JAN 31 :: [bloody cold] Ugh, it's 19 degrees outside as I type this now. Last night, we joined Mike/Gary, Chris/Dave at Komi (again!). I love a restaurant that consistently delivers (and at a low price to boot!). Went to Cobalt after that. It actually hit 12 degrees last night/this morning as we were walking home. Three bottles of wine and a glass of Cosmo did nothing to keep me warm. It was so cold my cheeks were peeling. It was so cold my thighs were numb! I need to either not go outside when it drops below freezing or get a new outfit for arctic days! I have no idea how people survive further north. This is insane! We're supposed to climb above freezing some time tomorrow for like, oh, 2 minutes. Can't wait. Who knew that this January could be even colder than the last? Crazy.
What on earth happened to January?! I'm sneaking one last post in before February sweeps in with even more snow and bitterly cold air. Actually, January was a good month. Tony and I had an amazing vacation in Thailand/Cambodia. We were gone so long I was actually nostalgic for DC bars and drinks when we were out last night. That lasted for about, oh, 3 seconds when I realized it wasn't 85 degrees outside. Grin. I thought I hated the heat and humidity but man, the cold is biting. At least I can fan myself when I'm warm but when it gets cold, there's nothing much you can do but bundle up and hunker down and shiver! OK, writing about being cold is making me cold...
We're off to visit Nicole and her new baby (Bella!) in a few. Ooh yea, I forgot to mention that she gave birth on the 15th! I'm so excited. OK, I promise there'll be more pictures to come. You'll be completely blown away by the pictures of Chiang Mai and Angkor, I promise!
JAN 30 :: [where's the apology?] I quote Mr. Krugman from the Op-Ed pages of today's New York Times:
"...the point is that a grave mistake was made, and America's credibility has been badly damaged - and nobody is being held accountable. But that's standard operating procedure. As far as I can tell, nobody in the Bush administration has ever paid a price for being wrong. Instead, people are severely punished for telling inconvenient truths. And administration officials have consistently sought to freeze out, undermine or intimidate anyone who might try to check up on their performance."
"...Still, the big story isn't about Mr. Bush; it's about what's happening to America. Other presidents would have liked to bully the C.I.A., stonewall investigations and give huge contracts to their friends without oversight. They knew, however, that they couldn't. What has gone wrong with our country that allows this president to get away with such things?"
Lies, lies and more lies. This president has to go. Wake up, America!
JAN 29 :: [same old] Wow, is it almost February already? It's still butt-cold in DC. The ground is still covered in snow and my front steps are iced over. This jet lag thing sucks! I went to bed at 7pm on Tues night and 8pm last night. What's more, last night, I got up at 2am and was awake till 6! Went to bed again and didn't get up till 11:20am which totally screwed up my work day. I ended up working till 6:30pm (which is very unusual for me) and traffic sucked. I know, whine, whine, whine. Work sucks as usual. What's new?
[i miss asia] I miss Thailand. I miss the nice people and the graceful service and... the food! Oh my god, the food! I miss Thai curries and soups and noodles and and and... I miss being awed and overwhelmed by the temples of Angkor and I miss the Four Seasons in Chiang Mai with the daily end-of-the-farmers'-day chant at 5pm. I miss the decadent 2-hours-daily spa treatments and I miss the warmth and the beach! (I don't miss the humidity though) I miss my friends in KL :( *sigh* Why am I here? I miss Asia.
JAN 27 :: [winter shocker] I'm home! And what a temperature shock. Note to self: flying from equatorial Asia to wintery Chicago and DC in Jan/Feb is no fun! I left 90+ Singapore and arrived in bone-chilling 21 degrees in DC. Apparently it snowed about 6 times (amounting to half an inch total) while I was gone but last night, I got back to a 6-inch blanket of fresh snow on the ground! The first significant snowfall since the bitter cold started three weeks ago today.In the past 7 days, there has only been one above-freezing day. The high was 22 degrees the past two days! Amazing! Deep, deep freeze. They're calling for ice and more snow today which means I'll probably stay home and nurse my jet lag. I'm definitely not ready to drive on slip-sliding roads yet.
So I got home last night at around 7:30. Due to the snow, flight from Chicago to DCA was delayed for an hour or so. Not too bad. I was very tired and grumpy but I knew the airline was doing its best. Unpacked a little, had dinner and crashed at 9pm. Woke up this morning at 6:30! I'm never up this early. Everyone can attest to that. Anywho, time to clear my 200+ e-mails in my inbox. More later (hopefully accompanied by pictures!!).
