Twas a Day to find some Monkeys

So my last day traveling with sushil and max was to be a walk in the park.  The plan was to go to these Botanical Gardens just outside of Georgetown (which is the city area of Penang).  In a nutshell, this is a park where there are supposed to be tons of monkeys.  Enough said.  I like monkeys.

Once we got the these gardens, we were not disappointed.  Right away we were greeted by several monkeys and asians getting married.  It was a very exciting start to a day.  While looking for what is supposed to be a beautiful waterfall we decided to walk up Penang Hill.  This is where things got a little silly.  We were only dressed for a walk in the park; this means i was wearing flip flops.  Flip flops are fine for walking around, and even mild hiking, but don't forget that my foot is still healing from road rash.  We begin our trek up the hill heading up some stairs.  these end up being the steepest stairs, through thick woods for about a half hour.  holy crap.  when we get to the top of the stairs we see many more monkeys.  Including a big family of monkeys that starts getting a bit aggressive.  I have a video that I'll post one of these days of a couple chasing after me a bit.  It was both funny, and a little scary.  these little guys were aggressive.  Monkeys have learned to use tools, and as I try to learn from monkeys, I picked up a stick and earned me some monkey respect.  Don't worry, no monkeys were harmed.  They just know to respect a gentlemen who is a member of the UPenn Kempo club when he's carrying a stick.

Jean Claud Van Monkey.  Notice the bunch in the background before they started chasing me 

We then headed up a winding paved road for a little bit til we reached a shack.  at this shack were a few groups of 60 year old malaysian people who walk up this hill for fun every day.  They then stop at the shack for free (by donation) coffee and biscuits.  I donated a bit, and had some coffee.  good thing too.  I guess the elderly folk stop at this point but we were half way up, might as well finish our way up the hill.  Little did we know what sort of hike this would turn into.  Next thing i know we're climbing up steep, muddy paths with lots of undergrowth.  Then it starts pouring rain (luckily I have my ziplock bag in my bag to provide waterproof protection to my camera).  so we're hiking along in the pouring rain up what is called a hill, but its a frickin mountain.  For a while, my sandals were so slippery i just had to hike barefoot; sorry foot wounds.  the last leg of the journey we were guided by the local security guards, to essentially climb up this drainage half-pipe up a mountain through fallen trees.  It was insane but quite fun and exhausting.

We got to the top.  I guess after all that climbing we were expecting a great view and who knows what else.  but what we got was an asian tourist destination with an expensive restaurant, expensive stands and lots of well dressed people.  I guess most people don't take the hiking path, but take the little tramcar up the mountain.  Dripping wet and tired, we were happy to take all the way down the mountain.   Hill my ass.  but a good last day traveling with Sush and Max

Me Blog so Lazy

SO i've been slacking on this blog.  oops, my bad friends.

Although I'm in Penang now, I should probably mention our last destination, the Cameron Highlands.  These were a beautiful mountain range that was a nice relief from the heat.  This area is known for its lush greenery and hiking.  unfortunately, my foot is still not quite better so hiking was out of the question for me.  But the last thing that this area is known for is TEA!!!  to anyone who knows me well enough to give a rats behind about reading my blog knows that I love tea.

Enjoying a cup o tea overlooking the plantation (It's good to be king)

This is the first time in my life that I've seen a tea plantation and tea factory.  I even got to lay down on a tea tree.  Well, what was interesting is that tea can grow into tall trees, but the ones that they harvest are pruned to keep small so they look like bushes.  the tea that is harvested for processing and drinking are the new leaves that are sprouting out every three months.  After checking out the plantation, we went to the factory where the leaves are processed (dried, rolled, fermented, graded etc).  It was really really cool finally seeing this process in person.

Kuala Lumpur follow up

Remember I mentioned there were some political Rallies going on in Kuala Lumpur (KL)?  well we were interviewed by some reporters to see our feelings on the city during the rallies.

The gist of what we actually said was along the
lines of, "even though there was a political rally, we could barely tell.
We still did and saw everything we wanted and in fact couldn't
believe how quiet the streets were. We were impressed by the police
presence and felt quite safe. the only surprising thing was when we
could feel the tear gas even though we couldn't see or hear any disturbances."

