You Don't Know Cheap

The damage is done, and wasn't anywhere near as bad as I was expecting; but then again, neither was the shopping.

Before coming to Thailand, people were constantly warning us of the need to bargain for EVERYTHING and boasting about the great shopping.  Here in Bangkok especially people were recommending all these great places to shop, telling us that the shopping here is great and really cheap.  Well, to those people, "You don't know cheap like we know cheap!"  It's true!  It's no wonder so many people think the Chinese are cheap: they have the cheapest prices.  I guess it's because everything is made in China, but as far as we can tell, it really is the cheapest place for shopping!

We went to this massive mall today, MBK, which we were told has great variety and you can bargain!  I would really love to know what other peoples' definition of "bargain" is, because it's clearly different from ours!  There was one point when I asked a guy (who was on his phone) how much a shirt was, and he just pointed to a sign "199".  Everything was 199, and they're attempt at bargaining was, "Okay, okay.  Discount.  180."  Bu hao!  I say, BU HAO!  I miss shopping in China.

Other than a few articles of clothing (we get bored of wearing the same three shirts) we didn't really buy much.  Not much compared to China at any rate.  It's disappointing, but that's that.  I'm now secretly (and yet not so secretly) planning a trip to Shenzen before we leave HK to come home.  I miss the rush of a good bargain.

All in all, I say that unless you've been shopping in China you do not know the meaning of the word cheap!

Chatuchuk vs The Silk Market

We boarded our bus last night (which was late) at around 530pm. Three horrible movies (“Hellboy 2”, “The Return of Bobby Z” and “2012”) and a five hour nap later, we all awoke to, “Bangkok! Bangkok! Last stop! WAKE-UP!” Ahhh yes. Khao San Rd. 6am. Bah!


Darren and I, along with all the other disoriented, zombie-like backpackers were yelled off the bus and slowly manoeuvred our way through the mud and taxi drivers towards Khao San Rd; which, at 6am was basically deserted but for a few street vendors and one or two bars which seemed not to have closed. The only draw back to arriving en mass as we did, is that the closest surrounding guesthouses seem to fill up pretty quick; and, in some cases, are overflowing with people waiting to see if anything opens up at checkout time (anywhere between 11am and 12 pm). So, Darren and I kept walking, for about an hour. At 7am this morning, we finally settled on a place in the Banglamphu area, a block or two away from the infamous Khau San Rd. Although Bangkok is renowned for its great guesthouse value, we are somewhat disappointed. Maybe all the good places are the ones that were full when we got here, but from what we can tell, Bangkok is fairly expensive and you don’t get much for what you’re paying. In Krabi, for 350 baht, we had a quaint, clean room with AC and a shared bathroom. In Ko Phi Phi we had a nice, clean room with a private bathroom and hot water (a luxury). In Bangkok, the best value we could find is a 280 baht room with a fan, hard bed, and shared bathroom. It’s clean enough but definitely lacks the character and cosiness of the Chan Cha Lay in Krabi, or the Harmony Guesthouse in Ko Phi Phi, and the location is somewhat noisier as well. But it’ll do.

So, what did we get up to our first day in the city of Bangkok?! Can you guess? After a four hour nap, well, we went shopping… sort of. As many of you know I am a sucker for markets, shopping, basically any type of facility that sells stuff. Here in Bangkok there is a weekend market called Chatuchak market. It’s supposed to be one of the best markets it Bangkok, and apparently in all of Thailand, so I had some high hopes. Big mistake! *In order to properly enjoy any vacation in Asia, always expect 50% less than you normally would, with everything, or you’re guaranteed to be disappointed!*

Now, in size Chatuchak definitely has what it takes to take on the Silk Market (which isn’t the best market in the world but definitely knows how to set a standard I’d say). The Chatuchak market is huge! In variety, Chatuchak knocks the Silk Market out of the park… or at least I think it does. The Chatuchak market is so big that we didn’t even make it through the entire thing. Now, despite its seemingly great variety and its intense size, I must say that only the Chinese can execute something so vast so efficiently. The Chatuchak market is too big and too varied. While there are almost too many repeats in the Silk Market, at least you know exactly where you need to be to find what you want. The Chatuchak market is so haphazard and disorienting that if you don’t buy it when you see it, you won’t be able to find it again, and it’s oh so poorly organised. Things are sort of clumped together in the same area but almost accidentally. The Silk Market is very organised. Even with a map to the Chatuchak market we could barely find our way. Not only is it huge, but it’s laid out in a very crowded maze-like disorder making it hard to navigate and exhausting, especially in the heat. It’s like a sauna in there with all the bodies and tin roofs! The best marketing scheme for any of the shops is AC! The biggest draw back of the Chatuchak market however, is that no one really bargains! On the one hand, it’s nice to have somewhat of a set price and know what to expect, but this also makes for slightly more expensive shopping. The Silk Market really isn’t even cheap (by Chinese shopping standards) because they inflate their asking prices so much for us non-locals but at least you get to have a little fun and enjoy the rush of the game. At the Chatuchak market, you ask for the price, which they tell you, and then they immediately offer you a discount price (which is normal), but that’s it. That’s not bargaining! Bargaining is when they tell you that a shirt is 500, but for you they’ll do 450, and then you counter-offer with 40 and it goes back and forth until you land somewhere between 50 and 60. Nope! Not at this market. Not even if you offer to buy in multiples! Come to think of it, it’s not even just the Chatuchak market it’s all of Thailand so far. I’ve tried bargaining and they just don’t seem interested! You ask for a discount and they either give you one (may 20-30 baht= $1) or they don’t. End of discussion. It’s a little disappointing because bargaining really is a lot of fun, and people told me I’d have to expect it here, a lot, and so far, nothing!

Anyway, we got our taxi to drop us off at Khao San Rd and the street seemed to have done a complete 180 since we saw it this morning. Walking back to our guesthouse I didn’t even recognize the area. The street came alive! Ahhh! Really though, little stalls and shops had opened up all over the place. The road itself was blocked off from traffic and it was basically one large market with a lot of restaurants (if I had read my guidebook more carefully I would’ve noticed that the market occurs nightly). Khao San Rd was a little more pleasant than the weekend market, if only because the stalls were on either side of the street and it was a little easier to move through the crowds. I was a little disheartened when we left Chatuchak (I had mentally prepared myself for some excellent shopping and was let down), but when we got to Khao San Rd my blood started pumping again. Variety is nice, but being able to see the same stuff every couple of stalls makes it easier to walk away if you don’t get the price you want (though with the little to no bargaining maybe it’s all pointless)! Anyway, Darren clearly perceived my elevated pulse and made me come back to our room to take a nap so I wouldn’t be overwhelmed and taken over by all the shiny things and new clothes! Needless to say, I couldn’t sleep and he didn’t feel comfortable letting me loose on my own so he slept and I read. When we did finally head out together it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be (probably due to Darren’s careful preparation). I wanted everything and therefore couldn’t make up my mind on anything. I came away empty handed! Imagine that!? Me, empty handed after wandering for at least two or three hours through endless stalls of clothes! (We do have plans to go to a giant mall tomorrow.) My only purchases after an ENTIRE day of shopping were two pillowcases and a t-shirt!

