HurricaneMaine

Singapore

I had scheduled an appointment at a hospital in Bangkok and it was easier to come to Singapore first rather than the layovers traveling from Malaysia. Over three days I took a few breaks from online grading mostly to find food but one night light tour.

Singapore has it together. It is a beautiful city and amazing. Its response to coronavirus is to temperature sensor everyone everywhere. Hand sanitizer was available everywhere too.

Buddha Tooth Relic Temple. While I was in Singapore I was temperature checked everywhere I went including breakfast.

Walking down towards the marina.

Down at the marina. Behind me is the marina sands hotel and casino.

The center has an infinity swimming pool looking over Singapore.

Down by the arts complex a band was warming up for the nights show.

On the way back I walked through the esplanade park. This is front of the Asia museum.

Night light tour.

In the mask attached to the marina sands you can take a boat. Crazy.

Last days Langkawi

After Koh Adang, Thailand I came back to Langkawi. I could stay here forever. It is beautiful and laid back. I swam in the pool between working online. I did not spend much time in the sun after some unfortunate kayaking which left my shins incredibly burnt. I used the time to plan even further ahead in my classes.

I will come back here. It is worth the stay and maybe next time I won’t be teaching online.

Dusky leaf with baby. At breakfast one young monkey scaled the patio and while I was fending him off my fruit with my fork, he stole my croissant! Not this one, but same type.

My favourite lunch at the Berjaya resort. Veggie wrap. They include mango in the wrap and it is delicious. Yes, at the swim up bar where I could cool of my sunburnt legs while I ate.

Sunset the night before as I went to dinner with a new friend, Olga. She is from Holland and delightful.

At the airport I ate breakfast. French toast with kaya spread. It is coconut and egg whipped together in a spread. Delicious!

Koh Adang, Thailand

While at Langkawi I found that there is some good snorkeling at Koh Lipe/Koh Adang. These are islands just a ferry ride away.

Actually, it is a ferry to Koh Lipe then a bike taxi ride across the island then a long tail boat ride to Koh Adang.

A long tail boat is a long thin boat that has a pole with the motor at the top and fans at the base. It can lift the fans out of the water which is good as coral is not too far below the surface. Also, the pole is used as a rudder to steer.

Koh Adang is bigger but less developed. You can camp here and there is one small resort. No stores and a nice restaurant in the resort that takes care of you. The Adang resort is amazing. The best part is I went barefoot most of the time.

There is only a few activities here. They play a movie on a large screen at night. The kitchen is only open from 8 am to 9 pm. This is a place purely for relaxation. It was a little as I had some if the best sleep I’ve had in months. Of course I did a lot of online school work.

Snorkeling was fun even though the coral was right below the surface of the water. I did find Nemo and his friend. They were very photogenic. I also found a giant purple clam.

Hiking on some trails through the jungle was fun. I never made it to the waterfall as a large tree blocked the path near the end and uprooted much of the ground.

Food here is amazing. My favourite is Pad Thai which I had twice. I also had this amazing sea bass in a lime sauce. Very light and flavorful.

Kayaking is not my favourite activity especially if it is long. I thought I could make it around the island but I couldn’t and ran out of water and received a nasty sunburn. But it was gorgeous and snapped at least one picture.

I saw this crab on one of the beaches I stopped at.

There day I left I took these sunrise pictures.

Klim mangrove tour

There only tour I took was through the mangrove with Dev tours.

it is low tide and you can see the roots of the mangrove trees. These will be covered at high tide.

First stop at a bat cave. We were greeted by monkeys. The youngster was friendly. The old one is a thief.

Bats. These eat insects and use echolocation. Because of it their snouts are a bit flat and they would be called ugly bats.

You can see the oxidation in the exposed area where the bat nail left a mark in the rock.

Roots of trees allow water to follow along the root. The minerals in the water made the stalactite.

Water monitor lizard

Mangrove tree is a master at adaptation and filters salt in roots

White belly sea eagle

We stopped to swim along a beautiful beach then went to a floating restaurant that is also a fish farm. The soup was insanely hot. I used it to flavour three river and fished the shrimp and veggies out of it

Macaque gang

I’ve seen the macaques in the resort but they had yet to visit my balcony. While I was working I heard quite the commotion at the front door. They try to open doors!

I took some fruit out with me and they saw it. As tried handing s pice to thee young macaque in front of me, a large macaque ran up and took the whole container. There was a lot of them so I scattered the pieces about for the others to get.

Some went to the back balcony.

Later I saw the group walking through the resort, looking in trash receptacles…

Night walk Langkawi

I went on a short walk with a naturalist to view some of the wildlife.

Dusky leaf monkey. They can eat poisonous leaves as there digestion is very different from the macaque.

Bismarck palm

Colugl which is a Flying lemur. They are difficult to spot. The male is the one with brown coloured fur. I actually saw one flying but could not catch it yet on video.

Spider lily

Frangipani

Langkawi, monkeys, and the Geo park

I was actually glad to leave Kuala Lumpur. It’s beautiful but I have been having asthma issues with a long flight and whatever is provoking my allergies. In the mess of being a nomad teacher I have run out of my maintenance inhaler and they don’t make it anymore either. I’ve been seeing how I do without it and have used a rescue inhaler way too much. My plan is to get to Bangkok and be evaluated at the hospital there.

Langkawi is beautiful. I have a bungalow in the rainforest where I have a good place to work. I do have monkey visitors on my balcony. I started with three hours of work then went to check the pool at the resort. Beautiful.

After the first night, my asthma is much improved.

I still wake up at an ungodly hour and after 4 hours of work took a walk on the beach just after sunrise.

I went back for more work and finish uploading the screencasts I created. My break from working the next day was a short walk to the skycab to go up the mountain to the overlook of the Geo park. I did need to go for a walk and get some lunch.

There monkeys I saw along the way kept their distance until you started talking to them. I did turn off the video just as they were climbing on my backpack and pulling on my dress. They really wanted food.

Monkeys and the aviary

From the botanical garden I walked up a different section to get to the aviary. I passed the top of the deer park and snapped a picture of one.

In the parking lot was a large family of macaque monkeys!!!! Warning: many pictures and videos.

Video of one of the families: https://youtu.be/2gBJtMTtFhI

https://youtu.be/Itrkk8NePSUy

Photo ops with birds

These are African grey parrot on my shoulder and macaws in my hands.

Feeding the lorries.

These guys really wanted to eat and were so friendly.

Love birds

This guy is amazing….

Indian blue peafowl

White peafowl

Black crowned crane

Great hornbill.

Southern pied hornbill. This guy was hiding and retreated further when people stopped in front.

The park is one large open area for the birds to move with special areas closed off inside.

Waterfall area

Owls and birds of prey

Kuala Lumpur

I arrived on a red eye at the Pullman at 3 am. As there was no room ready I sat for 4 hours grading and doing work. I paid for the buffet breakfast and my room was ready super early after that. Lucky since official check in was some time away.

My only tour are hop on hop off which I used to sightsee until it became too hot. Touring the gardens and aviary was great but very warm out. I then retreated to do more work.

I did not do the Batu caves. A lot of people say you should but I’ve already seen karst formations in Halong Bay and Laos. The cave I saw on the Mekong was amazing and not commercial. Reviews of Batu caves depict how commercial it is. Yes there is a giant gold statue. I was fine with skipping it.

This is the old train station. I love the minarettes and the style of the building.

I left the bus at the botanical garden stop as walking was what I needed and it was close to the aviary (I really love birds!) And the orchid garden (which is closed right now for remodeling).