A recap of the past 8 months...

First off, WOW, time flies!  I truly didn't think it'd been 8 months since I last posted to my blog.  For everyone reading this out there (hi Mom & Dad), sorry!  I'll try and do a recap of places I've been to in the past few months in different blog posts but we've got:

Trip home in August

F1 in Singapore

Kristen & Greg's Trip to Singapore

Ho Chi Minh / Hoi An, Vietnam

Trip home for Christmas / New Years

Skiing in Japan for Chinese New Year

Mom & Dad's Visit to Singapore

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Hong Kong 7's

Kari's 30th birthday in Paris

And here we go....

Christmas / New Years back home

I was lucky enough to be able to come home for two and a half weeks over Christmas and New Years.  Here are some pictures from the trip!

Having a boot of beer with CeJay - celebrating the end of Schroeder's as we know it.

Lights outside of Peju Winery

The parentals and I at Peju

BFF's in SF - how I miss these girls!

This view will never get old

Date night with my pops at the Sacramento Kings game

Hoi An, Vietnam

The next stop on our tour of Vietnam was Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  This was a charming little city located on the coast and is a very well preserved trading post from the 15th to the 19th century.  We did a lot of wandering the streets of the Old Town which were closed to cars and motorbikes, eating great Vietnamese food, getting clothes made and soaking up the culture.  While the weather wasn't fantastic the few days we were there, it was still a great time!

Japanese covered bridge constructed in the 1600's

Shop houses in the Old Town part of Hoi An

The view of the beach from our hotel during one of the storms

Drinks with Greg & Kristen at the hotel bar

A kid selling lanterns to float down the river

Riding in an old sidecar courtesy of the hotel

Hoi An is known for their paper lanterns

Kristen and I having tea at a traditional Vietnamese tea house that was run by deaf women

The Cu Chi Tunnels in Vietnam

While in Ho Chi Minh, we took a day trip out to the Cu Chi Tunnels.  I'd heard from a few people that this was something we shouldn't miss.  These were the tunnels that the Vietkong lived in during the Vietnam War to avoid the US troops.  They were incredibly inventive in trying to survive - creating tunnels that went down 4 stories and were tens of miles long.  The tunnels were incredibly tiny and claustrophobic!  Vietnam has widened a portion of the tunnels to allow visitors to crawl through them...Westerners couldn't fit in the normal sized tunnels.  Even with them being widened, they were still very small!

A booby trap - yikes!

Trying to fit in to one of the entrance / exits of the tunnels.  Crazy small

Shooting an AK47...why not?

Managing our way through the tunnel

Vietgiving in Ho Chi Minh

While Kristen & Greg were in Asia, we decided to go up to Vietnam to do some exploring.  We (well I, they stayed in Vietnam longer) spent 2 nights in Ho Chi Minh and 2 nights in Hoi An.  

One of those nights in HCM was Thanksgiving and for our Thanksgiving meal, we went on what could have been one of the best things I've done in Asia yet.  It was a 5 hour tour on the back of a moped through the crazy, no rules of traffic streets (who pays attention to a red light??) of Ho Chi Minh to go to various places that normal tourists would't go to and eat traditional Vietnamese food.  

We ate frog, goat, scallops, other random things, but overall it was a wonderful experience!

One of the drivers cooking the goat

Kristen looking really forward to the shot of liquor that they couldn't tell us what it was....banana maybe?

Frog

A traditional Vietnamese delicacy called Balut which is a fertilized egg...see pictures below and yes, they love this.

What's inside the egg....don't worry, I didn't touch any of the egg or the bird!!!

Kristen & Greg Visit Singapore!

Besides my parents who came in March 2013, Kristen & Greg were my next visitors from home.  I was very excited to see them as they were recently engaged and a big part of my San Francisco life!  They came to Singapore for a few days before we went up to Vietnam for a long weekend or what I referred to as Vietgiving as we spent Thanksgiving in Vietnam.  More to come on that in the next post.

Even though I had to work for a few days while they were here, we still managed to see some sights.  We went to lunch at a hawker market, had Singapore Sling's at the Long Bar and took in the view up at Ku De Ta.  It was great to have them here and I didn't want them to leave!!! =(

Kristen & Greg outside of Maxwell hawker market

Singapore slings at the Long Bar, Raffles Hotel 

Greg relaxing with his $20 beer at Ku De Ta

Ku De Ta

F1 Race in Singapore

Singapore's big event (also pretty much the one and only) of the year is the F1 race that takes place over a weekend in September.  Because it is so hot in Singapore during the day, this is the only race of the year that takes place during the night when it is cooler.  The track is through the middle of the city (think massive road closures and delays).  The main race was on Sunday night but there were practice sessions Friday and Saturday.  Friday night I had grandstand seats while Saturday night I was fortunate enough to be invited out on a boat in Marina Bay to watch.  For the main race on Sunday, I avoided all the madness and watched the race at a bar near my apartment.  For Singapore's only event a year, they sure do it right!

Friday night's view from the Bay Grandstands

Marina Bay Sands from the boat

My friends Julie, Shane and I on the boat

Saturday night's view - the Singapore Flyer and track

Trip home in August

This was the first time I'd been back home since I left in January.  I spent a few days in San Francisco seeing friends and then home to Sac for a week.  My 10 days flew by between a Giants game, Napa wine tasting trip, shopping, eating Mexican food and relishing in my dad's amazing BBQ skills.  Was great to see everyone and made me miss home =(

My BFF Kari came up from LA to see me!

Friends at the Giants Game

Kristen, myself and classic CeJay

Napa Trip with the parentals and Bonnie Jean - view from Rombauer

The Stoddart Family keeps it classy...

Stoddart familia reunited again at Frank Family Vineyards

Some of my favorites (Craig, Erica, Kristen & Greg) from San Francisco came up to Sacramento on my last night in town.
Can't wait to see them again this summer!