Day Something...

Steam Boat Meal

Stalactites are Batu Caves.

View From Petronas....

Them are frogs being deskinned...

They sell seafood, poultry and meat all on the streets with no or very little ice and even do the chopping in public.

The Petronas Twin Towers...Now second tallest in the World behind Dubai.

Don't even know what day is it anymore......Malaysia is really quite a tough place to live. Bad weather, bad traffic, menacing insects....thank goodness the food here compensates for them. Some very nice sights though....

Day 13 Rest Day – Almost…..

Pictures: There are no road rules in Malaysia; Anything goes including this dad and kid. Mangoes the size of Watermelons. Under a waterfall. Archery Practice. K&M in infinity pool.

Kids got to sleep in late at the resort….10AM. Sharon and I got up at 8 for breakfast. Malaysia’s older cities are pretty laid back. The folks here have no sense of urgency and no sense of commitment. Although we reserved a Flying Fox ride (zip-lining) today, they cancelled on us stating it was too wet….I didn’t think so. Meals took them 20 mins to deliver and 20 mins after we asked for the check. They are just too laid back for me. After a late morning archery showdown followed by some paintball target practicing, we did some kayaking in the ocean after lunch. The water in West Malaysia is as dark as California’s. Nothing exciting that except that the temps in the water felt like 85 or so. It was nice falling in. After a nice swim in the pool we headed for a banana boat ride and that was when injuries abound. After a few turns, the boat overturned. Marcus was kneed in the head. Kayla was hit in the back of the neck. Aunt Sharon got a fat lip and bruised nose and Dad got a 1 in gash on his back. There was only 4 of us on the boat and nobody knew who hit who. We survived it although Sharon and Kayla are still feeling the repercussions. No more banana boats for us for a while. It’ll be dinner soon at a Thai restaurant. We head back to KL tomorrow to prepare for our Rain Forest visit.

Day 11 More Tourist Stuff

Another early wake up call for the kids. I can tell the grumbling kicking in even more. We had to get to the Petronas Tower before 8AM to get in line for free tickets. They only let in the first 800 in line come in per day. We got there at 8:20 and ended up the 825th folks. Real bummer. So we came up with a plan, We decided that Kayla and my aunt would scope out nice guys in line to see if they could get tickets for us since each person can get up to 4 tickets.. Unfortunately no success. So I had to resort to drastic measures. I decided to do the same. After a quick recon, I found 2 tourists that looked easily convinced. After doing a quick intro and then explaining the cause and then having to explain the definition of why it was a good idea, they 2 girls agreed and booyah….we were in. It was an awesome view form the skywalk between the 2 towers. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping at the these stalls strewn all along a popular street. After an incredible crab dinner, I granted Kayla her “one” wish for the trip; to go clubbing in Malaysia and Singapore. So we headed out to a hot spot at the KL Hilton. She had a great time there especially when we left her alone for 5 mins and she met a kid from Libya who gave her his email address. Boy was she excited…..Kids today….Unfortunately for Dad, the bill for 1 OJ, 1 Shirley Temple, 1 Draft Beer and 1 Jack D set him back 45 big ones. Booze is expensive in Asian countries. Tomorrow we head out to a Beach Resort for some R&R…hopefully prayed the kids…..They were wondering when Dad would slow down.

Day 10 Some Tourist Action

Got the kids up at 7AM to take a walk at a popular park in Petaling Jaya (town near KL). The kids did not like me doing that…obviously. But I did what every parent would do when they take their kids to a faraway country. Force em anyway to drag their behinds up to do something they assume was a pain but actually a good experience in the end. The park was filled wild monkeys that roam the walkways and trails. They had a great time taking such close-up shots and then in the middle of the park it started to pour…like it rarely does back home. The best part was running in the extremely warm rain downhill and it felt so refreshing. They admitted later they were glad they went. Then after a quick shower and breakfast we headed to a mountainous temple. There, monkeys were clamoring all over the place as well and the kids got to touch them as well. See pixs. We also got to have a small python (I think) wrapped around each of us. To stay cool, off to Sunway Lagoon…a place very similar to Water World only larger and the pools were humongous.

