To The States & Back

Its been really interesting to bounce between the United States and Australia. As a citizen of one and a pseudo-citizen of the other, I've been trying to do my due diligence in observing each country, examining their differences and how their systems function or why they don't function well. However, I'm not an expert in anything other than being a keen observer. So, when I went back to The States I was constantly asked questions about Australia and the differences between the US and AUS. I really only had my observations to answer questions, but found a lot of the conversation interesting and worth noting. So, here are the differences between the US and Australia:

While there are several differences ranging from economy to politics to environment, the most immediately noticeable difference (literally from the moment you step off the plane) is that the general attitude of most people living here is genuinely warm, friendly, and happy. (This observation may seem kinda trivial, but I find it to be indicative of the state of the nation - happy citizens usually equates to a stable country). Culturally speaking, in Australia there is an importance stressed on maintaining a healthy work/life balance. The disparity between the haves and the have-nots that is becoming increasingly noticeable in the states is fairly minimal in Australia (or at least the parts I've seen), income vs costs of living is proportional providing comfortable lifestyles, and government provides protection and security in health care and well being. Also, it doesn't hurt that Australia has incredibly beautiful beaches and surrounding islands to get away to. :) As far as the economy is concerned Australia has not been affected by the recession. Something I noticed was they have royalty taxes here, a hefty fee if you would like to purchase, for example, a foreign car as opposed to purchasing domestic. Certain incentives like this help keep jobs in place and keep the economy stimulated. The biggest difference between the US and Aus is population. Australia's population = 22.5 million; California's population = 39 million (just for kicks the US pop is 312 million). So to me, this is the biggest contributing factor as to why in Australia systems are not overrun and bursting at the seams like the states (certain metropolitan areas in particular like Los Angeles) and also why Australia is able to function so much more efficiently and effectively. I'm sure they are very strict on immigration in order to keep it that way. To be clear here - I'm not saying Booo on immigration, but what I am saying is if you want to be lax about immigration, at least have systems and infrastructures in place that can accommodate and support an influx in population.

So those are a few observations thus far, I could go on and on and get into environmental stuff and government stuff but then it would be a record long blog post. Anyway, I could be wrong about all of this because like I said before I'm not an expert on anything. But, it was super fun discussing all these things.

Anywho - other topics of interest while visiting the states: social media and its role in politics, international relations, non-profits and raising awareness; potential findings from the LHC (yes, I'm a bit of a science nerd); and anything that has to do with Modern Family (I fell in love with that show on my way to the states).

I feel like it's kinda a given to say that I was happy to be spending time with family, friends, and kitties. I think as most of you know by now though, (if I can help it at all) I wont be moving back to LA.

Sorry if you didn't know and I just dropped an end-of-blogpost-bomb on you.

Til we meet again,

Jillian aka Jilly, Jillypet, Jillybean, J-Dilla, J-Bones, and sometimes Crab Cakes

Thailand - Land of Contradictions

Funny moments and general summary...

1. Pancakes - sometimes along your travels you meet great and truly fascinating people. Other times you meet people who are interesting characters/crazy/possibly on drugs, like our dancing island friend, Pancakes. Yes, we had all had a few buckets that night, but dear old Pancakes was clearly off his rocker. He earned his name by his clear passion and art form of making pancakes at his pancake cart. However, as the night progressed he kept abandoning his pancake cart to try and get us to dance with him and invaded all our pictures, as shown in the photo above. Pancakes - thanks for the laughs, you wont soon be forgotten...

2. "Excuse me, is that a giant fossil in your living room?!?" - I can hardly remember this entire story, it really was that lackluster (and it's very much a 'you had to be there' situation). Basically, we hired a driver to take us around to some cool sights, including a whale fossil. We get to the top of a mountain where the whale fossil is. Turns out the fossil was pretty much being kept in someone's outdoor living room. Literally there were a couple chairs, a coffee table, 22inch TV, and oh, a giant whale fossil. It looked very much like an over-glorified home accessory. Turns out museums do know best, it's all about presentation. It kinda felt like Thailand just played a practical joke on us - and yes, our driver was laughing...

