North India and Random Pearls

4 Days until we head home to Illinois for Sarah's wedding! (Can you tell we're excited?)

Well, unfortunately, things here haven't slowed down here at all. Kate has been working hard to get the school's yearbook out the door for graduation and to coordinate the ground-breaking of the new campus!

Adam has been getting ready for some important meetings back home, training customers in Singapore, and just got called to India for a quick, two-day whirlwind trip to support important meeting there and interview some new engineering candidates. So that sets the stage for what brought Adam to the city of Chandigarh in North India. Chandigarh is the capital of two Indian states, Punjab and Haryana (translated as God's country). It is also India's first and ONLY planned city. In other words, it has a grid of streets separated by enough distance for wide lanes for growing traffic patterns etc. by contrast, every other city in India is a random collection of alleys, roads, buildings, and urban sprawl overlapping rivers, buildings, and millions of people. (compare the even grid of Chandigarh to the bowl of noodles that are New Delhi's winding roads.)



However, in addition to being well laid out, Chandigarh sits at the foothills of the Himalayan mountains (you can just see them in the distance in the image below). This region of India is much greener than any other I've seen before and is covered by fertile farm land. Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera, so I've snagged the pictures from other blogs and google.



Adam's trip to Chandigarh was only for a day, but he could not use the company car to get back to Delhi. So he took a bus with one of his business partners for the 5 hour journey back to Delhi! Once back in the city, they took a rickshaw (auto) for another 30 or 40 minutes in the 100+ degree Delhi heat. Business as usual in India.


After all that, Adam was really glad to get back to Kate in Singapore. Kate and Bella were happy to have him home too. On Saturday we walked the dog and then explored some malls and ran some errands. As we're approaching the hottest part of the year in Singapore, we are also entering "The Great Singapore Sale" which is a country-wide promotion to boost tourism. Its a great time to buy things when you live here!

So after Kate bought a new pair of shoes, she received a coupon for a free Pearl with her purchase. So we went to check it out. Surprisingly, it looked like we had walked into a seafood shop. There in the department store, they had an Oyster-shucking stall where they would take your coupon, shuck an oyster, and give you the pearl from inside.

They even had a jeweler sitting next to it so you could buy a setting for your new "free" pearl as a necklace, ring or other piece. (Clever sales strategy). But it was such an interesting experience, we had to give it a try.


So that wraps up our last post before we're home for a bit of family and wedding planning. Can't wait to see you soon!

Spring Update: New food and a Mac

Hi there. 2010 is rolling by faster than we could have imagined. It is hard to believe we've been living in Singapore almost a year and a half! Adam's work travel schedule has finally slowed down a bit, so its back to life as usual in Singapore. We've taken the time together the past few weekends to explore a bit more of our tropical island.

After taking Bella to a dog park to socialize (run around) with some other dogs, we journeyed to a local hawker center to grab lunch. Seeing a long line of people queued up at a stand with no English, Adam had to try the dish to see what all the hub-bub was about.

Eng Kee Bak Kut Teh Stand on Ang Mo Kio Ave 1 is an award-winning stall in Singapore's food circles. Famous for their extremely tender and rich Bak Kut Teh (boiled pork dish), this stall was worth the wait. You can see some pictures below of the fall-offf-the-bone meat in the darker-than-dark sauce of garlic and other mysterious ingredients... delicious!





This past weekend was longer than usual with the Vesak Day holiday on Friday. Vesak Day celebrates the day of Buddha's enlightenment. Anyway, we took the extra time to leisurely take care of some chores and continue our exploration of Singapore.

We visited the world's largest construction site where the world's largest casino has recently opened. The site is still much under construction, but the casino and hotel are mostly finished. Most of the work left is the mall, expo center and theaters. All of it together is called an Integrated resort, and it is a gargantuan complex.

Within this city-in-a-city, we had some drinks and even found a sale in the new mall. The sale was so god that we finally got a new computer! As two of our laptops were falling apart, we opted for a Mac. Ironic that we made the PC to Mac switch in the same month that Apple bested Microsoft as the world's largest technology company.

So we're still blogging, we're still eating, and now with a new computer, hopefully we can do both a lot more. Looking forward to getting home in June to see you all!

