Yeehaw!

LifeWish #18: Celebrate the New Year in Malaysia. Mission Accomplished!

Next stop: Southwest Thailand!

New Year's Celebration!

A friend of Sofie's owns an amazing penthouse in a highrise a few
blocks from the hostel. We went there to celebrate and watch the
fireworks.
Check out the view!!!

Wallet stolen on MRT

Apparently I walk the line between the traveler whose stupid enough to
have his wallet stolen, whose smart enough to not have anything in it
but a bankcard (which was promptly canceled) and cash. Lesson learned
for the lowlow price of 600ringgit ($180). I've initiated Backup Plan
Alpha, so I'm armed with another bankcard and enough cash to ensure
the good times keep rolling :)

Destination: PT

I seem to have underestimated the size of these monsters....they're
HUGE. I'm taking the MRT home to take a nap before the big festivities
tonight...New Year's in KL!

View from KL Tower

The Patronas Towers only look theeeeese big.

Urban hike to the KL Tower

The KL Tower offers a better view than the Patronas Towers because it
rests on a higher elevation. This guy is almost half a kilometer
straight up! The walk to it from the hostel took about 20 mins.

Hostel in Kuala Lumpur

This is the hostel I'm stating at in KL, called the Red Palm
(25ringgit = $7.25 per night). I'm bunking in the top room on the
right. Sofie, the proprietor, has been great at taking care of us.

As Promised

That's stinky behind me....passed out in his pj's with his legs wide
open. My eyes! My eyes!
On a side note, I have Bob Marley's Legend album playing in full
rotation and I'm having the time of my life cruising through the
Malaysian countryside.

Malaysia Bound!

12:45pm express bus to Kuala Lumpur ($29). Moments after this picture
was taken I realized I'd be sharing the 6 hour journey with the
world's smelliest Frenchman. Seriously...my eyes are watering. I'll
try to sneak a pic with him at some point along the way. I feel
certain if you printed out his picture and sniffed it, you'd catch a
whiff of what I'm talking about.

Boat Tour

Took a boat trip around the river bisecting Singapore. The pilot was
102 years old (the boat wasnt that much younger) and only needed to
know 1 word in English: "TicketTicketTicket!"

Sir Thomas Raffles

This is the statue to honor Sir Thomas Raffles' landing spot when he
1st came to hang out in Singapore. He is perceived as a cross between
our George Washington and Christopher Columbus to the locals here.

My wish(es)

Health, wealth, and happiness. (does that count as 1 or 3? How bout 1
for each rotation.... Come on man!

Fountain of Wealth

This is the worlds largest fountain. When it is not turned on, people
can go to its eye and run thief hands through for good luck. Walk
around 3 times with your hand in the middle of the eye of the fountain
and make a wish.

Singapore: 1st day

Today I woke up with no jetlag. I'm refreshed and ready to get the day
started. 1st stop was Arab Town to check out where the Arab locals
worship. I talked up a game of chess with one of the local patrons.
Amazingly friendly people here.

Made it to Tokyo

14 hours in... Singapore bound. Only 7 more hours till I can get
comfortable in a chair that is not strapped to a jet. (Truth be told:
I'm actually smiling on the inside)

Tokyo Route

This is the route taken to Tokyo. The dim U-shape marks daytime &
nighttime on the map. Watching the sun set, then rise again in a
matter of minutes is something I didn't know was possible.

7:20am : I'm off!

See ya

First Post: Bugging Out!

My adventure starts today: December 26th, 2007. This time tomorrow, I will be leaving NYC on a plane bound for Singapore (Flight time: 21hours 50 minutes). I have a couple of days to hang out in Singapore before i have to figure out how to get from there to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Where, if all goes accordingly, I will be celebrating New Year's. From there, I have no reservations until my plane takes off from Bangkok, Thailand on Jan 17th, 2008. My girlfriend, Bo, will be joining me (somewhere) in Bangkok on Jan 6th to do some island hopping along the Thailand / Cambodian boarder until Jan 14th.

Have a look at the map above to see where I might wind up!

Here's the tentative itinerary:

Fri 12/28 - SING: Singapore (Arrive 12:05AM)
Sat 12/29 - SING: Singapore
Sun 12/30 - SING: Singapore - MAL: Kuala Lumpur
Mon 12/31 - MAL: Kuala Lumpur
Tues 1/1 - MAL: Kuala Lumpur
Weds 1/2 - MAL: Kuala Lumpur - THAI: Krabi

Thurs 1/3 - THAI: Krabi

Fri 1/4 - THAI: Krabi - THAI: Phuket

Sat 1/5 - THAI: Phuket - THAI: Bangkok
Sun 1/6 - THAI: Bangkok [Bo Arrives 11:50PM]

Mon 1/7 - THAI: Bangkok [Bo]

Tues 1/8 - THAI: Bangkok [Bo] (Exploring Islands)

Weds 1/9 - THAI: Bangkok [Bo] (Exploring Islands)

Thurs 1/10 - THAI: Bangkok - CAM: Siem Reap[Bo]

Fri 1/11 - CAM: Siem Reap [Bo]

Sat 1/12 CAM: Siem Reap - Bangkok [Bo]

Sun 1/13 THAI: Bangkok [Bo]

Mon 1/14 - THAI: Bangkok [Bo Departs 11:55AM]
Tues 1/15 - THAI: Bangkok (Exploring Outskirts)

Weds 1/16 - THAI: Bangkok (Exploring Outskirts)

Thurs 1/17 - THAI: Bangkok - NYC (Depart 8:15AM)

I'm going to try to update this blog regularly via cellphone, so keep checking back daily!