Having "Me" Time

After having milked a cow on Sunday, the thought of 'milk' has been lodged in my brain like a recurring theme that won't disappear no matter how much you try. So tonight, as you have probably already guessed, my topic will be about "milk" and its many health benefits. We drank milk when we were young because we were told it's good for you. As we grow older, we substitute milk with coffee, tea or other drinks. Mostly likely, we just have milk with coffee or cereal which isn't always enough. How is milk good for you? It is a good source of protein and 9 essential nutrients such as calcium which are essential for keeping your bones strong. In case you have forgotten, your bones store calcium like a bank. After a certain which is now believed to be 30 (previously 35) you no longer store the calcium but use them. Daily consumption of calcium therefore is to replace the calcium you use daily. If you don't want bone fractures easily when you get older, I reco

Another newly discovered attraction I stopped by yesterday was called "Talad Nam Klang Dong" which literally translates to a "Floating Market in the Middle of the Forest" and that is exactly what it is. Hidden not too far off the main road, I walked into an unexpected space. It took me back to the "Secret Garden." A hidden space that is known only to those who enter. The area was lush with vegetation, flowers and offset by souvenir and coffee shops. The shops were on the artistic side, selling unique design peices. A great place for those who like things a bit on the creative side. Wooden painted signs showed the way. Most importantly, even during the mid-day sun, it didn't feel hot at all. We were short for time so we just had a quick 15 minute tour of the place but I like what I saw. It's somewhere you can just go for a relaxing afternoon away from people. Different types of sitting areas for you to choose from, food for you to eat, and even

Back in Bangkok now I already miss the cool breeze that flows through the trees and the sounds of nature. Nevertheless I had a marvelous time today on the way back. We stopped at Chokchai Farm which opened its gates to visitors over ten years ago, but for some reason I had never thought of stopping by. I stopped to get some ice cream, but that was about it. At first impression, when I think of a farm visit pictures of cows roaming about in pastures fill my head. We would probably just have to walk around looking at the cows, perhaps get to touch them a little, and take pictures. It's hot in Thailand, so when I think of something outdoors I tend to just want to do everything in winter. Farm visits weren't exactly a priority. The Chokchai Farm tour surpassed my expectations by far. We started out the tour with a video background of the farm, telling us how it evolved from the seventies, through the oil crisis, survived the Asian Crisis of 1997 before becoming what it is today. A

Oh it feels wonderful to be surrounded by nature.. The air is fresh and you can hear the sounds of nature. Birds and wildlife going about their business. Frogs croaking, insects calling out each other. No sounds of ambulances rushing by nor skytrains rolling past. No one misses them. Most wonderful of all, you can hear yourself think. Your senses are rejuvenated. This morning I went for an early morning horse ride around the countryside. We rode pass corn fields, potato fields, yellow dalia flowers... The view was to die for. The horses brought us a step closer to nature. We don't have to rely on oil to travel. All we have to depend on is loving care of these horses. Horses that are smarter than you think. Horse riding is a great sport for knowing and exploring your own mind. It enhances self awareness. How? For one thing, horses have a sixth sense. They can sense how you feel. Fear is instantly recognized. If you fear, you lose control of your horse which has a mind o

Today I left the hectic bustle of Bangkok to relax in the mountains of Khao Yai. Only around 140km from Bangkok I wonder why I don't take short trips more often. It feels wonderful to just leave the concrete jungle and immerse yourself with nature. Trees line the road to the Kirimaya Resort and once you enter, you feel like you are in another world. The place is so peaceful and the interior in tune with nature. Wooden doors and a beautiful wooden walkway above water features greet you. Water plants of different varieties emerge from the water swaying in the wind. A cool breeze from the mountains makes the leaves rustle. Ripples flow across the swimming pool. Birds chirp high up in the trees. I love it here. Soft sofas on my personal balcony make me want to just lay there and unwind with a good book. I can stay in my room all day. No need to go anywhere. I explore the hotel, but that's all I can see for now. It's nighttime so I shall have to wait until tomorrow to s

