Vietnam and Laos in a nutshell (...a really long nutshell)

Hello all!

Sorry for the long break in blogs...its been a whirlwind of flying around for the last couple weeks!

When I last left you, we were on our way to Vietnam. We travelled by bus across the border, which for some reason I expected to be like the scary monster of borders, but turned out to be not so bad at all! We were the only "whities" (as we call ourselves) on the bus, but just went with the flow of people and it turned out just fine. We crossed the Mekong river by ferry which was quite neat, munching on fresh made waffles that Chantelle was persuaded to buy from the man outside our bus window in the ferry line up... he was right, they were delicious. I'm thinking about taking some business advice from the guy and hitching a portable grill set up onto my bike and selling fresh waffles car to car at the Victoria ferries... what do you think?

We arrived in Hoi Chi Minh City, also known as Saigon, late in the day, tired and ready to freshen up and de-luggage ourselves. So, when this cute old taxi driver asked if we wanted to go somewhere, we jumped on it. When we tried to strike up a price, he explained that the taxis were metered so no need, he would get us there. We drove around for quite some time, Chantelle and I both consumed by the craziness of the streets and major traffic. After about 20 minutes, he insisted we stop at an ATM to take out local currency, and finally showed up at our guesthouse, shocked at the fare equivalent to about $25 bucks ("Wow, Vietnam must be really expensive in comparison to other parts of Asia" we blondly said to one another). Well, after ditching our bags and showering up, we left our guesthouse, rounded the corner and what do you know, there was the bus station we had been let off at. Less that 5 minute walk, meaning the little shit who had driven us took us for two dumb, white tourists with no idea what we were doing (which, given our lack of preparation, maybe wasn't that far off...), and drove us around in circles to make some money! I was irate!! Talk about feeling scammed. We agreed right then to ALWAYS have a plan of attack when stepping foot in a new city. After a few drinks to calm the nerves, we cafe hopped for the rest of the day, mesmerized by the thousands of motos (literally looked like a sea of mopeds and bikes) at every stop light and the zigging and zagging of city traffic. Although a lot more developed than Phenom Penh, it was equally as chaotic in its urban bustle.

We checked out the big market in the city, where we lasted all of 20 minutes. It was an INTENSE shopping experience. The stall keepers would actually latch on to you and try to pull you in to look at their goods... a whole new meaning to getting 'sucked in'. We did manage, however, to tune our bartering skills on these beautiful sandals we found, which the ladies were asking almost $25 dollars for (way overpriced). Begin to walk away and the price slowly drops and drops... until sure enough, we were halfway down the strip with the stall owners still tugging our arms, before they agreed to the asking price equivalent to $6 dollars... the birth of our nack for markets and mad good bartering.

The next morning we hopped on a bus to the beach, Mui Ne, about 5 hours outside of the city. Its a cute little place, nothing more than a strip of bungalows and gueshouses beach side and few restaurants and hotels lining the road. We stayed at what had to be the best deal in town, a SUPER cute little beach resort (maybe about 10 rooms), big balcony with a view of the ocean, for $6 dollars each a night! Although it was a glorious 4 day stay, there isn't a whole lot to say as we essentially soaked up every second of R&R we could! Found a shady spot on the beach with a few good books, banana shakes with rum, evenings on the balcony with a $2 dollar bottle of Vietnamese wine (I didn't even know they made wine in Vietnam). Mui Ne is also a Kiteboarding hot spot, so when the afternoon winds picked up, the sky would become a rainbow of colourful kites, all zipping around and doing crazy tricks... observing which was a favourite pastime of ours. We found a stellar little local restaurant, beachfront and known for its delicious local food, and ate there almost every day... by far the best food on the trip. Rice noodles with veggies and a heaping plate of spring rolls complimented by the ocean breeze and sound of crashing waves... all for less about $1.50... what more could one ask for!?! The icing on the cake for a great beach stint was our evening at the spa... $3 manicures and pedicures. Ummm hmmm. Can't get that at home!

