Last post of 2012

I'm heading to Bali later today to ring in the new year, so this will be my last post of 2012.  What a year!  Obviously, I've had a lot of changes happen during 2012, and it's been quite the whirlwind, to say the least.  There have been a lot of ups and downs, but that's what keeps life interesting, right?

Favorite memories of 2012:
#10kRunStreak
The Herskovits-Bernstein wedding
My going away party
Vacation in Destin
All the visitors I had in Nashville!
Flying business class
Melbourne
Ho Chi Minh City
Krabi

Not so fond memories of 2012:
Apartment hunting in Singapore
A super stressful February
A moderately stressful April
A really uncomfortable 10K in Singapore
Not so great effort during a half marathon in Singapore
A super stressful November
A super stressful December
Not taking enough time off in December

Obviously, the biggest thing that happened to me in 2012 was that I moved to freaking Asia.  And life out here is really good.  I'm hoping that in 2013, work out here will get a bit easier for me, exercise will return to my daily routines, and travel will continue to dominate my free time.

Happy New Year friends!  Wishing you all the best in 2013!

Christmas in Thailand!

Hi everyone - I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas!!  I have a ton of random thoughts to share today, and a bunch of pictures from Krabi as well, so this post is probably going to be a bit jumbled, but bear with me.

First off, let me say that my vacation in Thailand was exactly what I needed.  Totally relaxing and stress-free.  Krabi is a beautiful beach community, and the scenery was absolutely gorgeous.  I spent time at the beach and at the pool.  I went kayaking and snorkeling.  I got a massage every single day (insanely cheap! average price for an hour was around $8 USD!  Two scoops at Haagen-Dazs cost more than a one hour massage!).  I ate loads of Thai food.  I slept in.  I cleared my head.

View from my hotel room - it had direct pool access!

Lots of fresh seafood

Delicious Thai pancake with bananas and chocolate!

I bought 3 pairs of fake Ray-Bans in 3 days.  For about $20 USD in total.

Boats along the beach

Street food!  They grill the corn on the cob to order - AMAZING.

One day we took a private boat tour - no fiberglass here!

Spent the day at sea, going around to islands and lagoons for swimming, kayaking, and snorkeling.  It was SO beautiful everywhere.

Rock cliffs like this everywhere

All our boats parked along the beach

Coming into shore

(Beyonce) Pad Thai

Pineapple fried rice!!!

In short, it was wonderful.  And it gave me a chance to remember that I am insanely lucky right now.  One of my friends pinned a travel post on Pinterest that had the picture shown below.  I did this tour a few days ago.  Same boats, same beautiful scenery.  My life is on Pinterest.  People pin my life on Pinterest.  I mean - how insane is that?!  Stuff like this makes it easier when I get frustrated or miss the US.

Speaking of missing home, I've loved seeing your photos and posts on all the various social media sites.. but it was a little sad to not be in any of the pictures too.

One of the things that I feel very lucky to have is a very solid group of long-term friends.  I grew up in the same town for almost my entire life - we moved to good ole Temple Terrace when I was about 3.  So I went to school with the same group of kids from kindergarten until senior year - and some of us went to college together too!  Even though we all have our own lives now, it seems like around the holidays, when everyone is back home, I always got to see all of my old friends.  We would get together like old times - sometimes even in the same restaurants we used to love or with the same snacks that our parents would put out for us after school when we were young - and just catch up.  I missed that this year.  I was sad about that.

Some of my friends with kids got together right before the holidays.  I've never even met some of those babies before.  They could be walking and talking by the time I do meet them - weird, right?  I was sad to not see them all together - sad to not see their little babies while they are still tiny.

(Side note - a co-worker of Stephanie's was also staying in Krabi with his family so we went over to their resort one day.  I spent the day playing with their two little boys.  Me!  Playing with children haha!)

I've been going to the same Christmas Eve service with my mom for as long as I can remember.  I grew up going to the same church for years and years, and my mom is still a very active member there, so I would always see familiar faces at church on Christmas Eve.  The service itself has gone through a few different renditions over the past few years, but the final minutes of singing "Silent Night" in nothing but candlelight haven't changed, and that has always been my favorite part.  I didn't get to do that this year.

Thailand isn't a Christian country, but the people were overwhelmingly friendly and excited to wish us a Merry Christmas.  A group of people were singing Christmas songs outside of a massage place one night while I was getting some foot flexology done, so that was nice.  I had champagne and lobster for Christmas Eve dinner (a four course meal was only $75 USD!), and a beautiful view of the ocean for lunch on Christmas day, but it wasn't quite the same as being back home for the holidays.

Christmas Eve dinner at The Hilltop Restaurant

So beautiful at sunset!

I know this kind of looks not very delicious - but I can assure you, it was amazing.  Grilled lobster and prawns with a Thai dipping sauce.  (But it's still no match for cocktail shrimp and gossip!)

