Five Not-So-Easy Pieces

August stretched and twisted me in all kinds of directions, then spat me out in pretty poor shape. Let me tell you (and show you in photos) how it all went down.

I started the month at home base. Hong Kong is definitely one of my Happy Places, but for the short week I had in the city, the priorities were client meetings and time with my team in the office. I made sure to get at least one great bowl of wonton noodle soup and a plate of char siu rice. I couldn’t have faced myself in the mirror if I’d been to Hong Kong without them. The highlight of the week was waking up to a beautiful sunrise in our beautiful new apartment. I was in my Happy Place for a week and barely stepped into it.

By the end of the week I rejoined the family in Penang, which is definitely one of my Happy Places, and I tried to cram in some normalcy for a few days before the storm. I got some family time, some good food, and my favorite breakfasts and lunches near the coworking space during the weekdays. Then my guests arrived. Forty of them. This Penang workshop for my regional business team was hugely important, and it turned out to be both lovely and intense. So much for the slow Penang life.

Immediately after the guests left, I flew to Singapore for a business meeting. Singapore is definitely one of my Happy Places, but the brief time I had, and the pressure of Getting Shit Done at work, did nothing for my depleted energy reserves. Still, I managed some good food with good people, and a nice walk or two in between all the work. I’m actually still trying to figure out how I feel about Singapore. It’s the subject of a photo zine I’m finishing up. I was in Singapore just long enough to buy fresh undies for the next trip.

Straight after Singapore, I had to fly to Tokyo for a major partner workshop. The logistics had me routing through Kuala Lumpur first. You’ll be surprised to hear that KL is NOT one of my Happy Places. I don’t really connect with the city. I find it functional, and I keep wishing for more culture, more art. I also find a lot of the food mediocre, almost by default. For my layover I stayed near KL Sentral for easy access to the airport train, and I ended up really enjoying a long walk through Brickfields, the Indian district. The food, though, was mediocre.

The flight to Tokyo was close to seven hours. I landed at Narita beat. Still, Tokyo is definitely one of my Happy Places, and I was glad to arrive. The next day I got to the workshop and met my new friends, about fifty of them. The event ended with dinner on a boat, and a slightly underwhelming cityscape from the canals. The food was definitely to my liking, though, and so was the Japanese whisky I got to sip.

By the middle of the week I was completely done in. I had a high fever, and after a clinic visit it turned out to be flu. Being sick sucks. Being sick while traveling abroad sucks a lot more. I had to cancel a bunch of client meetings I really wanted to do, I had to cancel a dinner and photo walk with a friend, and I spent the rest of the week vegetating in a tiny-tiny hotel room, subsisting on a few bites of konbini food. I’d have gladly traded this version of my Happy Place for my own bed.

I’m writing this on the flight home. I’m mostly fine now, and I can’t wait to be back with my chaotic family. Half a year into my Head of Business role, I recognize that I am not in a staying-in-one-place, quiet, think-hard-about-things job right now. I am in the jump-on-a-flight and meet-with-new-people job. I’m in the take-a-big-breath-and-walk-on-stage job. I better buckle up, but also put some tools and boundaries in place to accommodate that. September is starting. The planned trips will take me to a few old Happy Places, maybe a few new ones. This time, I’m hoping there are no bad surprises behind any of those open doors.