Yesterday was completely eaten up by travel.  I left for the airport in Penang at 11 am and was flying through Kuala Lumpur to Denpasar, Bali.  But on the way they told us that the Bali airport was closed for a few hours.  I heard a few different stories but am not really sure what the issue was.  So we landed in Jakarta and sat on the tarmac for an hour and a half or more.  I was booked on Malindo Air which is a budget airline, but I had an exit row and they had personal video screens for each seat, so at least I was able to watch a movie while we waited.  We finally got to Bali just before midnight and there were hundreds of people waiting to go through immigration once they opened the airport back up.  I made it to the hotel after 1 am, so today I'm just going to walk to the beach and grab some lunch.  I have an all day tour booked for tomorrow to Ubud.

Georgetown is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a nice place to walk around for an afternoon.  I'm not very good at sightseeing on my own but did buy a ticket to go into Fort Cornwallis.

There is a new rainforest exhibit that is still in the process of being constructed, but the walking paths are open at a reduced rate.  I was the only visitor there and had a private tour for about 20 minutes and then walked around.  There wasn't a lot of activity due to the rainy season but saw a tarantula, black squirrels and a few macaques.

I took a bus from near my hotel the other day to Penang Hill, which is the highest place on Penang Island.  There is a high speed funicular that goes to the top and takes about six minutes.

​Pictures from the top before it started raining.

​It rained for about 30-40 minutes so that's when I ate lunch (Laksa Penang, which cost around $1).
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It is taking a long time to upload photos, so I will post the pictures of Fort Cornwallis and Penang Hill once I get to the next hotel.  I was able to upload a few...Yesterday's lunch in Little India and curry prawns for Dinner at a local place with different food stalls.

The internet connection at my hotel is a little slow, but it was an affordable room at a relatively new hotel at the edge of the Georgetown area.  Yesterday I took a free shuttle bus into Georgetown and walked around.  It's the rainy season, so it rained all morning and then cleared up in the afternoon.

The traffic in Ho Chi Minh City is pretty crazy.  On a two lane road going one way, I counted six lanes of scooters along with one lane of cars.  Many of the intersections don't have lights.  Somehow the traffic seems to flow and I haven't seen an accident yet.  Crossing the street is like a game of Frogger.  You go out a few steps and the wait for the scooters to go on either side of you, then you keep moving across the street.  If there's a bus or car you just put your hand up for them to slow down while you go in front of them.  It's very busy at night too but completely safe to walk around alone.  The only people that approach you are street vendors, and they are usually selling sunglasses...

I met a new friend from Germany, Tomasz, who stayed at the same hotel and was on the same tour as me.  After the tour we tried a place that the hotel had recommended, for a late afternoon snack - beef stew with noodles.

​My friend Sara, who I know through Habitat for Humanity, introduced me via email to one of her friends, Scott, who has been living in Vietnam for eight years. I went to a Korean Barbeque place with him and his wife for dinner.

I only had two nights in Ho Chi Minh, and only time for one tour, so I booked a tour of the Cu Chi Tunnels yesterday, which is about 45km (1 1/2 hours) outside of the city.  Our tour guide was Filipino but lives in Vietnam (standing in front of the American Tank below).  His father was American and he fought with the Americans in the war and was at Cu Chi, so he was able to tell a lot of stories during the tour. I'm told that most of the tour guides give a one-sided view but this guy gave a balanced view.  At the end of the tour you can crawl through a portion of the tunnel, which is so small you have to bend over completely (or crawl) to get through. 

the On the way to Danang airport yesterday the driver stopped at Marble Mountains and I spent an hour hiking around. There are several caves to hike around in and some shrines.