Why I started travel blogging: I'm a third culture kid

A third culture kid (TCK) is a person who has grown up in different countries and cultures therefore developing cultural traditions as a mixed salad of different cultures as opposed to feeling rooted in just one. A hybridity of cultures.

I was born in Singapore, childhood in Jakarta, then pre-teen through teen years in Singapore, University in LA, early to late twenties working and living in New York, back to Singapore, then Graduate school in Switzerland, internship in Brussels, back to Singapore and now Global Nomad writing about my life as a hybrid of cultures and travel. Its quite confusing to tell people "where I'm from?" because I'm a mixed bag. A long story. A complicated background of cultures. I hold a passport that is pretty foreign to me and when going through visa applications and immigration it always baffles people. I have also spent summers living in Sydney, Lake Arrowhead, San Francisco, LA, Durham (NC), Washington DC, Toronto, and Edinburgh either visiting family, summer camps, and performing in festivals.

My accent is American with an international school lilt sometimes, Californian sometimes, and New Yorker sometimes. I have mostly Chinese heritage (my ancestors but my parents are as global and cultural hybrids themselves) but I speak zero Chinese except beyond "Ni Hao" "Xie Xie" with a English accent. English is my native language although Bahasa Indonesian is my first language though I've got the fluency of a 3 year old. I studied Japanese for 8 years in grade school and can only muster up broken Japanese these days. I studied Swedish in University intensively for a year then in recent years have been self studying with books, newspapers, music, tv/film, online courses, speaking to Swedes, and took a brief course while I was in Brussels and I read and understand it pretty well. Briefly studied German (what a hard language!) for 6 months and can still order food or understand basic German alright. I started learning a bit of French because of my love for wine (what a wine geek!)

So that's just a tip of the iceberg on my complicated TCK life... I'm not going to bother you with the rest

Why I started travel blogging

I wanted a little place to tell my stories. I've traveled my entire life and have been to so many places on this small world. It is my rolodex, my portfolio, and to inspire others to become global citizens. The world is not that big. 

My immediate family and extended family members live across world in different countries - there's no such thing as having a family reunion that all of us can make it. We would fill an entire grand ballroom if that ever happened. I have not met my entire extended family. 

Growing up as an expat kid and then later as an expat and world traveler means that I also have friends all over the world. My network continues to grow in geography. Its wonderful! 

Last but not least, I started travel blogging because I want to remember the stories and memories. Memories are my home and I don't want to forget them. 

This is my ever-growing list of Places I've been to

A showcase by Singapore International Foundation artists who have received funding in 2013/2014. My dance production, Habitat, toured to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2013. 

Letters to/from Laura and Alaine

Quite a lot of people know me as Alaine, the choreographer/dancer/dance educator and ask me about my next choreographic project... I'm happy to announce to all my dear traveling readers to visit Letters and check out my dancing around the world adventures virtually with my dancer, Laura. Our most recent videos and links to the most recent postcards are below. 

Letters to/from Laura and Alaine: Laura's postcard from Mount Vernon:
From a Singapore Garden



Letters to/from Laura and Alaine: From a Madrid Garden
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CHAMELEON: A TCK/CCK experience : A need for communication and peace

CHAMELEON: A TCK/CCK experience : A need for communication and peace:
There is a need for communication, peace, open hearts, paired with lots of art, food, wine/drink.

Communication because misunderstandings happen all the time. 

Peace because there's enough strife and conflict. 

Open hearts because we've become isolated, distrustful, fearful, and scared. (I'm working on this one.) 

Art because it strikes a chord with the emotional, thinking, feeling, perception, and diffuses difficult conversations with beauty. Dance, sing, act, paint, draw, sculpt, etc. 

Food because who doesn't love gathering around with good food. 

Wine because the complexity of personal stories pairs well with complex wines!

We need peace.

Talk to people, make friends, hear other people's stories.

Stand up for your own beliefs if you feel threatened. 

24 Hours in Crans Montana

I was recently asked to Guest Blog at One Day Itinerary and write about a place that was a 24 hour Guide to a place. I thought about the smaller cities and towns I've visited that people would not feel rushed to SEE EVERYTHING and not sleep. I'm not that kind of traveler anyway! I do love watching Anthony Bourdain's The Layover when it was airing but the frenetic pace was just tiring for me. Even if I'm traveling for work or leisure, I need some down time to be in the present and look around me as opposed to rushing around. Its better for health and sanity in my opinion.

