A Provincial town called Tra Vinh

Kelly, Rebecca, Sophea, and I went to a small town about 4 hours southeast of Saigon. It was just what we were looking for: peace, quiet, good cheap food, and adventure. Rather than chronologically going through this, I am just going to share the highlights.

Day 2

Our trip to Ben Tre. Ben Tre is another small provincial town. The plan was to take a boat there, the hotel said it would be 1 hour and 20 minutes and that we would need to find a boat at 6:30am. We went there at this time and eventually found a boat, we were told to come back at 9am, and that it would be 100,000VND, not 50,000VND like our hotel said. We walked around the market, found fish hopping out of bowls, frogs trying to escape, turtles locked together on a stick, and one of the provincial foods, Ban Tet that a coworker recommended. It was a successful use of time before returning to the boat at 9am.

The negotiation

We go back and they wanted 100,000VND. I started to bargain at 50,000VND. The guy said no. Then we decide we can give them a little extra. So I say "bay muoi ngan," (70,000 VND). All of a sudden this guy doesn't speak Vietnamese and doesn't understand my Vietnamese. So then I repeat it a few times, no acknowledgement of understanding. So I count "Mot, hai, ba, bon, nam, sau, bay. Bay muoi ngan," (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 70,000 VND). I now named this guy "No Speaky Vietnamese." He still claims to not understand a word I'm saying. Then I tell him, "Chung toi khong phai la nguoi Viet. La nguoi Viet mua cho nam muoi ngan, nhung chung toi khong phai la nguoi Viet. Chung toi mua cho bay muoi ngan," (We are not Vietnamese. Vietnamese people pay 50,000VND, but we are not Vietnamese. We pay 70,000VND). The Vietnamese onlookers all start cracking up, they all know that the guy is still getting a deal from us. If we really want to, we could bargain it down to 50,000VND, but we're on vacation and just want to get on the boat and go. However, No Speaky Vietnamese still does not speak Vietnamese. So I go to the last resort, we show No Speaky Vietnamese 70,000VND. Now he cannot say he doesn't understand. So he agrees to our 70,000VND price.

The boat

Our boat is a cargo boat which we knew ahead of time. The unfortunate thing is we ended up leaving at 10am instead of 9am. Eventually we take off and we have a decent setup, three hammocks inside the boat, and 4 chairs we can move wherever we want. We sit outside, enjoy the view and wave to people. We really noticed during this trip that provincial Vietnamese people are very very nice. The boat continues and makes some drops along the way. We see literally mountains of old coconut shells along the way. Ben Tre is known for its coconut candy, so we presume that's why there's so many coconuts. There were seriously thousands upon thousands of them all along the rivers we went down. One of the cool things was when we were on the Mekong river, it started to rain so we went inside and everything was blowing around, my sandal almost went over board it was so strong. Captain George nearly lost his Gilligan hat, it blew off his head and we were all worried. He went over to it and got it before it blew away, we all cheered. Then we sat inside the boat and watched the rain, it was a really beautiful sight and it helped to cool things off. I even felt a little cold which is a very nice feeling to have in Vietnam. Now, the toilet. So the toilet is in the back of the boat, next to the kitchen. You open a door similar to a side gate door but much smaller. You step in and there's a square cut out of the floor. That my friends, is the toilet. Whatever waste we had to get rid of went straight into the river. Surprisingly, the rivers down here didn't reek of urine, feces, and other bile from who knows what like they do in Saigon. It was nice to see what looked like clean water, trees, and no high rises. Along the way we made many friends with onlookers working about their day. We'd wave to them and just about all of them waved back. It was fun, felt like a kid again on a road trip when you wave at other cars that pass by. Eventually, after a 5 hour boat ride that we thought would be 1 hour and 20 minutes, we arrive in Ben Tre.

Ben Tre

We spent a total of 2 hours in Ben Tre. We booked our hotel and had all of our things back in Tra Vinh. So upon arrival at Ben Tre, the first thing to do was to find a way out of Ben Tre and to Tra Vinh. I ditched the women and went to the bus station to find out the deal. After about an hour of mistranslations I find out there is a city bus that will take us to a ferry that will then take us to Tra Vinh. They said it would take us to Tra Vinh city too, not just the province. So, I meet up with the girls, we drink a beer together and it's time to go. The last bus is at 5:45pm. We take 4 different motor taxis to the bus station. As soon as we arrive, the bus arrives too, so we all jump on.

