Bukit Merah and Orange Cousins

So, the sanctuary was amazing.

The first thing that struck me was the island's layout. An interesting quirk of the Bukit Merah orangutan sanctuary is how the humans and orangutans are separated; here, the hairless primates are behind bars. While we walked through the sanctuary in a narrow caged path, it is up to the orangutans to come up and see us.

How amazing is that?

On this island in a lake, there were 24 resident orangutans. Over the day, we caught a glimpse of  about 11 or 12, including 6 incredibly playful juveniles!

Words cannot describe how endearing and beautiful these young apes were, here are some photographs*:

A juvenile female we found playing with two rambunctious males.

After an accidental head butt, the males split up and pouted for a moment before resuming their wrestling. Behold the pout!

Just snoozing in the tall grass.

It may look like a hug, but it's actually a bite. These two infant males spent a some time gnawing at each other, pushing and biting, slapping and pulling...all in good fun, of course!

One of the largest males in the part - look at those cheek flanges!

This was amazing. This female clapped at me, made eye contact, then offered up a hand. Maybe she wanted to borrow my camera?

Great mumma with a lovely baby! AHHH!!! So cute.

It's you lucky day!!! Why? 

Because...

Bonus Photos from the adjacent Eco-Park!!!

...that's why. 

Sleepy bearcats - totally adorable.

Also, have a sunbear. Being endearing.

*my camera's exposure was far too low (but I didn't notice in the excitement of the day) - you might notice the resultant discolouration :P

I'm SO EXCITED for tomorrow!

Hopefully some of my own photos will appear on the blog after our visit to Pulau Orang Utan! After the uncertainty of whether the sanctuary would be accessible, I'm so excited to get to visit. 

This was just a quick update - stay tuned for more after the trip!

From anemones to zooxanthellae and everything in between...

Again, it has been ages since the last post. But! 'Tis my blog, and therefore ye readers must bear with me!!! When last you heard from me, I was on my way to Redang Island in the state of Terrenganu. Since then, I have played a significant amount of beach volleyball, been stung by a jellyfish, done a coral reef transect, been kept from sleep by a sea turtle, been SCUBA diving, contracted an ear infection, somehow broken my computer, written an 18 page paper in 48 hours with said computer difficulties, given a seminar about orangutan genetics, written a final exam, and, most importantly, have seen Batman - Dark Knight Rises. But that's just the bare facts.

More details, you ask? Why, I'd be glad to fill out my story for you. Be warned - it is longer than a barnacles manhood...

Elephants, tadpoles, and hyperactivity

So today was one of those weird days. Yep, weird just about sums it up. We went first thing to the elephant reserve at Kuala Gandah after a breakfast of fried noodles and white toast with margarine at the LUXURIOUS Hotel Jelai in Lipis. The elephants were so beautiful mum! We got to feed them, play with their trunks a bit, and even got to ride on one for a bit. It was quite touristy, but they were so gentle that I regret nothing. NOTHING!!! It was unfortunately also a very sad time - there were two young elephants residing at the centre because they had been attacked. One was missing a tail and some shoulder flesh due to a tiger attack, while another was missing a foot. Because of a snare. I was so angry. The farmers here still shoot at elephants (only some, of course - many others will call organizations to move the pachyderms into larger parks in Malaysia). 

Also, some tadpoles we were looking to release died. The scoop with the taddies - when doing our marine insect survey, we got a lot of tadpoles that we stuck into a waterbottle thinking we would release them into the stream later. Unfortunately, they were forgotten the only other time we went to the stream, so I decided to adopt them and carry the water bottle around with me, refreshing the water as often as I could, in hopes of releasing them at another stream. But we hadn't passed any! For three days I had these little fellows - one of which was actually growing legs. Unfortunately, while we were with the oliphants, they all died. Simultaneously, even. It was very very strange...and actually quite sad...anyway, MOVING ON FROM THE DEAD HERPS! 

Sorry little buddies...

After this - believe it or not - we got invited to a Malay wedding down the road of someone who worked at the centre. All fifteen of us in sweaty, sometimes less than modest clothing. That wasn't even the weird part. The weird part was that we were told to stand behind the wedding party - all of us - for photos. With the family of the marriage couple. Even though we were all strangers. While everyone took pictures.

It was weird...

