Me on the beach in Malapascua, Philippines

Im organizing my photos from my trip in Asia and I’m trying to figure out in what way to write about my long journey…..hold on ;-)

Photo: Solli Kanani

It’s time to enter a new year and a new beginning in many perspectives…I hope this new year will bring you lots of love, joy and happiness!

Love, Solli

photo taken outside my moms house in December 2010

Merry Christmas! God Jul! Joyeux Noël! Hope you all are having a beautiful Christmas with your loved ones :-)

Christmas for me symbolizes family gathering, and I wish instead of giving and opening more presents…we should be better in giving love and open our hearts. Christmas should be a magical day full of joy and happiness, to spend time with the people you love.

Love to you all!

Solli (photo taken on November 27th 2011)

So this is it, I’m turning 30 years old! Right now I’m on the island Malapascua in the Philippines. I’ve always loved exotic islands…and palm trees. When I was turning 10 years old I wished to get a big poster on palmtrees and my mom bought one as my birthday gift. Now, exactly 20 years later I’m celebrating my birthday with my sister on an island…crowded with palmtrees :-) That’s happiness!

Another nice birthday gift must be that I finally will get rid of my braces (as you can see on the photo above) I’ve had them since October 2009. When I get back from my Asia-trip my dentist told me he will take them off, wohoo!

During my vaccation I’ll have a vacction from my sweet MacBook Pro aswell…we both need vaccation if you know what I mean ;-) BUT I’ve prepared blogposts that are time scheduled..so between December 1st 2011-January 6th 2012 my blog is updated almost every second day with time scheduled blogpost so don’t forget to stop by ;-)

Even though I will leave my laptop at home it doesn’t mean my camera won’t come along! He will be my partner during this trip and I will share my adventures and photos with you when I get back in January. Until then, take care!

Beauty contests for children in the US are a big industry with lots of money involved and what I’ve recently read in the magazines makes me wonder how the parents of these children can expose their children for this industry that mostly attracts pedophiles?

Eden Wood, a 6 years old girl, has since 2009 (when she was 4 years old) been featured in Toddlers and Tiaras (an American reality serie) and she have been winning prizes in several beauty contests for children, she have published her book “Eden Wood: From Cradle to Crown”, released an Eden Wood doll, she has appeared in two movies and released five songs. This girls is only 6 years old and it’s sad she is not enabled to enjoy her childhood. What I see is a parent who is exploiting her child. I don’t believe that a child in that age has that maturity to be involved in that kind of business….

3-year old Paisley (image source)

Paisley, a three year old child, got her costume made by her mom for a beauty contest, she was going to be Julia Robert’s character as a prostitute in “Pretty Woman”. Another mom put fake boobs and fake butt to her 4-years old child, Maddy Jackson, so she could perfom as Dolly Parton in a contest.

Obviously these mothers see no limits in exposing their children, either they’re trying to achieve what they never had in their own life and are trying to reach fame by their children or they just want fame and succes on behalf of their children.

What I see is that these children are missing a beautfiful childhood, their youthful essence are taken away by their parents. These parents are sexualising their children, they are abusing them in a very harmful way and exposing them to pedophiles who, I’m sure, are watching these contests on TV.

Another popular show in the US is the Jimmy Kimmel Live!, an American late night talk-show. He use to give missions to parents who are watching the show. One of them was to video-tape their child/children while they are telling them that they (the parents) just had eaten all the Halloween candies that the child/children had been collecting during Halloween. Many parents did this and sent the videoclips to Jimmy Kimmel Live! and some of them were picked and showed live. We all know how much most of the children loves candy. Imagine then how much effort they have put to collect candies during the Halloween, and imagine their reaction if you tell them you ate ALL of their candy? Most of the children we’re crying when they heard that their parents had eaten their candy and the audience we’re laughing to theses kids, even the parents were laughing behind the cameras. How cruel isn’t that? Since when is it entertainment to see children being hurted in that way? How fun is it to watch a child cry? For me that is not entertainment.

When I hear about these kind of shows and contests I just feel disgusted by these parents who are abusing their children for the public entertainment. But also all the producers and all the other people behind these kind of productions. Parents are supposed to protect their children, what we are seeing is the contrary. You need to have a license to drive a car, I believe you need to have a license to have a child. Obviously there are many people who are not qualified as parents…. And I wonder how these children will turn out like when they’re adults? I hope their parents will take their responsibilites and deal with the consequences…

(image source)

After Boracay we will be heading to another beautiful island, but not as mainstream as Boracay…Im talking about Malapascua. A pretty undiscovered island, only 2.5 kilometres long and 1 km wide. There I’m going to celebrate my birthday, I’m turning 30…and what couldn’t be better celebrating that in paradise with my sister?

(Malapascua , image source)

During our stay at Malapascua we will also make a day trip to a smaller and more hidden treasure in the ocean…a small island called Calanggaman. There are no hotels or anywhere to stay overnight on the island so you can imagine how quiet and peaceful it will be :-)

In the middle of December me and my sister will leave the Philippines and go to Ho Chi Minh (Saigon) in Vietnam. During ten days we will travel around in Vietnam which Im looking forward too since one of my best friends, Hana, have told me so much intresting things about Vietnam, their people and culture.

(Marina Bay Sands (the three buildings with the ship on top of it),image source)

We’re going to celebrate Christmas in Vietnam and in the end of December we will go back to Singapore to meet up our dad who will be coming to join us for ten days. We haven’t made any plans for that week..but I know my sister just made a reservation at the hotel Marina Bay Sands for their Chocolate Bar :-) We’ll be there during the New Year celebrating it together and I’ll leave Asia in the second week of January.

It’s my first time ever in Asia and Im really looking forward this trip and to see and spend time with my sweet sister :-)