Sad to leave. Happy to arrive.

Lev has enjoyed Kuala Lumpur. Patronas Towers in background.

Boxes are stacked haphazardly across the living room floor. Lev, our 6yo son is negotiating why a 5ft papier mâché Chinese dragon MUST be carefully shipped to California at all costs. 

The goodbye drinks are lined up in the calendar and the airplane tickets are bought. Big news: we move back a touch early as we are expecting a baby girl in January.

The Dude surfs Sri Lanka

Two years have gone blazingly fast here in SE Asia and we depart with bittersweet feelings. I'm sad to leave, but happy to return, if that makes sense. I leave with a feeling of both personal and professional accomplishment.  

Mama holds down the beach bar while the boys catch a few waves (Galle, Sri Lanka)

Our family has traveled extensively and with a passion bordering on fever. Lev's passport is packed with stamps that would make even the haughtiest gap year student feel a twang of envy. Most recently we visited Sri Lanka, where we managed to pack surfing, safari and beach time to everyone's satisfaction. 

Best way to the surf...Sri Lanka

The family suffers through another trip. Tioman Island, Malaysia

Lev and I venture through a village on Tioman Island, Malaysia

Hanoi, Vietnam

Lev and Anya head to my parent's in Arizona this week and I set down in SFO at the end of the month. 

The future is uncertain for me in terms of work - no job is set, but I'm having a lot of conversations. Fortunately, I do have several months to settle the family, welcome a brand new Bucholz and make sure I find a job I'm really excited about. Maybe I can get some surf, ski and hike wedged in there somewhere.

All the best for a wonderful Thanksgiving and a happy and warm (heart, if not hands) holiday season. 

Nate

On the back stretch...probably

So many islands, so little time - view over mid-Malaysia

I will begin this post as I begin most others: my how time has flown. But my laissez faire approach to updates means that you, the reader, gets to build your anticipation for the next post. Right? You must be positively salivating at this point, because it's been about 5 months.

While we have periods of routine living, they rarely last more than a month or so. The frequency of public holidays in Malaysia and proximity of exotic destinations means that we are traveling a lot. It's really fantastic and quite exciting. Plus, Anya and Lev were off to Ukraine for 3 weeks leaving me to fend for myself.

I explore Lombok. That's a rack for my surfboard,
in case you were wondering

By "fend for myself" I mean that I extended a work trip to the Philippines to do some scuba diving and then took a four day weekend (a public holiday for the end of Ramadan) to go to an island in Indonesia, Lombok, for some world class surfing. To be clear, it wasn't my surfing that was world class rather it was the surf available that was so amazing.

The band chills between sets - a beach bar parking lot in Lombok.
These VW's seem to be all over the Indonesian islands. 

While I truly love Bali, it's pretty well discovered. Lombok is the kind of place that makes you pause and think, "man, this will be very different in 20 years." For one, they are inexplicably planning an F1 course through some of the most scenic coastline. An F1 course. WTF? On a small island? I don't get it. Perhaps some government minister has a son (or a girlfriend) who really likes fast cars. I don't know. But Lombok is great. Ignoring the fact that you can find beach bars selling Magic Mushroom milkshakes (yes, the real deal), it's pretty easy to find beaches that are totally untouched; villages that are built around a small goat corral with huts on hard packed earth and barefoot kids...the whole deal. There are almost no hotel chains, rather just small homestay places and surf camps. I fell in love with it.

Also, joined from Vienna by our great friend Valya and her boys, we ventured way off the beaten path  recently to eastern Borneo to trek around for Orangutans and whatever other wildlife we could annoy. We stayed in pretty rustic conditions and got to feel like adventurers for a while. Lev was shocked there was no water slide (or pool for that matter), but recovered well enough to do a jungle trek in the dark (guided, definitely guided) to look for things that go bump in the night.

Lev poses in front of our digs in Redang,
an island off the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia

Oh! Anya's pregnant. And as I've told her, "you can always say that you went trekking through the jungles of Borneo while pregnant. That's super badass." So the cat's out of the bag. Posting it here rather than on Facebook is my big reward to anyone who has bothered to read this far.

