Monday, March 24, 2014

Refreshed

Hello friends!  I am feeling way better this week than I was last week, and I chalk it up to two things - first, I went for foot reflexology on Thursday night after work.  There is a place really close to my apartment that I have started going to semi-regularly.  I got really interested in foot reflexology after listening to Greg Olsen talk about it on The MMQB Podcast earlier this year.  There are tons of foot reflexology places in Singapore, so I decided to give it a try!  I don't know if what I'm doing is anything authentic, but I sure do love it.  I went on Thursday night before a late night conference call, and I woke up on Friday feeling like a new woman!

The second thing that I did that really helped me feel refreshed was a weekend getaway!!  Some friends and I went to Sibu, Malaysia this weekend for some time on the beach.  Sibu is an island that is fairly close to Singapore, so we actually just drove over the border and then took a boat to the island.  Ironically, the border crossing that we went through is basically where my client is, but I didn't realize that when we were organizing the trip haha.

This was my first time doing the Singapore - Malaysia border crossing, and it was not a pleasant experience.  We left Friday night after work, which is a very heavy time for traffic, as a lot of Malaysians who live in Singapore also are trying to go back home for the weekend.  It took us over an hour to go two kilometers (just over one mile) leading up to the immigration checkpoints.  Absolute hell.

Traffic

Once we made it through to Malaysia, traffic cleared up significantly, but our driver was an absolute maniac, so the rest of the trip didn't exactly feel smooth either.  By the time we got to the dock, it was past 11pm!!  I was not in the greatest mood by this point and kind of regretting coming on this trip, but once we got on the boat, everything was great.  There really is just nothing better than being out on the water on a boat!

When we got to the resort it was pretty late, but the staff were all up waiting for our arrival!  They gave us our welcome drink and set out some food for us, and after a quick bite to eat, we all passed out for the night.

When we woke up, we could finally see our surroundings!  The resort is pretty no-frills, but it was actually quite nice for such a basic place, and the price included all of our meals, so that definitely made things easier.

Home for the weekend

View from our balcony

Beach!!!

Some of us went for a walk down the beach one day, and it was interesting because you could tell the exact spot where the resort's property ended along the beach.  Everything was nice and pristine, and then, all of the sudden, there was trash absolutely everywhere.  

Kind of sad, really.

The weekend was incredibly low key, which was just what I needed.  We basically laid on the beach, splashed around in the sea, snorkeled, ate, and drank.  It was great :)

A quick word on our accommodations for the weekend - as I mentioned, it was super basic.  There was no hot water like in the guesthouse in Ream Beach, but at this resort, the doors also didn't lock.  There was a latch on the outside and a latch on the inside, so we could "lock" ourselves in at night (though we slept with our gigantic window wide open), but when were out during the day, there was no way to lock our room up.  This, combined with the fact that there was no wi-fi at the resort, meant that I didn't bring any of the devices I usually travel with, and I didn't use my phone for anything but photos for two days.  It was a good way to make sure I disconnected!!

Also my first time sleeping under a mosquito net!

The drive back was a lot more pleasant, as we left in the middle afternoon and were back in Singapore a little under four hours later.  Our quick and (somewhat) easy getaway was over.

And now it is the last full week of March, and I will once again express my shock over how quickly this year is passing by.  August will be here before we know it....

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