Visitors

Hello all,
Over the last 2 weeks, I have had a friend from Spain visit. Enrique is a guy that my uncle put me in touch with during my time in Spain. He was kind enough to put myself, along with May and Pam who were travelling with me, up for a weekend. Him and his family were fantastic to us. So, he had decided to come down to SE Asia for 2 weeks and stay with me. Good thing I have the new place since it gives him his own little place to have.

He has been fantastic to have here. He is very outgoing and his first 3 days were spent going on a bus, getting off at a stop that he thought was interesting, talk to a few people, the get back on the very next bus. Did this for the course of the day. It was a great for him to see the city and he knows places that I have only just learned about! However, with all of this walking, he developed quite the blister on his foot which caused quite a limp for a few days.

Last weekend, we visited a few travel agencies and finally found one that could plan a trip for him up to Malaysia. He left the next day, went to KL and visited a similar place that I went to - up in the Highlands of Malaysia. He absolutely loved it, seeing the different parts of Asia and seeing a different side of Asia compared to Singapore. Was gone for 3 days, came home and relaxed a bit, saw more of Sinapore and then took off again for some of the Indonesian islands reachable by ferry. Spent a night there then came back Friday. That night he experienced the effect of the Deepavali festival (a Hindu celebration) and the long weekend due to this festival and Hari Rara which happens in two days, Tuesday. The customs, border control was packed with people and it took him about 2 hours to get through. Quite a jam of people leaving/entering the country for the festivals in this part of the world.

We will take it easy the next few days - do some last minute shopping this weekend and go to the Singapore zoo tonight. The Night Safari is a good little exhibition.

So to all of those future visitors, come on down. Good times to be had. He has joined me a few times on outings with some friends - quiz night one time and last night, some gatherings with some friends last night. He experienced some of the local nightlife last night which was good for him.

Have another friend (who is the sister of a good friend of mine from back home) coming in two weeks so I have some time over the next 2 weeks to relax a bit and enjoy the living on my own. Getting settled in nicely. Enrique will be missed as he was a good friend to have visit.

Teaching is still going well - great little job with lots going on. Love it. A few travel plans set in stone now - going to Japan for sure when I come home in December. Will be good to see Matt and Yuko for a few days - has been almost a year since I have seen them. Hopefully will decide between Cambodia or Laos to visit the week before I go to see them...still up in the air.

Hope all is well with whoever is reading this. Thanks to Adam Roe for reminding me to write - good to chat with him.

Take care
Adam

Malaysia and more

Hello all,
Well, during my week off from school, I decided to head up to Kuala Lumpur and the rest of Malaysia. I was at a teaching conference for the beginning of the weekend, educational and really good food. It was nice to network around and meet some different teachers from different countries and schools.

As soon as it was over, caught a bus ride up to KL and visited some friends. Went to Chinatown and bought a few things, nothing like beating the deals compared to the expensive Singapore stuff! KL was nice - more Asian than the Singapore that I was exposed to of late. So modern Singapore is, whereas, as a taxi driver and I discussed, KL is more Asian with thousands of motorbikes, a little less clean, and more authentic. I like Singapore, don't get me wrong, but it is nice to get out of the modern city and see what else. I'm up at a nice little mountain city (or high hill compared to the Rockies) and it is great. It is only 15 degrees here, still short and t-shirt weather but not the constant sweating. Really nice quiet little town, staying at a hostel (miss those days of travelling around and sleeping in hostels - really do...). Even went for a 3 hour hike through the jungle. Quite intense - lots of hills and the path seemed like it wasn't used too often. Saw a few too many spiders than what I'm comfortable with and it didn't seem like anyone had taken that path for a while. But it was great to out there and just hike around.

Heading back to KL tomorrow, will hang out with Steve (a buddy of Luke's and I). Should be good times. Will head back to Singapore on Saturday in time for dinner for the bday. Just heading out with Luke and Dalia I think for a nice quiet time. Hopefully we can play some games or something. Then, it is all day Sunday, making sure the place I now have is up and running. Still need some essentials before my friend Enrique from Spain comes. He arrives on Monday and is here for 2 weeks. Should be fun - hopefully we can make it out to Thailand or something. But there are some cool festivals the weekend of the 20th. Deepavali is a Hindu festival and ends around that time. As well, Hari Raya is a big festival and I have heard it is a great time down in Little India.

Nice to have this break during the middle of a semester. Little over 6 weeks until the semester ends. It is really a fantastic job here - great time teaching and great to have such a good position. Will be nice to have my own place. I'm sure I will still hang out there at times and also, I'm sure will be at my place since I'm buying a PS2 so that we can hang out. (Dalia won't let him have one so he has to come to my place to play!!! Ha ha, just kidding.) They're up in Cambodia for the week with the in-laws. Hope they have a good time...soon I'll head up there!

Well, should get running and actually enjoy my time away from teaching and away from the bustle of city.
Take care all and I life is treating you well wherever you are,
Adam