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Thailand and Europe
  • Pia Moll McCarthy
  • Pia Moll McCarthy

Thailand and Europe

Life invited me to quit my job, so I decided to follow life's lead ... The girls who visited me last year in the Phillippines had flights booked for Thailand this month, so I took it as a cue to go exploring again. En savoir plus
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  • Pia Moll McCarthyThailand and EuropeVoyageur

    Eurostaring it to London

    10 mars 2024, Angleterre ⋅ 🌧 8 °C

    From Paris to London in the Eurostar in 2 hours. How amazingly easy, smooth and modern! To think one rides under the english channel. Even those more claustrophobic would find it a rather pleasurable experience!

    What a culture change. From the french tube stations to the english, I met up with Phyllis at St. Martin in the Fields for mass and tea afterwards.

    An unexpected change in plans had me changing my lodging arrangements to her house in Trafalgar Square. But what an absolute pleasure to be with her smack in the center of London, on one of the most expensive roads on the monopoly board!

    In the evening I met up with Seva, a friend from 6 years ago in Barcelona!    En savoir plus

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  • Pia Moll McCarthyThailand and EuropeVoyageur

    Trafalgar Square chez Phyllis

    11 mars 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 8 °C

    So after a miscommunication it ended up unexpectedly being a guest at Phyllis' place smack in the centre of Westminster, London. I couldn't have wished for anything better. Not only because I am within walking distance of Westminster and all the sights, or all the main West End theatres, but also because it allows me to save considerably on transport, which is so crazy expensive. Well, actually, everything here is crazy expensive.

    On my first day I took a prolonged wall through the horse guards near Downing Street, through St. James' Park, past Buckingham Palace and the Victoria Memorial Square (where all the famous royal family events get televised ), through Green Park and into Hyde Park. From there I ventured into South Kensington for a sneak peak at opulent Harrod's and its beautiful food courts and galleries.    En savoir plus

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  • Pia Moll McCarthyThailand and EuropeVoyageur

    Lunch with guests

    13 mars 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 11 °C

    On thursday we had guests over for lunch. Phyllis set up a meeting so I could meet Dr. Alka Patel and Phyllis' business partner Gabe.
    Alka is a GP doctor who manages to get herself out of the system by setting herself up to work with a specific niche of clientelle offering services as a "longevity concierge". She basically offers youthening people's biological age through multiple lifestyle interventions and hacks with very sophisitcated biological age tests pre- and post-intervention.
    During lunch we all had a very interesting conversation about the Social Impact Game and its progression, Alka's expertise and vision, society, healthcare, wellbeing, the experience of being a doctor, etc. After that Alka and I had a chat over coffee where I was able to ask her some key questions about her professional trajectory and her type of practise. It was very eye-opening to learn her astute change of tactic and I received some sound advice from someone who has stepped out and made it for herself quite successfully!

    After that, Phyllis and I walked over the Thames to the National Theatre in South Bank to catch a play. We watched Dear Octopus, a 1938 story of a 4 generation family get-together for the grandparents' golden wedding. It accompanies us through the family dynamics and the issues of each of the components in a very entertaining, pleasant and funny way. The set was a turning set which very ingeniously allowed us to see them interactions in different parts of the house.
    What a treat!    En savoir plus

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  • Pia Moll McCarthyThailand and EuropeVoyageur

    Chlling... Recovering...

    13 mars 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    At this stage, I was so destroyed from all the Paris activity and the traveling and meeting up with people and doing things that upon arrival at Phyllis extremely welcoming home , I almost collapsed and had the luxury of retreating into this little oasis of colour, comfort and safety in the middle of the centre of London craziness.

    I was able to rest, eat healthy and do stuff that needed doing. Like contact the people that needed contacting and get some master's study in! While in Amtwerp I missed the latest module and had some real catching up to do.

    So both Phyllis and I spent our days preparing deliciously colourful, fresh and healthy meals while in between studying/working.
    We had some real quality catching up sessions in between, which were invaluably helpful to me regarding what my next professional steps should be. As you might jave noticed, I haven't exactly been in a huge hurry to get back go work.

    Also, she shared with me where her Social Impact Game project is at and how it is advancing at amazing strides. They are networking and have quite a few very interested large-scale parties, and they are currently undergoing a petition to integrate AI into their initiative which is going to make it take off!
    What a provilege to see all this cutting edge novelty happening and what hope to think that this is going to be having a social impact.

    Also... Phyllis introduced me to some very interesting people at her community in St. Martin in the Fields, as well as people in her work circle. What an exposure!

    On the tuesday I joined Seva in the London Buddhist Centre for a meditation session.

    On wednesday Phyllis and I went to a lovely mass where poetry was read and interpreted, as well as sung by the most beautiful sounding choir. It really brought me back to my choir days!    En savoir plus

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  • Pia Moll McCarthyThailand and EuropeVoyageur

    West end !

    15 mars 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    After a full day of intense work at home we decided to catch some last minute tickets to a play in one of the dozens of theatres that are within 3 streets walking distance. Oh, the joys of being right near the West End.

