The Maldives

Since before we were married I have wanted (and begged) Derek to take me to the Maldives.  We looked into going several times but it was cost and time prohibitive.  From Texas it would have taken 30+ hours to get there and with only 10 days of vacation at the time it seemed nearly impossible.  Once I knew we were moving to Singapore I knew it was closer to the Maldives so I started to research and found Singapore Airlines flies a 4.5 hour direct flight to Male.  I convinced Derek that we would never live this close to it again so we had to take the opportunity and go.  It just so happened the timing worked out perfectly to make this our Babymoon!

When it comes to the Maldives there are a lot of options for resorts.  We went to an all-inclusive resort in Mexico a few years ago and loved not having to worry about how much that drink or dinner cost.  For this reason we sought out the all-inclusive resorts and settled on the Constance Moofushi.  It was absolutely spectacular!  I really think it would be hard to not enjoy yourself in a place that is that breathtakingly beautiful.  I think I told Derek every day "I can't believe we are here".  We spent our days sleeping in, lounging on our patio, napping, reading, snorkeling, and swimming.  It was so relaxing and just what we needed before Baby Mrozik is here!

When we landed in Male, we were ushered to the seaplane terminal to catch our flight to our resort.  Almost every resort is it's own separate island and many can only be reached by seaplane.  Riding in the seaplane itself was a great experience!

Derek waiting for our plane 

The city of Male.  The airport was actually located on a nearby island.

One of the resorts closer to Male.  Our resort looked similar to this. 

Beautiful views of reefs and lagoons during the flight.

We were given a warm welcome at the resort by the staff and quickly shown to our water villa.  It was utter paradise!

The pathway to our villa which was all the way at the end.

Our beautiful view!

Villa #77

View of the beach as we walked to lunch.

One of the many peaceful views from the restaurants.

 I had prepared everything to make our announcement that we were expecting and took Derek on a little photo shoot.  I managed to take all of these photos myself with the help of a gorilla pod, self-timer, and remote.  These are a few of my favorites.

The resort had a fantastic reef that we enjoyed exploring!  We also went out on a short snorkel excursion to a reef about 20 minutes away.  It was my first time really snorkeling and I loved it!  They had an excursion to swim with whalesharks but unfortunately not during the days we were there.

At the end of one of the docks they would leave some fish for you to feed the stingrays at night.  Derek decided to give it a try.

We thoroughly enjoyed our five days in paradise!  Hopefully we will be able to return one day.  It was everything I had hoped it would be and more.  Perfect vacation!  

Coming Soon!

We are excited to announce that we will soon be traveling as a family of three!  Baby Mrozik is expected in late March of next year.  When we married over four years ago we never would have dreamed our first child would be born in Singapore but we could not be happier with the way things have turned out.  I'm sure many will wonder how we will be able to make everything work when we live half way across the world from family and I will address all these questions in future posts.

We look forward to welcoming our little one into the world and experiencing so many new adventures with them!

One Year in Singapore!

Today marks our one year anniversary in Singapore!  It is hard to believe that a year ago we began this crazy adventure as expats.  Time has flown by and we know our next year will go by even faster.  We are already halfway through this assignment.  In honor of being here one year, we decided to put together the top ten things we love about Singapore and the top ten things we miss about the US.

Why we love Singapore:

1. Safety - it is one of the safest places on Earth
2. Proximity to great travel destinations, and we have taken full advantage!
3. Walking to the grocery store - makes forgetting to buy milk or butter less of a pain
4. Knowing what to wear everyday because the weather never changes
5. Cleanliness of public places
6. Religious harmony - Everyone can practice whatever they want without ridicule.  Muslims, Hindus, Christians, Buddhists, Taoists all get along. 
7. Ease of use for public transportation
8. Government effectiveness due to little bureaucracy - they see a problem and try to fix it, immediately
9. Ethnic cuisine. We love to eat Indian, Thai, and Vietnamese
10. Less housework and no lawn work - Living in an apartment has its advantages.

What we miss about the USA:

1. Family and friends (of course!)
2. Amazon Prime and online shopping
3. Restaurants - Chick-fil-A, Jason's Deli, Torchy's Tacos, Churrasco's, Chuy's, Buffalo Wild Wings just to name a few
4. Food - white meat chicken being the default chicken option, salad, vegetables, Mexican, buffalo wings
5. Good grocery stores.  What I would give to have a Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, or HEB
6. Convenience of life - we hate having to go to a shopping mall for everything.  No convenient parking, traffic is terrible, stores are more crowded than Christmas time in the US, almost no drive-thrus.
7. Having more than one season
8. Kind southern manners.  The people here are nice but the majority are not polite or considerate.  Holding a door open for someone goes a long way in my book.
9. Having a patio for a grill and a yard to let the dog out
10. Watching college football at a normal time and getting to participate in all the hype, talk at work, and watching the games with friends.

Despite what we may miss, we would not trade this experience for the world.  It has been truly life changing and we can't wait to see what the next year has in store for us!

Shanghai by Night

Nighttime in Shanghai was much more enjoyable for us.  This is probably due to the fact that all of our activities we had planned were at night and during the day we were just left to wander around and find things to do.  Our first night we did one of our favorite vacation activities which was a food tour.  We found Untour online and signed up for the Street Eats Night Market tour.  We went to a couple night markets and tried some real local cuisine which we loved!

Gorgeous sunset on our walk to the food tour meeting point

The first night market where we started the tour

We tried some traditional puddings

Something we were not expecting...crawfish!  They even cooked them spicy.  Reminded us of Texas.

But here they wear gloves to peel them

Thankfully we did not try the snake

Little boys playing in the street outside the crawfish restaurant

The China facade 

At another night market where they had tons of skewered veggies and meat.

Derek ready to try some more food at the second night market

Stir fried noodles.  These things were spicy!  If you breathed any of the smoke it would burn your nose.

At a Muslim noodle stall where they handmade the noodles fresh to order.  I caught him slicing
a noodle off the block of dough and flying into the pot of boiling water. 

Hand pulling one very long noodle for us to eat in a dish that tasted like pho.

We tried so many dishes and were absolutely stuffed by the end of the tour.  We would never have ventured to these night markets by ourselves and if we had, ordering would have been difficult as no one spoke English.

The following night we headed over to the Bund where we had dinner reservations at a restaurant called Lost Heaven.  This was a recommendation from another expat who had lived in Shanghai before.  They serve traditional Yunnan folk cuisine which we thoroughly enjoyed.  After the food tour and dinner at Lost Heaven, Derek and I were wondering where all the good Chinese food is in Singapore because the dishes are very different.

After dinner we strolled along the Bund to see the beautiful night views.

On our way back to the hotel we walked down Pedestrian Street which was full of life

Along Pedestrian Street there were several mobile karaoke stations going.  Very entertaining.

On my last night in Shanghai, we went to see the acrobat show at Shanghai Circus World.  Pictures were not allowed so I don't have much to show for it.  The show was really spectacular.  It was like they took all the acrobatic/circus performers from America's Got Talent and upped it by several notches.  The performance was daring, elegant, and flawless.  We really enjoyed it!

For an unplanned, last minute trip we had a good time.  Derek had to stay the following week for meetings while I headed to Thailand for a business trip.  At the end of the week Derek was very anxious to get back to the comforts and safety of Singapore.  This was certainly an experience we will never forget.  If we return to China, it will be to visit some more scenic locations.