Sayonara Singapore

Ok, I know that isn't Chinese, Malay or even Singlish but it sounded like a good title. It is hard to believe we are down to our final few days in Singapore, this time next week we will be home in Vegas, trying to reassimilate to life in the USA!

Exciting and bittersweet all at the same time...we have enjoyed Singapore far more than we thought we would have - from the great friends we have made, to living on the East Coast and having easy access to the best airport in the world - it has been a great experience.

We had more visitors than any other place we have lived abroad - Ian and Sally, James, Belinda and Alan, Monkey Jim, Rosemary and Robert, Tim and Sue... who have we left out? And you all were invited - should have taken us up on the offer.

James came to visit and of course we had to go to the Raffles for Singapore Slings...

We made wonderful friends and played hard out on the East Coast...

Our favorite chili crab local - which is better, chili crab or pepper crab?

Lots of lazy Sundays (well a long, hard bike ride in the morning) chilling at the pool

We did go to work but our school was set in an urban jungle one road over from the famous shopping street - Orchard Road.

And when we had our going away party, the social committee sent us off in style!

 We traveled to many wonderful places - Thailand, Laos, India, Australia, Japan

We had a great time in Perth catching up with friends we made here in Singapore - Chris and Vic

My amazing friends let me catch a ride on a private jet to Tokyo

And as you know Simon has been getting back into triathlons. He did the most recent one with a team and they were really competitive in all the disciplines.

Team Die Tri-ing
Swimmer Bob (an Olympic Gold Medalist) Biker Joe (quite the racer) and Simon

So it is time for us to say goodbye to Singapore and start the next chapter of our adventure...

Simon will be training for his Ironman triathlon and I will be dabbling in cooking for him (and me). 

Watch this space for my next blog - Cooking for my Ironman - chronicling the next chapter.

It's been a long, long time

Happy New Year!

Got an email from a friend asking what we had been up to and wondering about the blog... I didn't realize it had been so long. I confess, I joined facebook and haven't blogged in a long, long time.

So anyway, here is one about our holidays this year.  Simon's dad came over for a visit. He spent a week with us and then took the Orient Express to Bangkok to see Matt (Simon's brother) and family.

We finished up school and then went off to Laos for a 5 day bike ride. It was great, we went down to the southern part starting off in Pakse. We saw temples that were part of the Angkor era, rode green, lush islands and enjoyed sunsets over the Mekong river.  It was even a bit chilly, I had to buy a jacket!

Our bike guide in Laos on the way up to temple ruins

We stayed one night in an Eco Lodge - great "cabin" - we could watch the elephants grazing from the comfort of the hammock.

Simon getting a haircut - complete with chickens and the village ladies coming around to check him out. How does that guy keep the cape so white in the middle of all of that?

We travelled around the 4000 islands, often taking boats between the islands - we didn't have to ride with the pigs though!

Of course, something always happens when riding. My pedal fell off in the middle of nowhere - of course being Laos an older gentleman had all the items needed to fix it.  Turns out he is the palm sugar harvester in the area so Simon climbed up the tree to see how it was done while my bike was being fixed.

We got back from Laos to Bangkok in time for New Year's - this is how we spent New Year's Eve, cruising the river. A nice way to end 2013 for sure.

Apparently we had not done enough biking so Simon, Matt and James went on a Thai bike adventure of their own.  Matt was the guide and they took off outside Bangkok for a really lovely ride in the countryside. The plan was to take a boat back the next day but that didn't work out so they rode back 100K! James is doing alright for 80 years old.

We are in our final semester teaching at ISS. Simon is busy training for the Iron Man he is doing when we return to the states.  Life is good, come and visit - we are leaving Singapore at the beginning of July.
Take care and all the best in 2014.