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  • 💡 The University Lesson I Wish I Had: The Critical Power of Proper Planning

    How to find an expert? Very simple: you just need a 3-letter word— H O W.

    If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by a deadline, you’re not alone. We’re taught to hustle but rarely taught to strategize. This is the key realization that separates academic success from real-world expertise. How to find an expert? Very simple, you just need a 3-letter word – how.

    In my academic life, I often felt that the emphasis on “using the right methods for planning” was sorely lacking. We are encouraged to plan ahead, but rarely did anyone teach us the most effective strategy to achieve our goal.

    I used to believe that working “Fast, Hard, and Accurate” was the definition of capability.

    But the professional world changed my mind completely.

    I’ve discovered the truth: a true expert starts by thinking about how to approach the task. They choose the most efficient path to reach the goal instead of rushing forward blindly.

    Just two months into corporate life, I realized my former mindset was completely wrong. Poor planning ensures you lose half the battle, regardless of the plan on paper.

    📉 The Cost of Poor Planning

    When a project is not properly planned and structured, it typically spirals into predictable chaos. This is what usually happens:

    1. Budget issues start to surface.
    2. Manpower or resource allocation proves insufficient.
    3. Work assignments become messy and disorganized.
    4. The deadline gets extended, then extended again.
    5. Ultimately, you may not even be able to deliver the final product 🥶.

    Once you reach this point, no amount of hard work can miraculously save the project.

    ♕ Chess, Life, and Project Management

    It reminds me of a game of chess. If you make the wrong move in the opening, every subsequent move will be an uphill struggle. Life is similar, but more complex and forgiving than a chessboard.

    A single misstep won’t sink the ship, but it’s the cumulative effect of consistently failing to plan that creates an irreparable, return-impossible scenario.

    Success isn’t about how hard you work; it’s about how smart you start.

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  • Laos’ Unique Maternity Leave Policy: A Story Worth Sharing

    Last week, I shared my discovery on the maternal leave policy in Lao. To my surprise, the view was higher than I expected🤯.

    1500 views? As a small account with only 118 followers😀, it is great to see over 1500 people clicked my post.

    For a small account with just 118 followers, that was huge! It showed me something important: people value content that sparks thought, not just attention.

    At first, I assumed that posts about the UN and its agencies would be the main draw. And yes, those topics do interest people. But what really caught readers’ attention was something closer to daily life, such as maternity leave.

    A Policy That Stands Out

    In Laos, maternity leave depends on the type of delivery:

    • Natural birth → 4 months paid leave
    • Cesarean section → 4.5 months paid leave

    The difference comes from the level of recovery required.

    “After the cesarean method, women need more time to rest,” my colleague explained.

    This taught me something about content creation:

    • People don’t only want big, global stories.
    • They want stories that connect to their own experiences and make them think.

    By sharing something relatable yet unique, I opened up a conversation that mattered to more than just policy experts.

    I don’t want to only create “eye-catching👀 but meaningless” content. My goal is to become a storyteller, or a content creator who shows people another side of the world.

    Not just “how to make money💰” guides, but meaningful reflections that spark curiosity✨.

    This post feels like one step closer to that goal. 📈

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  • The waterfall💦 in Luang Prabang is the paradise on earth

    Am I living in the reality? Yes, or No?

    Kuang Si Falls, located in Luang Prabang, Lao PDR

    “Have you not seen that the waters of the Yellow River come from upon Heaven, surging into the ocean, never to return again;”

    From Translation of Li Bai, Bring in the Wine

    Although the poem above was describing the yellow river in China, I found its home in a authentic country in Southeast Asia. The breathtaking scene reminded me of the poem I read 6 years ago. I couldn’t imagine myself seeing the world depicted by a dreamy poet like Li Bai.

    Unlike the waterfall I saw, Kuang Si fall is surrounded by mountains and the beautiful animals in the area. There are bears (but they were sleeping😴 most of the time), snake and squirrel everywhere. You will never be alone, even if you are a solo traveler.

    Apart from the waterfall that catches everyone’s attention, a small lake nestled in the foliage is another must-visit spot. The sunlight filters through the leaves, creating a beautiful scene with patches of light hopping on the earthly surface of the rushing water.

    Visitors can jump into the lake and feel the coolness of the water.

    Unfortunately, even though I wasn’t at work👩‍💻, I still couldn’t stop worrying the process of my work and preparation for the grant even that was happening very soon.

    “While my companion was soaking his legs 🦵 in the cool, crisp water, I found myself worrying about the deadline for my photo book. What a fool I was!”

    Maybe I still have to learn about work-life balance.

