Did you like Malaysia or Thailand better?

Malaysia so far...

So after some more time on koh phangnan while Kristen and Paul were recovering from their horrific motorcycle accident and after a fantastic trip to sail rock diving we did a pass on the full moon party and headed south once more to Krabi.

Krabi was a beautiful town, Well not Krabi exactly but the area around it. There are lots of cliffs and big pieces of rock sticking up everywhere. (I would put some pictures up but Cameron is currently being a camera hog). We went to the beach and a beach a little bit away and that was nice. Did some exploring of the area. Nothing amazing to report. Had some really yummy Museli, that was a highlight. Then it was finally time to leave Thailand.

Thailand didn't thrill me. On a scale of desert warzone experiencing drought and famine (1) to a tropical paradise where a genie is present to grant all of your wishes (10) its a 5 maybe. I just felt overcrowded a lot of the time (it is high season) and like we could never escape from people trying to rip you off or sell you something or the stupid taxi rackets/unions. It was ridiculous at times and I was just not looking forward to that. Don't get me wrong, its very beautiful and the fact that so many people go there makes it a sinch to travel in, but it got to me.

There are essentially two main types of people who travel in Thailand.
1--> Wealthy older people who are there for a week or two staying at a resort or two and going on a tour or two. These people are fine. They are nice and they mostly keep to themselves and their private beaches and are nice enough if they ever happen to slum it for a bit and hit up the backpacker areas. This group also includes families who are in resorts or on tours

2--> The traveling youth of Australia, UK and etc. that are in Thailand for "the buckets of alcohol, to sleep with Scandinavian women (or men) and who get a bamboo tattoo when they are drunk" (quote by Simon our last dive guide). I don't mind these people either except once got jealous when I saw a guy from Australia's facebook messages with his mom.... she was funding his trip and he was "never coming home, lol", because he was "having to much fun sleeping on the beach all day and partying all night" on his parents dime.

So maybe this is the reason I didn't really like Thailand. These types of travelers created a sort of vibe.... the wealthy people pay the first price and so prices are high and the Thai people see white skin and assume money and the young drunkers are a mess all the time and probably just p.o. the thai people because they tend to disrespect the land and the area, using the country as a giant playground/toilet bowl. I don't know if how I travel is any less offensive to other people or Thai people (even though I have had only 2 drinks the entire trip I am sure I get lumped in group 2 by the locals), but yeah, just didn't like it all that much and found the people to be unfriendly.

FACT: 12 million people travel to Thailand every year.

Alls I am saying is that I wouldn't do a backpacking holiday in Thailand south again. I would go to a resort and chill for a week though.

Anyways, had a good time though and made some great memories.....

We are in Malaysia now. Our first stop was Georgetown/Pedang. A very cool little area. It had an Arab quarter there and it was awesome to eat something besides Asian food! We had samosas and naan and tandoori chicken. excellent. We also went to Fort Cornwallis.

Then we went to the Perhentians. They are what I was hoping Thailand would be more like. More chill. less development, although they are headed the Thailand way. The people there were really nice and friendly and although Island living is a bit more pricey, I didn't feel like I was being ripped off or taken advantage of. Maybe they are just better at hiding their resentment. Also we saw loads of awesome animals there when we did a snorkel trip and diving. Things as a child I stared at my library books never dreaming I would one day see. It was great. I love swimming with sharks.

Now we are in the Cameron Highlands. Its a cool 20'C. I am cold. I am wearing pants and a jacket. hahaha, I have no idea how I am going to cope when I get home. I am very much looking forward to being in Canada and starting my program in thee Fall.... just a lot to do between now and then... oh well. C'est la vie when you take off for 5 moths!

Looking forward to seeing you all, but am still enjoying traveling and experiencing this part of the world. :)

Why haven't you posted lately?

Everytime I get to the internet I have a billion emails from UBC that I have to deal with. So I haven't had a lot of time for blogging. If you want to get up to speed with our trip head over to Cameron's blog at : http://whereintheworldiscameron.blogspot.com/

Terima Kasih!

What lives in Shark Bay?

SHARKS!

The first week here in Thailand has been pretty great on a vacational level as well as a personal level.

1. It was great to see Cameron after not seeing him for 4.5 months.

2. It was great to see Kristen after not seeing her for 4.5 months.

3. Even though the last couple of weeks at Maple Leaf were anything but stressful its nice to be on vacation where you get to sleep in when you want and swim in 36'C oceans chasing sharks around the bay.

4. I got into Physio School!

It has been an eventful week and a bit. My flight from Surabaya was fine and the night in Kuala Lampur Airport was even manageable and arriving in Phuket was a trip. The flight in was amazing actually. It was beaches and granite cliffs and blue water for miles and miles, all with the sun just coming up, probably one of the prettiest flights that I have ever been on. And the taxi in was okay too, not as stressful as I thought that it would be.

Phuket was pretty nice. We stayed at a great little boutique resort at Patong beach. It was actually like a 20 minute walk to the beach through dog infested side streets, but other than that and the 30'C plus heat it was fine. It was funny, my traveling companions were not used to the heat but I was pretty much acclimatized. We spent our time there eating the ridiculuously delicious breakfast, lounging by the pool, and spending some time at the beach. As well as enjoying our first delicious tastes of Thai cuisine. But before we knew it, it was time to make our was to Ko Tao for our diving extravaganzaa.

The trip to Ko Tao from Phuket was fine, at least it was fine for me. My traveling companions would disagree as they both were car sick and a bit sea sick. We took an afternoon bus than an overnight ferry boat. And by the time we arrived in Ko Tao they were both done. We took a taxi to Sairee beach and after having breakfast because it was too early to get into a hotel we found a place with a couple of beds where the invalids flopped down and didn't stir for several hours. In the afternoon though Kristen was feeling better so we went snorkeling off the beach and then ate fruit and drank fruit juice listening to classic rock as the sun went down.... ahhhhh.... Thailand :)

Our dive course started the next day back by the pier and we managed to check into our bungalows and get set up there just fine. We met our super awesome guide "Sergi" from Barcelona and spent the next three days learning to become SCUBA divers because "SCUBA divers have more fun" according to our PADI text books. Its true. Besides the book learning and the mountain of homework we got the first night we had a blast. It is such a neat feeling to breath underwater. We did spend a lot of time doing skills like taking off our equipment under water, taking off our masks, floating and buddy breathing etc. But we also had time to cruise around and look at a bunch of interesting stuff. I can't believe that as somebody who studied marine biology a lot in University that I never did PADI before. but now I did and my "life has been changed forever" (according to the PADI book again).

After our PADI course we went to shark bay for a day where we snorkeled and I saw my favorite: the black tipped reef shark. They are so neat. It was probably only 4 feet long and didn't like hanging around me too much but it was awesome. I haven't seen a shark for 2 years since the galapagos, so it was great to see one again. We dived again the day after that and snorkeled off the dive boat in a cool area seeing lots of Ko Tao's fishes and even a lobster and sea slugs which are very beautiful. Then it was time to leave for Ko Phangan. We were all tired after our busy day diving and all passed out on the boat.

We got to our bungalows alright and Paul arrived within an hour of us getting to the bungalows. SO we got to have dinner with him. We also had our first experience with Thai wiskey in the form of "bukets" which is literally a sand castle bucket filled with wiskey, coca cola and redbull.... and mountains of thai food that paul had been craving.

today its off to the beach for some snorkeling fun and some sun! Even though I haven't been suntanning once yet I am brown. Sunscreen everyday!

T-T-T-T-To Thailand I go....

Hi Friends and Family.
I am leaving for Thailand today and will be getting there sometime tomorrow morning. Should be an interesting 12 hours...
Anways, not sure if I am going to keep posting here or on Cameron's blog. Or if we will do a joint blog.... details to Follow!
later :)

Are there any Animals in the city?

Why yes. Indeed there are.

There are nice fat rats that make a good living on the garbage that people put outside their houses in heaps for the trash collector to come and get. And if they didn't look so big and mean and diseased with bubonic plague they might actually be cute.

There are the bats that fly around at night. There are birds. Mostly just city birds though, like the invasive house sparrow. These birds are originally from Europe but have managed to hitchhike with humans or escape captivity and have taken over the entire world.... except for Antarctica... they left that one alone. Who wants to live there anyways.? No offense Pengu.

Then there are the feral cats. A lot of cities around the world have a problem with dogs. Feral dogs becoming wild and forming packs and then turning into a pretty big problem for the locals. Thankfully people here love their dogs (my grade 4 class voted it their favorite type of pet!) and are wealthy enough to afford caring for dogs so there isn't a stray dog problem here. But feral cats is a different story all together.

I noticed the cats right away, during my first few days in my neighbourhood. Most people don't pay any attention to them and for the most part they try and avoid contact with people. I think to catch one with your bare hands would be a pretty mean feat. Overtime I have come to recognize the cats that consider my street their territory. The old orange and white tabby male is my favorite, he is dirty and limps and has one eye. So badass. But yeah, none of the cats here would be of a particular breed and none of the cats would win a prize at the Eastern Minnesota cat show.

Figure 1. A typical cat Felis catus from Surabaya (right lateral view).

This "typical cat" is white and orange. The grey-brown areas are to represent dirt. The cats here are nothing if not real dirty. I am sure that they do groom themselves, but its got to be tough sledding for them considering how dusty the streets are and that they basically live in garbage all the time.

All of their tails are shortened and crooked in some way. I am not sure if that is because the breed of cat that was introduced here from the Dutchmen's ships had a shorter tail or what, but they all have short tails and in most cases they are crooked, like they have been broken by one thing or another.

A lot of them have other scars like a missing eye or a chewed up ear. I am guessing that this is from a vicious cat fight over females, food or territory, or possible a tangle with one of those fat rats.

The cats here are also really skinny. Their ribs show and they are much smaller than the typical North American house cat. Probably this is due to their life style, who would grow really big on a diet of garbage? or really fat when your supplementing your diet with contaminated water?

They are also pretty skiddish and are on alert 24/7. Only once have I seen a cat splayed out in the sun on my driveway and as soon as he saw me coming he bolted. As such they have these really watchful eyes and some of them look really mean.

Can I get some feedback?

So the Maple Leaf International School website has minimal info for the interns. So I thought that I would put together a FAQ sheet for them, I hope they use it. If there is anything that you think I should add or change PLMK!

Frequently Asked Questions:

What should I bring to wear while teaching?

Dress Code/Attire

Surabaya is known as one of the hottest cities in Indonesia. There are air conditioners at the school but the temperature in many of the classrooms never goes below 25’C and there are times when you will be away from the cool classroom. As such, most interns are most comfortable in lighter fabrics such as cotton and linen. Flip flops are not allowed to be worn at the school by teachers or students, but sandals with straps that secure the heel are permitted.

Ladies:

Summer-weight dress pants, jeans, knee-length skirts, capris, Bermuda shorts are acceptable. Modest dresses area also acceptable. Polo shirts, blouses and tee-shirts that are in good shape and are not see-through are also acceptable. Remember that Indonesia is a relatively modest country and when teaching you should dress modestly this includes minimal décolletage and no mini-skirts or booty shorts.

Gentlemen:

Summer weight dress pants, jeans or long shorts are a good option. Polo shirts, dress shirts (long or short sleeve) and tee-shirts that are in good shape and are not see-through are also acceptable. Most of the male teachers do not wear a tie except for special occasions.

Where will I be living?

Housing

Housing is provided by the school. The house is about a 10 minute walk from school and most interns walk to and from school. The house is in a safe and relatively quiet neighbourhood located in west Surabya. It is essentially a gated community and there are security guards who are stationed around the clock who patrol the neighbourhood.

There is a maid that works at the school and lives at the house and takes care of the sweeping, mopping and general cleanliness of the house. There is a washing machine available at the house for your use. There is no dryer and most clothes are hung to dry.

There are 4 bedrooms in the 2 floor house. Each room has a bed, a desk, a chair, a wardrobe (some hangers are provided) and an air conditioner. Sheets, pillows and blankets are provided, but you should bring your own bath towel or you can buy one when you arrive. The bathroom is shared with the other interns and has a western toilet and an Indonesian style mandi shower.

A fridge is available for you to store food. The kitchen has several pots, pans, plates, glasses, forks and spoons, a toaster and a blender for your use. There is a two-burner gas stove that some interns use to cook their meals. Other interns prefer to buy their meals from the street vendors or restaurants. There is no oven.

There is no internet modem at the house, although the school does have internet which you are welcome to use. Internet credit and a USB modem can be purchased at stores like “WELLCOMM” in SuperMal and give you internet access from home if you so desire.

What will I be eating?

Food

There is a grocery store called “Giant” about a 10 minute walk from the provided intern housing. It supplies items such as vegetables, fruit, milk, bread, eggs, meat, tofu, cereal, peanut butter, coffee, tea, juice, water, snacks, toilet paper and toiletries among other things. There are other grocery stores in the area including “Meat Shop” and “Papaya” that may supply more specialty and luxury items. There is also an “Alfamart” convenience store about a 5 minute walk from the house.

Most interns take advantage of the abundance of inexpensive Indonesian food and order delivery from a local café or restaurant for their lunch time meals with the help of the receptionist. There is also a catering service that delivers Indonesian meals daily at lunch time that many of the teachers take use.

Surrounding the neighbourhood of the school and the intern house there are several restaurants ranging from simple Indonesian food stalls to comfortable air conditioned restaurants serving Indonesian and Western food.

What can I do during my free time?

Surabaya and the Surrounding Area

Surabaya is mainly a business town with malls being the main focus of the social activity. Malls in Surabaya have several restaurants including Indonesian and Western food (KFC, Pizza Hut, A&W, and McDonalds). They also have movie theatres, salons, shoe stores, clothing stores, DVD shops and electronic stores. You can find most anything in the nearby SuperMal that you would find in malls at home in Canada.

There is a gym nearby at Graha Residen. It has treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, free weights, weight machines, a dance studio, table tennis, squash courts, showers and a large outdoor pool. If you have your student card and are 23 and under you can get a 1 month membership for 200,000 Rupiah ($22 CAD).

Several of the interns use the weekends and periodic long weekends to their advantage by taking trips. Many have taken a plane to Bali or Lombok for a few days. Others prefer to explore Java and have headed to Jogakarta (Brobodur), Jakarta , Bromo, Pacitan and other areas.

What is the weather like?

Weather

The rainy season in Surabaya is from November/December until April/May. During the rainy season, it rains regularly, about once a day for a few hours but the temperatures are still in the upper 20’s. The rest of the year is the dry season. The hottest month is October. Each classroom at the Maple Leaf Centre is provided with air conditioners or fans, however, it is still warmer than most classrooms in Canada!

What to Bring

· Toiletries (Shampoo, soap, toothbrush, toothpaste, dental floss, your preferred feminine hygiene products, facewash, or vitamins etc. You can buy all of these things here if you need to replace or forget something.

· Any Medications you are taking

· Towel

· Teaching clothing & Casual clothing

· Laptop – there are several DVDs at the house and many stores in the mall sell them for cheap. You can also use your laptop at school for lesson planning and other things.

What is an Indonesian Amusment Park Like?

Like Seaside at the Jersey Shore minus the Guidos, and with a lot less skin showing.

People riding the water bike

On Sunday morning we all met at McD's.
We = Ms. Katherine, Ms. Miming, Ms. Dewi, Ms. Windy, Mr. David Canada and me.
A driver also met us there with his car and he drove us the 2 ish hours to the place. WTL or something like that. I have a real issue remembering Indonesian words. To me they just seem like jibberish. Its not like I am usually bad at languages. I did alright in French and I can pick up new Spanish words fairly easily, but Bahasa Indonesian is hard for me. I just have the survival stuff like: left, right, yes, no, I want, thank you, maybe, and several items of food. But back to the real story at hand.

When we got there the parking lot was a sea of tourist buses. Most schools here are on holiday now and it was a Sunday so the place was busy. We paid 70,000 Rp ($8 CAD) to enter the park. This included most rides, entrance to the zoo and the caves.

