tsotsa's nook: August 2007

Hi! It's me!

Ok Ok! I know! It’s been forever! I actually had to send out an email to let you all know that I’ve updated this space since I was convinced everyone had stopped checking for updates!

So where to begin? Holidays are over – and frankly I feel like I need a holiday!! Tibet was probably one of my favourite trips ever although it was a pretty rough holiday. You can’t say you’ve backpacked until you’ve roughed it up in Tibet! The first part of the trip was spent in the capital city of lhasa – acclimatising to the altitude, visiting temples and monasteries and just taking in all the culture in general. After that we took a 5 day land cruiser trip to other towns and places of interest outside of lhasa. This is when the trip got harder – the further away we went from lhasa the more uncivilised things became. We found ourselves peeing in bushes, going to sleep and waking up in the same clothes for 3 days, ordering a safe egg rice twice a day… sigh.. The list is endless. Nonetheless we survived the holiday and I must say I have the fondest (scariest and happiest) memories from this trip that I shared with my one and only Lilly. We swore a lot back then but now we just look back and laugh at the hilarious situations we found ourselves in!! :-P

Here are some of my favourite/unforgettable moments:
1) Waiting at the airport for our plane from Chengdu to Tibet. Our plane delayed by about 3 hours and Candace and I still found it to be a little surreal that we would soon be in Tibet so we made up this whole story about Tibet being a fantasy land and our plane was delayed because they hadn’t finished painting the mountainous backdrop.
2) Trips to public toilets: Communal squat toilets with no doors and as you squat and do your thing Chinese lady tourists walk in and stand in front of you waiting for you to finish!
3) The higher we went the colder it got! We slept fully clothed…very often with our woollen hats.
4) The Heidi-style tea flasks available in all hostels! Nothing felt better than a hot mug of tea before bed!
5) I laughed so hard watching Candace transform into a REAL backpacker: she filled our empty bottles with boiled water, she collected extra tea bags from our hostel rooms and kept them for future use, and even stole a roll of toilet paper once! Hahahaha! I’m proud of you babe!
6) By the end of our trip we had become pretty oblivious to all things strange – we happily peed in bushes, we walked past meat stalls in full view of pigs heads and goat cadavers only to think ‘oh look it’s a pig/goat...’, I even got a fly in my water flask once and I simply poured it out, gave the flask a shake and took a sip! Hahaha!

You may check out my photos on www.flickr.com/photos/tsotsa/ I will have more photos on there eventually but there is actually a maximum amount you can upload each month so more to come in September.

In other news, as most of you know I will be changing job soon: from kindergarten to primary school. My current employers provide my current apartment so by the end of next week I need to be out of there. I’ve been house hunting since getting back from holidays and it was literally a nightmare. I saw tuna can size apartments with cupboard kitchens, no shower, and one entirely covered in mickey mouse wallpaper!! I was getting desperate until I saw a flat in an old Chinese building: really spacious with lots of light. Rent is also reasonable because it’s on the 6th floor and there’s no lift! I figure I’ll be fit in no time. It will be stressful moving all my things in and I also need to furnish it but once it’s done I’m sure it will look great! ☺ I also really like the neighbourhood: Its very typical Chinese: they have little shrines with burning incense on every landing, and my apartment is no.6 and next door is No.8 = there is no 7 because they believe it’s an unlucky number. Also unlike the new buildings this one has no security officer downstairs: but I do have an old man who sells buttons and I hear he keeps and eye on everything that goes on in the building! He also giggles at me every time I go by! CUTE!

I’ve signed the lease and the past week I’ve been busy getting things done! Right now I’m painting the doors because they were a horrible dark brown!! I will also visit ikea in the next few days for some hard-core shopping! I promise to post some pics of the place in the next few days.

ALSO!... more news! (Has anyone had the patience to read this far?? I doubt it!!) As most of you know I’ve been soul searching to find which career would be suitable for me. A couple of months ago I started to look around at some universities here in HK and before the holidays I gave in my application for a part-time course starting in September. WELL… 3 days ago I received my letter of acceptance so next month I’ll be starting my studies for a diploma in fitness and exercise! ☺ I’m very excited about this and hopefully I’ve made the right decision!

Ok that’s about it for now!! Look out for pics of my new place coming VERY soon – I’m gonna have some ‘before and after’ pics … and oh! I forgot to mention!... I have a 2nd bedroom so you are all welcome to visit me!! (if you can handle the stairs!!) ☺