May 25, 2009
I have not been to many places but I have passed by many places
The title of this entry was "stolen" from the blog of my favourite composer. He wrote about how in his job, he has passed by many places however many times, he did not actually have the opportunity to explore these places. His thoughts echo how I feel about my job. Many people think that in my job where I am overseas 75% of the year means I get to go to many new places. This is true, however my trips are for work so obviously I have to spend most of my time working and that leaves little time for exploring those places. Most of my days are spent working in offices in obscure locations with little scenery and by the time I get off work, there is really nothing much to see. The hotel is the place I most want to go where a hot bath and comfortable bed awaits. Food becomes just a way to fill the stomach although I must admit there were times I have eaten fantastic food which I would never have the opportunity to sample if I were in Singapore. But trust me, the best food after a hard day at work, is a home cooked meal.
My favourite composer also writes in his entry about the questions people ask him about the supposedly exciting things he gets to see in his trips and when he answers that there are really not that many exciting things, people disbelieve him. Well, I for one, believe him. Waiting for airline connections and wondering if I will get home on time is one big worry I have constantly. When I used to travel for leisure, I will head towards the duty free shops whenever I arrive at the airport on my homebound trip. These days, I run towards the exit gates that will bring me home. Packing for each trip reminds me about how long I will be away from home once more and this outweighs any anticipation of new places.
Maybe at this point, you may think I hate my job. No, I do not hate my job, but this is not a perfect world. Many times, I wish like in Harry Potter, we could all travel by Floo powder. In this way, I can "poof" myself home at the end of each day. However, the price that I have to pay for being able to go to new places is being away from home. There were many interesting place I have seen this past year like Budapest and Johannesburg which I know I will probably have never had the opportunity to visit. And I have picked up new "survival" skills when travelling overseas by myself. All these were priceless experiences to me.
My favourite composer is optimistic about being mostly a passer-by to all the places he has been. He feels that at least this will leave him with numerous places which he can explore still in future. I suppose I can look at all the travelling I am doing in this manner as well. Someday, I will return to some of these places where I have only been a passer-by and explore them at my leisure. Someday.
Posted by Fatgirl at 10:02 PM | Comments (1)
September 01, 2008
Mass, USA Part 1
My first trip to Massachusetts and I am quite embarrassed to say that I spent most of my time shopping. Nope, I did not visit the Museum in Boston, Harvard or Cambridge. But I did walk across the Boston Common on my way to Newbury Street. Ha ha. Here are the pictures that proof.
Of course, cannot forget about the food that I ate. The first night I arrived, my colleague brought us out for lobster. That was when I had my first taste of corn cake too. Yum yum!! The lobster is big and cheaper than in Singapore but I felt that the one that I had was a little overcooked. Oh well, but it was still quite yummy. Actually I thought that the corn tasted much nicer than the lobster. Ha ha.
One of my favorite shops in Boston. Mike's Pastry! Its unbelievably crowded in there and you literally have to squeeze your way to the front to order. Efficiency is the key word with so many people so once you catch the attention of a counter staff, you better start shooting out your order. The pastries and cakes from there are SUPERB!! Sorry, no photos to share as there were really too many people crowding round the counters. But trust me, I wanted to order everything in the shop and my colleagues were horrified at my order. We took three days to finish all the pastries I had ordered but it was really really really yummy.
The tiramisu and the BEST strawberry shortcake I have ever tasted. I forgot to take photos of the rest of the cakes before eating them up. Ha ha.
In my many weeks, I did not manage to visit some other places in Mass besides Boston. I went whale watching at Cape Cod and managed to really see whales up, close and personal.
Then there was the long drive to Salem where we got really lost coz the GPS brought us around in circles. Quite funny though to get lost on the way to Salem coz we were being led around in circles by the stupid GPS. No photos there. My colleague and I wanted to stay late and try the ghost tour but the third member of our group refused so we headed to Boston for Korean food instead. Yep, basically my four weeks in Mass revolved alot around being driven around by my nice colleague, shopping and eating.
Posted by Fatgirl at 11:19 PM | Comments (1)