Day 47: Lisa in Seattle, WA with Kristina (with a 'K')

Life is hard. I mean, really hard. Kristina and I spent our day dog-sitting a 4 month old lab with an 8 year old German shepherd keeshond mix. I started and finished a book, Kristina did some freelancing, and we indulged in amazing Thai food. After Thai, we fell into an immediate food coma, with warm puppies on a comfortable couch.

After our nap, while motivated-Kristina went for a run, I went boating on Lake Union with my friend Matt to watch a sailboat race. Thankfully, the weather held out, we had some great views, and I learned a lot more about sailing.

Then, in keeping with the theme of this Seattle trip, we all met up at a bar for some local beer. Somehow, I only had one beer, but my alter-ego ordered a pitcher. Thankfully, I had some hungry runners who were more than happy to share it with me.

That's it for today! I have an early start tomorrow (4:00 am) as I'm headed back home to celebrate my mom's birthday! :)

Day 46: Lisa in Seattle, WA with Kristina (with a 'K')

I woke up this morning in sunny Seattle; I repeat, Seattle was sunny! After passing out like a champ at 5pm the night before, I was able to sleep until about 8:30 am (with the exception of Chris' 3:30 alarm for her flight home).

I bid farewell to Amber and sweet Lucy and walked in the sunshine to Kristina's place. Shortly thereafter, we set out for a coffee shop where I enjoyed a hippied-out chai latte with hemp milk (delicious!). We strolled through Pike Place market, rode the ferris wheel, and took a quick detour to Pike brewery before hitting the climbing gym.

Three hours later, ego in check, arms burning, and soul happy, we made our way to 74th Street Ale House for dinner and drinks with friends. Sadly (for my pride, not my body), after a month of pilsners and limited beer in Asia, I have returned to light-weight status and simply enjoyed one IPA. Thankfully, it was delicious and the company was even better.

Day 45: Singapore to Seattle, WA

Today was our longest day. After a shaky four hours of sleep, we woke up at 3:30 am on 5/19 in Singapore, boarded a 7:00 am flight, traveled for almost 17 hours, and arrived in Seattle on 5/19 just after 9:00 am. Thank you, time change.

While we're too tired to do the math, we can say that we have been awake for more than 26 hours.

Fortunately, our waking/groggy hours in Seattle were spent in great company. We stayed with our friends Amber and Ryan and their beautiful, smart, (nearly) two year old, Lucy. Oh, and their affectionate cat Juni, of course. We caught up, had a lovely tea party hosted by Lucy, and then... Well to be honest, we're wiped, so that's about it. At some point, you have to stop nodding off and recognize a bed is where you need to be. :) So here we are, excited to let the eyelids finally close in rest.

Tomorrow morning, Chris flies back to Chicago while I remain in Seattle for a few more days. Then it's off to Dubai later this week!

Day 44: Cruise End & What We Learned in Singapore

Today, we disembarked from our home for the last seven days, the Costa Atlantica. We took a quick stroll around our familiar Chinatown before accepting farewell. First thing tomorrow (4:00 am!), we head to the airport en route to Seattle to visit friends. Cross your fingers that there are open seats on the flights there!

As a farewell to Asia, here are our Singapore take-aways:

- Disney needs to give more credit where credit is due. Mulan is based off of a true story.
- The crime rate is nearly nonexistent - for humans, that is. Monkeys, on the other hand, are the country's biggest criminals.
- Lamburginis are in abundance. So, if you'd like to see some really nice cars, just drive around one of the city carparks.
- Vocabulary lesson: Boot = trunk; carpark = garage; alight = exit; way out = exit; give way = yield.
- Heavy fines are the punishment for littering. This country's cleanliness is off the charts.
- It is illegal to sell gum, but you can chew it. You will be fined if you drop it on the ground, however.
- Bar none, friendliest country we have been to on this trip. Strangers will help without even being prompted, and local hosts will do everything they can to ensure you have a good time.
- Breakfast involves dinner food (fried rice, chicken, and beef stew).
- You don't tip here, not in cabs and not in restaurants.
- Lightning rods are placed on every house, as lightning is so frequent. Even the famous merlion now has its own rod, as it was struck by lightning two years ago.
- All buildings are made with cement because of the former UK rule.
- They drive on the left side of the road (which never failed to freak us out).
- When parking cars, everybody backs into the spots. No one pulls in.
- The two casinos in Singapore brought in more revenue than all of Las Vegas's casinos combined last year.
- The Singapore Flyer (ferris wheel) changed directions for feung shui purposes. After the change, its business improved.
- We can't get enough of orchids.
- Escalators follow the 'stand left, walk right' rule.
- Residents avoid the sun, as darker skin is associated with lower-level workers. Lighter skin shows a higher status in society.
- We don't understand why, but apparently some women stand on... and squat over... the toilet seats. Signs in the bathrooms discourage women from doing so.
- Only in Asia would you see advertisements for, "Is math TOO easy for your child? We'll challenge them here!"

