Koh Samui- long post for a tiny island

(This post was actually written in mid-August. Finally editing and posting it now. All current edits will be in parentheses.)

We had a pretty uneventful July (uneventful except for all the doctor visits and sleeping since I'm growing a sea monkey). We moved into our new apartment at the beginning of the month. Since then, I spent about a week unpacking, and the rest of the time figuring out my surroundings and buying things that we need, like a toaster and a TV. Jon wants an xbox too, but I'm not too sure about how I feel about giving up my weeknights to zombie killing again (I subsequently lost. Zombies have infested my television).

We celebrated our second anniversary of our courthouse wedding on August 5, and enjoyed an AWESOME steak dinner at Morton's of Chicago... of Singapore. I knew we weren't in Texas anymore when I couldn't finish my 8 oz filet. (I couldn't finish my 8 oz filet bc I got carsick on the taxi ride over and I didn't want to vomit steak.) But I DID have a great lunch the next day. :)



Our REAL Anniversary celebration started a week later though, when we hopped a plane to the lovely island of Koh Samui, Thailand! We read about this island when we arrived in Singapore, and heard nothing but great things. We decided that going there for our anniversary would be a great way to celebrate and do some sightseeing while we're here in Asia. I knew we had chosen an awesome place when the plane landed and we realized that the entire airport was open-air! Seriously! No walls, just roofs! Even the customs area and baggage claim! PRETTY COOL. but i couldn't take pictures of it because we were in the customs line and i didn't want to make security mad, since they already yelled at the guy in front of us for being on the phone.

We stayed at the Kirikayan Luxury Pool Villas near Maenam Beach. Rooms there are VERY inexpensive compared to American hotels, but a million times bigger. I forgot to take a picture of our bedroom, but this is what the second bedroom looked like:

And the bathroom:

AWESOME.

The pool area was beautiful, and overlooked the central part of the island, which is mountainous jungle. I couldn't get over how green and fresh and beautiful the area was.


The first day, we hopped on the hotel shuttle and went to the sister hotel, which is on the more popular beach, Chaweng. We spent a few hours in the sun, got in the gorgeously clear and warm water and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly.


After a while, we got hungry and walked down the street for some lunch, but I forgot to take pictures of that. Jon bought himself a hat and new sunglasses:


We wanted to really enjoy our anniversary, so we decided to get massages on the beach! They had these little open gazebos with mattresses, and the masseuses would just do their thing right there next to the water! We were able to do a couples massage there, and it was an amazing experience, totally relaxing.


The next day, Jon and I decided to rent a moped and drive around the island. Renting a moped in Thailand for 24 hours only costs about 10 American Dollars, and they don't even ask for a license. And in our case, they also don't ask if you've ever ridden one before. Since I don't know how to ride a bike, much less a bike with a motor, Jon would be in charge of the driving. He had to practice for a while, and watching him practice, I have to say I was pretty nervous to get on behind him. I think that the valet guys had just about as much fun laughing at him as I did. After about a half hour, I did hop on and then he had to practice again. (At this point, I was seriously questioning my sanity and maternal instincts, getting on the back of a moped with someone who had only been practicing for 30 minutes.) We finally got the hang of it (I held on for dear life) and got to driving! The island is BEAUTIFUL. I was afraid to let go to take pictures while he was driving, but it was amazing. We drove through the town area where we went to the beach the day before, then we drove through Fisherman's Village, which was a pretty cool area with restaurants and bars:

We then drove UP the mountain all the way to one of the lookout points that I can't remember the name of now. It doesn't matter though, just look:


We climbed down and really just enjoyed the wonders of the universe:


And then we started getting hungry, so we started looking around for food. and we drove. and we drove. And then we drove some more. And i got cranky (baby gets hungry and my hiney was REAL sore from the potential death machine). And then we kept driving. And then we finally threw tantrums because I'd pointed out about a hundred restaurants and Jon was mad because he was afraid to make right turns. We finally were able to get to an area without traffic so that Jon could turn the bike around and drive back to a restaurant on the water. I finally got off the stupid machine and I tasted the greatest (noncaffeinated- got off the juice at the very beginning) beverage known to man. Sweet ambrosia of the gods, Manna from heaven:

Yes, Thai Sprite. It's probably made with Cane Sugar or something, but IT IS WONDERFUL. We ate some other good stuff too:

Oh and I can't forget to post a picture of me pretending to drive the moped:


The next day it rained and rained, so we stayed in the hotel and just enjoyed ourselves until it was time to go. I'll miss you Thailand. It was WONDERFUL.