The City Bus

There are two workers in the bus, the money handler-female, and the door opener-male. The money handler tells us the price is 60,000VND. The nice lady at the bus station wrote down for me that it was 20,000VND. So, to make it short I just hand her the note. She accepts her defeat without any remorse or apology. We give her the money and we sit down. Sophea is the only one in a chair. Rebecca, Kelly, and I are sitting on the ground facing those in the chairs, we are next to the doorman. Along the way, a vagrant joins us. He sits next to Kelly who is on my left, I'm in the middle between Kelly and Rebecca. The vagrant sees us, and thinks GOLD! So he starts showing me his mouth (dirty black teeth), then also his hands and said something about money in Vietnamese. I just turn my head the other way, tired of people asking for handouts all the time. Later, he touches my knee, and wants to compare our feet or something, I turn back to look at the right side of the window. I did my best to avoid and ignore this guy. Later, he touches my knee again, smiles, and does a very ugly motion with his mouth and then mentions 3,000 VND. I return to my view to the right. The lady sitting across from us takes pity on me and tells him we don't understand and that he should stop touching my leg. I look at the doorman, he motions that I can punch the vagrant in the face, I have his permission. Us 3 all crack up. The vagrant continued to touch my knee a few more times, I told him no. The lady told him again too. I really wanted to point out to him that my girlfriend is there with us, but Sophea is asleep this entire time and has no idea what's happening. After about 20-30 minutes of this uncomfortable/awkward situation, the vagrant has arrived at his stop. As he leaves, I blow him a kiss to mess with him. Then I tell the bus "Di! Di! Di!" (Go! Go! Go!), but the bus isn't going. The doorman is trying to get more passengers. Luckily the vagrant doesn't come back onboard, instead he blows me 4 kisses back, of which only 1 I saw. I was enjoying my right side view once again. Everyone laughed on the bus and Sophea finally woke up.

Ferry

We make it to the ferry and the ferry is leaving as soon as we arrive. We pile on, find a restroom, then the ferry takes us to the other side. We are 18km from Tra Vinh town. I talk to a Vietnamese guy because we have no mode of transportation, then Sophea talks with a Khmer guy. The Khmer guy says there will be a bus coming soon that we could try and get seats on. There is also a bus in front of us, but we would have to stand. We decide to stick with the Khmer guy, the next bus shows up 2 minutes later, we hop on and get seats. A sweet deal from having no transportation, to getting comfortable seats in a traveling bus in 2 minutes. It also only cost us $2. We make it to Tra Vinh town and take a taxi to our hotel. In one day we traveled by six different modes of transportation: foot, boat, motorbike, bus, ferry, and taxi. Though we didn't get to spend much time at all in Ben Tre, it proved to be an interesting day.

Last Day

The last day was the big finale. It was time to eat snake and drink its blood. This is something I've wanted to do in Vietnam since I moved here a year ago. This was finally the day that I would do it, on a Monday morning. We went to the restaurant and ordered a snake. They said it would take an hour, they had to go buy the snake first. We told them we wanted to get a picture of it before they cooked it. Later the snake arrived. First it was in a white bag, but we couldn't really see it. So they took it out and put it in a large silver bin. The snake slthered out of the bin. All of us run away and the women scream. The snake stops and just sits there. A guy grabs its tail, Kelly snaps a picture and we go back to our table. Sophea tells us it is the King of Snakes, a python. We were all very thankful it wasn't a cobra since we didn't want it to bite us or put its venom into us. Shortly thereafter, my glass of snake blood arrives. If you get queezy hearing about blood, you may want to skip this part. I have a glass of blood and then I have to make my choice for the alcohol to mix it with. I wanted rice wine because that's what the characters use in One Evening After the War, my favorite Cambodian movie. They only have red wine, then Sophea suggests whiskey, but they only have a $60 bottle, so I finally end up with Hanoi Vodka for $2.50. I pour a few drops of blood into the shot glass, then pour the vodka in. I stir it and it's a nice pink hue. It actually almost looks like a cocktail shot. It's time now. I grab my glass, snap a picture and then I take it down. No chaser of course. It mostly tastes like alcohol, there isn't much of a blood taste to it. All of the women didn't want to partake. So on a Monday morning I quickly drink 7 shots of Snake blood vodka. By the end I did have a metallic taste in my mouth, much like the taste of blood. They cook the snake into two dishes, minced snake with herbs and snake soup. The snake soup was by far tastier and easier to eat. It had thicker meat and the bones were easier to pick out. We also ate frog curry and sauteed eel. It was indeed a provincial food day.

