Manzanita, Oregon

After my relaxing vacation in Phuket, I had exactly six hours from deplaning until I had to board a flight to Hong Kong to work for three days. I still felt very achy and my cough was getting worse. By the time that I landed in Singapore I was really tired, and the thought of unpacking from vacation and repacking for work and then a week and half in the states was exhausting. Lev came over and kept me company until I had to leave for the airport again. There was no sense in sleeping since I had such a short time span between flights. He suggested that we go get an early breakfast before my 6:30am flight but I wasn't hungry and just wanted to lay low. The light at the end of the tunnel was I was going to see my entire family in four days and we were going to spend the weekend at the Oregon coast for my mother's birthday! I was so excited that we all were able to make this happen - - my family hasn't been able to coordinate schedules to get away from the city in ages and it was a welcomed relief that I was able to make the flight (or flights I should say) over to the west coast.

My cough and fever was in full swing as I landed in Hong Kong and I was becoming self conscious that people thought I was a smoker with emphysema. I now understand why a lot of people in Asia wear face-masks when traveling - because of people like me who sound like they are hacking up a lung. Mid-day I started to cough up blood and then deemed it was necessary to go to the doctor. It was confirmed, I had pneumonia. This put a major kink in my plans! My upcoming 20 hour flight to Portland sounded awful at best. I decided I was going to fly back to Singapore on an earlier flight so I could rest for ten hours before having to leave for my flight to the states. I cannot tell you the wonder that antibiotics, sleep and liquids will do to a girl! All doped up on meds and sleepy from all my recent travels, I slept almost the entire 20 hours!

Arriving at PDX I was so excited to see my mother. I was feeling a lot better (clearly not 100%) and was going to have a good time no matter what. She talked excitedly on the way home and told me that after I got settled sorting my things we were off to the coast. My sister, Bindu, and her boyfriend, Mookie, were traveling down from Seattle and heading straight to the beach house. My brother, Asit, was going to drive down later that afternoon after a few meetings. We had all planned on arriving in Manzanita by 2pm at the latest. This did not happen. My family is notorious for running behind and this day was no exception. My father made a last minute appointment and this set us back two hours! I felt like I was ten years old again at the mercy of my parents waiting to be driven somewhere. Seriously father, why are you doing this to me after a full day of travel?!

When we finally made it to the coast I was in better spirits. The beach house is set back a block from the ocean and pulling up I noticed that  Bindu and Mookie had beaten us there. It didn't take deductive reasoning to figure out why (DAD!).  
The dogs were so happy to see each other and it felt amazing to be outside in the fresh Oregon air. I threw my stuff in one of the bedrooms and hastily headed downstairs to hang out with everyone. Mom had already set out making coffee and tea for everyone and soon after Asit arrived. The pups heard his motorcycle pull up and went nuts running around trying to get outside to greet him. Ah, at last everyone was together. 
 

Anyone that is familiar with the Oregon coast knows that it is FREEZING in the autumn months, however that day was an exception. It was sunny and in the 70's! We all decided to wander down to the beach and take a long walk. Watching the dogs play in the sand and strolling leisurely with my family was just what I needed to put me in a better state of mind. Being around my family with no stress or distractions was so refreshing. 

The sun started to set and the temperature was beginning to drop so we made our way back to the house. Bindu and I set about cooking dinner while everyone else watched football. I cannot explain how great it was to be able to watch football at a regular time and not some god-awful hour! The rest of the night was pretty low key - eating, talking, and watching movies. 

Friday was much of the same - watching football, cooking, and just hanging out. Asit, Bindu, Mookie and I took a trip in to town and stopped to get drinks at a pub and before we knew it a few hours had passed by.

Arriving back at the house we prepped for dinner and while everything was baking/cooking I handed out presents! Obviously I had Mom's, but I had birthday presents for Dad and Mookie as well. Asit and Bindu just got candy but were stoked since you can't get Meji candy in the states! 

The weekend passed so quickly and was very relaxing. Mom and dad took the dogs and left around 10am while Mookie, Bindu and I stayed for a bit longer. We grabbed lunch in Cannon Beach and sat outside since the weather was still nice. Mid-afternoon we decided we should start the drive back to the city and stopped along the way for some normal family shenanigans :) 

Once back in the city, I had one night before leaving for the east coast for 3 days of work, followed by a trip to the Adirondacks Mountains for a quick retreat!

Phuket, Thailand

After living in SE for a year and a half I had heard my fair share about Phuket. Some people love it and others weren't so keen on it. It was on my bucket list of places that I wanted to visit so I asked my friend Anna if she wanted to go with me for a girls weekend. Of course she was excited to have a weekend away from Singapore so we looked up resorts and booked our airfare with in a day. Anna had been to Phuket numerous times so I was glad to be going with her. I really just wanted a relaxing weekend on the beach and Phuket seemed perfect for that. 

Anna had wanted to stay at The Twin Palms Resort but since we planned the trip so last minute it was completely booked. We looked at the other resorts near by and decided to book a villa at The Surin. Arriving at the resort I couldn't have been happier. The resort was right on the beach with private access and the villa was nice. It was perfect for a quick girls weekend! 

Quickly we unpacked and set out to get some lunch. It was a nice day so we opted to walk in to the center of town and just stop at anything that looked good along the way. Making our way down the main road we stumbled upon a quaint little restaurant that looked promising. Anna ordered a glass of cab sauv and I ordered a glass of sauv blanc - with how humid it was it felt good to drink a cold glass of wine! The food was delicious and Anna and I were very happy and very full!

