What I eat everyday

I put whatever ingredients I want in pancake - banana, nuts, carrots, raisin, dry berries, sweet potato, eggs, chia seeds, hemp seeds, cocoa powder, peanut butter and just a little bit of brown sugar and flour - they are all optional please don't put everything in one pancake! There's no recipe. You just got to experiment. It's gonna be good anyway.

After snow season, I would bring pancake when I go hiking.

(Top) Berries smoothies. Squash with cinnamon. Squash with cheese and egg. Veggie pizza.
(Bottom left) Veggie scramble eggs. Roasted carrots and squash. Pancake. Pineapple juice?
(Bottom right) Japanese style fried pork loin - alright this one is not so healthy but it's very delicious.

I started to pay more attention on cooking since I moved to Niwot, CO and lived with a very nice roommate. It's kinda painful to see someone having unhealthy diet or same meal everyday. I guess the easiest way is just offering them healthier option. My roommate loves what I cook (almost) everyday. Well, sometimes he's just being nice.

sashimi don

I usually don't follow any recipe either in cooking or baking. I already have lots of guides and rules in work (design.) Cooking is the time for relaxing. But I do find inspiration in Netflix series Chef's Table. 

Beets with squash hummus

When I go grocery shopping, I usually don't buy processed product. I just don't trust them. When I studied chemical engineer, I learned that few drops of organic chemicals can make your food taste "wonderful". I prefer do everything from scratch and plant herbs by myself.

Cucumber, ginger, lemon, mint mix

I used to be a vegetarian for a while, then vegan. Now I just can't afford it. I still keep plant-based diet.

Walnut, strawberries, raspberries, pineapple oatmeal

"You are what you eat."

Fruit tart (strawberries were macerated with lime zest and juice, mint and sugar)
Some sort of nutty cake with banana ice cream and strawberry
Sweet potato tarts
Taiwanese red bean pancake - Doraemon's favorite!

Alright I made too much dessert. Most of the time I would share with neighbors or coworkers so I don't need to eat all of them!

Apple pie sauce with spiced rum

I think cooking/baking is same as design - it's a creative trial and error process. Now I like cooking/baking more because I'll eat it anyway. It's also because it's not my career - it can be more playful I have more fun with it! (Once I take something seriously, I would start to feel frustrated.)

Dumpling shape apple pie - easier to carry to friend's place

I don't like to make the same thing over and over again. I always modify every time I make it. I'm not looking for the consistency. Sometimes I don't even know what I'm making.

Lemon zest truffle

I did follow recipes when I just started to bake 10 years ago with my mom. At that time I would put everything on the scale and carefully measure the portion. Then I stopped baking for about 6 or 7 years. I still have the basic knowledge and some experience which might help.

Custard strawberry pancake

What makes me want to pay more attention on cooking or baking is the people I care. To be honest, I wouldn't spend so much time making this if it's not for my roommate (he's really nice like my father) or my friends. I even made an instagram account for my no-recipe food experiment lab.

Apple sauce with greek yogurt

If you're patient enough to keep reading, check out my previous cooking article here.

I was thinking about merchandizing my healthy pancake but I'm not sure if people would like it since it is not like a traditional American pancake. It's too healthy.

Just in case you're curious about the camera I used - NIKON D5100 and iPhone6. Of course I want a professional DSLR but I just don't have any money. So I'll keep making my pancake until I can buy one haha.

2016/17 snowboarding trip

I thought the snow season was over but it has been puking all day in Boulder today! It has been warm and didn't snow much since I came here. Well I came to Colorado in Jan for snowboarding and luckily found an internship at Boulder. Can't complain while living in this beautiful place.

Boulder, CO

I am miserably addicted to snowboarding.

This is just my second snowboarding season. Thanks to mountain collective pass (which offers 2 tickets at collaborated ski resorts), I had been traveling a lot and riding at 18 ski resorts in Canada and US. (I can't afford and would not buy day lift ticket - which I think ridiculously expensive.)

