Happy New Year!

Well, I'm back in the good ol' US of A after our exciting two-week vacation to Thailand and Cambodia. We arrived yesterday morning and so far I've been fighting the jet lag pretty well (I say this as my eyelids begin to get heavy before 8 pm). I even managed to go back to work today, which was slightly depressing but inevitable, I suppose.

From a tourist standpoint, the end of our trip was less eventful than our previous stop in Cambodia. Since this was not our first trip to Bangkok, we pretty much skipped over all the tourist sightseeing stops and spent most of our time shopping and eating. Bangkok and its enormous malls and department stores really do boast some of the best food courts I've ever eaten in, with choices of any kind of Asian food you could imagine, as well as other ethnic cuisines, Western options and tons of delicious desserts, too. My only regret is that I would have liked to try out the McRice burger at the Thai McDonald's but I never got around to it!

For the first time ever, I not only rang in the new year on an airplane, but I also got to celebrate twice -- once in local time as we boarded our first flight leaving Bangkok, and again in DC time as we were airborne from Tokyo to home. Auddie and I were slightly disappointed about the lack of enthusiasm (or even acknowledgment) from our fellow passengers, and I personally would have enjoyed a free champagne toast, but I guess our personal family countdown had to do. On the other hand, after finally arriving home and learning about the Bangkok bombings that had happened just around midnight at the Central World Plaza -- an area where we'd been just hours earlier -- I was slightly jarred, sad for those who were killed and injured on what should have been an evening of fun and celebration, but also relieved and happy that we left when we did.

The Bangkok photos are up and the whole vacation set is ready for complete viewing. Here's to what should be an eventful and exciting 2007! Cheers to all.