Our last day in Kathmandu and we caved.  For the record, Carmela was the only one who tried to stop me.  “We have come this far, what’s one more day?  We came here to rough it Mom!” But no, I just really needed a hot shower.  I really needed to pee in a toilet that... Continue Reading →

We left at 5am this morning and took a taxi to see the sunrise outside of Kathmandu at a place called Nagarkot.  The taxi ride ranked up there as one of the top 5 scariest in my lifetime.  Climbing up a one-lane pothole laden partial dirt road in the dark with no side rails and... Continue Reading →

I find it truly fascinating that after an hour in any mall I am a complete mess.  Walk for six hours through one of the most polluted, traffic-laden, loud, and overstimulating cities in the world and I am just fine.  Go figure! Perhaps it is because all I have to do is follow Marty the... Continue Reading →

As a general rule, Party Marty is quite the culinary adventurist when we travel.  That being said, I frequently question his food choices.  When he veered off of the beaten path on Thursday for some local snacks, I probably should have intervened.  Or perhaps it was the free nuts at the upstairs bar that evening... Continue Reading →

It always amazes me how one day of travel by plane can transport you to a completely different world.  We left Singapore Changi Airport at eight in the morning and after six hours of travel, including a very brief layover in Bangkok where we barely made our connecting flight and one hour circling over Nepal,... Continue Reading →

Before we moved to Malaysia, we were all quite excited about the prospect of visiting Singapore on a regular basis. After all, it is a mere 15-minute drive away.  It’s so close we can even see it from just about anywhere in our part of the city. We became quickly disinterested, however, when we learned... Continue Reading →

Five months have come and gone and as life begins to feel normal, I find I write here less.  In some ways it seems like a lifetime, and in others like yesterday.  While living abroad may seem a little exotic, I think that where you choose to hang your hat eventually becomes normal.  Monday through... Continue Reading →

As life begins to fall into routines of work, home, and basic daily life, I resort to writing about the “little things”.  You know, those tiny differences that slowly become normal despite their oddness. Perspective is funny, something that at first seems so foreign and strange eventually becomes ordinary and you cease to notice it at... Continue Reading →