Darren was brave today, and very patient. I have to be brave and patient tomorrow. We’re going to a giant computer/electronics mall! We’ll see what tomorrow will bring. I predict that I will either snap and come home with hands full of shopping bags or I will have to admit that I do have some sort of self control.

So You Think You Can Dance... Thai Style

Well we've been here in Krabi for a few days now.  We didn't initially intend to stay here at all, but Darren wasn't feeling well (bad Chang) and so we crawled into an air conditioned hole (not really a hole, quite nice actually) and disappeared for a few days.  It's incredibly humid with the rainy season, and it's been really hot and I'm glad we dished out the extra cash for some added sanity!

All we've really been doing here in Krabi is reading (The Lost Symbol is thrilling), catching up on sleep, and planning the next steps.  We're not going to go to Koh Tao or the islands on the east coast at all.  It's kind of expensive and sort of complicated getting to Koh Tao from here and Darren's all beached out for the moment.  So we're heading straight to Bangkok.  Overnight bus.  Leaving tomorrow.

The reason I'm not just skipping this post--the highlight of Krabi--is the Night Market we stumbled upon this evening.  Now, regrettably and with my sincerest apologies, I did not have my camera or video camera with me tonight.  We hadn't planned on going to the Night Market, it just sort of happened, and I was ill prepared.

The Night Market was not the most spectacular shopping bazar we have ever seen.  Intertwined with the clothing stalls were food stalls--everything from cupcakes (which were actually quite bland) to local sweets and fruit shakes.  Despite this ingenious combination of shopping and food however, this was not what I will forever remember of Krabi.  No!  What I will forever treasure about this small city was the stage amidst all the exchange; and, while the karaoke was some of Asia's finest, it was the gang of young boys pulling out all the stops and break dancing for the enjoyment of the entire market.  Now, their talent level wouldn't quite qualify them for national television, or even anything that wasn't pure, free entertainment of the local peoples, but it was FANTASTIC!  The kids were adoreable!  Some of them weren't too bad either, and sure enough they had gutts!  Most of them were wearing what you would expect young boys to wear, jeans, t-shirts and Converse shoes.  A couple of kids were in some sort of school uniform with black pants and blue floral shirts (the uniforms in Asia vary anywhere from classic white collared shirts to fluorescent pink Louis Vuiton look-alikes).  My favourite however, was this cute little kid, at least a foot shorter than all the others, wearing a white short-sleeved collared shirt, tucked into his brown khaki shorts (that looked like they were at least two sizes too big), with brown leather shoes, and brown socks pulled right up to the middle of his stubby little calves!  He was surely not the best of the group but he gave it all he had!  He walked out into the centre of the little dance off they had going and he busted a move as hard as he possibly could, moving his little feet like they had a stutter!  My goodness he was adoreable!  (Ting- Darren and I instantly felt Tanner was missing from the crew!)  We didn't stop and watch for too long, maybe two songs, but it was pure entertainment and definitely my favourite part about Krabi!

So it's off to the "colourful" streets of Bangkok tomorrow.  It's stupposedly a paradise even for those who aren't shopaholics (I'm going to be in trouble).  Our cultural exploration of Thailand should commence shortly and while I'm a little hesitant to leave the white sandy beach life behind and head north, I've heard Laos is a super laid back breath of fresh air!  So I suppose I can sacrifice some beach bumming for the shopping in Bangkok, elephant rides and tiger sanctuaries!  Wish us luck!

Dancing Barefoot in the Sand

I know!  I've been getting lazy.  Even though there was an internet cafe on every corner in Ko Phi Phi, the beach life doesn't motivate a lot of ... well, anything!  That being said, Ko Phi Phi was its own unique beach experience.

We arrived in Thailand in Phuket around nine or ten in the evening.  We shared a cab into town with a very sweet Austrian couple and went in search of accomodation.  Without necessarily meaning to, we ended up staying in the exact hostel they used in the movie "The Beach".  The girl we met was actually really excited about and went in search of room 32, or maybe it was 38 (the exact room used for filming).  She even found out who was staying in the room and asked if she could take a look around and take some pictures!  She awas adoreable!  We spent the evening just lounging around the hotel common area, drinking some local Chang beer*, and talking with our new friends.  It was a late night, and early the next morning (our bus came to pick us up at 745) and we were off to Ko Phi Phi.

Ko Phi Phi is an interesting island, and more or less our first impression of Thailand.  As far as Thai culture goes, the island has little to offer except in the way of food, tattoos, and a sore excuse for Thai boxing, but we'll get to that later.  As soon as we found a hotel room, our first inclination was food!  All we had for breakfast were a two halves of PB & J sandwhiches (which we had made an entire loaf of for our layover in KL), not to mention that the lure of Thai food is almost unbearable for me!  Now, maybe I was just too excited, or maybe it just wasn't the best restaurant, but the red pineapple chicken curry (my favourite back home) I ordered left something to be desired.  Nonetheless, the watermelon fruit shake I had (as suggested by Cynthia) was the most refereshing, amazing drink ever!!!  So good!  (While eating our lunch (it was around noon) we noticed that everyone else was ordering breakfast: this was our first sign of things to come.)  We spent the remainder of the afternoon just wandering around our little stretch of the island and getting familiar with it as always.  The main beach which we eventually stumbled upon also left something to be desired--that something was the beach itself.  We had been warned mind you, but it's still a bit of a shock to walk about onto a beach and not actually be able to see the beach.  The bits that weren't crowded with people were crowded with beach bars, and what little was left was littered in garbage.  The water was murky and overall our first impressions of Ko Phi Phi were not promising despite all the rave of the beauty of the island.

And then there was Papayas.

