Koh Tao Highlights

We've emptied all of the sand from our shoes and are waiting to take the afternoon ferry to the mainland of Thailand and connect by bus to Bangkok. We took our last swim in the ocean and have said farewell to the open waters for a few weeks.

Here are just a few highlights from this past week in Koh Tao:
- breathing underwater for the first time and seeing marine life in its natural habitat - seeing fish that span every colour of the rainbow
- Axel eating spicy fish curry from a stall run by a wonderfully kind lady named Goo (not sure how to spell or pronounce her name)
- swimming in the ocean during high tide at 8 am
- savouring fresh juicy pineapple that hasn't travelled 500 km to our plates (yummy!)
- enjoying ice-cold imported gin from Vietnam under the light of a full moon

Other observations from our island stay:
- seeing the toll that the tourist industry is having on the environment and meeting people who are trying to reverse some of the damage that has already been done
- the Western food that can be found at every turn when all we want is a good Thai meal (bring on the pad thai)
- diving is life here and pretty much the only thing to do, unless relaxing on the beach for a while is your cup of tea

Bangkok, here we come!!! Our overnight bus awaits to take us to this city of mayhem.

Koh Tao, the world underwater

Dear blog,

We are now certified open water divers, thanks to the lovely island of Koh Tao and Buddha View Dive Centre. What an amazing experience to see the world on the ocean floor. We are definitely hooked now.

We've spent the last three days learning to dive, after a rocky trip from Kuala Lumpur to get here (overnight bus to Thailand border, followed by another bus and a crowded overnight ferry (we will never do that again) to Koh Tao. The island is quite touristic, but still has lots of charm and is friendly for penny pinchers like us. However, there isn't too much else to do but dive, sit on the beach and relax, which is fine with us.

We head to Bangkok in a few days and we'll try and post some more pics soon to make a few of you envious. Now, we have to treat our sunburns with some cold drinks by the beach...

Batu Caves accompanied by monkeys

Yesterday, we visited the Batu Caves, which are formed out of the side of a mountain. You have to take several steep stairs to get inside and dozen of monkeys are there walking with you. There is a huge gold Buddha that is the size of a three or four storey building at the entrance that is an impressive sight from a distance. What a wonder to behold. The caves now house Hindu shrines so it's amazing to see all of the people there to pray while we are sightseeing.

In the afternoon, Annette went to visit the Kuala Lumpur Craft Complex and try her hand at painting batik. What an interesting experience. This complex is an spacious outdoor area full of little wooden huts where artists create and sell their work. We are so tempted
to purchase some artwork, but the thought of having to carry it around for a few months is a good deterent.

Today, we are taking an overnight bus to Thailand and will spend a few days relaxing on an island called Ko Tao. We are looking forward to some sandy beaches and swimming in the open water.

Kuala Lumpur - A city of way too many mopeds

Now how is it that a city like this can have more vehicles than people? According to Axel's scientific detective work (yes, this is the Dr. in him coming out), 1830 vehicles for every 1000 people (Hamsa et al, Nov. 2006, Journal of asian architecture and building engineering). CRAZY! And the moped drivers don't really obey any rules of the road, swerving between lanes and on sidewalks. You always have to be on high alert as a pedestrian.

We enjoyed a few relaxing days in Taman Negara National Park, hiking through lush green jungles and seeing picturesque landscapes. We took a 3-hour boat ride to down a rover to reach the park. Although it is organized mainly for tourists, it was still a nice way to spend a sunny afternoon. We stayed at a ramshackle but clean hostel run by a very kind lady named Halima. During our hikes in the park, we saw monkeys, large and small lizards, colourful butterflies and even a peacock. And, believe it or not for those who know my fear of heights, we did the canopy walk, which is a set of elevated walkways hanging from the trees up to 40 metres high. The canopy walk is about 500 meters long and it is said to be the longest walkway of it's kind in the world.

Now, we're here in traffic-clogged Kuala Lumpur for a few days to apply for our Thai visas and enjoy what the city has to offer. The transit system is very efficient and most of the major sights are close by. We're staying at a nice hostel in Chinatown, which is full of restaurants, food stalls and shops.

Before we sign off, we just want to express how our thoughts are with the people of Haiti during this devestating time. It's hard to imagine just how lucky we are in this world and how that can so quickly be turned upside down.

Melaka - so much to eat

So we've spent the last two days in Melaka enjoying the beautiful weather and the quaint, although touristic, areas in this historic city. Following a close to 9.5-hour bus ride from Penang, we found the local bus to take us to the city centre and met a lovely elderly local man named Arjun who shared with us a few stories from his own travels. We stayed at Tony's Guesthouse and, apart from the noisy street below, it was quite pleasant. We've tried as many Malaysian delicacies as we could stomach, which is a mix of Indian, Chinese and Malay cuisine. We even tried Malaysia's king of fruits, the durian, which was served as a dessert with sugar, coconut milk, shaved ice, and of all things, green beans and kidney beans. Tonight, we ate at an Indian restaurant, and our food was served on a banana leaf with about 8 different vegetarian dishes with rice. It was spectacular. For any mom who reads this, don't worry, we're well-fed.
Melaka's history is very interesting as various colonial powers took control of this strategically well located port. Following the Sultanese regime the Portuguese invaded Melaka , then the Dutch took over and eventually the British took control.
Tomorrow we will board two or three buses and if everything works out a small boat that takes us to Taman Negara, one of Malaysia's national parks. We will let you know more in a few days.