    The Mirror is about a play being played within a play, within a play, within a play, set in an imaginary communist regime where the arts are heavily sanctioned and need to be done in secret. What initially seems like a wedding quickly turns into something completely unexpected. They managed to interweave the plot and the multiple layers of plays with a very smart use of humour.
    Highly entertaining!    En savoir plus

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  • Pia Moll McCarthyThailand and EuropeVoyageur

    South Bank

    16 mars 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ⛅ 9 °C

    So saturday is here, and work has to stop. We took the train early to go to Borough Market before it got overrun by throngs of people. We have been very careful not to eat any wheat products and to limit sugar to the bare minimum, basically fructose in fruit. So, once at the market we went to town at the cheese stalls. What an amazing variety of food shops. Only regarding cheese there was an italian, a french, a spanish, numerous english shops. The spice shop was my absolute favourite... How I would love to stock up here! Such a wide variety of very fresh spices and all sorts of prepared spice mixes!!

    From the market the bell ringing of Southwark Cathedral right next door called us to go and see it. This is a Cathedral that has been around since 600 AD, with remains in its crypts from all ages dating 2000 years back.    En savoir plus

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  • Pia Moll McCarthyThailand and EuropeVoyageur

    Shakespeare Globe and Tate Modern

    16 mars 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 13 °C

    From Southwark Cathedral we walked towards Tate Modern and were side-tracked by the Shakespeare Globe. We quickly enquired about which plays were on and happened to be coinciding with Romeo and Juliet. Not only that, but we were lucky enough to get five pound standing tickets!

    The play was a modern-day representation of suburban skater and cyclist clans with the theatre decorated with graffiti. The actors were a multicultural mix dressed up in tracksuits and with smartphones in hand.

    After the play we needed a sit down and went to the member'a area for a tea overlooking St. Paul's Cathedral on the other side of the Thames.
    We managed a quick visit to Yoko Ono's temporary exhibition.    En savoir plus

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  • Pia Moll McCarthyThailand and EuropeVoyageur

    Iftar @ the Tate

    16 mars 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 10 °C

    After being ushered out of the Yoko Ono exhibit, we were approached by some organisation individuals inviting us to Iftar; to break fast in the muslim fashion in the Ramadan period. It turns out there is an initiative all over London and the UK where public and open Iftar events are being held in order to make Ramadan more visible to people and to make Islam less separate.
    Before dinner we were invited to join in a prayer ceremony where Phyllis and I were among the few, if not the only, non muslims participating. Because of this fact we were interviewed both by national tv and the organisation.
    A tasty and generous dinner was offered to aprox 400 people of all nationalities, cultures and walks of life.
    Quite an exciting way to end a very eventful day!    En savoir plus

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  • Pia Moll McCarthyThailand and EuropeVoyageur

    Wired Health Event

    19 mars 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    Phyllis invited me along to a tech health event hosted by Wired tech magazine. The shadow secretary of state for health of the UK was there to speak, as well as representatives from some very innovative tech firms.

    There was an exhibit of tech/health start-up initiatives outside the conference room which was very enlightening as to the new ideas people are coming up with.
    Some examples include health parameter monitoring devices such as rings, virtual reality as an anxiety soother, diagnostic devices for home and small medical practices, a device to reduce hand tremor, women's health kits, lots of probiotic products, etc.    En savoir plus

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  • Pia Moll McCarthyThailand and EuropeVoyageur

    Theatre + Dance!!

    20 mars 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 12 °C

    I went to the matiné session of An Enemy of the People. I think I would say this is probably the best play I have seen in my life. Of course the social morality and philosophical topic of the play is in itself very strong, but the staging, the acting, and the very surprising involvement of the public make it all the more memorable.

    To celebrate the arrival of spring, I suggested we go to the spring equinox ecstatic dance event where Phyllis and I danced to our soul's content. This is a safe and respectful environment where alcohol and drugs aren't consumed and individual expression is absolutely free. So nice to shake it all out of the system!
    People kept going up to Phyllis and expressing their admiration of her!    En savoir plus

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  • Pia Moll McCarthyThailand and EuropeVoyageur

    More West End...

    21 mars 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Relatively new to the musical scene, Hadestown was our next show. And what an amazing show!
    The story of Orpheus and Euridice, Hades and Persephone, is told in the 1940s style of black jazz-rock. With a beautifully varied cast we are told the story by hermès, the fates and the gods, who also accompany the main characters through the narrative of their descent into the underworld.

    I later on met up with the Ali sisters for dinner, whom I met last year in Bali. Such a funny reunion to get together again almost exactly one year onwards.    En savoir plus

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  • Pia Moll McCarthyThailand and EuropeVoyageur

    Kew Gardens

    23 mars 2024, Angleterre ⋅ ☁️ 9 °C

    Phyllis had the fabulous idea of going to Kew Gardens, thinking the flowers are probably out. And boy was she right!
    The cherry trees which blossom for about 1-2 weeks a year were in absolute full bloom, as were the magnolias, daffodils, tulips, etc.

    We also were able to see some of the exhibitions, one of which integrated AI with botanical art!    En savoir plus

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  • Pia Moll McCarthyThailand and EuropeVoyageur

    Tarraco

    27 mars 2024, Espagne ⋅ ☀️ 13 °C

    Tiara (Pau's girlfriend) and I made a field trip to visit the roman ruins of Tarragona.
    Surprisingly there are 6 sites (amphitheatre, circus, theatre, the forum, the city wall) of what was the old town of Tarraco. It was fascinating to see the image reconstructions of how the town used to be 2000 years ago and how it has developed throughout the centuries.En savoir plus

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  • Fin du voyage
    28 mars 2024