Christmas is Coming...

Greetings,

Recently Shane asked me about our blog update for South East Asia.  My two-word response was “it’s coming” and his 6-word response was “that's nice, but so is Christmas”.  Alas, after checking the calendar, I had to relent that he had a point.  Where the heck did the time go?!   

It’s been three months since we hightailed it out of Nairobi and headed for the sun, sand, seas and sanity of backpacking in South East Asia.  In that time we’ve travelled through Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and Thailand.   

I’ve created a mighty challenge for myself with this blog update.  A lot has happened over the past few months, making it difficult to sum it all up (and lets face it, my track record for “summing it up” hasn’t been so stellar).  In an effort to keep your interest, I've divided this update into two, separate posts using a format titled: “the good, the rad, and the ugly” (evidently, there aren’t many relevant words that rhyme with “bad”).

So for our 2-day visit to Singapore “the good” was clocking double-digit kms while we hoofed it around the city, taking in the fantastic architecture and checking out the mega-luxury shopping malls (we splurged on a snow cone).

The “rad” was basking in nostalgia as we returned to the sites that we had visited on our first backpacking trip together six years ago.

And “the ugly” was getting into a verbal brawl with a 7-11 store manager in Little India after he accused us of shoplifting from him two days prior.  Ok, we may be unemployed but we’re not desperate!!  It got really interesting when we showed him our passports, proving that we weren’t in the country at the time of the incident.

So that’s it for Singapore which, given the fact that we were only there for two days, makes “the good, the rad, and the ugly” a breeze.

Malaysia
 

The Good: A visit to the iconic Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur.   With a 40-story view of the city, we had no problem spotting Malaysia’s not-so-subtle national flag.

The Rad: The Perhentian Islands.  Gorgeous beaches, water the temperature of a warm bath, and fantastic snorkeling.

Evidently Shane will be teaching our kids to cartwheel.

The Ugly: The Perhentian Islands.  Not the islands specifically but our accommodations.  After price checking every hostel on the beach we predictably settled on the cheapest place we could find for $10/night.  Yes, you’re right, $10 a night is expensive but what really stunk, so to speak, was that the rickety floorboards of this shack sat a mere 2 feet above the sandy surface that the resident felines liked to call their litter box.

Initially we didn't think the room was that bad...but then, neither did the cockroaches.

Indonesia

The Good: (1) Visiting our friends Alecia, Dave and their son Tyus in Jakarta.  (2) One week of sun, snorkeling, seafood & satays in the picturesque Gili Islands.   

The Rad: Waterbom Water Slide park in Bali.  One of our biggest splurges in South East Asia - $25 each to spend an entire day flying (sometimes literally) down the slides, rediscovering our love for slippery surfaces.

Would you believe it if Shane told you that he really missed being at the office?

The Ugly: (1) Garbage everywhere.  From city streets to ocean beaches the disturbing accumulation of garbage, mostly plastic, is a glaring reality in this hugely populated country.  We saw rivers clogged with garbage (and cats).  On the ferry we watched children deliberately dumping their trash overboard while their parents watched.  Sooner or later the garbage problem is going to catch up with Indonesians...and all of us for that matter.

(2) Oh, I won’t bore you with the details but at a DVD shop in the Gili Islands the shop owner pulled a knife on me...

Cambodia

The Good: Angkor Wat.  Well, this is a given.  To confess, we’re still recovering from overdosing on temples when we were in India.  Nonetheless, Angkor Wat is a sight to behold. 

The Rad: The Bamboo Train in Battambang!!  At 5 bucks a person this was definitely a cheap thrill.  Laughing nervously as you zip along the original one-way train tracks laid down by the French in the 1930’s on a train made from bamboo planking, a four-stroke engine and reused military tank wheels and axles.  Safe? Sure.

The Ugly: (1)The Killing Fields. There aren’t too many words that adequately describe how depressing it is to wander over soil that was carved into hundreds of mass graves (often by the victims that lie in them) during the horrific, 4-year reign of the Khmer Rouge.  As you walk along the paths that guide you between the graves, it’s hard not to tread over clothing, bone fragments and teeth that wash up with heavy rains each year.  

(2) S-21.  A high school converted into an interrogation and torture compound by the Khmer Rouge.  Classrooms display torture beds and thousands of photographs of men, women and children who were part of the 1.5 million Cambodians that were systematically murdered during the regime.

With our travels in Cambodia complete we set our sights on Vietnam, Thailand and finally the Philippines.  In the next couple of weeks I will post the second half of 'the good, the rad and the ugly'. 'Christmas Is Coming' - to be continued...

Wherever this update finds you in the world, we hope you are happy, healthy and enjoying life.

Shane & Colleen