I just finished uploading hundreds of photos of my trip to Langkawi, Malaysia, to my flickr page . Feel free to zoom through the 9 sets of photos there if you are interested in seeing how gorgeous this island is. http://www.flickr.com/photos/camswitzer

Langkawi Club Mangrove Kayak tour was awesome! The photos and video will come ... eventually. Heading back to Japan tomorrow so packing up tonight. Only here to check in. See you in steamy Japan again.

Wednesday in Langkawi

Yesterday Megumi and I rented a car and traveled around the island. First we drove into the jungle to look for a geocache. We found it. BUT the location had some family dogs running around that absolutely terrified her. So much so that 1. she burst into tears to release the stress in the car, 2. she got extremely sleepy as her body kicked in to deal with the shock, and 3. she pretty much didn't talk for the rest of the entire day. I, however got down on one knee, chatted with the dogs, and they wagged their tails like good little girls and boys and where happy to lick the sweat off my arms and legs. Very nice dogs!

Then we drove around to the next earthcache, up the mountain, found it, enjoyed the history, the geology, the scenery (!). We went to the top of the mountain (850m) and there is a resort there with a tower. We went up the tower and had a 360 degree view of the entire island (and coffee).

Following that we drove back down, enjoying all the monkeys carrying their babies all over kingdom come, and kept driving around the island to the final earthcache destination. This place is designated a special geopark location, that is important for geologists around the world. A part of land has become an island due to the erosion of the rock in the area. Wonderful place. We logged that, swam around in the very warm sea, washed off with one tiny bottle of water between the two of us, then on to the next spot: cable car!

The cablecar takes one up 700 metres of steep mountain to two sightseeing platforms where you can see the entire island from yet another gorgeous angle. We even saw an "elephant woman"! The suspension bridge was really cool, and the scenery of the sea, the jungle and the mountains, stunning.

We drove home, filled the car up with gas, then had dinner at a restaurant that offered Turkish food (toilet smells funny today). Good food.

I'm waiting in the lobby right now for Megumi so that we can go and have breakfast. I'm a tad hungry after the carbs last night.

Let's see how the day goes.

I love you!
Cam

At the risk of getting harangued, I HAVE to say it: Here in Langkawi there are a bazillion different colours of people ranging from white Canucks, through crispy red lobster Aussies, Arabs in an amazing array of colours (and black, black, black), the Malays, the Chinese, Japanese Koreans... and the blacks. Whites are... well, white. But to see so many different hues and shades of brown on the black people is just wonderful. It's mesmerizing! There are really light brown people, the dark black Africans, and the gorgeous chocolate mocha colour of people with skin just like Jen's. Since we don't have a lot of Arabs and black people in Japan, it is really noticeable for one, but the colours of the black skin are simply gorgeous! I love seeing the men and women walk by with different hair lengths, colours, styles, and their skin, glowing under the sun. Just wow!

Futon Boy 2, or The adventure continues: http://youtu.be/VsOuKSabaOM

Futon Boy, Part 1: http://youtu.be/uqthdgCT6aA

IAM: Waking up with Futon Boy

Mitch felt his first earthquake last night. I'll let him try to describe it when he gets the time. I woke up at 1am when I felt it and he was up. When I woke up to leg cramps at 5am and went to get some water, Futon Boy was up and sitting on the bed. It may have been a bit too warm for him to sleep last night as he came from highs of 17C to a place that is still 31C at 8pm.

This morning I played househusband and whipped him up a whopper of a VEGETARIAN breakfast consisting of the following:

vegetable korokke (croquette)
Hokkaido mini potatoes
onsen tamago (hotspring steamed egg)
mushroom tempura
ume okayu (plum rice congee)
deep fried tofu
pickled cabbage
steamed broccoli
miso soup
and iced cafe latte.

We caught my usual 7:38 train and met my new morning train-friend nurse, Hiroko who was able to squeeze her way over to us. She chatted a bit in English with Mitch (first time to learn she speaks English). Very friendly is Hiroko (single, too). And she is a nurse so she knows well how to communicate with people and use eye contact. She also isn't afraid of body contact which is good. Hiroko got off at her regular station and we went on to Shinjuku.

I took Mitch to the two Geocaches at Shinjuku South and let him find them. Maybe I hooked him. Then I bought him coffee at Starbucks and we sat and talked about all the scenery. I took him to his platform after we bought his ticket and hugged him sayonara. He is off to the Ghibli Museum today, then to Osaka for huge hugs plus alpha from his woman.

Ah yes... last night he arrived at my station at 8pm and I took him to a Chinese place. We found some stuff with no meat.He had a shower at my place to get rid of the "flight funk", checked his mail, we chatted a bit and about 11pm called it a night. He awoke a few times during the night.

Another Successful IAM Meeting! I love Globalized Love!

And I love you!
Cam