Canada - 5
Whistler Blackcomb
Big White
Revelstoke
Lake Louise
Sunshine Village

US - 13
Mammoth (CA)
Keystone (CO)
A basin (CO)
Winter Park/ Mary Jane (CO)
Copper (CO)
Telluride (CO)
Aspen/Highland/ Snowmass (CO)
Taos (New Mexico)
Monarch (CO)
Jackson Hole (Wyoming)
Sun Valley (Idaho)
Powder mountain (Utah)
Snowbird (Utah)

Telluride, CO

If you ask me which ski resort I like best, I would say it's a good ski resort as long as there's powder. When I was traveling, my schedule would not necessarily meet the best powder days. Sometimes it was way too cold, or too hot (slushy snow).

Vancouver English Bay

I flew to Vancouver during Christmas vacation and didn't really plan the whole trip. I ended up staying for 3 weeks. My couchsurfing host in Vancouver was a very nice mid-age lady who has been in Africa before so we talked a lot about the life there. We also went to an African music party one night and the band played the song I heard in Tanzania. I almost bursted into tears because it was also the farewell song at the last day I was there...

Whistler, BC, Canada

At Whistler, I stayed in a hostel for couple of days. I met a girl from couchsurfing who was an advanced skier and intermediate snowboarder. She was really cool, athletic but very stubborn - she was going to backcountry skiing by herself before taking avalanche training! On Christmas night I was trying to convince her not to do that.... Anyway we really had a good time together.

Kelowna at British Columbia, Canada

Heading back to Vancouver (I got an interview there but it didn't work out), I found a ride on Craigslist to Kelowna. To be honest, I knew nothing about this town. It was just because the hostel there was available and affordable during New Year.

Big White at Kelowna, BC, Canada

It ended up I had one of the best powder days at Big White ski resort! I didn't plan to snowboard there since mountain collective didn't collaborate with Big White. Luckily I met friends in hostel and got a good discounted ticket! He also taught me how to ride on powder. Of course I was hilariously stuck in powder all day and got very exhausted. But riding on powder has been my dream since then.

At New Year's Eve we slept in car in ski resort parking lot so we can get the first run in the morning. It was -16°C (8°F) at night - you better not drinking water before sleep.

Revelstoke, BC, Canada

Then I took Greyhound to Revelstoke - where I heard lots of hype before my trip. I ended up staying there for a week because I was waiting for the powder day, also thanks to the super nice couchsurfing host. He was a ski instructor and he knew I wanted to do a design project about backcountry skiing/ snowboarding. He took me to several ski shops in town and explained the equipments in detail. He and his roommate who was pretty chill and funny did backcountry a lot. I had no experience and didn't have avalanche training at that time so couldn't go with them. (Well my snowboarding skill was not at that level yet.) I often think about the time with them - listened to their conversation (mainly about skiing), watched them making pizza and ate the pizza, talked about the books, lifestyle and dream...

"What would you do if you don't need to think about money? If you have millions of dollars, enough money to do whatever you want to do?" my host asked.
"Hmmm..." I thought for few seconds and replied "I like what I am doing now... just traveling and snowboarding..." 
"Then keep doing it."

Powder day at Revy

Yes I am living in the dream - my snowboarding dream.

When I am snowboarding, I am the happiest girl in the world. 

Winter park, CO

I don't have other desire, have no career plan. I am satisfied where I am now.

I only hope the winter never ends, summer never comes.

Come back to my trip - then I took a bus to Lake Louise. It was so cold that I just wanted to cry... windchill was -30°C (-20°F) at the top at sunny day. I got a frostbite on my cheek after I pulled of my mask because my goggles were fogging up. 

I can't deal with this kind of coldness. No. The snow was hard-packed. Nope!

Sunshine village at Banff, Canada

It was relatively warmer at Sunshine village when I was there. It was still way below freezing point, but it was quite nice in Canadian standard. (People from Quebec would say that was a warm winter.) Sunshine Village was really wide-open - the view was amazing!

My couchsurfing host at Banff was a really cool girl who also loved snowboarding. We couldn't ride together because of her working schedule, but I did go snowboarding with her friend. She took me to the terrain park and asked if I wanted to try the box 50/50.

It looked so easy - just slide on, don't carve.