Although it was hard to tear ourselves off the white sand, we began our adventure up to Laos on what they call a "sleeper bus"... sounds alright, eh? Little individual beds for each person, leaves in the middle of the night so you wake up refreshed and ready to go in your destination. RIGHT. Not so much. It was so unbelievably NOT like that, Chantelle and I spent the first 10 minutes of the ride outright laughing. First off, we drew the short straw and were the last pickup, so got sent to the back of the bus...huddled into a row of 5 'beds' shared with some Germans. Second, the window was broken next to us and the light didn't turn off (not optimal sleeping conditions). The worst, however, was that every time we went over a pothole or bump on the road (of which there are many) we went FLYING up and hit the ceiling of the bus... imagine you are finally dozing, just letting yourseld relax a bit.... and BOOM, launched into mid-air and WHAM, into the roof. Ouch. We arrived in Saigon at about 7am and beelined for the coziest coffee shop we saw to recuperate, which actually did the trick. It was sort of like the calm before the storm, as the remainder of the day was somewhat hectic...Flew from Saigon back to Phenom Penh in Cambodia (where we had to get a whole new visa just to proceed to check in and fly out again) and then from Phenom Penh to Vientiane, the capital city of Laos.

We arrived in Vientiane and were pleasantly surprised at how calm, clean and peaceful it was for a capital city, especially in contrast the the other cities we had seen. The people were marvelous, so friendly and helpful, far from the aggressive and harsh attitudes we had found in Vietnam. We spent one night in the city (rained into our cozy room, filled with quality girl time) and then flew up to Luang Prubang (in the northern part of Laos) the next morning.

Luang Prubang is protected as a UNESCO World Heritage City... and for a good reason. It is a real gem, and Lonely Planet is correct in saying it is arguably the most photogenic town in all of Southeast Asia. The streets are lined with old buildings, all with quaint storefront signs. Gorgeous Buddhist temples can be found every 50 meters, along with monks adorned in vibrant orange robes roaming the streets. Off the main strip are adorable little cobblestone alleyways dotted with family run guesthouses and cafes. We stayed a great little place run by the Rattana family, super accommodating and friendly people. The whole town is so freaking cute, it actually has a curfew.... which we found out our first night standing outside the locked gates of our guesthouse at 11pm, Chantelle ringing the doorbell and myself searching for a way to climb over the barbed wire gates...thank goodness the little man with the key arrived when he did, as I was seriously in the process of devising the least painful route up the fence.

As per usual, we did a good deal of cafe hopping, sipping cocktails with a good book in hand, yapping away to each other about life's big curiosities, people watching, and eating delicious Lao cuisine. We met a group of Spanish travellers with whom we enjoyed a few good laughs at the only 'late night' bar in town (ie past 11pm), which happened to be a bowling ally... hilarious combination of travellers, bowling and a cowboy bartender who made the stiffest drinks in the history of bar tending. Chantelle's Long Island Ice Teas were about 60% booze, which may explain how hilarious we found the bowling bar to be and also the pain and suffering we experienced the following morning....

Then there was the night market. Oh Luang Prubang Night Market, how I miss you so. Every night the main street of the town closes for local artisans to set up stalls of handicrafts, textiles (including gorgeous Lao silk), jewellery, handmade clothing... you name it. As Chantelle put it, the two of us alone fueled the local economy with the amount of time spent browsing and buying. One of the best parts however, was the food. We found a little vegetarian stall at the end of the market run by this little old woman who could cook. When you step up, she hands you a plate which you can heap as high as your tummy desires with noodles, stir fries, fruit, veggies, rice... all for a grand total of 50 cents. Yep that's right, half a dollar. Throw in a 700mL beer and a couple of spring rolls (bringing the total up to less than 2 bucks) and you are set. Strategically placing ourselves street side in the best people watching spot on the block, we spent oodles of time there every night soaking up the market bustle and stuffing ourselves with delicious food. Amazing.

We also took at Lao cooking class, for which we lucked out and turned out to be the only ones in the class! We went to the local market with our teacher, learned about the different fresh ingredients, and then came back to prepare our chosen dishes, which consisted of curry, spring rolls and stir fried morning glory... YUM. We spent the remainder of the day recovering from the gluttonous feeding frenzy the followed the class.