Day 9 Wednesday Back to Malaysia

It was time to take a breather from Spore. Besides eating and some shopping, there isn’t a whole lot for the kids to do so we took the first bus ride out to Kuala Lumpur (KL), capital of Malaysia. The country is populated with palm oil, their chief export I think. With the use of soy bean in the states for bio-diesel fuel, it looks like they’re betting on us buying boat loads of palm oil from them.
Although Spore is 80 miles north of the Equator, and KL a couple of hundred miles north of Spore, we had hoped that the weather would be a tad better but alas, that was not true. The smog here is quite bad. From the deforestation in neighboring Indonesia, the winds blow directly to us and hence the haze.
On the sunny side, Malaysia is a whole lot bigger than Spore and there’s a lot more open space and things to do around here. Ethnically, Malaysia has the reverse racial breakdown from Spore. The Chinese are the minorities and mosques run in abundance here. The spend too much money on these buildings and not enough on their people. The 2 countries do not see eye to eye on many issues but fortunately they coexist well together.

After settling in my aunt’s house, we were on the way to taste the foods and stores of Malaysia. We had our first tatse of South African food….yep….you can get anything in Asia and it was pretty darn good followed by another excellent Chinese dinner. We ended the evening with me indulging in some durian, the most despised food of the Western world which included my kids. Wish I could bring some back home but I would probably by sentenced to exile forever by the INS if I did. We also got to buy some awesome DVDs for $2 a pop. What a deal!!!!! Only in Malaysia….Tomorrow’s another day

Day 6 Sunday - Church and Family

Today the kids and I went to Church with my buddy Kie Ming. He attends a satellite branch of one of the Cavalry churches in Singapore that caters to expatriates from all over the world. The service is held inside a Hotel (thank goodness) . Very much like the services at home.

The rest of the day the kids spent swimming and playing Wii with their cousins while I engaged in serious food engorging with friends and relatives. This way I didn’t have to feel guilty having them sit with me being bored and watching me eat all afternoon.

We heard about MJ and Farrah’s death yesterday. Pretty tragic. Michael was pretty darn popular in Asia. Their main newspaper put out a 12 full page article about him today. It was incredible. Unfortunately Farrah wasn’t that famous. Asian folks are pretty friendly around here especially the Filipinos. No matter how hard life can be, they still know how to enjoy life. Here’s a glimpse of what the prisoners did last year in tribute to MJ:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMnk7lh9M3o&feature=related

Enjoy….

Day 7 Monday - Trip to Malacca

I think I am forgetting what day it is around here these days coz everyday seems like a Saturday. Today the kids and I got to see a glimpse of another country. Getting to Malaysia is like crossing Truckee and getting to Nevada. The 2 countries are connected by 2 bridges (causeways here) and the 2 countries are only 1 mile apart. You can tell you’re in Malaysia coz the signs quickly change from English to Malay.
Malaysia is a little more rustic than Spore and being 100 times larger still has many areas where there is n running water or electricity and homes are built on stilts and bamboo. We visited an old Portugal settlement called Malacca where the kids got to try food made with a Portuguese touch….(didn’t appeal to them to much).
Driving in Singapore and Malaysia is a definite experience. Most of Asia drive on the opposite side of us where the driver’s side is on the right. Although it seems the whole country seems like a typical 8AM LA 405 freeway 24X7, people here drive very aggressively and you have too. It’s the only way to get around if you want to get from point 2 point. Yet since it’s the norm, no ones really gets mad or shoots one another. Not that they could anyway. Guns are outlawed along with chewing gum. Crime rate here is at a minimal and Singapore is truly a litter free island. People here do work very hard for a living though. Everyone seems to work long hours and the kids here have it even worse. We may think that a GPA of 4.3 is ridiculously tough but imagine NEEDING to have the equivalent of a GPA of 5.0 to be accepted into one of only 3 universities in the country. It’s a nightmare. NO wonder many leave for Britian, Australia and the US to get their degrees.
Speaking of degrees, another scorcher of a day in both countries and it is taking a toll on Marcus. But he’s a trooper. As long as he had his Subway sandwiches and a Coke, he’s surviving……geez….. Good Night….