The reason I've been neglecting my blog? PARASITES!

The most adorable 9-month parasite known to man! that's right, BABY.

I didn't want to tell anyone anything until we were kind of in the clear, and I didn't really want to talk about much else.

Yes, it's a bit of a surprise. Yes, we originally wanted to wait til we were headed back to America. We don't make the plans, we just go with them.

Now that we're cool, I can tell everyone that I'm not gonna tell you much! I don't want to spread the baby's business around until it's out. That includes sonograms, gratuitous bump pictures, or it's name (which we haven't actually picked out yet). We do already know the gender, but I'm also not going to tell that until later. If you desperately want to know something, send me an email. I'll tell you. just not publicly.

I'll share SOME stuff though. We're due in March! I have cravings for vegetables and cheese, I hate everything having to do with chicken, I can no longer comfortably paint my toenails, my giant bottle of Tums is always next to my bed, I guzzle water like it's my job, aaaannnndddd I'm running out of clothes. Thankfully I was smart and ordered some stuff and had it shipped to me before I really needed them, but i definitely should have ordered more shirts. FYI, pregnant lady shirts make a huge difference... unless you like letting your bump fall out all over the place.

How's Jon, you ask? fine. He got braces (invisalign, so you can't even tell) and he's in pain at least once every two weeks, and I have to say that I get a small delight out of it. hahaha- I kid, I kid. he's working hard, stays late, and freaks out about tax returns that he can't solve, but that's really no different than America. He's lost a lot of weight too. His pants all fit big. It's probably because we're mostly vegetarians now. Red meat is expensive here, and like I said before- NO CHICKEN. it smells like rotten hiney.

So all of that being said, NOW I can start posting a couple of old posts that I wrote but didn't want to post because there were mentions of baby-related topics, until I stopped writing altogether because all I could really talk about for about 6 weeks was the inside of a toilet bowl, not leaving my apartment, and plain cheese sandwiches. and after I got over that business for good three weeks ago, I started playing on Pinterest, setting up a registry for some stuff we'll need (and that will fit in a carry-on suitcase), and planning on where we're gonna put all of it's stuff, and that takes up my writing time.

In other news: we'll be home for Christmas! We plan on getting there about the middle of December, and hope to see everyone then! We already made a list of the restaurants that we will be visiting (what? baby's hungry). We'll also be going back to Melbourne in November, and I seriously can't wait for that. I need me some delicious food. I'm even planning on being bad and drinking COFFEE while I'm there. (not that that's actually bad. I'm allowed to have 300 mg of caffeine a day, and I have been a SAINT and sticking to ZERO. I DESERVE a coffee... for good behavior.)

Cheers to America!
-Jon and Nikki

"Foot Reflexology" is not the same thing as a "foot massage"

When we lived in the H, we would go get pedicures and stuff from time to time. Jon likes to rub my leg with his nasty foot callus, so he needs it cut off every couple of months. I love a good pedi and foot rub as much as the next guy, and I have a tendency not to notice when all my nail polish has chipped off. It's one of the very few things we do to try to look not so grubby/west side, but we love doing it together, and that's a good thing for a relationship.

So when we came to Singapore the first time, Jon BEGGED to try out Foot Reflexology. "Sure! Of course we can go," says the unsuspecting American tourist to her oh-so-excited husband.

Lucky us! There was a foot reflexology place in our very own hotel! (i'm beginning to realize that the one common thread of every blog I write is that nothing turns out as planned...)

So before Jon's birthday dinner at the very fancy Equinox Restaurant on the 77th floor of the Swissotel Singapore:

The view from the restaurant. Crazy, right?!

We stopped at "My Foot Reflexology" for a 45 minute session.

It was probably about 44 minutes too long.

They started on me first. Mind you, I'm a self-professed WIMP. I am fully aware of my condition. I have no pain threshold whatsoever. The lady takes my feet and a giant glob of lotion, and starts pulling and twisting my unsuspecting toes in her vice-like grip. I'm pretty sure she was preparing my toes for ground beef.

Apparently the theory is that each part of your foot corresponds with another part of your body, as shown here:

Just Google "Foot Reflexology Chart" if you want specifics.

