Go Alan and Patti 2020

It was bittersweet, but we're home.  It's good to be home, but sad that we had to cut our trip short. Overall, it was the right decision. We took a couple of videos on the trip.  Because of their size, both are hard to upload until we got home.  The first is of the Chinese new year celebration in Bangkok.  Our hotel was right in the center. We could watch the dragons and hear the drums from our hotel restaurant which was open to the street. Singapore was amazing to the end.  It's clean modern image is a high standard for the rest of the world, including the US.  Our flight left at midnight, so we had plenty of time to walk around the airport shopping mall, which is named "Jewel".  The mall is so large, it is like a shopping mall with an airport attached to it.  And in the center is the indoor waterfall and light show. At 12:00 midnight, we got on our flight from Singapore to Newark, NJ.  It turned out to be ahead of schedule and arrived an hour early, o

Today is our last day of our trip and we are in Singapore.  We fly out tonight at midnight and then arrive in Newark 18 hours later at 5:30 AM.  Should be "fun". We're ready though, given the uncertainties of this trip, two and a half weeks is enough.  Maybe again another time. We really regret not making it to Vietnam. Ernie & Cathy had a perfect itinerary planned. Meanwhile,  today we have our condo and the pool until 5:00.  The "pool" is an understatement.  There are probably ten pools and hot tubs. Best pool anywhere, but no swim up bar. Over the last two days we went downtown to walk on the Singapore river and to see the view from the top of one of the tall buildings in the business district - Level 33: the world's highest brewery. Looking at the Marina Bay Sands Hotel with an infinity pool on top, adjoining shopping center & Formula 1 track in the distance. In the bay just off of Singapore there are hundreds of ships a

We're back in Singapore.  The continuing spread of Chinese virus forced our decision.  We decided not to continue on to Vietnam.  And it would be hard to enjoy the trip while thinking about our health and whether we could get stranded somewhere in Asia. So we reluctantly left Ernie and Kathy and flew back to Singapore on February 1st. In spite of all this, we have been having a good time.  We were in Bangkok for one day.  Bangkok was a large hectic city with temples and gold buildings here and there.  That's not fair, but was our impression after taking a 3 hour tour in a taxi. We took a bus from Bangkok to Chiang Mai. A VIP Supreme bus. 10 hours. And contrary to Kathy and Ernie's opinion, it was great. Well maybe not great, but very good. We got to see a little of the country and a little about life in Thailand. Chiang Mai is a busy smaller city in northern Thailand.  Easier to get around and cooler.  After Singapore and Bangkok, cool evenings felt great.  An