Magnificant Malaysia

Malaysia is a unique country, filled with a variety of ethnic backgrounds, religions, and geographical layouts.  Unfortunately, we indulged in only one of those many topographical layouts- the metropolitan.  Although, I felt somewhat removed from the city life, despite the tall buildings and the city buses bustling through the streets.

Within an hour or so of exploring the metropolis it became quite apparent- Kuala Lumpur is GREEN.  Not surprising for a city whose country owns the world’s oldest rainforest.  But seriously, there were vines, and flowers, and trees up shooting from every corner and decrepit building.  It was beautifully magnificent- how a country can show its true blend of colors through incorporating and meshing tropical rain forest with city life.

Flowers scattered the streets.

Palm trees outside a mosque in city center.

Following a sweaty walk through town, we headed back to our hotel for our long anticipated reunion with Kate (see “See You Later, Alligator). With a mixture of exhaustion and stupidity…

(Side notes: On the overnight flight down to KL, Brandon immediately passed out.  I, being a caring girlfriend, gave him one of my 2 precious Benadryl- I promise I’m not addicted, only on overnight flights- and watched him sleep peacefully for the first hour, upon which time I passed out dutifully, and upon which time he disobediently awoke to gape at his sleeping beauty for the following 5 hours.  Side note 2- we didn’t set our watches back upon arrival in Malaysia, so after 2 anxious hours of waiting for Kate, we were determine that she had missed her flight, something that we wouldn’t put passed her)

Diversity.

…we headed to the pool for some R&R, only to be greeted by a group of Malaysian male models posing fully clothed in the hotel pool.  Somethings in life we may never understand.  Needless to say, cracking jokes and admiring the flamboyant-ness of their coach encouraged the time to fly.  And Kate came!!!

Fully clothed... not exactly models.

We sat, bright eyed and bushy tailed, through story after story of Kate’s Asian adventures- from crazy Vietnamese tailors, to 30 hour bus rides, to falling for her dive instructor- anticipating what was to come.  But of course we didn’t want to waste our precious time, as we had memories to make.  So we headed out and made our way to Little India.  After exploring and a few purchases of make-up, hiking pants, and a purse we were ready to pursue China Town- the largest market in KL.

Flagging down a taxi, we hoped in and announced our destination, only to get dropped by the SAME market that we just left.  Worthless.  Nonetheless, we made it to China Town, decorated in colors and knock-off goods.  A few purchases and a light dinner later, it was time to call it a night.  A hard learned lesson- in KL, alcohol is disgustingly expensive, especially when compared to other goods and the prices in beach towns (knowledge base contributed by the seasoned traveler, Kate, who had just spent a week on the beaches of Malaysia’s west coast).

With a full day ahead we took on local transportation and made it to the Batu Caves, learning that it IS in fact possible to enter another country without crossing a border and a passport stamp.  Whatever that Little India market brought the night before was soon to be erased from our minds.  THIS was Little India.  Lit-er-ally thought I was in India.

Batu Caves!

Between the trash scattering the street, the Hindu attire (this was a Hindu shrine so this was expected), the orange painted, bald heads, our minds were in India.  Oh and somehow when 2 blonde chicks, accompanied by a wondering, amateur photographer, visit the Batu Caves they immediately become celebrities, which in photos translates to a lesbian couple with millions of adopted children.

First set of adopted children.

Second set of adopted children.

But nevertheless, it was a very different experience.  The worshiping, praying to hundreds of burning candles, throwing unknown objects into fire pits, walking up hundreds of steps on your knees, touching the first step before climbing, drinking fresh coconut milk, kissing elders feet, will forever be ingrained in our memories of India Malaysia.

Old lady blessing others.  Some even kissed her feet.

Walking up hundreds of steps on his knees.

"Praying."  Actually paying more attention to the foreigners.

Refreshing coconut.

Minus the passport stamp, I’ve been to India.

So in a 15 minute taxi ride we made it back to Malaysia and in time for dinner.  Over our Malaysian dinner we began craving another country- Singapore, a mere 5 hour bus trip away.  Kate, having visited all SE Asian countries, with the exception of Singapore and Indonesia started engraving the idea in our brains.  Having almost all of KL marked off, why not?!

So the research began.  A 5 hour bus trip turned into a 6.5 hour bus trip, which turned into an hour plane flight.  Or at least the idea of an hour plane flight.  If you recall back to the FFF on Malaysia, I noted that less than 0.83% of Malaysians use the internet.  Let me be the first to confirm this fact.  Without the internet, its kinda hard to purchase a last minute plane flight to Singapore.  So we searched.  We went left, and right, and back left.  No computers!  Let alone the internet (which we had to explain to some people).  Strike out.  And the idea floats awayyy…

At the National Mosque.  Really amazing and beautiful.

Petronas Towers from the Menera Tower.

Perfecting the jump shot.  Singapore here we come!

Realizing to live in the moment, we headed over to the Menara Towers, which overlook the largest twin towers in the world, the KL Petronas Towers.  After a few snapshots we noticed a few Koreans and decided to play mind games and began speaking Korean amongst ourselves.  Noticing a few blondes speaking Korean sparked a conversation, a conversation which led to the idea of stealing the internet from the Apple store in the local mall.

Cha-ching.  After splitting, reconvening, and avoiding an awkward computer salesman whom I had to convince that I wasn’t American-Korean (some people…), we decided $100 was well worth the 18 hours we could allot ourselves in Singapore.  But yikes, the mall was closing. So we purchased our tickets stealing the internet from a closed computer store at 10pm for a flight to Singapore at 6am.  Good night Malaysia, hello spontaneity.