At home, we usually can remember to take a moment to smell the roses. Vacationers tend to take that time - it maybe their purpose for taking a vacation! When traveling, however, especially for the Road Warrioress - expat, PT, or harried long-haul business traveler - too often we fail to take a moment to smell the jasmine or lavender or whatever is two feet from nostrils.
One of my fondest memories of Singapore is watching a teeny-tiny bird of the most brilliant yellow plumage out the window of my home-office. One of my regrets is failing to explore the public library there. I lived a few minutes' walk from the Norton Simon Museum in Pasadena, California, and held off spending five bucks admission - to my eternal rue. An exquisite hummingbird with its long beak deep in the trumpet of a flower hovered within two feet of me while going for a stroll in Indonesia. But I never made it across the broad Mahakam River to explore Samarinda.
It's always the little things we treasure most, yet are most inclined to miss. Tired you may well be, but it's worth every effort to see something a city or country offers. It recharges your batteries to take on the next round! An hour's respite, or even a moment, ups your energy levels as well as your spirits.
Wherever you go, whatever else you do, take a moment to savor something in your surroundings. Business can wait a second while you take a good deep sniff of a rose. Savor the moment - you'll never regret the little things you see and do when you stop to smell the roses or jacaranda, or watch a bird or butterfly.
May your road rise to meet you - and may you enjoy your moments on that road!
Ann
Showing posts with label Indonesia. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Indonesia. Show all posts
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Thursday, May 3, 2012
On the Road Again - Despite Bad Weather!
"On the road again. . . just can't wait to get on the road again. . ." Back at it once more, living out of a suitcase. Alas, the weather is not cooperating to accomplish all I aimed to do.
What to do when weather interferes? Have a back up plan - and a too-long To Do List. Time to tackle chores: cleaned out a backlog of nearly 1,000 emails (oops!), used the hotel's granite desktop to shoot some studio-style staged photos (instead of photographing a gloomy, gusty beach), and more backlisted To-Do's.
Read another novel by Kelsey A. Campbell. She must be a fellow Road Warrior-ess! Topsy-Turvy: Kalimantan Tales is set in Indonesia - the "jungles of Borneo" actually - where Kelsey used to live. It's the story of the only working expat woman based in a hardship post in Indonesia. The name of the city (if you can call a place with 300,000 people and one traffic signal a "city") is Balikpapan, and in Bahasa Indonesia, that means "topsy-turvy." We Road Warrior-esses think we have it tough today. Dr. Diane Cameron, heroine of this story, thinks she's joining her fiance in romantic, photogenic Bali and winds up where water has to be boiled a full fifteen minutes before you can drink it, or make a cup of instant coffee. Fascinating tales of life in the back of beyond, where members of the resentful Bored Wives Club are spitting king cobras and coworkers sometimes prove to be kraits-in-the-bamboo.
Like the first novel of Kelsey's that I read, Make Me Beautiful (with some scenes set in one of my favorite hotels in the world, The Library Hotel in NYC), it's a fascinating tale of a powerful woman who roams the world.
So despite uncooperative weather, I'm getting a lot of things done. As one of the characters in Topsy-Turvy says, "I never let nothing stand in my way."
May your road rise up to meet you!
Best, Ann
What to do when weather interferes? Have a back up plan - and a too-long To Do List. Time to tackle chores: cleaned out a backlog of nearly 1,000 emails (oops!), used the hotel's granite desktop to shoot some studio-style staged photos (instead of photographing a gloomy, gusty beach), and more backlisted To-Do's.
Read another novel by Kelsey A. Campbell. She must be a fellow Road Warrior-ess! Topsy-Turvy: Kalimantan Tales is set in Indonesia - the "jungles of Borneo" actually - where Kelsey used to live. It's the story of the only working expat woman based in a hardship post in Indonesia. The name of the city (if you can call a place with 300,000 people and one traffic signal a "city") is Balikpapan, and in Bahasa Indonesia, that means "topsy-turvy." We Road Warrior-esses think we have it tough today. Dr. Diane Cameron, heroine of this story, thinks she's joining her fiance in romantic, photogenic Bali and winds up where water has to be boiled a full fifteen minutes before you can drink it, or make a cup of instant coffee. Fascinating tales of life in the back of beyond, where members of the resentful Bored Wives Club are spitting king cobras and coworkers sometimes prove to be kraits-in-the-bamboo.
