Tokyo can't stop her now...

Brittany BARELY squeaked onto her connection in Tokyo. Her flight was delayed from Seatac, but so was the Tokyo-Sin flight....she lands at 130am. I am thinking we will be sleeping in tommorrow!

Christmas eve out and about, Christmas dinner TBD....then out of town for time on the beach.

Will update things when we get back from Krabi...

Thought this was a really cool scene and got lucky to be ready to capture it....

Sweaty Christmas...

Been a while since I had time to think straight long enough to update the blogosphere....

Spent 3 of the past 4 weeks outside if Singapore and the week in between hosting a bunch of co-workers here for a trade show! Now I finally have a bit of time to think and relax during Christmas/new years...

That brings me to the oddity that is Christmas in SE Asia...
It pretty heavily "celebrated" here but they make no qualms about the fact that it has zero religious/emotional/spiritual element to it whatsoever. Basically, in a holiday sense, it is like the banks in the US, too big to let fail....so in typical Singaporean fashion they do it big, with lighted streets everywhere and shopping situations that unthinkably put normal non-stop shopping here to shame.

Then there is the strange feeling of laying by a pool in 90 degree heat and someone saying "Merry Christmas". Obviously i knew it would be hot here during Christmas but going thru it is strange and makes it hard to get in the typical "spirit".

Anyway, I've been finding good eating options and made good on the volleyball scene somewhat. Brittany gets in late Wed night and we are going up to Thailand Sunday for 4 days so that will be a 100% needed rest and relaxation...

Catchin' up...

Starting the home stretch of a completely chaotic 4 weeks of work....won't get into all the details, but I'll just say I've been VERY "active" in that time frame and still have to go from Malaysia to Perth to Sydney in the next 9 days...

Managing to keep my head on straight though envisioning a Thailand beach and days of nothing but relaxation! Still don't have a TV stand/ent center (TV is on the floor still) but otherwise I am ALMOST fully settled in. Next step will be to pain the walls and hang some artwork which I hope to do starting next week.

Couple random photos, as usual:

Fruit at the market - Taipei

 Meat cuts in Taiwan

 Dried herbs at a traditional market in Taipei

  Singapore's City Hall

Symbolism 

Lady walking through Singapore's City Hall district