First up we went into a haunted Pirate attraction. It was actually kind of hilarious and scary at the same time. I kept thinking that there was going to be a real person at some point jumping out at us. But no. It was just these mechanical people pirates going back and forth on their rails. It was dark, so that was the scary part for me.

There was also a Texas part of the place that was playing legit American country and western music. Not sure what totem poles have to do with Texas Native Americans, but yeah....

After the pirates we went on a ride that span around and around and would periodically bounce you up and down. The seats were really hard and you weren't strapped in so it was more uncomfortable than anything and Ms. Dewi banged her head and has some bruises today because she slipped off once.

Then there was the exact replica of the crazy mouse ride or whatever its called that they have at Playland. I have never ridden the one at Playland because the line is always like 1 hr wait. But I rode it at WLC. Scariest. Ride. Of. My. Life. I am not even joking. I was actaully legitimately scared. At every sharp hairpin corner I thought the car was going to careen off the edge and take Ms. Windy and I to our deaths. I screamed at every loop and turn and dip. It was really fun though, I felt like I was 12 again... I guess that is the point of amusement parks though, right?

Me at the sea-wall part of the amusement park

One thing that was missing from the Indonesian amusement park was "The Big Bag of Little Doughnuts" and other North American carnival food like hot dogs and fries. I was actually surprised by this because the Indonesians are all over American food usually, even if they do put their own twist on it. (ie. putting an egg on a hamburger for example). Anyways, there was good food though, like coconu water straight from the coconut, cheap Indonesian food and all sorts of Indonesian snacks and of course Ice Cream.

So as a few of our group went for a "flying fish" and "banana boat" ride Dewi and I stayed behind and sipped from a coconut while swinging on a "porch" style swing on the shores of an artificial beach (the ocean was real, but I suspect the sand was hauled in from elsewhere). I was in the shade and I was sweating just sitting there, it was a hot day. I didn't get burned though as the Indonesians are obsessed with not being darkened by the sun so there is shade everywhere AND I applied sunscreen. I wastched this video http://youtu.be/_4jgUcxMezM and it really made me think about my self skin care. My goal is to wear sunscreen everyday while I am outside, wear my UV shirt when I am in the water for a long time and not get burned once on my travels... stay posted...

After lunch and an attack by a feral cat on Ms. Miming (the cat just wanted some food but she was freaking out so it looked like she was being attacked), we walked to the zoo which was across the street.

Is that a tiger?

At the zoo there was a hippo, camels, primates (orangutan, spider monkey, baboon, howler monkey), cougar, tigers, lions, bears, birds, wildebeast, oryx, deer spp., prairie dogs and much much more. Can I just say something. I guess I can because it is my blog. I think zoos are awesome because you can see things really close that otherwise you might never get to see in the wild especially if you don't live in the Congo, but I haven't been to a zoo with mammals in many moons and I found it sad especially after doing an animal behaviour course last fall. Having primates in captivity should be made illegal in my opinion. There was one little fellow who was all alone in his cage and he reached through the bars just for a handshake from a human. That is how much he just wanted to be touched. Also there was one in a cage (alone again) swinging back and forth, going ape. I would go crazy too if that was me. And the big cats, also not cool to keep in Captivity....

I got what I deserved... the bird pecked the camera seconds after this photo was taken.
Monkey just wants some love... or food.

The caves were neat. I think they were natural, but all sorts of stalactites and stalagmites. Very very very humid though. My bubble gum went all soft.

The Caves... (Goa)

After the caves Ms. Windy and I went into a big cage, like the ones they had at Merazonia, an aviary if you will and we got to feed birds from our hands which was really fun. Reminded me of the wisky jacks in Strathcona Provincial Park....

Ms. Windy and the birds eating out of her hand.

I gots one too.

After the zoo we went home. But not before Ms. Miming fell in a puddle of puke. Ah yes, nothing completes a day at the amusement park like a vomit incident. There were bricks and someone had vomited on them. There was a slope and flip flops involved. Anyways, she didn't have a chance, slipping in the vomit and landing on her but. Gross. But the perfect end to a perfect day? I felt bad because I had successfully navigated the pile of puke, but also glas because it wasn't me with an unidentified persons puke on me...