Holy crap, have I been busy. I can’t believe tomorrow is November.
As I mentioned earlier, I’m in Malaysian Borneo getting my PADI divemaster certification at Scuba Junkie. At most places, being a DMT (divemaster trainee) is tough work – lugging air tanks around, setting up customers’ gear, rinsing equipment at the end of the day, [...]
Archive for October, 2009
Boo! It’s November?
Posted in Malaysia, SE Asia, tagged divemaster, diving, Malaysia, scuba diving, Scuba Junkie, Semporna on October 31, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Six months!
Posted in Planning on October 22, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Happy anniversary to MEEEEE.
Happy anniversary TO meeee.
Happy anniVERsary to meeeeee.
HAPpy anniversary to meeeeeeeeeee.
Six months! (Officially I left the US 6 months ago yesterday, but I arrived in St. Pete 6 months ago today.)
I left my heart in Melaka
Posted in Malaysia, SE Asia, tagged Baba-Nyonya, Chinatown, Chinese, Chitty, colonial, India, Kristang, Malaysia, Melaka, Peranakan, Portuguese on October 20, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’m posting this from Semporna, Borneo, where I’ve just signed up to do my divemaster course. Yee haw! More on that later.
In the meantime, Melaka (aka Malacca), the place I just left. It’s a place where it’s easy to get stuck. I arrived on a Monday, thinking I’d spend a few days. A week later [...]
G’night. S’tight.
Posted in Malaysia, SE Asia, tagged baseball, bedbugs, China, Malaysia, Melaka on October 17, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
Bedbugs.
Bite.
It seems that most of SE Asia is infested with bedbugs. Here in Melaka I suffered my third attack (Xian, Yangshuo, then here). I changed beds and washed all my stuff. Everything was OK for two nights.
And then, two nights ago, I woke up to the now-unmistakable itch of bedbugs. Gah! It was around 3 [...]
Last post about China
Posted in China, tagged China, digressions, Malaysia on October 13, 2009 | 2 Comments »
I am *so* glad to be out of China. Malaysia is…*friendly*. Polite. Happy. Full of tasty food. In such an atmosphere it’s easy to overlook things like mosquito attacks and sudden, unexplained interruptions of internet service – things I would have railed against in China.
I would love wrap up my feelings about China (something more [...]
Last post from China
Posted in China on October 9, 2009 | 1 Comment »
Last Saturday night I stepped off the train in Guilin, after a long 27-hour train ride south from Xian, in the center of China. I strolled across the parking lot, enjoying the unexpectedly balmy breeze. As I sat on a concrete planter to await the pick-up from my hostel, I was surprised to see dozens [...]
On further reflection…
Posted in Uncategorized, tagged books, China, politics, Russia, tourism, tourists, travel, travelers on October 2, 2009 | 3 Comments »
I keep thinking about the negativity in my past few posts. I’m out here in the world, seeing new places, meeting new people, doing what I love to do! Why all the complaints?
A big part of it is the tourist/traveler tension. In roughest terms, someone on a 2-week holiday is a tourist: You see the [...]
Natural disasters (and other irritations)
Posted in China, tagged China, digressions on October 1, 2009 | Leave a Comment »
I’m sitting here watching the nth hour of creepy Chinese propaganda on TV – today is the 60th anniversary of Communism (ahem, now “with Chinese characteristics“) in China. Every building, car and motorbike is festooned with Chinese flags. On TV, cute 9-year-old girls in colorful dresses and forced smiles dance in perfect synchronicity. The air [...]