Although the reporters seemed nice, Sushil and I just didn't want to give our real names (esp for me since we read in lonely planet about a common antisemitic sentiment) to the reporters so he gave his name as "Raja kancharla" and I gave mine as "Justin Slappy."  So if you want to see a great example of free press in malaysia read the following article http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v5/newsgeneral.php?id=600283

Monkey Protests

Today was a long day of wandering with Max and Sushil.  I'll spare the details and maybe fill them in with a picture some other time, but just leave with the finer points.

Who knew about the political unrest in malaysia?  Not me!  So today was a huge protest that was supposed to get (although I dont' know the final count) about 100,000 protesters.  You know, just the environment us tourists feel comfortable around.  "Just don't wear yellow or red," we were advised so I left my big bird suit hanging up next to my red Phillies Jersey.  Walking around the town was completely unbelievable.  By that, I mean it was a such a quiet day.  It seemed like most of the streets were quiet; even the ones without police roadblocks.  Maybe people weren't out because they were avoiding the protests, and we just weren't near the protests.  well at one point I think we were close to them.

After talking to this australian gentleman who had been living in Kuala Lumpur for the past 4 years i think, told us all the things we should do, and all of it involved shopping or eating.  there's not a ton of touristy stuff to do here besides that.  So he directed us to these places that were kinda interesting.  He presented them as the govt wanted to clean up the street food, so gave the best ones indoor spaces to operate.  so what we're left with is in the first levels of  of the highest end malls i've ever seen are food courts with legitimately really good and really cheap and authentic food (interspersed with a starbucks or two).  at one point we were on our way to an electronics mall when i stopped walking because i started crying a bit as my eyes kinda stung a little.  After a second of recognition, I yell to the other two guys to come back to me.  they give me a funny look, but do as i asked (its rare i say something like that).  i guess there was a protest going on not far away, and i encountered diffuse tear gas (hence the tearing).  don't worry anyone, we couldn't see or hear anything going on.  maybe a half mile away we saw flashing lights, but nothing was going on within site.  so we went off the opposite direction, grabbed a leisurely lunch and then continued to the electronics mall, where the walk in between was again, quiet.  but this electronics mall was cool.  imagine a five storied mall with only computer and electronics stores.  so yeah, right up my alley.

then we walked around a while, and again it was super quiet out.  we were actually interviewed at one point by some guys working for an independent newspaper about our feelings on the protest today. We basically said we didn't see anything, it seemed quiet out to us.  i'm sure that'll make front page news.  Then we tried to check out a couple parks they have, all were closed, but in the parking lot we had some fun.  There was a group of monkeys!!!!  i love monkeys.  they make me smile.  We had some good conversations, played some chess and then shared some laughs. Well, maybe that's not exatly what happened with the monkeys, but there were a whole bunch of them and i took a ton of pictures because monkeys make me laugh even when their not giving me advice on investments.

No Mr. Tyrone, I do not think that investing in bananas is wise at the moment

but looks like we're taking it easy tonight.  twas a long tiring day.

non adherent dressing

so, i finished up my time on Koh Lanta with a lot of reading.  Since my leg was hurting and hurt worse when i went in pool or ocean (plus i don't want sand in my wounds) It kinda limited the beach tripping I could do.  So i finished the Book Horns, finished I Am Legand (great book, so so so different from movie) and then finished Treatment Kind and Fair Letters to a Young Doctor by Perri Klass, a summer reading for medical school (which i'm so frickin excited for still).  

I then went to Patong for just the night, which is right near Phuket, where I discovered there was a Muay Thai fight going on that night.  so, instead of enjoying the hopping night life as an avid clubber that I am [not], I went to watch a fight.  It was really cool actually.  the first fight was a couple of kids that were probably 10 years old, then a couple of mid teenager fights.  they were all very talented for such young kids.  they went hard, but no one got hurt so i didn't feel too guilty watching these kids kick the crap out of eachother.  Then came a bunch of the fights of the twenty-somethings.  It was cool to watch those thai's kick.  they kick hard.  but, there were two western guys that fought.  I gotta say, the australian dude destroyed this thai boxer.  it wasn't even fair.  Maybe I was amped up or something, but I couldn't sleep and had to wake up at 530am to catch a morning flight to Kua Lampur in Malaysia.