BUT! We got to eat delicious food in the end, so I'm going to go ahead and say that all was worth it. Plus, the cool part is, we had to eat with our hands! BOOYEAH! It was great - there is a specific technique you have to use - scoop it up and push it into your mouth with your thumb. You have to be super careful, though - right hand only!!! The left is reserved for less than savoury purposes...

After that, we went to a biological diversity centre and I did my itfield expertise - a short presentation regarding a topic of the tropics. A tropic topic, if you will. I managed to do  without notes - a feat that nobody else has managed thusfar (I know, I know, I am a horrible brag...but DEAL WITH IT!)

Then hanging out in town, going to Pizza Hut and a store called (get this) The Store, where I stocked up on writing pens. All of mine have disappeared apparently. No idea how or why, but there ya go...I may have to do some undercover work...with my fists! BLAM SMACK BOOM!

Sorry about the violence -  the bus driver likes to watch martial arts movies and action thrill rides like The Transporter - I think it represents his dream job.

Tomorrow is 7 hours on a bus, then...ugh...Radang in Terengganu on the East Coast. Which is where we find SEA TURTLES!!!!!!!!!! AND SCUUUUBAAAAAAA!!!! Plus, we've officially crossed the country now!! WOOT WOOT! Can you say, "Mairin is officially well travelled?"

SIDENOTE: In terms of heat, you stop noticing after a while. I mean, you notice that it is hot and that you are sweating like a wildebeest, but you don't mind so much. You just deal with it. Does that make sense? Maybe? Okay, good. Plus, this way, I'll be cool and collected when I fly back to Canada directly to Ontario while my parents are sweltering. MWHAHAH! MY PLAN IS FLAWLESSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It's been a looong time

Hello again! In case you hadn't inferred, I have been without internet since Canada Day - that's July 1 for you non-Canuckers. This is because we are finally in the field!!! Doing SCIENCE and BIOLOGY and ECOLOGY and them MORE SCIENCE!! Because it's been so long and the days have been literally JAM PACKED with JAM I don't feel like I can really go into detail about all that I've done. We all know what that means: LIST TIME 

• July 1
• Tropical fruit farm baby! It was delicious. I tried durian (which, by the way, is incorrectly known as the King of Fruits by the locals. It smells like cow manure and tastes like fried onions mixed with mushroom soup. It should be called the Jester of Fruits - lying little toad). My favourites were rambutan, mangostein, cat's eye, fresh pineapple, dragonfruit, and, well, everything. Considering that the typical diet here is starch + fried tofu + rice or fried noodles 5 times - that's right, 5 - per day, the vitamin C was greatly appreciated. Oh, and a guy tried to sit in my lap on a bus. I had to growl at him to leave
• We then went to a dim lit bar in a creepy part of Penang - it was remarkably smoky and full of men. No, seriously. We were the only women there! Kayla, Chris, Tim, Tannis and I played a game of pool using snooker cues on a snooker table. It took an hour and a half to finish one game. Good news is, I won. 
• July 2 
• The first day we left civilization - drove to a bird sanctuary/resort called Kuala Gula - all in all, saw a couple of sparrows. Most of the birds we saw were taxidermied...to be fair, the prime bird habitat was in the middle of the mangrove forest pools, so the expectations were reasonably low. BUT! We got totally excited because we saw some wild barnacles hanging out on a water pipe. Oh yeah, we are all cool kids here in Malaysia!
• Saw my first monkey. Yes, this was a big deal!!! Cuties...longtailed macaques. If you don't believe me, wait until pictures get posted (maybe when I have a faster internet connection and more than half an hour)
• Stopped for lunch and I had a delicacy - ABC. It's shaved ice with neopolitan icecream, two flavours of syrop, weird jellies, corn, and sweet beans. SO GOOD! I now want it all the time.
• Arrived at the Matang mangrove to BUCKETS of rain. Upon seconds of stepping off of the bus, WHAMO!! Soaking wet. I didn't mind - it's warm rain! The Mangrove had a serious of boardwalks through the heavily protected forest - of course exploration came first! So there we were, soaking wet, running along slick boardwalks in bare feet, when it starts thundering. And also lightning. Quite of a bit of it. And quite close to us. As in, forget-the-counting-rule-just-run-back-to-shelter close.
• July 3
• We climbed a mountain - over a kilometer upwards. We mostly went up just to see how the trees changed with elevation, which was quite interesting, but very tiring.
• Chris, a relatively reckless individual, ate a palm fruit. Which we later found out may have been toxic. Good work Chris, you have now cameoed in my blarugh. 
• The best part of the day was the ride down. We got to hitch rides from the top down the twisting (literally twisted - imagine snakes and ladders at a 45° angle in an open Jeep going 30km/h. Wow. Was that ever cool! Indiana Jones, MOVE OVER!!!
• By the way, lots of cool bugs. I love the bugs here. So many bugs. So much awesome.
• July 4
• Charcoal factory visit, fishing village visit...yep. Not a very exciting day. The charcoal factory was sleezy, the village filled of barefoot men sorting cockles from shrimp and gulpers. 
• Sadly, the boatride back from the fishing village was the best part! We ride around in these open fishing ships:



