Figs, moving sweat dens, and endless paradise.

Standing on the front of a longtail boat, hairy pits and all, Thailand.

On the boat to Phi Phi island, Thailand.

West Railay Beach near Krabi, Thailand.

With friends after a day's snorkeling trip near Krabi, Thailand.

Fried egg ice cream, Melaka, Malaysia.

Time got away from me and now I have so much to catch up on.

My last few hours in Japan I had my best meal there. No, not the super-fresh sushi I had at 8 am at Tjukiji Fish Market, which was awesome. A few hours before my flight I wandered into a supermarket and bought a package of fresh figs, sat on the ground outside and bit into the juiciest, most flavor-packed figs I've tasted, with a hint of cinnamon aftertaste. After I was done I just sat there shaking my head in disbelief. Figs? Yes, figs.

Flew to Singapore, which I did in a day. Funny, based on all the lore I'd expected the streets to sparkle and the people to walk around like robots. But Japan was actually much cleaner and orderly. Singapore was still nice. The three ethnic groups -- Indian, Malay, and Chinese -- produce some wicked-ass food. I felt I could have stayed in Singapore a week just to eat, but since I felt there was only a day's worth of exploring to do I fit a week's worth of eating in a single day. This included Chicken Murtabak at 2 am, Singaporean kaya toast (jam w/ eggs), fish head curry, and some amazing Chinese desserts (see my last post for pictures and descriptions).

After Singapore I blew threw Malaysia. I'd planned to spend a few days making my way up the coast, but just didn't really like it there. Ma-lame-sia. I didn't give it much of a chance, and maybe I was too tired and pissed off from taking the "Super V.I.P." mini-bus, aka sweat lodge on wheels, and all the yelling at the bus stations. The bus station at Kuala Lumpur was enough to make me want to deep fry my own turds and eat them. But the food was awesome. I spent a few hours in a colonial town called Melaka, where I ate something called Fried Egg ice cream, and a day wandering around Penang, another colonial city with a fairly relaxing feel to it.

A day's worth of frustrating travel later, I found myself near Krabi, Thailand at some insanely beautiful and relaxing beaches. Tremendous limestone cliffs flank the secluded beaches, making for quite dramatic scenery. I stayed on a climber's beach called Ton Sai, where most accomodations run around $5, the Thais working and living there have long hair and seem happy as can be, and the massages run free and cheap. The food wasn't particularly good, probably because the beach is so secluded (you can only get there by longtail boat), but the atmosphere was intoxicating. After spending 10 days or so running around like mad it's been nice just sitting on a gorgeous beach with nothing to do but dip and tan.

Yesterday I went on a snorkeling trip by longtail boat, saw some beautiful fish, ate delicious seafood green curry at sunset on a tiny sand strip with water on both sides with a beer to wash down the paradise. On the way back it was dark and the boat stopped at one point to let us swim among the glowing plankton. I've never seen the movie "The Beach," but apparently they do this in the movie. Basically, when you move in the water you see tons of tiny glowing lights, so it looks like you're lit-up when you swim around. It was beautiful.

I had a difficult time leaving Ton Sai because I could spend a long, long time there just relaxing, but I felt the need to see a few of the other beaches. So now I'm on Phi Phi island where the movie "The Beach" was filmed. It's incredibly touristy here, but still beautiful. I hope to go on a boat tour tomorrow to see some of the surrounding bays, etc.