Ironies of all Ironies

Of course it is NO secret that this past year has allowed me to travel to TONS of fabulous places.  That is what this blog has been mostly about.
Let’s recap:
January, 2011-Move to Hong Kong! 

Words? Joy. Fear. Anxiety. Fear. Happy! and a little fear…but quite honestly, with THAT view… fear gets shoved aside at sunset and awe come rushing in!
February, 2011 - Australia!
I don’t have pics on this computer of Australia…but OH MY…except for the expense…what a fun place.  We were in Melbourne and Sydney…Melbourne being my favorite place…I got to see Koala Bears! 
April 2011 - Cebu, Philippines
Again, no pics…wrong camera, wrong computer..but WOW…6 days of scuba diving!  10 fantastic dives where there were schools and schools of NEMO!  This is not a fish we see in Hawaii…so I was THRILLED.  We did drift dives on most dives (no effort required).  The dynamite tossed in the water on our last dive was pretty crazy too.
July, 2011 - Kihei, Maui
Maui 5 0
Just had to toss that in b/c I LOVE that place so much!!
September, 2011 - Chengdu, China
Home of :
PANDA BEARS!
Chengdu is a huge city..but much of China…even IN a city, can feel “rural” if you catch my drift.  The food was amazing…in the hotel we were cautioned to use the bottled water to brush our teeth (put a pin in that piece of info)
October, 2011 – Vietnam – Hanoi, Baca, Sapa, Halong Bay

 

Vietnam was definitely the most challenging with food, cleanliness, restrooms…but you do what you do and that is travel…right?…We ate in villages with only (maybe) cold water and hand wipes…  There WAS that mountain experience with the hole in the ground…yea…you do what you have to.  BUT, I would not have traded it for the world!
December 2011 – Back to Seattle!
YAY…jumping on a plane…great flight…got some sleep…Kirk met us right on time…and we RAN to our favorite restaurant! 
I have been really working to track my food, and exercise, so I…in my “goodness” ordered a salad.
Thanks for hanging…are you ready for the Irony?
Why is it I had to come to the US to contract the mother of all stomach illnesses? You don’t need the details…let’s just say I haven’t been that sick in 28 years.
I am 99% sure it was the salad…Corey says no.  Infact, Corey HATES when I "self diagnose".but no one else got sick, and it followed ALL they symptoms, AND it makes for a better story !  I will say another friend shared her husband came down w/a very similar thing ... so maybe it was just the flu..but STILL...

I had to come back to pulling Christmas together in 7 days and be just deathly ill for 4 of them?
I am thankful for my family for helping!  My sister literally saved Christmas for us!  She was a trooper and did not realize she was coming up here to slave… I am thankful for the temporary loss of 5 pounds .
There will be no more judging of countries or fear of illness…obviously you can contract stuff ANYWHERE.
I will NOT eat healthy salads at the Mexican place..if I had ordered the burrito… maybe, just maybe I would have had a much better week.

See…Irony!