I’m still here

Sorry to keep you waiting. I’ve been out celebrating my 2 month Asiaversary. But now I’m back (and completely broke) So, let’s catch up.

Since my last post my passport has earned 2 more stamps.
Stamp #1 was from Thailand. I booked a last minute weekend trip to Bangkok to visit a good friend from SIU. Because I can 🙂 I didn’t do anything touristy and that’s what was awesome about it. Just a normal weekend with one too many beers, a barbeque, a brunch and some friendly faces. Exactly what I needed. On Saturday I even managed to get a bit of work done in the library. I was feeling really smart and accomplished until I ran into a glass wall.

After the “dumb bird” incident, I had to get the hell out of there. So I headed towards a giant green blob on the phone map in hopes of finding a park where I could lay down and die of embarrassment in peace. I found Lumpini Park. It was really nice. I napped in the shade until a friendly local woman woke me up to tell me “ants bite you while you sleep”. She was right. So I sat up and watched a little girl feed the fish and talked to the brave woman who saved me from the ants. She asked me where I was from, what I was doing in Bangkok and told me I was beautiful. Smart lady.

Here’s the view from the park.

After the park I partied. I was too busy having fun to take any pictures. In fact I had so much fun in Bangkok, I guess I didn’t want to leave because for the first time in my life I missed my flight. We’ll blame it on the minor head injury.

Stamp #2 came from China

A good friend stopped in for a visit on his epic Asia tour. We spent some time exploring Singapore before heading to Hong Kong for the weekend. One night, we went to the “Garden’s by the Bay” and took some pretty awesome pictures of the Singapore skyline from the top of one of those alien trees.

Day 1 in Hong Kong we hiked the Tai Tam Waterworks Heritage Trail. It was beautiful. Look.

After the hike we took a cab to the Peak and watched the sunset. That wasn’t too shabby either.

Day #2 we took a ferry to Lamma island for another hike. It was nice and cool to see a smaller remote island. But for the majority of the hike all you got was a view of a massive power plant. I didn’t take a picture of that. Here’s what I got.

The best part of Lamma was the food. I had a couple of scallops covered in cheese at a place called Rainbow seafood. Super tasty.

Hong Kong is an amazing city. I could honestly see myself living there. But, it’s way too big to explore in just a couple of days. So, I will be going back. Hopefully in March for the Rugby Sevens to explore some more with another good friend. Here are some other random photos I took in HK.

It’s been fun traveling but I’m glad to be “home” for a little while. And the good news is, this apartment even felt a bit like home when I got here very very late Monday night. (after missing my second flight of my life. military time is hard).

Missing all of you back home but not really missing the snow 🙂 Stay warm.

Love, Kelly.