Last night I was browsing around YouTube and couldn't stop myself watching "America's Got Talent" and especially Kaitlyn Maher. (Ok, I'm 2 years late....but she is still awesome.) What amazed me was that she was only 4 years old at the time of the contest and yet she knew what she was doing. Unlike other kids I see who are pressured into singing and dancing on stage by their parents in pageants or other contests, Kaitlyn really did like to sing. She was so natural and you could really sense that she was a young girl who loved to sing. When she sang, she sounded much older than she really was. Something she said though really stuck in my head. She said, " I love to sing, and I practice hard." At only 4 years old, she made the final top ten of the contest. It wasn't out of pure luck or chance that she made it, but she "practiced hard" to be able to sing so well. I think that is the most important element to achieving anything. If you want to

The other day I managed to make myself sit still and watch the movie "Precious." It's a sad and stressful movie yet at the same time full of hope. It portrays the life of a teenage girl who has had an abusive childhood and is again pregnant with her second baby at the young age of 16. Illiterate and obese, she doesn't seem to have much of a life ahead of her. Her mother lives on welfare and despises her. Her father is a painful memory she wants to forget. She gets kicked out of school for being pregnant. My goodness, it's a depressing life. I can't imagine what it must have been like growing up as she did and experiencing all those abuses. It requires strength. It makes me feel so happy and grateful for everything I have. A place to stay, food in the fridge and people who love me. What I do like about the movie is that the girl "Precious" overcomes all these obstacles no matter how grave they are. She dreams of one day being successful a

"Perception" is a word that I find fascinating. I truly appreciate the ancient philosophers who came up with this word. They really knew what they were talking about. (Socrates and his Allegory of the Cave, Descartes...) Our "perception" of things undoubtedly are influenced by our experience and our beliefs. We "perceive" things according to information we readily have. We make sense of things according to what we already know. For example, we perceive that a cup can be either half full or half empty. We perceive that we are healthy and fit from past experience. We are fit because we can do more than we could before. However, perception isn't always reality. I remember my perception of myself during my extremely chubby days. I perceived myself to be fit, very fit. I could walk hours on end exploring a new city. I moved around quickly. I never perceived myself to be big and chubby at all. I perceived myself to be healthy and "fit." I was just

As I put on my jeans this morning and grabbed a belt, a thought flashed across my mind. "I now understand and really use belts for their original purpose." I use belts to keep my jeans and pants up. I never had to before during my chubby days. In my chubby days, belts were just an accessory. Something I put on for colour with my clothes and to keep my outfit looking professional. I wouldn't tuck in my shirt, (No, we must not show that flabby stomach) Belts would be around the waist, and over my shirt, never inside. I had many colours, many sizes. However, when wearing jeans I never needed to wear belts. My jeans were always so tight that they stayed up and in place without ever needing the help of a belt. If you can imagine a bag that is bursting from being over stuffed. That was me. Plus, an added belt to an already tight pair of jeans felt uncomfortable. It would be all tight around my waist. As a result, I hardly ever ever wore belts with pants. These past six mon

Today, I had what I consider the most delicious pork satayin recent memory. It came in a pack wrapped in banana leaves with peanut sauce and a side dish of cucumber, onion, chile and some vinegar. They all go so well together. A Thai traditional snack or appetizer. For the benefit of my foreign readers, pork satay is what I call the asian version of shish kebab. Different kinds of meats are thinly sliced, marinated in mix of tumeric and other spices, and then grilled over a charcoal fire. It is served with peanut sauce and a cucumber side dish. I'm not sure where the dish originates from, but it can be found easily in Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. In Thailand, chicken and pork are most common, but in Indonesia and Malaysia, satays are also made with mutton and beef. The satay was so good, I couldn't stop myself from having them, and neither could my friends. We all gathered around the pork satay, our hands holding onto the bamboo skewers whilst we bit the pork off t

Some lessons in life, don't really "hit home" or really get across to you until you really experience them yourself. When we are young, we are all taught to "look for opportunities," "believe in yourself" or to "create and atmosphere of success." We know these lessons and secrets to success by heart. The hard part though is actually putting them into action. So what is the "secret" to losing weight? Most of the effort depends on the most important "attitude" and your state of mind. If you believe in something enough, you will be able to accomplish whatever you set out to do. (I think this is also in the book called "The Secret." ) I personally get a little quesy when people talk about the power of "The Secret." For me, "The Secret" is really just playing tricks with your mind. It's a matter of positive thinking, attitude and psychology . If you think hard enough about something, somet

