Redang, Malaysia

July 4th, 2010: Redang Malaysia

There is a country song that goes with this picture, dirk kept singing it while we were there, he offered to sing it on Chinese karaoke night too!

So like all holidays, that I make dirk go along with, we started out him knowing nothing and us ending up on a dock in the middle of a Muslim country. We wanted to get away for Independence day and I was itching to scuba dive again. So we headed to Redang, Malaysia, only a one hour plane ride from Singapore on a private airline, Berjaya air.

There were some hiccups at the start of the trip.... like me getting a middle ear infection and my ear drum perforating, not the thing you want to happen before you leave for a dive trip. This should have made me cancel the trip all together, but we trudged on with our plans anyway.

So to make a long story short... my first impression of Malaysia isn't exactly a good one. The airplane was delayed because of technical issues (not something you want to hear when you get on a tiny little airplane that is basically a no name airline). i could just see the headlines.

The hotel had just opened and had many, many, MANY problems! So many problems that dirk actually complained. monumental. To go along with all our problems, there was a family reunion of 63 Chinese Malay at the resort. They literally took over the 74 room resort, dirk said he felt right at home, like Christmas in his family, except there was bad Chinese karaoke every night. It was actually entertaining, of coarse they were gambling on everything, from the football match to their mahjonng tournaments.

All in all, we got what we paid for, fabulous diving (yes i dove with a busted ear, don't worry, the ENT said it looked great!), relaxation, and some good laughs! You have to have a good sense of humor in Asia, you won't get out alive without it.

Here are some of our dive pictures, they are very amateurish but we have fun seeing them and remembering the dive. The visibility wasn't great while we were there and huge patches of coral were dieing due to global warming. You will see that it turns white and then dies. The water was really warm, warmest water i have ever been in. The dive master said that in the last two weeks the water temperature changed two degrees and the coral started bleaching. The effects of global warming will first be seen in the killing of our reefs... so sad.

To start off, your model on the beach... HA!

Redang 2010

dirk finally relaxing

ready to dive

lots of clown fish
the pictures taken deeper down turn out blue/green because of the lack of light

bleached coral

blue spotted ray
we saw lots of these

large ray

angel fish school

yellow snapper, saw why they call them snappers

more light, better picture

large school

happy couple!

I Want To Be...

JUST LIKE YOU!!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Thank you for being the person you are! And the person I want to be!





For all the moms out there, have a splendid day... you are appreciated!

Foodie Tour

April 10th: Newton Hawker

Our foodie tour pretty much stayed in Newton Hawker for the most part. A hawker is just a bunch of food stalls much like a mall food court. The food is pretty cheap and it is all the local dishes of Chinese, Malay, and Singapore flare. The stalls are rated based on cleanliness from A-D. A is the best, newest, and supposedly most sanitary.

Newton Hawker

The Menu

The stalls

The foodies!

They found a drink called "the dinosaur". It is milo, a chocolate mix drink with tons of chocolate poured on top. So sinful!

Carrot Cake

BBQ Sting Ray

Chili Crab with Rolls and DINOSAURS!

Chili Crab

Making our Dinosaurs!

Milo Dinosaur

CHEERS! now to hit the treadmill!!!

kappa delta reunion SINGAPORE!!!

April 9th-11th: weekend in Singapore with some KD ladies!

Alana and Elizabeth made a pit stop after their holiday in the Philippines. Alana was heading back to Dallas and Elizabeth back to Beijing. Basically all there was on the agenda was to eat, Elizabeth had heard about all the wonderful culinary delights here. I will post the foodie tour on another post, here was what we did when we were not eating.


I took them to Emerald Hill one night to No. 5. Can't pass up the ladies martini's one for one deal! We also headed down to watch a local band who was actually pretty good, surprisingly.

Our typical kappa delta picture, I will be sending it into nationals too!

Otto made a friend!

We also took them to Clarke Quay. We had to hit up the famous Clinic bar, who could pass up gold wheelchairs, IV drip drinks, and syringe shots? The foodie tour did not include the Burger King Bar but we get a kick out of this place, I mean really? Fast food and beer, why not?

Clarke Quay

Our waiter with our IV drip drink- $60/drink!

The menu, we had Sex on the Drip?

Wheelchair time!

BURGER KING BAR!

During the day we went to the famous Singapore Botanical Gardens. The one thing I love about Singapore, everything is so green! The flowers here are amazing and year round! Really reminds you that we do live in a tropical jungle.

It was a great trip! I am glad they came to stay with us. We were thrilled because they were our first visitors besides my family. I love that Kappa Delta still joins us together even half a globe away!