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my first snowfall

Out of the frying pan

After a lovely (but rather long 16 hour) flight on Singapore Airlines, the Foxes have officially returned to the US of A and once again find themselves in the warm embrace of Uncle Sam. When I say warm, I mean bone-chillingly frigid, thanks to the ice storm that smacked Portland last night. I must say, it's a rather unwelcome change from equatorial Singapore.

And so I now sit in the Portland airport, patiently awaiting the departure of my flight to Louisville. It may be a while...

Crow Cullers

No picture can capture the experience I had yesterday walking through downtown Singapore. I was startled by the unmistakable sound of gunfire, but I quickly dismissed it as a popped tyre or some other fluke. But then I distinctly heard a shot again. I looked towards the source of the sound and saw two men dressed in uniform. From no more than 10 feet away from where I and many others walked by, they aimed their shotguns into the trees overhead and -- with no barriers or warning signs posted -- fired away. Suddenly, a black football-sized object fell from the sky, and the men walked towards it. Upon closer inspection, I saw that their shirts were labelled: the "Crow Cullers" of Singapore.

Devastation

I know. I know. We're all completely worn down and worn out from all the Tsunami Talk. But this was just such a powerful visual that I couldn't help sharing it. Click here to view a set of perfectly matched "before and after" satellite images of the areas worst hit by the quake and tsunami. The first thing you will see is a image of the area before the wave hit. Click the button at the top of the image to toggle to an identical image taken after the damage. Then click on "next" to move to the next picture, etc. The images left me utterly speechless.

[Thanks, K8!]

Back to Civilization

The last week spent in Cambodia was wonderful. After so much time on our own, it was comforting to once again be surrounded by friends and family. At various points during the week, we were traveling in a posse of as many as 12 at a time. NOTE: that's 12 funny, loud, type-A people at a time. Subtle we were not. The phrase "herding cats" crossed our lips on more than one occasion. And yet we all got along swimmingly.

It should be noted that of all the places in the world we've been, Cambodia has the worst access to phones and internet. Our apologies for leaving you all high and dry for the past few days, but with Christmas and New Years, I'm sure you all kept busy. There is so much to write, but precious little time now in which to do it. We'll post some great photo albums and more stories as we get back to our laptops and catch up over the coming week.

FYI, we're now back in Bangkok, stopping through on the way to Singapore. And then home--whatever that means. Our plans are set, our flights purchased. We head back to the States on the 12th of January--less than two weeks from now. From there, there's still loads of Bomadding to do and people to see. So warm up your sofas and break out your wine. The Foxes are coming to visit!

Love from Asia,

Dale and MeiMei