Wow, it's been a crazy few days running around Bangkok with a number of social and work obligations. So many things to do, so little time. It's something we often hear and say often enough. ( I do anyways) So what do we do first and what do we do later? Sometimes we get so caught up with work we forget to take some exercise or put off that "running" or that "pilates class" until another day when we "have more time." Health and relaxation time have no priority and somehow that day when we "have more time" never comes around. We remember it half a year later. I've managed to keep my running up to at least twice a week these past few months, to maintain my weight, but somehow my "pilates class" has been pushed aside for at least two months now. Not only that, my golf practice has also been in a state of emergency. I wonder if I can still remember my stroke. Like running, everything else in life is just a matter of &quo

Tonight, the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa kicked off. Every four years, the world unites behind the World Cup. Every four years, people around the world tune in their TV screens to the matches being held. Sounds from vuvuzelas echo across the stadium. Children, inspired by the games start to play football. Adults upgrade their TV to HD and buy special packages to watch the action live. It's an enormous industry. For several days now, colleagues have been talking about the World cup, the players, the matches. Who will play against whom in the final? Whom do you expect to win? Everyone gets excited. Even I, who do not know much about football get excited. It doesn't matter if your country plays in the world cup or not, you can participate. Events like this inspire me. People from different races, different countries, different walks of life, can all unite together in a game of football. Imagine, while I am sitting here in the comfort of my room, the first

I feel like having some Tonkatsu and Japanese Curry. The thought has been going through my mind for a couple of hours now and I can't seem to get it out of my head. However, it will just have to wait for the weekend. I've been enjoying myself a bit too much lately. Last weekend, after two months of postponed reunions, I finally managed to meet up with my friends from primary-middle school. It was wonderful to meet everyone again after so long. No matter what, no matter how long, it is always the same feeling of friendship when we meet up. I can imagine this going on until we are old and wrinkled. Anyways, my friends took me to try out this new chain of restaurants serving Japanese Tonkatsu and Curry called CocoIchibanya from Japan. It's delicious. The experience itself was unique and personalized. Instead of just ordering something from the menu, at CocoIchibanya you can actually customize the food! For example, they have standard dishes of Pork Tonkatsu, Chick

I have a problem. (It's not really a problem but I can't seem to find the right word to describe it.) I sometimes feel like I am neither here nor there. A few years ago, I first heard the term "Third Culture Kid." It's a relatively new term that according to Wikipedia "refers to someone who, as a child, has spent a significant period of time in one or more culture(s) other than his or her own, thus integrating elements of those cultures and their own birth culture, into a third culture." [ 1 ] Third Culture Kids are also referred to as Global Nomads." I suppose that is what I am. A "third culture kid," a "Global Nomad." Broken down into categories, I become a "Foreign Service brat" or a "diplobrat." Being the daughter of a diplomat, I was privileged to have spent most of my entire life outside of my native country. I spent my childhood life growing up in Europe and the US. Even my name is a te

There are good days and there are bad days. Some days you wake up in the morning and feel like you got off the wrong side of the bed. Everything seems bad and nothing goes the way it is supposed to. Other days you wake up feeling happy and ready to take on the world. The day is beautiful and the world is on your side. With regular exercise and a positive attitude you will find that there are more "good" days than "bad" days. "Well , of course" you might say to yourself. "We all know this!" The question is: "How often do you we think and remember about it?" In our rush of everyday life, work, eat and sleep. We forget. We forget that sometimes life is just all about attitude. Life is what you make of it. You get what you see, and you see what you want to see. An analogy that Alex told me, and one that I will always remember goes like this: "When taking a walk in the garden, if you are always looking out for dog poop, tha

As I rushed around at work today, my stomach kept growling. I wondered how come I was so hungry. Was I thirsty? I drank a lot of water, but that didn't help. No, I was not thirsty. I went out for lunch and got myself a nice healthy salad mix and some bread. It usually fills me up quite well, but not today. I was perpetually hungry. In the afternoon, I discovered the source to my constant hunger. I had forgotten to eat breakfast. I had prepared some yogurt with honey and lemon for breakfast today, but I had completely forgotten about it and left it in my bag. On most days, I make sure I have a heavy breakfast of either brown rice with various toppings of protein and vegetables or either some scrambled eggs with ham. On days I have a big breakfast, I discover that I feel satisfied for the entire day. I eat less during lunch and dinner and don't feel an urge to snack in between. On days, like today, when I have light breakfasts or none, I am perpetually hung

