i hadn't realized that it had been so long since i told you all about what we had been doing. crap. well, i suppose i should get on that.
last you heard, we were in bangkok, still. after we left there, mary, lulu and i all went to ayutthaya. leah came with us, but only spent the day. so, we all went on a tuktuk tour of the ruins around the city. it was a 3 hour tour. i'm mary anne. lulu was unanimously voted the skipper. mary was gilligan. stupid, i know. but we found this hilarious. it was a long train ride from bangkok. the ruins were amazing, and i've already posted photos. our guest house was pretty nice. at one of the places we stopped, i bought a conical hat that is made in the chiang mai style. it's beautiful. the day after we arrived, lulu and mary rented bikes and went off around the town, while i relaxed at the guest house. i don't know if youve ever seen traffic in thailand, but it's pretty intense, and i am bad enough on a bicycle, i don't need heavy traffic on top of it. besides, relaxing was nice. i enjoyed it. after they got back, we sat around, had dinner, and took showers while waiting for the tuktuk to pick us up for the vip bus. in retrospect, taking the tuktuk all the way to chiang mai would have been preferable. this was the bus with the smelly french hippie couple, the two drunk irishmen, and the slutty russian girl. you may have read about the bus in the previous posts with the quotes and the descriptions of notable persons.
in chiang mai, our guest house was nice, but no air con. we didn't mind so much. the people were nice, and we managed to find everything fairly easy. the night market was awesome, there were silver shops galore, the food was great, and we ended up taking a 2 day, overnight trek out to the hills to the north east of the city. we treked up a mountain, stayed at an elephant camp, bathed elephants, rode the elephants, played with the baby elephant, treked a bit more, ate a bunch of jungle fruit, went "white water" rafting (it's the end of dry season, the river was really low, so there wasn't any actual white water like there would be after rainy season), and then i got to pole a bamboo raft down the river a ways. except for the bamboo raft, i have photgraphic eveidence for the whole trip. the day after the trip, lulu and i got tattooes at a local tattoo parlour. (we were totally careful, and did our research. no weird diseases or infections for us!)
the trip from chiang mai, thailand to luang pra bang, laos was interesting. first, a tuktuk to the bus station. then, a minibus (read, mini van) overnight, with a stop at 2:30 am for sleep at a guesthouse near the border. then, at 8:30 am a tuktuk to the river, a small boat across the river, another tuktuk from the small river to the mekong river, and then onto the slow boat going down river. the slow boat left at about 10:30 am, and stopped for the night at about 6:30pm. this is where we met friendly freddy and his girlfriend pat, and also space hogging helga. the seats were wooden benches, with straight backs. not so comfy. we were pretty miserable. but, still better than the fast boat. after the overnight in pak bang, laos, we were back on the boat for the rest of the trip to luang pra bang. we left at about 10 am, and arrived at about 4:30 pm.
our hostel in luang prabang was pretty awesome. we were in a co-ed dorm, and had the back section so we were able to rock out the chinese laundry again. (again, thank you husband for the parachute cord. it was awesome.) while in town, we visited the museum, a few wats, lulu and mary got up early to see the alms giving and the morning market, and i managed to contract some sort of intestinal dificulty. i even had a fever. it was awesome. (i'm better now, and after about a week and a half, things are all back to normal. even pepto bismol didn't help.) the night market in town was awesome, i bought some silver jewelry made by local tribes, a laos skirt, and some pillow covers. we went to the waterfalls, and they were beautiful. i'll check to see if i've posted photos of here, but i don't think so. i'll get on that tomorrow. mary left us after we'd been in town for several days, and lulu and i stayed on a couple more after she left.
after we left luang pra bang, we went to phon savan, where the plain of jars is located. it was amazing. on our tour to the plain, we also went to a scrap yard where the were recycling old exploded ordinance, a couple of villiages where i bought a length of hand woven silk right off the loom for 50,000 kip (about $6 US, and it's the size they use to make the longer wrap around skirt, so about a yard and a half by about a yard), we were invited into a families home and were given lao lao to drink. we had tv in our room at the hotel, so we watched whatever movies they were showing that were in english. so far, it's been our only tv, so don't judge me for watching "the sisterhood of the traveling pants 2".
