Hey Hey Taipei!

1/2 May 08 -- A wrap-up of our final day abroad coming soon!

NATO+4 in Seoul

30 April/1 May 08 -- A wrap-up of our South Korea visit coming soon!

Singapore--my new favorite city!

26/29 April 08 -- On Saturday morning, we arrived in Singapore on a red-eye flight from India. If you haven't been to this amazing country, go find a calendar and pick a vacation week and start making plans. I'll join you if you need a travel companion. I've seen 14% of the world (according to my Facebook map), and this place tops my list. This unique city offers a blend of people, cultures, cuisine, and architecture from both East and West; all set in a perfect tropical setting. Clean, modern, friendly, efficient, and big fun. But don't bring chewing gum, it's illegal there!

We had one night off during our two week tour of duty, so we decided to spend it in the Clark Quay area. Great food, music, dance clubs, people watching. On Sunday afternoon, we went to East Coast Park to wander along the beach path with the locals. Adam and Matt spent about four hours trying their luck at cable wakeboarding/kneeboarding/waterskiing at a cool watersports complex (while I got my MBA from a touring ESSEC professor from Paris). We finished our perfect day off with barbequed stingray from a local food stall. Yum!





On Monday, we visited the U.S. Embassy (BTW, good job Bill Clinton---this fortress was the nicest of our trip!) and then had dinner with our new partners TME Systems. They picked the restaurant with the most stunning view of Singapore--the Swissotel's 69th floor Equinox Restaurant. The food and company were both fantastic, as we overlooked the tallest Ferris wheel (the Singpoare Flyer at 165 m) and the site of the first Formula 1 night race being held this September.







Tuesday was our all day meeting with TME, then off to the airport that evening for a red-eye to Seoul. Two more countries to go!

110 Degrees in New Delhi

23/25 April 08 -- Our flight arrived late evening in India followed by a 45-minute chaotic car ride to our New Delhi hotel. Any normal person would have been scared to death being driven down the road with no painted lines six vehicles wide (built for three vehicles wide), horns beeping, cows wandering, people crossing, rickshaws meandering. But growing up riding with my brother Greg, I found the scene comical and almost fictional.



Matt and I had our all-day partner strategy meeting with ITGlobe on Thursday ending with cocktails and conversation with Brig Sabarwal and Col Raju, and dinner at the Officers' Club. Good stuff!

On Friday, it was a stifling 110+ degrees. After our US Embassy visit, we took a quick tour with a guide to a few local landmarks, including the Lotus Temple and Humayun's Tomb. We even saw an elephant in the traffic mix that day (can you spot it below?)!







Next up, red-eye to Singapore to meet up with Adam again...

From Malaysia to India

23 April 08 -- After arriving at the KL airport, we could have sworn we were being followed by the Malaysian government in the form of a sweet local girl named Maha. She had helped us throughout the day get our car service, leave our bags at the luggage counter, get our boarding passes, etc. We decided that she was just being nice with no ulterior motive except for maybe a tip and friendly conversations with some Americans.


If you know Matt, feel free call him "Puddle Boy" and ask him about nearly getting electrocuted while standing in a pool of water in the fancy airline club. It was the funniest moment of our entire trip! An early evening flight enabled us to chase the sunset to India.

Quick Day in KL

23 April 08 -- Since we were "in the neighborhood," I convinced my colleague Matt that on the way from Tokyo to Delhi, we make a pitstop in Kuala Lumpur to attend the Defence Services Asia tradeshow. After flying all night from Japan, then catching a few hours sleep at Singapore Airport's Transit Hotel, taking a one hour morning flight to KL followed by a one hour mini-van ride to the city, we were there! After we collected our badges and were making our way into the convention center among a sea of uniformed military attendees, we were startled by gunfire breaking out followed by womens' screams. Matt and I looked at each other in horror, then off in the direction of the noise to gladly see a sign that read "Mock Battlefield Medical Exercise" (or something like that). Whew! Talk about seriously being scared!

