In my years of travel, I have never been delayed more than three hours tops, so you can understand why I am saying that we got stranded in Bangkok. That coupled with the fact that our group of five was really anxious to get home, it being 2 days before Christmas day.

Upon closer look, we learned that these were the United Buddy Bears and that 143 of them were on tour in Malaysia’s capital, from December 8, 2011 to February 15, 2012 – 140 representing the countries recognized by the United Nations with 3 special bears, all espousing peaceful co-existence and international understanding among cultures.

Last week, while on vacation in Kuala Lumpur, I was pleasantly surprised at how well my candy colored velvet and rubber capped toe sneakers (pictured above) ferried me from place to place. I had not meant for these to be my primary walking shoes but I had loads on my mind when I was packing and forgot to bring a second, already tried and tested pair. But after a day of walking in them, my flat feet were in love