I fell down twice. It was painful as hell.
No terrain park in my life.

A basin, Monarch, Mammoth

Then I came back to the US, keep living in my snowboarding dream - I rode every weekend, 3 days per week (since I only worked 4 days). It kept me so busy that I had abandoned my blog for the whole winter haha...

Taos ski resort at New Mexico

At the first week of April, I took a week off for another snowboarding trip for more remote ski resorts (Thanks my boss understood how important snowboarding is to my life.) I drove from Boulder to Jackson Hole, WY - Sun Valley, ID - Powder Mountain, UT - Snowbird, UT. 

Jackson Hole, WY

I have been really lucky that awesome, super-friendly and fun people hosting me at each place. Snowboarding is fun, but people make the trip memorable.

The snow condition actually was not great since it was already spring - slushy or hard-packed. But the last two days at Snowbird, Utah was a bomb! The first day was powder day - 5" of fresh snow - I was happily riding all day. Then the second day got 24" in the past 48 hrs!! I was so damn tired and my legs were crying. When I was about to head back around 2pm, a guy passed by me informing that the back bowl just opened.

Can't say no to untouched powder. 

Snowbird, UT

I don't know how I made it that day. I even drove 8 hrs back to Summit County, CO to my friend's place (open window + lots of caffeine). I have no regret tho!

It makes me smile everytime I think of it. :)

Berthoud Pass, CO

This winter I also tried backcountry snowboarding. Thanks to my buddy who was an experienced skier, he taught me basic avalanche knowledge and demo how to use the avalanche kit. I didn't have a splitboard so I snowshoed up. It was killing me.

I have felt I'm so out of shape since I came to CO. I've tried to be as more active as possible so I can do more backcountry next season!

I also started to learn climbing since I have nothing to do in summer. It is also very addicting. And now I climb almost every day. My next post will probably be about climbing. :-p

Big Bear It has been a while

Hike at the highest point of LA - Mt. Baldy

8.5 hrs hike at 12 miles trail (it took longer than I expected)
Level: medium - high elevation makes everything a little bit harder

Camera: Canon 7D - not mine. check out from school

I was so exhausted after this hike and almost fell asleep on the way driving back home. But I felt very satisfied and relax. Going to the nature is the best way to decompress.

UX designer?

User experience (UX) is a hip term. When you search on any job platform, you can easily find lots of companies looking for UX designer. I was trying to be in the trend and could't help labeling myself as UX designer. Then I found myself hard to explain "what am I doing as a UX designer?" UI for web, mobile app? Interactive prototyping? User-centered research?

To understand Islam in the US, I Interviewed a Muslim woman in Pasadena and used generative research methodologies .

Lots of people have a narrow definition to UX - only for digital product such as app and website. Indeed there are more new startups creating digital products but I disagree on this point of view.

For me UX is like the term "innovation" - it's so vague that it doesn't stand for anything.

Every designer is a UX designer - before thinking of any solutions, we look into user journey, step in their shoes and improve the experience. The only difference is delivery - graphic, physical product, digital product, environment, music, smell, video/animation, advertising, etc. When it comes to provide a thoughtful product, it also strongly connects to marketing and business strategy.

Then recruiter asked me "what is your focus? What is your strength?"

I have really broad interests in cognitive psychology, marketing, branding, business strategy, programming, visual storytelling (photography and videography)... I'm not an expert in any domain but holistic understanding helps me to create a better user experience.

I was presenting in the class Creative Thinking in an MBA school, INSEAD, in Singapore.

Having a hard time with family and people I love, I've been curious how our brains process information, why emotion is triggered, how we are wired in a different way, how culture and environment predefine our thinking, and how it relates to the experience of people reacting to everyday object... The books I've read and I would suggest are
Thinking fast and slow by Daniel Kahneman
How the mind works by Steven Pinker
The design of everyday things by Donald Norman

Being an introvert and non-English-native-speaker makes me a good observer - I often repeated in mind what other people said and mimicked the way of talking and behaviors.

I was working as a sales for 1.5 years in NI. Left pic is the first order I got - I was 22 years old.