My decision: Crans Montana

Here's the post on the site: One Day in Crans Montana

I lived in this area for over a year during my postgraduate studies. Its a sleepy place but beautiful and peaceful. The morning, afternoon, and evening views are amazing! I miss seeing the stars at night walking home from the gym or a group meeting. Going to school here was wonderful.

I'm cross posting some highlights from the post below.

Crans Montana is a premier winter destination for skiing and is the perfect place to get away from the hustle and bustle of urban life. Made up of two towns, Crans and Montana have their own distinct character that is so typical of a Swiss Mountain town. Most of the year, these towns are fairly peaceful and calm except for the Caprices festival of electronic music in the spring and the Golf OMEGA tournament in August. During the winter ski season, Crans and Montana is teeming with skiers from all across the globe and businesses are open later than usual.

Top things to do in Crans Montana, Switzerland

Have breakfast at Taillens in Montana

After riding the funicular up to Montana from Sierre, walk to the Taillens café in Montana for a quick breakfast of a pastry and coffee (or tea if you prefer). For a heartier breakfast, they also have a full menu where you can order sandwiches, eggs, pasta, etc.

Rent your skis and head over to the ski station

You can rent your ski equipment (or snowboard equipment) from any of the retailers in Montana or Crans. Plan to leave your shoes at the rental location and take your equipment to either the Crans ski station or Montana ski station. It is probably the most convenient to rent your equipment that is nearest to either of these ski stations.

Ski all morning and then go up to the peak of Plaine Morte

Ski the areas of Cry’d’er, Bella Lui, and across Violettes then take the cable car up to the peak of Plaine Morte just before lunch time. It is highly recommended to go up before the lunch crowd settles in as there is a cozy bistro restaurant with beautiful views but limited seating. 

Ski from the top of Plaine Morte down to ski station

Skiing from the top of Plaine Morte down to any of the ski stations at the bottom of the mountain with stops along the way to take pictures of the beautiful Swiss Alps. By the time you reach the bottom you would have worked up quite an appetite.

Have a burger dinner at either Burger Lounge in Crans or Montana Diner

The perfect après ski dinner meal is a classic burger and fries washed down with beer. Burger Lounge  in Crans is known for their gourmet burgers. They are a favorite among residents and open most of the year. If you plan on dining here, pre-plan and reserve a table because it is usually to full capacity. A good alternative, the new Montana Diner by the lake and their burgers are solid with a beautiful atmosphere and large floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the lake.

Apres ski party at Zerodix

After dinner, walk back up to Crans ski station for the après ski party at Zerodix. The djs would already be turning up the volume and the party atmosphere is happy drunk. The party ends around 9 pm.

Join the crowd to the nearest pub before clubbing the night away

There are a number of bars in Crans that is popular among visitors and residents as well as students. Leo’s bar, Le Pub, Pacha, and Sky club are all popular and the party will keep going until 4 or 5 a.m. depending on the night of the week so make sure to bring your dancing shoes.

Some extra tips for visiting Crans Montana?

If you don’t plan on skiing there are also other activities in Crans and Montana that don’t involve downhill skiing. Some of the sports activities include ice skating, bowling, cross country skiing, curling, dog sledding. Crans Montana also has a wonderful array of luxury retail shops and quirky boutiques. For a quieter night, try a Fondue or Raclette dinner at Petit Paradis the tomato cheese fondue is addictive! After the fondue you will certainly be in a cheese coma so cozy up to a room at the quaint family owned hotel.

CHAMELEON: A TCK/CCK experience : Digital Nomadism for this TCK

I wrote two poems on my TCK blog. Check it out.


CHAMELEON: A TCK/CCK experience : Digital Nomadism for this TCK:

A vicious cycle for a TCK: Packing up, Unpacking, Moving, Transporting, Goodbyes and Hellos

5 Favorite Travel sites I visit

Radisson Blu Zurich Airport

Radisson Blu Malmö

When I travel I like to do a little bit of research of places to visit that I may be interested so I'm not overwhelmed. These are 5 of my favorite sites

Yelp <-- Add me on Yelp! :-)

I've been a fairly active Yelp-er for a number of years now (since November 2007) and I use this to review and find places to eat (and other businesses but mostly restaurants and bars have the most reviews). There are some drawbacks to this site though... Not all places have many ratings or active users especially if Yelp just launched in that city. That being said, Yelp is growing globally so there are active users of the site around the globe. 