after phon savan, we went to vang vieng. i stayed on the organic farm, and did a whole heaping helping of nothing. it was glorious, and very nice after all the damn traveling through the laos mountains. damn, those were some twisty roads. lulu stayed in town and met up with her cambodian friend, aki, who was leading a tour group around, and went kayaking and motorbiking with them. we both had fun doing our separate activities. i stayed the last night in town, since we were supposed to leave for vientiane fairly early in the morning. i rode on the back of a motorbike from the farm into town, with my backpack on, holding my purse in front of me, and my conical hat in one arm. i didn't even have to grab onto my driver. i'm so proud of me.
here in vientiane, we've stayed at a fairly nice place, run into several people we met in luang pra bang, lulu went zip lining, i walked around for 6 hours mostly lost, we've eaten a lot, and recuperated. tomorrow afternoon we fly to hanoi, vietnam. we are very excited to get to vietnam, and i'll try to update you more often. i'll try to get pictures up tomorrow before we leave. it's just late, and the place looks like it's about to close.
later!
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
notable persons 1
in a plaza in singapore, bongo betsy and drummin' dan were playing hand drums for change. they traveled around the world to panhandle to music.
on the train from kuala lumpur, malaysia to hat yai, thailand, we met kung fu kevin and grumpy gwenny. kung fu kevin started performing tai chi type moves in front of the door on the platform while we were waiting to reboard the train after clearing customs and immigration. also, he smelled as if he hadn't bathed in about 2 weeks. later, he had his right arm going through the neckline of his shirt, instead of the sleeve. note to men - the one shoulder look works for women, not so much for guys.
grumpy gwenny was carrying around 60 litre backpack (huge), and was reduced to wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants.
there was also a couple wearing matching striped pants that they had probably bought at a tourist market.
at our guest house in ayutthia, thailand, snarky suzy asked lulu if she would buy an elephant souvenir for her at one of the wats we would be visiting, since suzy hadn't had a chance to get it herself, yet. when lulu refused, suzy gave her a heap of attitude.
another guest there was shirtless shawn. at no point did we ever see him in a shirt.
on the "vip bus" from ayutthiya to chiang mai, drunken danny was sitting in front of us. he had been drinking so much, and was so dehydrated, that his feet were swollen, giving him cankles and sausage toes, and he reeked of booze.
his friend, lusty louie, was sitting across from him, and next to slutty svetlana. they were making out and giggling for the greater portion of the bus ride. you could hear them making out.
also, in the back row with us and right next to lulu since she was in the middle seat, were the french hippie couple. it smelled as if they had never bathed, and lulu swore that his feet were black. they kept invading lulu's seat, and she ended the trip smelling like them on her right side.
on our trip on the slow boat from chiang mai, thailand, to luang pra bang, laos, we encountered a few more people. first was friendly freddy and his laos girlfriend pat. the boat was scheduled to leave at about 10am, and he was already a bit toasty that morning, and kept drinking throughout the day. before we even had a chance to leave, he was misunderstanding instructions about customs and information on the trip. and once we were on the boat, there was an issue with one of the passengers and the purchase of her ticket. it turns out that the travel package she had purchased did not include the ticket on the slow boat. however, she did not appear to have realized this. so, while the nice lady and the girl were trying to figure it out, freddy kept butting in, trying to "fix" it', and made matters worse. we were delayed by about half an hour for this. the next day, he slept most of the trip, and we attribute this to pat. we think she made him not drink the second day, so he mostly slept, looking hungover. god bless pat.
stoned stanley, aka douchy mcdoucherson, was wearing a che guevera shirt the first day, and lulu was in fits over this. (mind you, we'd seen a metric crap ton of che guevera stuff, and since lulu is cuban, and che ordered the torture and murder of thousands of cubans during the revolution, she gets to be a tad irritable over this.) it was one of those "arty"type shirts, too. later he took it off, but did not replace it with anything, merely going shirtless. (he was shirtless a good portion of the next day, too. and when we saw him in the market a couple days later.) also, he and a few others were smoking pot on the front of the boat the first day.