Working as a sales representative in an American technology company, National Instruments, I sold not much but I learned a lot. A successful sales person is not the one who is good at talking about features; is the one who has the deep understanding of an user. This is the same idea as being a designer - all the cool feature won't make any sense if it's not solving user's needs.

I was in a school in Moshi rural, Tanzania in Jun, 2016 while doing my own volunteer project, LIA.

Traveling solo around the world and meeting people from different culture make me more open-minded, flexible it also trains me to solve problems independently.

So how does this experience relate to design?
I would say the boarders between science, art, psychology and business are blurry - they are not dividers. They are all connected deep under water. The method I learn in psychology can be applied to coding; the negotiation skill I learned can be applied to interview in user-centered research. There are so many things to learn and that's why I like being a designer. 

I was cutting steel bars and welding it for my mockups in product design project, Aperture, in 2014.

Wander at Stone Town / Swimming at Jambiani

At the end of my volunteer in Tanzania, I took a short solo trip to Lushoto and Zanzibar. I didn't expect to stay Zanzibar long since I didn't like the place full with tourists (especially Aug is high season). It ended out it was the most amazing days I had in Tanzania. 

I opted for Jambiani (east coast) than Nungwi (north coast) since it's more quiet (less touristic). 

It was absolutely a right choice for me. The staff at Garden Bungalow made me feel like family. At the first day, Muddy (the guy in the pic) asked if I wanted to help at the bar since there was a party at night. I said yeah why not even though I had no previous experience. All I needed to do was taking care of the cash and, of course, served beers to customers. I forgot to open the cap when I served the first beer.

Failed.

It was really fun tho. 

Sailing on the traditional boat and snorkelling was the BEST TIME! The ocean was turquoise, clean and warm. It was interesting to see them manuver the boat by changing the orientation of canvas while standing on the racks. I gave it a try (just standing on the rack not helping with anything) and it was REALLY FUN!!

Finally got a chance doing yoga outdoor. It's also a wonderful place for meditation. I felt life was good while looking at the peaceful water.

Stone Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is a historic place with diverse culture. When I came to Zanzibar, I noticed people look quite different than the people in Moshi (mostly Chagga tribe). In Zanzibar, it's a mixture of Indian, Arab, different tribes in Tanzanian mainland... 

I was sitting at Forodhani around sunset. At night, it got lots of street vendors that you can try some special local food that you can't even find in Tanzania mainland.

One thing I felt bizarre was the prices for the boat and hotels were different for local and mzungu (white people). I understand that tourist industry is the important income for Tanzania. Zanzibar has attracted lots of international tourists and raised quite a lot in recent years. (A local said reminiscently that Zanzibar has changed a lot.) But tourists don't get better service by paying more. The price difference is about triple or more - which is not friendly for a student.

In the morning, fishermen came back to the harbor. Cats were waiting around vendors for remains. This would be a good place to buy some fresh fishes and other seafood. You can ask a restaurant to cook it for you if you don't have a kitchen.

Goodbye Zanzibar.
It had been really amazing. I will come back one day.

Tanzania Kilimanjaro Road Trip

At one weekend in July, my friend and I spontaneously went for a road trip around Kilimanjaro. 

From Moshi to Simba Farm where we camped, it was around 3-4 hours. Engare Nairobi to Moshi was another 7 hours. Can't remember the exact time we spent since we both love photography and stopped pretty often for shooting. 

This was my second time to Simba Farm. Check out my first adventure here. Camping here at night was really nice - way too nice for us tbh. It was also very cold... thanks my friend got a sleeping bag for me or I would not survive....

When we left at the second day, my friend found out we got flat tire. The only spare tire in the car was much smaller than it should be. The worker in Simba Farm helped us to install the spare tire. We were planning driving slowly back to town call it a day. Then we found some workers were welding the rims in Engare Nairobi - where my friend described it as wildwest in 50'.

2USD and my very limited Swahili - we got our tires fixed and well-fed by mama and continued our road trip.

The trip was amazing! Along the way we saw deserted area, prairie, artificial pine forest, Masai people, kids playing soccer... we were waving and greeting to everyone we saw. Most of them happily greeted us with their big smile. Of course sometimes we got "mzungu!!" in greetings too. (mzungu = white people)

Well then we found out no gas in tank. Had no idea when we would reach the next gas station. All we could do was keeping driving and finger crossed. 

