By Way of Asia

Evanston, Illinois: Given that this blog is about our trip from Chicago to Evanston (by way of Asia), and given that we started the blog in Chicago, it seemed only fitting that we ended our blog in - you guessed it - Evanston. So here we are, home in Evanston, only 8 miles from where we started in May. We will be spending the next few weeks moving into our new apartment, before going to Egypt for a one-week business school orientation trip at the end of August, followed by the official start of classes on the 31st. We’ll save the majority of the pictures for when we’ve finished setting everything up, so we’ve included just one for now. Of all the places we’ve been over the past few months, this is our favorite.

Thank you so much for following along in our adventures, and our occasional misadventures. We feel so lucky to be able to have had such a wonderful journey, and to be able to share it with you all along the way.

Officially signing off (for now),

A&Z

Los Angeles, California: Three flights and approximately 8,500 miles later, we are officially back in the states! Our first stop: LA, to spend a few days with the lovely Natasha Kalimada. And what was our very first request upon landing at LAX? In ‘N Out Burger of course. Southeast Asia may make a mean curry, but they just can’t compete when it comes to a good old American cheeseburger.

(Photo courtesy of Tash’s iphone - thanks Tash!)

Bali, Indonesia: We’ve made good on our plan to do just about nothing here in Bali and have decided we’ll have to come back another time to actually see the sights. Soon we begin our journey back to the states - first stop LA. Here are a few last shots of Bali for the road…

Bali, Indonesia: After a quick flight from Singapore, we arrived in Nusa Dua, Bali - where we plan to spend our last week lounging by the beach, lounging by the pool, perhaps lounging in our room…basically doing a whole lot of nothing. The lets-do-lots-of-cool-things-and-see-everything-we-can-while-we-are-here side of us that’s been so well-trained over the past 10 weeks is a bit confused, but we have a feeling it will adjust just fine. And since Ash is platinum, we got upgraded to an executive suite which, it turns out, may actually be bigger than our apartment next year. The resort is beautiful and we get to spend a few of our days here with our dear friends Allie and Teddy, who have flown in from Tokyo to meet us. Who says you can’t use a vacation from your vacation?

Singapore, (uh), Singapore: We spent our last night in Bangkok paying way too much for drinks at Moon Bar - but boy was it worth it. Moon Bar is one of Bangkok’s two signature rooftop bars. Apparently Bangkok is one of the only cities that doesn’t mind putting open air, 360-degree-view rooftop bars on the 60th and 70th floor on some of its tallest skyscrapers. Probably not the safest thing in the world, but the views were pretty incredible and it was a wonderful way to say goodbye to Thailand.

The next day we arrived in Singapore to start the beginning of the final portion of our trip - we’ve officially said goodbye to backpacker digs and hello to cashing-in-our-starwood-points. First stop was the St. Regis in Singapore, where our room came with a private butler. While we did take in a few of the sights around Singapore, we spent the majority of our two days walking incredulously around our room and marveling at our shower - which was actually separate from the toilet and rest of the bathroom - and our flat screen TV…two things we haven’t seen in nearly three months.

We’re pretty sure our travel book “Southeast Asia on a Shoestring” has never made it’s way into a St. Regis before. And we’re pretty sure that the concierge has never been asked where their guests could find the public bus. Oh well. Guess there’s a first time for everything.

Bangkok, Thailand: Our next stop on the temple circuit was Wat Pho, which houses the famous Reclining Buddha. The Buddha is known for its size - coming in at a whopping 150 feet long and 50 feet high. Now that’s a big Buddha.

Bangkok, Thailand: Our second day in Bangkok happened to be a Saturday, which was very lucky (for Ash at least) because Saturday is the best day for the Chatuchak Weekend Market, one of the largest outdoor markets in the world and the largest in Asia. The market spreads out over more than 35 acres and contains an estimated 5,000 stalls. With that many stalls, you can buy almost anything (and we mean almost anything) - clothes, accessories, food, handicrafts, motorcycle parts, fine art, even baby bunnies and squirrels. A portion of the market is even dedicated to young Thai designers and artists, who decorate their small booths so they look more like miniature trendy boutiques than your typical market stall. Given that there was no way we could cover the entire market in a full day even with our early start, we resigned ourself to throwing aside the map and just wandering through the small alleyways wherever our feet happened to take us until - suffering from total shopping exhaustion - we gave up in the late afternoon. Unfortunately we have no good pictures to share, as we decided that any we took simply did not do justice to the enormity that is Chatuchak. But Ash has plenty of new shoes and dresses as proof.

On Sunday, we took in the sights as tourists should. First was the Grand Palace (which is sort of a confusing name because it houses not only the actual Grand Palace, but lots of other things too).

Bangkok, Thailand: Hello from Bangkok! After nearly a week of relaxing in Chiang Mai, we decided it was time to move on and made our way on an overnight train down to Bangkok to meet up with our friend John for a few days of fun. And what do three soon-to-be-business students do shortly after they arrive in a city known for dirt cheap tailors, you may ask? They go buy a custom-made suit, of course! Well, Zach and John did at least (the tailors here aren’t supposed to be as skilled at making women’s clothes so Ash mostly watched and supervised). 

Based on glowing recommendations from some wonderful friends we met along the way in Vietnam (hi James and Judith!), Zach and John decided on a place called Empire Tailors. Sunny, the owner, now runs the shop after his father unfortunately passed away two years ago and has recently moved it into a beautiful new building in the heart of “tailor row.” 

After a short introductory meeting with Sunny, Zach and John picked their fabric and lining, as well as decided on an overall fit, lapel, cuffs, and all the other bells and whistles. Two hours (or two beers at a pub around the corner) later, it was time for the first fitting, where Sunny made some minor adjustments to the rough body of the jacket and took a boatload of measurements. The following afternoon, the boys went back to see a first draft of their suits. Another round of tweaks, and their suits were ready for pick-up at 8pm that evening! 

Since the suits won’t really look their best with a t-shirt and flip-flops, we’ll have to save the final pictures for when we get home…