Mongolia, Part 3

You don't particularly crumble when you're told that you'll be walking forty kilometres in four days- that's manageable, even if it makes you groan. You do, however, crumble into a heap onto that smelly ger-camp mattress once you walk eighty plus kilometres in four days.

The first day, we made it fifteen kilometres up a huge, huge mountain only to be told that the campsite was another five kilometres ahead. We ended up walking thirty kilometres that day- up a mountain, down a mountain, up and down two more hills, through two bogs that left my boots mud covered and stinky, through a forest, down a valley.

The next morning, we were furious with the overestimation but certain that day two would be better. It was. Only twenty five kilometres, on mostly flat ground, after which we ended up at a yak farm. Camping next to a yak farm means that you get yak milk in your porridge the next morning, and it's the most delicious thing I've ever tasted.

"Day three will be easy," our wranglers told us. "Only fifteen kilometers."

And it was fifteen kilometres. Straight up a thirty five degree incline. Through a mossy, mossy forest that you sunk into with every step. Our wrangler lost us at some point, taking our raincoatless translator with him. We felt bad for her, because-- you guessed it-- thunder cracked, and it started pouring down about half an hour later.

And then this happened.

Yup. That's hail. In JULY. Needless to say, it wasn't the best time of my life, but the subsequent hours that it took us to get to the top of the hill, down the other side and through the valley to our campsite were some of the most satisfying ever.

Thankfully, day four was uneventful, flat, and only twelve kilometers until we got to the ger camp where we were staying. During our last few days in Mongolia, we headed back to Ulaanbaatar for traditional song and dance performances (including throat singing, or khoomi) and an amusing dinner at BD's Mongolian barbecue.

Then I flew home. Caught up on posts I'd missed during my ten hour layover in Seoul. Arrived in Heathrow very, very happy to see flushing toilets.

lale

Mongolia, Part 2

Part 1.

After leaving the Lotus Children's center, we spent one night in Ulaanbaatar at the Lotus Guesthouse, then set off on our bus journey towards the Arkhangai province. Before we left, I spotted an incredibly cute baby with a woman by the road and naturally, I had to get a photograph.

We arrived in Karakorum late on the first night, which meant that our visit to the Erdenne Zuu monastery was postponed until morning.

I didn't mind so much, because it meant that I got these lovely sunny photographs!

Erdenne Zuu is a working Buddhist monastery, so we saw a few monks around chanting and praying. There were also some really interesting frescoes and artefacts- it's well worth a visit if you're nearby.
 

On day two of our bus trip, we stopped in Tsetserleg at the Fairfields cafe, a seemingly random but lovely British cafe, run by an expat couple who cook full English breakfasts and stock copies of The Week, which is a great English news magazine.

On the third night, we finally arrived at Khishig's Horse camp, a horse trekking ger camp set on the shores of the Great White Lake on top of a beautiful set of lava fields.

And the next day, our trek began.

But that's another story.

lale

Mongolia, Part 1

There are no direct flights from London to Ulaanbaatar, so our group flew via Seoul International Airport in South Korea. Long layovers are usually a pain, but aside from kimchi noodles, Seoul also has 'cultural experiences' to participate in, ranging from fan painting to Korean dance.

Kimchi noodles: not for people who hate spicy food!

After spending a night in a guesthouse in Ulaanbaatar, we headed south to the summer camp run by the Lotus Children's Centre. Lotus is a great organization and a great place to volunteer if you're planning a trip- they run a comfy and cheap guesthouse in UB that has showers and internet access if you're looking for a place to stay.

They also take care of some really cute kids.

I brought tons of beads, wire and elastic to make bracelets with them- Turkey is probably one of the best places in the world to find beads that are cute, sturdy and affordable in huge quantities. The company I bought them from is called Alp Boncuk, and they have an English-language website.

We had a lot of fun playing and doing projects with the kids- the language barrier wasn't actually much of an issue, though I eventually learned a couple of Mongolian words thanks to Miti-mah, the incredibly sweet girl in the photo above.

Didi, the woman who founded Lotus, tries to find jobs for ex-Lotus children in the guesthouse and cafe, and some of them also work as housemothers in the center, like this woman below.