Found a dukani (store) selling petro by litters. We added 2L and kept searching for gas station. Luckily we didn't need to push our car in the middle of the road in this journey.

Adventure, unexpected events, beautiful view, glamping, nice local people and great mzungu traveling buddy - couldn't ask for more.

Tanzania Maasai Tribe

At the end of Jun, a local invited me to a safari trip to Lake Manyara. It was exciting to see wild animals wandering freely in forest and prairie. The lake is breathtakingly beautiful - in my opinion it's more like an attraction than wildlife. If you're interested in migration, you might consider Serengeti or Ngorongoron National Park. 

The next day, we rented bikes and rode to a Masai tribe around Mto Wa Mbu, Arusha. It was a bumpy journey that I felt my full body jiggling the whole time. 

I'm glad he took me to this Maasai family that I was finally able to witness Maasai lifestyle. This was not a tourist trip so no one would wrap me around the Maasai blanket and ask me to jump with them. (I hate tourist scheme- a cheesy and unauthentic play) 

Maasai is one of the few tribes that still keeps their own lifestyle. However, it's gradually changing now- some conservative Maasai live in the inland still insisted their nomadic lifestyle, custom (circumcision- it's still a common practice even though it has been banned by the government), traditional thinking (they don't value the education that much), the way of sustaining (they sell livestocks for money and then purchase commodities); other Maasai are looking for a better life and try to find a job in city (such as Arusha or Dar es Salaam).

This 6-year-old girl was smearing cow dung on the hut to strengthen the wall. He dress was messed up with cow dung. I asked if she used the soap washing her hands afterwards. "Only water" her sister replied. "Are people here educated to use soap?" "Yes but we have no soap." she shrugged.

Most Masaai girls are not considered to be educated- some of them will be arranged getting married around 12 years old so the family can get livestocks as dowry. The 17-year-old girl in the picture was lucky enough to go to secondary school since her father valued education.

They were constructing a toilet - from digging a big hold then will cover a canvas on the top with a small hole. The idea of toilet was probably absurd for traditional Maasai - they usually go pee or poo anywhere. To control the spread of disease, the government has been trying to introduce toilet to Maasai.

**Currently I'm doing volunteer project about design education in Tanzania. For project details, please visit: liatanzania.com

Mlima Kilimanjaro - Machame 7 days

I was never a big hiker: had no experience hiking mountain higher than 2000m; I even didn't have a hiking pants- cotton pants 7 days (if it was raining I would be screwed); had no mountaineering socks and the ones I borrowed from the company were just "longer socks"...(so I wore two layers of socks everyday and washed them at camp); I sort of trained myself for a month- working out 1 hr with BoHo Beautiful and walked 2 hrs (commute) everyday. 
Obviously I was underprepared for this hiking trip. I'm glad I survived hahaha... I highly recommend to be well-prepared for climbing Kili in terms of equipment, physical and mental. 

Everyone can do Kilimanjaro as long as you don't give up! (There's exception: if your body reacts strongly to high altitude). I've heard all range of people have successfully reached to the top: 12-year-old kid or 65 year-old man; tourists who were out of shape (Marangu route is your choice if you consider yourself in this category) or athletic hikers (only spent 3 days through difficult route).

Climbing Kilimanjaro is very expensive! The government increased the fee at July, 2016 and that's why I decided to go at the end of Jun. (I just went to the tourist company office and they said there would be a group at the next day. I said ok let's go.) As far as I know, Marangu is $50 per night for staying at huts; Machame is $60 for camping (before the price raised). Porter's entrance fee is around $2 per day. (I've been thinking about being a porter but I gave up after this climbing trip.) The reasonable price for Marangu / Machame route 6-7 days is around $1500 for group trip. Some companies provide luxury trip which includes private toilet. I joined a budget group and I was really satisfied by the service and even felt like a princess. (imo the whole trip was designed for tourists not hardcore climbers)

The first day I went really fast and that was the only day I could go fast- low altitude and not much ascending. Only spent 3 hrs to Machame camp- 2835m.  We had a dining tent and the "waiter" would arrange the table before our meal and serve the food to the table. I was surprised by this kind service. (Thought we would just sit and ate around the stove.)