Like the first novel of Kelsey's that I read, Make Me Beautiful (with some scenes set in one of my favorite hotels in the world, The Library Hotel in NYC), it's a fascinating tale of a powerful woman who roams the world.
So despite uncooperative weather, I'm getting a lot of things done. As one of the characters in Topsy-Turvy says, "I never let nothing stand in my way."
May your road rise up to meet you!
Best, Ann
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
Who's to Say What's "Appropriate" for the Woman Traveler?
The New York Times annual Travel Show launches Friday, 26 February, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center. Among the seminar offerings, April Merenda of Gutsy Women Travel moderates a panel of travel writers "overviewing appropriate tours and destinations for women...."
How dare they? What's "appropriate" for one woman is no more appropriate than one man's for another. Different people have different interests and inclinations. It is up to the individual to determine what might be suitable or interesting or relaxing or invigorating. That is not the purview of a travel writer or travel agent. I found the entire notion - and the New York Times write-up on this seminar - totally offensive.
I was the only single expat woman working in the oilfields of Indonesia years ago. While some might think that "inappropriate," I was the one living and working in what, by any measure, was a hardship post. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I spent months "riding the rails" through China and the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Difficult going solo, but hardly an inappropriate journey nor the greatest of adventures. Difficult, yes; dangerous, not particularly.
Go where the spirit moves you, or where the job takes you. Only you can determine what's appropriate for you. You decide what interests and excites you. You decide where and how to live, work, travel. As long as it's legal and within your boundaries for risk tolerance, go for it. Adventure awaits!
And it would be so terribly sad to miss something great because someone else determined it wasn't "appropriate" for women. The Victorians put up with enough of that errant nonsense.
May your road rise up to meet you,
Ann
How dare they? What's "appropriate" for one woman is no more appropriate than one man's for another. Different people have different interests and inclinations. It is up to the individual to determine what might be suitable or interesting or relaxing or invigorating. That is not the purview of a travel writer or travel agent. I found the entire notion - and the New York Times write-up on this seminar - totally offensive.
I was the only single expat woman working in the oilfields of Indonesia years ago. While some might think that "inappropriate," I was the one living and working in what, by any measure, was a hardship post. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I spent months "riding the rails" through China and the Trans-Siberian Railroad. Difficult going solo, but hardly an inappropriate journey nor the greatest of adventures. Difficult, yes; dangerous, not particularly.
Go where the spirit moves you, or where the job takes you. Only you can determine what's appropriate for you. You decide what interests and excites you. You decide where and how to live, work, travel. As long as it's legal and within your boundaries for risk tolerance, go for it. Adventure awaits!
And it would be so terribly sad to miss something great because someone else determined it wasn't "appropriate" for women. The Victorians put up with enough of that errant nonsense.
May your road rise up to meet you,
Ann
Saturday, February 6, 2010
A Little Sarong Goes a Long Way
It's amazing how far 2 yards/2 meters of fabric can go! The second most important item in my travel gear is a batik sarong. My original was a gift when I left Indonesia. Instead of making it up into a garment, as was my first thought, I discovered rather quickly that it had too many uses to bother with sewing up something else.
My sarong has served as: bed sheet, bath towel, a beach cover-up & beach towel, a casual wraparound skirt for sightseeing. I wrapped up in it in frigid St. Petersburg along with my lined trench coat. It has served as a scarf and as a shawl. I gathered it into a smashing sash over a plain black tunic and slacks. It also twisted up into an elegant halter top under my suit jacket for dining out when I had an unanticipated invitation to a fine restaurant.
Useful? You bet. Pick one up next time you see one, and stash it in your carry on tote. Indonesia and Malaysia are famous for their batiks, and the art has spread to the Caribbean, where a sarong is often called a pareo.
May your road rise to meet you,
Ann
My sarong has served as: bed sheet, bath towel, a beach cover-up & beach towel, a casual wraparound skirt for sightseeing. I wrapped up in it in frigid St. Petersburg along with my lined trench coat. It has served as a scarf and as a shawl. I gathered it into a smashing sash over a plain black tunic and slacks. It also twisted up into an elegant halter top under my suit jacket for dining out when I had an unanticipated invitation to a fine restaurant.
Useful? You bet. Pick one up next time you see one, and stash it in your carry on tote. Indonesia and Malaysia are famous for their batiks, and the art has spread to the Caribbean, where a sarong is often called a pareo.
May your road rise to meet you,
Ann
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