Drinking with the locals

After the conquering of the Snake and cementing my manhood. We go down the highway to find a small road to take a look at the countryside. We find a small road which leads us to a ladies shop. We speak Vietnamese with the lady and get some beers. We partake and eventually we have a 30 year old man with us, talking to us like we understand everything he says. We also have the seller and her neighbor laughing at all of us. This was by far one of the more entertaining parts, though I don't have a good recollection of what occured. I do remember having a really good time. It was eventually time to go, so we went back to our hotel and took the bus back to Saigon. It was a good 3 day weekend.

I like to say now that I've drank Snakes blood, I feel like a man amongst mere mortals, this must be the way Ron Burgundy feels every day.

Motivation

Now, I know I owe a post about my Tet vacation which was 2 weeks in Cambodia, I'll get to that. But lately I've had something a bit more pressing on my mind.

The last month I've been constantly searching and reevaluating. Trying to remind myself why I am here and questioning my initial intentions for coming and whether those reasons remain valid. I cannot say I have found an answer, but I am working on it. I began making goals, in different sections, 5 years, 1 year, monthly, weekly, and daily. Since Monday, when I created my list of goals, I have reviewed my list each day. Though it's only been a few days, I am feeling much more motivated to complete my daily routine. I picked up a second job teaching 2-3 classes for 1.5 hours to 2.25 hours a night. If I work about 18-20 hours extra per month then I can pay for my rent, utilities, water, and internet. That's only an extra 5 hours of work per week. So far I've been meeting that over the last two weeks and I hope that continues. Also, I've been recommitted to the gym. It's taken me about 6 months, but I feel like I am finally getting a better hang of things and can control my spending better than before. Every day I've been writing every expenditure and the amount down (reciepts here are obselete for the most part). Beginning next week I will allot myself a set amount of money to spend on everything for the week. I've taken 4 weeks of data to devise what number should be a reasonable goal.

So, for finances and my workload, I feel like I am at a good place with that. However, my productivity still remains stagnant for outside of work and the gym. My Vietnamese is still at the treacherous level it's been at since the beginning. My Khmer has progressed, but much slower as of late. I've been lazy, not writing down new words when I speak with Sophea. This is the section I am struggling over. Khmer or Vietnamese, or try to do both. But before I can make that decision I believe I need to make a committed effort to at least one. I know I have motivation to learn Khmer, but for Vietnamese, its been impeded since arrival. Prearrival I told myself I would learn Vietnamese out of respect for the country since I would be residing in it. It seems only fair. However, from my experiences with people here, I've consistently chosen to not take advantage of language learning opportunities. There have been times where I've told myself, "I never want to hear this language again once I leave here." There have also been times when I've thought, "It doesn't sound too bad after all." And there have been the very few instances when I've understood a few things people have said and this almost gives me the motivation to study again. There isn't much better motivation than to overhear a conversation and understand at least some of it, you feel in the know. I had one of these recently and it's got me to think more about what I'm doing here with language study. I know I can learn it if I try hard enough. It's just I've had a number of inconsiderate interactions with people here that it's made me think I don't really want to get know the people here on a deeper level.

I know Vietnam and Cambodia are two different countries, two different ethnicities, two very different languages and cultures, but to me I just consistently make comparisons between the two. I consistently find that Cambodians in general are so much friendlier and generous. Not that all Vietnamese are not friendly or generous, but it seems you have to gain a greater trust with them, it takes time. For the Khmer, I feel like they just have beaming curiosity and are ready and willing to spend an entire day just to get to know you. A number of people have asked me if this is because of the war and so forth. However, I always deny this because Cambodia had a genocide, each country has had many lost lives, and yes, while the "enemy" in the Khmer Rouge was not entirely from a foreign entity, the U.S. still did bomb Cambodia and I don't see the same inherent distrust from Khmer people that Vietnamese seem to have toward foreigners. Even when I was in college, when I expressed an interest in attending a meeting of the Vietnamese Student Association, I was met with distaste and hesitance. The guy who said he'd email me, never did. Meanwhile the Berkeley Cambodian Student Association took me under their wing and welcomed me almost as their own.

