A Double Dose of Chinatown

We left Singapore behind and headed back into the chaos. Several buses got us to Melaka (Malacca), a laid-back "world heritage" town on the west coast with Chinese, Portuguese, and Dutch influence. The main attraction here is the unique and delicious Chinese-Malay food. The town is very charming and we spent most of the time just walking around exploring in between meals. Did I mention the food is spectacular? The culture of Melaka is that of the Peranakan people - the descendants of Chinese immigrants from the 16th century, throughout the Dutch and British occupation - also called Baba Nonya. The "nonya" food was just amazing, and we ate all the local favorites: cendol, laksa, popiah, satay celup, and pineapple tarts.


When we decided to move on, it was more buses to get to Kuala Lumpur (KL). Malaysia has a great bus system, easy and affordable. The long-distance buses have air-con (luxurious!!).  KL was very exciting to explore. There is so much going on, something for everyone.  In Chinatown, the Petaling markets sell everything under the sun - souveniers, knock off designer items, jewelry, pirated DVDs, and tons of great local food and drinks. We spent our evenings wandering the stalls and trying wierd food & drinks. I never thought I would hear Kent say, "I love this soy milk drink!" One day we took a trip just outside the city to Batu Caves, which are Hindu temples and huge caves in limestone hills.  We also visited the Petronas Twin Towers, with a visit up to the 41st floor Sky Deck connecting the 2 towers, which was so cool.  Malaysia is definitely turning out to be a great country to travel - cheap, easy to get around, and great sights to see.

A Stopoff in Singapore

In Singapore, we found refuge from the madness of Southeast Asia.  A friend from my high school swimming years, Gena, lives and works in Singapore and put us up in her amazing top-floor apartment with views into the downtown.  We arrived just in time for National Day, and although tickets were needed to see the parade, we were able to see the fireworks from Gena's apartment! 
While in Singapore, we ate at several different hawker centers for Indian, Chinese, and Malaysian foods. We had a walk around the beautiful botanic gardens and the upscale shopping of Orchard Road.  We visited Little India and Arab Street (Philly really needs an Arab Street) and of course saw the famous Raffles Hotel and drank Singapore Slings along Boat Quay in the evening!  It was a really fun and rejuvenating week.

Journey to the Gili Islands

After a 4 hour "slow boat" ride we arrived in Lembar Harbor on Lombok. We were squeezed in a shuttle van with 10 other travelers, bags overflowing, and made a hasty horn-blaring journey north to Senggigi, passing motorbikes and horse-drawn carts along the way. Senggigi brought us trouble finding accommodation in our price range, but we lucked out by meeting a family who rents out rooms in their house in the village during busy times. The 14 year old son even rented out his room to another couple so his parents would give him money to buy new string for his kite. That evening, we stopped by the beach to watch the locals' football (soccer) tournament and a great sunset before heading to a tent - literally - to eat some fresh local seafood for dinner, cooked in honey and oyster sauce. Delicious!!

After 2 nights in Senggigi, we said goodbye to our temporary family and journeyed to the Gili Islands via shuttle and boat. The boat barely looked seaworthy, but we crowded in with about 20 tourists and locals with produce and supplies, and set off to Gili Trawangan.

Gili T is one of three Gili Islands off the northwest coast of Lombok. The Gilis are a popular vacation spot and excellent for diving, snorkeling, and soaking up the sun. Gili T is also known for its great bars and restaurants. After taking the slow route here, we wanted to stay for awhile, so we pretended we were on vacation, although our budget couldn't tell the difference. We loved the snorkeling, and although a lot of the shallow coral is ruined from the anchoring boats, we saw lots of amazing fish and sea turtles. The culinary highlight was when we feasted on our choice of the fisherman's daily catch barbecued for us while sitting amongst tables on the beach.  We took a different route back to Bali, the fast boat, but with the rough seas, it was one of the most terrifying experiences of my life.  We spent 2 nights in Kuta before catching our early morning flight to Singapore.

The Southeast Asia Adventure Begins

After some last minute preparations in Cairns and Darwin, we were psyched to start the Southeast Asia leg of our adventure! Vaccines out of the way and malaria pills packed, we flew to Bali, a 2 hour flight from Darwin. The difference hit me right away; we walked out of the airport and suddenly had to shift into "SE Asia Mode." Amidst the late night chaos, we managed to get a taxi to Balangan Beach where we spent the first three days of Bali, and the only accommodation that we had booked. Balangan Beach is known for great surf and incredible sunsets, and for good reason! We enjoyed the beach, went for a surf session, met new friends, ate Indonesian food, and drank Bintang while watching the sun set. Paradise!!


