Bangkok, Day 3

(note: no internet service in Bangkok = a lot of catching up to do)

Visited the Grand Palace, Wat Phra Khew (the Temple of the Emerald Buddha), Dusit Park (home of Vimanmek Palace), and Wat Pho (the Temple of the Reclining Buddha). After a lot of walking, got traditional Thai massages (no, not the other kind) at the Traditional School of Medicine at Wat Pho. 50 minutes of foot massage reflexology...worth every baht!

Singapore, Day 1

Day 1: Toured Chinatown, Maxwell Street Food Centre, Central Business District, Fullerton Hotel, Singapore River cruise, Merlion, the Esplanade, the old Supreme Court building, Victoria Theater & Concert Hall, New Asia Bar (top of Swissotel Hotel), Raffles Hotel, Singapore Art Museum. (Updates to follow)

Not good or bad, just different

Boarding pass? Check. Baggage? Check. Big screen playing sumo wrestling? Check. Just another day at Narita International Airport.

We arrived in Singapore after 7 1/2 hours of doting from the stewardesses on Japan Airlines. It's Tuesday morning here, and we're off to put Frommer's recommended sightseeing iteneraries to the test. Next stop, Chinatown (and Tian Tian at Maxwell Road Food Centre for some highly spoken of Hainanese chicken rice!)

Are we there yet?

I've spent the past three weeks preparing for this Southeastern Asia vacation. Countless trips to stores for luggage, clothing, and guide books. Unknown hours spent researching hotels, airlines, destinations, attractions, and cultural taboos. Even added a fourth destination to the trip at the last minute.

But now everything is done, and all there is to do is hurry up and wait for the flight. I don't know if I can hold out that long...

My TripAdvisor map

I love TripAdvisor; it's such a great resource. The peer reviews/rankings of hotels and attractions make travel planning simple!

The site also allow folks to create custom maps of places they've visited.

Note: on my map, I don't include places where I've only (a) visited the airport during a plane transfer (e.g. Dallas) or (b) driven through without stopping for anything more than taking a break (e.g. New Mexico, Texas, Utah, South Carolina, Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Rhode Island and Kansas).

Late night inspiration

I wanted to blog about my trip to Southeast Asia, but I needed to figure out what to name it. Done, thanks to VH1...and a little insomnia.