a new decade begins

a new decade, a new beginning...

2010, seems unreal, we are well into the new millennium now. seems like only yesterday celebrating the new millennium in las vegas in 1999. ten years later and life has found me working for chanel in asia.

january, the holiday in cambodia has come to an end. do i have to go back to work? indeed, but an exciting year awaits ahead. after the tough first 4 months, have a good understanding of the players in the region and the business model. and also my team and organization and what changes need to happen to prepare us for the future. all very exciting!

the first three weeks of the month are quite busy as expected. everyone catching up on the year-end results and planning for the upcoming year. we finally have some time to get the place a bit more settled - hanging up pictures, buying the last pieces of furniture, cooking up new asian recipes, finding our normal fruit vendors, our favorite noodle shops, and on and on. getting into a bit of a routine, as much as you can in asia. and enjoying a bit of time out on the wknds.

one experience was going to the green day show at the asia world expo here. not big fans of green day but we love to see a good show and there is not much live music surprisingly that comes through here. it felt like going to a shopping mall to watch a show! all the things one would hate about a show - extremely bright lights while hanging out and no drinks allowed inside the venue! very strange. and all of the teenagers lined up well in advance for the best floor standing areas so we were stuck at the back. nevertheless, green day put on a great show, played for over 2 hours, was a lot of fun. though i don't think we will be back to the world expo to see a show again!

the weather has been absolutely horrific - not extremely cold but just depressing. cold, rainy, foggy, polluted. no sun for weeks. very much looking forward to a week long trip to singapore to get some sun...

singapore, malabika joins me for this one. we stay at the four seasons and do our normal favorites - eat fish head curry, black pepper crab, and tons of hawker food at the stalls. the week is busy as usual for me but not overwhelmingly. i finish work around 9pm every night. and monday night we figure out how to hook up our laptop to the flat screen and watch the afc and nfc football championship games on delay through nfl.com. great games! so happy new orleans made it through.

the mellowest month since we have been here, january comes to an end. we feel more settled and refreshed for the year ahead. we also spend the last week preparing for my parents visit in mid-feb. a great start to the new year...