Pinterest <-- Follow me on Pinterest

Pinterest boards are inspiration boards. Sometimes the pictures and linked blog posts about travel are so captivating that you can't help but click on the picture to find out more. I've been chasing the Northern Lights for a while now and Pinterest was where I first saw beautiful pictures of it. (I've finally managed to see a short fuzzy glimpse of Aurora Borealis briefly once on a trip to Northern Finland) I'm still hoping to catch a clearer view of the dancing green lights later this year. I am also a fan of the packing lists that show up on Pinterest frequently as it always fascinates me what people pack in their bags for a trip. 

Afar.com

Though I admit, I am not as active on the site as I am on the other two above but I do look at this site for more travel tips and things-to-do. You can save each Highlight onto a list and it can be a good inspiration to plan out your trip. That is what I tend to do with this website. The pictures and contributors are regular users of the site and journalists for the magazine as well as travel locals. So it is a good mix of people recommending different things. This site also has a lot of lists that will give you even more ideas on what to do.

TripAdvisor 

This website is very popular amongst travelers. I tend to use this to read up on hotel reviews because this is the most popular site for hotel reviews. I rarely use this to look up for things to do or restaurant reviews because the sites above already give me a more visuals. I prefer a website to have more user pictures and less advertisements so I can make an informed decision. Nevertheless, it is a popular site and there are a lot of reviews.

Instagram <--Follow me 

More visual travel inspiration. I follow quite a number of travel instagram accounts and foodie instagram accounts so my feed is always luring me with wanderlust ;-) I like pictures so a social media channel that is mostly visual really appeals to me. #travel #wanderlust

Some other sites that I use are Internations (I ask members for recommendations on the forum boards for specific locations), SANDEMAN's  (They give free walking tours in cities throughout Europe), Airbnb (If I stay in a location for longer than a week, I tend to prefer renting a studio).
I am also a Star Alliance frequent flyer member,  OneWorld member, AccorHotels member, Marriot rewards, Spg, First Hotels, the travel section of American Express, and CitizenM to book flights and hotels. I think being a member of a number of hotel and airline loyalty programs leads to upgrades, discounts, etc. 

Weekend getaways

Sometimes life really needs that little break. Since moving to Europe in 2015, I've travelled to many places whether for a weekend getaway, day trip, a few days, or a week. It has been exciting to travel to Stockholm, Berlin, Amsterdam, Oulu, Prague, Barcelona, Dresden, Innsbruck, Zurich, Geneva, Vevey, Zermatt, and the little random towns. 

Leukerbad Therme, Switzerland May 2015

Sometimes one needs to recharge but doesn't have too much time to take off from work. Weekend getaways are perfect. Day trips, weekend trips, 1/2 day trips.

When I lived in NYC, I would take ski trips up to Vermont using a bus that would pick up at 4 a.m. in Manhattan and then arrive at the mountain by 9 a.m. We'd ski all day then the bus would take us back at around 4 pm followed by Korean bbq or a nice big bowl of Japanese ramen in the city for apres ski. Those were great memories.

Okemo mountain resort, VT

In Singapore, I didn't really take weekends or day trips away. I worked during the weekend so I saved up my vacations to coincide with school holidays and flew further away to recharge. Those jaunts to the UK, Europe, Chiang Mai, Malacca, Bali, Hong Kong, really added up and I had a gold frequent flyer status. The perks of fast track and lounge access alleviated the stress of airports and waiting around for flights.

Chiang Mai, Thailand Dec 2012

Zermatt ski holiday, Switzerland Dec 2013

London, UK July 2013

Copenhagen, Denmark Dec 2013

Berlin for Christmas, Germany Dec 2013

Milano, Italy July 2014

Nasi goreng and Bakmi goreng recipe

Nasi Goreng

Bakmi goreng - this one was so close to my Grandmother's version! I was so happy!

In light of the attacks this morning in Jakarta, I was going to write a depressing blog post about worrying about my family and friends in Jakarta but instead I've decided to dedicate this post to my memories of growing up in Jakarta as a child. 

