one more country down

we leave malaysia tonight, on a train bound for singapore. we've had a good time here. we spent a few days in penang, known for the delicious food of chinatown and little india. i have to say that the indian food we had there was better than some we had in india. but not as good as the best, for sure.

next we made our way to kota bharu, where the highlights were: scuba diving off the coast, taking a batik class, and seeing a master shadow puppet maker at work.

then we took the "jungle train" (beautiful ride) down to the taman negara rainforest. it's the oldest in the world at 130 million years! that's too ridiculous an amount of time for me to comprehend. while we were there, we went on a beautiful 11-kilometer trek to a hide, which is basically a cabin on stilts where you can look over a clearing where animals may come during the night. well, we didn't see any. on our way there we saw a little poisonous snake, and on our way out we saw a poisonous spider. though i hate spiders, i have to admit that this one was beautiful-- about 2 inches long, with a black and yellow striped body. we took the easy way out of the jungle by hiking 2 kilometers to a jetty and then taking a boat the rest of the way. my legs were sore anyway. too long without substantial exercise, i guess.

now we're getting ready for an overnight back on the jungle train. we arrive in singapore tomorrow morning, and we'll get to have a reunion with a friend we met in vietnam. fun. it's great to see fellow travelers down the road.