Although I could go on and on and on about Luang Prubang, I must begin to wrap this up. We absolutely fell in love with Laos and if I could go back to anywhere we've been, I think it would be the winner. Beautiful green scenery, peaceful & kind people, wonderful food, neat shopping, picturesque temples, charismatic monks... an all around winner in my books. Again, it was hard to leave the place as it was pretty much a perfect 4 days, but Thailand was calling. We flew out of Luang Prubang to Chaing Mai in northern Thailand, where I sit right now typing the ridiculously long babble, which I apologize for... there is just so much I want to say and remember!

I will leave it at that for now, as my book is calling and I feel some spring rolls coming on....

Write more soon.
Love a very happy traveller, Alex

Cambodia Craziness!

Hello all!

Have to jam a week into a short update here as I am about to fall asleep on the keyboard after a long day but will try to give you an idea of what we've been up to...

We flew back from Borneo to KL and because our flight landed at 11pm and we were catching one out the next morning at 7am, we decided to be cheap and sleep in the airport... one night, how bad could it be?? Well, I can tell you all for sure it is the last time I think I will ever do that again. Although maybe in 'normal' airport sleeping conditions it may not have been so bad, we seem to have drawn the short straw and long story short, 90% of the airport was shut down for "bug spraying", leaving us with a few hard cafeteria chairs, sleeping vertically with one eye open. Not good.

Anyways, we peaced out of Malaysia first thing and arrived in Siem Reap in Cambodia mainly as this is where the ancient temples of Angkor are located, the largest religious structure in the world!!! We spent a day checking them out, and indeed they are amazing to see with loads of history that I wont even begin to delve into. Made of stone and have passed through phases of both Hindu and Buddhist religious rules, they were an amazing site... we even got up to see the sunrise over the largest of the temples, Angkor Wat. What we did not expect, however, was to fall in love with the town of Siem Reap. Markets, restaurants, bars, bicycles... you name it. Chantelle and I spent a great deal of time just hopping from one cafe to the next, people watching and sipping on $2 cocktails... ah yes the cheap alcohol was another nice touch. Best deal in town... 50 cent beers... I know. Downed a few of those... how nice to stand up after 3 hours at a bar, with a tab of less than 5 bucks. One thing Canada could learn from Cambodia. Anyways, we had a great time exploring the town and chilling out with its neat vibe. We even extended our stay an extra night to have a bit more play time in Siem Reap.

Next stop... chaos of the big city. We took a bus to Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, which is insane in comparison. Its not only BIG but loaded with poverty and some of the associated dangers for travellers. Must say we've had to be SUPER careful here and as glad as I am that we were able to see and experience it, I will be happy to leave here tomorrow. Today we visited the genocide museum and Killing Fields from the days of the Khmer Rouge... by far the most horrific thing I have ever seen. 2 million people were brutally tortured to death here in the 1970s and the museum is actually the same building where these innocent people we detained and tortured. Most rooms of the museum hold only a bed and black and white photo, nothing more needed to explain the gruesomeness of the place. The Killing Fields hold the mass graves of most of those killed, and you can even see the bones and clothing still sticking out of the ground around the massive pits. What chilled me the most I think was the realization that this was RECENT in terms of human history, and you don't have to look far to find the lowest blows of human nature. The people of Cambodia really have been to hell and back, and considering anyone walking the streets over 35 years old has lived through that is horrifying. As difficult as it was to see the things I experienced today, it has made me realize even more how lucky we all are and blessed to live where we do. Am I ever lucky to have had the opportunity to travel for this reason in particular, as nothing I could have learned in school could make me realize and appreciate this more than I do now.

After these depressing yet important few days in Phenom Penh, I must say I am happy to be heading to Vietnam tomorrow! Visas sorted and bus tickets booked, beach here we come!!

Night night,
Alex

To the depths and peaks of Borneo

Hello all!

Lots to share after a week in Borneo! We flew in with zero confirmed plans and two goals: (1) to hike the highest mountain in Southeast Asia and (2) to dive the best place in Malaysia and arguably one of the best in the world. Our issue was that both being bopping eco-tourism destinations are heavily regulated and only allow a certain number of visitors per day to protect the environment. Soooo those that are a little more on their game than we were and booked in advance had a real advantage! After much kerfuffle and some tense moments, the stars lined up for us!

