Expat Life: Reality of Raising My Child in USA, Spain & India

You know how sometimes we can’t see what’s right under our noses? And as parents we don’t realise how quickly time passes until it’s too late? Well that was me. My little angel was the best thing to ever happen to me. She was my greatest joy and my deepest frustration, sometimes in quite equal doses! Her father and I divorced when she was just 1 year old and anyone who has done it can attest that being a single parent isn’t easy. Yet she made that life we shared a true joy and she always made me proud to be a single mom. (more…)

Amazing Service at Post Office in Petronas Towers – Suria Mall POS

Honestly, I had braced myself for a long ride! I have been to countless POS offices (Malaysia’s federally-run Post Office) in Kuala Lumpur and while they are never frustrating, they are not quick experiences. I seriously take reading material with me when I go. This time I was equipped with my iPhone as entertainment and I was on a mission to send a ‘love box’ to my daughter at university in London. It’s a ritual of mine to send everything from almonds and knickers to beauty products and (this time) fun things like Hello Kitty slippers. Well, I live around the corner from Petronas Twin Towers and Suria Mall and that is now my closest POS … so that’s where I went to send my package to the UK. (more…)

A Week of Moon Cakes & Passion Fruit in Kuala Lumpur

This was a fabulous week in my world, discovering moon cakes after all these years in Asia … and finding SWEET passion fruit finally in Malaysia (woohoo!). (more…)

#1 Thing I Hated About Living in India

Anyone who has visited or lived in India knows that there is one truth that must be embraced above all others >> that India is a land of contrasts. I lived there for about three years … and was subsequently blacklisted from the country like a terrorist or criminal for the next five years over a paperwork issue that they refused to correct. I’m on year four if they stick to the five year blacklisting and I’m looking forward to returning next year for a visit to see my friends and explore the country as a tourist for the first time. (more…)

From Kuala Lumpur to Cameron Highlands by Car | Expat Travel Vlog

I’ve been a mega fan of road trips from the time I was a little girl and dad would drive us from Los Angeles to the Colorado River for week-long water skiing trips. It was very fun! Since then I’ve road tripped in Mexico (where I was shot at by bandits), solo in the Rocky Mountains, around a dozen countries in Europe with friends, and for a week alone in Tunisia just my daughter and I. Now I’m going it solo again for the first time in my new home of Malaysia, from Kuala Lumpur to Cameron Highlands.

If you like the vlog, I’d love it if you subscribe to my YouTube channel please 😉

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Top 5 Kuala Lumpur FOOD TRUCKS at TAPAK KLCC

In all the years I’ve been vlogging, this is my longest video, and for good reason. Malaysians LOVE foodie videos ;-). And given the popularity of street food and night market videos, and after about one year of eating from Malaysian food trucks at least every week … I thought it was time to share my Top 5 Best and Most Favourite Food Trucks at TAPAK here in Kuala Lumpur. These are my personal favourites that I visit over and over again here in KL.
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Top 5 Things Ex-Barcelona Expats Miss Most About Spain

I moved to Barcelona the first time by accident. It was 1993, the year after their summer Olympic games and I had bought the cheapest one-way ticket from Los Angeles to Europe I could find, which happened to be Amsterdam. It was May and I had not packed well for Northern Europe so I was freezing my ass off! After two days of smoking everything possible in the cool cafes near the Red Light District, I took a train to Paris. Paris was too expensive, San Sebastian and Pamplona weren’t what I was looking for, and I ultimately ended up in a seaside village 25 minutes south of Barcelona called Sitges. (more…)

Why I Chose Expat Life in Malaysia

The last time I remember being this light, this joyfully happy, this optimistic, and this positive was the summer of 2013. I can pinpoint triggers in my mind and there are precisely two to be exact. The first was in July when my daughter and I went on a very fun weeklong road trip in India before she moved away to head to uni in the UK. We drove the chauffer (not Shiva!) mad for hours-on-end singing our favourite songs from the 60s to 2000s, had wonderfully long talks that touched my heart, and shared special and dodgy moments adventuring around South India. The second was the next month when I flew back to the U.S. to renew my India visa and had a wild weekend with my brother and sister in San Francisco. It was indulgent, hilarious, and a bit naughty … everything you want from a reunion, right? (more…)

Attending Malay-Muslim Wedding Reception (Majlis Bersanding) | Kuala Lumpur Expat Life

After 18 months of living in Kuala Lumpur, I am so thrilled to have finally been invited to my very first Malay-Muslim wedding reception. Well, I had attended one last year for a short time but it was a spontaneous thing and I hadn’t actually known the couple (see that video here). This time, I’ve known the groom Kamal for close to a year and was wonderfully happy to meet his lovely bride Suhada and be able to take part in their lovely majlis bersanding. (more…)

Phuket | Eating Chicken Hearts & Getting Scammed at Night Market

It’s wild how different Thai street food is compared to what I’ve known for the past 18 months here in Malaysia. They’re super keen on literally ANYTHING on a stick it seems. Spicy is better. And there is huge pride in the freshness and quality by the hawker and food stall owners. Come with me as I explore a night market in Phuket and some local hawker street food along the seafront at Panwa Beach. I tried a few meats-on-a-stick that included a real first for me, chicken hearts!

Ohhhh and it was my first time being scammed by a night market vendor, that was not fun at all sadly. It cost me all my night market shots from my video cam, so forgive me please that the beginning of the video is all selfie video and me, me, me!

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Exploring Chinese Cemetery with Li Kim from The Paranormal Zone

Ever since my daughter and I explored the cemetery island in Venice, Italy back in 2008 I’ve loved visiting cemeteries. They are a beautiful and unique way to better understand a country or region and its culture. That is certainly true for Malaysia, which I discovered first in Penang at a Protestant cemetery and now here in Kuala Lumpur at the Chinese Cemetery located right downtown (but feels a million kilometres away). (more…)

Trying Malaysia’s NEW Char Kuey Teow Burger with My Friends at FungryTV

Yum, yum, and double YUM!!!! What a lunch! As you’ll see I not only had a rockin’ time with friends old and new … I also dug into a brand new burger that was invented for Merdeka 2017 … and damn is it tasty! I was invited by my friend Razif Hashim to try this new deconstructed char kuey teow burger that has been created to combat the crazy nasi lemak burger 😉 (more…)

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