The infamous Papayas.  We've read about it Lonely Planet and heard about it from anyone and everyone who has been to Thailand before us, and the reputation of the place certainly holds up.  Disappointed with the beach and the food thus far, we headed to Papayas looking for redemption!  Wow!  We found it!  We ordered Pad Thai, and with the reccomendation of the people sitting next to us, we also ordered the garlic pepper chicken.  My mouth is watering just thinking about it.  What we got was a huge plate of excellent Pad Thai, and a massive dish of chopped chicken.  The chicken alone was enough to fill us both, and yet we had the Pad Thai to boot!  It was so good and so delicious that Ko Phi Phi had been redeemed in our minds in that one restaurant.  We ate there every night the entire time we were there (save one when I mistakingly thought I'd try something different).  I think our favourite dish was the curry (Panang or Masamun) with chicken and vegetables.  We ended up staying on the island a few nights longer than we had originally intended and I'm pretty sure it was in part because of that restaurant.  As we were walking away our last night there Darren said, "I think I'm going to miss this place", and he wasn't talking about the island.  Just to put the cherry on top, not only is the food amazing but the owner/operator is the kindest man you'll ever meet!  He was so sweet!  He always greets you with the biggest grin and a personal introductory, and when you leave he thanks you for coming and hopes to see you again with the kind of sincerity and genuity that you just don't get at home.  The cats that sometimes sleep in the beer cooler are pretty great as well.

So, our first few days were hindered somewhat by weather and our need to eat constantly, and we didn't get up to doing a whole lot.  One must on my list however, in Thailand for sure and most likely in Ko Phi Phi, was to get a tattoo.  Now, I've taken precautionary measures and already told my mother about this so she's already been fully disclosed.  There are so many "Bamboo Tattoo" shops on the island that I couldn't help but stop and look at every one for just the right picture.  Darren has also been wanting a tattoo, and the more I looked the more he thought about it as well.  While trying to think about what he'd want, it suddenly dawned on him: a Chinese warrior.  I thought it was a cool idea, but I thought it might be more fitting for him to get it done in China.  He spent a day searching the internet and actually found a really cool picture; but I still thought it would be more fitting to get it done in China.  Well, while we were walking back from Papayas we passed this one shop and stopped to take a look.  There's actually a girl named Sharon working there, who is also from Vancouver, and so with a bridge to the language barrier I started asking all sorts of questions, explaining what I wanted mine to look like and so forth.  Meanwhile, Darren went to the internet cafe across the street and printed out his warrior and started talking to some of the artists.  In the end, Sharon said they'd draw something up for me and Darren said he'd sleep on it.

I woke up that morning to a very wide awake Darren.  He had apparently been thinking about it all night and hadn't gotten much sleep.  There were doodles on the margins of flyers and any scrap piece of paper we had lying around and all I can remember is him saying, "I've made up my mind.  I'm getting my tattoo here".  Well, who can argue with that?!  Sharon said that they usually didn't open until around noon, so we grabbed breakfast and headed to the book store.  We walked by the shop and Sharon wasn't there.  They said she'd be in around 2 maybe so we walked around some more, had some lunch and walked by again.  In truth, we were walking by more often than necessary and showing up earlier than they told us to because someone was just a little anxious.  Finally, they told us seven o'clock and we killed some time reading and sleeping.  We decided to go for dinner around 530, but since it was on the way, we stopped by the shop... and there they were!  (By the way, earlier that day Darren had me pull the picture up in Photoshop and clear it up a bit and the save it on a USB so he could show them a proper image on their own computer... he had been carrying around the USB stick all day!)  To sum up, they started the sketches while we went to dinner, and within two hours we were both seated, ready to be inked.

My tattoo took about fifteen minutes, it barely hurt at all and I love it.  We both started at the same time (around 630) and Darren wasn't finished until 4 in the morning!!!  It took about 9 hours for his tattoo.  He was exhausted, the guy tattooing him was exhausted, the guys who were holding his arm (they stretch the skin so its tight) were taking shifts, and I was falling asleep in one of the chairs.  But it was worth every minute! 

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It looks amazing!  The detailing itself is different than the original image.  He did the outline exactly as it was supposed to be and then freehanded eveything else.  It's unreal.  This guy was so talented!  Sharon told me that of all the people on the island, he's been doing it the longest, and was the one who taught some of the other guys in the other shops.  He did such an amazing job.

