So it's been a long time...

A lot has happened since my last blog...I know I've been bad about keeping up. But here it is in a nutshell. I turned 30 (obviously given my last posting), I learned to scuba dive, I hiked a mountain (seriously) and my family visited! We had a great time during their visit...we went to the Tiger Temple outside of Bangkok. Check out the cool picture of Dad, Michelle and myself with the tiger. Mom didn't get to Tiger Temple as she was sick during that part of their visit. The other photo is me in the Singapore Flyer with the city skyline in the background.

Right now I'm busy supporting APEC and the presidential visit here in Singapore. It's not really exciting work, but I'm earning some overtime. At least that's what I keep telling myself when I sit at the hotel day after day after day. I promise to write more later and to work at being better with my blogging! Love to all!

30th Birthday Party

Here are some pictures from my 30th birthday party in Singapore! A great time was had by all! You can also check out my apartment in these photos...the house keeper took the one of me by the window before the party started...yep, that's my view! Isn't it amazing! I had some great friends help me put my party together and clean up after! I owe them many thanks! Check out the cake...made to look like a Dom Perignon bottle! How cool!

India

I never thought I'd live in a place where I could go to India for a long weekend...but here I am! Two girlfriends and I boarded a budget airline flight last weekend and headed o

ut to Chennai.

 Chennai is on the East coast of India, it was about a four hour flight. Upon our arrival we had a car pick us up and take us to Pondicherry, a former French colony about two or so hours south of Chennai. We had a wonderful weekend, the people were amazing, the food was delicious and the beer was cheap! Our trip included two nights in Pondicherry and one in Chennai. We roamed around and saw old temples from the fifth and sixth century, as well as more modern buildings and explored a bazaar in Chennai! We even saw the tomb of St. Thomas! The normal two plus hour drive to Chennai from Pondicherry took us about six on Saturday afternoon! We stopped in at every touristy type attraction between the two cities! One of my favorites was Auroville...this giant Epcot looking ball. (See photo of me looking like I'm at Disney) Apparently these people have decided to search for peace and unity in the universe, so they built this huge gold ball with the world's largest crystal in it where they go to meditate and find peace. As my friend Tara said, we came too far and we're too close to weird not to go see it. So we did...we even had to watch a video on it before we were allowed to walk the 1 kilometer (which in hot Indian sun felt more like a marathon) to view the ball from a distance. However, totally worth it...I've now really seen weird. The pictures here are some of my favorites from the weekend. We saw so many colorful and beautiful things! It was truly an amazing trip! I would love to go again before I leave Asia! The pictures are: streets in Pondicherry; the beach in Pondicherry; old confessional in Pondicherry; Ghandi (what trip to India would be complete without a pic of a statue of Ghandi); the bazaar in Chennai; a street vendor in Chennai; the Shore Temple and me with weird! Enjoy!

Good Times

Since I last wrote I've had a few adventures with some of my friends here in Singapore. I went to Kota Kinabalu for the weekend with Ellen and Tara. We had a great time checking out the local city and taking a trip out to the surrounding islands. The trip was fun and Kota Kinabalu is a great place to visit. We walked the round the city and enjoyed the locals (check out my fish friend!) and saw a beautiful sunset. We also took a boat out to one of the surrounding islands to swim in the ocean. With the exception of sunburns it was a great trip! I'll be returning there in June to hike Mt. Kinabalu...pictures will be up in June of that grand adventure! Then last weekend I group of friends and I headed out to Pulau Ubin, a small island off the north of Singapore. It's part of Singapore, but rural...it's the last Kompang village left in Singapore. We went for an outdoor cooking class. We cooked traditional Malaysian food and picked our own herbs for the food. Although I don't know if I'd do it again...it was fun to do once!! 

Long Time No Post

So...it's been a while since I posted anything...my apologies! The Shug and I have been doing well, keeping busy and making lots of friends. Since my last post I took a trip to the UK to visit Mandi and Ann! It was fabulous!! Mandi and I played in the snow and Ann and I checked out every pub in Oxford!! I have been to Bangkok for work...fun but not quite as exciting as the UK trip. On the Singapore side I finally had brunch at Raffles Hotel...very swanky! Free flow champagne...check out how fabulous Miss Ellen and I look! Shug and I send our love to everyone! We miss you lots!

Chinese New Year

t is the year of the OX! Chinese New Year is big stuff here in Singapore, there are tons of things going on and for two days the whole city shuts down! The two days off of work were great...I suggest the US adopt Chinese New Year as an official holiday, who doesn't love two days off in January? So this past week Monday and Tuesday were holidays in order to observe the Chinese New Year. On Tuesday the President's house was open to the public for touring.

Then on Saturday night my friend, Michelle, and I went to see the Chigay Parade, which is the "grandest parade" in Asia...according to the Chingay parade program. It was like no parade I've ever seen. It had some interesting floats and some very cool Chinese lions/dragons...but there was no clear theme. A lot of things were very odd...but then again, it is Singapore. Check out some pics and see for yourself.