As we arrived in the afternoon and were really unsure of our first destination, we missed the buses and had to take a 5 hour car hire with us squished across a bench seat and behind us some stuffed in Malaysians. In hindsight.. sketch. Not to mention that we even got pulled over by the police to check the immigration papers of the dudes (who I suppose had the look of illegal immigrants?!?) sitting behind us. Anyways, we made it to the town of Semporna along the coast, where strike of luck one happened. Sipidan is world famous for its amazing diving. Its heavily protected (which is AWESOME!) and so they only allow about 130 divers into the marine park every day. We had called a week before and we told it was pretty much booked until September so had almost succumbed to the fact that we would have to settle for diving some of the other islands nearby that may not be as good as Sipidan but still good. However we decided to give it one last shot and walked from shop to shop checking to see if they had any openings. Sure enough, big group of divers had cancelled the night before and there was a opening for the following day.... success!!

Although I could write volumes about Sipidan I will try and limit it to a single paragraph. Simply put, the most beautiful coral reef diving I have ever done. I cannot even describe the things we saw as they were honestly out of a Discovery Chanel special. Not exaggerating, up to 30+ turtle on a single dive, sharks everywhere, intact healthy live coral covering the wall. On one dive there was a school of barracuda that was in the thousands.,.. actually a wall of fish so thick you couldn't see through. Amazing.

After our day in Sipidan, we did another full day of diving in the area which was also very good and littered with Nudibranchs.... yea! My fav! We then hopped on an early morning bus the next day to make the 10hr trek across Borneo to Mount Kinabalu, the tallest peak in SE Asia. I should back up however and explain that the situation is similar in Kinabalu as Sipidan. Only 190 climbers a day and you MUST have accommodations at the half way point up the mountain in order to be permitted to begin your climb as space is limited.... again booked through the month. However, after a NUMBER of frantic phone calls, we managed to find 4 beds in one of the huts. Miracle number 2. The mountain is over 4000m and takes two full days to make the uphill accent. We begain our climb at 10am on day one up the grueling steps and stones, breathing becoming a challenge with the thinning air. I know I'm not exactly in Ironman shape, but having your heart pounding out of your chest, dizzy hotheadedness and needing to break every 100 steps to catch your breath is something I never knew until reaching about the 2500m mark where the altitude factor really kicks in. Holy.

We made it to the camp at about 4pm for our overnight, exhausted and COLD!! The camp is at the tree line, pretty cool to look out and actually be above the clouds. Breath taking. Man the tropics ain't so warm at 3000m upthere! We crawled into our winter weight sleeping bags, toques, winter coats and double sock layers on at about 8pm totally wiped. We arose at 2am to begin the climb to the summit, as it necessary to reach it by sunrise in order to prevent risk of sun at such high elevation and to make it back down the same day. The experience was like no other. Hiking in the dark, already chilled and then the torrential downpour starts. Soaked through my jacket and poncho, I will literally heaving myself up these steep rock faces with ropes for over 3 hours of brutal brutal miserableness. I think I honestly cried the last hour up to the summit. Never have I been so challenged. I read before starting the climb that people have been known to turn around with the summit in sight and I though who could do such a thing? Now I understand, it definitely crossed my mind. Brutal. We made it to the top at 6am exactly to see the sunrising into the clouds. It was a complete blurr being there at close to freezing, lips blue, no feeling in the extremities and knowing you have the whole way down. Ouch. It was an amazing sight I will say, however it did not fully sink in until my body began to regain feeling an hour later. The views were astounding... looking out into mountain peaks and white fluffy clouds, so cool. We rested briefly at the camp on our way down to recuperate briefly before beginning the trek down.

The trip up was grueling.... the trip down painful. Every step was like a kick in the ass for the joints. Ouch. We had walking sticks to take some of the weight but still a painful pursuit. We were lucky enough (not) to get another torrential rainfall on the way down, adding to the challenge! Made it down to the bottom by about 4pm, tired sore and soaking... but prouder than proud can be. We did it! We climbed Mt. Kinabalu!! Wow.

We are now about to hop on a plane out of Borneo and Chantelle and I are headed to Cambodia. I will hopefully be able to post pics from all these amazing adventures at my next stop so stay posted!

Sending my love, Alex :)

Can I trade my cap and gown for scuba gear??

Hello all! Ill have to keep this one super short, but just brief update!

