the journey through malaysia

Malaysia was by far the easiest country we've travelled through so far. A lot of english spoken and decent amenities in most places we ventured. Although not so keen on kirk being called 'sir' and 'boss' and me just being invisible! We crossed into the country on a ferry from Thailand, landing on Langkawi island. Spent a couple of nights there and did a 'wicked cool' snorkelling trip. Tons of colourful fish and great clarity. Also some black tipped sharks and a baracuda. Was pretty thankful we didn't see the baracuda while under the water. Seeing him from the deck at feeding time was enough. swimming with the sharks was a bit freaky but they just swam on by us. Kirk got a little nibble from a sandfish. Our guide said he must have put his foot down near the nest of eggs and the momma fish was protecting them.

From Langkawi we made our way south stopping in a place called the Cameron Highlands. Deep in the mountains and quite high up so very temperate climate. We did a one day trip that involved a 2 hour trek into the jungle to see the worlds largest flower (the name escapes me right now). Our guide wasn't feeling so great so sent us into the jungle with the machete carrying trekker from the local hill tribe. I reassured myself the machete was for cutting down a walking stick and clearing the brush and had nothing to do with the big snakes likely watching our every move. Rest of the day was visiting a tea plantation and strawberry farm.

Kuala Lumpur was interesting but incredibly un-pedestrian friendly. 6 lane highways everywhere with nowhere to cross. At one point we ended up in the lobby of a big hotel surveying the roads below trying to spot how we could get across. Ended up using our Beijing street crossing skills and going frogger style. Took in a very funny play - sort of an indian version of 'my big fat greek wedding'.

From KL it was down to singapore for a few very relaxing days before heading to india. Had our first major delay on the train to Singapore. a few hours in the train just stopped and sat for 3 hours. asked someone in a uniform and he said we were waiting for an engine. not sure how we'd managed to get 3 hours down the track already?!? finally on our way again and pulled into singapore just in time for rush hour traffic. train station was surprisingly unimpressive - we'd expected some grandiose station being such a big and wealthy city. Huge lineup at the taxi stand so we headed out and figured we'd walk to the subway or until we could find a cab. thankfully one stopped for us not too far away. don't think she was supposed to stop there but good for us that she did. many many rules in singapore: no smoking in public (even outside), no spitting, no jaywalking, yada yada. makes for a very clean and organized city. the sterility would probably drive me a bit crazy living there but it was sweet luxury for 3 days after travelling through the rest of asia.

seems the main things to do in singapore are shop and eat. very pedestrian friendly with air conditioned malls lining most major roads. and lots of interesting things along the way. little art exhibits and interesting buildings. saw an art house film, visited a couple of the city parks, and both got new sandals as we'd worn out the ones we'd started this trip with. saw a local sporting event - badminton no less!!! (stop laughing john and tim :P) it was the singapore open badminton tournament and it was free to watch the qualifying rounds. neat to see the high level of play but also neat to see the crowd. a couple of young school girls came in and got all giggly and excited when their favourite player was called to the court. Went to a patio bar for a drink one night and they were showing the tournament on the big screen tv.

so now we're in calcutta, india. we flew into chennai (madras) and have worked our way north on some very hard to come by train tickets. but it's getting late so will save the india story for next time.

k & k

ps - don't have the current rummy score on me but a couple of nights in a dead end town and a 20 hour train ride has seen kirk making a multi-hundred point comeback. think he only needs another 160 or so to take the lead.