Magical Malaysia (or Hot Hot Hot Monkeys Hot)

I have never seen so many stars in my life. There were in the sky, in the trees, in the water. We went on a firefly tour on the Cherating River in the jungle of Malaysia. Jim and I were alone in a boat while hundreds of lightning bugs floated around us. It was as if we just stepped into the scene from "The Little Mermaid," where the little lobster sings "Kiss the Girl" to Ariel and the Prince. Cheesy comparison, I know - but that's what honestly crossed my mind when the sparks from the insects reflected off the glassy water. It was truly one of the most magical nights of the trip.
I'm sure you can understand why this is the only photo I have to illustrate the night - have you ever tried to use a camera to capture a beautiful night sky? I can just say the trip was like floating among the stars. Magical Malaysia - I'm already in love and we haven't been here more than 48 hours.

The journey down here took 42 hours from Bangkok. We arrived on the sleepy beach of Cherating at 5:30am - a perfect time to take a nap on the beach and watch the sunrise. Everyone smiles here and I can see why Malaysia is ranked the second friendliest country in the world (Thailand is #10). Jim taught me how to surf on some small waves and got me instantly hooked. Apparently, monkeys love to surf too because one of the many friendly local monkeys ran after Jim and his surfboard. That night, We checked out flights to Bali try to get a bigger surfing fix. Unfortunatly, a last minute roundtrip flight started at $1,000, so we instead agreed that Costa Rica sounded like a good honeymoon destination.
(Here's a pic from the second day - it was spent mostly paddling around since the water was super flat. Still fun though.)

Tomorrow we're off to Kuala Lumpur to meet our good friends Laine and Mike from San Francisco. They've brought their newborn Skyler to celebrate his first Chinese New Year (Feb. 14) at Mike's homeland. We're lucky that we'll be able to stay with their family. I'm excited to see what else this magnificent country has in store for us.

My friend John asked me to summarize Malaysia in 5 words. We haven't been here that long, but my response was "Hot hot hot monkeys hot". He thought it would be a good title for a post. I didn't realize that the equator runs through Malaysia; this is the first country that has forced us to seek shelter through the mid day. Very hot... and lots of monkeys.

-Jenn : )