I'VE GRADUATED!!

Yea! Finished the field course, meaning I'm officially done university! The course was awesome, really really hectic at the end with a big final paper and exam (a FEW all nighters in there... for real) but it all got done and now I'm free!

Chantelle and I started our travels in Borneo with two other friends from the trip, Josh and Kyle. We are here for a week and a brief description just won't do it justice, so I will have to fill you in tomorrow about the amazing start we've had!

Hope everyone is well! Sending my love!
Alex :)

Hello again!

Back in the world of communications, and have lots to report! It’s been a whirlwind of activity since my last update, herein roll the highlights…

We spent 4 days at the Biodiversity Institute in Bukit Ringit studying mainly insect diversity - for something I didn’t think was my cup of tea, bugs turned out to be pretty darn neat! We did one day of insect larvae sampling in the river, using nets of catch all the little dudes as they flew downstream, and then used identification keys to assess stream water quality. There was also a wonderfully refreshing waterfall nearby that we spent some quality time at, cooling off and cleaning up (Ahh, hard day at school.) We also spent a day looking at adult insects, by setting up big lights and white screens at night to attract all the bugs and then capture them with our mad good insect catching skills. TONS of moths, which are incredibly cool and way more than just the drab brown things you find in the attic… every size, shape and shade of the rainbow.

The highlight of Bukit Ringit however had to be our visit to an Elephant Sanctuary, pretty cool. Although I am not a fan of keeping animals in captivity, one of the primary interests of the center is using some of the tamed elephants they have rescued from conflict zones to aid in the translocation of wild elephants that have been displaced by habitat destruction. We were able to feed the elephants too, which was an amazing experience… some were feisty, even reaching out and wrapping their trunks around you to reach the sugarcane we were feeding them. Fantastic!!

We then ventured forward and spent a couple days in the city of Jerantut to take a look at Oil Palm Agroecosystems, Malaysia’s largest export. Over 85% of the world’s palm oil comes from Malaysia and Indonesia, which is in everything… and I mean EVERYTHING (food, cosmetics, cleaning argents you name it… even Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream!). Although the industry is super controversial for its vast amounts of land clearing (land which was almost exclusively rainforest at one point) and eco-unfriendly plantations, Malaysia does have sincere efforts to improve its practices, such as using natural bio-control agents as opposed to pesticides and recycling wastes into fuel (although during our little plantation tour we did still pass several men in full body suits and masks spraying unknown substances over the young trees…. Hmmm. That can’t be hazardous can it!?) I must say I don’t think I have ever before stood in the middle to such a vast monoculture, where literally as far as the eye can see in every direction the only life is a single species – shocking. Hard to judge though, when BC’s clearcuts are not exactly small…

After we made our way to Taman Negara, Malaysia’s largest National Park. Almost the entire park is primary forest, left untouched and never logged. To get to the park, we travelled for almost 3 hours by small wooden river boats… one of the highlights in my books so far! Winding down the river surrounded by thick rainforest on either side, glowing sunshine, warm breeze and best of all, chattin’ it up with my two buds Chantelle and Kyle… can’t think of anything more sweet!! We spent the night in an Animal Hide, basically a roof over your head while you sit and wait…and wait and wait….. and wait, in the in the middle of the jungle overlooking a salt lick (a natural open area in the rainforest where animals come to drink at night), hoping something ferocious will mosey on by. On the cool scale, it’s up there. At about 11pm when some peeps had already hit the pillow, one of our guides got real excited and called us over to the lookout window… with eyes wide and hearts pounding, we scurried over… Tiger? Tapir? Elephant? Land shark? And what do we see…a pair of deer. Now now, don’t get me wrong, these were jungle deer, so neat to see… but to a group of people from Victoria, which could also be called the deer capital, we weren’t exactly jumping off the platform to get a closer look… I think our Malaysian buddies were more excited than the BC-ers. The ‘plan’ was to take shifts all night watching for wildlife, however by 1am the only movement was the vibration resulting from the snores of our professors… fellow students and I not far behind. Although possibly the worst sleep of my life (literally a few slabs of wood and a sheet, not really all that conducive to comfort), it was invigorating to be nestled in the middle of the jungle, the constant hum of millions of critters surrounding our little safe haven on stilts.