[i love meryl streep] "I don't think that our two biggest problems in America are that too many people want to commit their lives together 'til death do us part, and steroids in sports" - Meryl Streep accepting the best actress award for her part(s) in Angels in America at Jan 25th's Golden Globes in reference to two points Bush made in his State of the Union speech last week [Angels in America sweeps Golden Globes].
JAN 25 :: [sweet sorrow] So last night was another fun night at Bliss! It started off all wrong when this skanky bitch refused to let me enter because I was wearing sandals. I was like hello? They're not sandals, they're Kenneth Coles! Hate places like that. But I presevered (thanks, Wei for the Gucci slides) and had a great time dancing for 2 hours with Ann. It was quite hectic all day - souvenir shopping at Central Market, tour guiding Quan/Binh around KLCC and KL Tower (Danielle, you so useless :)), dinner with Wei, gambling at Te Shen's (Zhi Wei is sooo cute!), etc. Crazy. I'm tired but not stressed out or completely exhausted. Not having to work is so therapeutic. My flight to Singapore is in 5 hours. Whole family is doing dinner in Nilai before sending me off. United flight across the Pacific (SIN-NRT-ORD-DCA) tomorrow at O-dark-30 in the morning. I can't wait to get back to freezing, snowy DC. I miss Tony. Home is where the heart is! But leaving KL is always such sweet sorrow. I'll miss my friends. Till we meet again, Asia (next month!)... next post will be from DC!
JAN 24 :: [dancing asian queen] KL's nightlife is insane! My brains are kinda groggy today coz we partied it up last night at Bar Sa Vanh and Bar Blonde in the ultra-hip (for now) Asian Heritage Row/Cochine by Indochine next to Sheraton Imperial. If you had told me last year that this area was gonna be the next hotspot, I would've laughed. It's amazing how a little "Bali in the City" can pack the crowds in! Sa Vanh was cooler (ambience AND air-conditioning!) but Blonde was hipper. I was sweltering in the Indian summer-like heat which was made worse by the fact that they kept playing Beyonce which sent my hips gyrating to the fab music! Who knew KL had such a hopping nightlife? Mamak supper after that, of course. Crazy. If I lived here I would (a) die of heat (b) love the nightlife but (c) wouldn't be able to drink coz driving home is a bitch! I miss walking to the bars. But for now, I'm here, I want a Cosmo in hand and I want it at Bar Blonde! Yea, baby.
JAN 22 :: [gong xi fa cai] Happy Chinese New Year! Finally made it to KL. I arrived yesterday from Bangkok after getting up at 4:30am to get to the airport. What a nightmare. The hotel's complimentary S-Class Mercedes airport transfer helped but it was still rough at that hour in the morning. All's good now.
The Peninsula Bangkok was beyond words! Spectacular location, awesome view and luxury at every corner. Definitely a class act. The Thai restaurants we went to at the Peninsula (Thiptara) and at the Oriental (Sala Rim Naam) paled in comparison to the Blue Elephant but that's just me. Overall, our Indochina trip was phenomenal. I'm already planning my next Indochina adventure! (Vietnam calls)
Had the requisite CNY-eve reunion dinner last night with my 80-yr old grandma at Tai Thong. Food was better this time around. Went to Su Ann's and played mahjong and had mamak for supper after. Met up with Tyan Yee and Su Ann's new squeeze. Fun but tiring coz I had been up almost 24 hours at that point! Today is the first day of CNY and all's quiet except for eat and sleep. Mom is roasting a pork (which turned out amazingly) and we're probably going shopping later - I know, can you believe the stores are open for CNY now? Never miss an opportunity to make money!
I miss DC. Tony just got home. I can't wait to go back. Yea, it's cold and there's no shopping or food at 10pm and some might say it is a dangerous place to live but home is where the heart is and my heart's not in KL anymore (even though my wallet is very happy to be here!). Ç'est la vie. Always torn between two continents separated by a gigantic ocean. Prosperity, happiness, longevity and all that to all!
JAN 19 :: [chao phraya] I am sitting here in my room, perched on the 22nd floor of the Peninsula in Bangkok with a spectacular view of the downtown skyscrapers of Bangkok. There are dozens of river boats and long tail boats plying the Chao Phraya river and the city expressways are free-flowing on this very beautiful, cloudless Monday morning here in South-East Asia. I'm here!