Lotus children live in traditional Mongolian gers, which are moved to the countryside in summertime for the camp.

Unfortunately, the gers got a bit damp in the heavy rain we experienced during our stay, so some local men came to waterproof the gers by putting plastic under their fabric covers.

My time with Lotus was a hugely positive experience. I really enjoyed being with the children and meeting tons of wonderful people, from the housemothers to various volunteers, such as Susanne, a yoga teacher from Germany. She splits her time between Alaska and Hawaii, where she runs Abhyasa Yoga room.

Did I mention that the kids were hugely cute?

lale

I'm Back!

As the title suggests, I have now returned from squat toilets and wide-open plains to running water and dense New England forest. It took me approximately twenty-five hours of flights and four airline meals, but I made it in the end!

 (This is a vague representation of my journey; it involved four flights and additional stops in Seoul and Frankfurt.)

As I’m writing this, I’m huddled in a squashy leather armchair after being pestered by my Maltese, who in my absence has acquired a hot pink bow for her fringe—despite my warnings to my mother about the dangers of overdressing dogs lest they turn out like something Paris Hilton would want to hang on her arm. (Phoebe does look incredibly cute.)

So: what was the damage?

·      23 days in Outer Mongolia

·      Four squat toilets, complete with maggots

·      Approximately 40 liters of iodine-doused water consumed

·      One very cold bath in the Great White Lake

·      One blissful horse trek that was cut short due to a minor incident

·      80km hiked, mostly uphill, over three and a half days

·      Two hailstorms

I’ll elaborate more in a series of posts over the course of this week, but as you can probably tell from the above, it was an exciting, whirlwind adventure through western Mongolia. Despite the parts that weren’t as fun as I might have hoped (I.E. THE TREK) the sense of achievement I felt after getting through it all made them my favorite parts of the trip! 

Although we were at first suspicious of the fact that our group leader, John Carr, wasn't even vaguely middle aged, by the end of the trip we were seriously appreciative of both his ability to keep calm while sorting us out during an emergency and his scarily awesome medical skills. (Thankfully, he never had to exercise his right to amputate.) The rest of the leader team consisted of my former ICT teacher, a Geography teacher and a man who does the Duke of Edinburgh scheme at my school, so we were both in safe hands and great company!

Mongolians are a truly laid back, hospitable and perennially happy nation, and I was lucky to meet so many incredibly lovely people, from the children of the Lotus Children's Centre to the always-joking wranglers of Khishig's horse camp. In the end, it's always the people that make the trip, and although I'd expected to have fun with my fourteen school friends, I hadn't anticipated that I'd be reduced to both happy tears and crazy-laughter stitches by people who were strangers just three weeks ago.

Stay tuned for more details of a journey that involved more than one epic detour and a lot less boiled lung than I'd expected. (Though the semolina made up for it, especially that one time when John managed to turn it into dumplings. Enough said.)

lale

A short announcement...

Unfortunately, I probably won't be posting for the next three weeks.

No, I'm not sick, and I'm not extremely busy.

I'm going to be in Mongolia.

Unfortunately, there are no internet cafes or wireless ports on the steppes (or so I'm told) and I'm not allowed to bring tons of books to read, either. Yes, I'm doing it old style, with a humongous backpack, hiking boots and a ton of sunscreen. And youth hostels. 

So, that's where I'll be. What plans have you guys got this summer? 

Wish me luck!

lale

A Quick Post

I know I've been absent for the last few days, but I've been running around like crazy, taking flights, sorting my visa for Mongolia, buying camping gear and mostly eating Asian cuisine. Seriously. Yesterday I did Wagamama for lunch and Yo! Sushi for dinner, and today it was Wagamama for lunch again and Noodle Nation for dinner. (I don't want to see noodles for a very long time.)

Hopefully I'll have a review of Rick Riordan's 'The Red Pyramid' up soon, but in the meantime, check out this great trailer for Holly Black's 'White Cat'. I'm very excited for this one! Thanks to Violet at 'The Eager Readers' for the heads-up about the trailer.




lale

Anticipation

There are many upsides to getting hooked on a series. You spend more time with the characters and really get to know them. You get to stick with the story for longer. You have an excuse to buy more books. (I like that one.)

