Engage

Sorry for the late post here. I wanted to write about the rest of time in Thailand, which was too daunting of a task that I kept putting off. So I'll write about it in several smaller, manageable posts. I'll start with the big news...

My girlfriend Candice met me in Thailand after my work with the Air Force. On Valentine's Day, we were supposed to be in Cambodia at Angkor Wat, which is where I planned on popping the big question. But I came across trouble at the border. The Thai immigration officials wouldn't let me across the border. Because I flew into Thailand on a military aircraft, my passport had no Thai entry stamp. Even though I had a letter from the US embassy explaning my situation, and immigration spoke with an embassy liaison, they wouldn't let me across. So with a quick change of plans, we headed back to Bangkok.

The next day was Valentine's Day, and we went and visited the old palace and a couple temples which were simply amazing. I'll talk more about that later. That evening, we got a Thai massage and went to eat at The Breeze restaurant (http://www.breezebkk.com/index.php and http://www.bangkok.com/what%27s-new/breeze.html) which is on a rooftop terrace on the State Tower. With a call beforehand, I ensured we would have a nice table, and the Breeze pulled through with our table sitting on a private semicircle on the roof's edge.


After some romantic prologue and nearly knocking over the table getting to my knee, I opened the ring box and asked Candice to spend the rest of her life with me. She was shocked, and couldn't say a word but gave me a big tearful hug. She was looking forward to this day.

We plan to have our wedding in San Diego where her family lives. It'll likely be July 19th, which is after she finishes her internship and after I finish my year here in Korea. Right after, we'll move to JAPAN!!! I don't think I've posted this yet, but next assignment will be at Yokota Air Base, which is right by Tokyo. Candice and I are both really looking forward to this. She is half-Japanese herself (and half-Chinese) and even has relatives in Japan. After my assignment there, we'll probably move back to the West Coast and finish our residencies.

On the way out, the State Tower had this huge, sweet aquarium. In it, I saw the most beautiful fish I've ever seen...