    Hope everyone can come and visit this amazing waterfall. I can guarantee you will not regret about it. 😁

    Source: 085 李白 將進酒 Translation: Bring in the Wine, by Li Bai | East Asia Student https://share.google/FKkmIvjhmhL5DIa6f

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  • My first city bike experience

    This little grasshopper gave me a whole new driving experience.

    My first unofficial ride in my life.

    After arriving in Luang Prabang, a province in Lao PDR, I saw a green object that aroused my interest. On first glance👀, I thought it was a bike. However, when I saw the slingshot and metal engine, I soon realized it was a city bike, 🚴🏻.

    When I first turned on the engine, I nearly lost my footing. The city bike thrashed forward before I could pull it backward. It hit the back of a car, and I was frightened to death. 💀💀💀

    Fortunately, no damage was done to the innocent car🚙

    At the same time, the receptionist from the hotel witnessed the whole incident. He walked out of the entrance, and asked,

    “Do you know how to use it?”

    I said no, and he showed me how to use it.

    “The left handler is the brake, and the right one is for starting the engine.”, he said.

    And I soon understood his meanings. I hopped on the back of the grasshopper and began my exciting journey. Since it was my first ride, I drove very slowly to avoid losing my balance.

    I could feel the air whipping my face tenderly. These experiences gave me confidence. Images of me driving different cars bloomed in my mind. I saw myself driving a jeep in a desert, or riding a motorcycle on a deserted highway located in a verdant mountain⛰️. pictured my free, amazing future in my mind.

    But my imagination was crushed by the reality within ten minutes. 🤣🤣🤣

    When I reached the highway, there were more vehicles heading towards my opposite direction. Although most drivers were behaving well, I was overwhelmed by the flux of cars and noise. Only at this time that i suddenly realized driving is more exhausting and riskier than I thought. Thus, I nearly forgot that I was driving in Luang Prabang, a place without any traffic light.🚦

    At last, I ended my journey and proceeded to my hotel. Somehow it made me realize I don’t want to drive in Lao. Even though I acquired the skills to control the city bike, I lack the courage to traverse the highway in Laos.

    PS: When I sent told my friend that I learned how to ride a city bike, she said I can get one. 💵 But now I changed my mind. I would rather spent money to catch a cab.

    What do you think of this experience? Feel free to leave your comment and share it with your friends!💖🍡💖

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  • Why we need team work? 🤓 The lesson I learnt from my job

    The answer is simple: Teamwork makes better products.

    The three women that are protecting Laos.

    Everyone has different skills sets. No one can be an all-rounder.

    Today, I shared my observation with my colleague: no matter how bright an individual is, it is impossible for that person to become an all-rounder. The logic is very simple: some skills are inherently contradictory to each other.

    This job made me realise the gap between school and the workplace. At school, GPA and awards can only reflect the work and effort we put into our studies or exams📙, but not specific skills like management, small talk, and strategic thinking . Everything is relatively rigid🍚.

    For example, a person skilled at maneuvering formal procedures is unlikely to be a good graphic designer or illustrator. Why? A person who can adapt to a concrete system suggests that person has the tendency to follow rules and restrictions.

    For them, following the rules is easy and stable. This quality enabled them to shine in places that require complex procedures or diplomatic skills. But it may become a shortcoming in fields that require flexible and quick thinking. Imagine that you have been following the rules for a long time, how can you get rid of the old habits easily?

    Therefore, there is no real “all-rounder” in the real world. No one can produce the best product alone, unless it is an individual artwork.

    So there is no way we should worry about not being as good as other people. There is no definition for good or bad talent. It just depends on how you use them. 💪

    Please share your thoughts below if you are interested. 🤓

    https://www.instagram.com/ocn828?igsh=MXA0MHhoM21venNmbg==

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  • What you need is self-love, not romantic love

    The sun set in Laos

    This is my 51 st day in Laos, and I finally realized the biggest I have to learn in my life.

    When I woke up, the first idea popped up in my mind wasn’t about work or the sorrow of leaving my comfortable bed.


    I need self-love and self-respect, not romantic love💗.

    I need self-love and self-respect, not romantic love💗.

    I need self-love and self-respect, not romantic love💓.

    This sentence played for three times in my mind. Although my mind had just began its morning routine, it was chewing on this simple yet important sentence. It was an epiphany🤯!!!

    I suddenly realized the problems and troubles that happened to me was caused by the lack of self-love and self-respect. Even though I am living in a bigger house and have more freedom in my life, I haven’t fully got rid of my unhealthy habit. For instance, when I was sick, I didn’t listen to my body and went to work with horrible stomachache😫, headaches🥶 and diarrhea🤢.

