Posts

Malaysia Trip (Dec 12-28, 2022)

-
Image
During our 2.5 weeks in Malaysia, my daughter and I toured through Kuala Lumpur, Petaling Jaya, the Penang Island towns of Georgetown and Jetulong, and the sleepy southern seaside town of Port Dickson. We were intentional about traveling at a slow pace and leaving room for plenty of downtime, as we’d had quite a stressful month in Bangalore beforehand.   One of my motivations for visiting Malaysia on this trip is because I’ve   been researching possible places to retire as an expat and Malaysia and Portugal are always among the top 10 destinations on all the expat blogs. I’d already spent 3 weeks scouting possible retirement locales in Portugal this past July and so it was time to see if I could envision a life for myself in Malaysia. While there is still more to explore in KL on my next trip, I didn’t care for Penang or southwestern Malaysia as longterm options. And I found that there are extremes in Malaysia - the ultra urban, business/tourist hubs, and the remote, rural towns which
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 11: Lausanne, Switzerland

-
Image
This weekend I decided to get away to the French-speaking part of Switzerland, in Lausanne. It’s a beautiful and historic city on the banks of Lac Leman, also known as Lake Geneva - one of the largest freshwater lakes in Western Europe. And it is the official home of the Olympics.  Though I haven’t spoken French in a long while, I found it quite easy to read signs and menus as the Latin roots and linguistic structure is so familiar to me. In fact, when I went to the Museum of the Olympics, I could understand the French descriptions far easier than the Swiss-German ones! English is not recognized (yet) as an official language in the Switzerland due to some push back from the French and Italian-speaking minority Swiss who say the Swiss-Germans should prioritize learning French and Italian before English. That hasn’t stopped the Swiss-Germans from being damn good at English, too. I didn’t expect to enjoy the Olympic Museum as much as I did. I think I have become jaded by how massive, comm
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 9: Freiburg - Germany's Green City

-
Image
I have arrived in Freiburg im Breisgau, a university town in the southern state of Bavaria, Germany, near the famed Black Forest. It is a very picturesque city about the size of Porto, Portugal (150K population) and what strikes me the most is it's wonderful infrastructure of trains, electric trams and buses, and the diversity and friendliness of its people. There are people of all backgrounds here, some second and third generation immigrants from the waves of the 60s and 70s and more recent transplants who have come as refugees or skilled workers. Plus the university population who have come to study in an old and respected university and the Bavarians themselves.   Freiburg is known as the greenest city in Germany, both for its fine weather and also its commitment to climate change measures. It has both an urban feel with many plazas and old buildings but also the feel of a vibrant, mixed-use walking / biking suburb with many parks and green spaces sprinkled throughout. I am begi
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 8: Lisboa and Sintra

-
Image
Parque Eduardo VII So far on this trip, Lisboa has been my favorite city. I think it may be too big for me in the long run (500K population), but it is definitely a place I will want to visit and revisit as it has so much to offer. Here there is history, modernity, wonderful scenery and climate, a very cosmopolitan scene and friendly residents. A week was definitely not enough time here but it has given me a sense of what living in Portugal would be like as an ex-pat and one who really would try to immerse myself in local culture. The Portuguese language is an interesting one because even though it is a Romance language with Latin roots, mainland Portuguese (from Portugal) has gone through different linguistic transitions compared to Spanish, French, Italian and Brazilian Portuguese. Portugal is more geographically isolated than its Mediterranean neighbors and so its language has been more resistant to linguistic changes. I found this endlessly interesting and frustrating as I really w
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 7: Nazare, Portugal

-
Image
 Nazare - idyllic beach town (on the verge of being taken over by foreign investors) Nazare is a historic fishing village in Portugal's central coast. I had read a lot about the town and how beautiful it was but knew it was quickly becoming a main tourist destination. I was a bit hesitant to visit Nazare during the peak summer season as I worried about crowds, so I decided to stay on the cliffs of Sitio da Nazare, which overlooks Nazare beach. This was a good call as my surroundings were more laid back, but I had very easy access to Nazare through the Ascensor (a vertical tram that runs all day every day from Nazare to Sitio).  There are three nearby beaches in Nazare - Praia do Norte, Praia do Nazare and Praia da Sul. Norte is north of the cliffs and is the site of the largest recorded "surf-able" waves in the world. I learned that visitors from all over descend on this beach during April when the surf is at its highest. It was mostly deserted during the week I stayed he
1 comment
Read more

Moving from Vacation Mode to Remote Work Mode

-
Image
It has been six weeks on the road in Europe now and I am noticing some subtle and not so subtle shifts in my approach to being abroad. While in 'vacation mode' for the past month and a half, I have been able to be more present-focused, soaking in the sights, sounds, smells and textures of the places I am visiting (Germany, Malta, Sicily, northern Portugal). I have been eager to explore early in the mornings, settle in for a midday siesta, and then explore again at night. I have been content to people watch in the plazas and listen to the multitude of languages spoken all around me.  My brain has been full of the new things I am attending to - unfamiliar words and expressions, bus and train schedules, familiarizing myself with the variety of Euro bills and coins, tracking my location in Google maps so I don't get lost in new areas. My muscles have been sore in the evenings with all of the daily walking and my yoga practice has been slow and deliberate to stretch out, feel li
Post a Comment
Read more

The Unhoused in Europe

-
I haven’t run across too many noticeably homeless folks in Malta, Sicily, Italy and Portugal. I have been approached by only a handful of people and have seen a few more sitting on corners with a cup out. This is a notable contrast to all of the big cities on the West Coast of the US where we have have blocks of tent cities. It is clear that there is a different kind of safety net here where folks who fall on hard times can get support from family, their community, their gov’t or all three. What I have seen is a lot of buskers, playing their music in the plazas, and near the outdoor cafes, where they create a lively atmosphere and provide free entertainment night after night. The patrons benefit and so do the cafe owners. I don’t see cafe owners or security threatening or removing them. This is also different back home. In the US, no one can earn a living without paying someone - getting a permit, renting a space, sharing a commission to someone else. This is ironic given that we pride
Post a Comment
Read more