The trip started at about 7 am on Saturday. We all met at the school and piled onto two big coach busses. It was early, so for the most part we slept until we got to the boarder and had to go through that, then back on the bus, then through the Malaysian boarder. Such a pain, but after that it was clear driving. We made a few pitstops for food and bathroom breaks and then ended up in Malacca.
Before I get ahead of myself, I would like to talk about the bathrooms in most of the places of Malaysia. It kind of reminds me of going to the bathroom when you are camping in the bush - only your in an actual washroom. There is often just a hole in the ground and you squat. It's not great, but I suppose it works. The more pressing issue is the lack of cleansing products available once you are done. I think I came across 2 bathroom places that had toilet paper. Otherwise there is usually just a hose in there. So, im not too sure what the locals do. I quickly came to my senses and I now carry a roll of toilet paper with me everytime I go to Malaysia.
Moving on, we arrived in Malacca and had some lunch. The food was good, although spicy and some of it looked a little strange. I told myseld I had to try a little of everything though. From there, we continued on to see St. James Ruined Church. It is located up on top of a hill, and had a beautiful view. There were different memorials along the way and various statues. Then we went to the little market area, where I got to hold a huge snake around my neck! It was really scary! I could feel it slithering around and, well by the look on my face in some of the pictures, you can see how I felt about it.
We then went to a temple, which was busy with people burning incents and praying. Appearently when Malaccca was ruled by the Dutch, they could practice whatever religion they wanted to, nothing was enforced. I thought that was pretty interesting. I then spent an hour walking around, up and down the streets looking at all of the little shops. Everyone was preparing for a night market. However, we had to get on our way to make our dinner reservations.
After dinner, we made it to Kuala Lumpur and got settled in. I was rooming with Kerry and Justin. It was weird, I had never seen a hotel room with 3 single beds. I think it was because a lot of people are muslim, and they dont sleep together. I think...Anyways, we went out that night to play some pool and Spencer and I watched some soccer. Never thought to see so many Lady-Boys there! It was really amusing - some of them do a really good job. Prostitution and homelessness were really sad to see though. Just walking along the streets, it was amazing to see so many people, sitting there hoping for some spare change.
Kuala Lumpur was actually really dirty. I think that is why Singapore gets such praise for it being so clean, because all of the other areas of Asia are often really dirty, lots of litter, and things unkept.Anyways, the next morning was a wakeup call at 7:30. We were going to see the Petrona Towers. They were just so amazing, especially at night. They lit up like something I can't even describe. After that Christel, Maria, Kerry and I went to China Town. It was basically one long street, with a few off branches, full of little shops to get nockoff bags, jeans, shoes, belts, souvinears, sunglasses, you name it. I'm sure you wouldnt be suprised if I said I did a 'little' shopping. :)
That night we had a big buffet and everyone got ready to go out. This was when we went to Luna, the amazing bar on the rooftop of the Luna hotel. It had a huge swimming pool in it, which overlooked the entire city. It was amazing, totally open, no roof. Thankfully it did not rain. I called it in early that night, because I was getting up the next morning to go to the Batu Caves.
Kerry, Maria, and I got up and left the hotel at about 8:30. We arrived and thankfully it was not too busy. It was a little cooler, which was ok because climbing all the stairs was actually a bit tiring and a little workout in itself. However, it was amazing. The inside of the caves were so insane and bats were everywhere. There were a lot of people praying and chanting. Appearently there are usually a lot of monkeys running around, but I didn't see them.
After that, it was time to pack up and head home. It seemed like we spent a LOT of time on the bus (which we did), but I am really glad we got to go there. It was tough with such a big group of about 80 people, as we were always waiting on someone. Anyways, I got to meet a lot more people, so I can't complain. We got home at about 8pm that nice, and then I passed out!
Sorry, this one was a bit longer...
|  | 
|