If they're rubbing a certain area and it hurts, apparently that part of your body has some sort of disease or malady and you have to keep coming back until it doesn't hurt anymore. I'm pretty sure in America that's called "fake it til you make it" but I digress.

So my feet are being put through what I suppose it would feel like to go through that thing that squeezes out the water from your chamois at the car wash, when another guy comes and starts rubbing Jon's feet.

Jon, up until this point, was SO EXCITED for his foot rub that when the meat grinder was working on me, I had been grinning and bearing it so as not to ruin his birthday foot massage.

His session begins, and immediately, I can feel him tense up. I saw the pain in his eyes. His knuckles turned white on the arm rest. As the massage goes on and on, Jon keeps twitching, yelping, writing notes to me on the notes section on my phone with too many cuss words to write on a family-friendly blog. Jon kicked him probably about 5 times. I'm pretty sure he was aiming for the face, but I was busy doing my best not to laugh at the poor guy's attempt at kick deflection.

Don't get me wrong, it was painful. But probably the funniest foot not-massage I have ever had. And I have gone back to do it again (mostly for some covert pictures for this here blog post), but I found a different place that you tell the therapist if you'd like light, medium, or hard pressure- but it still all kind of feels like a self-inflicted hammer to the foot when it comes down to it.

about to have my toe pulled off- maybe it would have hurt less.

at this point, i took a picture to distract myself from the pain.

don't let his elderly appearance fool you. he is proficient in torture techniques.
he probably knows how to kill you with one toe squeeze.

- Cheers to America! Jon & Nikki

Karaoke as defined by the people who came up with it

So last night, jon received a text from his coworker, Claire inviting us to go to "KTV" with her and some friends.

"What is KTV, actually?"

"Karaoke.... National pastime of most Asian countries."

Well. We all know how I feel about letting people know how good I am at singing. HECK YES.


And then she said "Ok, I'll meet y'all at 1030 tomorrow morning."



Wait.... What?

Karaoke in the morning? Without the social lubricant that copious amounts of beer and/or vodka sours provides?

So we met Claire, Christine, Andy, and Amir at Kbox near Esplanade when it opened at 11am today.


In Asia, karaoke doesn't happen In a loud and raucous bar late in the evening, where everyone sounds better as the night wears on. In Asia, karaoke happens in private rooms, where only your friends can hear you. You're served food and beverages, and you can pick as many songs as you'd like, stop singing halfway through, change songs, order more drinks, carry on, cause a general ruckus, etc.













The pitcher is just iced lemon tea. Not beer.

We had so much fun!!!!! I think Jon definitely comes out of his karaoke shell more when he's not in front of general public. We finally got to meet some people, and now (I hope) there can be some new characters (besides stupid sasha) in this here blog.




- Cheers to America! Jon & Nikki

PS-


Yes. She bangs.

AUSSIE AUSSIE AUSSIE

One of the super awesome wonderful things about being an expat is getting to travel to other places! Jon needed to attend a training for work last week in Melbourne. I wasn't going to tag along, but then I had one of those middle of the night panic attacks about being alone for a week in a place I'm still not fully comfortable in and still don't know anyone, so I bought a ticket and tagged along.

Oh, Singapore Airlines. You spoiled me in business class before, and now I'm stuck in "low class" with the rest of the peasants. Haha, I kid, but SIA still so much more awesome than airlines back home. Seriously though, once you go business class, coach is a hard pill to swallow. Seven hours of sleep-fighting, head-bobbing guy on my left, and old lady I have to climb over to pee on my right, incessantly crying, seat-kicking 5-year-old sitting behind me: heck yes, I took full advantage of the free alcohol. I put on my earphones and enjoyed some delicious red wine and censor-free movies for a while.

Monday night, after we checked in to the lovely Marriott Melbourne (ps- if anyone knows the answer to this, let me know: how come only certain people get complimentary breakfast at Marriott?) we went to a Greek place called Stalactites. Freaking best greek food eveerrrrr. Forgot my camera though. Idk if it's because we've been meatless for too long, but it was so amazing eating something besides chicken, I wanted to hug the chef. We ate there THREE TIMES during our trip. It really was that good.

Jon was in training all day during the week, so on Tuesday I got an early start and headed down to Queen Victoria Market. This was my HEAVEN. It's like farmers market paradise.







