Week 52: Bangkok + Perhentian

Been playing a little catchup with the blog since I pretty much took the summer off - the title of this post refers to a couple of recent trips - these first two pics are unrelated but felt like they were worth including, even if its just off our apartment balcony. We get such incredible light here that changes all the time, makes for some great variety in the view

I work in an environment that prides itself on efficiency. To be fair, no one anywhere really appreciates wasted time or effort, but I'd submit that engineers have a shorter fuse here than most. An example: in the company I work for we have rules about roles within meetings to prevent a self-serving filibuster or random tangents. Doesn't mean they don't happen, just means we have a common language for calling them out and attempting to arrest them in conjunction with sharing annoyed looks around the room. 

Its in the fertile soil of Intel nerd efficiency that the TLA has found its place - the Three Letter Acronym. Why would anyone take the time to type or speak three different words when three letters would convey the same meaning? Exactly! As exhibit A: I offer the the BKM. In pursuit of the optimal, a good starting point is to seek to understand the Best Known Method from others who may have faced a similar situation. This of course has application everywhere, not just trying to make better semiconductors, but vacation planning too. And when we're traveling with another Intel couple, it's a BKM bonanza.

Our friends and dive buddies Dale and Rochelle Price created a celebrity-like following for themselves at a newly opened resort on Perhentian island by being some of the very first guests there. BKM#1: vacationing at a brand new hotel with abundant attendants all seeking to make a good first impression is the kind of place you want to stay. BKM#2: When you hear of other having an experience like this, convince the celebrities to come with you when you are making reservations.

The result was things like private ferries to the island, private dive boats with all new gear...amenities way nicer than we deserve. And that may not be duplicated if we don't bring the VIPs when we go back. But it was fun to feel like fancy people in a really beautiful place

Diving here was top notch, and we found a way to squeeze in as many as we could for our long weekend there. One spot that was particularly cool was a small island that had an underwater canyon that ended with a swim through a little tunnel to arrive a cove inaccessible any other way - you can kind of see the opening in the tunnel behind Jo on her left side

Here she is in the canyon

Also - we dove a shipwreck for the first time on this trip, this particular boat one that was intentionally sunk to create an artificial reef as well as teach a lesson to the Vietnamese fisherman that thought they could get away with scooping up some fish residing in Malaysian waters. Was told they just sank the boat, not the fisherman.

How about this handsome moray? A little like a sock puppet I think

A couple more pics. Because fish are awesome 

I think I've mentioned it before, but one of the great things about living here is being central to so many interested places to visit. Like Bangkok, where we can get a direct flight from Penang for maybe 100 bucks rountrip. Easy-peasy weekend away.

The city was great - excellent food, friendly people. And we were able to visit the newly completed temple - a beautiful and uplifting experience we had been meaning to do for several months.