The next day, and everday following for that matter, hot or cool, Darren was walking around without a shirt on showing off his new tattoo.  If we met anyone and started talking about tattoos, his shirt came of (if he was wearing one at all), and sometimes when we were hanging out at the tattoo shop he couldn't help showing off their work. We sort of made ourselves at home there, stopping in and hanging out with Sharon, just about everyday since until we left.  They were really cool people and we definitely wouldn't have stayed so long if we didn't have that place and those people to hang out with. The night after the tattoo, Darren, Sharon, and I decided to go check out the beach.  The beach at night turns into one large party.  Everywhere you go in Ko Phi Phi, you can buy buckets.  Buckets that come with a micky of whatever or Sangsom (Thai rum), a can of mix (coke, sprite, soda, etc) and usually a small red bull (the non-carbonated type that comes in a glass bottle).  This, my friends, is a recipe for disaster!  The worst part of it is that it's the cheapest thing on the menu.  You get what looks like a small sand pale almost full of alcoholic beverage for the equivalent of $4.  While it may seem brilliant at first, the faces of the people staggering around the morning after suggest otherwise!  Anyway... we found ourselves a nice little patch of beach at a place called "Hippies".  It wasn't as busy as "Slinkys" or the "Apache", but the music was better, and well, less-busy was more or less the point.  We didn't dance in the designated dance area either.  No, we made our own dance floor a few picnic tables back, with plenty of room to less loose without fear of accidentally smacking someone in the face with a stray arm (which I seem have made a habit of doing with conversational arm gestures).  The three of us attracted a small but pleasant crowd and danced the night away!  The next morning... well... We've decided that there is something about the Thai beer that doens't agree with Darren.  It's sad because he really does enjoy a good beer, and the Chang beer is quite nice-- nice tasting, but sort of mean otherwise.  It doesn't matter if Darren has four large beers or one small beer, the stuff makes him sick.  Even now, after only a small can with dinner last night, he's more or less incapacitated!  So, the day after our night of dancing barefoot in the sand, I had a day all to myself! I walked up to "Viewpoint" which was beautiful but rather difficult to get to.  Lots of stairs.  I was told that from viewpoint you can get to "Long beach" which I had heard was much nicer and quieter than the main beach, so I thought it was a practicle route for me to take.  Well, if you've ever tried to take any sort of route/direction with me, you're probably aware that it usually takes me twice as long to get there, mostly because I take a lot of wrong turns.  In fact, from viewpoint, I didn't even get to Long beach.  After walking through trails in the jungle, being frightened by large lizards and with the call of some sort of primate in the distance, I ended up on the other side of what we call "Poo Garden", not five minutes from where I started.  (Poo Garden is a "waste water collection and water garden" that separates the area where our hotel was and the main hustle and bustle.  It smells like poo.)  It was hot, and I was sweaty and a little frustrated that I had done all that walking and all that sweating without the reward of a nice beach and ocean to swim in!  With the help of a rather good looking dive instructor, I was re-directed and I did eventually find the beach--not Long Beach as I later discovered, but a rather nice, rather quiet stretch of beach and I was content.  I read my book, went for a swim, bathed in the sun and felt really good about my day! So, the day Darren was recovering from his allergic reaction of sorts, we were supposed to go see the other islands and go snorkelling, but that was obviously postponed, and so we had decided we'd do it the following day.  The problem was that we didn't get up early enough the next day, and both of us were quite tired and not really up for it.  So, while eating our delicious breakfast (home-made muesli with yoghurt and fruit, and a grainy bagel with cream cheese!--which we ate every morning) we booked a tour of the islands for the following day. Instead, I took Darren and I ended up at another quiet little beach (which we thought was Long beach but again was not), and we took the day easy.  In the evening, we walked up to the viewpoint along with everyone else to go watch the sunset, and ended it all with yummy curry at Papayas.  Overall it was a very relaxing and successful day! That brings us to yesterday and the island tour!  It was a beautiful, sunny day.  Darren and I ate breakfast at our usual spot, and it was also where we were being picked up.  The picking us up part, interestingly, was actually a guy coming around on a bicycle who would wave his hand and say "Okay go!' and then speed off out of sight.  As we walked through town more and more people were joining us from various shops and restaurants, until there was a huge crowd of us following this guy through the streets.  I felt like cattle being herded.  Occassionally he would stop to let us catch up, but there were a few girls who were even running behind him trying not to lose sight of him.  It was a rather strange experience. Well, once we reached the shore, we were all shuffled into various "longtail" boats and handed either a doughnut or tuna sandwhich (which was meant to be our breakfast I think), and fitted for a pair of fins.  All geared up the oil spewing motor was started and out into the ocean we went.  First stop was Monkey Bay.  It was a whole ten minutes on a small coast line where tourists piled up taking pictures and feeding the local monkeys.  A girl we met earlier had actually been bitten while feeding a baby monkey, so we proceeded with caution.  They were cute, and of course they were monkeys, and ten minutes later we herded back onto our boat, off to the next destination, Shark Point.  I'm not sure if it's called Shark Point because there are actually sharks here, but we didn't see any.  Like a lot of other offshore places, a lot of the coral was dead, but there were still lots of bright and colourful fish, though the water was a bit murky.  We snorkelled and swam for about twenty minutes and off we went.  We went snorkelling off the coast of Mosquito Island next and the snorkelling there was much better.  The water was clear, and such a dark shade of blue it was incredible.  The coral here was also much more diverse and lively, and so were the fish.  There were even jelly fish here as well, which scared the begeezes out of me at first, but it's easy enough to keep your distance from them.  They were pretty big and as long as you were cautious you couldn't miss them.  It was actually knd of neat, watching swarms of fish seemingly eating the jelly fish.  One side must have been the stinging part because they only nibbled from one side and it seemed that with so many fish the poor jelly didn't stand a chance.  Next was Bamboo Island, which was nicer than the main beach but nothing special as far as I could tell.  It was a nice place to stop for lunch but no more beautiful than any other island.  Unfortunately, while we sat and ate our lunch a bit of a storm seemed to be brewing across the ocean, and by the time we got going again the wind had picked up and it had started to rain.  The boat had to cross some pretty rough waters and some of the girls on the boat had a rough go of it.  It was kind of like being on a rollercoaster.  I figure, so long as I can look up at our driver and he's still smiling I needn't be too worried.  Anyway, I think from Bamboo Island we went to some sort of lagoon which was absolutely breathtaking (Pileh?).  It was a small inlet surrounded by large karst cliffs, and because the air had become so chill the water was so warm!  It was like diving into a warm bath and it was so peaceful and sheltered from the wind.  It was just what we needed.  After swimming for a half hour or so, we then went around to Maya Bay.  Now, it seems that you can actually bring a boat right into the bay itself, but what they do is park the boat on the other side of the bay, make you jump out into the water, swim across some pretty harsh waves (at least in that weather), follow a rope to the cliff side, either crawl through a hole or walk up some stairs, and then take the short walk to the beach on the other side.  Anyway, for all the struggle it is pretty cool once you get there.  Maya Bay by the way, is "the Beach".  It's the beach where the movie, "The Beach" was filmed.  Again, the water seemed extremely warm and everyone was up to their necks in it as if it was some sort of warm blanket.  We just waded and watched people run from the cold open-air pathway into the warm sea water.  Except, because of the waves the running into the water wasn't very graceful, so people would run about a foot or two into the water and then try to dive in, which ended up looking more like they were falling on their faces.  Everyone was just too eager to cover themselves in the warmth of the ocean.  The tour is supposed to take you out until sunset at which point you park out on the ocean and watch the sun go down, but it was cold and raining and we high tailed it back.  Most of the people in our boat seemed utterly miserable, and I don't know why but Darren and I both had a blast.  We could've done without the cold wind but we otherwise enjoyed ourselves rain and all! So while Ko Phi Phi seemed to have little to offer at first, it turns out there are a lot of little treasure tucked away on that little island.  Whether it's beautiful views of the sunsets, great food, or great people, there is more to Ko Phi Phi than once giant beach party.  Don't get me wrong though, I have discoverd that I do love dancing barefoot in the sand!  That being said, Darren and I are currently in Krabi (back on the mainland) suspended in some sort of limbo.  We have yet to decide whether or not we want to brave the Full Moon Party.  Negatives:  thousands of people on once beach intoxicated beyond belief, all hours of the night, and apparently the next moning, with more than just alcohol to keep them going.  Prices on Ko Phagnan sky rocket and you have to show up several days in advance to get accomodations.  Our time is running thin.  Positives:  more dancing barefoot in the sand (but maybe that wouldn't be so safe).  Hmmm... I think we just made a decision.  Well, a day or two in Krabi to decide but most likely off to Ko Tao next.  One last stretch of beach before we head to the interior and North of Thailand for a little cultural experience... and elephants!  Yay! *Note:  Apparently, the Chang beer (or maybe all Thai beer) has no "quality control", if you will.  Though the bottle/can may say that the beer is 6.4% alcohol (which is still quite strong) it can in fact be anywhere from 4-14% alcohol.  Or so we've been told.

Mersing to Terengganu

I realise that my poor blog has been in somewhat of a static state the past two weeks.  I have a good excuse though I promise.  Darren and I have spent the majority of the last two and a half weeks on fairly remote islands with either no internet acecss, or access that was too slow and too expensive to bother with.  When we have been in the city, we haven't had any wifi and I've been too lazy to copy and paste the posts I was keeping from my lap top.  Sorry!  So, to brief on what's been going on:

While we were in Salang, I kept a daily diary, which I posted previous to this one.  Once we left Salang (which we only slightly regretted) not a whole lot happened.

