Diver Diver are you okay, Inflate you BCD!!!

So after a few days I decided to do my rescue course to a) give me something to do and b) because you have to if you want to be a divemaster. The rescue course is HARD. Its a lot of theory, which you don't really do in the advanced, and a lot of skills. The point is the divemasters and instructors you go down with just mess with you and make your life not fun. I thought it was going to be easy since I'm a lifeguard and such, but it wasn't. Bummmmerrr. Overall I really enjoyed the course. It was fun, cause you'd be chilling on the boat and hear a splash and have to save somebody, and it really was about teamwork. I had a nice team, including Ollie the German and Stuntman, and we had a lot of fun. Its interesting, because most dive realating anything could be avoided pretty easily. The worst part was practicing rescue breaths and bringing somebody up from the surface. Its really difficult, but I am now certified, even though if you have to do rescue breaths on somebody you just brought up from 20meteres, lets not kid ourselves, you're not doing anybody any good.
ANyway Patience,Faith and STOP JUMPING IN IF YOU CANT SWIM I"M HAVING A SNACK
ERINJ

WHENS THE NEXT FERRY?????

So someone wise said its not the destination, its the journey. That person was never crammed into a minibus for 11 hours with 14 other people. We decided to go from Penang to Koh Tao so Tina could get open water scuba certified. After a border crossing and 10 hours in a mini van with a piece of paper saying we paid somebody, we arrived in surant thani ready to be on beach paradise...but alas alack! We arrived at 5:10. The next ferry was at......11Pm. After getting some 7-11 Changs, we ate dinner and watched a huge dog try to mount a tiny one and that brought us to...8pm. At that point I was so over that day I called it quits, popped some sleeping pills and woke up in Koh Tao...my favorite island! There we signed Tina up for some scuba action and met up with Abdullah, laid on the beach, and really just hung out for the day, enjoying KT. After Tina's theory lesson we took on the island in all of its bucket glory, took part in some extreme shenanigans, including (but not limited to) trying to take over a long tail taxi and some night swimming.......
This continued for the next few days while Tina the trooper took a PADI course. Good girl....
Patience, Faith and a LOT of sand,
EP

PENANGGGGG

I know, I know, these are going to be hella backlogged but its the best I got. Luckily for you, Its rainy in Saigon so I'm stranded with my computer. UNluckily for you, the card with all of my pictures from Bma, Singapore and Malaysia has been screwed with so until I can see whether or not I can get it recovered, NO PHOTOS FOR YOU (but contain your excitment, I have all the pics from Vietnam on a different card so when I get there you'll get a visual FEAST unlike anything you've seen before.
When I last left you, Tina and I were off to Penang, malaysia with a new friend from the hostel who will be reffered to as "Tour guide Tom-TGT" for the remander of this post. Air Asia screwed me over and made me check a bag and that made me angry-GET WITH THE CUSTOMOER SERVICE people!!!! But we got to the hostel which wasn't great, but in a nice enough location with some nice guy running it. And it was across the street from the beach. We played in the water, which wasn't clean but okay. Wewandered to the market to get delicious cheap food, and I ended up eating sting ray, which was actually solid in a weird typpa way. That night there was some extreme chillage and it was all around swell. The next morning at the crack of dawn a mosque started screaming at us, which lead me to believe there was Jihad in my room. Note to Muslims: Maybe thered be less extremists if you prayed at reasonable hours! (THis is a joke people, I <3 all religions!) After a little more sleep we went to the post office where my math degree came in handy (Ask Tina) and then onto Georgetown. I am not a fan of georgetown, but TGT pointed out all the sites. Dear Unesco...stop putting your name on everything!!! It was just a port town. We ended up walking aroudn and playing Hot or Not with the ninjas (think of a group of people who may look like ninjas)because "you never really can tell" Thanks TGT. We went to a museum, and learned a little about it. malaysias cool cause all types of people live here, of all religions and are okay with eachother. I think thats awesome, and rare to see in a place. We hung out in the city, drank a starbucks before heading home and going back to the market for super cheap and super yummy food. After that we decided we have had enough and book and all day journey to KOh Tao, Thailand for the next day....Goodbye Malaysia!!!

