eating and living the southeast asia way.

im thinking of starting a book. about...eating and living the southeast asia way. i have many theories about life and health and i am very curious in homeopathic remedies and traditional chinese medicine. although i would like to know more about it...i am continually hmm...i guess discouraged in the american way of eating and working and living. if you have seen or read any of the documentaries such as "food, inc" then you know how processed and over manufactured and corparte our food is. cooperate america has taken over and their goal seems to be to feed the most amount of people in the cheapest way, making the most money. over the last few years people are suddenly gluten and dairy sensitive. i noticed that they even had gluten free communion at church!! jeez.
for a person who could live off of bread and ice cream i have been ignoring my own digestive issues. hoping that my body is going through some sort of phase, if it is the more processed food maybe my body will adapt. when most people travel to third world countries they worry about eating the food and drinking the water. but i didnt restrain myself much as far as the food goes. of corse we bought the bottled water. but we tried to eat like the locals. it is an essential part of traveling for me. truly experiencing a new place and culture. i knew that bread or gluten and dairy were not going to be super common in places like vietnam so i was anxious to see how my stomach would be. and for the entire month i was gone i didnt have any issues. my diet consisted of mango smoothies, pho, spring rolls, rice, meat, veggies, eggs here and there cooked with the meat, pad thai, more soups. more rice. more veggies. and beer. i also realized how little sugar i ate while there. maybe this southasian diet is the key to my indigestive issues. or maybe it is just the processed foods. it is hard to say exactly but unfortunately the day i came back to the states i felt sick. i have been doing my best to incorporate more mangos, boba, spring rolls and asian messages in to my daily life. but im also thinking of seeing an allergy acupuncturist in boulder. ill let you know what they say :)

we need to change the way we eat. change the way we live and change the way we treat each other. - tupac

same same but different.

ive been dying to write about something other than downtown living mishaps and suburb settelings. it's about that time where i start to long for the challenging adventure of being somewhere new and far. for the last how ever many years i try to go somewhere for at least three to four weeks. i think of it as sort of a yearly cleanse from the comforts, and sometimes closed mindedness, of my own culture. i really just long to learn and experience something new. adventure can be the best way to learn...even if you just learn a little something new about yourself. while planning - there is always anxiety in the uncertainty of the trip being less fulfilling than expected. as i try to be open minded and laid back i am grimly aware of how much weight and importance a travel buddy holds. i have known and experienced traveling with different people and types of personalities - and from this i have realized how picky i am in my traveling realationships and otherwise. i try to be more of a "yellow" personality - motivated by fun. which i sometimes confuse with being laid backed. but inevitably i am motivated by selfish reasons and what i want and need. and sometimes i just need peace and quiet. i just need my travel buddy to leave me alone :) ha. dang it. i will continue to strongly believe in experiencing life with people you love. and ive always believed that traveling holds a strong testament to the complements of a couple or of a friendship. as i prepared for my three week trip to southeast asia i was in need of a companion for the first week. a fellow flight attendant and friend was more than willing to see the world and i welcomed her company. with more of a carpe diem outlook on life this year, i tend to say yes more than i perhaps should. how long will i have this job and will the opportunity come up again to go to vietnam? life is a constant question and saying yes is less of a fear and more of a challenge. i was secretly challenging the capabilities of myself and the lessons the world has to teach me. i am up for anything. who wants to go vietnam!? i have heard people who love vietnam and people who have hated it and i was ready to make my own opinion. we landed in hanoi in hopes of spending the night in the beautiful ha long bay. we were on a tight schedule and so when the weather wasnt ideal we were merely teased by the beauty the bay holds from a packed mini van of tourist just like ourselves. if you have never backpacked before then you might not know that you are 7 times more likely to become friends with a backpacker when traveling then you would with someone you meet in your own home town. so, vietnam immediately became a short lived week of me and my travel partner chelsea making our way down the coast meeting friends in every city we stayed. some were fellow travelers, some were vietnamese. all were very freindly. the trip was more of a sample...a mere taste of what vietnam has to offer and only left me wanting more. cant wait to go back!