Hello and Goodbye from KL

Hi All,

We left Taman Negara a bit early because it was very hot and buggy, though beautiful. While there, we stayed in what the rough guide called "the best of the budget options;" a stand-alone wooden chalet up a hill from the river. We shared this chalet with a toad that lived in our shower drain. The shower drain flipped up if pushed from the bottom, and then fell shut. The poor toad kept pushing up the drain lid, crawling into the bathroom, realizing that he was shut out of his drain, and then crouching on the drain lid staring forlornly down the drain. After letting him back into his home three or four times, we stuck the wastebasket over the drain to keep him down there. It was like the stories of kids who find crocodiles in the drain!

Taman Negara was interesting; we saw truly wild monkeys, some beautiful birds, an enormous chipmunk, and a bunch of 2-feet long monitor lizards. A semi-wild monkey on the grounds of the fancy resort within the park took offense to us and chased us about ten feet; I can see why everyone warns you not to try feed the monkeys. The canopy walkway (see picture below) is about 100 feet up in the trees. We didn't see much wildlife from up there, but weren't surprised about this; the walkway sees a certain amount of traffic. On our way out of the park, we took a fantastic 2 hour wooden longboat ride to the nearest jetty.

We arrived in Kuala Lumpur at about 5pm on the 21st. Our hotel, the first room-service and gym facilities type of place we've stayed in for the whole trip, was in walking distance of our drop-off point in Chinatown, so we walked over. The city is much less dense than NYC, but has a number of interesting skyscrapers amid some beautiful minarets and Islam-influenced architecture. The most distinctive buildings are, of course, the Petronas Towers, the world's tallest towers. They are shaped to reflect the classic Islamic design of two interlocking squares, representing stability and endurance. These touches give the city a distinctive feel that might otherwise be lost; we've seen Friday's, Planet Hollywood, KFC, McDonald's, California Pizza Kitchen, and at least 6 Starbucks, among other typically western food establishments, as well as Clinique, Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton and every other imaginable western upmarket mall store. The country's population seems to be about 1/3 each of Malays, Indians, and Chinese. This mix, along with the country's modernity, dilutes the sense of being in an Islamic country. Even though many of the women do wear head scarves, they come in all kinds of fashionable colors and designs, and are often worn with blue jeans and adidias sneakers.

For dinner our first night, we took a cab to the Concorde Hotel for a much-need infusion of American culture and cuisine: we ate nachos, burgers, fajitas, and chocolate milkshakes at the Hard Rock Cafe in a booth next to a signed Elvis photo. We spent yesterday exploring KL and walking around an enormous shopping mall attached to the Petronas Towers. This mall would easily put any mall in New Jersey to shame. After a drenching spectacular rainstorm, we retreated to our hotel, ordered room service, watched the results show of American Idol, and used the in-room internet to back up almost all of our pictures in case disaster should strike the computer. Today we took advantage of the buffet breakfast at our hotel, and took an elevator up to the viewing platform of the Menara building, which is the fourth tallest building/radio tower in the world: the platform was 278 meters high. We also went to the world's largest aviary, where we saw some beautiful birds.

Tomorrow, we're leaving to climb Mt. Kinabalu in Borneo, and then we're touring a couple of other parts of the island (exact itinerary unknown). We probably won't be logging on much over there, but may have cellphone service if you need to get in touch. After that, it's on to Singapore, LA, and home for 24 hours!