However, there's one major downside: the months you have to wait for the next installment.

It's why I like to get into TV shows that are already a good few seasons ahead- I'm never waiting for more. Now I've shot myself in the foot by starting to watch Glee and Pretty Little Liars, because it means I have to wait eons for more like normal people do. Sure, it's usually just a week, but that week can feel like an eternity. And when the sequel to a book I love comes out in six months to a year? My sanity flies out of the window.

I've tried to cope with fanfiction. I stalk author websites, desperate for any little tidbit that gets thrown my way. I have huge, lengthy discussions with my friends about what they think is going to happen. I follow forums and listen to everyone's theories. (I don't recommend this. What people dreamed up for Spirit Bound was creepy, crazy, and much more exciting than the real thing.)

Of course, one thing we really look forward to is seeing how relationships pan out. Here are a couple I'm desperate to see resolved. (Whoever I'm supporting will be listed first! ;))

1) Peeta vs. Gale in the 'Hunger Games' trilogy
2) Graves vs. Christophe vs. no-one in the 'Strange Angels' series (kudos to Lilith Saintcrow for presenting us with that option. As I've said, I love her realism SO MUCH.)
3) Dimitri vs. Adrian in the Vampire Academy series
4) Marc vs. Jace in the Shifters series

Who are you waiting for closure on? If you post, drop links in the comments. I'm curious to see whose sides you're on...

Speaking of anticipation, Reggie at The Undercover Book Lover is running a contest giving away ARCs of several books I'm seriously excited for- Kiersten White's 'Paranormalcy' for one! Plus, it's international and includes some pretty cool gum, which is quirky and awesome. Check it out over here.

Another thing I can't wait for: 



lale

My Favorite Literary Characters

1.Alanna of Trebond from Tamora Pierce’s ‘Song of the Lioness’ quartet
2.Nealan of Queenscove from Tamora Pierce’s ‘Protector of the Small’ series

Oh, heck, I love all of Tamora Pierce’s characters. I love George. I love Daine. I love Aly. I love Numair and Nawat. The reason I’ve picked these two is that Alanna is probably the character that I respect the most out of every one I’ve come across—she’s strong, determined, human, and probably the single reason I took up fencing. Neal just makes me laugh pretty much any time he appears. For example:

[Regarding a nasty classmate who’s suddenly being nice.]
Kel: He says he’s changed.
Nealan: I suppose he could have changed. I myself have noticed my growing resemblance to a daffodil.

Forget that quote that goes ‘Disney gave me unrealistic expectations about love.’ Tamora Pierce gave me unrealistic expectations about love. Not because her romances are ‘boy meets girl, they fall in love, live happily ever after’ a la Disney—far from it. Her male characters are just far too awesome.

3. Dorian from Richelle Mead’s ‘Dark Swan’ series

For anyone who’s read these books, Dorian’s awesomeness needs no justification or explanation. He’s just too cool. He’s not the kind of sneaky guy who’ll pretend to be in love with you while he plots against you in secret: he’ll do both at the same time and be completely blunt about his intentions. It makes for some funny moments.

4. Lirael from Garth Nix’s ‘Abhorsen’ trilogy


I like Lirael a lot more than Sabriel—she’s an outcast in the Clayr community, which I empathized with a lot when I was twelve, insecure and re-read the books about fifty times. Plus, she’s got an awesome sidekick: the Disreputable Dog, who delivers some of the funniest one-liners I’ve ever heard!

5. Graves from Lili St. Crow’s ‘Strange Angels’ series

Graves is just one of the most realistic characters I’ve come across. As I’ve mentioned before, his authoress seems to deliberately go out of her way to point out his faults—his caterpillar eyebrows, for example—yet we love him anyway, because he’s funny and generally quite nice. Forget Edward Cullen style ‘I AM PERFECT ALL THE TIME’ rubbish: Graves has his jerkish moments, but that just adds to how realistic his character is!

