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Published: December 23rd 2008
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Petronas Towers
The third tallest buildings in the world. Hello from Kuala Lampur, Malaysia!
My parents and brother skipped out of Minnesota on Saturday, December 14 and left me home to fend for myself in -20 degree weather to finish up my papers and final exams. On Tuesday I headed to the airport in a jean jacket, survived the freezing winds on the way, and headed for Japan.... kind of. "We're sorry for the delay, but it is -27 degrees farenheit outside, and we need to check the engines... they're broken, we need to fix them... fixed, OK, now we need to de-ice." Three and a half hours later we took off!
I arrived to Kuala Lampur on Thursday evening. After a rough ride with a very angry, mean, and yelling taxi driver, I met up with my family. We are here in Mont Kiara, Kuala Lampur visiting my Auncle Paul, Aunt LuAnn and cousin Grant. They have been living here for over a year, directing and teaching at an international school. Malaysia is a diverse country, mostly made up of Malays, Indians and Chinese. Islam is the official religion of the country, but other religions are practiced freely. It is really neat to see such a diverse
Canopy Walk
Canopy walking in the Taman Negara Rainforest National Park. group of people and to hear so many different languages every day. English is also pretty widely spoken here. The air is thick with humidity. Since it is "monsoon" or "rainy season" here, it's common for it to rain every couple of days.
Friday was spent visiting the major tourist attraction to KL, the "Patronas Towers." I believe they are now the 3rd tallest buildings in the world, just behind "Taipei 101" (you can see pictures in my earlier blog entries) and the up and coming "Burj Dubai" which will stand at around 800 meters (about 2620 feet) when it is finished in September of 2009. We just barely missed the last tickets to get up the Towers, but it was OK-- instead we visited the tower a few blocks away and got a beautiful view of the Towers from there.
Saturday we road-tripped to the Taman Negara Rainforest, one of the oldest in the world (about 130 million years old). The river, which separates the small tourist town from the national park, was filled with floating restaurants and wood boats with motors attached to the back. Fresh squeezed juice, fried bananas and home made spring rolls were
Merry Christmas
Apparantly, this year, Santa has picked up smoking. our snacks of choice.
Sunday we took a four and a half hour hike through the rainforest. Half way through the hike was the longest canopy walk in the world!! The canopy was held up by steel cables and rope; the swaying walkway made of ladders covered with a skinny plank of wood. Creeping through the tall tree-tops was an awesome experience. Our hike after the canopy walk was long and drawn out. We climbed up and down and up and down, over thick tree roots and skinny creeks, fighting off some leeches and checking out busy monkeys hopping from tree to tree. We ran out of water and got a little nervous that we had accidentally hopped onto the seven day camping/hiking trail, but were relieved when we finally found civilization again (trails with built walkways and signs telling us what plants were around). To cool off afterwards, we stopped for some drinks and food. Monkeys are accustomed to humans being around and have learned how to beg for food, or steal it if necessary. They made quite a scene and crawled right up to people. One monkey stole a bag of chips right from someones hands! (They
are also not shy to get busy... you are curious I know it:
&feature=channel_page) To finish off an adventerous day, we paid a couple of guides to take us up and down the river in skinny, quick boats. Splashing wars and whipping waves soaked us! That evening my brother and I headed to the river for a nightly bonfire held by the tour guides. Guitars and singing was abound. When the stars came out, it felt like a night in paradise! The starry sky looks different here, as it is right at the equator. I could get used to a lifestyle by the rainforest on the river. The tour guides hang out during the day, giving walking tours or riding the river, and at night host a relaxing bonfire. To sleep they drape their hammocks on the floating restaurants, rocking themselves to sleep...
I am a city girl at heart but am extremely jealous of their lifestyle.
Today, Tuesday, we visited the elephant sanctuary. Elephants are rescued from parts of the country where they would otherwise be killed. Every day they let you feed, ride and swim with the elephants. Swimming with them was the best part. You get on the elephants back and he walks into the water, on the trainers command, the elephant tips over and drops you into the river! (Check it out:
&feature=channel_page) They are really cute, but it is sad to see them chained up and forced to entertain people all day. I guess they're better off at the sanctuary than dead though...
Thats our trip up until now! 😊
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Bill
non-member comment
awesome
sounds like an awesome time. Hope you are taking A TON of pictures. Here in Culiacan, Mexico it noisy and warm...84 degrees. Eating tacos on the street and going to holiday parties (posadas) every night. Beats the hell out of freezing in MN! Merry Xmas!!!