That night was cold and damp. My clothes kept wet all the time. I was worried that I wouldn't have enough clothes to change in the following days. Luckily there was no rain during the trip and it became dry once we reached above the cloud.

Second day was also a piece of cake (compared to the following days) - 3-4 hrs hike to Shira Cave Camp - 3750m. We were amazed by the vegetation change during the first two days- rain forest, needle-leave trees, bushes... We walked pole pole (slowly) because it's getting higher altitude (I did feel it). In the afternoon, the porter and assistant guide took us to a walk to another camp for acclimatization. The scene was so beautiful. It was like walking in the dream (except the fact that I was panting).

For maintaining the best physical state, I did yoga stretching everytime I reached the camp. I learned the benefit of yoga since I was crazy about snowboarding. I've practiced yoga constantly for more than 6 months - more like core-muscle training than meditation. (Once again, I like BoHo Beautiful and I highly recommend it to you.)

3rd day seemed intimidating: 6-7 hours hike to Baranco camp, 3900m. Actually it was not too bad since mild ascending and 2-hrs downhill. (Make sure to bring your poles if you don't like going downhill. Personally I don't walk well with poles so I just ran down with Alex the guide. But it was not a sustainable solution.)

I would suggest you bringing two pairs of gloves- one for cool weather, daily use and another one for snow, summit day. Although I borrowed some clothes and gears from the company, I didn't have gloves for daily use. My fingers were bleeding sometimes due to the dryness and coldness. (This might be a common sense for hikers. Well...lesson learned.)

We were getting so close to Kilimanjaro and the view was amazing! I would never get tired of looking at the mountains! The sunlight in different time made the color change on Kili. I was sitting there, appreciated it and thought why would I want to climb this gigantic mountain.

The next day is the real climbing - cha asubuhi ("breakfast" is the nickname of this wall).

I usually didn't sleep well at night because it was so cold. I hated to wake up and feel like peeing... But this night I woke up and felt like vomiting. I didn't throw up but I had no appetite at the 4th day. This day was really challenging for me-  I needed to stop for breathing after climbing up few steps. High-altitude definitely played its role; not sure if my low blood pressure problem made things worse. 

Luckily it was only 4-hrs hike this day. I didn't want to eat my sandwich so I asked for exchange the lunch - I had ugali daga (white dough and small fishes) instead! Ugali is Tanzanian traditional food and also porters/ guides' main meal everyday. Try it if you haven't tried it yet!

We had so much free time on the mountain but I didn't bring any book or entertainment. (Highly recommend to bring a thin book or something you can kill time) I chatted with porters, guides and learned some Swahili since I'm volunteering here for 3 months. It would be a practical skill for me.  

Alpine desert. No vegetation. Dry and cold @base camp- Barafu camp, 4673m. We all got a little nervous before the big day- summit day.

We had delicious dinner early and went to sleep around 6pm. We had to wake up around midnight (for me, 11:30pm since I walked slower than Canadian teammates) and climbed for 7 hours to uhuru peak. Alex the guide came to my tent and checked if I had enough clothes for the summit. I came to Tanzania with no warm clothes since I didn't plan climbing Kili at that time. I was wrapped by the clothes from myself, borrowed from the company, and Alex the guide. I felt like a bear while walking. 

Lots of people mentioned this night would be the most physically and mentally challenging in your life. I didn't think it would be that HARD until I experienced it. The first hour I just felt extremely sleepy. Sometimes I looked at the fabulous star sky to keep myself up. The second hour I had hallucination. I think I was the only one who had this experience - I was really happy! (I'm pretty sure it's not the side effect of diamox) I looked at the rocks and thought that was really beautiful and they were happy! I thought I was going up to a farm and there would be a fence at my left side so I felt quite safe. OF COURSE THERE WAS NO FENCE! Anyway I had more weird imagination at that time and I didn't want to talk more about it... 

