Antsy Antsy Ants'hillvania...

This morning I woke up to find thousands of ants crawling all over this pair of shoes. (This picture was taken after beating both of them against the wall.) I looked inside and realized that they thought this was their new home.

Refreshed

Yesterday we took a drive about 45 minutes outside of Vientiane to celebrate Hong's brother's brother-in-law's house-opening ceremony. It was so good to get away from the dust and pollution of the city into the freshness of the partially-jungled parts of Laos.

Sumo loves bananas.

Enlightened

I watchd an episode of Enlightened last night. Not my favorite show, but I couldn't help but be excited that Jurassic Park Lady plays a character named Amy. 

"Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the earth."

My Quest for Internet / This Country in a Nutshell

This is my house.

After living here for over a year, there is a chance that I will perhaps be getting internet!

And in this country, that's as good as you can hope for.

The internet guy might have come to my house already yesterday, and may come again today or tomorrow.

Hong tried to explain who this guy is over skype.

Two Videos

Both of these videos were taken during my time in Malaysia.

This first video is part of a traditional Malaysian scarf dance (during the show blogged about here.)

The second video is of the orangutans. I could have watched these guys for hours! It was so fun to see them without bars or glass in the way.

Puppy Love

GAH!

I missed this puppy while I was gone!

Kuhcing! Sunset and Goodbye

When we were finally able to go to the beach, the sun had started setting. It was so beautiful.

 Goodbye, Kuching! It's been fun.

Kuching! Orangutans!

I was so excited to visit the Semenggoh Wildlife Center about 25 km outside of Kuching. They have over 20 semi-wild orangutans that have been rehabilitated and released into the forest reserve.

We visited during their normal feeding time, but were told not to get our hopes up about seeing any orangutans. They appear less and less as they adjust to life in the wild. We were so happy when, right when we arrived, there were already five orangutans eating!

I could not believe the amount of bananas this guy fit in his mouth. At least 15!

Kuching! Sweet Sweet Mart

Does Sweet Factory still exist? I always felt like the luckiest kid when my parents would let me fill a plastic bag with shark gummies, jaw breakers, and Jelly Bellies. I was so excited to discover, on the very bottom level of a mall in Malaysia, this Sweet Factory-ish store called Sweet Sweet Mart.

 Not only did they have a wide selection of wrapped candy, they also had dried fruit,

nuts and chips, 

and wafers and cookies.

Hong had a difficult time choosing. 

 Mmmmm such a fun reminder of childhood!

Kuching! Elephant Beetle?

Is that what this guy is? He was on his back when we found him and we thought he was dead. Then we saw one of his legs move and Hong flipped him over. Not dead!

For scale, here's a picture of Hong taking a picture of the beetle. 

I kept thinking that I should be afraid of him, but I wasn't at all. He was so strange and pretty and I wanted to touch him. But I didn't.

Kuching! Tradition

While we were in Kuching, we were able to see some traditional houses and dances. 

This guy was intense. That long stick in his hand is actually a blowpipe used for hunting. His uniform was also quite impressive.

 In this dance, there was a pole. Then a guy climbed and sat atop the pole.

Hong tried out some dancing, 

blowpipe shooting, 

and instrument playing, 

though both agreed that each of those activities would have been greatly enhanced had he been wearing a feather headdress and black underwear.