The part that has bothered me is I don't understand why my negative interactions with Vietnamese people is the reason why I'm choosing not to learn the language. I've also had a fair share of positive interactions, however, the negative ones are the ones that pop in my mind first.

So here I am, still in this gray area searching for motivation to do this.

Singapore

Disclaimer: I really enjoyed Singapore, this post will mostly glorify things that seem normal to most western countries. This, in turn, is likely due to the amount of time I have spent in Vietnam/Cambodia. Those of you who have been living in Asia will probably appreciate the differences I mention more than our western counterparts who are used to the following benefits of living in western countries and who have yet to live abroad.

We took a bus from Kuala Lumpur to Singapore and once again, the bus was luxurious making for a smooth ride, even for Sophea. Crossing into Singapore highlighted the technological advances between the previous three countries of the trip (Vietnam, Cambodia, Malaysia), there were scanners for an individual to use for their passport if they were Singaporean, allowing for more efficient border crossings. Also, the really nice thing about both Malaysia and Singapore is they only put in a small stamp in your passport, they do not take up an entire page like Vietnam and Cambodia. Lastly, they also did not charge a fee for the travel visa, an unexpected benefit for me, though we knew for Sophea it would be free since these countries are part of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations).

Arriving in Singapore, we saw clean streets, clean buildings, less car and moto fumes, and sidewalks! Yes, there were also sidewalks in Malaysia too. In Vietnam there are sidewalks, sometimes, but usually they will be littered with motos, or sellers with their trinkets, making it impossible to walk without having to watch your next step. Constantly going back and forth between street and sidewalk until you get tired of it and just accept defeat and stick to the street. Nonetheless, I appreciated the ease of walking on the sidewalk.

There was also a subway which reminded me of my days at UC Berkeley taking the BART. I was happy to learn the subway in Singapore was much faster and more efficient than the BART, with the longest time he/she would have to wait for a train being a long 3 minutes (hope you catch my sarcasm). These 3 minutes were far better than the 15 to sometimes 30 minutes at the BART. It was Sophea's first time in a subway, so after the first day I explained it to her and showed her the map. By the second day she was able to navigate our way back to the hotel which included transferring trains as well. She also appreciated the subway as much as I did since usually she will get bothered by traveling in taxis.

One more great thing about Singapore, at the subway and at elevators, people actually stand on the sides of the doors, wait for people to exit the train/elevator, and once all of the passengers have finished exiting, only then do they board the train/elevator. Those of you who live in Southeast Asia know what I'm talking about. For example, today I was going down my elevator to go shopping and I reached the ground floor. The door opens and before I can even get out (there were only two of us in the elevator) people are coming into the elevator, blocking my exit. I do enjoy learning about other cultures and agree to following the majority or 99% of the customs of that country while in it. However, as time goes on I am learning there are certain differences that can become an annoyance after a while.

Streets had lanes. Most of the time, cars and motorbikes stuck to the lanes and followed the traffic laws. People obeyed red lights and green lights. In the near future I will highlight some of the annoyances and benefits of living in Vietnam as I am noticing this is becoming a recurring comparison throughout this blogpost.

Now, for the best of all. And I mean, THE BEST of all comparisons. Are you ready for it? I hope so. Drum roll please .................................................................... Da Ta DA!!!! There's soap in all the restrooms!! Even in the public restrooms there was soap!! I had never been so pleased with a restroom experience before in my life. I knew I could count on each restroom having soap. When I went to a restaurant, I knew I could rely on washing my hands there, no reason to ponder in thought when the last time it was that I washed my hands and what I had touched since then. No calculation had to be made guessing whether I'll get sick if my hands touch my food. Also, as a side note, there was toilet paper in each stall as well. It was not the kind of toilet paper that will make you regret your use of it, it was quality toilet paper. Though, I have to admit I no longer prefer toilet paper, "the shooter," as I like to call it, is much more efficient. Alright, that's enough bathroom talk if you're not grossed out already. Onto the trip.

The first day we took the subway to the marina and downtown area. We walked around, went into a mall and later ate dinner at a Chinese restaurant on the 60th floor. The restaurant had nice views but our table was not near the window. Despite this we still enjoyed our meal with some spicy food and fresh green tea poured in a unique fashion, take a look.

