After 9 months in sultry and never-ending-summer Asia, we made our way to Australia, where it was just emerging from their winter. Stepping off the plane in Melbourne from Indonesia the air was instantly chilly to me. Forgot that I gave up my coat about 20 countries ago - oops! As usual, if you can make it past the pictures, there are more words at the bottom... Melbourne Tasmania Sydney We came here in 2010 during my “Starter Retirement” and spent a couple months in Australia and New...

I love it when you call me Big Bapa... I thought this trip was supposed to make me look younger, but apparently it ain’t happening according to plan. Everyone here is so courteous and respectful and they all call me "Bapa". At first, I wasn’t sure what they were saying but hoped it meant “Oh exalted silver fox that looks so young” but it doesn’t. It is apparently a term of respect and means "Father" in Indonesian. Possibly "Sexy Daddy" also, but Google Translate isn't working right now for me...

I thought I’d seen some beautiful model cities over these past months - Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Busan, most cities in Japan…but Singapore might be my favorite. So much of it is planned and sensible, as if it was built to actually benefit all of its citizens. It’s simply beautiful. But it is also expensive! It's funny how some places can merit a thousand pictures and way too many selfies, and this in only a five day span. It was hard culling through pictures of the MBS towers and the Tree...