He doesn't show it here, but Lev is super-duper
stoked to be a big brother. 

Due date is in January, which means we need to find employment (my contract is up soon and no job is guaranteed) and move internationally ASAP...and then have a baby. So that's a bit stressful. But we've never shied away from big life changes, obviously. It's daunting to consider unemployment as the family expands, but I'm sure it will all work out. Unless I strike out, I'm still planning to stay with Google and have limited my search there for now. I'm currently applying for a couple jobs in San Francisco (fingers crossed) and one job in Singapore (I think I would LOVE this job, but we do want to move home...so mixed emotions on that one). If you know someone looking to pay top dollar for a heck of a nice guy, let me know.

Yo' mama. Borneo. 

Beyond that, we live, love and laugh each day. My job is now flowing along nicely (a great change from my tone a year ago) and we all feel pretty adept at living in SE Asia. In fact, I really like it here a lot. It's like a resort holiday and the wild west rolled into one...with a Polo or Prada store nearby just in case. I might be starting to get sick of rice though. And Chinese tourists. There, I said it.

Borneo boat exploring. Photo credit (and thumb): Lev. Next to me is our buddy Dina, visiting from Vienna. 

This is Lombok. 

Feeling happy in Cebu, Philippines.

My posse at Lego Land in Malaysia. Anya seems more excited than Lev and that's why we love her so.  

Hello again - the halfway point

Perfect late-night street food: pick a skewer and fry it up. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (near our apartment).

The endearing and ridiculous tuk-tuks of Malacca, Malaysia

We've reached and passed the halfway point in our Malaysian adventure. Given the relatively transient expat community here, we feel like veterans in a lot of ways. We've established some great friendships, have our favorite drinking, dining and hiking spots and have covered a serious amount of ground in our travels.

In a year, our little family has now ventured extensively around Malaysia and visited Indonesia, Thailand, Cambodia, Hong Kong and the latest, India. Tack on Singapore, Vietnam, Australia and South Korea for my work travels and I'm feeling like we've really made the most of year one.

We've visited the doctor dozens of times due to a lot of ear and sinus issues for us all. I think it's a result of both lots of pool time as well as polluted air. 

Lev skipped the training wheels and is now racing around our parking garage on a second-hand bike. He's also reading like a champ and copping attitudes like a teenager. What a kid!

India has been on our list for a long time and we just took the Chinese New Year break to check out Kerala, in the far southwest tip of the country. It was a 3.5 hour direct flight from Kuala Lumpur.

As our taxi made its way through car, rickshaw and motorcycle-stuffed streets, we stared wide eyed at the friendly chaos around us. The majority of men and women dress traditionally, giving everything an exotic air.       People are very friendly, frequently stopping to ask where we're from and to toussle Lev's curly blond hair.

The grounds of our super posh resort in
Kumarakan, India

In the rickshaw...stoked for adventure

We spent two days in Cochin, the largest regional city, and then moved from city to nature as we made our way to the beautiful lake Vembanad and backwaters of Allepey. Birds soared and fisherman used centuries-old means to fish with nets hand tossed on the water. The tranquility was immediately felt and the noise and fumes of the city quickly faded from our senses. 

Lev works on the carpet sellers to get a deal

We spent a night on a traditional houseboat, complete with chef and cabin, gliding past remote fishing and rice farming villages. I decided to try an Ayurvedic massage in one touristy village and Anya and I are still laughing (mostly Anya) about my experience. Men only massage men in India and let's just say they don't bother with the modest cloth to cover your bits n' pieces. Finish the massage with a soapy rub down in the shower and I leave feeling like maybe I should have taken him to dinner or at least given my number. Maybe my puritanical roots run too deep. 

The final three days were spent lakeside at a resort as close to paradise as any I've experienced. The Kumarakan Lake Resort is set on several acres of painstakingly manicured tropical grounds, with canals and bridges throughout. I feel like the staff to guest ratio wasn't much more than  1:3 and we were very well looked after. 