    Ironically, even though I tried very hard to suppress the pain, I surreandered to my body before the end of the working hour. I left the office at 3pm and went on enjoying my “diarrhea journey🌊🌊🌊” in my cozy apartment.

    A few days later, I recovered, but I was exhausted. And I encountered some unpleasant things that tore my heart apart (When I figured out my crush lied to me about being single). However, after all these events, I learned the biggest lesson for me is how to listen to the voice in my heart and follow my intuition. If I know how to respect my feelings and ego, I probably wouldn’t fall in love with the wrong person again.

    At this moment I may not be able to treat myself as good as possible. But I can foresee that I will be the person that treat myself the best in this world🌍.

    So how is your thought on self-love? Share you opinions!😀

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  • Lucky day🍀 & My first Motocycle experience

    Coconut water provided by my company

    15th August was my lucky day. Although I didn’t receive any extra money or gift on this ordinary day, I felt lucky and grateful about the good things that happened to me.

    The first good news was about my colleague. He told me he could earn more money in the future, and I felt happy for him. A few months ago, I tried to manifest him getting an offer with higher income💵💵💵. The unknown power heard my prayer and turned it into reality.

    Another amazing incident happened later on the same day. It was a compulsory ⚽match. Even though my friend didn’t want to join this event, her role forced her to stay at with us. I saw her chatting with her colleagues, so I thought she was enjoying her time. During the dinner time, she sat next to me and began to try the dishes on the table. But she was disappointed with the texture of the beef. At last, when most dishes were cleared, she asked,

    “Shall we leave together?”.

    Without any hesitation, we immediately walked out of the restaurant.

    “Do you want to ride on the back of my motorcycle?”, she said.

    “Yes, no problem.”

    Then I was on the back of her motorcycle. Suddenly, I realized that my manifestation worked again. One month ago, I dreamed of seeing myself riding on the back of her motorcycle. It became reality⁉️

    My journey began when she started the engine. While we were zooming forward, the wind was patting my face tenderly. I could feel my body resisting the air flow on the road, but I had never felt so refreshed. At the same time, I could feel my heart beating crazily. The noises of the engines and vehicles freaked me out. Sometimes I would wonder if I were gambling my life💀.

    At last, I arrived at my apartment without any danger. After dropping off from the motorcycle, my friend asked,

    “Now, do you want to learn how to ride a motorcycle? “, she said with a smile.

    “Um… To be honest, not at this moment.”, I answered.

    She laughed😄😄. And we said goodbye to each other.

  • Creating an Emotional Interview Video: A Personal Experience

    The Pétanque court outside office(This is not the evidence of my sin. I played a game with my colleague during the lunch hour)

    All in a sudden, I wanted to make a professional interview video for my Japanese colleague, who will be leaving Laos very soon.

    A month ago, when I just arrived in a office located in this landlocked country, I met her at my first team meeting. Both of us couldn’t speak in Laos, so English became our common language. Sometimes our accent and pronunciation caused some misunderstanding between us, but that didn’t affect our relationship at all.

    From time to time, we would share our worries with each other. When I told her my crush betrayed and lied to me, she would try to lift my spirit, stating that it was better to loss an unsuitable person than being in a relationship. As women, we understood each other. (No offence, men can understand other people’s emotions as good as women). Apart from matters related to work, we talked about our aspiration, and the reasons we came to work for this international organization. Although our conversation was not deep and did not make us smarter, it was more pure and genuine than the small talk I had had in my life.

    But time flies. Nine days later, she will be going back to Japan and prepare for her exchange program in Switzerland. During this time, she told me her team does not allocate any task for her, so she asked me if is there anything she can help. I wanted to assign some tasks for her. I was confused for I didn’t know how she could help me to finish my tasks.

    In the mean time, my senior colleague was invited me to help him record an interview video. And I was intrigued by this new experience. He set the camera stand on the floor, and he asked some questions to the interviewees. And the girl answered his questions. Then, a few days later, you will see a clean, refreshing interview video popped up on the screen. The whole process looks magical.

    I want to try it as well. I thought

    “Maybe I can shoot an interview video with her? I can make something like my consultant did a few days ago?”

    And I suddenly wanted to have an interview with her.

    New update: She agreed to make an interview video with me. I am going to write a script for her tonight. Hope I will make an interview video that will leave a strong impression on the audience. Let’s see if I can make a video that fits her needs and my expectation. 🙂

  • The 44th Day in Laos: My thought on refilling water dispenser

    The water dispenser in my apartment

    The process was harder than I thought.

    A month ago, I visited my friend’s apartment, and I saw him installed a countertop water dispenser on the mouth of his 20kg water container.

