Another Brief Return to Asia

Once again, I amazingly found a way to briefly escape my life in Southern California take a nice trip overseas.  This time, I spent a week in my former home of sunny Singapore; where I reconnected with dear old friends, attended a really nice semi-traditional Chinese wedding and made concerted (but possibly futile) attempts at professional networking.  



Whenever returning to some place that you once lived, it's always so surreal. Lots of things are still the same, and barring the occasional minor memory lapse, you have no problem finding your way around. Also, it's not uncommon to feel a wonderfully strange comfort from hearing certain slang or accents, or detecting a random familiar scent in the air. However, when things are different, be them places, attitudes or people, it can be surprisingly mentally jarring, while adding just enough of an alien element to make an old stomping ground unfamiliar and possibly even a little adventurous once again. 



To add to the adventure aspect of this trip, I made the mistake of flying mostly on US air carriers. Anyone who knows me, knows that I sadly have a very low opinion of my own country's airlines; but in spite of that, there was a silver lining to my horrid choice of international airplane travel. Going each way, I made a friend on at least one of the flights.

Going one way, I met an very interesting salesman who was on his own adventure, which took him from a funeral in Japan to his next big steps in a future life of love and professional growth. Hearing even just the gist of his personal story was a great (almost spiritual) metaphor for growth and rebirth. Going the other way, I met a pretty young lady who (along with the help of Facebook conversations with another friend) has totally convinced me that my next big adventurous trip should be Hong Kong, which was already totally on my bucket list anyway.  ;)
  
...but sadly, Hong Kong or not, I don't know how and when my next Asian adventure is going to happen. So, until I figure that one out, here are some photos of Singapore:
  
https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151213013173372.461950.585203371&type=1&l=678e331b68

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