SO I forgot Thailand and Malaysia...

Blog Posting:
After the hustle and bustle of getting from Nepal to Delhi, I finally have a few moments in my cousin Shivli’s apartment to recount the past couple…months? Joe and I have been writing, but rather idiosyncratically. That along with the fact that the past two to three weeks we’ve been on the trail, far away from internet is a decent excuse for the absence of a blog posting.
To begin, I want to honor my mother’s request to write about the month and a half we spent in Thailand and Malaysia. She is in fact, the only reason why I have the luxury to go there… After saying goodbye to Cairo, we flew into Bangkok the first week of January. The impetus for a jaunt in South East Asia came from my best friend Jess’ presence and insistence for me to visit her in Thailand. Per usual, we had a romantic-without-the-use-of-modern-communication meeting place in a posh section of Bangkok, which also happened to be to main area of upscale prostitution and the location of a the luxury Burmengrad hospital boasting its very own giftshop. Jess and Nadezshda (our wonderful, beautiful, and whimsical Bulgarian Anthro grad student friend), met us and whisked us quickly into the exceedingly bachelor apartment of four French men, one of who Jess had met in Cambodia the past month. Fully integrated into the Bangkok social scene, they took us to a variety of clubs that night, all sporting the common large white man with young thai girl genre. It wasn’t super fun for western (self-respecting) girls like us, but getting to know the “native” side of the city and the French men was comical.
After some debate, Joe and I split off from each other to attain self-realization independent of each other. Cairo had been tough on our relationship, and some soothing self-renewal was in order. I spent a week with Jess thereafter biking through the forests of northern Thailand. Our bike trip in Spain had inspired Jess to do a similar trip with me many months before, and our common proximity in …the continent of Asia made it feasible. Jess had spoken to some woman about biking in the north, and we haphazardly chose the road from Chiang Mai to Mae Hong Song. After the first couple of days of biking, we realized that this wasn’t just a simple amble through the forest; this road was FAMOUS for being a pain in the butt. We were either vertically going up, or vertically going down. “Flat” was a cosmic joke as we pushed our rented mountain bikes literally up mountains. When we reached Pai, someone told us that this road (which was in excellent condition), despite the twists and insurmountable climbs, was just recently built by the Japanese in the 80’s. This path had been previously only navigable by elephants. Not horses, just Elephants. Riding about 60-70 km a day for a week, we made our way through rice paddies and villages to Mae Hong Song, famously 1,070 curves later. As Jess’ first major bike trip, she did incredibly, many times making me feel like my 1 year experience on a bike and seasoned spinning instructor was relatively worthless to her pure grit and determination. We had an amazing time together; there is nothing better than relearning your friends in a new context (i.e. outside of the stress of Dean’s Dates, papers, exams, boys, and thesis….Princeton). At this point Jess and I have shared the experience of getting certified for Scuba together and this ridiculous bike trip. We just keep upping the anty.(sp??). What next? Paragliding with hawks? I hope so. Along the way we got Thai massages, ate delicious Thai specialties, and spent nights sampling whiskey at Thai military check points. All in all, the trip was manageable, and I do believe that between my hike in Nepal and this bike trip I’ve conquered any possible misgiving about going up hills…
After saying good-bye to Jess, and reuniting with Joe back in Chiang Mai, a very important tradition was founded. Nearly-full-moon-beer-and-sushi night. I told Joe about how my father and his friends eat beer and sushi every now and then, and how it was a tradition for them, so Joe and I started our own. I can say, for the past three anniversaries of this great meal, it’s never been a disappointment. The first was in Chiang Mai, Thailand, the second in Bangalore, India, and the third was recently in Katmandu, Nepal. (We didn’t want to inquire how they got “fresh” fish in Katmandu…). We topped off our Thailand experience with a “Flight of the Gibbons” zip-lining experience that managed to empty our pockets but allowed us to scream like little girls (I did.) while pretending to be super heroes. Priceless really.
Heading back south to Bangkok, we met my father in order to go to the heavenly beaches of southern Thailand, and the rain forests of Malaysia. My dad is an incredibly clever man. I do believe he has found my trip around the world as a great excuse to do some of his own traveling. The three of us began our trip in Ko Lanta, where my father treated us to REAL hotel rooms, and deliciously fulfilling meals. I think my favorite dinner so far occurred on a cliff top bar with Joe, a random Aussie, and my father. We ordered 4 differently prepared red snappers, freshly caught that day. As a fish-a-tarian, this was a dream come true. My favorite preparation was the ginger chilli grilled snapper accompanied by a spicy tomato sauce. Mmmmmmmmmm……GAaaaaaaaaaaa (the noise Homer Simpson makes when he’s hungry and drooling). The beach was beautiful sans all the friendly jellyfish stalking me (if you’ve ever seen Sphere, you might have a clue to why I am nervous around stalky jellies). My papa and I had a great time together chatting above the waves per usual. I got a healthy dose of reality in his presence as he reminded me of the new obligations I would be assuming as soon as I started graduate school…like rent…or taxes. Ugh.
Through some well priced airAsia tickets, the three of us were able to go to Malaysia where we stayed with one of my father’s friends in the grand city of Kuala Lumpur. It was sort of a eerie, as if it had just sprouted out of the jungle, minty new and dauntingly clean. Eventually we headed to Taman Negara, the contrastingly sticky and dirty rain forest in central Malaysia. There we did some hiking and tree-top canopy walking, We ended that portion of our trip in Penang, another beach side paradise where I parted ways with my father after getting some more wave time and much-needed lectures of the pitfalls of India.

Now we are updated to atleast the same country....