Itinerary update… The Home Stretch!
by Sharon -- September 7, 2010
I fit in again!
After spending over 3 weeks in Padang, Indonesia (on Sumatra, one of Indonesia’s 17,000 islands) we are now in the very international country of Singapore. It would be an understatement if I said that the transition has been drastic. We went from being in a city where we were about 2 out of a whopping 20 non-Muslim people (a gross, over-exaggerated estimate) to a city that has every type of ethnicity and food you can think of, skyscraper buildings, and a Formula 1 race track.
All I have to say is that it’s nice to fit in again. Even though the sun was so strong in Padang that it actually hurt my skin, and the humidity was so high that my skin became an adhesive for dirt and small insects, I only saw about 3 women wearing sleeveless shirts during our entire stay. Being the sun/heat hater that I am, I commonly wore sleeveless shirts, which didn’t exactl
y help me fit in, although neither did walking around with a white “bule” (pronounced “boo-lay” which means “foreigner”). One local child even shouted “YOU ARE SOOOOO WHITE!!!!” in his language as we walked by. It continues to make me laugh when I think about it.
We are in glorious Singapore for just a few days, until September 11th, when we fly to Guam after a very short layover in Manila, Philippines. In Guam we will be spending two amazing weeks in a vacation rental home that looks quite lovely in pictures, assuming that they are somewhat recent. The most exciting thing about our rental home is having our own washer and dryer. The days where we are charged $10 for a load of laundry are almost history…. so close!
After Guam, we have a pretty ridiculous flight back “home” on September 25th that includes layovers in Hawaii and San Francisco (how ironic- who wants to meet up at SFO for drinks?) on our way to Seattle. We will be spending over a week in Seattle helping to send my best friend into married life! What a perfect way to be greeted back to the mainland!
After Seattle, we plan on traveling down the West coast of our beautiful country. We will try to be back in San Francisco by October 9th for a series of parties hosted by our best friends- but perhaps some random city in Oregon will captivate our attention, forcing us to postpone our arrival date. Keeping form with the rest of this frolic around Asia, we will play it by ear.
Be awesome and help us share:
Seattle? I live in Tacoma now! Have fun! I haven’t gotten up to Seattle since living here haha.
yay for September 25th!!! I will get to finally talk your ears off about weddings for a whole week! (not just have you read about it in my emails
)Im so excited! oh… and your bridesmaids dress came in. they asked me if I wanted to ship it anywhere and I was like ” how about not” haha
Miss you guys! enjoy guam!!
I’ve never really thought about Guam as a travel destination, but am looking forward to reading about it! Sounds like you have a whirlwind of a trip to get home. Have fun!
I think your going to love Guam! My sister lived there for 2 years and she loved it. The pictures she has showed me are just AMAZING. Lots of outdoor stuff to do. Ill ask her for some must do’s and come back to ya~
So I asked and she said the must dos are:
Tarzan Fall
Tarzan Swimming Hole
Paget Cave
The Flea Market (only on certain days)
Maybe yall already know what yall are going to do but thought Id share~
Julie- When did you move to Tacoma and why?!
Holly- we just arrived on Guam about two hours ago!!!!!
Laura- thank you! I am actually 1/4 Guamanian (Chamorro is the word here) so that’s the main reason we decided to come here. I coined this trip the “Sharon’s Heritage Trip”
Jaime- Thanks a lot for the tips! We’ll definitely have time to be doing some of the stuff you suggested. Maybe I’ll do a follow up on our travel here in Guam.