Viva Cinco de Drinko, Baby!!!!!

Family,

And a good evening to you from across the globe after another GREAT DAY in the Lion City. So first off, apologies for no blog these past 2 nights. However, when Money and Dan are in the Sing, you can pretty much bet that the evenings will be late and booze will be involved, meaning that bed time has tended to be about 1 in the morning, with some fairly early wake-up calls.

So Thursday night, 5 May, was of course the rather festive "Cinco de Mayo" celebration, which is (of course) something COMPLETELY foreign to the people of Singapore. However, feeling moved by the "grito de hidalgo," we booked in for a Mexican fiesta at a place called (appropriately enough) "Vivo Mexico!" It should be noted that, when I went to book, Jenny said, "Man, I bet we waited too late. It's gonna be PACKED." I simply looked at her as though she was from Mars. Sure enough - a table for 12? NO PROBLEM.

So we rocked up to this place and had a VERY welcome surprise. Whilst odd that there was NO MENTION of Cinco de Mayo and the staff spoke ZERO Spanish (one guy knew "de nada" - that was it - and that cat was definitely NOT from America del Norte), the good news was that Thursday night was ALL YOU COULD DRINK CORONA AND MARGARITAS FOR $25 NETT NETT (meaning tax and tip included)!!!! Consequently, we sat down for a PROPER feast and session.

The food was actually quite good, and the staff was on their game getting brewskis and drinks to us. It was Tobia

s' first Mexican meal, and as you can tell he quite enjoyed his burrito. Actually, that was the funniest part of the entire evening - the collection of people assembled. There were about 12 of us at the peak of the evening, all from either the US or Britain. No one knew everyone there, but everyone got on quite well and seemed to have a blast (granted, booze helps, but still). The credit truly goes to Sarah Smith, as she's the linchpin linking all of these folks together. But I guess that the credit truly goes to Lovely Lisa Watkinson, who first introduced us to Sarah, who asked Lily to join us for lunch, who invited us to Bali where we met Anne Marie, who was traveling with Tobias in KL, and so it goes. What can I say - it is VERY interesting being an expat in a city filled with other expats, as I find that you bond together quicker and forge friendships at an accelerated rate, something that is essential in such a transient place. Singapore is a place for affinity groups (like the Shufflers), and the different clubs offer an opportunity to meet some AMAZING people who share a lot of your own interests, have had some CRAZY experiences, and more often than not love traveling and adventure. These shared experiences and tip swapping make the conversations lively, funny, and very enjoyable, and I definitely think that it helps to bring people closer and give folks a sense of connection and belonging - again very much needed when your friends and family are thousands of miles away.

The work day was good on Friday, but the evening was even better, as Pumpkin, Money, Dan, and I rocked up to Wine Connection for some DELICIOUS food - seriously, the best we've EVER had there (SOOOOOO GUUUUUUUUUUUUUD, peppy cheekies). After the usual cheese tray, we rocked dishes of venison, gnocchi, and escargot pasta (yuuuuuummaaaaaaaah), along with 2 bottles of wine. It was a great night, and we even ran into Carla whilst eating! All and all, it was a GREAT night.

This morning Team Taylor SOMEHOW managed to get their lazy asses out of bed and up to McRitchie, where they logged the Rainforest Romp between 7:15-8:30. Oddly enough, as I finished, Lily was just arriving for her run (she was meeting this gal named Sydney, who was logging THREE BLOODY LAPS AROUND THE RESERVOIR), and so we chatted with them for a bit before heading home (nice job Muffin finding a cab!).

We then returned home, showered, and rolled over to Boomerang (again, MAD PROPS to Jenny for thinking of this for brekkie!), where we had a PROPER fry-up of sausage, eggs, eggs benedict, pancakes (yes, that's right - we ordered three meals for 2 people - I KNOW WHAT HEALTHY IS). We then said farewell to the Perennial Nomads, as they shouldered their packs to catch their ride for peninsular Malaysia. Safe travels, guys! See you in 3 weeks!

And don't worry - I know that I owe everyone a thrilling conclusion to Thailand - we'll come to that soon enough. :-)

Okay, that's all the news that's fit to print. Chat tomorrow!

Love,

Sam and Jenny