On the Road to Somewhere : Wear Pants When You Ride an Elephant

That is the advice I give to you this morning. In case you didn't know: Singapore has world class healthcare, which is good, because apparently I frequent the doctor here. When we lived Stateside I NEVER got sick, like maybe a cold every other year. Over here, it's a totally different story. I guess the "bugs" are different and we do travel to some pretty remote locations and frequently... so it's good that my Dr. is my new best friend. (Look at that; I'm making friends!) Annnnyway, yesterday was my 5th visit to Raffles Hospital. Look it's not my fault, my skin was just made to stay in the 1st world. A couple of prescriptions later and I'm on my way to recovery....recovery from some kind of horrific reaction to hanging out on top of an elephant in shorts. An allergic reaction or a bacteria that was unfamiliar to my body- either way, left me with this AWESOME red dot rash all the way down both of my legs. Chickenpox for adults. Pants are my new best friend! (Sorry Dr. Packard) It's been a wake-up call for me to start being more thankful about good health; I definitely took that for granted.

The elephant ride in question came on the end of an awesome trip! My dad and Amanda came over to visit for about a week and we were able to jump over to Thailand for a few days in the middle. We stayed at the MOST INCREDIBLE place ever! This resort off the coast of Thailand- Six Senses Yao Noi. It's monsoon season in this part of the world, but we got a little sun and a lot of relaxing in. We more than likely wore them out dragging them all over Singapore and showing them, "our places." Mostly, it was just so exciting to see family! That's a long flight so my little brothers stayed home for this one- we were thrilled to have the grown ups come visit. We'll get to hug the boys when we're home NEXT MONTH!!!!

The day that they landed Cody and I were also just getting back to Singapore. We are now, certified to scuba dive! We spent the weekend in Tioman, Malaysia with a group of about 20 other divers and came home certified. Getting there was quite the adventure. That was the first time in a long time that we weren't responsible for all facets of our travel arrangements and that felt kind of weird. We met at Gill Divers on Friday at 6pm (almost missed the bus because taxis stop picking you up right when you need them) and drove to Malaysia. Once we cleared customs and were heading for the Ferry terminal we noticed just how fast the bus was driving- like, out of control! Kind of gave us the feeling that we were late or something was wrong, but we didn't know what until we arrived. The Ferry Terminal is basically an open air pavilion with a few rows of plastic chairs and a fan and one bathroom. We all got lined up (around 12am) only to be told that we had, "missed the tide" and would be spending the night there. Here's the best part- I get sea sick- so I had already taken more than the recommended dosage of Dramamine so that I would go night, night on the boat. Poor Cody. I was perfectly happy to lay down with my beach towel as a blanket and a sleeping mask-dead to the world- and woke up around 5:30am when we finally were able to board. Lesson learned- even the WORST circumstances can be handled with a good attitude. Granted, mine was helped by large doses of a mild tranquilizer, but now I can say I spent the night in a ferry terminal in Malaysia...yay! (You are probably seeing how I get sick so much) Four hours on a boat later and we had reached Tioman. We were really behind on our diving schedule so we only had time to drop our bags and get back on the boat. We did 3 dives the first day and one the following morning before heading back. It was SO AWESOME. Kind of eerie, but also really peaceful. I hope that we get to go again soon!

Currently, I'm sitting in the lounge at Changi Airport, my home away from home. We're flying out today for a 10 day trip to Suzhou, China (Outside Shanghai) and Seoul, South Korea. Cody will be working and I'll be getting to explore. It's a different life; but it's also really, really good.

Love,

Christie