Another Florida cave diving trip

 We were meant to go cave diving in Mexico, but due to unforeseen circumstance, we headed down to Florida instead. I didn't take much pics of the caves on this trip (which I regretted it :/). However, there a couple of interesting "events".

One, we stayed in a "tree house" on our trip down to FL. It was a luxurious expenditure, but this might be the last few times we would be staying in a Airbnb. We are getting a Vistabule Teardrop Trailer - super excited about that. I will make sure to take lots of pics on the day we are picking up the RV. 

Second exciting thing about this FL trip was that we dove in a new cave - Cow Spring. It was a very nice, interesting cave. Although the entrance was a straight downwards ~12 feet decent into a "chimney", the cave opens up after that. The cave was very pretty with colorful clay walls. The flow is pretty strong, and there is a pull-rope in the cave to assist divers, and helps to keep divers off using the rocks as a pull-and-glide diving style. 

Dives on this trip:

Peacock Spring - 56 mins 55 s
Cow Spring - 49 mins 20 s

Ginnie's Spring/ Devil's Eye - 1 hr 9 mins (1st dive)

Ginnie's Spring/ Devil's Eye - 1 hr 5 mins (2nd dive)

Madison Blue Spring - 1 hr 8 mins

I promise more pics in the future.

The corridor run - Tennessee

Every year, the "ex-Bard teaching crew" got together and do what we call a "corridor run". I did not take pics on the previous run in New Orleans, but I make sure to document some of the memories in this Tennessee corridor run. Haley organized most of the trips, from the whiskey tour to the Nashville Downtown craziness.  

Hallie's wedding

 Photo drop of Hallie and Ethan's wedding. It has been a while since let ourselves go, and be silly :) 

Florida diving trip

 
Yay! Heading to Cave country for some cave diving again! Hannah would look for nice Airbnb to stay along the way. On this trip, we got to stay in this awesome house by the Mississippi River. We had a small fire by the river, let the dogs run loose, and we just relax, getting ready for the cave dives coming up.

In Cave country - my happy place.On this trip, we dove 

Ginnie's Spring/ Devil's Eye - 45mins 58 secs

Peacock Spring - 1hr 23 mins 

Madison Blue - 57 mins 40 secs 

Orange Grove - 1 hr 20 mins

And of course, there are some above water "hydration time" at High Springs Brewing Company. One of the most unforgettable place is a small diner in a gas station. We had catfish filet there after the dive at Madison Blue Springs. It is delicious, and the fish is fresh and flaky - we would be back again :)  

Of course, it is always nice to hang out with Kate and Adam in between dives. We get to ride around in Adam's "work truck", and even explored some "spring hole".

D.C. short meeting

Almost immediately after I came back from Singapore, I had to go to Washington D.C for a meeting. It was a 3-day meeting, but as the meeting starts on early Monday morning, I chose to be in D.C on the weekends to avoid any unpleasant flight delay surprises. Tanner (my former PhD student), who now is a postdoc at UVA Medical Center came to visit me, and we had the opportunity to catch up over a drink and dinner.

Singapore trip ... visiting dad and mom

My dad has not been feeling well, and has been in the hospital for a while. He had fallen while at home, and while there is no immediate threat, my sisters and I have decided that we would keep him in the hospital. At least until we can get someone to help out at home with his daily chores. My mom has been in charge of all those - giving him medications, meals etc. every day, but she is also getting old and tired. Therefore, moving forward, it seems a smart choice to get a helper. The purpose of this trip is to say hi to my dad, mom, sisters, while at the same time trying to convince my dad that we are doing all we can to get him out of the hospital. Cognitive impairment is starting to set in for him, and he is convinced that we are trying to keep him away from home.

I usually stopped by Tokyo for a night on the way to Singapore, partly to say hi to Jun, and also to take a quick rest from the 12-hour flight. I almost always stayed at the Keio Plaza Hotel because there is a direct bus from the airport to the hotel, and also, the hotel serve really nice breakfast! :) 

Jun and I at a Japanese speaking only restaurant

Breakfast at Keio Plaza Hotel

Breakfast

Lunch at the Narita Airport - Ippudo Ramen. A good choice for cheap and delicious ramen

This wasn't a fun trip, so I didn't really have much time to go around and visit any other places. My schedule for the days were - breakfast with mom, go to visit dad in the hospital for a couple of hours, lunch, go to library to work for a couple of hours, go home, have dinner and hang out with mom. 

Kopi

Juey Chap

Yong Tau Fu

Steamboat

Nephews (Jared and Kevin) are huge!

The hawker center at my mom's place

Mom

Roti Prata

Temple at my mom's place. We would always go there to pray whenever I am home.

Dad

Chicken rice

Po Pian

Loh mee

Sisters (Meow Lan and Gek Lan)

Alfred, Kimberly and Olivia

Wanton Noodles

Claypot noodles

Half-boiled eyes

Another temple (at Bugis) where my mom and I would go whenever I am home

The Chinese New Year decoration are still up

Kueys

Laksa

Steamboat at home

Edwin and I have a quick drink and chat

Changi airport early in the morning...