room hogging helga was the german girl on our boat, toting around 55 kilos of stuff. she was sitting on the flat decking near our seat, and had her stuff spread all over, and wouldn't move for the 2 spanish girls who were having trouble finding space (there was no assigned seating, and the boat was fairly full) because she "wanted to sleep later on".
on the train from kuala lumpur, malaysia to hat yai, thailand, we met kung fu kevin and grumpy gwenny. kung fu kevin started performing tai chi type moves in front of the door on the platform while we were waiting to reboard the train after clearing customs and immigration. also, he smelled as if he hadn't bathed in about 2 weeks. later, he had his right arm going through the neckline of his shirt, instead of the sleeve. note to men - the one shoulder look works for women, not so much for guys.
grumpy gwenny was carrying around 60 litre backpack (huge), and was reduced to wearing a t-shirt and sweatpants.
there was also a couple wearing matching striped pants that they had probably bought at a tourist market.
at our guest house in ayutthia, thailand, snarky suzy asked lulu if she would buy an elephant souvenir for her at one of the wats we would be visiting, since suzy hadn't had a chance to get it herself, yet. when lulu refused, suzy gave her a heap of attitude.
another guest there was shirtless shawn. at no point did we ever see him in a shirt.
on the "vip bus" from ayutthiya to chiang mai, drunken danny was sitting in front of us. he had been drinking so much, and was so dehydrated, that his feet were swollen, giving him cankles and sausage toes, and he reeked of booze.
his friend, lusty louie, was sitting across from him, and next to slutty svetlana. they were making out and giggling for the greater portion of the bus ride. you could hear them making out.
also, in the back row with us and right next to lulu since she was in the middle seat, were the french hippie couple. it smelled as if they had never bathed, and lulu swore that his feet were black. they kept invading lulu's seat, and she ended the trip smelling like them on her right side.
on our trip on the slow boat from chiang mai, thailand, to luang pra bang, laos, we encountered a few more people. first was friendly freddy and his laos girlfriend pat. the boat was scheduled to leave at about 10am, and he was already a bit toasty that morning, and kept drinking throughout the day. before we even had a chance to leave, he was misunderstanding instructions about customs and information on the trip. and once we were on the boat, there was an issue with one of the passengers and the purchase of her ticket. it turns out that the travel package she had purchased did not include the ticket on the slow boat. however, she did not appear to have realized this. so, while the nice lady and the girl were trying to figure it out, freddy kept butting in, trying to "fix" it', and made matters worse. we were delayed by about half an hour for this. the next day, he slept most of the trip, and we attribute this to pat. we think she made him not drink the second day, so he mostly slept, looking hungover. god bless pat.
stoned stanley, aka douchy mcdoucherson, was wearing a che guevera shirt the first day, and lulu was in fits over this. (mind you, we'd seen a metric crap ton of che guevera stuff, and since lulu is cuban, and che ordered the torture and murder of thousands of cubans during the revolution, she gets to be a tad irritable over this.) it was one of those "arty"type shirts, too. later he took it off, but did not replace it with anything, merely going shirtless. (he was shirtless a good portion of the next day, too. and when we saw him in the market a couple days later.) also, he and a few others were smoking pot on the front of the boat the first day.
room hogging helga was the german girl on our boat, toting around 55 kilos of stuff. she was sitting on the flat decking near our seat, and had her stuff spread all over, and wouldn't move for the 2 spanish girls who were having trouble finding space (there was no assigned seating, and the boat was fairly full) because she "wanted to sleep later on".
the toilet prayer
hail mary, mother of the digestive tract,
we thank you for the toilet.
and though we hope that it is western style with toilet paper,
we are thankful for a squat toilet with a sprayer.
and may our need for the toilet on public transport be small,
and may the toilets in our hostels and guest houses be clean,
and may we never need to pray to the porcelain god.
amen
we thank you for the toilet.
and though we hope that it is western style with toilet paper,
we are thankful for a squat toilet with a sprayer.
and may our need for the toilet on public transport be small,
and may the toilets in our hostels and guest houses be clean,
and may we never need to pray to the porcelain god.
