Day 14 - 16 malaysia to thailand

alright- time to pick up where i left off! hopefully i can get you all updated to today's date.

Day 14

breakfast at hostel - eggs, toast and a mango we got at a fruit stand.

post office- shipped some gifts and books we had finished home. don't wanna carry them all over the peninsula! lol

arab district (or rather the muslim district)- really cute and quaint! 2 of the streets were pedestrian only and had colonial style shops and restaurants all up and down. there's a huge mosque near the center that was really pretty but we didn't go in (i don't know if we could have actually...it's a working temple and we heard the call to prayer while we were there.)

lunch- mutton kebab, fries, prata, veg. curry. overall pretty good but not great. it was interesting because we went there expecting to see mostly arab people, food, etc. but it's actually a big mix of peoples, foods, etc. from countries who have a large muslim population- middle east, indonesia, malaysia, etc. it was cool to see the cultures mixing.

after lunch jens hung out at lovely little coffee shop while i shopped around. they had lots of cute things but i settles on two pretty throw pillow cases and a table cloth.

next we went to the botanic gardens which were wonderful! they didn't have as many flowers as i expected (but we didn't go through the entire huge park so i'm not sure) but it was really, really green! there were all kinds of huge trees, two ponds, swans, a rainforest section and a huge green field for picnics. we just roamed around and took pictures. there was a wedding going on so we saw the bride and groom getting pics. and lots of people had their dogs there so we loved on as many as we could! we miss our puppies! the things i liked about this park the most were it's free, it's beautiful and all kinds of people go there to hang out and enjoy nature. it's so diverse!

we got a snack of samosas and ice cream and hung out on the green watching people. then we headed to chinatown! it was HUGE! lots of people and shops and cafes and colors and mayhem! they had big decorations up over the roads, including tons of fake cherry trees! lol i assume that was all for the upcoming chinese new year.

we got a boba milk tea and just let the crowd take us around. there was a hindu temple i wanted to see in that area but when we got to it it was all covered for renovation! that's the 2nd hindu temple that i tried to see and it was covered! i'm thinking it must be something they do at the beginning of each year...

we knew there was another hindu temple in little indian so we rushed back over there to try and see it before it was dark. well the sun just went down before we got there but i think i still got some good pics. it was lit here and there. i felt a little awkward taking pics though because it's a working temple and many people were coming in and out to pray. i think they're used to tourists though because they didn't seemed phased by me at all. i tried to be discreet. anyway, hindu temples are amazing! so colorful and SO many figures carved into the roof and walls. i think i like them the most out of any other religion's temples.

for dinner we decided to go to the same food court stall we went to for lunch on the first day because it was so good! we got chicken biriyani and a big tiger beer. so yummy!

then it was time to go back and get a good night's rest for our harrowing 48 hours or so of travel to thailand lol on the way we stopped by a place and got some chai to take back and drink while we read in our room. they put it in bags with a little handle and a straw! lol it was so funny but practical. only thing is you can't ever sit the thing down lol

Day 15 - singapore to kuala lumpur, malaysia

got up, packed and left the hostel. we were planning on eating a quick breakfast there but the smells of indian food were so wonderful we decided we had to eat it one more time! lol we ran over to the only restaurant open and got a cheese prata (indian cheese), a murtabak (kind of like an indian breakfast burrito) and chai. so yummy!

after that we took a small van to the big double-decker luxury bus we'd be taking to KL. it was pretty nice! we sat on the second level and they had nice roomy seats that reclined and a tv screen in the back of every headrest. i watched a movie called "the perfect getaway" - a thriller with a twist! it was pretty crazy! lol

when we got to the singapore/malay border we had to get off the bus, get our bags and go through immigration and customs. it was weird. i had never done an overland border crossing. they're MUCH less strict than airport security!

the bus took like 5 hours or something. i can't remember. then we had an afternoon/evening in kl.

we had subway for lunch- underwhelming as usual. i was just in the mood for something familiar and somewhat healthy though.

hung out at gloria jean's outdoor coffee shop for a few hours reading.

i have to say that s.e. asia has totally blown the "loud, obnoxious american traveler" out of the water! we've only met like 2 americans on this trip (one of which has been living in paris for 30 years so he doesn't really count lol) and i tell you what- i've encountered SO MANY loud, obnoxious travelers from other countries that i have no idea how america got such a bad rap lol when we were hanging out at that coffee shop this middle-eastern looking guy was YELLING his entire conversation at his friend who was 2 feet away lol he didn't seem angry he was just incredibly loud! i had ear plugs in AND i was sitting like 40 feet away and he was still to loud! i kept looking over there like what the heck man? i didn't seem to get the picture. THEN this guy sitting right behind jens kept singing to his girlfriend off and on the whole time we were sitting there lol i dunno where he was from but he wasn't american. and i can't tell you all the times we've been somewhere and some non-english speaking people were talking entirely too loud! lol so that stereotype about americans actually applies to people from all countries. every country has loud, obnoxious people lol

anyway! later we went to an internet cafe and then dinner at a macrobiotic cafe. i had never been too one. the idea is to eat food as close to its original form as possible. i got brown rice with veggies, possibly dried tofu (?) and a really yummy peanut sauce. it was great! jens got udon noodles with veggies. i think we were both happy to eat something really healthy after eating out so much. when you go on vacation you tend to want to have big fancy rich meals at every meal simply because they're available. but when you go on vacation for 2 whole months you have to watch it and try to eat plenty of fruits, veggies and whole grains to stay healthy and not feel sick :oP

after dinner we went to the train station and the train was delayed. i think we got on it at about 10pm. it was the same as the last night train we took. we both had top bunks across from each other. we just settled in and read til we fell asleep. we both slept really well! i guess the train rocks you to sleep lol

