I was already feeling insecure about forgetting my rash vest as we approached the private charter boat. It’s fine, I told myself, everyone is going to be in a bathing suit. Then I saw the BYU t shirt. And the 12 adults were all siblings. Great. Mormons. I was not dressed conservatively enough for Mormons. Mark…

So after less than 10 months stateside I’m back on the road again. I’m not exactly living out of my backpack this time or roughing it barefoot, as they sell Frosted Flakes at the grocery here and I’m required by law to wear a helmet on a motorbike (sorry mom, they didn’t even sell them in…

the heavy bags that would come to haunt us It was a complicated journey. There are no regular buses that run the Cameron Highlands-Perhentian Islands route. So instead we take a van with a few other tourists to the Kuala Besut jetty where we were issued tickets for the speedboat and had to write our names…

After all the flower hunting and the blow piping and the waterfall swimming it was back to the overcrowded van to continue on our adventure. First stop was a terrible lunch followed by a quick stop at a roadside stand so the brave ones could try the affectionately known Asian Smelly Fruit, or durian. Though we…

The few hours on a mini bus ride to the Cameron Highlands would have been pretty unremarkable, if not for the man who got on for the last twenty minutes carrying a plastic bag containing a live chicken. It just bobbed its head around, seemingly unaware of its likely fate. Once the bus stopped and the…

Our main objective for our first full day in Malaysia was to get to the Thai embassy so Mark could apply for his visa. Again too cheap to pay for a cab, we took the Skytrain as close as we could get and then walked the rest of the way to the embassy where we waited…