We both felt pity for this guy as nearly everyone in the restaurant had tea and this guy was the only one refilling it throughout the place. He certainly was an expert of his trade, we never got splashed with hot water. It was interesting to watch his accuracy as he had to place the spout near the edge of the tea cup because the speed of the water is much too fast to go into the middle, otherwise it would splash out. He had to carefully place the spout so the steaming water would swirl around in the cup.

After dinner we walked around the Quays which was the historical colonial trading center that the Singapore river ran through. Now it is a pristine area with tons of restaurants and bars. At night the lights of museums and modern buildings make for a pleasing sight to see. While walking along this area, these are some of the things we saw.

After walking around we decided to head over to Clark Quay for a drink at Brewerkz. It's a microbrew and I was really excited because my travel book said they sold an India Pale Ale. IPAs are indeed one of my favorite types of beers, and I have not had one since moving to Vietnam. The beer choices in Vietnam are the following: really bad lagers, drinkable lagers, and somewhat satisfying lager on a hot day. Stouts are available if you go specifically to a foreign brewery, I've been to one for my school's first happy hour, but the stout there was rather weak and disappointing. Take a look at the next picture to see how pleased I was upon sitting down at Brewerkz:

That's right, they had Stone Beer!! For those unfortunate souls who have yet to experience any of Stone's beer, they are a microbrewery in San Marcos, California which is about 30 minutes north of where I grew up. Stone makes amazing beers and I never imagined they would pop up in Singapore, but sure enough they were there. There were two sections on the menu dedicated to American beers, I wish I had the time and stomach to enjoy them all, but we unfortunately had only two days/nights in Singapore.

This is a picture of a happy man.

(It's rather dark, but Sophea was also happy with her frozen margarita, she was disappointed with the cocktails in Malaysia, but she was able to get her best frozen margarita of the trip at Brewerkz as well)

The following day was New Years Eve. During the day we took the subway and used our legs to see a Chinese temple, Thai Buddhist temple, Hindu temple, Fort Canning Park, the Quays, and Marina.

Hindu Temple

Fort Canning Park

(At the Quays)

(By far one of my favorite photos of the trip. This salmon was amazing, melted in your mouth and had a great barbacue sauce. Made me miss your home baked salmon Dad and Sheila!)

Sophea's favorite, salad. If she could, she'd eat salad every day.

This bridge eventually led to another bridge where we would enjoy fireworks after the countdown.

Our dinner for the night. As a precaution for anyone buying fresh seafood who is not accustomed to doing so, ensure you read the price of how many grams and how many kilos your seafood is. I'll just say I met an unwelcome surprise when I got the check and learned my lesson the hard way.

Happy New Year 2012!

And that my readers, was our New Years trip. New Years Day we took a bus from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur where we caught our flight to Phnom Penh. I spent half a day in Phnom Penh and went to Bak Kaeng, the place where he/she can eat on a mat overlooking the mekong river and can relax in hammocks. At 3pm I caught my bus back to Saigon.

Coming up soon, two weeks vacation in Cambodia. Also, if readers have any requests/questions please feel free to send them, happy to change things up or make relevant blogposts to reader's interests.

 

Malaysia, Overdue

Sorry for the lapse of time since writing. Rather than making excuses, I'll jump right to it. For Christmas and New Years Sophea and I went to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and Singapore. We had 9 days for vacation. The departure on December 24th turned out to be a lot more rough than I was anticipating. I took the usual bus ride from Saigon to Phnom Penh and we stopped at the same routine bus stop restaurant on Cambodia's border in Bavet. I ate chicken curry with rice as usual. While on the bus ride, my stomach wasn't feeling the best, but I've become accustomed to occasional stomach aches. I figured it was nothing. Sophea meets me at the bus stop and we head straight to the Phnom Penh airport to catch our flight to Kuala Lumpur. While at the airport, my stomach continues to worsen. Then, about 10 minutes before we board, I have a run in with the toilet and learn I'm sick. I return to board and while in line, it gets worse. Instead of the usual sickness, it turns out to be really bad food poisoning. I'm sick all along the flight, visiting the restroom throughout the flight to purge and remove anything remaining in my system. Stupidly when packing I thought, "Hey, I'm going to Malaysia and Singapore, they are both more developed than Saigon, so I shouldn't get sick. I won't need my medicine."