After that, I strolled over to something or other garden, then over to the Melbourne Museum. They have a pretty neat exhibit on the human body, weird stuff and all- it was very interesting, but they kind of overdid the photos of naked bodies. I think it took away from the learning. People were taking pictures of the naked people pictures. I got a little creeped out, so I left. There was a very well done exhibit on Aboriginal Art that I liked. I truly had no idea about their persecution in Australian History, and I was very moved about the stories shared.


I also went to the Botanical Gardens during the trip, but it was raining and cold, so I didn't stay as long as I would have liked.



I also took Jon to his first musical! We went to see Rock of Ages - loved it! We probably would have loved it better in America, where the jokes would have been understood by everyone in the audience and not just us, and the actors weren't trying so hard to cover up their funny little Aussie accents and just do the show, but it was still a VERY good time. I'd say Jon's first foray into musicals was a success. I can't say he's ready for Les Mis or even Wicked, but I think he could handle Grease... we'll take it slow.

All in all- Australia was a success. I'm sad I didn't get a chance to go to the zoo and see any kangaroos, but I got some shopping done, I got my burger fix, I drank way too much amazing coffee, I played in the cold weather, and I loved every minute of it. I loved Melbourne, and I definitely won't sit out the next time Jon has to go either.


- Cheers to America! Jon & Nikki


PS- I didn't know where else to share my amazing cheeseburger and the funny thing I saw at the adult beverage store:

Location:Melbourne,Australia

Pizza can't be that different... Can it??

We leave to Australia tomorrow and still need to pack. In the essence of making sure that it gets done, I suggested that we order in delivery so that we utilize time here at the apartment. Unfortunately for our luggage, I had to stop everything that I was doing to write this.

I looked around online a little- there's McDelivery here, which is exactly what it sounds like: MCDONALD'S DELIVERS. But we decided that we need to be much more intoxicated to justify delivering a juicy beefy cheeseburger and hot crispy fries (I miss beef, ok? I'm seriously about to sprout feathers over here). Besides, pizza sounded kind of good tonight.

Pizza Hut here actually turns out to be a fancy sit down restaurant, with actual dishes served on real plates with forks and knives- fancy pasta dishes, fried fish, wraps, and gourmet pizzas like this:





And appetizers like this:





I didn't say it sounded good. Just fancier than American Pizza Hut.

I finally found a place called PastaMania that is currently offering a special of a pizza, an order of pasta, 3 pieces of garlic bread, and 2 cans of coke for $20! Awesome! I order online and they only offer specific pizzas (not pepperoni) with the special. So I ordered a cheese pizza, and then decided to order a separate pepperoni pizza (bc that's what we really wanted), thinking that whatever doesn't get eaten tonight, we can eat tomorrow before we leave.

So the guy arrives with our order, I opened the door and laughed out loud. I put some food on my plate and snapped this picture:





No seriously, where's the rest of it? The whole pizza was the size of my hand. And I have small hands.

I can literally eat a whole slice in one bite. I just tried it.

Jon told me to tell y'all that it wasn't bad. It was ok. I won't miss it when I go back home to America, but it'll serve the purpose while we're here.


(stupid Sasha. Fine, I did get this chubby by eating too much food. It's because we have food in America. We don't eat snacks for meals, we eat meals.)

- Cheers to America! Jon & Nikki

Hawker centers, the reason why I'm going to lose all my cooking skills

I mentioned in the grocery store episode about how eating out is so much cheaper than cooking in. There is only one reason for this, and it's called a hawker center.


A hawker center is essentially a large food court, usually outside, filled with lots of picnic-type tables, surrounded by food stalls. There are some indoor food courts at malls that follow the same concept, but the authentic experience can only be had at the outside ones. Back in the day, they were just street cart vendors that would park all of their carts on one street corner in a neighborhood, much like hot dog guys in New York. The government decided to open the hawker centers to enforce hygiene and prevent food-borne illnesses.

Alright, so you've got easily about 50 stalls, each one selling Singaporean delicacies (which I will visit in depth sometime soon). One will have chicken rice, one will have roasted duck, one will have Indian, BBQ seafood, noodle guy, soup guy, juice, soda, beer, so on, so forth.

You walk along the path, and each stall has a picture menu along the awnings, and when you decide what you want, you find a seat, order, and the stall assistant will bring you your food.