Glamour girl in India

The view from where we docked the houseboat for the night

Traditional houseboat (just like ours)

A canal boat to get to our second hotel...confirmed snakes in the water!

 We were fortunate to meet an expat American family (living in Qatar) on our first day and ended up hanging out with them the rest of our trip. They have two girls about Lev's age and parents and kids alike hit it off. We whiled away the rest of the trip with fishing, yoga, afternoon tea and a good measure of Kingfisher beer. Not a bad way to spend the week. 

Backwaters village in Allepey, India

Our adventure photographer on the houseboat

Morning commute at the village

Should I be worried about our captain's hydration preference? 

Communal laundry area, Cochin, India

Summer travels...and I've been told fall is approaching

Jungle canopy at the forestry research preserve

Today I tuned in to a shady live sport streaming website for sporadic buffering, low definition video and the first U of Oregon football game of the season. It always makes me a little homesick to watch the games 8,077 miles from friends and family,  huddled together enjoying it as a social event. This is one of the only ways to tell that the calendar is progressing. The weather does not change here, nor do the daylight hours.

This will be my 8th football season endured abroad. But hey, during the early years in Ukraine, there was no live streaming - spotty or not. In fact, I once waited to learn the score of a bowl game for 2 full months as a VHS tape sent by my dad made its way across continents, through customs and into my eagerly waiting hands. Try that in the Facebook era...



Since I've last written, we had Anya's mom visit us for a month. Much of the time was spent as family activity around KL, but we also took a week in Phuket at a luxury-but-family-friendly resort, complete with waterslide within view of the bar. Perfection.

Lev is now a fully trained Jedi knight

We also flew up to Hong Kong to celebrate Lev's 5th birthday at Disneyland Hong Kong. I know I know, its a rough life. We've wanted to visit Hong Kong for a while as we have some dear friends who live there - so a place to crash and locals to have fun with. Hong Kong was fantastic. The city itself is purely vertical - mind-boggling narrow buildings of incredible height, perched on hillsides. But the city is also lush. 40% of Hong Kong land is reserved parks. Only 25% is actually developed. So it's easy to be standing next to a huge skyscraper and also be next to a lush jungle hillside.

That light sabre has been next to Lev as he's slept...every
night since we've been back. (Alemedans: note the local T-shirt!)

As  I type this, I'm sitting in an Irish bar sipping a beer as Lev sits quietly beside me, bribed with a newly downloaded game on my phone. No judging, please. Anya's been in Cambodia for a ladies' trip for a few days, so Lev and I are going bachelor style. On weekends without special plans, we've taken to heading to a forestry reserve and research center not far away. There are acres and acresof old growth jungle and trails. 

Pushing grandma Valya on the swing...Phuket

I don't know that I want to live in it forever, but I do truly love the tropics. I'm still amazed to be walking through a jungle, perfumed with exotic flowers and damp vines. Today we came upon some (I assume) iguanas. The largest was easily 4 feet in length. A bit further down the path we found a family of monkeys.

Our posh hotel lobby, Phuket

Since we've been to Malaysia, we've had a monkey slap Lev on the head when Lev tried to take back a playground slide from the local troupe. I've had a monkey crawl up my leg to my head and then stand frozen as it proceed to pee down my back, filling my sandals.  Anya had a monkey take her hat. When we tried to get it back, it grabbed her leg and gave her a warning bite - not breaking the skin, but far from pleasurable. Still, it's interesting to see them. Their intelligence is a menace though. They know exactly where they stand, that we are afraid of them and they can pretty much do as they please. But still they are exotic and remain novel. As does tropical living.

As a whole, the family is good. I often comment that personal life is fantastic, but work life is a challenge. It still holds true. But I'm managing the stress better. The air quality is up and down here and that, plus the work stress I think, has me visiting the doctor far more often than I'd like. Sinus issues are the main culprit and my doctor things there are allergies at play. I'm starting to believe him. What I don't want to believe, despite some evidence to the fact, is that beer might be a culprit. Shock. Horror. I'm ignoring it. Surely there are drugs for that. Stay tuned.