Eventually we land in Kuala Lumpur and have to walk for what seems to be a mile before we can reach the baggage claim and restroom. We get our stuff and hop into a taxi. Hugo, my friend who we also met up with in Ha Noi, told us to meet him at his place. The taxi takes about an hour to get to downtown Kuala Lumpur, I asked the driver to please take us to a pharmacy since I'm as sick as a dog. Thankfully, he takes us to one that's nearby Hugo's place. I have never been so grateful to see a pharmacy. I get some medicine and we rendezvous with Hugo. He is prompt and ready for a night out. Sadly I have to tell him a night out with me will just be a night with the toilet Gods. He understands and I take the medicine as quickly as I can. It's only 9pm, not very late, but I know that we will be taking a 4-5 hour bus ride the next day and I don't want to be sick on the bus. Sophea and I stay in for the night and enjoy the views of Hugo's place.

The next day we take a bus to Penang, an island on the western side of Malaysia. I was hoping for a nice vacation on a beach with a lot of relaxation as that would be ideal after the last 4 months of nonstop work. However, Hugo told us the nicest beaches are on the east coast which is completely flooded at this time since it's monsoon season. We settle for Penang which is a historical island with its capital city, Georgetown. The bus we take is luxurious compared to the buses I take to and from Cambodia and Vietnam. The seats are large, only one row of two seats and another row of one seat. The seats can recline and they also have leg rests that can move. The air conditioning works constantly and can easily be adjusted. Sophea, who usually gets sick from bus rides, got some medicine from the pharmacy for this ride, and luckily she does not feel sick the entire ride. We arrive in Georgetown at a mall and get to our guesthouse. The guesthouse was a place recommended to Hugo by some of his coworkers. The place is interesting, our room has an air conditioner and bathroom included. No refrigerator or TV. The walls are made of the same "walls" used to make cubicles. Thus, hearing your neighbors was not uncommon. We wouldn't spend much time in the room anyhow. This was really our first day out in Malaysia and I was surprised to see the diversity.

Being in Vietnam the last 5 months, I became accustomed to seeing 99% of people looking Vietnamese, with the other 1% being expats, or travelers. However, in Penang from what I saw it seemed predominantly Indian and Chinese. Malays are Muslim and I didn't see many of them at the outset for when we arrived in Penang. Having these three groups of people gave me a reminder of what it's like back at home, though there is much more diversity back at home. We walked around Georgetown for a bit and eventually ate some pretty good Indian food. Afterward, we went to two bars that were Bob Marley themed and we planned what we would do for our weekend in Penang. This day was also December 25th, Christmas back at home. I didn't really get a feeling like it was Christmas, the usual humidity and heat was in Penang, though it did feel 1 or 2 degrees cooler than Saigon.

The next day we rented motorbikes and took ourselves on a tour to see a Mosque, two Buddhist temples, one Thai, one Burmese, two beaches, a national forest and hike, plus Penang Hill (more like a mountain). It was actually a lot of fun to drive the motorbikes in this city we had never been to. Hugo had a map and we eventually found our way to all of our destinations without many problems. Here, most people obeyed the traffic laws which made for safer driving.

At the Thai Buddhist temple, first stop.

Next stop, the Burmese Buddhist temple. It was a very long trek to get there, we had to cross the street (kidding).

Next stop was the Mosque. This Mosque was called the Floating Mosque since it is placed over water, as you'll see in the photos. Hugo warned Sophea she would have to cover up her hair. Sophea didn't believe him when he said it. I ensured her he was serious and so she reluctantly covered her hair. Hugo said the Malays in the east are more strict, and she may not have been allowed if she wasn't careful. Then Sophea began making jokes about herself, calling herself a Muslim girl.

During this trip Hugo told us of a story when he was haggling for an item. He was trying to buy something from a Chinese market. He was asking for a lower price and the seller told him the product was high quality because it was an original, an original copy. Throughout the trip we would make jokes about original copies.

Next stop was a beach we saw from the road where we would go to eat lunch, sitting in the sand.

While at this beach we saw Malay women going into the water fully clothed, some with head scarves as well. It was pretty interesting to see that. No, we did not ride the jet skis. We did have lunch there and a short nap in the sun, well Hugo and I did. Sophea did her best to hide in the shade, in fear of her skin getting dark.