Days 42 and 43: Penang, Malaysia

After a relaxing day on ship yesterday (massages included), our port stop today was Penang, a Malaysian island in the shape of a turtle.

Our brief tour of the island started at the Penang Botanical Gardens (we can't see enough!), where we saw beautiful trees, flowers, and monkeys who had raided the local ice cream cart.

The next stop was to dye for. Not really :). It was a fabric factory where we got to see locals dying and hand-painting multiple fabrics with hot wax. Lisa was chosen as the lucky one to model how the versatile fabric can be worn.

We then toured a Chinese mansion, which was built in 1850 in accordance with feung shui. Next, we saw how the former tax-evaders lived, as they built their houses on stilts over the sea to avoid paying the land tax.

Throw in a couple of Chinese temples and more poolside reading and you have our day in a nutshell!

On a completely unrelated note, our twin-ness must be shining through today, as we have received more comments and questions than usual.

Day 41: Singapore

We gladly returned to our familiar stomping grounds today - Singapore! We docked in the afternoon after enjoying a restful morning onboard.

After a little shopping in Chinatown, we met up with our friend Matt from Chicago. How lucky we are to be across the world at the same time as both our friends, Brad and Matt! It has brought a welcome feeling of home to our trip.

With Matt, we had drinks and dinner in Clarke Quay. I tried a sampler of locally brewed IPAs from Riverside Point Brewery. For dinner, Chris and I enjoyed watching Matt dive into his chili crab, the renowned specialty (apparently it was quite delicious). I dedicated myself to a chopsticks-only dinner, no matter how many failed asparagus slipped through my grasp, quite literally.

It was down to the wire for our return to the cruise ship. Singapore has two cruise centers, and we first arrived at the wrong one. After a quick Chinese fire drill into a new cab, we headed to the correct cruise center as Matt headed to the airport. At the ship, we were greeted by cruise personnel who rushed us onboard. We were hauling buns as we were literally the last two people to board. We blame this on very poor communication.

Nonetheless, here we are. Now that our blood pressure has returned to normal, we can say that today was truly a great day.

Day 40: Langkawi, Malaysia

Today we visited the lovely island of Langkawi, Southeast Asia's oldest island. Home to 236 species of birds, 47 species of snakes, and 18 different mango trees, this lush island was a beautiful sight. It's no surprise that it is so lush, as Langkawi no longer cuts trees but preserves them. Malaysia consists of 99 islands during high tide and 104 islands during low tide. The population is 100,000 despite being the same size as Singapore, whose population is five million.

Now that you know the history, onto our day.

We toured the island by river boat with Ayu, our enthusiastic tour guide who also happens to be an animal trainer/snake charmer.

Our first stop was to see the white bellied and brown eagles. Chicken guts were thrown into the water so we could observe them dive for food. After the eagles, we sat where the river joins the sea, marking the beginning of the national park. Then, we visited a fish farm where I gladly stuck my hand into a stingray's mouth (half the species in Malaysia are venomous; this one fell into the "playful" category). Chris obviously kept her distance.

We saw naughty monkeys, swooping eagles, and archer fish who can spit with precision. And that was just the first half of the day!

The second half included eating lunch while watching Lagkawi fade into the distance, poolside reading, getting facials, and losing track of time reading our books.

Tomorrow, we are excited to return to Singapore for a quick day trip in familiar territory!