Thailand...what a beautiful country

Amazing temples, gorgeous beaches, friendly people, breathtaking views, delicious foods, inexpensive shopping... Thailand is a wonderful place to visit. Here are some pictures of my trip:

At Wat Pho I visited a temple that holds a large golden reclining Buddha. Wat Pho is the largest and technically the oldest Wat in Bangkok. The Wat is also popular because in the courtyard there is a massage school that offers traditional Thai massages at a reasonable price.

I had the pleasure and privilege of being the first college visitor at Concordian International School. The students were fantastic!!! Dinner at a local restaurant with a prospective Quester, Pink, and her friend.Ah...tuk tuks. So fun and stylish yet a little dangerous. Use with caution :) I had a wonderful meeting with two great students, Yangchen and Pali, from Prem Centre in Chiang Mai. At the end of my visits I had a couple of days to relax and so I went south to Krabi for some quality beach time and...of course, some serious rock climbing.

Malaysia

This year, Malaysia celebrates it's 50 year anniversary of independent rule. I was recently in Kuala Lumpur to visit a couple of high schools and attend the EARCOS Conference. Here are some pictures of KL. I can't wait to go back and explore the rest of the country.

This is a picture of some great students from Wesley Methodist School, their counsellor and myself. Two of the most famous KL building are:
The KL Tower. There's a revolving restaurant at the top that gives you a 360 degree view of the city. It does one full revolution about every 90 minutes. The other famous building is the Twin Towers (notably featured in a movie with Sean Connery and Catherine Zeta Jones called "Entrapment"). The towers glow beautifully in the night sky.I went on a tour with other EARCOS participants to a pewter factory. All of their products were still made by hand.A picture of King, a potential Quest student, and I having coffee in KL. King is really interested in learning more about studying in Canada.Ahh, the chaos and colors of the market. One of my favorite places. This is the KL Chinatown market.

Singapore

Commonly called "Asia 101", Singapore is multicultural city that is quite easy to navigate. Singapore is also known for it's strict rules and fines (chewing gum is illegal!!!). The people are friendly, the food is delicious and the history is interesting.
Here are some pictures:

The landing spot of Raffles. His landing opened the door for other European trades men and women to settle in Singapore.

Singapore has a large Indian community. While I was there 'Little Indian' was colorfully decorated to celebrate the festival, Deepavali. The markets in 'Little India' were fantastic. This is lady I met in the market who was having her hands henna tattooed to mark the end of her fasting for Deepavali. I had the opportunity to try a number of traditional foods with Misha, friend and potential Quest student, and her family. This was the first time I had ever tried a salak fruit (also known as snake skin fruit because of the texture of their skin) Singapore is quite hot and humid. In Chinatown, I found all the employees of this establishment succumbing to fatigue from the heat (a.k.a. sleeping on the job).

The Merlion fountain is a landmark in Singapore. Half lion and half fish (or mermaid???), this fountain has become a national symbol of Singapore.