Mersing
It was some sort of school holiday the day we chose to leave, and getting a bus out of Mersing (where the jetty dropped us off) was next to impossible.  Everything was fully booked, and aside from taking an expensive taxi, we couldn't get anything out until 11 pm.  The next town we were headed to was only four hours away and notorious for being somewhat of a sleepy, quiet town, and we didn't want to arrive in the middle of the night.  So we spent the evening in Mersing... which was far from interesting.  Aside from being the major hub/jetty for getting to Tiomen (the island Salang is on), there really isn't anything else going on.  We spent a few hours in an internet cafe, got our hair cut (more about that disaster in a moment), and then drove each other crazy until it was time for bed.

Now for the haircut.  I must say that I didn't go into the salon wholey unwarned.  I had heard of the atrosities that they carry out in Asian hair salons and I was hesitant; however, the thickness and heat of my hair could not compel me to resist.  Darren went in to get his hair cut (which is safe and straight forward), and when the lady asked me if I wanted to get mine cut as well, I simply told the truth, "Yes!"  The problem was is that I just didn't want to get it cut by them, but that was already beside the point.  With little ability to communicate, we both understood and decided on the word "thinning":  I was going to get my hair thinned out, a middle ground if you will between getting my hair cut and dealing with the heat.  Well... I am not about to argue or dispove the notion that getting your hair cut in Asia is a bad idea, but simply reinforce it... especially if you have curls.  What was meant to be a routine thinning, turned into a hack job.  Darren says it reminds him of Prince, though I don't know if I would go quite so far.  It is pretty awful as far as hair cuts go though.  When I saw the amount of hair on the ground I was mortified for sure!  Easily, without exageration, at least half of my hair was on the floor of the salon.  :'(  She definitely thinned it out alright.  Most of you know that my ponytail is quite a bushy, curly mass... well now it's nothing more than a thin (thinner than the average person's even) rat tail.  To make matters worse, she thinned too close to the scalp, not really close, but close enough that for a few inches, my hair is thick and full as it is naturally, but after that is drastically fades away into no more than a few meesly curls.  It does resemble a mullet to some effect.  I tried to do a little damage control myself, trimming the base piece which a good three inches longer than all the other layers, but I'm afraid it is beyond hope.  I barely wear my air down long enough to dry now, and whether or not I venture to have it fixed is a constant issue for me.  I'm afraid.  Very, very afraid!  Rachel (my hair dresser from ZZ Cuts), if you're out there, I miss you!  So, do I cut again, or no?

On the bright side, we inadvertantly agreed to having our hair washed, and that was a whole new experience as well.  You know that two or three minutes when you get your hair washed at the hair dressers and they lightly massage your scalp?  Think that but for a good half hour!  Except instead of laying back in a sing, you're sitting in a regular salon chair, with your hair (or what's left of it) piled on top of your head, lathered in some sort of minty, aromatic shampoo.  They massage your scalp, your temples, your neck, your shoulders and some of your back.  The majority of the time is spent on your scalp, but it feels pretty amazing!  They do it twice too.  A five minute hair cut turned into about an hour and it's a good thing for it, because if I hadn't been so relaxed and drunk with pleasant perfumes, the shock of my new hairdo would've made me furious!  There are worse ways to pass the time.


Cherating
Cherating is a bit of a hiccup of a town.  It really is one of the places that you'll miss if you blink.  The beach is about two blocks of the highway and if you weren't inclined to look for it, you'd never know it was there.  There was enough going on there, with internet access, restaurants and stores, but it was sleepy and quiet and even the beach seemed empty.  I think to really appreciate Cherating, you'd have to go during Monsoon season when the storms kick up a bit of decent surf, otherwise it's a little boring.  We only stayed two days, and spent those two days planning ahead for the next leg of the trip.  We booked tickets and made arrangments, but didn't go swimming (the weather wasn't great) and only went to the beach to walk and get out of our room.  It was a stop that probably could've been avoided.

Pulau Kapas
Kapas.  Kapas.  Kapas.  We had heard from some people we met in Salang that Kapas was a great, beatiful beach definitely worth a visit.  We were going to go to the Perhentians, which are supposedly a bit touristy, and settled for the serene beaches of Kapas instead, and serene they were.  When we bought our bus and ferry tickets to Kapas, the woman told us to make sure we bought our snacks and stuff before we went to the island.  We didn't think much of it and only bought a few bottles of water and shampoo.  Well, Kapas is definitely an isolated quiet island.  It's only fifteen-twenty minutes of the mainland but other than the resorts themselves (maybe five or six) there is no store and only one restaurant.  There actually was a store, but it was closed the entire time we were there, and all the resort restaurants were way overpriced!  We ran out of toilet paper within the first day, and resorted to stealing napkins from the local warung.  We only had enough sunblock for one day and had to dilute the rest with normal lotion to try to make it last, and it we had to ration our toothpaste as well.  We had originally intended on staying on the island for eight or nine days, but left a few days early.  There were few English books Darren was interested in reading and by the end of the week we were going a little crazy, and trying to portion out napkins for toilet paper sucks.  That being said, Kapas really is amazing.

Even if there was little to do, the beaches are beautiful, the water is crystal clear, and the snorkeling is amazing.  It's amazing how a beach can seem so completely deserted of life, while not even two feet below the water's surface it's just beeming with energy, colour, and clownfish!  Yes, clownfish!  Just like Nemo!  There were tons of anenomes and at least two clownfish in each, sometimes four or five, and I can't even think of how long I just floated there watching them.  It's actually quite entertaining watching them swim and wiggle in and out and through the anenome.  It's fascinating, and they're so small.  We even saw a few baby ones that couldn't have been any bigger than my thumbnail.  There were also loads of sea urchins, which was  little daunting, but still pretty cool.  We had to make sure that we swam with our arms tucked in to avoid accidental contact.  There were tons of fish though and so many different colours.  Because I don't have an underwater camera, I've posted some pics of the internet to give you an idea of the things we saw.

These pics are actually from Pulau Kapas:

We stayed at a place called the "Captain's Longhouse".  It was an interesting place, raised longhouse fashion with private rooms along the outisde (four on either side) and a dorm room through the middle, and two shared toilets/showers at the end.  There were beds and cussiony chairs and hammocks throughout, as well as strange sailing artifacts and netting, and the owner actually had us call him Captain.  It was a little eccentric but cosy enough.

It was more or less a week of observing various creatures foreign to our colder climate.  There was a viper snake in one of the trees at the KBC down the beach which stayed there for days.  The guests there named it Kiki.  There was a tiny tree frog that got comfortable on the light switch box near our bathroom.  Not sure if it was the right move or not, but after the third day I took it to one of the trees.  We saw a few praying mantises, lots of cool crabs, and some very colourful, though loud, birds.  I guess when you're sitting around not doing a whole heck of a lot, you tend to observe things a little better. 

