Teaching in Bangladesh On June 1st Al flew off for a month of snorkelling in Indonesia and then more travels in Thailand while I flew off to Dhaka, Bangladesh, and 6 weeks of teaching nursing at IUBAT - International University of Business, Agriculture and Technology. IUBAT was founded in 1991 and the College of Nursing began here 4 years ago, started by some amazing Canadians from BC. Currently there are 65 nursing students enrolled. My first time to live and work in a developing country….what a lot I learned! I discovered wonderful welcoming friendly people. And MANY people; Ba [View Full Entry]

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My solo adventure in Indonesia has been fantastic. After saying goodbyes to Robin in Singapore I flew into Bali staying for a few days in Kuta to orient myself and get use to being alone. First impressions of Bali are not great and will be confirmed when I return later. It is looking kind of tired and worn out, over developed and over-run. More about that later. Took the slow boat over the the next island of Lombok. Very different from Bali - more Indonesian - headed to the 3 Gili islands where I stayed for 8 days mostly on Trewangan. [View Full Entry]

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First stop - Krabi On May 11th -Mother’s Day - we said good bye to Georgetown and Malaysia and headed off by mini-bus to Krabi, Thailand. The border crossing from Malaysia to Thailand was easy and then we changed buses in Hat Yai. For a brief moment we thought we had lots of space on the bus and then the driver picked up more and more people including 3 young Canadian guys and the bus was full! We spent all day on the bus and arrived in Krabi in early evening. The mini bus let us off at a travel agency [View Full Entry]

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Back to Western Malaysia and Pulau Penang We left one island on the east coast- Pulau Perhentian Kecil-and headed for one on the west coast - historic Penang. The drive across Malaysia took us through beautiful lush country side, rolling hills, huge rice fields being harvested, logging trucks zooming by. We did have a lunch stop en route -we do not actually understand what the bus driver is saying about getting off and on but follow everyone else and watch for people reboarding! Had the chance to use the lovely squat toilet (I do not find these easy!) for 30 cents [View Full Entry]

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Kecil is also known as “Small Island” (as opposed to Big Island - Pulau Perhentian Besut) and we opted to stay here because of the gorgeous white sand beaches and coral and the cheaper accommodations. The speed boat ride took 30 minutes from Kuala Besut and then we stepped off onto the pier at Coral Bay. We walked down the beach to Senja Bay Resort and registered for an a-frame cabin -very simple and basic but had all we needed and was right on the beach! -for 50 RM (Malaysian Ringgits -about $17.) You can check out their web site at: [View Full Entry]

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Well we did have a long and hot bus ride from Melaka to Cherating on April 30th. The air conditioning did not work and the bus was full, lots of families with children - children all quite wonderful in taking the trip in stride and did not need much entertaining from their attentive moms and dads. It was about a 7 hour bus ride to Kuantan where we intended to catch the bus to Cherating - but after stopping at several ticket wickets upstairs in the bus depot we learned that we had to go to the local bus depot 20 [View Full Entry]

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Arriving in Malaysia The staff at our hotel in Singapore- the Fragrance Hotel Crystal -were so helpful in helping us find the best public transit to use, where to eat and what bus to take to Melaka - our first stop in Malaysia. We left on the 8:30 a.m. bus on Monday morning, April 27th, and travelled in luxury to Melaka. This was a regular long bus but just 6 rows with comfy seats which each stretched all the way out like a lazy boy chair….and excellent air cond. Crossing the borders for Singapore and Malaysia was very easy and efficient. [View Full Entry]

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Singapore and the start of our Asia Leg We flew out of Vancouver on April 24 on Singapore Airlines. Wow what a great airline. Puts all others to shame. Very attentive and constant service -we were wined and dined, given water and whatever else we wanted frequently. I’m glad we will be using them as our hub for all of the remaining trip. Long flight, of course, arriving in Singapore April 25 at midnight crossing the dateline. Singapore is a beautiful city and is as clean as everyone says. Very expensive compared to everywhere we’ve been so far. Our very modest [View Full Entry]

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Back home to BC for a couple of weeks From April 8th to 24th we were back in BC to attend to a few things (yes we did our income tax too) as well as to reconnect with family and friends. We flew on April 7th from Isla de Margarita to Caracas and overnight to Toronto then on to Vancouver. A very different feeling to land in Vancouver and see the spring springing with cherry blossoms and daffodils and croci everywhere! And people are speaking English! Plus there are English bookstores! Thank you to Sheila and Pat for providing us with [View Full Entry]

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From the great city of Quito we flew on March 20th through Bogota, without getting abducted by anyone interesting, and landed in Caracas, the crime capital of the world according to some. Managed to get through the airport with our shirts and over to the local airport for a short flight to Isla de Margarita. We´ve had a very laid back time here. Not alot to do and one has to just take your foot off the accelerator and chill or you can go a bit nuts. Very hot here. I mean very hot. Our friend Richard very graciously provided us [View Full Entry]

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