Who are your favorite literary characters? If you blog about them, post a link in the comments-- I'd love to see! :)

lale

Dedication in Action

If there are those of you who haven't seen the trailer for 'Linger' by Maggie Stiefvater, watch it now. She says it took 600+ photographs to make!



Isn't it beautiful? Some people are so multi-talented.

lale

Separating the Why from the What

Yesterday I had to write a practice personal statement for school. Having never done one before, I was understandably confused—what on earth do you put in it?

“Just say what you want to study at university and why,” my tutor told me. This information, though theoretically helpful, is, practically speaking, pretty useless.

You see, I’ve been into genetics since I was about eight and read an awesome book called ‘The Future: an Owner’s Manual’. Yes, it dealt with jet packs and all that kind of stuff, but it also said that scientists were genetically engineering bananas so that they’d contain the tuberculosis vaccine, and you could just eat the banana and not have to have the shot. Oh, and there was a part about engineering the purple Milka cow.

Of course, as a needle-phobic, chocolate loving kid, this was great news. Anyone who could do that, I decided, deserved deification. My goal in life became to make a Milka cow.

My life goals have changed since then, but I still think that genetics is insanely cool. Your genes decide whether you’re male or female. They decide your eye color. They even decide whether you can taste certain things!

More importantly, they decide whether you develop normally. Whether you have a 95% risk of Alzheimer’s or an increased risk of breast cancer. Whether you’ll die of natural causes when you’re eighty or from Huntington’s in your fifties.

On a more light-hearted note, if you’re a bit of a just-for-fun feminist, genes are in your favor. The Y chromosome is pretty much a sentence for a shorter and less healthy life—men just don’t live as long as women, and there are tons of disorders that usually only affect men. There’s the classic, hemophilia, but also Duchenne’s muscular dystrophy and even color blindness!

I’m also known to say (jokingly) that the ‘disabilities’ men have (e.g. an inability to multitask) can be explained by the fact that one of their chromosomes is missing a leg. In fact, I say it so often that my pre-teen sister has it ingrained in her mind. Observe the conversation below:

Me: Hey, Deniz—guess what? The most common chromosomal disorder affects one in 500 men, but only one in 2500 women. See? Women are cooler than men.

Deniz: Yeah, I know. Men are worse anyway.

Me: (Gives sister funny look.) What do you mean?

Deniz: Well, you always say that their chromosomes are missing a leg.

The fact that she’s in the fourth grade and can quote my unfunny genetics references back to me makes me more than a little bit proud. It also illustrates the fact that my household is kind of used to my rambling.

But that rambling—it’s difficult to get it down on paper. I know the why, just not the what. Somehow, I don’t think the university admissions office would be very impressed if they received a story about bananas.

Aimless rant over. Enjoy the rest of your day.

lale

Makeover time!

As you may have noticed, I've spiffed things up a little bit around here. The old version wasn't working. Cobwebs were starting to grow. It was terrible for my asthma.

But lo and behold: Sonora Moon of Sonora Moon Reviews pointed me in the direction of Shabby Blogs. My life has changed. Your life has probably changed, too. Yellow is killer on the eyes.

So... what do you think? Let me know in the comments. :)

lale

Meet Phoebe.

I know I've been MIA for a while, but apart from being sick as a dog (hehe... pun upcoming) I've had other distractions.

 Cute ones.



This is Phoebe.

She's an eight week old Maltese pup who has an obsession with cardboard toilet roll innards. And carpet tassels.



And socks.



Just to illustrate how small she is, this is her with my size eight sock.



It took us a while to figure out what to name her... Luna was a first choice, but it didn't sound feminine enough. The Percy Jackson series has sparked my sister's interest in Greek mythology, so I looked up mythological lunar deities. Apparently Phoebe was the goddess of the moon before Artemis came along.



'Phoebe' means 'bright, pure' so we thought that fit her, too. I mean... she's a white dog.
 In the end, however, no matter how cute or playful she is... she's still a puppy.




And puppies need their sleep.

lale

How to order your own birthday cake. (AKA observe the ten inch monster)

It seems like as you get older, you have to do more things for yourself. For example, this year I ordered my own birthday cake.

