Anyway, so here is a brief summary of the trip so far:
Monday - landed in Singapore, spent early morning in casino, toured city, slept from 3 pm till 8 am Tues.
Tuesday - national museum in Singapore, toured city, had oyster heart-attack omelet, went to the top of boat hotel, gentle flicks of wrist through the evening cost casino tens of thousands of dollars in payouts to me and my friends at the craps table.
Wednesday - catch bus at 6 am into Malaysia to Kuala Lumpur, find hostel, sight seeing, went to Petronas Twin towers, up the KL tower, get rained on a lot.
Thursday - toured caves / Hindu shrine on outskirts of Kuala Lumpur, saw some government buildings, more sight seeing.
Friday - to KL airport for 6 am flight, arrived in Phuket at 730, caught ferry to Phi Phi Island at 830, spent day on beach and in water, beach parties at night.
Saturday - planning to snorkel and not get burned.
I believe I haven't explained much about the last two days. I was originally going to take the train from KL north but unfortunately I delayed, and I guess the weekend gets booked, so I missed out on good train options. I decided at the last minute to just fly direct to Phuket Island (which saved me a light of transit time because even with an overnight train, there is a 6 hour bus ride otherwise). Phuket Island (which I originally pronounced "fuckit" but is actually pronounced "puke-it") is in southern Thailand (or, north of Kuala Lumpur) situated on the Indian Ocean. Just off the coast of Phuket Island is a small Island called Phi Phi where I am now (I was pronouncing "fi-fi" but is actually pronounced "pee-pee"). I had heard of Phi Phi Island before I left from a co-resident at Yale who spent some time in Singapore doing research. Phi Phi is where some of the James Bond movies were filmed, and another island by Phi Phi is where the movie "the Beach" was set.
Phi Phi is a travelers/hippies/westerners resort island. Most of the people here are from western Europe; there are disappointingly few Americans. Everyone is a backpacker I think. Its very expensive by Thai standards but pretty cheap by our standards (I have a single room with a big bed for like 20 US dollars per night; a beer is 3 bucks, meals are 5 or less and they're good). The island is very small, the center is jam-packed with hostels, restaurants/bars, small hostels / hotels. Lots of options to go scuba diving, snorkeling, sailing, etc. The water is almost too warm and the beaches are great. The music is really loud late into the night so if you are a early to bed type or can't sleep through noise probably not your place (I can sleep through anything).
I'm debating how the rest of my trip will go. There are some really neat ruins near Phnom Penh (the capital of Cambodia). I don't think I would have time to get there on the ground. If I could get a flight from Phuket to there I could see the capitol, the ruins, and go to Bangkok by bus. Securing a visa is the sticking point. There is a city in northern Thailand where apparently I can ride an elephant bareback, so that is tempting. I have my Vietnam visa still so I could fly to Saigon, then Bangkok, then home. Or I could just stay at Phi Phi a while longer and go to Bangkok the overland route, taking my time and seeing more of southern Thailand. Will look at train/flight options and make a decision today or tomorrow.
These first four pictures are views of Kuala Lumpur from the top of the KL tower.
A sign posted on the nature trail walk that I went on in KL.
A building in KL...I thought mosque, but may be a government building.
Mosque.
Entrance to caves / shrine.
At the top of the stairs to the cave...I thought this was funny. Two primates sitting on the rails in similar poses (small monkey on the right).
There were monkeys everywhere, because people feed them. This is an alpha male monkey who doesn't care about anything.
Cave.
Cue universal girl noise: "awwwww"
Couple shots of KL near my hostel.
