Five hours later, I set my vomit in the garbage can.

Malaysia!!!

The Good!!


Cherry and I needed some much needed relaxation holiday time after completing our first of two "intensive sessions." Luckily, we don't have another round of intensives until January...which will mean next intensives..we are very close to home time!!!

So, we stayed Friday-Monday at the Paulau Perhentian Island, at "Momma's Place." It was beautiful. Right on the water, and everyone vacationing with us was from Europe..mostly France which got us excited for France once again. (and I got to use my french a little...very little) The staff were very friendly, and it was soooo relaxing. They had the best watermelon juice ever!!! I didn't want to leave! Here are a few shots of our island. The best part was taking the speed boat over to the islands, then catching a boat taxi. I totally felt like I was on survivor. Luckily on the way over to the island in the speed boat everyone immediately paired up, and Cherry and I were totally with the two young, fit, athletic hot guys!! We would have definately lasted the first elimination round!!













The Bad

Cherry and I arrived in Malaysia on Wednesday August 23rd. We got through customs super easy, and had a great flight. Since I was the only white person on board they had me fill out some survey on customer service on the flight, and gave us a free box of cookies!! (about 8 packs of cookies total, SCORE!)

As soon as we stepped out of arrivals with our luggage we were swarmed by taxi men. We told everyone our plans, which were to take an overnight bus to the town of Kuala Besut, then take a fast boat over to the islands the following morning (its an 8 hour bus ride from the airport) however, all the taxi drivers were quick to inform us there were no over night buses. (LIARS LIARS LIARS) since we heard it from more then one dude we stupidly believed this to be true. We went with the cheapest deal, and went to a hostel in Kuala Lumpar, the capital of Malaysia. This is where I honestly thought I was going to die!

The taxi driver took us very excitedly to a hostel where we assumed he would be getting a big commission, due to the smile on his face. I WISH! He helped us with our bags, and refused to take any money for the taxi ride..(first mistake).
Later, about five minutes after checking in, he came to our door, dressed in a tie, with a friend saying he was taking us for drinks. We obviously refused!
At 3:30am, he returned, totally waisted. He was banging on our door, saying "open the door", we refused, and told him to go away. He started yelling "are you going to open the door, or am I?" We both got into fight mode then, Cherry with her body wedged against the door, and me armed with a screw driver. He yelled and banged for what felt like an hour but was probably about 10 minutes, as we yelled back terrified. He ended his rage attack on our door by yelling "F*** Canada, You be on a bus tomorrow OR DIE" ... That pretty much sealed the deal that neither of us would be sleeping that night, and we sat very nervously in the dark for the remainder of the night praying he wouldn't return. We told the owners what happened very early the next morning, and they assured us they wouldn't let him in the hostel again, and they also took us to the bus station the next day, to ensure that the psycho taxi man didn't kill us. It was pretty terrible!!

The Ugly

After two full days of sun, my body began to rebel and freak out!! First, the second day ...which I like to refer to as the Sunscreen obsessed day, I got a pretty bad burn, which caused days of pain. The following morning, ( Sunday Morning) I noticed a HUGE bump on my head that kept growing and growing... When I was younger I was once run over by a bike...(over my head) which swelled just as much as my head did this morning in Malaysia. Both Cherry and I were freaked by the looks of me, so I stayed away from the sun, and tried to let my burn heal for the long day of traveling ahead on Monday. You can kinda see the bump here...but it looked alot worse then this!













Monday we had to leave Mama's place, back to Seoul. We left at 7am, taking the fast taxi back to the main land. My burn was still pretty bad, making the whole boat hopping experience quite painful. After the boat we went immediately to a bus..where we had an 8hour ride back to the Capital Kuala Lumpar. This is where it gets ugly. We only had one bathroom break for the entire bus ride.. with no washroom on board...and anyone who knows me at all..knows that is not possible. I will spare you some of the details, but when we finally came to a service station, I went to the washroom to discover the "pop and squat" toilettes. I stood there in tears, for a few reason, but the largest being I didn't know how to use the things. I tried to figure it out but gave up eventually....just too confused and scared by the tiny holes in the ground. Malaysia is a Muslim country, so I definately stood out at the service station, at a time I desperately wanted to blend in. In the pop and swuat, I had a very "rambo" ish moment...which you will have to email me for details..(boys, you dont' wanna know).
I got back onto the bus, with 3.5 hours to go. About 20 minutes into our ride ...I started to feel very sick, desperately asking Cherry for any sort of empty bag. LUCKILY she had a ziplock, and I had the pleasure of holding my vomit in my hand for the following five hours as our bus was late. As we were bumping along the roads of Malaysia, I felt my eyes were so heavy..not tired..just heavy. I looked in a mirror..and LUCKY ME...the swelling in my head, and gone down to my nose...again the Bike nightmare continues!! Here is a beautiful picture of me proudly holding my bag of vomit, looking like I have just given birth! Then just a short one hour taxi drive to the airport. I went to a medical clinic at the airport where the Doctor listened to the beat of my breasts???? and gave me some allergy meds, and stuff for swelling which is slowlly working its magic. Then just a 6 hour flight during the night, a 2 hour shuttle bus to Jamsil station, and a taxi ride to our block...and we were home. Just in time to do laundry, before teaching tomorrow. SIGH, I am exhausted!

So Long Suckas!!!

I am off to Malaysia for a beach filled adventure. Just for my grown up, responsible friends.... I have NO clue what I am doing once I get there. I am traveling with Cherry...and we have NO hotel booked, no real plans, a bit of American cash, a lonely planet book, and a whole lotta clothes!!!
Wish me luck!

Gwang Ju

This past weekend our roomate Ashley invited us to her parents house in Gwang Ju. Her father is a Two Star Major General in the Korean Army..(yeah..I was reminded of that tv show major Dad too!) a position that comes with many perks...including three houses, and four soldiers that cook, clean, drive and watch an entrance gate for them. We had an amazing time.

Her father secured a private meeting with a Buddist Monk, which was spectacular. Then we ate lunch with the monks. They are vegetarian so we had a curry dish, that was so delicious! After eating at a temple you do your own dishes, ...down in a cool basement. It was a nice escape from the heat, and for some reason, doing the dishes as SO fun!!

Then we toured the temple, and Ashelys father taught us a bit about the history of Buddism, and the traditions within the temple.

Then we headed to Ashleys house...where we stayed alone in their second house...AMAZING, we had so much SPACE! It was awesome. They have a yard, and we saw stars for the first time since April!

After having dinner at the Major Generals restaurant with the family, the soliders took us out...ordered to be our body guards, and show us a good time.