• Now imagine pouring rain while you sit in the open front. For half an hour. Have I mentioned how quickly it starts raining here? As in, it takes about 5 seconds to really get going?
• Not that I'm complaining - if it rains enough, we get to see my lovely orange babies!!! FINGERS CROSSED!!!

• July 5
• We totally planted mangroves! I took three Rhizophora apiculata into the mud (deep deep mud with only buttress and knee roots to save us from a deep sinking doom.) There was quite a bit of splooshing and splashing about – I had fun, but most others seemed a bit put off by the whole thing. YEAH MUD!
• Free time was the name of the game! AND FIDDLER CRABS!!! And last-minute-put-together presentations on aspects of the mangrove that affect bird, plant, or human populations. All in all, lots of BIOLOGY!
• At night, Amila, Maryam, Kayla and I went for a boardwalkwalk. About 20m in, a loud rustling in the bushes gave us a bit of a spook. I think it was a water monitor lizard – either way, Amila and I became distracted by a pair of shining eyes further on the boardwalk. We kept going, leaving Maryam and Kayla behind. We found out later that they turned back. The shape was fuzzy, with a longish tail (it looked a bit like raccoon, but the eyes were too close together and there aren't any raccoons here anyway). Either way, my first response was “OH SNAP! A SLOW LORIS!” Turns out, it definitely wasn't, but I think it may have been anything from a possum to a civit cat. I don't really know...hard to say. I wish I could have seen it in the light. But I still hold - it was neat and I wish it was a loris. Just sayin'.