So right now, I'm writing from Malaysia.  A few weeks ago a fellow fraternity brother from Sigma Alpha Mu (Sammy) emailed me that he was going to be in SE asia and we found out we both were planning to be in malaysia at the same time.  So this is the cool thing about our fraternity.  He was a freshman when i was a senior.  i think the only other time i've ever really hung out with him was one random new years in New York City, Vinny and I bumped into him when we left the party we were at.  So now meeting up in malaysia.  He's travling with another recent Penn grad named Max, who i just met today.  Seems like a really nice guy; gotta say its kinda nice to be out in the big ol world with some fellow nerdy guys from home.  We checked out the area, but are turning in early for the long day of running around we planned for tomorrow.  should be a nice week with these two guys.  Then I'm flying from Penang to Hong Kong on July 16 so i can play with Sam a lil more before heading home the 19th.

oh yeah, today was very exciting because I finally found non adherant dressing.  so now i'm hoping that instead of spending like 10 minutes soaking my wounds in water before painfully pealing off the gauze, i should be able to painlessly remove and then wash my wounds.  Simple pleasure, but should reduce my pain.  

(R & R)^2

So, sitting here working on a blog post while its sunny, 3pm and i'm on an island is a funny thing.  very unlike me.  let me catch up on the past couple of days....

It all began when I left Muay thai training at Phuket.  actually, the story starts before that.  for some reason, when I was in Bangkok I went to a travel agency to help me plan the next leg of my journey.  For some reason, i just had this urge to plan something and get it on the books.  something to look forward to after a week of intense training.  So i went to MNT travel agency, one certified by TAT which is essentially the that governments tourism protector branch or whatever.  so, in a nutshell, this was possibly the worst choice i could have made.  no idea why i started planning now, when not doing so has done me so well for the past several weeks. By US standards I got a great deal...but by thai standards, I'm paying about double what I should be paying for these accommodations (which are fine).  I was told I was going to be going to a quiet island that was a short ferry away and close to other nearby beautiful islands.  I was told that the nightlife would consist of relaxing at a bar, live music and a beer or two.  sounds great right?  well, unfortunately, the ferries to the island are not running during the low season that it is right now, so it took about 8 hours of 3 minibusses and two ferries to get here.  Of course, i find i'm getting charged about double what i should be.  And this island is usually all clouds and rain this time of year.  now, that is the end of my bitching because it hasn't actually been bad.

I talked my way to free airconditioning since they're already ripping me off.  which is good because it's been abnormally hot and sunny here for this time of year.  the hotel charges 2-4 times what they should for beverages, but no one stops me from heading just off the resort and filling my fridge with cheap drinks from 711.  there is virtually no one here, in fact when i arrived i thought i was the only guest.  I was in fact, one of about 10 people staying here.  my first eve here i took pretty easy, but decided to explore yesterday (july 3).

I woke up at around 615am and did a boatload of pushups and ran on the beach; want to keep up my good shape from muay thai.  I then rented a motorbike for $5 from the hotel.  they offered me a newer and faster one for only $1.60 more, but as these things kinda scare me, i would have actually paid more to have a slower one.  so, i stuck with the cheaper, slower one.  the island is only maybe 30km long so it doesn't take long to traverse a good proportion of it.  In the morning i just rode around and explored.  rode through a quaint ocean side town, explored a bunch of abandoned resorts (most places are closed during this low season).  but mid day  I came back to my hotel to just relax in the pool before heading out again.  I left again on the bike and after 15-20 min of driving i saw a path, which i u-turned and drove down.  I ended up on this completely deserted beach and decided to hang out there and read for a while.  it was very relaxing.  At least it was until a guy showed up with his three dogs.  there was a golden retriever and two siblings that looked like small, short haired german shepards.  they were very friendly and gave me no choice but to play with them for a while.  It was a good time.

My beach

in the evening, i watched the sunset over the ocean.  two guys i met here named Brad and brad (i use upper and lower case to differentiate them) and I went to a nearby bar down the street to listen to some live music.  it was packed...with about 25 people.  we stayed for maybe an hour or so before i got tired and went back to my room to go to sleep.

