En Route to Malaysia

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12/16
Kuala Lumpur or Bust
Early to rise this morning.... we catch a boat back to Krabi then flag down a taxi and then a motorbike to reach the bus station where the last bus in town is leaving for Haytai, our departure point for KL, Malaysia. Chasing it down the road with backpacks in tow the driver lets us on thankfully. Eight hours later we arrive in Haytai hoping to find a one way bus ticket to KL. After checking every tour company in Haytai we realize we will have to spend the night. To be fair though, our trip thus far has managed to be effortless in terms of continuous transport. The extra night of rest and a good meal is well over due. No more splitting Pringles and rationing out the cashews!

12/18
Today. I. AM. EXHAUSTED. Tara and I arrived safely last night via our 8 hour bus ride to Malaysia and were welcomed by an awesome home cooked meal. The plan was to chill out for the day but as you know that never really happens on trips like these so Tara's dad, Mr. Macken and her aunt take us to the Batu caves. Mr. Macken is 100%!I(MISSING)rish by the way so we get along perfectly right off the bat. That is until he conjures up some fellow to put an albino python around my neck for a few pictures and laughs. Well ha ha ha. Everyone has jokes out here in Malaysia. Wilma (Tara's mom) tells me that these snakes are considered "house pets" out here. Call me exotic but I'll stick with a labrador or golden retriever thank you very much.

As we inch our way up the 300 flight of stairs that lay before the caves you can see all the monkeys that litter the area up close. "Take a picture with the monkey," Tara and her dad say to me. Of course no one likes to give the white girl any warning cause it's funnier that way I guess. I take one step near the thing like it's Curious George and I kid you not it was just like the movie, "Outbreak" or actually "When Animals Attack" works just as well. Close call! Luckily, I did not get bit this time unlike every other animal in Asia that despises the white devil. The crew decides we've had our fill of exploring for the day and retire back to the Penthouse (as I like to call it) to play some squash with Mr. Macken.

12/19
Every native U.S. citizen reading this right now, be thankful. Today I experienced first hand with Tara at the U.S. Embassy how hard it is to get a visa for our country. Volunteering with the IRC I've learned a lot about the arduous process to become a citizen but seriously, just to obtain a U.S. working visa is about as hard as breaking into the entertainment industry in Hollywood. Especially if you have Irish citizenship but were born in the middle east and live partly in the Philippines and Malaysia. Try explaining that one to immigration. So, a big CONGRATULATIONS goes out to Tara for gettin' it done!!!

Pumped after a successful morning we celebrate with a locals drink, Teh Tarik. To malays, it's just tea with condensed milk. To Tara and I, it's crack water. Once our Teh Tarik fix is fulfilled we set out on an 8 hour walk-a-thon around Kuala Lumpur hitting up the Menara Tower (3rd largest telecom building in the world) and the Petronas Towers (formerly the tallest building in the world with 88 stories) that houses over 270 shops at the bottom. As it turns out, Mr. Macken works at the Petronas so we meet up with him for lunch then check out three of the million mega malls that Malaysia has to offer. One of which has 10 different floors!!!! Completely unnecessary and we only cover the 3rd floor before throwing in the towel. Yes, I am a pathetic excuse for a woman when it comes to shopping. What can yah do?

Later that night we meet up with some people who have mutual friends of ours in L.A. We all meet for a few drinks at the infamous "Reggae Bar" that despite all the Bob Marley memorabilia on the walls it plays no reggae whatsoever...poor form. The atmosphere is fun though so we stay a bit and learn a little more about our new friends. There are 5 guys and 2 girls in their group. For all intensive purposes I will share their nicknames we made up for them so it makes sense later. In no particular order I present Khalid (nickname not appropriate), Ginga Ninja (self explanatory), Magic Man (claims to have "magic" moves with the ladies but has none whatsoever), The Kidnapper (after several drinks tells Tara that he will kidnap her and she will come), The Legend (explanation not appropriate), Siberia (the chick who is spending 30 days in Siberia after Asia for what reason I'm still investigating) and Finland (ugh, she's from Finland). Most are either friends from high school and/or they played on the Rugby team together in KL. I must also point out that every night for this group is a 1999 New Years eve party so Tara and I make the quickest getaway for sleep and tell them we'll catch up another time.

12/20
It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...or not at all
Bamboo Christmas tree, check. Malays singing Christmas carols in all the stores we go to, check. Christmas in Malaysia where the temperature is 98 degrees and humidity 210%!?(MISSING) ...not so sure about that. But to get in the holiday spirit, Tara's family is throwing their annual Christmas party tonite. Anyone who is asian and/or non-American reading this knows what a party of such caliber entails......KARAOKE. Being the small town gal from Pennsylvania I don't quite understand at first the hype of this activity. While all the adults (read that as 60 and above) fight over the microphone and nag us to sing a song, us kids (Tara, myself and family friend, Justin) think of every excuse under the sun not to. It's amazing how after a couple glasses of wine and one ballad of the Jackson 5 can change your view on things... After all my soul searching in Asia I think I've really found my niche in life. What started as a party ice breaker turned into a ruthless competition between the kids, a dutchman and a british bloke that lasted well into the early am. They may have had Frank Sinatra but nothing tops Queen's Bohemian Raphsody.

12/21 RAGING
Ok so shopping shopping yawn yawn. Tara and I are invited to the Ginga Ninja's house tonite where his parents are letting him throw a little Christmas gathering. We are welcomed by Khalid, a guy who in my opinion is the second coming of John Belushi in "Animal House", is self described as a walking scientific experiment with a social disorder (yeah...) and who asks us if we are ready to "Rage" tonite. Ummm. He's australian mind you so among the many other things that come out of his mouth we have to ask for an american translation. For once I am thankful to be ill and completely out of commission for a few days due to all the traveling. All I can say is I don't think any of those characters will be selected as future organ donors. I praise Finland and Siberia for being able to hang with them for the next 2 months. Their next country to visit is Laos, in which they have two extra tickets for us to tag along if we want. However, it overlaps with our New Years plans in Sydney so we'll have to think it over.

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