Starbucks, a universal constant in this world.

Regardless of where I may find myself in the world, there's something that will always be there. If you find yourself one day after all these years at the gates of hell or heaven (whichever your case may be), I could almost guarantee that there will be a Starbucks Coffee shop on the corner adjacent to it. Thanks to globalization, and the fact that the store itself isn't too much of a capital investment, you can find these puppies just about everywhere. In fact, due to the unique nature of these shops and the fact that they offer location-based mugs that have the city names on them, many folks I know onboard the ship have started to collect these mugs as they would Hard Rock Cafe pins/glasses to show where they've been with something that is as recognized as a McDonald's would be. I myself have purchased a Jakarta mug due to a lack of good coffee mugs that I own on the ship.

There's something to be said for being able to make your own coffee onboard a ship. Lets say that you've stayed up all night troubleshooting a problem with the system and you're now running on fumes...but alas, you forgot, you have the next watch at 1200-1700. Damn. At least you have the option to make your favorite caffeinated beverage of choice.

Kuantan, Malaysia;
Initially I was a bit skeptical about heading out into this port. Though, I have to say that it isn't as oppressive as Indonesia was. Quite a bit more laid back, and not nearly as populated. It's a bit how I imagine the general living of a Micronesian area to be like. The food is still quite alien to me, as I can't recognize most of it, and it still surprises me that there is so much English. On more than one occasion I've seen hamburgers advertised as "Hamburgers, USA style".

Souvenirs have been few and far between, but thanks to my mother for suggesting looking for some Batik fabric, I stumbled upon one of the best shops I've seen since being deployed. Batik is a process of graphical design that utilizes a prepared beeswax drawn onto any fabric such as silk, cotton, hemp, canvas, anything really. Once the wax has hardened you may use any combination of colors that you would like to fill in the designs between the wax. I picked up several selections for my mother and wife, and even a little DIY batik kit for my daughter! if you would like to see the shop yourself, it is called Natural Batik Village. The journey to get there wasn't bad at all really, just found a cab and showed him the address, 10 minutes later we arrived and asked the cabbie to wait for us. The whole round trip was 20 USD.

I wish that I a little bit more money to spent at the shop because I could find something for nearly everyone there. My buddy ended up spending over $200 there on apparel and paintings. I think I managed to keep my budget under $75, so I think I managed alright.

With any luck, I'll have enough liberty time to reserve a hotel and upload some pictures and other items with the provided interwebs. That's all for now!