amen
handy hints 1
in tropical climates, baby powder is your friend.
you should shower more, not less, if you are sweating.
those places you don't think you need baby powder? you do. apply lots. remember, if it works for babies, it works for you.
flowery scents? not your friend in places with lots of bugs.
try not to stand out. if other foreigners are looking at you strange, then locals are probably looking at you strange. and if the locals are not doing something, you probably shouldn't be doing it either.
always pack a clothes line. it doesn't take much space, and you never know when you'll need it.
if you have a chance to email, do it. you don't know when you'll have the next chance.
when mountain biking, leaning back helps to slow you, so you don't have to wear out the brakes so fast.
if you've been sweating for days, don't assume that when your skin starts to itch that it is not from dry skin. it probably is dry skin. sweating that long just keeps it from looking dry.
damp underwear are not as refreshing as they sound.
you should shower more, not less, if you are sweating.
those places you don't think you need baby powder? you do. apply lots. remember, if it works for babies, it works for you.
flowery scents? not your friend in places with lots of bugs.
try not to stand out. if other foreigners are looking at you strange, then locals are probably looking at you strange. and if the locals are not doing something, you probably shouldn't be doing it either.
always pack a clothes line. it doesn't take much space, and you never know when you'll need it.
if you have a chance to email, do it. you don't know when you'll have the next chance.
when mountain biking, leaning back helps to slow you, so you don't have to wear out the brakes so fast.
if you've been sweating for days, don't assume that when your skin starts to itch that it is not from dry skin. it probably is dry skin. sweating that long just keeps it from looking dry.
damp underwear are not as refreshing as they sound.
memorable quotes 1
after telling me the conversation she had with her mother about 'taking care of the poor white girls', lulu says - "i don't think there are any mcdonalds in cambodia. what will you eat?" i respond with - "i guess i'll just have to suffer through the tarantula."
lulu - "it's like a cup of liquified mango!"
me - "no, it IS a cup of liquified mango."
lulu - "i don't go hungry. i'm cuban. if i wanted to go hungry, i'd go to cuba."
me, after an epiphany in kuala lumpur, malaysia - "oh, my god! i'm exotic!"
lulu, in bangkok, after relating about having seen the protesters on tv waving an image of che guevera - "i'm friends everybody. except stinky tourists and the protesters. they're just uneducated about baby powder and communism."
mary, after seeing a bar named shakes - "shakes. that sounds like a bad gogo bar."
i respond with - "with dancers suffering from parkinson's."
lulu, on the 'vip bus' from ayutthia to chiang mai in thailand - "this bus is like a bad jar of habu sake on wheels."
a german tourist to lulu, about a fruit shake she just bought from a street vendor - "is it good?"
lulu - "yeah, it's good."
his dumb friend, mistaking lulu for a local - "what else are they going to say?"
seen on a pamphlet in a buddhist temple, this became our trip mantra - "it's easy to go to heaven, just be good."
lulu - "it's like a cup of liquified mango!"
me - "no, it IS a cup of liquified mango."
lulu - "i don't go hungry. i'm cuban. if i wanted to go hungry, i'd go to cuba."
me, after an epiphany in kuala lumpur, malaysia - "oh, my god! i'm exotic!"
lulu, in bangkok, after relating about having seen the protesters on tv waving an image of che guevera - "i'm friends everybody. except stinky tourists and the protesters. they're just uneducated about baby powder and communism."
mary, after seeing a bar named shakes - "shakes. that sounds like a bad gogo bar."
i respond with - "with dancers suffering from parkinson's."
lulu, on the 'vip bus' from ayutthia to chiang mai in thailand - "this bus is like a bad jar of habu sake on wheels."
a german tourist to lulu, about a fruit shake she just bought from a street vendor - "is it good?"
lulu - "yeah, it's good."
his dumb friend, mistaking lulu for a local - "what else are they going to say?"
seen on a pamphlet in a buddhist temple, this became our trip mantra - "it's easy to go to heaven, just be good."
