A weekend in Sri Lanka...

Well I never thought I would go to Sri Lanka, but I have learned this year anything is possible! And Sri Lanka was wonderful! It's impossible to think they were in a civil war just 2 years ago. The country is beautiful with tropical climate, mountains, beaches and of course the elephants! I was lucky enough to travel with coworkers Lisa, Jo Anne, and her husband Gary. We had a great time. The first day we visited an elephant orphanage where the wild elephants are rescued. Then the next day we hiked to the top of Sigiriya which is a rock fortress and 1600 years old. Really cool climb and views from the top. But the highlight was visiting the Minneriya National Park. Since it was the dry season, the elephants come down from the jungle areas and hang out in the beautiful park. So many of wild elephants! Since Sri Lanka doesn't have lions, the elephants are able to continue to live and have many babies (which were my favorite!).

The food was yummy but a little too spicy for me - but the fruit was AMAZING! And of course I enjoyed the local beer - Lion. The hotel resort we stayed at was very nice. It had bikes for us to use to tour around and chase monkeys - or really they chased me! Great weekend in a nice country with wonderful people!

Here are some pictures:

Our ride to lunch - we visited a local farmer and saw his farm. He has rice, wheat, fruit trees and vegetables. We took the cattle cart to get there...

 Then we had to take the boat to get across the water to the farm land. The lunch was cooked at the farm with all the natural ingredients. It was yummy!

Climbing the Great Wall...

Well it wasn't the best day...but it was amazing. It was HOT and full of smug as Beijing can be in the summer, but we treked up to the Great Wall. A co worker (and fellow Wisconsinite) arrived to Beijing on Sunday a day early so we could visit the Great Wall. It is huge and has a lot of steps (haha) but it was a great couple of hours treking the Great Wall. We visited the Mutianyu site which doesn't have as many tourist but still only 1.5 hr from Beijing. Though the visibility was poor, it was still amazing. We then took the "fun" way down to the bottom - the sports slide.
Here are some pictures from the climb

Preparing for National Day!

So tonight the city had another practice for National Day - Singapore's independence day! It's August 9th so lucky me everyone celebrates my birthday with me! Here are a couple pictures of the "practice" which is really the whole show with fireworks. They do this every Saturday for weeks prior to the day. Crazy! But the view from my apartment is pretty amazing! I am looking forward to National Day as it will be the first time I will have my Singapore team over to watch the fireworks. Fun!







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Cape Town part two....

So here are some more pictures from Cape Town. After the cycle safari, I was able to ride around in a jeep to get closer to the animals. It was a great day!

Hippo!

Buffaloe - I saw the Big 5!

Too close to the lions

Then on my last day in Cape Town, I hiked to the top of Table Mountain. It was a fun and beautiful hike. The views were incredible! If you get a chance to do it, ask Margaret from Table Mountain Walks to take you. She was a great guide and fun! Here are some pictures from the hike and a couple from the amazing V&A Waterfront in Cape Town.

Got to use the Kilimanjaro day pack again!

I didn't like being on this rock! haha

At the Top!

View of the Cape Town

Waterfront

I always love a pirate ship!

An amazing weekend in Cape Town, South Africa

I had to be in South Africa for two weeks for work so I decided to spend the weekend in Cape Town - great decison! Cape Town is AMAZING! It is now one of my top 10 favorite places....I can't wait to go back. Since I had a quick trip, I wanted to do as much as possible. For the first day, I took an organized tour with Bike and Saddle out of Cape Town. Great tour group that picked me up from the Hilton and took me about 2 hr north into South Africa. From here we did a 20k cycle safari around a private reserve. We saw zebras, wildebeest, springbok (and not the rugby team). It was a great way to spend a morning. The views from the bike was amazing. The snow covered mountain and the wildlife running by...the 20k was a little tough with hills and rough terrain but the views made me forget the workout!

Zebras

Then after a great lunch, I went on a game drive to see the lions and rhinos. For this I had to ditch the bike and get in the much safer jeep. What a great way to see the animals up close. Though not as amazing as the Seregenti - the animals are wild there and not within a reserve. But it was a close second!

Team John Deere Asia

Today I ran with fellow co workers in my first race in Singapore! It was a 10k race through the Japanese and Chinese gardens in Singapore- just perfect! Though the weather was HOT we all did great! For most of the team this was their first 10k and did a great job. Fellow coworkers also came to cheer for us! Afterwards the minister of finance came to take a picture with the John Deere team! Couple of pictures in our Deere shirts...can't wait for the next one!







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A visit to the Taj Mahal...Incredible India

So over the American 4th of July holiday I visited the Taj Mahal - it was amazing! Pawandeep, who manages my team in India, had never been either. So we had a great time! The journey from New Delhi to the Taj was long and full of the crazy traffic only India has...here a couple pictures from the journey and then of course at the Taj Mahal! It was truly a great day!

Perfect at night!




And pictures from my commute to and from work- lots of people but it's fun to take a bus every day! I haven't missed driving once!







- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone