4th of July in Asia

For the 4th of July week, I had some great friends from the U.S. visit, Mark & Nicole. Mark and I met during a summer internship back in 2002 (neither of our current jobs) and have stayed in touch since.  He worked in Varese, Italy (north of Milan near Switzerland) for two years and I had visited him and ran around Italy for a couple of weeks then. It was a great time and I was more than happy to return the favor as tour guide.

I showed them around Singapore and then we spent a few days in Thailand.  I don't think I could do as good a job as Nicole did on her blog recapping their visit.  So, I'm going to be a little lazy and refer you there ;) - links below.

• Recap of Days in Singapore
• Recap of Days in Thailand

I do have a fun video and some personal pics to add - follow the jump (link)!


While in Thailand, we attended a Muay Thai fight night - they hold them every Tuesday and Friday night.  It was primarily tourists that bought tickets, but we did sit behind some seats reserved for locals.  It was as much fun seeing them get animated for the fights as watching the fights.  Here are some quick video clips that I took.

....and pictures...

Apparently I have a new restaurant in Singapore ;).

You forget how streets look with electrical wires as they are all underground in Singapore.

A praying mantis landed on my arm as we walked through one of the markets.

Headed out for a day of snorkeling.  In case like me and you're not aware, don't kick the coral! :)  Swim only with your arms because your feet are sure to get beaten.  My left foot looked like a cat had clawed it up, then it got all swollen.  Thankfully, all is well now and it's itching like crazy (so must be healing, right?).

A couple dinners in Thailand - mussels, chicken in pandan leaves and tom yum soup with shrimp.

We attended a cooking class.  My very own Thai dishes - I know you can hardly believe it! :)