Weekends are a time to rest and to recuperate from the week of work, but for some reason I always find myself running around doing a zillion errands. Either its family visits, cleaning up the apartment, or just running out to sell that unused mobile phone before it gathers dust in a corner drawer, getting clothes fixed, and getting the air-conditioner cleaned. There is always so much to do. Too much to be of any good. My brain feels overcharged, as if it is forever on an adrenaline rush. In my twenties, I don't remember feeling tired. I could leave the house every evening and never feel a need to stay home. If I had no plans, I would at least stop by the grocery store on the way home, or call up my good friends for a chat. That was what energized me. In my thirties, I feel I need a lot more "me" time. Time to just let my brain sit quietly by itself and think. Time to really feel rested. I like to just come "home" after a day's work to just

Wow, its been half a year since I've been able to lose 15 kg and keep my weight off. I still look back every now and then in disbelief. I wonder how I was so disciplined, but in the end I did it and finished. I no longer have to "lose" weight. All I have to do is "maintain" it. Maintaining is definitely easier than "losing" weight and has none of the pressures that comes with aiming for the goal, but it isn't easy. Trying to be healthy all the time isn't easy. It is something that requires conscious effort at all times. It's a work in progress like everything else in life, but if you work at it, it can be done. These past few weeks, my fitness routine has gone haywire after my route to work was blocked, and my fitness closed for a couple days. Still the chubby girl inside, and with a lazy bone, I find myself giving excuses not to go run. The battle in my mind returns. The lazy bones versus the fit bones. As I step on the

Food. It's something you can never get enough of it. It makes this world much more colorful and enjoyable. Afterall, it's the little things in life that makes the journey worthwhile. Today I want to share with you another favorite food of mine at Sri Yan which is a stall that sells the thai snack called "Kanom Krok." Conveniently, the stall is just outside the beef noodle shop so my beef noodle outing is almost always accompanied by some kanom krok. Great isn't it? Kanom krok is a Thai snack made with a mixture of coconut milk, rice flour, salt, and sugar. It's cooked in a specially made pan that has several round craters in which the mixture is poured and left to cook. Once the outside is crispy and the filling cooked, the little pancakes are scooped up and ready for eating. What I love about them is that you can choose your filling. The kanom krok usually comes with a choice of plain, or sprinkled with a bit of corn, or taro and a few other fil

This noon, while waiting for the Metropolitan Electricity Authority office to open, I decided to go have lunch at my favorite beef noodle shop in town. It's at Sri Yan which is an old market area in the 'old' part of bangkok between Samsen road and Nakorn Ratchasima road and just a few minutes walk away. An old sign hangs above the entrance saying it has the approved mark of "Shell Shuan Shim" which is Thailand's equivalent to the world renown "Michelin Guide." The sign is a testament to the shop's age. It has the original logo before Shell decided to change it 28 years ago. The beef noodle restaurant must therefore have been around at least 30 years, yet it still brims with customers every lunch time. Seats are filled quickly, and so are the orders. They are so successful, they have two cooking areas and the shop extends to the back making it equivalent to two restaurants. Waitresses run back and forth, extremely efficient in their

Since Bangkok has returned to its normal state, I have been going around the city like a little mad woman doing errands and getting things done. Things that I should have done ages ago, but just never got around to doing it. Today I went to the telephone office during lunch and was amazed at their efficiency. I usually have this fear of doing any sort of paperwork in Thailand since my preconception is that it takes a long time, is full of unfriendly people, and filled with a long list of forms to fill so I just keep on postponing it. To my amazement, it took me only ten minutes to get my bills paid and another ten minutes to fill in some forms to change the name of the telephone line to my name. Wow. Amazing. Things are certainly changing for the better. Then I embarked on getting myself back to the office. Not knowing my way around, I walked out and spent a few minutes looking around. ( I usually lose my sense of direction when I get out of a building and wonder if I have to