The smell of nasi goreng or bakmi goreng would waft all through the kitchen onto the dining table. I remember distinctly those aromatic smells coming from the kitchen whenever my grandmother cooked. She was the best! She made such good food that when she was alive I didn't really appreciate it fully because I was such a brat. (I only wanted to eat "restaurant" quality food) - hahaha a picky eater. I'm still a picky eater and being one today is much more tolerable because if food is crap then I won't eat. Therefore no wasted calories ;-)

I like to cook these days and its become quite the stress reliever to come home after a long day and clean veggies, chop onions and garlic, marinate meat, etc. Homemade food tastes really good and I eat less because my nose and sight has been satiated during the process of making it. Leftovers are fantastic for the next few days when I don't have time to cook. 

I used to be terrible at cooking (weren't we all terrible at one point!?) and my father still jokes about my weird "nasi goreng" to this day. hehe... 

Nasi Goreng is a national Indonesian dish that is usually served with condiments like acar (pickles), satay (chicken or beef skewers), kroepok (shrimp crackers), and a sunny side up egg on top with fried shallots. 

When I cook, I don't like to measure things exactly especially if its a dish I've made and did so many trial-and-error experiments with ingredients and sauces. I cook things in accordance "to taste". (Probably why baking and making recipes that have to be exact drives me insane!)

My last semester at hospitality school, we had a class with a guest chef who was very animated and passionate about cooking. He used to work in airline catering for a long time as a consultant. He devised a very simple method of measuring out every ingredient when the head chefs would come in to create the recipes so that each recipe will spurn a dish that would taste exactly the same each time regardless of who was making it. Genius! 

During this class, he asked two students to volunteer to be head chefs with a team for the kitchen brigade. I volunteered. I had to device a recipe and write it all out. Guess what I made?! Yep, Nasi Goreng. 

This is my recipe.

Used Net weight	Unit	Item
162	g	Sunflower Oil
3	pcs	Eggs (scrambled)
408	g	Shrimps
566	g	Onions (chopped & diced)
466	g	Carrots
250	g	Peas
206	g	Green Beans
200	g	Sambal
165	g	Sweet Soy sauce
180	g	Soy Sauce
800	g	Rice, cooked
5	pcs	Whole Eggs (sunny side up)
86	g	Fried Shallots

Preparation process
1	In a small mixing bowl, mix the eggs
2	Put oil into the pan (72g)
3	Add egg (scrambled). 1 min.
4	Add chopped onions
5	Add shrimps
6	Stir fry everything for 5 min.
7	Add oil (58g). Add chopped carrots (466g). Stir fry for 3 min.
8	Add peas (250g). Stir fry 2 min.
9	Add green beans (206g). Stir fry 2 min.
10	Add sambal (100g). Mix well. 30 sec.
11	Add sweet soy sauce (165 g) Mix well. 30 sec.
12	Add sambal (100g). Mix well. 30 sec.
13	Add soy sauce (180g) Mix well. 2 min.
14	Add rice (800 g). Mix well. 6 min.
15	In a separate pan, fry sunny side up eggs.
16	Plate rice. Topped with Sunny side up egg.
17	Garnish with Fried Shallots

You can also substitute rice with egg noodles to make Bakmi Goreng

My knife set :-) 

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Everyone!

How was the holiday season this time around for you? It seems like every holiday season is blending in to the ones from the past. (Or am I just getting old and tired of the season?!) I spent Christmas Eve on a train from Brussels to Schipol airport. It was delayed because some crazy idiot decides to feel suicidal and walk on the train tracks (or that person could also be high on drugs) so the train was stalled and delayed for at least 45 minutes. Thank goodness my flight was the next morning. 

Note to self: do not take the train to Schipol on the day of a flight

By the time I got to the airport hotel, I was tired. I like the Citizen M hotels because of their huge beds, free movies, mood lighting, and breakfast! Ok, enough endorsing my personal views for now since I'm interning at a fairly large hotel company but didn't stay at one of our properties (feeling the guilt!). I will try and utilise my employee discount though when I travel to some locations where accommodation is ridiculously expensive. 

I flew on Christmas day to Singapore. Arrived the next day. Then the jet lag ensued... Sigh. There seems to be a problem flying east when it comes to jet lag. 

Where did you spend NYE? I had dinner with family then went to my friends' place and hung out with her and her cute cat. Very different from last year's NYE.

Had a nice little week in Singapore and saw my family and some friends. I am glad to get back to Brussels though to really begin some work. My first couple weeks were not very intense as it was the holiday season and copious meetings, conference, dinners.