Sunday Fun Day!

An update...finally. After over a year in Asia we've been too consumed by everyday life and work to do anything worth blogging about, unless you want to know what I had for lunch everyday.

Adam is off in India...again. So I went with some girlfriends to an adventure on Sentosa, the small island to the south of Singapore. The island has actually seen quite a change in the last year with Universal Studios opening at the beggining of 2010. We have yet to check it out but I've heard good reviews. It's only at the point of a soft opening so when all the rides are open we'll take a look.

So anyway our adventure on Sentosa took us to a zipline at the top of the island all the way down to the beach. Here's how I felt about it:



No, there wasn't an earthquake while filming. I was SO nervous! Can you tell by my saying "friends and I aren't really heights" instead of "heights and I aren't friends". Frankly, heights scare the crud out of me- I frequently have falling dreams, well Adam is the one falling, and I'm the one freaking out as he does so. But fears and all, I felt the need to force myself to do it. When in Asia, right?

Here's how it went (hint: turn the volume down- there may have been screaming)

Ok so it was awesome and I'd do it again =) More pictures

Happy Valentine's Day!!

Valentine's Day just snuck up on me and I didn't have time to send any cards. My Grandma Gen and I always used to make the best cards- red feathers, glitter and heart dolies, fabulous. Oh and there was always a rhyming poem to go along.

Roses are Red

Violets are Blue

I'm so ridulclously busy

But I made this video to say I love you.

Happy Valentines Day Everyone!! (Especially Grandma Gen)

(A Valentinesish song for you. Guitar: Adam; Vocals: Kate)

http://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/-TPfYyDvpBBZSNoRjKlqOg?feat=directlink

Kiss Me by Sixpence None the Richer

Love,

Kate & Adam

The video was too big so we had to put it on Picasa. I'll have to put up a video of Adam singing next. =)

Bella says Happy Valentine's Day too.

Here's some pictures of the fun we had at the Singapore Science Center.

We're still here

By the lack of blogging you can probably tell it's been a very busy

couple of weeks. Adam is busy working, going to lots of meetings and just finished the Singapore Air Show this week. I'm super busy at work and have started rehearsing for a play, Daisy Pulls It Off, so my days and nights are packed but I'm having a lot of fun playing the antagonist aka bitch in the show.



We had a great trip home over the holidays. It was wonderful to get to see everyone, two weeks have never gone by so fast between holiday celebrations, catching up with family and friends and wedding planning. My family threw a beautiful bridal shower, THANK YOU! Although with the pace of our lives now, I don't think thank you notes will go out until March.

Bella also had a not so great adventure getting spayed last week but she bounced back quickly. She even went to the park the next day since we didn't want to stay in but also didn't want to leave her.

We did get a chance to check out the Singapore Science Center for Adam's birthday. They have a great set up and we had fun being kids for a few hours and enjoyed an Omnimax movie on sea life.

Sun, Sand and Elephant Kisses

This Thanksgiving we traded Turkey around the table to Tuna Steak on the beach with my first trip to Thailand. Adam had been to Thailand on business before but never to the beach destination of Phuket. It was just a short stay but as usual we managed to pack a lot in.

We stayed at The Laguna Beach Resort which is just one of the hotels on the Laguna property. At first glance I thought our resort was too tourist-y as the beach front was blocked by shacks run by locals selling gifts, food and drinks. But even they couldn't spoil the clear blue sea and sandy white beach. In the end, the locals being so nearby was a great money saver as you could get a beer for 60 Thai Baht(US$1.80) from the locals and walk a few steps back to the resort pool where they were selling the exact same thing for 150 Thai Baht (US$5)... you all know how I appreciate a bargain!

The best part of the Laguna property is that you have access to all of the resorts regardless of where you are staying. The properties are connected by a large lagoon, giving all guest water front rooms. Free shuttles and ferries carry guest from one resort to another so we had the opportunity to check out the other hotels. We popped over the the Dusit Tani for dinner on Thursday night and enjoyed the relaxing sound of the waves just a few feet away as we dined.

The next morning I met Meena the baby elephant and fell in love. She was so tiny and well behaved. While I don't generally like animals being in a tourist environment, she seemed to be very well taken care of and liked the attention.

