Ringing 2013 - Balinese Style with the Ladies

As I say good bye 2012, I reflect on the amazing 2012! I once again had a chance to travel and explore some incredible places! I met so many wonderful people... It is hard to describe how much I am forever changed by this experience! I was on 6 of the 7 continents in 2012!
Some places I traveled this year are: Malaysia, Indonesia, China, India, South Africa, Kenya, Vietnam, Cambodia, Switzerland, Brazil, New Zealand, Australia, and London 2012 for Team USA! And of course Nepal! Hiking to Everest Base Camp was a trip of a life time! So challenging but rewarding when we completed it! New Zealand for some kayaking and hiking and a little skiing was so beautiful, and the country was lovely! I also enjoyed hiking in Kenya and standing in two hemispheres at the same time on the equator. Visiting Angkor Wat - the 8th wonder of the world- was also a favorite! I loved cheering on Team USA in London! I would highly recommend everyone putting going to an Olympics on the list of must do's. Can't wait for Sochi 2014...And spending a week on a cruise with my family was a fun and quality family time trip! I can't wait for this year's trip in Hawaii!
So thankful for the amazing time I am having living in Singapore and for all the great friends I have met including my dear expat friends who travel Asia with me and my great hiking peeps that always come to visit me for crazy adventures! And for my continued work opportunities Deere gives me! And of course for my family - love and support!
Now to the weekend in Bali...
Mary, Cindy, Lena, and I rang in 2013 in Bali and it was amazing! The fireworks display on the beach was incredible. We also enjoyed beach, pool time and climbed to the top of the volcano for sunrise! So fun to have such great friends to see the world and enjoy good times!
May 2013 rock!




The ladies at breakfast at the beach...




The beach - beautiful!




Our villa




Cindy and Mary in the Vila




Cindy with the band...




Sunrise!




The ladies at the volcano sunrise hike!




Ladies on the hike down...




Fireworks on the beach!




The ladies ringing in the 2013!




Happy New Year!
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Christmas in Thailand...

So I spent another amazing Christmas in Asia! This year my fellow expat friend Mary and I headed to Krabi, Thailand! We had a blast low key weekend. We enjoyed the pool, beach, and the day snorkeling and kayaking. We also enjoyed a day with my co workers and their two kids on the waterslide! So fun to spend Christmas with kids!
Here are some beautiful pictures from Krabi!






Our pool from our room!



Beach



Mary and I with our new Raybands



Pool side



Our favorite bar!



View from our Christmas dinner






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A weekend in Bangkok!

Spent a girls weekend in Bangkok with Karla and Julie! It was a blast! We stayed at the Conrad and enjoyed the beautiful pool. We went for Thai a massages and also did some shopping in the amazing markets! It was a great trip! Here are some pictures!



On our tuk tuk ride



Dinner at our favorite place - Cabbage and Condoms! Funny name but great food!



Karla and Julie at the market



Market



Karla buying beads for the kids!

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A weekend in Dubai

Was so lucky to get to travel from my work trip in India to Dubai to join my Roomie Cindy for a weekend! Cindy was in Dubai for work! We had a blast! I showed up and we spent one day enjoying the beautiful resort pool and beach. Then we enjoyed yummy Arabic food! So much more relaxing then our last vacation hiking to the Mount Everest Base Camp! Also did some shopping at the market. Lovely scarfs. I had to get one for myself! Really enjoyed another trip to Dubai - nice clean city in the desert! And getting to hang out with Cindy was just great! Can't wait for Bali to hang out again!




Cindy and I at the roof top restaurant with the view of the Persian Gulf!




The amazing resort




Dubai skyline




Cindy and I enjoying the beach!




Meeting a John Deere customer in Dubai!




Dubai at sunset! Amazing!
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A weekend in Saigon!

A little behind on my blogs! But spent a weekend in Vietnam - one of my favorites! Saigon was amazing! We went to the tunnels from the Vietnam war. What an amazing experience! They were small and hot - cant believe people lived in them for years. Took 20 years to build them.
We also went on an amazing motorbike tour of Saigon where we stopped at local places for great local food. Our motorbike drivers took us around town. Such an amazing experience! Food was amazing!
We closed the weekend with the tour of the war museum - crazy to see how the Vietnamese tell the history of the war.
Had a great time! Can't wait to return to Vietnam again soon!