After having an energy bar, I came back to the reality- infinite torture.

"I can't breathe..." I had to ask for stop to breathe after climbing up three rocks. We went really really slow but steadily forward. Alex the guide told me so many times that we almost reached to Stellar Point and there would be no ascending afterwards. It was so close, and so far. It was there. I saw the silhouette of the top of the mountain. I wanted to get there but it was so hard... There's no way I would give up tho. Clenched my teeth, kept moving and finally reached to the Stellar Point. (You won't go to Stellar Point if you go Marangu route)

There was another hour to Uhuru Point - 5895m. For me that was the time when real high-altitude sick started to kick in- I felt like throwing up and diarhea at the same time. I still managed to reach to Uhuru peak before sunrise. Almost cried when I got there and my Canadian teammates hugged me. The top of Kili was absolutely beautiful - glacier, cloud and sunrise. The view was totally worth the suffering.

But I got serious stomachache when I was heading back. I used to have serious stomach problem and would crawl on the ground when it happened. (But I had no problem for more than a year until then) Swallowed two pills and still felt terrible - vomit, diarhea and stomachache. Alex the guide pulled me up saying I needed to get down asap. 

I finally saw how the slopes looked like after sunrise- it was terrifying to get down! It was covered by small stones. I don't know how I even walked up...Thanks Alex the guide unique skiing style we only spent 3 hrs to get down. (I asked for more breaks or he could spend only 2 hrs.) I would suffer more if he didn’t carry me down.

After reaching base camp, we had a short break and a lunch, and then kept going down. That day was a LONG day- 15 hours hike in total. My knees were burnt out when I reached Mweka camp, 3100m. My stomach problem got a little improved while going down but I had serious diarhea afterwards...

I was the only one who had stomach problem. Everyone reacted to high-altitude differently - my Canadian teammate had serious headache when we reached base camp. Luckily we had problems after reaching summit and felt better after descending.

Lovely last day of the hiking trip. The team sang Kilimanjaro song for us. I really love this crew especially our porters. I have so much respect to them! It was crazy that they carried all sorts of things while climbing the wall and walked faster than us!

The maximum of goods that porters carry is 20 kg- the government is pretty strict on this so you can see them weight bags at the entrance gate. Their minimum salary was raised from $15,000 shillings to $22,000 shillings per day (like USD $10). Some companies paid better like $40,000 shillings. 

There was something bizarre about the tip.

We got a secret message from our porter that asking us to give them tips one by one instead of giving to the guide. We did it. However, the guide said there were extra 3 porters we needed to pay whom we never saw during the 7-day trip. The number of porters was shown on the park registration paper so we decided to tip them (gave to the guide) eventually. But he was mad about the amount we tipped ghost porters was slightly less than other porters. I didn't know how he knew how much we gave to other porters and how dare he vented to us. It was not cool.

I want to write this down because I hope you will also do the same - tip them one by one. They work really hard and they deserve the right amount of tip.

*Contacted to Kilimanjaro porters assistance project, read through their website and report, and then I realized the thing happened to us is not a news:

"Climbers, as well as porters, can be cheated out of tip money by guides claiming that there are extra porters on the climb – a cultural practice know as kirunje."

**Currently I'm doing volunteer project about design education in Tanzania. For project details, please visit: liatanzania.com

Tanzania Simba Farm

Last weekend my host’s friends, an American and Japanese couples who volunteered in my host’s NGO ten years ago and now came back with their kids, mentioned Simba Farm was one of their favorite places in Tanzania. It’s not far from Boma, the town I live so I decided to check it out. 

Based on Google map, I can get there by car in an hour, if I had a car. Since I’m here volunteering, have very low budget on everything and sincerely prefer living in the local way, walking, taking dala-dala and boda-boda was the way to go.

It was an adventure. That day was a movie.