Next, we continued our drive to the national forest where we hiked about a mile to a secluded beach that was inhabited by hundreds of sandcrabs.

After our hike to the beach and swim, we headed back to our motorbikes. The plan was to get back into town and drive to Penang Hill which is really a mountain. There, they have a cable car that takes you to the top of the mountain. The mountain has really great views of Penang and you can see across to mainland Malaysia. The drive to get there turned out to be a long arduous one as there weren't easy signs to follow. After about an hour of driving in different places and asking a local or two, we eventually made it to the base of Penang Hill.

There was a Hindu temple at the top.

The next day we had half a day to explore more in Georgetown. We visited some Chinese temples dedicated to the long-time Chinese families who worked as merchants in Penang for over a century. We also saw a mosque, it wasn't open or did not allow access for visitors at the time.

I never see payphones anymore so I thought it was worth a shot.

That night we returned to Kuala Lumpur. Hugo had to return to work so Sophea and I spent a full day walking all around Kuala Lumpur, visiting the Kuala Lumpur Tower, the Petronas Towers, and a few shopping malls.

The shopping malls certainly displayed the Christmas spirit. Though it was more of a consumerist notion.

Hungry for an Iguana?

The view from the Kuala Lumpur tower.

No, the snowman wasn't made of real snow. We were very disappointed.

Petronas Towers, Petronas is the name of the national oil company. Hugo told us the towers don't have many businesses in them because the rents are too expensive, so the building is mostly vacant. Speaking of the Petronas Towers, Sophea told me a funny story about people visiting Kuala Lumpur. So there's two tourists who want to go to the Petronas Towers and they want to find out how many floors there are in the tower. They walk to the towers and begin counting how many floors there are. A security guard comes up to them, "Hey! What are you doing?" The tourists respond, "We're counting how many floors there are." The security guard says, "Well, you know you have to pay $10 per floor you count, so how many floors did you count?" The tourists answer, "Only 8 floors." The security guard puts his hand out for the money, "That'll be $80 then." The tourists walk away and talk amongst each other, "We fooled that security guard, we counted all of the floors, there's 88!" The security guard walks away and mumbles to himself, "Stupid tourists, why would you have to pay to count the floors?" I told this story to my 5th graders, but they ended up arguing over who was the fool in the story and didn't enjoy it as much as I did. And no, we did not encounter a security guard trying to take money from us.

All of that walking made me hungry...

The bears are actually an effort by UNICEF to raise money for children. They are called United Buddy Bears and there's a bear representing each country. An artist from each country painted a bear to symbolize their nation. These were placed outside a large mall and they wrapped around the sidewalk.

After our day of touring Kuala Lumpur we went out with Hugo and his roommate for drinks. We went to two bars and had a good evening out. The next day Hugo was flying out to Perth, Australia for New Years. Sophea and I then made our plans to go to Singapore for New Years. The next day, Hugo flew out while Sophea and I took a day trip out to Malacca, a small historical town along the beach. The beach wasn't much to see as it was mostly used for commerce. We walked around the town, had some really good Chinese food, visited an old Portugese and Dutch fort that still has its canons. We also had some really good ice cream on a hot day.

This is the popular bicycle rickshaw of Malacca, the drivers would blast and I mean blast pop music to tones that let the entire neighborhood know the rickshaw is on it's way. We chose not to partake in their offer for transportation, our legs are much more quiet.

See the resemblance?

See the Tiger? Tiger beer is all over Asia, especially in Vietnam. When Hugo, Sophea, and I went to Penang. Hugo tried to order a different beer and the waitress came back and gave him a Tiger beer. He said, "She knew I wanted a Tiger. I didn't know I wanted one, but she knew."

(This picture is for you Mom, hope you're reading) To let the rest of you know, my mother has an obsession with anything that has to do with cows. She has three wooden cows in the front yard of her house, and no, she does not live on a farm, but in suburbia. If you try counting the number of cow items there are in the house, you'll likely lose count before you reach the end, that is, if you reach the end.

This boat on the left is the museum we would go inside next. It was supposed to be a replica of an old shipping boat from the colonial period.

Captain Jack Sparrow didn't pop out anywhere, though we kept an open eye out for him. He was probably busy commandeering a more mobile ship.

I've decided to make the Singapore trip into its own blogpost. This Malaysia one is much too long. Singapore will be here soon.