Floods, terrorists, scared mothers, and a happy ending

So we started out this trip thinking we were going to see a lot of Indonesia and Malaysia.? The Japan part was a fun afterthought, but Southeast Asia was always the goal, and Karen and I were really looking forward to it.

But, of course it’s monsoon season in Indonesia and Malaysia, and there’s unfortunately been a lot of flooding.? On top of that, when we went on the internet to see which locations to avoid, we found huge warnings about “specific, credible threats” of terrorist attacks on foreigners right after the new year in Indonesia and the Eastern half of Malaysia.? Fun!

Then, we thought about going to Laos through Thailand, but they just had a bunch of bombings in Thailand, so my mother started to hyperventilate at the idea (she sends really long, scared emails when hyperventilating–it’s a special trick of hers.)

So basically, Southeast Asia isn’t too hot right now.? Luckily, we’re in the air hub?of Singapore, so it turns out we have a lot of options.? In fact, it’s only a 4 hour flight to Chennai/Madras in India from here, so we’re now going to spend 10 days in Southern India!? This actually works out really well, since the weather there is perfect right now, Karen and I love India (we got engaged there), and she’s never been to the Southern part.

We’re currently killing a few days waiting for our Visas to come through. ?(If you ever go to India, consider doing the Visas a good deal in advance.? I’ve been to a lot of countries at this point, but India is definitely the most painful to get permission to travel to.? I’m really not sure why they needed the names of two references in India.)? Right now, we’re back at the airport in Singapore, flying to an Island in Malaysia for two days.? Will post more from there.