All Sorted In Ireland

After the first couple weeks here in Ireland I think I have finally got everything all sorted out. The program is so far so good, and the group is small and like minded. The weather has been great so far, but I feel like a long, cold, rainy winter is right around the corner. I have been enjoying some good craic (fun?), but I think soon I will not have much time for anything but school. My new Irish phone number is +353 089 205 0337. You can download an app, WhatsApp, for texting and picture messaging, and my Skype name is ajwindybanks. If you find yourself in Ireland, you know where I am.

Back Where I Started

The trip has come full circle and I'm back in Bangkok. It's been a long trip, we saw many unbelievable things, and I will never forget it. The train ride from Malaysia was good fun, and early tomorrow I head to the airport to make my way home. I'm excited to come back to the cold weather, drink water from a tap, and get on to the next thing. I will come back to Asia, don't know when, but I will.

Georgetown

It's been a nice quite few days here in Georgetown. Mostly we have been stuffing our faces with large amounts of Indian food which is very plentiful here in Malaysia. Today we rented a bike and checked out some botanical gardens and a jungle nature preserve. Kind of a stormy day though and we got caught in one on our moped on the way home, I always forget how quick storms can come in the tropics.
After being with Tyler for ten weeks, twenty four hours a day, it has come time for us to part ways. Tonight he's catching a bus to head to Krabi Thailand to spend the rest of his trip rock climbing on the beach. I have one more day in Georgetown then it's a 24 hour train ride up to Bangkok for me. The end is in sight and it seems quite surreal.

KL

It was hard, however we had to say goodbye to Indonesia. We arrived in Kuala Lumpur late last night to begin the final days of the trip in Malaysia. Malaysia is like a combination of all the places we have been so far in one country, and KL is a giant futuristic mega city that seems to have quite a bit of money flowing around. It was a funny transition to be in the dirty backpacker scene just a day ago, but be window shopping for Gucci, Cartier, and the like today. Tomorrow we leave the big city and head for Penang, the original British port colony in Asia.

Bali

Yesterday we took the ferry to Bali from Lombok. Here we will spend our last two days in Indonesia before flying back to the mainland. Bali is very interesting and quite different than the rest of Indonesia because its the only Hindu island. We made a stop in Ubud, and we are staying in a hotel next to a monkey forest. Lets just say the monkeys don't really stay in their designated park. Upon arriving in town Tyler was warned not to walk around carrying fruit because the monkeys would get it off him by any means. Indonesia has been amazing and I don't want to leave, with or without monkey rabies.