Twelve Feet, Six Continents, One Year

Exactly one week ago, not accounting for time zones, I was at this very keyboard, in a different kitchen, in a different country, facing a very different set of challenges. Then, it was the deep insanity of booking flights when airports were closing and airlines were in the process of cutting 90% of their routes with nearly no notice. Then, the daily temperature range was 80-95 degrees (F). Then, I was intimidated by the intensity of the government's approach to social distancing as well as the degree of popular compliance. Now, it's a bizarre game of figuring out which online delivery services will bring me food from which restaurants and whether or not my children will eat it. (Okay, that last bit is a near constant, regardless of continent.) Now, the temperature range is 40-55 degrees (F). Now, I'm terrified by the modesty of the government's approach and the frightening lack of concern shown in my community. But the worst thing that is going on is jet lag. This ...

3/23: 10am in Malaysia, 3/22: 7pm in Portland We pulled away a few minutes before 10 and drove to a gas station. Under the RMO, the pumps were operating but the store was closed. Fortunately, I was able to buy a toll tag (a debit card, really) and load it with the amount we were told we’d need for the drive (equivalent to about $15 plus some extra to spare). We got on the highway and drove to a rest area just past the first toll plaza. We waited there for our companions to catch up, coordinating by facebook messenger as a modern day CB radio! For the next three hours or so, we followed them on a nearly-empty super highway with a painfully slow 110kph speed limit. Every five minutes or so a Mercendes saloon would come roaring by going at least 150kph. I mused that it was undercover police since it seemed to be a parade of the same make and model, always tinted windows, etc. KL Rush Hour, COVID-style An interesting feature of the Malaysian freeway: motorbike rain shelters. Ev...

This was a day when we did way, way too much. Part 1: Singapore Zoo. We signed up for breakfast at the zoo. This meant being in a taxi at about 8am in order to reach the zoo between 8:30 and 8:45 in order to be seated at breakfast by 9 in order to have an Orangutan encounter at 9:30. And yet it was worth it. Breakfast was an easy win. Our epic walk around the rest of this excellent zoo was also epic but not so much of a win. In particular, our goal was to find the zoo's waterpark. We found it but then we found out that it was closed, nominally for maintenance but probably because the Covid-19 travel ban in China has reduced demand beneath the point of justifying the staffing! Regardless, we had some terrific experiences around the zoo. Part 2: Little India Yeah, that was just part 1. We had walked about 6,000 steps at the zoo! Next, we took cabs to Singapore's Little India. In blogs, podcasts and travel guides, the consensus is that Sin...