• July 6 
• The coolest part was tonight! We went out in a rented boat. To see fireflies!!! And guess what?! WE SAW THEM! It was amazing! Like Christmas treeees! All lit up and beautiful. Plus, I got to see new stars! How often does that happen! Including SCORPIO!!! WOWIE!!!!!!!!! Amila and Amarr showed me a bunch of new stuff, including these new stars, and taught me about their governmental system. Did you know that they have a rotating kingship that moves around five dudes, one from each state (I don't know either – maybe 5 Peninsular states? I dunno. GEOGRAPHY GO!) The guy now in power is on round 2. Democracy? Psshhhh....
• I think we also went to the mall, but everything is fuzzy before the wee lighty uppy beetles - and who cares anyway? TESCO PALES IN COMPARISON TO SCIENCE!
• July 7
• We left the Matang mangrove, heading for a USM archaeology field station in Lenggong - apparently they found the Perak man here. What's this? Biology and Archaeology in the same place? COUNT ME IN!
• There was cool archaeological stuff there, too! Like massive pelvic bones, stone tools, etc. So cool! I want to poke and prod them all – despite the bad that I know would come of it. Either way – tonight we had a lecture about bat diversity → just plain amazing! There is so much diversity!!! They have funky noses with neat rhino horns, indents, leaflets, tiny eyes, and giant ears! They are champions of nocturnal living! And fruit bats- they are just plain adorable. We also talked about small rodents, but this wasn't as interesting. Because let's face it - they aren't bats.
• After the lecture, we went to a nearby park – Lata Kekabu to put down small rodent traps (Sherman traps and rat cage traps) with bits of banana. We also set up two harp traps for insectivorous bats. They look like they sound - strings of fishing wire set up in vertical lines above a catch bag. It cannot be healthy to fly into strings you can't see at high velocity, but in the end all of our bat friends were okay
• July 8
• Speaking of bat friends...BATS! AND HERPING! AND FROGGING! I loved it! I could frog every day forever maybe. I don't know at this point because I have yet to test this theory. The bats were cute as promised, of course. We ID'd them, measured them, and released them in the AM. I'm happy to say that I got bitten! YAHOO! No skin breaking, luckily, but I bear the scratches with pride. After all, the fellow was a frightening 5cm long with itty bitty teeth. (Photos to come - yes, I can photographically prove I was here!)
• Anyway, frogging at night was just plain amazing – walking through the stream with my leech socks, water shoes, and quick dry zipoffs like a nerd, a very very happy nerd. I caught a big fat toad, two small poison tree frogs, and a small torrent frog (With Chris! We had to double team the little frogger! Essentially, he half caught it, it jumped onto me, I went for it, it jumped onto him, a quick snatch, a quicker hop, but in the end I snagged the guy.) Either way – I loved it, and hated it when we had to leave the river behind. Every time I pass a body of water now, I take a quick look for the wee amphibians.
• July 9
• TREE PROFILING! Basically, it was a game of "Let's go into the forest and estimate the height of trees in a 20x4m plot of land, ID the trees, measure their diameter and canopy size, and then draw a scientifically accurate diagram of the forest strata!" CAN YOU SAY FUN PARTY TIMES IN THE FOREST? Because I CAN!!!
• Afterwards we were super hot and pretty much drenched in sweat...so the only real thing to do was to JUMP INTO THE RIVER! There was a beautiful cold waterfall nearby - it was so great! Clothes and all, in we went. 
• July 10
• I'm getting tired of this list. SO I'LL CONCISE IT UP!
• CAVING
• RAPPELLING DOWN EMPTY AIR
• KAYAKING IN A LAKE
• SHOWING UP BOYS IN KAYAK RACES - booyah booyah
• FINALLY FINISHED "FEAST FOR CROWS" but have nobody to discuss juicy plot points with...please, people, read these books so I can talk to you about them.
• July 11
• Aquatic insect catch with Amarr and Maryam - cool stuff plus giant leeches. WOOT WOOT
• Insect ID and preservation - I saved as many as I could (by secretly smuggling them into the tadpole jar after counting), but we still killed quite a few insects by dropping in EtOH. Why didn't they tell us that we had to kill them all?!??! Curse those deceiving entomologists...
• But I still love bugs - which, by the way, are remarkably awesome here! On that note, I had a pet female rhinocerous beetle this night. She hung out on my sleeve. For hours. It was awesome. I want one to keep forever.
• Anyway, nightime bug collection with a great big light - I smuggled out a few survivors here too, but got STUNG BY ONE OF THE BUGS I SAVED! Can you believe it? Dirty rotten giant wasps...just when you think you can trust them they go and stick their pointy behinds right in your butt. *Sigh*
• July 12
• In the morning, bug ID and subsequent release of those that made it through the night
• I got to pin a bunch of bugs that died. It was fun, and I realized that I missed pinning. Plus, I got to learn how to spread Lepidoptera on a dead moth. By the by, spreading is when you open the wings for viewing - it has to be done when the bug is fresh and not yet brittle.
• Only one drawback – a beetle that was brought to me “dead” that I pinned and spread turned out to be slightly less than advertised. Its legs started twitching an hour into my spreading of its wings. It was not pleasant. I put it into the jar with ether (killing jar) for ~10 minutes, it stopped moving and breathing, so I pulled it out and put the wings back into spread position. No problem. When I glanced over an hour later, and it started twitching again. Again to the jar. Again with the twitching. Poor guy - it took a half hour turn in the ether before he had given up the ghost. On the bright side, I got to keep the specimen and he is beautiful - but comes with a horrible story.
• Then on to a palm plantation - where I am now - where we are staying in a hotel. That's right. We are being spoiled rotten!!! Thus, the internet. I may not have it again for another week, but you will all have to deal with it! 
• MWAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!

Lectures and culture and junk

Hello all! Today is mostly to share photos, but at the same time I know that I want to let you know about what I'm up to first! An overview of the past 2 days in the form of a CHECKLIST! *so efficient* See some other posty thing in the photos tab (if I can figure that out) for the pics.