We spent the remainder of Friday relaxing on the beach and by the pool and had some good Tom Yum soup for dinner. We also checked out the Sheraton hotel where I met another baby elephant. She was a bit older and more forward. The trainer told her to give me a kiss and she wrapper her little trunk around my head and literally give me a kiss on the mouth with the end of her trunk! Haa haa! She gave Adam one too. Wish we would have had our camera then.

The hotel beach, Bangtao, had a good number of people on it but I hear that it is much less crowded that the very popular Patong beach just a few miles away. Adam wanted to explore outside the resort a bit more, but I was hesitant to go at night. After seeing town area again in daylight, I wish we would have taken more time to explore. The local life reminded me of a more developed version of the part of India that I saw mixed with the trashy beach areas of Florida, but there were some good parts of town to explore.

Saturday we signed up for a boat tour and snorkeling around Phi Phi Island (pronounced pee pee). Snorkeling is amazing. It was my first time and I loved every second. After about an hour ride by speed boat, we stopped in an area that was enclosed by the towering jagged rock islands. Even with other boats around it was very peaceful. We then went to the beach where they filmed The Beach with Leonardo DiCaprio, but it wasn't very exciting as it was overrun by tourists.

Our next stop was Monkey Island, as you can guess there were monkeys on shore, but this was also our first chance to snorkel. This was defiantly one of those times when I thought, I'm going to tell myself, I'm not scared and just go for it. I'm convinced that I saw Jaws at too young of an age as I cannot remember a time that I wasn't terrified of a shark sneaking up on me. I even regularly checked for them in pools as a kid, so swimming in the big ocean was a bit nerve racking for me. I strapped on the life vest and was ready to go, but let a few others jump in first, just in case any hungry creatures lurked nearby ;P Adam held my hand and as we swam around and I began to relax.

After about 20 minutes it was time to head to another island for lunch, hey I was just starting to get the hang of this snorkeling thing and it's time to go? But Bamboo Island, where we were given picnic lunches and plenty of time to relax, was probably the most beautiful beach I've ever visited. We swam in the surf a bit and just enjoyed the scenery. Lines that marked the evacuation route in case of a tsunami were a harsh reminder of what people in this region had been through just a short time ago. I couldn't help but think, was it a gorgeous, perfect day like this only a few minutes before the tsunami hit?

Our final destination was one of the best experiences of my life. We stopped in the middle of the ocean, with just a few other boats around, where the water was crystal clear and the coral reef was amazing. Sharks were really on my mind here, but I ditched the life jackets and let the water rock me into a blissfully relaxing state. The scenery was so breathtaking and I felt so weightless in the cool sea water. Colorful tropical fish swam all around and I even dove down a bit to take a closer look. We were very lucky that the weather was cooperating as we would have missed out on the part of the tour had the water been too choppy. (More Pictures)

I can't wait to go back to Thailand again.

Next stop: Illinois!! Where the harsh winter weather is going to kick our little tropical butts. But I can't wait for the warm hugs from the people we love most.

Boating and First Hair Cut

We had a new adventure yesterday on The Oriental Dream, a 40 foot wooden junk boat (the only one in Singapore) built in Hong Kong in 1978. One of our friends organized the journey which took us out on the strait between Singapore and Malaysia. We were on the boat for 7 hours but it went by so quickly we couldn't believe it was time to head back to shore. Adam and a few others jumped in the water (from the top of the boat) and took a swim to the nearby island. Little did they know it would take them more than twice as long to swim back to the boat with the current working against them, but they still had a blast.

A speed boat also accompanied the large boat and groups took turns having a try at wake boarding. We'll have to head out on the water and try that again. Bella even came along and loved all the attention. All in all it was a relaxing afternoon with great company and food.

Little Miss Bella was in desperate need for her first hair cut, especially after her first ride on the high seas. She's 4 months old now and about twice the size she was when we got her, which is still tiny but she seems big to us now. She's a getting to be a snuggle bug but still wants to chew on everything. She is learning her manners though:

Yes, we're obsessed with our little furkid. Here's some new pictures of her pre and post grooming.http://picasaweb.google.com/kateandadam09/OurNewestFamilyMemberBella?feat=directlink