life under a mosquito net

It's a good thing that I accidently deleted the post I was writing yesterday as I am now able to report, in real time, a momentous change in my dear fellow traveler. Jessica has just announced that she would rather stay in the wee fishing village we have found ourselves in than move to the nearby large city. After spending our first week in southeast asia in the two major cities of Singapore and kuala lumpur, it has been very nice to be be in a small town where we can get a smile out of most people and there is generally a slower pace of life. We are on the island of penang, renowned for its multicultural food, before we make our way into Thailand in a few days time. We have enjoyed the company of the other occupants of the guesthouse (our favorite of the lot just proclaimed to be on 'this' trip since 1985 - aka our entire lifespan thus far). As Malaysia is a tropical country, we took advantage and took a hike through the jungle to a nearly desolate beach where we thankfully avoided any run-ins with snakes or the monkeys that are known to run the area. The other day in kuala lumpur, however, we had a much closer encounter with some bold and hungry monkeys while visiting a Hindu temple carved out of a cave tucked into the jungle. Having seen movies like outbreak and thus knowing what havoc little monkeys can wreak, we stayed clear of them whereas other visitors to the temple thought it a good idea to make a kicking motion at the monkeys because a hissing monkey would make for good viewing on the home video they were recording. Regardless, the temples were incredible set in a most dramatic scene of caves covered in lush fauna and dripping with last nights rainfall, the scene was heightened by the 250 steps we had to climb to reach it and the giant, golden statue of the goddess kali standing guard at the base of the entrance. While in kuala lumpur we also instituted a tradition that will hopefully be sustained throughout our time in southeast asia - massage Monday. While in Australia we heard tales of the very affordable massages offered all over and decided that after nearly 6 months of sleeping in compromising positions/situations and lugging around backpacks, it would probably benefit us greatly (Please note that we pay homage to our Australian brethren by pronouncing it as 'mAHsage'). Needless to say, this past Monday was a good day for us as a small Chinese man mounted the table to work out some very large, gnarly knots in my shoulders.

Prior to our time in Malaysia we were in Singapore where we started our habits of eating delicious and cheap food and visiting temples with reckless abandon - these are some habits that we are not planning to quit anytime soon! On our first full day there we stumbled upon Hindu, Buddhist, taoist, and Islamic houses of worship all in the same neighborhood and were genuinely welcomed into all of them. The Buddhist temple was complete with an orchid-filled roof garden and text messaging monks, while the taoist temple specialized in performing marriage ceremonies for unwed souls in danger of spending eternity without a companion. We received the warmest welcome at the mosque and were given a tour and encouraged to ask any questions, which were all given thoughtful responses. The Hindu temple was covered with the colorful statues of gods, avatars, and sacred animals - the smells brought back some memories, not necessarily good or bad, of the hare krishna farm back in argentina. While at the Hindu temple Jess had yet another (soon to be) life changing moment as we saw a poster advertising that amma would be hugging in Singapore in a few days time. To those not up on current hinduism, amma is considered a saint for her endless compassion and charity - she goes around the world hugging millions of people and donates all the proceeds to humanitarian projects, not to mention that she may be the reincarnation of shiva or someone else important so she is a pretty big deal. So, Jess has been wanting to be hugged by amma for years but she continued to allude our Jessica until this past Saturday when we spent many an hour waiting in various lines until alas we were hugged! It really was a nice experience in part for amma and part for the insight into the large south Indian population living in Singapore. It is getting late but I will make a sidenote: lines do not exist here (except when at a well orchestrated amma hugging event) instead, people crowd the desired location in a crescent shape until the center point has been collapsed upon by some particularly bold members (normally older women). This is particularly important to keep in mind when boarding a bus for which you have already purchased a ticket...because it seems that it is common to overbook a long distance bus and allow the masses to work it out amongst themselves. In other words, we found ourselves stuck in the last 2 seats in the back row of our bus from kuala lumpur to penang yesterday.

That sounds like a negative way to end this post which was not my intention - we love southeast asia. I will not go so far as to say I like the squat toilets, but there is so much for our senses to experience that is new - it is truly exhilarating.