The change up.

Internet has been a bit scarse the past few weeks as we've moved on from Malaysia and into southern Thailand -- and here we are in Krabi, just across the penisula from Phuket. But first, our final thoughts on the six weeks we spent in Malaysia --

1. A lot of great food -- fish head curry, mangos, papayas and coconut rice were among our favs.
2. Never, ever, ever let someone talk you into eating durian fruit. Consider yourself warned. From our experiecne, it was most likely the forbidden fruit in Eden -- and for good reason.
3. Good communication is the key to life.
4. While they may still suffer from some government corruption, Malaysia has found a way to put a Hindu temple next to a mosque, next to a Buddhist temple, next to a Catholic church next to a Gospel Hall and live peacefully. We should take notes.
5. Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ [Colassians 3:24] At times, this was a really difficult/frustrating experience but we were blessed with the opportunity to serve others -- and really God -- whether enjoyable or otherwise.

And with that, we left Harvest Haven and rode the train back to the capital city where we dropped off our extra bags at a friends' and strolled around a few of the world's largest shopping malls. Our flight to Phuket, Thailand was delayed for three hours -- we ended up arriving on the other side in the middle of the night, just missing the last bus to Phuket town.

Lucky for us a hard-hustling British backpacker and his wife negotiated us into their taxi deal and we were off. Basically had no idea where we were dropped off... it was late... no place to stay... is this the Christmas story? Ha. We ended up crashing in a less than wonderful guest house on the outskirts of Phuket town. Just happy to be done wandering for the night, we slept soundly... kind of... and were off again in the morning to get our barrings. Banana pancakes and fresh OJ for breakfast helped. Bussed accross the peninsual to Krabi, took a "mini bus" to town and checked into Chan Cha Lay hostel. It's a great find -- looks like a beachouse fromt the 70s and is running us about $5/night. I think we'll take it. Been trolling around here the last few days, enjoying a Thanksgiving dinner of shrimp pad thai and mango smoothies.

Oh and by the way, this morning we rode elephants. Casually speaking. It was amazing -- no waivers, no safety instruction, not really even very much English... walked down a dirt road, up the bamboo stairs and onto an elephant. Trekked through the jungle for a bit and then escaped death when our elephant slipped in the river and (almost) down we went. Don't worry, Brian's camera didn't go under. Our tiny Thai guide had a good laugh but we were shaking... and close to bailing. Well, elephants are lucky here -- and luckily we survived being squashed/drowned. A few more days in Krabi to make it to the night market, eat more pad thai and climb the limestone cliffs -- and it's off to Ko Samui. Stay tuned -- as long as the internet can reach us...