It was a beautiful island with plenty of life, though not always apparent.  If ever go though, stock up on toilet paper and sun screen before hand!

Kuala Terengganu
When the quiet became "too quiet", Darren and I opted to head to Terengganu earlier than planned.  Our only reason for going there at all was to fly to KL, but the book seemed to have a few nice things to say about it so we thought it'd be worth a look.  We were wrong.  Not to say that it was a horrible trip and that there was nothing to do, but there certainly wasn't much.  We spent a decent amounttime in internet cafes, in part to kill time, and in part to take advantage of their AC.  At least when you're on a beach you always have the option of hopping into the ocean.  In the city, it's just hot.

We did venture to the neighboring island to check out the traditional boat making, but after being there for ten minutes, all we saw were deserted playgrounds and a lot eery quiet.  So we got right back on the ferry and went back to the mainland.  We walked through China town (a block of semi-Chinese shops and restaurants) and went back to the dark air conditioned hole called the internet cafe.  These aren't just regular cafes though.  In fact, they're not cafes at all.  They're actually gaming zones where masses of prebuescant teenagers go to play shoot-em-up video games and listen to a combination of harsh rap music and Justin Bieber.  The first time we went in there, we walked to our designated computer, only to find a guy passed out, practically drooling on himself.  Needless to say, we had to switch computers.  He was still konked out when we left an hour later.

One of the beautiful things about Terengganu though, and of Malaysia in general, is in their religion and mosques.  Some people might find it annoying to wake up and go to sleep to the sound of prayers being aired over a loud speaker across the city, but the langauge and the way they practically sing the prayers is quite beautiful.  Today is the begining of Rhamadan.  Last night, between prayers and such, they had a few fireworks and it was actually quite nice to hear the prayers, watch the fireworks and see the lit up mosque from the roof top cafe of our hostel.


Now we wait.  We are currently at the KL International Airport.  We flew in this morning just before 9, and we don't fly out again until 8pm.  (The cheapest flights are always really early or really late).  KL has two airports, as I may have explained before, but because KLIA is so much bigger, and with more ammenities, we're waiting here, and not at LCCT.  It's off to Ko Phi Phi next, via Phuket, and I for one am super excited for Thailand.  It'll be yet another whole new ballgame!  I'll do my best to keep up the posts from the islands!

Hello White Sandy Beaches!

DAY 1
After much waiting and travelling, we finally arrived in Salang, although we had never actually intended on coming here. We left Singapore at 630 in the morning, went through two immigration check points, and were in Mersing by about 1030. We had only planned on coming to Mersing as a transition point into the jungle, but once we got there there was nothing very appealing about it. The book described it as a small fishing town with lots of stray cats, and that’s really all it was; except, that Mersing is also the main transport hub for people coming to Tioman Island. Consequently, we decided to join the masses and head to the island as well, so we bought our ticket at the ferry terminal and continued to wait. They told us the ferry was leaving at eleven thirty, and by about 1/130 pm we finally got on board. It was another two hours or so before we got to Salang, on the north/eastern side of Tioman, and while it was a long wait, it was totally worth it.
This place is absolutely beautiful, and the book says it’s hardly one of the better beaches in Malaysia. As your walking along the jetty, all you see is turquoise blue water, coral and funny little fishies with long noses. It’s quite a sight and apparently the diving around here is phenomenal. Our favourite part about it is that it’s quiet. Normally, before we even step off any form of public transportation, we’re accosted by people trying to sell us tour packages, hotels, transportation and souvenirs. When we got off the ferry here, the only people who came remotely close to trying to sell us anything were the ladies at the tourist info centre that we stopped at to ask for directions. All they did was inform us that if we needed anything to come to them. Other than that, we made the entire walk to our hostel of choice (Ella’s), which is literally the second to last accommodations on this side of the jetty, and not a soul approached us with anything to sell. The extent of “touts” on this island seems to exist only in the signs offering massages with a phone number/place to contact if you’re interest. Who would’ve thought that you could actually decide when you wanted something and not be bothered about it until then. It’s quite a relief to be able to lie on the beach without constantly needing to turn people away.
That being said, our first day, all we did was lay on the beach. There are hammocks everywhere, 8 out here in front of Ella’s alone, with just about one on every balcony/porch (our’s included). Most people, who know me well, know that it is one of my lifelong dreams to own a hammock; thus, I am in heaven! Darren, my own little water bug, was in the water right away, and I took a nap, in a hammock. It was wonderful! Afterwards, we went for dinner and drinks, sat on the beach and I came and went to sleep. Darren stayed out with some people we met, but I was wiped and exhausted and was passed out by 10pm.


DAY 2

Yesterday was a good day—a very good day. Apparently it’s been fairly rainy here the last little while, but yesterday was just gorgeous weather! The sun was shining, and the tide was in (it was out in the evening when we got here, and the beach is much nicer when it’s in). After breakfast Darren, of course, was in the water right away, and I hunkered myself down into a hammock and just read the afternoon away. I did come out of my coma for a little while to join Darren in the water, but it was much cooler and much more relaxing in the swinging in the shade. That was the extent of our excitement for the afternoon. It wasn’t until about 3 pm that we finally decided to move and go get lunch. After lunch, we didn’t really do anything different, just a lot more laying around in hammocks and reading.
Our hostel/inn is probably one of the better ones on the island. It’s fairly basic, and by that I mean that we don’t have a sink just a tap, but as I said, it’s almost at the very end of accommodations on this part of the island and it’s consequently, very quiet. It’s also one of the only accommodations that’s right on the beach, and the best part is it’s not ridiculously priced. We’re paying Rm 50 a night (about $15), for our own little bungalow/”chalet”, with a hammock, and no more than a small paved pathway from the white sand beach. It’s fantastic! The owners of Ella’s are also making an effort to repopulate the turtles in the area as well. I’m not sure exactly why their efforts are needed, but as a result, there are two buckets of turtles at the restaurant/reception area. Two of the turtles were only a day old when we first got here, and the others are no more than a few weeks old. They are too cute. The teeny baby ones are so young they still have their little sacks stuck to their bellies, and one of the older ones has been named Nemo for its lack of a whole fin on one side. The owner also informed us that they have buried forty more eggs on the beach that should hatch in the next two months. They are currently expanding their little pond to keep the turtles in until they’re big enough to be released and fend for themselves. The great thing for us is that we get to take them swimming, though I’ve heard that they’re a lot faster than they look so we’ll have to keep a close watch on them.

