http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Beth-and-Craig/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Beth and Craig en-us Sun, 29 Nov 2009 06:11:16 +0000 Sun, 29 Nov 2009 06:11:16 +0000 I told him so.As Craig chose a seat in the very front row of the theatre for the cultural heritage show at the Sarawak Cultural Village I clearly said ldquoIf we sit in the front row one of us is going to have to go up on stage as a volunteer for something... and it had better be yourdquoHalf way through the show as soon as the loin cloth clad shield wielding blow pipe toting man walked http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sarawak/Kuching/blog-413185.html I love camping but I can't deny that when I have to get out the tent in the middle of the night for a pee break I feel scared. In the forest with just my flashlight I figure all sorts of creatures are watching me some wanting to eat me. I don't like being in the forest at night... UNTIL NOWAfter sunset we set out with our guide into the Similajau National Park Rainforest. With torch light http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sarawak/Bintulu/blog-413188.html Craig if we travel in Borneo do you think we'll see Proboscis monkeys I asked repeatedly in the lead up to our trip. I really hadn't thought of much else about Borneo. The trip as has become usual was not really planned. All I knew while flying to Kuching was I hope I see Proboscis Monkeys.On the second day we hopped on a city bus with our friend Natalie to the Bako Jetty. Here we pur http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Sarawak/Bako-National-Park/blog-413080.html Once again that gripping fear sets in. Wersquove spent a year in Malaysia but have we seen enough Did we waste too many weekends trying to recover from our work week rather than exploring this tropical paradise How many amazing sites have we missed Will we regret our use of time here upon our returnSo once again just like our last weeks in China we find ourselves desperately crammin http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-411471.html Irsquom not sure if yoursquoll believe this but it has been hot lately. Yes I know Irsquove been living at 3 degrees north of the Equator for nearly a year now but wersquove felt comfortable in the heat for quite some time now. But then near the beginning of April it stopped raining. Our daily downpour has ended and we only get a small rain event maybe once a week. As a result it http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Pahang/Cameron-Highlands/blog-401826.html Giant Blog Catching up on Many Adventures First Guests Well it finally happened after moving to Asia some 18 months ago finally this January we had our first guests First our good friend Samoa with whom we taught in Tianjin stopped over on her way to Bangkok for the big teacher recruitment fair. The visit wasnrsquot long but it was so great to catch up. We had dinner and toured a http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-394157.html The night train back to Hanoi was so much more comfortable than the trip there if for no other reason than the other two beds in our cabin remained empty nonetheless it wasnrsquot much comfort when the attendant woke us at 415 am announcing it was time to disembark. Weary and groggy we made our way to a taxi and there back to the IndoChina II hotel who had promised us a shower and break http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Halong-Bay/blog-378167.html Two Canadians living in the tropics is worthy of an anthropological study. For instance the favourite topic of discussion for Canadians is the weather and our favourite pastime is choosing the best outfit to survive the dayrsquos many weather changes and we are all closet meteorologists. We all think we could do a better job than the person on TV but it seems in Canada you need to be a cu http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Northwest/Sapa/blog-359638.html After a long night on the train from Hanoi to Danang we awoke to the once familiar sound from China of a man doing his best to cough up his morning phlegm in the train washroom. This sound greeted us every morning in China and more than once had us in tears we were laughing so hard. This time was no different and almost comforting in a very bizarre kind of way.We made our way down to the din http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/North-Central-Coast/Hue/blog-356084.html Despite our flight being delayed due to strong rains KL midafternoon regular occurence we landed in Hanoi without any real hassles quickly made it through customs picked up our bags in record fast time and headed to the ATM where we proceeded to withdraw the some of 2 million dong. Its a strange feeling to hold in your hands the sum of 2 million even if the exchange rate is 17 000 to 1.Ou http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Vietnam/Red-River-Delta/Hanoi/blog-354673.html With an eerie similarity to our first night in China we hopped in a taxi cab at the Bangalore Airport with a driver who quickly got lost was illiterate and liked to park the car unlocked in sketchy areas at 130 am and ask random people who by all rights ought to be in bed for directions. Of course none of these people were able to help. All the phone numbers we had for the cottage we had http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/India/Karnataka/Bangalore/blog-331650.html Combining the quirkyness of China with the conveniences of Malaysia Bangkok is a really fun city. The food is amazing everything is cheap and the city vibrates with energy...and not just from the protests occurring outside the British Embassy at the time.Our favourite part was a bicycle tour that took us through the twists and turns of black alleys in China Town narrow enough for only one bicy http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Central-Thailand/Bangkok/blog-317064.html We collected our packs at the Bangkok Airport and found them soaking wet from being transported from the plane to the terminal. Its rainy season in Bangkok and it turns out that our cheap knockoff packs from China are less than waterproof. We made our way to the bus which would take us downtown with street directions which didn't yet make sense to us just knowing that we would see a 7Eleven b http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Thailand/Western-Thailand/Kanchanaburi/blog-313798.html We have been trying to make the effort to go out and discover our new surroundings. The first few weeks this really entails where can you buy this get that take care of whatever bill. But now we are more concerned with what there is to do in KL. Here is an overview of some of our recent adventures. Pulau Ketam Crab Island At the end of the KTM line which is directly behind our apartment i http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Wilayah-Persekutuan/Kuala-Lumpur/blog-313554.html Moving to Subang Jaya has been a much easier transition for us than last year's move to China for many reasons. The most obvious is that most people here speak English. Still I can't help but acknowledge that living in China makes foreign transitions easier everywhere else. In China you learn to be patient you learn that you are unlikely to get what you really want so you learn to appreciate http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/Malaysia/Selangor/Subang-Jaya/blog-302629.html The Chinese customs officer is reviewing my exit information carefully. I fidget hoping he won't notice my answer to question 12 the last question but when he gets to it he goes rigid and slowly looks up at me staring me directly in the eyes. It says here you have not hiked any section of the Great Wall of China. Is this true he asks.Well I intended to I assure him friends and famil http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Tianjin/Huangyaguan/blog-282770.html Our plane landed at midnight in the city of Zhangjiajie and the local taxicabs had us by the throat. They were a collective mass no bargaining they wouldn't compete it was going to be 300 rmb to the hotel and they knew we had no choice in the matter. We tried to haggle it down to even 200 but they wouldn't budge. Reluctantly we tossed our packs in the trunk and got into the taxi. It would http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Hunan/Zhangjiajie/blog-277504.html Disclaimer Craig and I only did about 10 things in Xi'an so there are probably other things to do that belong on our list but we didn't experience them. Our hostel lined us up with a one day trip to the Terra Cotta Army with an English guide but most of the sites we were easily able to figure out on our own.10. The TerraCotta Warrior Factory We didn't signup for this one our guide http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Shaanxi/Xi--an/blog-271512.html Since our last blog we have had two weekend trips to Beijing which we have spent exploring smaller venues in city. Now that we have decided to move to Kuala Lumpur for 20082009 the pressure is on to devour as much culture as we can. For Craig and I that tends to mean doing lots of little things rather than the big ones. Lama Temple Yong Hu Gong On a Saturday morning we made our way up to Yo http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Beijing/blog-266368.html While Kunming seems to have done quite a good job of tearing down its old buildings and recreating itself as any other modern Chinese city it still offered a few tidbits of fun for Craig and I as we began and ended our trip in this ancient city.Our hostel was located downtown very near Green Lake which is a large water park with walkways and pavillions. It's a fantastic place to wander in the http://www.travelblog.org/Asia/China/Yunnan/Kunming/blog-252655.html