Malaysia Trip - midway through

I'm sitting here in Kuching looking out over the Kuching River. Our trip so far has been incredible! We spent four days in Melaka where we took a short river cruise, went to a museum in a bulding that replicates a Sultans palace, visited a home called Villa Sentosa (an unofficialbut way cool museum) and ate lots of absoultely wonderful food. I've discovered a new favorite dish or two. One is Roti, an Indian pancake/crepe that you dip into a curry sauce. I am so hooked on this stuff. Another favorite is Nasi Lamak, coconut rice served with a fried egg, curried baby anchovies, peanuts and hot sauce. It's what's for breakfast here in Malaysia and never would I have thought I'd like eating such spicy food in the morning but it's wonderful.

Singapore in a word is HOT! In two words, HOT & HUMID! Never have I sweated so much in my life. But the city is great. In the two short days we had, we crammed in a lot. First we ate Chicken Rice at the famous Tian Tian in the Maxwell Food Centre. We also had Tom Yum soup and the owner of that stall was so impressed that we liked the soup that he gave us a bowl of a mutton stew to try. It was rich, flavorful and very good. He even offered to show me how it was made. There was a language barrier that was easily overcome with show-and-tell and hand gestures. So now I have a new recipe to try when we get home.

We also hoofed it around the Asian Civilization Museum and the Botanical Gardens. In particular the Ginger gardens and the incredible Orchid gardens. Never have I seen so many orchids and so many differnt varieties. It was simply orchid overload by the time we were done. And these things grow everywhere, not just in the gardens. Around trees, in sidewalk gardens, up in the trees, everywhere you look.

We also took in the Night Safari in the Singapore Zoo. Pretty cool, all the nocturnal animals on display while you ride a tram through the trees. Some animals like the tapirs were freely walking about. Plus you could get off the tram and walk on some paths through the areas to for a closer look at the animals.

Now we are in Kuching. After one night in a hotel that looked better online than it did in person, we moved to nicer digs. So far Jim's been to Bako National Forest, I've been shopping and we've both been having a great time.

We've taken about 1,000 pictures so far and we're only half way through our trip. I'll most likely create a new blog just for this trip so keep a lookout once I get home.