After Balangan Beach, we headed to an inland city called Ubud, where we finally found a guest house to stay after about 15 tries! It is high season here, so we knew we might have some trouble finding accommodation. We eventually found a cheap place to stay and were pleasantly surprised by the delicious banana pancakes for breakfast! The market in Ubud is awesome and it was tough not going crazy with all the cool knick knacks and souveniers for sale, but we had to keep in mind we would come across markets all over Asia. Just a few things, haha! In Ubud we visited the Monkey Forest, a sanctuary inhabited by hundreds of crazy Balinese Macquaques. Kent had an interesting time...One monkey took a liking to him and ate a banana while sittng on his back. Later on, after a little mishap, a mother macquaque tried to attack him, but he escaped with only minor scratches. Another night we watched the dance troupe Peliatan Masters perform a traditional Balinese Legong dance at the Arma Museum. From Ubud we made our way to Padangbai, a little fishing village on the coast, from where we ferried east to the island Lombok.

Green Island Is The Place To Be!

From Cairns, we took a day trip to Green Island.  Our arrival was welcomed by a pod of minke whales and dolphins just off the reef!  We spent the day snorkeling with occasional breaks relaxing on the beach.  The snorkeling was incredible.  The first things we saw were amazing coral, fish, starfish, and a green octopus with tentacles a foot long!  Kent spotted a turtle while we were on the beach, so we raced to put on our gear and swim with the turtle.  We were swimming as fast as our fins would take us, with our heads down looking for the turtle, and we finally spotted him...and his friend reef shark!!!  Kent and I have differing stories of our reactions when we realized we were about to headbutt a shark, but I am just bummed I didn't get a picture! 
Later, we tried another spot to snorkel and found 3 large sea turtles, which we swam right next to!  That was awesome, and my pride and joy is the underwater video I took swimming next to one!  The whole day was just an amazing experience and only a taste of what the Great Barrier Reef offers.

North Queensland...The End of the East

There were plenty of sights to keep us occupied in Townsville for more than a few days. The city was getting ready for the Townsville 400 and there was a lot of preparation going on. We managed to enjoy ourselves by visiting the Riverway with beautiful public swimming pools along the Ross River. We met up for a great dinner with Cathy, a friend of mine from the YMCA Hurricanes swim team. Another day we strolled along the 2km Strand (a walkway along the ocean) to the Rock Pool-- a public saltwater swimming pool, much like the Lagoon in Airlie Beach. Along the Strand we got our fix of fish & chips and also a treat from Cold Rock (the Aussie version of Cold Stone). Kent and I hopped on the ferry to Magnetic Island to stay for a couple of nights, do some kayaking, and enjoy being one with nature.

From Townsville it was north to Mission Beach, THE place to skydive, apparently. I spent the time trying to recover from a bout of sore throat. Our last leg of the trip north was the bus ride to Cairns. We finished traveling up the east coast a week earlier than expected, but are looking forward to staying in one place for 9 days!

Airlie Adventures

  After we recovered from the overnight bus ride, Airlie Beach was heaven. We were finally in tropical weather and ready to soak up the sun, especially after hearing about the heat wave back home.  Airlie Beach has an awesome "lagoon" - a man made pool designed to look like a beach or lagoon, right next to the harbor.  We relaxed and swam; it was preparation for our sailing trip in the Whitsundays Islands!  When it was time to set sail, we couldn't have asked for better weather.  Wind 10-12 knots, sunshine all around. We raised the sails and headed east.  The first stop was Hayman Island, where we we spotted a humpback whale!  They migrate north this time of year to have their calves and fatten them up for the trip south.  Hayman Island is also where Kent and I did our first ever scuba dive!  We got a quick lesson from our instructor and next thing we knew, we were surrounded by tropical fish...yellow tailed fusiliers swam all around and over us, and a huge (1 meter long!) Maori wrasse came to see what all the commotion was about.  We were on cloud 9.  We saw some great coral and amazing fish, including parrotfish, anemonefish, giant clams, coral trout, barramundi cod, and tons more.  We were totally hooked by this underwater world and did another dive the next day!  Getting certified is now on our to-do list.  Another highlight of our sailing trip was when we visited Whitehaven Beach.  We walked up to a lookout point and I was able to get a postcard-worthy panoramic picture, so you can all see the amazing view!  We spent a few hours on the beach; the sand was the whitest and finest I have ever seen.  There were some stingrays and batfish in the water, but luckily there were no jellyfish!  We didn't want the tour to end, but we eventually had to step back on land and continue north to Townsville!