(To be fair, my parents offered, but this way I got purple glitter. It was a win-win situation.)

So, I asked around for a nice place for cake, and a friend referred me to the Hummingbird bakery. Bingo! They had chocolate cake and a location near where we were staying on my birthday weekend, so it was perfect. Then came the time to actually order the thing.
Now, I don't know about you, but when I think of a ten inch cake, I think ten inches across. Part of my extended family was at the event so I thought, 'what the heck, I'll get us a ten inch cake. We'll eat it no problem.'

Turns out that Hummingbird do things a little differently. My cake was ten inches tall.

Needless to say, we didn't eat it all, even with four men at the table. (My father's newly implemented and extremely impressive healthy eating regime might have had something to do with that.) The poor waitress even had trouble slicing the thing.

It was, however, extremely delicious, especially the butter cream icing. If you ever get the chance to sample a slice when you're in London... I thoroughly recommend it.

Now for some photos of this monster- sorry for the smudged name, but a girl's got to have some privacy! ;)




Observe the purple glitter!





For more information on Hummingbird's delicious array of cakes, (and I've been informed that they do a pretty mean red velvet cupcake) click here.

Percy Jackson and the Big Screen Experience

I was beyond excited for the Percy Jackson movie. My excitement was not in vain.

Yes, it was fairly dissimilar from the book, and some of that really annoyed me. No Ares-bashing? No cabins? NO CLARISSE??!

But you know what? I got over it, sat back and enjoyed the ride. My inner mythology nerd couldn't help but inflate its ego whenever it recognized a reference, and the Lotus Eaters was the only one I didn't recognize. I mean, I got it belatedly, but it wasn't an 'Oh, snap!' moment.

Even though it wasn't so prominent in the book, my soppy side enjoyed the romantic tension between Percy and Annabeth, even though I kind of objected to the aging of the characters. What can you do? It's Hollywood, and I guess you've got to sell.

My worst pet peeve was the sword fighting scenes, but that's universal, not specific to this movie. As someone who fences, I narrow my eyes and hiss whenever anyone takes a sword and swipes and clangs it together with another person's sword. Geeze, people. You'd be dead if you did that in a real fight.

I particularly enjoyed Grover in the movie, and the Turkish subtitles' version of his name: Kivircik, meaning 'curly.' Nice. Plus, the ending fight scene with Luke was epic. Heck, Luke was epic. At first I didn't like him all that much, especially sans scar, but by the end... he convinced me. He definitely had the mischievous-but-smart Son of Hermes thing down. ;)
(Don't get me wrong, Logan Lerman was also epic as Percy, but I watched 'My One and Only' over Christmas and knew that he was going to be good, so no surprises there.)

Plus, the guy who played Gabe Ugliano was called Joe Pantoliano. Doesn't that just make you laugh?

Overall, I'm happy with the movie because it'll probably entice more kids to read the books, and thus to get into mythology. I think some knowledge of Greek myths is kind of essential to life, not just for general knowledge but because it helps you understand and appreciate Classical Civilization in story form. And they're great stories-- when I was a kid I thought Perseus, Theseus and the rest of them were incredibly cool. (The Disney version of Hercules may have had something to do with this.)

What did you guys think?

lale

Runner up!

A poem of mine placed in our school's poetry competition. I was very pleased, as this was my first time in the senior round and the poem that came first was pretty awesome.

So, this is is it:

Contemplating Life

Life has a pattern
that I am unable to grasp.
A formula that I cannot understand.
Too precise to be
a cosmic coincidence.
No evidence that it’s anything more.

What if life
is just a façade?
A simple concept wearing a complicated cloak?
Infinity is a myth.
Nothing lasts forever—
not time, or space, or life.

We are all terminally ill.
Death is forever within our grasp.
Some seek it out, but me?
I cling to life by its coattails
afraid of what I cannot control.

Skulkin' around...