With yesterday being a nice day, i decided to rent the bike again and explore today.  I heard that there were much nice beaches just a few miles past where I had been yesterday, so i wanted to go explore.  I was probably about ten minutes out.  a turn was coming up so i slowed down to about 20mph, at the apex of the turn, there was a bump patch and some gravel which sent the bike onto its side with my leg under it.  "Doody!" I exclaimed quite frustrated. as I pick up the bike, a few cars stop to see if i'm okay.  and don't worry all, I'm fine.  At this point i decide whether or not to continue to the beach.  I use my Meth ED fast track skills to asses the damage, "mild booboos to lower left extremity and foot, right knee, right palm. is what was written on my triage sheet.  As i was bleeding, and the scrapes were pretty dirty i decided to head back to my hotel to get cleaned off.  it was a good decision because all the scrapes started hurting pretty badly as i drove.  that and i found that I am even more afraid aboard one of these things now (go figure).  when i get back I am offered a nice bottle of alcohol to pour over my wounds to clean them.  i politely decline and use one of my favorite lines from the ER, "Just soap and water," is the perfect thing for the job. --so if you haven't figured it out, R & R is for rest and relaxation and Road Rash.

My Foot.  doesn't hurt as bad as it looks

after i finally got some lunch, a woman working there offered to drive me to a pharmacy (for a small fee) to pick up dressings and bandaids and betadine and such.  It was nice of her considering i think it was the first time someone didn't try to rip me off.

So, now back to the beginning.  I just finished the book i'm reading (horns by Joe Hill) (great frickin book) and decided to catch up on me blog.  I have one more day here and not sure what i'm going to do actually.  I hopped in the pool and my cuts burned badly; i'm sure salt water would only be worse and i doubt sand is a great idea too.  maybe i'll just hang out here and read?  ---side note: proof that i wasn't going to fast is that the bike only had $20 of damages to it.  a broked mirror.

after tomorrow i go to phuket thursday morning so i can catch a flight to malaysia early friday morning.  i was hoping to have some time to explore phuket a little more than when i was training, but when the asshole travel guy (who was from the US) said it was only a short ferry, what he neglected to say that i wouldn't be taking that ferry because its not running now.  so who knows if i'll get to explore much more.

its kinda funny, Thailand seems like such a great place, but i feel like i've barely done or seen anything here.  I'm so happy i spent the week training in muay thai.  but i really think i should have allocated more time to explore more as well as not going to a travel agent.  Looks like i just might have to come back here some day.

as today is July 5th and i come home july 19th, I'm officially at the 2 weeks til i'm home mark.

My Phuket Night life

So, I figured I'd share my evening activities for tonight, as virtually every night I've been here in Phuket has been similar.

Usually around 730 or so my hunger overcomes me and I decide to head over to Tony's to grab some diner.  Tony is the guy who owns my hotel, he also owns a couple other hotels and a restaurant and travel agency around here.  He's got a pretty good business going on.  He's a really nice guy actually.  He remembers everyone; even today he was driving by and saw me walking back to my room, so he pulled over and drove me the rest of the way.  So tonight as I was heading out of my place, another guy I didn't know was heading over to the same place so he offered to give me a ride on his motorbike.  when we got there, We sat at a table of several guys I had met before, and several I haven't.  Its interesting, because there's lots of people I hang out with, but we rarely exchange names.  Its really bizarre actually.   But I'm okay with it.  We sat around and ate and drank and laughed.  It was a really good time.  And by drink, i mean we drank protein shakes and water.  I haven't even had so much as a sip of beer in about week.  I guess when everyone is working out so hard, for most people the desire to drink alcohol goes down the tubes.  from what I hear, when guys are here training, drinking is rare.  but If they do get in the mood they go to nearby towns or islands.  Honestly, I don't really care.

We were joking around a lot.  It was pretty funny, all the guys this evening were English (although past nights i've hung out with canadians, guys from cyprus, australia and all over).  It was a really funny group; especially when they were making fun of americans they had met over the years.  Especially americans who didn't get their sense of humor.

After a while we were all pretty tired and dispersed to go home.  that was at about 9:15.  I really can't remember going to be this early this often.  But we're all training really hard.  we're all tired.  tomorrow, if all goes according to plan I'll be doing various trainings for a total of 5 hours.  for me, that's a fricking long time.  but tomorrow night I hear there's a great night market somewhere around here, so maybe I'll check it out.