Malaysia

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We left Singapore and only had to take a bus across into Malaysia and our first stop off was in Malaka. SUCH a wonderful little place. It is the Venice of Asia. So our hostel, which only opened a couple months ago and was in China Town, was right across from the Malaka Straight. Our room was a small but very "Japanese" style room. You walked in and there was a ladder to your left and a couch and coffee table to your right. Up the ladder, was the loft bed with band new blankets, crisp sheets and AC! Plus nooooo windows so the first night there we slept in till noon! We have been up every other day at 630am to run! Hahhahaahha must have needed the sleep. We did a few days of sight seeing in Malaka and enjoyed the river tours, seeing the old colonial building and just spending time wondering the many kms of board walks adn mangrove forests in the city. Not to mention the beautiful night lighting of the city. We found a great little used book shop to trade in some books and head onto the bus to get up to Kuala Lumpur!

Known to all of Malaysia as KL it is a city that is close to the west coast and took us 2 hrs by bus from Malaka to get to. The country side here is soooooo drastically different from Indonesia too. The main export for Malaysia is palm oil and so there are plantation upon plantation of HUGE palm trees. Also Malaysia gets loads of rain fall and is very very lush jungle. It actually has some of the oldest rainforest on earth dating back to 130 million years!!! BUT it is also rain season here now, hahahahahaa. It doesn't look like we will be spending much time here thou as some parts of Malaysia are closed for the rainy season. Flooding happens on the east coast as well as monsoon rain fall that makes taking a ferry anywhere impossible! We had a few wonderful days of HOT HOT humid sunshine here in KL as well as the most UNREAL rain I have ever EVER seen. We arrived in KL as a rain/lighting and thunder storm was starting and we watched the river rise 3meters in a matter of 5-10mins!!!! HOLY SHIT KID WE'RE NOT IN KANSAS ANY MORE!!! ahhahahahaaaa.....but of course the city is built to suit this type of weather and so life just carries on, and people just go about their day as us prairie kids are having our minds blown!!! HAHAHAHAaaaaa oh how mother nature keeps me entertained ;0)

KL is also home to the Patronas Twin Towers. I know, it didn't mean anything to me, however I now have a vas bit of knowledge about them and a HUGE appreciation for these beautiful man made structures. Koop on the other hand, had a smile big enough to eat a banana sideways when he remembered they were here. Being the architecture tech that he is, this is one of the must sees of building to date on this trip. They were designed by an architect from the states and finished in 2004. They have 88 stories plus spires on top to make them one of the tallest building ever build on earth. They actually held the world title for a number of years. They are amazing during the day, but unreal all lit up like Christmas trees at night! We took some really really cool photos and Koop figures one of them is going to be his Christmas card photo, PPPPPPFFFFFFFhahahahahahahahaa love the sense of humour he has!

We also made a trip to the Batu Caves. They are one of the highest Hindu temples in the world and we had to climb 272 steps to the top to check out the caves. Apparently a million Hindus come every year to watch or take part in masochistic feats of the devotees (yeah thats the guys with the swords/metal through their cheeks, hooks into their backs dragging shrines, etc.) The 43m statue of Murga was worth the trip in itself. Caves are suuuuuuuper cool!!!! Can't describe them to do justice but hope some of the photos give a general idea of the magnitude and beauty of the staglamites and rock formations. AND how about the monkeys!!! OMG they where hilarious, and everywhere. One of the guys working there makes sure to feed them which we happen to be around for. We only saw a couple of them hanging about until the fruit came out. They came jumping scaling and screaming outta the trees inside the caves, some with their babies packed firmly around their bellies. Crazy how a monkey actually resembles a human when they eat. Using their hands and feet, which look like hands, to tear apart food, spit out the bad bits and whatever they don't want they just throw over their shoulder and scale back up the trees and rocks.

Next stop on the map.......Cameron Highlands for some reprieve from the heat and the city.

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