Malaysia!!

We took our first international trip this past weekend and we ventured over to Malaysia!  We almost didn't make our plane.... (twice!) but in the end we got there!  Got to the Bangalore airport a little later than we should have but got on the flight.  Our flight from Bangalore to Kuala Lumpur had a tight time of 1 hour to get through customs and connect to our flight to Kuala Terengganu and then we got delayed in the air due to weather!  We arrived in Kuala Lumpur at 620am and made our connection which left at 7am!  I wish I had a video of us running through the airport!  After we cleared customs Aaron took off and said he would make sure they held the door for me!  I think the airport in Kuala Lumpur is the biggest airport ever!  But the amazing beaches and beautiful waters on the island of Redang made all our travel worth it!

A view from the ferry ride Kuala Terengganu to Redang Island.

The Beaches!  

The weather was overcast the first two days but very warm and on Saturday we had sun all day!  We took a ferry to a different island one day and snorkeled from that beach and then also did an open water snorkeling excursion.  They were both beautiful, we saw some really cool fish and coral.  

The hotel is involved in helping to save the sea turtles and each night that we were there they released baby sea turtles in to the ocean and people could pay to hold them and let them go.  They brought them from a local sea turtle sanctuary and they were adorable!! 

On the way home we had an extended lay over in Kuala Lumpur and took the train down to the city.  We saw the Petronas Towers on the way in but decided to make our way to the central market and walk through China Town.  We only had a few hours and really wanted to explore the streets a bit! We both loved the city.  It was really clean and easy to get around.  We have become so accustomed to India traffic and how difficult it is to navigate it was great to be in a city that had good clean public transport!   

I am headed back to that states early Wednesday morning for a few weeks but Aaron has lots of travel planned so we will have lots of updates soon!  

Updates!

We have been keeping pretty busy the past few weeks.
Over the weekend of the 5th of September I went to another town called Hyderabad and helped facilitate a simulation workshop for pediatricians and pediatric nurses.  It was fun to be involved in teaching again, although I do mostly behind the scenes work because my accent is hard to understand!  It is very interesting to see how teaching occurs with multiple languages being spoken within groups!
Here are a few pictures from the workshop.  At the beginning of the workshop we lit a lamp which is a tradition done daily in some Hindu homes but is usually done during all functions.
They let me be a part of this tradition which was very kind of them!

While I was away Aaron and some friends rented a rickshaw for a few hours from a friend of one of our drivers.  He took them around town for a bit and even taught them how to drive it!  It is a bit hard than you would guess.  Especially if you are tall.  As you can see here Aaron barely fits behind the driver seat!

There are a few girl here from Australia that I have gotten to know and this past Saturday we had a girls afternoon.  Went shopping, some of the girls got Henna done and then we ended the day at the Spa!  Got a massage for $16!  Not too shabby!  We were able to walk to most places but needed a rickshaw for one ride.  We were able to fit all 5 of us in one rickshaw.  We were pretty impressed with ourselves until a guy pulled up next to us with a goat in the back of his rickshaw!

We see a lot of interesting things on our walks but on Saturday I spotted a Lamborghini!  I can't even imagine how they drive one through this traffic!  But pretty crazy to see in the mix of everything!  

I am headed back to the USA in just a little over a week and am very excited to see everyone. So much has already happened since I have been gone.  These 3 little babies of my Luther Ladies are all getting so big so fast!  Aren't they the cutest?!  

And my dear friend Miss Margie has gotten engaged!!!  Even though facetiming at 4am helped me celebrate with her, I cannot wait for champagne and hugs with the bride to be!!