Enjoying Singapore with some JD Peeps

I always love having visitors! It is so great to see fellow John Deere peeps but its best when they come to visit Singapore. This past week several of my Deere friends joined from the US - Moline and Cary. Always fun to take visitors to Clarke Quay - great place on the river for dinner! Thanks to Dale, Warren, Rick, Matt, Bob, and Tony for joining me for a day in Singapore. We went to lunch in Boat Quay and then a boat rive tour of Singapore. Then we headed to Chinatown. Dinner in Holland Village rounded out the day. Fun day! Here some pictures of touring Singapore.

Sunday morning in Singapore

Had a great Sunday skype with the family this morning! Including all the nieces and nephews! The sun came up in Singapore during the call - perfect way to start a beautiful Sunday!



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A long weekend in Vietnam....

Since it was Singapore's birthday, a long weekend in Vietnam seemed like a great idea! Oh and it was. Lena and I headed to Hanoi and then to Halong Bay for a great weekend on board a junk boat. So fun! I couldn't believe how organized and coordinated every thing was. We got to kayak through caves, climb through some caves, hike to the top of Tree Top mountain for amazing views of the the Halong Bay, and of course swim. Halong Bay has over 1500 islands and beautiful! We visited a floating village where all the people live in basic houses that float on the water. Some even had tv's powered by solar power! The food in Vietnam was a highlight - yummy and all seafood which is a favorite. I really enjoyed the kayaking especially when motorized boats came by and almost flipped us! The bay is amazing so there were lots of people, but the second day of the cruise we were taken to a day boat and able to spend a day doing whatever we wanted with a small group of really fun people - a British couple, an Irish couple, and another expat from Singapore who knew Lena before the trip and randomly we ran into! The world is small! After the cruise we headed back to Hanoi and got to spend some time walking around the city and enjoying the shops and sights. We went to a water puppet show too. Fun! The culture and people of Vietnam are lovely! Can't wait to go back! Vietnam was a favorite! Here are some pictures:

Our junk boat - so fun!

Our cruise ship room

The view of Halong Bay from the top of Tree Top Mountain

Lena and I at Tree Top beach

Sunset on the Halong Bay - AMAZING

Kayaking through the bay

Approaching our first cave - so fun to kayak through!

 Lena and I in the cave

Climbing through the caves was fun too - here I am trying not to be so tall for Asia!

Our fun group - British, Mexican, American, German and Irish - can't go wrong!

The food was yummy -squid but we didn't catch any :(

Cruising through the local floating village - the hats are key!

Approaching the cave....

I made friend in the cave - lion!

Got to have a jumping picture - inside a cave!

More yummy food and cooked fresh each meal!

Water pupper show in Hanoi!

Top of the Halong Bay - beautiful!

Singapore girls - Maria, Lena, and I

Swimming in the Halong Bay - trying to do the jummping picture

The food just keeps coming and so good!

Sri Lanka part 2....

Some more great pictures from our climb and safari!

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!







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