Still in Mayalsia

I would love to tell you that this week while we're on "break" I've been doing lots of sighseeing. . . but I'm not. Instead, I'm sleeping late, shopping, and taking long walks through the park across the street.
While taking an early morning walk (we're talking about 11:00 am for me), I met some Muslim teenagers in the park that wanted to talk to me. Being American and all, they wanted to know all about the States and stuff. They also wanted pictures with me. So we all took pictures with everyone's camera. Sadly, I look really rough. I mean I'm almost down to my last set of clothes, so I'm wearing really ugly T-shirts.
Here's a shot of the Petronas Towers at night. Pretty eh?
Here's a shot of it durning the day time, from another angle. There is the top of a Mosque in the shot. Alright, leaving for China on Monday. It will be a long travel day.

Happy Independence Day!

On this great American holiday, I would like to take a moment and tell you what I miss about home:

 

1.  Firm beds

2.  Nice pillows

3.  English speakers

4.  Waiters that actually wait on you

5.  Air conditioning

6.  Taxi drivers that know the city they drive in

7.  People who wear deodorant

8.  No "service charges" on restaurant bills

9.  Actually knowing what it is I'm eating

10.  Courtesy

11.  Wendy's

12.  Olive Garden

13.  Not being hit on simply because I'm white

14.  American TV, that's right, I miss being able to watch crap

15.  Target

 

 

I'll leave it at that for now.  Quite frankly, I'm a little tired of being in Asia.  I'll be home Labor Day weekend, after a 8 week stint in China.  Happy FOURTH!!!

A Quick Update

A steady Internet signal has been quite hard to come by the last few weeks. 

 

Right now I'm in Kula Lumpar, Malaysia.  I don't think I spelled that correctly. 

 

Anyways, my Mom tells me I'm almost to the Equator and that would be why my allergies have gone crazy.  I've been sniffing and sneezing since I walked off the plane. 

 

There is a Chili's at the mall that's close to our hotel.  I had an Old-timer with cheese for dinner last night.  IT WAS SOOOOOO GOOD!!!!  I miss completely edible food, I really do! However, if I indulge in "Western" food too much, I might gain back what I've lost.  That would be a bummer!

 

In other news, Alie is having a boy!  I'm very excited for them.  I'm also excited to be a first time Auntie.

 

Alright, it's time to go to work!

Being a tourist in Bangkok

Instead of sitting by the pool, sleeping the day away, or shopping. . . . I went to the Grand Palace. And it was grand indeed.

The Grand Palace is really a complex of several buildings, including the throne hall, a Buddhist Monastery, and a library. There I am in the Grand Palace compound.That's what you see when you first walk in. Check out these cool buildings:

This past week marked Thailand's King (King Bhumibol Adulyadej) 60th year on the throne. He's the world's longest running monarch. He took the throne when he was 18 and now at 78 he's adored by his subjects. I'm not kidding. People ADORE him. For the past two weeks, every native Thai has been wearing yellow shirts to promote and honor their King. There is a yellow shirt shortage going on here. I read about it in the newspaper. It's really quite admirable how much they love their King. I certainly can't see any of us Americans feeling that way about a President. Which by the way, our President did not come over for the celebration and he was invited. It was a who's who in the world in royalty and leaders here for the celebration last week. . . . no W. Bush. Bleh.

Alright, well. . . it's time for bed. Tomorrow we're working!

Goodbye Taiwan!

Our days in Taiwan are over. We had two extremely hard weeks of performances in three different cities there. One city didn't have working restrooms in the building, we had to use port-a-squatty-potties.
Another city had such a small backstage that you could walk to the back wall from the rig. You can see Charlie there in the distance pointing to the wall disgusted.
Another one of our buildings was across from the Taipei 101. It's the tallest building in the world, standing at 1,671 feet.
At the end of Taiwan, we said good-bye to some very speical cast members. Alison and Tommy have both returned home. Here I am with them on their last day with us:

And no . . . . I didn't dye my hair blonde. Charlie and I decided to wear funny wigs on our last day in Taiwan for a stress reliever. I think I kinda look like Anna Nicole before Trim Spa. Scary!

More to come, after all. . . now I'm in Bangkok!

Busy busy in Taiwan!

Break is over now, and we're back at work. We've been extremely busy, and things won't let up until we get to break in Bangkok. This weekend we have eight shows, load out, and travel to the next city. There we will load in, have two four show days, load out, travel to the next city. Repeat process. June just can't come fast enough.

I probably won't have time to post anything next week. So ta-ta till next time!

It's like spring break!

This week the crew has been on "break" while the cast learns the show in Chinese. We've had lots of fun. It's been kinda like spring break in college. I've been rooming with Ilona this week and it's been pretty much like an ongoing slumber party. We sleep in late, go see some sights, go to the bar down the street, go dancing, come home, call others, play poker. . . it's been good fun. Yay! Sadly, we have to go back to work on Tuesday, bummer.

Hello Tiawan, Hello Typhoon Chanchu

We have arrived here in Tiawan only to be greeted by typhoon Chanchu. Don't worry folks, it's much like a tropical storm back home in Florida. Since we had the day off, most of us spent it in the hotel.

Goodbye Japan!

Our time here in Japan is over. It's sad. We've all had a great time and made new friends. I raise my glass of Shochu Calpis (which sounds like "cow piss" when you say it) to Japan:
And because I raised too many glasses of Shochu Calpis at our "End of Japan party" here's a picutre of me hungover the next morning at Japanese Denny's.
The Japan tour has been very hard on me, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. This country is beautiful, and the people are very endearing. I hope to come back again someday and see more of Japan, like the country side.

