing remarkable that happened. Or, like I said in #2, there are days when you feel furthest away from happy. But this project taught me to really look for something – even the littlest thing – that made my day brighter.  A small treat, a song, some time with a friend – the little things really do count. Happiness will not just fall on your lap; most of the time, you have to choose it.
  4. Sometimes, the way to be happy is to make someone else happy. Not a secret, really, but it’s something we forget in our “quest for happiness.” Happiness happens when we share it, and I guarantee that the best way to cheer yourself up is to make someone else smile. :)
  5. And finally, sometimes, you just forget to take a photo. Well that happened to me many times. ^^; And you just take a photo, any photo to just to remember what happened. :D

#100happydays taught me to be mindful and grateful.

You won’t have stellar days all the time, but these not-so-stellar days always has something in it that will make you smile. And that’s what we search for – not perfect days, but small things, events, and people that make the not-so-perfect days feel all right, if not perfect in its imperfection. The trick, I think, is not to force yourself to be happy when you’re not. It’s looking at both the pluses and the minuses, and then choosing to make the former matter, but not entirely discounting the lessons that the latter wants to give.

So yeah, I did not have 100 completely happy days, but now that the challenge is over, I realize that there was so much joy in the past 100 days, and I am glad that I was somehow able to capture them. :)

And I had fun. :)

On a sidenote: on their website, they said that: People successfully completing the challenge claimed to…Fall in love during the challenge. Did I fall in love? HAHA! But yes, I fell in love with God and this life He gave me and all that. :) It’s not the romantic kind of love, but I am so not complaining. Life is good because God is good. :)

I honestly have no idea what happens next. A friend told me in his birthday message that he hopes my 100 happy days won’t end at 100. I think I will abandon the #100happydays hash tag because it has used its purpose, but I will still keep my eyes open for the happy things. There’s so much beauty and joy in everyday that it’s a shame not to take delight in it. :)

And here are some of my favorite photos in my #100happydays project! (Warning: photo dump!) :)

Read More