Hello Malaysia heat!

So, we arrived in Malaysia this afternoon and were greeted with 32C weather. A wonderful change from the 10C temps we left behind in Hong Kong and Macau. And 32C feels even warmer knowing that many of our friends who will read this blog are bundled in down coats, battling winter weather.

When we arrived at the airport in Penang, the local bus driver saw us wandering around the terminal and brought us to the bus. He even took us to the last stop on the line and had someone show us to another bus to transfer so that we could make it to our hotel. We realized later that we could have walked a few blocks from one of the previous stops on the first route and arrived at our hotel much sooner. I guess he has the impression that Westerners don't like to walk.

We are currently staying at a great new budget hotel called Tune Hotel. The rooms are very pristine and clean - a huge contrast to our previous lodgings. We even have a window - a big plus for us. Yeay to fresh air! Everyone here is really friendly. This afternoon, we found a local place to eat and the owner showed us a huge variety of prepared foods, many of which we'd never seen before. Rice is plentiful, which is great for Netty. And there are some really elaborate baked goods, which always puts a smile on Aki's face.

We decided to splurge and bought a bottle of wine to share in our room. We're about to go and enjoy it now, since we're pretty tired from our day and lack of sleep last night at the six-room hostel we stayed at in Macau. We're not 21 anymore and don't care to be crammed into a room like sardines. At least the people we bunked with were very nice, just about five to ten years younger.

Tomorrow, we'll continue to wander around the city and take in a few museums and historical sights. We don't know our next plan of action in Malaysia, but it will unfold as it may. For now, we're basking in the heat!

Macau - Casino metropolis

Who knew that the country of Macau had such a Las Vegas vibe. Neither of us have ever stepped foot in Vegas, but if glitzy lights and, tacky buildings designed specifically with gamblers in mind is what one is searching for, than this is the place to find it. On the other hand, many of the streets are cobblestone with some beautiful architecture to the buildings, mainly due to the influence of the Portuguese.

So we took a ferry from Hong Kong to Macau this morning. We checked into our hostel after spending a few too many minutes trying to navigate the windy roads of Macau. We are staying at a hostel on a dorm with six other people in our room. So far, we've only met one other tourist, but the hostel owner said that the place is booked tonight. We spent the remainder of the day trying new food and wandering around the streets. Tomorrow we will go to Penang, Malaysia. We're looking forward to some warmer weather, as it has been a little cool so far. Malaysia promises to bring warm sunshine and hot temperatures. We'll see how we feel after a few weeks of that.

More to come, but for now, we rest. we've done a lot of walking over the last few days, barely taking the subway and instead choosing to walk everywhere. But, that's also the best way to see what a city has to offer.

Steeped in history...Little we know

What a fascinating day we had. Starting off at the Hong Kong Museum of History, we learned so much about Hong Kong culture. The museum is very well layed out and starts with descriptions of 400 million-year-old rock formations that created HK and ends with its independence from Britain in 1997. Needless to say we spent quite some time and a bag of gummibears there.

We then wandered from Kowloon to HK Island to stroll down a street full of specialty shops full of traditional Chinese herbal medicine. Bird nests are one of the most prized delicacies in China and we found many shops that sold these and only a few other strange dried organisms. Once we saw dried deer fetuses and crucified salamanders, we decided to call it a day. Then Axel unknowingly ate pork floss. That's what you get when your only means of conveying info is through hand gestures and the odd verbal tone. Once again, Axel's knowledge of German and Dutch appear to be rather useless here.

To satisfy Annette's love of buttons, we bought our first souvenir - a gorgeous button from a market stall. A small but cherished treasure.
To round out our day, we witnessed consumerism at its best - rich tourists in stilettos and fur coats queued up to buy the latest garb at Louis Vuitton and Chanel. That was a somewhat different experience than we expected to have while backpacking. But this is a shopping mecca. All we need is a nice button now and then to satisfy our shopping craving.

Orderly chaos

Our first two days in Hong Kong have flown by. Our jet lag left us a bit weary, but we're back in top form and ready for another day of walking this incredible city. We heard from several sources that the cityscape was spectacular, but we were still blown away. The streets are so clean and put Montreal to shame. As expected, HK is a haven for anyone with a techy mindset. What an unbelievable diversity of mobile phones, computers and digital cameras, not to mention countless glitzy accessories for which function and practically are not the number one design motivator. Today, we went to Victoria Peak, which is one of HK Island's trademarks. We're using our best hand signals to order food, pay for bus fare and ask for directions, but it sometimes proves to be very challenging.

We'll write more later. Now, we are heading to bed in our very cozy hostel room (cozy because of size, not necessarily comfort). And we will be lulled to sleep by the beautiful voices of the teenage karaoke singers either above or below us.

Southeast Asia, Take 1

Unemployed with no fixed address and unlimited possibilities. This defines our lives at the moment. Tomorrow, we will take a long flight to the other side of the world. Hong Kong, here we come...

Two, seemingly short, weeks ago, we landed in Halifax with two carloads of our only belongings. After a lovely holiday with family and friends spent sitting by the fire and celebrating the end of another wonderful year (with our wedding and Axel's PhD as a highlight), followed by a few frantic days of preparation, we have packs on our backs and we're ready to launch ourselves into new experiences with spontaneity as our sole guide. We invite you to read about our adventures as they unfold. Our blog updates may be sporadic, but we hope to share some of our stories with you.

First stop - big city lights and crazy nights.