Once we finally stripped ourselves out of the hammocks, we ventured out for dinner at one of the many seafood barbecues on the island. For some reason we ended up ordering chicken instead of seafood, but it was still excellent. They grilled the chicken, along with some potato, carrot and eggplant, and everything was moist and tender and oh so yummy! We had a really nice evening, just enjoying the ambiance and a little shisha (don’t worry mom, there’s no tobacco, it’s just molasses). We mixed two flavours, strawberry and mint, and Frank, you would love it, it ended up tasting to black liquorice. We stayed at the restaurant for about an hour or so until a lightning storm broke out and after another half hour of waiting we finally decided to make a run for it. On the way back we ran into the same guys we met the first day and sat and had a few drinks with them under the shelter of one of the picnic areas.
The rain was pretty brutal however, and the wind wasn’t helping much. I was sitting on the side closest to the water and the wind coming off the ocean basically blew the rain in sideways under our little shelter. Once we finally decided to move into a closed restaurant, I was already soaked down my one side, and a little cold. We then hung out in the restaurant just long enough for me to try off a bit, before deciding to call it a night and run back to our place. It was a nice night though, rain and all, and we both fell asleep pretty quickly, though Darren chose to sit outside for a while and take a breather before coming to bed ;)


DAY 3

It was a great day, not for all the exciting going ons, but more because of the lack thereof. Our day started at noon. Our usual breakfast place was either no longer serving breakfast, or they were out of eggs, it was hard to communicate which exactly. We had omelettes at a local hole-in-the-wall restaurant (always the cheapest and with great eats), after which we came back to our inn and basically carried on doing nothing. I wrote a little for the blog while Darren slept. Then I went to lay down for a nap in our hammock and Darren read for a while. At one point he woke me up for lunch/the meal between our noon breakfast and dinner, and we both somehow ended up passed out on the bed. We didn’t wake up until the children at our inn started making a bit of noise.
It was a good thing we did though, because some of the turtle eggs (which the owner “rescues” and barriers in the beach) had hatched. About ten of them hatched right beside the hammock I normally sit in, and ten little baby turtles have now become the newest residents of our beach. The owners keep them in a bucket on their porch, along with another bucket with some slightly older turtles. Apparently, the eggs are normally eaten where their laid before they even get the chance to hatch. On the odd occasion an iguana doesn’t devour them, it’s something like on out of every ten that might actually make it into the ocean, and most of those are also devoured by larger fish or birds before their shells harden. My first instincts were that Mother Nature should just be allowed to run its course, but apparently the bigger culprit of the declining turtle population is the boats and fishing nets. Apparently it’s a pretty big deal, so the locals who run our inn are making their own little conservation effort. Right before monsoon season when they leave the island, they’ll let all the little things go and hope for the best!
After a bit of watching the tiny little turtles scurry around we walked down to the other end of the village for dinner. If I haven’t mentioned already, there is a river about the island where you can often find monitor lizards of all sizes. Whenever we’re in the area, Darren insists on stopping to see if we can find any. Actually, after breakfast we had to wander by and watch two smaller ones swim up and down the dirty water. Our after dinner agenda was no different. This time however, we got to see more than just a small one or two. This one looked like it had eaten a small child! Whatever it ate, it must’ve just eaten something large because it was so fat it looked like it could barely move. I wasn’t about to risk this theory however, because though they normally look sluggish, they’re pretty quick. We stopped and stared of course, until it crawled under the bridge and couldn’t be seen anymore. We saw a lot of other little creatures that night, including large fruit bats, hermit crabs, big snails, frogs, and a “guppy”. Darren insists that I wrote about this. Apparently, a guppy is the only type of fish that can exist both on land and in water. He was pretty excited about seeing it. That night, we also saw some sort of possum or something crawling along the power lines. The island is full of life!
After dinner and a little walk, we stocked up on snacks and lay on the beach in hammocks, eating peanuts and listening to Coldplay. Not a bad way to end an evening if I dare say.


DAY 4

It was yet another lazy day, but with an earlier start than noon. We were out and eating breakfast by about 10am but again, had nothing special planned. We were going to go snorkelling, but it was pretty cloudy and windy and the water was pretty murky. Since I’ve finished reading my book, the extent of our activity today, was searching the island for Book 2 of “Lord of the Rings”. In his persuasion to get me to pick up the trilogy, he assured me it would take me forever to read and that it’s the one set of books you can find everywhere. Well, I read a lot more often than he does (usually 2-3 books to his 1), and I haven’t seen a copy of “Lord of the Rings” since we left China. Anyway, it doesn’t help that any books that do seem appealing are also not in English, so at the moment I’m reading a book called “The Little Lady Agency”, and I’m almost half way through already.
We had planned on maybe doing a hike instead of snorkelling, but our host informed us that there weren’t any trails and it was too easy to get lost in the jungle. Note taken. So we detoured a little on our way back from breakfast. I think Darren really wanted to go into the jungle to catch a glimpse of some more cool creatures and while we didn’t get to do that, we did some a few other things. Like, the river was really high and there weren’t any lizards in it, and instead we saw one walking around someone’s backyard. We were able to get pretty close, and it was nice not having to see them in the dirty water. We also saw a family/herd/pod of monkeys (what is the proper term for a group of monkeys?) raiding some mango trees behind some of the “chalets”, and a one point Darren thought he saw a monkey, which he then thought was a lizard, which turned out to be a squirrel; and, not two minutes later he thought he saw a rabbit, which was actually a coconut. Though he says he’s not getting restless on this lazy island, I think he’s more anxious for our jungle trek than he’s letting on.
Once we got back to our inn, it was more reading and lying around. The weather eventually brightened up and we went for a bit of a swim and a little sun bathing. But again, the day was altogether uneventful. We’re currently, once again, lying in hammocks, listening to music, wasting the night away. Not that I’m complaining. I could definitely get used to this.


DAY 5

Other than run a few errands in the morning, we literally did nothing. But it was still fantastic!


DAY 6

We woke up to a bit of a loud bang on the roof. I sent Darren out to inspect and when he opened the door there was nothing there. After a moment, one of the peanut bags slowly fell from above him, and sure enough, there was a whole family of monkeys about, who had apparently been raiding through our garbage.

It turned out to be a beautiful day. The crazy winds from the day before had blown away all the clouds and we were left with beautiful blue skies and calm waters. Finally, we could go snorkelling. We didn’t plan anything too exciting, like one of the trips out to special spots, we just went snorkelling off shore. There wasn’t quite as much to see as on the reefs of Amed, but we were still able to catch glimpses of rainbow coloured fish and other strange sea life.

Afterwards, while we were doing what we do best—sitting on the beach and reading—the monkeys came back! They were in the tree right next to our place. I grabbed a bag of peanuts and managed to tempt the thing out of the tree and onto the walkway. He was pretty cautious, and pretty crafty. I was actually amazed at how many peanuts it could shove in its mouth. It run around, shove them all in and then run back to a safe distance to eat them. If ever he got too close, the older looking monkey in the tree, would send out a little noise—as if a warning call—and the little guy would jump back as if checking himself. It may sound childish but we both found extremely amusing.