Day 16 - malaysia to thailand

we got to sleep fairly late and then we stopped to go through immigration. we left our bags on the train because the last time we did an overland border crossing we made two stops- one for us to leave one country and another to enter the next country and have our bags checked. well at the malay thai border you do it all at once lol no one ever asked us about our bags though lol like i said they're much more lenient at the overland crossings. we had just finished going through immi and customs with we saw the train leaving!!! we were like whaaaaat? i ran up to a guy and asked and he said it'd be back in 20 mins. WHEW! lol i have no idea where it went or why but i did come back.

so we got back on the train and made our way to hat yai, thailand. before the train even stopped some touts were on it asking people if they needed transport. we fended them off and best we could until we ran into one guy outside the train station and he said there was a bus company across the street. we thought we'd at least check it out so we went over and they said they sold combination tickets for the bus and ferry to ko samui (the island we were going to). it was a good price so we took it.

we got a quick lunch at a local place- fried noodles- and then we hopped in the tiniest pick-up truck i've ever seen! lol we sat in seats that had been put in the truck bed and we had a little roof over us. it was really fun to ride that way and see all of the town as we passed by.

we made it to the bus station and the bus wasn't AS nice as the picture had been but still decent. it wasn't very full so jens and i split up and took two seats each to spread out (a lot of other people did that too). i read a little and then i laid down for a nap. i had just gotten comfortable when the "bus mistress" as i call her started yelling something out over and over. i had no idea what she was saying so i just tried to go to sleep. well she walked by and accidentally (i hope) knocked the armrest down on my head! i pushed it back up and was gonna try to go to sleep again when she motioned to me rather frankly to sit up! i thought she meant i couldn't lie down but a min. later everyone on the bus (except jens and i) stood up in the aisle and got off the bus! lol thankfully a nice man who was getting off said "bus change".

i thought good grief! good thing he said something! that bus mistress isn't very helpful! so we got off and i took the opportunity to get our reese's peanut butter cups out of our big bag (since that was the only snack we had and it was a long ride). well that made us get on the new bus last and we had to sit right in the line of the bathroom which stank to high heaven lol after we got going we noticed two seats at the very front were empty so we went up there and sat down. right as i got to the seat thought he bus lurched and i was almost through down the stairs at the front of the bus!!! lol (we were on the second level you see). it was kind of embarrassing but pretty funny so i just laughed it off. we could see bus mistress on the first level through this little window and i saw her motion to us a couple times. i think she was pissed that we moved. but we just thought- whatever lady! we're not smelling a toilet for the next 5 hours lol ...yes that's right- FIVE MORE HOURS to suryat thani to catch the ferry.

the bus ride was horrible. really long, uncomfortable and the crew kept stopping for gas and snacks for themselves and they played this loud thai movie the whole time (with no english subtitles). i think we got gas 4 times! we were an hour and a half late for the ferry so we had to take the next one.

they wouldn't let us get our bags off the bus at first and wouldn't tell us why. they tried to act like they didn't know english but i knew the bus mistress knew some at least. a couple different times she had deigned to speak a few words.

so we went to the ferry terminal coffee shop and then went back to get our bags. they still didn't wanna give them to us but jens insisted so they let him get them. we got on the ferry and we were discussing why we thought they were keeping our bags. some cars and trucks were driving onto the ferry and we thought- surely they're not going to put that double-decker bus on here just to carry our bags to the island??? are they??? wait they are!!! insane! they loaded like 2 or 3 double decker buses onto this ferry! no telling how much that slowed down our speed to the island!

i think the ferry ride was about an hour and a half. we got to the island at dark. but again- there was a tout on the ferry asking people if they wanted to take his van to the other side of the island to where we were all staying. it was a good price and several other people had signed up for it to so we bought tickets. when we got to the island we got off and thankfully found the guy who had sold us the van tickets lol also thankfully the van was really nice and air conditioned and it took us straight to our bungalows! :o) you have to take leaps of faith a lot in s.e. asia lol

we're staying at beer's house bungalows. it's owned buy a thai couple named ben and muk (muk's the guy) and they supposedly have two kids named beer and wine lol i haven't seen them but that's what it said in the lonely planet! they also have two cute little dogs. one looks like a cross between a chihuahua and a mouse deer lol acts about as skiddish as a mouse deer too. and they have a smaller dog that looks like a full bred chihuahu (which i'll call chichi for short) and he's not very nice. mousedeer was skiddish as first but once we pet him he didn't want us to stop lol chichi on the other hand snapped at jens when he tried to pet him the little turd lol there are a lot of sweet dogs on this island though and we love it! we're major dog people :o)

our bungalow is super cute! all wood and woven bamboo. there's a big porch on the front with a long bench, a chair, a table and a hammock! we love the hammock! we not in the first row of bungalows that face the beach but we're on the 2nd row and there's a path straight from our bungalow to the beach so we can still see the water and hear the waves from our porch. so nice! inside there's a full-size bed, table and shelf with an attached bathroom with hot water. love it!

we ran out and looked at the beach but couldn't tell much it being night. then we ate dinner at our bungalow's restaurant. i got yellow curry with shrimp and pineapple and jens got green curry with veggies. both came with rice and two drink jens got a beer and i got a $5 singapore sling to compare it to the $20 one i got in singapore lol i must say it was NOT as good. they put too much grenadine in it or something and it was WAY sour :oP the food was great though!

it was wonderful to finally be on the beach after our harrowling journey! we probably appreciated it much more having gone through all that we did lol vans, trains, buses, mini pickup truck taxi, ferry, touts, bad food, annoying people, etc. lol

alright i'd better go! time to explore this island! i'll update more later! :o)