More very random thoughts...

It's funny how the (female?) mind can meander with lots of time on hand...we are having a 'trIal separation' as Alex put it, with the Versluis family. We meet up again tomorrow on the flight to Kota Kinabalu where we will spend 6 more nights together. Yay!

The last 3 days have been super relaxing and reasonably "productive" if you can call it that. We got 5kg of much overdue laundry done, finished Robins grade six language homework for Sept-Nov and polished off a few units of math each. Too much sitting around for my back, so I managed to wander the streets for a few hours and purchase some silver bracelets. Why not!? Oh, and a spa treatment each day too. 

Couple of observations and thoughts from the last few days...

1. We have had way more than our cumulative 15 minutes of fame. Pretty sure we are now on multiple Facebook pages in Malaysia, adding to The other countries we've been too. Robin just got her photo taken again while doing math homework at McDonald's. The girls find it really strange, but then we remind them that we take photos of the locals all the time...driving a motorcycle to work, sitting outside a shop etc. Hardly riveting photos but interesting to us. I'm sure they think we are odd. 

2. It is polite to burp in Malaysia. Out loud. No apology or embarrassed looks. After the 3rd public burping session (by locals, not me), I decided to google it. Yes, it's A-OK. Robin took this as another 'when in Rome moment'

3. The people of Sabah and Sarawak are seriously friendly. Lots of smiles, welcomes, help, kind service. Are Canadians this hospitable with tourists? I sure hope so. 

3. The nationwide travel advisory in Nepal has been lifted. This is what we had been hoping for, and also confirmation that the Annapurna region was unaffected and now deemed business as usual. Of course, the Canadian government had an "exercise extreme caution" warning for nearly all the countries we have and will be visiting, but the advisory is the one to watch for. We aren't going until October, but this should reduce my googling safety alerts. Nothing to do with Malaysia or Borneo but that's why it's random!

4. At home I'd go mental with 3 days of essentially doing nothing, and would manage to fill it with stuff. Here, I don't feel guilty for being unproductive so watching 2 back to back movies, reading, wandering is all good. That said, I AM looking forward to doing stuff this next week and having Kim and Alex back!