Christmas Day

So - Christmas in Thailand was absolutely awesome.  Beautiful, relaxing, peaceful, and delicious.  But I did miss home and all the people there.  Although, and this is sad, I'm kind of glad that I didn't go home because I can't imagine the pile of work/emails that would accumulate.  I went back to work today, and I still felt like 100 things needed immediate attention just because I had Christmas Eve and Christmas off.  (Many of the countries I work with most often in the region do not have Christmas as a public holiday.)  So, my restful vacation of zero stress was short lived, but definitely much appreciated.  And I'm heading to Bali on Friday, so life isn't so rough after all :)

Random statue at the hotel

Merry Christmas!

I'm heading off to Thailand this afternoon and won't be blogging while I'm there, so I wanted to wish everyone who reads my blog a Merry Christmas!!!

Give me a break

I was able to enjoy this delicious ice cream treat the other day in the middle of afternoon at work.  Sometimes you just need a treat in order to rescue yourself from a tough day.

As I've previously blogged, I've been having (more than) a few bad days lately.  I don't want to sugar coat it, lest you all think that I do nothing but travel and eat, but work has been pretty frustrating lately.  I, for one, am definitely looking forward to some time off and a much needed break!

Scene from my morning commute.  Don't let the serenity of this picture fool you.

In the US, we shut down for about two weeks around Christmas time every year.  Not so in Singapore.  I'm going to spend Christmas on the beach in Thailand (don't worry mom, we've found a church to go to on Christmas Eve), but then I head back into the office on the 26th.  I work Wednesday - Friday, and then fly off to Bali for New Years!  I'm really excited for both of these trips, not only because they seem like amazing experiences, but also because I really need some R&R right about now!

Some of you have asked if I am sad about not being home for Christmas, and the truth is - not really.  I don't mean that to sound as heartless as it probably does, but for some reason, it really just doesn't feel like Christmas to me.  I don't think it's the 80 degree weather, but I think it's just a general lack of Christmas-y things.  And I'm not talking about decorations, because those are EVERYWHERE, but honestly, I think it's the food.  There are no gingersnaps, no spice cake, no peppermint bark, no buckeyes.  It's weird.  It just doesn't feel like Christmas.

Of course, I'm sad that everyone will be home, and I won't get to see you.  I'm sad that I am missing Christmas Eve service at First Baptist.  I'm sad that I won't get to eat cocktail shrimp in front of an inflatable snow globe.

But if I can't be home for Christmas, I guess a beach in Thailand isn't bad.  I'm ready for a break.

Beware the snatch thief.

Nothing to add

Hi friends.  I don't have a lot to say about what's happening back home right now.  I'm sure we all feel the same way, and there is no need for me to add my two cents.  Miss you all.

Rough week

Well, it's only Tuesday, so it's fairly telling that I am already writing a post that is titled "Rough Week".  Let's be honest - I have gotten to do some really awesome things since I moved out here, and there are a lot of things about my life out here that I really love.  But let's be real.  There are some things that are incredibly tough at times.  Right now is one of those times where not everything is going well, and it sucks.

Miss you guys.  Hope everyone is having a better week than me :)

A little perspective

It is strange how quickly life changes, right?  I've spent some time lately thinking about how much my life has changed since I moved over here, and how different my experience is right now than what is happening at home in the US.  I also have thought a lot about how much my perspective on things has changed!!

Perhaps the biggest shift I've seen is related to the culture.  Singapore has a very (well-deserved) westernized reputation - people often refer to it as "Asia Lite".  And while I definitely agree, adapting to the culture over here has been a much bigger transition than I had originally anticipated.  I joked with a co-worker earlier this week that I've learned more about Asians in the four months I've lived here than I ever learned in my first 29 years of actually being Asian.  It's crazy - I don't know if you can really put a culture into words, but I know that I have a different appreciation for a lot of things, both Asian and American, now.

Also, my social circle is completely different now, obviously.  Like, four and a half months ago, I knew approximately three people in Singapore, and I only knew them on a very casual level.  Now, as most of my friends in Singapore are preparing to go to the US for the holidays, it feels a bit strange to know that there will only be a couple of us around town.  And as I've touched on before, you learn a lot about your friendships when you move away too.

The things that I think are totally normal are also different now.  In Singapore, the most common places to eat are called hawker centers.  It's basically like a gigantic food court, but not in an air conditioned mall.  There are tons of stalls where you can get all different types of foods, and the seating is all open.  My first time a hawker center was a bit overwhelming, but now I am completely used to it.

