Paradise Found: Ko Payam

Fran and I have been at Ko Payam, a small island on the west coast of Thailand, for the past 3 days. We have travelled from Railay (near Krabi) where we stayed for 3 days - it was outstanding scenery, a beautiful beach, and we treated ourselves to a very nice bungalow. We ate lots of fantastic thai food and spent alot of time either pool side or on the beach...a welcome break from the bustling malaysian cities we had been visiting.

Our current location, the Bamboo Bungalow www.bamboo-bungalows.com, was suggested to us by Marc and Deniece and it is a much quieter place than Railay. The 3 km white sand beach is stunning, and the food cooked by the bungalow staff has been consistently outstanding; often we see boys on scooters delivering seafood directly to the chef.

We will be enjoying our stay here through Christmas until the 27th, at which point we will return to the mainland and head north to Hua Hin for 3 nights and then to Bangkok.

We wish you all a merry christmas! Fran and I have been singing christmas carols as we walk lazily down the beach...

Georgetown - Penang

We've just spent three days in Georgetown, decidedly our favourite city in Malaysia. With so much colonial history still present, it has a distinctly european feel to it. And, the traffic is a little calmer - in fact, the whole city is a little more laid back than KL or Meleka were. We are feeling like we've hit our stride, as far as travelling goes. It helps, too, that the climate is a little cooler and our hotel, Cathay Hotel, is so comfortable and charming; it's a 100 year old mansion that was once home to a very wealthy chinese family. All in all, we've been having a really fantastic time in Georgetown and we will miss Malaysia too, although we're looking forward to the Thai cuisine...

Tomorrow morning, at 5:00am, we are departing for Thailand. We plan to spend a few days in the Krabi area before moving north to Ko Phayam, where we hope to be spending Christmas. As we are not totally sure of the internet access availability there, this may be the last posting for a week or so.

Take care everyone - feel free to leave some comments for us!

Cameron Highlands

We've travelled into Central Malaysia after our 3 day visit to Kuala Lumpur. The CH are a definite change in climate and pace from KL. We are staying in an old British girl's boarding school slighlty outside of town. We had a fantastic sleep last night- very quiet and cool. The scenery is amazing- lush, green, and hilly. We visited the BOH tea plantation today (photo), and watched the process of making tea. It seems to rain here every afternoon around 2pm for a few hours, which is why we are taking refuge in this internet cafe. We've been eating at a South Indian restaurant- various vegetarian dishes served on a big banana leaf for about $3 each- fantastic!

We plan to do a little hiking tomorrow, and then we will head back to the coast to Georgetown Penang. It may be our last stop in Malaysia, before we hit some beaches in Thailand.

We hope that you are all well, and feeling the Christmas spirit.

Meleka: hot, humid, and so much fun

It's 4:00pm - I'm at an internet cafe to purchase our flight from Bangkok to Singapore on Jan 3rd and Fran is currently getting a foot massage from a boutique beside our hotel - yeah, a 3o min. foot massage for the equivalent of $7 CDN; I'm sure you could find it cheaper but it's so convenient being attached to our hotel. Fran certainly earned the massage as we walked all day, taking in some amazing sights from a traditional Melekan community (houses on stilts & very unique style and colour), to a ancient buddhist temple, to the Bukit China (hill looking above Meleka with 1000's of ornate and sometimes ancient Chinese grave sites), to an ultra-deluxe mall and food court. Still a little 'off' from the jet lag, we went to bed last night at 8pm and woke up bright-eyed and ready to go at 5:30am. We drank some delicious coffee and watched the sunrise from the balcony just down the hall from our hotel room (see photo) before exploring a morning market we were looking down upon. I was totally impressed with Fran - she bought a traditional Malay breakfast dish - called Coconut Rice - but when she unwrapped the newspaper packaging, there was more than just coconut and rice: half a boiled egg, peanuts, little tiny fried fish, and hot sauce. Though she declined on the fish, she did eat the rest (I, by the way, was stuck with the tropical fish - they, along with the whole concoction, was much much better than I expected: salty, fried, and a touch fishy). In any case, it was miles better than our complimentary 'American Breakfast' which included undercooked eggs, cold white toast, and super-sweet OJ (the coffee was pretty good). That's all for now - were going to attend the chinese night market this evening, after having another fantastic meal. Take care everyone!

We made it (or making it)

After a long journey, we arrived safely in Singapore last night. Our long flights were eased by the incredible service we enjoyed in our business class seats. Singapore Airline, in particular, definitely has our vote for the best airline ever. This morning we hopped on a bus for Meleka, which is where we are now. We just spent the last hour wandering around its twisted, narrow streets, full of colour, motorcycles, and activity. We have often sensed in the air an interesting blend of exhaust, sewer stench, and sweet incence. Every where we look, we see things we've never seen before. Looking forward to being settled in one place for a few days, we are both feeling a bit lagged but happy nonetheless. For the rest of the evening, we will look for a charming place to drink and eat. Hope everyone is well!

PS: the top photo is the card from the boquet of flowers the hotel staff had ready for us in our room (along with a basket of fruit and a very pink 'love' themed quilt and pillow covers) - it was very sweet of them, especially since Fran did not guarantee by email that we would be staying there (check out to who the card is addressed!). The 2nd photo is from earlier today - these kids were having a great time on this very colourful 'beca' - a 3 wheel bicycle 'rickshaw' type thing.

We're Off!!

Well, the departure day has finally arrived. Our friend Marc is going to pick us up in 30 minutes and take us to the airport, where we'll prepare for 20 hours of travelling. The only fear I have is the possibility of accidentally importing chewing gum into Singapore - if we're caught with chewing gum we'll face a $1,000 fine. Fran really wants to have chewing gum for the long flight, so we're packing lethal doeses of Excel and a jumbo pack of Bubblicious that my brother and sister-in-law gave us on Saturday (hummmm, coincidence?). I'm cool with the in-flight gum, but we must remember to ditch it in Osaka during our lay over - it will be my preoccupation from now until then. Ditch the gum in Osaka, ditch the gum in Osaka, ditch the gum...

Departure Date Nears

We're getting very excited now - it won't be long before we jet off to south east asia. If I may say so myself, I am so impressed with how prepared we are; we have our money sorted out, got our travel shots (ask me about my mild shock experience - I was loopy), and we're already completely packed! Actually, I'm most impressed with how well we packed. Inspired by an excellent website (http://www.onebag.com/home.html), Francy and I have managed to keep our luggage to one medium sized backpack and one small backpack - that's it! It helps that we are travelling to a balmy climate, but beyond that it's about being strategic and having light clothes. Well, I better get back to the hockey game - a pastime I will miss while in asia, but I'm sure the Singapore slings will ease the pain. gc

Honeymoon Paradise

We're off on our honeymoon soon! Married Sept. 3rd, 2005 and flying off to south east asia on December 6th and returning home January 4th (see insert for detailed itinerary). We'll post updates along our way when we find/can afford internet cafes.

Kelowna Long Weekend

Kelowna is lovely in the fall. Great Remembrance Day weekend with the Haywards, celebrating Rocco and Cheetham's birthdays. Here's a nice picture of Francy & Lucy approaching an old orchard.

welcome

stay tuned for more reports on our life.