We finished our stay at Tamen Negara off with a canopy walk, a series of suspension bridges amidst the tree tops, premise being to give an idea of what life is like up in the trees. Heights may not be my most favourite thing, but after a few steps on the swaying walkways, the wee pounding in my chest had simmered enough for me to peek down at the forest floor 40m below…eek! Maybe after a few more strolls in the canopy my slight dislike for vertical falls will subside…maybe.

As we rounded out the last week of our field trip, I couldn’t help but recount all of the cool experiences the field had to offer and be reminded of my biggest draw to this program in the first place being the diversity of activities and subjects the trip had to offer (i.e. bats, bugs, elephants, orangutans…heck I didn’t even know what an oil palm tree looked like before this despite it being in almost everything I touch!) BUT nothing could top my excitement for the last week of field work… coral reefs and sea turtles! Alas, back in my element. Although I loved every second of our terrestrial field work (well, almost… minus the leech bites maybe…) I couldn’t help but count the minutes till I could get back in the water. Off the eastern coast of Malaysia, there is a small island called Pulau Redang, a 1.5 hour journey of glorious blue ocean bumpy boat time. The beach we stayed at is a turtle nesting sanctuary, only a small wooden shack on the white sand and not accessible to tourists… see the kind of “ins” scicence can get you!?! Biology may not be the biggest money making profession, but hey I’ll trade the millions for access to a secluded research station in the sun and sand of the Indo-Pacific. We camped at the top of the beach in tents – Chantelle and I ended up with last tent pick… turns out we got the mansion of all tents! Not only was it practically a castle, but I guess movies like Legally Blonde have done a real number on the stereotype of blonde North American girls, as a flock of 10 Malaysians insisted on helping us set up the freaking thing.. not that I’m really complaining. Every night massive mama sea turtles, most Green and occasionally Hawksbill, come up onto the sand to lay their eggs. The whole process taking about 3 hours, she will emerge from the sea, waddle her way up the beach and painstakingly dig a hole in the sand about a meter deep. Then, already exhausted, she will lay over 100 golf ball size eggs which will hatch about 2 months later. Even harder to believe is that she will repeat this process every 8-12 days, laying a total of 10 times during the season! Talk about investment in your young! The real kicker is that the survival rate from egg to adult is only about 1 in 10 000! No wonder she has to work so hard to lay so many eggs. For sure one of the coolest things I have ever watched happen right in front of me… shouts out to my fellow bio-nerds, how the hell did that whole process evolve?! Aside from the overly amazing turtles scattering the beach each night, the reef life right off the beach was pretty awesome, nudibrachs and all. Each morning, Chantelle and I (and usually a couple others who were able to muster the early wakeup) started our day with an early morning snorkel, never tiring of the beautiful reef life. Five of us also squeezed in a day of diving, such a rush of AWESOMENESS to be back in the water and fulfilling a life long dream of diving in Malaysia… its been near the top of my list since I did my Open Water Course almost 12 years ago! We also participated in a few reef surveys and Crown of Thorns Starfish culling (reef eating seastars that have gotten out of control thanks for humans..to the point they are putting some reefs in SE Asia at serious threat). Needless to say, at the end off all this fun, it was hard to leave our perfect little beach oasis… but it did serve as a reminder of how much I adore reefs and life under the sea… maybe my childhood love for Little Mermaid was Disney’s way of telling me it was meant to be.

And now, I sit here on the bus typing this note as we head back to Penang for a crazy week of cramming for our final exam and writing a research paper… several weeks of work crammed into one! En-route, we made a pit stop at an awesome (and HUGE) open air market right at the Thai border, full of textiles, hand bags, shoes and most amazingly… fruit! Three mangos for 1 dollar! Yeeeesss please!

Okay, sorry for the lengthiness…couldn’t bare to leave anything out! Hope you all are well, sending my love.