Every good procrastinator has online haunts. If you're an excellent but guilty procrastinator (like me) you have justifiable online haunts. Ones that could possibly be considered useful. Educational. That kind of thing. Here are my top 5:

5. Bakerella. Home to the cutest little 'cake pops' and other sweet treats, it's the perfect place for getting your sugar fix, sans calories. If I were a motivated person, I would actually make the cake pops. But a) I know mine will not be as pretty and b) that might defeat the point of the whole sans calories thing.

4. Critique Circle. I firmly believe that every aspiring writer should have an  account, not necessarily to submit their own work for (very constructive and helpful) critiques, but to critique other people's work. It makes you a better editor. Plus, the folks there are really helpful in the research department.

3. Flickr. It gives you no excuse not to have a portfolio of photography. No books, paper, glue or substantial effort required. Plus, it's free, and so simple to convert your photos to a chunk of html for forum posting.

2. Digital Photography School. An invaluable resource for budding photographers. The tutorials are user friendly and cover every aspect of photography under the sun, the forum full of wonderful people ready to critique or shower praise on your photos. (if you want critique, use the critique forum; adulation, go to to 'share my shots'.) They also run challenges to spark your creativity!

1. The Pioneer Woman. Yup, this one wins hands down. Pioneer Woman is a charming poster, a great food photographer and an excellent cook. I didn't know about the last one until two weeks ago, when I cooked both her 'Pasta with Artichoke Hearts and Tomatoes' and the 'Shrimp Pasta in a Foil Package'
Both were incredibly delicious and dead simple, too. Sign up for the full blog feed. You'll be entertained by the tales of ranching life, awed by the beauty of country wildlife and made starving by the mouthwatering photos of delicious food. 

Go check 'em out now. ;)

Lale

Old habits die hard

I watched 'The Princess Diaries' movie last weekend. It forced me to come to a terrifying conclusion about myself.

I will never grow up.

Not in the Peter Pan way, of course- if I knew how to do that I'd be a billionaire- but in the emotional sense. I am no longer twelve years old, yet I hissed with disdain whenever the cheerleaders came onscreen. I snickered at Mia's funny faces. I swooned when she got kissed by Michael Moscovitz. I cried when she made her heartfelt speech at the end.

Okay, I didn't go that far. I've never been one for sentimental but terribly delivered speeches. And I don't often cry. Except when I think that I had a packet of chocolate fingers left in my junk food stash but it turns out that I ate them already.

On a less deathly serious note, watching such films with an older, more critical eye yields some interesting observations.

1. Riding a scooter to school is not only a little bit geeky, if you ride on paving stones it must be quite painful, and if you ride one in San Fransisco, going downhill must be dangerous.

2. Michael Moscovitz looks like one of the Beatles.

3. Josh Bryant is not so hot.

4. Lana Thomas is not very cool.

5. Clarisse and Joe are seriously cute.

Wanderlust SERENDIPITY Competition

Check out my entry. ;)

Angkor Wat, Home of the Dangerous Descent

“I don’t think I can make it down.”

My father pinched the bridge of his nose. “So you’re going to spend the rest of your life up here?”

I shrugged, and tried not to look over the edge. “It’s pretty. And I was hoping you could hire a helicopter or something.”

“Woo-hoo! C’mon, Amy!” One brave girl was sliding down on her butt, step by five centimeter wide step, much to the delight of the rest of her college group. She obviously hadn’t seen the sign at the bottom that said ‘Climb at your own risk.’

I had no problems ascending at my own risk. It was descending at my own risk that was more worrisome.

“Lale. I’m going down. You can stay, or you can come have lunch.”

Lunch. Khmer cuisine, rice and noodles and curry.  Stir-fry. Star Fruit. Durian. Mmm.

“I guess…” I looked over the precipice once more, and swallowed. “I guess I could make it.”

My dad rolled his eyes and began the descent. I squatted sideways on the first step and latched onto the rusted handrail. My stomach lurched when it moved a half foot towards me.

Oh dear.

Step by step. One by one. Don’t look down. Almost there.  One last step—

I tripped into my mothers’ arms.

“Took you long enough,” she grumbled.

My dad laughed. “One temple down, four to go.”

My cheeks felt cold. Dad shot me a sly glance. “Don’t worry, Lale. We’ll find you an elephant.”

...True story.