Thailand and Malaysia

On February 1 the OnSite students doing their internships in Asia got together for our Extended Learning Experience on the island of Phuket, Thailand. There were 6 of us in total, and we had alot of fun!

Us at a night market.

It was great to see everyone again, talk about our experiences in our countries so far, and just hang out! We did a couple fun things like going to a small island and hanging out on the beach, went and saw a movie, explored around Phuket and ate some great food.

Boats at the beach on Coral Island.

Me and the cricket I ate for dinner. Mmm Tasty.

On the 6 I was supposed to head to another area of Thailand with my friend who is working there, but because of the abscess on my leg I had to be near a hospital and go there daily, so we ended up staying until the 11th. I found a little puddle-jumper flight that goes straight from Phuket to Penang (my next destination) which was great because then I didn't have to get a connecting flight in Bangkok or Kuala Lumpor.

So after that rickety flight I landed on the island of Penang, Malaysia. The main reason I went here was to get a new visa for Indonesia, originally I was supposed to arrive on the 13, but I came 2 days early. The first 3 nights I stayed at the guest house at Dalat International School, where my mentor's daughter goes to school, so I also got to hang out with her a bit which was fun. The next 3 days I stayed in a hotel close to school and made my trips to the Indonesian Consulate.

A view of Penang

But, turns out theres certain times you have to apply for a visa, but they don't tell you those times until you're in line. So, because of that, and even though I begged, I ended up having to stay an extra night in Penang, which meant finding a new hotel to stay at, which was an adventure because almost every one I asked was already booked or ridiculously expensive, I had to buy completely new flight tickets as well. On top of all that I had issues because apparently banks in Malaysia don't like my visa or debit card, so getting money was a bit of an issue. But, Penang is a really neat place! I hope I can make another trip there sometime.

Sunset from my hotel balcony.

I arrived back in Bali on the night of the 18th, and I had the urge to kiss the ground because I was so happy to be back, but I didn't; Bali's ground is kinda gross. Since then I have been getting back to work, preparing to move to a new house, and taking care of my leg, which is almost healed! (But, I may or may not have broken my foot when I dropped my 25kg suitcase on it in the airport. Time will tell)

I Should be a MasterCard Commercial

Days of travel... 18
Trips to Medical Centers... 16
Operations... 1
Amount of gauze stuffed in to my leg... 8.5 ft
Failed attempts at withdrawing money... 13
# of booked hotels before I found one... 4
Trips to the Indonesian Consulate... 3
# of times I begged to have my visa processed quickly... 2
Missed flights... 2
Planes I thought I was going to die on... 3
Trips to Starbucks... 7
Loads of laundry... 0
Shots of tequila to get through it... 23

Making it back to Bali in one piece with great memories and countless people helping me along the way... priceless.

P.S. the 23 shots of tequila is just a joke, it really was only like 7.
P.S.S. Just Kidding! I didn't drink any tequila. Just a little humor.