Footy Fun

In Melbourne, the popular winter sport is Australian Rules Football, or "Footy." Rugby is more popular in Queensland and New South Wales, and Cricket is the sport of choice in summertime.

Footy was invented in Melbourne as a winter sport to keep cricket players fit during the off-season. Out of the 16 teams in the AFL, 9 of the teams call Melbourne home. Unfortunately, this week's round of play has been split over two weekends, and we could not find a game playing in Melbourne.

However, an hour long train ride away is the city of Geelong, who were playing host to the Brisbane Lions. The Geelong Football Club "Cats" are on the top of the ladder (standings). We decided to hop onto the train Sunday to catch the 1 pm start-time.

It was raining for the first quarter, but afterwards the rain stopped and the sun peeped out of the clouds occasionally.

The game is played on a cricket pitch (a large oval field), and a goal is scored by kicking the ball through the center two posts. A goal will fetch you 6 points. If you kick the ball through the posts next to the center posts, you will score a "behind." Behinds will add 1 point to your score.

Since it was rainy, the game looked really sloppy in the first half. No one could hold onto the ball, and the Brisbane team didn't even score a goal before halftime. Luckily the weather cleared up and we were able to enjoy some more scoring second half.

In the end, Geelong won 85 - 35 which was a low scoring game.

Mia and I purchased some local attire to fit in and cheer for the home team.

Where in the World Are We?

Where are we? Good question. For the next few weeks you may not hear from us. We promise its not because we don't love all of our readers. Rather, we will be on holiday! Our job in Malaysia is over, and we are currently on holiday in Singapore for a few days. Then its off to Melbourne (via Perth) where we will spend a few days with Jeff's sister Rachel who's studying abroad there. Then its back to Perth for a few weeks of traveling the Western Australia. We should be back in the US around July 6th or so (which is also coincidentally Jeff's birthday). We don't know if we will have internet access along the way, but we will try to post pictures and updates as often as possible. But if you don't hear from us, then know that there will be a whole bunch of exciting posts to come during the month of July!

Pulau Gemia . . . Or to the non-Malay, Gem Island

For the past two weeks Malaysia and Singapore have had a school holiday. What does that mean for Jeff and I? That the hotel has been absolutely overrun by large tour groups full of screaming children. In an effort to seek some tranquility and see more of Malaysia, we decided to take an overnight trip to Gem Island, which is about two hours north of here. Gem Island and Kapas Island (its larger, more popular neighbor to the south) are two of the best places to snorkel on the east coast of Malaysia. Kapas is the larger of the two islands and has several beaches and resorts scattered throughout the island. We read that it can be really busy on the weekends and school holidays, so we wanted to avoid that at all costs. Gem Island however is a private island that you can only get to if you are staying at its villa resort. We read that the snorkeling tended to be more accessible on Gem Isle, with less people around scaring away all the fishies.

To get to Gem Island, we drove north two hours to the fishing village of Marang.

From there we took a quick 10 minute boat right right to the resort's front dock. The island is really cool. It is basically a large rock with a few areas carved out for beaches. All of the villas over look the water and are situated on top of the rocks and the beach.Speaking of, the villas at the Gem Island Resort were awesome. I took a ton of pictures of the room because this is what I would love my bedroom to look like some day.

After lunch and a quick rest we rented some snorkeling gear and hit the water. We weren't really sure where to start, so we jumped in on the far isolated end of the island. This was when we encountered the large monitor lizard running into the bat cave (as noted in Jeff’s lizard post). There was a lot of older coral and some really cool fish, but there were also super tiny microscopic jellyfish constantly stinging us. We couldn't even avoid them because you couldn't see them!

Then we moved to the other side of the island where we heard there was newer coral. While the tiny jellyfish were still there, they were not nearly as bad as on the other side of the island. The coral over here was much more vibrant and colorful. We must have seen at least 10 different types of coral. With the different coral of course comes different marine life. On this side we saw "Nemos" and "Doris" (clownfish and palette surgeonfish for the non-Disney aficionados) and dozens of other colorful and interesting species (such as blue ring angelfish, many varieties of rabbitfish and the cool giant clams). Unfortunately we weren't able to get an underwater camera, so we don't have any cool pictures to share.

When we woke up Saturday morning, the sun was shining and it was just beautiful outside. We grabbed the cameras and took a ton of pictures on the beaches. Then we headed to breakfast and did a little bit more snorkeling in the newer coral. It was high tide this time, so we didn’t have to worry about our bellies scratching the coral surface at certain points. With this extra room to swim, Jeff would randomly take-off chasing a fish of his fancy leaving me in the dust (hmm, ok … what is dust in the ocean … fish poop?).

The Gem Island Resort also operates its own turtle hatchery. When giant green sea turtles come ashore and lay their eggs, the hotel moves them to their protected sanctuary to keep them safe from predators. Then, when the turtles hatch they are placed two different tanks where they can grow and develop free from predators. Once they are big enough, the hotel lets them loose and hopes they will come back some day to lay eggs there again.

After that, we showered up and headed back to the Awana Kijal. While it was only a one night get away, it was definitely worth it to have at least one night of relaxation and amazing snorkeling.

Happy 50th Birthday Malaysia!

