Same Same, But Different

The title of my blog is one of the answers that you get for almost any question you ask in either Malaysia or Indonesia, I've discovered. It makes me laugh every time I hear it.

I spent a total of 11 days in the Perhentian Islands. It was paradise and it was hard to leave. I met some great people and we had a blast snorkeling, watching sunsets, eating and drinking together. I ate every meal but two with my feet in the sand (it was raining for those two meals!). I did some great diving...saw some beautiful and colorful coral, a giant grouper, several stingrays, lots of reef sharks, a black and white spotted eel, several large trigger fish, barracuda, butterfly fish, parrot fish and a lot of clown fish. They are so fun to play with...one of them swam into my face mask when I was trying to tickle it! The 11 days all kind of blur together...it was so relaxing! Medical update: I tried some unconventional methods of curing my rash (ask me about it sometime if you're curious!) and that seemed to help it get better throughout the week.

I spent Sunday night on an overnight bus from the Perhentian Islands back to Kuala Lumpur. The bus we were on did not have shocks, or if they did, they were all broken. The bus literally swayed and squeaked for the entire 9 hour ride. I did not get any sleep because the locals on the bus kept screaming at random points in the night, mostly when we were going around mountains and dodging oncoming traffic at the same time. Hard to sleep when there are those kind of distractions!

Shay, an Irish guy that I met in the islands, and I spent the last two days exploring more of Kuala Lumpur. I spent Monday morning dealing with a surprising amount of red tape in order to start the India visa process, although it probably felt more challenging because I was going on over 24 hours with no sleep! Last night, we went to a fish spa. It tickled like crazy to have the fish eat the dead skin off my feet! We also went to the movies and saw Robinhood...great movie and so nice to do something that reminds me of life back home.

Today, we went to Malaysia's National Mosque (picture) and to Mosque Jamid. As in all mosques, women are required to cover their body and hair. I thought my purple cloak was quite cute! Shay has just come from traveling in India, so we went to Little India for a vegetarian lunch so that he could prepare me for what my travels will be like there. A meal served on banana leaf with no silverware....ate with my hands. The food was amazing and I actually enjoyed touching my food and getting my hands dirty while eating it. I think I'll enjoy India just fine, as long as I can wash my hands before eating!

I've never had any real interest in traveling to Singapore. Shay convinced me that drinking a Singapore Sling in Singapore was a reason, and I could not disagree. Tomorrow, we're heading to Singapore. It's only a 5 hour bus ride from KL and I've got to kill some time waiting for my India visa to process. So, my next update will come after I've had a Singapore Sling in Singapore! ;)