Friday, May 7, 2010
ayutthaiya, bangkok
the ruins at wat chaiwatthanaram
remaining decorations
the steps leading up to the top
one of the buddhas in the corners of the walls
the ceilings at the wall corners
along the walls
remaining decorations
a broader view
the ruins of the ancient palace
view of the ancient palace
the giant golden buddha at wat phra si samphet
wat maha that
remaining decoration
part of the ruins
view of wat ratchaburana from wat maha that
a mostly intact buddha statue
the sandstone head of a buddha statue that has been overtaken by a bodhi tree, leaving only the head visible
the ruins
lulu and leah in front of the ruins
a golden buddha statue at wat yai chaya mongkol
the large stupa and the white buddhas behind it in the garden
the rows of buddhas around the walls
the large stupa
one of the smaller buildings housing a drum and bell
a reclining buddha covered in a gold cloth
there's a kneeling person for some perspective
an elephant at the theater where we saw the great show
me with a small stone elephant at the theater
at the ferry landing, people were throwing stale bread into he river for the fish. they were swarming in huge schools to fight over the food.
lulu and mary with the celebrants for the anniversary of the king's coronation
the marble temple, wat benchamabopitr
some of the ceilings at the marble temple
one of the many buddhas
the rows of buddhas lining the walls around the marble temple
the marble temple
a golden buddha statue at wat arun
wat arun
a view from the top of the stupa at wat arun
a shot of the side of the stupa
one of the smaller towers
one of the smaller outlying buldings at wat arun
the crowd at the palace, with the king's limo behind everone just left of center
wat arun, from the river
<----i climbed to this level, and were those stairs steep. we're talking 40 degree angle or steeper.
i can't remember what building this is, but you can see it from the river
a chinese temple on the river in bangkok
a tall pagoda
a pretty building
a view of the city from the river
me, mary, lulu, and leah at dinner in bangkok
thailand!
in our continuing adventures in thailand, lulu and i had dinner our first night in bangkok with her cambodian friend aki. we had a few drinks and then went back to the hostel. lulu's friend mary finally showed up late that night. the next morning, my doxycycline was making me feel awful, so lulu and mary went off on a fabulous adventure to the royal palace and the reclining buddha while i stayed and took a nap. we got a new room mate that day, a girl named leah. the four of us all went to dinner that night, and met up with aki and his tour group for some drinks.
the next day, the four of us took a ferry up toward the royal palace. lulu and mary took a boat across the river to wat arun, while leah and i tried to go to the royal palace to see the emerald buddha. however, it was the anniversary of the king's coronation day, so the palace was closed. but, we had arrived just in time to see the king arrive. there was only a small crowd, but their excitement was amazing. you could tell that they were so happy to see him. i managed to get a fairly bad photo of his limo over the crowd, but at least i got to see him. afterwards, leah and i met lulu and mary over at wat arun, we walked around then took the little boat back over the river and had lunch near the palace. after lunch, we went to the museum, but it was also closed. so we took a taxi over to wat benchamabopitr, the marble temple. the whole thing is built of large blocks of marble, and it's gorgeous.
after that, we walked over to the nearest ferry terminal, which took us past great crowds of people getting ready for the coronation day festivities. unknowingly, lulu and mary had worn pink shirts that day, which is what everyone else was wearing to celebrate, so they got lots of attention as we walked around. people were smiling at them and the soldiers and police kept trying to tell them how nice it was that they were celebrating with everyone. it was great.
after we got back, we cleaned up and then caught a show a theater. it was a huge production showing the history of siam. it was amazing and had dancing, beautiful costumes, real elephants, and amazing sets.
the next day, we got up early to take a train to ayutthaya, the ancient capital. we found a guest house, and then took a three hour tour but tuktuk around to the ancient palace, wat yai chaya mongkol, wat maha that, and wat chaiwatthanaram. the ruins were all amazing.
we walked around the market, then had dinner before leah left to go back to bangkok. then the three of us went back to our room and took showers and looked over our pictures before going to bed.
today, i'm at the guest house while lulu and mary are on a bike ride. i:m too wobbly to begin with, and in this traffic, i'm afraid of being run over. they'll be back later, and we'll go have lunch and go see some more stuff before we take the overnight bus to chiang mai tonight at 8 pm.