    “It’s very cheap. I ordered this countertop dispenser from e-gets. And it is very convenient. One click and the water will get out from the tube.”, he said.

    I followed his advice and got the water.

    A month later, I moved to a new apartment, which was one floor below his comfortable “castle”(defined by my friend). Out of laziness and stinginess, I decided to do everything by myself.

    I first asked for the price of each water container from the security guard, and he said each water container was talking about 28,000 kip (1.29 USD). Compared with the 2L mineral water (costing 8000 kips, 0.37 USD) in the convenient shops and supermarkets, it was very cheap.

    Without any hesitation, I placed my first order.

    Ten minutes later, I heard someone knocking the door. When I opened it, no one but a big water container was standing in front of me. I dragged it into my apartment, but it was very heavy. I was exhausted after work, so I left it alone for the next few days.

    Today, before I left my apartment for work, the idea of replacing the old container with the new one suddenly appeared in my mind. But I had already forgotten the fact that it contained 20 liters of water. I tried to lift it up from the floor, but it was way too heavy. I flipped it and rolled it to the corner where the water dispenser was located at.

    To be honest, I was not a weak woman, given that I had enough muscle mass in the fitness test (161cm and 56 kg). But when I tried to lift this plastic object from the ground, I nearly lost my footing and destroyed the dispenser. Even though I could hold it for 10 seconds in the air, I didn’t have enough strength to place it on the mouth of the dispenser. At last, I had to use the chair to reduce the weight of the container and “throw” the mouth of the container into the dispenser violently. It was a mind-blowing and dangerous experience.

    This was something I wouldn’t do in my home city. Ironically, I only knew it exceeded my limit after my colleague told me the container’s weight was 20kg.

    Now I understood why the waster dispenser in the office is always in an “empty” condition. Hoho.

  • The 32 th day in Laos: Visiting the Lao Textile Museum

    The garden

    The Lao Textile Museum is located in Ban Nongtha Thai, Vientiane, Laos.

    “Are you interested in textile?”

    “A bit.”

    Then my friend and I hopped on the journey to Lao Textile Museum. It took us 30 minutes get to this tiny museum. On the outside, this museum was made up of several wooden cottages standing on a verdant garden that rarely existed in a city. We dropped off at the entrance and headed to the reception desk.

    Each ticket costed 30,000 kip (1.39 USD) for all visitors. Does it worth our money? The answer is YES!

    The Lao Textile Museum is located in Ban Nongtha Thai, Vientiane, Laos. This is a museum that showcases the female clothes worn by Laos women during the 20th century.

    The textile looms
    The silkworm cycle shows us how silkworm is sacrificed for our needs-we can’t forget these responsible cocoons!

    When my friend and I entered the first station of the museum, we saw some local women weaving textiles with their weaving looms. It was the first time I saw people maneuvering the clumsy and intricate machine in my real life, and I was fascinated by their skills and professionalism. There was a placard on the wall, stating that they did it for better demonstration of how people in the past created textile through the weaving looms. The person who came up with this idea must be a genius, for I had never seen a museum that would “hire” real person to showcase their exhibition. Now I saw the real-life experience, and I found it admirable.

    The upper floor of the main building was a collection of tools, dress and gowns in Laos in different time periods. Unsurprisingly, the room adopted the modest design from the entrance to the exit. Visitors couldn’t find any air conditioner or electronic monitor in here. Although there were no fancy technologies presenting the history of the dress or textile in the past, its design did not affect our understanding about Laos textile and dress.

    To be honest, I’m not a fashion enthusiast, so I wasn’t familiar with the patterns and styles of this vintage design. However, most of them were created for special events and festivals. For example, some dresses could only be worn on a specific day of the year, which meant women couldn’t wear them on ordinary days. I was surprised by the similarities between Chinese and Laotian cultures. Although they are quite different from each other, rituals still hold an important position in their lives. But what I didn’t expect was the function of the dresses. Apart from being worn for celebrations, they also served as the “uniform” of witch doctors during the 20th century.

    The tea provided by the shop owner

    When our tour was over, we visited a shop that sold handmade textile products. The goods were very unique, but they were expensive. We decided to rest and waited for the taxi inside the shop. At that moment, the shop owner prepared two cups of chamomile tea for us. When the afternoon sunlight filtered through the window, the tea was as bright as purple crystal. When I took the first sip, the unique taste of the chamomile melted in my mouth. The flavor was mixed with the taste of the herb and dried flowers. It lingered in my mouth for a long time, even though I had finished it a while ago.

    Hope you guys will visit it in the future!!!

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A platform that showcases my favorite photos with my GH5. The little garden of a hobby photographer.

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