Pugsley get in the taxi!

Tina and I at Petronas
So Tina and I left Singapore fairly defeated and poor to take a overnight bus to KL. We arrived there way early since KL is much closer to singapore than one would imagine. Upon arriving in KL we got in a cab with a taxi driver I not so affectionatly nicknamed the driver Pugsley, because well, he looked like pugsley. Pugsley couldn't get it through his head that number 30 was a few blocks down from 175, not across the street,so after 45 minutes, Tina and I got kicked out of a cab at 5am in the middle of china town. After 3 minutes of walking in the right direction, Tina and I found our hostel and were successful. However, since it was 5 am we had to sleep on the floor in the common area. Sleep on the most expensive piece of property in asia one night, sleep on the floor in chinatown another. That day we did laundry, walked through a market, saw the petronas towers, got lost in the redlight district and propositioned by various KLers. Not quite our cup of tea. After wandering back to the hostel we watched movies and chatted with other folk. The next day we got kind of a late start, sauntered onto a bus, and went to Batu caves. Once there we took pictures, and walked up the stairs to see a big cavern, which was cool, but they were filming some bollywood nonsense, so that took away from the mystic hindu temple. I don't think temples are mystic, but I mean, this one caould have been. ON the way down there were many monkeys. Lets clarify something, I hate monkeys. A lot. They aren't funny or cute. They are nuscenses and mean. After watching a monkey mount another one, TIna proceeded to provoke it. This monkey chased me and tina down 3 flights of stairs while I ran in fear, shoving asians out of my way. It was out for blood. Blood people. I do not like monkeys. We sauntered back to the hotel and hung out with Hostel folk, drinking and eating super yums Indian food and drinking games before deciding we were going to Penang the next day. Rock on.


Batu Caves

I'm BACCCCK and in SINGAPORE

I will not bother blogging about myanmar, just know it was an experience unlike any other and I will be putting up pictures periodically, and that I miss it like woah.

BUt for now I set off on a 5 week journey with my friend Tina, so get ready for Singapore, MORE thailand, and Vietnam! Today was day one of Singapore, as I arrived last night but was too exhausted from 2 days of bangkok to do anything! Tina arrived in this morning and we immediatly headed to the zoo. Singapore zoo is the top zoo in the world, and unlike any other as most of the exhibits the animals are pretty free roaming, especially the monkeys. THere are no cages or anything, making it really beautiful, and HUGE. So big you it didn't seem busy. My favorite part was the night zoo since all the animals that normally stay up at night did, and so having flying squirrels fly over you was amazing. Singapore Zoo, defintily number one in the world. WOrth it.
The next day, thanks to the greatest cousin of all time, Liz, we stayed in the Marina Bay Sands. It was AMAZING. Tina and I rocked up in our backpacker gear to people staring in most hilarious fashion when we asked for VIP check in. Our room had remote control curtains. We really just relaxed by the infinity pool on the roof all day. Amazing views. That night we went to Clarke's Quay where there was a music festival and drank on a bridge from a 7-11 since thats the only thing we could afford. IN this area, internet was 15$hr/internet, 42 dollars for a breakfast, so nothing I could afford.
The next day we checked out and wandered around the city, mainly little India, which was cool, and the first time I've seen the Hindi language which is neat. I like learning new things. We hung out in starbucks in one of the many many malls until it was time to get on a bus to KL. Thats a post for a different day.....

I wonder as I wander

Almost there

So this week I spent time catching up with friends, relaxing, partying and getting everything set for Burma. That being said, I heard the internet may be the worst ever, so don't expect blog posts, pictures, facebook, tweets, e-mails or the like. I'm stoked on this expereince, teaching kiddos in a military state, etc etc. Talk to you from the other side!

xx
Erin