Long beach marina

Such a nice day to row!

New years dinner

Roscos chicken and waffle!

Xmas eve

Aftermath of dinner

Bob

The housecat

Real tree

So cheery!

Census postings

http://projects.nytimes.com/census/2010/explorer
Mapping America

Railways

At the conservatory of flowers

Bamboo hut

As much as  the bamboo hut was quaint, i don't miss it. The tropics are easier when you can shower and feel clean and not worry about mosquitos eating you!

Vespas

These were quite the sight outside of the Sultan Mosque on a cafe and shop filled avenue. Yo lo quiero!

sultan mosque

This mosque was very impressive even from a distance. Surrounded by streets called Arab Street, Muscat Street and Baghdad Street, I had no trouble believing i was very far from the USA.

Durian mochi

T is so happy to have found a small treat in the form of durian filled mochi balls. Smelly, but kinda tasty too.

Joo chiat

In this small boutique-y neighborhood we found this amazing hindu temple with lots of people inside. I read the bhagavad gita in cllege, but i had no idea what people were up to inside that temple today!

Singapore

So far, a very green city. All last night i heard a steady stream of crickets and frogs. Not bad for a super skyscraper city. Note the view from my window.

Beaches

Koh lipe had a nice beach called bila beach, where the fish were plentiful and the underwater life was really varied. I had no idea how good we had it until we left!

Happy THANKSGIVING!

I think tomrrow i will find this guy in Singapore and give my thanks :)

Rains

Crazy downpour after our snorkel day. Wet,wet,wet.

Last coco

Woe is me as I drink my last fresh coconut shake in Thailand.

Rains

Crazy downpour after our snorkel day. Wet,wet,wet.

Downpour

We,like these two lizards, are trapped in a cafe due to crazy tropical rain. Love it!

Breakfast of champions

Last resort. Onward to ferry van to mainland Thailand!

End of islands

Toomorrow we leave the islands of Thailand. Every day has felt really full, as we get up before seven usually and pack in activities.

Today was awesome because we caved in and booked a tour with partners of our posh resort. A truck came to pick us up to take us to ride an elephant for an hour, then we fed the elephant some bananas and watched a baby elephant do tricks. Amazing but pretty sad since elephant eyes were looking freaky.

We were then taken to a place where a cave guide took us on a journey that was quite the workout. Two hours later we were streaked with mud and bit by a few more mosquitos. But, all is better with $1 fresh coco or banana icees.

Later we went to find a beach at the end of the island and got stuck on nasty rutted out roads where we bumped around for a long time before finding the nice beach where we could walk out 100-200 meters and be up to your neck.

The day only gets better with included cocktails and a one hour thai massage. Yikes, how to top a day like that?!

Koh lipe

Current location: bila beach. Outdoor toilet, shower/mosquito feeding grounds. Beautifully small beach, walkable distance to other larger and still low crowd beaches. First day without rain! So far. Thai boys are just as often dressed as girls on this island, kind of a shoker coming from muslim malaysia.

Cafe

Buddhist cafe where we escaped the rain

Henna

Kinda blur, but nice

Breakfast snack

Looks funny, but is sweet and tangy.we think its called mangosteen. It's already super warm and only sixish in the morning. There were thunderstorms all night. We even watched the lightning storm behind patronas towers last night. Wet but really beautiful.

Itinerary

Itinerary - West Side Peninsular Malaysia & SE Thailand

13 Nov- fly to Kuala Lumpur

14 Nov- stay KL

15 Nov- night train - Penang (pictured at right)

16 Nov- Penang/Georgetown

17 Nov- Ferry to Langkawi island

19 Nov- Ferry to Koh Lipe (small thai island)

21 Nov- Ferry to Koh Lanta

23 Nov- Ferry to Krabi

25 Nov- fly to Singapore

28 Nov- evening start journey home

Fall harvests

Fruit harvests for fall birthdays! Courtesy of SO.

Hats

In the mission

Te amo

Chihuahua

Halloween

Decided i should participate. I am cat woman. Just gotta pin it to my shirt.

First order of business

First things first. We'll get off the plane in Kuala Lumpur. We'll go find our hostel, put our bags down, track down some food at a local street vendor, then buy our ticket out of the city on the next day's night train. Then we're off an adventure to find an artist. I think a hand full of henna is one of the better ways to jumpstart your vacation feeling. And according to the blogger I read from, this lady charges the equivalent to $1.50 per hand!

T-32 days

32 more days and we're off! Two weeks of rain, sunshine, beaches and cities await us in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. Time to start making lists of ways to say "hello" and "how much?", as well as a conversion table of the three currencies we'll be using - Singapore dollar, Malaysian rinngit, and Thai baht.

I can't wait to see all of the sky walkways there are in the area! This one is called the Helix Bridge in Singapore.