I walked to Boma standy (“station” in Swahili) for about 30 min and took a dala-dala to Sanyajuu which my host, John, suggested. 8AM it was chilly; may be cold in Tanzanian’s pov. Squeezed in dala-dala - not so surprised since it’s how it is in T- 12 people in supposed-to-be-7-seated van. I enjoyed the breeze from the slightly-opened window blowing on my face. My face resembled the facial expression that a dog has when it sticks out of the car window.  The dala-dala slowed down and the sound of turning key and the reluctant crying from engine repeated. People hustled out and kept babbling. Despite knowing nothing about what they were talking, I got the hint that I should move out and wait along the side of the road. Another dala-dala came with full, some people got in and sat at the back of the van. Before that moment I didn’t realise the space was enough for human being. Luckily the waiting was not long- our dala-dala somehow worked again. But the number of passenger somehow remained the same even though some of them were already shipped away. 

Anyway, I got to Sanyajuu. Then another dala-dala.

Second time I got off, I arrived Engare Nairobi, a sandy town.

Negotiated with the rider of boda-boda with gesture, got on the motorcycle and started the bumpy journey. My nose bump on his helmet once. It started to drizzle. I got my raincoat in the courtesy of John’s suggestion. Finally it turned left to the small road where the Simba Farm sign stood. After few minutes of riding uphill, we stopped at a gate. A guy led me into the farm, then another woman led me into the house. 

What the…. This place is not Tanzania!!

Westernized lush garden decorated with numerous different kinds of blossoms created a stark contrast to the places I just went through. Two big dogs welcomed me full-heartedly. I ordered a coffee only because I was shocked by how nice the place was and afraid that I would also be shocked how high the price is. 

Surprisingly, coffee with cookies was only 2000 shilling (1 USD). 

I couldn’t help imagine myself a princess in my own private garden. I was the only visitor since it was Jumanne (Tuesday). That was the only day I could read more than 20 pages of Infinite Jest, a book more than 1000 pages. Lying on the chair, I figured out why this was the American couple’s favorite. This place is perfect for mzungu honeymoon. If your gf was crying, bring her here.

After chilling 3 hours, I had to head back for class. Dogs accompanied me going down the road and happily ran into vegetable farm. A woman called me when I almost arrived at the main road. She just wanted to find the dogs. 

Kept walking down the road, a boda-boda stopped and asked where I was going. “Engare Nairobi.” He gestured 5 (5000 shilling). I shook my head and gestured 3. He insisted and I decided to keep walking. Walked not too long then found a dala-dala going to Engare, 500 shilling. Driver opened the back of the van, there were already three people. I crammed into and pulled my foot when the door was shut. My face was only few centimeters to the door. Breathing the stagnant air, riding on the bumpy road, sweating in the raincoat, seeing the dust blew out at the rear of the car.

Got back to the dusty Engare. Couldn’t see any other dala-dala. People stared at me and a girl laughed and yelled “mzungu!”. 

Feeling extremely hungry, I squatted at the side of the road waiting. Dust kept coming up when boda-boda passing by. 

A big truck was loaded with some people and big bags of vegetables. Some people standing on the ground were asking for something. Somehow I got the hint that the truck probably could take me somewhere. I approached one guy and asked “Sanyajuu? Boma?” “Boma!” 

YES!!! It will go to Boma!

He took me to the front seat of the truck. Based on the German spec and dark green paint, I assumed it was an old German military truck. It was another bumpy and strenuous journey since I had to hold the bar on the door to support half of my weight while half of my butt was out of the seat. 

Truck stopped and some people dropped off. Some people got on from the middle of semi-desert. My right arm got a little relived whenever the truck stopped.

Finally it dropped me at Boma. Jumped down the truck and found myself exhausted. Walked for a while until I found a share tuk-tuk. Got home and went to the neighbour where my host asked to keep the key. They said the kid, who was also my student, had the key and he was gone. 

He was GONE.

I almost fainted by low blood sugar. After calling my host, who promised to come back asap, I desperately looked for food. Directed by some local people, I found a doorway with curtain where they said the food was. It was like part of a family house but also served other people. Rice and beef they asked for 2000 shilling. I felt it was overpriced based on what they served but at that moment I wouldn’t care!! 

7:30pm I finally got home. Long day.

I would love to go back to Simba Farm if I'm ready for an adventure again.

*I'm currently doing volunteer project about design education in Tanzania. For project details: liatanzania.com