Your whole meal is usually around 5 dollars. And trust me if it ain't some of the best and freshest food you've ever had.

You have to pay for napkins usually, and you eat on a styrofoam plate with plastic forks and spoons. It's very difficult to be ladylike with a plastic fork. I do my best.

They serve msg-laden broth with almost every dish, which i find strange bc it's so hot outside, I don't know why people even want soup. Don't ask me what kind of broth, because it's the water they cook everything in. It generally tastes like hot blah nothing water. Unless they add miso, then it's hot blah nothing umami water.

We live across the street from one of the most notorious hawker centers on the island, Newton Food Center. As you walk up, there are about 8 stall guys that jump on you to come sit at their table. They annoy you until you decide what you want. They don't do that at other hawkers, just Newton. Most of the stalls are all about seafood. There's a large parking lot attached, and I think every night is a car show- we've seen lambos and ferraris. Parking lots are not very common here, so I think thats why.

I've been a bit hesitant about eating some of the local seafood delicacies because they keep the heads on all the shrimps, and all the crabs are alive and you have to pick out the one you want to send to his death. I mean, I can see the chickens faces too, they hang them up with their heads still attached, but I didn't see them waving their little arms at me before I ate them. Poor delicious little guys.

I will follow up soon with an article about the food itself. Hold on to your antacids for that one, it'll be a doozy.


- Cheers to America! Jon & Nikki

Stupid little kids (or Why our plan to get fit is an uphill battle)

So yesterday, I went on another mission to walk to a grocery store instead of depending on the train. I found one that was a little over one mile away, it was over 90 degrees out, but I was going to do it and carry all my groceries back.

I mapped out the route and started walking.

I've failed to mention previously that there is a problem in Singapore with giving different streets the same name. It's not even like Main Street and Main Ave, it's literally "Clemenceau Ave N" occurs twice. This happens frequently. And when you're walking, it can be hard to tell the difference.

I don't have an operational iPhone at the moment (bc At&t are a bunch of jerks who won't let you use your own device in another place). I don't know how to navigate. I can't find my way out of a barrel without gps.

I realized after I while that I wasn't going the right way. I was caught up in some construction and just kept following arrows. I found myself outside the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the Alliance Francaise de Singapour, and thought to myself- "one of these groups must be kind enough to have unsecured wi-fi". It was the French. I will not be making any jokes about French people, they saved my hiney.

I google mapped myself and finally got to my destination. I had walked about 2.5 miles by the time I got there.

But I was not giving up, mind you. I had an objective, and I was sticking to it. It will always be this hot, and I can't be so dependent on the train.

So I walked back home. I was very proud of myself for sticking to a goal, and getting some extra exercise while i was at it. Thankfully this time went smoothly, and I sweatily arrived at our apartment in desperate need of some cooling off. I put on my swimsuit and walked downstairs to the pool.

I swam a few laps, then picked up my magazine to sit by the jets.

And then my lovely peaceful relaxation time was shattered by a blond pigtailed six year old.

"Are you reading, or are you swimming?"
"well, I was swimming, but now I'm reading."
"what's your name? I'm Sasha"

Turns out Sasha is from Australia, hates her little brother, and her mom lets her hang out at the pool by herself. I don't blame Sasha's mother. Kid won't shut up.

"where are you from, Nikki?"
"I'm from America."

"is everyone there fat like you?"


...cricket...


"actually, yeah, kind of."

"did you eat a lot to get so fat? your legs are very big."


I diffused the conversation as gracefully as possible, and went back upstairs to contemplate living under a rock for the rest of my life.




- Cheers to America! Jon & Nikki

Chicken feet, and other grocery store anomalies.

Doesn't that look like halloween gone so wrong? You can see all their little fingernails!! Only in Asia is this ok. I saw this and was disgusted, but then realized that if these people were to visit San Antonio, they'd probably be terrified of tripas, lengua, and menudo. It's all relative, I suppose.



In other news, I did successfully accomplish my mission to locate pinto beans in this country... And at about 6 American dollars per pound, I think we'll be eating beans much less frequently (that is, until Christmas, when I pack about 10 lbs worth in my luggage).

Everything here is so expensive! It is infinitely cheaper not to eat at home. Beef? Easily $15 for a half pound. Box of cereal? About 5-6 bucks. I just paid $4 for one of those regular yellow umbrella girl canisters of salt. I saw hamburger helper at the grocery store for $7.45.

