Here Be Dragons: New Year, New Adventures

Matt and I spent the day preparing for our trip to Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore that begins TOMORROW. Hard to believe that in less than 24 hours we will likely be complaining about the heat instead of the cold (and it seems to have been extra cold today). As the guidebook said, Bangkok is one of the hottest cities in the world. We are definitely looking forward to a month of adventure that, in addition to the warmer weather, will include small and large cities, plenty of beaches and islands, at least one national park, and new cultures and cuisines (especially in Malaysia and Singapore). We'll be blogging along the way so stay tuned for more on our Southeast Asian adventure. But, before we take off, we wanted to give a quick update on what we've been up to since the last post.

On New Years Eve, Matt and I got together for dinner at one of our favorite restaurants with several friends. Two of them had gotten free tickets to a party at one of the fancier hotels in town (which we later found out was not very fun) but the rest of us went back to Bonnie and Mike's apartment afterwards. It was a low-key night that involved listening to internet radio, playing Alias (a game that is somewhat similar to Taboo, for those who are familiar), decorating party hats, and drinking a little champagne. I even managed to stay awake and (at least moderately) coherent until after midnight despite the fact that I had a cold.

Criss-cross picture taking

Annamari and me

Clint and Matt

My celebration creation

Matt's hat had more cultural flavor

Cheers! Even though I definitely look like I have a cold.

Happy Birthday, 2013!

This past weekend started on Friday night with a dinner of Korean food with our friends Julie and Clint and a birthday/housewarming party for Annamari, who works for UNDP and who we just met on New Years Eve. She lives in a cozy cottage at the edge of Thimphu. It was fun to mingle with old and new acquaintances. Eclectic groups make for great conversations and connections.

On Saturday, we spent an unexpected day in Thimphu due to some post office difficulties that Matt had had on Friday afternoon. We arrived at the post office around 10:30am to find that our package had already been mailed and we just needed to pay. It's nice to live in such a trusting country! The rest of the late morning and early afternoon was spent running various errands and searching for suitable coffee shops to spend some time at (most seem to be closed at the moment for various reasons).

In the late afternoon we walked up to Bonnie and Mike's apartment to go for a walk and prepare soup for dinner. Since we are leaving for our trip tomorrow and Bonnie and Mike are leaving for the US late next week, this was the last time we got to see them before they left.