Anyway, we spent about three hours at the tradeshow, making a lot of great contacts in the local UAV and netcentric warfare arenas. Lunch at Pizza Hut before we made our way past the tallest twin buildings in the world--the Petronas Towers (~1,483 ft.) on our way back to the KL airport.

Come together all over the world from the hoods of Japan Harajuku girls

...'Cause I'd have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl. I'd get me four Harajuku girls to inspire me and they'd come to my rescue. I'd dress them wicked, I'd give them names: Love, Angel, Music, Baby. Hurry up and come and save me. - Gwen Stefani



20 April 08 -- OMG! Harajuku is even more crazy than I ever imagined! The outfits, make-up, funky shoes, rocker attitudes--what a scene! With Gwennie Gwen kickin' on my iPod, these ladies made my day in Tokyo. Can you spot me in the photo above??? :)

After our day long meeting on Monday with our partners ImageOne, we were off for our dinner adventure. Taking taxis to the neon sign, karaoke riddled, Times Square-like Kabuki-Cho district, it felt like a movie set as we dodged off the busy street into a tiny tree-lined grove, wandering down a meandering "Shiki No Michi" stone pathway to find a small, well hidden house--the Cha Cha Hana.





This Kyoto style restaurant honored the Japanese beauty and tradition of its architecture and cuisine. Our ten-course traditional Japanese dinner, complete with sake, plum wine, and beer, was amazing. My favorite was the sashimi, which was probably happily swimming in the nearby water at most an hour prior to sitting on our sunken dinner table.



Adam, Matt, and I ended the evening with an AGI team meeting at the New York Bar, located on the 52nd floor of the Park Hyatt. With amazing 360 degree views of surrounding Tokyo and the site of the film "Lost in Translation," my red, white, and blue beverage tasted even better after a long day. Sayonara!



P.S. Check out the replica of the Philadelphia LOVE Park statue that we spotted a block away from our hotel!

Movin' & Shakin'

At the end of March, my BFF Stacey and I had a fantastic long weekend in San Francisco & Napa Valley celebrating our 30 years of friendship over five-star food, amazing wine, and partying (a little too hard!) with the locals. My friends Chermei & Chris' wedding at the famous Auberge du Soleil was beautiful. It was a well needed getaway and I couldn't imagine a better person to have spent it with than my girl Stace! If you go, don't miss: The Slanted Door, Redd, Cakebread winery, Stag's Leap Wine Cellar, chai tea in Sausalito, Union Street boutiques, Lotus vodka, your day job.

I spent last week in Colorado Springs at the National Space Symposium. It's attended by the who's who's of the space industry, so there was always someone interesting around to strike up a thought-provoking conversation with. Buzz Aldrin: old space. X Prize guys: new space. Protesters: no space. I'm exhausted from no sleep (or oxygen) for a week, but busy prepping for my next adventure: six Asian countries in two weeks! I leave Friday for Tokyo, so will post updates from the other side of the globe.

Ciao for now!

Photobloggin'

Just a quick note to say I've started work on my official photography site. So, take a peek and tell me your favorites and why. I can never decide if I like some of my shots because of the experience surrounding them, or they are truly good. :) In any case, enjoy!

LL live on the world wide web at: millaclick.smugmug.com.

Welcome to my blog!

Hi! I'm gearing up for six weeks of travel out west and across the Pacific, so here is my attempt at documenting and sharing my adventures. Starting next week, I will be going to San Francisco, Napa Valley, Colorado Springs, Japan, India, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan.

I look forward to spending time in San Fran--my favorite city in the US--with my BFF Stacey, as we go on a quick city photo safari, as well as attend a friend's wine country wedding. The remainder of my April travel is for work, which will be crazy busy, but certainly exciting!

Happy Easter weekend and talk to you again soon from somewhere! :)