as a side note, though there are protests going on in bangkok, they were in isolated areas, and easy to avoid. there is a huge police presence in the city, and at no point (even when we unknowingly ended up near a protest rally) did i ever feel unsafe. everything was very nice, and i can't wait to get back at the end of our trip.
the next day, the four of us took a ferry up toward the royal palace. lulu and mary took a boat across the river to wat arun, while leah and i tried to go to the royal palace to see the emerald buddha. however, it was the anniversary of the king's coronation day, so the palace was closed. but, we had arrived just in time to see the king arrive. there was only a small crowd, but their excitement was amazing. you could tell that they were so happy to see him. i managed to get a fairly bad photo of his limo over the crowd, but at least i got to see him. afterwards, leah and i met lulu and mary over at wat arun, we walked around then took the little boat back over the river and had lunch near the palace. after lunch, we went to the museum, but it was also closed. so we took a taxi over to wat benchamabopitr, the marble temple. the whole thing is built of large blocks of marble, and it's gorgeous.
after that, we walked over to the nearest ferry terminal, which took us past great crowds of people getting ready for the coronation day festivities. unknowingly, lulu and mary had worn pink shirts that day, which is what everyone else was wearing to celebrate, so they got lots of attention as we walked around. people were smiling at them and the soldiers and police kept trying to tell them how nice it was that they were celebrating with everyone. it was great.
after we got back, we cleaned up and then caught a show a theater. it was a huge production showing the history of siam. it was amazing and had dancing, beautiful costumes, real elephants, and amazing sets.
the next day, we got up early to take a train to ayutthaya, the ancient capital. we found a guest house, and then took a three hour tour but tuktuk around to the ancient palace, wat yai chaya mongkol, wat maha that, and wat chaiwatthanaram. the ruins were all amazing.
we walked around the market, then had dinner before leah left to go back to bangkok. then the three of us went back to our room and took showers and looked over our pictures before going to bed.
today, i'm at the guest house while lulu and mary are on a bike ride. i:m too wobbly to begin with, and in this traffic, i'm afraid of being run over. they'll be back later, and we'll go have lunch and go see some more stuff before we take the overnight bus to chiang mai tonight at 8 pm.
as a side note, though there are protests going on in bangkok, they were in isolated areas, and easy to avoid. there is a huge police presence in the city, and at no point (even when we unknowingly ended up near a protest rally) did i ever feel unsafe. everything was very nice, and i can't wait to get back at the end of our trip.
Monday, May 3, 2010
bangkok, thailand
when last you left our adventures, we had just arrived in luala lumpur. but i hadn't told you about out last day in singapore.
we visited the national museum, which cost us S$10, and they had lockers where we could keep our bags at no charge. the history museum inside had listening guids, and was a phenomenal experience. it took us about 2 hours to get through the whole thing. the rest of the museum was set into small sections, fashion, entertainment, food, and photography.
next was the peranakan museum, to learn about the peranakan, which are (i think,) malay mixed with various other peoples who had come to singapore in the distant past. they had a wonderful exhibit on the ramayana.
we saw st. andrew's cathedral, and then went to the train station. while we were waiting for the train to malaysia, a very nice, older, slightly weird man started talking to me, letting me know that we should all take care of the planet by picking up after ourselves and others, and that allah watches over me, even though i don't pray to him.
after arriving in kuala lumpur, we got checked into our guest house which was great, and we did laundry as soon as possible. now, when i say laundry, i do not mean we put it in a washing machine and dryer. i mean we took it into the bathroom and hand washed it in the shower after we cleaned up ourselves, wrung it out, and then hung it up to dry on the three lines we made to go across what little room we had available to string it up. thankfully, my husband pakced me a good length of 550 cord, so we could have 3 lines, instead of two. (thank you honey, the cord did come in handy.) we had almost no spare room, so we had beds on one side, and clothes right up next to them. it looked like a chinese laundry. it kinda rocked.