3. Thailand thinks we're lesbians - As hard as Kate and I tried, we could not escape couples massages. After the first couples massage incident, we tried to make it very clear that we would like separate massages. Nothing worked. I think we had 3 or 4 couples massages over the course of our trip. Although it was a bonding experience we ended up laughing over, it got to the point where I was feeling like I might have to reassure Joe that nothing was going on between Kate and I.

Overall - If I could change one thing, I really wish we could have stayed with one of the hill tribes. Actually, make that two things, I wish the weather was nicer. This trip was definitely us being tourists looking from the outside in, which I feel misses the main purpose of traveling. However, given our time constraints and wanting to see and do so much in such a short amount of time, we covered as much ground as we could. This trip was great in that we got to see a lot of sights and do a lot of things we would have never done otherwise, and we met great people along the way. All in all - I'm very grateful for the experiences I've had.

Here's to the good, the bad, and the funny,

Jillian aka Jilly, Jillypet, Jillybean, J-Dilla, J-Bones, and sometimes Crab Cakes

Thailand - Land of Contradictions

The positives - The most important lesson I've learned about traveling is to try not to plan too much. The best moments are unplanned. Exhibit A -

1. Bio-luminescent (sp?) plankton - I planned for us to stay at a really nice hotel the night before my birthday. However, the hotel fell short in many ways so we decided to switch hotels. We chose a random hotel in a random place on the island and hoped for the best. The girls spoke with a guy working at our new hotel and arranged for him to put on the pool lights at night and bought a bottle of alcohol so we could drink and do some night swimming. Lina walked down to the shore (our huts were right on the beach) and noticed the tide had receded leaving a quarter mile sandbar from the shore out into the sea. Lina called us over to show us this sight and we walked into the long stretch of sandbar. As we walked we noticed a neon blue glowing light illuminating underneath our feet. Every step we took in every direction, this blue glowing light was everywhere. We ended up playing and dancing around in the sandbar for hours, completely mesmerized and in awe. It was an incredible sight and me trying to explain it doesn't do it any justice. Here is a video to show you a little of what it was like... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN1Yxq8KMsw

2. Monks and Tigers - Monks are awesome. Tigers are awesome. Monks and tigers together are a big ball of awesomeness. At the tiger sanctuary 2 hours outside of Bangkok you can be an onlooker to the incredible bond that occurs between the monks and tigers. It's hard for me to describe why I'm so captivated by the interaction between the monks and the tigers, but the mutual exchange of power and respect between them was incredible. The monks would playfully mess with the tigers and roughly massage them and the tigers responded playfully like they were buddies - except the tiger could literally kill the monk at any second. It made me wish that I was either A. a monk massaging a tiger B. a tiger getting massaged by a monk or C. just had a tiger as a pet in general. Knowing that I will never be or have any of those things, I just starred in amazement.

3. Chaing Mai - There are a million different reasons why this is my favorite place in Thailand. The first being the strong sense of community in the area my hostel was in. It was refreshing how welcoming the locals were to the travelers both new and old, their hospitality and warmth made me feel at home. I gained a greater sense of the different cultures of the region, especially when visiting the hill tribes. Loi Krathong was a beautiful cultural tradition of light and celebration, I felt really lucky to be there during that time and to be able to take part in it.

4. New friends - We met a group of guys along our travels. They started out as travel buddies, they quickly turned into friends, and by the end of our journey they became more like big brothers. It was great to share some of the experiences the girls and I had with them. My favorite moment was the night of my birthday. The weather held out so we went to an outside bar on the beach and watched fire twirlers err dancers err throwers, whatever, people that do crazy stunts with fire. We had lots of buckets of alcohol, meandered down the street and found another open bar and danced in the middle of the street in the rain. Specifically, we doe-see-doed (sp?) to Johnny Cash songs and enticed (read: forced) drunk onlookers to doe-see-doe with us. It was great times.

