Tonight we leave Bangkok for Siem Reap, Cambodia. Since day one of touring temples and practicing our non-rubeness, we’ve been walking all over the city and sweating buckets. Luckily the 7-11 has a deal on 1.5 liter waters – 2 for 20 baht – that’s about 75 cents – and any time you think about a 7-11, there is one there. They are everywhere and they are air conditioned!  It’s been really hot and humid here, and we’re loving it with much needed aircon relief periods.

The nearby Sofitel rooftop bar provided us with refreshing  Mai Tais and amazing views. Luckily our outfits somehow fit in to their dress code of “smart casual”. Then again, we were the only people up there at 9pm, so I guess beggars can’t be choosers.

We’ve learned that the traffic is horrendous here and also learned the hard way that the traffic signals don’t change that often (maybe 5 minutes per green light cycle?). Here’s a nice photo I took while we were marooned in the middle of traffic for a bit. Also, the motorbikes just do whatever the hell they want.

One description of Bangkok claims the terrible traffic is due to the city growing without any sort of urban planning.  I’d say the same thing has happened with their utility lines.  Luckily this guy seems to know the wire he’s after.

Every street seems to offer something new and interesting to look at!

The signs we see around are strange.

Some things are just strange, especially in front of a shopping mall.

We’ve basically been having a great time just touring around and finding food to eat and beers to drink and checking in with Santa.

After two years without going on my annual golf trip, I was getting a bit antsy.  Luckily my family lives in Raleigh, just an hour north of our golf trip location, so I was able to combine a visit with family with the festiveness of Golf Trip and a bonus side trip to see Mike at Clemson.  I get more vacation days than Sara, so I didn’t have to sacrifice any fun trips with her to make this work! 2 weeks in America, woo.

I hitched a ride (for free!  Thanks 2013 HandelTech business travel!) on the Qantas Airbus A380 to Raleigh via Los Angeles and Charlotte.  I had a challenging connection at LAX and my golf clubs ended up a flight behind me, but all in all I made it fairly unscathed, if a bit jet-lagged.  Certainly better than our experience in December.  I had a good couple of days visiting with my family despite two plus days of torrential rain.  I got to hang with Natasha and Nick a good amount along with my dad and step-mom.

Then it was off to meet the mates in Pinehurst, NC for what was an annual trip (8 years in a row leading up to 2014 for me) before I left for Australia.  The boys managed to scrape together a trip without me in 2015, but not in 2016.

Lots of golf was played, along with Kan Jam when we got home.

And how could we not choose King Cobra 40oz as our drink of choice given it’s $2 price tag.  It helped dull the pain of 36 holes of golf and Capitals losses.

After Pinehurst, it was off to Clemson to meet up with Mike and see what he was up to in South Carolina.  He was a great host – in a day and half we got in a trip to a local brewery, grilled massive steaks, watched the Caps win and even played golf.

Then it was back to to Raleigh for more family time.  I saw Natasha’s softball team score an epic walk-off win and again went kayaking with Nick on the small pond behind their house.  I even managed to get in a round of golf with my dad.  I also provided numerous, much need IT services for the household.

I headed back to Australia via the epic Dallas – Sydney route.  For a while it was the longest flight in the world, now I think it is #3 or something.  It was a 17 hour flight.  Luckily I was able to sleep for quite a bit of it.  Then thanks to my arrival to Melbourne via Sydney, Sara was able to meet me right at the gate!  Woo.