navigating

Lucky to have Heath's finesse at navigating the Asian world. Bought snacks for the busses yesterday (think bean curd bun, oranges, chocolate covered almonds and tasty sweet and salty crackers. Public bus to Singapore border, get out, get stamped out of Singapore, get on bus, then off again, walk through actual border, get stamped into Malaysia. Back on another bus, into the main station 5 kms in to the nearest town. Here Heath navigated us onto a bus going to KL-(Kuala Lumpur) quick bathroom run for Raven and I- there is a woman at the bathroom entrance and I have no currency in my pocket. Like the public bathrooms in England- she is expecting some small change- a local takes pity on us and pays. We'll blog later about toilets! This bus was about 5 hours- but took us to not quite the right station to get the night sleeper berth train to Tailand, so quick 'teksi' to LK Sentral. No train. Booked full. No contingency plan. This is where WiFi is AWESOME-SAUCE. A few minutes of Heath navigating his phone, finding hostels close by. It's only 8:30pm, but we are super tired and still getting our bodies adjusted to the time. Getting OUT of the station is epic. It is only a 200 metre (as the crow flies) walk- but there are 3 levels, construction and it's dark, and Su highly recommends a Teksi ride. Of course buddy takes us to not exactly where we want to go (I am beginning to notice a theme here), but we walk to the hostel we want, there is a room for us, and we drop into some bunkbeds for real sleep. Hostel rooms in Asia appear to be windowless, but they have air conditioning, and the windows keep out the noise and dirt of the city, so it's not all bad!

the capital

Walking along the river taking in the view- it reminded us of the capital in hunger games. modern sleek, expecting hovercrafts at any moment. Walked until the heat got to oppressive, then hid in the air con hostel. A good  introduction to travel, as the water is drinkable, the city clean, and we may have stopped at subway for lunch. Little India for tasty dinner, jet lag catching up with us, because we were in bed by 8pm. Rave and I woke in the night and chatted until Heath 'shushed' us. We sat in the rooftop hot tub watching the sun rise. Another rooftop breakfast, then we'll spend the next 24 hours on to busses and an overnight train to take us to Thailand beaches.

Safe arrival to Singapore

We survived an epic long flight! 13 hrs, plus another 3 1/2 hrs after changing planes in China.
Long flight, but easy. The only glitch was our luggage NOT making the change. Airline will deliver to hostel by 4am. Not that we'll be awake.
We have crawled into our bunks, after the taxi driver stopped at McDonalds for Heath and Raven to get a late night snack. (breakfast?) It is 12:40 am here, 9:40 am (the day before) back home.We crossed the dateline somewhere. The invisible line around the globe.
Humid and rainy- warm- the smell is dank. Rave doesn't like it, but we'll get used to it.

Kind-of like Florida. Didn't see much of the city. Breakfast on the roof in the morning!

Evening in Vancouver

Last night we stayed on the 18th floor, at Tony and Colby's apartment in New Westminster.
Looking straight down onto the busy industrial train tracks, river tugs and the Sky Train.
A great introduction to a big city- lights, noise, business.

We took the sky train downtown to catch the Vancouver Art Gallery 'by donation' night.
Su really wanted to check out the Cone sisters collection, with Matisse and Picasso peices.
Memories of other travels... Rave was more excited about visiting Pacific Centre mall.

Well, this  is it! The girls came over to Vancouver today for our last sleep in Canada. Tomorrow we fly 13 hours to China, then another 3 1/2 hours to Singapore. Even though it will be 9:30 PM when we land, it will feel like 41 C. That's OK, because today I bought Raven a Hello Kitty electric fan. Asia, r
eady or not, here we come!

If you have ever travelled anywhere for an extended period of time, you'll remember that the weeks before leaving involve many 'lasts'. This week has seen a series of 'lasts' for us. Last paddle, last sleep in our cosy beds, last snuggle with our cat, last movie on the big screen TV, last visits with friends, last of the cheese and butter... Does this week of 'lasts' prepare us for all the 'firsts' to come about? This week has seen some pretty inventive meal planning, as I have been trying to eat up the remains of the pantry. Heath has fondly been eating dinners from his bachelor days- cans of  soup mixed with carbs and vegetables. Random freezer food. Will these last homemade meals be remembered fondly as we are eating unknown asian items? Time will tell.

Sold our house, laid our jobs to rest, taking school 'to go', purging, packing and storing our things, and we are poised, on the edge of an exciting 10 months abroad.

one more sleep in our own beds, 4 more sleeps in Victoria, 1 more sleep in Vancouver, then a 13 hour plane ride.......