In the tunnels!



Food tour!

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The incredible trek to Everest Base Camp...

So I have now crossed off the #1 on my list - hiking to Everest Base Camp! I was so lucky to have my trekking peeps - Cindy, Mitch, Mike, and John - join me for the adventure! It tooks us 13 days! That is right - 13 days with no shower! We stayed in local tea houses with other hikers. The rooms were basic and with our sleeping bags we tried to stay warm. It was COLD in Nepal. We would sit in the common area at night playing UNO and eating popcorn. Then after dinner we headed right to bed to prepare for the next day. Most of the time we were so cold but had a great time enduring a tough but amazing clmib! Lots of great memories and stories! We are all now "best friends"! Can't wait for our next journey!

Here was our schedule:

NOV   7: Transfer to airport, fly from Kathmandu to Lukla (9184 feet/ 2840 meters), trek to Jorsale

NOV   8: Trek to Namche Bazaar - the last town with running water and a post office! 11,283 feet/ 3440 meters

NOV   9: Acclimatization day in Namche, rest days were my least favorite cause we did some amazing high hike to get used to the alitutude!
NOV 10: Trek to Tengboche, 12,664 feet/ 3860 meters - this was one heck of a hike! Steep and hard stairs!

NOV 11: Trek to Dingboche, 14,465 feet/ 4410 meters

NOV 12: Acclimatization trek to Chhukhung 15,518 ft, return to Dingboche - again I hate rest days! I actually got food poisioning on this day when we were coming down from the mountain. I didn't feel well for several hours. Not fun getting sick in a tea house with no running water! But the team was so nice to me and helped me through it!

NOV 13: Trek to Lobuche, 16,109 ft/ 4910 meters - now we are really high! Crazy!

NOV 14: Trek to Gorak Shep 16,863 feet/ 5140 meters then on to EBC 17,590 feet/ 5267 meters. We reached the Everest Base Camp at 1:05pm! Amazing! It was a hard hike through rocks and the glacier! But we did it! And then returned to Gorak Shep.

NOV 15: Trek to Kala Patthar at 5am to see sunrise over Mount Everest! 18,187 feet. This was a hard hike too but we all did it! It was cold and windy at the top!

NOV 16: Trek to Tengboche -

NOV 17: Trek to Jorsale at the first same tea house though now we had gone without showers in many days!

NOV 18: Trek to Lukla, we had some time so we tried all the pubs in Lukla at 2:30pm and enjoyed ourselves until 4:30pm! Not good when we haven't eaten meat in 12 days and wer still at high attilude but we had a blast on the dance floors!

NOV 19: Fly from Lukla to Kathmandu for showers and beer! We enjoyed dinner with our guides and had our first night in a hotel in weeks!

NOV 20: Rest day where we want to the famous bar Rum Noddles for our "footprint" to sign and hang saying we made it to EBC!

I will post some pictures soon!

A weekend in Melbourne, Australia

So I made it the 6th continent of the year - Australia! Mary and I ventured down under for the race and enjoying the amazing city of Melbourne! Lovely city and beautiful! We had perfect weather for the race - 45 degrees at race start and up to 65! So much better then running in Singapore! So thankful!
We got to do some sightseeing at Phillips Island to see the kangaroos, koalas, and the penguins! Amazing! My favorite was the koalas! Australia is wonderful and we already decided to do the Sydney Marathon next year - flat course with mild temperatures is perfect!
Here are some pictures of a great weekend!



John Deere in Australia!




Kangaroo!




Mary and I feeding the kangaroos







Having a beer at the beach





Melbourne at night




Part of the course - perfect!




Going to get our packets




City



Having lunch at a bar under a river bridge - cool!













Race time!




30,000 runners!




Finish in the cricket stadium! Cool!








View from our hotel room- lovely day!


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