Last night we had great time with some of Travis' co-workers at the Jabil Christmas party. We had a wonderful dinner followed by a gift exchange. Travis ordered a $98 steak! I had sea bass, they were both great!
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Company Chritmas Party on the 26th!
Last night we had great time with some of Travis' co-workers at the Jabil Christmas party. We had a wonderful dinner followed by a gift exchange. Travis ordered a $98 steak! I had sea bass, they were both great!
Our Chritmas Day!
I'm afraid we had a pretty uneventful Christmas this year. We exchanged gifts first thing Christmas morning. Travis was very thoughtful and bought me a Tiffany necklace and bracelet! They are beautiful. I got Travis the noise canceling Bose headphones he has been wanting for his frequent trips.
After exchanging our gifts, we ventured out to see the sights. Unfortunately, the sights were blocked by the millions of people that wanted to see them as well! We quickly grew tired of the crowds and decided to stop in a McCafe to rest our feet and enjoy a mango smoothie. We thought we might see a movie but the lines were so long and the theaters were so packed that we decided to not even try. Instead, we opted for an early dinner of prime rib at Black Angus and then home for a movie on the couch. Christmas was just not the same this year without our friends and family to celebrate with...I wish you all were here! However, next year we hope to travel someplace new during Christmas...who's with us?!
Christmas Trees
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Phuket, Thailand
Late last night we arrived in Phuket (pronounced Poo-Ket), Thailand for a long weekend. We are staying in a hotel called Bursari near Patong beach which is on the south western side of Phuket Island. Patong beach is a great place but it is extremely crowded with tourists and merchants trying to sell their goods. To escape the crowded beach, we took a "long boat" (above, bottom right photo) to the Forbidden Island for some relaxation. We were able to swim, snorkle and bask in the sun! Being so close to the equator, the water on this side of the world is nice and warm. Paradise!
Monkey Business
After entering one of the caves, we were greeted by a troop of monkeys along the shoreline. Travis was very intrigued by them and insisted on getting as close as possible...he always insists on pushing the limits! One of the baby monkeys actually tried to grab his paddle and hitch a ride until Jessica screamed at him to get away! These monkeys swim from island to island and really have no natural predators so life for them is pretty good. There were about 12 monkeys this day playing in the trees, digging for clams, and grooming eachother while we paddled by! It was quite a sight!
Kayaking in Phang Nga Bay
After an hour long boat ride early Friday morning, we arrived at our first of 3 amazing islands littering Phang Nga Bay. We launched our kayaks straight from our boat and began to explore a small sample of the 150 islands in the bay. It was beautiful beyond words! Our paddling brought us to three seperate caves leading to the interior of the islands where there was amazing vegetation and animal life! We were greeted by monkeys, a snake and thousands of bats! The caves into the center of the islands were extremely dark and depending on the tides, had very low openings. We were warned that we might have to lie back on our kayaks in order to get through but the tides were low so it was not necessary on our tour! It was an incredible day ending in massages for our paddle warn bodies!
Palau Ubin, Singapore
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Bali, Indonesia
Travis and I have heard all of their stories and seen their pictures. It sounds incredible! We need to start planning our trip! Who's coming with us?
Monday, December 11, 2006
Wednesday, December 6, 2006
Thaona and Jessica's day at the Botanical Gardens
Travis' Uncle Rich, his cousin Ryan and Ryan's girlfriend Thaona are coming to stay with us for a week starting on the 11th of December. They are actually already in Asia spending this week in Bali, Indonesia "Heaven on Earth". We will soon find out if that is true and then Travis and I might have to take a quick trip to heaven!! Thaona flew in to Singapore late Monday night and did not have to catch her plane to Bali until the next day at 4:40pm. She and I were able to spend the day as we pleased so we decided to explore the Botanical Gardens. The gardens, covering 130 acres of land, took us 2 1/2 hours to explore! We saw everything from frogs, lizards, swans (black and white), turtles, bugs, all kinds of tropical plants and a beautiful orchid garden. (see pictures below!) If you know me at all you must know it is unusual for me to take flower pictures! (Smile) Travis rolled his eyes when he looked at my orchids, he was just glad he was not there when I took them! It was incredibly beautiful and there were so many different colors Thaona and I both went crazy taking pictures! She and I were two peas in a pod that day! We had a blast!
Sunday, December 3, 2006
Weekend Events
After a long week for Travis at work, we decided to use the weekend to begin exploring our new home. We began the weekend early Saturday morning with a trip to the Ministry of Manpower to finalize Travis' employment pass. After about 45 minutes of waiting, much like waiting at the DMV in the US, we submitted our application only to be told we would have to return again at 12:30 before we could receive our EP card. With some extra time on our hands, we decided to use the opportunity to walk to Chinatown and explore a little bit. We walked through shops, tried some Chinese sweat meets (kind of like beef jerky yet different), and eventually wandered into a Hindu Temple where we watched morning prayers.
This made the time pass quickly and before we knew it, 12:30 had arrived and we made our way back to the Ministry of Manpower to collect Travis' employment pass. Straight from there, we grabbed a taxi and headed toward Marina Bay. While there, we jumped on the Mt. Faber cable car and captured some amazing views of Singapore and Sentosa Island.
Today, Sunday, we checked out of the hotel and into our service apartment. After moving our luggage into our new temporary home, we hit the mall for a little shopping. We've been looking for a tri-pod for our camera and found one at a nearby mall. As some of you may know, Chinese believe it is good luck to make a sale on their first customer of the day. Of course, we happened to be that "first" customer and the salesman was so desperate to make a sale, he kept dropping the asking price. We ended up buying the tri-pod but unbeknownst to us, the salesman gave us the wrong product that was in fact a much cheaper version than what we intended to buy. We'd been in the mall a couple more hours before Jessica ran into the salesman looking for us. He'd spent the entire time trying to track us down. He was so embarrassed that he replaced the wrong tri-pod with a much more expensive model for the same discounted price. Can you believe it? Needless to say, that guy has earned our business for life...or at least as long as we're here!
We've included some photos below of our adventures. Be sure to click on them if you want to see an enlarged view. Miss you all!
This made the time pass quickly and before we knew it, 12:30 had arrived and we made our way back to the Ministry of Manpower to collect Travis' employment pass. Straight from there, we grabbed a taxi and headed toward Marina Bay. While there, we jumped on the Mt. Faber cable car and captured some amazing views of Singapore and Sentosa Island.
Today, Sunday, we checked out of the hotel and into our service apartment. After moving our luggage into our new temporary home, we hit the mall for a little shopping. We've been looking for a tri-pod for our camera and found one at a nearby mall. As some of you may know, Chinese believe it is good luck to make a sale on their first customer of the day. Of course, we happened to be that "first" customer and the salesman was so desperate to make a sale, he kept dropping the asking price. We ended up buying the tri-pod but unbeknownst to us, the salesman gave us the wrong product that was in fact a much cheaper version than what we intended to buy. We'd been in the mall a couple more hours before Jessica ran into the salesman looking for us. He'd spent the entire time trying to track us down. He was so embarrassed that he replaced the wrong tri-pod with a much more expensive model for the same discounted price. Can you believe it? Needless to say, that guy has earned our business for life...or at least as long as we're here!
We've included some photos below of our adventures. Be sure to click on them if you want to see an enlarged view. Miss you all!
Temporary Apartment
This is our service apartment until the middle of January. Notice such wonderful features as the spacious kitchen that can fit no more than one person at a time! And of course, you can't miss that stylish couch that Travis is showing off for us!
Playing with the Camera!
Here we are realaxing at a coffee shop in Little India. I just want you to take note of Jessica's shirt! Thanks Dave and Cindy and the rest of the Jabil Boise gang. She is actually wearing it! Great Selection!
East Coast Dinner- Seafood!!!
These are some of Travis' cowokers. Erich from Vienna, Cecilia and Candy from Hong Kong and Judy from Guangzhou. As you can see none of them are living here in Singapore! Sad for us! The only reason to come to the East Coast for dinner is the Chilli Crab! Yum!
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