Summer Reads

If I could write like this, there would be no need to ever bring a camera on a trip. The author does an amazing job of describing each place he visits as he travels along the ancient Silk Road from China to Turkey after 9-11. It's very wordy, but very eloquent at the same time. I really enjoyed this book. He offers a lot of insight with what the people are thinking in each place. He speaks Russian and Mandarin fluently. It's very interesting how the religions differ and also intertwine in each region. Highly recommend this. Not a light read though.

It's summer time so I just need some Chick Lit. I really like this author. Her first book is Bitter is the New Black which you should read first. This is the second memoir and I plan on reading her other 3 books. Very funny. Very entertaining. Makes me feel like I'm a much nicer person than her. This is a good beach book.

Kinda trashy. Not such a big fan of this. There's a new movie out. It's weird- the nerdy girl has an affair with the beautiful girl's fiance. Oh, and they are also best friends. It's just kinda weird. I guess it's supposed to make you feel like you are on the side of the nerdy girl, but I dunno. The next book is Something Blue and is from the perspective of the beautiful/perfect girl and I kinda wanna read it to get her perspective on it. Yes, I know it's fiction. Doesn't take a lot of intellect to get through this one.

I've read the other book by this author, Chicago, which follows the lives of Egyptians. This book is set in an actual building in Cairo and allegedly the characters are based on real people who lived in the building. Very scandalous for an Egyptian writer. Lots of sex, references to homosexuality and police brutality. All of which is probably true for the pre-Revolution Egypt. Very interesting. I liked this book, just because it shows how corrupt Egypt really was/is. If you want to know more about the corruptness and secrets of what really goes on in Egypt, then read this.

Perhentian Islands

Had a great start to the summer in the Perhentian Islands in Malaysia. Got my scuba license which was fun/scary. Breathing underwater is very surreal. Especially when you go down about 18 meters. We saw a sea turtle and blue-spotted stingrays and dozens of fish. The clown fish is definitely my favorite. The island is virtually empty as there are only about 100 people on the entire island. No roads, so no cars or bikes or anything. Just walking from one beach to the next. It was a perfect place to learn to scuba as there were hardly any waves and very clear water. You could do shore dives or boat dives, but the boat dives were only about 5 minutes away so you weren't stuck on a boat all day. It's Malaysia so there isn't beer everywhere. There was a guy who sold beer in his cooler on the beach. Turns out he was not only the beer guy, but also the boat guy who drove us to our dive spots each day.

I loved this monkey. Yes, he was on a leash.

After 3 days of scuba diving, this is the way to relax.