Hawker center for lunch in Penang

I've also gotten used to sitting on these random plastic stools everywhere haha

So kind of along that same thought pattern, I'm curious to see what I think of Bangalore whenever I do make it back there.  For those of you that don't know, I spent about a week in Bangalore earlier this spring, and while I didn't hate it, I definitely didn't love it.  But when I think back on it, I can't really remember anything that bothered me aside from having to brush my teeth with bottled water.  But now, something like that seems so totally trivial.  I commented to a friend this weekend that I think if I had gone to Ho Chi Minh a year ago, I would've thought "whoa.. this place is... different" rather than being totally obsessed with the place.  Maybe?  Who knows.  Speaking of Ho Chi Minh, here is a picture that I snagged off of Facebook of me actually going into one of the tunnels that we saw.. you can see that these things are pretty tiny!!

Here are some more random pictures of life this weekend in Asia to share with you all.

The current feature at McDonald's in Malaysia.  It looks a bit scary to me though.

Saturday morning cappuccino 

This is the type of stuff people wear out in the middle of the day.  Also, it wasn't raining.

This is the bridge in Clarke Quay, which is near my house.  It's pretty expensive to go out for drinks in Singapore, so tons of people just BYO and come sit along the bridge and hang out with their friends all night.

The Japanese grocery store has a kid's television area so that parents can shop in peace?

Anyway - and now it's Sunday afternoon.  I'm making chili tonight even though it is currently 86 degrees outside.  Then finishing some packing before I head off to Malaysia again tomorrow morning.  Hope everyone has had a great weekend - Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate!

Vietnam.. I did more than just eat!

So a few of you have commented to me that it looks like I did nothing but eat in Vietnam.  I assure you that is not true!!  We had a packed weekend full of awesome activities in Saigon.  I know I gushed about it in my last post, but seriously - I loved Vietnam.

Here is a look at what we actually did when we weren't eating in Ho Chi Minh.  It was a quick weekend.. we flew in after work on Friday and left late afternoon on Sunday, but it's only a 2 hour flight, so the travel was pretty easy.

We stayed at the Cinnamon Hotel, which was recommended to me by some co-workers who had recently visited the city.  It was a nice bed and breakfast style place (with a lot of stairs and no elevator).  Great hospitality and service overall.

Ho Chi Minh is actually kind of difficult to walk around.  There is traffic everywhere and tons of roundabouts that make it hard to cross streets.  The city is definitely not a grid, so figuring out where you are can sometimes be a bit challenging!

Like most Asian cities, street markets were everywhere.

On Saturday, we took a ride out to see the Cu Chi Tunnels.  I hadn't really heard of these tunnels before I moved out to Asia, but they were pretty important in the Vietnam War, and it was fascinating to see.  Definitely worth the two hour taxi ride!

Rice paddy along the way!

Being led by our tour guide

Display of weapons and bombs

Tunnel entrance

There's Stephanie!

The tunnels were designed to be so small that American soldiers couldn't easily fit down there.

Some tunnel entrances were just holes in the ground.  Pretty hard core.

Holes for ventilation were made to look like termite hills

Tunnel entrance.. this one was intense to get in and out of!

There were some temples on the grounds too

After the tour of the tunnels, we headed back into town to get ready for another fun adventure!  We took a motorbike tour of the city!  Saturday  night, we cruised around different districts in Saigon and tasted lots of local foods.  (Those were the majority of the pictures you saw in my last post!)  Honestly, this was the BEST activity.  I'd never been on a motorbike before this, so I was a bit scared at first, but by the end of the night, I was totally comfortable.

SO much fun!!

Sunday, we got up and headed over to the War Remnants Museum.  I had heard that this would be pretty intense to see as an American.  Of course, there are two sides to every story, and I was really interested to see things from the Vietnamese point of view.

Honestly, I was a bit disappointed.  It was a great museum, but it definitely felt very one-sided.  I was looking forward to seeing a more comprehensive viewpoint of the Vietnam War, but this museum was basically a showcase of everything bad that the Americans did.  Obviously, I realize that there were a lot of things that the US Army did that had devastating effects - there was entire exhibit on Agent Orange and the after effects - but the museum just felt very one-sided.  Nonetheless, it was really intense and had tons of information.  Definitely worth the visit, but very sobering on a Sunday morning.

War time propaganda

There was an area dedicated to showing international support for Vietnam

The caption on this photo talks about waterboarding

Before and after shots of Saigon

More before and after.. this is actually the Cu Chi tunnel area that we were at on Saturday.

Crying American soldier

After the museum, we walked over to the Notre Dame cathedral.  Built when Vietnam was French Indochina, this was a beautiful church.  We managed to get there at a time when there wasn't a mass going on.

Wedding photo!

Beautiful altar

I love this style of roof

We also stopped by the post office.. the most glamorous working post office I've ever been in.

Underneath the clocks were old school phone booths, but now they are functional ATMs

Love the arched roof

And finally, some more strolling through the markets

I got home around 10pm on Sunday night, and then Monday at 7:30am I got on a plane and headed to Penang for work.  I've been pretty tired this week, but it's wrapping up, and I'm looking forward to the weekend in Singapore.  

Ps - I finally got back to running this week too!  #RWRunStreak