After all that great food we had to walk some of it off! The main road ended and we looped around to the beach and wanted to explore what the beach front bars and shops had to offer. We walked by Catch, a beach front bar that is a part of the Twin Palms Resort and noted it to come back to. It looked like it would be a chill spot at night with good music. We stopped to next door for a quick drink and finally started to relax. I was determinded to have my long sought after Tom Yum martini and asked the bartender if he could make it for me. He politely nodded and when he set the drink in front of me, all I could do was smile. Anna was laughing at how happy I was and she knows that I had been waiting to return to Thailand to have this drink made properly. I took one big swig and it was all I could to to not spit it back out. This drink was AWFUL! It looked so right, but tasted so wrong. FAIL. Disgruntled by the taste of what I can only describe as rubbing alcohol with a chili and cucumber, I downed some water and set about ordering my usual - champagne. No messing this drink up :) 

We headed back to the resort just in time to not get caught in a massive downpour! Thank goodness we had just reached the villa when the huge drops of rain started to shower down. Once inside we snacked on some fruit and started to research what we wanted to do that evening. I was fine with having a low key night since I was a bit exhausted from the long week I had just had. Anna was on the exact same page as I was. She found a restaurant called Opus One which looked like it had a very sleek interior and the menu had so many things that I wanted to try. Snatching up my phone I called to make a reservation and we were all set for 8pm! 

Confusion is never a good look when the taxi driver delivers you to the restaurant that you made dinner reservations at. He didn't speak much English but was emphatic on the fact that this is the address that we gave him. It was a small parking lot with a few shops in a row and two more stories above. Anna spotted a sign that said Opus One up above so we paid and got out of the sedan. The taxi sped off along with our hopes of leaving in case we wanted to go elsewhere. We climbed up three flights of stairs and once we rounded the last corner we were facing big glass doors with dark wood paneling. As we stood there unsure if they were open, a women pushed the door open from the inside and greeted us warmly. She asked if we had a reservation, and once she knew the name it was under showed us to a table on the outside patio. The night wasn't too warm so it was lovely to be seated outside instead of indoors. She brought us menus and left us to discuss amongst ourselves. I perused the wine menu and Anna and I wanted different varietals (I, a cab franc and her a shiraz) so we opted to go by the glass instead of a bottle. We ordered our starters and mains and commented on how this turned out to be a nice surprise from when we first pulled up. The food, wine, and service was very good and I was very glad that we chose to have dinner here. The bar inside was pretty impressive - all dark wood and blood red paint with fiber optic lights illuminating it. Opus One is definitely a restaurant that I would return to. 

Saturday morning I woke up early as I really wanted to work out in. It looked as if it was going to rain so a run on the beach was out of the question. The clouds were rolling past pretty quickly so I padded down to the main restaurant and ordered breakfast hoping they would burn off and I could run outside instead of on the tredmill. After finishing a light breakfast, I realized I didn't want to risk it and headed to the gym. The bright side was that I had a view of the beach to entertain me as I ran. 

By the time I got done working out the clouds had passed and it was sunny! I spotted Anna on a sun lounger and headed over to her. I told her I was going to shower and change in to my bikini and come right back down. I was so excited to lay out and read in the sun! That is precisely what I did with a cocktail in hand for the next 2 hours with some ocean time inter-mixed :) 

We had to leave the resort by 1pm because Anna had signed us up for a cooking class to learn how to properly cook Thai food. Although I love to cook, I have never attempted to cook Thai food - mainly because it seems daunting with all those spices. The Blue Elephant is a where our class was and it was about a 30 minute car ride out. The restaurant and cooking school is set in the old governor's mansion and it was a lovely setting for a Saturday afternoon of cooking. Upon arriving I started to not feel so well but thought that I was just hungry and told myself to push past it. Our cooking instructor was named Charles and he was a riot! He was so flamboyant and animated and this instantly helped me feel a bit better. We made 5 courses in total and at the end we got to sit down and enjoy our meal. 

Through out the cooking class I was increasingly feeling ill and could tell that I had a fever. On the car ride home I was full blown sick. My entire body ached and I had a definite high fever and a raspy cough to match. Once we got back to the resort I showered and quickly climbed in to bed. I told Anna I was going to sleep for awhile and she set off to the main part of the resort with her iPad to do some work. I woke just around dinner time and although I felt a bit better I still had a fever. Reaching for my phone I texted Anna to see if she wanted to get dinner somewhere and she responded that she was on her way back to the villa. We made reservations at the restaurant in the Twin Palms which is supposed to be know for their tasty Thai dishes. It was close to our resort and honestly I wasn't up for traveling far away for dinner since I didn't feel that well. 

When we got to the restaurant it was surprisingly quiet. That was no indication on how great the food was. Everything that we ordered was so delish! I asked Anna if she was okay calling it an early night and she was totally fine with it. 

When we got back to the villa both of us were in the mood for something sweet so we ordered desserts from the room service menu. I reverted to comfort food since I wasn't feeling 100% and ordered mint chocolate chip ice cream. It reminds me of being a little girl and eating it when I would stay home sick from school. Anna opted for a mango sticky rice. Soon after eating my ice cream I was fast asleep hoping for my fever to go far away!

Sunday morning I felt better but still not great. It was a beautiful day so I went for a run to try to sweat some of this sickness out and then began to pack (since we were leaving that night). After I was somewhat organized, I headed down to the beach to catch some sun. It was the perfect Sunday, lazing on the beach, ordering a light lunch, and reading. 

Our flight to Singapore didn't leave Phuket until 10pm so we headed down to Catch to watch the sunset and have a quick snack before heading to the airport. Aside from me getting sick and the realization that I had a 6:30am flight to Hong Kong for work the next morning, it was a perfect, much needed, relaxing weekend away!