It's hard to watch TV, read the newspaper, or drive around the city without seeing some sort of reminder that 2007 is the 50th anniversary of Malaysia's independence from the British (we feel you Malaysia - it's been 231 years for us and we still celebrate the 4th of July). For the 50th anniversary, the government officially declared 2007 to be Visit Malaysia Year. The tourism board came up with an elaborate advertising campaign using the catchy slogan of Visit Malaysia 2007 (the ever so addictive Malaysia, Truly Asia advertising campaign already noted in a previous blog post is also part of this effort). They have really gone all out promoting the best that Malaysia has to offer. There's a pamphlet we found at the airport detailing a different celebration happening somewhere in Malaysia each week of 2007. Unfortunately none of the celebrations in Terengganu are happening while we are here. While we won't be here for the actual independence day (called Hari Merdeka) on August 31st, we still feel like we are part of the celebration just by being here in 2007.

While 50 years of nationhood is great, there is a far more important (okay maybe that is an exaggeration) anniversary this year. 2007 marks the 25th anniversary of McDonald's arrival into Malaysia. So let's celebrate the 7 red stripes, 7 white stripes, the yellow crescent moon and 14-pointed star by picking up a Shrek 3 action figure, available only at McDonalds. Badabadada ... I'm Lovin' It, Malaysia.

So if you are looking for a vacation spot for 2007 we highly recommend Malaysia!

Lizards! with Photos and Amusing Anecdotes

Hello everybody! Jeff here to bring you this installment of Animal Planet - Malaysian Style. This post is dedicated to the reptilians I encounter during my day to day routine.
The creature I encounter most often is the Common Butterfly Lizard. At work, these guys rule the complex. I'd see about a dozen a day. When they fight, the lizard will run on two legs (on the same side) while flaring out his chest and neck-sack. Every now and then, I will notice a large male trying to get frisky with an unsuspecting female. The resultant action would appear like fighting to the untrained eye, but if you pay enough attention you will see the difference. This one instance, a lizard had another lizard's head completely in its mouth. I couldn't tell if he was trying to fight, mate, or eat the poor chap. I scared the big guy off, potentially saving the life of the smaller butterfly lizard. Do I consider myself a hero? I'm just an average man, doing his job everyday. But to answer the question, yes. Yes I do.In the morning, you will find these guys patrolling for bugs in the grass. It is always exciting to see one dart and attacking an aloof butterfly as it hovers above the ground. If these guys were around in Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, I have a feeling the Szalinski kids and the bratty neighbors wouldn't have lasted long. The Common Butterfly Lizard is a shy creature, but I was still able to take some nice photos. They burrow in the sand, which gives them a sort of prarie dog look when they pop-up their heads.

Next on the list is one of the largest lizards I have seen in the wild, the Malayan Water Monitor. This guy is huge (photo from our trip to Pulau Kapas). He is in the same family as the Komodo Dragon, but he is non-toxic. I'll normally spot this species as roadkill on the way to work. Every now and then you'll see a live monitor crossing the road. One morning as I left the elevator at the hotel, I walked over the grating covering the water drain. Splash splash splash! I look under my feet, and this lizard about 6 feet long head-to-tail is struggling to get away. It was pretty cool (as long as they don't figure out how to come up through the toilet!). On our recent getaway to Pulau Kapas, as Mia and I walked to the beach behind the spa, we noticed a monster monitor lizard. This guy was massive! He waddled lizard-style into an adjacent cave, as we must have startled him. As he entered the cave (pictured above), about a hundred bats started flying out over our heads. It was a pretty amazing site! Too bad we didn't have our camera or camcorder handy!

The next specimen is a common site for many of our readers, the Gecko. For the past two months, we have shared the Awana Resort with these creatures. Trying to identify the species, we are leaning towards the Flat-Tailed Gecko with the Spiny-Tailed Gecko and Four Clawed Gecko a possibility. In the early morning and evenings, you cannot miss the geckos as they distinctly scuttle away on the wall. Not used to having little lizards leisurely dwelling on the wall, my first instinct tells me its a giant insect or spider! However, after a while you get used to their movement and it is no longer startling. One of my coworkers showed me a cool trick for these guys. Apparently, these geckos go nuts for laser pointers. They think the red spot is a nice juicy bug! It's a full day of enjoyment sitting in your room and controlling the poor little gecko as he runs around chasing the laser trail. On a recent assignment in tropical Southeast Asia, one of my coworkers would use this trick as an icebreaker to help meet some local ladies. All you have to do is get the gecko to following your laser, and then run the laser right up some unsuspecting person's leg. I am not sure how many friends he made, but I can guarantee it was entertaining. Unfortunately, Mia and I do not own a powerful enough laser pointer to replicate this experiment.

The last creature I have encountered out here is the Yellow Striped Tree Skink (please don't snicker at his name, it's not his fault he 'skinks' ... um ... ok, that was dumb). So as I was leaving work for my normal lunch at the McDonalds, I notice this lizard creature on the ground. This was not the normal butterfly lizard as detailed above. I took a good look at him, until he skittled into the drain. The guard at the security gate wondered what I was looking at. He thought it was the 'sand lizard' (local name for the Common Butterfly Lizard), but I gave him the description and he had never seen that species before. Now curious, I looked online and discovered it was the Yellow Striped Tree Skink, which is rarely encountered in the wild as it is a very shy species. So now I got THAT going for me!