we spent most of that day doing nothing. but later in the evening, we went to the petronas towers that the city is famous for. most of the next day was spent gettingback to the main train station on fantastically delayed trains. we finally got to the station, and waited for several hours for our own train. we finally boarded, and went on our way to hat yai, thailand. customs was easy and we had several more hours in hat yai before the train up to bangkok. both the trains were overnight trains, and at least we had sleeper cars.
when we finally got to bangkok, we found our hostel, and took the necessarily long shower. we have laundry facilites here (something lulu and i are very excited about), and there's a rooftop garden and a covered porch. the view is wonderful. and now, my dear friends, i'm off to dinner. i'll write more later.
we visited the national museum, which cost us S$10, and they had lockers where we could keep our bags at no charge. the history museum inside had listening guids, and was a phenomenal experience. it took us about 2 hours to get through the whole thing. the rest of the museum was set into small sections, fashion, entertainment, food, and photography.
next was the peranakan museum, to learn about the peranakan, which are (i think,) malay mixed with various other peoples who had come to singapore in the distant past. they had a wonderful exhibit on the ramayana.
we saw st. andrew's cathedral, and then went to the train station. while we were waiting for the train to malaysia, a very nice, older, slightly weird man started talking to me, letting me know that we should all take care of the planet by picking up after ourselves and others, and that allah watches over me, even though i don't pray to him.
after arriving in kuala lumpur, we got checked into our guest house which was great, and we did laundry as soon as possible. now, when i say laundry, i do not mean we put it in a washing machine and dryer. i mean we took it into the bathroom and hand washed it in the shower after we cleaned up ourselves, wrung it out, and then hung it up to dry on the three lines we made to go across what little room we had available to string it up. thankfully, my husband pakced me a good length of 550 cord, so we could have 3 lines, instead of two. (thank you honey, the cord did come in handy.) we had almost no spare room, so we had beds on one side, and clothes right up next to them. it looked like a chinese laundry. it kinda rocked.
we spent most of that day doing nothing. but later in the evening, we went to the petronas towers that the city is famous for. most of the next day was spent gettingback to the main train station on fantastically delayed trains. we finally got to the station, and waited for several hours for our own train. we finally boarded, and went on our way to hat yai, thailand. customs was easy and we had several more hours in hat yai before the train up to bangkok. both the trains were overnight trains, and at least we had sleeper cars.
when we finally got to bangkok, we found our hostel, and took the necessarily long shower. we have laundry facilites here (something lulu and i are very excited about), and there's a rooftop garden and a covered porch. the view is wonderful. and now, my dear friends, i'm off to dinner. i'll write more later.
more pictures!
sights from kuala lumpur and more from singapore
the petronas towers, in kuala lumpur
us, in front of the towers
me, in front of the towers
lulu in front of the towers
the towers
a bed in the peranakan museum, in singapore
a side view of the bed
traditional furniture in the peranakan museum
food preparation items in the national museum, singapore
traditional food containers, snm
a puppet stage, snm
various puppets, snm
the swinging chandeliers, snm
the sultan mosque, singapore
the malabar mosque, singapore
malabar mosque
a chinese temple, singapore
the plaque at the temple housing the sacred buddha tooth relic, singapore
a statue in the temple's museum
another statue in the museum
ｔhe buddhist temple of the sacred tooth relic in singapore
the same temple
ｔhe hindu temple sri mariamman, singapore
the same hindu temple
the same hindu temple
the petronas towers, in kuala lumpur
us, in front of the towers
me, in front of the towers
lulu in front of the towers
the towers
a bed in the peranakan museum, in singapore
a side view of the bed
traditional furniture in the peranakan museum
food preparation items in the national museum, singapore
traditional food containers, snm
a puppet stage, snm
various puppets, snm
the swinging chandeliers, snm
the sultan mosque, singapore
the malabar mosque, singapore
malabar mosque
a chinese temple, singapore
the plaque at the temple housing the sacred buddha tooth relic, singapore
a statue in the temple's museum
another statue in the museum
ｔhe buddhist temple of the sacred tooth relic in singapore
the same temple
ｔhe hindu temple sri mariamman, singapore
the same hindu temple
the same hindu temple
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