Alex (aka Nat Geo, my new nickname… short for National Geographic… resulting from my stylin’ Jungle attire and constant camera action… thanks for that one, Sweetness)

Its hard to even know where to begin! We’ve been in the field for almost two weeks now and done an ton of cool stuff, near impossible to condense into something of a readable length. Nonetheless, I will do my best…

After leaving Penang, we visited a conservation center for Orangutans, which are only found in East Malaysia (Borneo) and Indonesia. Although I was a bit sceptical about the centre’s management plan to reintroduce the captive bred animals back into the wild, the center use a rather unique concept of wide stretches of natural habitat for the primates and leaving humans as the ones to be put in cages to observe the animals….its about time we felt what its like to be a captive animal. The Orangutans themselves are amazing intelligent and watching their behaviour was so neat, especially the social interactions between one another. There were even newborns being looked after by the vets, in diapers and all! High on the cuteness scale!

We then spent 4 days at a Mangrove reserve, learning about these hugely important yet wildly underappreciated swap forests. Among the various activities during our time here, we explored the ecosystem by boat, visited the local fishing town dependant on the mangroves for cockles and shrimp, and even had the chance to plant our own mangrove seedlings! The most memorable part by far however was watching the trees flicker with light at night like Christmas trees – fireflies!! One of the mangrove species provides habitat to these amazing creatures, which can flash 3 times per second!

Our next stop was a small village called Batu Ring located right on the jungle’s edge, where we spent a full week learning about rainforest ecology and staying in a homestay with a village family. We did all sorts of amazing field work, including bat trapping and identification and catching and swabbing frogs for a deadly fungus that is killing amphibians all over the world. We explored the diversity of the tropical rainforest, hiked to a jungle waterfall and visited the caves were the oldest human remains of Peninsular Malaysia were found. The most amazing part I would have to say though was the experience of living with a village family. Chantelle and I, along with Rassis who is one of the Malaysian students also participating in the field course, stayed with a wonderful woman whom we called Mak, meaning ‘Ma’ in Malay. Her husband passed away a few years ago, and most of her children are grown up and have moved out of the village. She has one youngster left, a 12 year old boy named Hakiem who was our “brother” for the week. Although Mak did not speak any English, and our Malay was limited to “Thank you” and “Delicious”, Rassis did a wonderful job as our unofficial translator, helping us to communicate with Mak. She was unbelievably warm hearted and cooked non-stop for us, all traditional Malaysian dishes and ALL DELICIOUS… the food never stopped coming. Mak also picked up on our tastes pretty quick, so after a few days all our token favourite things began to show up frequently. Chantelle and I became obsessed with something called Te Terek, which is essentially tea with condensed milk… AMAZING! I even forfeited coffee for this tastily unhealthy delight! The village lifestyle is simple yet refreshingly practical. The shower consists of a big tub of cool water and a small bucket to pour it on yourself with. The toilet is a hole in the ground…simple. The living area is a bunch of woven mats. It was a wonderful wonderful experience to be immersed in this lifestyle for a week. The hospitality of the villagers was touching and unmatched to anything I have ever seen before. I honestly fell in love with Mak and can say that I have never felt such affection for someone who not only was a complete stranger a week prior but also with whom I exchanged less than 10 words with directly. Needless to say it was emotional parting ways at the end of the week, but an experience I will cherish for the rest of my life.

After our week in the village, we moved to our current location which is another rainforest ecosystem in the southeast part of Malaysia (its pretty amazing you can almost cross the entire country in about half a day on the bus). We are staying at the Malaysian Wildlife Department’s Institute for Biodiversity. Having only arrived yesterday I will leave it at that and fill you all in on all the fun this place has to offer in my next update…including a visit to an elephant rehabilitation center and insect collecting… cliff-hanger if you will!?

Off to the jungle....

Hello all!
After a fun week of culture and introductions to Malaysian life and tropical ecology, we are now ready to hit the field for a 3 week excursion covering a good deal of peninsular Malayisa and all its diverse ecosystems. We'll be exploring the jungle, mangroves, palm oil plantations, elephant rehabilitation centers, freshwater stream systems... you name it! Of course the one I am counting down to is the week we spend on the beach working on coral reef ecology!! Can't wait to see what the Malaysian reefs have to offer! I know its hard to believe, but the cyber world in rural jungle villages is a little underdeveloped (wireless?!?) so I will be out of the loop for a bit but if we do come across any Internet cafe or such I will be sure to update you. If not, will have lots to say when we return to Penag in a few weeks!! Take care all! Here we go!!!