Apologies coz it's been a while since I last wrote. Finding hi-speed internet access in Chiang Mai, Phuket and Cambodia were a challenge to say the least. And when available, they were inconvenient, cost a lot and none too fast. *sigh* Oh well, I'm back in civilization! Bangkok is fantastic. It's scorchingly hot (they claim it's winter here but whatever... we all know better) but the people are oh-so-nice and the food is phenomenal. Yea, yea... everyone says the same thing but I'm here now and I can attest to that!
Very briefly (since we're about to head out and have a very civilized riverside breakfast), Chiang Mai was fantastic mainly because the Four Seasons Resort is absolutely, unforgettably beautiful. It will bring a tear to your eye. Book it right now and go. You won't regret it. Phuket was an overpriced dump complete with swarms of tacky tourists. Angkor was beyond words. Awe-inspiring and jaw-dropping beauty but also heartbreaking poverty. We leave Bangkok on Jan 21st after which I fly off to KL for Chinese New Year. My parents have finally gotten Streamyx (DSL) so I know where my next post will come from!
Gong Xi Fa Cai and all that!
JAN 8 :: [bring 'em on] The Club for Growth is attacking Howard Dean with an ad that says: "I think Howard Dean should take his tax-hiking, government-expanding, latte-drinking, sushi-eating, Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, body-piercing, Hollywood-loving, left-wing freak show back to Vermont - where it belongs."
My response? $100 more to Dean for America. Bring 'em on.
[winter, then summer] Woo! We leave for Thailand/Cambodia tomorrow morning! I am SO over the cold here in DC. They're calling for 12 F (-11 C!!!) Saturday night! I can't wait to get outta here.
I'm working from home today. Too depressing to go into work when it's so cold (OK, Rick, you can stop laughing). I got a 1-hr haircut (it just takes longer and longer each time coz my fabulous hairdresser LOVES me!), had a yummy lunch at Penang and shopped at Universal Gear. Total happiness. Nicole is due anyday now. I swear it's gonna be the 10th coz her first child came 3 years ago the day I arrived in Asia. I leave tomorrow which means the still-unnamed baby girl will come on the 10th! I'm placing bets! Still, wish I was here to visit her at the hospital.
I'm a wee bit worried about the weather forecasts seeing that even a flake of snow on a DCA runway will cause scheduling havocs. Oh well, que sera. I usually enjoy the flight to Chicago and onwards to Tokyo but after all that flying, the 6-hr Tokyo-Bangkok leg is a serious drag; business class or not. We get into Bangkok at around midnight local time on Sat. We fly to Chiang Mai the next day for 3 heavenly spa days at the Four Seasons. Onward to Phuket where the equatorial sun will beat on us relentlessly for 2 days before heading off to see the Angkor temples! We'll be back in Bangkok on the 18th - I can't wait to stay at the Peninsula - and then on the 21st, I jet off to KL for Chinese New Year. I'll keep this page updated with my travels if and when I have free time. I'll be back on the 26th! Summer, here I come!
JAN 6 :: [lethargic] My first post of the new year and all I can talk about is lethargy. This doesn't bode well for the rest of the year :) I've been in a mellow mood between the end of all the crazy holiday parties and the beginning of a new (and very much colder) year. Temperatures are supposed to plunge to 18 F (-7 C) in the next few days with biting high winds. I hope it doesn't snow this week (hah! there's a first for everything) coz I don't want anything to screw up our travel plans. Why, oh why did I choose to connect in Chicago in winter?! Yes, we're finally off to Thailand/Cambodia this Friday. I'm pretty excited about my spa extravaganza at the Four Seasons in Chiang Mai. I'm also so looking forward to Angkor Wat. More details on that later.
Let's see... Chris is back; although feeling a little under the weather. Andrew from London arrived on Sunday and we partied at JR's as usual. Annie's after that, of course. Can't miss out on Queen's Cut Prime Rib! They're all coming over for dinner tonight. Hopefully this'll be the last party before we leave. No more parties! Oh, and I haven't even began to tell you about my crazy New Year's Eve parties. So much to tell, so little time. I'm feeling lethargic now so I guess you'll all have to wait till next time... *giggle*
JAN 1 :: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
31 :: bloody cold
30 :: where's the apology?
29 :: same old
29 :: i miss asia
27 :: winter shocker
27 :: i love meryl streep
25 :: sweet sorrow
24 :: dancing asian queen
22 :: gong xi fa cai
19 :: chao phraya
08 :: bring 'em on
08 :: winter, then summer
06 :: lethargic
01 :: happy new year!