First try with Mom... maybe there is something to that after all. That's all I can say for now. That and how perfect it is for me!!
We couldn't have asked for a better way to celebrate the last ten years and start the next stage of our lives. Our friends are the best. We are incredibly blessed.
Rather than whine more about my first world problems, I'm uploading the last our pictures from SE Asia. After Bangkok we joined our good friend Diana in Krabi, Thailand for her wedding. There we did what we do best - eat, get massages, with the occasional flopping around the pool in-between. We have her and her new hubby Eric to thank for bringing us to this part of the world. It was an unforgettable trip. When we were packing up on the last night to leave we said to one another, yes, I can stand to be with you for 10+ days straight, let's proceed with this marriage business. After Krabi Tim flew home and Linda hopped on a plane to Siem Reap to meet her wanderlusting cousin Emily to see some old stuff. Linda and Emily spent 3.5 days climbing over ruins from the 11th century, visiting social enterprises and showering over their toilet at night. They also found a giant coconut or two. Thawing my feet after day 1 of looking at venues in the great NYC. Two words: shopping hangover.
After our brief but heated love affair with Singapore we weren't sure how Bangkok would compare. But the slightly less polished but more colorful sister city did not disappoint. Our time was limited so we made sure to prioritize to what truly matter - eating and getting a rub down. After we arrived we found ourselves in a fantastic little inn in the heart of the city near the Asok/Sukhumvit train station. It's tucked away so we had none of the noise but an easy walk to everything we could possible want. We hit some of the main attractions but the highlight was definitely our cooking class - Cooking with Poo , a social enterprise run by the wonderfully charming Poo who grew up in the slums and opened the cooking school to provide opportunities for women in her community. In the 4 hour course we visited a ginormous local market, made and ate authentic local cuisine, met some locals and supported women in need. What more can you ask for?!
After a stop in HK airport where we immediately sought out the food court and inhale a snack of congee and gogi berry pudding (the seeking looked something like this: the two of us circling lower gate level, pushing our luggage every which way looking for a escalator, elevator, hovercraft, anything that will take us to the good smells coming from the the food court level which we can see, RIGHT ABOVE US.) we finally landed in Singapore after ~20 hours of travel. We exited via the most orderly taxi stand - every car was pulled into a numbered spot, with the driver standing next to their vehicle and the trunk popped open, and we were directed to a numbered parking spot (Whole Foods check out for taxis!) The road to town was covered in lush greenery. And later on, a taxi driver told us that the road actually doubles as an emergency landing strip in time of war. Apparently the flower pots that divide the road are moveable, and when the time comes all they do is push them to one side, cut down anything that's actually rooted in the ground, and planes can use it as a runway.
In fact, that kind of thoughtful planning and order pretty much applies to the entire city. From the hawker market to the public transit system to public housing. Needless to say that kind of benevolent dictatorship and government sanctioned OCD greatly appealed to Linda. If you really can't spare the entire 0:48, just forward to 0:27 |