It's Sandy's wedding day!

Today my best friend Sandy is getting married fancy on the beach style today. I'm stuck in Japan, I couldn't get leave for the wedding. I'm pretty sad about it, but it's okay. . . . I did get to go and be Maid of Honor at Sandy's Punk wedding in December.
Here's a fun pic from that event.



HAPPY WEDDING DAY SANDY!!! I MISS YOU!!!

Last City in Japan

Currently, we are in our last city in Japan. While it's nice to know we're a little closer to coming home, it's also sad to leave our new Japanese friends.

I've been overly tired lately. I miss green beans. They don't have canned veggies here and very very few canned fruits.

I can't write much now. . . so tired that all the thougts are jumbling up. I'll try again tomorrow.

Official Tour Extension Dates

Hey everyone!

 

Official tour extension dates have been announced today.  They are:

 

Taipei, Taiwan                 May 24 - May 28

Taichung, Taiwan             May 30 - May 31

Kaoshung, Taiwan            June 3 - June 4

Bangkok, Thailand            June 20 - June 25

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia    June 29 - July 2

Shenzhen, China              July 18 - July 23

Dongguan, China              July 25 - July 30

Hangzhou, China              August 4 - August 11

Beijing, China                   August 15 - August 27

 

 

Those are the dates that we are playing.  We have a "vacation" break in Bangkok, and we're also having a break between Malaysia and China.  We don't know yet where we will have our "break."  Anyways, some people are flying home, or to other countries on these breaks. . . I've decided to stay at where they keep us and see cool sites!

 

 

 

Big news. . .

I have big news to share.  Our tour has been extended.  Instead of coming home in early May, I will be coming home in August.

 

After Taiwan, we will be visiting Bangkok, Thailand; Kuala Lupur, Maylasia; and five cities in China.

 

Normally, a tour has a few months off in the summer time to give everyone a break.  However, we're just such a popular show right now, we will be taking off again in early October for Spain and Italy.

 

Rumor has it, we'll be home for Christmas.  But really . . . that depends on the spring tour schedule.  Everyone keep their fingers crossed, I want to come home for Christmas!!!

Tokyo DisneySea

On our day off on Tuesday, I went to Tokyo DisneySea. Most likely the most amazing Disney park of them all. Here are photos to share my day:

Exhausted in Tokyo

Today I had the day off. I spent most of it laying in bed reading. I feel like a real dork because I'm in one of the greatest cities in the world. . . yet I just don't have the energy to go see it. Three show days, waking up early to catch the subway to the venue. . . walking, walking and more walking. . . it's all taking a toll on me. Not to mention stress. . . it's been a rough week here in Tokyo.

Here are some Cherry Blossoms for your enjoyment:

I am Geisha

Net service is really lousy currently, so I'll make this fast with photos. I found a place here in Tokyo where they dress you up as a Geisha and take photos. All during the makeup and dressing process they tell you all about the history and stuff. It was really cool!





I've been very "people sick" lately. Missing my friends and family at home. Wish some of them would snail mail me at all or more. Mail day is Thursday for the company, and it's my favorite day of the week!

Yokohama

Net service has been really crappy lately here in Japan. Not much time to write, so I'll just post photos for your viewing pleasure.

Hiroshima

We spent two very quck days in Hiroshima, Japan. I did manage to do the most impressive thing there, which was the Peace Park and Memorial Museum. This is the Muesum and the "Mother and Child in the Storm" statue.

This is the Cenotaph for the A-bomb Victioms. It's also known as the Memorial Monument for Hiroshima, City of Peace.

This is what they call the A-Bomb Dome. Before the bombing it was the Hiroshima Perfectural Industrial Promotion Hall. It's the only surviving building standing in the vincinity of the hypocenter (where they released the bomb).

It was both horrifying and enlightening to visit the Hiroshima Peace Park and Museum. It was work every bit of my time to go and learn about this horrifying event. The museum was very neutral on the events. It explains every detail of how nucelar bombs work, and the effects on humans. The muesum goes on to explain how now Hiroshima is leading the way in peace development. It's really quite inspiring. They have the Gates of Peace. These arches are incribed with the word "peace" in 49 languages.

Here's a nighttime shot.
Well, it's getting late and I'm tired. More still to come!

Toliets in Japan

As I sit around the lobby waiting for it to be time to travel to Hiroshima, I'm just going to take a moment to discuss Japanese toliets.
Here is what we like to call "The Squatty Potty."This is a "Western" toliet, which has it's own hard drive, options, and a heated toliet seat. I mean really, these picutres were taken in the same restroom. In stalls right next to each other! I just don't understand some things at all! Happy travels!

Is that what I think it is? and other photos.

Since Japan is so safe, I have a tendency to wander. Actually, it's more like I'm walking along and I'm looking around at everything because Japan is so neat and I get lost.

So I'm walking along. . . . and I see. . . .

That's right, a Statue of Liberty. I somehow ended up in the American Village. It's kinda crazy. So along I walk and I see other things like:

The giant golden geyoza and this interesting street lamp.

They sure do have some fancy man hole covers here in Osaka, Japan.

Tomorrow we leave Osaka and travel to Hiroshima. Sadly, I will only be there for two and a half days. I am going to go to the Peace Memorial Park, so look forward to pictures from that!