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Subject Hello from Malaysia
Hello my dear friends,
remember me?
I am pleased to report that I am fit and healthy and enjoying my
journey immensely. I am currently in Malaysia. I have spent the
last few weeks exploring big cities, hiking through ancient rain
forests, SCUBA diving pristine coral reefs, strolling through vast
tea plantations and sipping Singapore Slings at the bar of The
Raffles Hotel. I have been bitten by mosquitoes, sand flies,
leaches, bed bugs and cleaner fish but it was the bill at the Raffles
bar that hurt the most.
Prior to entering Malaysia I spent two months in Indonesia and only
two weeks into my trip I became somewhat ill. I suffered from one of
the many nasty side effects that are attributed to the anti-Malaria
medication that I was taking. Luckily I was staying with my family
at the time and they took very good care of me. I soon got better so
I promptly took part in a hike up and into a spectacular, sulphur
spitting volcano. I visited a number of volcanoes in fact as they
are sprinkled liberally all over Indonesia. Waterfalls are also
quite abundant, each with their own personality. One waterfall was
particularly special and sitting inside this stone cave filled with
swirling winds and flying water was one of the most magical moments
of my life.
I devoted much of my time in Indonesia to my family (and they devoted
much of their time to me for which I am very grateful). I have only
met my father's relatives on a handful of occasions in the past and
relished the opportunity to spend more time with them. I made four
new friends in my cousin's young children and we spent many hours
playing together.
I have made many new friends along the way. So many interesting
people; locals, travellers and some people that fall somewhere in-
between. Some of these people plan to visit Australia in the future
so let me know if you would like to meet some interesting people and
I will steer them in your direction.
In the next few days I will move northward to Thailand which I very
much look forward to.
I miss you all and hope that this e-mail finds you in good health and
good spirits.
Regards, Ben
I'm not sure there is a meaning to life but for some reason waterfalls give the impression there might be. There is nothing more rewarding than waterfall hunting. Often only vaguely mentioned on maps, finding them always feels like an adventure and once found there is something magical about them. Maybe it's the perception of time and how much of it has passed for the water to carve through the rock, and just how little of it we have. There may not be a meaning but the search is fun - especially if you get t-shirts printed ;-)
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