I realize I am indeed one lucky bitch,

Jillian aka Jilly, Jillypet, Jillybean, J-Dilla, J-Bones, and sometimes Crab Cakes

Thailand - Land Of Contradictions

Weeks ?? (Nov.1st - Nov.24th) The first thing I noticed when I entered Thailand is that it carries an air of mystery, lawlessness, and beauty. Everywhere you look there are examples of contradictions that captivate your senses, and there is no use in trying to figure out how they co-exist. Thailand is a place where one can practice ancient eastern traditions or seek out modern day sex tourism. There are plenty of opportunities to find your inner zen through meditation in a temple, relaxing massages, or yoga classes. However, the second you step out into the street you realize it is a crazy free-for-all race between cars, motorbikes, pedestrians, and tuk tuks to get to their destination. There are no rules of the road. Speed limit signs? Didn't see any. Side of the road people are supposed to drive on? The left - unless the car in front of you is going slow, in which case you drive on the right until another car is coming at you. In the same general area you will see the most extravagant temples and dilapidated homes. The architecture is mismatched and nonsensical from (what I assume to be) an influence of different nations that have previously ruled the land. However, this varying architecture is scattered throughout a consistent tropical background.

In an effort to save time I will document the good, the bad, and the funny moments on the trip, starting with the bad (so I can end with the positives)...

1. Monsoon - unfortunately it rained heavily (like ridiculous flooding heavy) for 2/3 of our trip. While we made the most of it during our time on the islands, it was hard to truly enjoy the island beauty and island vibe with massive downpours and constant flooding. This kind of rain in Nov. was highly abnormal for Thailand, and it showed as certain things we had planned to do were postponed til later on in the month. The UN was even bringing relief aid to certain areas of Thailand because the flooding was so extreme. Bummers.

2. General recklessness - two stories here, the first is when we went boating in rough seas. It wasn't raining but storms had been coming in and out, which created conditions for really rough seas, so no boats (big or small) were going out and doing island tours. However, we managed to find a company that was willing to take us out. We tried to bargain down the price, but knowing they were the only company willing to go out to sea they would hardly budge because they knew we had no other option. This was the first sign that they were desperate for money and we were doing something stupid. We head out in a rickety canoe type boat with a canopy and a guide operating the motor at the tail. I look around and notice that all boats are docked or looming around in the bay, none are going out to sea. Sign number two we are doing something stupid. Fishermen on a nearby (and much larger) fishing boat yelled out to us urging us to turn around because the sea was too rough. At this point I tell our guide to turn around, noticing a change in the ocean. For some reason Lina thought the fishermen were joking with us, even though it was clear they weren't. We make our way out pretty far and get into really rough waters for being in such a small boat and it got to the point where I was wondering ' why the f*ck are we still going out and how am I going to save my camera if I have to swim back to shore?!?'. We finally get to the point where the waves were really choppy and higher than our boat. No doubt we would have capsized if we went any further, so the guide turned around and headed back to the bay. At that point I wanted off the boat even though the guide was going to try a different bay in the other direction. Screw him! If he needed the money that badly I'd rather he just stolen it from me. The other incident happened in Chaing Mai during Loi Krathong. We ended up walking by a rouge firework being lit in the middle of the street. Luckily, when I saw it I knew it was bad news and started running before it was lit, so when it exploded on the ground I was nearly into an open bar finding good cover. However, it was crazy to see bright balls of different colored sparks flying past me as I was running.

3. "I think I need to go to the hospital..." - Those were the last words I wanted to be saying on this trip. It was no more than a few hours after we had landed in Chaing Mai when I started shaking uncontrollably. I had goosebumps, my teeth were chattering, I was freezing - it was 90 degrees outside. The girls tried to convince me I was just getting a cold, but I knew (that gut feeling told me) this was something else and by the way my body was acting it was probably something worse. 4 tylenols and 6 hours later, my temperature only dropped 2 degrees from 103.8 to 103.6. I made the judgment call at 2am that we needed to go to the hospital immediately. I'm glad I did as the doctor told me if I wasn't admitted to the hospital I would have gone into shock. I spent the next 2 days in the hospital hooked up to IV's and eating what I can only describe as rice soup mush battling a bad bacterial infection. The girls were my guardian angels - they slept in the hospital with me and made 7-11 runs for bottled water, toilet paper (yes, no toilet paper in the hospital), and a deck of cards in case I would be in the hospital for awhile and wanted to get a poker game going with the nurses. My parents checked in often, and Joe was a main source of comfort in helping me get through it. All in all it took me two weeks to recover. The most unbelievable part of the whole experience is that 2 days in the hospital + the 6 different medications they gave me after I was discharged cost $100 USD.

It all makes you stronger (and wiser),

Jillian aka Jilly, Jillypet, Jillybean, J-Dilla, J-Bones, and sometimes Crab Cakes