I am posting this from Penang Island, Malaysia. A week ago we left our place in Singapore and all the amenities there; ipad, movies, nice place. We took the train all the way up to Kuala Lumpur, the capital of Malaysia. The hotel room there was troublesome to get to and it stunk like heck there too.

   Someone must have had a durian in the room. It's a very stinky fruit that apparently tastes better than it smells. It is forbidden for people to bring durian in hotel rooms. I know why first-hand!

   The next day we were planning to take the overnight train up here to Penang, but the tickets were all sold out so we eventually found a bus to take, but by that time most of the day had gone by and we had to leave. That meant we didn't do any attraction at all there. When we reached Penang is was past midnight but a day earlier than we had planned and we still had to take the ferry out to the actual island. By the time we found a hotel it was past 1 in the morning. The hotel we stayed at was just horrid and a few rooms down there were very loud people in the night.
   The next day we eagerly left our hotel to stay  with the couchsurfing family that we had planned to stay with. It turned out that they had four young boys ages 2, 4, 6, and 8. They were absolutely crazy in the small apartment. We stayed with them two nights and then went to catch our train to Bangkok, Thailand. When we finally got to the train station on the mainland, we found that there had been a derailment and we couldn't go that day.
   We eventually decided that our best course of action was to go back to Penang, and on the ferry back over we met a kind Malaysian family who took us to a hotel they knew and got us a discount too. Overall things worked out and I enjoyed my time here in Penang. Tomorrow, though, we finally go on the train to Thailand.

Singapore

part of the Singapore skyline

a cool building

   I am currently in Singapore. I have been surfing in Kuta and it was quite fun too. Then on Sunday we flew to Singapore. It is like any big city like Chicago or New York. I like it here and it certainly is a big change from Bali. Christmas is also big here and on the main shopping road there are big displays.
   We took the tour bus around and saw the botanic gardens. We are staying at a nice place (with friends) while we try to get a visa for Thailand. I don't mind staying here a while though....

    I am now writing (typing) this from Amed, Bali. It is okay here but I have to say I like Padangbai better. We came here to snorkel and it was okay although the reef was in bad shape. Well, I've been here two nights now and this afternoon I am going to Kuta, in the south, to do surfing lessons. I am excited to learn to surf though I hear it is very crazy in Kuta.. That's pretty much it, so I'll post another blog when I get there.
   p.s. I will add photos later

Padangbai

   I have been in Padangbai Bali for nearly a week now. The time seems to fly! I have been staying at a nice guesthouse with a beautiful garden and a great pool. It almost seems that I spend more time in the water than out!
   I really do like it here in Padangbai. It hardly ever rains and it is small but not too small.There are plenty of nice restaurants and cafes and good Internet. The prices here are not bad and it was nice to stay here.
   Yesterday I went snorkeling. We went out on a boat and went out to a reef. There were plenty of fish although the visibility wasn't great. You could get fish to eat bread out of your hand if you held it underwater, in fact they would positively swarm you. I also learned that fish have teeth, because one bit me when I was feeding them.
   Tomorrow I am leaving Padangbai and going north. we will be staying in Bali for maybe two more weeks before we either go to Malaysia, Thailand or maybe another island.

Balinese Wood Carving

   In Ubud I did a class on wood carving. In three hours I carved a gecko. Geckos are everywhere here and they eat the bugs. They make a gecko gecko sound that sounds like it's spelled.

Bali (again)

Monkey from Monkey Forest

    I have been in Bali for awhile now and today I am going from Ubud to Pandangbai, on the coast. I have done some interesting things here. Once we were out on a rented motor bike and it was raining, no, pouring and in order to get back to our hotel we had to walk our bike through knee deep water on the flooded road.
    We also went to the monkey forest and I fed bananas to the greedy monkeys. It was a quite fun. They know when you have bananas and will literally climb up you to get them.
   

 

Bali

    To start off my world trip we flew to L.A. and went to Disneyland. It was fun riding all the rides like Space Mountain and The Indiana Jones ride.
    We arrived then in Bali, Indonesia. It was a long flight there, 18 hours + a 5 hour layover in Hong Kong. At the first place we stayed in Sanur we were outside and I got like 30 mosquito bites. The next place we went to had AC. It was nice and I spent hours and hours in the pool.

   Bali is really different from America. The streets are narrow and there are lots of little shops and everyone tries to sell you something (at least in the touristy areas). It is also really hot.

   Next we went to Ubud; its a lot different there. It rains a lot more and is a little cheaper. I sorta like it here but sometimes I think I would rather be at home living a normal life with my brand new lap top computer that I wasn't allowed to bring, not to mention my computer game.