The rest of the day was spent doing the usual; we spent the evening watching a pretty intense lightning storm over the ocean; and, the next day, we were off.

The Wonderful World of Singapore

It's been a short trip (we just got here yesterday and we're leaving tomorrow), but Singapore has been pleasant at least.  We had a pretty good idea of what we were getting ourselves into in coming here.  We knew that it was more or less just another city, one of the cleanest we've ever seen, but a city none the less.  Our plan in visiting Singapore was mostly just to see my cousin whom I haven't seen in 8 years, so we didn't do too much sightseeing.

Yesterday when we arrived we were in for a bit of a shocker however.  We arrived at our hostel and the doors did not have any doorknobs.  There were signs all over the doors however, that informed us that to check in/out we needed to call a number and/or ring the bell to get in.  We rang the bell over and over and over again, and could hear people moving about on the other side of the door, but there was no answer.  We probably stood outside for a good ten minutes before Darren finally got the nerve to knock... while it got a response, it was not a pleasant response.  Apparently knocking is not acceptable here at the Sky Orchids Hostel.  The land lady/owner was not impressed.  Our greeting therefor, was a rude and unpleasant one.  She was very abrupt and short with us and chastized us for knocking.  When I told her that we did ring the bell, about "20 times", I was chastized for over-exagerating.  I told her it was definitely at least "10 times" and even that she didn't believe because apparently she was only out of the room for a short period of time.  Needless to say, we didn't exactly feel welcome.  "Oddly" enough, once we signed the check in form and paid for our two nights she seemed to warm up a little.  She gave us a swift run through of the procedures and goings about of the place and then left us to ourselves.  She did warm up over the course of the day, and today she was more than pleasant.  She even offered to let us have breakfast before our bus tomorrow morning, which is before "breakfast time" (7am to 10am).  Knocking must be a serious pet peeve of hers because she seemed like an extremely angry woman at first; but, if not for that I'd say she was nothing but pleasant.

Despite our rude welcome, we didn't really go anywhere or do anything upon arrival in Singapore.  We checked in and left briefly to get lunch and then we were back again watching movies with one of the other guests.  One of the great things about Singapore is the cheapness of the food, and the variety.  There's an Indian place down the street from our hostel and for S$ (Singapore Dollars) 3.80 we got a tray (like a baking sheet with a piece of brown butcher paper on it) with a heapful of seasoned rice, butter chicken, and vegetables.  Mmmm!  That was more or less the highlight of the day however.  We really didn't do anything else but surf the internet and watch a movie or two.

This morning didn't start out much differently.  Darren watched a movie with the same guest as the day before, and I surfed the internet.  Not all of what we did was fruitless however, a lot of our internet time was spent researching the next leg of our trip.  Once we finally got the motivation to get up and out though, we went back to the same Indian place, had lunch and then went to a transit area to buy bus tickets to Malaysia.  We basically then forced ourselves to go to Little India, where Darren was trapped by the wonderful smells of curries, and my eyebrows were drawn to some much needed attention.  From there (with some butter chicken and rice "to go") we made our way to the Singapore Botanical Gardens.  We walked around for a bit and then sat on a bench and had our little snack.  Other than watching a small, blonde, curly-haired child run awol from his nanny time and time again, and look at the pretty flowers, we just walked around aimlessly.  We eventually got a hold of my cousin Ester, once she got off work and headed to the ION Mall to meet up with her.

The ION Mall and all other malls in Singapore are basically located in one area referred to as Orchard.  This place is insane!!!  I heard there was good shopping in Singapore but I didn't grasp exactly what that meant.  There are seriously block after block after block of shopping malls; and, not just random boutiques but huge stores for Louis Vuitton, Channel, D&G, Emporio Armani, Rolex, and tons of other ritzy looking stores I've never even heard of!  It's actually mind boggeling how many malls and shopping complexes they have.  They even have one called "Lucky Mall" which more or less caters strictly to Filippinos!  We didn't do any shopping though.  The S$ is almost par to the Canadian dollar and Emporio Armani is not any cheaper here than it is back home!

Anyway, the highlight and purpose of our trip was that for the first time in 8 years I was able to see my Manang Ester!  We met her at the MRT (skytrain station) in the basement of the ION.  On the B2 level (I think) there is a massive "Food Hall" featuring all sorts of Asian cuisine (there's also a "Food Republic" featuring yet more Asian cuisine on the 4th floor as well).  Ester took us down there and we took our pick for dinner.  With the help of Ester, we picked well!  We picked Malaysian food coincidentally and it was excellent.  I like Darren's more than I liked my own and basically stole most of his sauce.  It was a spicy, prawn and noodle dish with a coconut milk based soup.  So rich and creamy and delicious!  We topped it off with some fresh coconuts both as refreshment and desert!  We more or less spent the evening chatting and catching up.  As I haven't been back to the Filippines in 8 years, and have only recently begun establishing contact with my extended (and very extensive) family, my time with Ester was more like a lesson in my own family tree.  There are so many aunts and uncles and cousins that I can hardly keep track of who's who and who's related to whom and how.  How Ester does it I'll never know.  It was great to see her though and Darren and I had such a wonderful time.  Ester is actually the first of my extended family Darren has ever met, and it couldn't have been better.  (Thanks so much for the great evening Ester and for the shirts!)  Hopefully, it wont be so long before he meets the rest of the family or before Ester and I see each other again!  2012?  Fingers crossed!

The visit was bittersweet in a way.  While it was great to see her, the visit really was too short.  Darren and I are exhausted though.  I think China wore us out.  (Yes!  I realize that I'm talking of being warn out from travelling, but it really is exhausting!)  We've had little to no motivation to sight-see, and there have been days where we hardly leave our room/bungalow.  Consequently, the very thought of staying in a city for too long is exhausting.  We're almost half way through our trip and the clock is ticking, but both Darren and I feel compelled to s t o p.  That doesn't mean leave and go home, but I think at some point we really need to just quit moving for a while.  We thought that was what Bali was supposed to be, but even then we never really stopped for more than a few days, and you're constantly thinking about and planning the next step.  I think what we really need is to sacrifice a week or two and just let go--get comfortable and slip into a mindless routine for a while.  The constant stop and go is getting to us and wearing us thin (we got here yesterday and tomorrow we're catching a bus at 6am for example).  The longest we've stopped has been just enough to get to know an area and start to relax and then we're right back on the road again.  We're losing steam and it's time for a little R&R.  Real rest and recuperation.  So we may choose Malaysia to stop, or maybe Thailand, or maybe we wont have a choice at all and our minds and bodies will just give in wherever they land next.  Who knows.  We'll figure that out when we get there.  Hope you don't all want to shoot us for complaining of fatigue, and hope you're all enjoying your summer!