a harsh life in the perhentians

the perhentians were described to me as paradise: talcum-soft white sand, wide expanse of clear blue ocean, lush green jungle.  you might think that one gets accustomed to this level of total gorgeousness.  but no, actually, one doesn't.  it rocks, spectacularly, every time. 

tom is touching his nose every time he sees the letter "d" on a card that contains, in grid format, various d's, b's, p's, and q's.  it's not the weirdest thing he's done on this trip.  or even in the last 24 hours, come to think of it.  but today, dee (left) is timing him, and will ask him to do the same thing 24m underneath the ocean's surface, to find out whether tom is susceptible to nitrogen narcosis.  getting narc'd makes a person incredibly silly and giggly and ridiculous and i must admit that i love the feeling despite the fact that its technically sort of dangerous.  i spit in the face of danger.

here is an example of extreme sensitivity: narc'd at the surface.

the matahari lodge was slightly dank and suffered from limited electricity.  but the reptile factor was off the charts: this awesome monitor lizard lived underneath the deck!