Wrappin' up Asia

Koh Samui
We arrived in Koh Samui in fine form, although the weather was a bit less than ideal. After spending the past few days trekking nonstop in 30+ degree weather, we were all happy for our little 5-day beach vacation. We spent our time in Koh Samui catching up on our reading, sleeping and tanning. The beach itself was pretty commercialized and was crawling with vendors carrying everything from ice cream to bedspreads.

We didn't completely sleep away our time, however. Our second second day on the island, we took a day trip to one of the neighbouring islands where Fiona and Morgan went snorkelling and hiking up to a beautiful viewpoint while I spent the day diving with a French divemaster, very nearly escaping a number of massive triggerfish.

Our last night, we took a boat over to Koh Phagnan island for the infamous full moon party. Covered in fluorescent paint and buckets in hand, we had a great time under the glowing moon. Needless to say, our flight the next morning was not the easiest one we've had.

Chiang Mai
With only two days in Chiang Mai, we decided to make the most of our time. We arrived in the afternoon from Koh Samui and took a nap to recover in time for the next morning. We woke up early for an "Adventure Trek". The day included feeding and riding elephants, hiking through the rainforest to a waterfall swimming point, more hiking and a visit to a nearby Akha village where we had the chance to see how the locals live. That evening, we went to the night market- an overwhelming market held every night that sells almost anything you could imagine.

The next day, we were up early again for our one-day cooking class. We were picked up at the hostel and taken to one of the local markets to pick up fresh ingredients. None of us have ever been able to identify so few fruits and vegetables. The meat section was also enough to make anyone a vegetarian for life. The class itself was fantastic. We were part of a group of about 14, but could each make our own combination of 6 the 24 dishes offered. The teachers were a riot, and the owner of the cooking school had a very dry sense of humour that made the day an absolute pleasure. Of course, it may have helped that we were given time to sit and enjoy each of the dishes we made. Some of the treats we are now all experienced in include spring rolls, pad thai, red curry, sweet and sour veggies, chicken in coconut soup, fried banana and mango with sticky rice. We had to be rolled home.

To walk off our day's activities, we explored the Sunday market that evening. We had spent about 3 hours wandering the market when the sun began to set and we had figured we had seen everything. Little did we know that we had actually not even entered the market itself, and found ourselves wandering a maze of streets lined with vendors and packed with both tourist and local shoppers for the rest of the night. Of course, the joy of markets on that side of the world is after going home thinking you've spent hundreds, you calculate the exchange to discover that you've left with bags of clothing and souveniers only to discover you've spent little over $20. Not a sight for any female to miss!

Kuala Lumpur
The next day, we deviated from the standard backpacker's Southeast Asia route and flew to Kuala Lumpur. Knowing we only had little over a day to explore, there wasn't much that our itinerary would allow, as most worthwhile activities are a little ways outside of the city. Morgan was unfortunately sick in bed for most of our time in KL, leaving Fiona and I to explore the city as a duo. At the advice of the hostel owner, we woke up early to get our tickets for the Petronas Tower bridge, only to discover that tickets for the entire day had been sold out by 8:30am. We made the most of it, however, and took plenty of pictures from terra firma. With horrid weather in the afternoon, the rest of the time in KL was rather uneventful, although we did manage to entertain ourselves around the city enough to still have a pretty great time.

Singapore
Our bus ride to Singapore was bright and early in the morning, and had us in town by the mid afternoon. With little time to finish up this post, I'll be brief in saying this: it's clean. Really clean. I was afraid to even so much as sneeze in public for fear of being fined. It was a tough couple days without gum. Some of the highlights in Singapore would include:

-a half our ride on the Singapore flyer, where we had a great view of the city
-visit to Merlion park to see the city's big... merlion.
-touring a few of the many cultural sections of the city
-Singapore slings at the famous Raffles hotel
-walking around Orchard Rd
-Harry Potter 5 on opening day (how could we not!?)

While our parents may be a little bit relieved to know that we're now back in the Western world, we're definitely missing SE Asia already. The temples, people, scenery, culture and of course the food will all be sorely missed!