Yesterday

1. Went out for roti (naan bread) breakfast across the street, and accidentally ate dessert first in the form of iced mango. Have I mentioned yet that they don't have distinction between breakfast, lunch, or dinner? What you eat at one meal you eat at another. The first day here we had curried boiled eggs, spicy noodles, KFC style chicken, and prawn shrimp served up. Needless to say we were shocked and slightly embarrassed at the fact that nobody really wanted to eat it. The food we expected to have for breakfast was actually dessert, and what was meant to be breakfast felt more like dinner. Our stomachs are just going to have to deal!
2. Because it took us so long to get out of the place, we were late for our first class. Like CHAMPIONS! Luckily, everything here runs on "Malay time", which is directly translated as "Meh, who even cares."
3. First lecture! TREES! And stuff. And ecology. And how tropical forests are things which are here. And how. 
4. A scheduled discussion on our assignment work was cancelled, so after 12:30 we had off for the rest of the day. What did we do? So glad you asked! We hopped on a bus and went to the Queensbay mall. What were we expecting? Good question! Dreams of cheap knockoff clothes, neato small shops, cheap electronics (you know, the works) filled our tourist heads. What we got was Le Chateau, Forever 21...to sum up, I spent the evening wandering blank-eyed, wishing I was in the bush. I found a kindred spirit in Kayla. We devoted a large chunk of time to finding some authentic food, choosing to skip the TGI Fridays that attracted the others.
5. On our way back to USM (Universiti Sains Malaysia, where we're current located), three buses passed us by without stopping for so much as a how-do-you-do. "Teksi" it was! Luckily, it was only RM5 or $1.75 each. 
6. Sleeping. After the Indonesian karaoke downstairs stopped. Wowza, it was loud, and off key, and loud. And late. And loud...

Today

1. More abnormality - ate spiced noodles for breakfast, but they wanted to feed me prawns. Then I threw vodka (smuggled onto campus - it's illegal to have alcohol in the school grounds) in the nostrils of the chef, laughed at his lack of height, and fed his eyebrows to my pet orangutan.* He burped up hairballs. It was great.
2. Then, a bus! To Georgetown, north of the university with a group of Public Health students from the University of S. Florida. Those lucky jerks - they weren't even phased by the weather. We did a world religions walk, interrupted by the best Indian food I have ever eaten in my life! The coolest part is that you eat with your hand, your right specifically (no need to go into what the left hand is used for). Then we were off to Little India! We took on full acceptance of our burden as tourists! There were dozens of Chinese temples, mosques, a Hindu temple, and a Pentacostal church thrown in for kicks. I also heard that there was a Jewish cemetery nearby, too! It was so weird, expecting tension but not picking up on any. Good work Malaysia, five stars. ✪✪✪✪✪
   In lieu of visiting the Penang museum (apparently rather boring), a bunch of girls and I went and got some mahendi/henna on our hands. The artist was amazing, doing each one in about 7 minutes or so just out of her head. Imagination? Yes, yes indeed. I can't imagine what it must be like to have this done for your wedding! Sitting still...for hours...sounds awful to me!

*Warning: do not attempt at home. 

As point #4, going to a night market, is yet to come, I'll leave it untouched until maybe tomorrow, or even the day after. Who knows?! Might as well get as much up here as I can before the internet goes the way of the dodo. 

But I do have some bad news - we might not be able to visit the orangutan sanctuary. There's been a dry spell here, and the sanctuary is on an island which is unreachable unless it really begins to pour. If you know a rain dance, please, for me, get that groove going. 

Photo Post 1

LIZARD!!!!!!!

Stop One on Religions Walk: The Chinese Mansion

I was a huge fan of these portraits - each over 7' high - of the ladies of the house. The second one was a real looker! Look at those deep set eyes...shrivelled lips...pointed cheekbones.

I want these window coverings. Lots.

This is a "lovers chair", designed so that you don't strain your back while looking longingly into each others' eyes. Worked for me!

This is the opium chair. Meant for classy lads with harmless drug addictions.

It's a plant. I liked it. So now you can like it too!

  

Apparently women were avid gamblers, and were also known to be quite the cheaters! 

The first location we visited was an old Chinese mansion with an attached temple. The temple was infested by bats. If you get defecated on by one, it is considered very good luck. (Un)fortunately, we managed to avoid that one tradition...

...this gold lion hasn't fared as well as we did.

Then we were off to Little India!

These Mosques make so much noise in the morning, but hearing the call to prayer is beautiful and really mellows out the emotions. It's just enough to make you forget the heat.

The next stop was a Hindu temple. The carvings were amazingly bright and vivid. It was a huge shift moving from the serenity of the Chinese shrines to the mixture of scents and sights that make up Hindu legend.

