Fire in the Hostel

My usual bedtime has been hovering around the 5-6am territory. It's not because I belong in Asia, I sleep at the same time there as well. Anyway, I went to bed at 5am last night, setting my alarm to 12pm. 

My mind was still racing with thoughts. I guess that's why I'm a night owl, I can't stop thinking of things and end up having insomnia. In Singapore, I usually solve this by drinking an entire carton of milk. I feel drowsy right away, like how I usually do after a filling lunch, and doze off immediately.

So I was tossing and turning in bed, until I finally began to transit into my dream (I always dream), and I was in some Inception world when suddenly a painfully loud sound rang, followed by a foul smell of cinder.

I brushed it off as my alarm, and ignored it as I usually did with my alarm(s). However, after 5 minutes it didn't go off, and remained extremely loud and annoying. So I got up, and realized it was the fire alarm. 

I jumped out of bed, fueled only my adrenaline and survival instincts. Ran to my dorm room's door, opened it. BAM! Grey smoke smushed into my face. The source came from the kitchen 2 feet from my room. 

My first thought was, "Cool! That's the first time my building's been on fire, but WHY did it have to happen at this time??"

Everyone else was getting out of their rooms, like ants being smoked out of their tunnels. Slowly, we got out of the building, all tired and groggy and disregarding the potential danger. I was wearing a t-shirt and then I realized how cold it was outside, but it was too late to get back into the building. So I shivered in the cold while the firefighters arrived and went into the building.

There was a bright side though, the first sunrise I've seen in America - it was pretty awesome - so much so that I remembered to take a photo. I didn't bother taking anything else, because I felt like a zombie - having only had 1 hour of sleep.

Sunrise during a fire emergency - looked AMAZING in real life, not so much over here

At the end of it, apparently someone microwaved something and threw the hot stuff into the garbage, which caught fire. I didn't really think much of it and went back to sleep.

Hello World + Day Trip to Monticello

Hello World... (a standard introduction in programming)

So here's the deal:

My name is Ee Thai, I'm 22 and I've decided that life is too short to be playing video games and studying all day. Don't get me wrong, I still love video games, and I haven't left school (knowledge is always good), but there's so much more to see out there.

So I started a project: I'm currently trying to travel to every country in the world, and at the same time make a video about it. Talk about dedication (heheh) for a 5 min clip for YouTube (but it'll be awesome trust me). As much as I want to, I won't reveal any spoilers.

That's me in red, setting up a shot for the video at the Grand Canyon

This project combines my love for filmmaking with the cure to my 20's life crisis. I'm already halfway into my journey, having traveled Australia, Asia, Europe, and North America thus far. I will begin my journey through South America in the next few weeks.

This blog will act as a log of my journeys. I'll post stories, pictures and videos - we'll see how it goes.

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Right now, I'm in Charlottesville, Virginia - home of one of America's Founding Fathers and drafter of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson (or TJ as he is commonly referred to here). Thomas Jefferson spent his later years building his home, the Monticello, as well as the University of Virginia (UVA).

The Monticello

The famous side of the house - it's even on the American Nickel ($0.05)

I took a day trip the Monticello with some friends a couple of months ago - it was actually our second attempt to get to Monticello. 

The first attempt - we tried to walk, and ended up getting stuck at a highway which was pretty hard to cross, not only because of the fast cars, but also because you'd have to cross a mini forest of trees to get to the highway in the first place. Google Maps brought us there - it's a possible route but they should have routes that allow us to choose difficulty levels as well.

The dead forest we had to cross to get to the highway

We didn't give up though, despite obvious signs of freezing cold, the actual feeling of freezing cold, and a large obstacle ahead of us, we tried to get to the place.

An obvious sign of freezing cold - right before we decided to enter the forbidden forest

We figured we would just head into the forest. What stopped us was when we inadvertently walked into some private property, and a guy walked out holding what seemed to be a shotgun and shouted to us, "You're not supposed to be here."

That was our sign to retreat to fight another day. On the way back, we also asked a dad who just got out of his car if we could walk there. He laughed.

So back to this second visit - we took the easy way out and got a cab. While driving up the mountain I was glad we hadn't walked the other day.

Monticello - it was a nice quiet place, especially since it was covered in snow - there weren't many tourists, which was good. This was Thomas Jefferson's home, where he had his music, science, architecture, culture and lots of other stuff. He even passed away here on July 4th - America's Independence Day. Apparently, he planned it, because while on his death bed, he kept asking his servant what day it was everyday. When he finally got the answer July 4, he could finally rest.

At the visitor center, we bought a tour which was US$18 per person, and that allowed us to get on a shuttle bus taking us up higher into the mountain/hill to the house. 

Taking the shuttle bus up to the Monticello

There, we waited for our allotted time and a tour guide brought us around the house. Barack Obama and the French President François Hollande also visited the Monticello a few days before us. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside the house.

Waiting for the tour to begin

The kitchen where the slaves prepared meals for the Jefferson family

After the house, we decided to walk to the Jefferson Graveyard, to see Thomas Jefferson himself. However, a familiar problem reappeared - another obstacle stood between us and our destination. This time, it was untouched snow that was inches deep.

We looked around, there was no one wielding a shotgun this time. All clear.

The untouched, inch deep snow that lay between us and the Jefferson Graveyard

So we began to cross it. It wasn't too bad - I only ended up with a pair of ice-filled shoes and socks. Plus, we got a great view of the Blue Ridge mountains:

Looks better in real life

Crossing the snow...

Finally, we made it.

The Jefferson Graveyard

Hi TJ!

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I'll be pretty busy over the next 1.5 to 2 months or so, because I'll be doing a fair bit of traveling. Right now, I'm just enjoying the peace before I set off on another journey..

FYI - that video was taken at Niagara Falls