At least there's rice.

Chicken too.

They don't have sriracha here, and it would be soooooo good with their food. Someone remind me to pack some in my luggage along with all the beans.

I did find hidden valley ranch dressing today, and I breathed a small sigh of relief that I did. I dont think jon would be able to survive if he didn't think he could have ranch. After the hooters fiasco, I started having small panic attacks that we would never get to experience that creamy delicious goodness ever again.

Also strange? They sweeten their milk. It's pretty gross. The canister actually says "MADE with fresh milk" blllllleeeeeeech. I just bought three tiny milks of all the different brands, and we're fairly happy with one of them. Still tastes a little funny. They have real cheese though, so that's good.

This is getting interesting. We'll see how it goes. We really aren't in Texas anymore, Toto. Tears may be imminent. I miss my kitchen. And HEB. Poor poor HEB.


- Cheers to America! Jon & Nikki

Futile attempt to do something American

So today in the news, Osama bin Laden was announced to have died.

Jon and I decided that we should do something American to celebrate.

McDonalds? No. Subway? Negative.

Hooters?? YES. AWESOME.

So we journeyed to the beautiful Clarke quay:



And found the very first Hooters in all of Asia. As far as were concerned, it'll probably be the last.

Seemed fairly legit. Tall wood tables. Only two TVs, but they were on ESPN. Overly made-up chicks in tank tops and orange hot pants. We were so excited to see fried pickles on the menu!! Awesome! America! And then this happened:





Gross. Didn't even taste like pickle. Just crunchy nothing. And the sauce left much to be desired. Woefully inadequate.

Alright, well maybe they don't understand pickles, all they have is cucumbers here anyway. So we thought to ourselves: the wings can't be that bad, they bottle their own sauce. So we order, and sure the wings were fine... But the ranch??? Let's not get into that disaster. Disgusting.



We ate them. We were hungry. It was for the glory of America.

But if we ever decided to come here to celebrate being Mexican, we'd also be disappointed:





We're done, hooters. Done. I might even write a scathing email to corporate. Salted rim not advisable- psh, EATING here not advisable. I'm gonna advise you to look at the recipe book again.

In any case:

-Cheers to America! Jon & Nikki

Were here!

We made it! Few bumps in the road, but were finally here and excited to experience all the SG has to offer.

The journey was pretty rough. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare, shuffled through security (blissfully shortened bc of our fancy business class tickets) and proceeded to spend about an hour in the business lounge as we waited for our flight to board. We eventually meandered to our gate, and when boarding for our flight was announced, I quickly came to the realization that my passport was no longer in my bag.

Needless to say, I freaked. I SPRINTED (and I barely run for busses) back to the business lounge, and it was nowhere to be found. I jogged at a fairly rapid pace back to the gate, asking random security guards and restaurant employees if it had been turned in. We asked the flight people what to do, ran around some more, when I finally concluded that I may not recover it in time, and Jon needed to get on the plane. I held on to all hope as I ran back to the business lounge to double check, and on my way, I heard an angelic voice say over the speaker "Paging: , please dial lost and found for a missing item." It was as if God himself spoke. The gate agent then ran to the gate that angel lady said it was at... and then paged back to say it was not there. We called semi-mentally-challenged angel lady back, and she said that they had moved it to customer service. Why? I'll never know. Gate agent guy ran to that area, retrieved it, and began the run back... when the other gate guy said "I'm sorry- the door is locked. There's nothing we can do."

I collapsed onto the chair, began hyperventilating, and CRIED MY EYES OUT. I watched the plane leave with my husband on it, unaware if I'd ever make it to Singapore.

I have to give a mad shout out to the Singapore Airlines people. They helped me so much. The guy didn't have to run, but he did. After my passport was found, they immediately rebooked me for the very next flight, they called a hotel for me, and stayed with me until the hotel shuttle showed up.

How did I go about losing my passport? while walking between the business lounge and the gate, I dropped my carry-on bag. I guess it fell out and i didn't even notice.

I did eventually get in contact with Jon, I eventually got on the plane, and I eventually arrived in Singapore. Leave it to me to make what should have been the beginning of our new exciting adventure... an exciting adventure, to say the least.

In any case, we are here. More adventures to follow.

-nikki

Location:Singapore