This, for those who don't know, is durian, the "king of fruits". It smells like a mixture of wet dog and rotten vegetation, but apparently tastes delicious. I'll let you know tomorrow after our visit to a tropical fruit farm!

Speaking of food...we eat and drink A LOT! This is my new favourite drink, for no other reason that the fact that is is called "Kickapoo Joy Juice". I'm fairly sure the "kick" is just the large belch that awaits you after you down an entire can!

For lunch, we ate at a small Indian food place. Which served coconut water. In coconuts. How cool is that?! The food was the best I've ever tasted, and it was a true rarity in the fact that us vegetarians new for a certainty that we could eat it. Most things here have hidden fish broth, prawn paste, or chicken fat lurking between rice noodles, ready to pounce on our intestines!

Last but not least, we got henna'd! Really beautiful stuff, and every one of us received a different design. This is mine, and luckily enough, it is my favourite of the bunch.

Day Numero Uno!!! Spiel time.

First things first. It is hot here. It is ludicrous just how much humidity is going on. Not that the wet is bothersome all on its own, though. As anyone who has spent any time in a humid country knows, it is the reality of non-evaporating sweat that gets you. There is simply more water in the air around you than there is on your skin. 


However! This makes for fantastic biota. Just on a quick jaunt around the campus today, we were lucky enough to see some water monitors (Varanus salvator - pictures to follow), bats, geckos, weird pond fish, some amazing birds including the crested myna (Acridotheres cristatellus), frogs, neato insects - all amazing! I have unfortunately attracted some not so neat insects. It appears as though my dorm bed may have bedbugs. Which love to drink my blood. Unnerving. 


Fortunately, Penang is a great city. It is a state of Malaysia as well as a city and island, and due to some crazy history (which I learned a good chunk of in our first 2-hour lecture this afternoon), it has huge diversity in terms of ethnicity, tradition, and especially religion. There is wonderful mixing of Chinese, Malay, and Indian culture (and cuisine - yumm!!!) similar to what can be found in Canada, but with an extra few hundred years added on for good measure; a melting pot left to simmer.

Not much else to report on today - it was mostly filled with orientations and confusing tours of the massive campus. Seriously, everything is so spread out here! The food is amazing and uber cheap (we ate out for ~11 ringgets or $3.50 CND each), as well as delightfully spicy. It's fun being the only one at the table not crying from the spice. Thanks for the practice, da. 

Whelp...this was an enormous post. I warned you about the spiel. Maaf, dan selamat malam! 

Mid-travel gripe fest!

Here's the deal. I'm in the Taipei airport. I've been travelling (or in layovers) for more than 24 hours. And I have crossed the dateline. Needless to say, I am sleepy tired and my internal clock is throwing a hissy fit. That, and I realized that I accidentally packed my antimalarials in my checked baggage, so I'm already off to a terrible start with my medicated regimen.


In other news, we're commune more comfortably within the group. Slowly and very much bit-by-bit, but we'll get there eventually. I'm sure by the end of the six weeks, there are going to be more chummy feelings. But as for now, there has been only travel...and communal griping. Oh man...but one of the other girls is reading 50 Shades of Gray, and I literally have no idea how to handle it. Because that cover may look swanky with its grayscale photo of a folded tie, but I know what's in there. The truth cannot hide from me!!!


Ahem. Let me compose myself. There are some sane things going on too! The Taoyuan Airport certainly knows how to be interesting, if not downright quirky. During our post 13-hour flight dazed wander, we stumbled (literally) into a Hello Kitty children's nursery - with upright intentions, I swear!

Apparently Pingu is a big deal here, too! Beyond the cartoonish charm of the place, there is of course a wealth of neat technology shops and cultural dioramas about the native peoples. All in all, not too shabby!

Post edit: Between all of the girls here, there is the entire series of "Shades of Grey". I never knew Biologists were into such...graphic...romance. 

Pre-trip

A mere five days before we set out from Victoria, and wowie am I ready to get out there! I only have to repack my backpack, buy a pile of things (including numero uno on the list, antimalarials), and register for the coming school year. Considering that up to this point I have taken a slurry of vaccinations (Dukarol for TD and cholera, tetanus, meningitis, Japanese encephalitis, rabies, hepatitis A, and polio off the top of my head) and prepared for the academics of the course, what is left is quite doable!

As this is mostly a test post, and I have yet to further my adventure beyond vaccinations, here is a picture of what I am most excited for:

What were you expecting? A cityscape?